Political Revolution in the Making
With the Reform Party winning the by-election in Runcorn, its first two mayoral positions, and taking control of a number of local councils in England, it is clearly on a roll. Is this the end of two-party politics as Nigel Farage has suggested? Perhaps I would say but if it’s a victory for democracy it’s also surely more down to having two weak leaders in the Labour and Conservative parties while Nigel Farage represents the views of many on the big issue of immigration.
But it also demonstrates that Reform have built a local party machine with active supporters who can win elections, and have the funding to do so. They are not going to go away. Even more to the point, it suggests that we really do need a system of proportional representation to stop the “winner takes all” and divisive politics of the older parties. The socially divisive Labour and Conservative parties need to change their politics and public images so that they can represent everyone.
VE-Day Reminiscence
VE-Day which celebrates the end of the war in Europe is on the 8th May. It’s a good moment to recall what my father wrote in his diary on that day in 1945.
My father worked for Boots in a reserved occupation maintaining their power station. Although he did briefly join the Home Guard he generally avoided military service. This is what he wrote in the days before and after the celebration day:
Sunday, May 6. Yesterday afternoon I did three hours hard work fixing a 1 kw heater in the upstairs water tank. I scrounged it from Bob some years ago and it will probably come in handy next winter, when coal supplies look like being even less than last. It was raining hard all day but milder.
Today was bright and sunny but there was a cool wind. Out before dinner with Grandpa and the lad and again after dinner to the University Park [in Nottingham] and took two snaps [one below is of my mother Nell and brother Adrian].
There was nasty news last night of the Russians dealing with the so called Democratic Poles, whom they now admit, after much delay and prevarication, to have arrested on vague charges of “sabotage” etc! A shocking business, which hasn’t made a good impression either here or in the USA. The Russians are a bit too keen on setting up their own governments in the liberated countries and I fancy we are not going to stand for it very much longer.
Wednesday, May 9. Well at long last, the announcement came of the end of the war in Europe. Rumours were circulating at 3 o’clock on Monday but I didn’t take much notice until CHJ told me and Fred Sutcliffe that it was semi-official and that the news would “break” at 9 pm. We argued for an hour about what to do; but in the absence of definite news, we decided we’d wait and see. At 8:30 pm the announcement was made that Churchill would speak at 3 pm on Tuesday. I rang CHJ and he was in a fog and told me he would get Bull. He did and told me that Bull also couldn’t make up his mind just whether it meant 2 days or only 1 day’s holiday. But at the 9 pm news it was made quite clear, so I went down there and got the arrangements made.
Yesterday I went to work, just to make sure but found the boys all shut down and away (by 8:40 am!). Jack Spenser rolled up also by 10:30 am and we adjourned to the Chequers, where a crowd was congregated waiting for opening time at 11:30 am. We got a pint each and by 11.50, the beer was all sold and we had to content ourselves with a Guinness each in a pint mug. I paid for that in a headache, which lasted the rest of the day. After tea, Nell and I went to the pictures but after three quarters of an hour, I couldn’t stand any more, so we left. Where such drivel comes from I don’t know. I forgot that after dinner, being fine and sunny after rain, we went into the University Park, where I got two snaps. The evening was quiet except for a few fireworks in the garden 2 doors away. Bed by 11 o’clock, very thankful that the job is finished.
VE Day Today was a grand day of sun, though with a fairly high wind. We took Adrian out before dinner and after, I went with Nell to play tennis but we only got 20 mins play when Adrian began to howl, so we were forced to abandon the game. We were home by 3:30 pm and after taking my last snap, we have just packed him off.
Well, I wonder what will happen now. All the shouting is still to do but on the whole, I fancy we may see a steady rise in our standard of living for the next 10 years; after that I’m not so sure. But there is much reconstruction to be done and I think Germany will be no great competitor for many years. Russia and the USA will take some holding though and whether the Commonwealth will hold together much longer is an open question. Sentiment alone counts for little now.
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My father clearly foretold the threats from Russia and the USA which we are still living through. But the UK economy was in a dire state in 1945 and the difficulties are made clear in the book by Ed Conway which I reviewed here: https://roliscon.blog/2025/02/24/book-reviews-j-d-rockefeller-and-ed-conway/ . It covers the Bretton Woods conference which set the structure of international finance since 1945.
Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://x.com/RogerWLawson )
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