Back in the officeBarely into the new year and I am already back in the Lib Dem office to do some printing for action days in Gateshead this weekend. In addition, I printed some literature which will be delivered in February. It's going to be a busy 4 months ahead of us as we head towards the local elections. (more) |
Technology turns into historySunniside History Society's monthly meeting was on Wednesday at Sunniside Club. We had a great speaker - Simon Woolley from Beamish Museum - who gave a talk on the recent developments. The meeting was also an opportunity to donate some historic items from my house. In the photo above is my great grandfather's document case. Henry Wallace was agent to Lord Ravensworth in the later Victorian (more) |
Steam to the Sea! The Southwold Railway StoryThis is from Malcolm Saville's introduction to Sea Witch Comes Home, his story inspired by the East Coast floods of 1953: Every mile of this unusual coast and the lovely country behind it is worth exploring. Southwold, with its white lighthouse towering over its streets of flint and red brick houses, is waiting for you to discover - and so is the harbour at the mouth of the River Blyth a mile away. Between the river and the town are flat marshlands which were flooded when the sea broke through the defences not many years ago. But the narrow-gauge Southwold ... (more) |
Manifesto meetingOn Tuesday Gateshead Lib Dems held their latest manifesto meeting for the local elections in May. We are almost at the end of the process of putting together the manifesto and considerable progress was made on Tuesday. I wonder how the other parties are doing in putting together their manifestos? Will they bother? I've been on Gateshead Council for 39 years now and in that time I can't (more) |
Latest voting intention and leadership ratings opinion pollsWelcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention polls for the next general election, along with the latest MRP projections and 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 Find Out Now 18% (+1) 15% (nc) 12% (nc) 17% (nc) 32% (+1) -17% (4th, vs Ref) 7-8/1 GB ... (more) |
The Importance of 'Red Sea Jigsaw Puzzle' (Part 1)Source: Horn of Africa Simple Map While foreign policy circles in London are focused on Ukraine, the Middle East/Iran and now Venezuela, as well as the dramatic new US National Security Strategy, a set of interconnected lower key conflicts around the Red Sea are escalating. This has global ramifications, especially in relation to the two Red Sea 'pinch points' for Europe; the Suez Canal and the Straights of Mandeb. These conflicts involve Saudi Arabia, UAE, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Turkey, Israel, Yemen, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya ... and Eastern and Western land gateways to the resources of the Sahel Region. It ... (more) |
National Crime Agency must investigate X say Lib DemsA press release from the party brings the news: Liberal Democrats have called on the National Crime Agency to launch an urgent criminal investigation into X in response to the proliferation of AI-generated sexual abuse material created by the site's AI generation tool 'Grok'. The party warns that the platform has become "awash" with non-consensual deepfake imagery overwhelmingly targeting women and children. The Liberal Democrats are calling on the NCA to investigate whether X is criminally liable for facilitating the creation and distribution of this material, and to pursue individuals responsible for generating it. Liberal Democrats argue that Government's response ... (more) |
Why Principles matter more than PoliciesI have a dark and deeply embarrassing confession to make. I once voted for Margaret Thatcher. Please don't rush to judge me just yet. I'm sharing this not to shock, but because it contains an uncomfortable truth about how people really make political choices - and what liberals ignore at our peril. When I cast that vote, I was young and foolish - and politically uninformed. I didn't grow up in a household where politics was discussed. My parents voted, but never said who for. Politics wasn't taught in school, at least not in any meaningful way. I didn't yet ... (more) |
Beyond 2026: how the Liberal Democrats can win a post-Labour NeathWith the 2026 Senedd election now around four months away, Welsh politics has entered a new phase. Campaigns are taking shape, narratives are hardening, and for the first time since devolution, both the electoral map and the voting system have fundamentally changed. Old assumptions about "safe seats" no longer apply. In Neath, that shift is particularly stark. Under the new boundaries, Neath now sits within the Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd, combining Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe, Neath, and Swansea East into a single six-member constituency elected by closed-list proportional representation. Recent polling for this new constituency points to a fragmented outcome: ... (more) |
The abandoned lead mine in Crystal Palace ParkPhoto by Jacqueline BanerjeeLike W.H. Auden, I have a thing about abandoned lead mines. So I was intrigued to learn that there is one in Crystal Palace Park. Subterranea Briannica explains: It is well known that Crystal Palace Park includes a number of Victorian dinosaur models, arranged in groups around the lower lake. Many of these species were recently discovered although not all the models are nowadays thought to be strictly accurate. Less well known is that alongside these animals there is a replica geological strata. This was built at the same time as an educational feature and was constructed ... (more) |