Full investigation needed into MandelsonKeir Starmer showed poor judgement by appointing Peter Mandelson as the ambassador to the UK, however, the new release of files relating to Jeffrey Epstein suggests that his error was just the latest in a long line of poor judgement calls going back to the early days of Tony Blair's first administration and most probably earlier than that. It has been revealed that the former cabinet minister was apparently disclosing highly sensitive government information to Epstein over a significant period of time. The Guardian says that Mandelson was business secretary during Brown's premiership, when he appears to have leaked an ... (more) |
Sunniside deliveredHooray! Delivery of the Sunniside Focus was completed this morning. I had a bundle of 220 to do. All I have left to deliver now is Ravensworth Estate. Geographically it is the biggest patch in the ward as it is entirely rural. In terms of quantity it is the smallest. There are only 13 letterboxes on the estate.Meanwhile, I finished writing another two Focuses today. Watch out for their being (more) |
When Peter Lee took 8-13 for Great BowdenEmbed from Getty ImagesPeter Lee, the former Northamptonshire and Lancashire seam bowler, has died at the age of 80. He grew up near Market Harborough in the Northamptonshire village of Sibbertoft and made his debut for that county in 1967. But it was when he moved to Lancashire in 1972 that his career really took off. He twice took 100 wickets in a season for them in an era when the feat was already becoming vanishingly rare, but never won test selection. A trawl of the British Newspaper Archive reveals this story from the Leicester Daily Mercury, 6 August 1980. ... (more) |
Why YOU should come and live in Liverpool.In 1974 I came to live in Liverpool on a short-term contract and did not expect to be here after 9 months. Liverpool was not a strange place to me. All my cousins lived in Liverpool or had become 'wools*' in Maghull and Crosby. That was my Mum's side. My Dad came from Kingston upon Hull, and his siblings had no children. I became a councillor in 1975 just 11 months after arriving here. I took a seat from the Tories something no-one has been able to do for 38 years since we knocked the last of them off the ... (more) |
Mathew on Monday: why compromise is not a dirty word - lessons from Rob Jetten, D66, and Dutch politicsBritish politics has developed a curious allergy to compromise. To concede ground is framed as weakness. To negotiate is to betray. To meet an opponent halfway is, we are told, to have no convictions at all. And yet, across the North Sea, one of Europe's most successful democracies quietly carries on proving the opposite. In the Netherlands, compromise is not a failure of politics. It is politics. At the heart of that tradition sits Democrats 66 (D66), the liberal, pro-European party founded on the belief that democracy works best when it is open, plural, and willing to adapt. Under the ... (more) |
Ed Davey is right to call for police investigation of Peter MandelsonThese allegations are incredibly serious, it is now only right that the police investigate Peter Mandelson for potential misconduct in public office. [image or embed] — Ed Davey (@eddavey.libdems.org.uk) 2 February 2026 at 15:00 Ed Davey is right: These allegations are incredibly serious, it is now only right that the police investigate Peter Mandelson for potential misconduct in public office. The prime minister, it seems, has just announced a Cabinet Office inquiry into the affair, but there's a danger that it will just be good chaps investigating other good chaps and end up being seen as a whitewash. So let's ... (more) |
Christine Jardine: With Jim Wallace's death, it feels like we have lost part of our conscienceIn her Scotsman column this week, Christine Jardine has made many of us in Scotland cry. She wrote about Jim Wallace, about meeting him as a young reporter and then as a fellow parliamentarian. I first met Jim Wallace in 1992 when I was a journalist with no political allegiance, and he had just become Scottish Liberal Democrat leader. I remember telling my husband and colleagues that he seemed like a decent bloke, and in some ways too 'nice' for politics. That came back to me on Thursday when I learned of his death. Because in truth, that first impression ... (more) |
Deep poverty rises again: Lib Dems have the policies to fix itThe new annual report of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, UK Poverty 2026, makes disturbing reading. Poverty was suffered by 21% of the population in 2023-4, more than 14 million people: the rate of 20-22% had been steady throughout the previous decade. The average person in poverty had an income 29% below the poverty line of 60% of average income. But in its latest measurement, in 2023-4, the JRF found that 6.8 million people, almost half of those living in poverty, were in very deep poverty, with an average income an appalling 59% below the poverty line. This is the highest ... (more) |
The glorious story of Shacklewell and De Beauvoir TownAnother walk with John Rogers: This East London walk takes is into the surprising hidden corners of the London Borough of Hackney. Our urban stroll explores the historic areas of Shacklewell and De Beauvoir Town, both with rich and fascinating histories. Starting on Mare Street we follow Amhurst Road to Shacklewell Lane and the site of Shacklewell House which had been an important country house from at least the 16th century. We then take a look at the Somerford Grove Estate designed by Frederick Gibberd in the late 1940s and winner of a prize at the Festival of Britain of ... (more) |
Has Starmer given China too much rope?The Independent carries an article by Dani Madrid-Morales, which argues that Keir Starmer's visit to China will prompt intense debate about the extent to which Beijing is a political threat as well as an economic rival - and whether the UK is using the tools it has to counter China's growing power around the world. The writer suggests that the west is failing in its use of media as a soft power device to resist China's success in spreading its critical narratives about the West across Africa, the fastest-growing continent where one in four of the world's population will live ... (more) |