Amanda Litman argues that it's time for the ageing leadership of the US Democrats to stand down: "While their wisdom and experience have value, and while some can certainly still hold their own, the septuagenarian and octogenarian class of Democratic leaders - predominantly older white men—are by and large ill-equipped for this crisis we have found ourselves in." How do radical ideas go mainstream? Alice Evans studies the women's magazines of the 1970s to help her understand the rise of feminism. How well did Queen Elizabeth II get along with her prime ministers? Rebecca Cope has the answers: "It would ...
The latest edition of my weekly political polling round-up, The Week in Polls, is out. As it says: Before my plans rather changed for what to do after my term as Lib Dem President ends on 31 December, I had been contemplating writing a new book, looking at the apparent paradox between the long-term liberalising of attitudes in Britain and the shorter term success of populists who rail against liberalisation. Given the long-term move to more liberal attitudes, why is fighting culture wars so often seen as a trap for liberals but a tactically astute move for populists? Find out ...
Embed from Getty ImagesJohn Major was a figure of fun to many while he was prime minister, but compared to any leader the Conservative Party has come up with since, he is a titan. Here he is talking about J.D. Vance's speech on the World at One earlier today: That is not what we expect from the foremost nation in the free world. It's certainly not statesmanship, and it potentially gives off very dangerous signals. It's extremely odd to lecture Europe on the subject of free speech and democracy at the same time as they're cuddling Mr. Putin. In Mr. ...
The USA Vice President Vance came to Berlin and systematically lied about a number of the Countries who are supposedly allies of the USA. Like Trump he dances to Putin's tune. There used to be a saying that soldiers went abroad to die for their country and diplomats went abroad to lie for their country. I have never believed either of those to be quite true, but what we need now is to invent a new phrase which looks at the appalling record of the new Trump administration in sending forth politicians to lie about other Countries. I say this ...
Cat Stevens was a big name in his early days, as both singer and a songwriter. He is one of the central figures of David Hepworth's 1971 - Never a Dull Moment: Rock's Golden Year. He even took Morning Has Broken from our school hymn book into the top 10. My image of a male singer-songwriter of this era involves long hair and an acoustic guitar, and there are plenty of pictures like that of Cat Stevens. But here he is on a West German TV show in 1967 as a teenage dandy. I have a couple of DVDs of ...
The Guardian reports that the government is to face questions about Prince Andrew and other members of the royal family's use of public money after talks to overcome restrictions on scrutinising the monarchy in parliament. They says that Labour peer George Foulkes has had the first of what he intends to be a number of questions about Andrew accepted, after "helpful" discussions last week with the deputy speaker in the House of Lords, John Gardiner. The paper adds that these talks came after Lord Foulkes said recently that he had been refused permission to table a question proposing a public ...
United States It is becoming increasingly clear that the only thing standing between Trump and unfettered power is the American judicial system. His spineless acolytes in the Republican Party control both houses of Congress and the geriatric Democratic Party appears to be sinking under a sea of Executive Orders. The courts, however, have acted. So far they have ordered the administration to lift its funding freeze on USAID and the salaries of thousands of federal employees. The question now is: What will Trump do? Legally, he should abide by the court's ruling and—if he is determined to get his way—appeal ...
A great photo of Fleuchar Street back in the 1970s.
