There's a quotation that's been going the rounds of social media today, perhaps because it expresses some left-wingers' contempt for the common people: "A people that elect corrupt politicians, aren't victims, but accomplices." - George Orwell It didn't ring true to me, and when I searched I couldn't find any trace of Orwell having said it. So I tweeted about my doubts, and someone kindly replied with a link to the Reuters site:A quote falsely attributed to George Orwell saying that people who elect corrupt politicians are not victims but accomplices is circulating online. The Orwell Society and The Orwell ...
Embed from Getty ImagesAn article on children being granted extra time in public examinations, is (at least for me) currently poking out from behind the Financial Times paywall: The gap between the share of privately educated and state-educated students in England claiming extra time in GCSE and A-level exams has widened. Forty-two per cent of students enrolled in independent schools received extra time in the 2023-24 academic year, compared with 26 per cent of pupils in non-selective state schools, according to data published by Ofqual on Thursday. The gap of 16 percentage points is the largest since England's exam regulator ...
I was in Sainsbury's the other week when Ben Miller came on the PA. You will remember him from the sketch show Armstong and Miller. (Or was it Mitchell and Miller? Or Miller and Webb?) What was he doing in the supermarket? Plugging his latest children's book. Not long after that, Humanists UK announced a collection of essays, What I Believe. (It was actually published today.) And among the contributors - indeed listed first on the page announcing it - are two former Footlights members, Sandi Toksvig and Stephen Fry. Also announced recently was the presenter of the BBC's eagerly ...
The next Lloyd George Society Weekend will take place on the weekend of 22nd February 2025. Further details coming soon.
I guess we shouldn't be so surprised – the election of Donald Trump poses a major challenge to the post-war Liberal International consensus, but that's been under threat in one way or another since the start of the Global Financial Crash. While it's alarming to see someone with such distain for free and fair elections and so many fascist tendencies elected President of America, it merely amplifies the fact that the path to freedom and democracy is not a linear or smooth one. For many years there was what we now know to be a completely misplaced assumption that over ...
Consistency in the use of colours by political parties is a relatively recent innovation, despite the obvious benefits that arise from it, as these examples from the Liberal Party at the 1970 general election show. Orange was the dominant party colour but it was by no means universal: [IMG: Liberal Party leaflets 1970] [IMG: Liberal Party leaflets 1970 (2)] It wasn't just the Liberals who mixed and matched colours as this Conservative Party poster demonstrates: [IMG: Conservative Party poster 1970] For more gems from past election leaflets, see my collection How leaflets used to look. Thank you to the staff ...
We had a very interesting meeting of Sunniside History Society last night. We played a video, produced by the North East Remembrance Monuments Project, about their work to record all war memorials in the region. We also had a presentation about the crash in February 1942 of a Canadian military aircraft near Marley Hill.The next meeting will be on Wednesday 4th December. There will be a Christmas
Michael's surgeries take place today and are as follows : Thursdays at 5.45pm prompt - West End Campus (come to reception area of St Joseph's RC and Victoria Park Primary Schools) Thursdays at 6.30pm prompt - Harris Academy reception area All welcome - no appointment necessary!
Ed Davey made the point in Prime Minister's questions yesterday, reflecting the concerns in this article that with the prospect of a brutal global trade war looming as a result of Donald Trump's victory, the country needs to rejoin the customs union, single market or the bloc itself to shield itself from the devastating fallout. The paper says that pro-EU campaigners have warned that Britain must urgently rebuild ties with Europe now Donald Trump has been elected: The former president has threatened to impose tariffs on all imports to America if he returns to the White House, which would cripple ...
