An appreciation of It Always Rains on SundayEaling Studios didn't just make comedies, and the drama It Always Rains on Sunday from 1947 is one of their very best films. As the blurb for this short video from the British Film Institute says: It Always Rains on Sunday is a dark and dramatic tale set in bombed-damaged East London. The third film for Ealing by director Robert Hamer - better known for the later Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) - it takes place over one wet Sunday, and centres on the Sandigates - in particular Rose, played by Googie Withers, a housewife caught between her stable but ... (more) |
Europe knows Trump's game. Because Europe invented it.Donald Trump came to Europe expecting to dominate it. Instead, he was sent away with a flea in his ear. Like many people watching this drama unfold, I was preparing myself for the worst. A new generation of gunboat diplomacy, the dissolution of Nato and the fracturing of the rules-based order. However, the row over Greenland tells us something important about the world we are now living in - something to give us hope. Trump arrived armed with threats, tariffs and performative bluster, assuming that European countries could be picked off one by one. He assumed that pressure would fracture ... (more) |
The plight of Palestinian ChristiansOn 7 January, Palestinian Christians gathered in Gaza City to mark Orthodox Christmas at Saint Porphyrius Church, one of the oldest churches in the world. It was the first Christmas service there in three years. In October 2023, Israeli airstrikes destroyed a building in the church's compound, killing 17 of the 450 Palestinian Christians seeking refuge inside. The two years that followed brought such widespread destruction, hunger and loss that there was little desire for festivity. A powerful op-ed by Palestinian student and writer Ali Skaik captured the contradictory mood inside the church: sorrow intertwined with hope, loss alongside renewal. ... (more) |
Shabana Mahmood shares her vision of total state surveillance with the Tony Blair InstituteEmbed from Getty ImagesHow did you celebrate Christmas? At the Tony Blair Institute they asked Shaban Mahmood along to their Christmas reception to share her dream of total state surveillance. She talked of AI and technology having a transformative impact on "the whole of the law and order space", and told them: "My ultimate vision for that part of the criminal justice system was to achieve, by means of AI and technology, what Jeremy Bentham tried to do with his Panopticon. That is that the eyes of the state can be on you at all times." Bentham's Panopticon was a ... (more) |
Happisburgh or: Whatever happened to our fear of quicksand?I've seen more than one person ask this question online. Quicksand was an ever-present threat in the films of our youth, but now you never hear of it. Not quite never. Here's a story from the North Norfolk News: A warning has been issued for quicksand around a ramp leading down to a popular beach. North Norfolk District Council has temporarily closed the ramp at Happisburgh following the poor weather brought in by Storm Goretti. On Saturday, the Happisburgh Coast Watch warned that "areas of very soft sand" were developing in the area. A spokesman for the voluntarily manned station ... (more) |
When will Iran's 'Berlin Wall moment' come?So many have drawn parallels with the of the protests in Iran as a Berlin Wall moment, that rare historical instant when fear dissolves, momentum accelerates, and a people suddenly realise that the power looming over them has already begun to rot from within. For a brief and intoxicating period, the metaphor appeared to hold. But nostalgia and yearning can be a contemptible form of comfort. As soon as it spread, it encountered something far older and far more predictable, as the familiar reflexes of a failing tyranny reasserted themselves through organised brutality, exemplary violence, and the calculated production of ... (more) |
Spring 2026: Agenda Selection ReportThe Federal Conference Committee (FCC) met on Saturday to review motion submissions and begin finalising the agenda for Spring Conference 2026, which will take place in York from 13 to 15 March 2026. We are very much looking forward to returning to York for what promises to be a busy and engaging Conference. Motions Submissions and Agenda Planning As ever, we received a strong and diverse range of submissions, reflecting the breadth of engagement across the party. In total, the FCC received: 28 policy motions 2 business motions 1 constitutional amendment Following very detailed discussion and several rounds of selection, ... (more) |
The Emperor's New ClothesHow deliciously ironic that the popular folktale The Emperor's New Clothes was written by a Danish author, Hans Christian Andersen. How apposite is that tale today? A slow-witted narcissist is easily duped and, because he is believed to be a powerful emperor, no one is willing to challenge him and point out what a fool he is being. Trump is undoubtedly a fool, but he is constantly emboldened by the dithering appeasement of most world leaders, while the functioning malevolent minds of Putin and Xi quietly look on with delight. Whether it's from fawning, fear or flippancy the world can ... (more) |
Federal Board seeks volunteers for 26 vital rolesIt's that time, at the start of every Federal Committee term of office, when the Federal Board seeks volunteers to fill key roles in the party, ranging from members of the Finance and Audit Committees, to the person who chairs the Committee that selects our election strategy, to working on membership, training and diversity. In the olden days, these roles were advertised in a manner akin to Arthur Dent's experience in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with ... (more) |
Is Farage too busy earning money to stick to the rules?The BBC reports on a ruling by the parliamentary commissioner for standards that Reform UK leader Nigel Farage breached MPs' rules 17 times by failing to register financial interests totalling £384,000 within the 28-day limit. However, Daniel Greenberg said that following an investigation, he had concluded that the breaches were "inadvertent" and therefore would not be recommending any sanctions for the Clacton MP: Rule five of the parliamentary code of conduct states that new MPs should register all their financial interests received in the 12 months before their election and that MPs "must register any change in those registrable interests ... (more) |