Russian submarine found in Lake Windermere

This land sits right next to the Furness railway line - a vital transport link to both BAE Submarines in Barrow and Sellafield nuclear power station. That’s why I made representations to ministers asking whether this sale would be compliant with the UK’s sanctions against Russia.

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— Tim Farron (@timfarron.bsky.social) 24 April 2026 at 15:37

A story peeks out at me from behind the Financial Times paywall:

Russian businessman and his daughter have triggered national security concerns by seeking to buy a golf course located next to the railway that serves the UK’s main shipyard for nuclear-powered attack submarines.

As Tim Farron points out, the line also serves the nuclear site at Sellafield. You may not be surprised to hear that the deal collapsed this week after government intervention and enquiries from the FT.

My first thought on reading this was of the old joke in Whoops Apocalypse about a Soviet submarine being found in Staines reservoir.

But nothing should surprise us in a country where we have a Lord Siberia sitting in the upper house of our parliament.

For Lion & Unicorn: 10 years in the life of the Lib Dems

I've written another post for Lion & Unicorn. To celebrate its 10th year, the blog asked me to write about what the last decade has been like for the Liberal Democrats:

Swinson saw her party’s vote increase from 7.4 per cent of 2017 to 11.5 per cent, but its number of seats dropped from twelve to eleven, with none of the recent star recruits from Labour and the Conservatives (such as Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger and Sam Gyimah) managing to get re-elected in Lib Dem colours. 

And Swinson’s own East Dunbartonshire seat was one of the ones that were lost. In a striking illustration of the maxim that all politics is local, her defeat was attributed locally to her getting on the wrong side of an indoor bowls club in Milngavie.

Tim Farron presses banks to improve access to their services

The high-street banks' retreat from the high street was accomplished with little complaint or even comment from politicians. Maybe that's a reflection of where power now lies in Britain, but it will have done nothing to make people feel warmer towards politics and politicians.

But here's Tim Farron raising the issue in the Commons last week.

Banking hubs are owned by Cash Access UK, which is owned by the banks, and run for it by the Post Office. So I'm not sure how far the minister, Lucy Rigby, is justified in implying it's the government that's rolling them out.

Here in Market Harborough, it was local government - in the shape of Harborough District Council - that acted as a catalyst by making space available for a banking hub in its offices.

That hub has just moved to a more convenient site among the shops. You can see it in the photo above.

Banks save £2 billion a year from abandoning our high streets and town centres. Our post offices pick up the slack, but they are not funded by the banks anywhere near enough to be able to maintain their presence. This must change.

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— Tim Farron (@timfarron.bsky.social) 16 December 2025 at 10:09

Lord Bonkers' Diary: "He spelt his name with an omelette"

I don't know on what evidence Lord Bonkers bases his view of Tim Farron's ambitions for St Asquith's, but he's quite insistent on the subject. He once added that he had no wish to kiss the person next to him, "unless it's Alan Beith, of course".

Tuesday

Calling by my Home for WBOs earlier today, I heard Matron tell a boy that if he didn’t eat his cabbage he would “end up like Lembit Öpik”. I suspected it was rot, but just to be on the safe side I asked Cook to be sure to serve cabbage this evening. When I explained my reasons, she sniffed and said: “I never cared for that young man. It was something to do with the way he spelt his name with an omelette.”

Cook worked her usual magic, and dinner – cabbage and all – was delicious. Afterwards I watched a news report about a church being trundled several miles across a Swedish city on a sort of giant roller skate. It occurs to me that if Farron ever gets his way at St Asquith’s – he wants to rip out the pews and have us all sing “Shine, Jesus, Shine” – I can use a similar contraption to move the old place a safe distance from the Hall. I just hope the Revd Hughes remains Sound on such matters.

Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South West, 1906-10.

Earlier this week

• Dallas and its notorious School Book Suppository

The Joy of Six 1356

"From where I’m sitting, it seems inevitable that Farage will suffer the same fate as Johnson. They are beneficiaries of false advertising, who eventually become its victim. That is because they eventually have to deliver on their populist promises. And while they’re willing to turn on their chameleon charm prior to entering office - happy to play the role of anti-establishment antagonist - their natural instincts take over in the corridors of power." Sam Bright goes into the prediction business.

Tim Farron says UK immigration policy fails young people.

Luke Cawley Harrison, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the London Borough of Haringey, argues that Keir Starmer must stand up to Donald Trump: "The reality is his sycophancy has achieved little: Trump continues to publicly praise Putin, undermine Ukraine, and now suggests 'peace' should come from Ukraine surrendering the land Russia currently occupies from its illegal war. Meanwhile, the UK faces the same senseless tariffs as the Taliban in Afghanistan and the penguins in the uninhabited Heard & McDonald Islands."

"Across the country, a troubling trend is accelerating: the return of institutionalization – rebranded, repackaged and framed as 'modern mental health care'. From Governor Kathy Hochul’s push to expand involuntary commitment in New York to Robert F Kennedy Jr’s proposal for “wellness farms” under his Make America Healthy Again initiative, policymakers are reviving the logics of confinement under the guise of care." Jordyn Jensen on the return of psychiatric imprisonment to the US.

Jay Hulme visits Coventry Cathedral and takes some wonderful photographs.

"The Great Gatsby is a slippery text. It means different things to different people. To some it is a monolith of American literature - a key contender in the Great American Novel sweepstakes - whereas, to others, it has become a cartoonish portrait of a bygone era. Some read it as an excoriation of materialism, others as a vindication of excess. For some it is sibylline, for others, passé." Nick Hilton revisits a classic.

Lib Dem election review: Are we a church or a fast-food franchise?

The Liberal Democrats have published a review of their performance in last years general election - you can read it here.

There's a lot in it to digest, but one thing that struck me is the pull on us of two different views of a political party.

One view is put forward by Tim Farron, who chaired the review, in his foreword:

Community politics is in our blood, yet we take it for granted and at times some of us can be sniffy about it: it’s small beer, it's just pavement politics, it’s just a dolled up set of election tactics…. But nothing could be farther from the truth. The antidote is to build deep relationships with our communities, to serve them at an immersive level, to ‘keep in touch and get things done’, to win trust and to continually earn it.

This sees a political party as a local, community-based organisation. Maybe, and this is not a dig at Tim, it has much in common with a church.

The other is seen at the start of chapter 1:

Thanks to strong leadership, a clear strategy and iron-fisted discipline the party enters 2025 with strength, optimism and momentum on its side.

I hope it means 'self-discipline', because I doubt anyone will be attracted to joining an organisation by the prospect of being subject to iron-fisted discipline.

More representative of this second view, perhaps, is one of the points in favour of bulk buys for literature: "securing message and design discipline".                                        

"Design discipline" sounds like something a fast-food franchise would worry about. 

So maybe this is the choice all political parties face: church or fast-food franchise?

Or perhaps you can plot all parties, even all organisations, somewhere along a continuum from one to the other. If you want to be pretentious you could talk about Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft.

I'm aware that some churches are strong on discipline, so 'church' may not be the best characterisation of that end of the organisational spectrum, but it makes for a good headline.

Lib Dems reveal Environment Agency chief's free hospitality from water industry

From the Shropshire Star:

The chairman of the environment watchdog met with water company lobbyists for a near-£100 dinner days before proposals for a major bill hike were reported.

Environment Agency chief Alan Lovell accepted a £96 dinner from Water UK, the industry body representing Britain’s water firms.

The dinner, which took place on June 20 last year, came a week before reports suggesting water companies were pushing for a 40% rise in bills to improve the UK’s water infrastructure.

The regulator and water firms were accused of having a “chummy relationship”, by the Liberal Democrats, who revealed the hospitality and gifts received by Mr Lovell in a freedom of information request.

The paper goes on to quote our environment spokesperson Tim Farron:

"This will rightly stink to the public. Government officials shouldn’t be accepting a penny from a disgraced industry which pollutes our rivers whilst hiking bills."

I see what he did there.

The Lib Dems also revealed that Lovell accepted a £200 dinner and hotel stay from Yorkshire Water, as well as a £60 dinner from Severn Trent Water.

Party like it's 2005: Ed Davey announces new decapitation strategy

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Liberal Democrat leader targets senior Tory seats at UK general election

runs the headline on the Financial Times interview with Ed Davey today.

Older Lib Dems will immediately be put in mind of the 2005 general election, when the party boasted of its 'decapitation strategy'. The seats held by a number of leading Conservatives had been chosen as targets and we expected to deal a mortal blow to the Her Majesty's Opposition on the night.

In the event, David Davis, Oliver Letwin, Theresa May and the rest survived. It was our Labour targets (Cambridge, Hornsey and Wood Green, Manchester Withington) that fell to us at that election.

Our only leading Tory scalp in 2005 was a long-forgotten figure called Tim Collins. It was he who had briefed the press back in 1993 that John Major's 'Back to Basics' speech was about personal morality. and thus done much to ensure that the Tories became figures of ridicule for the rest of Major's time in power as one juicy scandal followed another.

Collins lost to another Tim: Tim Farron.

As to Ed Davey's interview, the big news is that he is happy to discuss Europe:

He said his party would be pushing for a new trade deal with the EU to replace the “appalling” one signed by Johnson when he was prime minister. He added his party’s long-term policy was to rejoin the single market. 

“If you don’t put a better trading relationship with Europe in as part of that mix, you’re not going to get the economy sparking again,” he said, though he noted his EU counterparts had been clear that for now “the single market ain’t on the table”.

And, something that is hard to reconcile with his bullish talk of Lib Dem prospects earlier in the interview, he thinks there is a good chance of a hung parliament.

Abolish "flawed and feeble" water regulator Ofwat, say Lib Dems

This just in from the Shropshire Star:

Charities and private citizens should have the power to take polluting water companies to court because the Environment Agency cannot keep up with the industry’s rule-breaking, the Liberal Democrats have said. 

The party is calling for the creation of “citizen regulators” as part of efforts to combat sewage discharges into Britain’s rivers.

The Lib Dem proposals call for a radical overhaul of the water industry. The regulator Ofwat would be abolished and water firms turned into public benefit companies that put the environment before profit.

Tim Farron, the party's environmental spokesperson, is quoted in the story:

"It is time to put power in the hands of local campaigners to take these polluting firms to court. 

"The polluter must be forced to pay, but too often they are getting away with environmental destruction. The Environment Agency and regulator Ofwat have proved too flawed and feeble to take on profiteering water firms. 

"Conservative ministers have buried their heads in the sand for years, leaving wildlife to be poisoned and swimmers told to stay away from beaches and lakes. Conservative MPs have too often ignored the issue or, worse still, defended water companies."

Lord Bonkers' Diary: "Beelzebub’s Brownies"

Now it can be told... Email elves@rockinghamforest for your own supply.

Tuesday

The housing debate at Bournemouth, as you may have noticed, took a heated turn, and it behoves me to confess my part in the affair. I have for some years been in the habit of carrying with me a little bottle of the elixir sold by the Elves of Rockingham Forest – add a couple of drops of that to your hipflask and you’ll last through the dreariest all-night sitting. 

It so happened that I met Tim Farron in the refreshment queue before the debate and, discerning that he was in need of a tonic, handed him the bottle, saying: "Add a drop of that to your coffee and you’ll get a standing ovation." At this point I was distracted by a couple of popsies who wanted to take selfies with me, and when I eventually turn back to Farron it was just in time to see him necking the last of the elixir. 

“Are you all right, Farron?” I asked concernedly, only for him to assure me that he felt "Flipping great". He then stormed into the hall like a tiger that had just noticed an unattended lamb. You will remember what happened next – "Spawn of Thatcher," "Beelzebub’s Brownies" and all the rest of it.

Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South West, 1906-10.

Earlier this week in Lord Bonkers' Diary...

• We have talked of little but Europe ever since

Helen Morgan wants to see trains return to Oswestry

Tim Farron isn't the only Liberal Democrat MP supporting  a local railway reopening. Helen Morgan is backing the return of trains to the Gobowen to Oswestry Line.in her North Shropshire constituency.

She told the Border Counties Advertizer:

"There are few towns the size of Oswestry with such poor public transport links.

"Despite the obvious rail heritage you see around town, Oswestry Railway Station has not been open since 1966."

An outline business case for reopening the link to Gobowen have been with the government for over a year, and Helen said:

"I've already been in touch with the Secretary of State for Transport and Transport for Wales over making the plans viable.

"I will be campaigning to get residents involved and show our decision-makers how important a link to the mainline would be for Oswestrians."

Helen has already seen one railway reopening in North Shropshire since her by-election victory. In April of last year she took part in the ceremonial opening of Weston Wharf station.

From there you can take for a steam train for the one and three-quarter miles to Oswestry on the Cambrian Heritage Railways.

Tim Farron backs reopening of Keswick to Penrith railway

The Cumberland & Westmorland Herald reports:

A new head of steam appears to be gathering behind plans to bring back the Penrith to Keswick railway line.

This summer a campaign group has hailed a number of "positive" political changes in Cumbria this year, which it believes could get the long-standing dream back on track.

Gamely keeping up the railway metaphors, the paper explains:

In recent years, one of the issues keeping the project in the sidings at a national level was that the former Labour-run Cumbria County Council, was cool on the idea. ...

However, the county council as a major obstacle across the tracks, has now been abolished under local Government re-organisation, with two new unitary authorities replacing it.

Westmorland and Furness Council and Cumberland Council have also inherited responsibility for transport and planning.

The new Westmorland and Furness council area, run by Liberal Democrats, includes a vast lion’s share of the line’s old footprint to beyond Threlkeld, but  stopping short of Keswick, which is in the new Cumberland Council area.

The Liberal Democrats are highly supportive of the new line and went as far as including it in its local election manifesto last year when it was voted into power.

And Tim Farron also back the reopening. He told the paper:

"Reopening the Keswick to Penrith railway line is a really exciting project which would bring huge benefits to local residents, businesses, visitors and the environment.

"Primarily, it would lead to people swapping their car for the train which would massively help to reduce congestion, alleviate parking problems, and reduce our carbon emissions. It’s an absolute no-brainer, and I’m proud to be backing this brilliant campaign."

The line between Keswick and Penrith closed in 1972 and you can read more about the hopes for it on the Keswick to Penrith Railway Reopening site,

Lib Dems table bill to 'rip up' the water industry

I'm pleased to see the Liberal Democrats have something radical to contribute on reforming the water industry. 

A press release on the party website says Tim Farron, the Lib Dems' environment spokesperson, has tabled a parliamentary bill that would transform the water companies into 'public good companies':

Under the plans, water firms would no longer prioritise profit over the environment. The companies’ boards would be reformed, to include environment experts, and become far more open and transparent to the public. 

Currently, water firms are not obligated under law to provide information to the public, and can refuse to answer Environmental Requests for Information.

The release quotes Tim Farron:

"The potential collapse of Thames Water must be a wake up call for the government. Ministers have sat on their hands whilst the water industry falls apart and destroys our environment. 

"There is no time to waste in ripping up this scandal ridden industry. Thames Water is treating the country like fools, by forking out insulting pay outs to overseas investors and senior executives, all whilst pipes leak and rivers becoming polluted with sewage. 

"It is time for change. The water industry has become like the Wild West. It is a lawless and chaotic industry full of profiteering investors trying to make a quick buck. 

"Water firms must stop putting profit before the environment. These firms need reforming from top to bottom. This law would be an important first step to finally turning around this sinking ship."

A BBC News report explain that the concept of a 'public good company' is based on the public benefit corporations that operate in the US.

That report also says the Lib Dem scheme would rely on the water regulator to force the water companies to run themselves for the good of the environment as well as for profit.

My worry is that the regulator of the water industry - or any other industries - has rarely displayed the assertiveness this new role would require. The Thatcherite model under which industries would live in fear of their regulators has never looked like becoming reality.

So we may find that ownership matters too in the water industry, though there may be models to consider beside simple renationalisation.

The Liberal Democrats are the new Dog Lovers' Party

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 Democrats.

The opposition parties appear to have decided to try to make puppies the next big wedge issue, as they accuse the Conservatives of “giving the green light to puppy smuggling” after the Tories dropped a suite of animal welfare legislation, which included a crackdown on intensive dog breeding practices.

Labour and the Lib Dems have launched petitions urging people to give their details in order to “help stop puppy smuggling”. As with the sewage scandal, senior figures in the opposition parties believe this is an issue that can galvanise the public.

That was the Guardian reporting last week.

As part of this campaign, Tim Farron had already tabled his Pets (Theft and Importation) Bill. This seeks to prevent and punish the theft of dogs below a certain age and deter the unlawful importation of certain animals, including dogs, cats and ferrets.

It's nice to see ferrets being though of.

And the campaign is still going on. Yesterday, Somerset Live quoted Wera Hobhouse, the Lib Dem MP for Bath:

“The Conservative party promised to deliver this Bill in their election manifesto, and the Government even drafted the wording of the new law. Therefore Ministers should have no problems backing it. Conservative MPs cannot break this promise to protect animals from cruel smuggling gangs.

“The Liberal Democrats want to see greater protections for puppies, with criminals who target beloved pets handed harsher punishments.”

There's no doubt about it: the Liberal Democrats are the new Dog Lovers' Party.

The Joy of Six 1120

"We live in a global, interconnected community and it is ridiculous to think that if we only act in our own self interest, there will not be consequences to our ability to engage internationally. It’s not as if we are anywhere near the top of the league table of countries where refugees flee." Tim Farron says that if Rwanda can support the wellbeing and integration of refugees, then so can the UK.

Pam Jarvis argues that changes to education have created a toxic environment of overbearing discipline, 'zero tolerance' and the rote learning of a narrow curriculum.

Lucinda Dickens Hawksley, Charles Dickens' great-great-great-granddaughter, talks to the Mirror: "The gap between the rich and poor in Dickens' time was huge, and in recent years the gap has grown again. We have never been so like the Victorian age in terms of the haves and have-nots. People lived hand to mouth, they weren’t saving to buy a home. They were trying to cover their rent - there is similarity today." 

"Wolves are making a dramatic comeback across mainland Europe, but the controversial prospect of their return to the UK remains unlikely for the foreseeable future. Instead, the growing focus here is on the lynx, a much less well-known predator, but one that many believe could prove less challenging to live with. So, how realistic is a lynx reintroduction and what might it mean for us, should we find ourselves sharing familiar spaces with this unfamiliar cat?" Hugh Webster asks if we could learn to live with the lynx.

Pitchfork choses the 50 best Britpop albums.

"It’s nearly 10 years since I last visited the ruins of Ruperra Castle, in the county borough of Caerphilly, but, to judge from photographs, this magical and unexpectedly sequestered ruin between Newport and Cardiff has only grown more melancholy with the passage of the years." John Goodall makes the case for saving Ruperra Castle.

Tim Farron demands investigation after Avanti locks passengers in deserted station

Jealous of all the publicity the privatised power and water industries this week, Avanti North West have done its bit to put the railways back on the front page.

Last night passengers got of a late-running train at Oxenholme to find the station locked. Some tried scaling the seven-foot palisade fencing to gain their freedom: others looked for somewhere to sleep.

And one person had the best idea of all: ring Batman Tim Farron. The Liberal Democrat MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale got Network Rail to come and unlock the station exit.

BBC News reports: 

Mr Farron has demanded an investigation and said the incident was "just a further example of the failures by Avanti" which raised the question whether the firm was "fit and proper" to run the franchise. 

"We have seen a mass of cancellations of Avanti services, failures in the reservation systems, and now a locked station," the MP said, adding: "There are clearly systematic failures going on at Avanti and we cannot let it go unchecked. 

"What happened... could have very quickly become dangerous and I have already written to Avanti to demand an explanation for their oversight."

Avanti North West are clearly having huge problems. They have unilaterally slashed the number of trains they run and can't honour even that reduced timetable.

If they don't turn things around and quickly, then they should lose their franchise.

You may think that's unreasonable, but if you do it shows the railways can't be treated as just another consumer industry.

The baroque structure that privatisation created had to be replaced, but it was replaced by control from Whitehall. 

We need to put railway professionals back in charge. And if that means nationalising the franchisees as they come up, then so be it.

The best answwer, however, may be to allow Tim Farron to run the railways himself.

The Joy of Six 1044

"Water companies have left our rivers in an appalling state. Pumping raw sewage into them has done untold damage. Only 14 percent are considered ecologically 'good' and over half have failed cleanliness tests." Tim Farron says water companies must be held accountable for this mess.

Peter Olusoga examines the adultification of Black children and the case of Child Q.

"Most of the Gustloff’s estimated 10,000 passengers - which included U-boat trainees and members of the Women’s Naval Auxiliary - would die just hours after they boarded on January 30, 1945. The stories of the survivors and the memory of the many dead were largely lost in the fog of the closing war, amid pervasive devastation and in a climate where the victors would be little inclined to feel sympathy with a populace considered Nazis - or at the very least, Nazis by association." Francine Uenuma explains why the worst ever disaster at sea has been forgotten.

Academia must take account of the rise of audible research content such as podcasts, argues Mark Carrigan.

John Cooper pays tribute to the children's writer and illustrator Shirley Hughes.

Dermot Kennedy celebrates the art deco pubs of Nottingham.

The Joy of Six 1015

"When the Anglican Church declared its schism  from the Pope in Rome, it unilaterally transferred from Rome to Canterbury the power to appoint bishops, but seems to have forgotten to provide the Archbishop of Canterbury with the power to fire them." Gavin Ashenden examines the crisis that has enveloped the diocese of Winchester.

Tim Farron opposes the Lakeland Clearances.

Charlotte Armitage and and Kenneth Murray talk about growing up in the care system in Scotland: "My records are full of conversations like this. Disputes about whether claims I was making were fact or questioning my motives in a way which seems odd when you remember I was eleven. Throughout my records it’s clear something is missing. My voice."

Shaft, the coolest detective in pop culture history, is also one of the most important, argues Kieran Fisher.

Don't let James Wright hear you say that Nottingham does not have "a proper castle".

John McMahon ventures into the crypt of St Pancras Church in the Euston Road: "This week Ritual Britain, a new exhibition exploring these traditions and reflecting on their potential role at this tumultuous point in our Island story, opens in London. Probably the most complete gallery-based survey of British Calendar customs in over a decade, the exhibition brings together a wide selection of objects and images from the collection of the peripatetic Museum of British Folklore ... and twenty original paintings plus film, photography, and music by the artist Ben Edge."

Lib Dems would gain five seats with new constituency boundaries

A rare piece of good news for the Liberal Democrats is to be found in a New Statesman article by Ben Walker.

He says that we are set to gain from the new constituency boundaries proposed by the Electoral Commission.

By his calculations, if the 2019 election had been fought on these boundaries the Lib Dems would have gained Sheffield Hallam from Labour and Esher and Walton, Finchley and Muswell Hill, South Cambridgeshire and Wimbledon from the Conservatives.

Other commentators have suggested that Tim Farron will have trouble finding a winnable seat in Cumbria, and there will be more subtle losses and gains across the country,

But it is worth noting Ben Walker's conclusion that "these boundary changes aren’t dramatically helpful for the Conservatives, nor disastrous for Labour".

Former Liberal Democrat leaders reveal themselves in their advice to Ed Davey

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Friday's Red Box email from The Times carries advice for Ed Davey from former Liberal Democrat leaders - some of it revealing about those former leaders.

So Ming Campbell tells Ed to lock himself away in a bunker from the start:

As I found when I became leader, people who will have never bothered you before will be wearing holes in your carpet attempting to advise you.

Instead, find a couple of people whose advice you really respect and value. Take advice from them. Don’t have an open house on advisers.

And Nick Clegg, who reduced the party from 63 to 8 MPs over two general elections, advises him not to listen to criticism:

Oh, and – you know this - the better you do, the more they will yell at you from left and right. So listen to the voters – you’re dead right on that – but put your political ear muffs on when the carping starts!

The other former leaders are more helpful.

Tim Farron says:

Clarity is king. You need be clear with yourself what your strategy is and what it is that you want to achieve. Be clear with the party members on the direction and what you need from them in order to achieve that, and be clear with the public about what it is you and the Liberal Democrats stand for.

And Vince Cable says:

The Liberal Democrats will have to craft a narrative which embodies economic competence combined with environmentalism and a message of social justice, which Ed Davey can very plausibly do by rebuilding the grass-roots and re-establishing our reputation for good community-level politics.

The most concise contribution comes from Jo Swinson - I quote it in full:

Make time to think. Whether it's diarising time for exercise, reading, or stimulating conversation with friends, it's important to step back from the immediacy of 24/7 news cycles to see the bigger picture.