“Taxpayers’ money used to repair Lord’s driveway”, screamed the headlines. But the real scandal is how the media and politicians got it so wrong. Ginny Smith unearths the truth behind the “peer and the potholes” scandal.
Rewilding is all the rage yet there remain key fatal flaws in the model. First is the fragmented nature of rewilding in the UK. Second, it remains largely the domain of a handful of privileged people. Could greater democratic oversight help repair fragmentation?
Taking back control of our borders was, for good or ill, a cornerstone of Brexit, fetishised by those who tell Johnson what to do. As the UK government weeps crocodile tears over deaths at sea of asylum seekers driven to desperate measures to reach their place of safety, it refuses to enact the simplest and most decent of solutions to the problem: to create safe routes to this country.
The misery of the seriously overweight is compounded by British food culture. But, as Kate Springford finds in Sussex, there is hope in a community of fellow pre-diabetes sufferers.
Demonstrators from across East Sussex declared the county’s HQ a climate crime scene in a bid to persuade the County Council to divest its pension funds of fossil fuel investments.
Are disused railway bridges liabilities or assets? It’s a question highlighted by plans to infill a bridge in Barcombe with concrete, plans which provoked a vigorous and, so far, successful campaign to halt what local campaigners describe as vandalism.
Four writers reflect on what makes Christmas in Sussex special for them. From magical night adventures to a walk on the Downs. And what makes them homesick for their home county,
Mo Kanjilal was born in the UK and has lived all her life here. The Nationality and Borders Bill, clause 9 sends the message that certain citizens, despite being born and brought up in the UK and having no other home, remain migrants in this country. Their citizenship, and therefore all their rights, are precarious and contingent.
Over the past few weeks a number of scandals have rocked Westminster and Boris Johnson’s position as prime minister. Vivienne Griffiths examines the fallout of the ongoing furore and its impact on the Conservative government and its leader.
The awesome organisation of Mark Perryman and the Lewes Labour Party has resulted in all records being broken at this year’s Christmas Foodbank Collection. As usual, there was an all-day rota of collectors outside Tesco, Aldi and Waitrose. Bonfire societies, sports clubs choirs, political parties, yoga groups, panto casts and hundreds more willing individuals all […]
Hastings people have donated generously to help and welcome refugees – who now have fewer safe passages to escape death and persecution, a rally in the town heard.
Covid-19 case numbers are once again rising in Brighton and Hove, and now we also have the uncertainties of a new Covid variant – Omicron – to contend with. On the plus side, almost two years into this pandemic, some things about this virus are no longer a mystery. We know how it spreads. We […]
When British troops quit Afghanistan in August it was only the latest retreat in 200 years of war. James Joughin examines the history of Britain’s doomed attempts to subdue this central Asian country, and the part played by troops from Sussex
Under Home Secretary Priti Patel, what was once the policy of fringe British National Party crackpots is now at the heart of government. Her response to the deaths of 27 refugees at sea is playing politics with people’s lives.
A Sussex lifeboat crew talks about what it means to face the awesome power of the sea to do their job, at any time of day, saving lives.
Back in August Sussex Bylines began its Toxic Shock series reporting on the sewage discharges polluting our rivers and sea shores. Public outrage grew both locally and nationally and eventually No10 had to act. It’s a start, but far from enough say campaigners.
As the COP26 Conference on Climate Change comes towards the end of its second week in Glasgow, the media circus has moved on, global leaders have departed in their fuel-guzzling private planes, and much of the real work begins
More stunning pictures to enjoy from the lens of Ben Muir. If you have any images of people and places you’d like to share, do get in touch with us at Sussex Bylines.
Greater species diversity would transform the South Downs National Park from ‘pretty’ sheep-grazing fields into a vibrant landscape for all kinds of wildlife. Bring back the bison and let nature take charge again, urges zoologist Ross McNally.
The RNLI lifeboat at Newhaven is a part of a hugely popular, publicly funded charity that inspires loyalty and devotion from its volunteers, who selflessly dedicate their lives to saving the lives of others. How and why do they do it? This is their story.
Free University Brighton offers its students learning outside the mainstream. And from the germ of an idea just under 10 years ago, it has grown into a success story, admired from around the world.
It’s far from being the case that most people hate ‘migrants’. In Sussex, Ginny Foster reports on a Sanctuary movement active in offering a welcome so lacking from our political leaders and mainstream press.
Since Sarah Everard was murdered in March by a serving police officer, 81 women have been killed in the UK at the hands of men. How are women supposed to feel safe on our streets if the very people whose primary job is to protect us are instead disregarding, mocking or killing us? Can women trust the police? And perhaps more importantly, should we?
Forget Starmer’s speech, McDonald’s resignation and Rayner’s expletives, says Sussex Bylines writer Rick Dillon, who attended much of the Labour Party Conference in Brighton this week. Far more important were the under-reported land laws reform proposals, some put forward by the Hastings & Rye local party and passed enthusiastically by delegates, that would stop the developers’ planning free-for-all and could finally fix our nation’s housing crisis…
The safety of our water systems is now threatened due to the shortage of HGV drivers who deliver the chemicals needed to decontaminate wastewater. This is therefore a problem stemming directly from the consequences of Brexit – and one which, among many others, was predicted in the government’s own Operation Yellowhammer report, which laid out disaster contingency plans in the event of a no-deal Brexit, which has now become reality.
“Perhaps it is a tall ambition for Britain’s house builders, but why settle for a sentimental evocation of the past when you could aspire to an exciting journey into the future with all its possibilities?” New Sussex Bylines writer Joe Hamston, who is himself a house builder, makes the case for the urgent modernisation of our housing industry…
Sussex food partnerships are at the forefront of finding long-term solutions to the growing problem of food insecurity. Affordable food projects, community supermarkets and organisations who take surplus fresh produce from local farms and turn it into soups, are all playing their part in relieving the food poverty that exists in all of our communities…
We invited Sussex Bylines readers to share their personal experiences of how the government’s planned Universal Credit cut will affect them. We have already received some courageous responses that make for sobering – and in some cases, heartbreaking – reading…
Despite dire predictions and warnings, Johnson’s government seems determined to cut the £20 a week “uplift” payments for Universal Credit recipients. Yet as critics of the move point out, this cut is not only cruel and ill-timed, but doesn’t even make economic sense…
From Sussex to Scotland: Coat of Hopes just embarked on an inclusive, inspiring, and uniquely creative 500-mile, 60-day pilgrimage to the COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. And at its centre is a community-made patchwork coat that is transformed as it travels…