"The Conservative Party are no longer pretending to be competent and stable. Today's Tories will plunge us into chaos in pursuit of their dogma. Divide the country to rule it and regards rules as for you, and not for them. Tough on crime? They brought crime to Number 10. Defenders of the free market? The market's in free fall. England's green and pleasant land? Frack it. From the party of stability to causing earthquakes. From the party of business, to a slap down from the IMF. From the party of serious government to the party of parties. Liz Truss has even crashed the pork market. Now ... That. Is. A. Disgrace. You'd think that snouts in the trough was the one thing they could manage. "To think this was the party that claimed they were for sound money. That's what one high-flying new Tory MP certainly thought in 2012. He wrote a pamphlet demanding a balanced budget every year. He said 'Fiscal prudence is the very least we should expect from a Chancellor.' And if they failed, they should face a 20% pay cut. That Tory MP must be absolutely furious with the new Tory Chancellor, except he is the new Tory Chancellor. I've got a funny feeling he won't be taking that pay cut either. Pay cuts are for other people."

"Conference, as we enter a new era, let's commit to honouring the late Queen's memory. Let's turn our collar up and face the storm, keep alive the spirit of public service she embodied and let it drive us towards a better future. For seventy years, Queen Elizabeth II stood as head of our country. But, in spirit, she stood amongst us. So please join me in paying tribute to the Late Queen."

"I must start with an apology. The last time I stood here in 2018, I was shadowing Boris Johnson. When our conference was cancelled in 2020, I was shadowing Liz Truss. So, I don't know what this curse is, but I apologise in advance for the catastrophic period in our national history that will be the premiership of Suella Braverman. It could get worse though. We may need an emergency motion stating that Keir cannot under any circumstances make me shadow Jacob Rees-Mogg."

"My parents would never have believed that their skinny son in NHS prescription glasses who got stopped and searched on the streets of Tottenham would have ended up as Shadow Foreign Secretary. Surprised not only because MPs at that time didn't look like me. Surprised not only because I had barely travelled beyond London's Zone 3. They would have been surprised because our ancestors knew what it was like to have their freedom taken away."

"Just look at this government's record since we last gathered in Liverpool just four years ago: three different leaders; a catalogue of sleaze, waste and lies; Cummings, Paterson and Pincher backed to the hilt; Chris Grayling, Grant Shapps, and too much Matt Hancock, far too much Matt Hancock; green cards and non-doms; treehouses and even tractor porn; breaking the law; queues at the airports; chaos at the borders; mountains of PPE unfit for use; billions in fraud written off; sewage in the rivers; a Prime Minister hiding in a fridge; three sleaze watchdogs out in the cold; the Barnard Castle eye test; the Downing Street crime scene; broken swings, wine stains, sick on the walls; 126 fines; rules made, rules broken; Partygate, Wallpapergate, too many gates. "Too little, too late mate. And now a Prime Minister who says people don't work hard enough. Well, enough is enough."

"I'm proud that my parents arrived in the UK as part of the Windrush generation. They taught me that Britain at its best is an outward looking nation. We are all here today because we share in that belief. "So when the Conservatives say they want to trash our human rights we say no, we won't do it. When the Conservatives say they want to start rows with Europe for the sake of it we say no, we won't do it. When the Conservatives say they want to slash international aid we say no, we won't do it. When the Conservatives say they want to sell weapons to dictators and despots we say no, we won't do it. When the Conservatives say they want to deport refugees to Rwanda we say no, we won't do it. "The Conservatives' ideology does not represent our country. Their time is up. A Labour government will forge a different path for our foreign policy. A United Kingdom that looks outwards instead of inwards. A voice for peace, dev­el­op­ment and freedom across the globe."

"Some nation is going to lead the world in offshore wind. Why not this one? Some nation will win the race for electric vehicles. Why not us? Some nation will be the first to harness new hydrogen power. Why not Britain? "That's why today I'm so proud to launch our Green Prosperity Plan. A plan that will turn the UK into a green growth superpower. And driving the plan forward is a goal that will put us ahead of any major economy in the world: 100 percent clean power by 2030. "A huge national effort. An effort that will: double Britain's onshore wind capacity, treble solar power, quadruple offshore wind, invest in tidal, hydrogen, nuclear [Ed: Oops!]. "We won't make the mistake the Tories made with North Sea oil and gas back in the 1980s where they frittered away the wealth from our national resources. "Just look at what's happening at the moment. The largest onshore wind farm in Wales. Who owns it? Sweden. Energy bills in Swansea are paying for schools and hospitals in Stockholm. The Chinese Communist Party has a stake in our nuclear industry. And five million people in Britain pay their bills to an energy company owned by France. "So we will set up Great British Energy within the first year of a Labour government. A new company that takes advantage of the opportunities in clean British power and because it's right for jobs, because it's right for growth, because it's right for energy independence from tyrants like Putin. "Yes Conference, Great British Energy will be publicly owned."

"We are outside of the European Union but we are still a part of Europe. And unlike Liz Truss who could not say if France is a friend or a foe, we know that European nations are among our closest allies. Liz Truss's protocol Bill is a shameless breach of international law. Labour will ditch it, get round the negotiating table and fix the Tories' damaging deal. And we will strengthen cooperation with the European Union with a new security pact to complement NATO's role."

"Well, it's the worst outcome possible. Everything started to go pear-shaped when the excellent Mario Draghi was ousted by the far right (Meloni, Salvini) and the far left (the Five Star Movement aka the Silly Party). "Why have so many people voted for these oiks? There are shades of Brexit here - the thorny question of immigration. Meloni wants the navy to blockade north African ports! Then there is Meloni herself - a firebrand who excites her audience with burning rhetoric aimed at establishment reactionaries and a disillusioned working class. It works. And of course, she'll be the first woman prime minister. "The left are also largely to blame, falling out among themselves and forming stupid little individual parties. "I did my democratic duty and voted Partito Democratico (read Labour Party), a party with similar problems as to who they represent, the working classes or the educated middle class. "The only consolation is that, if the past is anything to go by, even this government won't last long once inflation and energy prices begin to bite. "What has the world come to? "Pazienza!"

"She makes Margaret Thatcher look like a moderate and Ronald Reagan seem positively wet. Liz Truss has embarked on an ideological project so extreme that the de facto budget announced by her chancellor today amounts to a declaration of class war. It was a reverse Robin Hood: taking from those who have least, lavishing gifts on those who have most. It is morally indefensible, economically reckless and so politically risky as to suggest a death wish. "Trussonomics rests on a simple article of faith: that by rewarding the already wealthy, life will improve for everyone else. Trickle-down economics ... back in a form more stark, more extravagant, than even its most ardent apostles ever dared contemplate. "The generosity towards the amply blessed was breathtaking. Kwasi Kwarteng's totemic move was the removal of the cap on bankers' bonuses - as if the number one problem confronting Britain today was that bankers aren't rich enough. The Conservative predecessors of Truss and Kwarteng had no principled objection to letting bankers receive telephone-number bonuses, but held off because they knew the optics were so screamingly awful. The new duo has no such restraint. "Class war is never just about looking after your own. It's also about hurting the enemy. So the chancellor made sure to announce that the unemployed will see their benefits slashed if they can't prove they're searching for more work. And even though the trade unions have a fraction of their former strength, Kwarteng promised legislation to shrink workers' ability to act together yet further. No matter how little cash or power the neediest have held on to, the sheriff of Nottingham is after it."

"When some talk of their bewildered distaste for the flower-bearing masses outside our royal palaces - all this, for a woman you didn't know? - their tone, to my ears, is similar to the way those who voted for Brexit are sometimes spoken of. I think this is unwise, but I also think they want for empathy."

"It pains me to see any attempt to discuss the role of the monarchy shut down as if it's treasonous and horribly disrespectful."

"I have always been proud to live in London, and to live somewhere where free speech is celebrated. But I have felt this week that I cannot say what I think. I'm worried I might offend someone, even friends and workmates. I've felt oppressed in a way that I never thought I would living in London."

"I think the policy is horrendous and there are no legal and safe ways for people to claim asylum in the UK and if legal and safe routes existed, desperate people who are fleeing violence, conflict and persecution would take them and they would not risk their lives embarking on dangerous journeys like crossing the channel, so the most important thing is that the government sets up safe and legal ways for people who are in need of refuge to come to the United Kingdom. "People feel very strongly about it. I think the Conservative Party have really timed this wrong. They haven't captured the mood of the country. People want to welcome refugees to our country and to provide them with safe and legal routes to apply - we see how people have opened their homes to Ukrainian refugees during the war."

"We are holding this vigil today because it's the first day of the High Court hearing to decide the legality of the government policy to transport people to Rwanda. It's going to take five days as far as we know and then there'll be a second hearing in October. We're horrified that they appear to be going ahead without even knowing if it's legal or not. "There will be people all over the country who are showing their deep concern about this. I think it needs to be exposed for what it is, and I was looking at the definitions of smuggling and trafficking - people smuggling is the action or practise of illegally transporting people from one country to another and that is what the government policy may well turn out to be, a form of people smuggling - nationally and internationally sanctioned. "I think the government is playing a very strange game and it's horrible, but they're kind of legitimising the very behaviour that they claim to be trying to stop."

"We are in the middle of our worst energy crisis ever. I include the power cuts of the Seventies during the miners' strike, because they were just an inconven-ience. In fact, as a kid I found the evenings with candles rather fun. By contrast this energy crisis is delivering widespread misery, runaway inflation, unaffordable energy bills for millions - and it will certainly cause deaths. It could even bring the Government down if they fail to properly get a grip of it - and until now they have failed. They like to claim this energy crisis is caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That's not true. It certainly added a new level of craziness to things, but the crisis itself started months before the invasion. Back then the Government blamed the pandemic. Its proper roots 'though are much further back - with the handing over of our national energy supply to unfettered free markets. So, for example, we have 10 percent of Europe's population but just one percent of its gas storage, because we let the markets decide how much we need. When it's not needed it's not economic so it gets shut down. Now we need it and don't have it. That's a real problem. It is part of the reason why the energy crisis has hit Britain harder than Europe generally. But only part. Consider this: in France energy bills have gone up by three percent, in Germany 30 percent while over here it is 300 percent. Why is that? It's because our Government has not moved yet to intervene prop­erly in this crisis. Not remotely. Ministers have been paralysed, like rabbits in the headlights. And more recently by the inordinately long leadership contest. A new PM will finally be here in a few more days 'though - so here's some advice that I hope they might take. The first thing to do is to break the link between the price of gas and the price of electricity - only 40 percent of Britain's electricity is made from gas, but we allow the price of gas to set the price of all our electricity, including the 60 percent we get from nuclear and renewable energy. It makes no sense. If we stop that we could avoid the price cap going up in October altogether. That would be a massive and immediate relief to millions - and of course, reduce inflation. The second thing is to price cap North Sea gas. Half of Britain's gas is produced there but it has not saved us a single penny during this crisis because we allow the global energy market to set the price that we pay for our North Sea gas. That also makes no sense. And it is the root cause of the obscene profits of the oil and gas producers. If we control that wholesale price in the same way we have the retail price, allowing a simple two percent profit margin - we could reduce the price of half of our gas back to pre-crisis levels. And that takes away half of the price rise since last October ... call it £1k per home. It would also stop windfall profits from occurring - at source. In combination we could return our energy bills to last October's level. We only need to change market rules to make this happen - nothing else. But it can't be done overnight, so for this winter the Government needs to step in and fund the gap. It will take just 10 percent of pandemic funding to get the country through this exceptional event. Not doing so will be a false economy. A proper windfall tax in the meantime could help reduce that cost substantially. We can make this energy crisis the last one we ever have if we take control of the situation."

"We will open up more supply in the North Sea ... we will build more nuclear power stations."

"We shouldn't have empowered the scientists in the way we did."

"If frank discussion was being suppressed externally, Sunak thought it all the more important that it took place internally. But that was not his experience. 'I felt like no one talked,' he says. 'We didn't talk at all about missed [doctor's] appointments, or the backlog building in the NHS in a massive way. That was never part of it.' When he did try to raise concerns, he met a brick wall. 'Those meetings were literally me around that table, just fighting. It was incredibly uncomfortable every single time.' He recalls one meeting where he raised education. 'I was very emotional about it. I was like: "Forget about the econ­omy. Surely we can all agree that kids not being in school is a major night­mare" or something like that. There was a big silence afterwards. It was the first time someone had said it. I was so furious.'"

"One of Sunak's big concerns was about the fear messaging, which his Treasury team worried could have long-lasting effects. 'In every brief, we tried to say: let's stop the "fear" narrative. It was always wrong from the beginning. I const­antly said it was wrong.' The posters showing Covid patients on vent­ilators, he said, were the worst. 'It was wrong to scare people like that.' The closest he came to defying this was in a September 2020 speech saying that it was time to learn to 'live without fear' - a direct response to the Cabinet Office's messaging. 'They were very upset about that.'"

"Little by little the truth of lockdown is being admitted; it was a disaster. Public fear was deliberately stoked to justify decisions made on the hoof and based on questionable advice. "Lockdown was an extreme and unprecedented response to an ancient problem, the challenge of epidemic disease. It was also something else. It marked one of the gravest governmental failures of modern times. In a remarkably candid interview with The Spectator, Rishi Sunak has blown the gaff on the sheer superficiality of the decision-making process of which he was himself part. The fundamental rule of good government is not to make radical decisions without understanding the likely consequences. It seems obvious. Yet it is at that most basic level that the Johnson government failed. The tragedy is that this is only now being acknowledged."

"Rishi Sunak may not become the United Kingdom's next Prime Minister, but he's doing the country a favor by lifting the veil on how Britain went into dest­ructive pandemic lockdowns."

"Aesthetics. I have seen 5G masts in Gloucester and in my opinion they are an absolute eyesore. Even quite sinister looking. They are certainly not something in fitting with the appearance of the historical and beautiful town of Stroud." "This proposed upgrade will be a monstrous infrastructure development, viewable from a long way off, that is both unsightly and sinister."

"There is a large body of evidence from national and international scientists and doctors that identifies serious concerns regarding the safety of this technology on humans, animals, insects, (particularly on bees & other pollinators) as well as plants and trees. Can the council confirm that ALL evidence (both for and against) has been reviewed to inform permitted development of this type and if not, explain why the 'precautionary principle' has not been applied until this has been undertaken?" "HEALTH OF BABIES, CHILDREN, THE ELDERLY, AND THE VULNERABLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN BEING ABLE TO DOWNLOAD VIDEOS AND SUCH LIKE!" "In 2003 I was involved in a protest against a 3G mast in a 'burb of Oxford, where one neighbour, an Oxford physics professor who wrote to the council, a paper outlining the dangers of microwaves from masts and use of mobile phones to human health. We won. The mast was not put up in a residential area with a school nearby. Nowadays we have 4G, even worse than 3G, especially to children and those who are EMF and EMR sensitive including myself and many friends. I have stuck with a 3G mobile phone and use the internet sparingly at home on a laptop by ethernet. No smart phone or other smart devices at home. This has helped to reduce the occurrence of (daily) migraines." "The British Medical Journal in 2021 reported on convincing evidence that the transmitter density required for 5G means that more people will be exposed to radio frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs), and at levels that emerging evidence suggests are potentially harmful to health. The evidence on potential health risks associated with the higher frequencies used by 5G is inconsistent and mixed, but mixed evidence - which includes the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) stating that the electro-magnetic fields of the kind associated with 5G are 'possibly carcinogenic' to humans - should be enough for the planning authority to apply a precautionary approach and refuse permission until such time as there is positive evidence of the absence of any such risks. The NPPF makes clear it is incumbent on the planning authority to evaluate such potential adverse impact and to take it into account in determining the planning application. Para 185 states that 'decisions should also ensure that new development is appropriate for its location taking into account the likely effects (including cumulative effects) of pollution on health, living conditions and the natural environment.'"

"[5G] can provide higher speed, lower latency and greater capacity than 4G networks. That means quicker downloads, much lower lag and a significant impact on how we live, work and play. 5G speed and other connectivity benefits are expected to make businesses more efficient and give consumers access to more information faster than ever before."

"The first generation of mobile technology, 1G, was about voice - the ability to use a phone in a car, or away from home really took root here. The advent of 2G introduced a short-messaging layer - pieces of which can still be seen in today's texting features. The move to 3G provided the core network speeds needed to launch smartphones. 4G, with its high data-transfer rates, gave us video with minimal buffering and gave rise to many of the connected devices and services that we rely on and enjoy today. 5G has the potential to reach 20 Gbps speeds based on 3GPP [3rd Generation Partnership Project, an umbrella term for a number of standards organizations which develop protocols for mobile telecommunications] industry specifications."

"One further benefit of the CTA is that it enables your car to be insured under your UK policy which means you can drive to visit us in west Cork. The ferry costs a bit over £200 for car + 2 [occupants]. When you come and are bewitched by the place, you will bring the dog, liquidise your assets and spend your Euros on a post-Brexit therapeutic treat."

"The one big drawback with Ireland is the inadequate healthcare system. Only the very poorest qualify for free medical care. Everyone else has to take out a private health insurance. Every visit to the GP costs 60 to 80 euros, and prescription medicines have to be paid in full. Doctors there enjoy high status and high earnings. I imagine they would be very reluctant to give that up for an NHS-style system. And if I were an NI citizen, losing the NHS would be the one thing that I would not be prepared to sacrifice however much I wanted reunification with the Republic."

Thanks to arthritis I'm now much less mobile than I was. Gone are the days when I could jump on my bike to pop down to the shops, so static self-isolation is scarcely a hardship or even a disruption of my routine. As an over-seventy, I am officially exhorted to remain isolated and indoors which is to say that my usual going-on now has governmental endorsement. With Rupert [Thomas, former editor of The World of Interiors magazine and Bennett's partner] now working from home my life is much easier, as I get regular cups of tea and a lovely hot lunch. The most one can hope from a reader is that he or she should think: "Here is somebody who knows what it is like to be me." It's not what E.M. Forster meant by "only connect", but it's what I mean. These days "only connect" means bumping elbows. A rare plane passes. Rupert is upstairs on a Zoom call with his office who, like him, are now all at home. London Live TV has a "War Week" [75th anniversary of VE Day], with a good deal about how the nation stood together 1939-45, which can't help sound ironic in the dawning realisation of how inadequately the government has managed the response to the virus. Boris Johnson's address to the nation in the evening pretty pointless. "Stay alert" meaning nothing. He's such a poor orator and speaker generally, one almost feels sorry for him, with the plainness of Keir Starmer a relief. George Fenton [composer, best known for his work writing film scores and music for television] rings. Asks where I am. "On the sofa." "Position normal?" There are many depressing items of news in today's Observer but the most lowering is that, on account of his support for Brexit, Ian Botham is thought likely to be raised to the peerage. One phone call today, a woman enquiring if I've made arrangements for my funeral yet. At least it isn't a recorded voice. Much missed these shameful days is Tom Bingham, the ex-Lord Chief Justice and legal philosopher, who would have had Johnson scuttling for cover. Both from Balliol, one a credit to the college, the other not. Some time in the afternoon, Rupert shouts down that Joe Biden has passed the line and been declared the winner in the Presidential Election and that the scourge of Trump has been lifted. Though Trump does not agree. Lynn Wagenknecht [friend and restauranteur] texts from New York saying there is dancing in the street and holds up the phone to let us hear the rejoicing. It should put a smile on people's faces here but there are few people about. Such relief. Johnson never fails to call it "our NHS", though this offers no assurance that he won't sell it off, but one hopes that now he's lost his chum across the water there may be less of that. There were those in 1914 who believed that war was just what was needed - as a cleanser and a salutary shock. England would be the better for it. As we wait for the result of the final Brexit talks, the heirs of those fools are still with us.

"Your UK GHIC is not a substitute for travel insurance. You should take out private travel insurance before your trip. It may not cover all health costs and never covers being flown back to the UK (medical repatriation)."

"There's a Zen-like feeling when I get into the rhythm of my swim, stroke after stroke, breath after breath. I can achieve a kind of serenity. There's a peace here, where alone in this watery world I feel I am as close to Josh as I'll ever be while I still breathe."

"Priti Patel says her plan to deport people seeking asylum to Rwanda is the only answer. Both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss support the plan, so we know our next Prime Minister agrees. But hang on a minute. If the Rwanda plan is the answer, what's the question? Let's indulge this idea that 'the Rwanda plan is the only answer' for a moment (which is a moment longer than it deserves). Is the question: How do we prevent people crossing the Channel in small boats? Or is it ... How do we prevent people seeking asylum in the UK? If it's 'how do we prevent the boats?', the answer is that you stop people crossing the Channel by giving them a safe alternative route to the UK. That means permission to enter the country to apply for asylum, expanded refugee resettlement schemes - even just a ferry ticket! Job done! Unless ... it's the other question, 'how do we prevent people seeking asylum in the UK?' Well, the answer to that is: we don't want to and we don't need to. The public wants the UK to be a place of sanctuary where refugees can rebuild their lives. It's the right thing to do and we can afford it. The Government is deliberately muddying these two questions because they think it wins them votes and provides cover for the horrendous abuse the deportations entail. But here's the thing. Deportations to Rwanda aren't even the answer to either question. Because deterrents don't work. The crossings continue. Many refugees have family here in the UK. Imagine you'd lost everything, travelled thousands of miles and been separated from your loved ones by war. If all that kept you apart was a few miles of water, and every safe way of crossing it was denied to you, then even if you knew about the risk of being sent to Rwanda, what would you do? So if, through the Rwanda plan, the Government is refusing to protect refugees and trying, but failing, to prevent refugees arriving - what is it actually achieving? It's not protection, it's not prevention. It's just punishment. And that's the answer to another question: what is the Rwanda plan? It's a punishment for asking for help. Thank you for believing in a different plan: becoming a country that chooses to protect refugees."

"Speed limiters must now be added to new vehicles made in Europe as part of new continent-wide plans to reduce road traffic accidents. The technology will be added to cars sold in the European Union (EU) and the Department for Transport here in the UK was involved in development of the plans.

"ISA is designed to inform the driver when they are speeding and reduce the speed of the vehicle. The car receives a speed limit via its GPS, which then notifies the driver over the dashboard (some cars come with sound or vibration indicators for the person behind the wheel), meaning the driver can then not exceed the speed limit."

"The European Transport Safety Council announced that the technology will reduce road collisions by 30% and deaths by 20%. It is also part of the EU's goal to have zero road deaths by 2050."

"Currently, no decision has been made by the government to follow in the footsteps of the EU to introduce Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) and make it a legal requirement for manufacturers to include them, however, since most cars made in Europe are sold in the UK too, just with right-hand drive, the tech will be widespread here as well."

"The technology can be overridden at the start of every journey when the car is first turned on. If this isn't done, then the ISA automatically kicks in."

"The decision of Truss versus Rishi Sunak now goes to a bizarre 'selectorate' of the Tory party members. As of 2017, their average age was 57. More than half are over 60 and more than 70% are male. They live predominantly in the south of England. That the nation's leadership should hang on this tiny unrepre­sen­tative group is a perversion of parliamentary democracy."

"Many people will have seen that the Prime Minister has suffered a number of high-profile resignations from his government. Some have asked whether I will be resigning too but as I resigned from my junior government PPS position a long time ago, I have nothing to resign from at this stage. It is no secret that I have grappled with what has been happening in Downing Street and with the Prime Minister. I continue to refuse to defend indefensible behaviour and have listened to my constituents throughout. The recent handling of sexual allegations concerning the Deputy Chief Whip have clearly been the catalyst for many other MPs and Ministers. Local people know where I am on these issues, my approach to working in politics generally and that I vote against the government where I believe it is necessary to do so ... I hope the Prime Minister will now consider his position in the face of these resignations and allow someone else to lead the country without delay ... views will continue to be mixed about whether the Prime Minister should stay or go and it is not without regret that I have felt the need to write this statement."

"On a separate note, I would also like to thank everybody who has got in touch to wish my family well with our new arrival. We feel really blessed. Please note that I am not giving media interviews or a running commentary on this fast-moving situation as I am on my few weeks' maternity leave."

"STROUD DISTRICT COUNCILLORS TO FORM NEW GROUP ON COUNCIL With the greatest regret we have taken the hard decision to leave the Labour Party. We will continue to serve the communities that elected us as Community Independent Councillors on Stroud District Council. We are immensely grateful to our friends and colleagues in the local Labour Party, the trade union movement, the Co-operative Alliance itself and the wider community for your support following this difficult decision. As Community Independents we will be free to focus on the local issues that matter, without being part of a centralised party whose leadership does not connect with our values. Our top priority will remain as it has always been, from the moment we were elected, to serve the residents of our wards, to support and uphold the Cooperative Alliance that has successfully run Stroud District council for ten years, and to assist in the delivery of the council plan for the benefit of local residents with its focus on community, the environment and the local economy. Above all we are committed to ensuring that local support can be provided to those struggling most with the cost of living crisis. Councillors Doina Cornell, Trevor Hall, Robin Layfield and Colin Fryer
Community Independents"

"Dear David [Ed: I assume that's General Secretary David Evans] and Keir,

With the greatest regret I am leaving the Labour party. I have served the party for 12 years, ten as an elected representative, and four as council leader. I know that I've been a great asset for Labour in Stroud constituency. No one has done more to build back trust for Labour among local voters after our 2019 defeat. Under my leadership the council's reputation has grown, and I'm proud to have led the district through the pandemic keeping people safe and helping the local economy recover. My local track record is why many voters and party members encouraged me to put myself forward for the parliamentary selection. However, none of this was taken into consideration by the central panel appointed to determine the longlist of candidates, who ruled that I did not meet the 'high bar' required for prospective candidates and that I was not fit to be put on the longlist, a decision made without any consultation with local party members. The party leadership clearly has no respect for local democracy, or for the local understanding of party members and voters, as to who might be the best candidate to win back vital trust in what will be a hard fight in a politically diverse, marginal constituency. Sadly we are seeing local members, activists, and councillors leave the party because of this, damaging what was a united local party and harming our chances of success at the local and national elections to come. But above all, my decision to leave is a personal one. A year ago David Evans emailed all Labour party members and said: 'When I first became General Secretary of the Labour party, I made my priorities clear. I want to ensure that our party is a welcoming environment for all our members.' The longlisting panel interview was far from welcoming. The issues which the party chose to question me on, and the conclusions of the panel that my answers were not 'satisfactory', show a clear disregard for the profound influence on me of the shared trauma of my family, victims of extremism from both the Nazis and the Communists, and how this has shaped me as a politician. The panellists queried that I was a politician with strong principles and asked me to justify a course of action inspired by one of the people who has influenced me the most, my Romanian grandfather, who was tortured to death in a communist prison for daring to speak out against repression and censorship. Out of respect for his memory, out of respect for my family, out of respect for myself, I cannot remain in a party when your leadership condones this. The 'high bar' which the Party claims I have not reached seems to me no bar at all if Labour politicians like myself are deemed fit to lead a district of 120,000 people, but not fit to stand for parliamentary selection. Throughout my political career I have adhered to the highest standards, and to have my integrity questioned by the panel, and their decision communicated without my permission to every member of our local party, has ensured that the party is no longer a 'welcoming environment' for me. Joining the Labour Party was one of the best decisions I ever made, and leaving is one of the hardest decisions to take. I never set out with any ambitions for office but I'm proud of what I have achieved. I'm grateful for the support I've had from my fellow councillors, local party members and many other people in our community and beyond. I'm honoured to have been nominated for the selection process by my union Unite, as well as ASLEF, CWU, FBIU, GMB, TSSA and USDAW. The traditions of our great Labour and trade union movements have achieved so much for this country, and I hope somehow the Party leadership can reconnect with our core values, our commitment to democracy, fairness, and fighting for working people against the powerful.

Yours, Councillor Doina Cornell"

"[This] is exactly what they want, int'it? Blame each other rather than them. We're still bloody doin' it. They didn't care about us then, they don't care about us now, they just use us. Look at what they still call us, what we call ourselves - a former mining town. Why? Post-industrial. How the hell are we meant to move on from that when even the way we talk about ourselves is by what we aren't any more? How are my grandkids meant to imagine a future beyond that?"

"We know when you like songs and when you don't. When you like it, when we do an old Beatles song, your 'phones all light up. And the whole place looks like a galaxy of stars. Then when we do a new song, it's a black hole. But we don't care. We're going to do them anyway."

"God, we're an old country. Look at this place. So much past, which means, unfortunately, quite a lot of mistakes. But it's not the getting things wrong that's the problem. It's the sweeping under the carpet of it all and refusing to just bloody look at it, and learn from it.

"When the Thatcher government's cabinet papers were released under the 30-year rule, even I, the mad cynic, needed a stiff drink. It's all there, in black-and-white, the Ridley Report, by a future Tory Secretary of State. They wanted that strike. They wanted to change the political landscape of this country away from collectivism towards deregulated market forces. And reasonable people can agree or disagree with that shift. The point is in order to achieve it they needed a war, they needed to, and I quote, 'provoke a strike in nationalised industries'. And they picked coal. And they won. And this country changed, forever. And Christ, if they used spies to stir up trouble, tear people apart, well, you never stood a chance. Hillsborough, the miners' strike, 'phone hacking, Stephen Lawrence, some of the most unsavoury aspects of British policing over the last half-a-century that we are managing to drag out of the darkness and into the light - it all demands justice."

"Where there is discord, may we bring harmony; where there is error, may we bring truth; where there is doubt, may we bring faith; and where there is despair, may we bring hope."

"One little girl. One BIG hope.

"Last year Amal, a ten year old refugee, embarked on a remarkable journey that took her from the Syrian border across Turkey, across Europe. In search of her mother. To get back to school. To start a new life. Now she takes her next steps.

"Amal is a 3.5 meter puppet. From July to November 2021, representing all displaced children, many separated from their families, Amal travelled over 8,000km embodying the urgent message 'Don't forget about us'.

"Since the beginning of her journey in 2021, Little Amal has travelled through over 70 cities and been welcomed at more than 160 unique events, reaching 875,000 people in the 12 countries she has already visited, and millions more online. In June 2022, one year on from leaving Syria she will take part in World Refugee Week by visiting 10 towns and cities across England meeting old friends and making new ones. In September 2022, Amal will travel to New York City. After arriving at JFK Airport, she will travel through all five boroughs, meeting artists, civic leaders, community groups, and young New Yorkers of all backgrounds."

"What a week it has been in politics. Far from the promise of "no border in the Irish Sea", we are now threatened with a trade war over Boris Johnson's government's decision to overturn its own treaty commitments on Northern Ireland.

"The plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is unravelling, bringing with it the usual Brexiter reaction that this country should abandon the post-war European Convention on Human Rights, based on democracy, individual freedom and the rule of law and set up in part as a beacon of hope to the countless millions enslaved under communist dictatorship.

"Queues are back. Thanks to Brexit, there are queues to see doctors, queues at A&E departments, queues at airports, queues at ports, queues at passport offices. Farmers turn their crops unharvested back into the soil.

"Meanwhile the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has predicted that the UK will grind to a halt in 2023. Only Russia is performing worse out of the G20 group of wealthy nations."

"Brexit was meant to be a 'new beginning for the Tory party,' Jeremy Warner wrote this week in the Daily Telegraph, 'but by making trade with Europe more difficult and costly it has so far only added to the country's travails'. In its coverage of recent OECD warnings, the Daily Mail reported that the UK economy 'is set to flatline next year - performing worse than every other G20 country except for sanctions-crippled Russia'. Most of these countries have also felt the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the Covid epidemic - but not, of course, Brexit.

"I say to all those who have supported the European vision of prime ministers from Churchill through to Cameron: now is the time to restore this vision of our country as a major European partner in one of the world's most powerful and influential organisations. We owe that to generations that are yet to come."

"We must re-create the European family in a regional structure called, it may be, the United States of Europe, and the first practical step will be to form a Council of Europe. If at first all the States of Europe are not willing or able to join a union we must nevertheless proceed to assemble and combine those who will and who can. The salvation of the common people of every race and every land from war and servitude must be established on solid foundations, and must be created by the readiness of all men and women to die rather than to submit to tyranny."

"Pour ma part, je ne suis l'ennemi d'aucune race et d'aucune nation du monde. Ce n'est pas contre une race, ce n'est pas contre une nation quelconque que nous nous rassemblons. C'est contre la tyrannie sous toutes ses forms, anciennes ou modernes, que nous nous dressons résolument. La tyrannie reste toujours la même, quelles que soient ses fausses promesses, quel que soit le nom qu'elle adopte, quels que soient les déguisements dont elle habille ses valets."

"For my part, I am not the enemy of any race or nation in the world. It's not against any race, it's not against any nation that we come together. It is against tyranny in all its forms, ancient or modern, that we stand resolutely. Tyranny always remains the same, whatever its false promises, whatever name it adopts, whatever the disguises in which it dresses its henchmen."

"Over two months ago we offered rooms to a Ukrainian family (two adults and their two year old). The accommodation we have offered was checked and approved 5 weeks ago by our local council and the family put in their visa requests over two months ago and yet they haven't heard anything despite two requests from our MP to the home office (on our behalf as we seem to have no access to the process). Easy for us to carry on with our lives here but theirs are on hold. I feel so sorry for them but we're helpless and they're understandably thinking of seeking a home in another country. Makes me embarrassed to be British. And cross. It's all blather."

"Since May last year, the Scottish Parliament has had a clear majority of Members who are in favour of independence and committed to giving the people of Scotland that choice in a referendum.

"The Scottish Government is determined that the choice people make on independence will be an informed one.

"To that end, this is the first in a series of 'Building a New Scotland' papers designed to contribute to a full, frank and constructive debate on Scotland's future.

"Independence in itself does not guarantee success for any country. For Scotland, the aspiration of a wealthier, fairer and more successful country will depend on democratic decisions made post-independence and the good stewardship of governments elected.

"But the point is this: in an independent Scotland, crucial decision-making power will rest with the people who live here - not with Westminster governments that do not command the support of people in Scotland, and which pursue policies, for example, Brexit, that are deeply damaging to Scotland's interests."

"Whether or not the first deportation flight leaves Britain today for Rwanda, this policy should shame us as a nation. Rwanda is a brave country recovering from catastrophic genocide. The shame is our own, because our Christian heritage should inspire us to treat asylum seekers with compassion, fairness and justice, as we have for centuries. Those to be deported to Rwanda have had no chance to appeal, or reunite with family in Britain. They have had no consideration of their asylum claim, recognition of their medical or other needs, or any attempt to understand their predicament.

"Many are desperate people fleeing unspeakable horrors. Many are Iranians, Eritreans and Sudanese citizens, who have an asylum grant rate of at least 88 per cent. These are people Jesus had in mind as he said when we offer hospitality to a stranger, we do it for him. They are the vulnerable that the Old Testament calls us to value. We cannot offer asylum to everyone, but we must not outsource our ethical responsibilities, or discard international law - which protects the right to claim asylum.

"We must end the evil trafficking; many churches are involved in fighting this evil. This needs global co-operation across every level of society. To reduce dangerous journeys to the UK we need safe routes: the church will continue to advocate for them. But deportations - and the potential forced return of asylum seekers to their home countries - are not the way. This immoral policy shames Britain."

Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury
Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York
Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London
Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham
David Urquhart, Bishop of Birmingham
John Inge, Bishop of Worcester
Christopher Cocksworth, Bishop of Coventry
Steven Croft, Bishop of Oxford
James Newcome, Bishop of Carlisle
Alan Smith, Bishop of St Albans
Donald Allister, Bishop of Peterborough
Stephen Conway, Bishop of Ely
Christopher Chessun, Bishop of Southwark
Nicholas Baines, Bishop of Leeds
Rachel Treweek, Bishop of Gloucester
Martin Warner, Bishop of Chichester
Vivienne Faull, Bishop of Bristol
Libby Lane, Bishop of Derby
Julian Henderson, Bishop of Blackburn
David Walker, Bishop of Manchester
Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford
Robert Atwell, Bishop of Exeter
Andrew Watson, Bishop of Guildford
Martin Seeley, Bishop of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich
Paul Williams, Bishop of Southwell & Nottingham

"Sword swallowing has always shown that the seemingly impossible can be possible, and inspired people to think beyond the obvious. Occasionally I demonstrate this ancient Indian art at the end of one of my lectures on global development. I step up onto a table and rip off my professorial checked shirt to reveal a black vest top decorated with a gold sequined lightning bolt. I call for complete silence, and to the swirling beat of a snare drum I slowly slide an army bayonet down my throat. I stretch out my arms. The audience goes wild."

"Bristol was the first place in the UK to declare a climate emergency, yet the mayor is acting completely at odds with this declaration. Faced with such a precarious climate situation, we need our leaders to demonstrate the kind of action we should all be taking, not flying to another continent to speak, ironically, about the climate emergency. Actions always speak louder than words, and in this post-pandemic age of online interactions, it would have been a much more powerful and effective statement to appear on screen."

"Consider these four numbers: three, 55, 75, 80. Cities occupy less than three percent of the Earth's land surface. Cities are home to over half, 55 percent, of the world's population. Cities are responsible for around 75 percent of CO2 emissions. Cities consume 80 percent of the world's energy.

"But think about this. It's the characteristics of cities - their reach, their size, their density, close proximity of the leadership to the people, their adaptability and their capacity for reinvention - that mean that we can actually plan to manage those numbers. That means through our cities, we can actually plan to do more, for more people, with less. And it's why I say cities are one of the most effective tools we have at our disposal for leveraging efficiency into our relationships with land, energy and waste."

"He has been clear - the fight against climate change will be won or lost in cities, which generate three-quarters of global carbon emissions. And it is therefore the duty of city leaders to come together, lobby for change and influence each other to make a collective impact. The mayor's visit to Vancouver was not just to deliver the talk. He had a full agenda [including the chance to network with other influential speakers and attract future funding and inward investment]."

"How does our country fit into the bigger picture of global transformation and upheaval, climate change, war and political violence? Britain was one of the first countries to ratify the Refugee Convention in 1951, so how can schemes like criminalising desperate people on arrival, or offloading them to Rwanda, even be considered? Yet now they are more than schemes - they have become law. Refugees have been scapegoats for countries' problems throughout history. But never until now have there been such starkly different policies for different people, according to how they travel instead of why they have fled."

"Having two travel-obsessed parents, by the age of fourteen Doina had covered thousands of miles over land and sea, most memorably spending seven years circumnavigating the world with her family on a 36-foot yacht. Her memoir of this time, 'Child of the Sea', was published in 2012.

"Since then she has been mostly land-based but continues to sail whenever possible, including to Antarctica with father Jimmy and brother Ivan. As part of the Blue Planet Odyssey (a round-the-world sailing rally from 2014-17 aiming to raise awareness of climate change and the most urgent issues facing our oceans), she sailed to the Arctic and Tuvalu in the South Pacific to raise awareness of the risks of climate change to these parts of the world. In the summer of 2014 she sailed to the Arctic with Jimmy and her daughter Nera. In 2015 she joined the Blue Planet Odyssey on board Australian yacht Drina with her son Dan and sailed to Samoa, Tuvalu and Vanuatu."

"No 10 Official (2) responded 'Great! Could you also suggest they bring their own booze! Not sure we will have enough but hopefully there aren't that many people in the building!'

"The same No 10 special adviser sent a message to Martin Reynolds [Principal Private Secretary to Boris Johnson] by WhatsApp: 'Drinks this eve is a lovely idea. Just to flag that the press conference will probably be finishing around that time, so helpful if people can be mindful of that as speakers and cameras are leaving, not walking around waving bottles of wine etc.'

"Lee Cain [Downing Street Director of Communications]: 'I think it's your decision my friend, not mine! But it obviously comes with rather substantial comms risks.'"

"There was food and alcohol available which had been bought and brought in by staff. Some members of staff drank excessively. The event was crowded and noisy such that some people working elsewhere in the No 10 building that evening heard significant levels of noise coming from what they characterised as a "party" in the Press Office. A cleaner who attended the room the next morning noted that there had been red wine spilled on one wall and on a number of boxes of photocopier paper.

"The event lasted for several hours, with varying levels of attendance throughout, including because officials left to attend official meetings. Attendance peaked during the awards ceremony. No 10 exit logs show a number of members of staff remaining in the office until after midnight."

"I was made aware of multiple examples of a lack of respect and poor treatment of security and cleaning staff."

"Google's Russia-based business unit has filed for bankruptcy following the country's decision to seize its bank account in late March. The move made it impossible for the Google subsidiary to continue paying its employees, suppliers, and vendors, making it 'untenable' for the tech giant to 'function', according to a statement given to Reuters.

"It has also made it increasingly difficult for Google to move its remaining employees out of Russia. The company had been helping its staff transfer to other EMEA offices since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February. Googlers who had chosen to remain in Russia have now been let go.

"In March, Russia banned Google News for promoting 'inauthentic information' about the invasion of Ukraine after Google paused all advertising for Russian state-funded media in late February.

"The asset seizure by Russian authorities is the latest development in Google's soured relations with Putin's government. In late 2021, Google was fined 9 million roubles (£94,400) as a penalty for failing to delete content deemed illegal by the Russian state."

"The messaging app has experienced a surge in demand as users flock to the platform for news and instructions on how to participate in the effort to thwart Russia's invasion. Researchers have observed rapid growth of Ukrainian groups turning to various Telegram channels with the purpose of organising offensive efforts against Russia.

"The highly publicised 'IT Army of Ukraine' group, set up by Oleksandr Bornyakov, Ukraine's deputy minister for digital transformation, is among the most populated with more than 277,000 members [in March 2022]. The group posted its "top priority" targets, which included GLONASS, Russia's space-based satellite navigation system; the Belarusian railway, which hacktivists previously targeted prior to the conflict; Russian telecoms providers; the National Bank of Russia, and ATM processors."

"It is fine dining but for a 4 course menu including wine for €35 a head, I'll tolerate the ponce. Sea bass, lemon foam, pea puree, white asparagus and globe artichokes. Tasty stuff, although the foam was a bit OTT. Best place I've found to eat in the Basque Country. Run by a couple and they're the only two workers."

"Her Majesty's Ministers will bring forward an Energy Bill to deliver the transition to cheaper, cleaner, and more secure energy. This will build on the success of the COP26 Summit in Glasgow last year."

"Her Majesty's Government will continue to seize the opportunities of the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union, to support economic growth."

"Legislation will be introduced to enable the implementation of the United Kingdom's first new Free Trade Agreements since leaving the European Union."

"Her Majesty's Ministers will take action to prevent dangerous and illegal Channel crossings and tackle the criminal gangs who profit from facilitating them."

"Located on a working farm on the A38 we're a family-run farm shop and restaurant. Our humble beginnings began 5 years ago selling our wood fired pizza out of a truck. We've now expanded with indoor and outdoor seating, surrounded by our pasture-fed lambs, two Belted Galloways - Grace and Frankie - and our rescue chickens. The menu is constantly evolving, from hand stretched pizza and antipasti, to traditional Greek sweets and our lamb souvlaki, in order to bring a taste of the Mediterranean to the local community. Like the Ionian Sea, our kitchen fuses Greek and Italian influences creating a wave of flavour throughout our menu."

"We are The Ionian! Mother from Padova, Italy and father from Kozani, Greece - our brother and sister team formed the sea in between.

"Five years ago our family began the woodfired kitchen on an Iveco truck on our farm, as many of you may remember. Since then, we have worked hard on our farm diversification project to bring Mediterranean food to the local community, and serving you with healthy fresh food. We promote seasonal eating, sustainability and creativity, with the help of our amazing team! Unfortunately, since we started the Ionian our local council have not been so supportive of us. Over the years, we have put three planning applications forward to ask for a small wooden building to ensure we can trade easier during the winter months. However, Stroud District Council have informed us they no longer want us to continue The Ionian on our farm at all, despite the unique product we bring to our community along with a love and passion for what we do.

"We would appreciate all of your kindness and support from old customers to new. It would mean a lot to us if you could sign this petition to help us on our case, which will determine if we are allowed to continue the Farmshop & Kitchen on our farm.

"Big love, The Ionian"

"The attachment [to the email, see below], sent to me by my son Matthew, quantifies an important reality I had not reflected on adequately. The attachment states better than I can why attending reunions is important and good for you. Think of how many hours we spent together at Exeter, and how many hours we have spent together since then. For me, less than one hour since graduating for every thousand hours while at Exeter. For every thousand hours I spent building important life relationships with now longstanding friends, I have spent less than one hour enjoying those relationships since graduating. Would I spend 1,000 hours planting seeds and then only one hour harvesting?

"Two weeks ago, John Emerson (who may have never yet before attended an Exeter reunion I can remember) emailed me and others asking if we are attending the reunion, and if he would see us there. John's email triggered more reflection on my part, which triggered a lively email chain discussion on the importance of longstanding friends, memories, comradery, and just getting together with classmates, for our individual and collective benefit."

"Depressing Math reveals a cold truth. While you may not be anywhere near the end of your life, you may very well be nearing the end of your time spent with some of the most important people in your life."

"Perhaps the hardest math to process - and, in turn, the hardest Covid pill to swallow - has to do with our relationships. I grew up spending some time with my parents almost every day. Since turning 19 and moving away for good, I've averaged about 10 to 15 days a year with them. If I'm one of the lucky ones, I'll have quality time with my parents until I'm 60. That means that the day I headed off to college, I had something like 350 remaining parent days total - the amount of time I had with them every year of my childhood. What it boils down to is this: my life, in the best-case scenario, will consist of around 20 years of in-person parent time. The first 19 happened over the course of my first 19 years. The final year is spread out over the rest of my life. When I left for college, I had many decades left with living parents, but only about one year of time left to spend with them."

"We think a lot about those black lines: the roads not taken, the opportunities missed, the ones that got away. But most of us greatly underestimate the size of the lush green tree of possibilities that lie ahead of us. We underestimate future possibilities for the same reason we overestimate the time we have left with those we love; our intuition is not very imaginative. It's a human instinct to believe the life we're used to is how things will always be, both the good parts and the bad. Wallowing in regret carries an implicit assumption that we had agency in the past - that we could have had those other life paths if only we had made better decisions. When we think about the future, though, that feeling of agency often disappears, which can leave us feeling resigned and even hopeless. But the life we'll be living 10 years from now will largely be determined not by our past selves but by our present and future selves. If we imagine what we might regret down the road, it's very much in our hands to do something about it now."

"At our current pace of 10 to 15 days per year, my parents and I have at best a couple of hundred days left to hang out. But there's nothing stopping us from changing that equation. Agreeing upon an additional annual family week each summer would almost double our remaining time together, while moving to the same city could multiply it by 10. Getting together with my friends one weekend a year would triple our pace and leave us with 15 percent of our total hangout time ahead, instead of just 5 percent.

"That big green tree is a reminder that we have the power to change so much of what seems set in stone. The two delusions - that we have countless time ahead of us and that we can't change our course - are a recipe for compla­cency. We can actually go a step further and make up for the missed experiences, flipping the deficit into a surplus. If Covid has given us anything, it's a rare chance for a reset. Let's take it."

"Stroud likes to celebrate everything local. It was one of the many reasons that the old-fashioned, new-age town was named the overall Best Place to Live winner in 2021. A few locals might have treated themselves to a Plant Power vegan pizza (£11) with a pint of Big Cat stout, all organic and "very Stroud" at the Stroud Brewery Tap Room. Others liked to point out the fact that Extinction Rebellion was founded here as grounds for disqualification.

"As a mill town in the Cotswolds, Stroud means different things to different people. For some, it's Barbours and bridles, wellies and yomps on the commons with the labradors; for others it's mung beans and beanies, changing the world one sustainable soya latte at a time. Most Stroudies fall somewhere in between, but whichever camp you're in everyone comes together at the Saturday morning farmers' market - one of the best in the land.

"There's also serious culture at the Stroud Valleys Artspace, Stroud Books prides itself on its 'festival-like vibe', and even the local football team, Forest Green Rovers, is riding high, both in the league and as the world's fully vegan, carbon-neutral club. The thoughtful revamp of the Five Valleys shopping centre is progressing nicely with the arrival of Sandersons - a 'boutique department store' - and evening openings on Fridays with food and music.

"In the past 12 months many more new arrivals have joined Iong-term resi­dents to sing Stroud's (often alternative) praises. The town and its surrounding valleys are crowd-pleasers for families Iooking for good schools - Stroud High School and Marling School finished third and 15th respectively in Parent Power top 20 schools in the Southwest - commuters (direct trains to Paddington 1 hour 28 minutes, Bristol is a 40-minute drive), or anyone who wants to keep it real surrounded by countryside.

"It is one of the reasons that Ry Gerbrands, 36, who grew up in Stroud, retur­ned. He lives a 20-minute walk from Made in Stroud, the gallery and shop set up by his parents in 2000 which he now runs. 'Stroud has improved massively since my early teens,' Gerbrands says. 'There's a much wider choice of good restaurants and pubs and plenty of independent shops - only chain shops closed during lockdown - and also greater diversity in the people here. The Sub Rooms puts on events, educational plays for children, and music, and the markets are a big draw. It's not great for people aged 18 to 23 - there's no nightclub - but past that it's wonderful.'

"Best place to live if... You fancy country living with a radical edge.

"Best address: Middle Street and Nelson Street in the centre, or nearby Minch­inhampton, Chalford and Rodborough."

"Dr Hana Josticova is a friend of ours who is Slovakian by birth but did her PhD at the University of Birmingham on Eastern Ukraine. As a result, she has many personal contacts within Ukraine - especially in the east - and a few weeks ago, she returned home to help refugees on the border and those still in Ukraine who are so very much in need. You, like me, have probably already donated money via one of the larger charities or aid organisations, to mitigate some of the sickening impacts of this hellish, barbaric war but if you feel you would also like to donate directly and immediately via someone who has close contacts in dire straits, please read what she has just sent me (below) about how she is using targeted funds:"

"I sent some money to Hana this morning and she e-mailed (as below) this afternoon."

"Some Covid news from Italy. At more or less the same time as you, perhaps a little earlier, I tested positive, to be followed two days later by Daniela. Symptoms in both cases were those of a heavy cold. As regards the rest of the country, the general trend continues to be downward but by no means insignificant. Lots of people here have picked up this latest strain 'though symptoms are not worrying. We are now negative and life goes on as we prepare for an Easter break on a tour of Germany. Things are not so rosy further east. Can no-one rid us of this grotesque individual?"

"The Germany trip. Flight to Berlin and two days there. I've been there lots of times, also for the university, but always glad to revisit. Then we basically return to Udine by coach via the island of Rugen in the Baltic, Stralsund, Magdeburg, Erfurt, Bamberg, Rothenburg, Augsburg and Chiemsee, plus a number of smaller places. These are all places I have never been to and hence the interest in the trip. The downside will be long hours on the coach, but we mustn't grumble."

Why did Russia invade Ukraine?

In the Kremlin, what would be considered a successful result for the invasion?

What will be the outcome for Ukraine?

Are you worried that this could be the start of a "Chinese century" for Russia?

Who are the winners and losers?

What would qualify as defeat?

How do you feel personally?

"Eddy appreciates your nominating him for protected heritage status in the Handwritten Communications category, and the recognition belatedly conferred on his contribution to sustaining this traditional approach to performing/relativising the constraints of geographical and social distancing while offsetting the normative orthogonality of his preferred medium via the referencing and eclectic recycling of materials and, be it admitted, jokes.

"My client has requested me to inquire discreetly about a possible future nomination in the 'Unrecognised Genius' category, but meanwhile looks forward to collecting his award in person, together with commemorative multicoloured biro. He foresees a window of availability in early May.

"Eddy has yet to read any of your blog due to his continued resistance to post-Enlightenment communications media and his full schedule of outside engagements (currently, for example, 'just popping out to get L'Équipe'), but is kept updated about it and has been familiarised with emergency procedures for accessing his own email (the 'nuclear option', not yet activated)."

"Last weekend people in Ireland were completing their 2022 census form. It included a 'time capsule' section in which one could leave a message for those reading it a hundred years from now."

"Stroud Civic Society's vice chairman, Tim Mars, announced that Stroud's noto­riously ugly police station may be in line for Grade II listed building status.

"Tim said, 'It's about time Stroud police station got the recognition it deserves. Its etiolated horizontality offers an elegant geometric counterpoint to the heterorthogonality of the topography'."

"To limit my contact with the horrible news reports coming out of Ukraine, I have read mainly unrelated items in today's Observer. These include an article on Ofsted's 'pop quiz' method of assessing/disparaging schools' overall performance. The article referred to a recent Ofsted inspection of Coalwood Community School in the Forest of Dean, which was downgraded from outstanding last November. Kids of 7 and under were found to be unable to sequence historical events in the right order because of gaps in their knowledge. To fill in some gaps in mine, I googled and downloaded the Ofsted report, which by the way is full of praise for the environment created by the school and the fact that the children, as well as feeling - and being - safe, supported and happy there, loved reading. The inspectors nevertheless downgraded the school, partly on the basis of children's less than total recall of all the topics covered in the curriculum. They do not seem to have taken into consideration the fact that there have been officially-endorsed and factored-in gaps in all school students' grasp of the curriculum over the last 2 plague years.

"I can't remember doing any formal history lessons until secondary school. At seven I expect I was still under the impression that dinosaurs, cavemen, the Romans, Henry VIII and my grandparents had coexisted in the olden days - i.e. the period up to 1955. The all-important and priceless 'love of reading' my school and parents imparted has enabled me to fill in some of the gaps since then, without necessarily achieving Ofsted-standard certainty about the correct sequence of events.

"This rant is not intended for inclusion in your news round-up, by the way [Ed: I have gained permission from Diana to include it 😃]. I just thought you might be interested in some home-produced idiocy as an alternative to brooding on the savagery unleashed elsewhere. Have you ever heard Fascinating Aida's wonderful Ofsted Song? I'll forward it to you.

"On a more hopeful note: Ceasefire in Yemen! A little bit of hell on Earth may be in retreat."

Why are you selling?

What sort of owner are you looking for?

What about the 800 staff here in Stroud?

Has the Ukraine situation and the energy crisis had a big impact on your thoughts?

You've given money to David Drew [Labour MP in Stroud for many years, replaced by Conservative Siobhan Baillie in 2019, fervent supporter of Forest Green Rovers, former chairman and vice-chairman] - do your politics lean that way? Will you stand in Stroud?

If you got into Parliament you could do a lot as a member of the club.

"This is a huge decision - it's been my life for a long time and is arguably my life's work. But it's the right decision at the right time - our pipeline of green energy projects is way beyond what we can fund ourselves, while at the same time, the country's need for new sources of renewable energy has never been bigger.

"Or more urgent - we're halfway through the vital last decade, the UN said we had to avoid the worst of climate change, and little has changed in that time. The good news is that the war in Europe has finally brought the attention of our government to this issue, through the risk to energy supplies and the newfound interest in Energy Independence.

"By passing the baton now to a new owner, Ecotricity will be able to play a big role in the accelerated shift to 100% green energy on the grid. And I will be able to play a part in the next general election in some way or another. We have everything we need to get to net zero as a country, we have the technology, economics is on our side, as are the public - we clearly have the need, what we lack are politicians that get it and the policies that will help make it happen - faster.

"I believe this will be the most important election of our lives."

"Russia says it has signed up around 16,000 recruits from the Middle East, with social media in Syria flooded with requests for people to join Russian troops. Soldiers are being offered up to £5,000 a month to fight on the front line for Russia in Ukraine. Syria's economy, already ravaged by civil war, now faces a spike in the price of essentials like wheat, much of which comes from Ukraine and Russia - making the Russian offer look all the more tempting."

"Due to the fact that negotiations over an agreement on Ukraine's neutrality and non-nuclear status and security guarantees (for Ukraine) are moving into a practical stage, and taking into consideration the principles discussed during today's meeting, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation has taken the decision to drastically reduce combat operations in the Kyiv and Chernihiv areas in order to boost mutual trust and create the necessary conditions for further negotiations and for the signing of the aforementioned agreement."

"The city is coming alive, I feel. I think the fear is going away a bit. People believe in our army, which is protecting us, and feel comfortable, feel safe. I don't think the Russian army is winning."

"We want to stop the war that Russia has launched in Ukraine without escalation. If this is what we want to do, we should not escalate things - neither with words or actions."

"My gosh, I wish they would keep him on script. Any time you say or even, as he did, suggest that the policy was regime change, it's going to cause a huge problem. This administration has done everything they can to stop escalating. There's not a whole lot more you can do to escalate than to call for regime change."

"Occupation, land seizure, suffering, discrimination and serfdom under the English down the centuries did strengthen the bonds of solidarity in adversity amongst the people of Ireland, but the spirit of generosity would appear to pre-date that. The Celtic Brehon Laws (7th century to 17th century) even stipulated that offering hospitality to the stranger was a duty of all Irish people, and anyone who refused would be shunned by society. Christianity would have reinforced the message of kindness to others."

"I would like to think it is the nature of Irish people to be kind and generous to others, not just related to any laws or religious beliefs."

"Life in medieval Ireland was governed by laws, just as it is today. Readers may be familiar with the term Brehon Laws, which represent a collection of references to instructions, traditions and customs that originate in the 7th and 8th centuries and survive in later medieval manuscripts. It is within these texts that we find evidence of the importance of hospitality in medieval Irish law.

"According to these laws, a householder was required to offer food and lodging to any traveller passing through a neighbourhood. In addition, householders were bound by religious morals to give to the poor.

"Warm welcomes were not just reserved for the upper classes. Several records in the folklore collection tell of the hospitality for 'beggars' and 'travelling folk'. In the townland of Rashinagh, Co. Offaly, it was recorded that 'beggars used to be received in certain homes in the country districts with hospitality'."

"The Choctaw Nation of the south-eastern states of America were so moved by the plight of the Irish people during the Famine that in 1847 they raised $170 - worth tens of thousands of dollars today - from their meagre resources to aid those starving in Ireland.

"Now the generosity of the Choctaw people, which came when they were suffering great penury and hardship after thousands perished on the forced migration that was the Trail of Tears, is to be remembered at a ceremony in Midleton, Co Cork.

"Choctaw Nation chief Gary Batton and a delegation of representatives from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma will attend the unveiling of a piece of sculpture entitled 'Kindred Spirits' by Cork-based sculptor Alex Pentek.

"According to Cork County Council East Cork municipal officer Joe McCarthy, the sculpture was commissioned in 2013 by the former Midleton Town Council in recognition of the Choctaw's extraordinary generosity towards the people of Ireland."

"A primary school in County Cork has decided to do away with all homework for the entire month of December, replacing it instead with 'acts of kindness'. Instead of spending the dark winter evenings memorising times tables or reciting the Modh Coinníollach, schoolchildren in Clonakilty's Gaelscoil Mhichíl Uí Choileáin will be spreading the true meaning of Christmas by performing acts of kindness for friends, family and the community. It's the third year in a row the school has replaced homework with something unique. Last year it was gratitude, where the children and their families recorded all the things they were grateful for in a Dialann Buíochas (Gratitude Diary). This year, the children are asked to record their acts of kindness - either in writing or pictures - in their Dialann Cineáltais (Kindness Diary). The school suggests doing something nice for an elderly neighbour, or performing an act of kindness for a relative or friend who may be feeling lonely, but the act can be anything as long as it brightens someone's day."

"In Ireland and abroad, we take pride in the wearing and displaying of the green on St Patrick's Day. The colour is an intrinsic part of our pride in our roots and the joint celebration of Irishness on our national holiday. Over many years, the Office of Public Works has set the mood for this important day by symbolically 'greening' our most iconic heritage sites, government buildings and national cultural institutions.

"This year is different, however, and even as we look forward to marking St Patrick's Day with our friends and loved ones, we think of the people of Ukraine whose lives, safety and sovereignty are at risk. For them and for the eyes of the world, we send a message of solidarity by illuminating 41 Irish landmarks across the country in the colours of Ukraine tonight and over the St Patrick's Day weekend to underline that the people of Ireland stand with Ukraine."

"The Global Greening campaign will not take place this year so monuments can be lit in Ukraine's colours. Taoiseach Micheál Martin has written to all Irish embassies asking that embassies, monuments and other sites typically lit up green for St Patrick's Day should instead be lit up in yellow and blue."

"The Austrian declaration of war on Serbia was pure theory; no action followed it. Now this gives the essential factor in the outbreak of the First World War. All the great powers, of whom there were five, or six counting Italy, had vast conscript armies. These armies of course were not maintained in peace time. They were brought together by mobilisation. This factor had already counted before in the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, but this time there was a further complication.

"All mobilisation plans depended on railways. At that time the automobile was hardly used, certainly not as an instrument of mass transport, and railways demand time tables. All the mobilisation plans had been timed to the minute, months or even years before and they could not be changed. Modification in one direction would ruin them in every other direction. Any attempt for instance by the Austrians to mobilise against Serbia would mean that they could not then mobilise against Russian because two lots of trains would be running against each other. The same problem was to arise later for the Russians and in the end for the Germans who, having a plan to mobilise against France, could not switch round and mobilise again against Russia. Any alteration in the mobilisation plan meant not a delay for 24 hours but for at least six months before the next lot of timetables were ready."

"On his [Gove's] tour of the TV studios, he suggested several times that people who are willing to sponsor a Ukrainian family need to come to the government with the name of that family who will then rubber stamp it. He can't seriously be asking Ukrainian families who are fleeing Vladimir Putin, who have left their homes with nothing, to get on to Instagram and advertise themselves in the hope a British family might notice them."

"Today, we call for an immediate cessation of all attacks on health care in Ukraine. These horrific attacks are killing and causing serious injuries to patients and health workers, destroying vital health infrastructure and forcing thousands to forgo accessing health services despite catastrophic needs.

"To attack the most vulnerable - babies, children, pregnant women, and those already suffering from illness and disease, and health workers risking their own lives to save lives - is an act of unconscionable cruelty.

"In Ukraine, since the start of the war, 31 attacks on health care have been documented via the WHO's Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA). According to these reports, in 24 incidents health care facilities were damaged or destroyed, while in five cases ambulances were damaged or destroyed. These attacks have led to at least 12 deaths and 34 injuries, and affected access to and availability of essential health services. WHO is verifying further reports, as attacks continue to be reported despite the calls for protection of health care."

"More than ever, getting rid of Russian fossil fuels and of fossil fuels in general, is essential. What is at stake is both the need to accelerate the fight against climate change, and, as we can see now, the short-term energy security of the European continent."

"There have been almost 12,000 pledges of accommodation from Irish people to refugees from Ukraine. On Monday, the Government announced an accommodation pledge register through the Irish Red Cross website. The highest number of accommodation pledges by county is 2,149 in Dublin, followed by 1,327 in Cork, and 663 in Galway. The Government is said to be setting up an Irish presence in Polish airports to facilitate people fleeing the war in Ukraine."

"Ireland is rolling out a series of extraordinary measures, including a plan to shelter up to 80,000 refugees from Ukraine. Farmers will receive extra State payments to grow crops on their land to counteract the economic and financial impact of the Ukrainian crisis. Emergency plans to house up to 80,000 Ukrainian refugees, which could involve constructing modular homes on State land such as the Curragh, are being drawn up with officials from the Department of Children working throughout the weekend with several hundred hotels being acquired from next week. With thousands of families now expected to arrive here, the Department of Education is working on meeting the demand for extra school places, while psychological supports and counselling are also being looked at. Meanwhile, a reduction in excise and an increase in the hauliers' fuel rebate is on the cards to help ease soaring petrol, diesel and home heating costs.

"Measures such as compulsory tillage orders were used in Ireland in extreme circumstances such as 'The Emergency' (WWII) including at the Ford car factory on Centre Park Rd, Cork City, pictured in 1940:"

"The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought - that is, a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc - should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent on words. Its vocabulary was so constructed as to give exact and often very subtle expression to every meaning that a Party member could properly wish to express, while excluding all other meanings and also the possibility of arriving at them by indirect methods. This was done partly by the invention of new words, but chiefly by eliminating undesirable words and by stripping such words as remained of unorthodox meanings, and so far as possible of all secondary meanings whatever. To give a single example. The word free still existed in Newspeak, but it could only be used in such statements as 'This dog is free from lice' or 'This field is free from weeds'. It could not be used in its old sense of 'politically free' or 'intellectually free' since political and intellectual freedom no longer existed even as concepts, and were therefore of necessity nameless. Quite apart from the suppression of definitely heretical words, reduction of vocabulary was regarded as an end in itself, and no word that could be dispensed with was allowed to survive. Newspeak was designed not to extend but to diminish the range of thought, and this purpose was indirectly assisted by cutting the choice of words down to a minimum."

"What about a Damascene conversion for Vladimir? Without it Saul would have been a bloodthirsty nobody. Putin said 'God forbid ...'. Is he a Russian Orthodox believer? A sudden cessation of the war because he repents would make him a universal saint for all time! Miracles aside, what does the Russian church say about the war? The Pope has made a clear condemnation. Surely there must be many orthodox Christian clerics bursting with horror. Maybe we are not allowed to hear of them, given the control of information. Given also that he only appears to talk to his subordinates at five metre table lengths, perhaps no senior cleric can get anywhere close to him. It is very difficult to have reasonable hope."

"Russia's military offensive against Ukraine is an act of aggression that will make already worrisome tensions between NATO and Moscow even more dangerous. The west's new cold war with Russia has turned hot. Vladimir Putin bears primary responsibility for this latest development, but NATO's arrogant, tone-deaf policy toward Russia over the past quarter-century deserves a large share as well. Analysts committed to a US foreign policy of realism and restraint have warned that continuing to expand the most powerful military alliance in history toward another major power would not end well. The war in Ukraine provides definitive confirmation that it did not."

"Yeltsin and his countrymen were strongly opposed to enlargement, seeing it as a strategy for exploiting their vulnerability and moving Europe's dividing line to the east, leaving them isolated."

"Many Russians see NATO as a vestige of the cold war, inherently directed against their country. They point out that they have disbanded the Warsaw Pact, their military alliance, and ask why the west should not do the same."

"I think it is the beginning of a new cold war. The Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies. I think it is a tragic mistake. There was no reason for this whatsoever. No one was threatening anybody else."

"... the first scheme in the world that's up and running in this short period of time. This is an incredible scheme and we are doing everything possible, surging capacity across every single application centre across the EU."

"Why did the Americans do that? As a warning to everyone. Obey us, or we'll drop a little bomb on you, like we did on Japan. That's how I see it. Why else would they drop a bomb?"

"A mural has been unveiled in Letterkenny, Co Donegal to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine. The painting by street artist Ciarán Dunlevy was displayed for the first time at a vigil, organised by the local community, this evening. The mural was inspired by a report in the New York Times, he said, which showed people in Ukraine taking up arms to defend their nation. Mr Dunlevy said the artwork is a 'declaration of our support for the Ukrainian people. It is an honouring of their exceptional courage, strength, humanity and power. We want them to know that the Irish people stand with them in solidarity and love.'

"'The last mural I painted was of Ireland's great mythical hero Fionn Mac Cumhaill. Fionn's warriorship was one of integrity, truth, courage and love. Fionn and the Fianna were fierce protectors of their tribe. This is what I saw in the faces of the Ukrainian people. This new mural depicts the face of one of these people; a young Ukrainian civilian-warrior named Zakhar Nechypor who has the power and protection of their sovereignty Goddess Berehynia emanating through him.'"

"I take the view that the best thing that Russian deserters can do is go back to Russia, tell the Russian people they are being deceived, tell the Russian people that their military leaders are causing huge amounts of unnecessary suffering and losses because of either incompetence or arrogance, and they can go back and tell the mothers, who are wondering where their thousands of disappeared sons are."

"When I was a kid the disaster we worried about most was a nuclear war. That's why we had a barrel like this down in our basement, filled with cans of food and water. When the nuclear attack came, we were supposed to go downstairs, hunker down and eat out of that barrel [audience laughs]. Today the greatest risk of global catastrophe doesn't look like this [shows mushroom cloud]. Instead, it looks like this [influenza virus]. If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, it's most likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than a war. Not missiles, but microbes."

"I would recommend the saying of Sun Tzu, 'Give your enemy a golden bridge to retreat across', meaning make backing down attractive for your enemy. My gut feeling is that it's not to him we need to give this golden bridge, it's to the people around him."

"We must re-create the European family in a regional structure called, it may be, the United States of Europe, and the first practical step will be to form a Council of Europe. If at first all the States of Europe are not willing or able to join a union we must nevertheless proceed to assemble and combine those who will and who can. The salvation of the common people of every race and every land from war and servitude must be established on solid foundations, and must be created by the readiness of all men and women to die rather than to submit to tyranny. In this urgent work France and Germany must take the lead together. Great Britain, the British Commonwealth of Nations, mighty America - and, I trust, Soviet Russia, for then indeed all would be well - must be the friends and sponsors of the new Europe and must champion its right to live. Therefore I say to you 'Let Europe arise!'"

"In these present days we dwell strangely and precariously under the shield, and I even say protection, of the atomic bomb. The atomic bomb is still only in the hands of a nation which, we know, will never use it except in the cause of right and freedom, but it may well be that in a few years this awful agency of destruction will be widespread and that the catastrophe following from its use by several warring nations will not only bring to an end all that we call civilisation but may possibly disintegrate the globe itself."

"I hope that those who are at this moment enemies around the world might consider using more temperate language when describing those with whom they disagree. Today's 'terrorist' could very well be tomorrow's president. That has happened in South Africa. Most of those who were vilified as terrorists are today our cabinet ministers and others sit in the government benches of our national assembly. If those we disagree with today are possibly going to be our colleagues tomorrow, we might begin by trying to describe them in language that won't be an embarrassment when that time of change does come.

"It is crucial too that we keep remembering that negotiations, peace talks, forgiveness and reconciliation happen most frequently not between friends, not between those who like one another. They happen precisely because people are at loggerheads, and detest one another as only enemies can. But enemies are potential allies, friends, colleagues and collaborators. This is not just utopian idealism. The first democratically elected government of South Africa was a Government of National Unity made up of members of political parties that were engaged in a life-and-death struggle. The man who headed it had been incarcerated for twenty-seven years as a dangerous terrorist. If it could happen there, surely it can happen in other places. Perhaps God chose such an unlikely place deliberately, to show the world that it can be done anywhere.

"Peace is possible, especially if today's adversaries were to imagine themselves becoming friends and begin acting in ways that will promote such a friendship developing in reality. It would be wonderful if, as they negotiated, they tried to find ways of accommodating each other's needs. A readiness to make concessions is a sign of strength, not weakness. And it can be worthwhile sometimes to lose a battle in order in the end to win the war. Those who are engaged in negotiations for peace and prosperity are striving after such a splendid, such a priceless goal, that it should be easier to find ways where all are winners than to fight; where negotiators make it a point that no one loses face, that no one emerges empty-handed, with nothing to place before his or her constituency. How one wishes that negotiators would avoid having bottom lines and too many preconditions. In negotiations we are, as in the process of forgiveness, seeking to give all the chance to begin again. The rigid will have a tough time. The flexible, those who are ready to make principled compromises, end up being the victors."

"President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable."

"I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, 'This is genius.' Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine ... Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful. So, Putin is now saying, 'It's independent', a large section of Ukraine. I said, 'How smart is that?' And he's gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. We could use that on our southern border. That's the strongest peace force I've ever seen. Here's a guy who's very savvy ... I know him very well. Very, very well. Here's a guy that says, you know, 'I'm gonna declare a big portion of Ukraine independent and we're gonna go out and we're gonna go in and we're gonna help keep peace.' You gotta say that's pretty savvy."