A distant war reaches the gates of BAE
Plus KCC set to divert £2m from schools budget, Sole Street dispute, and tea on the moon
Good morning, Kent. We hope you had a lovely weekend. We’re back with another Monday briefing to catch you up on what is happening in the county and let you know what’s coming up this week.
Thanks for the positive feedback on our first Monday briefing last week. We’ll be introducing new sections to this over the coming weeks, to make this your go-to destination for summing up the week across our county.
Today, we’re examining a protest at the gates of Kent’s largest weapons manufacturer, after pro-Palestinian campaigners descended to demand a stop to the arming of Israel. We have some big reads on KCC diverting money from the school’s budget, a dispute in Sole Street, and very important news from the University of Kent on the ability to grow tea on the moon.
Catch up
If you missed any of our reporting over the past week, here’s your chance to catch up:
For our big weekend interview, we sat down with Melissa Todd, writer, performer, and kink-based sex worker. It’s an enlightening and wide-ranging conversation with someone who has had a fascinating life.
In our Thursday edition, we covered the big stories from across the county, including the impending rise of council tax at County Hall, five Kent Conservatives defecting to Reform, and yet again, some old tweets returning to haunt a sitting councillor.
A distant war reaches the gates of BAE
Protesters blocked the gates outside BAE Systems in Rochester last week, Palestinian flags lifting in the wind as around 200 people gathered at the site, calling for an end to UK arms exports used in Israel’s F-35 fighter jets.
At the gates: The demonstration, organised by Medway Palestine Solidarity Campaign, began outside the Marconi Way entrance before moving to the junction with City Way. Chants of ‘free, free Palestine’ and ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ accompanied banners reading End the Genocide and Stop Arming Israel. A red cardboard heart left against the fence read ‘Break Up With BAE.’
Protest marshals guided the crowd, and police officers kept a close watch on events. Protesters eventually lined a roundabout, some holding placards toward passing drivers who sounded their horns.
What was said: Speakers focused their anger on BAE’s role in the F-35 programme. One protester claimed the company’s technology had taken 57,000 lives. Ajaib Hussain, of Medway Interfaith Action, accused the company of “cashing cheques while funerals replace birthdays in Gaza,” and said there was “nothing complicated about standing on the side of the oppressed.” Steve Wilkins of Medway PSC told supporters the demonstration would not be the last held at the Rochester plant.
Why it matters: BAE is one of Medway’s largest private employers and the UK’s biggest defence contractor. The Rochester site produces the Active Interceptor System, used in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. According to Campaign Against Arms Trade, around 15% of each jet is manufactured in the UK.
The company has faced controversy in the past, including a halted investigation into alleged corruption involving Saudi arms deals. BAE has said it complies with all UK export regulations and has not commented on the Rochester protest.
Watched from afar: The demonstration drew national and international media attention. PoliticsJoe filmed on location, while Press TV, Iran’s state-owned broadcaster, interviewed demonstrators. Their presence underscored how a factory in Kent has entered a wider dispute over arms, responsibility and the war in Gaza.
What comes next: Organisers say they intend to return to the site and increase pressure on local MPs to support an arms embargo. No Kent political figures have publicly responded to the protest or to calls for scrutiny of BAE’s role.
The demonstration ended without incident. The banners came down, the crowd dispersed, and the factory behind the gates continued its day. Yet the images left behind signalled that this argument is now playing out in Kent and will likely return in the future.
Three big reads
1️⃣ Schools Week believes Kent’s Reform-led administration is planning to cut £2m from the schools budget to divert to other parts of the budget that it can no longer afford. KCC itself says the changes are “not new” and reflect changes across the sector.
2️⃣ The Daily Mail has a lengthy piece on a dispute between residents of Sole Street and travellers who have set up camp nearby. Last weekend, century-old oak trees were cut down in the middle of the night, which residents believe is so that homes can be moved onto an unauthorised encampment.
3️⃣ Critical research from the University of Kent has discovered that tea can be grown on the moon.
In brief
🏗️ Ministers are to take control of the Lower Thames Crossing scheme. The £10bn project will now be managed by the Department for Transport instead of National Highways.
🚄 An Italian operator says they will return international rail services to Ashford if they get permission to operate cross-Channel trains.
🗳️ After discovering a paperwork error, Birchington Parish Council will face a fresh election for all ten seats. As a result, the May 2023 election administered by Thanet District Council has been declared void.
🏘️ Plans for ten (that’s ten) homes will cause “chaos and misery” according to locals campaigning against the proposal.
📣 Kent County Council and Medway Council are to work together on Brand Kent, in an effort to continue the work of the recently shuttered Visit Kent and Locate in Kent.
📻 West Kent Radio is attempting to expand into Sevenoaks to fill the gap ‘left by the decline of local print journalism.’
⚽ Chatham Town have advanced to the first round of the FA Cup proper for the first time in 97 years.
🪦 Efforts to rectify the injustice for ‘witches’ killed in Kent have been escalated to the Home Secretary, in efforts to secure them a formal pardon.
⛪ Some awful people are upset about Canterbury Cathedral’s new art installation.
Events this week
🎤 Wed 15 Oct - Rosie Jones: I Can’t Tell What She’s Saying // New show from BAFTA-nominated comedian. Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury. Tickets £18.
🤼 Sat 18 Oct - Tables, Ladders and Scares // UKPW deliver their biggest and wildest wrestling show of the year. Lockmeadow, Maidstone. Tickets from £12.50.
🐐 Sun 19 Oct - Goat. Book. Dad. // Steven Todd’s one-man play about the relationship between a man and his dad. No goats in the performance. Alexander Centre, Faversham. Tickets £6.
Can you help us?
So many of our best tips come from readers, so we’re going to start throwing out what we’re working on, with the hope that some of our incredible readers might be able to contribute some knowledge.
Here’s where we could currently use some local knowledge:
We still want to speak to anyone who knows what is happening with Deal’s former Regent Cinema site. The council sold the original cinema to private developers in 2011 under the condition that a cinema would be retained on the site, but 14 years later, the building sits crumbling. If you have any knowledge of what’s going on, we’d love to hear from you.
If you can help with this story, or have something else we might be interested in, contact us via hello AT kentcurrent DOT news - we’re always happy to talk off the record in the first instance…
Footnotes
Have a Kent story you think we might be interested in? Get in touch via hello(at)kentcurrent(dot)news - We’re always happy to talk off the record in the first instance…
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