Martin Tod

Can anyone explain to me what the Blue Labour justification for this is? Who out there will vote Labour because Mahmood prevented a Sudanese Chevening Scholar? And to be honest, why won’t the PM simply overrule her?

Three men wearing hi-vis jackets looking up at a camera with an enormous air source heat pump behind them - 5 units each with two big fans each - and piping connecting it to the main building.

Now *that* is an air source heat pump.

Congratulations to Ben and the team at Winchester Science Centre for getting rid of their oil-fired boiler and replacing it with this beauty!

The centre is still warm and welcoming (and, of course, still fun and inspiring too). But now low carbon as well!

One encouraging sign is that it postdates the introduction of the decimal system!

Did it have a barcode?

Or there’s X, the website formerly known as Twitter. Its owner is committed to removing the government, and seems keen to encourage violence on Britain’s streets. Now its 2026 update lets users create what are politely called “sexualised images” of anyone, including children. A Secretary of State for Culture, if Britain had one, could take a view on whether this was a welcome development. They could, if they had been appointed and went into work every day, offer Starmer advice on whether X should be one of the government’s main channels of communication, effectively supporting a site that produces on-demand pornography of real people including, let’s say it again, children.

If the UK government had a Culture Secretary, that person would be in a position to take a view about whether child porn on demand was a good thing, or a bad thing. thecritic.co.uk/brin...

The Liberal Democrats won 106 Council By-Elections in 2025, more than any other party #ByElectionsWrapped

1) LDM 106
2) RFM 104
3) CON 45
4) LAB 36
5) GRN 24

We did this in Winchester to secure much needed social homes and rebalance our city's estates away from HMOs. No apologies. No regrets.

Absolutely. And if they're notionally moved to 2027, there's no chance they go ahead. The shadow elections are scheduled for the same year, and there's really no point in electing a council for just one year at the same time as the one that replaces it.

Regular elections are one of the most important ways that the public can hold councils and councillors to account. If people don’t like what we’re doing, they can vote us out – and quite right too: that’s democracy.

I and my Lib Dem colleagues oppose any cancellation or delay to elections anywhere in Hampshire and the Solent – and I certainly won’t be asking the government to cancel or delay elections in the @winchester.gov.uk area. I want them to go ahead.

In practice, this means they will be cancelled. County elections have already been delayed by one year and if they don’t go ahead in 2026, I don’t see how they ever will. County Councillors would end up serving seven-year terms without facing the voters: an absolute democratic disgrace.

It’s such a mess.

Two weeks after the Mayoral elections were put back by two years, the Labour government is now asking councils if we want to delay county, district and unitary elections as well.

See also the state of the almost wholly state-owned roads network...

Budget 2025: This is how you lose the world iandunt.substack.com/p/budget-202...

Brexit reminders. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog. Brexit may not be in the headlines, but many current news stories carry reminders of it, including the Hallett Inquiry report, the Gill scandal, the Budget & the latest net migration figures: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2025/11/brex...

This paper examines the impact of the UK's decision to leave the European Union (Brexit) in 2016. Using almost a decade of data since the referendum, we combine simulations based on macro data with estimates derived from micro data collected through our Decision Maker Panel survey. These estimates suggest that by 2025, Brexit had reduced UK GDP by 6% to 8%, with the impact accumulating gradually over time. We estimate that investment was reduced by between 12% and 18%, employment by 3% to 4% and productivity by 3% to 4%. These large negative impacts reflect a combination of elevated uncertainty, reduced demand, diverted management time, and increased misallocation of resources from a protracted Brexit process. Comparing these with contemporary forecasts – providing a rare macro example to complement the burgeoning microliterature of social science predictions – shows that these forecasts were accurate over a 5-year horizon, but they underestimated the impact over a decade.

Read 'em and weep. (www.nber.org/system/files...)

The Benefits of Bubbles We are in an AI Bubble: the big question is if this bubble will worth it for the physical infrastructure and coordinated innovation that result?

Read of the day: Ben canters through recent pro-bubble literature. The most surprising thing for me is his argument that by massively augmenting the demand for energy at this (imho fraught) time, the data centre bubble might leave a hugely positive legacy.

stratechery.com/2025/the-ben...

Agree.

And on the other... bsky.app/profile/rent...

On the one hand...

Nationalism is a shibboleth. The challenges we face are daunting. But we are not going to overcome them by hunkering down behind of imaginary lines scrawled on a map by medieval warlords. Our problems are transnational, and the solutions are too.

Organisations and teams can only get the award if they 'go the extra mile for animal welfare': so great to see that recognised.

(And good to see Fleur and Smudge come along for the celebrations too!)

Three men with two dogs standing in front of an electric Winchester City Council electric van in a courtyard. The men are looking at the dogs and smiling.

Three men with two dogs standing in front of an electric Winchester City Council electric van in a courtyard. The men are looking at the camera and smiling.

Was great to have a chance to congratulate @winchester.gov.uk's fantastic Animal Welfare team on being awarded a very special pair of @rspcaoffficial.bsky.social awards for the 3rd consecutive year - Platinum PawPrints for Stray Dog Services and Animal Activity Licensing.

The media ready to cover Reform by-election victories today only to find Lib Dems winning 7/10

Bronze statue of Jane Austen with her hand resting on a writing table - on a sandstone platform - in the middle of a lawn - with a crowd and old house in the background.

Was looking forward to see Winchester's new statue of Jane Austen - and then was blown away when it was unveiled. Stunning.

What's strange is that local councils already do this with fly-tipping ...

It was clear from knocking on doors on Wednesday that the Lib Dem team's record of local action in Yateley has earned them huge respect. Also lots of positivity about their great new Lib Dem MP @alexkbrewer.bsky.social as well! 😊

Lib Dem campaigners celebrating - holding orange diamond posters - outside Yateley Village Hall

Absolutely delighted to hear about Alex Drage's victory in the Yateley West by-election. It was such a pleasure to campaign for someone who's so committed to strong action on cutting carbon and reversing the decline in biodiversity and nature.

Windy day but a good crew out in Yateley West including prospective Hampshire Mayoral candidate @martin.tod.social

If you want to help right now and you're a registered UK voter, we do need to raise a significant amount to get the campaign off to the fastest possible start - anything you can do to help at www.martin4mayor.org.uk/donate will be much appreciated.

Volunteer to help Martin Tod become our first Mayor Martin Tod is the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of Hampshire and the Solent

Many of these are areas where I've worked with colleagues to deliver change before - and we'll be campaigning across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to make the same kind of change on a larger scale.

But we need your help. You can join my team at www.martin4mayor.org.uk/volunteer