Pictures of NoelNoel Rippeth was Leader of the Lib Dem group and Leader of the Opposition on Gateshead Council from 1994 to 2010.Sadly, he passed away last month. His family asked me to pass on any photos I have of him from his days as group leader. SO here are some of the ones I sent. All photos are pre 2005 and some date from the 1990s.Above - Noel in his ward of Crawcrook and Greenside.Mid 1990s, a (more) |
Save Gateshead from Reform's opencast mining(more) |
A brilliantly baffling Labour bar chartFollowing this season's quite glorious Conservative bar chart, the Labour Party in Tunbridge Wells gives us this: [IMG: Labour bar chart in Tunbridge Wells 2026] A Labour Party bar chart from Tunbridge Wells. This is almost, almost but not quite, as good as the famous 'I am not a horse' Labour leaflet. As we're going through a boom time for bar charts, now it a good time to recall my 5-point list for responsible bar charting. Sign up to get the latest news and analysis (more) |
The reality of Reform in powerThe Mirror reports that they have been told that Reform UK is running a "horror show" at Kent County Council, with an aggressive atmosphere, political point-scoring and no improvements for residents. The paper has spoken to residents, charities and local politicians to understand what impact the party had made a year after they took control of the council: Reform ended a nearly 30-year Tory reign at Kent County Council (KCC) at last May's local elections. Party figures promised it would be a "shop window" for how a Reform government could govern in Westminster and Mr Farage promised a "new dawn" ... (more) |
Don't bring Reform chaos to Gateshead(more) |
Lib Dem boy bandI set myself the task of sorting through a filing cabinet of photos in my office at home this morning. All my photos taken since 2005 are digital. So the contents of the filing cabinet are something of a historic nature, being at least 21 years old. Some were over 40 years old. I did however find this photo which we decided to scan. It was taken in spring 2001. These 5 young people (I'm on (more) |
How many councillors has Reform UK lost since May?Here is a list of the councillors which Reform has shed from the May 2025 local elections and from those elections in by-elections since. The latest update is the defection in Lincolnshire. Donna Edmunds (Shropshire, suspended by Reform UK and then quit the party; later joined Advance UK) Luke Shingler (Warwickshire, now an independent) Desmond Clarke (Nottinghamshire, resigned as councillor) Andrew Kilburn (Durham, resigned as a councillor) Wayne Titley (Staffordshire, resigned as a councillor) Mark Broadhurst (Doncaster, expelled by Reform) Adam Smith (West Northamptonshire, suspended by Reform and then expelled) John Bailey (Durham, resigned as a councillor) Daniel Taylor (Kent, ... (more) |
Tom Arms' World ReviewSir Keir Starmer should be Britain's Foreign Secretary. His handling of foreign policy is first-class. Unfortunately, for a country's foreign policy to be effective, it needs a strong economic and political base and Sir Keir — as Prime Minister — has failed to produce that. But the world economic crisis created by Trump's attack on Iran and Iran's closure of the Straits of Hormuz means that the British Prime Minister now must focus on world affairs. He has decided that he — along with French President Emmanuel Macron — should take the lead in trying to find a diplomatic solution ... (more) |
The North Sea mythThe Guardian reports on research that has found that opening major new fields in the North Sea would make almost no difference to the UK's reliance on gas imports. The paper says that the Jackdaw field, one of the largest unexploited gasfields in the North Sea, would displace only 2% of the UK's current imports of gas, which would leave the UK still almost entirely dependent on supplies from Norway and a few other sources. They add that the Rosebank field, also in Scottish waters but mainly containing oil, would displace only about 1% of the UK's gas imports: Tessa ... (more) |