Section: Sussex

The recession has forced a move from a much-loved house and garden. Claire Hill remembers her family growing up there as she prepares to leave.

Women suffering domestic abuse need help locally, say campaigners in Brighton who are challenging a council decision to award a contract to two national charities. A local charity, Rise, lost out, but the new providers aren’t up to the job, says campaign group RiseUp, who want to see the contracts re-tendered.

In non-allotment life, advice is not always welcomed and the very idea of even listening to a good plan from an opposing viewpoint is seen as betrayal. A very appealing aspect of the allotment community is the appreciation of good advice, the exchange of knowledge based on hard experience and the respect in which the older members are held. They literally ‘know their onions’!

James Cory-Wright looks down on beige, berates a Brexit mouse and wonders how the Tories have taken over public broadcasting. Our diarist also celebrates women’s football in Lewes, and makes a heartfelt admission over housework.

The recent successful arts festival in Haywards Heath highlighted the absence of a permanent arts venue, after the controversial closure of Clair Hall. Festival organisers hope this can be resolved before next year’s festival.

There is growing support in Labour ranks for an overhaul of our Westminster voting system, with calls for the party to back some form of proportional representation in its manifesto for the next general election.

With a general election in the offing, maybe as soon as next year, newly selected Labour candidate Helena Dollimore prepares to oust the Tories from the marginal Sussex seat of Hastings & Rye.

LGBT+ rights have improved significantly over the last 50 years, with widespread acceptance of homosexuality in recent years. In contrast, Ross McNally argues that rights for trans people are falling behind and transphobia is widespread, not helped by negative coverage in the media. Pride should reclaim its radical roots and show solidarity with the trans community.

Bubble tea shops are popping up all over the place. I counted ten in Brighton. The bubble boom is boosted by social media; there are even bubble tea ‘influencers’ on social media platforms.  So rather than die wondering, give it a try, even if it’ll probably be just the once. Before the bubble bursts.   

Vivienne Griffiths gets a privileged peak inside Brighton’s new The Dance Space – an innovative multi-studioed building which aims to bring dance to all.

Over a hundred singers from Sussex and beyond took part in the Big Sing for Ukraine in Lewes Town Hall. Organised by the East Sussex Bach Choir, the music included Michael Tippett’s A Child of our Time and Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man. Celebrated local soloists joined in later as the choir gave an informal performance to family and friends.

Sussex is rich in literary heritage, having been home to some of the greats, like Henry James, Virginia Woolf, Rudyard Kipling and A.A.Milne. The pleasures of reading are extolled in Tom Serpell’s latest article, prompted by his grandson’s new love of books. He discusses the importance of libraries and independent bookshops where reading can be encouraged, as well as new online media platforms.

Activists are letting down the tyres of Sports Utility Vehicles and they have a point, says Ross McNally. Should these dangerous monster polluters really have a place in our urban environment?

Local repair cafés are one of those developments that seem long overdue.  The UK currently has over 200 of them, with willing volunteers repairing all kinds of stuff and baking for the café.  They are an important step in the direction of community sustainability. Alison Rees visited the cafés in Lindfield and Chailey and was very impressed. 

The Festival of Europe is coming to Brighton on Sunday 29 May, with an afternoon of debate, poetry and music. Local MP Caroline Lucas will chair a discussion about democracy under fire, and the event features live music by the Undead Musicians Club.

Other countries manage to keep their environments much cleaner and clearer of litter and general rubbish than we do in the UK. Why is this, how do they do it, and what could we learn from them? Ginny Smith investigates.

James Cory-Wright revisits a cricketing mecca in a new book about Sussex’s County Ground; salutes a goal-scoring Lewes goalkeeper; and reflects on the fate of two Borises: Becker and Johnson.

The new exhibition Seafaring, at Hastings Contemporary, features a wide variety of works by mainly British artists from 1820 to the present day. Rick Dillon describes the stunning range of paintings, from 19th-century shipwrecks by Romantic artists such as Géricault to contemporary canvases by Cecily Brown and Maggi Hambling.

Growing up in post-war Britain, in a strict Catholic household, Claire Hill and her friends were given strict rules about behaviour and dating at her convent school, but sex (like the war) was never mentioned. Inevitably, rule breaking resulted.

In the local elections, there were successes for Labour and Greens. There was a historic win for Labour in Worthing, and Labour also took back charge of Crawley, but the Greens ended Labour control in Hastings. Rick Dillon argues that these wins were as much to do with local issues as with Partygate.

The May local elections are being seen as the chance for voters to give their verdict on prime minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative government’s record of failing the young, the vulnerable and ordinary families. In Sussex there will be several key contests; but while parties go head to head, there have also been signs of greater compromise and partnership.

James Cory-Wright takes a sideways look at the world, from graffiti in Berlin to loo breaks in Snowdonia. And just who are the real ‘gentle sex’?

More than 40 food banks and community groups in Brighton and Hove have urged the Chancellor to act on food poverty, as demand reaches crisis proportions.

Nearly half of Britain’s bees are designated as nationally or globally threatened. Leading factors include habitat destruction and the use of chemical pesticides. Ross McNally argues that the introduction of bee bricks into new buildings will not make much difference to bee survival; it’s more important to ban pesticides in gardens, streets and agricultural land.

Claire Hill finds it a great comfort to walk in the countryside with her dog. It gives her time to think and here she talks about what’s important to her in life – including food, shelter, good healthcare and a decent government – and not forgetting earrings.

James Cory-Wright takes a sideways look at the world, from fish to politicians to marketing gobble-de-gook. And let’s not ignore the petals.

Many of us have a sense of helplessness about the war in Ukraine and this has prompted people to give money, offer their homes and contribute help in other ways. New writer Claire Hill describes how a cake sale she organised became a local community event, involving many others in her street.

Human dominance over nature is the lens through which we have been encouraged to see the rest of life on planet Earth. But the long-term consequences of this approach are becoming clearer daily: we are damaging the environment and ourselves. We have to reverse the trend, even if in small ways. We could do worse than start with our gardens, Manek Dubash explains.

Margaret Thatcher did much to hasten the decline of our hedgehog population, argues Ross McNally, who points to rampant road building, privatisation and individualism as contributing factors.

More high winds like Storm Eunice can be expected, so before thousands more face prolonged power cuts, it’s time for some practical solutions, says Jeremy Tucker-Wall.