Councillor Martin Allen joins Liberal Democrats from the GreensA local Liberal Democrat news release reports: The Liberal Democrats have welcomed Councillor Martin Allen to the party after he announced he was leaving the Green Party following ten years of service. Councillor Allen, who represents residents on both Worcestershire County Council and Malvern Hills District Council, said he had reached the difficult decision after concluding that the Liberal Democrats now better reflected his values and his commitment to putting local communities first. Explaining his decision, Martin Allen said: After ten years of service, I have concluded that I can no longer remain a member of the Green Party. Since ... (more) |
Why you should read old election manualsIf I had to do my history PhD over again, I would definitely pick a study of election manuals. Through this and the previous two centuries, they tell the story of what people at the grassroots frontline in politics – candidates, agents and then more recently campaign managers – thought they needed to know, what they thought worked and what they thought mattered. Of course, the self-professed experts in an endeavour are not always right. Sometimes data and evidence, or the arrival of a new talent, shows up that habit and time has ossified erroneous beliefs into holy writ. But ... (more) |
Boy the home office tried to deport at 9 wins British chess championship at 17Embed from Getty ImagesShreyas Royal today won the British chess championship aged only 17. By my calculation that makes him the youngest holder of the title - he breaks Michael Adams's record by a couple of months, just as he broke David Howell's record to become Britain's youngest ever grandmaster at 15. I first wrote about Shreyas in 2018, under the headline The government is forcing Britain's best chess prospect to leave the country There I said:Nine-year-old Shreyas Royal has variously been described as "the greatest British chess prospect in a generation" (Malcolm Pein) and "the best prospect the country ... (more) |
The Joy of Six 1559"Violence has prevailed against the freedom of the press. I was denied the right to report on the disgraceful acts which later unfolded after I left for my own safety - and that is wrong. Violence against anyone should be condemned, that's a fact. But violence against a person simply trying to report is an obstruction of truth."Henry Durand tries to report on the mob violence in Thetford. Carole Cadwalladr introduces a timeline of The Nerve's investigation of Nigel Farage's biggest funder, Christopher Harborne, and argues that Farage is a symptom, not a cause, of forces reshaping politics across the ... (more) |
Nicola Sturgeon talks to Iain Dale at the Edinburgh Festival[IMG: iain Dale talks to Nicola Sturgeon in Edinburgh] It's that time of year again when Edinburgh transforms into one of the most exciting and occasionally bizarre places on earth. You can be casually walking down the street and see people dressed up as genitals coming towards you. There are brilliantly creative street artists and ingenious living statues everywhere. It's also absolutely hoaching with people and this year, with Princes Street remaining closed due to the awful fire last month, getting from A to B is even more frustrating – unless you walk. LBC host Iain Dale is hosting his ... (more) |
The Coasters: Yakety YakIsn't this brilliant? It has everything, from a situation every Fifties American teenager would have been familiar with to an irresistible catch: "Don't talk back." Yakety Yak was written and produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who were responsible for many great songs, and performed by the Black doo-wop group The Coasters. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: The union of a black vocal group with two Jewish songwriters was one of the most propitious in rock history. Leiber and Stoller's witty, street-smart 'playlets' were sung with sly, clowning humor by the Coasters and accompanied by ... (more) |
Tom Arms' World ReviewWho is responsible for the mass migration of Moroccans into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta? Some 72,000 migrants swam around a border breakwater to Ceuta beaches. Seventy thousand have been returned. 181 drowned. 1,100 unaccompanied minors have been taken to mainland Spain. A handful remain at large. Some blame the Spanish Supreme Court which ruled that illegal immigrants arriving by sea should be treated differently. Others say it was simply another example of the power of social media. Some conspiracy theorists are pointing an accusing finger at Donald Trump and Europe's far-right anti-immigration lobby. The most credible—but far from certain—villain ... (more) |
Clacton ad infinitumThe BBC reports that this Thursday's Clacton by-election will feature the longest ballot paper in British political history, and that it will cost four times as much to print than regular ballot papers. The news site adds that the list for the Clacton parliamentary by-election, which was prompted by the resignation of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, is 90cm (3ft) long: When people unfold the paper, they will find it is longer than most adults' arms. Tendring District Council chief executive Ian Davidson - who is the acting returning officer for the by-election in the Essex constituency - said organising ... (more) |
Which is the most unworkable policy?It seems the Conservatives have entered a competition with Reform to see which party can come up with the most unworkable policy. Over the past week, Reform announced that if they were in government, they would use the Royal Navy to forcibly return asylum seekers crossing the Channel in small boats to France. That would mean Royal Navy vessels entering French territorial waters without permission (more) |
Neo-Nazi and net zeroThe Conservatives have really lost the plot. In a desperate bid to outdo Reform, Kemi Badenoch has announced that no one supporting net zero will be allowed to stand as a Conservative candidate in the general election. This led to one former cabinet member (Grant Shapps) being refused permission to stand. Yet at the same time she was standing by a Conservative local election candidate with (more) |