Achieving economic growth takes more than booing Nimbys

New housing at Wellington Place, Market Harborough

There's an article on Liberal Democrat Voice today by Steve Wootton announcing the formation of Lib Dems for Growth. The group will have a stall at the York spring conference this weekend.

Economic growth does sound like the answer to our prayers, though the environmental constraints on it are becoming more apparent. But that's not what worries me about the statement from the group that Steve quotes.

Like a lot of people who call for economic growth, it rather assumes that British industry would leap into action and deliver growth at a startling rate if it weren't for the stage army of planning officers and Nimbys that they bring on to be denounced.

As far as there are problems with the planning system, I suspect they run deeper than people getting up petitions against new housing development. For one view of what's wrong, have a look at the paper Dan Davis wrote for Labour Together: Build the rail! Save the snails! How to really fix UK infrastructure planning.

In it he argues:

UK infrastructure projects cost significantly more than European equivalents, and the time and money spent on the pre-construction phase is greater here than in any other country. This is because our system treats projects as "guilty until proven innocent" and provides feedback too late to correct course efficiently. 

Developers, consultants and planning authorities all respond to uncertainty by over-mitigating potential objections. The cause is not environmental regulation itself, but an adversarial planning system that incentivises pre-emptive risk aversion.

But what if the problem lies deeper still? What if our industry isn't well placed to make that great leap forward?

Chris Dillow often writes about the poor quality of British management. He talked about this subject on Nick Cohen's podcast Writing from London a couple of years ago.

And he wrote about it on his own blog not long before that. As with planning, a large part of the problem is systemic rather than down to individual delinquency. When it comes to British management, the problem is that there are perverse incentives that lead to mangers not striving to perform better.

Yet, as Chris points out:

Whether it be efforts to weaken trades unions or to "strengthen work incentives", both Labour and Tory governments have for decades seen their task as ensuring an adequate supply of quiescent labour. Ensuring an adequate supply of good management, by contrast, has barely figured as an objective.

It seems that calling for a higher level of growth in the British economy may be a more radical policy than its enthusiasts realise.

One of the problems with our political system is that it produces such inexperienced leaders

In recent days I've come across three instances of people arguing that one of the problems with our political system today is that it produces such inexperienced leaders.

You can hear Robert Saunders making this argument in the latest episode of Nick Cohen's podcast The Lowdown. (Click play on the video and you'll get the relevant extract.)

Mark Garnett also touches on it in his new book Downing Street Downfalls: The Misadventures of Britain's Prime Ministers Since Thatcher, which I review in the next Liberator.

In the book he writes:

Even before Brexit there had been signs that individuals with slender qualifications were beginning to regard themselves as viable candidates. In January 2015 Adam Afriyie, a right-wing backbencher little known to parliamentary colleagues let alone the public, was mooted as a serious challenger to David Cameron's position. Unlike Sir Anthony Meyer in 1989, before the rumours fizzled out Afriyie showed every sign of wanting to run purely on his own behalf.

And you can see the same concern in the Chris Dillow article I blogged about the other day:

Labour party members in 2020 were so keen to see Corbynism without Corbyn that they overlooked questions about Starmer's suitability: is a man who became an MP only in 2015 sufficiently experienced in Westminster politics? Does being head of a large hierarchical organization equip a man to lead a more egalitarian one facing fierce competition? Does he have any good record in developing and selling policy?

Closer to home, how much did Liberal Democrat members know about Nick Clegg when they elected him as their leader.

I know I'm getting old, but I think there is something in the argument that our leaders are too inexperienced.

The Conservative Party: A warning from history

Nick Cohen's guest on the latest edition of his podcast The Lowdown is the novelist and historian James Hawes, who reminds us that history has shown that there are no lengths the Conservative Party will not go to in pursuit of power.

Hawes forecasts a pact or even a merger between the Conservatives and Reform UK, and Cohen points out that no Conservative leader since David Cameron has mounted a serious attack on Nigel Farage and his parties.

If these is hope of keeping the far right out of power in Britain, Hawes concludes, is lies in the Liberal Democrats winning even more Tory seats in the South of England.

It's not the most optimistic podcast I've heard, but it's well worth a listen.

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"Humiliation is not 'merely' symbolic. It is an immoral act that has serious, long-lasting consequences. The effect of it is the destruction of our status claims. Even the most desperate among us try to present themselves with a certain amount of dignity. Humiliation removes that. It also isolates us from other  people, makes us feel more alone, and leaves a deep and lasting anger." Toby Buckle argues that humiliation has moved to the center of the reactionary project under Donald Trump.

Nick Cohen on the right's abandonment of law and order: "Conservatives used to support the forces of law and order. Now they equivocate. They treat the police and courts as the coercive arm of the liberal elite – just as leftists once viewed them as the coercive arm of the capitalist class."

"Places where children commonly used to play, such as streets and local neighbourhoods, have been transformed into car-only spaces where traffic and parking take priority. Likewise, city spaces frequently 'design out' children by prohibiting skateboarding, ball games and other kinds of play." Michael Martin looks at ways of giving children the freedom to play all across cities, not just in playgrounds.

Will Tavlin explains the economics of Netflix: "For a century, the business of running a Hollywood studio was straightforward. The more people watched films, the more money the studios made. With Netflix, however, audiences don’t pay for individual films. They pay a subscription to watch everything, and this has enabled a strange phenomenon to take root. Netflix’s movies don’t have to abide by any of the norms established over the history of cinema: they don’t have to be profitable, pretty, sexy, intelligent, funny, well-made, or anything else that pulls audiences into theater seats. "

" The last hostile invasion of mainland Britain took place in south-west Wales on 22 February 1797. The French revolutionary force, led by an Irish-American colonel, William Tate, were captured two days later. The initial plan had been a three-pronged attempt to liberate Ireland but various misadventures meant that the landing of a rump force in Pembrokeshire, planned as a distraction, was all there was to be – a disconsolate arrival on the wrong island." Gillian Darley visits Fishguard to see a locally produced tapestry that records this failed invasion.

Jamie Evans remembers the ghost photographs that frightened him to his core as a boy, but also imparted a lifelong love of horror.

Nick Cohen's podcast: Don't back any horses tipped by Nick Tyrone

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Nick Cohen's latest podcast dropped two days ago. His guest, billed as an expert on the Conservative Party, was Paul-Marshall-era Liberal Democrat turned Reform supporter Nick Tyrone.

In the course of their discussion Tyrone argued that when Robert Jenrick replaces Kemi Badenoch, as he surely will, he'll prove no more popular than she has.

He then suggested that the Tories should go for someone untainted by their 14 years in government and choose a leader from their 2024 intake of MPs.

Pressed for a name, he suggested Patrick Spencer, who was arrested the following day.

Spencer denies the charges against him and may go on to have along political career, even leading his party. But this exchange did reinforce the impression that Tyrone isn't the great political forecaster out there.

Because he has previous. Here he is in the Spectator on the eve of a 2021 by-election:

"The Chesham and Amersham by-election is on Thursday. Thank God it’s almost here — hopefully then we can stop hearing any rubbish about how the Lib Dems are set to tear down the Conservatives’ ‘blue wall’ in the home counties. As the campaign has demonstrated, the Lib Dems are miles away from being able to cause such an upset.

"Instead, the Lib Dems will lose on Thursday, most likely fairly badly, and they will have no one to blame but themselves. If they want to get back to being the by-election masters of old, they will have to do a lot better than this."

As you may recall, Sarah Green won the election for the Lib Dems with a 25 per cent swing from the Conservatives.

He was more confident about the Lib Dem performance in 2015:

Ahead of the 2015 General Election, Tyrone predicted that the Liberal Democrats would receive "17 per cent" of the popular vote and that the vote share for the two largest parties appeared "on course for an all time low". 

The two largest parties subsequently both increased their vote share, while the Liberal Democrats received 7.9 per cent.

Nor did he much admire Nigel Farage in the run up to the European Union referendum:

In 2015, Tyrone argued that fellow pro-Europeans should give their "gratitude to Nigel Farage for hanging around the British political scene just a little bit longer" as he believed it would ensure "the pro-Europeans win".

We all like to sound confident when we make predictions, but I wouldn't back any horse that Nick Tyrone tipped. 

Mike Martin: David Cameron suspended collective responsibility for the EU referendum - and the Tories haven't been responsible since

Introduced as "one of the most interesting new politicians in Britain", Mike Martin is the guest on the latest edition of Nick Cohen's podcast The Lowdown.

They talk of the international situation, the need to increase the size of the British Army and the strange death of the Conservative Party.

As Mike observes, David Cameron suspended cabinet collective responsibility for the 2016 EU referendum, and the Tories never regained a sense of responsibility after it. 

They spent a decade fighting a civil war rather than governing the country. Hence  many of the problems we now face, including the underfunded condition of Britain's Armed Forces.

Cohen suggests that the media missed the biggest story of the 2024 general election - the gains the Liberal Democrats made in what used to be the heart of Tory England.

Mike Martin's Tunbridge Wells seat is perhaps the most startling example of this, and he says it's easy to imagine the Tories finishing third there in May's local elections, behind the Lib Dems and Reform.

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Nick Cohen criticises collaborationist journalism: "Instead of a robust defence of democratic debate, we have had writers for the Financial Times opining that: 'A time will come when politicians can tell voters that Brexit was a turkey of an idea, that it makes Britain poorer than it needs to be, that it doesn’t even work as an immigration-cutting retreat from the world. That time isn’t far off. But it isn’t now.' The job of the collaborator here is not to ask hard questions but to police debate by saying that hard questions, or indeed any questions, are an inopportune tactic."

"While it's easy to dismiss something as amorphous as an improvement in quality of life, the dramatic reduction in traffic fatalities makes a stark case for what is often initially an unpopular measure. In Graz the number of accidents leading to serious injuries has dropped by 24 percent, despite an increase in the number of residents and traffic volume." Kaja Šeruga on moves to reduce the speed of traffic in many European cities.

"The state of our county courts has a direct and profound effect on the daily lives of millions of people. It is not just worthy to include it in manifestos but a potential vote-winner." John Hyde asks why the state of civil justice isn't an election issue.

Hugh Morris on how the Chair of Arts Council England threatened to cut £3.2 million of Welsh National Opera funding after music director Tomáš Hanus spoke out about the company’s financial difficulties.

Popular television programmes and general elections sometimes collide. Philip Cowley and Matthew Bailey investigate.

Balladeer's Blog reads After London by Richard Jefferies: "The Thames and Severn Rivers have backed up, forming a large central lake in England. What was once London is a toxic marsh so deadly to human life that its gases and vapors, when carried by the winds, kill or drive mad humans exposed to them."

Mike Martin, Lib Dem PPC for Tunbridge Wells, on what victory looks like for Ukraine and how it can be achieved

The guest on Nick Cohen's latest The Lowdown podcast is Dr Mike Martin, ex-soldier, military strategist, author - and Liberal Democrat PPC for Tunbridge Wells:

Mike, a senior visiting research fellow in the Department of War Studies at King's College , London, explain to Nick how the West initially miscalculated Ukraine's chances against a belligerent Russia by looking at the spreadsheet showing the relative military strengths of each country in terms of material and troop numbers. Western leaders failed to take into account other elements such as strategy, quality of leadership and that crucial of all military essences, the will to fight.

Ukraine's initial tactical priority is the eviction of Russia's forces from along the shore of the Black Sea and in particular Crimea, the loss of which should prove one defeat too many for Vladamir Putin's chances of survival.

But is strategic victory for Ukraine possible before the 2024 US Presidential election and can Europe step up to the plate in the likelihood of a second Trump victory?

Listen to the podcast.

The previous edition of The Lowdown, where the guest is the novelist and historian James Hawes, is a good listen too.

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Nick Cohen gives Matt Goodwin both barrels: "Democracy depends on holding the powerful to account so that an informed electorate can judge them. But in the professor’s formulation, criticising Boris Johnson and Michael Gove meant criticising the people who voted for him. Performing your democratic duty became anti-democratic; holding the elite to account became elitist."

"Given the terrible ordeal that Kara-Murza faces, the resources of courage, conviction and determination that he must have summoned to make this statement, defy comprehension. He knows that Putin’s regime will bury him alive and yet he refuses to flinch." Adam Tooze salutes the courage of the historian Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Karen Shannon on Yuri Gagarin's visit to Manchester.

"Buffalo Bill went in for a drink and expressed concern about having to drink in the pub with a black man, so Charlesworth ordered Buffalo Bill out. It's quite a well known local tale in Glossop." Andrew Aloia tells the story of Charles Ollivierre, the black West Indian cricketer who played for Derbyshire in the game's Edwardian golden age.

Micah Tillman explores what Nirvana can tell us about the philosophy of history.

"Quite fun, involving little more than successfully collecting and dropping off three passengers without being interrupted by Blakey by means of dice, cards, a zany road map, and chunky plastic buses and punters." Tim Worthington remembers the days when sitcoms were turned into board games.

Nick Cohen visits Mike Martin in Tunbridge Wells and sniffs a political earthquake

Nick Cohen takes us to Tunbridge Wells in his latest substack Writing from London:

Mike Martin is the sort of chap who used to be a natural Tory.  He served in Afghanistan, where the army put his knowledge of Pashto to good use, and is a visiting fellow at the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London. ...

His grandmother was a Conservative constituency chairman. His parents met at a dance at the Richmond-on-Thames Conservative Association, and his father went on to be a Conservative candidate in the 1983 general election.

Unsurprisingly, Martin has taken up the family tradition of going into politics. This hard-headed realist, however, is fighting to remove the Conservatives from power.

He will be the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Royal Town of Tunbridge Wells at the next election.

But does he stand any chance at the next election?

Cohen clearly thinks he does, citing the flight of the liberal middle classes from London and its property prices that is turning the town of Tunbridge Wells 'progressive'.

And if the Tories think the surrounding villages will save them, they may be disappointed:

Martin canvasses them as well. He walks up the long drives of country homes worth between £1 and £2 million, and thinks “I’ve no chance here”.

Only when he notices that the cars parked by the double garages are electric, does he think again.

Their owners cite climate change as the issue that worries them most. “It has really surprised me how much it has come up,” Martin told me.

The Tories, Martin says, can't tackle the climate crisis "because they are trapped by their libertarian fringe".

That's true and, more generally, being Tory MP, even a Tory minister, is today more about striking absurd 'anti-elitist' attitudes than it is about solving the problems voters face in their everyday lives.

Meanwhile, opinion polling suggests that Conservative voters are embracing the environmentalist agenda more and more warmly.

And why shouldn't they? Good stewardship used to be at the heart of Conservative thinking.

Cohen quotes Mike Martin's own grandmother as asking, when he renounced his family's commitment to the Tory party, what will happen to the Conservatives if they carry on losing educated and public-spirited young people like her grandson.

And he concludes:

In Tunbridge Wells, and in many other formerly safe seats, the Tories will soon find out. I doubt the verdict will please them.

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"Thatcher ... would often pepper her speeches with talk of Hayek, Popper or Friedman. And that wasn’t mere showboating: such men formed her worldview. It is not at all clear that Johnson has any equivalents (at least not since Juvenal) or even that he and his colleagues are interested in acquiring any." Rutland's own Chris Dillow exposes the intellectual decline of the right.

Nick Cohen warns of the curbs on free speech contained in the government's draft online harms bill.

"He is part of an establishment that operates on the blithe assumption that all skills are transferable, that an aptitude for political schmoozing magically confers any number of lesser competences on its owner - and that the Right Sort of Chap is the right person for the job, even if they’ve proved otherwise, time and again." Sam Leith explains the rise and rise of George Osborne.

Helen Stace on the tragic state of the River Wye and the impact on our wildlife.

"Local resident Gillian Vesey recalled how, as a young barmaid at the Olde Hob Inn, she stood up for African American soldiers against attempts by white Americans to impose discriminatory practices in the pub, insisting that the American white soldiers wait their turn rather than expecting to be served before their black colleagues." Alan Rice says that Black troops were welcome in Britain during the second world war but Jim Crow wasn’t.

Lin Benley looks at the history of 10cc.

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Simon Beard explains the importance of compassion in the public health response to the current pandemic: "The impact of Covid-19 on people’s mental health will depend greatly on how we respond to it. That is why a group of psychologists and I have put together a briefing note through the Association of Liberal Democrat Engineers and Scientists arguing how we could combine health, education and social policy interventions to form a a compassion based approach to recovery and resilience."

"The difficulty in sustaining the assertion that Corbyn might have won, if 'Blairite' officials had not sabotaged the campaign, is that in 2019 Corbyn controlled every part of the party machine, and led Labour to an ignominious defeat." Nick Cohen explains the Corbynites' need to believe their man was betrayed.

"Safeguarding cannot be effective in a Church where the interests and loyalties of clubs and networks predominate over values of justice and truth. The shepherds cannot protect the sheep while occupied by feasting." Janet Fife examines the sexual politics of the Church of England.

For a child, being carefree is intrinsic to a well-lived life argues Luara Ferracioli.

I loved Terry Nation's Seventies TV series Survivors and it seems newly relevant today. Alwyn Turner looks at the political debates that were central to it.

Dorian Lynskey on the apocalyptic appeal of W.B. Yeats's The Second Coming.

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"Conservatives are at their best when they are terrified. The fear of losing everything persuades them to give ground on some things," argues Nick Cohen, but they are not frightened enough of a Labour government.

Chris Dillow says that for market economics "every billionaire is a market failure - a sign that competition has failed".

"Some are epic tales of the ancient kings who battled to rule Britain. Others are books about bakers in abandoned northern towns or novels about mild-mannered fascists in 1930s rural England." Donna Ferguson on the rise of Brexlit.

Eleanor Gibson looks at the Italian architect Stefano Boeri's plans for a forested smart city in Mexico that is designed to be a pioneer of more eco-efficient developments.

"There is an excellent commitment to show Blake’s work as it originally came to an audience, not just in framed works hanging on a wall." Philip Hensher visits Tate Britain's William Blake exhibition.

Janine Moore admires Southwell Minster.

Nick Cohen announces "Unite to Remain" alliance in the Spectator

You wouldn't expect the announcement to be made by a socialist journalist in the Spectator, but Nick Cohen appears to have important news:

On 15 August, the attempt to build an effective remain force will begin when the Liberal Democrats, Greens and Plaid Cymru agree a non-aggression pact in 30 constituencies.

They will back one candidate in each seat who will stand as X Liberal Democrat (Unite to Remain) or Y Green (Unite to Remain) and so on. 

The “Unite to Remain” title has already been agreed with the Electoral Commission so the problems found in running unity candidates in the European elections shouldn’t trouble us next time. 

My understanding is that the easy decisions are close to being taken. There’s agreement that sitting MPs should be given a free run, and on the names of candidates for obvious target seats. 

The Greens were far ahead of the Liberal Democrats in the Isle of Wight in the 2017 election, for example, and will provide the sole remain candidate in the constituency next time. 

A second tranche of 30 or so constituencies will be settled on 22 August. As the parties move down the list of target seats, the task becomes harder. In each constituency they are asking activists to step aside for a rival, a hard concession for many to make.

There's a lot to digest here.

For now - and remembering the Liberal/SDP years -  I can say with some authority that it is not enough to form an alliance: you need something exciting to say too.

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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.

David Dimbleby has destroyed political debate in Britain

So I am not the only one who does refuses to buy the idea that David Dimbleby is some kind of broadcasting legend.

Nick Cohen writes for Standpoint:

The retirement of David Dimbleby from Question Time after a quarter of a century has  brought fears of cultural debasement to a head. Dimbleby will be remembered, if he is remembered at all, for fanning hysteria, and his departure provoked something close to disgust as broadcasters looked at their future and recoiled. 

Adam Boulton of Sky described Dimbleby’s complicity in Question Time’s drift towards "the ritual confrontation and humiliation of its guests". His and the BBC’s laziness and ugliness had led to a "coarsening of public discourse". 

Among my political allies Dimbleby and his producers are the first item of evidence used to prosecute the claim that the BBC has not merely covered populism but promoted it by putting Nigel Farage on Question Time more than any other guest this century.

Ouch. I just moan that he has turned being his father's son into a 50-year BBC career.

I have seen it suggested that Question Time has never recovered from the edition it broadcast immediately after the scandal over MPs' expenses broke.

The visceral anger the audience displayed that night has been seen, ever since, as the mood the programme should aim at.

Note that the anger was not aimed at any particular government or opposition policy but at the politicians as a class. They were all alike and all in it for themselves.

It is no wonder a programme that fosters such a few of politics has welcomed Nigel Farage and no-nothing commentmongers and think-tank monkeys. The introduction of a fifth seat on the panel has not helped either.

You may say that Dimbleby does not run the programme, but he could have walked away from it long before now.

Remember what happened when someone tried to interest Cliff Michelmore in a proto Question Time:

After Tonight, he and his colleague Kenneth Allsop started the 24 Hours programme. Editor Derrick Amoore, later the creator of the current affairs show Nationwide, asked him to do a debate with a studio audience that Michelmore considered a bad idea. 

He reportedly snapped ‘I will not be associated with a third-rate Palladium show,’ and nearly left.

I was right about David Davis and Kieron Dyer Syndrome

I have never seen a politician so diminished by office as David Davis.

— Nick Cohen (@NickCohen4) June 1, 2018

I explained Kieron Dyer Syndrome when discussing the appeal of Dan Jarvis:

In the day when we all believed that England's 'golden generation' (Ferdinand, Campbell, Beckham, Owen, Scholes Butt) was going to win us the 2002 World Cup, there was just one problem. We  had no one to play in an attacking role on the left. 

But there was an answer. Kieron Dyer had broken into the Ipswich side as a teenager and then signed for Newcastle. He looked a great prospect. 

He was injured in the run up to the tournament and could not play in any of the warm up games. But the odd thing was that the less he played, the more certain the pundits became that he was the answer to England's problems. His stock could hardly have stood higher. 

At last Dyer was fit to play for England. And everyone saw that he wasn't very good. 

So maybe Dan Jarvis's growing reputation is a an example of Kieron Dyer Syndrome. Labour must hope this is not the case.

As it turned out Jarvis never did stand as Labour leader and, while still an MP, he is now the elected mayor of the Sheffield City Region.

But this was not the first time I had introduced the concept.

In a Liberal Democrat News column from September 2004 I wrote:

While he was on the back benches, David Davis was the Conservatives' great hope. As shadow home secretary, he is less impressive. 

It reminds you of the way Kieron Dyer became an indispensable part of England's last World Cup team by not being fit for any of the warm up games. 

So when I saw Nick Cohen's tweet above I felt vindicated.

Brexit: Be more patriotic about cheese, says Michael Gove

BBC News wins our Headline of the Day Award, but that's not important right now.

Nick Cohen once warned us against politicians who started out as journalists and against two of them in particular:

Johnson and Gove are the worst journalist politicians you can imagine: pundits who have prospered by treating public life as a game. Here is how they play it. They grab media attention by blaring out a big, dramatic thought. An institution is failing? Close it. A public figure blunders? Sack him. 

They move from journalism to politics, but carry on as before. When presented with a bureaucratic EU that sends us too many immigrants, they say the answer is simple, as media answers must be. Leave. Now. Then all will be well. 

Johnson and Gove carried with them a second feature of unscrupulous journalism: the contempt for practical questions. Never has a revolution in Britain’s position in the world been advocated with such carelessness. The Leave campaign has no plan.

Another feature of the Johnson and Grove school of journalism is that consistency is not important. All that matters is turning out good copy by your next deadline.

So Gove, after presenting himself as the champion of rigour in education, announced that "people in this country have had enough of experts".

After presenting himself as Boris Johnson's loyal lieutenant, he stabbed him where it hurts and ran for the leadership himself.

And after this:

The UK would still be able to trade freely within Europe even if it left the EU, Michael Gove has said. 

The justice secretary said the UK could be part of Europe's free trade area to avoid trade tariffs, even if it was not a member of the EU single market.

Michael Gove presents himself as the champion of patriotism in cheese purchasing.

Whether he is acting as a journalist or a cabinet minister, all that matters to Gove is tomorrow's headline.

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Nick Cohen asks what it would take for Labour moderates to revolt.

"Despite all his bluster, he views himself less as a titan dominating the world stage than a maligned outsider engaged in a struggle to be taken seriously, according to interviews with 60 advisers, associates, friends and members of Congress." Maggie Haberman, Glenn Thrush and Peter Baker takes us inside Donald Trump's hour-by-hour battle for self-preservation.

"Far and away the biggest losers from the last decade of funding changes in HE [higher education] in England have been part-time, mature students," says Tim Holyoake.

David Clarke is worried that local papers no longer report court cases: "In other countries, such as the USA, access to court documents and transcripts is regarded as a basic right of every citizen. Yet in England access to this information, paid for by our taxes, continues to be restricted."

You could argue that The League of Gentlemen's 2000 Christmas special was the best thing they ever did. Chris Newton examines its appeal.

Vince Cooper pays tribute to Peter Houseman, who played for Chelsea between 1963 and 1975, and died at the age of 31.

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"Thirteen years ago two boys died after being restrained by staff in English prisons run by G4S and Serco. Both boys had been in care and lived in children’s homes."  Carolyne Willow campaigns for transparency on the use of restraint on children in custody.

Ian Martin says Yorkshire and the North of England suffer because of the hegemony of power and influence concentrated in London.

Urban trees are vital to our wellbeing, argues Eillie Anzilotti.

"The presenters of Front Row, the only arts magazine programme on the whole of BBC television, began their new assignments by announcing they could not be bothered with theatre." Nick Cohen on the BBC's apologetic arts coverage.

John Harris takes us back to Frestonia, a small corner of West London that declared its independence in 1977 - The Clash recorded much of Combat Rock there.

The first terrorist attack on the London Underground took place in 1883. Londonist has the story.