When Alec Douglas-Home died in 1995, I remember asking one of my teachers whether he thought there would ever again be a Prime Minister who’d been schooled at Eton. I paraphrase his reply, but it was unequivocal, slightly venomous and laced with regret. “Never again. John Major and his “classless society” nonsense has seen to …
I love the Brighton Green Party. I constantly delight at their loquacity. Barely a day goes by in the blogosphere without a fascinating new viewpoint or opinion popping up for our delectation. Here’s a summary of the most recent posts I’ve read and enjoyed: – Green Leader Cllr Bill Randall ruminates about the butterflies in …
Why the Green Silence on Brighton & Hove’s Bin Strike? Read More »
Noone who was present at Henry Allingham’s funeral earlier in the year doubts Brighton’s pride in its heroes. And today at the Brighton cenotaph down at Old Steine, just like in communities all over, hundreds of people joined in the Service of Rememberance. Rememberance is important every year, but recent losses in Afghanistan made it …
I suspect my growing interest in Brighton and Hove’s local politics will mean that this isn’t the first blog I write about bins, refuse collection and recycling. So here you go: two of the communal bins on my street. Pics taken half an hour ago. Why is this bad? This is the backlog of just …
Brighton’s Tory ‘Winter of Discontent’ starts here Read More »
Rejoice! The church has sent another missionary to save us godless Brightonians! Our new saviour comes in the shape of the ever so trendy Reverend Archie Coates. He knows what we need: more god. He’s so wrong. When it comes to beliefs and religions we’ve got plenty. It’s just not necessarily Church of England or …
I’m pleased to see that Brighton and Hove City Council are flogging some old street signs on eBay. It’s not a first (several other councils are already accomplished eBayers) but it is a good way to raise some cash for the coffers and also recycle and reuse things that they don’t need any more. But …
There’s a great scene in season 6 of The West Wing when Josh Lyman introduces Matt Santos to the unglamorous reality of kicking off a presidential campaign from scratch with the New Hampshire primary. The candidate helps voters unload their trash at the town dump. The scene reinforces the importance of humility in politics. Personal …
Spotted in Brighton. Rather saddening…
Sometimes the mark of a good meeting or debate is that you emerge with more uncertainty than when you arrived. SCIP Digital Inclusion event hosted by NixonMcInnes and WiredSussex last evening on the Labour Conference fringe certainly left me with more questions than answers. There was a clear view of what digital exclusion is from …
SCIP Digital Inclusion Event at Labour Conference Read More »
A couple of delegates at Labour Conference have asked for some food, drink and fun suggestions for when they’re down in our great city-by-the-sea. And as a special service to them, here are some places that I really like and can honestly recommend. Places that you might not naturally stumble on as a visitor in …
The Conservative Totnes experiment with open primaries is an interesting one. The Tories opened the selection of their candidate to all local electors. They could choose from a shortlist chosen by local party members. It’s an idea that’s fraught with risks and problems and, possibly most critically, expense. But it could be one of several …
It’s a lot of fuss over a single seat on a city council. But the Green victory in Goldsmid offers a lens on the politics of this City-by-the-Sea. A Labour gain in Goldsmid was always a big ask in the current climate but then again a Tory hold was hardly a dead cert (the previous …
Don’t ask me why I was reading the Daily Mail yesterday, but I was. There was a letter from one reader in response to a recruitment drive by police forces to recruit more officers from gipsy groups. My jaw dropped. I’m slightly surprised that this is acceptable.
I enjoy a good polemic and I also appreciate didactic drama. But I’m not so serious that I don’t adore well crafted pap. Often people ask why a seemingly otherwise balanced and normal man watches Doctor Who and, by extension, Torchwood. I don’t have kids after all and I’m not an obsessed sci-fi geek. When …