Mark Pack

Could it be you? New vacancy listed on Lib Dem website: Caseworker for Olly Glover MP (Didcot & Wantage)

Could it be you? New vacancy listed on Lib Dem website: Head of the Commons Whips Office

Could it be you? New vacancy listed on Lib Dem website: Constituency Assistant (Mid Dorset & North Poole)

In the second episode of Political Fictions, @markpackuk.bsky.social and I talk about the Reese Witherspoon film Election. Features chat about the Millibands, Hillary Clinton and the importance of having sticky tape on your posters.

www.politicalfictionspodcast.com/e/election-2/

A rare Labour by-election gain from Reform The Murton ward council by-election in Durham brings a very rare gain for the Labour Party from Nigel Farage's Reform.

A rare Labour by-election gain from Reform

Could it be you? New vacancy listed on Lib Dem website: Office Manager for Sarah Green MP (Chesham and Amersham)

Could it be you? New vacancy listed on Lib Dem website: Caseworker for Sir Ed Davey MP (Kingston and Surbiton)

(Am looking forward to the vast over-analysis therefore of the result!)

I think that's Labour's first ever council by-election gain from Reform, or is there one I've missed...?

'I was suspended from Reform over row about clipboards' says Walsall councillor, six months after shock by-election win Walsall's first Reform councillor says he was suspended from the party, six months after a shock by-election win, following a row about clipboards.

Reform loses yet another councillor: buff.ly/Go3Pkce

Updated list: buff.ly/Bh5Ztg8

PODCAST: Election with Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick Cory and Mark watch Election, the 1999 film starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick. They talk about whether any of the characters...

PODCAST: Election with Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick

A Lord's Eye View | Mark Pack | Substack Lessons from seeing government and Parliament close-up as a life peer. Click to read A Lord's Eye View, by Mark Pack, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.

A Lord’s Eye View gives you the lessons from seeing up close how government and Parliament do - and don’t - work. What you see in the news or read about about in books or hear via other email newsletters misses much of what’s really going on:

Indeed, I've on several occasions either been about to hear someone speak or about to read something and thought 'must pay attention as this'll give me the data on the counter-case to what I think is true' and then at the end thought 'oh, they didn't choose to give any evidence'.

Good to see the number of Labour MPs speaking up for this. I hope their colleagues listen to them.

It feels like there's a bit of an echo here with the original impact of computers and computer-generated 'art', though this time around the technology is very much more advanced.

I certainly hope I'm an expert on the things I write about that I then test them with 🤣 (But agree, you need to know enough both about the content they output and the relevant skills needed to evaluate the content they output.)

E.g. people would normally call Elvis Pressley original while also recognising how his music has clear and important roots in what came before.

For me, one of the most interesting areas is that borderline between copy and original. We often laud artistic originality while also recognising its roots in previous works. In that sense, what we call original we often recognise as not being 100% original. So how far will LLMs be able to encroach?

In case you are in need of a bit of cheery political news...

That's quite a Conservative bar chart.

Partly because I feel I need to know about AI, I regularly give a batch of different LLMs the same task that I need doing, particularly copy checking and fact checking articles. There's lots to learn about how not be led into making mistakes with them. But they clearly can do useful things too.

Not James Buchanan?

Alongside, 'Got a government department to add a footnote to a pdf'.

As ever, yay for @profjanegreen.bsky.social and the British Polling Council's transparency rules which mean such crosstabs appear in public, and a culture where pollsters respond quickly to queries.

Found an error in a pollster's crosstabs 💪

This is very much not Franklin D. Roosevelt that we're dealing with.

Agenda & Directory Liberal Democrat Spring Conference 2026 - Agenda & Directory - York

Heading to Lib Dem Spring Conference? Don’t miss the training programme!
Whether you’re brand new or a seasoned campaigner, there’s something to sharpen your skills and help us win locally 🧡
Sign up and get involved! Check out the programme in our directory - www.libdems.org.uk/conference/p...

It wasn't just a previous omission as in an oversight, but an omission as in when asked to do it, they previously said 'no, we're not going to do it'. But whatever term we put on that (or whatever different terms!), yes it's very welcome.

Electoral Commission to get full independence back after welcome government U-turn After a change in the government's plans, the Electoral Commission is set to get its full independence back.

Electoral Commission to get full independence back after welcome government U-turn

I've had the email too, so...