It shouldn’t be like this of course, but as social media and “disruptor” mainstream broadcasters like GB News coarsen public life, anyone wishing to serve their communities must be ready or risk being sucked under
Many readers may have seen last weekend The Times Newspaper listing Exmouth as “One of The Best Places to Live 2024”.
As the Leader of a district council which playing a part in the lives of 160,000 East Devonians, my daily life is filled with reports and agenda items containing data. This is important. Good decision-making at any governmental body must to be based on numbers not preconceptions.
I had intended to write this week’s column about some really good news for Seaton Hospital.
I’m not quite sure when this prosaic thought first occurred to me but for most of my adult life I have wondered if the definition of being sentient is to know the timeline of your own life. That ability to name the year you went out with someone, the associated pop record or film, what work you were doing, the contemporary domestic and world events. Year after year.
Full disclosure: for newspaper deadline reasons this article was written just before Christmas and if there has been a compelling world event over the holiday season, I don’t yet know it.
I’ve never been keen on politicians coming out with expressions such as “in the name of all that’s good, go, and go now."
Now that we are entering November many East Devon towns and villages will be making preparations to commemorate Remembrance Day.
I mentioned recently that a couple of months ago I went across to Cranbrook’s Younghayes Centre where a brilliant event was being held to celebrate the presence of refugees from Ukraine. It was an evening of song and dance and costumes and a complete joy.
I didn’t get involved until my mid-40s and because my approach had never been dominated by national party politics, I’ve always been a subject-by-subject person.
