Remember Thomas Cromwell's final words in the wonderful Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light? "There is an abbey, Launde, in the heart of England. The air is always sweet there and it's quiet. A little heaven here on earth. And I think to myself: 'I'll live here one day, when all my work is done.'" Launde Abbey is in Leicestershire - in Harborough District, indeed - and though Cromwell didn't get to live there, his son did and is buried in the chapel. Today it is a Church of England retreat and conference centre. The BBC Radio Leicester's Secret ...
I've long had a fondness for one of Paul Simon's more obscure albums, One Trick Pony. This is a track from it.
"Conservatives have called Burnham's intervention 'dangerous and divisive', which could be interpreted as a denial that interference happened or just as a preference that it not be mentioned to protect delicate pro-Brexit sensibilities. Farage's feelings were certainly hurt. He called the prime minister a liar and described the whole thing as a 'Russia hoax'- the formula Donald Trump applied to well-substantiated allegations that his 2016 presidential campaign got a helping hand from Moscow."Rafael Behr says Brexiters can't cope with the fact that Putin cheered them on. Jack Dyson reveals how academy trusts try to justify the enormous salaries paid to ...
By now, many of us have become accustomed to the seemingly relentless escalations in the occupied West Bank. Almost daily, we hear of violent settler attacks against Palestinian communities, amid record levels of forced displacement, home demolitions, illegal outpost construction and arbitrary arrests. We must never accept this as normal, so consumed by the latest outrage that we lose sight of what these escalating, incremental developments amount to. For behind the daily violence and dispossession, Israel has been entrenching its control over Palestinian land, destroying the territorial basis for a two-state solution, piece by piece, until it is too late ...
The Independent reports that MI5 chief Sir Ken McCallum has confirmed that Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 Brexit referendum but judged the impact modest, warning that excessive focus on Russian trolls could amplify their influence. However, McCallum has cautioned against aiding Russian propaganda after Andy Burnham outlined Moscow's attempts to meddle in the 2016 Brexit referendum, warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin's online trolls would be "delighted" should the controversy surrounding the Prime Minister's statements continue: The spymaster verified that Russia targeted the vote, whilst simultaneously pointing out the "comparative unimpressiveness" of such operations. He added that Britain must ...
Geoff Marshall is our guide to a tube station that has three (count 'em) abandoned platforms. The exciting news is that one of them will soon to be brought back into use.
The only Conservative to gain seat for the party at the last general election is in danger of deselection, reports BBC News:Leicester East MP Shivani Raja has faced an attempt to block her standing as a candidate in the next general election. The Leicester Conservative Federation met at the end of September to vote on whether Raja would be selected to defend the seat she won in 2024. The BBC understand she narrowly lost the secret ballot and was not readopted. However, party officials have subsequently declared the meeting null and void, saying it was not properly constituted.So the drama ...
Tue 13th
15:59
'They were casting out demons': Scottish manager recalls attending exorcism with Gordon Brown to sig...
Embed from Getty Images"This one's a doozy. The lads have really given it 110 per cent today," remarked the clerk who brought me the judges' decision. And she was right. Congratulations to The Athletic on winning our Headline of the Day Award.
The BBC reported last Friday that Charlie Maynard, the MP for Witney, has called for a no confidence vote against Ed Davey. For me this has been a long time coming, as I have heard constant rumours circling about the wider Party losing faith in him, but for many this has been a devastating example of Party infighting which will do us little good in the long-term. However, an internal coup is nasty business for everyone involved, if you fail after launching one it can destroy your career, if you lose against one it is an embarrassing end-note to your ...
Euronews reports: Spain has a new name in the electoral race for 29 November: Miriam González Durántez announced on 10 October her candidacy for the general election at the head of Democracia21 (d21), a newly created party that will make its debut only in Madrid and Barcelona, with plans to expand across the country in future contests at the ballot box. You can read the full article here. * Newshound: bringing you the best Lib Dem commentary in print, on air or online.
Given how popular (and lengthy!) my list of Reform councillor departures after the May 2025 elections turned out to be, here is a new list, this time for councillors on principal authorities elected under the Reform banner on 7 May 2026, or in by-elections after that date, who have already departed the party for one reason or another. Jay Cooper, Sefton: declared "not welcome" by Nigel Farage following reports of him calling the Holocaust a hoax and then resigned from the party (May 2026). Stuart Prior, Essex: expelled by Reform and resigned as a councillor after "he was accused the ...
The Guardian reports that Chancellor John Healey has been warned by Britain's leading tax and spending experts that his budget risks being a "work of fiction" unless he sets out plans to cover £35bn in spending pressures. The paper says that as the war in the Middle East rattles the public finances, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has said that the damage from higher inflation meant the chancellor would need to either top up funds for his current government spending plans or impose deep real-terms cuts by the end of the decade: Against a febrile backdrop in the bond ...