Abdul El-Sayed captained the University of Oxford lacrosse teamEmbed from Getty ImagesLovers of trivia will know that Kris Kristofferson won a boxing Blue for Oxford, but our Trivia Desk has news of another American Rhodes Scholar who represented the university at sport. It comes from England Lacrosse: Former University of Oxford Lacrosse Club defender and men's captain Abdul El-Sayed has become the first Muslim-American, first Egyptian-American, and surely first Oxford Men's Lacrosse Club alumni elected to the United States Senate after victory in the mid-term elections on Tuesday. This is definitely our Trivial Fact of the Day. (more) |
The Future of this Blog.This probably gets too personal at points so apologies for that, but I've decided to keep it rather than trim it out as I usually do, so if you aren't ready for a discussion of my, frankly not brilliant, mental health, maybe do skip it. Anyway. If you haven't noticed by now, I'm pretty bad at maintaining this blog. When I started just over a year ago I had a pretty decent output for maybe the first two months and then dropped off pretty significantly. Part of this was just life, we all have one, (unless we die, but then ... (more) |
It's Wednesday so it must be Much WenlockTuesday was Ellesmere. But this is Wednesday, so it must be Much Wenlock. I spent much of my time there enjoying the Abbey grounds, but here are some photos I took in the town. The half-timbered house above is the one where wartime evacuees are supposed to have come down to breakfast on their first morning and demanded to know who the children in strange clothes they'd been playing with were. (more) |
Money can't buy you love (or votes it would appear!)Apart from the absolutely incredible swing to the Democrats which we saw in the midterm elections in the USA last week one other fact absolutely stunned me when I read on the website of one of the respected national newspapers of America the fact that $9.6 billion had been spent by all the parties put together on the election campaigns. This sum which is roughly £8 billion is almost infinitesimally greater than is spent by all the parties put together in the whole of the United Kingdom at a general election. Proportionately, given the number of voters the UK would ... (more) |
ALDC by-election report - 5 NovemberALDC by-election report - 5 November 2026 This week there was just one principal authority by-election. The Liberal Democrats were defending the seat of Penn Hill on Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council. An eight-way contest in a seat that was Conservative until 2023, in which all major parties stood, makes a useful test of how our councillors in power are holding up against both a Conservative comeback and the challenge from Reform UK. The answer in BCP was emphatic! Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, Penn Hill - 5 November 2026 The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Liberal Democrat councillor ... (more) |
Tom Arms' World ReviewIsrael The Arab parties within Israel are now the kingmakers in the country's parliament. They have power, but the tale of the Israeli Palestinians has been a long and bitter battle to deny them representation. For the first 18 years of modern Israel's existence, the Palestinians remaining in the new state's borders were subject to military rule. Villages were razed. Palestinians were penned in camps behind barbed wire. There were sporadic massacres. Gradually, however, the Palestinians clawed back their rights and they learned to use those rights to protect and advance their cause. Rather than fight the system they decided ... (more) |
Madra Salach: Ribbon FactoryMadra Salach - Dirty Dog in English - are a contemporary Irish folk band and Ribbon Factory, released as a single last month, will be on their debut album when it comes out in January. The Guardian says they bring a feral, snarling energy to the country's latest folk revival. Their sound builds ably on some of the architects of that resurgence - the eerie shruti box droning and carefully layered instrumentation of Lankum, the shimmering wails of Lisa O'Neill. Add a hint of Liam Gallagher to the mix - frontman Paul Banks's voice has an astonishing force and clarity, ... (more) |
Labour asked to bring democracy to the Lords: what did the minister say?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: Welcome to my latest update on work in the House of Lords, which returns to the question of House of Lords reform. The 1911 Parliament Act was meant to be an interim solution pending the introduction of democracy, but we are still waiting for that to happen. Will Labour make the Lords democratic? ... (more) |
Reform's shrinking local government baseThe Independent reports that Reform has lost more councillors in five months than any other party. The paper says that September and October, in particular, saw a flurry of Reform councillor resignations, suspensions and defections - some in the wake of the ITV Exposure documentary, which revealed party members making racist and sexually explicit comments: According to Open Council Data UK, Reform has lost 41 councillors since 1 June, down 1.8 per cent from 2,342 to 2,301. That is more than any other major party. Labour lost 35, but from a starting point of 4,616 councillors in June, down 0.8 ... (more) |
First at the Chowdene action dayI was the first to arrive at the Gateshead Lib Dem action day this morning in Chowdene ward. That meant I had the first choice on which patch I was to deliver. Somehow I ended up with the biggest patch which also contained a huge number of houses with long flights of steps just to get to front doors. The good news is that I managed to get the whole patch delivered. (more) |