This week in the Lords - 20-24 April 2026With the progation of Parliament approaching fast, it's something of a "hanging around" week for those on the red benches, waiting for the Commons to respond to Lords amendments, either by rejecting them outright, accepting them in part, or negotiating a settlement. You can never be entirely certain how it might all work out, and with the Government distracted by events elsewhere... Bills As it was last week, the week is dominated by "ping pong", starting on Monday with what is described as "consideration of Commons amendment and/or reasons" on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, the Children's Wellbeing and Schools ... (more) |
Make Culture Really CountGovernments don't just underestimate culture, media and sport, they depend on them, while systematically failing to sustain them. In the UK, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport stands as a formal acknowledgement that these sectors matter. In practice, it has become a symbol of something else: a gap between rhetoric and reality that has gone unchallenged for too long. That gap is indefensible. The creative industries contribute £145.8bn to the economy, around 5.5% of GDP and the wider DCMS sectors account for close to a tenth of all economic output. They employ millions, grow faster than the wider economy, ... (more) |
Further reflections (while my internet access is limited)More reflections while still off-line. Peter Mandelson This afternoon (written Monday 20th April) Sir Keir Starmer is to explain to the House of Commons he Government's mis-handling of the appointment of Lord (I think he's still a lord) Peter Mandelson as Ambassador to the US. Somewhere in Bagehot's famous account of the British Constitution he writes, in justification of the Monarchy, that the people "love a marriage more than a ministry." That is probably still true today. What is certainly true is that the British media much refer to titillate the public, and therefore promote their profits or viability, with ... (more) |
What is the best way back into the EU?I appreciated Gareth McAleer's article in Lib Dem Voice on the economic power-up to be had from rejoining the EU, but while I support his desire to rejoin I think a different approach will be more effective. Economic arguments are always difficult and precision hard to achieve. As the saying goes, an economist is someone who if you ask for a telephone number gives you an estimate. It would be better to say that rejoining the single market will be of obvious economic benefit and leave others to fill in the billions. The alternative view, the Boris Johnson idea that ... (more) |
Russia after PutinJames Sherr, the former head of the Russia and Eurasia programme at Chatham House, is a very distinguished analyst who understands the condition of Russia better than almost all the commentators on that subject. Over the years I have learned that his views of Russia ring more and more true. One idea that I find particularly compelling is the idea that Russia is in many ways an unreformed absolutist state, more similar to the time of the early Stuarts in Britain than to any modern political system. Furthermore, far from modernizing Russia, the Soviet period set back Russian political reform ... (more) |
End the snobbery of Merseyside Police and Liverpool Council in tackling street gangsI have written today to written to the Chief Constable and Leader of the Council asking them to desist from the use of classical music blasted out in Whitechapel to try and control street gangs. The use of music in this way is a Stalinist approach to dealing with a problem which is based on an inverted snobbery which will perpetuate a 'them and us' attitude to classical music. Other totalitarian regimes that use music are this way is China and North Korea. Do we really want to follow the appalling example of regimes like those? I have instead asked ... (more) |
The Labour threat to the Right to ProtestLast week, the government forced through parliament the controversial "cumulative disruption" power, which enables police to ban protests on the grounds that they take place repeatedly. This attack on the fundamental freedoms of assembly and expression has been strongly criticised by the UN and human rights organisations. Introduced by the Lords as an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, this legislation was not subject to full debate and scrutiny in parliament, MPs were denied a separate vote on the cumulative disruption amendment, and the vote on the bill was pushed through before the conclusions of the independent review. This ... (more) |
Welcome to my day: 20 April 2026 - the wrong sort of vetting?It's coming to that time when nobody wants to leave anything to chance, when the pressure is on. Yes, I'm talking about the end of the football season, with titles, promotion and relegation still to be decided. I spent part of yesterday at Portman Road, as Ipswich Town fought out a rather nervy 2-2 draw with promotion rivals Middlesbrough, in front of nearly 30,000 spectators, and was struck by the similarities with a political campaign. You bring together the best team you can muster, prepare as best you can, determine the appropriate strategy to defeat your opponent and hope that ... (more) |
18-19 April 2026 - the weekend's press releasesCole-Hamilton urges voters to postal vote for Scot Lib Dems on peach ballot paper Cut the rural cost of living and help farmers to flourish Reid hits out as ministers drop fines for poor ferry performance Cole-Hamilton urges voters to postal vote for Scot Lib Dems on peach ballot paper Alex Cole-Hamilton has today used a visit to a climbing wall in Edinburgh to urge voters voting by post to reach for the Scottish Liberal Democrats on the peach regional ballot paper, saying that more Scottish Liberal Democrat MSPs will get more good things done in the next session of ... (more) |
The Joy of Six 1506"A project that ought to be broad, open and compassionate has come to be dominated by a narrow set of ideological demands which leave little room for genuine diversity of political perspective." Vlad Vexler and Rupert Read argue that if the climate movement does not embrace pluralism it risks handing the future to the far right. Laura López-Aybar reminds us of the way society can turn a blind eye to the human rights violations involved in psychiatry. Melinda Wenner Moyer on studies that suggest young people are in many ways doing better than previous generations: "In addition to their interest ... (more) |