It's #Halloween night when spooks, wizards and witches are out and about. And talking of witches - @janiceheppenstall.bsky.social latest article for @sussexbylines.co.uk picks up the witchy theme to explore much scarier witch hunts happening in the real world

The real danger to human rights is from individual governments intent on authoritarian power and control | Janice Heppenstall

The one day of the year when I can brazenly share one of my articles.

Genuinely brilliant from Private Eye.

We surely need neither bullies nor appeasers governing us. | Tom Serpell

🇺🇸 🔥 That. Was. Impressive. We are watching America reassert itself and its values from the grassroots up. The world saw you and we have huge hope invested in you.

Is there any chance Trump will see the No Kings protests and finally realise people hate him? Probably not. Maybe he secretly knows this. Maybe he’s always known this.

Good Lord. That’s almost as many people as at Trump’s first inauguration.

@sussexbylines.co.uk published powerful articles this week on #immigration by two of our outstanding regular writers @mickchannon.bsky.social and Viv Griffiths. Read them here:

Fantastic article by my friend at Sussex Bylines, Viv Griffiths. Kier Starmer and his government have started to dare to utter the B word. It's time now to move away from Reform UK's narrative altogether, and to speak the truth about the positive aspects of migration for our country.

The annual Harvey's Harvest Festival in Lewes took place at the beginning of October and was a joyful affair | Ginny Foster @ginnyfos.bsky.social @sussexbylines.co.uk

Please repost if you are antifa. #IamAntifa Antifa in action on D-Day in 1944.

A Toby Carvery cut down a living 500-year-old oak. Now, a Suffolk resident is making sure his village’s own ancient oak doesn’t meet the same fate. Interview by Aidan Baker

destroying hope. all in the name of profit. The risks were obvious. And there was an arson attack on a mosque in a Sussex town last night when two people were inside. Watch #TheHack and you will understand why we desperately need a Leveson 2 inquiry into the British press

Our team was appalled and deeply saddened to learn of the attack on the Manchester synagogue and the loss of two lives. Given the deep emotions involved you would hope that our print media would show some restraint. But no. Vile headlines from the tabloids in the past two days. Building hate

The campaign aims to secure the future of artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant’s historic studio | Maddy Maher

The Green platform is ambitious yet voters remain wary | Mick Channon

Hotels housing migrants are now YouTube content farms. Outrage = clicks. Clicks = cash. Division is the business model. And it's lucrative. Owen Sennitt reports.

ITV's drama #TheHack is a must-watch. A great series about the brilliant investigative journalist NickDavies' exposure of the phone hacking scandal. @sussexbylines.co.uk featured him in the first Defenders of Democracy series sussexbylines.co.uk/politics/dem...

In praise of rain While lots of sunshine and dry weather makes a pleasant summer, we desperately need more rain | Ginny Foster @sussexbylines.co.uk

Bread and Roses – the song of the brave, fortright mill girls of Lancashire and beyond.

“Why is Keir Starmer allowing the right wing to set the political agenda with confected crises, rather than engaging with real issues?”

Nick Davies is a journalist and documentary maker well known for his campaigns to expose injustice and the misuse of power | Ginny Smith

Shared it before but worth sharing again

@alistairking.bsky.social If you haven't already done it, Alistair, you're not going to be happy with Connections today 🙄

Oak trees and gall wasps have a marvellous secret symbiotic relationship | Mick Channon

Should our weekly grocery shop fund the oppression, starvation, and killing of a people? | Ali Ghanimi

If a building contractor dumped 100,000t a year of excavated earth into a nature reserve, it'd be a huge scandal and people would be prosecuted. But when Brighton Marina dumps sediment in a Marine Conservation Zone, almost nobody bats an eyelid. Luckily @sussexwildlife.bsky.social is on the case.

Wellsbourne Healthcare gets a reprieve but the drama is far from over | James Joughin

They want us to join Russia and Belarus as the only European states not signed up to the ECHR | Janice Heppenstall

Just some students and some poets being told they're flipping brilliant. Truth tellers. Word wranglers. Social justice journalism warriors. Celebrate them. bylinesnetwork.substack.com/p/introducin...

More scrutiny needs to take place before Premier Marina’s licence is renewed | Ross McNally

Farage wants you to forget this.

Gathering to tell Trump he’s not welcome in Windsor #StopTrump

We need to urgently address our water shortage and pollution crisis | Mick Channon

Northern Ireland man from Lisburn kidnapped by Trump’s Ice raids because he “looked like a Mexican”. He had the correct visa, all his documents. He’s never been in trouble with police. Held in terrible conditions. A fellow captive couldn’t get his medication and dropped dead of a heart attack

A Londoner learns about Sussex’s unique regional expressions and dialect | Ayesha Hamid

What do we lose when local print news is no longer local?

An educational scheme teaches skills to participate in society.

Bylines Network articles have been read nearly 20 million times. It costs at least £175,000 a year to help our 2,000 citizen writers speak truth to power and hold democracy to account. Who funds us? No one...except you. Support citizen journalism, donate: chuffed.org/project/byli...

Massive congratulations to the winner of the undergraduate Bylines Network Student Journalism award, Rudi Banfield, for his article on the Sex Pistols concert at the Albert Hall - and just to remind you of his vivid portrayal of life in the mosh pit, here it is:

Ex-service people have problems like the rest of us, but pitting their needs against asylum seekers feeds a toxic narrative.

Can Zack Polanski’s ‘eco-populist’ vision revitalise the Green Party and see off the threat of Reform?

More stuff about restaurants and food. I’m trying to grow this column into a vehicle to explore Brighton’s many food policy challenges sussexbylines.co.uk/community/li... #brighton #sustainability

Well done, Sussex Bylines. Excellent analysis and the issue is urgent.

Fear and obfuscation at the Amex stadium 'Roger Wade, founder of fashion label Boxfresh and a 10-year Brighton & Hove Albion season ticket holder, had, it seemed, been denied access to his seat for wearing a Palestine t-shirt.' @jpjoughin.bsky.social @sussexbylines.co.uk

Mapping Israel's influence on the UK parliament. 🔍 "Two names stand out: Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) and Labour Friends of Israel (LFI)... CFI claims 80% of Tory MPs as members. It’s funded 118 current Conservative MPs on 160 trips, spending over £330,000."

Henry Foster applauds the Men's Shed movement, describing the friendships made, the skills learned and offered and the wellbeing engendered

Want to read all the shortlisted poems? You can! You should! They are incredible. Citizen writing at its best. Find the poems here: bylinesnetwork.substack.com/s/poetry-pri...