My Liberator article on the Yorkists' New Deal

This article appears in the new Liberator – you can download the whole issue from the magazine's website. Following the best traditions of academic reviewing, I spend a lot of time stating my own views before I get on to the publication I'm meant to be writing about.

You can find The New Deal online.

Lib Dem Narrative – The Search Goes On

The 2024 general election saw 72 Liberal Democrat MPs elected, the most for a third party since the Liberals’ brief revival in 1923. It was a result that exceeded all expectations, yet, two years on, there is a feeling of deflation among many Lib Dems. May’s local elections, whose outcome was in some ways very good for the party, were followed by a series of posts on Lib Dem Voice expressing dissatisfaction with the party’s direction or at least arguing that its current approach had been exhausted and a new one was needed.

This dissatisfaction arises from a sense of disappointment. If we have so many MPs, why aren’t we more central to the political debate? You can blame the media all you like, and they certainly do us no favours, but maybe the problem lies deeper than that. If we were allowed to write out own newspaper headlines, do we know what they would be? The approach with which we fought the last election – three bullet points and a reminder that Labour can’t win here – and its continuation after that election have left us with a limited number of headline policies.

Massive failures

Where we do have them, they aren’t necessarily as strong as we try to make them sound. We won support at the last election by campaigning on the massive failures of the water companies, but what would we do about them? The answer is that we would appoint a new, tougher regulator. The trouble with this is that the model promised at privatisation – businesses that displayed market-driven efficiency and went in fear of powerful regulators – has never looked like working. There are two reasons for this, the first of which is that the water industry is a natural monopoly. The second is regulatory capture, the process by which public institutions that are set up to keep an industry in check are subverted so they come to act in its interests. Nothing about the Lib Dems’ proposals for the water industry suggests they have found the answer to either of these problems.

Then there is the party’s performance in opinion polls and local elections. When it comes to the polls, despite the collapse of the Labour vote, we are happy if we see one where we match the 12 per cent of the vote we achieved at the last general election. We may remember Zack Polanski as an ambitious Liberal Democrat who was keener on austerity than most of us, but as James Butler wrote in the London Review of Books: 

Polanski’s political journey … is sometimes framed as opportunism but in fact reflects the often radicalising economic experience of millennials now approaching middle age.

We need to have more to offer such voters than we do at present.

Our vote is now heavily concentrated in the parliamentary constituencies that we won in 2024. We gained dozens upon dozens of councillors there in May, but I saw debate as to whether we had gained or lost councillors across all the other constituencies. What is certain is that our vote in seats where we have not been active in recent years is as low as one or two per cent, as is demonstrated weekly in local by-elections. And while we are being worried, the party’s membership is generally estimated to be 60,000, which is barely half what it was in 2022.

Many of the areas we now represent are prosperous, which means we must beware of simply representing their interests. Our opposition to inheritance tax on land, for instance, is hard to defend. As far as farmers have a grievance, it’s that the price of land has lost its relationship with the income that can be derived from farming it. But if you allow land to be used as a tax shelter, that problem will not be solved, it will get worse.

In the end, the Liberal Democrat hold on the seats they gained in 2024 may be out of their hands. In order for disillusioned Conservatives to come over to the Lib Dems, it is necessary for them not to be too scared by the possibility of a Labour government. If Andy Burnham turns out to be more Socialist than anyone expects, or at least if the press succeeds in getting the public to see him that way, then there is a danger that those voters will flock back to the Tories, however sensible or moderate we have been.

Against the background of this complicated political landscape comes The New Deal: How the Liberal Democrats Should Go into the 2029 General Election. It’s billed as “a pre-manifesto strategy document from the Yorkist group of Liberal Democrat activists” and, in his foreword, William Wallace explains its purpose:

This paper aims to start a conversation within the party on the narrative we need to construct. We have at most three years until the next election. Too many voters have come to despair of any political party’s ability to overcome the country’s economic stagnation and social divides. Liberal Democrats must find a way to offer them hope that national renewal – economic, social and political – is possible and attainable.”

To that end, The New Deal offers an analysis of the electoral position of the Liberal Democrats, a narrative they should develop before the next election and the policies it says flow from that narrative.

When The New Deal was published in May, it seemed that both the Greens and Reform UK were in line to make sweeping gains at the next election and that the Liberal Democrats would have to change their strategy to take account of this. Since then, both parties have faltered. The Greens appear to have hit their ceiling in the opinion polls and the media have at last started to ask hard questions about how Reform and its leader are funded. This position may change again, of course, but at the moment it seems the 2029 election may be more like the 2024 election than we expected.

Usefully, The New Deal considers the parties along two axes. There is the conventional one of Progressive/Centre Left vs Authoritarian/Orthodox, which sees the Liberal Democrats lined up with Labour, the Nationalists and the Greens against the Conservatives and Reform. From their history, their members and their voters, the Liberal Democrats are inescapably an anti-Conservative party, though that doesn’t mean that, deep down, we are the same as Labour or that ‘Progressive’ is a meaningful political identity rather than just a more impressive way of saying you are against the Tories.

The second axis is System vs Anti System, which sees the Lib Dems (and we still just about deserve this) placed in the Anti-System camp along with the Greens, the Nationalists and Reform, while Labour and the Tories share the System end. 

Anti-system

This ‘anti-system’ concept is a useful one and helps explain why, to the bafflement of the simplicities of social media, there are many voters who choose between Reform and the Liberal Democrats. It’s an identity that I suspect has something to do with being a long way from the centres of power, as voters are in Cornwall or Lincolnshire, and perhaps with the area being a historical stronghold of religious Nonconformity. As academics always say, more research is needed.

The New Deal emphasises the importance of developing a narrative, identifying Keir Starmer’s failure to do this as a key reason for his premiership foundering, but I’m not sure that what they’ve come up with quite fits the bill:

We are a better country than this! We are a kind, welcoming people, proud of our traditions, keen not to be taken for fools, but happy to be a modern, compassionate civic nation. We believe in a helping-hand role for a benign state, but one that doesn’t encroach any more into private lives than is strictly necessary. We believe in giving power back to the people, and in making all votes of equal value. 

This is a collection of four sentences, two of which are immediately qualified with a “but…”, that fails to tell a story. Stories involve movement through time or space, but these words just sit there. And they are statements about the Liberal Democrats when what is needed is a story about Britain today that will make voters nod in assent.

So an effective Liberal Democrat narrative might look more like:

In recent years politicians have looked to party interest rather than what’s good for Britain, the gap between rich and poor has grown too wide, and young people are finding it too hard to get a start in life. We need to rebuild our democracy, make it easier for people from all homes to make the most of their talents, and revive social housing.

That’s what’s on the back of my envelope, anyway.

When it comes to the paper’s policy offer, the cover leads you to expect great things because it has a mock-up of FDR wearing a Lib Dem rosette. In fact, it’s not always clear how different this New Deal would be. There are places where it talks about “success and progress being about more than GDP, including measures of social wellbeing and the environment” and “markets working for society rather than society being there to support markets”, but it’s not clear what these encouraging sentiments would mean in practice. Nor is it clear what the “unashamedly Keynesian” policy it wants to see at the next election would be. It seems to envisage more government intervention in the economy, which is welcome, but Keynes’s great theoretical innovation was the idea of demand management to avoid the cycle of economic booms and slumps. I’m not sure that’s on offer here.

But there are some very good ideas in The New Deal, and not only rejoining the European Union either. There’s a welcome emphasis on localism, and the inevitable support for electoral reform is strengthened by a call for it to be “linked to some form of bottom-up democracy to allow citizens to generate legislation, and to take more control over their local affairs”. There’s a call for the provision of rented accommodation (though it doesn’t say in which sector) and for an emphasis on “doing up the housing at the bottom of the ladder which is a health hazard for many of those living in it”. Education is there too, with a thoroughly Liberal emphasis on the importance of teaching critical thinking.

Above all, it’s great to see Liberal Democrat members publishing their ideas in a long form. Since the demise of Lib Dem News and then political blogging, communication within the party has tended to be very short (hello social media) or very top down. I hope The New Deal will be the first of many such publications.

Sandy Campbell and the Royal Family after Queen Victoria

We left my great great grandmother's brother in 1900 with a post about his being presented with a pair of binoculars by Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia.

He enjoyed another burst of press coverage in 1907. Here's the Aberdeen Press and Journal for Monday 22 July 1907:

The Queen comes early to Deeside, along with Princess Victoria. Both are keen trout anglers, and will spend most of their time on the lochs in and around Balmoral, which have from time to time been re-stocked and improved with both "natives" and Lochlevens. 

The young Princes of Wales will soon be at Abergeldie, and, with Old Sandy Campbell as their special guide, they are expected to make some grand baskets on Loch Muick and its feeders. 

Campbell, although in retirement, is, like Donald Stewart, somehow or other indispensible. They knew the wiles of the fario and where the big "boys" lie. They know the side of the loch which is most favoured to-day; and was not Donald the favourite keeper of the King, the Prince Wales, and his late brother in days gone by? 

The Queen in 1907 was Edward VII's consort Alexandra, and Princess Victoria was their daughter, the Princess Royal. The Prince of Wales in that era was the future George V. so perhaps the "young Princes of Wales" was an inaccurate reference to the future Edward VIII and George VI, who were then lads.

"The fario" are trout, while the Prince of Wales' late brother is Prince Albert Victor, seen by some as a candidate for being Jack the Ripper.

Moving hurriedly on, another report appeared in The Sphere on Saturday 31 August 1907. It describes a visit to Balmoral by Queen Alexandra, which was shorter than usual because of the illness of the Princess Royal:

Old Sandy Campbell and her favourite breed of collies are granted a morning interview, for it was the father of this half-collie, half-deerhound, that found the King, then Prince of Wales, when he was lost with his gillie one misty day among the hills. Sandy still keeps up the breed, and a shaggy but hardy cross it is and well named the Balmoral collie.

In 1900 Sandy's dog was called Sir William Wallace (not to be confused with our own Lord Wallace of Saltaire), but I don't know if he was, or was related to, the dog that found the future Edward VII.

Finally, The Sphere published an article about Edward VII on Saturday 12 October 1907. In it we read:

There is nothing he likes better than a crack with old Sandy Campbell, his gillie and guide in his younger days when stalking on "dark Lochnagar," or with Donald Stewart, who taught him first to shoot straight and hit his first stag.

Sandy Campbell died on 20 May 1912, aged 76.

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“The government is about to publish a White Paper on Election Regulation, in preparation for the Elections Bill it will bring forward in the next parliamentary session.  Both have major implications for British democracy; both take us away from a Liberal approach." William Wallace on Liberal localism and Labour centralism.”

Phoebe Weston reports from the biodiversity desert that is Dartmoor today: “We have become so used to these landscapes,” says author and campaigner Guy Shrubsole, who advocates for Right to Roam on Dartmoor. “Good geology hides a lot of problems. We’re admiring rocks and not what should be a living ecosystem.”

“Nigel Farage spent a decade thundering about the virtues of British parliamentary democracy – the sanctity of ‘taking back control’, of laws made by “our” elected representatives in ‘our’ sovereign chamber. But now that he’s finally secured a seat in the House of Commons, he’s treating it with contempt.” Sam Bright says Farage’s disappearing act is a portent of things to come.

“Levellers had been briefly consulted on a new constitution, but the discussions were quietly forgotten once the business of deposing and killing the king was done. Their last significant challenge to the new regime was a sadly quixotic mutiny, defeated by the army leadership at Burford, making the honey-coloured Cotswold town an unlikely site of pilgrimage for later radicals.” Jonathan Healey reviews two books on England under the Commonwealth.

Off the Records listens to Hot Chocolate's UFO-themed hit No Doubt About It, which made number 2 in the UK singles chart in 1980, and explains why its subject matter was so topical.

A London Inheritance takes us to Highgate Archway, where a collapsed tunnel was replaced by a bridge.

William Wallace: Reading Biggles in Westminster Abbey

Liberal Democrat Voice has a thoughtful post by William Wallace - Lord Wallace of Saltaire - on the relation between Liberalism and religious faith.

But I was most taken by this personal reminiscence:

I grew up as a Protestant Anglican. I learned what I now understand as social liberalism from the sermons of Canon Marriott, preaching the 'social gospel’'in Westminster Abbey (putting down my Biggles book, which choristers were allowed to take in to keep us quiet during sermons).

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Donald Trump has launched a full-frontal assault on liberal democracy. So, argues, William Wallace (rightly, I think), we have no choice but to increase taxation.

Dani Garavelli writes on the suicide of a 16-year-old in state custody: "At some point on Saturday or early Sunday, he wrote three long letters to his family. 'It's night-time now,' he wrote. 'I've only been in here for two sleeps.' 'Been crying a lot'; 'Everyone’s terrorising me'; 'Please help me.' Then he hanged himself from the top bunk."

"Now we appear to have a secret request by the home secretary to Apple by the British government to have, in the words of the Washington Post, 'a blanket capability to view fully encrypted material, not merely assistance in cracking a specific account, [which] has no known precedent in major democracies'." Alan Rusbridger says it’s time to say no to the government spying on our secrets.

Miranda Bailey listens to a university vice-chancellor try to defend the cuts to her institution.

Paul Casciato has some good news: "Research published in the journal Bird Study, found that - hectare for hectare - solar farms situated in agriculturally dominated East Anglia contained a greater number of bird species and overall number of individuals than surrounding arable land."

"As hotel proprietor-cum-town accountant Urquhart (Dennis Lawson) makes clear, it’s easy for outsiders to romanticize a place that’s difficult to survive in. Forsyth derisively referred to this concept in the wider culture as 'the Brigadoon thing'." Sara Batkie marks the 40th 42nd anniversary of the release of Local Hero.

Liberal Democrat History Group meeting on our performance at last year's general election

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These days the Liberal Democrats don't just talk about history: we make it.

The outcome of the general election on 4 July 2024 was extraordinary. Compared to the 2019 election, our share of the vote rose by less than 1 per cent, to 12.2 per cent, but our number of MPs jumped from 11 (plus 4 by-election gains) to 72, the highest number since 1923.

The Lib Dem History Group is holding a meeting to discuss this remarkable performance at the National Liberal Club, London SW1, on Monday 27 January.

You can find full details of the meeting on the group's website - you don't have to be a member to attend and you can watch it on Zoom too.

The panel for the meeting will be Professor Paula Surridge (Bristol University) and Dave McCobb (director of field campaigns for the  Lib Dems), with Lord Wallace of Saltaire in the chair.

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"Liberal democracy depends upon a sense of shared citizenship, a relatively stable society and an inclusive economy without too great a gap between rich and poor." William Wallace puts his finger on an important truth: economic inequality is a barrier to liberal politics.

Robert Saunderson on what the Conservatives must do if they are to recover from July's rout: "The party must resist three fantasies that have loomed too large since the election: that defeat was less severe than at first believed; that its failures in office were the fault of traitors or non-believers; and that there are easy solutions to the dilemmas that now confront it."

Meg Gain listened to Sayeeda Warsi speak about the tendency to a growing acceptance of racism and Islamophobia at the Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival.

"Seeking to silence him once and for all, Jersey’s government also slapped Syvret with a superinjunction in 2012 – an action undertaken via a secret court proceeding, which took place without his knowledge, and forbade him from speaking about the four individuals he had named." Stuart Syvret describes how he was forced out of Jersey for doing his job as a senator.

"In one of the Rolling Stones’ most crucial songs, Sympathy for the Devil, it’s not Keith Richards’ guitar that defines the melody or propels the piece. It’s a series of stark piano chords, struck by a studio musician, that give the piece its earth-shaking power." Jim Farber on the genius of the pianist Nicky Hopkins.

Shane McCorristine asks why ghosts wear clothes or white sheets instead of appearing in the nude.

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"The Labour government appears to think that improving the delivery of public services will be sufficient to resolve the embittered alienation of so many voters from British politics. Do we dare as liberals to argue that democracy requires a much more active engagement with our citizens, at national and at local levels?" William Wallace says the Liberal Democrats should be setting the agenda, not following it.

Christian Wolmar claims he has the ideal road plan for Britain: take the 16 major highway schemes worth £15bn and bin them.

"White privately-educated British male cricketers were 34 times more likely to play professionally than state-educated British South Asians." Taha Hashim on the work of the South Asian Cricket Academy.

Red Flag Walks looks back to the feminist protest against the 1970 Miss World contest: "Sarah Wilson was chosen to start the protest. 'When Bob Hope was going on and on with terrible, grotesque stuff, I got up and swung my football rattle. It seemed ages before anybody responded – people were lighting their cigarettes to ignite the smoke bombs – but then I saw stuff beginning to cascade down.'"

"He was fiercely loyal to the series. Although he consumed my words at an alarming rate, he had an armoury of looks, leers, shrugs and incredulous expressions that earned me laughs I never had to write. Len was the driving force behind Rising Damp." The late Eric Chappell, creator of the series, tells the story of Leonard Rossiter and Rising Damp, the show he created and wrote 50 years ago.

A London Inheritance goes in search of the power station on what is now St Pancras Way: "The first phase of the power station faced the Regents Canal and the large area of railway coal depots, and this was one of the reasons why the power station was located here – the easy access to supplies of coal, whether delivered to the power station via train to the depot opposite, or along the canal from Regents Canal Dock (now Limehouse Dock), brought in from the north east of the country using colliers."

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"The middle-income professionals in the seats we have just won will take a lot of persuading to pay more for better prisons, probation officers and children’s services, even if told that alienated teenagers turn into rioters, and criminals without rehabilitation reoffend. Those saving to send their children to private schools will be reluctant to pay more tax for the state sector. Getting comfortably-off taxpayers in the home counties to contribute to regeneration of the north will be very difficult." William Wallace says the Liberal Democrats need to have a clear position on public spending.

Alex Krasodomski argues that the UK riots have forced Western democracies to confront their reliance on technology giants.

"The Peak District and Exmoor were found to have concentrations of antibiotics at a level that could be of concern for human health as they were beyond the threshold that can contribute to antimicrobial resistance. This could affect anyone entering the water for swimming or water sports, the researchers said." Lucie Heath on new research into pharmaceutical pollution of English rivers.

Charlotte Llewellyn celebrates the very English anarchist Colin Ward, who "put people, especially those most marginalised by society, at the centre of his work. He recognised the creativity, knowledge, and talent of ordinary people and their ability to make change happen, as well as emphasising the importance of working co-operatively towards a better future."

Ingrid Skeels explores the history and benefits of 'playing out', where children enjoy informal sport for free in the community where they live, and She how 'play streets' are revitalising communities across the UK and further afield. And she does it on the England and Wales Cricket Board site too.

"We could ask if Yoda's Theme would be Yoda’s Theme without Yoda. Or, does Jaws' theme need a shark to be frightening? Do we need to see E.T. fly across the moon in order to be moved by the film’s soaring theme? Does the Close Encounter’s five-note motif only work if we see Richard Dreyfus playing with mashed potatoes?" Edwardo Pérez discusses the film music of John Williams.

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Victoire Ingabire Umahoza, leader of the opposition in Rwanda, explains why UK government's rhetoric is misleading and Rwanda is far from safe: "Human rights organisations have regularly reported that ordinary Rwandan citizens do not enjoy inalienable human rights. Those who dare to or are perceived to express opinions that challenge the Rwandan government’s narrative suffer reprisal."

William Wallace is our guide to the factions into which the Conservative Party is rapidly dissolving.

"The new ruralism is nebulous but tangible. Mildly countercultural, it has been buoyed by the New Nature Writing but is more than a literary phenomenon. It has slowly gathered adherents since the millennium, fuelling a flight from the city to the country, bringing an activist spirit to rural towns and villages. These developments were intensified by t he importance to health and happiness of access to green space during the Covid-19 lockdowns." Matthew Kelly reflects on Jeremy Burchardt’s Lifescapes: The Experience of Landscape in Britain, 1870-1960.

William Fear looks at the attitude to truth that George Orwell and Albert Camus shared.

"Victoria did manage to have her own secret lavatory built within a hidden door off the Sovereign’s Robing Room in the Lords, rumoured to be the first flushing toilet in London." Chloe Challender reveals the meagre provision of  women's lavatories at Westminster during the 19th century.

"The brief cockney revival at the turn of the 1960s was an interesting moment in British pop," says Alwyn Turner.

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"Calling people out triggers feelings of shame and defensiveness which entrench difference and deepen divisions. Calling people in acknowledges somebody’s starting point, encourages calmer conversations and potentially provides pathways to more open, evidence-based thinking. After all, changing an opinion is a big ask for all of us. It is a genuine challenge." Her experience at the centre of a storm has taught Corinne Fowler how to respond to the culture war through engagement and dialogue.

Matthew Pennell on the school buildings crisis.

"He was a real Liberal: happy to be in a minority arguing for change on a range of issues, undeterred by those who thought him obsessive or eccentric in his enthusiasms, a valued teacher to a great many students in Manchester and Canterbury, and a scholar who valued evidence and reasoned argument against emotion and prejudice." William Wallace remembers Michael Steed.

Jack Bailey finds there is no central depository of data from British elections: "As time passes, historic elections get further and further away from us. While we might still know the key results, the details become more and more uncertain."

John Bridcut shows how Elizabeth II inspired Benjamin Britten to start composing again after he almost died.

"Alan Ladd got his big break with Frank Tuttle’s This Gun For Hire in 1942. The movie made him a huge star, a favourite of movie audiences. Ladd had, in some sense, broken into the entertainment industry by playing bit parts on radio shows." Aurora remembers the actor with a collection of his performances on radio.

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At the end of a tribute to Peter Hellyer, William Wallace puts his finger on the Liberal Democrats' dilemma: "Britain still needs radical change, but the painful adjustments that will involve are not welcome to voters whose lives are more comfortable as things are.  We are a radical party dependent on centrist support."

Benny Hunter spends a day watching asylum seekers being jailed.

Matthew Pennell argues that, on education, the Lib Dems need to snap out of a call-and-response dynamic with populists: "What do pupils and parents actually want from the education system? Surely it’s that children are taught in a safe and attractive learning environment and the approach to education equips them for the 21st century world as best as it can be anticipated – soft skills (hello English and other modern languages, relevant to the latest tech trends (hello Computer Science) and playing to our strengths as a nation in sectors such as creative industries (hello Arts, Music and Drama)."

How do you recognise a temperate rainforest in Britain and Ireland? John Healey has the answer.

Eoin Morgan says cricket has institutionally marginalised huge parts of society: "Barriers around class, gender and ethnicity are conspiring to ensure that many young people face insurmountable obstacles before they get near the elite pathway system, let along the professional game."

The University of Southampton extraordinary four-year battle to prevent diaries and correspondence from Lord and Lady Mountbatten being made public is revealed by Martin Williams.

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Jonathan Portes worked on the privatisation of England’s water in 1989 and concludes that it was "an organised rip-off".

"This is a dystopian vision, from a man who has gained the stature of a leading intellectual on the Conservative right. Its denial of evidence on climate change, on the complexity of modern economies and the underlying strains in Britain’s unequal society is extraordinary." William Wallace has been reading David Frost.

"It’s time to end the farcical privatisation that has left 92 per cent of England off limits to the public (and a whopping 97 per cent of its rivers). Right to Roam calls for people to respectfully explore the land hidden on their doorstep." Jon Moses makes the case for trespass.

Peter Gray makes the case for play involving children of different ages: "It is more nurturing, less competitive, often more creative, and it offers unique opportunities for learning. Throughout most of human history, age-mixed play was the norm. Only with the advent of age-graded schooling and, even more recently, of age-graded, adult-supervised activities outside of school, have children and adolescents been deprived of opportunities to play with others across the whole spectrum of ages."

The demolition of Nottingham's Broadmarsh Shopping Centre has given archaeologists the chance to undertake excavations in the historic part of the city, Scott Lomax tells us what they have found.

Tim Rolls itemises the rivalry between Chelsea and Leeds United (or "dirty Leeds" as we Chelsea fans think of them): "30 years later former referee David Elleray reviewed the match against the standards set by modern day refereeing. He concluded that Leeds should have had seven bookings and three dismissals (Giles, Bremner and Charlton), while Chelsea deserved 13 bookings, including three each for Webb, Harris and Charlie Cooke."

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"It’s subversive of constitutional democracy. It’s peddled by wealthy and privileged people to discredit reasoned government and distract the disadvantaged. Populism is a powerful poison, with the potential to kill off liberal democracy." William Wallace says we need to work harder to dispel the right-wing myth that Britain has a "liberal elite".

"Outsourcing has ... broken the link between care and local communities, with thousands of children in care sent to live many miles from their families and friends because no local homes are available. Companies maximise returns by locating their business where homes are cheapest - not where children need them." Martin Barrow on the many dangers of allowing private companies to look after children in public care.

Emma John finds that the South Asian Cricket Academy has already shown why it was needed: "The Academy was born out of a conversation between Kabir Ali, the former England all-rounder, and his club teammate Tom Brown, the Birmingham City University researcher whose work revealed that while British Asians make up 30% of the recreational game in England, they constitute only 5% of professional cricketers."

East West Rail, the project to restore direct services between Oxford to Cambridge, is under threat, reports Greg Pitcher.

"The Third Policeman is the perfect philosophical novel and you must read it," says Clare Moriarty.

A London Inheritance tales us on a journey into the city's past: "If you walk past 193 and 195 King’s Cross Road, take a detour into St. Chad’s Place. Walk up to Gray’s Inn Road and you will cross the River Fleet, the original Metropolitan Railway and the site of St. Chad’s Well – not bad for a couple of minutes walk. And with some imagination, perhaps you will also see the waters of St. Chad’s Well still running beneath a small, four hole grating."

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"You can mock Lindell, dismiss him, or call him a crackhead, but none of this will seem particularly funny when we truly have an illegitimate president in the White House and a total breakdown of law and order." Anne Applebaum meets the billionaire who is funding Trump's fantasies about stolen election.

Lewis Binnie explains why he has joined the Liberal Democrats and left the Scottish National Party.

"The vast pictures of the battles of Waterloo and Trafalgar in the Royal Gallery also convey images that disappeared from 'England’s story' in the century that followed. Waterloo is presented as a joint British-Prussian victory, with the Duke of Wellington shaking hands with Field Marshal Blucher on the battlefield.  The dying Admiral Horatio Nelson is surrounded by black as well as white sailors, with women also on board HMS Victory." William Wallace looks at the contested history of the Palace of Westminster's artworks.

Older workers are at risk of being dumped as furlough comes to an end, reports David Hencke.

"As cities invest in green infrastructure to ameliorate environmental harm, wildlife is increasingly occupying novel niches including green roofs and constructed wetlands and colonizing former brownfields and vacant lots." Janet Marinelli says cities can play an important role in fostering biodiversity.

Jane Nightshade on The Innocents, the extraordinary film Jack Clayton made from Henry James's The Turn of the Screw.

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Adrian Sanders offers some wise words of caution on a 'progressive alliance': "The problem with pre-election pacts, rather than informal arrangements such as the pre 1997 one between Labour and ourselves where we stand but don’t work in different seats, is that you cannot be sure where, or even if, a voter’s likely second choices will be used the way the pact hoped. There is a danger that in some seats such a narrowing of voter choice will entrench the support of the candidate whom it was hoped would be unseated."

What should a Liberal approach to building a more sustainable economy in a sharply contested world order look like? asks William Wallace.

Rural voters are increasingly comfortable returning non-Conservative councillors, argues Matthew Pennell, He usefully identifies four types of rural constituencies.

Jay Bea reads  Anna Cale's new biography The Real Diana Dors.

Mina Tavakoli reviews The Sparks Brothers - a documentary on Ron and Russell Mael and their band Sparks.

"Flat Holm is full of the beauty of nature. It's home to seabird colonies and retains its wilderness, remoteness and isolation. But alongside the lighthouse and wildlife sits an abandoned and dilapidated former cholera hospital where sick and infectious patients were sent to live and die." Thomas Deacon takes us to an island in the Bristol Channel.

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William Wallace says Britain's security depends upon our co-operation with others. He also reveals that his father served in the Gordon Highlanders in the first world war. I had a great uncle who did the same.

"The BBC is an Anglican broadcaster, which faces the same conflict of purpose. It follows the highest journalistic standards, yet it feels it must also reflect the national mood. Britain voted to leave the EU. The nation spoke, and in respecting 'the people’s verdict,' the BBC has done what every enemy of free inquiry wants reporters to do." Nick Cohen shows how the BBC has lost the plot on Brexit.

Damon Linker reviews a book by Max Boot, a conservative who has left the Republican Party in disgust over Donald Trump.

"Over the last ten years, research has demonstrated the importance of creative practice in the arts and humanities. They can help maintain health, provide ways of breaking down social barriers and expressing and understanding experiences and emotions, and assist in developing trust, identities, shared understanding and more compassionate communities." Paul Crawford argues that the arts are a shadow health service.

James Oliver revisits the controversy over video nasties from the 1980s.

In 1916 5000 people watched Jack Hobbs faced Sydney Barnes in the Bradford League. Crispin Andrews examines the first world war and cricket politics.

William Wallace condemns Theresa May for not speaking out against extremism

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Good stuff from the Liberal Democrat peer William Wallace in the Yorkshire Post:

When Theresa May became Prime Minister she promised to heal the divisions in British politics and society that the referendum campaign had opened. Two year later, those divisions have widened, rather than narrowed, with violent language and threats appearing in newspaper headlines and online messages. 

And the Prime Minister has remained silent, two years later, about the underlying threat to democratic debate and dialogue – and to the safety of our politicians – that this presents. 

Last week I met two MPs, from different parties, walking along Whitehall comparing the death threats they had received. Both were men; they remarked that many women MPs had received more such threats than they had, and were – two years after the murder of Batley & Spen’s Jo Cox – even more concerned that aggressive language might lead to violent attacks. 

The Yorkshire Post these days is a good paper that you should make part of your regular reading if you are interested in politics.

And trivia fans will be pleased that Helen Wallace, William's wife, is the daughter of Edward Rushworth who fought the Harborough constituency for the Liberal Party three times, polling 13,533 votes in the last of them (1964).

Six of the Best 795

"We ought to recognise that all three parties have collaborated in the myth that decent public services could be provided without higher and more progressive taxation." William Wallace tells us it's time to talk about tax.

Amy Zimmerman on how Roseanne Barr abandoned reason and embraced the alt-right.

Peter Walker explains why forcing cyclists to wear helmets will not save lives.

"As Dostoyevsky implored through his novels and reporting, it is not only our task to support the innocent or wrongly convicted but also to recognise the humanity of the guilty and the shared sense of responsibility that we have for one another." Jennifer Wilson says the great Russian novelist predicted the ‘true crime’ craze.

"The perception is that he is difficult, obscure and intense, severe and mystical, charismatic and strange, driven and tragic, with his charisma and difficulty bound up with his character and his life." Ian Ground considers the legacy of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Mr Barlow listens to a Michael Nyman lecture: 'Music which has influenced me, but which I have never heard.'

Six of the Best 667

"Populism often takes the form of rich people persuading the poor that the problems they face are caused not be economic injustice or exploitation but by foreigners and a corrupt ‘establishment’." William Wallace dissects our current enemy.

Simon Wessely explains why we shouldn’t close the child refugee scheme.

Paul Evans argues that modern demand for transparency has fatally weakened parliamentary democracy. Hear him.

"Then there is perhaps the most monstrous application of racial terror in our historical register: Aug. 28, 1955, when 14-year-old Emmett Till was lynched." Jason Parham on a notorious case.

Do bowlers get overlooked as England captain because of the old class system? Derek Pringle investigates.

Samuel Wigley presents some stunning shots of Oliver Reed, Shirley Anne Field and Joseph Losey in Weymouth in the summer of 1961. They were in the seaside town filming one of Hammer’s most unique films – the apocalyptic sci-fi classic The Damned.