Our new blog this month looked at the ladies' gallery in the temporary House of Commons, where notable visitors to listen to debates included Catherine Gladstone and Charlotte Brontë. Find out more here: victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2024/03/08/the…

🖊️NEW #MEIBlog 🖊️

In his final blog as Mile End Institute Director, Patrick Diamond explores what #RachelReeves ' Mais Lecture tells us about how #Labour will forge a new political and economic settlement for the 2030s if it wins the next #GeneralElection ⬇️

🔗qmul.ac.uk/mei/news-and-o…

The section in this video from 1.04, in which Margaret Thatcher critiques Pepsi and Shirlie's 'Heartache', before rocking out to the Thrashing Dove's 'Beautiful Imbalance', is one of the most surreal things ever broadcast on British TV. youtube.com/watch?v=YdTkNz…

It's like a Hogarth - 'the public listen attentively to the prouncements of his majesty's minister'

(via Etan Smallman)

Frank Field told me that the biggest change in the UK he had seen in his life-time was the return of genuine hunger in the UK

Duncan Robinson Reform is the most successful recent example of the 'pop-up party': a model that worked brilliantly for Vote Leave, but has proven harder to translate into parliamentary politics.

Mandelson is right about this. MPs have a public mandate, owe a duty of representation to the whole electorate, and can be held accountable for their choices via the ballot box. Whereas party members - who pay to join a privileged selectorate - bring none of those things.

Excellent piece by Duncan Robinson.

'Reform UK [is] something more powerful than a small political party: it is a nightmare'.

And as Karl Marx pointed out, nightmares can weigh very heavily on the minds of the living.

It was an absolute privilege to visit Utrecht to lecture on 'The Challenge of Democracy in Britain, 1830-1928'.

A gorgeous city, with lovely people in the department and a really engaged audience. I shall definitely be back! Thanks to Frank, Devin and Utrecht University for having me.

Off to lecture at Utrecht University on 'The Challenge of Democracy in Britain, 1830-1928'.

I've had a fantastic time in Utrecht over the last few days. Now to try to give something back...

I'm away so can't write at length, but the Rwanda Bill is a shameful piece of legislation: both for what it does & for how it does it.

Instructing the courts that falsehoods are truths is not what healthy democracies do - & misunderstands the history of parliamentary sovereignty

🧵1/ Unpacking the realpolitik behind parliamentary ping-pong on the Rwanda Bill: as MPs and Peers clash over legislative amendments, how credible are their claims about the political maneuvering of the other side? #RwandaBill #Politics #Realpolitik

A brave and important thread on the challenges of accessing mental health care.

It resonates very strongly with the experience of many of my students, and of family members who have needed help.

Went to a wonderful recital of chamber music this evening. And no one seemed to mind when I got up and closed the door to the rehearsal room, where someone was playing chopsticks on the piano.

I'm off to Utrecht to give a lecture and have a day spare to enjoy the place. What should I see? 🛤️🚆

Dinah Rose Simon Horobin I like the story of Betjeman complaining that Lewis had ruined Kubla Khan for him by asking whether he thought the 'pants' in the line 'As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing' were made of wool.

Since the Iranian missile attack on Israel, there's been a lot of debate about whether nuclear deterrence 'works'.

This is a thoughtful, clear-headed piece by Patrick Porter on the relationship between deterrence, discipline and self-restraint.
newstatesman.com/international-…

For anyone who has been interested in my lawsuit against the Sun, the news is that  I’ve had to settle my claim out of court before it gets to trial. A 🧵…

Nice to see Liz Truss confirming Esther Webber and my reporting from 2021 that she opposed the UK's hosting of COP26 — vigorously denied by the gvmt at the time.

One other cabinet member joined her rebellion: Rishi Sunak.

politico.eu/article/cop26-…

📅Thursday 25 April @ 11am📅

In our next webinar, Elizabeth Simon and Patrick Diamond will be looking ahead to May's #London Mayoral Election, unveiling our new polling and exploring the challenges that will be faced by the winning candidate. Sign up⬇️
us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regist…