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Blog 28 – Gaza – Wildflower meadow – Northern Devon Innovates – HATOC – Climate Forum
Jul 05, 2025
Photo: valiant Brian Garman
The Gaza catastrophe gets worse each week, our government’s complicity more disturbing, the BBC’s bias more blatant. I spoke at Wednesday’s Vigil about the Doctors Under Attack documentary commissioned but not aired by the BBC and shown that night by Channel 4. I also referred to the scandalous presence on the BBC’s Board of Governors and on its editorial guidelines and standards panel. Why scandalous? Gibb was Theresa May’s Director of Communications in Downing Street and more recently an owner of the Jewish Chronicle. He has no place in the BBC, where his record of active interference has been well-documented. Explaining its failure to air Doctors Under Attack, the corporation referred to ‘a perception of partiality’ had it done so: it’s so-called impartiality has been grotesquely contravened by the appointment of Gibb to its board.
Where did the wonderful poet Alice Oswald say that? You may not know, as the BBC did not refer to it in any news bulletins I heard. She signed an open letter from Artists for Palestine UK – 400 signatories including 100 BBC journalists – condemning the bizarre decision by our government to label the civil disobedience group Palestine Action a ‘terrorist organisation’. Anyone supporting them in word or deed may be imprisoned for up to 14 years. This bizarre government seems to be spooked by our right wing media and the weird Reform party. Brian Eno: ‘On the one hand, 60,000 dead. On the other, a splash of paint on a plane. Which one are you most troubled by?’
On one of the hottest mornings last week I pulled around 150 docks from the wildflower meadow in Swimbridge’s Parklands. I noticed that the wildflowers out now include Corn Cockle, the tiny purple-pink flowers of Cutleaf Geranium, Oxeye Daisies, Smooth Hawkbeard and Yellow Rattle. It may take years to look like a proper wildflower meadow but it already has its moments if you look.
I am helping the Museum of Barnstaple & North Devon with Northern Devon Innovates (opening 27 October). We aim to showcase a selection of items from our many leading companies which create outstanding products for national and global markets. Paul Mullen showed me round the extraordinary Krempel factory in Bideford. A range of products is displayed in the foyer (above). Precision engineering can be breathtaking. More on this in future blogs.
Left to right: Sara Wilson (County and District Cllr), Dave Smale (Green Party candidate in by-elections for district cllr in Barnstaple with Westacott and for town cllr in Fort Hill Ward), Ricky Knight (district cllr) and me. We gathered in Barnstaple Library for a meeting of HATOC – the Highways and Traffic Orders Committee. The main agenda item was this –
I attended the meeting as an observer not a member – so no vote. Although I have great respect for the Highways planning team, I had to agree with those who spoke against the proposed changes. These would significantly restrict access to the Seven Brethren part of the town from the southern end of the Longbridge – meaning even more congestion on Station Road, which not only serves the railway station but a giant Tescos and many other businesses. It’s already overloaded. A decision was deferred for further studies. I was allowed by the chair to make a short statement about a later agenda item – the proposed footpath / cycleway on Landkey Road / Mount Sandford Road which I wrote about last week. I said that this would give us a much bigger bang for our bucks than the marginal gains for active travel which would be delivered by changes at the Longbridge junction. The footpath / cycleway would transform many lives for the better.
The Climate Forum began in 2019 as part of our XR outreach. It looks at the big issues but also encourages grassroots improvements to counter / adapt to the Climate Emergency. Saturday morning’s well-attended meeting brought together speakers from vibrant local projects – we heard from Taw & Torrridge River Champions, the South Molton Community Garden, Sustainable Chulmleigh, Roborough Rewilders and finally Lyn Community Orchard and Wildflower Meadow. All very heartening – like seeing 8-10 Swifts feeding aerobatically as I cycled up Codden Hill after the HATOC meeting. Thank you for reading.
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