The Brexit Referendum - 10 years onToday is the 10th anniversary of the EU Referendum Ten years ago, many of our readers will have voted and would have been working hard for the previous few months to help make the argument for the United Kingdom's place in the European Union. Ultimately Britain Stronger In Europe didn't win and like many people at the time, I remember being at a count, seeing the Sunderland result come in and the scale of the win for leave and thinking we're f****d. This was not out of a sense of I told you so, more out of a growing realisation ... (more) |
20C nightStray drips of rain from broken heat that make their way inside my head; wet trembling pearls that smell of earth and soak into her hide, her bones (more) |
Sammy Going South and the morality of employing child actorsThe director of Trouble at Townsend wasn't the only one to have problems with a child star being too well fed. I've read accounts of both Carol Reed and Andrei Tarkovsky making the same complaint. But Alexander Mackendrick's account (from Wikpedia, with no source given) of the making of Sammy Going South suggests that Fergus McClelland didn't just get too well fed but too happy. "He was a lean, hard, little boy. Tough as old nails ... a really strong character. He had the hunted look of an abused child, which in some ways he was. He came from a ... (more) |
One year on, and I'm still finding it hard to feel prideContent warning: This post contains material about rape and sexual assault. Some of you may remember that roughly a year ago I wrote a piece titled 'For a lot of trans people, it's hard to feel pride right now'. A year is a long time in politics, and so you'd hope that over the last year the situation for trans people would be better. Well, in some ways it is, and in some ways it's worse. We'll start with what really has got better since last year, the party's position. I am genuinely so proud of how far we have ... (more) |
Andy Burnham's housing challenge: Why his own arguments demand more than Labour's current plansAndy Burnham is one of Labour's most popular politicians. As Mayor of Greater Manchester, he has made housing and homelessness central to his public image. Yet his record raises an important question. If Burnham were ever to become Prime Minister, would Labour's current housing policies be enough to solve the problems he says have held Greater Manchester back? The starting point is Burnham's own record. When he became Mayor in 2017, Burnham promised to end rough sleeping by 2020. That target was not met. To be fair, there was real progress. The official rough sleeping count across Greater Manchester fell ... (more) |
The Joy of Six 1537David Howarth reminds us that both Tony Blair and Keir Starmer said pluralist things in opposition, only to go back on them in power: "Given that history, why should Liberals believe that Andy Burnham would be any different? He has already backtracked on his previous anti-Brexit pronouncements and his only promise on electoral reform is that he might include a 'pledge' on it in Labour's next manifesto. We know what such 'pledges' from Labour are worth." A deliberate strategy to push the British right - from the Conservative Party to Nigel Farage's Reform UK - into a radicalising auction over ... (more) |
Lessons from 1936 and 2026 for the Liberal Democrats (LDN#211)Liberal Democrat Newswire #211 came out earlier this week and you can now 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 Lib Dem Newswire #211, which takes a look at lessons from the 1930s Liberal Party and from the May 2026 elections for the Liberal Democrats. Please do hit reply and let me know your views on those lessons. Congratulations to the new Lib Dem councillors since last time – Chris McSweeny, Paddy Mooney, Beth Rowe, Phil Williams and ... (more) |
ALDC's by-election report - 18th JuneOur report on last week's by-elections is a little later than usual. There were 15 principal authority by-elections with several counting on the Friday. These 15 also included three countermanded elections, delayed from the local elections following the death of a candidate. Because of the quantity of contests, we're going to group several races together and provide an overall analysis. By-elections in Wales Half of the by-elections last week took place in Wales. This is because of rules in the Senedd which don't allow representatives to be both an Assembly Member and a local councillor. Importantly, local elections were last ... (more) |
Leadership plotting, in real life and in fictionThe 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: Now, on to the proper business of this email which this time does not feature a new episode but rather has some bonus content for you about recent episodes. Take it away Cory... Leadership plotting, two fictional versions [IMG: Jim Hacker pulls a very strong expression] Jim Hacker contemplates 10 Downing Street. Our last chat on ... (more) |
A journey along the Welsh Border in 1963Wynford Vaughan Thomas and friend travel the length of the border between England and Wales in 1963. But the tone of the commentary could come from a topographical book of 30 years before. Anything that smacks of modernity or progress is suspect and the old ways are to be supported, however silly. There's an obsession with market day, while farmers can do no wrong. Also in line with such books, there is disapproval for visitors' buses, but the writer's own car gets a free pass. Still it's lovely country and Montgomery is still a little-known treasure. And Knucklas Viaduct still ... (more) |