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 […]
I recall a visit I made to a Midlands town to meet various councillors and businessmen (and they were all men) when I was a transport minister. ‘When are we getting our new road?’ they demanded. ‘We have been campaigning for it since 1938!’ I had to explain that it was not a matter of […]
What’s the ‘new normal’ at uni? Going back for me and thousands of other students will be different, the environment strange, and the higher-ups will muddle through as usual. But inevitably our tuition fees will stay at an all-time high while our employability plummets to a likely all-time low. The coming months could be disastrous, […]
Dyeing, sewing, foraging, preserving, baking – and connecting… Despite all the worry and frustrations of those long lonely weeks, lockdown gave me an opportunity to get creative in ways that I hadn’t been in a long time. It just so happened that immediately before lockdown I temporarily moved from a town-centre flat to housesit for […]
Brighton & Hove City Council’s website says that “Active, outdoor play is an important part of children’s development and health”. If they think this is the case, it seems odd that at the time of writing nearly a quarter of the city’s playgrounds are still closed, leaving children locked out of these vital facilities. The […]
Dramatic cuts in income have left councils with big budget shortfalls, and no way to get the money they need to provide day-to-day services. Had the Covid-19 crisis happened back in 2010, there wouldn’t have been such a problem. Ten years of austerity have left councils in no fit state to cope. The government has […]
During those first weeks of lockdown when the roads fell silent and there was hardly a plane in the sky, one service remained to ensure that fresh produce, fruit and vegetables continued to reach shops and supermarkets in Sussex. Unpublicised and uncelebrated, as so often in its history, the Newhaven to Dieppe ferry kept open […]