Ken Loach was Kenneth Williams' understudy in a West End revueIn 1961 Sheila Hancock was appearing in the West End revue One Over the Eight. In her memoir The Two of Us: My Life with John Thaw she writes: The chief joy of One Over the Eight for me was meeting and becoming friends with the writer of the show, Peter Cook, and Kenneth [Williams], the maverick star. But she didn't feel London was really swinging yet and neither did Kenneth Williams: One night after the show, when I gave him a lift back to his chaste flat on the back of my Lambretta, he waved his furled umbrella at ... (more) |
The Joy of Six 1502"As need has grown and reform and resources have stalled, 1.9 million people in England alone provided a 'full-time' (defined as 35 hours or more) week of care in 2023-24 - that's 70 per cent more than 20 years ago. Others have to fit caring responsibilities around their jobs: dropping off the kids at school, going to the office and then helping their elderly parents bathe and eat."Frances Ryan asks who will care for the carers. Ari Berman names the far-right conspiracists who are urging Trump to take control of the mid-term elections. Tao Wang says a study of the ... (more) |
Observations of an Expat: Two-State SolutionTWO-STATE SOLUTION. That is the only answer to the Palestinian conundrum; the Arab-Israeli problem and now, the Iran War. Neither the US nor Israel can bomb the Palestinian issue out of existence. It only creates recruiting sergeants for future generations. Hitler tried it with his Final Solution. Even though six million Jews died in horrific circumstances he failed. The Jewish state rose from the ashes of the Holocaust with a determination that they will never again face extermination and that the land of Israel is theirs by right of God's promise to Abraham. Problem was that the Biblical land was ... (more) |
Basque refugees in SwanseaI think it is commonly known that a large number of people left the UK, and South Wales in particular, to fight the fascists in the Spanish civil war. In fact, the South Wales Miners Musuem, now relocated to Y Storfa in Swansea City Centre, has a huge amount of material about those prepared to fight and die for the cause. It is not so well known that Swansea hosted refugees who had undertaken the reverse journey. Swansea University's history website reports that in May 1937, nearly 4,000 children arrived in Southampton aboard the Habana, fleeing the horrors of the ... (more) |
10 April 2026 - today's press releasesCole-Hamilton comments on declining nursing applications Cole-Hamilton comments on declining nursing applications Cole-Hamilton comments on declining nursing applications Responding to an embargoed report by the Royal College of Nursing about a falling number of applications for nursing courses, with over 1,000 fewer people applying to study nursing in 2025 compared to 2019, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: For nineteen years, the SNP have made a dog's dinner of NHS staffing. These gaps stretch all the way back to Nicola Sturgeon cutting nursing training places and claiming that was sensible. Such a drastic fall in the number of people ... (more) |
Why does so much of Whitehall move so slowly?The 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: A longer read this time, as I try to flesh out the bigger picture from some of the details I've shared in previous editions of A Lord's Eye View and on social media. Regular readers will know that there are many examples of secondary legislation moving slowly. What, though, is the bigger picture ... (more) |
How many Welsh Senedd candidates has Reform lost?The list of Reform UK candidates for the Welsh Senedd who have now been dropped in one form or another is: Cory Edwards: quit as candidate after Nazi salute controversy. Patrick Benham-Crosswell: quit as candidate saying Reform UK has "sunk deep into the sewer". Derek Roberts: quit as candidate "for personal reasons". Owain Clatworthy: quit as candidate over unhappiness with selection process. Caroline Jones: will run as an independent instead. Robert Ian Williams: quit as a candidate after questioning selection process. Meanwhile, Reform candidates in Scotland have also gone and Reform UK councillors keep on going too. Note: Andrew Barry ... (more) |
Sylvester McCoy and Sheila Hancock on The Happiness PatrolIn this British Film Institute video Sylvester McCoy, Sheila Hancock and members of it production team discuss the 1988 Doctor Who story The Happiness Patrol. You can watch all three parts of it on the BBC website. My Doctor was Jon Pertwee, though in those days the Brigadier and Roger Delgado were a large part of the success of the show. These days I'm not a great Doctor Who fan, but I am a Sheila Hancock fan. (more) |
Nomination acceptedI am seeking re-election to Gateshead Council. Nomination papers went in earlier this week and were accepted. I have already done 11 terms as councillor for Whickham South and Sunniside, starting in 1987. Four weeks of solid campaigning ahead of us. Given Gateshead Lib Dems have been working solidly on the elections since May 2024, the next four weeks shouldn't be much different for us! (more) |
Daffs on displayAs I travel around my ward, I spot things that fall into the categories of Good, Bad and Ugly. This one definitely falls into the Good category. This is the daffodil bed ay Byermoor next to the A692 and very close to the border with Co Durham. It comes up blooming every year and makes a great display for people coming into Gateshead. (more) |