Section: Region

“Enough is enough, Sheryll!”

Ken Robertson and Nicola Tipton

Here in South East Cornwall, we have a mirror behaviour of Johnson’s attitude and arrogance as our so-called MP Sheryll Murray goes about not doing her business. A combination of sycophantic adoration for Bozo and almost total neglect of her constituents has enraged local people of mixed political beliefs (including Tories) and prompted them to […]

The Conservatives must back down immediately on the closure of the Royal Cornwall Museum

Editor-in-chief

Andrew George is calling on the Conservatives on Cornwall Council to reverse their decision to cut crucial funding for the Royal Cornwall Museum. Andrew is a Cornwall Councillor and has raised questions with the Council’s audit committee which meets later this week. Andrew said, “When your Party runs the country with an 80 seat majority, holds all MP seats in Cornwall and […]

BCP Council: the beach huts story…

Daniel Parkin

According to the Bournemouth Beach Huts Association, there are some 20,000 private beach huts in the UK and, despite their limited size and lack of home facilities, they have become icons of the British seaside resort. Many beach huts were former fishermen’s huts, boatsheds or converted Georgian or Victorian bathing machines, which looked like beach […]

“Our electoral system does not produce good government”

Compass Northern Devon

Dozens of residents and visitors attending the Bideford Soapbox Derby took time out to share their views with Compass Northern Devon on the state of politics in this country.  As in other Northern Devon towns, the results show that many people have lost faith in both politics and political parties. Many wish to be rid […]

The people of Tiverton and Honiton have not spoken – they have roared

Anthea Simmons

This is not a country of Johnson fans. This is not a country which will put up with lies, corruption, oppression, racism, law-breaking, hypocrisy and exploitation. There is a majority not just for specific progressive parties but for the core values of truth, fairness, inclusion, kindness, decency, integrity, humanity and the rule of law. Tiverton […]

A message to voters in Tiverton and Honiton

Stuart Reynolds

I have been a Tory supporter since I was a child. My parents were as Tory as they come, our home hosted MP surgeries. Our front room was often piled high with election literature and envelopes. That is my dad in the photo. I have had the privilege of meeting three Prime Ministers: Macmillan, Heath, […]

Can Kevin Foster justify the hideous Rwanda policy?

Jack Dart

I’m sorry, but I’m not going to stop talking about the behaviour of Kevin Foster until we start getting some answers. Since the introduction of this new, disgraceful Rwanda policy, we’ve not heard any substantial justification from Kevin Foster. The facts are that Rwanda has: 1. Highly questionable political freedom. 2. A poor human rights […]

Battle of Hustings – Tiverton and Honiton by-election

Robin Alexander

On a balmy summer evening a week before the poll, the electorate of Tiverton and Honiton lined up expectantly to pack out the by-election hustings at the Tiverton Community Arts Theatre at Tiverton High School. As they queued across the courtyard, a number of local activists unfurled a substantial banner – 18 metres (60 feet) […]

WTF: the Why This Field? campaign in Totnes

Anthea Simmons

A group of people who live in the beautiful Devon town of Totnes, have come together in the Why This Field (WTF) campaign to support Totnes Town Council’s (T.T.C.) bid to purchase The Lower Field & The Elmhurst Site from K.E.V.I.C.C. school. The much-loved school is in need of funds to fix, revive and improve […]

Ukraine rocks

Gérard Fabrice Guminski

On 24 February 2022, I saw the first footage of Putin’s invasion of a sovereign nation, Ukraine: the beginning of what will be a long journey of suffering for so many innocent civilians. I’m sure we all agree that this conflict doesn’t belong in the 21st century, whether here in Europe or anywhere else in […]

Sheryll Murray – Johnson’s puppet

Ken Robertson and Nicola Tipton

We’re part of an ever-growing group of constituents in South East Cornwall who are very unhappy, frustrated and often angry at our ineffective MP Sheryll Murray. She is one of the 211 sycophants still supporting Johnson and they all need to be named and shamed. How on earth can anyone walk amongst their community knowing […]

BCP Council’s shopping trolley of doom

Adam Sofianos

Back in May 2021, Boris Johnson’s former guru, Dominic Cummings, painted a scathing picture of the Prime Minister. Describing a culture of U-turns, policy changes and general chaos, he likened Johnson to “a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other”. Since then, Cummings’ tweets and blogs have often referred to […]

Our rivers are dying: protest action in Totnes on Saturday 11 June

Editor-in-chief

Ocean Rebellion (Torbay & South Devon) will be hosting an action “Our rivers are dying” at Steamer Quay Totnes, Saturday 11 June 15:30 to 17:00. The purpose of the action is to promote public awareness that UK rivers are in rapid decline and rivers globally are in poor biological health. Ocean Rebellion also intend to call […]

Spineless, gormless, charmless and useless

Tom Scott

All but one of Cornwall’s Conservative MPs voted on 6 June to back a law-breaking prime minister and thereby brought themselves and their party into even greater disrepute. Their constituents’ reactions ranged from derision to weary despair, as Tom Scott describes. First to tweet in support of Britain’s worst prime minister in modern history after […]

What does ‘Cornish’ even mean anymore?

Joel Griffet

Old ideas of what it means to be ‘Cornish’ are dead, and cannot be revived. Moving forward, Cornish identity must be redefined to suit the modern age, unless enough people want to start going back down mines for work, and speaking only in Cornish. To talk of the good old days is to languish in […]

BCP Council – the death of scrutiny

Alex Mckinstry

Few BCP Council committees were more highly regarded than the Overview & Scrutiny Board (OSB), which tracked and challenged Cabinet policy, grilled the leadership, and benefited from a truly impartial chairman … Clearly it had to go. It was abolished under a proposal brought by the Council’s deputy leader, Philip Broadhead, on 10 May 2022. […]

Is BCP the most corruptible council in England?

Adam Sofianos

In 2020 the anti-corruption group Transparency International UK published a paper on the potential for corruption in English local authorities. Fifty key councils were assessed on how they manage corruption risks such as lobbying, oversight and conflicts of interest. One council was deemed by far the worst in England: Bournemouth-Christchurch-Poole (BCP). Why was BCP Council […]

Make Votes Matter! June 11, Totnes

Editor-in-chief

Don’t miss this! As you will know, West Country Voices is a strong and vocal supporter of electoral reform – it’s essential for empowerment of citizens and engagement with the politics that affect our lives, no matter how much we may want to stay out of it or are bored or turned off by it. […]

Is Brixham in danger of being conned yet again?

Anthea Simmons

So many towns and villages across our region desperately need more funding to support the poor, the elderly and the young. Levelling Up funds strike many of us as a bit of pump-priming disguised as an ideological commitment to close the growing, yawning gap between the haves and the have-nots (the consequence of twelve years […]