Best Of

@PolitlcsUK
IN FULL: The cities currently bidding to be the UK's 2029 City of Culture

- Blackpool
- Bristol
- Exeter
- Ipswich
- Peterborough
- Plymouth
- Portsmouth
- Swindon
- Wrexham

If Swindon Town wins.. The place is utterly devoid of culture. Imagine winning a trip to the UK City of Culture and ending up in Swindon Town centre. There's a railway museum and an edge of town shit shopping village. The centre of town is mostly closed down

You could visit the Oasis centre in West Swindon, which apparently gave Oasis their name. It's shit

The overnight move by the Greens does suggest new information is in play.

Isn't the new information the lack of candidates from Galloway's lot and YourParty?

How far those votes just fold into the Green column is another question, but it's surely a net gain for them.

More likely the new information is Mandelsongate being predicted to hurt Labour.

It’s certainly not going to look good for Starmer, who personally appointed him to the US Ambassador role. Did he not even ask the question about his relationship to Epstein?

And did Mandelson engineer the removal of David Lammy as Foreign Secretary in a struggle for control of UK/US relations?

Memo to Kemi for PMQs – ask one question at a time, not your usual habit of stuffing every passing thought into the same rambling question that Keir Starmer can effortlessly parry.

SKS is a lawyer - keep questions unambiguous so he can't avoid answering the question?

In less disgraceful governance matters.. I’ve just booked my holiday!

Train to Paris on 17 April, whence I’ll get another train to Vannes. Hotel for a night in Vannes, then a return flight from Bordeaux (can’t get a sensible flight back from Biarritz) on 11 May

That should give me plenty of time to walk the circa 400 miles from Vannes to Biarritz. Everything else will be booked on the day

I love an adventure!

Holiday adventures have been central to our family for decades

Talking of which we have decided to have a two day rail trip

We are going from Colwyn Bay to Edinburgh next month and staying in the Premier Inn on Princess Street opposite the gardens where we got engaged 63 years ago then the next day, Edinburgh to Kings Cross via LNER and then home from Euston in the afternoon via WCML

We love train travel and look forward to watching the countryside slide by, especially as it doesn't affect my mobility

Fun fact Edinburgh to Kings Cross and back to Colwyn Bay takes 7.5 hours whereas Colwyn Bay to Cardiff and back is over 8 hours

Steven Swinford
@Steven_Swinford
EXCLUSIVE

Lord Mandelson interview with
@katyballs
, who spoke to him both before and after the release of thousands of new Epstein emails

* On resigning from Labour. 'The decision wasn’t easy but I feel better for it as I need to reset. I am a New Labour person and always will be wherever the current party situates itself. But I think I want a sea change. I want to be more an outsider looking in than the other way round. I want to contribute ideas that enable Britain to strengthen and to work for all, in every part of the country'

https://x.com/Steven_Swinford/status/2018419906241282318

@PolitlcsUK
IN FULL: The cities currently bidding to be the UK's 2029 City of Culture

- Blackpool
- Bristol
- Exeter
- Ipswich
- Peterborough
- Plymouth
- Portsmouth
- Swindon
- Wrexham

If Swindon Town wins.. The place is utterly devoid of culture. Imagine winning a trip to the UK City of Culture and ending up in Swindon Town centre. There's a railway museum and an edge of town shit shopping village. The centre of town is mostly closed down

You could visit the Oasis centre in West Swindon, which apparently gave Oasis their name. It's shit

Isn't it the setting for The Office?

That's culture.