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CLLR MHB BLOG
Blog 35 – BBC news / current affairs not fit for purpose – Morning Briefing – Place Story – Birthday potholes – Water Mint and Kingfishers
Aug 23, 2025
Photo: North Devon Palestine Solidarity Campaign
I said a few words at the Wednesday Vigil – now in its 93rd week. 47 were present – more than ever. I spoke about the alarming shortcomings of our hitherto beloved national broadcaster. This was prompted by the failures of the Today programme on BBCR4 that morning but the World at One was even worse on Friday. They ran a long and devastating speech by Tom Fletcher, the highly-respected Humanitarian Chief at the UN, on the report which determined that Gaza is officially in a state of famine. He implored urgent international action to end the famine. The Wato editors chose to follow this with a response from an Israeli ‘trade envoy’ who denied the famine and lied about other facts – as was pointed at the end of the interview. Why did Wato not get a British cabinet minister in front of the microphone to ask what our government is going to do to stop this Israeli created famine / genocide? Are BBC news / current affairs programmes (Today is just as bad) fit for purpose? What can be done? Withhold our licence fees?
Photo: Ellie Chowns MP – Wikipedia
As an alternative to the BBC there is Al Jazeeera News but also the daily Green Party Morning Briefing. (To subscribe contact press@greenparty.org.uk) Here is a heartening extract from Thursday’s briefing:
Reacting to continuing protests at hotels housing asylum seekers, Green MP Ellie Chowns told Sky News: “This is the legacy of years of mismanagement. What we need is the provision of safe and managed routes for those seeking asylum. The issue of asylum seekers staying in hotels is the result of policy choices fundamentally made by the Conservatives over the previous 14 years. Now, Labour is not dealing with the problem fast enough. We need safe and managed routes, much faster processing of asylum applications, and, specifically, fast-tracking of applications from countries where … the vast, vast majority of applications are already granted. Those measures will ensure that the backlog is dealt with far, far quicker that we can get people out of hotels as quickly as possible. And of course, you know, enable refugees and asylum seekers to contribute to the community. If asylum seekers were allowed to work while they were waiting for their applications to be processed, then they could be contributing to society. And I think that would be something that should be widely welcomed across the spectrum.” (21.8.25)
On Tuesday a room-full of members of Torridge and North Devon district councils met to think about creating a Place Story about our area, Northern Devon. There is already an impressive 38 page Place Story for Torridge: now we are doing a combined one to support our arguments in terms of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) and to attract investment. A lot of number crunching is going on (as on the screen above) but we were also invited to think about what makes our area special. I was asked to read out some marvellous sentences about ‘the land of the two rivers’ written by the late Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes. It appears in ‘Taw and Torridge’, an essay he wrote for the book West Country Fishing (1983), edited by Anne Voss Bark. The catchment area of the rivers ‘which is roughly square in shape, includes the whole north-west third of the county’. Hughes thought of the area as ‘something of an island’, with natural barriers that ‘go deep into the feeling of the place’. No wonder the two districts want to stay together under LGR. I’d like to see our Story celebrate the creativity of Northern Devon, using the words of the writers who still enchant the place – including Henry Williamson and Hughes himself – but also its artists, from the exuberant ceramic artist Sandy Brown to the Hartland printmaker Merlyn Chesterman to the beloved photographer James Ravilious.
Photo: potholes filled, Sentry Lane, north of Codden Hill
Call me a dullard, but I began my birthday last Wednesday by cycling around the ward I represent photographing potholes and reporting them via the Devon County Council Highways website. I’m doing this because I think council colleagues who represent towns have higher case loads than I do – and potholes are something I can deal with regularly, especially when residents alert me to bad patches of road via the village Facebook pages. One of the worst was Dennington Hill in Swimbridge – a series of potholes with a few strips of road attached. In the last ten days I’ve reported scores of potholes and been gratified by how quickly they are inspected by Highways and filled (as in the photo above). Thank you Highways!
When we dug out our pond fifteen years ago I bought a dozen or so Water Mint plants from the aquatic gardening shop beside St Johns Garden Centre. Now we have hundreds of them and they are buzzing with many kinds of pollinators, including the Small Copper butterfly in the photo. Just as I was admiring it, a Kingfisher zoomed over the garden. Soon it was back to feed on the water beetles in the pond – a magical sight. Thank you for reading.
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Substack is the home for great culturePhoto: North Devon Palestine Solidarity Campaign
I said a few words at the Wednesday Vigil – now in its 93rd week. 47 were present – more than ever. I spoke about the alarming shortcomings of our hitherto beloved national broadcaster. This was prompted by the failures of the Today programme on BBCR4 that morning but the World at One was even worse on Friday. They ran a long and devastating speech by Tom Fletcher, the highly-respected Humanitarian Chief at the UN, on the report which determined that Gaza is officially in a state of famine. He implored urgent international action to end the famine. The Wato editors chose to follow this with a response from an Israeli ‘trade envoy’ who denied the famine and lied about other facts – as was pointed at the end of the interview. Why did Wato not get a British cabinet minister in front of the microphone to ask what our government is going to do to stop this Israeli created famine / genocide? Are BBC news / current affairs programmes (Today is just as bad) fit for purpose? What can be done? Withhold our licence fees?
Photo: Ellie Chowns MP – Wikipedia
As an alternative to the BBC there is Al Jazeeera News but also the daily Green Party Morning Briefing. (To subscribe contact press@greenparty.org.uk) Here is a heartening extract from Thursday’s briefing:
Reacting to continuing protests at hotels housing asylum seekers, Green MP Ellie Chowns told Sky News: “This is the legacy of years of mismanagement. What we need is the provision of safe and managed routes for those seeking asylum. The issue of asylum seekers staying in hotels is the result of policy choices fundamentally made by the Conservatives over the previous 14 years. Now, Labour is not dealing with the problem fast enough. We need safe and managed routes, much faster processing of asylum applications, and, specifically, fast-tracking of applications from countries where … the vast, vast majority of applications are already granted. Those measures will ensure that the backlog is dealt with far, far quicker that we can get people out of hotels as quickly as possible. And of course, you know, enable refugees and asylum seekers to contribute to the community. If asylum seekers were allowed to work while they were waiting for their applications to be processed, then they could be contributing to society. And I think that would be something that should be widely welcomed across the spectrum.” (21.8.25)
On Tuesday a room-full of members of Torridge and North Devon district councils met to think about creating a Place Story about our area, Northern Devon. There is already an impressive 38 page Place Story for Torridge: now we are doing a combined one to support our arguments in terms of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) and to attract investment. A lot of number crunching is going on (as on the screen above) but we were also invited to think about what makes our area special. I was asked to read out some marvellous sentences about ‘the land of the two rivers’ written by the late Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes. It appears in ‘Taw and Torridge’, an essay he wrote for the book West Country Fishing (1983), edited by Anne Voss Bark. The catchment area of the rivers ‘which is roughly square in shape, includes the whole north-west third of the county’. Hughes thought of the area as ‘something of an island’, with natural barriers that ‘go deep into the feeling of the place’. No wonder the two districts want to stay together under LGR. I’d like to see our Story celebrate the creativity of Northern Devon, using the words of the writers who still enchant the place – including Henry Williamson and Hughes himself – but also its artists, from the exuberant ceramic artist Sandy Brown to the Hartland printmaker Merlyn Chesterman to the beloved photographer James Ravilious.
Photo: potholes filled, Sentry Lane, north of Codden Hill
Call me a dullard, but I began my birthday last Wednesday by cycling around the ward I represent photographing potholes and reporting them via the Devon County Council Highways website. I’m doing this because I think council colleagues who represent towns have higher case loads than I do – and potholes are something I can deal with regularly, especially when residents alert me to bad patches of road via the village Facebook pages. One of the worst was Dennington Hill in Swimbridge – a series of potholes with a few strips of road attached. In the last ten days I’ve reported scores of potholes and been gratified by how quickly they are inspected by Highways and filled (as in the photo above). Thank you Highways!
When we dug out our pond fifteen years ago I bought a dozen or so Water Mint plants from the aquatic gardening shop beside St Johns Garden Centre. Now we have hundreds of them and they are buzzing with many kinds of pollinators, including the Small Copper butterfly in the photo. Just as I was admiring it, a Kingfisher zoomed over the garden. Soon it was back to feed on the water beetles in the pond – a magical sight. Thank you for reading.
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