Brighton stadium gets go-ahead. Although the idiots at Lewes DC could still put a spanner in the works.
Even so, I’m off to do a little happy-jig.
Category: current affairs
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Lady Bird Johnson, RIP.
Lady Bird Johnson, RIP.
An early proponent of environmental awareness, Lady Bird Johnson co-founded the National Wildflower Research Center in Austin, TX, which was later renamed in her honour. The Center has done much to increase understanding of North American flora and to promote its preservation. It has an extensive wildflower garden and wildflower reserve attached, and has been a place I’ve wanted to visit for many years.
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The other half of the story?
You will have seen the media coverage of the Silver Ring Thing case currently in the High Court. The Ministry of Truth looks a little deeper and finds that it may not all be as certain sections of the media have portrayed it.
I am quite content to keep my child as far away from all forms of religion as is possible, at least until he has developed some critical analysis skills and can make up his own mind. I’m increasingly convinced the religious organisations, particularly those of an Evangelical nature, are just as scheming and devious as politicians.
via Iain Dale.
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Richly deserved
Pallant House wins Gulbenkian Award. I’ve long admired Pallant House, but the extension is truly splendid and makes it one of the finest galleries I know anywhere. Well worth visiting if you’re in the area.
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Vibrant local democracy
I’ve just been for a short stroll across the Ruralville village green to the Village Hall. There, I placed two Xs on a ballot paper (I always find multiple choice questions to be much easier), reflecting my views on local issues and not on national ones.
Ruralville is a small ward, with around 250 voters. Voting here is never a chore, as there is never a queue and the short stroll is a chance to enjoy the view down the valley, admire the spring colours of the trees and listen to the cuckoos (birds, not politicians). The two ladies looking after polling today were not anticipating a high turnout (“we spotted you coming across the green, so we had a moment to hide our teas and paperbacks!”), although I did find another voter entering as I left the polling station, doubling the turnout.
The question is, in a district where the council has been held by one party for 37 years, is it important to vote? Well, clearly the answer must be “yes”. If you are a supporter of the incumbents, then it is important that they have a clear mandate from the electorate to carry out their policies. If you do not support them, then clearly the only way to force change (excluding the possibility of riots on the streets or showering the local council offices with manure) is to use your vote and support an opposing candidate. And, since this is about local politicians applying policies at a local level, issues such as war, income tax and the NHS shouldn’t really come into it.
So, no matter what your politics are, if there is voting to be done in your ward today, go and use your vote. If you don’t and I then catch you moaning about some aspect of local services, don’t be surprised if I come round and give you a stern talking to.
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Hulking Edward, not Graham
I read this headline and got entirely the wrong idea.
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Cash crisis
Brighton announce £2.2million trading loss. The pressure of being without a ground is really showing and surely the team can not continue in the long term with a strategy of survival-by-selling-the-family-silver (where family silver equates to the team’s best players).
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Another sporting ground crisis
With all the problems that Brighton and Hove Albion have had in securing a decent home for their team and fans in recent years, you’d think that the authorities in Brighton would have learned that they need to give more support to their local sports teams.
But it seems that that is not the case. Sussex County Cricket Club, a championship-winning team that is very active in the community, is having problems seeking permission to redevelop its Hove ground. Only the circumstances this time are slightly different. In the case of the football team, an asset-stripping owner and management sold off the family silver and nearly consigned the club to oblivion, leaving them desperate to obtain consent for a new out-of-town venue. In the case of the cricket club, the management are clearly keen to stay at their historic home in the centre of Hove, convenient for locals and public transport and an important part of the community. And yet the council seems reluctant to support them in this.
Ultimately, I think it quite possible that the cricket club will leave Hove. There has been talk of them moving to Crawley, which would certainly put them closer to visiting fans from Surrey, north Kent and Middlesex, whilst still being handy for trains from Brighton and Hove. Sale of the site in Hove would raise an enormous sum (and lead to not just redevelopment of part of the ground, but the entire ground). A new stadium in Crawley would be good for the club, but there would be one big loser – the city of Brighton and Hove.
It is time for the authorities to realise this and support their local sport teams.