Andytoknow introduces us to New Holland, a railway village on the south bank of the Humber, and in particular to New Holland Pier station, where trains met the ferry that made the crossing to and from Hull.
Embed from Getty ImagesI missed seeing the Old Etonian David Goodhart as one of the leading Trots on campus at York by a couple of years, but time moves on. Having spent the Blair years in very Blairite jobs, he is now an increasingly right-wing social and political commentator. He took part in the latest edition of BBC Radio 4's Free Thinking last week, and his award-winning effort came in a contribution bemoaning the number of social science and humanities academics that begins at 21:36: "What is 40 percent of 250,000? It's more than 100,000."Goodhart also appeared convinced that Jean ...
Canada and Europe Liberal Democrats around the world cheered when Mark Carney and Ursula Von der Leyen announced that Canada would become an associate member of the European Union. It was the first substantive circle in Carney's Venn Diagram diplomacy. And it made sense. Canada is a liberal democracy governed by the rule of law, international norms and respect for human rights and individual liberties. The EU is the same. The problem is that Europe is in danger of changing dramatically. The populist right is on the rise across Europe and it is especially dangerous on Europe's two key states—nuclear ...
Embed from Getty ImagesYesterday evening Christine Jardine, the Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West, published a statement saying she would not be the party's candidate in the seat next time. Liberal Democrat Voice published the full text: I have written to my local party to let them know I shall not be standing as the Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate for Edinburgh West at the next election, following the recent decision by some of the local party. I have informed them that although I am able to request a ballot of the membership, it is with a heavy heart I have ...
As Lord Bonkers mentioned, or tried to mention, this track in his foreword to the latest Liberator Songbook, I thought I would investigate a little. Olivia Rodrigo turns out to have followed the well-worn path from Disney child star to adult performer. Fairly or not, that always raises questions about whether the artist has that intangible quality, "authenticity". Even Steve Marriott worried that his evenings on stage as the Dodger in Oliver! somehow counted against him as an adult. But Rodrigo co-wrote Brutal when she was 17 and is has said she is more interested in being a songwriter than ...
[IMG: Donna Harris speaking at Autumn Conference 2026] I've just about emerged from the mayhem of Brighton — and I'm most definitely ready for a break! But now I've had a chance to catch my breath, it has really struck me just how much Lib Dem Women, the official organisation representing women in the Lib Dems, achieved over the course of conference. From motions and amendments to our childcare campaign, new bursaries, fringes, campaigning and celebrating the achievements of women in our party, the voice and representation of women was truly amplified throughout conference. And I'm incredibly proud of what ...
The latest edition of my email newsletter about work in Parliament, A Lord's Eye View, 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: No records, no notice: the Home Office's hidden way of changing immigration rules [IMG: The Home Office in Westminster] The Home Office in Westminster. This Marsham Street photograph is by Steve Cadman and used under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license. The Home Secretary has the power to alter rules over who is allowed ...
Nation Cymru reports that Reform UK's Newport and Islwyn branch has been mocked for using an AI-generated "slop" advert featuring an English transporter bridge to urge locals to stand as candidates in the upcoming council elections. The website says that the AI image shared on Facebook called for "passionate and committed" Reform UK supporters in Newport to "step forward" and become a candidate at the 2027 council elections. However, instead of using an image of Newport's iconic Transporter Bridge, the advertisement featured Middlesborough's famous Tees Transporter Bridge which connects the industrial town on the south bank of the River Tees ...
Christine Jardine MP (Photo: The Scotsman) Christine Jardine, the Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West has confirmed she will not stand as a Liberal Democrat at the next General Election. This is what Christine has shared on her social media channels: Note that she says "I'm said I won't be there". The decision is clearly not one she wanted to make. In a fuller statement, she says: "I have written to my local party to let them know I shall not be standing as the Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate for Edinburgh West at the next election, following the recent decision ...
I told the judges they needed a holiday and much good it did. So, through gritted teeth... Congratulations to the Guardian for winning our Headline of the Day Award.
The Edinburgh Reporter reports that Edinburgh West MP Christine Jardine is not going to be standing at the next Westminster general election: Ms Jardine, who won the seat back from the SNP in 2017 and has a majority of 16,470, said that it had been a challenging few weeks and a difficult decision, but that she felt it was the best thing to do for the party. She said to The Edinburgh Reporter: "I've got my staff to think about. I think it's important that they know what I'm thinking and what the future potentially holds. What I would have ...
[IMG: Official portrait of Christine Jardine @HouseofCommons/Roger Harris] Many of our readers will be very sad to see that Christine Jardine MP will not fight the next election. In a statement tongiht she said: "I have written to my local party to let them know I shall not be standing as the Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate for Edinburgh West at the next election, following the recent decision by some of the local party. I have informed them that although I am able to request a ballot of the membership, it is with a heavy heart I have decided not to ...
Daniel Thomas has been charged with criminal damage and failing to disclose the PIN for his phone, so far, at least, disappointing those who hoped he would be charged with piracy. I take an interest in such matters because a relative of mine was one of five men charged with piracy in 1894. These was not, as I have been given to claiming, the last prosecutions for piracy in Britain, because five Grimsby trawlermen were convicted under the Piracy Act as recently as 1966. Still, the story of the five Tollesbury men charged with piracy, my relative Stephen Appleton among ...
A press release from King's College London brought the news last week: The Lib Dems are the party most liked by their political rivals, according to a new study published ahead of the party's annual conference in Brighton. The research, by the Policy Institute at King's College London, finds rival parties' supporters rate their warmth towards Lib Dem voters at 39 out of 100 - four points higher than Labour voters, who rank second, with 35.1 Reform UK supporters are viewed most coldly by their rivals, with a rating of 20. The Lib Dems are also seen by their opponents ...
Helen Morgan MP (Photo: Shropshire Live) Unsurprisingly, following our party conference, I have a few cheers to offer this week. Cheers to Helen Morgan MP for keeping maternity safety on the agenda. On 21 September, the party published its analysis of rising serious childbirth injuries and called for staffing, training and resources to improve care. Cheers to Tim Farronfor putting water company reform back in the spotlight. The party set out plans aimed at making water companies answer to billpayers and tackling the close relationship between the industry and its regulators. Cheers to Lib Dem members for backing a new ...
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: Get the books As well as covering some books in the podcast, we also mention others in the newsletter's bonus content. You can browse all the books mentioned and get them for yourself – including The File, as discussed in this edition of the podcast – via my Bookshop.org page (affiliate link). The Lives of Others ...
"Watching him involved engaging a kind of cognitive dissonance: this desperate, thin man was the same person as a sweet 6-year-old saying he wanted to learn about the moon; a handsome 20-year-old studying Physics in Oxford flirting with the camera; a 48-year-old who had realised that the research he was still passionate about had hit a dead end."Jude Rogers on 70 Up. Ferdinand Mount has no truck with the idea that Britain has always welcomed refugees: "The usual narrative of the Peasants' Revolt describes John Ball and Wat Tyler's march to London, Ball's sermon at Blackheath ('When Adam delved and ...
Donald Trump met Xi Jinping this week. Little of substance was agreed. But the meeting itself was of considerable substance. The symbols of protocol send powerful messages. Where people meet. The colour of the carpet. The body language and the strength of the hand clasp and the sincerity of the smile can set a diplomatic agenda for years to come. The Xi-Trump Summit was all about diplomatic signals. Trump's messages were clear from the red carpet to the flyover to the state banquet, he was telling Xi: We respect you. We need you. Xi, on the other hand, arrived knowing ...
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 Opinium 17% (-1) 28% (+1) 10% (nc) 10% (-1) 24% (nc) 4% (vs Ref) 23-25/9 GB BMG 20% (+2) ...
Fans of the BBC's Poldark know all about Cornwall's stories of smugglers and pirates, but Gower has its fair share of stories as well. As the Visit Swansea Bay site says. the peninsula - with its hidden coves and bays, towering cliffs and stormy seas - could well have been designed with rogues, brigands, illicit cargoes and maritime mayhem in mind: During smuggling's 18th- and 19th-century heyday, seemingly sleepy Gower was a smugglers' hotbed. Local kingpins operated with near-impunity, employing hundreds of people and running rings around overstretched customs authorities. Those days may be long gone, but some things haven't ...