Newcastle PrideIt was Newcastle Pride today. After my ward surgery I headed over to Newcastle Civic Centre to be part of a sea of colour for the parade to the Monument. Good to see lots of people from Gateshead Council LGBT support network.One of the first people I bumped into was Cllr Henry Gallagher, mayor of Newcastle. (more) |
My Liberator article on the Yorkists' New DealThis article appears in the new Liberator - you can download the whole issue from the magazine's website. Following the best traditions of academic reviewing, I spend a lot of time stating my own views before I get on to the publication I'm meant to be writing about. You can find The New Deal online. Lib Dem Narrative - The Search Goes On The 2024 general election saw 72 Liberal Democrat MPs elected, the most for a third party since the Liberals' brief revival in 1923. It was a result that exceeded all expectations, yet, two years on, there is ... (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 Survation 19% (-2) 25% (+1) 10% (-1) 8% (-3) 26% (+2) -1% (vs Ref) 22-24/7 UK YouGov 20% (-1) ... (more) |
Neal Ascherson on Berlin in the second world warEmbed from Getty ImagesNeil Ascherson writes about Berlin in the current issue of the London Review of Books: Berlin is a strange, parvenu capital which shakes itself and becomes unrecognisable every few generations. The little Prussian town suddenly becomes the pompous capital of an empire, which collapses into a defeated rump republic, which turns into the powerhouse of the Third Reich, which is bombed shapeless, then divided into two by a wall. And now united again, with a new government centre worthy of that old parvenu pomposity. Reviewing Ian Buruma's book Stay Alive: Berlin 1939-45, he says of the city ... (more) |
Lord Bonkers' Diary: Searching the rock pools for "sea anomalies"The new Liberator is out. You can download it free of charge from the magazine's website. And that means it's time to spend another week with Rutland's most popular fictional peer. When I first mentioned the Well-Behaved Orphans' summer holiday in the pages of Liberator, Marcus Trescothick was a 14-year-old playing alongside his father for the Keynsham club in Bristol. In those days the WBOs went to a different Cornish resort: Trebilcock Bay. Monday I write these words in a deckchair on the sands of Trescothick Bay, the Cornish resort where I always bring the Well-Behaved Orphans for their summer ... (more) |
How Oswald Mosley met his match in SwanseaA lot of well-known politicians have found themselves in Swansea at one time or another, but none of them had the sort of reception that awaiting British Fascist leader​, Oswald Mosley. Wales-on-line reports that he started his Welsh odyssey in Cardiff where his rally was peaceful, but the reaction was vry different in Swansea's Plaza Cinema that summer when Mosley took written questions from the audience: The crucial one was, "I work for a Jew. Should I change my employer?" Mosley replied: "I am disgusted that anyone should work for a Jew. You should be certain to find a more ... (more) |
Welcome aboardGateshead full council meeting was held last week. Quietly slipping in under the radar was Reform Councillor, Lindsay Atkinson. He was the winner of the High Fell by-election caused by the Reform councillor, elected in May, lasting only 11 days in the job. Atkinson's win went unobserved by Full Council. No mention by the Leader or Mayor. No opportunity for Reform to celebrate their majority of 5. (more) |
50 years in businessI had to go to Lobley Hill today for some stamps. The joy of popping to the Sunniside Post Office ended when the branch was closed a few years ago. Lobley Hill is therefore now our closest branch. The Lobley Hill branch is next to the Kular Stores which recently celebrated 50 years as the convenience store for the whole of Lobley Hill. I remember being sent to the shop 50 years ago by Mam (more) |
A cross between Biggles, Tintin, the Famous Five and FitzcarraldoGeorge Weeks posted the link to this the other day, saying: I love the BBC Archive YouTube channel. So much footage to enjoy. This one is possibly my favourite: The Trans-African Hovercraft Expedition of 1969-70. It's a cross between Biggles, Tintin, Famous Five and Fitzcarraldo. And he was right. This film was shot in Francophone Africa, and though I know from a recent rabbit hole that British Africa had all but crumbled by 1962 when Sammy Going South was released, but it's still tempting to place hovercraft beside flying boats and airships as new means of transport that promised to ... (more) |
How many councillors has Reform UK lost since the May 2026 elections?Given how popular (and lengthy!) my list of Reform councillor departures after the May 2025 elections turned out to be, here is a new list, this time for councillors elected under the Reform banner on 7 May 2026, or in by-elections after that date, who have already departed the party for one reason or another. Jay Cooper, Sefton: declared "not welcome" by Nigel Farage following reports of him calling the Holocaust a hoax and then resigned from the party (May 2026). Stuart Prior, Essex: expelled by Reform and resigned as a councillor after "he was accused the week before the ... (more) |