The Joy of Six 1487"On this occasion Starmer has taken both the correct and popular position and stuck to it despite relentless attacks from the right. The result is that it is now his opponents, rather than him, who is having to embark on a humiliating U-turn."Adam Bienkov argues that the government should learn from Farage and Badenoch's reversal on Iran. The Lancet dissects Robert F. Kennedy Jr's year of failure. Michael Webb and Rebecca Flook say the choices universities and colleges make about AI are political: "The systems now being woven into education are shaped by a remarkably small group of people. Not ... (more) |
Michael Nyman: Drowning by Numbers (Finale)Michael Nyman's music makes me happy. Certainly, the only word for this performance by the Netherlands Wind Ensemble and friends is "joyous". (more) |
Weekend action daysGateshead Liberal Democrats had two action days over the weekend - in neighbouring wards of Low Fell and Chowdene. About 15 members turned up each day to help deliver the latest Focus newsletter. I'm pleased to report that 90% of both wards were delivered. (more) |
Lawyers call for rethink on plans to cut jury trialsThe Guardian reports that plans to curtail the number of jury trials in England and Wales have been described as "unpopular, untested and poorly evidenced" by thousands of lawyers who have written to the prime minister. The paper says that the letter to Keir Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions, from 3,200 lawyers, including 300 senior barristers, comes as his government faces the prospect of one of its most serious backbench revolts since coming to power: Efforts by David Lammy, the justice secretary, to change the mind of one of the leading Labour figures opposed to the plans, the ... (more) |
You can visit Noah's Ark in Williamstown, KentuckyEmbed from Getty ImagesMost Europeans who visit the United States go to New York or California, which are liberal, cosmopolitan places very like Europe. But the rest of the country, as I was told when I visited New York myself, isn't like that. You can say that again. Here's Alexander Bevilacqua writing in the London Review of Books: In Williamstown, Kentucky, no small distance from the "mountains of Ararat", the biblical resting place of Noah's Ark, a 510-foot-long wooden structure rises from a ridge. The Ark Encounter - less than an hour's drive from Cincinnati International Airport and within a ... (more) |
What is your favourite TV show that no one else has seen? Gophers!"What is your favorite TV show that no one else has seen?" asked someone on Bluesky yesterday. I replied, as I generally do to such questions, with Gophers!' Reader's voice: Gophers!? Liberal England replies: Yes, Gophers! Wikipedia puts it very well: Gophers! is a Channel 4 children's programme about a family of American gophers who move into a new neighbourhood, called Sycamore Heights, living next door to a family of uptight but well-intentioned rabbits, The Burrows. There were many recurring jokes within this short-lived show such as Arthur Burrows' vegetables planning a rebellion to escape his garden, a mad scientist ... (more) |
The Cry of a British-Iranian Lib Dem Woman"I'll call you once I get changed," I told my sister. "Got absolutely soaked." She said she was sorry I'd got cold and wet. "It was water, not bullets," I replied. She cried. That afternoon in Munich, I had joined over one million Iranians and their supporters worldwide to remember the tens of thousands massacred by the Islamic Republic on 8 and 9 January this year. Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi had called on all who stand with Iranians to come together on a Global Action Day for Iran on Valentine's Day, which also fell on the 40th day after the ... (more) |
Labour target pensionersThe Independent reports on new forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility which show that up to a million more pensioners will be drawn into paying income tax as a direct consequence of frozen tax thresholds. The paper says that the Office for Budget Responsibility's (OBR) forecast, published for chancellor Rachel Reeves's spring statement on Tuesday, indicated that 600,000 more pensioners than previously estimated will face income tax by 2026-27. That figure is due to increase to 1 million by 2030-31: While the state pension is subject to income tax, individuals whose sole income derives from it have historically avoided ... (more) |