Dear Owl, 

I hate to be boring but in this beautiful hot weather Surfers Against Sewage gives Budleigh Salterton a SEWAGE ALERT again.

But the Environment Agency information solar panel, displayed by the Longboat, says there is no pollution warning available.

Who is the bather to believe? I know which I do.

As I walked the dog yesterday I saw so many enjoying playing in the sea, especially children. 

Meanwhile, the tankers full of “non-hazardous waste?” sewage still rattle along the Parade and destroy the surface of the High Street.

What is happening? I have heard so many different rumours. Do we have a crack in the Lime Kiln car park storage tank? Is there a blame game happening with SWW laying the this at the door of the LORP project? Who will pay for to have this mess sorted? (drawn- out litigation comes to mind) How long will BS and our vital tourism have to suffer? 

Residents appear to have been posting their own alert that this could be an ongoing problem all summer !

A week ago Electoral Calculus (the gold standard for MRP seat by seat predictions) gave Paul a small lead over the Tories (30% – to 29.2%). Their latest poll shows David Reed, the blow- in Tory, bucking the trend and increasing his vote share to 32.4%, overtaking Paul who also continues to gain ground. Reform in this constituency appears static. Labour has dropped from 17.8% to 11.7% and is now given only a 2% chance of winning. Olly Davey, Green, has increased his vote from 2.8% to 9.5%.

Obviously these seemingly precise numbers are surrounded by substantial uncertainty. We need to read them with caution. In these small sample predictions what usually has statistical significance are consistent trends. So over three polls we have the Conservative vote going up and down, Labour has been falling consistently, Lib Dems and Greens have been rising consistently.

Overall conclusion This is a two horse race, too close to call at the moment, but only Paul Arnott can beat the Tories. Voting Labour or Green is likely to hand the seat to David Reed.

For Comparison here are the previous predictions

Electoral Calculus prediction 14 June

Electoral Calculus prediction 21 June

A correspondent received this communication from Greenpeace which is equally applicable to Exmouth & Exeter East – Owl

‘At this election, Honiton and Sidmouth could be a close race so your vote is powerful.  To help you cut through the political spin, we’ve teamed up with Friends of the Earth to comb through the parties’ manifestos and reveal who’s really standing up for the future of our planet. Everyone has to make their own choice about how to vote. But if climate and nature is a priority for you, we hope you find this helpful.  Key points to know:  Across the main UK-wide parties, the Green Party tops our list for its climate and nature plans, followed by the Liberal Democrats, Labour, and lastly, the Conservatives. A poll last week suggests it is most likely to be either the Liberal Democrats or the Conservatives that win in your area.[1]  We found a big gap between these two parties on their plans and have scored the Liberal Democrats over six times higher than the Conservatives on climate and nature. Commitments from the Liberal Democrats that are particularly promising include raising money through wealth taxes to invest in green homes, better public transport, nature restoration and more support for developing countries. The party also has an excellent plan to tackle sewage in our rivers and seas. Sadly, they have not committed to an end to oil and gas licences or to ratify the Global Oceans Treaty – both areas they need to go further on.  The Conservative Party’s manifesto is worrying reading. They’re doubling down on oil and gas when increased dependence on gas will result in higher bills, more energy price shocks and an increase in our climate-wrecking emissions. It’s good news that they would ratify the Global Oceans Treaty swiftly, but there’s no credible plan to stop sewage in our rivers and seas. Polling day is Thursday 4 July – use your vote and remember you need ID.

Want to get the full picture on where parties stand?

Read the guideRead and share this guide on voting for climate and nature at this election

Thank you for joining me in demanding a greener, healthier country for us all.  In hope and solidarity, BeckyGreenpeace UK  P.S. Have you signed up to be a climate voter? Our movement will be holding the new government to account beyond the election and we need your help to do it. Join us here. [1] Polling from YouGov released on 19 June

Party doesn’t respond to issue

A Devon Reform UK candidate appears to have posted controversial social media posts, including one alluding to prime minister Rishi Sunak’s Indian heritage.

Bradley Gerrard, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk 

Paul Quickenden, who is standing in the new Honiton and Sidmouth constituency, has a mocked-up picture of Mr Sunak with the heading ‘Dahl Boy’ on his Facebook page.

The image places Mr Sunak’s head on the body of sitcom wideboy from Only Fools and Horses, Del Boy, and also features Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and London mayor Sadiq Khan as ‘grandad’ and ‘Rodney’, respectively, from the show.

The famous yellow Robin Reliant is also in the image, but rather than ‘Trotters’, the surname of Del Boy in the show, it says the word ‘Traitors’, and has 666 as the number to telephone.

666 is a biblical reference popularly known as the number of the beast, or devil.

Mr Sunak is a British Sikh of Punjabi Indian heritage.

It’s unclear who originally created the image that Mr Quickenden is promoting to his Facebook followers.

The image came to light as part of an investigation by ITV which claimed that four Reform UK candidates belonged to a public Facebook group that regularly posts racist messages.

Mr Quickenden has also posted comments and shared Facebook posts, including one with 24,400 followers saying: “Cultural Jihad , happening now in plain site and encouraged by both main parties.”

Mr Quickenden uses this post to advance his campaign in Honiton and Sidmouth, inviting followers to vote for Reform UK in the constituency.

The ITV report also referenced two other unnamed Reform candidates who had posted potentially racist posts, with one allegedly commenting in 2016 that ‘Hitler founded Israel’, and then another posting the image of Mr Sunak, which has since been reproduced on Mr Quickenden’s profile.

Discussing the issue from a national perspective, Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage told ITV it hired a vetting agency, vetting.com, to perform background checks on its candidates, but the firm said the speed with which the general election was announced meant its process had to be rushed.

“Our candidates are not sophisticates or Oxbridge graduates,” Mr Farage told ITV.

“Our candidates may have a sense of humour that is a bit rough and ready, but we believe in free speech.”

Mr Quickenden has a GoFundMe campaign to help him pay for election costs, and has raised £1,170 from 16 donations out of his £2,000 target as of 24 June.

A Devon spokesperson for Reform UK has not responded to requests for comment.

A Labour party member has been arrested in connection with the “honeytrap” scandal which rocked Westminster.

Archie Mitchell www.independent.co.uk

The man, in his mid-twenties, was taken into custody from an address in Islington on Wednesday morning, the Metropolitan Police said.

Multiple victims have been told by the force that he was arrested on suspicion of offences under the Online Safety Act and harassment. Labour is understood to have suspended him after it was notified of his arrest.

Earlier this year a high-profile MP William Wragg was suspended by the Conservatives over his role in the scandal.

He admitted giving the phone numbers of colleagues to the scammer after he shared explicit images of himself when they began talking on a dating app.

Mr Wragg told the Times he was “scared” because the man had compromising information on him.

In April the Met had launched an investigation after “unsolicited messages” were sent to a number of MPs, staffers and political journalists working in Westminster.

It came after Politico reported that political figures had received the unsolicited messages from someone using two unfamiliar numbers calling themselves “Abi” or “Charlie”.

The messages would include details of the MPs and staffers’ careers and campaigns they had worked on to build rapport with victims. They would then descend into sexually explicit messaging, with “Abi” or “Charlie” sending graphic images to victims and asking for nude photographs in return.

It is understood that two of the individuals targeted responded by sending an explicit image of themselves, with the attack described as an attempt at spear phishing. Spear phishing involves scammers pretending to be trusted senders in order to steal personal or sensitive information.

Other senior figures targeted by the honeytrapper included Conservative MP Dr Luke Evans, who said he had received unsolicited explicit images and messages over WhatsApp. It is believed that at least 12 men in political circles received the unsolicited messages.

In a statement, the Met said: “Police executed a warrant at an address in Islington.

“A man was arrested on suspicion of harassment and committing offences under the Online Safety Act. He was taken into custody where he remains.

“The arrest relates to an investigation being carried out by the Met’s Parliamentary Liaison and Investigation Team following reports of unsolicited messages sent to MPs and others.

“The investigation remains ongoing.” The investigation has seen officers interview all those who received messages from the scammer, which included Labour and Conservative MPs.