The phrase “housing crisis” has become the default way we approach housing these days, and not just in Bristol. The Bristol Post even have a ‘housing crisis’ news tag, which you can scroll through at your leisure. The Bristol City Council housing waiting list is over 16,000, according to the…

We the undersigned call to scrap Bristol City Council’s proposed budget cuts. Bristol City Council’s proposed budget cuts include more than £11 million cuts to adult social care[1]. The council explain that the cuts are necessary to meet an overall budgetary shortfall of £19.5 million. In an online announcement on…

Little yellow, green, and grey boxes started appearing in people’s timelines just a few weeks ago. I was puzzled and waited until a link was posted. Today, I’m on a 10-day streak of wins, and I know that Wordle is 2022’s suggestion for how to solve our problems. In…

I’ve been quiet over here as I have started a newsletter on Substack. I don’t mean to abandon this site though. I will get better at updating. My latest on Substack can be read at the following link: https://joannab.substack.com/p/the-week-that-was-in-bristol-politics I’ve begun a weekly look at the politics discussed on Twitter…

Many congratulations to Green councillor for Clifton Down, Carla Denyer, who has been elected co-leader of the national Green Party, along with Adrian Ramsay. It feels uplifting to have a local councillor recognised nationally, and given the chance to lead, especially after the negative and, frankly, and in my…

A letter in support of the police, during the Kill the Bill protests, purportedly by the ‘City Leaders’ group was organised by Bristol City Council’s City Office, a freedom of information request has revealed. The letter was distributed by the PR company Social Communications, seemingly so it would not be…

In response to a local campaign to save Novers Hill from housing plans by private developers and the council’s own housing company, cabinet member for housing, Tom Renhard, has pledged to carry out the ecological and arboriculture surveys again. Renhard announced on Twitter that he has “asked for the ecological…

In a worrying turn of events, Bristol City Council’s data protection team ruled that once politicians are no longer in post, they are treated as private individuals and their information cannot be disclosed under a freedom of information act request. I discovered this when I recently lodged an FOI request…

Once a year, residents and journalists have a legal right to inspect a council’s accounts (with some exemptions for commercial confidentiality). Application should initially be made by email to budgets.and.accounting@bristol.gov.uk. In Bristol, this period began on August 2nd and runs until September 13. It is wise to give the council…