When Make Votes Matter Lewes began forming in early 2020, we knew we’d need to work hard to build connections in a time of painful political division – but not that we’d have to do so while social distancing. Yet the Covid-19 restrictions forced us to find new ways to connect – across parties, our […]
Since the local elections of May 2019, councillors of all parties and the residents they represent have been thrown from crisis to crisis. The word ‘unprecedented’ has never been used so many times. The following events have coincided with my time as a local councillor: Brexit, a snap general election, the Covid-19 pandemic, the Black […]
The dark days for British democracy are coming in battalions at the moment, but Tuesday’s House of Commons vote on the Internal Market bill still stands out. MPs approved the bill by 340 votes to 256, despite fears that it could lead to the UK breaking international law. The bill is controversial because it contradicts […]
In the face of Brighton’s housing crisis, imaginative solutions are required – and two local groups have found one. The Brighton and Hove Community Land Trust (BHCLT) has launched a share offer to purchase its first property which it will lease to SEASALT, a student housing co-operative. The share offer, which closes on 31 October, is designed […]
As many children in the UK come to the end of their first few weeks of schooling after the first Covid-19 lockdown, we are reminded of a very different time a year ago. Children and young people in Sussex, and across the world, were marching out of school and making their voices heard for action […]
During lockdown, I narrowly missed being run down by a speeding van on an otherwise empty road, its driver giving me two fingers as I tried to slow him down. My angry reaction was: us older people are dispensable now. The feeling has been growing – fed by the enveloping Covid crisis. And I’m not […]
When the government announced the furlough scheme for workers hit by the coronavirus lockdown, they initially forgot about the estimated five million self-employed people in the UK. After campaigning from several MPs and lobbying groups, they did announce a scheme for the self-employed, the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), on 26 March. This caused temporary […]
This government’s ridiculous attempt to criminalise a movement that sees the planet as sacred’
it is extremely concerning that an elected MP has such an inadequate grasp of the issues
After several months of Covid-19 confinement, the prospect of an ocean passage from the Canaries to Plymouth might seem like a rather extreme choice of escape. And to be honest, back on 3 August 2020, as I set off to meet up with two fellow sailors at Gatwick, it felt that way to me as […]
Plumpton College joined a national call to Save British Farming yesterday amid claims that the double-whammy of the government’s agriculture bill and a no-deal Brexit could drive one in three farms out of business by 2025. Local campaigners warned that smaller farms would be worst hit. Thanking Plumpton College for its support, Save British Farming […]
Syrians fleeing their war-torn country have had a mixed reception in Britain – depicted as besieging our borders in Nigel Farage’s infamous ‘Breaking Point’ poster. Elsewhere they have been welcomed, and in some unexpected quarters. Such as the leafy Sussex villages of East Hoathly and Halland. The villages (pop 1,600) may seem an unlikely link […]
This has been a miserable month for anyone on the move in Europe, but especially for asylum-seeking refugees trying to cross the Channel from France to England. Both the UK and French Governments are seeking to wash their hands of responsibility for this humanitarian crisis, which has seen a young man drown and wash up […]
Thousands of renters will have breathed a sigh of relief as the government further extended the deadline that protects them from summary eviction. As well as the new deadline of 20 September, there is a six-month ban on most evictions taking place until the end of March 2021. So those who would have risked losing […]
Right on our doorstep in the Sussex Low Weald, a thriving wilderness of former farmland has had amazing success in restoring rare wildlife and biodiversity. Situated just 16 miles from Gatwick airport, the 3,500-acre Knepp Estate has garnered international recognition for its pioneering approach to conservation over the two decades since its inception and is […]
It seems that everyone is on the move. So many of my phone messages are full of Rightmove links and property photos. As the photos of kitchens, gardens and bathrooms start to merge into one, I wonder why is it that it seems like everyone I know has decided to move? Well, since March when […]
This summer, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in the USA, there has been a reigniting of the Black Lives Matter movement around the world. There have been widespread protests, many of them driven by, and attended by young people from a variety of backgrounds. For some, even if they want to […]
On Saturday 22 August, thousands of activists and campaigners came together across the UK – in a socially distanced manner – for Make Votes Matter’s action day to call for change to the UK’s electoral system. Make Votes Matter, a cross-party grassroots campaign, seeks to replace the antiquated first past the post (FPTP) system with […]
Brighton and Hove council will hold a climate assembly in the autumn of 2020, and has begun inviting residents to take part. If the city is to meet its commitment to becoming carbon-neutral by 2030, it’s clear that the council and residents will have to work together. So a citizens’ assembly seems an admirable idea […]
The government’s revelation that it will be creating a bonfire of planning regulations has sent a chill through many hearts
The government’s ambitious new White Paper, ‘Planning for the Future’. promises the biggest shake-up in the planning system since 1948, with a ‘fast track for beauty’. We urgently need to build more genuinely affordable homes, especially in the South East – but this White Paper won’t achieve that. It misunderstands the reasons why houses aren’t […]
On 13th August, thousands of students in Sussex and across the country anxiously opened their A-Level results, many to bitter disappointment and confusion. This included me. After spending half a year turning in extra essays, often working from 9am to 11pm, and using all my spare time working in the library, I was confident my […]
I have been a secondary teacher for 15 years, working my way up to Head of English and now Senior Leadership Team. I have always worked in ‘challenging schools’ serving areas of significant deprivation. It’s never been an easy ride and it often feels like the odds are stacked against our students and their communities. […]
The recent hot weather brought with it calm seas, and the calm seas brought with them an increase in the number of refugees crossing the Channel in small boats. To look at the reaction from the government and the right-wing press, one could be forgiven for thinking this was a massive invasion. What we actually […]
Last night Brighton and Hove took a significant step towards becoming the first local authority in the country to declare itself an anti-racist city. Green councillor Amy Heley’s Notice Of Motion to pledge the council to become anti-racist passed unanimously after a passionate speech where Councillor Heley read words from Brighton Black Lives Matter. Is […]
While Westminster politics remains resolutely tribal, out in the country things are changing. As more people begin to tire of yah-boo confrontation, Lewes provides a fascinating example of how successfully different political parties can work together and run a complex district council. After the May 2019 local elections, the Conservatives emerged as the largest single […]
I remember when we heard our village shop was closing because the owners couldn’t afford to continue running it. If we had known the shop was in such difficulty we would have supported it more – but it was too late. The same fate may now hang over Ashdown Forest, the Sussex beauty spot famed […]
Before Parliament went on its summer holidays, MPs were offered the chance to take back control of the government’s trade policy, and to protect the NHS from a US trade deal. And across Sussex, they rejected that opportunity. As Parliament debated the post-Brexit trade bill, Conservative MP Jonathan Djanogly brought forward an amendment requiring Parliamentary […]
Basking in the glory of the Conservatives’ 2019 election win, Rishi Sunak would never have guessed that, four months later, he’d be a Tory Chancellor playing socialist by paying the salaries of almost a quarter of the private-sector workforce. The government is keen to return to the old normal, but the coronavirus crisis has pushed […]
