A Hove church celebrated the work of Christians Against Poverty, a charity aimed at tackling poverty by providing debt relief on (Sunday 2 April).
Christians Against Poverty (CAP) is an ecumenical charity dedicated to tackling the root causes of poverty across the UK. They have a vision of a fairer society with a narrower gap between rich and poor.
Holland Road Baptist Church in Hove, celebrated the work of CAP Brighton and Hove today which is national “church action on poverty” day.
Christians Against Poverty helps 21,500 every year with debt by untangling the complex web of poverty, unemployment, debt and addiction which traps many people in Brighton and Hove and across the country.
While one in four people in wider society have a mental health problem, half of CAP’s clients say that mental ill-health has contributed to their hardship and 38 per cent have considered committing suicide as a way out.
Carol Topping with CAP Manager Sue Stone
Carol Topping and her husband got into trouble when her husband’s business failed and they started relying on benefits. They claimed council tax, housing benefit and income support without telling the council about their empty (uninhabitable) second home. The council classifies any property as an asset but because it was not rented out and was not providing them with any income, Mr and Mrs Topping did not realise that they needed to declare it.
Mrs Topping, who now goes to Holland Road Baptist Church, said: “Two and a half years ago suddenly we had a debt of £68,000 plonked on us and were told to go to court. The debt is paid off now. My husband sold the property but it was hard. We had a barrister in the end and CAP was there.
“Christians Against Poverty were brilliant. It was just having someone there who didn’t judge you. It’s just so nice for people to look at you and see you as you.”
The Crown Prosecution Service referred the couple to the county court because the debt was such a large sum of money. Both the judge and barrister agreed that Mr and Mrs Topping had not intended to defraud the benefits system so the couple were awarded a six-month suspended sentence which will be spent in two years if they do not offend again.
If you would like to donate to CAP Brighton and Hove, you can do so here.
Wednesday marked the end of a tumultuous week in London when Parliament was attacked by a lone terrorist, women stood together on Westminster Bridge to remember the victims and a young Muslim woman was vilified in the press.
Meanwhile, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, hosted the 14th National Peace Symposium last Saturday 25 March and the fifth Khalifa (Caliph), His Holiness, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad delivered the keynote address.
Fifth Caliph Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad
More than 1000 people, from 30 countries, including over 600 non-Ahmadi guests and dignitaries of many faiths were invited to the Baitul Futuh Mosque in South London. This year’s theme was global conflict and the need for justice.
Caliph Masroor Ahmad began by condemning last week’s terrorist attack in London as a “barbaric atrocity” and described all forms of extremism and terrorism as a complete violation of Islamic teachings. He reminded delegates of the sanctity of life enshrined in the Quran: ‘To kill a person, is to kill all of humanity but to save a single human being, is to save all humanity.’ (Quran 5:32) No matter what terrorists may claim, under no circumstances are indiscriminate attacks or killings ever justified.”
When speaking to the press, the Caliph was very clear about extremism: “Love of your country is part of your faith. That is what I believe. You give services so that you can be a good asset to the country. Integration does not mean you force a lady to remove the hijab or force people to drink alcohol, that is not integration. Be an asset to the country. Be law-abiding, never break the law.”
Press conference
He urged Muslims to understand and follow the Quran, and said: “The first jihad is to reform yourself and then to love and respect one another. Follow the system within your community. You have to follow the law of the land. Try to be a peaceful citizen of the country where you live.”
Fathe Din, a member of the Ahmadi community explained this further: “The jihad is misinterpreted by mullahs and extremists. The jihad is a fight within yourself. It is a fight to be good human beings. Give up your time to do something good. Not everyone is prepared to do that.”
If an Ahmadi member breaks the law, the Caliph said, he or she will be ex-communicated.
Ahmadiyya Peace Symposium 2017
But he told delegates research suggested that some Muslim youths had been radicalised because they felt their religious beliefs had been mocked and ridiculed in the Western world.
He said: “In no way does this justify or excuse them and they remain culpable and responsible for their actions. Yet common sense dictates that we should not pour petrol on an open flame. Rather, we should seek mutual understanding, respect the beliefs of others and try to find common ground.”
However, disenfranchised young people are not the only people at fault: “Regrettably, we often hear politicians and leaders making needlessly inflammatory statements that are beholden not to the truth, but to their own political interests.”
He cited the arms trade as a clear example of how business interests and wealth take priority over peace. According to the Caliph, this is often because of vested interests of politicians, businesspeople and the media. He said the arms trade fuels warfare and has trapped the world in a perpetual cycle of violence. A survivor of Hiroshima, Ms. Setsuko Thurlow was awarded the Ahmadiyya Muslim Prize for the Advancement of Peace because of her lifelong campaign for nuclear disarmament.
Ms. Setsuko Thurlow received the peace prize
An ardent campaigner for peace and reconciliation, the Caliph gave a solemn warning: “Always remember that if we seek to pursue our own interests at all costs, the rights of others will be usurped and this can only lead to conflict, wars and misery. We must all reflect and understand the precipice upon which we stand.
“My message to the world is to look at tomorrow, and not just today. Let us leave behind a legacy of hope and opportunity for our children, rather than burdening them with the horrific consequences of our sins.”
Prime Minister Theresa May is right to say we must ignore the terrorists and continue everyday life as normal. If we overreact, the extremists will have won. However, ignoring them also means resolutely avoiding the temptation to introduce more draconian anti-terror legislation.
Yesterday’s attacker may well have had Parliament as his end destination but he killed and injured 43 people from ten different countries. It was an indiscriminate act of senseless brutality on multicultural Britain. Mrs May was right to say it was an attack on free people everywhere.
She will be keen, even under pressure, to be seen to be doing something. But if the Prime Minister wants to be the protector of our freedom and democracy as well as law and order, she must be careful.
Policies that single people out from certain nations could foster islamophobia and embed prejudice. For example, blindly following the United States and banning electronic devices on some flights earlier this week sends out a message that passengers from these countries are dangerous.
Aligning herself too closely with US President Donald Trump could be political suicide for Mrs May.
Instead she should look to the many role models in Europe, not least German Chancellor Angela Merkel. After all Mrs May campaigned to remain in the European Union. It is ironic that she has been tasked with the poisoned chalice of Brexit.
Leaving the EU will make it more difficult to counter terrorism without robust new agreements.
We live in a liberal democracy, not a surveillance society, and this is what we must protect.
Developer Mountpark’s initial proposals to regenerate the Sackville Trading Estate and the coal yard were the main topic of discussion at Hove Station Neighbourhood Forum’s Have Your Say Day yesterday (Saturday 18 March).
The plans, which are still at the design stage, are part of a bigger regeneration initiative.
The area covered stretches from the Sackville Estate and the old coal yard north of Hove Station to Newtown Road and Goldstone Lane where work by the Hyde Group is already under way.
Changes in School Road, the other side of Aldrington Station, are also being looked at by the neighbourhood forum although they fall outside the area – known as Development Area 6 – defined by the City Plan.
Mountpark’s managing director of UK operations, Philip O’Callaghan, a Hove resident, said that he wanted to replace tired single-storey buildings with 70,000 sq ft of offices and cultural space offering high-density employment as well as 600 new homes.
Mr O’Callaghan said that the scheme would boost the labour market with 475 jobs, plus 100 in construction, 400 in supplying the area and £1.5 million a year in council tax. There would also be a significant developer contribution.
He said: “This will be a catalyst towards wider regeneration in the Hove Station area and the larger Brighton and Hove area as well.”
Monica Coffey, partner at Stockwool Architects, explained that one challenge of the area was that it was built on several different levels, particularly around Hove station.
She said that the designs were intended to create better connectivity and more access points.
The initial proposals suggest that pedestrians would have access to the site at the top and bottom and through a new square over the site of the cultural industries space.
There would be a new street which Ms Coffey thinks is key to building community. It would be an 18m-wide residential street with individual front doors and entrances to the taller blocks of flats, making it a safe, shared public space.
Early indications suggest that “pavilion” buildings would be in the south of the development with southerly views. Parking would be on the west side – the Sackville Road – alongside more homes.
At the top of the development there would be offices and a food store in a square with a northern staircase to address the 6ft change in level.
The plans include two-storey family homes with a garden terrace over the parking area.
Karen Macmillan, who lives south of Hove Station, asked Ms Coffey about trees and said: “The new north to south street is just a wind tunnel. It is not very imaginative.”
But Ms MacMillan supports the plan to build more housing and hopes it will be proper mixed housing. She said: “The volume of housing will change the area. Hove Park is going to be rammed but thank God we have it. I’d rather we built housing than had unused industrial units.”
Former councillor Christopher Hawtree said: “I am broadly in favour of the development. We need to look at the whole area to get something coherent. It needs a lot of lateral thinking.
“We need buildings for employment so that the place does not become another dormitory town. We have got to have people working.”
When asked about the Neighbourhood Plan, Mr Hawtree said: “It is generally a good idea. It would be good to have a plan that people generally agree with. Of course, the devil is in the detail. A mixture of terraces and flats. Developers tend to wriggle out of affordable housing. It should be viable. We are in the most expensive part of the country. More will emerge. We will wait and see.”
John Barker, of Old Shoreham Road, was concerned about traffic and road access because Sackville Road is already congested and has multiple traffic lights.
He works in the education sector and was also worried about the impact of the development on school places as people move into the area.
Christopher Hawtree
Mr Barker said that primary schools in the area are already short of places, Hove Park and Blatchington Mill secondary schools were full and children are displaced from Dorothy Stringer and Varndean.
However, the need for more housing was clear. Liz Hobden, head of planning for Brighton and Hove City Council, said that there were 24,000 people on the waiting list for housing and current developments would not meet even half of the housing need in the city.
She said: “The council has a target of 40 per cent affordable housing in each development but the council can’t insist on this because it might make developers go away.”
Matsim’s development known as Hove Gardens around Hove Station has been under consideration by the council for nine months.
Ms Hobden said: “We are at an impasse about the viability appraisal. The district valuer is looking for evidence. We hope to report back about what level of contribution is fair. We aim to continue to work with the developer.”
The role of the district valuer includes analysing costs and ruling about how much affordable housing a developer can afford and what financial payments they should make for local infrastructure and services.
Ms Hobden explained that it was more expensive for developers to develop brownfield sites than greenfield ones and this often resulted in lower developer contributions and less affordable housing.
Plans are going on show for 600 new homes on an estate between the railway line and Old Shoreham Road in Hove.
The developer Mountpark will share its initial ideas for the Sackville Trading Estate and former Corralls coal yard at an exhibition on Saturday (18 March).
As well as the 600 homes, the emerging plans include 50,000 sq ft of office space and 20,000 sq ft of “cultural industrial space”.
The exhibition, billed as Have Your Say Day, has been organised by the Hove Station Neighbourhood Forum. It is due to run from 11am to 3pm at St Barnabas Church, in Sackville Road, on the corner of Coleridge Street.
The feedback will also help shape the forum’s response to the planning application once it is submitted to Brighton and Hove City Council, possibly later this year.
Mountpark’s scheme is part of a wider regeneration of the area around Hove Station, with the forum taking a keen interest.
The forum, which has about 200 members, was set up to keep residents informed, consult them and draw up a neighbourhood plan – or masterplan – for the area. It hopes to finalise its neighbourhood plan by the end of the year.
The Have Your Say Day is the fifth in a series over the past three years. The event on Saturday should include an update on the progress of the evolving neighbourhood plan and a chance for residents to comment and contribute ideas.
At the forum’s AGM last Thursday (9 March) the Hove MP Peter Kyle expressed his support for the work of the forum. He thanked the forum’s management committee and said: “Nothing positive changes by accident. This is a great example of how to evolve a whole space.
“I am part of the community and happy to knock heads together as needed. The meetings have been vigorous. You have kept things on the table. It is a testament to your tenacity. By God, we really need to make this happen.”
One of the issues that the forum intends to raise is affordable housing. It was touched on by Mr Kyle who spoke about the challenges in this area and the council’s plans as well as the “local connections” aspect of the council’s housing allocations policy, the effect of the right to buy and the demand for homes from people moving out of London but who commuted to work there.
He said: “You as a community can speak with clarity from the outset to developers. Speak before the planning application.”
Mr Kyle added that a joined up approach to regenerating a large area was much better than developing individual plots of land and he commended the forum for their work.
Hundreds of people gathered yesterday at Brighton’s clock tower and across the UK to show solidarity with migrants from around the world who are living, working and studying in Britain. The event was organised by Pip from Left Unity, #1daywithoutus.
Monday 20 February was an important day: United Nations World day of Justice and the day Parliament debated US President Trump’s state visit to Britain with Defend Migrants Stop Trump protestors outside.
Jane Allen said she was supporting valued friends, neighbours and workers: “People from all nations get on living together for a common cause. My dentist is Greek, my physio is German. I am not from Brighton, I left Norfolk when I was one year old. Does that mean I should go back to Norfolk?
“I voted against Brexit because I was worried about people who might want to come to the UK. It never occurred to me, I never had any doubt that people who have been here for 20 years could be under threat of having to leave.
“I don’t want them to have to leave. I am here today to show how much I value them.”
Jane Matthews said: “The more people that stand up, the better, show solidarity, if only everyone came by for 20 minutes, we’re all a bit complacent, it is very easy to ‘sofa shout.’
“I don’t know when multiculturalism became such a dirty word. Cultural diversity should be something we want to bring richness into life, it’s completely bonkers that people don’t want it.
“I challenge you to find me an indigenous Brit. Scaremongering and xenophobia is just all wrong.”
Marta Mouzo Insua spoke at the rally on behalf of the Spanish collective Marea Granate. She said Spanish people have very precarious living and working conditions and because of that many young people are forced to emigrate:
“I am one of them. We come here looking for a job, we do not come here hoping to become rich, stealing from you or taking advantage of your people and country. We just want to live with dignity.
“In exchange, we offer a lot of things to this country:
“Our education and work experience. A lot of us have high academic education and or a lot of work experience from our jobs. We are professionals of every sector.
“Our hands and bodies to work. Most of us are young people, between 20 to 45 years old.
“And our culture. Our culture to share with you and learn about your culture.
“We are the nurses and doctors that look after you, we are the engineers that design your computers or buildings, we are the waiters and waitresses who serve your drinks and we are the kitchen porters that clean your plates.”
Dorothée Fritze-James who came to the rally with her daughter explained the impact of Brexit on her family and dislikes the dehumanising of EU citizens: “I have been here since 1979. Now I have no right to be here, I am desperate, depressed, the kids, including my grandchildren, are deeply affected. I can’t sleep.”
She said she is lucky that she can afford an immigration lawyer (many can’t) to help her apply for UK citizenship but resents the UK using EU citizens as a bargaining chip and ignoring their pleas for clarity and security. She has had a permit for 33 years giving her indefinite leave to remain in the UK. It may not be enough.
Ms Fritze-James said: “My daughter, who was 10 months old when my ex-husband and I moved to the UK, must apply for Permanent Residency. This is her home, here. She has children and is married to a UK citizen. One of her children is no longer sleeping because of the anxiety, fearing that she’ll lose her mother. My daughter was educated in the UK and has never lived anywhere else.”
Angie Parker works as a special needs teacher is a German citizen carrying an EU passport and a Jew but has been a UK taxpayer for 30 years. She said: “I am going back to Germany because I don’t want to be a pawn in Mrs May’s stupid game. At least Germany is a positive democracy. I work in education but it is not enough to stay here. I am sick and tired of being told to pack my bags.”
Councillors Phelim MacCafferty and Councillor Leo Littman attended the rally. Councillor MacCafferty urged people to directly promote the voice of the vulnerable and to become champions of compassion and concern.
He warned: “Ignoring prejudice of any sort has never made it disappear. We do not have the luxury of walking away from hatred anywhere in our city. We must be clear: we will oppose the growth of the far-right and will not allow the current climate of fear to go unchallenged. That’s because not just Brighton and Hove, but this country is better than this.”
Yel Karavan’s father is an artist and she has been travelling since the age of three. She works as a dancer and physical performer and said: “It is beautiful when cultures learn from each other and open our minds. We all have a heart, we are all human, we are an organism and only when the organism works together, there is life.”
Unfortunately a computer has a sell by date. Whilst there will always be someone in need of a little black dress, the computer industry is constantly moving forward with faster processor speeds, better graphics and larger memories. Your old equipment can quickly become useless and is replaced every three to four years.
If you are unsure what to do with your old computer, consider giving it to schools and health clinics in Africa.
Computers 4 Africa transforms communities across Africa, by accepting working but redundant PC’s and IT equipment from individuals, businesses and other organisations across the UK. All data is securely wiped and then the computers are sent to Africa. This month 340,800 children in Africa are using a PC supplied by Computers 4 Africa.
Sharon Roberts from Computers 4 Africa said: “Providing education is critical to bring equality, overcome barriers and start to bridge the digital divide. Our ambition is to empower and equip all people (regardless of age, gender, ability or disability) by supplying IT equipment for training and humanitarian projects across the globe.”
Nurse Joyce works in two villages in Kenya. She was given a laptop and uses it every day to store all her medical data and records including details of patients with measles. Although treatable, measles can be fatal in poor areas where vaccines are not readily available. By using the laptop, Joyce was able to determine the origin and extent of the outbreak, and the direction in which it was spreading.
As a result Joyce stopped the measles outbreak in its tracks, saving many people’s lives and restoring the health of the two villages in her care. A few months later, a similar situation arose with typhoid. Knowledge and data stored on her computer saved lives.
As a Microsoft registered refurbisher, Computers 4 Africa refurbishes and securely erases all your data before shipping your old equipment to schools, colleges, clinics and other specific projects in Africa. Your spare equipment can really make a difference to someone’s life.
Reuse and recycling can often be confused but they are in fact quite different. Recycling is the stripping of an item into useful parts and creating something new. Reuse is simply extending the life of an item. Computers 4 Africa is a reuse charity that believes it is more ethically sound to reuse IT than simply recycle it. Their staff want to see less waste go to landfill sites. Reusing working computers can be 20 times more energy efficient than recycling them.
A desktop computer requires 240kg of fossil fuels, 22kg of chemicals and 1,500kg of water to produce. Reuse dramatically reduces this environmental impact.
Ms Roberts said: “In supporting this initiative and repurposing your redundant IT equipment in the UK you will meet the WEEE directive, Environment Agency, Data Protection compliance and decrease your carbon footprint. Your old IT will transform lives forever!”
The award-winning charity, is coming to Former Focus, Unit 12, Sackville Trading Estate, Hove on 23 and 24 February from 10am until 4pm. Please note equipment should be less than 8 years old and in working condition.
Robert Carver, a disabled man from Hove, is fighting Brighton and Hove City Council for a permanent ground floor flat with wheelchair access and space for a carer.
Due to restricted mobility, Mr Carver relies on his carer to drag him up the 28 stairs to his third floor attic flat. This is painful and harmful to his condition. The paralysis that affected his lower body first is now spreading to his upper body, arms and spine. He needs help to eat and drink, he sleeps on the sofa because he cannot get in and out of his bed.
The flat was allocated by Brighton Council five years ago as a temporary measure but officers now agree it is unsuitable. His occupational therapist says it is impossible to adapt the property because it is too cramped.
His condition, Functional Neurological Disorder, is chronic, degenerative and results in paralysis.
Previously Mr Carver was an interior designer, artist and architect. He designed his sofa and armchair and on his walls are his paintings and displays of butterflies. He is a very talented man who would like to return to work after doing a rehabilitation programme at the Maudsley Hospital in South London. He has, however, been told to wait until he has permanent housing.
Robert Carver
Mr Carver said: “I want to go back to work. There are computers where you touch the screen with a pen held in your mouth. If I managed to work, I could pay for all of this myself.”
Mr Carver needs permanent housing
It is very important that the council makes Mr Carver one offer of housing which is suitable now and into the future because his condition is degenerative. He believes the council’s will not offer him suitable permanent housing because of financial cuts. “Keeping me a prisoner and treating me like an animal is not conducive with being a human being. I wouldn’t treat a dog like this,” he said.
Emergency accommodation is a backwards step
Brighton Council has offered Mr Carver emergency accommodation at Windsor Court twice but this will mean he’ll have to move twice. He said: “It is bad enough and traumatic enough to move once. Moving multiple times is just silly.”
Windsor Court would only be a temporary solution for Mr Carver who said that his nurse, occupational therapist and GP have all expressed concerns about the quality of accommodation. Last February Mr Carver’s medical team refused Windsor Court as unsuitable.
In addition, Mr Carver’s eighth reassessment by Adult Social Care is underway because he argues that he needs 24 hour care. As his condition deteriorates, this becomes more and more likely.
Moving Mr Carver into emergency accommodation would be an inadequate, temporary fix.
On 18 November Mr Farrelly from Brighton Council’s Adult Social Care department wrote to Mr Carver. He said: “Please note that if Housing offer you such accommodation and you refuse it, it is likely that no further offers of accommodation will be made to you as it will be considered that the housing duty to you has been discharged.”
Cramped bathroom
In December, a spokesperson for the council refused to provide an update saying: “I can confirm that we are continuing to work with Mr Carver to resolve his housing situation and to ensure his care and support needs are met. We do not share individual’s information due to the confidentiality of the subject matter.”
Amongst other things Hove MP Peter Kyle said earlier this month: “Bobby needs, deserves, and has a right to accommodation that is suited to the challenges he faces.”
Mr Carver said: “I am not just doing this for myself, I am fighting for all disabled people. They are so scared that the hours of their care will be cut that they don’t speak up. I have lost everything already.”
President Park Geun-hye is embroiled in a corruption scandal that is likely to result in her resignation or impeachment. She has fifteen months to serve as South Korea’s president but opposition leaders and the public are calling for her impeachment. Weekly mass demonstrations of more than a million protesters have taken place in Seoul and across Korea as public outrage mounts about endemic corruption charges. Protestors are demanding the president’s immediate resignation.
Protestors gather for weekly demonstrations in Seoul
Although President Park may not have enriched herself personally, prosecutors want to talk to her about collusion with Choi Soon-sil and nepotism. Ms Choi is accused of fraud, abuse of power and coercion which is undermining democracy in South Korea. Demonstrators are outraged about the scale of the corruption that occurred under the president’s nose and on her watch by Ms Choi Soon-sil and the president’s closest aides. President Park’s involvement is still unclear. She has admitted allowing Ms Choi too much influence but denies extorting money from big corporations.
Protestors call on President Park to resign
The president said in her third apology to the nation that she would resign: “Once lawmakers come up with measures to transfer power in a way that minimises any power vacuum and chaos in governance, I will step down.” She has suggested next April, according to Yonhap TV, which will be ten months before the end of her term.
Impeachment
Opposition politicians accused President Park of trying to side-step an impeachment process by offering to stand down early. They are poised to present a bill to impeach the president with a vote expected on Friday. They will need a two-thirds majority vote in the National Assembly which must include support from 28 of the president’s Saenuri Party colleagues to proceed. The conservative Saenuri group has a majority of just one in the National Assembly.
If parliament votes to impeach President Park, it would take six months to get approval from the constitutional court which is not automatic and two months to elect a new president. In the meantime the prime minister would govern.
Clearly, opposition leaders and the public want to make an example of President Park to deter future fraud and nepotism. For them, it is not sufficient that the president agrees to step down. They want her to be disciplined publicly to send a message to other Korean politicians and the wider world that the Republic of Korea does not condone corruption. They want to show that no one is above the law or immune from prosecution, no matter what position she holds. They say they will press for impeachment even if the president resigns but immediate resignation is the swiftest, cheapest and simplest solution.
Impeachment will certainly humiliate President Park but there is a real risk it will also paralyse the government and it is not a cost-effective or swift solution. A transfer of power in April is the alternative but many feel President Park does not deserve to dictate the terms or timing of her departure.
Opportunity for reform
Whatever happens to the president, this scandal has given South Korea’s politicians a unique opportunity to reform the power-sharing executive between the president and prime minister and to introduce full proportional representation. Electoral reform will provide checks and balances, greater accountability and will limit the power of the president in future. It is an opportunity not only to root out corruption and discipline individuals who are at fault but also to strengthen democracy even further in this highly developed republic.
Constitutional and electoral reform will make South Korea a beacon of hope and a shining example of democracy both throughout Asia and beyond.
If you are unsure what to buy a loved one this Christmas, help a street child in India by buying jewellery from Rosie Odette’s Ladli collection. She is one of forty artists currently exhibiting at the Claremont Hotel, Second Avenue, Hove until April next year.
Many of the artists live in Brighton and Hove. Collectively they are exhibiting one hundred and fifty pieces of contemporary art including painting, textiles, ceramics, printmaking, illustration, photography, jewellery, knit-wear, collage, mosaic and sculpture.
Rosie Odette is a jeweller who works and trained in creating bespoke jewellery in Hatton Garden, London.
However, from January to May each year she goes to India to source her gems and work with her manufacturers out there. She said: “I want to go and find my own treasure. I go to India to source gems and design them.”
As a practising Buddhist, a positive philosophy underpins her work: “I want women to feel beautiful and perfect as they are with their flaws. The concept and ethos of my work is about believing in yourself. It is about women buying into themselves and feeling brilliant as they are.”
Rosie Odette with her jewellery
Rosie said you can create wonderful things in the West but she was attracted to the healing properties of the gems found in India: “There is an energy behind the gems. It is the power of transformation.” She recommends the King of Crowns from her regal limited edition collection for men and women battling depression because it represents faith, hope and destiny.
Six drop ruby necklaces are available from her less exclusive opulence collection. She said: “Rubies encourage you to follow your dreams, helping you recognise the beautiful being within.”
However, Rosie’s business is not just about profit. She has set herself a target of helping 100,000 women and children in India by giving them the materials to craft jewellery at the Ladli Skills Centre in Jaipur, India. Ninety-five percent of the proceeds go directly to the girl at Ladli who made the necklace and five percent go to the project. Click here to see the Ladli collection.
Speaking about the street children she says: “It is not, oh, poor you! Those who suffer the most, they shine the most and they don’t forget where they come from. They do not have false belief or false happiness. I want to work with women, particularly in India.”
In time Rosie would like most of the people she works with in India, including her manufacturers, to be women and girls from the Ladli Project.
Hong Dam is a refugee from Vietnam and a digital artist who contrasts the East of her childhood with the industrialised West. Another overcrowded dinghy drifts off Europe’s coastline with another group of faceless migrants. Hong asked: “Are we becoming immune to the suffering felt by those with little choice but to leave their homeland? As a refugee, I am always searching for the promised land.”
“Having children took me back to my own childhood. I started to feel that my daughters and I live in two parallel worlds – the contrasts and conflicts of East and West – the wants and needs are so different. I decided to document a visual diary for my two children.” Click here to see Hong’s work.
Jane Sampson has been screen printing and teaching at her Hove workshop for fifteen years. She said: “Screen printing is a sophisticated form of stencilling. The stencil is put on mesh photographically using board not paper.” She presses blue pigment onto the board to create a velvet effect. Jane created the birds with gold pigment by printing a negative and leaving the birds out.
Jane likes playing with lots of different materials and uses vintage photos because of their glamour. She said: “There is a romance about old images that modern things don’t have.”
Jane Sampson screen-printing
Franchacha is a digital artist using a technique called “glitch art.” She uploads photographs into a generator in her computer and then changes the code. She likes this art form because it is random and unpredictable with a different photograph, for example a magnolia tree, producing a different effect.
She said: “With glitching you cannot tell the computer what to do. The colours are not intentional. It is just fun. Random, fun, sometimes frustrating. You can’t plan it. It is about enjoying it. You go into something and you don’t know what you will get out. I have a creative head and like to use it.” You can see Franchacha art here.
MAGNOLIA IN COLOUR by Franchacha art
Hove artist Joe Campoli teams up with Philip Nelson to blend glass and silverware into jewellery and ornaments. You can see their artefacts here.
Self-taught, Joe has a kiln where he melts together small pieces of different coloured glass in overlapping layers. He has different sized moulds that fit in the kiln. Some pieces need more than one firing. He makes a lot of bowls and plates, leaving the edges rough and natural so that his products do not look like crockery from a department store.
Joe said: “Sometimes there are surprises and I am not so happy. Most of the time it is like Christmas day.”
If you would like to make a difference to an Indian street child this Christmas, consider buying a Ladli necklace from Rosie Odette.
You can view the full collection at the Claremont Hotel as part of the Artists Open Houses in December, curated by Coralie. The exhibition will run through until April 2017. For a sneak preview click here.
Leaders of many different faiths gathered at a multi-faith peace vigil in Hove, primarily to remember those killed recently by terrorists in Baghdad and Nice, but mindful of attacks across the globe.
Terrorist attacks in the West always attract more media attention than those in the Middle or Far East and figures reported in the Washington Post are staggering.
That is, 658 deaths in 46 attacks in Europe and the Americas compared with 28,031 deaths in the Middle East, Africa and Asia in 2063 attacks.
It is into this context that faith leaders from across Brighton and Hove came together to pray for peace.
Mahmut Gunaydin, Director of Brighton Dialogue Society, said: “We would like you to know that we vehemently distance ourselves from these attackers, these terrorists who claim to be Muslims. For cold-blooded murderers and non-human beings like them cannot be Muslims.
Prophet Muhammed said: ‘A Muslim is one from whose tongue and hand other beings are safe, and the believer is the one who is trusted with the lives and wealth of the people.’
“We would like you to know that these terrorists do not only harm people in the West, but also Muslims in Turkey, Beirut, and many other majority Muslim countries.
“In the holy book of the Muslims, the Qur’an, it says: ‘Whoever kills an innocent person, it is as if he has killed all mankind, and whoever saves one, it is as if he has saved the whole of mankind.’
“As a Dialogue Society we believe that no religion that claims to be Divine – be it Judaism, Christianity or Islam – can contain tyranny, cruelty or atrocity towards other beings in any way. There is absolutely no justification for such behaviour.
Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah from Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue offered words of comfort from the 18th century Rabbi, Nachman of Bratslav (1772-1810) who taught:
‘Kol ha-olam, kulo, gesher tzar m’od, v’ha-ikar lo l’phacheid k’lal.
‘All the world, all of it, is a very narrow bridge, but the essential thing is never to be afraid.’
Rabbi Tikvah asked: “What did he mean? How can we not be afraid if ‘All the world, all of it, is a very narrow bridge’?
“Perhaps, because a bridge, however narrow, represents a possibility; the possibility that we can journey across the abyss. A bridge is like a lifeline, summoning us to hold on and keep going, whatever the circumstances, however terrified we feel. Whatever the risks of falling into the abyss, a bridge beckons us to step forward; to take one step after another, after another, in the hope that we will reach the other side.
“A bridge is also a tangible representation of the courage of the bridge-builders. With very rare exceptions, bridges are not natural phenomena: Before we are able to begin our crossing, the bridge has to be there, it has to be built.
“And so, a bridge reminds us of those who went before us; of those who managed their fears.”
Councillor Phelim MacCafferty said: “It is at times like these, when there are no words or actions that will do these unspeakable tragedies justice; that we must turn to those around us to seek solace and send our love and solidarity to the families and friends of those who have died.
“When the world seems increasingly divided, when hate and violence seem to be growing in all corners, we must confront them with warmth and hope.
“We must continue to show the world that the spirit of love and compassion will never be dimmed.
We will not be afraid, we will walk on together and stronger.”
Councillor Emma Daniels, Chair of the Neighbourhood, Communities and Equalities Committee taught her children and many others: “Being kind is always more important than being right.”
In her refusal to give up her idealism, she quoted Anne Frank and then gave faith leaders and residents of Brighton and Hove this challenge: “We must focus on the lost children of Europe, the refugee children lost to services and alone.
“And I must do everything I can to ensure we provide sanctuary and hope to them.
“I ask all the Faith Leaders here to please ask their communities to come forward if they have space and love and are able to provide a home for a child who needs it and to encourage them to sign up as foster parents.
“Our city must have the spirit of sanctuary in a world of pain.”
Grassroots, a Brighton mental health charity, has developed what is believed to be the first suicide prevention free mobile phone app called StayAlive.
The charity aims to raise £20,000 to improve vital support for vulnerable people at risk of taking their lives.
It launched its crowdfunding campaign to raise the funds on World Suicide Prevention Day 2016 today (Saturday 10 September) at the Synergy Centre, in West Street, Brighton.
Brighton and Hove has had a higher rate of deaths by suicide than the national average for more than a century and is currently ranked 136 of 144 local authorities for suicide rates.
Councillor Dick Page, the Green Party’s spokesman for health and wellbeing at Brighton and Hove City Council, said: “While we as councillors have a duty to ensure support is maintained to keep people safe from self-harm, abuse and neglect, we are increasingly reliant on the ground-breaking and practical work of Grassroots.
“As individuals we all must share responsibility for recognising and responding to our fellow residents who may be in need of help. A friendly word or show of support is free, yet can sometimes make all the difference to people going through a difficult time.”
StayAlive is a free, nationwide pocket resource on your mobile phone, packed with useful information to help people at risk of suicide and anyone who knows someone at risk of suicide. It includes
My Safety Plan that is an advance agreement of steps to take if you become unwell
My Lifebox full of photographs of family and friends
Reasons for living and self-help ideas – this is about what works for you
Looking after yourself which is about having compassion for yourself, knowing when to stop and checking you are not over-tired or hungry
Where to find help in your local area including counselling
Breathing exercises and grounding techniques
Grassroots chief executive Miranda Frost said: “Our vision is that no one has to contemplate suicide alone. The app is a big part of giving a lifeline to those at risk of suicide. With your help and donations StayAlive can become more effective and will help even more people at risk. It’s quick and easy to donate essential funds. You’re just a few clicks away from saving a life.”
A recent survey of StayAlive suggested that 76 per cent of users who have used the app used it to help someone else stay safe from suicide. The survey indicated that its most useful feature was the “safety plan”.
Since its release in 2014, the app has been downloaded more than 16,000 times, won multiple awards and has been included as a “national inspiration” on the Crisis Concordat website.
StayAlive is available in app stores. It is currently a private, personal and portable resource but the next phase of its development may allow app users to connect with others and share experiences.
The council’s lead member for mental health, Councillor Caroline Penn, said: “The StayAlive app developed by Grassroots plays a very important role in suicide prevention. It provides immediate support for those considering suicide as well as advice for those concerned about a friend or family member.
“We can all play our part in supporting those experiencing suicidal thoughts. If we talk and most importantly listen, we can work together to keep our friends, family and community safe.”
Grassroots Suicide Prevention teaches suicide alertness and intervention skills to community members and professionals with the aim to make our communities safer from suicide. The charity is supported by the council.
To find out more about how to donate to help fund the app, click here.
Councillor Penn said that anyone who was worried about someone they know could download the StayAlive app to a private device, call the Samaritans on 08457 909090 or the Mental Health Rapid Response Service on 01273 242220. Both telephone lines are available 24 hours a day.
Other mental health charities include MIND and Brighton and Hove Carers Centre.
Twelve longest-serving Cooperative nursery staff at the University of Sussex were threatened with a change to their contract in spite of 187 combined years service in early August.
You can read more information about this issue in an article first published by Brighton and Hove News on 12 August.
Less than a week later, by Thursday 18 August, Cooperative Childcare offered better terms to their most loyal nursery staff by doubling their consolidation package. Nursery staff may still leave. More details here.
Brighton GCSE students buck the national trend
Alisha Gilbert and Alfie Hammond from Longhill High School
Longhill High School is proud to buck the national trend of a falling A* to C pass rate. More than half Longhill’s students, 56 per cent, achieved 5 A* to C grades including English and Maths. Students from Longhill High School improved their GCSE results by six points since last year.
Alfie Hammond got four As, three Bs and two C grades. He said: “I feel quite chuffed. I am very happy.”
Next year he will take biology, chemistry and economics A levels at BHASVIC.
Alisha Gilbert is really happy too, particularly for getting an A in English literature and a B in English language against the odds. She will join Alfie at BHASVIC to study maths, chemistry and physics.
You can read more about Longhill success stories here.
Dorothy Stringer students compete with Cardinal Newman for top GCSE results in Brighton and Hove
A* student Yian Zeng from Dorothy Stringer
Dorothy Stringer School outperformed all other state schools in their GCSE results, beaten only by rival faith school Cardinal Newman.
Yian Zeng was the top performing student at Dorothy Stringer. As well as achieving 13 A* grades at GCSE, she also secured AS results in philosophy and ethics and Chinese as well as an A in additional mathematicsFSMQ.
Zoe Alexander got ten A* grades and an A. She said: “I feel relieved and happy. I am very surprised as well. It was a lot of hard work.”
One of Zoe’s teachers said: “You could not get anybody who has worked harder for her results.”
Zoe Alexander right with Nellie Mills from Dorothy Stringer
You can read more details at Brighton and Hove News here.
Best ever GCSE results for Varndean School
Students at Varndean School have improved their GCSE exam results with 61 per cent of students gaining five A* to C GCSE passes, including English and mathematics.
Nine students achieved ten or more A* or A grades and almost 20 per cent of all students achieved five or more A* or A grades.
Forty per cent of all grades awarded were A* to B and three students achieved a Level 3 extended project qualification usually reserved for sixth form students, two of whom achieved A grades.
A Hove businesswoman has published a healthy baking book with recipes using natural ingredients including alternatives to refined sugar.
Jo Dance also steers clear of gluten and cow’s milk in her book, To the Bakery and Beyond.
The most common form of refined sugar that many of us use is granulated sugar, she said. Recipes do contain natural sugar found in fruit, for example.
She said: “Refined sugar is not in the ancestor’s diet. It is an alien food that damages the liver and suppresses the hormone leptin. This means that a person’s body does not send a message to the brain when it is full.”
When she began her research she thought that she would have to avoid eating sweet foods altogether but she said: “Although sugary foods are best kept to a minimum in our diets, at this point in my life I do like to have some sweet food.
“I was determined to make more informed choices about which kinds of sweeteners I ate so as to minimise the damage done to my body.
“Refined sugar, for example, in traditional chocolate products, draws the minerals out from the body and destroys vitamin B. Refined sugar can also cause obesity because refined sugar spikes the insulin levels which means more energy is stored as fat and it can make people tired.
“You can eat raw chocolate instead. A carefully chosen raw chocolate bar would make a good substitute for anyone who wants to indulge.”
She is mindful that not everything branded healthy is actually good for us. She would love to see clearer food labelling when it comes to sugar and wonders whether an expansion of the existing traffic light system could be used for all foods.
This would be really helpful for many people, she said, especially parents who want to make more educated choices for their children.
She became interested in healthy food when she had her son Oscar. She wanted to know how to bring him up with a gluten-free diet. She found when she was shopping that even in health food shops she couldn’t find what she wanted.
She said: “Healthier foods for kids are often packed full of dates which are high in natural sugar. My book helps you learn how to adapt recipes yourself.
“I’m not trying to pretend that this kind of baking gives you exactly the same results as the more traditional types of sweet foods many of us are used to.
“It can also take your tastes buds a while to adjust to a less sweet taste as well as a slightly different texture.
“My baking may not always be light and fluffy but it is a lot lighter than the sugar-laden manufactured products you would buy in a supermarket.
“A large part of the book is writing to make educated and empowered choices.”
Milk is another red light. She never has cows’ milk. Alternatives she favours are oat, coconut or rice milk.
She said: “The problem with milk is the pasteurisation process which strips the milk of nutrients. Two thirds of people lack the enzyme to digest and break down the lactose in milk. Pasteurisation also removes the good bacteria.”
Another concern is the chemicals which are used when milk is pasteurised. She said: “Cows milk is perfect for cows but not for humans. You can make your own milk from coconut or almonds or brown rice.”
She also advised reading the label before buying nut and grain milks as many that are branded healthy products contain unnecessary additives and sweeteners.
Her idea for the book began after she gave food parcels to her friends and they then asked for the recipes. She began to write down her notes and the science behind her recipe choices but realised the project was bigger – and the book was born.
She said that there was a misconception about gluten-free, adding: “Not everything gluten-free is healthy. It is another bugbear of mine. There is a lot of demand for gluten-free food and people have jumped on the bandwagon.”
She said that people should avoid highly processed foods or anything with long ingredient lists.
A percentage of the profits from her book would be donated to Fareshare Sussex, she said, because she is passionate about food poverty and especially food waste by the food industry and the general public. Fareshare redistributes food from the food industry to homeless and other vulnerable people.
Primarily she hopes that her book will help people to make more informed choices about what they eat.
On Thursday 14 July the Labour Party suspended Brighton and Hove branch until after the leadership election according to the Guardian.
The Labour Party in Brighton and Hove held a momentum rally on Tuesday 02 August 2016 and members and supporters thought Mr Corbyn may come to speak.
At a Labour member only meeting after the rally on 02 August, I think in a recount, six “Keep Corbyn” candidates were elected to Brighton and Hove’s Labour Party executive committee and one position was declared later bringing the “Keep Corbyn” candidates to seven. Five candidates from the right wing of the Labour Party were elected.
Across the UK, this pattern was replicated with 82% (or 71 out of 87) Labour Party branches passing motions in support of Mr Corbyn.
His supporters and the Momentum movement took three of five key positions in Brighton and Hove: Chair, Mark Sandell, Treasurer, Claire Wadey and Secretary, Greg Hadfield.
Standing room only at Brighton and Hove Momentum rally
Brighton’s Mr Hadfield said: “This is the biggest turnout of the biggest party unit supporting Jeremy Corbyn with the biggest majority in England. It has been the most exciting day of my political life.”
Other candidates already elected were Anne Pissaridou as Vice Chair (campaigns) and Christine Robinson as Vice Chair (membership.) Remaining posts will be announced on Monday including candidate Daniel Harris who said: “This is a turnout for democracy today.”
Just over 600 Labour party members (15%) from three constituencies voted for their national executive committee by a ratio of 2:1 in favour of pro-Corbyn candidates at City College.
At the AGM which followed the Keep Corbyn rally, voting did not finish until 6pm, three hours after members arrived to vote. A planned two hour hustings for members at the AGM was compressed into three successive half hour sessions because of high turnout.
A pro-Corbyn “City Party” will now seek to hold to account the main reforming “progress” wing of the Brighton and Hove Labour Party pioneered by Tony Blair.
Nationally the Labour Party remains divided. Only 38 members of the Parliamentary Labour Party now support Mr Corbyn.
Without support from 51 MPs in Parliament, Mr Corbyn may not be able to stand as a candidate in the next Labour leadership election.
Hove MP Peter Kyle cast his vote in the ballot at the Brighton and Hove AGM last Saturday but did not comment at that time.
He has already said publicly that he does not support Mr Corbyn and will therefore back Angela Eagle MP to become the next leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party by default, unless other candidates such as Owen Smith come forward.
Labour’s National Executive Committee may introduce a cut-off point for joining the party, ostensibly to prevent vote-rigging by people from other parties joining the Labour Party, who may distort the result.
It is likely that only one candidate will stand against Mr Corbyn because the reform or progress wing within the party needs to unite their supporters. Two national contenders would split the reform vote.
Party Activist Kate Knight said: “I am incensed by what appears to be the contempt of the Parliamentary Labour Party for democracy.”
Ms Knight said seven hundred and fifteen new members had joined the Labour Party since the EU referendum two weeks ago from Goldsmid and Hove Park wards in Hove.
Danielle Spencer from Hove was a humanitarian aid worker in Somalia who returned to England specifically to get involved in Momentum.
As a labour supporter, she is very distressed by austerity and said: “People are oppressed by it, austerity is unjust, unfair and unwarranted.
“I came back very disillusioned with the way the Labour Party was progressing and not protecting the rights of the people that it was set up to protect and defend.
“I thought people would unite. The country is in the greatest need, now the Parliamentary Labour Party is not listening to Labour Party members.
“Labour activists are rooting for Mr Corbyn and the councillors need to dedicate themselves to the people who voted for them.
“The Parliamentary Labour Party has ignored the public feeling during the war in Iraq. The war created voter apathy, disaffection and distrust.
“Now people are interested in politics again but I am not sure the Labour Party can survive.
“Prejudice at the BBC is another issue. I used to work in communications there. It is not reporting Mr Corbyn fairly. It is confused and twisted.
“The BBC’s job is to inform, educate and instruct. It is not there to take sides.”
Hove’s businesswoman Jo Dance joined a political party, Labour, in the last fortnight for the first time.
She said: “I’m really saddened by all the anti-Corbyn feeling in the parliamentary party at the moment. I, like many others, felt the Labour party in recent years had become a kind of ‘Tory Light’. I was totally against the war in Iraq, and took to the streets in London at the time to protest against that.
“I feel at odds with some policies that Peter Kyle my local MP has been supporting, (Syria for example), and I really hope that this new momentum (of Momentum!) can carry Mr Corbyn through.”
Under Mr Corbyn’s leadership Labour membership has grown exponentially to 500,000 members.
MPs from the Parliamentary Labour Party ignore Mr Corbyn’s electoral mandate at their peril. To have any hope of electoral success, Labour reformers must argue about policies rather than personalities and win the argument, not just in Parliament, but in labour branches, unions and affiliated organisations throughout the United Kingdom.
Scores of Hove residents met to view the next stage of plans and find innovative solutions to some of the most intractable problems facing developers when regenerating Hove Station and the surrounding area.
As a strategic development area, there are conditions set by Brighton and Hove City Council in the City Plan. These include the goal of a mixed-use development with residential units and office space. The aim is to attract investment and new employment opportunities into the area.
Planning proposals include building several mid-rise blocks of flats to act as a focal point and identifier in Conway Street near the Clarendon Road flats. A pedestrian area may be created around Ellen Street and Conway Street if planning permission is granted.
Fonthill Road may close to ease congestion. No decision has been taken yet. Early discussions are under way about the possibility of building a school at the postal sorting office site in Denmark Villas.
The City Plan says the neighbourhood plans must provide a minimum of 525 residential units and at least 22,000 square metres of office space which is an extra 12,000 square metres.
There are currently three major projects on the table:
Hove Station area: The factory on the corner of Goldstone Lane is about to be demolished by Hyde Group which will build 65 new homes by August 2018.
Hove Gardens:Matsim will apply for planning permission soon to build 190 homes alongside retail and office space at Conway Street and create a Hove Station Quarter.
Sackville Gardens: Mountpark will apply for permission to build 600 to 700 new homes and office space from 2017 onwards on the Sackville Trading Estate and coalyard site which it is calling Sackville Gardens – also and separately the name of a road leading to Hove seafront.
Proposed high rise on corner of Conway Street and Ellen St near Hove Station
Valerie Paynter, from Save Hove, who campaigned against a high-rise development on the old Sackville Hotel site on Hove seafront, said: “The area south of Hove Station is excellent for development near the Clarendon flats because there is no overshadowing.”
A Hove resident who does not wish to be named said: “Last year there was a lot of high-value properties built which attracted commuters, not local residents.”
Valerie Paynter from Save Hove
Niall O’Hea, from Shakespeare Road, in Poet’s Corner, said: “Since the referendum people are more interested. You can have a say in your future. Lots of stuff is getting passed. There is apathy. Planning seems very complicated because it happens behind closed doors. It is difficult to get information but the referendum has woken people up.
“I had the challenge of getting trees in the street. You have to canvass. People can object. They have good processes to stop things. It is very hard to create things. One person can stop a process. Sometimes the benefit is of the greater good as opposed to your opinion.”
Many concerns were raised at the meeting about transport, traffic congestion which may result from closing Fonthill Road, parking and the need for accessible, functioning footbridges that are compliant with disability legislation.
Retired professor of urban planning and Hove resident Mike Gibson said that the forum would convene a separate subgroup on transport. This will feed into a statutory transport assessment produced by the council.
The forum provides Hove residents and businesses with a legal framework to influence the large-scale regeneration of the area, known as Development Area 6 in the City Plan, and they are developing a neighbourhood plan.
Mr Gibson, head of planning at London South Bank University, said: “Planning can be a fragmented process. The neighbourhood plan is to join it all up. Everyone in the area votes at the end of five years. The forum enables residents to get the ear of developers before they put in a planning application. We also want to anticipate and the big issue is: how does it all fit together, especially in Conway Street and around the railway?”
Residents from Ellen Street, Conway Street, Goldstone Lane, the Fonthill Road area and Poet’s Corner were all invited to have their say at the forum.
Over time, developers will aim to improve the Conway Street area, Hove Newtown, the Goldstone Lane area and Sackville Road trading estate up to Old Shoreham Road. The waste management centre at the coal yard may be de-designated to join up the development. Full regeneration of the whole area is expected to take 10 to 15 years if the plans go ahead.
Councillors and activists urged Brighton to love not hate on a rainy Tuesday evening at the Level days after Britain voted to leave the European Union.
Brighton joined many other cities across the country Standing Together alongside the people of Europe and peacefully but proactively reflecting about the future on Tuesday 28 June.
Stand Together organisers said the rally was about moving on from the In/Out campaign which divided Britain and trying to rebuild unity and find positive ways forward regardless of whether people voted in or out.
But feelings did run high. Green councillor Tom Druitt said he was concerned that the vulnerable will be hardest hit by Brexit.
He said: “I was angry. Angry that so many people had been duped by a pack of lies. Angry that the right-wing media had perpetuated the myths so wilfully and effectively.
“Angry that people had been taken in and targeted their understandable disillusionment and frustration with the establishment, not at the people who are actually responsible, but at the most vulnerable in our society.”
Mr Druitt’s initial solution was to give a stranger a hug and then campaign peacefully for the loving, welcoming, open community of Brighton and Hove and beyond.
Councillor Inkpin-Leissner, a German EU citizen, urged all residents to channel their anger and love one another. He said: “It was mentioned that we have to fight the right wing movement. Yes we do. But let me make this very clear.
“When we had right wing marches in Brighton I witnessed violence. Not only from the right wing but as well from the so-called antifascist movement. I cannot and will not stand for that.
“This violence is wrong, may it come from the left or from the right wing. I cannot support this. Violence is always wrong.
“When they come to Brighton, meet them firm, show them that they are wrong and not welcome in our open and free city. But never use violence. Love is always stronger!”
Dr Lucy Robinson, a senior lecturer in history at the University of Sussex and minister of nagging for the Facebook group People’s Republic of Brighton and Hove asked:
“How do we make our little community safe for everyone but more importantly our global community? I’m not going to tell anybody how they should feel, whether they should respond with Love or with Anger, or a mixture of both.
“There’s a place for solidarity and love but righteous anger needs to be acknowledged too.
“I’m not going to tell you what your tactics should be. Each other’s tactics are not the problem.
“But I do believe that we can do more than shout ‘not in my name’. We can organize on whatever levels, in our everyday lives, on the streets AND in mainstream politics.
“We can refuse the divisions that have been imposed upon us. We can insist that we all get the world and community we deserve.
“We can refuse to be sacrificed for some Eton boys’ game. We can refuse to stay broken.”
Performance poet Michael James Parker
Ben Walters from Brighton Anti-Fascists said: “In the killing of Jo Cox and in the rising tide of hate following the referendum, we have seen what fascist violence looks like. We need to organise our communities to drive fascists off the streets. They must not be allowed any chance to spread their ideas and gain strength.”
Chair of South Downs Liberal Youth Drew Miller-Hyndman said: “We attended the rally today, not only to affirm our support for the UK remaining in the EU but in solidarity with EU migrants who have faced unprecedented hatred in recent days.
“It was a great turnout despite the rain and we would like to thank all those involved.”
Green councillor Phelim MacCafferty said Brighton’s two universities will lose £730 million a year of EU research funding for future scientists, medics and engineers spelling disaster for the local learning economy.
However, he encouraged Brighton to stand firm: “Acts of kindness that bind us together as a community have never been more needed. Those at the sharp end of the fear and scaremongering need our support… It is no longer acceptable to remain quiet or walk to the other side of the road if we hear or see prejudice, xenophobia or racism – all of us must challenge them directly.
We also have to say it loudly and clearly: immigrants you are welcome here.”
There is an anti-racism demonstration this Sunday 3 July. Supporters are asked to gather at the Level at 12.30pm.
Labour MP Jo Cox was tragically stabbed outside Birstall public library, West Yorkshire in broad daylight where she was about to hold a surgery for constituents on Thursday 16 June. This incident has cast a shadow over the EU referendum campaign and led to an all too temporary pause in campaigning and a period of sober reflection.
Jeremy Corbyn spoke in the House of Commons on Monday 20 June and paid tribute to Mrs Cox’s: “compassion and passion to create a better world and in her honour we recommit ourselves to that task.” When Mr Corbyn visited Mrs Cox’s grave the day after her murder he spoke of a “well of hatred.”
It is into this well of hatred that Nigel Farage, Leader of UKIP, speaks. He tells us he is the man in the pub to whom everyone can relate. Do not be deceived. An hour before Jo Cox was killed, Mr Farage unwittingly launched a referendum poster entitled Breaking Point showing a steady stream of refugees flooding into Britain coupled with a call to take control of Britain’s borders. However, he then has the audacity to accuse the Prime Minister days later of playing “despicable” political tricks in the wake of Mrs Cox’s death.
In fact, Mr Cameron was speaking in support of Jo Cox, a seasoned campaigner with many years’ experience at Oxfam. She campaigned about Syrian refugees and other destitute peoples with authority.
Mr Farage accused the PM and Remain camp of misrepresenting the motives of many British people who simply want control of their borders. Unfortunately polls indicate that while economic arguments may have the greatest significance and impact if Britain leaves the EU, it is immigration above all other issues that determines how people will vote.
Britain must decide whether to embrace the European project and the multiculturalism that has made her great or whether to become “little England” with Scotland once more seeking independence and the future of Northern Ireland uncertain, border controls reinstated. The EU is the most advanced and successful form of cross-border cooperation that the world has ever seen, empowered to manage the power of multi-nationals and mitigate climate change.
It is both desperately sad and very alarming that the man who has been charged with Mrs Cox’s murder gave his name during his first court appearance at as “death to traitors, freedom for Britain.”
He is an individual and it is highly likely that he is unwell but his statement indicates a fractured society. While the conservatives make the case for national sovereignty and freedom to trade with countries beyond Europe and forge new agreements; UKIP always campaigns about controlling Britain’s borders and in this case closing them to Turkey. The NHS alone would be on its knees without foreign nationals and immigrants working at every level of the health service.
Gordon Brown, wrote in the Guardian on Friday 17 June about Jo Cox: “She wanted us to shout from the rooftops, as she said in her maiden speech, that there is much more that brings us together than drives us apart. She believed our society’s diversity was our greatest strength… (According to her husband) She would not want us to confront hate with hate, but to conquer hate wherever it is found.”
Mr Brown wrote: “Unless we strive for a culture of respect to replace a culture which does too little to challenge prejudice, we will be learning nothing from what happened to Jo.”
About the referendum, tellingly Mr Brown said: “The business of politics has become more about the exploitation of fears than the advancement of hope.” While the Remain campaign is accused of “Project Fear” it is UKIP that exploits fears about immigration mercilessly, fears about jobs and pressures on public services.
The EU provides jobs, about half of UK trade, national security and allows free movement of labour for the British to work in Europe as well as Europeans to work here. Britain is sovereign within Europe and is part of a 28 strong trading family. She would still have to apply EU rules to retain access to the single market if she leaves the EU.
“If Britain votes out, it is irreversible”, Mr Cameron said. Vote remain.
The same article is published on the News Hub here.
Mr Hickey who teaches critical theory, culture and politics at the University of Brighton criticised the white paper currently before Parliament. He said it aims to: “significantly transform and partially dissolve universities by opening them up to private sector companies.”
Mr Hickey was speaking to staff from the Universities of Brighton and Sussex who gathered at the Old Ship Hotel on Wednesday 25 June for the first of a two day strike.
He argues that this would result in a two-tier education system where students from rich universities can choose their university but poorer students would end up with cheaper, “bucket shop degrees from universities at the very bottom of the system.”
Mr Hickey condemned the “disaggregation and destruction of national common education available to everyone.” He will publish an alternative white paper next week.
Law Lecturer Tom Frost from the University of Sussex did a quick key word search of the white paper and found the words “competition” and “markets” mentioned 50 times each while “lecturer” and “academic freedom” were only mentioned once each.
Members of UCU, the University and College Union were striking about changes to their terms and conditions including a pay rise of 1.1% compared with 6.1% pay rise awarded to vice chancellors.
Some university staff are on zero hours contracts which Mr Frost says is unacceptable given the £1.8 billion of reserves. The union is campaigning for secure, permanent jobs and an end to casual employment. Research by UCU estimates that 48.7% of staff across the UK higher education sector are employed on some form of casual contract.
A university spokesperson said: “The University of Brighton is bound by national agreements and cannot negotiate or settle pay claims outside of this arrangement. The unions locally and the University of Brighton agreed to be part of national pay negotiations.
Pay bargaining for UK universities is conducted by the UCEA nationally and has to take into account the financial circumstances of each of the 150 universities.”
However, protestors are also campaigning to close the 12.6% pay gap between men and women by 2020 which is the 50 year anniversary of the Equal Pay Act.
Lizzie Seal who lectures in sociology and criminology at the University of Sussex said under a quarter of professors in universities are women. This led her to conclude: “Either men are better than women or women are facing structural discrimination.”
A spokesperson from the University of Sussex said: “The University of Sussex strongly supports and is committed to equal pay for its staff.
“Two equal pay reviews in 2007 and 2011 established that the University is compliant with the Equality Act 2010 (formerly the Equal Pay Act 1970) and there was no systematic pattern of pay gaps in favour of one gender. The University has committed to a further review in 2016 which will also be externally run.”
Brighton MP Caroline Lucas said in support of the strike: “Students and higher education are under attack on too many fronts and the need to stand up and take action on education remains as strong as ever: not least because this month’s White Paper establishes that the Tories’ drive to commercialise and marketise education is as strong as ever…
“That is, the White Paper approaches education as an opportunity for profit. And education should not be about profit any more than it should be treated as a game – as you all know it’s about much more than that. It’s about a future for students and jobs and innovation, of course but within a solid future for the UK’s skills base and for the quality of citizenship.
“Education is about world-class teaching and research that can keep such a status only if staff and students are given the much-needed “academic freedom” that’s needed as a bedrock, rather than ultimatums around maximizing profit.
“And, of course, there’s a more practical aspect if there’s to be a real future for higher education, and that’s the need for fair pay, and for employers to take meaningful action to end casualization and the gender pay gap.
“This is badly needed so that university staff can afford to continue their excellent work, and so that students can realistically consider roles in higher education and academia as a future career.
So, for a viable future and for a fairer today, I’ll continue to stand alongside you.”
Natalia Cecire, University of Sussex lecturer in English and American Studies said staff need to communicate clearly with students. “Our labour conditions are their future labour conditions.”
Brighton and Hove Buses did not stop at the Universities on Wednesday morning in solidarity with academics on strike.
Students studying moving image and photography are holding a show from Saturday 4 June to Sunday 12 June at the University of Brighton site on Edward Street.
An edited version of this article was published by Brighton and Hove News here.
In Britain we associate camping with a rustic retreat into nature from our manic and sophisticated lives. For refugees fleeing political persecution, camping in squalor is a way of life. Most of them do not want to leave their homeland, under six percent reach Europe. They arrive in refugee camps traumatised, alone and hungry.
Brutalised by war and disorientated because they do not speak the language, they do not understand the culture and they do not know whom to trust. Women have often been raped in front of their husbands or male relatives and children are suicidal and starving, they fight to survive.
Refugees must compete for food, water to drink and bathe and battle to become legal citizens. Without passports refugees are not allowed to return to their homeland, even if family members remain there, without permission from the Home Office. They have already left their family, friends, homes, possessions and above all their dignity. It is possible that even their jewellery, their only portable possessions, may be taken from them, if not by robbers then by the authorities to pay for their stay.
Refugees stop being citizens and become stateless aliens in a foreign land where the government sees them as a problem rather than a person. They are stripped of their humanity by the immigration authorities who interrogate them relentlessly. While necessary, it must feel like an assault on an already battered psyche, the final straw tipping them over into a temporary insanity haunted by the hell of going back to their homeland.
Countries in the West have the opposite problem. Many argue that Britain is a densely populated island, the green fields are cultivated for farming. We are told hospitals are at breaking point and schools and the welfare state are stretched to capacity. Refugees who do not speak English are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and must be protected under the UN Geneva Convention of Human Rights.
Generations of indigenous, white British people living in overcrowded, dilapidated council and housing association flats are trapped in low income jobs or unemployment. They resent the refugees who sometimes take priority on the housing list because they are homeless or temporarily housed in a detention centre. The refugees are grateful for any shelter but the poverty, language barriers and mutual mistrust can prove to be a fatal combination setting neighbours against each other and fracturing the heart of communities.
