Events don’t only impact people – buildings are also at risk
In cities and villages alike, community life has long depended on key buildings. But how many of these beloved edifices will survive the pandemic?
Author: Tom Serpell
Angry retired lefty living in rural Wealden. Lover of family, friends, drawing, most things Spanish and decent government. On Twitter @leftwithnoparty
How Covid has challenged political certainties
Political certainties have been jettisoned by a combination of Covid and Brexit. Tories traditionally hold the purse strings tight while Labour demonstrates a greater tendency to spend on public services but today, we’re seeing unprecedented levels of public spending increasing. Tom Serpell explores the implications for political loyalties.
Is democracy in Sussex really too much to ask for?
In a democracy every citizen should have the right not only to vote, but also to have someone in parliament who speaks for them, which simply does not happen in First Past the Post races. For Sussex, and the rest of the country, a fair proportional representative voting system seems overdue.
Should people’s kindness excuse government from duty?
Dolly Parton; Bill Gates; Marcus Rashford, heroes all! Trussell Trust; Sussex Hospices; Help for Heroes, all saints. Or are they? Doing things for others is political activism which is as rewarding for those who do it as for those who may benefit. But much of it should not be happening.
Ambition without competence may be Johnson’s undoing
Could the current PM’s desire to centralise government powers be the very factor that stimulates further devolution?
Johnson reveals only nationalism’s uglier face
Nationalism has reinfected the world of late. Not patriotic love of country but nationalism, which looks down on other countries, its adherents deaf to evidence, embracing prejudice, exceptionalism and myths.
Three little words to save democracy
Remember ‘Lock her up!’ and ‘Build the wall’? Surely not a manifesto for government yet the foundation for Trump’s victory four years ago. We live in an age of populism in which messages matter more than manifestos. Even backbench Tories are complaining that their leadership routinely bypasses them, parliament and democracy. Rule by the people, […]
Is democracy a sham?
In the centuries since the English Civil War and the Putney Debates it has become customary that democracy is seen and promoted as the most desirable basis for governance, whether at state or local level. Rooted in the concept of human rights, democracy seeks active engagement of all qualifying citizens in selection of policies and […]