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Britain Overrun by Gypsies (courtesy the Mail)
Christmas Eve’s Mail featured a two-page spread about impoverished and excluded gypsy communities in Romania and Bulgaria. Facing prejudice it’s very difficult for people in such communities to find...
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Are 29 million benefit tourists about to arrive in the UK?
David Cameron today said that it should be more difficult for people to come to the UK from other EU countries just to claim benefits, implying (but not actually saying) that benefit tourism is a real...
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The Euro economic saga – learnings so far
There are still plenty of chapters to come in the saga of Europe’s economic crisis, but here are three things we have learned so far from the events of the past few years. Firstly, there is a huge...
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How Green is your Valley?
Toad’s Hole Valley As we come up to the Council meeting which will vote on the new City Plan (January 31st), there’s plenty of talk about Toad’s Hole Valley, a site at the far west of the city which is...
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Douglas Alexander on Labour and Europe
The speech given by Douglas Alexander on the eve of what was scheduled to be David Cameron’s “Amsterdam” Europe speech, is well worth a read. Precise and wide-ranging, it puts the issue into context...
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Referendum: let’s be ready
First, it needs to be repeated that Cameron’s promise of an in-out referendum represents reckless leadership. In an effort to appease Eurosceptics and go into the next election with a populist promise,...
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There’s gas in them there downs
The South Downs near Balcombe Fracking – hydraulic fracturing to extract gas from underground seams – is an issue we in the south east should have a view on, because there are significant shale gas...
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The Single Greatest Cause of Harm in Society
Sussex University Library Square flashmob on February 14th I was delighted to help promote One Billion Rising, the global demonstration highlighting violence against women in all its forms. I have to...
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Eastleigh: being visible all year round
The main lesson learned from Eastleigh is that while dedicated Labour staff and enthusiastic volunteers can pull a competent campaign together very quickly, if we really want to build support across...
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The Benefits Tsunami is Coming to Town
At the local Labour party members’ meeting on Saturday we had an excellent talk from the Council’s Welfare Rights Team, which clearly laid out what is changing and how local people will be affected....
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Cooperation in the South East
I’ve spent the day at the Cooperative Group regional member days for the south east, at the Queen Elizabeth Conference centre right by Westminster Abbey. There were over 200 attendees plenty to look at...
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Caroline Lucas fairly and squarely disowns the one and only Green council
Yesterday I signed the GMB petition against the Council’s pay decision, passed by Green and Conservative councillors voting together, which would leave some low-paid council staff worse off. This...
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Greens fail to help school workers avoid costly parking charges
Just posting this – a report from a Transport Committee meeting on Tuesday posted on Facebook. The Greens used their casting vote to overrule Labour and Conservative proposals to help school staff hit...
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UKIP: Using the right language
Years ago I was on a flight from Heathrow to Budapest. When we were boarding the plane, the predominant language I heard people using was English. But once we had landed in Budapest and were preparing...
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Who will represent us in Europe and why does it matter?
Labour Party members are about to be given the opportunity to decide who will be top of the list in the European Parliamentary elections in 2014. The task in brief is: Ten people for the south east...
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Fracking: views from Labour’s Euro candidates
As it’s a key concern in the south east, I asked all ten candidates to send me their views on fracking. So far, only two have done so – here are the responses. I’ll add more if and when they come in!...
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European Selections: who to vote for?
We had a great discussion and hustings event on Monday June 3rd, which a number of people said was very useful in terms of making a decision on how to vote. Here are my views of the candidates so far –...
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Rarely mentioned: Labour’s record on the environment
We were delighted to welcome Michael Jacobs to the city recently to address Sera (the Labour-affiliated environment group). Michael was heavily involved in the work of the last Labour government to...
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Why I don’t support fracking
The large-scale protests at Balcombe are fulfilling an important job of raising the issue of fracking in the national media. However, they are also prompting accusations that this is a knee-jerk...
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Fracking – getting the arguments across
At the camp outside the test drilling site at Balcombe I visited the fracking protest camp on the August bank holiday Monday. It was a quiet day on the roadside just outside Balcombe. Many of the...
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