Wednesday, April 01, 2026

The Aldersbrook: A lost London river resurrected

›
Here's an inspirational video with John Rogers and Paul Powlesland.  John's blurb on YouTube says: A London walk with the brilliant ...

Britain's top woman chess player is just 11 years old

›
Embed from Getty Images The English Chess Federation is justifiably excited: British chess phenom Bodhana Sivanandan has made history by sh...

Hazel O'Connor: Will You?

›
Hazel O'Connor is a goddess and – sorry, Bob Holness – this is the greatest saxophone solo on a British pop single.
Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Ed Davey on Keir Starmer's "staggering lack of backbone"

›
A Liberal Democrat media release  says:  Responding to confirmation that the King will make a second state visit to the US, Ed Davey, Leader...

Something amazing: A Shropshire businessman falling out of the sky and Mystery at Witchend

›
The latest Secret Shropshire programme on BBC Sounds is intriguing: In 1937 Max Wenner fell to his death from a plane in one of aviation...

The Joy of Six 1497

›
"A child who grew up in the United Kingdom, attended British schools, made British friends, and considers this country their home will ...
Monday, March 30, 2026

Minsters Rail campaigns to reopen the line from York to Beverley

›
A story in York's daily paper The Press covers Minsters Rail, a group campaigning to reopen the railway line between the city and Bever...

GUEST POST Lord Summerisle obviously took the Liberal whip

›
Summerisle Young Liberals, 1973 Anselm Anon and Wighard of Canterbury find that The Wicker Man is steeped in the debates of 1970s Liberalis...
1 comment:

George Orwell remembered by his family and friends in 1965

›
No recording of George Orwell's voice has survived, but in this extract from a 1965 BBC programme you can hear his wife Sonia, sister Av...
Sunday, March 29, 2026

From our Trivia Desk: Aleister Crowley, Harold Davidson and chess

›
Our Trivial Facts of the Day both come from a post by Richard James , who was my captain when I played chess for Richmond & Twickenham l...

The Joy of Six 1496

›
Julia Lurie collates accounts of conditions inside ICE's only family detention centre: "My younger son does not eat the food here;...

Lord Bonkers' Diary: Alpacas sitting in the front row

›
And so another week with Rutland's most celebrated fictional peer draws to a close. I also found the The Blue Bell that weekend and can ...

Beck: Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime

›
Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime was a hit for the Korgis in 1980. The two founder members of that band, Andy Davis and James Warren, ha...
Saturday, March 28, 2026

Great Tew: From dereliction to the Beckhams' illuminations

›
A derelict cottage in Great Tew, 1980. Photo by Kim Traynor The Beckhams' plans to light the pond at their Cotswold home have upset thei...

Lord Bonkers' Diary: We found them Terribly Fiddly

›
I might have known who was behind this policy. At lunchtime on the Saturday I left Lord Bonkers to his own devices and went to look for the ...
Friday, March 27, 2026

Watch 10cc laying down The Dean And I in the studio

›
I gather you're allowed to like 10cc again. I loved them in the Seventies, though I'm Not in Love was played to death at the time an...
1 comment:

Lord Bonkers' Diary: Today even their gaunt ruins have been razed

›
As it happens, I really did have tea at Betty's and then go to Evensong in the Minster when I arrived in York for the conference. I used...
Thursday, March 26, 2026

Two railway lines used to cross on the level at Retford station

›
At Retford the line from Sheffield to Gainsborough and beyond used to cross the King's Cross main line to Scotland on the level. In 1965...
1 comment:

The Joy of Six 1495

›
Christopher M. Cruz says US Democrats have failed to offer a vision of a liberal education: "This is not just bad for Democrats, but b...

George Orwell: Life and Legacy by Robert Colls

›
This review appears in the latest issue of Liberator – no. 434. You can download it free of charge from the magazine's website. George ...

Lord Bonkers' Diary: Unpleasant scenes outside the hall

›
If you heard jeering on you way into the spring conference at York, it appears from that it probably came from militant young badgers. And g...
Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Stanley Unwin in The Box of Delights

›
I probably heard the repeat of it near Christmas in 1968, but it was this BBC Radio adaptation of The Box of Delights from 1966 that introdu...

The Joy of Six 1494

›
"After months of rhetoric from Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves blaming newts and bats for supposedly blocking growth, it’s good to see t...

Lord Bonkers' Diary: Look out for the Chesham Bois

›
The old boy pays tribute to the hard work, much of it performed out of sight of members, that ensured our spring conference in my old stampi...

Blur: Blue Jeans

›
Blur were better than Oasis. Modern Life is Rubbish was better than Parklife. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
Tuesday, March 24, 2026

Shropshire ley line quest: Bronze Age stones to Medieval fortress

›
Don't believe in ley lines? I'd like to, but I don't either. So let's just enjoy this as Shropshire hill porn. This is freel...

How Harold Godwinson got to the Battle of Hastings and all that

›
What if historians have got one of the most crucial assumptions about one of England’s most pivotal battles completely wrong? asked the Guar...

A Shellshocked Nation: Britain Between the Wars by Alwyn Turner

›
This review appears in the latest issue of Liberator – no. 434. You can download it free of charge from the magazine's website. A Shell...

Lord Bonkers' Diary: "It’s not your aerial, it’s your constitution"

›
I have a shrewd suspicion that Lord Bonkers has his eye on the Liberal Democrat presidency himself, but maybe we should be asking his televi...
Monday, March 23, 2026

Film of the last days of the Leicester & Swannington Railway

›
The Leicester & Swannington was one of the first railways of the steam age, built to bring coal to Leicester from the mines in the north...

The Joy of Six 1493

›
"Australian politics is beautifully, exquisitely, delightfully boring. It is boring in the way it used to be back home - sane, predicta...
1 comment:

Lord Bonkers' Diary: In the corners, nooks and crannies

›
The new issue of Liberator has dropped – it's issue 434 and you can download if free of charge from the magazine's website. And tha...

A report from the expedition to Ed Davey's hinterland

›
Ed Davey has chosen his favourite books for This Week . I don't know what the precise brief was, but he came up with a list of six novel...
3 comments:

Deep joy in Long Buckby at blue plaque for Stanley Unwin

›
A good news story at last. West Northamptonshire Council has installed a blue plaque outside Stanley Unwin's old bungalow on Long Buckby...
2 comments: