Gary Champion

Holistic Humanities Specializing in history, geography, and sustainability education, with personalised online tuition, school support, and inspiring podcasts.

Launching website and would welcome feedback on how it could be improved
holistichumanities.org

Norwich swimmers lead new push for cleaner rivers With city council support, a Norwich swimming group is applying for bathing water status to help protect their river from pollution

Are you a wild water swimmer, paddle boarder or kayak fan?

Bank Holiday Monday morning, the number of folk getting into River Wensum at Cow Tower will be counted as part of Cow Tower Dippers application for Designated Bathing Water Status.

Have your say on consultation (see 🧵) too.

Consultation - Have your say on bathing water designation at Cow Tower

gettalking.norwich.gov.uk/cowtower/sur...

Charity rowers mistaken for asylum seekers, and now children at a scout camp mistaken for immigrants.

Ministers using unashamedly inflammatory language, whipping up hatred towards migrants, is fuelling a racist atmosphere being whipped across the country.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

WhoFi: New surveillance technology can track people by how they disrupt Wi-Fi signals Hi-tech surveillance technologies are a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you want sophisticated devices to detect suspicious behavior and alert authorities. But on the other, there is the need to ...

WhoFi sounds like some next level Orwellian surveillance
techxplore.com/news/2025-07...

⏳Final week to sign up to the Green Party.

🗳️ Vote for Bold Leadership on August 1st.

Elusive purple emperor butterfly sighted at National Trust estate The purple emperor, with a wingspan of around 8cm, was sighted at Sheringham Park in Norfolk in June during a weekly survey.

The elusive purple emperor butterfly has been spotted back at Sheringham Park. The Park was believed to be the location of a breeding colony in 2018, but after the last sighting in 2021 things appeared to have “gone quiet” until this summer. www.independent.co.uk/climate-chan...

The 2025 Global Electoral Integrity Report is now out!

This year we focus in on those countries which saw rises and declines in electoral integrity.

Read here: static1.squarespace.com/static/58533...

Join the discussions at our free conference next week: electoralintegrityproject.com/ieip2025

Sewage Watch – Protect our rivers and beaches Since April 2023 Sewage Watch has been keeping a running log of press coverage on the state of sewage dumping into our rivers and onto our beaches - Updated June 2025

Sewage Watch – Protect our rivers and beaches

8 June 2025 – Gloucestershire: Exhibition shines light on River Wye pollution.

7 June 2025 – Bidders demand Thames Water granted immunity over environmental crimes.

3 June 2025 – Failing water sector needs stronger regulation, says damning review.

Would be very interested to read this. Would you be able to share a link please

With Sir Keir Starmer announcement that the UK will purchase 12 F-35A fighter jets and formally join NATO’s Dual Capable Aircraft (DCA) nuclear sharing mission, it means US nuclear warheads are likely to be stored on British soil once again.

This cartoon by Ella Baron feels particularly pertinent

Reading this brought to mind the term hypernormalisation, which refers the disconnect between seeing systems collapse, and yet people that are in power and institutions just ignore reality to sell us the illusion of business as usual.

Airlines prepare for nuclear war Jets could continue to fly following an atomic blast as insurers scramble to combat escalating conflicts

Nuclear hypernormalisation.

Well, glad to hear people's holidays won't be interrupted by nuclear war, and for less than the price of a cup of coffee per passenger.

www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...

Carla Denyer accuses Labour of failing to challenge Reform UK’s net zero ‘lie’ Greens co-leader to table private member’s bill on a worker-led green transition in attempt to seize narrative back from Nigel Farage’s party

“When Reform are unfortunately managing to sell the lie that tackling climate change is somehow going to be bad for ordinary people, it’s really important that we Greens challenge that – and I am worried the Labour government is backsliding on climate policy,” says @carladenyer.bsky.social

Norwich had some fantastic candidates:

In Sewell
✅ Jenny Knight

In Bowthorpe
✅ Tony Park

In Mancroft
✅ Serene Shible and
✅ Ian Stutely

⏰ Polls are open from 7am to 10pm. Please remember to take your voter ID.

Thank you for shining the light on this issue, Jack.

This week, I dived into the secret world of GAG pooling

More MATs are choosing to pool school budgets to smooth funding inequalities and send more money to academies with the greatest need

But public information doesn't clearly show how this cash is divvied up - so I took a closer look...

Change is possible

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2025/04/12/air-pollution-paris-health-cars/

Labour’s great nature sellout is the worst attack on England’s ecosystems I’ve seen in my lifetime | George Monbiot The horrifying planning bill, which rips up environmental protections, was drafted with CEOs in mind. We know because Keir Starmer told us, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

1. Because this issue is critical, but has received remarkably little coverage, here's a thread pulling out the key themes from my article yesterday, on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which puts decades of environmental protections to the torch. 🧵 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Green corridors are crucial and projects like this are inspiring.

Local, regional, national and international biodiversity networks, are possible.

www.europeangreenbelt.org

🟢 Meet Mary Page, Green Party candidate for the West Of England Mayor. 🟢

Mary will champion all our communities in the West of England with a Nature, Nurture and Needs plan, shifting the balance of power back into your hands.

The latest poll for the West of England mayoral contest looks hopeful for Mary Page who is currently polling at 27%

I hope we can mirror this in the East of England for next year's first Mayoral election.

@mayorslayer.bsky.social

yougov.co.uk/politics/art...

Infected blackbirds may exhibit symptoms such as lethargy, weakness, poor coordination, and seizures. However, many infected birds are found dead without showing prior signs of illness.

A simple way to help is covering water butts and removing unused plant saucers.

Also keep bird feeders clean 🐦‍⬛

The Blackbirds in Gardens project begins in May and is an important citizen science project due to the Usutu virus.

The Usutu virus is a mosquito-borne disease that affects blackbirds and negatively impacting blackbird numbers.

www.bto.org/our-science/....

Save Norwich Walk-in Centre and other crucial health services. Speak out now, save health services for all - we saved it once, we can do it again. NHS bosses put forward plans to close the Walk-in Centre on Rouen Road back in 2023. Norwich residents spoke out s...

🚨 Petition: SAVE THE NORWICH WALK-IN CENTRE (again)🚨

With no new funding for the NHS under Labour austerity, the Rouen Road Walk-In Centre is threatened with closure yet again.

The NHS is on its knees - we cannot let our walk-in centre disappear.

'Manifest destiny' rooted in American nationalism and exceptionalism, was used to justify the forced removal of Native Americans and take their land.
I will be using this map visualisation to open up discussion with students.
#HolisticHumanities

One thing that folk can do to act against this and other injustices is stop banking with Barclays Bank, which is Europe’s biggest fossil fuel financer.

It is also worth considering that Shell spent $18.3bn on its traditional fossil fuel businesses last year and just over $2.5bn on “renewables and energy solutions” over the same period.

Shell profits are $24bn, and under Nigerian law, the operating company is responsible for cleaning up oil spills from its facilities, even if the spill is the result of third-party action.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...