Alan Garner talks about his life and writing career. This documentary was first shown by the BBC in June 1980, and first posted on this blog 10 years ago.
Here's something sad that I had missed: Jock Gallagher died in May of last year at the age of 87. I've not found an obituary for him, but there was a news report in the Daily Express. I knew Jock in the days when I helped with the production of the issue of Liberal Democrat News that was put together during the Liberal Democrat's autumn conference - one year I copped for all the desktop publishing work. My reward was that I got to chat to two other people who pitched in to help: Adrian Slade and Jock. I talked ...
Who can actually afford to take part in Liberal Democrat democracy? A conversation with Donna Harris about her campaigning on childcare got me thinking. Donna's work is fundamentally about removing barriers. Barriers that prevent women from participating fully in society, work and public life. It made me wonder whether we sometimes overlook the barriers within our own party. Because there is a slightly uncomfortable question we should be asking after Brighton 2026: Who actually gets to participate in Liberal Democrat democracy? The Liberal Democrats proudly say that conference is where the party makes its decisions. Every member has an equal ...
At conference this weekend, there was a rare - and welcome - moment of controversy in the hall. During Ed Davey's Q&A, journalist Carolyn Quinn asked for a show of hands. Should the Liberal Democrats continue supporting the triple lock pension? It was close. The triple lock survived the straw poll, but only narrowly. For a party which proudly introduced the triple lock, that tells us something. There is an appetite among Liberal Democrats for a serious conversation about intergenerational fairness. We should have it. The triple lock was the right policy for its time. When Liberal Democrats entered government ...
Whilst those in the media world and the Westminster bubble speculate about the future of our party leader, Ed Davey, Ed focused on what matters most – a plan to end the squeeze on middle-income earners, put hundreds of pounds back in the pocket of millions of people, and take ordinary workers out of paying the higher tax rate that was designed for stockbrokers. Ed announced that the Liberal Democrats would raise the tax-free personal allowance to £15,000 and increase the higher rate threshold from £50,270 to £56,000. He said that would mean taking two million more people out of ...
There were many things to support in the party strategy motion. It includes confident liberalism, modern campaigning, and reaching new communities. However, there is one notable exclusion. In fact, around five million notable exclusions: citizens abroad. The strategy talks about reaching out to all communities in our country. These five million people are not in the UK, but they are served by our democracy. I live in Switzerland now, having moved for a job. Yet decisions made in Westminster continue to affect my life. The starkest of those in recent years was of course Brexit. Many of the million British ...
Two weeks ago, I was relaxing in Spain on what I consider to be a well-deserved holiday, and I started thinking about my life and how I shared that with my parents and sister, with my children, and now with my grandchildren. I quickly concluded the holidays had been important points in the whole of my family life. I can vividly remember holidays in the Isle of Wight, Tenby, and the Lake District with my mum, dad, and sister. I remember playing with my oldest grandchild in the warm sea pool on Crete as we tried to catch the little ...
Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, argues that we must stop avoiding the subject of student finance if we are to win back younger voters. Margaret Hartmann reports that Trump's interference in the plans for his White House ballroom has produced a design that is a menace to public safety: "McCrery informed the White House that Trump's ballroom design did not meet fire safety codes, which require the majority of guests to be able to quickly exit through the main entrance during an emergency ... The architect also pointed out that alternative emergency exit routes out of ...
Some sheep yesterday. The Mirror wins our Headline of the Day Award. In an outbreak of judicial witticism, the judges suggested that Clarkson fell asleep before he had finished counting them.
We had a rare Wednesday council by-election this week, in the constituency of high-profile Conservative MP Katie Lam. It's a multi-member ward where the Conservatives have topped the poll twice in a row, but the seat up in the by-election had been held by the Tunbridge Wells Alliance. Not any more though: [IMG: 🔔] Cranbrook, Sissinghurst & Frittenden, Tunbridge Wells BCLiberal Democrat GAIN from Tunbridge Wells Alliance [IMG: 🔶] LDM – 697, 37.4% (+22.9) [IMG: 🔵] CON – 590, 31.6% (-14.6) [IMG: âž¡] RFM – 392, 21.0% (-4.4) [IMG: 🟢] GRN – 188, 10.0% (-3.9)Congratulations to Cllr Harry Wormington and ...
Ed Davey and the Liberal Democrats calling on the UK to rejoin the European Single Market at their recent conference, now a former Labour heavyweight has joined in to put pressure on Andy Burnham to reverse the insidious impact of Brexit on the economy and social policy. The Mirror reports that former Foreign Secretary, David Miliband has said Brexit was a "unilateral declaration of political impotence" adding that he has called on Andy Burnham to reverse the decision to leave the EU. The paper adds that Miliband said that Brexit has reduced the UK to "a bobbing cork in the ...
I remember Trevor Bailey talking about Ken Farnes, but I don't think I've ever seen film of him before today. Farnes stood 6 feet, five inches tall, which made him a giant in the 1930s. In that decade he took 690 wickets at 21.45 for Essex and Cambridge University. He also played 15 tests for England between 1934 and 1939, taking 60 wickets at 28.64. Cricket Web has a good article about him, and describes his last days: Farnes joined the RAF and trained as a pilot, largely in Canada, and returned to the UK in 1941 where he was ...
The Teme at Leintwardine A Shropshire campaigner says the River Teme should be granted legal rights because it has become "unwell". Inspired by the way the River Wye has become the first river in the UK to be given cross-border rights covering it from source to sea, Sam Jones has started a petition which has so far been signed by more than a thousand people. Sam Jones told BBC News: "Over the years I've seen decline. I've been a swimmer, kayaked in the past, I'm an angler... you notice things around you. "It's 30 years since it's been designated a ...
Creep glasses and jokes at Robert Jenrick's expense were high on the agenda for Max Wilkinson in his speech to Conference. I am used to being disappointed by Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesperson's speeches. I'd rather a more positive message on immigration but this was better than we have had in recent times. I was glad to see him prioritise tackling violence against women and girls. While I had been worried about the packaging of the campaign about smart glasses,it's an important issue to tackle. Anna Sabine and Wera Hobhouse's amendment at Conference called for it to be very clear ...
In 2025, a think-tank director pressed several volumes on Ted Heath, along with Ian Gilmour and Mark Garnett's Whatever Happened to the Tories?, into my hands. That led to a lethal intellectual falling-out with the Conservatives, and then to a thesis: the centre ought to unite. I heeded the call and joined the Liberal Democrats. But such a project cannot live on tactical votes. It requires a serious occupation of the Tonbridge Tory. To do that, you need representatives. Voters can be spoken to in public. Ground is held by people. That means a garrison. Some will want to slot ...
Ahead of Ed Davey's conference speech, the Liberal Democrats launched their cost-of-transport campaign. With households facing higher costs from the conflict in Iran, the party wants an emergency three-month package: a 10p cut in fuel duty, cheaper rail and bus fares, and lower EV charging costs. The bill is around £2 billion, funded from the extra revenue higher fuel prices generate. There is a clear case for helping people through a sudden shock. But a party that has long argued for tackling climate change should ask a bigger question: are fuel-duty cuts really the best way to help people in ...
Suella Braverman's recent statement on making hymn singing mandatory in English schools shows just how out of touch Reform is with modern British society. Reform UK's proposed "patriotic curriculum," explicitly rooted in Christianity, raises a basic question: what does it mean to be British today? Christianity is central to Britain's history and cultural inheritance, shaping its institutions, architecture, literature, music and traditions. Children should learn about that heritage. But teaching Christianity's role in national life is different from requiring children to take part in Christian practice. That is what the proposal would do: every school would have to make pupils ...
This letter from me appears in the latest Journal of Liberal History. Oscar-winning American director Joseph Strick also made his mark on British politics with a film for the BBC about the 1966 general election, focusing just on the heckling of politicians. An American unused to culture of heckling at public election meetings, he toured the country with his own film crew to capture what was a major part of election campaigning in a political era that had only started adjusting to the impact of TV. Mass public meetings were still a central part of a politician's campaign diary – ...
I have already commented here on the summit of nationalist leaders nine days ago in Cardiff and the mixed messages it sent about Plaid Cymru's prioritites in government. In doing so, I quoted Wales-on-Line's political editor, Ruth Mosalski, who said that throughout the Senedd campaign the First Minister claimed that his first goal was to show people what a Plaid government can do but, she continued, with the jury still out on what his government has actually achieved on the key issues of health, education, and the cost of living, he was now putting the divisive topic of independence front ...
Here's the tally of seats changing hands in principal authority council by-elections held between the May 2026 and the May 2027 local elections: Con Lab Lib Dem Green Reform SNP Plaid Ind/ Other Net Con [11] +1 (+1/0) +1 (+3/-2) -2 (+1/-3) -6 (+3/-9) -1 (0/-1) – +2 (+3/-1) -5 Lab -1 (0/-1) [11] -1 (0/-1) 0 (+3/-3) -4 (+4/-8) +1 (+1/0) – 0 (+1/-1) -5 Lib Dem -1 (+2/-3) +1 (+1/0) [17] +1 (+1/0) +2 (+2/0) -1 (0/-1) – +2 (+2/0) +4 Grn +2 (+3/-1) 0 (+3/-3) -1 (0/-1) [7] – +1 (+1/0) – – +2 Ref +6 (+9/-3) ...
On Monday, Conference debated our motion "Restoring Trans Rights", and the motion passed overwhelmingly. As Chair of LGBT+ Liberal Democrats, I'm proud of that – proud of everyone who put the work in, proud of the people who got up and spoke, and proud that our party said clearly, again, that it stands with trans people. But there is one thing I want us to carry forward from that debate. We win the argument by making it. We win the vote by voting for it. We do not need to win it by shouting anyone down. There will always be ...
I am surprised to see Lord B. inviting a Labour peer to lunch at the Hall. Time was, he would have hunted him with hounds over the hills of High Leicestershire. With this entry, our week at Bonkers Hall comes to a close. Don't forget to download the latest issue of Liberator from the magazine's website. Sunday Cook is pleased I am being "economical - like they are in the church sometimes" by inviting a Labour peer over for lunch. "You must be worried about that Burnham fellow," I remark to him as he fields the gravy boat. "Starmer always ...
I always find it odd that, when we have had hundreds of Lib Dems discussing policy for days, we then have the leader announcing a major new policy in his speech, just as everyone's about to go out the door. In Spring it was a new British nuke, which we've mercifully not heard much about since. However the tax cut policy announced yesterday might have more longevity. Basically we are going back to one of the really popular ideas from the coalition years, and raising the threshold at which you pay tax to £15,000. This is the idea initially brought ...