Call for police patrols at Agatha Christie beachOur Headline of the Day Award goes to BBC News. The judges tell me that a housemaid and a retired colonel have already been poisoned, and that Miss Marple fears there will be a third murder. (more) |
A train fare too far?As if the controversies around HS2 weren't bad enough, the Guardian reports that the high-speed railway will now cost up to £102.7bn and trains will not start running between London and Birmingham until as late as 2039, £70bn more and 13 years later than originally promised. The paper adds that the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said the truncated railway would not be entirely completed until as late as 2043: The figure is the first official estimate of HS2's budget in 2026 prices. Alexander said the total cost would range between £87.7bn and £102.7bn, with only a third of the rise ... (more) |
How many councillors have the Greens lost since the May 2026 elections?Given how popular (and lengthy!) my list of Reform councillor departures after the May 2026 elections is, here is a new list, I have quite a few requests to also keep track of the number of councillors elected under the Green Party banner on 7 May 2026, or in by-elections after that date, who have already departed the party for one reason or another. Note that the first two resigned as councillors in rather different circumstances from the rest of the list. If someone was on the ballot paper as a Green candidate but had been suspended or similar before ... (more) |
When will the government get to grips with WhatsApp?The latest edition of my email newsletter about work in Parliament, A Lord's Eye View, is out and you can also read it in full below. But if you'd like to get future editions emailed direct to you as soon as they are published, sign up now: The use of WhatsApp for decision-making at senior levels of government is in the news again, due to concerns that this means we do not get a proper audit trail of who decided what and when. The government had previously promised to update its guidance on the use of WhatsApp but the promised ... (more) |
St George finishes behind Robin Hood and King Arthur - and I'm not surprisedFortean Times reports the findings of the 2026 National Folklore Survey for England and it's bad news for St George as he only gets the bronze medal: The figure gaining highest recognition was not King Arthur or St George, as many might have expected, but Robin Hood, who almost 90 per cent of the people in the poll sample had heard of. Arthur came second, recognised by 84 per cent, while St George trailed in third place, with around two thirds of respondents recognising him. It's no surprise that Robin Hood is in our minds when British society is becoming ... (more) |
Fixing the long-term pensions crisis requires embracing flexibilityWhen I began my working life, my parents gave me the sage words of advice "never opt out of your pension" and warned that I would be setting myself up to fail long term. They are of course, absolutely correct. However, what my parents, and potentially millions of people may not realise is that whilst I have rigidly followed their advice, there will be innumerable people who either didn't receive that advice or find themselves in a cost-of-living crisis facing the difficult choice between their bills and their long-term financial security. Pension planning is admittedly not a subject that sets ... (more) |
We will not be bullied: standing against hate after the San Diego mosque attackEmbed from Getty ImagesI have always stood against hate. I am, at heart, a classical liberal: live and let live. People should be free to worship, to love, to work and to raise their families without fear. That should not be a controversial idea. And yet here we are, watching politics poison the most basic human decency, watching frightened populations be told again and again that their problems are caused by their neighbours rather than by the governments and broken systems that have failed them. On Monday, two teenage gunmen walked up to the Islamic Centre of San Diego, the ... (more) |
When the United States worried about migrants in small boatsHere's a short passage from Roger Greaves's book Reading Madeleine that describes one of the British writer Robert Henrey's adventures in Canada as a young journalist in the early 1920s: He was sent to Niagara to investigate a rumour that an organisation had been formed for passing aliens into the United States. The passengers were collected in Toronto or Hamilton, taken by car to the Canadian bank of the Niagara river a couple of miles below the falls and a crossing was attempted by night. The immigrants were packed in a small boat and the other side would be signalled ... (more) |
Scooch, Engelbert and other Great British Eurovision disastersEmbed from Getty ImagesThe Guardian has a survey of recent United Kingdom Eurovision disasters. It leads you to conclude that the reason we now regularly finish last is not Brexit or Blair's enthusiasm for the Iraq War, but our habit of choosing inexperienced artists with awful songs. I have two observations. The first is that Flying the Flag was rather fun and would have done much better if only Scooch could have sung it in tune. The second is an exclusive revelation. In 2012 Engelbert Humperdinck sang our entry and finished 25th out of 26, but it could have been ... (more) |
Our political timidity has to endOur party is gripped by political timidity. At a time when new parties are gaining traction on the left and the right, we appear to be afraid to explore our historic radicalism. We even seem to be afraid to even engage with the major political arguments of our day. For an example of our political timidity, look at our responses to three of Labour's flag ship pieces of legislation: the Employment Rights Bill, Great British Energy and taking the railways into public ownership. On each of these pieces of legislation, the Liberal Democrats in the House of Commons abstained on ... (more) |