CLLR MHB BLOG

Blog 19 - local election triumph - new book by star poet - Gaza update - Dr Pat Hart - Big River Watch

The news came on Friday, just before we sat down for lunch with friends at the Jack Russell in Swimbridge as a rare treat. The treat became rather more of one, with a bottle of Prosecco, when we saw how emphatically Cllr Sara Wilson, our excellent candidate, had won the county council seat for Ilfracombe - as in the graphic above. Many members of the North Devon Green Party put in hours, days and weeks of effort: graphic design, video, social media, putting up posters - which were welcomed by residents all around the town - organising canvassing routes and leaflet drops, and pounding the roads and streets to knock on doors and listen to residents. Rosie and I did our fair share of this, even in the searing heat of the past few days. The prize is not only a county council seat but the chance to form a progressive coalition with the LibDems: they secured 27 seats and we six, thus reaching a total higher than the combined seats of Tories and Reform. I feel that Labour could have greatly reduced the impact of Reform by being more radically reforming themselves: changes to the antiquated electoral system are long overdue, as is an elected second chamber and - instead of cutting benefits to the poor - introducing a wealth tax. We really don’t mind our policies being stolen.

Here is Fiona Benson signing copies of her new book of poems Midden Witch (Cape, £13) at Ashley Court, Tiverton, on Thursday evening. She gave a typically rousing reading to a packed room which included many poet friends and the artist Susan Derges, whose images grace the front and back covers. Then there was nutritious food, largely sourced from the garden, including nettle, ground elder and wild garlic. After that there was a dancer - Hayley Matthews - whose steps took us beside the walled vegetable garden, through woodland to a large field with a bonfire lit for Beltane. Next Tuesday Fiona will take part in the launch of a remarkable book by the Ukrainian soldier poet Artur Dron - you can attend in person at Exeter U or via Zoom via this link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/we-were-here-artur-dron-tickets-1306685905719 Fiona - one of today’s essential poets - will be reading to the North Devon Poetry Stanza in Barnstaple on Saturday 27 September.

Another well-attended event took place in the Castle Centre last Sunday afternoon when the North Devon Palestine Solidarity Campaign welcomed a speaker from the Hebron International Resource Network (HIRN). Mohamed Tamimi gave us the inside story of the Israeli Settler brutality visited upon indigenous Palestinians living in villages near Hebron - and the ingenious efforts made by HIRN to keep schools functioning, villages viable and hopes alive. I have not seen the recently aired and much lauded Louis Theroux interviews with Settlers but I think he chose the wrong subject. We know about violent Settlers. I would rather Theroux had interviewed those - including our Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary - who should be sanctioning Israel to force it to stop murdering innocent Gazans by bombardment, disease and famine.

Here is Dr Pat Hart on Wednesday when he was released from imprisonment, to which he was sentenced for his actions with Just Stop Oil. This photo was published by his wonderful WhatsApp support group. I wrote about Dr Pat in the first of these blogs. He is a hero of our time.

This is the River Taw at Barnstaple last Sunday afternoon. I sat observing the scene for fifteen minutes for the Big River Watch. I noticed Rock Samphire growing in the seawall beside me. I watched a flock of 50 or so Herring Gulls and soon realised that some of them were playing: they would pick up a floating twig or small stick, fly up with it, drop it and then zoom down to seize it from the water. Others would join in. The playfulness of animals and birds is insufficiently recognised and written about. I sent my observations in to the Big River Watch. Thank you for reading.