Ian Visits wins our Headline of the Day Award for what turns out to be a piece of good news: The successful trial gives London Trams much greater flexibility during the engineering works. Instead of forcing passengers onto the inevitable replacement buses, trams can be repositioned through the town centre to continue serving routes to New Addington, Elmers End and Beckenham Junction.
Five principal authority council by-elections this week, including Labour's first gains of the Andy Burnham era: Grays Town (Thurrock) Council By-Election Result: [IMG: 🌹] LAB: 37.0% (+5.3) [IMG: ➡] RFM: 27.0% (-7.8) [IMG: 🙋] Ind: 13.0% (New) [IMG: 🌳] CON: 12.3% (+1.3) [IMG: 🌍] GRN: 8.8% (-7.3) [IMG: 🔶] LDM: 1.9% (-4.5)Labour GAIN from Reform UK.Changes w/ 2026. — Election Maps UK (@electionmaps.uk) 2026-07-23T23:26:37.505Z Thank you to Jim Corrigan for being the Lib Dem in this contest. (The Lib Dem vote the time before was inflated by an unusual and small candidate line-up.) For what all this means for the ...
The latest edition of the email newsletter for my podcast, Political Fictions, 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: Mr Smith Goes To Washington, with Aidan Byrne [IMG: Mr Smith Goes To Washington] Public opinion arrives in the Senate in Mr Smith Goes to Washington After messing around with football / broadening our cultural frames of reference (delete according to which one of us you agree with), it's back to hard core politics this time ...
The Independent reports that green groups and opposition politicians have criticised the government over its decision to fund its new £500m policy capping bus fares in England at £2 using the climate aid budget. The paper says that the new transport policy, which was announced yesterday, is set to reverse a cap increase to £3 that was put in place by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves in 2024, and is being billed as a landmark measure intended to tackle the cost of living crisis. However, around £400m of the cost is set to come from switching government investment in international ...
Here's the tally of seats changing hands in principal authority council by-elections held between the May 2026 and the May 2027 local elections: Con Lab Lib Dem Green Reform SNP Plaid Ind/ Other Net Con [5] +1 (+1/0) +1 (+3/-2) -1 (0/-1) -2 (+1/-3) -1 (0/-1) – +1 (+2/-1) -1 Lab -1 (0/-1) [6] – -1 (+2/-3) -3 (+2/-5) – – +1 (+1/0) -4 Lib Dem -1 (+2/-3) – [10] +1 (+1/0) – -1 (0/-1) – +1 (+1/0) 0 Grn +1 (+1/0) +1 (+3/-2) -1 (0/-1) [5] – – – – +1 Ref +2 (+3/-1) +3 (+5/-2) – – [5] ...
Angus Wilson is an example of a once highly regarded writer who has disappeared from view. I read his books when I was a teenager and enjoyed them, but they are now out of print. I also have fond memories of Dennis Potter's television dramatisation of Wilson's novel Late Call from 1975. Today I discovered that all four parts of it are on YouTube, so I have included the first one here. I've not watched it for 51 years, so apologies if it does not live up to my memories of it. Margaret Drabble once wrote about the novel: My ...
Jonathan Jones wrote about the painter Richard Dadd, who spent much of his life as a patient at Broadmoor Hospital, in the Guardian earlier this week: You can't escape the tragedy of a gifted artist who spent so much of his life locked up, albeit in more liberal conditions than our stereotype of Victorian asylums might lead you to expect. When I went on my guided walk around Desford in May, the guide stopped at the top of hill above the village's railway station and told us that doctors would bring patients from a local asylum by train for picnics ...
I am reminded this week of one of the more quirky items on my political CV, something I did at a time when I was rather (incorrectly) more confident in my views than perhaps I am now. Back in the days when I was a young Liberal Democrat, indeed Secretary of the Young Liberal Democrats, our then International Officer concluded that, in order to protect his budget, it was a good idea to send the organisation's Chair and Secretary to a LYMEC (Liberal Youth Movement of the European Community) seminar entitled "Youth Culture in a Coca-Cola World" in Aarhus, Denmark. ...
Do you know someone within the party who should be recognised for what they do? Every year at Conference the President presents awards to some very special people within the party. Now is the right time to be nominating people you know for one of the awards. The nominations deadline is 12th August. The awards that will be given at this year's Autumn Conference are: The President's Award: open to any Party Member elected to public office and who has demonstrated excellence and commitment, either in that role or both in that role and other roles for the party. The ...
Andy Burnham has got off to a good start. He's begun on a note of optimism and hope (in contrast to Sir Keir Starmer's telling us, perhaps more truthfully, that things would get worse before they got better,) given a positive promise to abolish homelessness, and maintains momentum with a series of 6am treats (VAT on electricity bills abolished, bus fares capped at £2, and 20% off business rates for pubs and restaurants,. . . .and counting?) Mr Burnham is displaying his common touch. A friend of mine, lifelong Liberal/Liberal Democrat activist and experienced councillor, tells me she's "quite excited." ...
Take it on the chin. We can just get on with stuff. Smile. Somewhat wryly
Liberal Democrat Newswire #212 came out on Monday and you can now 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: Welcome to Lib Dem Newswire #212, which expands on why the Liberal Democrats should set – and then work seriously to hit! – a target of being the largest party in local government. First, though, congratulations to the new Lib Dem councillors since last time – Pat Hackett, Gary Taylor, Colin Millichap, Andrea Pellegram, Naomi Bloomer, Terry Weldon, Oli Leach, Alex ...
In his first interview as Labour's presumptive Prime Minister, Andy Burnham told the Sunday Times that one issue kept coming up on the doorstep in Makerfield: the frozen £12,570 personal allowance. He called it a growing issue. Within days of walking into Downing Street he had told the Financial Times there was no commitment to do anything about it. That is a let down for anyone earning near the threshold. It is also a gap in the defence, and we should run through it. He raised the subject, then walked away from it Politicians do not usually hand their opponents ...
Alice McCool investigates the web of culture-war connections - from the US Christian right to Viktor Orbán's influence network - that lay behind the first British CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) conference. It's all well and good saying we should regulate social media. But social media is already regulated. So why is it failing? And what could we do in response? Chaminda Jayanetti has some ideas. Keyana Sapp explains why American cookware is getting worse: "Once you understand the brand licensing structure, you see it everywhere, and the pattern is always the same: one company owns the name, a different ...
The Independent reports that the White House is "deeply concerned" about Ed Miliband's appointment as foreign secretary, with a warning that Donald Trump has not forgotten scathing remarks the former Labour leader has made about him in the past. The paper says that Andy Burnham has been cautioned that Ed Miliband has some "serious diplomatic repair to undertake" in the US, after his promotion to the role on Monday sparked anger from the Trump administration: The former energy secretary has previously clashed with Mr Trumpover net zero and his attitudes to democracy and in 2016 he described the president as ...