Vince Cable writes: A budget of small thingsThe Chancellor hasn't crashed the economy by reckless unfunded commitments. Perhaps we should be grateful for small mercies (of which Liz Truss's new book helpfully reminds us). Nor were there any damaging measures like Rachel Reeves' big hike in employers' national insurance contributions. There were lots of small, uncontroversial reliefs for consumers and business which are being paid for by raiding the banks (as I previewed in my last Substack article: The Endless Search for Painless Taxes). But as Kemi Badenoch asked, in her rather effective reply to the Budget, 'Is that It?' Much of the budget had been trailed ... (more) |
Farewell to another legend... John Shipley retires...It is occasionally odd to think that, as I've been married to Ros for more than eighteen years now - a fact which astonishes me as much now as it did when I saw her walk up the aisle towards me on that April afternoon - I've been an observer of the Parliamentary Party in the Lords for just as long. In the early years, especially whilst I was still working in London, I would regularly meet Ros after work and attend social events hosted by her colleagues - birthday parties or Christmas gatherings - and so I met some ... (more) |
How George Santos bet on himself and lostEmbed from Getty ImagesHere's the opening of Geoff Mann's essay on prediction markets in the current London Review of Books: In​ the days leading up to Donald Trump's State of the Union address in February, the prediction market Kalshi set up a trade, a wager in all but name, on the Yes/No proposition that the disgraced Republican ex-congressman George Santos would attend. The larger the number of people who bet 'Yes' (or, in the language the prediction markets prefer, bought 'Yes' contracts), the more the value of the bet would rise; if they bet 'No', it would fall. Santos saw ... (more) |
A night at the AGMIn truth, I haven't really engaged with my current Local Party - Ipswich - as much as I perhaps have done in the past. I've attended the odd meeting, delivered leaflets when asked and vaguely offered my services as required. So far, so good, especially as my services haven't been required. But I do take an interest and, when I received an invitation to the Local Party Annual General Meeting, I checked my diary and concluded that I might turn up, if only to see what was happening. Ipswich Liberal Democrats do remind me of many of the Local Parties ... (more) |
David Chadwick launches bid to be Welsh Lib Dem LeaderFollowing Jane Dodds saying that she will not seek re-nomination as Welsh Lib Dem Leader, the only other person eligible to stand under the current constitution is David Chadwick MP. He has now formally thrown his hat into the ring. He will be confirmed in post and will set out his vision and strategy then. David was elected in 2024 and is the Wales spokesperson in Ed Davey's Shadow Cabinet. He said: Wales is a country with enormous potential. We have talented young people, innovative businesses and communities with the ambition to achieve great things. But too often, that ambition ... (more) |
Joe Jackson: Breaking Us in TwoBreaking Us in Two comes from Jackson's 1982 album Night and Day. The railway in the video is the Keighley and Worth Valley. And the station is Oakworth, which was the station in Lionel Jeffries' film of The Railway Children. (more) |
The Joy of Six 1598"The world's solar power is crossing a threshold. A decade ago, it barely registered on a global scale, providing just 1 per cent of the world's power. In 2026, it will almost certainly increase to 10 per cent of power, and overtake nuclear, a mainstay of electricity since the late 1970s."Jocelyn Timperley on the reasons for solar's success and where it may go from here. David Gauke asks: "What were they thinking of? All those British right-of-centre politicians who had wholeheartedly backed the Ukrainians in their brave resistance to Russian aggression, who then declared their support for Donald Trump's candidacy ... (more) |
A Liberal Vision for Britain's Overseas TerritoriesThe Liberal Democrats' Defending Democracy policy paper calls for a codified UK constitution. If democratic consent and self-government matter at home, they must also shape our relationship with Britain's 14 Overseas Territories, ten of which have permanent populations. In 2025, UK and Territory leaders agreed to develop voluntary Partnership Compacts, and in September 2026 the UK published a Charter affirming "devolution and democratic autonomy" and "nothing about you without you". These are welcome commitments, but they must translate into a more equal constitutional partnership. Recognising national identities "Dependent Territories" became "Overseas Territories" in 2002, reflecting a move towards partnership. Yet ... (more) |
Reform's overseas donors exposedThe Independent reports that an astonishing 80 per cent of donations to Reform UK in the past 12 months have come from donors or companies recently based overseas. The paper says that an analysis of data from the Electoral Commission shows the amount received from donors who were based abroad in the past two years by Nigel Farage's party dwarfs that of other parties amid growing concern about overseas influence in British politics: In comparison, Labour and the Conservatives received just 0.15 per cent and 3.57 per cent of their donations from people or companies based abroad respectively during the ... (more) |
Myth and mystery on the Stiperstones ridgeThis video from Britannia Unconsidered has a little Shropshire hillporn and rather more folklore. It's Wild Edric and his Hunt that Jenny fears she and Peter are seeing in Malcolm Saville's Seven White Gates - see my recent article on Saville for Lion & Unicorn. (more) |