Mothin Ali, is a councillor on Leeds City Council and also the Deputy Leader of the Green Party in the UK. During the unrest in 2024 in Harehills he tried to help the Police by appealing to people for calm and was praised for his efforts by all parties.
However, his actions were maliciously portrayed on the Social Media Platform X by both a TV Presenter and a social media commentator . Councillor Ali sued the two people involved for defamation and has won substantial damages.
Unfortunately though he feels the damage has been done and he was very upset at the questioning of his honesty.
Zack Polanski , the Leader of the Green’s praised the actions of his Deputy and said that he had behaved heroically and had worked to heal division.
Thanks to Deborah Haynes of Sky News Online for the Headline.
Tell me when a politician ever had a ‘frank conversation’ with the public about anything, generally they are trying to talk up their performance or reassure everyone that everything is going to plan.
Sir Roy Walker was addressing 700 troops on a visit to Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire and he talked about Citizen sacrifice and that the general public had to support the soldiers by making sacrifices ( does he mean paying more tax?) or having curfews and not travelling anywhere. Doing a collection for the British Legion or knitting socks as people did in World War One and Two. Have no fear Sir Roy whatever you need us to do we will do.
Sir Roy says that the Citizen support is necessary and that the army can do what ” it only can do” by bringing the fight to the enemy. Strong words .
The reality is modern warfare has changed beyond recognition with the introduction and use of drones and the amount of spy software , satellites and intelligence makes bringing the fight to the enemy quite a different scenario.
Perhaps Sir Roy was just rousing the troops, it’s his role , however , Media outlets can use these words as rabble rousing and scaring people into believing that another War is imminent , when the reality is that there are a lot of people working for Peace and perhaps we need to support them too.
Thank you to Oliver Dyer and The County Press for the Headline
Two men were caught illegally dredging for scallops in the prohibited area of the South Wight in March 2026, the resulting court case has meant the two fishermen have been fined over £4700 after admitting the offence at Portsmouth Magistrates Court on October the 7th this year.
The evidence submitted included footage gathered by a drone equipped with a camera, laser range finder and GPS by the Southern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority which showed the men contravened the bottom towed fishing gear Byelaw. The men’s vessel had dredged in the excluded area for two hours and 21 minutes and gathered a catch of 645kg scallops valued at around £1161.
So it has proved an expensive fishing trip. Not to mention the damage done to the local environment.
Thanks to Rachael Lewis and BBC Online News for the Headline.
When is fly-tipping not fly tipping? When the four overflowing skips are actually owned by a small family -owned company that has bought the previously multi-occupancy (MHO) which was shut down last year and who have after a year finally got planning permission to convert the building into fourteen residential units. The rubbish is from inside the building they are converting and consists of old sofas, mattresses and other detritus.
The situation has arisen in the leafy suburb of Moseley in Birmingham, and the owners of the property are blaming the Council on the lengthy time it has taken to approve their plans and having now incurred additional costs say that the project now will take another year to complete and that the situation with the unsightly overflowing skips is unfortunate, however they are on private land and they will address the situation as soon as possible.
A local councillor has got involved and contacted the “empty property officer” to get involved and the owners have been sent an official letter to clear the mess and if nothing happens within 28 days there will be a formal notice.
Actually, this kind of rubbish is very unsightly and if the skips are full they should be emptied and replaced with empty ones so that the work can continue.Perhaps the “empty property officer ” can enforce this?
Thank you to Charlie Taylor and Chris Lockyer and BBC Online News for the Headline
A tall chimney stack which is part of the skyline in the Somerset town of Wiveliscombe has failed to sell at auction and is proving difficult to “give away”. The local history society refused the “gift” due to the maintenance costs involved in looking after it.
The chimney is beside an adjoining Brewery Building which was built and run by the Hancock family, an old Wiveliscombe family. It is being sold separately from the old brewery buildings near it and comes with a small road and a path.
The chimney was in private ownership and is being sold as part of the previous owner’s estate. The asking price of £2000 cannot even be achieved. It’s function is purely a reminder of the Hancock family’s legacy to the town and perhaps it’s future now is uncertain as who will look after it’s maintenance? Is there a modern day Fred Dibnah somewhere who would want to buy it and look after it?
Thanks to Colletta Smith and Elaine Doran and BBC News Online for the Headline.
There are two sides to every story, Royal Mail Management are firm in their belief that they are doing the right thing and introducing working methods that will bring more efficiency Apparently it is code named DM26.
In truth I think I paid £1.36 to send a letter first class, and actually the local post office in a big Supermarket is always very friendly and efficient. However, I only send letters once in a blue moon and restrict myself to close family when it comes to Christmas Cards.
So I’m sad to see that the Communication Workers Union say that on a weekly basis a significant number of the 83,000 workforce of Royal Mail delivery workers are leaving, because their job is becoming more and more difficult with the priorities of making first class letter deliveries every day , whereas second class are now delivered every other day, and they’ve got to fit in parcels too.
An average of 25,000 steps a day to deliver mail is for some a great way to stay fit, but for some it will wear them out. Also , some are upset because they say that first class letters get left behind because they need to catch up on all the second class that they have got behind on. Actually it seems a bit daft, if they all arrive at the sorting office together , why not just deliver them. I thought all the sorting was automated anyway.
Ofcom have fined Royal Mail more than £37million over the last three years for missing delivery targets. I wonder what happened to that money? Actually I think anyone who criticises Royal Mail should have to do 25,000 steps a day and see how they like it.
And now with the advent of Christmas , which is a terrible time for posties, the weather is bad , everything has to be delivered in time for Christmas and people still forget to put their Post Codes on their addresses. Royal Mail recruit about 22,000 temporary staff to help out, but it’s still a pretty tough time to try and hit targets.
Thanks to Holly Phillips and BBC News Online for the Headline
This headline helped answer a very important question ,what do people with Stoma bags need when they are out and about and need to access Public Toilets ? According to Colostomy UK there are more than 200,000 people in the UK living with a stoma.
A campaigner in East Yorkshire has successfully achieved her goal for more Stoma friendly toilets in the local hospitals, where shelves and mirrors have been installed in the facilities as well as coat hooks and a disposable waste system. This is to enable a change of bag when needed.
These are not expensive alterations, and could be accommodated Nationwide and even Globally.
Thanks to Joshua Askew and BBC Online News for the Headline.
Thanet District Council has a Car Park which is on the seafront of the Marina Esplanade in Ramsgate, a prime seaside location.They are looking for ideas from developers to utilise the land more creatively to get the maximum benefit for local taxpayers as well as creating a “wonderful seafront location”.
How exciting, to be in right at the very beginning of the project when anything is possible.
The site is approximately one acre along the Eastern Undercliff, and forms an unbroken seafront location.
Obviously they don’t need a Car Park as it’s not being used as much as the Council would like. So the usual options are shops, a hotel or sports and leisure spaces.
I suppose it has to be something that people both locals and visitors use and will provide an economic boost to the area.
