We should publicly blame the Conservative Party for its role in ousting Tim Davie as the BBC's Director-General, and for President Donald Trump's $10bn lawsuit. The Party has insufficient grounds for `looking the other way'. Our Party Leader Ed Davey's `Guardian' article of 10 November was superb. His demand that Sir Robbie Gibb resign from the BBC Board was well focused. Even after Gibb had been exposed to many people who didn't realise his power within the BBC, shining the spotlight on him was right. I have been monitoring Gibb for the last couple of years, after my attention had ...
Here's the YouTube blurb for this film: The Roding is London's largest forgotten river. Out on the eastern fringe of the city, it endures every modern indignity: scythed by motorways and concrete bridges; choked with sewage and rubbish; canalised, fly-tipped, retail-parked, thickened with the polluted slime of London clay. It is a forbidding place to call home. Yet in 2017 that is what the environmental barrister, Paul Powlesland, set out to do. Embarking on a hair-raising journey up the Thames on a tiny narrowboat (his propeller nearly fell off on route) he made it to the mouth of the Roding, ...
Sat 20th
18:03
Ludlow market stallholder spends donkey's years raising £190,000 for equine charity - selling ...
Our Headline of the Day Award goes to one of its regular recipients: the Shropshire Star. This gives me an excuse for linking to one of my favourite stories from last year - the one about the pet donkey who strayed from home and was later found living as the head of a herd of elk.
Welcome 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% (nc) 14% (nc) 11% (-1) 17% (-1) 33% (+3) -19% (4th, vs Ref) 17/12 GB ...
We often say we care about lived experience, and that is true. We talk clearly about housing, childcare and benefits. In some areas, we have led the way with strong examples and practical policies. Liberal Democrat councils are building new council homes. We pushed to end the two-child benefit cap. In government, we raised the personal tax allowance, the last significant rise before it was frozen. But when it comes to the economy, our message still stops short of what many people want to hear. And this hurts us when campaigning, especially against the Greens and Reform who are prepared ...
[IMG: Louis Adam] Louis Adam has posted on Facebook: I'm really excited to have been selected as the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Kenilworth & Southam. This means I will be the Liberal Democrat on the ballot at the next General Election in our area! I will be working really hard to speak to residents across the whole constituency, to find out what issues matter to you and what change is needed. People deserve to be listened to and to feel represented. I believe we can have a Liberal Democrat MP here, as a strong local voice for a fair and ...
One Parent Families Scotland Dundee's Childcare Connector Service can help support lone parents to find flexible and affordable childcare that fits around education, training, or work. Get information on financial support and funded childcare hours Connect with trusted local childcare providers Receive one-to-one advice on affordable childcare options Find out more by e-mailing dundee@opfs.org.uk
One of the highlights early on in my term as Lord Mayor of Swansea was the celebration of the 100 years since John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown made the first ever transatlantic flight. The RAF commemorated the occasion with an exhibition in Swansea Museum and a very swanky dinner, which I wrote about on my Mayoral blog, here. As Wikipedia recalls, together with John Alcock, Arthur Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in June 1919. The two men flew a modified First World War Vickers Vimy bomber from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Connemara, County Galway, Ireland. The ...
Fri 19th
18:10George Dobell: We're losing in Australia because of the way cricket is organised in England
George Dobell argues that England have not been competitive in Australia because the domestic cricket season here is now geared to making a quick buck rather than producing test players. He mentions Ashley Giles's comments after our Ashes defeat four years ago - you can read them in a Guardian report from the time: "Unless we look at more systemic change, a collective responsibility and collective solutions, we can make whatever changes we want - you can change me, the head coach, the captain - but we're only setting up future leaders for failure. That's all we're doing. We're only ...
This week, there were five principal council by-elections. All of this week's contests were in England, stretching from Blackpool, where the Christmas season is marked by the glow of the famous Illuminations, down to the Cornish coast at Newquay, and across to the eastern edge of the country at Lowestoft. We start on the south bank of the River Ribble in Penwortham. We held this seat, pushed our vote share up and left Reform a long way behind. With Preston just over the bridge, and with us as the official opposition there, this is an area where visible local work ...
"Almost a quarter of pupils say they 'never' feel safe or 'only on some days'. ... Half of all secondary school pupils say they 'only sometimes' or 'never' enjoy school, and parents aren't always aware - they underestimate this figure by a factor of three."Cara Cinnamon on the Department for Education's newly published pupil experience data. Prem Sikka states the bleeding obvious - to tackle child poverty the government must deal with parental poverty - but isn't it rare to see it stated? Is your car journey suspicious? Police forces are trialling AI technology that enables them to identify and ...
Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year Once again, we end a year with more Liberal Democrat councillors than at the start, with more Lib Dem council leaders than at the start and with a greater spread of Lib Dem candidates across the country outside target wards. Both in the areas where we can most immediately win, and across the country more broadly in terms of candidates, canvassing and delivery, we've taken big steps forward. We have now made net gains in the May rounds of local elections seven times in a row, the best winning streak in our party's ...
Five principal authority council by-elections this week to round off the 2025 contests. Good to see the year end with a full slate of Lib Dem candidates, one up on the last time these seats were contested. [IMG: Clare Burton-Johnson council by-election leaflet 2025] Broad Oak (South Ribble) Council By-Election Result: [IMG: 🔶] LDM: 65.9% (+0.4) [IMG: âž¡] RFM: 21.4% (New) [IMG: 🌳] CON: 7.7% (-9.5) [IMG: 🌹] LAB: 5.0% (-12.2)Liberal Democrat HOLD.Changes w/ 2023. — Election Maps UK (@electionmaps.uk) 2025-12-19T00:35:33.131Z The Lib Dem here was Chris Thomas – thank you. For what all this means for the running total ...
From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee : From Clay to Kiln - Celebrating the Evolution of Ceramics at DJCAD Lamb Gallery, Tower Building, University of Dundee Now on and until 30th January 2026 (Open Monday-Friday, closed for Christmas 22nd December - 2nd January) From Clay to Kiln brings together pieces from the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design collection along with key works from recent graduates whose practices have shaped - and continue to shape - the history and legacy of ceramics at DJCAD. The exhibition has been curated by recent DJCAD graduates ...
Labour have never been natural democrats in my opinion and that has once more been borne out by their record in office since the last general election. They are in the process of restricting the right of people to demonstrate, proscribing protest groups like Palestine Action, proposing a crackdown on what demonstrators can chant, ramping up the use of facial recognition, introducing compulsory ID cards, and doing away with jury trials. Now, as the BBC reports, elections in some local councils are facing further delays, amid an escalating blame game over Labour's planned overhaul of local government in England. The ...