Fighting Talk by Mark Metcalf

Monday, 12 March 2012

The Big Society: the Big Divide - a new publication from JUST West Yorkshire

The Big Society: the Big Divide? is a new book from JUST West Yorkshire. Financially supported by OXFAM GB it aims to ‘challenge the changes that are being made to Britain’s social landscape by the Coalition Government under the rubric of the Big Society.’

The publication comes a year after a poll in The Sun newspaper revealed that 63% of people didn’t know what the Government’s flagship policy meant. That wasn’t too surprising as even the man who helped develop the idea, Phillip Blond, admitted then “the agenda is still not widely grasped or shared across all government departments.”

Following which there have been some significant developments. Including the first appointments of an expected 500 senior Big Society community organisers, who are set in the next few years to be supported by 4500 part-time workers and an unspecified number of recruited volunteers.

There’s the Big Society Capital, consisting of an initial £200 million allocated to it by Britain’s biggest banks from accounts that have laid dormant for a minimum of fifteen years. Operating independently of government it will not make grants and will be expected to make a sufficient return on its investment to cover its operating costs.

The National Citizens Service Volunteering scheme last year saw 8,000 volunteers participate in six-weeks of initiatives and the government is committed to providing volunteering opportunities for 90,000 16-year-olds by 2014. Some of who will be expected to pay towards the training providers costs either through fees, returnable deposits or fund-raising initiatives.

The Localism Act of 2011 has also changed the powers of Local Government such that local authorities are required to consider requests by voluntary groups, social enterprises and parish councils to take over council-run services.

When he became Prime Minister, David Cameron said the aim of the changes that have followed was “to create a climate that empowers local people and communities, building a big society that will 'take power away from politicians and give it to people'. “

Although there is no such thing as a Big Society Tsar or cabinet representative there is a Big Society Network, which says ‘that by working with business, philanthropists, charities and social ventures we believe we can unleash the social energy that exists in the UK to help build a better, healthier society.’

None of which has impressed the opposition Labour leader, Ed Miliband, who has said that the “Big Society' is a smokescreen for public services cuts, involving nothing more than dressing up the withdrawal of support with the language of reinvigorating civic society’.

The cuts will impact heavily on voluntary and community groups, with the National Council for Voluntary Organisations estimating the sector will lose £2.8 billion in funding over the lifetime of the current government.

Just West Yorkshire is a charity promoting racial justice, civil liberties and human rights. The book was launched at a Conference – The Good, the Bad and the Unequal? - in Bradford last month. 200 delegates attended this from voluntary and charitable organisations. Supported by the Runnymede Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust a request to the government to provide a speaker were declined.

With the voluntary sector in northern England obtaining 42% of its funds from the public sector - 10% higher than in London and the south east – there were fears that many small community organisations would not survive, making it increasingly difficult to help the poorest in society.

Delegates from community groups in Bradford reported how they were attempting to monitor the impact of all the cuts on their local communities and use the local media to embarrass politicians carrying them out. Where cuts are proposed without an assessment of their impact on equality it was agreed to seek a judicial review in the courts.

Meanwhile, many small groups reported being overlooked, in favour of larger national charities, when Local authorities commission services previously undertaken in-house.

It was agreed to use the contents of the new book to maintain opposition to the Big Society, including refusing to be used to undermine the public sector and those working in it.

Safer in more towns

Blackpool is set to follow St Helens, Wigan and Leigh by establishing a Safer in Town centre scheme aimed at increasing the safety and confidence of people with learning difficulties.

Since November last year, campaigning voluntary group St Helens People’s Choice, with the backing of the local Hate Crime Partnership, has issued participants with key rings and fold out cards to participating people with learning difficulties.

Alongside the scheme’s logo these incorporate drawings of buses, £ signs, intimidating characters and police cars. This means that anyone with communication difficulties can indicate what is concerning them when they enter public buildings, shops, cafes and pubs that display a matching window sticker to demonstrate the venue can offer support in cases of an accident, harassment or crime.

St Helens People’s Choice, a self-organised group of people with learning difficulties, was established in 1994. According to its chairperson, John Horan, “no-one has yet needed to use the town centre scheme but to make sure it will work when it’s needed we have undertaken many practice runs in which people have lost their money, complain of being bullied or of feeling unwell. The response of venues has been good. We established Safer in Town because one of our members suffered serious harassment by young people over many months and had no-one to turn to.”

Horan said 80 venues had signed up to the scheme, which has been replicated in Wigan and Leigh since January this year. Now, Blackpool has established a working group – consisting of councillors, police and local businesses - to develop its own Safer in Town project that aims to expand support to anyone in problems, particularly older people.

The aim is to launch the scheme before the busy summer season. It’s coordinator, Stephen Brookes, a disabled rights campaigner who lives in the seaside resort, says “The idea is simple and effective, and makes life easier for disabled and older people who can be intimidated by the fast pace of Blackpool.”

Businesses he said would benefit from being recognised as a safe haven and he felt that many more towns and cities would benefit from similar schemes.

Stop press

Halifax is the latest town to announce a similar scheme will be established shortly.

Tuesday, 6 March 2012

Camera operator/video editor required for short non-broadcast documentary (subject to securing funding)

The documentary director, Mark Metcalf, is applying to a charitable Foundation for funding for a 15-minute non-broadcast documentary about the impact of incinerators on infant mortality and health. The documentary is intended for screening at public meetings, the Houses of Parliament, on social media, and to send on DVD to MPs and local councillors.

Mark is looking for a camera operator and video editor whose work history details he can include in the funding application. Employment is conditional on the success of the funding application.

The camera operator would also record sound direct to camera during the 5-6 day shoot. This would take place in the Midlands, the South East and the North of England. Free accommodation, meals and transport would be provided.

One person who is skilled in both areas could carry out the camera operator/video editor roles. Ideally s/he will have their own equipment to do both pieces of work, but open to discussion if this is not the case.

The production would be fully insured.

BECTU Rates of pay at £309 for a 10-hour day. S/he will be employed on a freelance basis, and the work will either be in June or October, depending upon when the funding application is made.

Mark is a freelance journalist who has written extensively about elevated levels of infant mortality and poor health amongst all ages, in neighbourhoods downwind of incinerators. Now the Health Protection Agency has commissioned a study into the issue.

Monday, 5 March 2012

Fit to print interview with Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ General Secretary

Taken from current edition of the Big Issue in the North magazine - buy the magazine, it's a good read and helps people improve their lives.

Liverpool born Michelle Stanistreet has faced a baptism of fire since taking over as the General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists in July last year. The Leveson Inquiry, two 24-hour strikes at the BBC, the News of the World closure and numerous regional disputes over redundancies and wage cuts all demonstrate a serious crisis in the press industry, heightened by the contempt many of the public feel towards those who work in it.

None of which appears to have dampened the enthusiasm of the 37-year-old mother of one young boy, who is the first woman to head up the NUJ in its 105-year-old existence. Having cut her teeth fighting her own employer, Richard Desmond at the Express Newspapers group, over what she describes as “inaccurate and racially inflammatory coverage of immigration issues” she now wants a conscience clause for all journalists, a code of conduct for the industry, tougher regulations and a change in media ownership. She’s convinced that these will help create a future for the press and papers in this country.

One paper that only has a past is the News of the World. Stanistreet had just finished her first week at the NUJ when James Murdoch announced its closure after 168-years in existence. Despite father Rupert having long ago locked out, de-recognised and refused to talk to the print unions and the NUJ, Stanistreet was “deeply unhappy as it was a cynical act of self-preservation that meant closing a paper that was not in any financial difficulties. It’s always a sad day when any national, regional or local paper shuts up shop. We had individual members at the paper, and like hundreds of others they’ve lost their livelihoods in order for Murdoch to try and protect his top group of executives”.

Not that Stanistreet, the daughter of a policeman, supports the methods, including phone-tapping, that were employed by some journalists to gather stories for what was Britain’s biggest selling Sunday at 2.7 million copies an issue

She has said so at the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, ethics and practices of the British media. Initially the NUJ were refused core participant status.

“We feared the voice of journalists was to be drowned out by the views of the big media bosses and their expensive legal teams. Fortunately, common sense prevailed and we raised our campaigning issues such as ownership, an industry wide code of conduct and a conscience clause for journalists,” says Stanistreet.

All of which would have been helpful when she worked from 1999 onwards at the Express Newspapers group, where she started on the business section of the Daily Express before working her way up to become books editor.

Under new owner, porn king Richard Desmond, the Daily Star and Sunday and Daily Express all regularly ran articles on immigration that had the journalists who had written them complaining of being so heavily edited that “they were wildly inaccurate, unethical and poisonous” says Stanistreet, who by 2001 had become the elected senior union rep at the papers.

She had hoped that two complaints to the Press Complaints Commission [PCC] would see improvements. However when the regulatory body - on grounds that complaints had to come from those specifically lambasted in the pieces - refused to even investigate, the decision added to the NUJ’s concerns and which now has the organisation calling for the PCC to be disbanded.

Says Stanistreet “It is an old boys club which is too heavily influenced by the views of the media owners and newspaper editors. We need a fresh organisation that includes other interested bodies, including consumers – the public - and those who provide the content – the journalists. ”.

There are a lot less of the latter than a few years back. New technology, and the rise of citizen journalism, combined with widespread public cynicism have sent sales of newspapers rocketing downwards. Across the UK, newspaper circulation fell by over a quarter between 2007 and 2011. The current economic crisis means further falls are inevitable.

Regional newspapers have taken big hits. The 157-year-old Liverpool Daily Post lost 28% of its sales in 2010 and when it fell below 9,000 a day its owners Trinity Mirror began by scrapping the Saturday edition and then in January this year the paper became a weekly.

The Yorkshire Evening Post has also suffered, sales dropping 10% in 2010 and according to Ashley Highfield, new chief executive at its parent company Johnston Press the future of regional publishing lies ‘beyond print…..as a disseminator of information whether that means print, online, iPads, phones and possibly even local television”.

Stanistreet believes the crisis is largely due to “the bankrupt business model controlling the industry. Big media groups have had handsome profits for many years. Rather than taking smaller profits, they have cynically cut costs by making workers redundant and reducing pay. This cuts quality, makes things less local and relevant to readers, thus reducing sales even further. Media ownership needs changing, especially as it’s too valuable for democracy to rest under the control of so few people”.

One media outlet that isn’t privately owned is the BBC. A 20% cut from its budget is set to see 2,000 staff made redundant or not replaced by 2017. Just over a year ago the NUJ supported two one-day strikes by workers there, and Stanistreet says “they would do so again as the cuts are politically motivated because the Tories pre-election policy involved backing Murdoch. Hence they supported the BSkyB takeover by News Corporation last year and which was only abandoned after the full extent of the phone hacking scandal became known. The BBC deal was done behind closed doors in record time, just 2-3 days. The losers are viewers and ordinary journalists. Not those at the top of the corporation”.

The NUJ has many members at the BBC, which isn’t so in other parts of the press. Stanistreet believes the Leveson Inquiry will help in getting some journalists to join as “they can see how we are sticking up for quality journalism by exposing the climate in which many are working. In lots of newsrooms there is bullying and improving an article by challenging an editor’s view can threaten someone’s livelihood. Without a union there is no structure to improve things and ensure we have a media that properly informs the public of what’s going on in society”.

Newcastle United silenced by Sunderland fans

Derby match at St James' Park and the Geordies can manage to raise just two chants during the whole game to silence the Sunderland fans. First, on nine minutes there's a tremendous chant of "Stand Up if you Hate Sunderland, and then 82 minutes later there's another ear splitting "You're not singing anymore." Ignoring the fact that the latter wasn't true the chant should really have been directed towards themselves - sixth in the League, a packed crowd and totally outsung by 2,500 travelling fans! There were some Newcastle lads singing next to us [i've no idea what they were singing as i could and never actually heard them the whole 90 minutes] and when we sang 'your support is shit' i swear some of them clapped in agreement!

Newcastle fan's support for their team at home is pathetic. And to my great surprise that is the same with the numbers travelling away. I was shocked to discover that in October - when Newcastle were third in the League - they took 743 to Stoke on a Monday night. On Boxing Day at Bolton they had 600 less than Sunderland took in October - when Sunderland were 18th in the League. Manchester City away - just 1,685. It's difficult to make direct comparisons as both teams still have away games to play but at the moment Sunderland are a good few hundred ahead per match in away attendances.

Crown Prosecution Service workshop on reporting disabled hate crime

Manchester will host the Crown Prosecution Service’s first workshop on breaking down the barriers to reporting disabled hate crime. If successful it will go nationwide.

Charities, action groups and community networks will discover what advice and support they can offer potential victims of hate crime.

Under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, a disability hate crime is a criminal offence motivated by hatred or prejudice towards a person because of their actual or perceived disability.

High-profile cases involving disability hate crime include that of 38-year-old Fiona Pilkington who, after years of being tormented by a gang of youths in Leicestershire, killed herself and her 18-year-old severely disabled daughter Francecca Hardwick in 2007.

Successful prosecutions for disabled hate crimes have risen over the last four years, increasing from 68 between April and September 2007 to 579 in 2010-11.

According to Stephen Brookes, a coordinator of the Disability Hate Crime Network with over 2,000 facebook members, this good news “should be built upon, it indicates people are more confident of reporting crimes to the police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is better at prosecuting them. However many crimes go unreported.” Some studies suggest by as much as 95% and when Mencap in 2000 investigated the lives of people with learning disabilities they found nine out of ten had been harassed or attacked within the previous year.

A CPS spokesperson said they were aware that one potential barrier to tackling disability hate crime “is the uncertainty around what might constitute one, a fear of not being believed or because it happens ‘to someone else.’ We can help agencies by outlining the prosecution process including what evidence is required and what support is available for victims and witnesses.” Brookes has called for disabled people’s organisations left disappointed by the police in the past “to actively engage as the door is open for collaborative working.”

Thursday, 1 March 2012

Pakistan calling - 15 articles on developments there

A whole host of good articles from Pakistan by Yasir Ali

Journalist Yasir Ali has just moved to Britain. He are some of his articles from the last few years. Yasir is intending continuing to pursue his journalism career here and is seeking to join the National Union of Journalists.

1) Modern Slavery Alive in Pakistan’s Brick Kilns

http://asiacalling.kbr68h.com/en/news/pakistan/1577-modern-slavery-alive-in-pakistans-brick-kilns

2) A Pakistani woman’s battle to stay alive

http://www.asiacalling.org/en/news/pakistan/1811-a-pakistani-womens-battle-to-stay-alive

3) Pakistan Struggle to contain dengue fever

http://www.asiacalling.kbr68h.com/en/news/pakistan/2241-pakistan-struggles-to-contain-dengue-fever

4) Pakistani Journalist demand killers be brought to justice

http://www.asiacalling.org/km/archives/2056-pakistani-journalists-demand-killer-brought-to-justice

5) Pakistan is in Mourning

http://asiacalling.kbr68h.com/archives/1804-salman-taseer-pakistan-in-mourning?lang=km

6) Pakistani minister assassinated

http://asiacalling.kbr68h.com/km/news/pakistan/1889-pakistani-minister-assassinated