Liberal England

Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year 2014

"Well written, funny and wistful" - Paul Linford; "He is indeed the Lib Dem blogfather" - Stephen Tall
"Jonathan Calder holds his end up well in the competitive world of the blogosphere" - New Statesman
"A prominent Liberal Democrat blogger" - BBC Radio 4 Today; "One of my favourite blogs" - Stumbling
and Mumbling; "Charming and younger than I expected" - Wartime Housewife

Sunday, June 21, 2026

Why Kenneth Williams wanted to be serviced by Terence Rattigan

Having recently post a video of Fergus McClelland with Leo McKern in Brecht's Gallileo, yesterday I had a look in the British Newspaper...

The Joy of Six 1536

"Wes Streeting was always meant to be their Labour prime minister. The plan, hatched by a tiny clique of right-wing faction fighters, w...

The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Fire

Fire was included on The Jimi Hendrix Experience's 1967 album Are You Experienced. Under the title Let Me Light Your Fire, it was releas...

Saturday, June 20, 2026

GUEST POST Why have the Lib Dems given up fighting most parliamentary by-elections?

Lib Dem HQ has decided to stop making an effort in unpromising Westminster by-elections. Regular guest poster Augustus Carp argues that the...

Petula Clark remembers making Trouble at Townsend

One of Petula Clark's early films in her child star days was Trouble at Townsend , which was based on a short story by this blog's h...

Friday, June 19, 2026

More missing scientists: The GEC-Marconi deaths of the Eighties

The " disappearing scientists " panic sweeping the US has led to a rediscovery of a spoof television programme along similar line...

Cameron Thomas was arrested on suspicion of controlling and coercive behaviour and assault

Further information about the arrest of the Liberal Democrat MP Cameron Thomas have emerged today. BBC News quotes a statement from Glouces...

The Joy of Six 1535

"When news of the arrests of the three Ukrainians broke, a rumour soon began to spread online that the alleged perpetrators were, in fa...

Oakham Town Council has "lost control of everything" according to "worst ever" report

Oakham Nub News wins our Headline of the Day Award for a worrying story from Rutland. Ever fair-minded, the judges point out that though th...

Thursday, June 18, 2026

In which my great great grandmother's brother stuffs a ptarmigan

I've written before about my great great grandmother's brother Sandy Campbell - about how his dog Sir William Wallace and how the l...

Liberal Democrat MP suspended from party after arrest

From the Guardian website this evening: A Liberal Democrat MP has had the whip suspended pending the outcome of a police investigation, a p...

Joseph Wright of Derby: From the Shadows exhibition comes home

After six months at the National Gallery in London, the art exhibition Wright of Derby: From the Shadows has come home. It's now bein...

The Major Oak is dead and Phil Harding has discovered another ancient site near Stonehenge

Forget Sycamore Gap: this is real tragedy. The Major Oak in Sherwood Forest is dead. The Guardian reports: The Major oak, one of Europe’s o...

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Following the course of the River Leen through Nottingham

Our History Underfoot – like and subscribe , my children, like and subscribe – follows the course of the River Leen through Nottingham. Just...

Joe Jackson: It's Different for Girls

Recorded live in 1979 for BBC2's Rock Goes to College.

The Joy of Six 1534

Keir Starmer should set a timetable for his departure from Number 10 and give his successor the opportunity to prepare for becoming prime mi...

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

No Carry Ons: Kenneth Williams's other films

This is fun. A compilation of 11 short clips of Kenneth Williams in films that aren't Carry Ons. Williams, as he frequently pointed out ...

Three Lions but no St George's flags

I went for a walk across the town after lunch today and saw this Three Lions flag. What I didn't see was any St George's flags. Twen...

Al Carns portrays Labour politics as a form of ancestor worship

Embed from Getty Images Writing about Blue Labour in Liberator at the start of year, I suggested that: Maurice Glasman’s target voter is a ...

Monday, June 15, 2026

1963: London's summer of the Hoverbus

Jago Hazzard looks back to a short-lived transport experiment that took place in London in the summer of 1963. From 1 July to 31 October, a ...

Violent Bonham Carter features on Fake or Fortune?

The notorious gender-fluid London gang boss of the Sixties gets a mention in a post from last year on the Herstmonceux Castle website. BBC’...

The Joy of Six 1533

James Ball argues that Labour's social media ban for teenagers is an admission of total and utter failure to govern online spaces: ...

Sunday, June 14, 2026

No, Leave didn't win the Brexit referendum because of Northern working class voters

There are so many myths, and so much snobbery, surrounding the result of the 2016 referendum that I've a good mind to post this every we...

Lord Bonkers: "Something less terrible than the truth"

G.K. Chesterton was a brilliant literary critic and there's an observation of his on Dickens that I've quoted more than once in prin...

Aidan O'Rourke: Mangersta Beach

I loved the Outer Hebrides and this music – Mangersta Beach is on the west coast of Lewis – captures the feel of a landscape that somehow fe...

Saturday, June 13, 2026

The Joy of Six 1532

About 1 million 16- to 24-year-olds are not in employment, education or training – and the obstacles they face are bigger than ever. Sammy G...

Sighcology: The Snake Pit, Out of True and Nellie Bly

It's time to post another of the Sighcology columns I write for the Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy. It us...

Friday, June 12, 2026

District council backs a parish council for Market Harborough

An extraordinary meeting of Harborough District Council has voted unanimously in favour of a parish council for Market Harborough, reports B...

Bobby Charlton and Arnie Sidebottom at Stamford Bridge

Embed from Getty Images Bobby Charlton played his last game for Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on 2 April 1973. Thanks to a rather flu...

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