Campaigns
Why I Walk for a Life
Why I Walk for a Life Mental health and suicide prevention were a big part of why I stood as a councillor at Somerset Council. I wanted to see from the inside what is actually being done, and what a unitary authority has the power to do. On Thursday 17th of September, Shepton Mallet hosts…
Read MoreTwo Days in Westminster: Standing Close to History
I have just come back from a two-day trip to the Houses of Parliament. I was there informally, and had the privilege of two separate visits on consecutive days. That gave me the time to spend with Baroness Suttie. Baroness Alison Suttie has given the better part of three decades to public life. She spent…
Read MoreI spoke to LBC News about the Bonehill-Paine selection — and why Somerset isn’t a lower bar
I spoke to Steve Holden on LBC News about the Crewkerne South selection this lunchtime (Aug 6th) — and what the Conservatives think a councillor actually does. Listen again on Global Player, my interview starts at 2 hr 20. Joshua Bonehill-Paine, who was jailed for antisemitic harassment, was selected as the Conservative candidate for Crewkerne…
Read MoreKemi Badenoch has one standard for MPs and another for Somerset.
The leader of the Conservative Party went on national radio this week to defend her party’s selection of a former neo-Nazi as a council candidate in Somerset. She lost the argument twice. Once on Joshua Bonehill-Paine. Once on Somerset “That’s what councillors do” Joshua Bonehill-Paine was jailed for three years in 2015 for posting antisemitic…
Read MoreThe government wants to weaken flood plain protections. Tessa Munt is fighting back — and I’m with her.
Tessa Munt MP, as Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Flooding and Flooded Communities, went directly to Parliament to request dedicated debating time on the National Planning Policy Framework changes. She made the case to the relevant committee that the proposed changes are dangerous — warning that they would allow developers to bypass…
Read MoreOur Somerset Communities Are Our Greatest Asset
I am truly proud to have been appointed by the Somerset Council Leader to the role of Associate Lead Member for Community Resilience in the Council Executive — a recognition of the community work I have dedicated myself to, and a responsibility I do not take lightly. My role is to support the Council Leader…
Read MorePaths That Connect Us
I was invited to contribute to a film celebrating the Strawberry Line — a path that’s become something of a lifeline for our local community and our sense of wellbeing. This is a short extract from my contribution. The full film is due out this summer.
Read MoreGrassroots, Evidence, and the Road Not Taken: Rethinking the Glastonbury TrainLink Debate
The Glastonbury Trainlink team were actively working to stimulate demand for bus usage, which is exactly the kind of approach we need, i.e. community grassroots driven. They also carried out valuable groundwork in community engagement, with Parishes, surveys etc. It’s not accurate to assume that a train link via Pilton village would fail. Rather, it…
Read MoreA people’s path, in pieces, while determined as a train on the track to be a Somerset Circle.
Have you ever wondered why the Strawberry Line appears in parts of Mid-Somerset in fragments — stops and starts, interrupted with gaps of busy roads? The answer is a history lesson, and a story of remarkable persistence spanning many decades. Recently I attended a packed meeting of the Pilton Village History Group, where Richard Jones…
Read MoreA Turning Point for Mental Health: Why This Weekend’s Lib Dem Policy Matters
This weekend, members passed a landmark mental health policy at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in York. For me, it marks the culmination of a year’s work as part of the working group that helped make this moment happen — and I could not be prouder. Mental health touches every one of us. It reaches…
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