The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts sees Peter Kellner join me to discuss a new report on what is going wrong with our politics, and the solutions. No surprise then that our conversation focused on populism, its causes and how liberals can defeat it. Feedback very welcome, and do share this podcast with others who you think may enjoy it. Show notes Disruptive Delivery: Meeting the Unmet Demand in Politics, with polling from Deltapoll. The Challenge of Affluence: Self-Control and Well-Being in the United States and Britain since 1950 by Avner Offer (affiliate link). An example from ...
I knew that Adrian Slade had died because I saw we were discussing commissioning an obituary of him for the next Liberator. But I had not found any announcement of the sad news until this morning, when I saw this notice in The Times: ADRIAN SLADE Adrian died peacefully on 24th January 2025, aged 88. CBE, cabaret performer,adman and Liberal politician. Husband of Sue. Father of Nicola and Rupert. Much loved by friends and family. The notice also links to a memorial page for him. Discussing comedy with Adrian was one of the perks of helping out with production of ...
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 22% (-1) 26% (+1) 12% (-1) 8% (+1) 25% (nc) 1% (vs Ref.) 12-13/2 GB Find Out Now 21% (+3) 23% (-2) 12% ...
Sat 15th
10:30
Christine Jardine: At the centre of the culture wars are people who just want to live their lives
[IMG: Official portrait of Christine Jardine @HouseofCommons/Roger Harris] Christine Jardine was described by Labour MP Nadia Whittome as" during a debate on LGBT History Month in Parliament on Thursday afternoon. Earlier, Christine had made a heartfelt speech which you can watch here. She looked back to the deeply homophobic and toxic atmosphere in the 1980s towards gay people and highlighted some of the injustices they had to deal with and how we are seeing the same tropes played out today. Here is her speech in full: It is a pleasure and an honour to follow the hon. Member for Luton ...
There is an interesting intervention from former Labour spin doctor, Alastair Campbell in the Independent, in which he acknowledges that business feels that Labour has failed them. The paper says that in the wake of Rachel Reeves' national insurance hike on employers, the inheritance tax raid on farmers and other reforms, Campbell said that of 300 business people at a recent event, the overwhelming majority told him Labour was performing "worse than expected", and he warned that one of the major reasons was "disappointment on the much vaunted "reset" with Europe": In his lecture to Labour Movement for Europe he ...
There are 7 principal council by-elections held across England, Scotland, and Wales this week; with a combined of 3 Labour, 2 Lib Dem, 1 Conservative, and 1 Green Party defence. Seats changed hands left and right as only 2 out of 7 elections are successfully held by the respective parties. One of which is Lib Dem, who lost the other to Labour; and Labour, who lost their other seats to the Green Party and Reform. Meanwhile, the Tories lost their seat to the independents while gaining one from the Green Party. The headline win for the Lib Dems this week ...
A fabulous photo of the Balgay Bridge - also known as the Hird Bridge - with thanks to Mila White Photography.
