Improving our food resilience is essential to managing food price volatilityFood prices have become one of the biggest pressures on family budgets in Britain. Yet behind the rising cost of the weekly shop lies a deeper problem: a food system that is failing households, farmers and the economy alike. In the past decade, we have experienced the highest food price inflation in 40 years. UK production of some of our most nourishing foods, such as beans, fruit and vegetables, is stalling as they no longer offer a viable livelihood for farmers. Domestic fruit and vegetable production has dropped by 16% since 2015, and we see the largest trade deficits for ... (more) |
The Joy of Six 1501Samira Shackle meets victims of successive governments that have sought to reduce immigration while insisting universities recruit more overseas students: "Each year, about 400,000 international students are granted study visas to the UK. A significant proportion do so with the help of education agents: middlemen paid by universities to find foreign students. In 2023, UK universities spent a total of £500m on education agents - but there is very little oversight of how these agents operate." "In places like Kootenai County, where white Christian Republicans hold a supermajority, local politics is mutating into something undeniably extreme. North Idaho offers a ... (more) |
Cheaper fuel isn't a liberal transport policyLast week, the party announced an emergency transport package: 10p off fuel duty, £1 bus fares, a 10% rail cut, lower VAT on public EV charging. And the reaction from members has been... pretty muted. I think that tells us something. There's a shared instinct here that the package doesn't quite land, and it's worth working out why. It's not that responding to a crisis is wrong. People are paying more to get around because of a war they didn't start, and a responsible opposition should have something to say about that. The question is whether what we're saying is ... (more) |
Missing ObservationsMy computer has been malfunctioning for the past two weeks: hence a dearth of comments on the several dire problems facing the world The Space flight. There has been a rather pathetic attempt by the BBC to generate excitement about this project. I know it is very clever but it was successfully done fifty years ago, when technology was much less advanced, and flights to and from the International Space Station have become routine since. So why be thrilled with this one, even if it is a little bit further and we get new pictures of the other side of ... (more) |
Another leading Reform politician quits partyNation Cymru reports that a prominent Reform Wales figure has announced she will leave the party citing "serious concerns" over parachuted Senedd election candidates and allegations of racism. The news site says that former UKIP Assembly Member for South Wales West Caroline Jones told followers on Facebook on Tuesday (April 7) that she had quit Reform UK 24 hours ago but had not received any acknowledgment from senior party officials: In a statement to Facebook she wrote: "It has been over 24 hours since I have formally submitted my resignation from the Reform UK party. "After more than 13 years ... (more) |
8 April 2026 - today's press releasesCole-Hamilton takes on judo champ and pledges to restore Highland services Cole-Hamilton: Time to beg UK Government and European operators for vessels for Dunkirk-style effort to tackle ferry crisis Greene: Scottish Tory economy plans show they are the 'nasty party' again Cole-Hamilton takes on judo champ and pledges to restore Highland services Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today tried his hand at judo alongside former Commonwealth medallist, British champion and Highland councillor Connie Ramsay, as he set out his party's pledge to restore services to Highland communities. In September 2025, Connie Ramsay won a Highland Council by-election for ... (more) |
An Edward VIII postbox on Ryhall Road, StamfordToday I bagged another Edward VII postbox. Having stalked and photographed the three examples in Leicestershire (on the Saffron Lane Estate and in Earl Shilton and Hugglescote) a couple of years ago, I was looking for more worlds to conquer. Then I read online that there was a box in Stamford. And here it is. You'll find it on Ryhall Road, not far from Greyfriars Gatehouse. (more) |
Genesis: I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)If you'd been reliant on Radio One and Radio Luxembourg for your music in 1974, this single would have sounded like something from another planet to you too. (more) |
Trump may be about to burst the tech bubble.Trump's war on Iran is impacting more than just the price of oil. It is also impacting fertiliser shipments, which, combined with the UK government decision to tax fertiliser (being introduced in January 2027) will cause food prices in the UK and around the world to increase – hence why the government needs to seriously start looking at food security. Although both are incredibly important, the increase in the cost of oil and food resulting from Trump-Netanyahu's attack on Iran and the Iranian retaliation is well known. What is perhaps less covered is its impact on the export of helium. ... (more) |
Should Lib Dems change our line on Trump?So, we can breathe again. For a few days at least. But it's more likely than not that we will be back up at the top of this hill again in a fortnight. And if Trump's behaviour over the tariffs is repeated, he'll up the ante with even more offensive language and we'll go from deadline to deadline. To see the leader of the free world openly threatening genocide ("A civilisation will die tonight") and war crimes attacking civilian infrastructure was horrifying. The bit that made me gulp was when the White House denied that he was planning to use ... (more) |