Remember C.W. Allen, the "pedestrian holder of the 2,000 miles road record" who saw a phantom airship over Kelmarsh? He turns out to have been quite a figure in his day: the newspapers were full of reports of his feats and appearances. Here is an account of a visit he paid to Great Malvern in 1905, which was recycled by the Worcester News a century later: How To Walk And The Boots To Wear was a headline in the Malvern Gazette 100 years ago. It came as Mr C W Allen, the champion long-distance pedestrian of the world, gave an ...
Apparently taking their name from the first half of Buffalo Springfield and the drummer's first name, Buffalo Tom seemed to be regarded in their early years as a sort of discount shop Dinosaur Jr, whose leader, J. Mascis, produced their first album. But I preferred the influencees to the influencer and have nearly all their work in one format or another. The release of a new album Jump Rope at the end of May this year passed me by until a few months later, by which time I had also missed seeing them on tour - they remain high on ...
Arthur Snell explains why Assad was so violent: "The implications of a small, historically marginal and theologically unorthodox group holding the reins of power are clear: from the start they have had a strong incentive to shore up their power-base through inter-marriage, self-enrichment and repression of the majority." "A decade ago, liberals, liberaltarians and straight libertarians could readily enthuse about "liberation technologies" and Twitter revolutions in which nimble pro-democracy dissidents would use the Internet to out-maneuver sluggish governments. Technological innovation and liberal freedoms seemed to go hand in hand. Now they don't. Authoritarian governments have turned out to be quite ...
Welcome to the latest in my occasional series highlighting interesting findings from academic research. Today – the impact of voter ID requirements at elections. When this was first introduced by the Conservatives, the measure was seen by many as one that would benefit them. But then there were comments like these from some Conservatives: Jacob Rees-Mogg has suggested the Conservatives introduced voter ID to boost their election chances, but it came "back to bite them". The former minister said it had "made it hard for our own voters" to take part in England's local elections. So what is the truth? ...
Welcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention polls for the next general election, along with party leadership ratings. If you'd like to find out more about how polls work, how reliable they are and how to make sense of them, check out my book, Polling UnPacked: the History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls, or sign up for my weekly email, The Week in Polls: General election voting intention polls PollsterConLabLDGrnRefLab leadFieldwork Techne 25% (nc) 27% (nc) 11% (-1) 7% (nc) 22% (+1) 2% 11-12/12 GB Find Out Now 23% (-3) 26% (+3) 11% (nc) 9% ...
[IMG: Serpents Goats and Turkeys by David Laws] The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts takes a look at a book that has made me rethink several things I thought I knew about the history of the Liberal Democrats and Liberals before them. It also contains some wonderfully acerbic photo captions and some not terribly kind words about David Lloyd George. It is a book from another David – David Laws – and is a history of Labour – Liberal (Democrat) relations over the last century. Feedback very welcome, and do share this podcast with others who you ...
Nothing better illustrates how broken politics in this country is than the row that erupted this week about what our various leaders have for lunch. The Mirror reports that Keir Starmer has defended sandwiches as a "great British institution" after Kemi Badenoch dismissed them as not "real food". The paper says that Badenoch sparked a backlash after saying "lunch is for wimps" and ranting about sandwiches, telling a magazine interview that she sometimes has a steak brought to her as she works: The PM was surprised to learn this, his official spokesman said. The sarnie clash broke out after Ms ...
[IMG: ALDC MP cards gift photo] Five Christmas, birthday, wedding, graduation, driving test pass, citizenship acquisition or candidate selection victory gift ideas for that special person you know. (And more tasteful than some festive options.) Top Trumps the Lib Dem way No need to be bored with Monopoly this Christmas. Get a set of 72 Top Trump style cards, one for each and every Liberal Democrat MP, from ALDC. Give the gift of knowledge Polling knowledge, that is, with a gift subscription to The Week in Polls. Read by pollsters, journalists, politicians and thousands of voters, my weekly newsletter gives ...
The Syrian butterfly has flapped its wings and created a political storm throughout the region and well beyond. Russia has lost a Middle East foothold and global credibility but gained troops for its war in Ukraine. Iran's "Axis of Resistance" has been reduced to dust. Hezollah has been cut off from its supplier. All the Arab states will be pleased that the Persians have been humbled but will be worried that they have been backed into the nuclear corner. China may be casting a covetous eye over the the vacuum left by a weakened Russia in Central Asia, Middle East ...
Dundee City Council's annual rent consultation has just over a week left to run. Every year the Neighbourhood Services department which deals with the housing service looks at the rent and other charges that it needs to collect. The views of all council tenants matter so if you are a council tenant, please take time some to get involved and have your say on the options available during this year's rent consultation at www.dundeecity.gov.uk/rent-consultation
