We wrote about the wonderful Ashburton Arts Centre back in October 2020 and director Andy Williamson explained why the venue was so loved by performers. The Tinners Moon Festival, which had had to be cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, is in full swing right now and you really shouldn’t miss the opportunity to […]
In late January 2022, Dorset had a strong and healthy wildlife cop presence. Positive messages abounded far and wide…. However, by February 10, there was a severe climate change…. Storm Loder blew in from the west and wrought havoc across the land: By the next day, the wildlife team was unable to communicate further! On […]
Dear Sheryll The government has now announced its regional funding strategy. Now forgive me as I did not take maths past GCSE so I may be wrong, but £132 million from our government is slightly less than the £300 million that Cornwall would have received from the European Union over the same three year period. […]
Dear Derek, I’m really not sure how much more of this you and your colleagues can take. I know you entered politics to help people, to change society for the better, to make a difference. And at a local level you appear to be succeeding, albeit up against 12 years of austerity and economic and […]
Here is a sample of the letters MPs will no doubt be receiving today and for days to come. The anger is not going to go away and the fact that the Conservatives feel they have no one to take Johnson’s place merely adds yet more insults to the very many injuries. Attention Mr Jupp […]
We are at a very dangerous point for our democracy. We are not being shelled, starved and murdered by Russians, but we are being cheated, lied to, gaslighted and exploited by the most corrupt, mendacious and cruel government seen in our lifetime. Johnson is so greedy for power and so utterly contemptuous of truth and […]
“Our vision is to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener, healthier, happier and more beautiful place.” So says the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), a registered charity which promotes horticulture and helps gardeners, both present and retired. The Society provides information, practical advice, training, qualifications and bursaries, is involved in education, […]
Dear Sheryll Murray, Thank you for your letter replying to this email: Dear Sheryll Murray, I hope that you are well and that you enjoyed celebrating your wedding anniversary. Fines have now been issued to people attending ‘gatherings’ at 10 Downing Street. More are in the pipeline. Mr Johnson told parliament that ‘all rules were […]
I spy with my little eye – yellow stars on a blue background… If you look carefully, all across the UK there are blue plaques with yellow stars, announcing funding by the EU for that area. Funding that has helped our country. Funding that came from the EU, not the UK. Funding that the UK […]
I first heard late on Tuesday about the call from the European Movement (EM), for their members and local groups to come to the ‘London stands with Ukraine’ rally and march on Saturday 26 March. They had joined with London mayor Sadiq Khan, who’d asked Londoners to stand in solidarity with Ukraine. Could I attend […]
You will have to pardon the rather ancient picture of Central Devon’s MP back in the days when he supported British Farming. He has not rebelled once while Johnson has been in charge which means he has happily (or obediently) voted against moves to protect food standards and for trade deals which make life very […]
We are very keen to showcase small businesses from Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset. The stories these entrepreneurs have to tell make a very welcome change from the news, escaping from which, however briefly, is a privilege not afforded to many, we know. I met Matai and Rachael to talk about how they got into […]
“They’ve got under my skin”, says Lyme Regis artist Christine Allison, as she stands in the museum’s quirky rotunda, surrounded by the metre-square ‘portraits’ of six highly individual trees. “And I realise that I am approaching painting them as I would a portrait of a human or an animal.” Gnarled and twisted or smooth and […]
The current government strategy against Covid is not working. Putting your fingers in your ears and shutting your eyes to pretend it isn’t happening is not a strategy; in fact, it is the perfect definition of the opposite, and furthermore, a total abdication of the responsibility of good government. Our hospital has had to declare […]
I am sure that a lot of people, like myself, wrote to their Tory MPs urging them to support the Lords’ amendments on the Borders Bill. Clearly they did not, but voted to make it even harder for refugees to come here. MPs are supposed to represent their constituents. Maybe, just maybe, my MP got […]
It would have been much cheaper to fly, particularly as the UK government had recently reduced air passenger duty on internal flights, but John Potter and I took the train to Glasgow for COP 26. We didn’t have passes, or any kind of access to the conference, but wanted to see what ideas and […]
“It’s an abusers’ charter, isn’t it?” said a friend – a woman not particularly attentive to the doings of this government, nor as prejudiced as me against these Conservatives’ policies. Sadly, I think my friend is correct in her assessment of the ‘Sponsor a Ukrainian’ scheme, whereby homeowners here can offer accommodation to Ukrainian refugees. […]
An independent report has found Conservative councillor Tara Sherfield-Wong has “demonstrated a lack of commitment to the community for which she serves”. Her activities with Conservative Friends of America raise further questions over whose interests Councillor Sherfield-Wong is really serving – and she’s not the only Cornwall councillor who is part of this organisation. Tom […]
Dear Sheryll I am writing to you with regards to P&O. Mass sackings without consultation are illegal under European law, so why, if Brexit was meant to improve things, are a company (whose parent is in profit) allowed to fire 800 British staff to hire cheaper labour? I note with interest that no French (ie […]
Dear Mr Warburton, I am writing to you – with copies to local news outlets – about the recent large rise in gas and electricity prices. I am old enough to remember the oil crisis of the mid-1970s. During that period the government brought in a number of energy-saving measures; these included banning the heating of […]
In the first of a series of interviews with politicians, environmentalists, campaigners and creatives in our region, Anthea Simmons spoke with Ben Bradshaw at his constituency office on 4 March 2022. We got stuck into Russia immediately. Way back in 2016, Ben was one of the very first to question the role of the Russians […]
Dear Mr Parish, I wrote to you recently about the urgent need for Ukrainian refugees to be given safe passage and supported resettlement in the UK. You kindly replied, and in short order, which I appreciated. Thank you. However, the assurances you provided about the government’s response did not address my concerns about the shortcomings […]
Dr Sarah Wollaston left the Conservative Party to join the LibDems, leaving a rock-solid seat-for-life for some lucky Tory. The Conservatives needed a new candidate for the election that was to come later that year. Would they pick another local candidate, known in the community? Anonymous reveals the ‘interesting’ selection process. In 2019 the fate […]
Reaching out across the seas Hold out our hands to refugees Make the world a better place To put a smile on everyone’s face Stop the bombing, join together International friends forever This poem by primary school children, read by Exeter’s Pete the Poet, opened a rally organised by Stop the War Coalition. More than […]
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its latest report this week. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, described it as an “atlas of human suffering”. Alice Bell, co-director at the climate change charity Possible, wrote in the Guardian: “The key findings are bleak, if familiar. Climate breakdown is accelerating rapidly; many of the […]
In late February 2022, as bloody, terrifying war broke out in Ukraine and refugees fled their country, constituents across Totnes and South Devon received an unwelcome gift through their door: a four page newspaper full of puff pieces all about Anthony Mangnall MP. Produced by Mr Mangnall and his team, the headline cringingly announcing: ‘Anthony […]
“We don’t need stuff, we need cash” says the Mayor of Rabka Frome has a direct link to the war in Ukraine – and a way for you to help Ukrainians fleeing from the terror. Frome is twinned with three European towns. It is a four-way twinning, with representatives of three towns each visiting the fourth on […]
A satirical commentary on the pig swill served by MPs’ social media feeds. Perusing Kevin Foster MP for Torbay’s Facebook feed is like perusing the remains of John Gummer’s beefburger. You remember that – the one fed to his four year old daughter in 1990? Babe’s long enough in the snout to remember Gummer as […]
Speech made at the Vigil for Ukraine outside Truro Cathedral on 27 February. Thank you all so much for coming here today to express your solidarity with the people of Ukraine. These are very dark times for Europe and for the whole world. We’re seeing a peaceful, democratic nation under violent attack by a fascistic […]
Dear Derek, I have skin in this game. My Mum was a young girl in Driebergen, Holland, in 1939 when the Germans came.She and hundreds of thousands of civilians packed what they could and took to the roads. You’ll have seen the harrowing photos of endless lines of haggard, terrified refugees, stretching as far as […]