"A chap on his own gets a bit cracked sometimes": Michael Powell on Mr ColpeperMichael Powell also had some interesting things to say about A Canterbury Tale in the 1981 interview I linked to in my post on Gone to Earth: I believe you once described A Canterbury Tale as a crusade against materialism? One of the themes of the story was that. Emeric said, "Why don't we make a film about the sort of ideals we are fighting for?" Obviously, one of the most interesting characters in a discussion of that kind is the complete materialist played by Dennis Price. At the climax he does get to play in Canterbury Cathedral. Yes, but ... (more) |
The oldest pub in Swansea and the secret tunnelThe author Graham Loveluck writes about the Cross Keys Inn, the oldest pub in Swansea. He writes that the name is a nod to the legend that St Peter held the keys to the gates of heaven. It is a clue to the building's godly past: The building it self was built by Bishop Henry de Gower (Bishop of St Davids) in 1330, not as an inn but an almshouse and early hospital annexed to a monastic cell. The charter of 1332 says that it was established for 'the support of other poor chaplains and laymen deprived of bodily health.' ... (more) |
Why I'm fighting these plansI put together this video about why I oppose proposals to build 210 houses to the south of Sunniside. (more) |
Ready for tomorrowWe are all ready for tomorrow! Gateshead Lib Dems have another action day, this time in the Whickham area. We will be delivering a survey which I printed yesterday - see photo above where the leaflets are coming off the folding machine at high speed. (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 20% (+3) 25% (-2) 9% (nc) 11% (-1) 23% (nc) 2% (vs Ref) 7/10 GB YouGov ... (more) |
Reform councillor breaches rules by being leader of his own political partyEmbed from Getty ImagesIt sometimes seems the judges never sleep, but you have to hand it to them. In making our Headline of the Day Award to the Independent, they have alerted us to a whole new way for Reform to lose a councillor. (more) |
Beware the pitiless quicksands of Rutland WaterEmbed from Getty ImagesNow here's a story: Kish Modasia from London, out for a walk at Rutland Water, got more of an adventure than she bargained for when, with very little warning, she got stuck in mud almost up to her waist and needed to call emergency services. You can hear Kish telling BBC Leicester's Andy Dayman all about the drama that unfolded on BBC Sounds. h/t Rutland Ned. (more) |
Charlie Maynard resigns from Lib Dem front bench and calls for no confidence vote in Ed DaveySo the gossip about disaffection with the party leadership at Westminster was accurate. Earlier this afternoon, the Financial Times broke the story that Charlie Maynard, Liberal Democrat MP for Witney. has resigned as the party's shadow chief secretary to the Treasury and asked other Lib Dem MPs to join him in a vote no confidence in Ed Davey's leadership/ The FT website can be hard to access, but Traders Union now has the story too. While Traders Union concentrates on the party's poll ratings, the FT, I think rightly, sees more significance in our continuing inability to gain press or ... (more) |
A plea from a member - more ambition and less equine pacification please...Those were the days, eh? Way back in 2024, we were a Party on the up with a record number of MPs. The Tories were banished and in disarray. We talked, in all seriousness, about how we would be the Official Opposition after the next General Election. We looked admiringly at the Canadian Liberals who went from third place with a rump of MPs to an overall majority and thought "that could be us". Now? Not so much. We languish, flatlining at 4th in the polls (or occasionally 5th if the Greens are doing well). Our performance in recent parliamentary ... (more) |
Peter Kellner: Zack Polanski should have won at a canterEmbed from Getty ImagesPeter Kellner sets last night's result in the Holborn & St Pancras by-election in its historical context: Only three times in the party's history has a Labour government been able to cheer a by-election night as a boost to its prospects of remaining in office. The first was retaining Kingston-upon-Hull North in January 1966, ahead of its big national victory two months later. The second was four months ago, when Andy Burnham won Makerfield (though some ministers were happier than others). Sagal Abdi-Wali has not just defeated the Greens in a local by-election. She has defied history. ... (more) |