Sir Keir's government assessed.After almost two years in office, and with the shadows lengthening around it, now seems a good time to attempt a fair assessment on Sir Keir Starmer's premiership. In broad-brush terms he has not led us into an illegal war, mishandled a pandemic or crashed the economy. By comparison with some of his recent predecessors, these must surely count as strong plusses. In addition he has played a respectable role in foreign affairs and steered a careful course in avoiding involvement in America's illegal invasion of Iran and promoting independent European security. In a recent (15th May) article on Guardian ... (more) |
The Joy of Six 1520"I saw a man wearing what seemed to be a hybrid of Hell's Angels and Crusader outfit, with horns protruding from his shoulders, but I can't be sure whether this was a political identity or Game Of Thrones fancy dress. Those two are very close together in the imagination of 'Western crusaders', judging from some of their on-line output."Discontinued Notes was in London on Saturday, the day of the Unite the Kingdom march. James Graham suggests Andy Burnham's attempt at a political heist may turn out more Fargo than Ocean's Eleven: "He's already watered down his commitment on rejoining the ... (more) |
Penile implant specialist with history of far-right comments led hantavirus presserCNN wins our Headline of the Day Award. The judges chose this one because of the clear picture it paints of the Trump administration: Before he joined the Trump administration last year, Christine was an Alabama-based urologist who specialized in penile implants. He has little public health experience and a history of far-right commentary and promoting conspiracy theories. He's said the Covid pandemic led to a wider government plot to control people, compared the Biden administration to Nazi Germany and suggested the Covid vaccine had little effect in stopping the pandemic. (more) |
Is this the first public call for Ed to go?It is being reported that the our Council Leader in Colchester, David King, has called for a change of leadership. Talking to the BBC's Simon Dedman, he said; We need to let the party take the time to look to the future, and that's my appeal to Sir Ed. It's politely saying, time's up. Whether or not this is simply a reaction to disappointing results in Colchester – the Party lost Shrub End and Stanway wards to Reform – or indicative of a wider movement remains to be seen. (more) |
Welcome to my day: 18 May 2026 - five/six party politics requires a new approach155 net gains in terms of seats, 3 net gains in terms of councils, more MSPs in Scotland were the headlines after the elections eleven days ago. On the face of it, it looked reasonably good. Not great, but another advance nonetheless. But, behind the headlines, it has become increasingly apparent that all is not well in terms of the Party's progress. So many contributions reached us from across the nations, highlighting tales of good campaigns and hard work overtaken by Greens or Reform candidates whose clear messages and perceived alternative to a failed status quo appealed to voters in ... (more) |
Labour split on the European UnionThe Guardian reports that a row has broken out at the top of the Labour party over whether Britain should try to rejoin the EU after Wes Streeting said the country should eventually seek to regain membership. The paper says that Streeting, who resigned as health secretary last week in protest at Keir Starmer's leadership, kicked off a war of words after he argued on Saturday that Britain's future lay back in the EU: After the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, dismissed his comments as odd, Streeting's allies hit back, saying the government's lack of willingness to discuss the issue was ... (more) |
The poor Lambeth church providing choristers for cathedralsSo many areas of our national life are now dominated by the products of private schools, from journalism via county cricket to film and theatre acting, that it's heart-warming to read this in the Guardian. St Paul's Cathedral school, one of the UK's most prestigious private schools, has long been associated with the musical elite. So was seven-year-old N'raeah, from south London, nervous about auditioning for its internationally renowned choir? "No," she said, beaming. "Everybody's counting on me to sing beautifully." And sing beautifully, she did. N'raeah is the fourth chorister from St John the Divine, Kennington (SJDK) to win ... (more) |
Dickens was never a slog for the Victorians: Are we reading him the wrong way?That Guardian list of the 100 best novels of all time has given the anti-Dickens tendency fresh legs. They tried him at school and hated him. He was paid by the word - that's why his books are so long. I will admit that my love of Dickens has probably been helped by the fact that I didn't study him much at school. There was a play based on the early chapters of Nicholas Nickleby when I was 12 (I read Wackford Squeers as it happens) and a passage from Hard Times three of four years later. That was all. ... (more) |
Jim Wallace's memorial service - 5th June 2026[IMG: Portrait of Jim Wallace] We are all still mourning the loss of Jim Wallace earlier this year. Alex Cole-Hamilton dedicated his acceptance speech when he won his Edinburgh North Western constituency with a vastly increased majority to Jim, recalling his last conversation with Jim a few days before he died. We all wish he could have been around to celebrate our election success when we more than doubled our 4 MSPs elected in 2021. We will have the chance to remember Jim at his memorial service which will take place on Friday 5th June 2026 at Dunblane Cathedral at ... (more) |
Time to embrace our Welsh identityAs Shaun Ennis wrote about his frustration about the lack of progress in the North of England by our party, he should be lucky that he isn't living in Wales. As a party and a movement that was once the dominant voice of Cymru, seeing our leader Jane Dodds eke through the sixth seat in Brycheiniog Tawe Need at last week's Senedd election showed what a parlous state the party is in Cymru at the moment. Overall, the situation has not improved since 2016 where our votes remain low and the number of seats won to match. We were lucky ... (more) |