Lord Bonkers' Diary: They don't shout "Get in the hole!"I used to wonder why the Liberal Party had never talked about Wallace Lawler, Read the comments on this post and you will see why. I haven't dared raise the subject with Lord Bonkers. The old boy is more on the ball with golf courses and terrorism. This is from the Guardian last month: "Seven people charged with vandalising Donald Trump's Turnberry golf course in Scotland have been accused of malicious damage 'having a terrorist connection'." Thursday Dusk finds me wending my way to the palatial sett beneath the triumphal arch I had erected to celebrate the victory of Wallace ... (more) |
The Polly Bolton Band: The Lake Isle of InnisfreeI wrote this in 2008 about a memory that was already more than a dozen years old: Much Wenlock is not just the spiritual home of the Olympics. It also the venue for Festival at the Edge, which I attended a couple of times back in the 1990s. Although it is chiefly a storytelling festival, my chief memories of it are musical. I heard a young Eliza Carthy play (with Nancy Kerr) and, best of all, I heard the Polly Bolton Band. That year everything was running hopelessly late, and it was after midnight when the band (Polly Bolton, John ... (more) |
Show us the money - should politics be funded by billionaires?The Guardian reports that British politics is increasingly being funded by individual billionaires with a wave of mega-donations having flooded into UK political parties over the past two parliaments. The paper says that research has found that a total of £179m has been donated by wealthy individuals since 2019: The figures from the IPPR thinktank show how big money is playing an ever more influential role in Westminster, with a particular rise in mega-donations of more than £1m. The research found that contributions from individual donors have accelerated since the Brexit party received £10m from the Thailand-based billionaire Christopher Harborne ... (more) |
What's on at Conference today?First up today is a wide-ranging motion on music covering things like AI, planning around music venues, support for music and the right to education in music. That last is so important. Playing an instrument or singing is such a good way of getting out of your own head and the links between musical tuition and attainment are clear. Then it's on to active travel – walking, wheeling and cycling with three amendments, one from the Lib Dem Disability Association looking at making active travel safe and accessible for disabled people from the start, one from Lib Dem Women looking ... (more) |
Sammy Going South, Suez and the end of the British EmpireWritten for Terence Towles Canote's 13th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon. We British have a habit of turning military debacles into victories. The retreat from Dunkirk, for instance, has twice been the subject of a film (in 1958 and 2017) and also forms an important part of the action in Atonement from 2007. But the Suez Crisis of 1956, whether because of the deceit it involved or its abject failure, has proved too shameful a subject for British cinema to tackle. This unsuccessful attempt to overturn Egypt's nationalisation of the Suez Canal, made together with France and Israel, and in particular ... (more) |
How Lib Dem Councillors get things done on temporary accommodationPaul Walter wrote about the Temporary accommodation debate in his diary earlier It was a great and sobering debate. I just wanted to highlight two things that Lib Dems have done. Prue Bray spoke about what her Council in Wokingham has done to reduce the numbers of people in temporary accommodation and to make it a lot safer for those who are. She said: Temporary accommodation is a subject that could drive us to despair, but I want to give you some hope by telling you how a Lib Dem council is making a real difference. I am really proud ... (more) |
Paul's conference diary (2) - things get interestingOne of the highlights of Brighton is that it's got a great running track. You just poodle out to the promenade – chunter westwards for (in my case) 2.5 k and then turn round and go back. Job done. The sloshing about of the sea and wind also gives quite an invigorating awakening at 7 o'clock in the morning. After an instant porridge for breakfast, I was in the main auditorium to hear Gideon Amos MP make an excellent speech in the debate on the Mortality of Children living in temporary accommodation. Here's an astonishing fact to stop you in ... (more) |
Paul's conference diary (1)Thanks to the wonder of Traveline.info and an ingenious chain of five buses, I travelled to Brighton (and will travel back) free on my senior bus pass (Thank you – I know, it's so hard to imagine that I am entitled to one) and saved, I'm told, 55500g of CO2, compared to driving. In the process I learnt some valuable lessons in extreme bussing: Always have "fall back" buses scheduled a little later, in case you miss your connection. Never look at your phone when waiting for a bus. ...Because you may look up just as your bus is passing ... (more) |
Lib Dems need a 25-year vision that sets out how we'll change BritainLib Dems desperately want a message that cuts through. Something that lifts our standing in the polls with the same gravity-defying ease as we've seen Reform and the Greens achieve. But I'm afraid there is no single magic phrase or policy position that will do that. (Nor, by the way, is there some charismatic new leader who could instantly rally voters to our cause. We don't do leadership cults.) If we want to cut through, we have to be authentic. True to ourselves. True to our values. People are disillusioned with politicians of all stripes. They see no vision, just ... (more) |
Shock as 16 tonnes of soil mistakenly dropped in ShrewsburyThe Shropshire Star, and not for the first time, wins our Headline of the Day Award. There's more about the scheme to improve the Abbey Foregate area of the town in a BBC News report. (more) |