Digweeds Trousers
New member
Nice enough guy Peter Austin.
I asked him why the coverage in the Sussex Express was more anti-Falmer than pro and was this a reflection of the papers views.
His explanation was basically:
Within Lewes didtrict the opposition to Falmer was based on cohesive groups ; the District Council, the Sussex Downsmen and Falmer Parish Council.
It was ineviable he said that more column inches would be given to these groups rather than the single voices, and he admitted there were many, who were in favour of the stadium.
He had no idea of the support of Lewes FC for the scheme, and suggested there was nothing in it for them!! I put him right on that.
I asked what the papers opinion was council payers money being spent on opposition to a project many actually supported. He agreed that this was not ideal.
I asked what he felt about the (alleged as I have well-founded suspicions) close personal friendships between leading lights on the Falmer Parish Council, and members of the Lewes District Council.
I told him I believed implicitly that one of the driving forces behind the Councils decision to financially oppose the Albions plans was a very close personal and business relationship between certain members on the Falmer Parish Council and the Disitrict Council.
I asked why the paper had no opinion on the matter as a whole. he said it was their policy to sit on the fence.
I asked him if he had a personla opinion on the matter and he felt, and this is his personal opinion, that a lack of imagination from Brighton City Council had driven the Albion down the Falmer Road.
I asked him where he felt the stadium should be built. He suggested a brownfield site in sussex. I asked him to name one and he said............................Shoreham Cement Works
I asked him why he felt the boundaries of the AONB were being moved and what implication this had on the Sussex Downsmens opposition to Falmer.
He said he was not aware of this.
I asked his opinions on a Tory MP writing to a member of his constituency insinuating that he had heard from Morman Baker that the whole thing was going to be rejected after the election.
He said that it was only an opinion but that he might have been doing us a favour by passing that on.
i asked whether in that case, the 25k being spent by Lewes District Council was a waste of money.
He declined to answer.
He then asked me why I was so keen to speak to him.
I said pretty much that if he was a self-respecting journalist of a self-respecting paper claiming to sit on the fence then he should learn to sit on the fence properly.
I said that my belief was the paper was pandering to the tea and scone brigade in Lewes who bought the paper, went to the right dinner parties and socialised with the councillors and business men on the Falmer Parish and Lewes District Councils and made no real effort to portray the anger in many Lewes residents that their money is being used without any question, to fight a project that they support.
He was a nice enough guy, but I felt that he was a typical local newspaper editor. spineless, weak and incapable of having the bollocks to have a standpoint as a paper and back it. Instead he is terrified of creating a stink and being blackballed by the bridge parties of Lewes society.
The fight goes on my friends.
He said there was no cohesive group supporting Falmer in Lewes. therefore it was hard to run a story as it would be simply a collection of unrelated, random people voicing a similar opinion.
Anyone want to join the LPFF:
Lewes Peoples Front of Falmer.
I say t the Nimbys...............SPLITTERS!!
I asked him why the coverage in the Sussex Express was more anti-Falmer than pro and was this a reflection of the papers views.
His explanation was basically:
Within Lewes didtrict the opposition to Falmer was based on cohesive groups ; the District Council, the Sussex Downsmen and Falmer Parish Council.
It was ineviable he said that more column inches would be given to these groups rather than the single voices, and he admitted there were many, who were in favour of the stadium.
He had no idea of the support of Lewes FC for the scheme, and suggested there was nothing in it for them!! I put him right on that.
I asked what the papers opinion was council payers money being spent on opposition to a project many actually supported. He agreed that this was not ideal.
I asked what he felt about the (alleged as I have well-founded suspicions) close personal friendships between leading lights on the Falmer Parish Council, and members of the Lewes District Council.
I told him I believed implicitly that one of the driving forces behind the Councils decision to financially oppose the Albions plans was a very close personal and business relationship between certain members on the Falmer Parish Council and the Disitrict Council.
I asked why the paper had no opinion on the matter as a whole. he said it was their policy to sit on the fence.
I asked him if he had a personla opinion on the matter and he felt, and this is his personal opinion, that a lack of imagination from Brighton City Council had driven the Albion down the Falmer Road.
I asked him where he felt the stadium should be built. He suggested a brownfield site in sussex. I asked him to name one and he said............................Shoreham Cement Works
I asked him why he felt the boundaries of the AONB were being moved and what implication this had on the Sussex Downsmens opposition to Falmer.
He said he was not aware of this.
I asked his opinions on a Tory MP writing to a member of his constituency insinuating that he had heard from Morman Baker that the whole thing was going to be rejected after the election.
He said that it was only an opinion but that he might have been doing us a favour by passing that on.
i asked whether in that case, the 25k being spent by Lewes District Council was a waste of money.
He declined to answer.
He then asked me why I was so keen to speak to him.
I said pretty much that if he was a self-respecting journalist of a self-respecting paper claiming to sit on the fence then he should learn to sit on the fence properly.
I said that my belief was the paper was pandering to the tea and scone brigade in Lewes who bought the paper, went to the right dinner parties and socialised with the councillors and business men on the Falmer Parish and Lewes District Councils and made no real effort to portray the anger in many Lewes residents that their money is being used without any question, to fight a project that they support.
He was a nice enough guy, but I felt that he was a typical local newspaper editor. spineless, weak and incapable of having the bollocks to have a standpoint as a paper and back it. Instead he is terrified of creating a stink and being blackballed by the bridge parties of Lewes society.
The fight goes on my friends.
He said there was no cohesive group supporting Falmer in Lewes. therefore it was hard to run a story as it would be simply a collection of unrelated, random people voicing a similar opinion.
Anyone want to join the LPFF:
Lewes Peoples Front of Falmer.
I say t the Nimbys...............SPLITTERS!!
