Embed from Getty ImagesThe Mail give the story one of its multideck online headlines: EXCLUSIVE A day in the life of Britain's most famous guide dog: Watch how Jennie the golden retriever went from a horror XL Bully attack to the Lib Dem's secret weapon at MP Steve Darling's side And the meat of the story is here: 'I got approached last night when we were in the Chamber and asked to defect to the Labour Party,' Liberal Democrat Steve Darling tells me, a laugh playing across his face in his too-warm office, deep in the maze of Westminster. After ...
Sun 5th
18:24
Are the new Parliamentary seat projections worth paying attention to? The Week in Polls
The latest edition of my weekly political polling round-up, The Week in Polls, is out. As it says: We have already had 55 standard voting intention polls so far in this Parliament. But we now also have the first set of seat projections from an MRP, from More in Common, as well as the first set of seat projections from a new analysis of local council by-elections, by JL Partners... Seat projections, if done well, are useful. How useful, though, are those More in Common and JL Partners? Find out more by reading this edition of The Week in Polls ...
We've just heard the sad news that Lib Dem peer Jenny Randerson died yesterday at her home in Cardiff at the age of 76. Welsh Lib Dem Leader Jane Dodds said: I am deeply saddened by the news of Jenny Randerson's passing. Jenny dedicated her life to serving the people of Cardiff and Wales. From free entry to Wales's national museums to the decision to build Wales Millennium Centre, her work as a minister left an indelible mark on our politics and society. She will be deeply missed by her family, friends, colleagues, and the many individuals whose lives she ...
Parliament is back tomorrow after the two week Christmas recess. You would think that our MPs would have been taking a well earned rest after a brutal year of campaigning and then settling in to their new roles. Not a chance. They've been on the doorsteps, doing urgent casework, attending events in their constituencies. They'll have full inboxes to attend to. The holiday gives their regular correspondents plenty of opportunity to write in with their asks on many different subjects. So what will our MPs be up to this week? On Wednesday, Keir Starmer will face his first PMQs of ...
Senior Liberal Democrats have expressed concern that the Labour Government has finally done something about social care, but that Louise Casey's review will not report until 2028. This has all the hallmarks of this crucial issue being kicked into the long grass, with potential for it to be lost in even deeper foliage beyond then. Ed Davey told LBC that he was sceptical on the timing. He says that we should have cross party talks, but we have all the information we need so that they should be completed within a year. 'I absolutely welcome this proposal...' 'But I am ...
Outraged by the January 6 Capitol riot, a wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn't tell police or the FBI. He didn't tell family or friends. The one person he told was the ProPublica reporter Joshua Kaplan. Miranda Pirch reminds us: "There are so many Jewish people, both within Israel and outside it, who are committed to fighting against the oppression of the Palestinian people, regardless of what pro-Israelis would have you believe." "The oddly intrusive feeling of each viewing being mediated - by a business standing between oneself and the viewing, the ...
In his book 'Politics on the Edge', former Conservative Cabinet Minister Rory Stewart reminded us of what we were promised by the Brexit campaign in 2016. He quotes from an article written by Michael Gove and Boris Johnson in which they promised that after Brexit, 'The NHS will be stronger, class sizes will be smaller, taxes lower ... wages will be higher, fuel bills will be lower.' He went on to quote from a separate article in the Telegraph on 26 June 2016 in which Boris Johnson claimed: 'British people will still be able to go and work in the ...
I've chosen this not so much for Lou Donaldson saxophone as for John Patton's Hammond organ. Good Gracious! is the title track from a 1963 Donaldson album, and Patton's playing is just the sort of Hammond work that must have inspired the young Steve Winwood. It is worth emphasising, though, that Winwood was a guitarist and jazz pianist before be became known for playing the organ. It is said that when Keep On Running topped the charts at the start of 1966, Spencer Davis bought a house and Steve Winwood bought a Hammond.
We recently received concerns that a parking sign in West Port was damaged and leaning over. We therefore reported this to the roads maintenance partnership and an Order has been raised to repair this.
