Are the men of violence back in British politics?The brutal killing of Ann Widdecombe earlier this year has given us all cause to pause about the state of our politics. We do not yet know why she was killed, and it would be wrong to speculate. But Britain already knows where political violence can lead: Jo Cox. David Amess. Still others whose plots were mercifully foiled by the police. In a previous era of political murder and intimidation, Margaret Thatcher said after the Brighton bombing: "We must never never never be stopped; never be stopped from going among the people by a few men of violence, because that ... (more) |
London needs more social homes - and Liberal Democrat boroughs are determined to deliverThe housing crisis in London needs little introduction. One in 50 Londoners are homeless and living in temporary accommodation organised by their local borough. More than 336,000 households languish on waiting lists for social housing in the capital. Many of London's 2.7 million private renters face spiralling rents they can barely afford. Young people in our communities find themselves priced out of the places they call home. London is struggling - but Liberal Democrat boroughs are determined to tackle this crisis. Housing is about creating sustainable communities, improving lives, and ensuring that local people can continue to live in the ... (more) |
Andy Burnham's devolution reforms go only half-wayNone of us who remember the terrible time local government endured in the 1980s as budgets were sliced and powers reduced can be unhappy to see greater powers given to local government now. In the 1980s Margaret Thatcher's government looked across the Thames at the unemployment figures draped over the side of the Greater London Council building, and to her it might as well have been the flag of a foreign power raised over her homeland (reminding her after the Falklands episode that there were 'enemies within'). Away went the GLC and the metropolitan county councils. In practice it was ... (more) |
Lord Bonkers' Diary: Wah-wah brass and boings on the timpaniThe new issue of Liberator has dropped. Download it free of charge from the magazine's website. And that, whether we like it or not, means it's time to set out on another week with Rutland's most popular fictional peer. Monday A productive morning at PieTown studios in Melton Mowbray. Having heard rumours (I do miss Freddie and Fiona giving me the inside track on the party) that Ed Davey is determined to spend the next election campaign as he spent the last - falling off paddle boards and wrestling gorillas in custard - I hit upon the idea of providing ... (more) |
Elvis Costello: The Other Side of SummerElvis on the beach, and we're not talking Blue Hawaii here. (more) |
Government must do more to help people onto the housing ladderWith Labour Ministers all but admitting that their ambitious house-building target will not be met, the need for a more varied approach to the housing crisis has become urgent. This article in the Guardian therefore, is not just timely, but illustrates what can be done when politicians think outside the box. The paper reports on the outcome of a government review, which concluded that George Osborne's scheme to reduce costs for first-time buyers represented "very high value for money". They say that an official audit of the help-to-buy programme has calculated it provided £25bn of social value to the UK ... (more) |
The foxes who visited London Zoo with deadly intentRemarkable stuff from Robert Hanks in the London Review of Books for 21 October 2010: On 18 March last year a fox, or foxes, found their way through a damaged fence into the penguin enclosure at London Zoo and slaughtered 11 rockhopper and blackfooted penguins. News of the massacre only appeared this weekend, after the Independent got hold of a report on the zoo from inspectors at Westminster Council; since 2007, foxes have also killed a flamingo chick, a chicken and two mara (which the Independent described as 'rodents resembling small kangaroos'; they're more like guinea pigs on stilts). The ... (more) |
9 tips for speaking at a Liberal Democrat conference[IMG: Mark Pack speaking at Lib Dem conference. Moving a constitutional amendment, of course. ] Moving a constitutional amendment, of course, in my younger days. With the latest Liberal Democrat conference coming up soon, here are some tips for would-be new, and indeed, experienced, speakers at party conference. Doubtless, others will have good advice to add to what's in this list, so do comment away at the end, or indeed ask any questions. 1. Time your speech and aim to undershoot The conference paperwork details how long the speeches can be for each part of conference. Getting your planned comments ... (more) |
Coyote vs. Acme: "A warm and witty and weirdly moving film"I went into Leicester yesterday to see Coyote vs. Acme - or "Coyote and Acme" as the lawyers are no doubt calling it. As to my verdict on the film, I can't improve on the conclusion of Catherine Wheatley's review for Sight and Sound: It's a warm and witty and weirdly moving film, with a profoundly important seam of political satire running through it. Audiences should be grateful to Ketchup for rescuing it from obscurity after it was shelved in 2023 by Warner Bros Discovery, allegedly as a tax-write off, and only offered to tender for distribution after a public ... (more) |
Drawing a line on Britain's extreme wealth problemFifty families in Britain hold as much wealth as 34 million people. This Autumn Conference, join us for A Just Society's first fringe event, held jointly with Patriotic Millionaires UK. We'll be asking what that concentration of wealth does to our politics, our media and our society, and where the line should be drawn. It follows Sunday's debate on Defending Democracy. That motion names billionaires who use money and media to influence British politics as a threat to our democracy, and proposes caps on donations and spending. Our fringe picks up where the motion stops. Capping donations closes one route ... (more) |