Palestine and Israel: high time the UK stopped standing byLiberal Democrats along with the SNP, the Green Party and several Independent MPs have recognised that Israel has committed genocide as defined by the Genocide Convention. So far so good. The bad news is that the failure to act by the British and other governments frankly amounts to complicity in war crimes. The UK Government still hasn't announced how it plans to follow up the 2024 ICJ judgements which warned of the plausible risk of genocide, confirmed that Israeli settlements are illegal and stated that other countries should not have any dealings with those settlements. The Trump 'Peace Plan' has ... (more) |
Why postpone elections?It can be argued that the Labour Government's decision last year to postpone the local elections due next next May was sensible. The councils concerned are to be reorganised and their new councillors would be in office for only a year. Then the councils i would be abolished. Why waste money on elections when it could be better used for mending the potholes, as Labour's current response argues now that "legal advice" obtained as a result of protests by Farage's Refom Party indicates that the move is illegal and will probably be reversed if it goes to court. Such an ... (more) |
Spencer Davis Group: Every Little Bit HurtsRecorded at the Marquee Club in February 1965, so Steve Winwood (on vocals and piano) is 16 here. (more) |
British, northern, not leavingLast week, Rupert Lowe launched his new "Restore" party. Restore what, exactly? Strip away the branding and the flag-waving and what you're left with isn't renewal. It's resentment. It's grievance politics dressed up as patriotism. To me, it looks like a diet BNP the same division, repackaged for the social media age. And I'm tired of pretending it isn't dangerous. Circling this movement are voices openly advocating "re-migration" the idea that British citizens like me should be sent "back" somewhere else. Steve Laws has pushed exactly that kind of rhetoric. According to this worldview, my place in this country is ... (more) |
Reform's hate agenda as they unveil Truss mark two shadow teamThe Independent reports that Reform UK has been accused of "pitching for the votes of misogynists, homophobes, racists and antisemites" after Suella Braverman, the party's new equalities chief, announced plans to scrap the Equality Act. The paper says that at a press conference in London on Tuesday, Nigel Farage unveiled his party's top team, appointing Ms Braverman as the party's education, skills and equalities spokesperson: Addressing the conference, she said Reform would repeal the Equality Act on day one if it wins the next election, claiming that Britain is being "ripped apart by diversity, equality and inclusion" policies. The Equality ... (more) |
Lloyd George's oratory owed a heavy debt to the music hallEmbed from Getty ImagesIn 1992 the journalist Edward Pearce published a diary of that year's general election campaign. It was reviewed for the London Review of Books by Peter Clarke. Here is Clarke on Lloyd George: Lloyd George, too, did his bit to lower the tone of politics once secularisation had made the pulpit an obsolescent model. As A.J.P. Taylor liked to point out, Lloyd George's platform oratory owed a heavy debt to the music hall. He could control an audience with the inspired timing of a stand-up comic. His one-liner about the House of Lords - "five hundred men, ... (more) |
How many councillors has Reform UK lost since May?Here is a list of the councillors which Reform has shed from the May 2025 local elections and from those elections in by-elections since. The latest update is the departure of Dean Burns to Restore Britain. Donna Edmunds (Shropshire, suspended by Reform UK and then quit the party) Luke Shingler (Warwickshire, now an independent) Desmond Clarke (Nottinghamshire, resigned as councillor) Andrew Kilburn (Durham, resigned as a councillor) Wayne Titley (Staffordshire, resigned as a councillor) Mark Broadhurst (Doncaster, expelled by Reform) Adam Smith (West Northamptonshire, suspended by Reform and then expelled) John Bailey (Durham, resigned as a councillor) Daniel Taylor (Kent, ... (more) |
Failed teeth op woman admits drug drivingThis tale of everyday life in Telford wins BBC News our Headline of the Day Award. (more) |
Black CrowShe'd left life behind Frail flesh turned against itself Slowly wound by fate (more) |
1 kilometre of road has had 164 pothole repairs in 5 years[IMG: Potholes on Stroud Green Road] Potholes in the repairs to potholes in the repairs to potholes on Stroud Green Road. Stroud Green Road in north London, on the border between the boroughs of Haringey and Islington, is the scene of potholes. Many potholes. Many many potholes. So I've put in another Freedom of Information request to find out how many pothole repairs there have been in the last five years. There have been a massive 164 pothole repairs in 2020/21 to 2024/25 along a road that is only about 1 kilometre long, not counting the three occasions on which ... (more) |