A FORMER Londra Gazete journalist and editor have been elected as a Town and District councillor in Wymondham in South Norfolk.
South Norfolk Liberal Democrat colleagues Julian Halls, Dave Roberts, Annette James, Suzanne Nuri-Nixon and Penny Hubble were all successfully elected (Photo credit: Lucy Nixon)
Suzanne Nuri-Nixon (55) was elected in the local elections in Norfolk on Thursday 2nd May, getting re-elected as Town councillor for Wymondham and elected as a District councillor for South Norfolk for the first time.
She joined four other local Liberal Democrat colleagues in getting elected, in what was seen as a bad set of election results for the Conservative and Labour parties up and down the country.
Speaking to Londra Gazete Suzanne, who now lives in Norfolk said: “I am delighted for our party and particularly our team who worked so hard to get our message out to local residents”.
“Both our District and Town have had years of Tory rule and we knew they were taking local residents for granted. And we saw many spoiled ballot papers citing Brexit as a big problem for voters. There is no doubt in my mind that these elections mirrored a vicious backlash against the fiasco around Brexit at Westminster.”
She was previously a journalist and editor at Londra Gazete for 10 years and was instrumental in setting up the newspaper’s first English pages, with Londra Gazete reporting on Turkish stories in English. She also wrote a regular column called A Word in Your Ear based on current affairs.
She recalls her time working at Londra Gazete as being interesting and varied, and worked alongside some amazing colleagues.
“We were proud to work for such a vibrant community newspaper and I got to cover some very interesting stories,” she says.
“In fact, at one General Election, I was the first journalist to interview MPs Andy Love, David Burrowes and Nick de Bois as soon as they were elected. I always had a strong interest in politics though I confess I didn’t think I would ever stand for election.”
The turning point for that was when a UKIP candidate stood for election where Suzanne had moved to in Norfolk.
“I always said if a UKIP candidate was in my area, I would stand against them. So I did. I think we have to show ourselves willing and able to stand up against those who would do harm to our society and way of life.”
She says one of her role models in Baroness Meral Hussein Ece and hopes that Turkish Cypriots will continue to stand up for their communities and seek election.
“We have been in the UK for a long time and we have been left behind a bit in entering public life. It’s high time we realised what a valuable contribution we can make, representing a diverse population here in the UK, together with the skills and experiences we can bring to British politics”.
