Chris Whiteside's Blog

Great campaigning session this morning and early afternoon in Kells. It's a long way to the next general election but our campaigning team is fired up with enthusiasm. And having walked about seven miles and thirteen thousand steps, time to put the feet up and relax for half an hour before the next job. What better music to relax to than the "Pifa" pastoral symphony from Handel's Messiah?

Answer to yesterday's Quiz

Well, here is the answer. "Paraskevidekatriaphobia" is an irrational fear of a date. Such as an irrational fear of Friday the 13th.

By-election news

Conservatives have WON the Worth Valley, Bradford by-election with over 50% of the vote and nearly twice as many votes as the Reform UK candidate: Cons: 1815 (51.7%) Ref: 917 (26.2%) Lab: 425 (12.1%) Grn: 245 (7.0%) LD: 83 (2.4%) IND: 29 (0.4%) Conservative majority 898. Congratulations Cllr Paul Golding! Nigel Farage may arrogantly claim we're dead but we're not in the ground yet.

Board of Deputies and JLC response to yesterday's High Court Ruling

Quote of the day 14th February 2026

"The government must agree to create a new category of Extreme Criminal Protest Group to make it easier to ban groups like Palestine Action without necessarily labelling them as terrorists. Ministers should accept my amendment in the House of Lords." Lord Walney.

The Home Secretary reacts to the High Court decision on Palestine Action

When former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper proscribed the "Palestine Action" campaign group under anti-terrorism legislation, the comment I made at the time was that banning a group which had organised the deliberate sabotage of RAF aircraft was entirely justified but I wasn't certain that the use of Blair-era anti-terror legislation was the best way to do it. Jake Symons wrote, " In a recent episode of The Brink, " (Link to that episode below at ‘We are deeply compromised’: Security Experts Expose Britain’s Intelligence Crisis ) " Lord Walney, the former Independent Adviser on Political Violence and Disruption in November – and a Labour figure – revealed that he had suggested a solution that would have restricted Palestine Action without having to resort to terror legislation. That was the obvious solution. Yes, they broke into Brize Norton and caused significant damage to our national security infrastructure, but to lump them with Islamic State and Al Qaed...

Music to start the weekend: Windmills of your mind (Mel Torme version)

This is the 1969 version of the song, written for the original "The Thomas Crown affair" film, which was used fifty-six year later to conclude the second season of "Severance."

Question of the day for Friday 13th February 2026

This is a particularly appropriate question for today. What irrational fear is referred to by the following word, paraskevidekatriaphobia? An appropriate prize (it isn't something nasty) will be sent to the first person to post the correct answer in the quiz thread comments on either of the two blogs on which this quiz post will simultaneously appear at 06:00 UTC on Friday 13th February 2026.

Quote of the day Friday 13th February 2026

“ Keir’s not driving the train. He thinks he’s driving the train, but we’ve sat him at the front of the DLR. ” Now the driverless train chugs on, with no direction. The control room is empty, and the Prime Minister is stuck unable to change the track himself. From an article by Tom Harwood in The Critic which you can read in full be clicking on the link below: Starmer’s countdown begins | Tom Harwood | The Critic Magazine The first sentence above, in italics and quotation marks, is taken from the book, " Get In " by Gabrial Pogrund and Patrick Maguire, and they were quoting a member of Starmer’s inner circle describing his political operation, citing the driverless Docklands Light Railway. The following sentence is what Tom Harwood's wrote immediately after that quote and is his commentary on what that means for the country now that Morgan McSweeney, the brains behind the operation, has resigned.

Thursday music spot: "Abendlied" (evening song) by Josef Rheinberger

Latest UK growth figures

The ONS has released the latest figures for UK economic growth, relating to the UK's Gross Domestic Product for the three months ending December 2025: In their words, "GDP grew 0.1% in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2025. Services showed no growth (0.0%), while production grew (+1.2%) and construction contracted (-2.1%)." Source: GDP first quarterly estimate, UK - Office for National Statistics They also said that GDP per head has reduced slightly in each of the last two quarters.

Second quote of the day 12th February 2026

Tom Peck in The Times on the PM's dreadful performance at Prime Minister's Questions yesterday ... “When you’re bang to rights, it’s common in politics, though never wise, to point out that your opponent is worse than you are. It’s never wise because it’s not a denial, it’s an admission of guilt. This was like that, but worse. When you’re on the ropes over child sex offences, you can’t really return fire with an illegal cheese and wine party, but he tried it.”

Quote of the day Thursday 12th February 2026

From Jan Ganesh in the Financial Times on the Labour challengers to Starmer: "You have to have access to a special plane of consciousness to believe that Labour is unpopular because it is not leftwing enough."

Midweek music spot: VIvaldi's concerto for two mandolins

MoD Defence intelligence update: Putin's latest crime against the people of Ukraine

Bangor University disavow their Debating and Political society

Bangor University has issued a statement disavowing the views of their student Debating and Political Society and confirming the University's commitment to free speech. Here is the statement.

Quote of the day Wednesday 11th February 2026

“A smart man makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again. But a wise man finds a smart man and learns from him how to avoid the mistake altogether.” Roy H. Williams

Polling from More in Common on voters' preferred Prime Minister

I try never to get too hung up on any single opinion poll, especially three years out from a General Election, but this set of results from the pollster More in Common is quite interesting.

Tuesday music spot: "O Lord, in thy wrath" by Orlando Gibbons

Stephen K Bush on gazing into the Abyss ...

Hat-tip to John Rentoul for posting on X this section of Stephen K Bush's morning Newsletter:

Labour in their own words

Thanks to Andrew Griffith MP for posting this comment from Heath Secretary Wes Streeting on X: (Source: Andrew Griffith MP on X: "I agree with Wes on this! More self awareness than his own Chancellor and Prime Minister.⬇️ https://t.co/stdeQxM0cw" / X )

Why the student debating society in Bangor, and Reform UK, are both wrong.

When I was a student I was a strong supporter of Free Speech (within the law) and opponent of the so called "No platform" policy. I supported a private member's bill proposed by Fred Sylvester MP to make it unlawful for student unions or the higher education establishment's authorities to stop a group of students inviting a speaker because the people implementing such a ban disagreed with the speaker's views. A measure very like the Fred Sylvester bill did eventually become law as the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 (click on link for details of the act.) I strongly support that act. Because Education is devolved it does not apply in Wales. The current committee of the Debating and Political Society at Bangor University, who might or might not have broken that law if it applied in Wales but were certainly unwise, have walked into a Reform UK trap by turning down a request by two Reform UK members of parliament to speak to the society. That in itself...

Quote of the day Tuesday 10th February 2026