Merlin Betts This article is part of a series. Find the previous article here, and overview here. Photo by Ben Guerin on Unsplash. In 2019 the ONS did a survey on deprivation across the UK. Hastings is the 14th most income-deprived area in the country. The closest to that in East Sussex is Eastbourne at…
Merlin Betts This article is part of a series. Find the previous article here, and overview here. The only other power here apart from rules-regulated government and profit-governed business is community. Yep, people getting things done through their own through goodwill, effective organisation and small-scale fundraising. We have a lot of growing community-led solutions to…
Merlin Betts This article is part of a series. Find the previous article here, and overview here. I didn’t go to the full council meeting that approved the preliminary budget, but I did watch the video. It kicks off with a classic Paul Barnett speech, sounding like a Hastings Independent Group manifesto the very day…
Merlin Betts This article is part of a series. Find the previous article here, and overview here. Alright, so the biggest single problem for our budget is the local housing crisis and how blindingly expensive it is to run temporary accommodation. Why do so many people need temporary accommodation? Hastings Borough Council’s chief housing officer,…
This article is part of a series. Find the previous article here, and overview here. Photo by Vlad Ardeleanu on Unsplash. Do any of you remember the story of Hastings Castle… ? The prototype was made of wood when William the Bastard came over from Normandy in 1066 to do his part in creating England….
Merlin Betts This article is part of a series. Find the previous article here, and overview here. Photo by Steve Payne on Unsplash. When he was trying to get picked (‘elected’ they like to say) as Tory leader, Rishi Sunak stood at a Tunbridge Wells garden party and said he planned to take funding away…
Merlin Betts To try this in longread mode, head here. You might be excused for thinking that Hastings is doing well. People are flocking over and down to experience the charms of this unique, creative and historical seaside borough – a stretch of coastline that represents what Britain has been and is trying to be….
Merlin Betts To read this as a series, head here. You might be excused for thinking that Hastings is doing well. People are flocking over and down to experience the charms of this unique, creative and historical seaside borough – a stretch of coastline that represents what Britain has been and is trying to be….