Professor Sir John Curtice has seen enough. Reflecting on Labour’s thumping win last night in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, the polling guru said that by-election swings on this scale were “the kinds of swings that, historically at least, Oppositions have secured when they are going on to win the next general election”.
As the votes started to be counted, it quickly became clear that Scottish Labour, for so long in the doldrums, was back. The party took the seat on a swing of more than 20 per cent which, if replicated at a general election, would see it sweep 40 seats north of the border.
Of course, politics doesn’t necessarily work like that. This seat had its own unique set of circumstances — only vacated after its previous MP, Margaret Ferrier, had the SNP whip removed after breaching Covid-19 rules back in 2020. There is also at present a separate police investigation into the SNP.
Nonetheless, this result is further evidence that the polls are broadly right, and Labour is on course to make substantial gains across the country.
A bridge too far?
London’s own north-south divide is not merely rhetorical, with a major river running through the heart of the city. There are more than two dozen ways to cross the Thames within the capital, yet at times it feels as if most are closed or in a state of disrepair.
Transport for London has finally approved major safety upgrades for Lambeth Bridge, whose northern roundabout at Millbank has been classed as the “most dangerous junction in London for cyclists”. At the same time, we learn that the Millennium Bridge is to shut for three weeks for urgent repairs. Of course, this is all while Hammersmith Bridge serves as less a river crossing than an international punch line, as it remains closed to motor traffic.
Some things won’t ever change: Londoners need to be able to safely cross the river, a point the Romans understood when the city was founded nearly 2,000 years ago.
Celebrating cinema
The BFI London Film Festival is back. This year’s edition features 252 titles from more than 90 countries, including new movies by Martin Scorsese, David Fincher and Yorgos Lanthimos, as well as the Chicken Run sequel from Aardman Animations.
The festival is also running its 2023 LFF For Free programme, including special screenings of Loki, family events around Chicken Run and DJ nights inspired by Anita Pallenberg. Despite Covid lockdowns, Londoners never lost their love of cinema. Time to celebrate it all over again.
