Ukraine's plight means UK must rearm for war now, and not by ten years' timeCrowds gather to view destruction in an Odesa residential area that included a university student residence (photo: Anna Beria, with thanks). We are possibly reaching the culmination point of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine. After almost five years of warfare, Ukrainian resilience is being put ever more to the test. Ukraine's forces are edging forward, regaining lost land in the Donbas from Russia's armed forces. Not winning on the ground, Putin has declared unlimited warfare on Ukraine's civilian population to terrorise them into submission, destroying critical infrastructure and causing mayhem as winter approaches. Ukraine's position is being further undermined ... (more) |
Latest voting intention and leadership ratings opinion pollsWelcome 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 Find Out Now 22% (+2) 25% (nc) 10% (+1) 11% (nc) 22% (-1) 3% (vs C/R) 14/10 GB YouGov ... (more) |
Observations of an Expat: Ukraine in TroubleUkraine is in deep trouble. Its soldiers are holding the frontline but behind the lines there are serious problems. Russian missiles are hitting the country's energy infrastructure. Millions of Ukrainians are facing a bitter East European winter without heating or electricity. And American support—already shaky—is wavering even more. Donald Trump, facing a Democratic landslide in the November mid-term elections, is ignoring the economic impact of his Iran War to blame Ukraine—and its president Volodymyr Zelensky—for the unsustainable rise in American fuel prices. This has in turn led to lifting of sanctions on Russian oil, more attacks on Zelensky and the ... (more) |
An article for Lion & Unicorn: Malcolm Saville and the children's holiday adventureI'm back on Lion & Unicorn today with an article on the children's writer Malcolm Saville. I look at adventure stories in general and at his first two books, Mystery at Witchend and Seven White Gates, in particular: Having clearly read adventure stories themselves, the five set up a secret society, signing its rules in their own blood. Rule 5 says the club is for "exploring and watching birds and animals and tracking strangers," and it gradually becomes clear that the strangers they duly track are German spies and fifth columnists intent on blowing up the reservoir's dam. There are ... (more) |
Nutters, spinners and losers: The Thick of It with Sam FreedmanThe 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 via my Bookshop.org page (affiliate link). That includes the excellent book, Failed State, from this time's guest, Sam Freedman. Nutters, spinners and losers: ... (more) |
The pub with no name and the Swansea poetNot far from the Cross Keys pub is the No Sign Wine Bar. The historic cellars of this establishment are located at 56 Wind Street and feature underground brick-arched vaults. These subterranean levels—known today as The Vault—were built in the 1600s as wine and spirits cellars. They feature parallel brick-arched rooms separated by old cast-iron columns, alongside an antique gantry crane on rails once used to hoist heavy casks of liquor. The cellars were famously immortalized as the "Wine Vaults" in poet Dylan Thomas's short story "The Followers", during an era when the bar was a bohemian gathering spot. Today, ... (more) |
"Private affluece and public squalor" rule OK?The centre-left pressure-group Compass has recently published an essay called "Liberalism Alive" by Dr Roz Savage, the Liberal Democrat MP for the South Cotswolds. Here is a brief extract: We do not all need enormous private gardens if every child can walk to a beautiful park. We do not all need several cars if public transport is genuinely reliable. We do not all need to purchase individually what we could enjoy together. The entire essay is worth reading, though it is rather long (32 pages - an hour well spent perhaps.) You can find it here: Of course, Dr ... (more) |
Jago Hazzard on the planned West London Orbital rail serviceTransport for London says: We're making plans for a new rail service on existing, underused rail lines in west London - this would become part of the London Overground network. The West London Orbital rail service would run between Hendon in north London towards Hounslow in southwest London. And Jago Hazzard shows us the lines that would be combined to provide this new service. One of the attractions of the scheme is that the track is already in place. You can support Jago Hazzard's videos via his Patreon page. Local Liberal Democrats, says the Richmond & Twickenham Times, are pressing ... (more) |
ALDC by-election report, 15th OctoberFive principal authority by-elections took place across England and Wales this week - one on Tuesday 13th October and four on Thursday 15th October. The Liberal Democrats were defending two seats (in Wiltshire and Mid Devon), Labour defended one in Gloucestershire, Reform UK defended one in Leicestershire, and an Independent defence in North Wales. It was an exceptional week of defensive strength for the Liberal Democrats, holding both of our contested seats with authority. In Mid Devon, we swept nearly three-quarters of the vote in Bradninch, while in Wiltshire, we halted a Conservative comeback in Salisbury Milford. Elsewhere, Reform UK's ... (more) |
A brilliant maiden speech from Dave McCobbThe 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. This time long-term readers will be glad to know, cattle-grids get a mention again. Much more importantly, so does the maiden speech of new Liberal Democrat peer, Dave McCobb and the valedictory speech of soon to depart Liberal Democrat peer, John ... (more) |