Norwich and Norfolk Citizen Collective

20/05/2026

https://nnfestival.org.uk/whats-on/nation-of-strangers/

This will be great, Ece is an inspiration.

We welcome internationally acclaimed author and political thinker Ece Temelkuran to Norwich, the City of Sanctuary, to discuss her prescient new book, Nation of Strangers.

14/05/2026

Hello!

I am running two days of joyful and creative workshops at The Potters Arms. These sessions are designed for children aged 8+ with an accompanying adult, offering a relaxed and enjoyable space to create artwork together.

On Tuesday 26th May, there is a mosaic making workshop from 9.30am–12.30pm, costing £20. In this 3-hour session, participants will design and create their own mosaic using sea glass and tiles. You will plan your piece, learn how to safely cut tiles, work on a large board, grout your finished artwork, and take it home the same day.

On Wednesday 27th May, each session costs £15 per session. From 10am–12pm, there is a drawing and painting workshop focused on animals, using pastels, paints, and coloured pencils to create bold, colourful artwork.

From 2pm–4pm, there is a painting workshop focused on birds, exploring drawing and painting techniques to capture birds from owls to robins and swifts.

Don't hesitate to be in touch for further details.

14/05/2026

In 1846, the year the protectionist Corn Laws were repealed, around 50% of UK household income was spent on food and about 70% of the price of a loaf would have gone to a local farmer for the wheat. This was the golden age of British farming, when Constable immortalised his hay wain, and landowners commissioned paintings of their prize bulls. Today, about 10% of household income is spent on food and less than 10% of the price of a loaf of bread will go to the farmer, who could be on the other side of the world.

In the UK, agriculture generates just 0.6% of GDP but is the primary driver of biodiversity loss, and responsible for over 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. Free, globalised trade and unbridled capitalism gave us the cheap food that fed the landless, urban poor who enabled our Industrial Revolution, and, in time, our reliable cars and smartphones, but at a cost we are only belatedly understanding. At agricultural college in the 1980s, I was taught that glyphosate was a farmer’s best friend – a cheap, devastatingly effective herbicide that had zero mammalian toxicity, broke down immediately on contact with the soil, and posed no risk to the environment – all since proven to be untrue. In 2015, it was classed as “probably carcinogenic” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Since 1990, UK glyphosate usage has risen 1,000% – partly because of its egregious use as a pre-harvest desiccant in non-organic farming, where it is sprayed on cereal crops just days before harvest. It’s such a persistent chemical that 28% of bread samples tested by Pesticide Action Network (PAN UK) were found to contain it. It’s in our breakfasts, baked goods, and beer, and what’s concerning is that 70% of the people we surveyed were unaware that traces of weedkillers like glyphosate can remain in food. This isn’t about blaming farmers. Many are working within a system where prices have been driven down to a level where glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs) feel like the only commercially viable option. In this case, the reduction in food prices is infinitesimally small, but the risks, substantial.

Pre-harvest desiccation was banned by the EU in 2023; Riverford, the Soil Association, PAN UK & many others, are campaigning for the UK to do the same.

14/04/2026

https://youtu.be/CDpn7srpDmg?si=JY3J5cTXFQhiYDkV

⭐ Need a shot of positivity to kick the year off? ⭐🚀 Our podcast, Screw This… Let’s Try Something Else, finally launches on 19 January 🚀As an antidote to B...

14/04/2026

Join us for a special opportunity to hear Dr Sarah Stein Lubrano talking with local writer and ecologist Helen Baczkowska about Sarah’s new book ‘Don’t Talk About Politics.’ Sarah, an author, social theorist, mutual aid and cooperative organiser, and broadcaster will discuss the science behind what really change’s people’s minds. Spolier – it’s not debate and discourse that work but providing opportunities for people to build stronger relationships and take action.

There will be a Q and A and a chance for the audience to discuss how to organize ourselves in response to the increased fascisation of politics.

The Book Hive will be selling Sarah’s book.

Find out more and buy tickets here and please share: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/joelevents/2122778

14/04/2026

While most of Devon is bright green, an emerging patchwork of fields will turn yellow, then brown, then silver. This is the kiss of death from glyphosate, the “world’s favourite herbicide”. Most agriculture starts by removing any competing vegetation. In this case, the fields need to be cleared to sow maize for cow feed.

The choice is normally either to plough, costing around £25 per acre, or to spray with glyphosate, costing around £15 per acre. Some argue that glyphosate kills weeds without disturbing the soil, so is less damaging to the environment – and have even branded no-plough farming, facilitated by glyphosate, as ‘regenerative’. Like all artificial pesticides, glyphosate is banned in organic farming.

At college, I was taught that glyphosate breaks down quickly and harmlessly on soil contact, has zero mammalian toxicity, and is harmless in our waterways. All of this turned out to be untrue. It is sprayed on the oats and wheat that go into our breakfast, the legumes in our dinner and the barley that’s turned into our beer. It’s in our tap water and rain; it’s such a persistent chemical that 28% of bread samples tested by the Pesticide Action Network UK were found to contain high levels of glyphosate, while in the US, it can be found in 80% of urine samples. And we’re using more of it than ever – since 1990, the amount of glyphosate used in UK farming has increased by 1,000%.

Every year, I watch these fields die. What upsets me is that maize likes a loose seedbed, so the fields will likely be ploughed anyway. This begs the question: why spray as well? To add to the madness, much of the land will soon be covered with plastic film, to warm the soil and boost early growth. Since 2021, the EU has only allowed biodegradable film, which breaks down into CO2 and water. But in the UK, most of the film is oxo-degradable, breaking down into microplastics that remain in the soil indefinitely. I’m bemused that such widespread plastic pollution is deemed acceptable, while we congratulate ourselves on banning plastic straws.

My point here is not to demonise farmers, but to plead for a food and farming policy that accounts for environmental and financial costs. Farmers are not philosophers; they must make a living. It’s the government’s job to create the framework, so food production is not achieved at the cost of our planet or the health of its people.

📸 Emma Stoner for Veg & Table

13/04/2026

Coming off the back of an extraordinary weekend that saw the ‘Unite The Right’ march in our own fair city (attended by, my sources tell me, about 40 people…), to me being asked repeatedly by really, really angry-looking folk if we carried Matt Goodwin’s new book (and WHY NOT and they CAN’T FIND IT ANYWHERE*), here’s a tremendously on-point book for your Monday reading pleasure.

Nick Lowles is the CEO of Hope not Hate, the UK’s largest anti-racism and anti-extremism movement, and so he really knows what he’s talking about.

In ‘How To Defeat The Far Right’ – conveniently just out in easy-to-carry-and-gift paperback – he uses examples from recent history (from the defeat of the BNP in Barking & Dagenham back in 2006 to how the ‘anti-woke’ agenda weaponises language and exploits inequality to stir resentment) to show what can practically be done against the grim, increasingly well-organised and visible push of the right.

Realistically clear-sighted, erudite and hopeful, I would recommend this book to anyone struggling with a (perfectly understandable) sense of ennui about the direction of modern life, and anyone looking for a sense of what can be done about it.

*Should have found a proper publisher, eh Matt?