Observations of an Expat: GazaWhile the world's attention has been fixed on Iran, Lebanon and the Strait of Hormuz, Gaza has quietly slipped from the headlines. That is unfortunate, because the territory is settling into a dangerous and potentially permanent limbo. Except for the occasional exchange of fire, fighting between Hamas and the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has stopped. What has replaced conflict is an armed truce with a deep mutual distrust preventing any progress on last autumn's peace plan. The IDF still occupies more than 60 percent of Gaza with orders from Benjamin Netanyahu to increase that slice to 70 percent. The two ... (more) |
I am liberal, woke and proud of it. We should all accept such descriptions with prideIn a recent posting on one of the social media channels I use, Twitter I think, this post was added to a comment that I had made, "Why should we take any notice of you, you're just a woke liberal." I am accustomed to being insulted by both far left and far right, so I do not take much notice of things. But in this case, I accepted the description as a badge of honour because it is 100% right. When I said this in brought in loads of similar comments from people who often could not spell and had ... (more) |
The Joy of Six 1539Roz Savage says our electoral system is not just unfair but dangerous: "Manifestos are written for floating voters in constituencies that might change hands - not for the country as a whole. And when governments make spending decisions, the incentive structure pulls them in exactly the same direction. The Towns Fund, which directed 40 of 45 allocations to Conservative-held seats, was not an aberration. It was the system working as designed." "Some schools have glass atriums, which were a common feature of those constructed during the government's Building Schools for the Future programme in the early 2000s, but which now ... (more) |
When the GIs came to SwanseaToday, Singleton Park is a large green space on the seafront in Swansea used for a huge number of activities ranging from dog walking and park runs to outdoor concerts and car shows. It was bought from the Vivian family by the County Borough Council in 1919 for use as a public park and was transformed by Daniel Bliss, who was trained at Kew Gardens, to include a botanical gardens and boating lake amongst other features. As you can see from the map below, large areas of the park have since been sacrificed to accommodate the university campus and a ... (more) |
What's he got?Right, so Andy Burnham is elected to Parliament and, assuming there are no unforeseen circumstances, he will be Prime Minister by mid-July. There will be a coronation for King Andy as Labour are unable to find anyone within the 410 Labour MPs elected at the last general election capable of taking on the prime ministerial role. Remember however that a coronation may not be a good thing. Labour had (more) |
St Mary's fairLast Saturday, St Mary's Church in Whickham held their summer fair. Always a good opportunity to buy homemade cakes. Photo above of Councillors Peter and Susan Craig and myself.Cllr Marilynn Ord chats to stallholdersWider shot of the fair.On the tombola where all the prizes were alcoholic, Cllr Marilynn Ord won the mouthwash! (more) |
What remains of the locations where Hue and Cry was filmedThe best-known scene from a British film involving children and bombsites is the climax of Hue and Cry (1947), where the office boys and errand boys of London stream across a ruined cityscape to confront the villains. It feels more Roberto Rosselini than Ealing. Here, you sense, is the exotic London captured by Rose Macaulay in her novel The World My Wilderness (1950). A city where the bombsites are bright with flowers and lush with vegetation. A city of sudden unaccustomed vistas of Italianate churches. A city where the displaced sleep at night among the ruins. That was me writing ... (more) |
Franz Kafka in North West LeicestershireFrom BBC News: Barbara Skedd was in "absolute horror" when she opened a letter addressed to her executors offering them condolences on her death. The 74-year-old received a letter to her Ibstock home, in Leicestershire, from North West Leicestershire District Council in May to update its council tax records following the family's "recent bereavement". And that's not all: Skedd said she was in tears after the initial shock of reading that she had died in the council letter, dated 21 May. She said anger then followed when she discovered all her benefit money, including her Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Industrial ... (more) |
Latest voting intention and leadership ratings opinion pollsWelcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention polls for the next general election, along with the latest MRP projections and party leadership ratings. If you'd like to find out more about how polls work, how reliable they are and how to make sense of them, check out my book, Polling UnPacked: the History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls, or sign up for my weekly email, The Week in Polls: General election voting intention polls PollsterConLabLDGrnRefLab leadFieldwork Find Out Now 18% (nc) 21% (+6) 12% (nc) 15% (-2) 24% (-3) -3% (vs Ref) 24-25/6 GB BMG ... (more) |
The Lib Dem strategy reviewThe party's ongoing strategy review is welcome. But collecting feedback is only the beginning. Turning it into a successful long-term strategy requires us to answer four fundamental questions. 1. What's the point of the Liberal Democrats? I've been asked this question, sneeringly, more than once. But, we do need to be clear what we want to achieve. More seats and votes are important, but they are not our ultimate aim. This question might seem quite abstract today – but it will be critical in the years to come. We are going to have to make difficult decisions when we are ... (more) |