At a time when billionaires and oligarchs own the majority of our press, when local journalism is in decline, and social media is rife with misinformation and abuse, there has never been a greater need for citizen journalism Who funds us? No one...except you. Become a friends of Bylines supporter:

Merry Christmas everyone...... Here's the great 2025 Central Bylines Christmas Quiz @gemmagould.bsky.social

What we choose to snap on our phones reflects current culture | Charlotte Mbali

Trump unveils new dystopian visa plans, but where will it end? The Trump administration intends to make visitors provide five years of social media, a decade of email addresses and DNA, where will this all end? | Mark Cunliffe @centralbylines.co.uk @markcunliffe.bsky.social @sdupp.bsky.social

Please make sure you’re a backer of this community. It’s revolutionising how media works - structurally… putting the news mix and content generation into everyone’s hands. ✊

In his first article on the state of the world’s oceans, Mike Phillips focuses on the challenges faced by the Mediterranean Sea @kentandsurreybylines.co.uk

1/ We have now exceeded over 4 million reads of our Powerful Citizen journalism in 2025 and rising. Help us look forward to a brilliant 2026 by supporting citizen voices and becoming a friend of Bylines Network bylinesnetwork.co.uk/friends-of-b...

This year, thanks to all of you East Anglia Bylines has doubled its readership, and in 2025, one million of those reads was to our site. 🙌 We appreciate your incredible support and would ask you to consider becoming a "Friend" by chipping in to help with our background running costs. Details below.

2/ For as little as £3.50 a month, you will receive our Best of Bylines Gazette. our newsletter and a whole host of other stuff, as well as supporting democracy, truth and grassroots journalism.

Albertan friends and Ukrainian diaspora, did you know this? (I didn’t!) The connection with the folklore of spring’s return is really beautiful.

The untold tale behind the Carol of the Bells How the Christmas classic got its start as a cry of Ukranian liberty and defiance | Tetiana Tomaby @kentandsurreybylines.co.uk

The untold tale behind the Carol of the Bells How the Christmas classic got its start as a cry of Ukranian liberty and defiance | Tetiana Tomaby

The voice of the nation – who speaks for Britain? The wrong people are telling the story of Britain, and the story they tell is exhausted | Gerry Mitchell @gerrymitchell.bsky.social

Electronic waste continues to grow at a record pace. It is necessary to responsibly recycle these items to protect the environment and human health. | Charlotte Mbali

Become a Friend of Bylines Network and help us power citizen journalism.

How the Christmas classic got its start as a cry of Ukranian liberty and defiance | Tetiana Toma

1/ We have now exceeded over 4 million reads of our Powerful Citizen journalism in 2025 and rising. Help us look forward to a brilliant 2026 by supporting citizen voices and becoming a friend of Bylines Network

2/ For as little as £3.50 a month, you will receive our Best of Bylines Gazette. our newsletter and a whole host of other stuff, as well as supporting democracy, truth and grassroots journalism.

A former child refugee looks at how the new UK asylum and migrant policy would have hindered her family’s integration into UK society | Magdalena Williams

The voice of the nation – who speaks for Britain? The wrong people are telling the story of Britain, and the story they tell is exhausted | Gerry Mitchell @gerrymitchell.bsky.social

"The Bylines Network is tremendously inspiring…it's crucial that journalism speaks truth to power, but the great majority of it unfortunately speaks with the voice of power…it’s really inspiring to see networks like yours filling that huge gap and doing what journalism ought to do.” George Monbiot

Farage’s Reform UK attack on the young: austerity revisited Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK Ltd is taking aim at the young over the minimum wage, voting age and mental health support | Mark Cunliffe @markcunliffe.bsky.social @centralbylines.co.uk

georgemonbiot.bsky.social knows that journalism “speaks with the voice of power” which is why bylinestimes.bsky.social matters. In my latest piece, I ask: if even high earners feel cut off from politics, whose voices are treated as speaking for Britain? kentandsurreybylines.co.uk/politics/dem...

The wrong people are telling the story of Britain, and the story they tell is exhausted | Gerry Mitchell

One of the founders of Bylines Network explaining the importance of the new Friends of Bylines Network scheme to sustain citizen journalism.

The wrong people are telling the story of Britain, and the story they tell is exhausted | Gerry Mitchell

"The Bylines Network is tremendously inspiring…it's crucial that journalism speaks truth to power, but the great majority of it unfortunately speaks with the voice of power…it’s really inspiring to see networks like yours filling that huge gap and doing what journalism ought to do.” George Monbiot

"The Bylines Network is tremendously inspiring…it's crucial that journalism speaks truth to power, but the great majority of it unfortunately speaks with the voice of power…it’s really inspiring to see networks like yours filling that huge gap and doing what journalism ought to do.” George Monbiot

In his first article on the state of the world’s oceans, Mike Phillips focuses on the challenges faced by the Mediterranean Sea | Mike Phillips

🔥 The “Friends of Bylines Network” scheme… …and how citizen journalism can break the grip of mainstream media on the news mix we consume. Community roots go deeper than broadcasters. Check it out, share & get involved—> bylinesnetwork.co.uk/friends-of-b...

"The Bylines Network is tremendously inspiring…it's crucial that journalism speaks truth to power, but the great majority of it unfortunately speaks with the voice of power…it’s really inspiring to see networks like yours filling that huge gap and doing what journalism ought to do.” George Monbiot

🔥 WE’RE changing the media. Citizen journalism is peer-to-peer news, it’s forging information networks from the grassroots up, sidestepping the top-down mainstream media. Utterly new and fresh. Become a friend of the Bylines Network and stand with us as we build media as it should be. 👇👇

Christmas Easy Fundraising! You shop and just like that Bylines Network get a small donation every time! Why not sign up and chose Bylines Network today?

As parties like Reform UK and the Greens surge in the polls, support for the use of First Past the Post in UK elections is fading | Tetiana Toma

The OBR's November 2025 forecast suggests increased government borrowing, and tighter pockets for UK households | Bryan Rylands

Believe in the power of writing? Want to champion citizen voices? Passionate about truth and democracy? Become a friend of Bylines Network 👇

Reform UK’s attack on nature protections risks destroying the UK's already fragile ecosystem | Stuart Spray

I started getting involved with @bylinesnetwork.co.uk in the summer. Best choice I've made in some time. Great group of people passionate about what they do. Very worth supporting.

The unfolding humanitarian crisis in Sudan will come under the spotlight for MEPs when they meet today in Strasbourg | Martin Banks

Reform UK’s new ‘deportation’ plan: a pathway to autocracy Reform UK’s plan for mass deportations would have devastating effects for British democracy and align the country with autocratic states | Dean Conway @centralbylines.co.uk

Believe in the power of writing? Want to champion citizen voices? Passionate about truth and democracy? Become a friend of Bylines Network 👇

Brexit: the trillion pound ‘mistake’ The recent NBER report suggests the Treasury’s 2016 analysis – slammed by Brexiters as a ‘hoax’– actually understated the impact of Brexit.

Last month I left the Bylines Network and started work as a Community Organiser with an amazing education charity called The Brilliant Club. Here's an article from me in @yorkshirebylines.co.uk that explains a little bit about what I do now. You can ollow TBC here ⏩ @brilliantclub.bsky.social

The reveal of England’s most deprived areas paints a grim picture of seaside and coastal towns, with many of them topping the list | Richard Styles

This week showed what online communities can do. By sharing the petition for an inquiry into Russian influence, people have forced Parliament to act.

Keep out: what flags mean to community NHS workers Frontline NHS staff are feeling an increasing sense of exclusion and intimidation from the surge of St George’s flags displayed on homes | Mark Cunliffe @markcunliffe.bsky.social

👏👏👏 Kudos on several levels! If this turns out to be a hoax we'll be very disappointed. What a stark contrast to the response from Wakefield Council to the "unauthorised erection" of flags there!

Reform UK Ltd gets 92% of its funding from climate change deniers and fossil fuel corporate interests | Mark Cunliffe @markcunliffe76.bsky.social @centralbylines.co.uk

The MoJ takes responsibility for incorrect closure of Oasis Restore in Kent, and now is set to reopen in March | Bill Doult

In 250 years since the Industrial Revolution, humanity has grown rapidly – yet have our governments kept up with today’s challenges? | Mike Phillips