"If Brexit wins, it will be because a majority of British voters have simply lost confidence in the way they are governed and the people they are governed by. That loss of confidence is part bloody-mindedness, part frivolity, part panic, part bad temper, part prejudice. But it is occurring – if it is – in a nation that has always prided itself, perhaps too complacently, on having very different qualities: good sense, practicality, balanced judgment, and a sure instinct for not lurching to the right or left." Martin Kettle analyses why we have been brought to the verge of Brexit.
Bernard Aris says the Leave campaign has not thought about the implications for Ireland - north and south.
The good news is that expensive libel cases are in decline, says David Hencke. The bad news is that the rich are using the 'right to be forgotten' to effectively silence their critics instead.
Daniel Ralston tells the story of the fake Zombies - the strangest con in rock history.
York Stories visits the threatened buildings of Ordnance Lane.
Just when I thought this feature had died, it makes a strong return. There were three new blogs added to the LibDemBlogs aggregator in May. Thoughts of Progress, written by James Baillie, has been around (sporadically) for five years. Its most recent post says Britain is bigger than nationalism:
My Britain exists. It is vast and ancient and beautiful. And because it’s such a wonderful, diverse, powerful thing, this hubbub of confusion, this land of wood and hill and mist and rain, this island of immigrants… it is strong. Seen next to the big reality of everything that we are, the empty veneer of nationalism is just so, so small.
Iain Brodie Brown is the new mayor of Sefton and has started theMayoralBlog to record his year in office. He sounds like the best sort of Lib Dem mayor:
This morning I cycled over to King's Gardens to open a new art installation. The project, led by Sarah-Jane Richards, used re-cycled plastic bottles to create 'birthday blooms' for the Queen. It was truly impressive and shows how art and imagination can transform something as humble as a discarded fizzy drinks bottle.
The third new blog is Not So Red Ed. It is written by Edward Molyneux and claims to offer "a liberal voice of reason". A recent post was critical of the European Union's deal with Turkey over refugees:
The EU has always championed democracy and human rights, countries must meet specific criteria to join, but it seems that the EU has put those principles aside to get Turkey's help - you can’t imagine the EU signing a similar deal with Putin!
If you have a new blog you would like to appear here next month, please add it to LibDemBlogs.
Talking about the Cambridge for Europe group he says:
People talk of the "Cambridge phenomenon" - the boom in businesses, especially high-tech, in and around Cambridge. But this local success relies on a much larger international framework the European single market.
From Cambridge, our businesses can easily reach out far and wide because the single market was created to form one set of rules for the whole of the EU. Different sets of regulations for each country are vanishing. Hidden barriers to trade are gone.
But Cambridge’s innovation leaders don’t just play in this big internal market, the size of the single market itself makes it easier for Cambridge to compete with innovation competitors from Japan and the USA.
If you have a new blog you would like to appear here next month, please add it to LibDemBlogs.
Or in this case blogger, as only one new blog appeared on the LibDemBlogs aggregator in December. Thanks to Ryan Cullen as ever for sending me the details.
LibDemAlex is written by Alex Hegenbarth and has been running since the summer.
Recent posts have forecast that the Liberal Democrats will become the official opposition by 2035, advocated something called "multipotentialsim" and looked at the role of the party's MPs after the carnage of May's general election:
In May the party lurched dramatically overnight from an established parliamentary entity of over 50 MPs with an experienced leadership to a handful of parliamentary representatives.
This means that the Liberal Democrat’s parliamentary party can no longer function in the same way that the Conservatives and Labour parties do.
The size and hierarchical structure of these two organisations, based on the carrot of promotion to [shadow] ministerial position and the stick of enforcing the whip no longer make sense to a group of (what are ultimately) electoral survivors.
If you have a new blog you would like to appear here next month, please add it to LibDemBlogs.
A pioneer of rock singing on a suburban Manchester railway station? It doesn't get any better than Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
I pondered the significance of Charlotte Church on Question Time and posted an alarming recording of Elizabeth Butler-Sloss interviewing a victim of Bishop Peter Ball.
It turned out that Leicester thought it had found the body of Richard III back in 1935.
I was able to show that I had never believed in Camila Batmanghelidjh before asking why so many wanted to do so.
In a happier accident, I discovered film of a little Black girl being crowned Queen of the May in a Northamptonshire village in 1944.
November
It transpired that, after cutting council tax by £7 before the local elections, Harborough Tories were to charge £40 a year for collecting garden waste.
I expressed my fears for bloggers who suddenly disappear and was annoyed by a London primary school that told its pupils to walk with their hands clasped behind their backs.
The Liberal Democrats were right to contest the Oldham West and Royton by-election seriously, or so I argued. I also said that we need more good third places in council by-elections.
I boasted that I once drew with a player who had come second in the British chess championship and insisted that J.K. Rowling is not the sole arbiter when it comes to interpreting the Harry Potter books.
I traced the journey of Alistair Darling from the International Marxixt Group to a directorship at Morgan Stanley - that's him holding the banner above.
My defence of underage drinking was published by the Leicester Mercury.
The Liberal Democrats held a council seat in Market Harborough with an increased majority.
These days I have caring responsibilities for my mother, so it is harder to get away. I did manage a few days in Canterbury this month, only to be derailed at Chilham by cows.
In other news, Tim Farron was elected as leader of the Liberal Democrats (with my help).
With attention turning to the Labour contest, I suspected that Dan Jarvis was benefiting from Kieron Dyer Syndrome.
And I suggested that the fault line between David Cameron and George Osborne runs through Eynsham Cricket Club.
I explored the remains of Leicester Central railway station, while an old film about Hemel Hempstead provided some unexpected connections to my childhood.
August
I travelled to Sheringham in Norfolk and back in a day to see The Lone Pine Club a play based on the children's books by this blog's hero Malcolm Saville.
I suggested five likely consequences of Jeremy Corbyn becoming Labour leader and posted evidence that the Liberal Party was all too award of the activities of Cyril Smith.
Most notable of all, the nation mourned Stephen Lewis.
September
Another Arts Fresco street theatre festival was held in Market Harborough.
The press tried to manufacture a row about the Glee Club at the Liberal Democrat Conference.
Eric Joyce won Twitter and a water main burst to spectacular effect in my old ward.
Apart from that it was all sport...
After Frank Tyson died I found some footage of him bowling at one of Northamptonshire's outgrounds,.
David Miliband invented cleverball and Lord Bonkers introduced us to the film 'Straight Outta Nick Compton' and the controversial song 'Fuck tha Selectors'.
Now read...
Liberal England in 2015: Part 1 Liberal England in 2015: Part 2 Liberal England in 2015: Part 4
I visited Burton Overy and founds its telephone box was now a library.
Keeping tabs on the general election campaign, I reported that the contest in Hampstead and Kilburn would go ahead despite death of a former Eurovision entrant.
"Who could forget the scene where poor Olive is rescued from the speeding bus? Lines of dialogue such as 'Blimey, Stan, keep your foot down' and 'Don’t you dare touch that brake, Butler' were on everyone’s lips.
Two journalists recalled being in Leicester for the trial at Frank Beck, where allegations against Greville Janner were first heard in public.
I found a priceless fragment of my past in a 1978 issue of Antiquarian Book Monthly Review.
May
"The general election was bloody awful for the Liberal Democrats," I wrote in the Leicester Mercury with characteristic perspicacity.
I was cheered up by discovering the video above - a profile of the Spencer Davis Group from a 1966 programme called 'A Whole Scene Going'.
I passed the Homophobic Monk twice in one day and went to see the tomb of Richard III in Leicester Cathedral.
Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats were recruiting a surprising number of new members and I asked what the party could offer them.
I brought the world the first pictures of Tim Farron as a would be pop star and went to Pitsford to search for the Jack in the Green.
June
The Liberal Democrats mourned the early death of Charles Kennedy.
Wandering the back streets of Loughborough (as one does), I came across a memorial to the 1916 Zeppelin raid on the town.
Ron Moody, the original and best Fagin in 'Oliver!' had also died. I was pleased to discover that he had studied under Karl Popper.
Not for the first time, a batsman was out c Bairstow b Willey in a limited overs international.
Closer to home, I found the Aylestone Road ground in Leicester where the county played between 1901 and 1939 - see the photo above.
I also examined Norman Lamb's sudden enthusiasm for the right to die.
Now read...
Liberal England in 2015: Part 1 Libearl England in 2015: Part 3 Liberal England in 2015: Part 4
Lord Bonkers remembered the first Liberal Democrat leadership election and a zinger from Paddy Ashdown:
"Beith be not proud, though some have called the Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so."
I forecast that the forthcoming general election would be more boring than people expected. I badly misunderestimated the SNP surge, but was right to be sceptical about Green and Ukip advances.
The Black Beast of Harborough was sighted again, this time along the canal between Laughton and Lubenham.
I pondered globalisation and the death of Pigling Bland:
If your goal is to produce a book that is inoffensive in every culture, it is not surprising if you come up with something rather anaemic.
Back in the 1970s, good Liberals wanted a greater role for the market as a counterweight to centralised power. We wanted choice and innovation.
Today, however, things are more complicated than that. What the market often gives us is homogenisation.
I explained why Nick Clegg would hold Sheffield Hallam and also - without having the courage to join all the dots - why many Lib Dem MPs would lose in a post on the Eastleigh by-election.
Why haven't tuition fees deterred young people from going to university? I suggested some reasons.
The Liberal Democrats unexpectedly revived the kerb drill as part of their general election campaign, while I suggested that Parliament should move to Arkwright's Mill, Cromford.
Two of my photographs were used by the BBC and I blogged about sources of free images for bloggers.
I paid tribute to the Yorkshire and England bowler Bob Appleyard and found a video of Bobby Henrey, child star of the 1948 film The Fallen Idol, giving a talk about the film 66 years on.
Now read...
Liberal England in 2015: Part 2 Liberal England in 2015: Part 3
Two new blogs appeared on the LibDemBlogs aggregator in November. Thanks to Ryan Cullen as ever for sending me the details.
John Rodgers devotes his blog to the Healey area of Rochdale and Lib Dem campaigns there:
The Pond is a little Jewel. It’s a lovely asset for the community but the Council needs to spend some money to sort the walkway round the pond as it’s very loose and possibly dangerous. The Geese seem to be having a good time though.
Swallow of Liberty, written by Ben Powell, has seen only three sporadic posts. Yet it has already quoted 'Me and the Farmer' by the Housemartins in the course of this post on agriculture:
Less than half the butter we eat in this country comes from UK milk and only a third of the cheese. We do however import 40,000 tonnes of cheddar even though you could hardly think of a more British product.
