"Haunted" Devon swingers club investigated by ghost hunters after "eerie" eventsDevonLive wins today's Headline of the Day Award. The judges remarked that if the sub writing this headline is that fond of scare quotes - and the story below is even worse - they should get a job at BBC News. And after reading: A Plymouth adult entertainment venue, housed in a former bank, has become the focus of a chilling paranormal investigation. The "alternative" establishment, which features a well-appointed bar and a bondage "dungeon", is reported to have a "horrible" atmosphere in certain areas, a sensation that has intensified since recent renovation work commenced. they suggested the owners move ... (more) |
Founder of Starmer's legal chambers spells out opposition to plan to abolish jury trialsThe Guardian reports that the founder of Keir Starmer's barristers' chambers has condemned the planned restriction of jury trials in England and Wales as "a betrayal of the values for which Labour purports to stand". The paper says that Geoffrey Robertson KC, founding head of Doughty Street Chambers, where the attorney general, Richard Hermer KC, and the justice secretary, David Lammy, also had their professional homes, has written a more than 9,000-word polemic to coincide with the committee stage of the courts and tribunals bill: In the document, published on the Bar Council's website on Monday night, Robertson questions the ... (more) |
Greene: Offord must tell Scots if he'll risk free prescriptionsScottish Liberal Democrat candidate for Inverclyde, Jamie Greene, has called for Reform UK's Malcom Offord to come clean on whether he would make Scots pay for medicine. In 2025, Lord Offord wrote in a Centre for Policy Studies paper that "dialogue" was needed on making people in Scotland pay prescription charges. Mr Greene claimed that it was Offord's responsibility to tell the Scottish people exactly what the consequences of voting for Reform UK would be for hard-pressed Scots. Reform's UK boss Nigel Farage has a history of flirting with NHS charging and privatisation, once advocating that the health service moves ... (more) |
A TV mast on the Stiperstones? What horrors would it have broadcast into people's homes?The transmitting station on top of the Wrekin, which broadcasts television and radio to much of Shropshire and parts of the West Midlands beyond, celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. But if the county's planners had got their way it would have been built on the Stiperstones instead. An article on BBC News- and they should know - says the BBC had tested transmissions from the Wrekin as far back as 1964. But in 1970, the Wellington Journal reported:Salop County Council's planning committee is in favour of putting the proposed BBC TV mast on the Stiperstones. It has rejected the ... (more) |
Mathew on Monday: Hungary shows us that the populist Right can be defeated!For years, Victor Orban's Hungary has been held up – by admirers and critics alike – as proof that the populist Right, once entrenched, is almost impossible to dislodge. A self-described "illiberal state," tight media control, constitutional engineering, and a politics built on division and grievance all seemed to point in one direction: permanence. And yet – politics has a habit of reminding us that nothing is permanent. Yesterday's election result in Hungary has sent a jolt through that assumption. After more than a decade and a half dominating Hungarian politics, Orban's grip has been broke by a broad, pro-European ... (more) |
Taking Hungary Back: The Fall of Orbánism and What It Means for EuropePéter Magyar (Photo: Márton Mónus/Reuters) Yesterday's Hungarian parliamentary election has delivered what, until very recently, seemed improbable: the defeat of Viktor Orbán and his long-dominant Fidesz party. For over a decade, Hungary has stood as the clearest example within the European Union of how the structures of democracy can be steadily eroded by those in power. That this system has now been challenged—and decisively so—marks a turning point not only for Hungary, but for liberal democracy across Europe. Péter Magyar and TISZA didn't just win - with over 98% of votes counted it is clear that they have won comfortably, ... (more) |
This week in the Lords - 13-16 April 2026it looks like a relatively gentle week in the Lords, although there will be an opportunity for the Lords to ask the Commons to think again... again... on the Victims and Courts Bill and the Crime and Policing Bill. Yes, it's ping-pong time in the Lords... Bills Today sees Day 3 of the Report stage of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. Kath Pinnock has two amendments down promoting the Town and Parish Council sector, whilst John Shipley and Shaffaq Mohammed are attempting to persuade the Government that there are alternatives to the "strong leader" model of local government ... (more) |
Is Football losing its head?English football likes to think of itself as the most competitive, compelling league system in the world. And in many ways, the Premier League still delivers on that promise every weekend. But financially, the game is drifting into something far less credible: a system where losses are disguised, rules are gamed, and profit increasingly exists only on paper. The rise of intragroup sales is not a clever innovation. It is a symptom of a broken model. When clubs such as Newcastle United or Chelsea can transform massive losses into tidy profits by selling assets to companies owned by the same ... (more) |
Who lost in Hungary? Orban, Trump, Putin, and FarageYou really could not make this up. The Vice President of America goes to take part in a General Election in Hungary and then complains about foreign interference in that country's election. Did he not know what he was saying or did he believe that God had sent him to save Hungary from Satan's spawn. What happened in Hungary yesterday was utterly amazing not only for the people of Hungary but also for the rest of the free world. You could only envy the huge celebrations of the young people of the Country as they looked forward to a new ... (more) |
The Joy of Six 1503Marcus Hughes on the many problems the Welsh government must overcome in achieving its laudable aim of removing private profit from the care system. "The anxiety inducing question from those working in the sector is what happens if local authority and not-for-profit provision can't replace that offered by the private sector in time? Finding places for some young people is already a challenge even with the current options available." "Could the bellicose, belligerent and braying Hegseth - with his Crusader tattoos, his disdain for diplomacy, and his evident taste for violent domination - have convinced Trump to start a war ... (more) |