When I blogged about the Hulmes Ferry a couple of years ago, I discovered that the Manchester Ship Canal is a canalisation of the lower reaches of the River Irwell. This video sets out to find what remains of those lower reaches between Salford and the Mersey at Eastham.
The funeral of Jim Wallace- Baron Wallace of Tankerness - took place earlier today at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall. Eulogies were given by Liam McArthur and Alasdair Carmichael. Last week MSPs from all parties paid their tributes to him as a motion of condolence was moved at Holyrood. The presiding officer, Alison Johnstone, said: This is my 27th year in the Scottish Parliament, and I know that, without Jim Wallace, Parliament would be a different place - a lesser one. Jim lived our parliamentary values of wisdom, integrity, justice and compassion, which were constantly demonstrated through his incredible career. His ...
Tue 10th
11:13
Llama drama! "Hero" rescue llamas who narrowly escaped death stop offender fleeing from police in De...
Derbyshire Times wins our Headline of the Day Award by a distance with its tale of crime-fighting llamas. The judges have asked me to point out that my photograph shows alpacas, who would probably have pointed the offender on his way after asking him to admire their hairdos.
This is the reason I wasn't at the Gateshead Lib Dem action day on Sunday. I was at a Lib Dem training session instead. It wasn't a long trip for me to get to the meeting. It was at Sunniside Social Club which is only a few minutes' walk from my house. A useful day for me to dust down some of my campaigning skills and learn new ones.There were inevitable discussions about the political
UPDATE: A brief reflection on the service that took place earlier today. If you knew and admired Jim, and haven't seen it, it will be up for a while here. I'm not going to tell you too much about it, but there were some stories that illustrate Jim perfectly, from the things he was excellent at, grace and kindness being mentioned a lot, to the things he was less good at. It sounds like he might have been less good at DIY than I am and that's saying something. And there are some things you might be surprised to learn. ...
Who would have thought that Starmer's government could descend to the sort of chaos its predecessor suffered? The difference appears to be that the Tories know how to commit regicide, whereas Labour are rank amateurs. The Independent reports that Keir Starmer is clinging on to power with the support of key cabinet figures - even after being rocked by the departure of a second key aide, and public demands for his resignation by Labour's own leader in Scotland. The paper says that the prime minister is supported by colleagues, including former deputy Angela Rayner, when previously loyal Anas Sarwar urged ...
Twenty years ago today, I and many many Lib Dems took to the streets of Dunfermline at the crack of dawn to deliver our Good Mornings. We were quietly hopeful that we would be able to "Send Willie to Westminster" which was a bit of a miracle given the pickle the party found itself in at the time. Our leader Charles Kennedy had just resigned after a bit of a psychodrama and many of us felt pretty bloody annoyed about that. During the by-election campaign itself, there were multiple tabloid stories about potential replacements. But when we are under the ...
The past week has shown British politics and the appetites of the British public as mirrored by the media in a shameful light. Acres and acres on the antics of the rich elite, including a prince of the blood, have flooded the prints and airwaves, with very little on the conditions that enable that elite to prance around ignoring common decency and even less on the policies that might put those conditions right. The Israeli government and its IDF continue to kill Palestinians in Gaza and steal the lands and interfere with the liberties of residents of the West Bank: ...
Mon 9th
17:59Nouvelle Vague - The blog post does not describe the film: the film bends towards the blog post
I saw Nouvelle Vague at the Phoenix in Leicester this afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed it. The film tells the story of the shooting of Jean-Luc Godard's first feature Au Bout de Souffle in 1959 and recreates a whole era: the black-and-white cinematography, the fashion, the music. It manages both to laugh at and to laugh with Godard's pretensions and eccentricities, making him a compelling figure despite everything. Do not be surprised if you find me wearing dark glasses, smoking Gitanes and issuing gnomic, Godardesque pronouncements. The blog post does not describe the film: the film bends towards the blog post. ...
Watching the unfolding political drama in Westminster over recent days, you could be forgiven for wondering if the British public have been dropped into an episode of 'Yes, Prime Minister' rather than living real lives under a Labour government. Instead of focusing on the pressing challenges facing everyday Britons – from the cost of living to the NHS crisis – the spotlight has been firmly fixed on internal Labour turmoil, bitter factional rows and the fate of its own leadership. The resignation on Sunday of Sir Keir Starmer's Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney, amid the controversy over Peter Mandelson's appointment ...
There's too much sadness around at the moment. We are losing too many good people. I was really sad to see this morning that former Scottish Health Secretary Jeane Freeman had died. She had that role during the pandemic and had also been a Special Adviser to Labour First Minster Jack McConnell. I remember saying to her when I congratulated her on her appointment that it was clear that Nicola Sturgeon was giving her most difficult job to her most competent Minister. She had previously been responsible for setting up Social Security Scotland which she did pretty well. I was ...
[IMG: Steam train on the coast at Dawlish] The train line along the coast through Dawlish. Photo credit: Steam at Dawlish by Stuart Wilding is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0. Congratulations to Pat Hackett, a former Labour council leader who has just been elected unopposed in a by-election for Dawlish Town Council. The Mid-Devon Advertiser reports: Pat, who moved to Dawlish a few years ago, brings with him a distinguished political background as a former leader of Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council, where he led a minority Labour administration, and also as a former Mayor of The Wirral. He now takes the ...
This recent cross-party weekend organised by the Local Government Association brought together councillors from the Liberal Democrats, Labour and Conservative groups from across the country. While it was encouraging to see such a broad geographic spread, it was disappointing that no other parties were represented and that the South of England was noticeably under-represented. Even so, the diversity of experience in the room made for a rich and thoughtful programme. The theme of the weekend was Leading with Pride — and how that sits alongside both your role as a councillor and your identity as a member of the LGBT+ ...
Over the weekend, Gateshead Lib Dems held another two action days, this time in Birtley South and Birtley North and Lamesley wards. Sadly, I was unable to attend. Instead, on Saturday I was tied up printing 25,000 address labels for our next mailing to voters. On Sunday I was at a training event. The two Birtley wards are interesting as far as the May local elections are concerned. Birtley South
Political activists are treated by their leaders as a stage army to be marched on and berated when they want to show the media how tough they are. I wrote that in a recent article for Lion & Unicorn. It strikes me that Keir Starmer and the people around him now treat Labour voters in much the same way. The views reported in this tweet from yesterday afternoon shows what I have in mind. Because Net Zero and Rejoin are both popular with Labour voters. Maybe the disappearance of Morgan McSweeney will see a change, but Starmer has little background ...
Julia Baird says there are many questions that the people in Epstein's web of connections have never answered, but this one perplexes her most: "Why is it that so many of Epstein's circle of male friends - inner, outer, bestie, acquaintance - have never decried or confessed to seeing something suspicious or concerning in his conduct or environment, while the few women who have spoken, thought it was blatantly obvious he was an 'abhorrent' creep?" "For decades, Mandelson was both an irritant for the press and a reliable source of leaks, gossip, and backbiting. The part missing from many of ...
Here is a list of the councillors which Reform has shed from the May 2025 local elections and from those elections in by-elections since. The latest update is the departure of Michael Ramage in County Durham. Donna Edmunds (Shropshire, suspended by Reform UK and then quit the party) Luke Shingler (Warwickshire, now an independent) Desmond Clarke (Nottinghamshire, resigned as councillor) Andrew Kilburn (Durham, resigned as a councillor) Wayne Titley (Staffordshire, resigned as a councillor) Mark Broadhurst (Doncaster, expelled by Reform) Adam Smith (West Northamptonshire, suspended by Reform and then expelled) John Bailey (Durham, resigned as a councillor) Daniel Taylor (Kent, ...
Where exact;y does the leader of Reform UK in Wales live and will he be eligible to stand for the Senedd? Nation Cymru claims that the Farage's parachutist hasn't moved back to his home town in the Valleys, but has bought a £1m house near Bath. They say that Dan Thomas, the former Conservative leader of Barnet council in London, was introduced on February 5 by Nigel Farage as his handpicked leader in Wales but there is speculation has as to whether the claim that he is living in Islwyn is correct: Thomas resigned at the end of last year ...