I was shocked to hear today that a good friend of mine, Miranda Grell, has been charged with alleged misconduct by candidates from an opposing political party in the ward she fought – and won for Labour – in Waltham Forest at the 2006 local elections. Miranda refutes the allegations...
Just back from my 2nd appearance on 18 Doughty Street’s Vox Politics and End of the Day programmes. Iain Dale was hosting this time – first time I’ve met him and he’s very friendly and personable for a Tory. There was a civilised and quite interesting debate about the 15...
Bit slow to post it here, but I’m on Vox Politix on 18 Doughty Street tonight at 22:00 BST, together with Sean Fear, a regular pundit on PoliticalBetting.com, writer of the Dave’s Part blog, Dave Osler, and former Paddy Ashdown Spin Doctor Jo Phillips. Good to know I have some...
I came across Oliver Kamm’s article ‘A Parody of Democracy‘ in which the author tries to make the case that political blogs poison debate, rather than enhance it. Kamm is obviously sufficiently keen to avoid debate that it’s not actually possible to comment on his own ‘blog‘. The essence of...
I’m sat typing at the table in the window in my small flat in Walworth. A small vase of daffodils stands on the table and the April sun is shining on the cars parked in the road outside. It’s Easter Sunday, the middle of a long weekend, and I should...
The New Statesman is running its New Media Awards again this year, and I’ve just been casting my eye over the list of nominees in the Elected Representative category. What a terrible collection! There are some better efforts at interactivity on some of these websites (there are a few ‘blogs’...
I was asked for some information about the UK’s European Communities referendum in 1975 and hence turned to the Wikipedia page about it. The page is really detailed and gives an excellent overview of the referendum, but it also features a fab picture of Margaret Thatcher wearing a sweater with...
Everyone in Britain loves (or loves to hate) Ikea. So – with a hint of sarcasm and jibes about Allen keys – there has been a cautious welcome for the news that Ikea BoKlok pre-fabricated homes are to be built in Gateshead. The idea is that the wooden-framed houses are...
The Bank of England has issued a new £20 bank note. It’s been controversial as it has Adam Smith on the back side (see the Bank of England website for more). But what struck me when one of the new notes first came out of the cash machine for me...
Today I was accosted on Villiers Street, close to Embankment station. No, it wasn’t those annoying people from London Lite and The London Paper trying to thrust a nasty rag in my face, but instead it was a guy trying to get me to give money to MENCAP, the UK...
Was it a good idea? Not sure. I’ve just returned home after 2 hours of arguing with Tories on the internet TV station 18 Doughty Street, brainchild of Iain Dale. It really felt like walking into the lair of the enemy, but no centre-left organisation has managed to come up...
Just a quick post as I have to head to Stansted in 4 hours and need some sleep, but excellent news this evening: the UK Independence Party has been told to pay back £367,697 of donations it did not collect properly. See the full story in The Guardian here. So...