The mewling splendid cruelty sweeps circles in a pale grey sky – quite heedless of our larger life as gimlet focused on the small: to spy their furtive quick movement or warm uncovered new-laid eggs; life balanced on its feathers' edge to finish theirs in early spring
Operating between 1870 to 1976, Beckton Gas Works was variously described as "the largest such plant in the world" and "the largest gas works in Europe". After it closed, it became a favourite shooting location for films, television and music videos. Most notably, some of the Vietnam battle scenes in Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket were shot there. But while it was open it has an extensive railway network and its own steam locomotives. The atmospheric scenes in the video above were shot in the Sixties. The site has largely been redeveloped - part of its railway system was taken over ...
Mourning the death of Adrian Slade the other day, I initially wrote that he was the Liberal Party's first councillor on the Greater London Council. I should have known that Stanley Rundle had been the member for Richmond upon Thames before him, because I heard many tales of the contribution he made to local politics when I lived there in the early Eighties. But I had not heard of Ruth Shaw, who represented Sutton and Cheam between 1973 and 1977. Ruth died in 2024, and Sutton Liberal Democrats have a page celebrating her life - I have borrowed the photo ...
Today, Germany faces a test at its 2025 federal election. Following the atrocities of the National Socialists, will enough Germans be willing to support far-right politics to the extent that the Eurosceptic, anti-immigration and Islamophobic Alternative für Deutschland could become a major player in German politics. Based on current polling, the left-leaning traffic light coalition - comprising the Social Democrats, the Free Democrats and Alliance 90/The Greens - is likely to collapse and the conservative Union parties positioned to lead the next government. AfD is currently polling in a strong second place, potentially able to form a right-leaning midnight coalition ...
Last weekend, Young Liberals held our first Conference of 2025! [IMG: Behind the scenes at LDHQ with Lucas and Ulysse] Unfortunately, due to issues with our venue, we had to cancel our plans to head to Cardiff for our first Welsh Conference in seven years, instead moving online. This was arranged very quickly, and I'm so grateful to the team of volunteers – including our Events Officer, Lucas and Policy Officer, Ulysse – who agreed to spend their weekend at LDHQ to help run the tech. Policy It wouldn't be a Lib Dem Conference without policy and constitutional wonkery, and ...
St Vincent - the American singer-songwriter Annie Clarke - has featured here before. New York is a track from her fifth studio album, Masseduction, which came out in 2017. Laura Snapes reviewed it on Pitchfork: Presumably the first single from her forthcoming fifth album as St. Vincent ... it surprises by totally forsaking her cosmic guitar playing for simple piano, which blooms beneath her laments for the lost accomplice who made NYC more than just a pile of old bricks. Maybe it's her noted hero Bowie, though Clark's yearning, gasped entreats suggests a deeper intimacy than distant admiration: "So much ...
[IMG: In this blog I argue that the UN should its HQ from the New York whose national leader despises it to London where our leaders support it.] The latest rumour to sweep the western world is the one where The United States of America will leave the United nations, although they have been a cornerstone of that global alliance for good since its inception. In fact, so important was the support of the USA thought to be that the global headquarters of the UN, although not all its agencies, was based in New York. The UN is not the ...
History offers a sobering lesson. Winston Churchill warned of the perils of underinvestment in defence long before the threat of Nazi aggression materialized. His insistence on prioritising military strength, though initially disregarded, ultimately underscored a simple truth: a nation must be prepared to protect itself if it is to safeguard its values and its future. Today, we stand at a similar crossroads. Recent polling from YouGov reveals something both encouraging and challenging for us as Liberal Democrats. Our supporters show a striking commitment to the cause: 42% strongly agree that we should continue providing military assistance to Ukraine—the highest among ...
I cannot recall a government that has lost its sheen so quickly. Let down after let down, disappointment after disappointment. Winter Fuel Payments, keeping the two child benefit cap, kicking social care into the long grass, betraying WASPI women and enough freebies and scandals to match the Tories! Just seven months in and already the resentment towards this Labour government is palpable on the doorstep. Here in Southwark, where we are now one of the top Liberal Democrat challengers to a held Labour seat in the country, we are used to being let down by Labour. For 15 years they ...
One of the many factors lying behind the rise of Reform in the polls is disillusionment with Keir Starmer. That is especially so amongst voters over the age of 45, who, according to the Independent, are favouring Nigel Farage's party over their more traditional allegiances and, more worryingly for all poilitical parties, are the group with the highest propensity to vote. Nevertheless, Labour appear to think that the Prime Minister is their secret weapon in getting the truth out about Reform for, as the Independent reports elsewhere, Starmer is poised to take the fight directly to the insurgent right-wing party, ...
Europe and United States The European tag team of Starmer and Macron is off to Washington next week. The British Prime Minister and the French President will be trying to persuade Trump to save the Western Alliance by continuing to back Ukraine. It will be a difficult if almost impossible task given the flood of anti-Zelensky, anti-European and pro-Russian rhetoric that has been pouring out of Washington. But they must but try. Macron will be the first to arrive. He will sit down with President Trump on Monday. The French president has taken the lead in trying to rally Europe-wide ...
The mini-bandstand at Seabraes - another excellent photograph from Mila White Photography!
