Asquith: The MovieThis television play, screened in 1983 as part of the ITV series Number 10, deals with Asquith's battle with the House of Lords to secure the passage of the budget in 1910. That measure has gone down in history as Lloyd George's budget, but Asquith himself had done much of the work on it while he was still chancellor. One thing that must have confused viewers at the time is that Asquith is played by David Langton, who had become well known a few years before for playing a Tory MP, Richard Bellamy in the wildly popular series Upstairs, Downstairs. ... (more) |
ALDC By Election Report, 13th NovemberThis week saw five local by-elections, four of which had a Liberal Democrat on the ballot. Congratulations are due to Cllr Hannah Griffin and the team for the Lib Dem hold in Vale of White Horse. Vale of White Horse District Council, Ridgeway Liberal Democrats (Hannah Griffin): 442 (43.1%, -14.9) Conservative: 250 (24.4%, -17.6) Reform UK: 204 (19.9%, new) Green Party: 122 (11.9%, new) Labour: 8 (0.8%, new) Liberal Democrats HOLD Turnout: 38% Friday's count in Canterbury delivered less pleasing news, as the Green Party gained from the Liberal Democrats. Commiserations to Guy Meurice and the team. Canterbury City Council, ... (more) |
Economic growth - simple but not easy, Part 2The Labour government still has 'economic growth' as its cure-all remedy in the lead up to the Budget. However, without any systematic, coherent approach, expectations are low. What should the UK actually do ? In Part 1, I argued that it was necessary to start from key principles; defining growth and where it comes from, and scoping out the landscape (and boundaries) for beneficial economic growth; at least to help all the relevant people know what is to be achieved. Part 1 also touched upon the 'headline' economic problems to be tackled, and institutional obstacles to be overcome. In Parts ... (more) |
Thames Water tries to force Lib Dem MP to pay ruinous legal costsThe supreme court this week rejected Thames Water's arguments that Charlie Maynard, the Liberal Democrat MP for Witney, should pay its legal costs after representing the interests of the British public in court. The Guardian reports: Maynard was granted unusual permission to represent the public interest in a court battle over an investor bailout for Thames Water. The bailout was approved, but Maynard appealed, arguing that the company, which serves 16 million customers in London and south-east England, should be taken into temporary government control. Thames Water's barristers argued that he should be made personally liable for its expensive legal ... (more) |
Good practice in palliative careNote that this post includes end of life details which you may want to avoid. The Assisted Dying Bill has raised questions about the quality of palliative care under the NHS. Whatever your views on assisted dying it should never be a substitute for good care at end of life. Recently I and my family have had a positive experience of palliative care in an NHS hospital, and I am wondering how widespread this is. My husband, Ian, died last month in Kingston Hospital. It was not unexpected – he had spent almost half of this year in hospital, six ... (more) |
The Hillsborough Law is finally going through ParliamentAs a long-term councillor in Liverpool, I am delighted that the Hillsborough Law is going through Parliament at least. After decades of inaction and partial actions the sadness about those who died will be partly assuaged by the fact that their suffering, and those of others, will be vindicated with this law. My friend, David Alton was an MP at the time and since he joined the House of Lords has continued to work on a cross-party consensual approach to bring this law into being alongside people from other Parties and, most important of all, the relatives of those who ... (more) |
The Joy of Six 1435"The real scandal here is the behaviour of the board. As Patrick Barwise and Peter York detailed in their 2020 book The War on the BBC, the British right has been trying to cow and weaken the BBC for decades, for both political and commercial reasons. But this time is different because the chief saboteurs were board members, chiefly Sir Robbie Gibb. On the Today programme, former Sun editor David Yelland justifiably described this week's events as 'nothing short of a coup'. The call is coming from inside the house."Dorian Lynskey says the BBC is the biggest prize in the ... (more) |
Needle drawStick your needle in. Seek in vein a flow of blood from my stone cold arm (more) |
Trivia dump: Woman wakes to find she's bought an emu eggA BBC News story was shortlisted for Headline of the Day - Woman fulfils childhood dream of rearing an emu- but lost out to a demonic jumper. The story beneath it does deserve some sort of award though:A late night shopping spree turned into a dream come true for one animal lover after she successfully hatched an emu egg. Rhi Evans, from Cirencester, Gloucestershire, has no memory of buying the egg but woke one morning in 2022 to an email confirmation from eBay saying it was on its way.We've all been there. This item gives me an excuse to repost ... (more) |
"Demonic" Wind in the Willows jumper banned from Westminster AbbeyToday's Headline of the Day Award, which is sponsored by the Great God Pan, goes to the Guardian. Photo by Linsey Teggert, whose jumper it is. (more) |