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Hi John
Nick Lowles here, CEO at HOPE not hate.
As the year comes to a close, I want to share with you what I’ve been hearing directly from people across the country. I have been travelling the country for more than thirty years doing this work, and this year has felt heavier than most. Everywhere I go, people tell me the same things. Their high streets feel neglected. Local services have been hollowed out. Youth clubs are gone. Community organisations that once held neighbourhoods together have disappeared.
It is no wonder that “declining” is now the most common word people use to describe Britain today, according to our research. People are not imagining it. Life has become harder. Trust has collapsed. And people feel shut out of politics at every level. Nearly seventy percent say politicians don't listen to them and among Reform supporters it’s even higher. Nigel Farage knows this. It is the gap he is stepping into. And he’s moving fast. But let me be clear about something he never admits. People aren't turning to him because they've turned on their neighbours. They're turning to him because they feel abandoned. They want safety, stability and a fair shot. They want a country that works again. That's exactly what makes this moment dangerous. When people feel forgotten and the only voices they hear are the loudest and angriest, the ground shifts fast. This has been evident in 2025 and it’s why our work cannot slip. Because of your support, this year we've increased our capacity to better meet the threat. That means more investigations, more research, more polling, more organising. But crucially, it also means we've expanded our presence in communities most susceptible to the far right. We listen. We build trust. We support the groups holding their towns together. And we give people a way to reconnect before resentment hardens into something far worse. HOPE not hate doesn’t parachute in with ready-made solutions. We support the people who are already doing the hard work on the ground. The volunteers keeping youth groups going. The local organisers trying to bring neighbours together. The small community groups holding things together when resources are thin. This year thousands came to events we facilitated in Bradford. Hundreds turned up in Knowsley despite the rain, and more than 300 attended our event in Wigan. Free food. Families making things together. A 60-strong community choir. Local organizations reconnecting with neighbours they'd lost touch with. People leaving with a bit more hope than they arrived with.
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