Festival of Debate this year will run from 4th May – 6th June 2021, as as series of online events. The full line-up has now been announced. Speakers include Yanis Varoufakis, David Lammy, Jackie Weaver, Maya Goodfellow, Santham Sangera, Natalie Bennett, John McDonnell and many others. Full details here: https://festivalofdebate.com

Sheffield Friends of the Earth, Sheffield Green Parents and Sheffield Greenpeace are supporting Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust’s call for Sheffield City Council to declare an ecological emergency. The climate crisis is speeding up, some ‘solutions’ to it are actually making ecological and biodiversity issues worse. We need natural climate solutions and nature’s recovery to be a priority in tackling…

An appeal has gone out opposing a planning application for 300 new homes in the beautiful Loxley Valley, in Sheffield. Please follow the links below and circulate to anyone else who may be willing to do the same because the Council gave just 2 weeks (18th May-1st June) for comments but following publicity the deadline for objections has been extended…

    The Jubilee Debt Campaign has put online a webinar discussion of the current situation. Covid-19 has had a huge impact on debt both in the UK and around the world. Loss of work and economic damage mean personal debt levels increasing. Debt levels for countries in the global south have soared, but campaigners managed to win £12 billion…

There are growing calls for a Basic Income to support people in the recovery from the pandemic. A petition has reached the threshold for a parliamentary debate and there is cross-party support for an Early Day Motion. Sheffield MPs Gill Furniss (Brightside and Hillsborough), Clive Betts (Sheffield South East), and Miriam Joy Cates (Penistone and Stocksbridge) still haven’t signed. If…

Sheffield Trades Union Councils: Due to the Coronavirus crisis, Sheffield TUC has launched the ‘Sheffield COVID-19 Action Committee’. This brings together trades unions, health professionals, campaigning and political groups (such as Extinction Rebellion) and others, all working in collaboration. They are raising demands with the authorities, exchanging ideas and views, lobbying and campaigning online, and working towards a better, fairer, greener…

Sheffield City of Sanctuary can advise on phonelines and email help available for refugees and asylum seekers during the Coronavirus crisis. South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group (SYMAAG) can help finding services needed by all migrants in Sheffield: Email: dignitynotdetention@yahoo.co.uk. The Sanctuary centre, Victoria Hall drop-in and Conversation Clubs are closed, but there is online and phone information about…

In March 2020, Sheffield City Council put online this bulletin about help for rough sleepers during the Coronavirus epidemic. Since 27th March, Sheffield City Council offers a safe place for all rough sleepers, in hotel rooms in the city, following the Government request for accommodation off the streets to assist with health and self-isolation. The offer includes individual sleeping arrangements…

Some futurologists say that when the system goes down, people will support each other, and get on with making life happen. This is now our main task, along with caring for the sick, for those who are healthy. And sharing sensible, objective and non-alarmist advice on how to live under the emergency procedures, what is likely to happen next, and…

Last year it emerged (in response to a freedom of information request) that Sheffield Council uses dangerous Glyphosate herbicide on the city’s pavements and greenery. This substance (the best know brand is Monsanto’s RoundUp) is very dangerous to insects, plant life and humans. Legal cases against Monsanto are now being won, after years of campaigning. It has been banned by…