Six of the Best 578

Mary Reid has been reading a report from the Manifesto Club on Public Space Protection Orders.

It's not Bernie Sanders that Jerermy Corbyn resembles, but Donald Trump. Lance Parkin draws parallels between the woes of the Republicans and the Labour Party.

"Our heritage, our history, our quirky collecting natures are being eroded and erased by the need to make financial savings, to economise, to pare down and re-shape." Tincture of Museum on the threat to our smaller museums.

"All this promises well for Mile End, does it not? Think of all the comfortable and respectable suburbs of London, from Norwood to Golder's Green, and try to find one with a series of concerts like this." The Guardian recently republished a 1921 interview with Adrian Boult about his plans to bring classical music to the East End.

The Gentle Author on two unlikely neighbours: Handel and Jimi Hendrix.

The Nottingham Post has a gallery of 30 photographs of the city's Victoria station.

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Stewart Lee talks to Alexei Sayle

The new series of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle starts at 10 this evening on BBC2.

While we are waiting, here he is interviewing Alexei Sayle about Thatcher Stole My Trousers, the latter's second volume of memoirs .

Something the two have in common is that, rather than flatter it like lesser left-wing comedians, they attack their audience's view of the world.

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Uckfield to Lewes - it's all kicking off

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One of the causes closest to Norman Baker's heart, both as MP and minister, was the reopening of the railway from Uckfield to Lewes.

The project is now the subject of heated political debate, judging by this report from the Sussex Express:

This week Lib Dems have attacked what they perceive as inaction from the Tories since last year’s general election following the progress secured by the former Lewes MP and ex-rail minister Norman Baker. 

Baroness Randerson, the Lib Dems’ transport spokesperson, is set to question the Government on what action is planned between Lewes and Uckfield in the near future. 

However Maria Caulfield, Lewes MP, said that ‘once again the Lib Dems have got it wrong’, and explained that she had continually lobbied ministers about the ermits of opening a second Brighton mainline to Lewes. 

Rosalyn St. Pierre, a Lib Dem East Sussex county councillor for Ringmer and Lewes Bridge, said: “People in Sussex are forced to live with one of the worst performing railway networks in the country.”

Maria Caulfield would do better to emphasise the project's merits rather than its ermits.

Read more about the campaign on the BML2 (Brighton main line 2) site.

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Mirror alleges Tories exceeded spending limit in 9 Lib Dem seats

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This morning's Mirror takes up the Channel 4 News investigation of alleged Conservative overspending at the last general election.

Its report says:

A Mirror investigation today reveals how 24 Tory MPs failed to declare thousands of pounds spent on their election campaigns in marginal seats. 

None of the MPs we name below declared the party's controversial RoadTrip battlebuses in local budgets, with Tory HQ picking up the tab instead. 

If the estimated £2,000 cost of the bus had been included locally, some of the MPs could have breached strict spending limits. 

Five Tory RoadTrip battlebuses crossed the country to help handpicked candidates in the final stages of last year’s election campaign, with head office picking up the tab. 

The total cost of this campaign has never been published, but the Mirror has found invoices indicating it was more than £2,000 a day, including pay and expenses for volunteers and promotion costs.

It is striking that 9 of the 24 seats the Mirror has identified were held by the Liberal Democrats:

• Wells
• Chippenham
• North Cornwall
• Thornbury and Yate
• Kingston
• Yeovil
• Torbay
• Cheltenham
• Sutton and Cheam

There's more about this story on the Channel 4 News microsite.

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