It is clear that the impact of Coronavirus is going to hurt the Tees Valley in ways, that up until a month ago were thought unimaginable. The jobs losses and business closures will be unprecedented and the human cost and loss of life will be devastating. Local, regional and national government must pull together, alongside … Continue reading A Civic Response to Coronavirus

Jessie Joe Jacobs Tees Travel plans will bring public transport system into the 21st Century Jessie Joe Jacobs, Labour’s mayoral hopeful for Tees Valley, has announced her exciting plans to drastically overhaul and improve public transport in the region, putting buses centre stage of her plans. Buses in Tees Valley are in dire need of … Continue reading Bringing Tees Transport into 21st Century

New analysis released today shows that 18,000 children in the North East with a parent working in the public sector are now living in poverty. That’s a 37% rise, with some 4,000 more children falling into poverty since 2010. So why is this happening? It’s simple. While the government has been handing out tax giveaways … Continue reading As Britain’s billionaire count rises, our public servants are being forced into poverty

Where do you go to put the world to rights? For some of us it’s our local hairdressers, other’s it’s in the staffroom, or at our Dads house after Sunday lunch. For a few of us, it’s our local boozer. John Christie knows this only too well. Running The Golden Smog micro pub in Stockton … Continue reading Introducing RePublik… Politics down the pub

I’ve been reflecting on poverty this week. On Sunday I was at a music gig at Golden Smog micro-pub in Stockton. It was organised by the amazing landlord John Christie, as part of a national weekend of music events called “We Shall Overcome”. It’s aim was to make a political statement about the human cost … Continue reading We Shall Overcome

I’ve noticed many of my friends Facebook posts over the last few weeks urging people to speak out about mental illness. I’ve wrote about campaigns about mental illness before, but I felt I couldn’t let Suicide Prevention week go by without speaking out about it. I particularly wanted to speak about Teen suicide, one of … Continue reading One teen death by suicide is one too many

Yesterday through tragedy Britain showed its heart. There's been a slow burn of racism creeping into our communities; an unkind spirit growing in our towns. "You're not welcome here" becoming the new tag line of our cities. Yesterday we were faced with the reality of our actions. Yesterday the migrant became a human. Yesterday the … Continue reading Remember Aylan