6970@jrs, Author at Jericho Road

Whoever is Hastings’ new leader, let’s go to Wigan!

6970@jrs — Sun, 16 Feb 2020 13:16:02 +0000

You and I and the other 95,000 Hastings inhabitants have no vote in the election that will happen tomorrow (17/2/20). Just 23 Labour councillors will choose the person who will lead our town for the next few years. Will we see puffs of white smoke coming from Muriel Matters House?! It bothers me that the character and loyalties of the individual chosen tomorrow will be so important. In reality the impact will be felt in structural terms: the balance of power between councillors and officers, what happens to the discredited ‘regeneration agency’ Seaspace and its progeny, how long the council... Read more...

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The Lion & the Unicorn

6970@jrs — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 13:16:02 +0000

The Lion and the Unicorn 1991 The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the Crown. The Lion beat the Unicorn all around the Town. Some gave them White Bread and some gave them Brown, And some gave them Plum-cake and chased them Out of Town. The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the Crown The Lion beat the Unicorn all around the Town. The Unicorn said “Fuck this, it isn’t you I hate” So they put their heads together and turned against the State. The Queen said “Oh, dearie me, we can’t be having this.” As the... Read more...

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How the Money Works Part 2: Rock House

6970@jrs — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 17:39:00 +0000

(See also Part 1: Hastings Pier: How the Money Works) Until we as citizens understand ‘how the money works’ when it comes to developing land and buildings we will always be disadvantaged – land and buildings are where power is held. Without them the community sector will be forever undercapitalised. I am not an expert in property finance, not trained or qualified. But I have first-hand development experience, professional curiosity, and an insatiable desire to work out new ways to make things happen. As traditional regeneration approaches – which I would argue never really worked for communities in any case... Read more...

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Hastings Pier – where our hearts are

6970@jrs — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 16:37:00 +0000

After 19 crazy weeks of community mobilisation, commercial negotiation, late night bid-writing, endless spreadsheets, obsessive Crowdfunder checking, and the hard, hard work of keeping hope alive… this is me trying to make sense of what has happened, what has been achieved and the impact of our failure to protect something so precious that it makes grown-ups cry. I didn’t want to do any of this. When I heard that Hastings Pier Charity had gone into Administration in November 2017 I felt physically sick. A phone call with the Administrator in December sent me into a furious depression I haven’t experienced... Read more...

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Pride in Hastings Pier

6970@jrs — Fri, 18 May 2018 16:35:00 +0000

I was really pleased, honoured, and emotional to be at the celebration event on the Pier yesterday to mark the achievements of the Learning & Education Team which has been funded by Heritage Lottery Fund for the past 5 years. This is what I said: * * * I want to talk about three things: • The people • The achievement (specifically of the heritage & learning programme) • The future The people = so many people, so much love, so much uncertainty and dogged determination to win through regardless. Individuals should be recognised and valued but we must also... Read more...

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Hastings Pier… 3 things you can do to help

6970@jrs — Sun, 29 Apr 2018 16:33:00 +0000

“There are battles you think you’ve won, only to discover you need to fight them all over again” – Jonathan Freedland, Guardian 28/4/18 At first, when the Hastings Pier Charity was put into administration in November 2017, it seemed terrible and tragic and tipped me over the edge. Strangely, it now feels like an opportunity. It’s a bit like the Fire in 2010 – the worst thing imaginable but still, in the smouldering, a chance of renewal. Are we going round in circles or are we making progress towards some kind of destiny??! Maybe both! Friends of Hastings Pier was set up... Read more...

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Water OMG!

6970@jrs — Sun, 04 Mar 2018 17:32:00 +0000

It was a fascinating day in Southampton at the Labour Party #NewEconomics conference on Saturday. What stuck with me the most was being presented with the evidence behind the complete and ongoing rip-off and harm done by the privatisation of water. The pictures below are all from the talk by Dr Kate Baylis (SOAS University of London). I really hope she doesn’t mind – I’m just so cross and worried about this – I need to get it out there! The amazing ‘denseness’ of the company structures. This web of companies is just one of the water conglomerates – Southern... Read more...

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Friends Again!

6970@jrs — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 17:28:00 +0000

The Friends of Hastings Pier (FOHP) has been re-established a decade after it handed the baton of the People’s Pier to the Hastings Pier & White Rock Trust which later set up the Hastings Pier Charity. The Friends are shareholders and supporters who want to be active and constructive in this second crisis for our pier. There are currently 150 signed-up members and 400 members of the facebook group, with many more joining all the time. We want to look forwards not backwards. Just as in the horrible days and weeks after the Fire of 2010 we refused to be drawn into blame... Read more...

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I am losing my heart to Ore Valley

6970@jrs — Sun, 05 Feb 2017 17:27:00 +0000

I feel like a love-struck teenager. I’ve always been in love with places, and always attracted to the underdogs – my towns Deptford and Hastings and all the other-people’s-places that I fall in love with: Blackpool, Scarborough, Bradford, Greater Manchester, Liverpool 8. If I had more time I’d like to get to know Maryport, Jaywick, and the scruffy bit of Swindon! But I don’t need to leave town to find the most perfect example of a place that has been continuously stamped on by an outside elite for 200 years. A place with both acute and chronic poverty, but where that is only one of the... Read more...

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Precious Buildings

6970@jrs — Sun, 13 Oct 2013 16:16:00 +0000

In this country we would never let someone drive a car that was uninsured or dangerous. That’s why we have the MOT system and DVLA to keep records of car ownership. Yet we allow hundreds of owners to keep buildings and land irresponsibly, the Land Registry role is limited and non-regulatory, and the only fallback mechanism (Compulsory Purchase) is torturous, expensive and fraught with risk. It’s time to do something about it. First we need to know more about the scale of the problem. If you know about a building that matters to the local community but is disused or... Read more...

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