The IFS is scathing about the Green Party manifesto in Wales.
Basically, a lot of spending with no plan to pay for it.
This is a shame because for progressives to succeed we need plans that will work.
ifs.org.uk/articles/ini...
Having read The Times since I was 11 (Dad brought it home) I've decided to cancel my subscription.
Nothing about Reform's 2026 campaign should surprise anyone. They did the same in 2025.
Reform will lose where Lib Dems or other parties are knocking on doors.
In the parts of Kent where we beat the overall swing to Reform last year, there was one thing that did it -solid community campaigning.
It's the antitode to Reform.
I see a lot of social media post saying "look at this weird thing Reform are doing in our local elections"
And people weren't paying attention. We saw all of it last year:
• Talking about national not local issues
• Massive addressed direct mail that can be left off local election expense returns
Donald Trump’s idiotic war has damaged the global economy and left British families and businesses suffering.
A total disaster backed by Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage.
Apparently I turned 46 today. I don't feel it and am sure it's a typo.
It's my birthday and I had a lovely day at @londonzoo.bsky.social which I'd never been to before.
I liked the gorillas particularly. A lovely family of 7 and I felt an affinity with the father gorilla, Kilburi.
He looked happy sat quietly in the morning sun, watching the youngsters monkey around.
"Woe to the statesman whose reasons for entering a war do not appear as plausible after the war as they did before it." (Bismarck)
I live in a county where we have a few county owned country parks but you are absolutely right, no new ones have been made for decades. A very few small local ones have been made under s. 106 agreements.
Gardens of new homes seem smaller and smaller so provide less nature protection than before.
Interesting article.
I think at a deep level we all know the importance of nature. When books or films imagine life in a good future it's usually verdant. When we imagine a bad future its usually harsh and grey.
Tbf, even if there are no experts there is some expertise.
We could each list a score of people whose aggregate opinion about a political question would be more reliable than the same number of random people.
Donald Trump’s idiotic war with Iran – cheered on by Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage – is meaning you're paying more at the pump.
We want to cut fuel duty by 10p a litre and keep Britain moving.
Sad to say they lasted even longer in Kent where the County Council tried until 2009 to impose its own version of s. 28.
Good grief. The guinea pigs are getting their own addressed mail now.
Regular reminder that the UK’s ban on gay people serving in the armed forces was only lifted after a judgment from the European Court of Human Rights👇
🔗 www.bbc.com/news/article...
Surprising how often people don't mention that.
I realise I'm making the male robin the main character, which is unfair. #unconsciousbias
He was here a second ago but flew off again before I could take a photo. Then a female flew after him
Yesterday my dear friend and fellow Faversham councillor @hannahperkin.bsky.social was on BBC Women's Hour talking about the abuse women face in elections.
It's worth a listen (item starts just after 15 mins)
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Beautiful tribute. Maureen sounds exemplary.
Saw a robin in our garden too over the weekend, I wonder if it was this one.
When I was a history undergraduate, which was three years I loved, one of my tutors uses to say, "history doesn't repeat itself, historians repeat ourselves".
I am, as you know, finding a whiteboard useful in relation to this...
In the General Election on polling day I had someone answer the doorbell and tell me "I won't be voting today as I am Mauritius".
Back from the BBC South East Studio.
I obeyed the "no ties request" but the Conservative guest, someone I normally consider a friend, flagrantly ignored it. Shiny purple number.
This is what liberals are up against.
I fear we may see all manner or unsuitable actors constitute themselves as forms of election observers for the wrong reasons, with a negative rather than positive effect on the process.
I think the impending millennium had a good effect then on getting society to think about the future abd what cound happen, rather than what had happened already, for too long.
The pop music was all "lets all meet up in the year 2000".
Fascinating. Noticeably less 'FTL' in the 90s than the decades either side. My recollection is Opposition (Blair, Ashdown) rhetoric then was very future focussed, probably following Bill Clinton ("bridge to the future" "new economy" Internet, new technology) rather than looking back in anger.
In similar vein, in criminal cases, a defendant's attitude from arrest and interview can have bearing on sentence. Once you get to that stage the advocate wants to say their guilty client "fully co-operated as best he could" rather than telling the police to f.o.
"Ask forgiveness not permission"
