Ed Jennings
@edjennings.bsky.social
📤 668
📥 352
📝 795
Local news bore. Editor
@kentcurrent.news
@localauthority.news
// He/him. 📍 Medway, UK
Good evening. I’m here for tonight’s Medway Council budget meeting, where the finances will be set for the current year. I’ll be liveblooting it from 7pm. Join me!
about 1 hour ago
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Sorry, what?
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about 7 hours ago
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Thinking about this far too much this morning, particularly after KentOnline happily wrote up their press release with no further context. On the other hand, we have always engaged with and interviewed council group leaders. Restore now third largest on KCC, so how to approach is a challenge.
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about 8 hours ago
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The wildest thing about this is that Taylor attended sentencing directly from jail after breaching his bail conditions. One week ago, he turned up at the Kent County Council budget meeting and spoke in the debate, so he's had quite the week.
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5 days ago
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My Evernote renewal has gone from ÂŁ79 last year to ÂŁ155 this year. So, er, can anyone recommend an alternative? Just need somewhere I can dump a ton of notes and files in a ton of different formats.
5 days ago
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reposted by
Ed Jennings
James O'Malley
5 days ago
Kent Current is doing essential journalism that no one else is – strongly recommend subscribing to support them.
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reposted by
Ed Jennings
Kent Current
5 days ago
Seven KCC councillors have formed a new Restore Britain group at County Hall, giving a national hard-right project a foothold in Kent. We unpack who’s moved, why Reform fractured, and what Restore’s first real test has looked like.
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Kent becomes a test site for Restore
A new hard-right brand takes seats at County Hall
https://www.kentcurrent.news/kent-becomes-a-test-site-for-restore/
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I don't want to say AI is shit, but I just asked ChatGPT to suggest potential Kent interviewees for our publications, and it told me to get in touch with Charles Dickens, Siegfried Sassoon and Geoffrey Chaucer. I think they might be unavailable.
5 days ago
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reposted by
Ed Jennings
Kent County Council latest: Seven KCC councillors have defected to Rupert Lowe's Restore Britain tonight. They are Paul Thomas, Brian Black, Oliver Bradshaw, Maxine Fothergill, Isabella Kemp, Robert Ford, and Dean Burns. Most had already been kicked out of Reform, with the exception of Burns.
8 days ago
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Kent County Council latest: Seven KCC councillors have defected to Rupert Lowe's Restore Britain tonight. They are Paul Thomas, Brian Black, Oliver Bradshaw, Maxine Fothergill, Isabella Kemp, Robert Ford, and Dean Burns. Most had already been kicked out of Reform, with the exception of Burns.
8 days ago
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Everything about this is pretty jaw-dropping. The video of the town council being confronted about this live during a meeting is quite something.
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Investigation launched after reporter’s face put on town hall punchbag
An investigation has been opened after an image of a Melksham News reporter’s face was attached to a punchbag inside
https://melkshamnews.com/investigation-launched-after-reporters-face-put-on-town-hall-punchbag/
8 days ago
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Googled Medway and wtf?
8 days ago
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Always good to see the Mill empire expanding. (At least until they decide to march on the southeast, anyway)
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9 days ago
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Important local news.
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10 days ago
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Good morning. I'm here at today's Kent County Council meeting, where the Reform-led administration will propose its first budget. It is the only item on the agenda, but expect it to be contentious.
13 days ago
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If it gets the point where you have to include 'today' in this sort of statement, it's probably over.
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16 days ago
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This is going to yield some hilarious results under First Past the Post.
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16 days ago
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Congratulations to the Guardian for exclusively revealing what loads of us were shouting about for years.
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18 days ago
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Having a fun morning digging into the very weird usage of AI by Kent councillors.
22 days ago
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There's something weirdly similar about these people fighting to stop people having places to live but I can't quite put my finger on it.
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27 days ago
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reposted by
Ed Jennings
Martin Robbins
27 days ago
Quite a telling quote from previous coverage. Men being disengaged from the real world is a big multiplier for social media brain.
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This story is quite remarkable. Network Rail needs to replace a level crossing, meaning the road it's on needs to close for a period of time. The only problem? The road is the only way in and out for a village of 1,700 people, and no one seemed to realise that cutting them off might not be ideal.
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27 days ago
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Good evening. We’re here at full Medway Council, which is about to kick off. On the agenda tonight: intimidation at Swale, school streets, restricting democracy, and reviewing the constitution. I’ll be live tweeting it all right here. Join me.
about 1 month ago
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There's something weirdly similar about all of these people trying to block housing being built but I can't quite put my finger on what it is.
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about 1 month ago
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Bloody hell. Very excited for this, horrifically expensive tickets aside.
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Life Without Buildings are reforming for a show to celebrate Rough Trade's 50th anniversary
Glasgow art-rock band Life Without Buildings reunite to perform their 2001 album Any Other City this November to mark fifty years since Rough Trade opened its first record store.
https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/life-without-buildings-reform-one-off-show-celebrate-rough-trades-50th-anniversary
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
Ed Jennings
Sunder Katwala (sundersays)
about 1 month ago
Ukip have submitted a new logo and slogan to the Electoral Commission, swapping the ÂŁ pound sterling symbol for a cross, that looks very much like it is modelled on the Iron Cross used by Prussia & Germany 1871-1918 and Hitler's Nazi regime from 1933-45
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Nice to be back at the desk today after some time away, checking in on the state of the world following the season of peace and goodwill.. oh.
about 2 months ago
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Good morning from Kent County Council, where things are about to get underway for the last time this year. On the agenda today: Cutting committee meetings, introducing political assistants, Tunbridge Wells water issues, and more.
2 months ago
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When I first started writing about local council meetings, I didn't imagine this is the kind of thing I'd end up covering. Where we are right now is incredibly bleak.
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3 months ago
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...and just like that, we're now free of Substack.
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3 months ago
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"...waste bins on Luton Road have been transformed into sound systems. When you put waste in, the bin thanks you, plays a message from local children or spits some beats..." Can't stress how obnoxious this sounds. Might even encourage me to start littering.
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Beatboxing Bins Installed On Luton Road
YouTube video by Medway Council
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NhmYEngdj8
3 months ago
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We’re trying to buy a house. We’ve seen one we really like and have made it through a couple of the stages towards getting it. So of course I’m planning our new lives, ignoring the fact we likely have to fight 30 other applicants to the death, Hunger Games style, before it’s ours.
3 months ago
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Three expelled Reform councillors on Kent County Council, Cllrs Paul Thomas, Brian Black, and Oliver Bradshaw, have formed a new group called The Independent Group. No word yet on whether they will be sharing a photo of them all having a Nando's before hurtling into electoral oblivion.
3 months ago
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reposted by
Ed Jennings
Paul Edwards
3 months ago
Best article that I have read so far on the inept shambles that have been happening where I live in Tunbridge Wells. I still think not enough is made of the fact they sent the emergency water to a completely different town.
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reposted by
Ed Jennings
Erica
3 months ago
This is a very good write up of the water situation in Tunbridge Wells.
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I don't want to say that everyone is struggling these days, but the local church has sent us a bookmark instead of a Christmas card this year.
3 months ago
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It's a big, slightly scary day for us as we move
@kentcurrent.news
to Ghost. Substack has been good for us, but we reached the point where too many things there were working against us. We'll be doing the same with
@localauthority.news
in the coming weeks.
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3 months ago
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Finally, the British public gets something right in a poll.
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British public’s verdict is in: Die Hard is not a Christmas movie
Survey also reveals Britons’ favourite festive film, views on tear-jerkers and family cinema trips
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/dec/01/die-hard-not-christmas-movie-home-alone?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
3 months ago
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I didn't get into local journalism to set up a pen pal scheme with another Medway in Canada, but that's where life takes you sometimes.
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3 months ago
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reposted by
Ed Jennings
The New World
3 months ago
Hardly any of the newly elected Reform councillors had experience of local government. Among their ranks were decorators, landlords, gas engineers, teachers, a carpet-store owner, a photographer and a paramedic ✏️
@edjennings.bsky.social
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Reform’s sinking Kent flagship
The council was supposed to show how effective Nigel Farage’s party would be in power. Those watching from close quarters have instead been treated to a spectacle of chaos, spite and division
https://www.thenewworld.co.uk/ed-jennings-reforms-shambolic-kent-experiment/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social
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reposted by
Ed Jennings
The New World
3 months ago
🗞️ Our latest issue is on sale - Welcome to Kent: A Reform UK council Featuring
@edjennings.bsky.social
,
@alastaircampbell2.bsky.social
, Jessica Cecil,
@jamesrball.com
,
@sonia-sodha.bsky.social
and more Get 10 weeks for ÂŁ10:
buff.ly/hI3VUVd
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Some personal news.
3 months ago
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Kent politics keeps getting weirder.
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3 months ago
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Good evening from tonight’s full Medway Council meeting. A big meeting tonight where the council will set out their local government reorganisation position, and we also have the remaining business from last month’s abandoned meeting. Full agenda here:
democracy.medway.gov.uk/ieListDocume...
3 months ago
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I still can’t believe that reference survived the edit.
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4 months ago
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I'm on a podcast! Sadly I wasn't asked for my views on tunnelling to the Isle of Wight though.
add a skeleton here at some point
4 months ago
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reposted by
Ed Jennings
Kent Current
4 months ago
🎄 Flags spark as a festive stand-off, with one village claiming it can't put up Christmas lights until flags come down 🗣️ A chaotic Kent County Council meeting ➡️ What else is happening at KCC this week? 🗞️ News in brief, and more
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Flags spark festive stand-off
Plus what's going on at KCC this week, a chaotic council meeting, news in brief, and more
https://www.kentcurrent.news/p/flags-spark-festive-stand-off
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Kent County Council is getting underway. Slightly odd arrangements in place where usual press seats have been closed, leaving us in the public gallery, which has 14 seats. Far more than 14 people are here, leading to several journalists and others being left outside of the room. But we’re in.
4 months ago
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Another one gone in Kent. Cllr Isabella Kemp, elected for Reform in May, is now listed as an independent. It is unclear at this point precisely why Cllr Kemp has exited the party. This means Reform has now lost 9 of the 57 councillors they saw elected only six months ago.
4 months ago
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reposted by
Ed Jennings
Emma Haslett
4 months ago
Characteristically excellent local reporting from
@edjennings.bsky.social
today. "Kent has said for years that it cannot cope alone. Geography turned the county into the UK’s de facto reception service for unaccompanied children, and capacity has repeatedly buckled."
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