In 1974 I came to live in Liverpool on a short-term contract and did not expect to be here after 9 months. Liverpool was not a strange place to me. All my cousins lived in Liverpool or had become 'wools*' in Maghull and Crosby. That was my Mum's side. My Dad came from Kingston upon Hull, and his siblings had no children. I became a councillor in 1975 just 11 months after arriving here. I took a seat from the Tories something no-one has been able to do for 38 years since we knocked the last of them off the ...
Mon 2nd
16:30
Mathew on Monday: why compromise is not a dirty word - lessons from Rob Jetten, D66, and Dutch polit...
British politics has developed a curious allergy to compromise. To concede ground is framed as weakness. To negotiate is to betray. To meet an opponent halfway is, we are told, to have no convictions at all. And yet, across the North Sea, one of Europe's most successful democracies quietly carries on proving the opposite. In the Netherlands, compromise is not a failure of politics. It is politics. At the heart of that tradition sits Democrats 66 (D66), the liberal, pro-European party founded on the belief that democracy works best when it is open, plural, and willing to adapt. Under the ...
These allegations are incredibly serious, it is now only right that the police investigate Peter Mandelson for potential misconduct in public office. [image or embed] — Ed Davey (@eddavey.libdems.org.uk) 2 February 2026 at 15:00 Ed Davey is right: These allegations are incredibly serious, it is now only right that the police investigate Peter Mandelson for potential misconduct in public office. The prime minister, it seems, has just announced a Cabinet Office inquiry into the affair, but there's a danger that it will just be good chaps investigating other good chaps and end up being seen as a whitewash. So let's ...
Mon 2nd
14:45Christine Jardine: With Jim Wallace's death, it feels like we have lost part of our conscience
In her Scotsman column this week, Christine Jardine has made many of us in Scotland cry. She wrote about Jim Wallace, about meeting him as a young reporter and then as a fellow parliamentarian. I first met Jim Wallace in 1992 when I was a journalist with no political allegiance, and he had just become Scottish Liberal Democrat leader. I remember telling my husband and colleagues that he seemed like a decent bloke, and in some ways too 'nice' for politics. That came back to me on Thursday when I learned of his death. Because in truth, that first impression ...
The new annual report of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, UK Poverty 2026, makes disturbing reading. Poverty was suffered by 21% of the population in 2023-4, more than 14 million people: the rate of 20-22% had been steady throughout the previous decade. The average person in poverty had an income 29% below the poverty line of 60% of average income. But in its latest measurement, in 2023-4, the JRF found that 6.8 million people, almost half of those living in poverty, were in very deep poverty, with an average income an appalling 59% below the poverty line. This is the highest ...
Another walk with John Rogers: This East London walk takes is into the surprising hidden corners of the London Borough of Hackney. Our urban stroll explores the historic areas of Shacklewell and De Beauvoir Town, both with rich and fascinating histories. Starting on Mare Street we follow Amhurst Road to Shacklewell Lane and the site of Shacklewell House which had been an important country house from at least the 16th century. We then take a look at the Somerford Grove Estate designed by Frederick Gibberd in the late 1940s and winner of a prize at the Festival of Britain of ...
The Independent carries an article by Dani Madrid-Morales, which argues that Keir Starmer's visit to China will prompt intense debate about the extent to which Beijing is a political threat as well as an economic rival - and whether the UK is using the tools it has to counter China's growing power around the world. The writer suggests that the west is failing in its use of media as a soft power device to resist China's success in spreading its critical narratives about the West across Africa, the fastest-growing continent where one in four of the world's population will live ...
Gateshead Lib Dem Leader, Councillor Ron Beadle, has turned 60. To celebrate, he had a birthday party at the Valley Farm restaurant on the Team Valley. A ridiculously large meal followed by birthday cake. Lots of people there. It was good to see Frank Hindle. He had been the leader of the Lib Dem group before me, a role from which he stepped down in 2015. Yes, eleven years ago! How
Yesterday was Saturday. And that means it was another action day. This time it was in Saltwell. I was paired up with a member from Chowdene and the two of us together delivered 400 Focuses. She then went back to HQ to get another patch to deliver. Alas, I headed home. I had two more Focuses to write.
Often in Liberal circles, the question comes up as to Prime Ministers we should claim the legacy of; this is understandable considering the Party hasn't had a PM since 1922, over a century ago now. Usually the chief candidate for this position is Winston Churchill, who was a key player in the Liberal Governments of 1906-1922, and whose stint as Conservative Prime Minister during World War 2 is so ingrained in British memory that I don't even have to write anything about it for you to understand my point. Churchill consistently topped most rankings among academics, the public, and journalists ...
Here's an interesting passage from Chris Given-Wilson in a recent London Review of Books: There are several earlier references, dating back at least to the early 14th century, to red and white roses being used occasionally as insignia by the families later associated with the Lancastrian and Yorkist causes, but it was not until Shakespeare picked up on the idea in Henry VI Part I... that it entered the popular imagination. ... It was another two hundred years before Walter Scott's novel Anne of Geierstein, published in 1829, brought the idea of the 'wars of the White and Red Roses' ...
It's 1st February today so Ed Davey has written an article on the Lib Dem website in which he highlights this year's theme, science and innovation and looks at the Lib Dems' strong record in advancing the cause of LGBT+ rights. He said: This LGBT+ History Month we celebrate the contributions of LGBT+ people throughout history, reflect on the struggles they have faced and reaffirm our determination to make progress on equality. LGBT+ people have always existed. From artists, activists and athletes to scientists, innovators and pioneers, they have helped shape our country and our world, even when their sexuality ...
Ben Langmead (Photo: BBC) I'm a bit short of time today and only have a few minutes to put together my weekly round-up of political events. Consequently, my usual ramblings have been replaced by a few snippets in the "Cheers and Jeers" style I used a few years ago. It has been another eventful week in UK politics, including the now seemingly obligatory defections from the Conservatives to Reform. In addition to former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, Reform have also gained a councillor - Daniel Hampsey - in Argyll and Bute, where St Columba once landed in a small boat. ...
"What matters is not the books themselves, but the thinking they reward. They cultivate a taste for compression over depth, for transferable lessons over context, for confidence over uncertainty. They attract people who want the world to be legible in a handful of rules, who prefer inspiration to explanation, and who mistake momentum for understanding. Over time, this becomes a habit of mind: a way of approaching problems that privileges clarity and speed over patience and complexity."John Oxley fears British politics is suffering from Airport Book Brain. Rosalind KennyBirch looks at the way Finland counters fake news. "There is no ...
Imbolc. Candlemas. Nameless. Sunlight creeps back on fragile, tilted earth
I recently noticed the usual source for most pre-2005 Manifestos is noticeably missing the 1906 Liberal Manifesto; a speech delivered by Henry Campbell-Bannerman to his Constituents at Stirling Burghs ahead of the General Election and published in type form alongside other pamphlets relevant to the issues of the election. This is an important Manifesto in many ways, as it preceded the final Majority Liberal Government and cautiously outlines some of the tenents of 'New Liberalism' - better known today as Social Liberalism - which rejected the Classical Liberal ideas of Limited Government and instead argued that safeguarding freedoms required an ...
Christmas week ends on a downbeat note. I've never been convinced that it was a good idea for F&F (that's Freddie and Fiona - the old boy has taken to using abbreviations in his diary, but then why shouldn't he?) to buy a weekend cottage in Rutland; they were always likely to upset the locals. And as Lord Bonkers has often remarked of the Elves of Rockingham Forest, "you don't want to get on the wrong side of these fellows". Sunday Back to St Asquith's - I ought to get a season ticket what? - and then, after sherry with ...
Yesterday, we brought you Charles Dundas' Toast to the Lassies from the Edinburgh South Burns Supper. The reply below comes from Scottish Party Convener Jenni Lang. She mentions the "Naughty Table" which is a bit of a tradition started by me and a few friends about 15 years ago. We even brought our own sign to show where the most fun was to be had. Jim Wallace was doing the Immortal Memory that year and he started off saying "Ladies, gentleman, and, pretending to look at us disapprovingly, "the Table there." Jenni makes a lovely tribute to Jim, the man ...
"It's an unusual song construction. I'm still not sure which bit is the chorus. The title and main hook is in the verse, but the intro - before the main song crashes in - gives people just enough time to get on the dancefloor." That's what the Charlatans' singer and the songs co-writer Tim Burgess told the Guardian in 2021. He also explained one of the influences on its writing: "I was 21 or 22, but still had those powerful emotions. I was a big Byrds fan so the line 'Everyone's been burned before, everyone knows the pain' is a ...
Iran Two weeks ago, Donald Trump messaged the Iranian people and its leadership that the US was "locked and loaded" and ready to come to the aid of the demonstrators. This week he has despatched a "beautiful armada" to the region. Not to support the demonstrators. No, the objective has changed. He has sent the armada to force a deal on Iran's nuclear programme. This obviously means that Trump's attack on Iran's nuclear production facilities failed. At the time he said it was a "total success" that "annihilated" Iran's nuclear facilities. Surprise, surprise, Trump lied. But more importantly, he is ...
The Independent tells us that a damning report has found that Labour councillors made "vile" and "racist" remarks in a WhatsApp group chat that led to the sacking of the Labour minister who prompted the Gorton and Denton by-election. The paper says that fallout from the comments made in a group called "Trigger Me Timbers" last February saw Andrew Gwynne suspended from the Labour Party, after it emerged he wrote that he hoped a 72-year-old female constituent "croaks" before the next general election, after she dared to ask about her bins: Now, an independent report for Tameside Council by investigator ...