Disillusioned with politics? Exasperated by the tedious political mudslinging? Unsure about how to vote next time? You are not alone.   Half the voters who backed Labour at the last general election have deserted the party, and the Tories would limp home with a mere 14 seats if a general election were called, according to separate polls disclosed towards the end of 2025...

I have seen many mammals in Africa from aarvarks to zorillas but the ones that interest me the most are the ones I’ve never (or hardly ever) seen.  Some of the ‘Big Five’ bore me, particularly cheetahs and lions. Cheetahs should not be on the list: they are small (around 50kg), are killed by big cats and are, apart from their speed, utterly defenceless and harmless. When surrounded, you can catch them by the tail and all they do is try and pull away from you. But they are gre

Whenever I knock on doors in the UK constituency of Frome and East Somerset (FES) to find out how the occupants are likely to vote in an upcoming election, I have my phone in my hand, ready to check that I am indeed listening to the views of, say, Linda Crabtree of 56 Tyning Road, Radstock and not those of her neighbours.* The phone app is called MiniVan. On it are the names and addresses of those on the electoral register, plus questions which aim to find out the person’s po

Are you imagining a picturesque, snow-covered, winter landscape versus the current reality of a soggy, brown and grey, English rural scene, complete with mud and water running off fields into roads and gardens? The latter may, sadly, be the state of the English countryside in February 2026, but it is not of course what the Government and its local councillors are at all concerned about at the moment.  No, what they are apparently concerned about is the fact that our rural are

One strange quirk of my childhood is that I was always fascinated by politics.  My earliest political memory – I was 8 – is the assassination of President John Kennedy; and rushing to get the newspapers next morning so I could read up what had happened, and what might happen next.  The next memory is perhaps a year later, late 1964, sitting on the floor in my grandmother’s drawing room, hidden at the back of the long sofa from which she held court.  And hold court, or at leas

“Dad, you’ve had a lot of adventures in your life. Now you’re getting on a bit, could you write some down so I can read about them after you’ve gone?“   Thus my daughter a couple of weeks ago. Not sure how adventurous my life has been. I know plenty of people who have gone further in all directions and a major sign of my getting on is that I no longer have a yen for going off to faraway places (full of tourists) or taking risks on the mountains or on the road. But her comme