A portrait of the last days of independent PengeA film made by the Penge Rotary Club in 1964. It provides a useful corrective to the view, widespread on Bluesky, that we all lived in shoeboxes and ate gravel until about 20 years ago, while showing us why the Sixties had to happen. The former canal mentioned is the Croydon Canal; note too the children playing cricket without being organised by adults and an unexpected appearance by the Crystal Palace dinosaurs. As to the palace itself, my father remember being woken as a small boy in Horsham, West Sussex, in 1936 to see the glow on the northern horizon ... (more) |
How John Prescott blocked the full redevelopment of Ellesmere canal basinI last visited Ellesmere canal basin getting on for 30 years ago, when I recall it being quite derelict. I was there again this summer and found it changed. But not as changed as it might have been. There was a new supermarket, a derelict canal warehouse with a top ghost sign (someone told me there had been plans to convert it into a restaurant but they had fallen through) and lots of empty space. If you want to know why it hasn't been more comprehensively redeveloped, and a BBC News feature from 2004 is enlightening: For 15 years there ... (more) |
Councils must help music - so music can help their communities flourishIf we believe in giving everyone the platform to flourish and live their unique version of a best life, then enabling music, and musicians, to thrive in our local areas is an unmissable part of that platform. Does a day go by when you don't listen to music? On your phone? In a movie? In a bar or coffee shop? In your place of worship? We use music to celebrate milestones, commemorate lost loved ones, pump ourselves up, and to find ourselves when we're lost. But the dedicated geniuses who make all that possible are seeing their income streams disappear ... (more) |
Welcome to the Brexit argument, Prime Minister!This week Andy Burnham told the Labour conference in Liverpool that Brexit has done 'more harm than good'. In a broadcast interview the next day he said that an in-out referendum on membership of the European Union (EU) in Labour's next manifesto is 'possible', as The Times reports. For Labour that is a dramatic shift. For Liberal Democrats it is something more familiar as here we see a Prime Minister arriving, a decade late, at an argument we have been making since at least the summer of 2016. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. In Brighton in September ... (more) |
Pensions, care and the liberal vision we needI am a Liberal Democrat because I believe in freedom, fairness, compassion and giving people the power to shape their lives. Those values remain deeply important to me. Yet, after our recent conference in Brighton, I wanted to hear a clearer, more ambitious account of how we would put those values into practice. Tax cuts have their place, but people also need decent housing, reliable public services and security when illness or old age makes them vulnerable. Andy Burnham's speech raised questions that deserve serious consideration. Welcoming a worthwhile proposal from another party does not weaken our liberal principles. We ... (more) |
The Joy of Six 1587Cathy Mongaghan says Essex County Council's Operation Vanguard shows what can happen when a party built on amplifying fear and division takes control of the institutions needed to turn its political story into public policy: "Reform warned people that asylum seekers made their communities unsafe. Reform won power in Essex. Reform then spent council money putting private security on the streets in response to the presence of asylum seekers. The fear came first. The policy followed." James Murray asks what true pragmatism look like in an age of climate crisis: "How is the rational choice the one that drives up ... (more) |
50 years a LiberalFifty years ago, I was starting at City University. It was my second attempt: I had spent an unhappy term at Southampton several years earlier, and as part of my plan to enjoy university more, I decided to join a society at the Freshers' Fair. I wasn't a Tory and definitely not a socialist, but I liked the Liberal Party's views on apartheid and gay rights (not that I had ever consciously met a gay person). I joined the Liberal Society and went along to a meeting, where I remember being very impressed by a postgrad, David Heath, who later ... (more) |
LGS establishes new link with US National Winston Churchill Museum in Fulton MissouriOn the 29th September 2026, our Chair Professor Russell Deacon visited the US National Winston Churchill Museum and was given a tour around by the director Timothy Riley. Museum Director Timothy Riley and Professor Deacon Prof Deacon was shown a lot of the material concerning Churchill as a Liberal and the original extract of the famous "Iron Curtain Fulton Speech" Churchill made that mentions Churchill's "close friend Mr Lloyd George": Extract of Lloyd George's Fulton Speech As well as establishing links with the Lloyd George Society, Professor Deacon was also able to provide links to the Museum to the Liberal ... (more) |
Labour need to step up on abolition of leaseholdsOver the last ten years I have posted a number of times on the inequity of the antiquated leasehold system. which is exploiting over five million households in England and Wales. Like the now phased-out, feudal system of Rentcharges, leasehold tenure is long past its sell-by date. However, my conclusion to this post on 25 February 2019 sort of sums up where we are at, when I wrote: Preventing the development of new leasehold properties is the next big housing reform. Will any government be brave enough to actually do it. The Guardian, in an editorial, presses the case even ... (more) |
Colin Milburn at Lord's in 1968: The first test innings I rememberThe first test innings I can remember is Colin Milburn hitting the Australians all round Lord's in 1968. And here it is, with John Arlott adding his comments. The innings in question took place on the second morning of a rain-ruined match, and Milburn was the top scorer in England's first innings with 83. England then skittled Australia in their first innings (David Brown 5-42) and made them follow on, but didn't have time to force a win. The full scorecard is on cricinfo. (more) |