Kent Current

Kent Current Independent journalism from across Kent. Join free for Monday’s briefing and Thursday’s big story. https://www.kentcurrent.news

Kent spent 18 months trying to agree how its councils should be reorganised. Once ministers finally chose a four-authori...
11/09/2026

Kent spent 18 months trying to agree how its councils should be reorganised. Once ministers finally chose a four-authority map, councils had 47 days to begin implementing it before being told to stop.

Staff had been recruited, millions allocated and contracts prepared. Kent County Council was dividing 167 services between the proposed authorities while its political leadership considered challenging the entire decision in court.

We examine why the plan was suddenly paused, how far the work had progressed and the considerable mess now left behind.

🔗 Full story in the comments.

For ten days from Friday, parts of Kent that are usually inaccessible will open to the public for free.The obvious castl...
09/09/2026

For ten days from Friday, parts of Kent that are usually inaccessible will open to the public for free.

The obvious castles, cathedrals and country houses are taking part, but the more interesting opportunities include a former cross-Channel railway station, Napoleonic tunnels beneath Dover and a medieval town hall admitting eight people at a time.

We have searched the Heritage Open Days programme for the places worth planning around, with details of what is opening and when.

🔗 Full story in the comments.

Brad Pitt’s Italian Grand Prix crash in F1 happened in West Kingsdown, where Brands Hatch was doing a convincing impress...
08/09/2026

Brad Pitt’s Italian Grand Prix crash in F1 happened in West Kingsdown, where Brands Hatch was doing a convincing impression of Monza.

Kent gets plenty of film work, but rarely gets to keep its name. Dover Castle becomes Sokovia, Chatham becomes Victorian London and anyone recognising the scenery has to quietly disregard the plot.

We look at the county’s career as somewhere else, and why a handful of films are more interesting for letting it be Kent.

🔗 Full story in the comments.

Around 200 masked far-right activists spent Saturday morning blocking roads around Dover. They caused miles of queues ar...
07/09/2026

Around 200 masked far-right activists spent Saturday morning blocking roads around Dover. They caused miles of queues around Britain’s busiest ferry port and left without a single arrest.

Kent Police says it acted proportionately and still describes the action as spontaneous. Evidence shows people connected with it had gathered overnight nearby before arriving in Dover. We examine how the group was able to take control of the roads for several hours.

Elsewhere, Kent’s council reorganisation plan lasted less than two months, while a county councillor has left the Conservative group but remains a Conservative.

🔗 Our Monday briefing in the comments.

NHS Kent and Medway has tightened arrangements for autism and ADHD assessments without knowing how many patients will be...
04/09/2026

NHS Kent and Medway has tightened arrangements for autism and ADHD assessments without knowing how many patients will be affected.

It cannot say how many people are currently waiting through Right to Choose or how the changes have altered their assessment times.

We investigate what changed, why the NHS lacks such basic information and what it means for patients already waiting.

🔗 Full story in the comments.

Sam Cox has turned doodling into a business spanning public sculptures, music, a documentary, colouring books and even K...
03/09/2026

Sam Cox has turned doodling into a business spanning public sculptures, music, a documentary, colouring books and even Kleenex.

The man better known as Mr Doodle is also attempting to draw one million individual doodles. After filling around 100 sketchbooks, he is only one per cent of the way through.

In our interview, Sam discusses that mammoth project, covering his entire home in doodles, handing his story over to documentary-makers and how fatherhood has changed his relationship with work.

🔗 Full interview in the comments.

Maidstone has long been Kent’s default centre because County Hall is there. With Kent County Council on the way out, tha...
02/09/2026

Maidstone has long been Kent’s default centre because County Hall is there. With Kent County Council on the way out, that claim is becoming rather less obvious.

So where does Kent actually gather? We considered the competing claims of Medway, Canterbury, Ashford, Bluewater and, for one weekend each summer, a field at Detling.

Readers responded with confident nominations of their own, often pointing in entirely different directions, which rather proved the point.

🔗 Full story in the comments.

Nine more Green votes than in 2023 were enough to turn third place into victory in a Dover by-election. The vote around ...
01/09/2026

Nine more Green votes than in 2023 were enough to turn third place into victory in a Dover by-election. The vote around them changed rather more dramatically.

We examine how Reform and Restore helped reshape the contest, and why the result leaves several parties with very different stories to tell.

Elsewhere, County Hall has appeared as a potential housing site with no confirmed submitter, while KCC’s deputy responsible for communications discovered a scheme in his own division through a press release.

🔗 Full briefing in the comments.

Martin Latham opened Waterstones Canterbury and spent more than three decades behind bookshop counters. He thinks publis...
01/09/2026

Martin Latham opened Waterstones Canterbury and spent more than three decades behind bookshop counters. He thinks publishers and booksellers still underestimate how discerning, eclectic and downright strange readers can be.

In our interview, he discusses why bookshops still matter, hiring staff with questions about werewolves and vampires, the problem with algorithms, and the day Umberto Eco came to work in the basement.

🔗 Full interview in the comments.

Saturday’s far-right march outside County Hall in Maidstone was presented as another protest against illegal migration. ...
20/08/2026

Saturday’s far-right march outside County Hall in Maidstone was presented as another protest against illegal migration. The speeches went considerably further.

From the stage, speakers demanded the removal of 15 million people from Britain, explicitly including legal migrants, while using claims about Kent County Council that the authority says are false.

We examine the shift in the movement’s message, what was actually said in Maidstone and how footage from a relatively small rally reached hundreds of thousands of people online.

🔗 Full story in the comments.

Address

Chatham

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Kent Current posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Kent Current:

Shortcuts

Share

Category