GUEST POST Why have the Lib Dems given up fighting most parliamentary by-elections?Lib Dem HQ has decided to stop making an effort in unpromising Westminster by-elections. Regular guest poster Augustus Carp argues that they've got it wrong. Today I want us to think about a rather unusual chap called Ian Stuart - he was the "area manager" or whatever it was called of the Liberal Party in the Home Counties in the 1980s. On our rare meetings I found him to be a rather genial cove, although I gather he was not always popular with the party hierarchy. Anyway, it was his lot to be the Liberal Party candidate in the long-forgotten ... (more) |
Petula Clark remembers making Trouble at TownsendOne of Petula Clark's early films in her child star days was Trouble at Townsend, which was based on a short story by this blog's hero Malcolm Saville. In her memoirs Is That You, Petula? she briefly remembers making the film: Rather less glamorously, around the same time I made an educational film for children called Trouble at Townsend. It was about a city boy and girl going to the countryside and having adventures. The little boy in the film with me put on weight and got too plump for his costume. We filmed some of it on a farm, ... (more) |
Observations of an Expat: Surviving IranAmerica will survive the Iran War. It has survived worse. Israel may not be so fortunate. Superpowers can afford mistakes. Small countries living in dangerous neighbourhoods cannot. People have been predicting the decline of American power since Vietnam. America lost in Vietnam, failed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and suffered humiliation in Somalia. Yet the United States remains the world's dominant military and financial power. Superpowers can absorb defeats. They possess strategic depth. Of course, the same may not be said about individual politicians. Donald Trump has been seriously weakened inside and outside MAGA world. So have the Republican politicians who ... (more) |
A medieval street at the heart of Swansea's social lifeIf you want a night out in Swansea, you go to Wind Street (pronounced Wine Street), where a large number of pubs and restaurants have set up shop on what is now a largely pedestrian street as pictured above. But it hasn't always been like as this website makes clear: Wind Street (Wyne Street in 1567) follows virtually the same line as it did in medieval times. It is likely that several of its buildings, in all or in part date from these times. Its curve follows that of the Tawe. Along with Butter Street (now St Mary Street), Castle ... (more) |