2023-06-22 12:21
Embed from Getty ImagesFrom the Independent:BBC newsreader Clive Myrie was reportedly pulled from last Friday’s episode (16 June) of the News at Ten, after making jokes about Boris Joh… Read More
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Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year 2014"Well written, funny and wistful" - Paul Linford; "He is indeed the Lib Dem blogfather" - Stephen Tall"Jonathan Calder holds his end up well in the competitive world of the blogosphere" - New Statesman"A prominent Liberal Democrat blogger" - BBC Radio 4 Today programme"Charming and younger than I expected" - Wartime Housewife
2023-06-21 21:25
All the great men are dead and I'm not feeling so well myself Read More
2023-06-21 17:47
As it's the Summer Solstice, here is an extract from the soundtrack of a lost folk horror classic Read More
2023-06-21 01:07
Embed from Getty ImagesSimon Hoggart had a theory about John Major:It was always my theory that John Major was a Nigerian who had learned English from the battered paperbacks he had borrowed… Read More
2023-06-19 20:48
After I posted about finding the Oakham Canal in the town, someone suggested I look at the Oakham Canal Green Corridor Project.This aims to establish a two-and-a-half-mile walking route… Read More
2023-06-19 08:46
There was a worrying story in the Leicester Mercury on Saturday:Thousands of dead fish have been found in the River Soar this week, leaving the river's ecosystem in 'crisis', a environmental… Read More
2023-06-19 08:12
Just as it's not winter until you 've seen a news story about a crap Christmas shopping park called something like 'Magical Winterland', so it's not summer until you have seen one about a bo… Read More
2023-06-18 21:31
Josh Self praises Keir Starmer's role in the downfall of Boris Johnson. Was Captain Hindsight really Admiral Foresight?"'It’s one more book - just throw it on the bonfire,' Spiegelman… Read More
2023-06-18 17:29
David Warburton, the MP for Somerton and Frome, has announced that he is to resign from the Commons.He lost the Conservative whip over a year ago because of allegations of drug use and sexua… Read More
2023-06-17 23:22
Who were the coolest band in Leicester in the late Sixties?The consensus, I think, would be Family, but they had a rival in the shape of Legay, who later renamed themselves Gypsy.I came acro… Read More
2023-06-17 00:01
North of Leicester the River Soar is joined by the River Wreake. The Wreake used to be navigable as far as Melton Mowbray, where there was a basin beside the railway station. From there a ca… Read More
2023-06-16 21:57
Attracted by the local angle, the judges have made this BBC News effort our Headline of the Day Read More
2023-06-15 22:21
Embed from Getty ImagesLord Bonkers isn't the only politician to have had an orphanage: both Mr Gladstone and my local hero Paddy Logan had one too.Now I am discovering that showbiz celebrit… Read More
2023-06-15 10:17
"Leicestershire is home to the Lib Dem’s safest and longest-run council Oadby & Wigston (some might say best run too). After widespread gains in May the party achieved a safe hold… Read More
2023-06-14 23:20
Another of my early heroes has died. By my calculation, John Hollins is the fifth member of the Chelsea team that won the FA Cup in 1970 to be taken off by the great manager in the sky. (Pet… Read More
2023-06-14 23:04
Embed from Getty ImagesBetfair has the Liberal Democrats as odds-on favourites to win the Mid-Bedfordshire by-election.Converting their decimal odds into old money, the betting looks like th… Read More
2023-06-14 18:51
On Twitter today Wayne Cowling provided one of the greatest trivial facts ever. Let's award it Trivial Fact of the Month for starters.As a reader of this blog, you will, of course, be famili… Read More
2023-06-14 09:33
If you’ve spent much time on Facebook or Twitter lately, it’s pretty likely you’ll have seen adverts featuring mournful caged puppies posted by Labour and the Liberal Democ… Read More
2023-06-13 20:01
After this morning's sad news about a duck race, here is a happier fowl-related story. A chicken missing from the Richard Jefferies Museum at Coate Water, Swindon, was found in the pub down… Read More
2023-06-13 18:44
Mike Brearley is the only England cricket captain to become president of the British Psychoanalytic Society.While he, a son of liberal North London, led England in the late Seventies and aga… Read More
2023-06-13 09:58
This sad story wins the Northamptonshire Telegraph our Headline of the Day Award Read More
2023-06-12 22:54
It turns out that the Gladstone Street site in Desborough is one of five being put up for sale by North Northamptonshire Council.Kate Cronin broke the story in the Northamptonshire Telegraph… Read More
2023-06-12 21:56
Embed from Getty ImagesWho directed The Italian Job?I couldn't have told you until the other day, when I came across a page about the films of Peter Collinson. It has an unnerving habit of t… Read More
2023-06-12 08:41
BBC News wins our Headline of the Day Award and the judges send their appreciation to Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service Read More
2023-06-11 21:43
Radio Times makes a big fuss about the never-screened pilot episode of Blackadder, which is being shown by Gold (not a Freeview channel) on Thursday, along with a documentary, at nine in the… Read More
2023-06-11 11:03
For some reason I 've been reminded of this song by the week's political events.Written by Russ Ballard and released in 1970, Liar was Argent's first single. It was not a hit, but Three Dog… Read More
2023-06-10 21:40
2023-06-10 15:30
Despite what disaffected Conservative MPs are announcing, you cannot resign from the House of Commons.Wikipedia explains:To circumvent this prohibition, MPs who wish to step down are instead… Read More
2023-06-09 20:48
Embed from Getty ImagesIt was Nick Clegg who gave voters the power to recall MPs. And it was the Tory right who complained bitterly that he didn't go far enough.Here's a Guardian report from… Read More
2023-06-09 20:14
From Harborough FM, which these days provides the best local news coverage, reports:North Northamptonshire Council is to sell off a site in Desborough which has stood derelict for over 20 ye… Read More
2023-06-09 17:28
Neal Ascherson reviewed Revolutionary Spring by Christopher Clark, a history of the revolutions that spread across Europe in 1848, for the London Review of Books last month.Ascherson's parag… Read More
2023-06-08 18:43
When Lord Bonkers was putting together a crew for the narrow boat Flower of Rutland five summers ago, he wrote:Finally, we have a Well-Behaved Orphan as cabin boy so that (as is traditional)… Read More
2023-06-08 11:29
The Victorians didn't cover piano legs out of prudishness: that was a joke they told at the expense of straitlaced Americans.They didn't pose their dead relatives in family photographs and t… Read More
2023-06-07 20:30
Jago Hazzard is our guide to York station and its history. It's noticeable that there are fewer platforms in use than there were in my students days in the city.You can support Jago's videos… Read More
2023-06-07 10:43
I blogged the other day about Hope Instead of Handcuffs, the campaign against the handcuffing of child in care when they are moved between placements.In that post I asked if any Liberal Demo… Read More
2023-06-06 21:48
I don't know if anyone else reads this feature, but Lord Bonkers certainly does. So it's time to go back 30 years and see what the old boy was saying in the June 1992 Liberator.This news ite… Read More
2023-06-06 20:32
Rutger Bregman begins his TED talk like this:I'd like to start with a simple question: Why do the poor make so many poor decisions? I know it's a harsh question, but take a look at the data… Read More
2023-06-05 19:49
Caroline Lucas, Wera Hobhouse MP and Olivia Blake argue that the Climate and Ecology Bill is our best chance to tackle the climate crisis."The root of the asylum controversy in the UK is tha… Read More
2023-06-05 12:22
The Observer sent its policy editor - Michael Savage - to Darkest Surrey and discovered that the natives are no longer friendly to the Conservatives:The fortress of Godalming is being besieg… Read More
2023-06-04 19:18
4th June 1976. pic.twitter.com/VQ27UgqpQF— Kenneth Williams (@DiariesKenneth) June 4, 2023 A typical diary entry from Kenneth Williams, which was tweeted today because it describes wha… Read More
2023-06-04 18:59
From the Independent:A coalition of MPs and peers is calling for the "horrendous" practice of handcuffing children in care during transport to be banned.Local authorities often use private f… Read More
2023-06-04 09:28
This is one of those songs I have always known without knowing what it was called or who recorded it.Friends was written and first recorded by Terry Reid, who toured the US in support of Cre… Read More
2023-06-03 19:16
A couple of weeks ago I posted a 1965 television report on Spurn Point and the lifeboat station there. The image above is taken from it.Now comes news that the RNLI is to close that station… Read More
2023-06-03 18:42
Graham Lanktree explains how Boris Johnson sold out British farming: "Two prime ministers sat face to face across a grand Westminster dining room, the first ever free-trade agreement between… Read More
2023-06-02 19:53
This memorial. which remembers three Wellington bomber crew who lost their lives in a wartime training flight from RAF Desborough, can be found among new housing in the town.The Northamptons… Read More
2023-06-02 10:23
There's a good piece in the Financial Times by Miranda Green today asking whether Ed Davey's determination not to talk about Brexit or post-election deals with Labour is damaging the Liberal… Read More
2023-06-01 21:46
The YouTube blurb explains:We start at Bishopsgate and revisit St Andrew Undershaft before moving on to St Margaret Pattens with its magnificent spire by Sir Christopher Wren. From here we w… Read More
2023-06-01 18:04
From Gloucestershire Live:DNA from a black hair caught on a barbwire fence in Gloucestershire following a sheep attack has been offered as 'definitive proof' big cats are roaming the British… Read More
2023-06-01 06:47
Embed from Getty ImagesRobbie (Jon Whiteley), an orphaned 6-year-old boy in care, escapes into the London streets and takes shelter in a derelict bomb site, where he stumbles across Chris Ll… Read More
2023-05-31 17:48
Brendan May tweeted this video today, adding:Some of us remember how Opposition leaders trying to become Prime Minister used to actually lead. This despite strong euro scepticism in hi… Read More
2023-05-31 10:31
"For all that countless artists, musicians and writers from the 50s to the 80s saw government as the enemy and thought they were mavericks railing against the system, the flourishing culture… Read More
2023-05-30 22:52
Not for the first time on this blog, we follow the derelict lines from March to Wisbech and from Wisbech to Watlington.The former line is a prime candidate for reopening, but there is little… Read More
2023-05-30 20:05
Today the HSBC branch in Market Harborough closed its doors for the last time. This means Lloyds will soon be the only one left with a presence in the town.Phil Knowles, the Liberal Democrat… Read More
2023-05-30 10:55
The rites of the Church of Rutland, beyond its belief in the back-foot no-ball rule and uncovered wickets, remain a closed book to me, but it's good to end another week with Lord Bonkers in… Read More
2023-05-29 21:20
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Guardian wins our Headline of the Day Award for this tale of life in Gloucestershire Read More
2023-05-29 08:38
Australian tours of England really did use to begin with a one-day fixture at Arundel against the Duke of Norfolk's XI. And 1953 was an Ashes summer, so this exchange could well have happene… Read More
2023-05-28 23:47
Here's a discovery: a website that bills itself as An A-Z Guide to British and Irish Railways on Film.It tells you where the railway scenes in each film were shot, has plenty of screen captu… Read More
2023-05-28 09:41
We used to count overnight in Harborough's local elections, but this year the powers that be waited until the next day. I think that was a shame. When I was on the council here, the off… Read More
2023-05-28 09:20
Time for some more Frank. And there's a special reason for choosing Montana, because the backing vocals are sung by the Ikettes, including Tina Turner.Wikipedia quotes Zappa's memory of reco… Read More
2023-05-27 20:54
I am told this column appeared in the Winter 2022 issue of the JCPCP, possibly under the title Sighcology.Henry VI founded Eton to provide free education to 70 poor boys. If you want to read… Read More
2023-05-27 10:04
Everyone is 'humbled' when they win something these days. Even Lord Bonkers.ThursdayWhen nominations closed last month, I discovered that, once again, I was the only candidate for the Bonker… Read More
2023-05-26 20:42
This online event from early last year marked the republication of Malcolm Saville's 1946 book Jane's Country Year by Handheld Press.Taking part are:Mike McGarry, co-author of Malcolm Savill… Read More
2023-05-26 10:51
Tom McTague argues that Keir Starmer is adopting the Tory tactic of accepting past change and promising to curb the agitation for more: "Will it work this time? It worked for Peel and, event… Read More
2023-05-26 09:35
If you're surprised that Lord Bonkers knows about emails, you really haven't understood him. From the steam-driven Shuttleworth press to the EARS trumpet, he has been at the forefront of har… Read More
2023-05-25 20:53
From the Leicester Mercury:Andrew Bridgen has been labelled the “first cuckoo of spring” after claiming the BBC has repeatedly spread Covid-19 misinformation. The North West Leic… Read More
2023-05-25 09:45
A welcome reappearance by Albert, who long ago wandered into these diaries from A.A. Milne's Toad of Toad Hall. And if this satire is crude, then so is the government it is satirising.Tuesda… Read More
2023-05-24 21:19
I'm pleased with this find: a report about the community on Spurn Point, the peninsula that curls into the Humber Estuary from its north bank, that Julian Pettifer made in the snow for the B… Read More
2023-05-24 11:30
Embed from Getty ImagesCongratulations to Pink News for winning our coveted Headline of the Day Award.The judges have gone for a lie down as they're getting one of their headaches Read More
2023-05-24 09:49
The new issue of Liberator has been posted on the magazine's website, so hurry there to download it for free - it's issue 417. But before you do, it's time to read the first entry in another… Read More
2023-05-23 22:59
A slice of Yorkshire railway history from Hull History Nerd, who has a Patreon page to help finance his videos.This 20-mile line opened in 1853 and closed to passengers in 1950 and to freigh… Read More
2023-05-23 10:16
Last night the annual meeting of Rutland County Council elected the Liberal Democrat Gale Waller as its leader. It also elected a cabinet of six, all of whom are Lib Dem councillors.Gale Wal… Read More
2023-05-22 22:36
Is there no end to this government's determination to make life in Britain worse? As the Guardian reports:Wifi for train passengers in England may be axed as the government seeks to cut… Read More
2023-05-22 15:36
Good news from the Shropshire hills: the coming weekend sees the return of the shuttle bus that takes visitors to the Stiperstones and the Long Mynd. It will run every weekend through the su… Read More
2023-05-21 21:41
"Thatcher, like her contemporaries in all parties, thought the job of politicians was not so much to sheepishly follow public opinion as to shape it. In her 1975 speech opposing the EU refer… Read More
2023-05-21 11:48
Why does Britain do so badly in Eurovision these days? The Iraq War? Brexit? Or is it because we pick weak songs and give them to performers who lack experience? My money's on the last of th… Read More
2023-05-20 11:51
Congratulations to the Guardian on winning our Headline of the Day Award Read More
2023-05-20 00:18
I was down in London to see some Liberator friends yesterday, and took the chance to visit Chess and Bridge in Baker Street. (Yes, I'm getting hooked on chess again.)After that I explored Ma… Read More
2023-05-19 12:36
The video of a recent British Film Institute event with Alan Bennett has appeared on YouTube.So far I've watched just the first few minutes, but it was enough to give me my Trivial Fact of t… Read More
2023-05-18 23:36
Ed Davey's Guardian interview with Zoe Williams created quite a stir. If you've not read it yet, it will repay your time.It also features in our Letter of the Day, which comes from today's e… Read More
2023-05-17 21:35
As I remember it, this is where the Seventies began. There were no more flower children or village green preservation societies: we had landed in a new decade of supersonic air travel, traff… Read More
2023-05-17 15:50
Will requiring voters to produce photographic ID at the polling station spell the end for political parties' current polling-day methods? Augustus Carp reports on his experience of telling i… Read More
2023-05-16 21:07
Robert Hutton has been to the National Conservatism Conference: "The country is in a terrible mess, and Rees-Mogg is just trying to find the guys who did this. He denounced the Budget a… Read More
2023-05-16 12:42
Wikipedia explains:The Anglesey Central Railway (Welsh: Lein Amlwch, Amlwch Line) was a 17.5-mile (28.2 km) standard-gauge railway in Anglesey, Wales, connecting the port of Amlwch… Read More
2023-05-15 20:18
It can be difficult to keep all your rabbit holes in the air, and it's high time we went back to No Room at the Inn.This is the film that introduced me to the wonderful actress Freda Jackson… Read More
2023-05-15 17:44
Campaigners have not given up on reopening Whitechapel Bell Foundry, but its closure in 2017 left John Taylor's of Loughborough as the only working bell foundry in Britain.Taylor's buildings… Read More
2023-05-15 13:54
Here's an encouraging article from an unexpected source:The Lib Dems count for more than their current low representation suggests. Next year, the centre party will become political kingmake… Read More
2023-05-15 12:22
From Harborough FM:A deal has been struck between political parties to run Harborough District Council.The Greens, Liberal Democrats and Labour have reached an agreement to work together, af… Read More
2023-05-14 23:18
I have started reading Ma'am Darling, Craig Brown's book about Princess Margaret, and it is every bit as good as the reviews said it was.The book's genesis, Brown says, lay in the way Margar… Read More
2023-05-14 10:04
Shelagh McDonald wrote a piece in the Guardian under the title 'I disappeared for 30 years'.It wasn't my intention to walk out of my own life and vanish, especially when things were going so… Read More
2023-05-13 18:56
Embed from Getty ImagesGood news from Surrey. A focus group convened for the Guardian by UK More in Common suggests that:Blue wall Conservative voters in Surrey are far from impressed with t… Read More
2023-05-12 19:18
Embed from Getty ImagesTomorrow the Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO) is gathering in Bournemouth. This new party group was set up after the party's MPs decided they could… Read More
2023-05-12 18:27
On Twitter today, Brynley Heaven, who once wrote a guest post for this blog about three unlikely heroes from Grantham, mentioned the Blair government's long-forgotten proposal for eco-towns… Read More
2023-05-11 22:07
As Jago Hazzard explains, Sudbury Town is where the London Underground began to build its stations in a European Modernist style.The station today is in something of a residential backwater… Read More
2023-05-11 16:49
Embed from Getty ImagesSky News wins our Headline of the Day Award.A dissenting judge comments: Well, she would say that, wouldn't she? Read More
2023-05-10 22:20
This dates from Classic FM's 20th birthday celebrations in 2012, but it's rather wonderful and certainly appropriate to this week.I don't see any of the shoppers complaining that classical m… Read More
2023-05-10 21:44
Dacorum local election 2023 results in full as Liberal Democrats earn majority with six seats gained while Tories fallsays the headline.Below it is a picture of Ed Davey driving a tractor an… Read More
2023-05-10 19:13
'The British press ... converted the book into their native tongue, that jabberwocky of bonkers hot takes and classist snark. Facts were wrenched out of context, complex emotions were reduce… Read More
2023-05-10 12:45
Embed from Getty ImagesWriting for Comment Central, Vince Cable looks at the Liberal Democrat performance in last week's local elections:The Lib Dem results were more impressive than the num… Read More
2023-05-09 23:50
Folklorist Amy Boucher shares tales of ghosts, witches, mermaids and devils from her home county of Shropshire in The Devil in Shropshire, the latest episode of the Tracing Owls podcast,Thro… Read More
2023-05-09 21:53
Sir John Eliot Gardiner, on the BBC, is not afraid to tell it how it is. Bravo! @thoroughlygood @nfmusic @mrjamesob @nicholascollon pic.twitter.com/PxrFi3Smud— David Coronel (@King_Ouf… Read More
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