Former Bristol Election candidate, now activist.

Not dollars. Or Pounds.

Yuan.

Iran closed a door twenty miles wide.

Same shelf. No life.

The only UK city ever to win it. Barred from entering. Here is what the submission would actually say.

Nobody was thinking about where the hops came from.

There is a particular kind of stupidity that announces itself as vision.

Bristol City Council is bidding for UK City of Culture 2029. While assembling that bid, it quietly terminated Bristol Nights — the partnership responsible for the Women's Safety Charter, Bristol Rules, Thrive at Night, drug safety and anti-spiking campaigns. Seven hundred nighttime economy staff trained. Two hundred and sixty anti-spiking kits distributed across the city.

Gone. Without a committee vote. Without stakeholder consultation. Carly Heath, Bristol's nighttime economy adviser, found out her role was being made redundant through a funding notification. She posted about it on LinkedIn. Or, as it turned out, LinkedOut.

The council's response? Hand the functions to Public Health. No dedicated nighttime economy mandate. No named budget. No sector relationships built over years of trust. No Carly Heath. Not a new home. A disappearing act dressed as a reassurance.

What followed was not silence. Trinity Community Arts, Bristol Music Industry Network, Paraorchestra, Bristol Students Union, and the Women's Night Safety Charter all responded. Mathieu Grondin, Canada's first nightlife commissioner, described Carly as a global leader whose work inspired cities including Ottawa.

Councillor Tony Dyer called Bristol Nights brilliant and successful. Then confirmed, by omission, that it no longer exists.

Councillor Kye Dudd called it outrageous. He is not wrong.

The alarm. the breakfast guilt. the pension tab you never close. the vegan nobody remembered. the ashes. auntie maude. the music argument. stayin' alive versus killing me softly. both entirely serious.

nobody mentions the obvious solution.

👉 https://bit.ly/4lvvqwr