Opposition to fox-hunting hardens

As it’s cruel, nasty and often involves trampling all over someone else’s land then perhaps it’s not surprising to find public opinion appears to be hardening against any plans to repeal the Hunting Act.

Worrying news therefore for the Countryside Alliance and hunters, whose claims that the police are not enforcing the act has rather been damaged by the release of figures showing a record number of 57 people were convicted of breaking it last year.

As it’s five years since foxhunting was banned the League against Cruel Sports [LACS] felt it was time to test public opinion and commissioned YouGov to carry out enquiries. 3,400 people were interviewed, and 59% were opposed to the ban being overturned, 63% disagreeing it was an infringement of civil liberties and a whopping 77% wanting the ban properly enforced.

Meanwhile with the coalition government already facing significant unrest over its cuts package it seems that now they are in power many Tories are rowing back on their support for repeal, LACS research showing only a minority of MPs - 253 from 650 - being committed to return parts of the countryside to the dark ages.

All of which rather begs the question. If the Countryside Alliance can’t manage to muster the powder to see the Hunting Bill scrapped then isn’t it time it gave up the ghost and any workers involved in its offshoot the Union of Country Sports Workers joined a proper union in Unite and began fighting for decent wages and conditions?

Office of the Countryside Alliance  

"Honest and straightforward" - RIP Phil Brown

A death certificate has finally been issued for Phil Brown, a prize-winning pig farmer from Inskip near Preston who died almost four years ago. It comes after the coroner at his inquest concluded the then 62 year-old family man, who left behind a wife and three sons, had died of natural causes after developing a blood clot while in Chorley Hospital for an operation.

Brown, described at his funeral by the Reverend David Gaskell as “honest and straightforward”, was buried in the same cemetery as his youngest son Robert, who lived for only an hour after being born prematurely in 1991 with no frontal brain, his heart inside out and intestines outside the body.

The decision ends any hope that someone in authority may finally recognise that the devastation of their once thriving family business, Phil’s health and the death of Robert were all related to the unannounced arrival of rogue pig feed on their farm towards the end of the 1980s.

Documents were to later reveal that this had had no laboratory tests undertaken in Britain before being introduced. It resulted in pigs being born with patches of flesh like raw meat all over their bodies. Afterwards sows started giving birth to dead and mummified young.

Phil Brown’s herd, from which he’d won a number of prizes at major farming shows, was to be decimated and wife Diane’s inhaling of dust when feeding the pig’s was to bring tragic consequences for the couple’s fourth son. The Brown’s were also concerned that some of the pigs they had sold and which had entered the human food chain could have caused health problems for consumers.

Determined to find out exactly what had been added to the feed Phil Brown waged a tireless campaign, seeking answers from his pig food suppliers – the South West Lancashire Farmers Co-operative, the producers of the feed BP PLC and the company responsible for its importation BP Nutrition [UK] Limited.

Faced with a brick wall he sought support from the NFU, MAFF/DEFRA and the Health and Safety Executive. All to no avail, whilst solicitors who could possibly have helped proved less than useful.

A business worth £600,000 was destroyed and in 2005 his bank wrote to say they were intending to issue proceedings to re-possess the farm.  Undeterred, with a Big Issue in the North article helping to alert others to his cause, he battled on and he was just starting to get the business on a more even footing at the time of his death. Unwilling to see all his father’s hard work go to waste his son Richard subsequently took on, with success, the management of the farm and it’s now no longer under threat from the bank.

Local Bridlington Councillor writes to health secretary on hospital concern

The Rt Hon Greg Knight

House of Commons.

SAVE BRIDLINGTON HOSPITAL.

The local community is becoming very concerned and very ‘let down’ at the lack of action in respect of the future of Bridlington Hospital, with no signs of any of the pledges being kept regarding the restoration of services i.e the Acute Medical Services and the Cardiac Unit, much of the equipment having originally been purchased through fundraising locally, and should never have been removed in the first place.

At the meeting of Dec: 16^th 2010 with the Secretary of State Mr Andrew Lansley, assurances were given that Bridlington Hospital had a future as a hospital, including his comments that “no firm decisions had as yet been taken in respect of the restoration of services“. he also mentioned the many recent advancements in heart treatment which could he said, have overtaken usage of the cardiac unit.

That still does not mean that the unit is useless, as it is still being used at Scarborough Hospital, another reason for its return to its rightful home at Bridlington Hospital .

Much is being made of future hospital services being put into the hands of local G Ps with continual references being made to all future decision making having the full support of the local community, whereby giving power back to the people, all sounds very good unfortunately nothing like that seems to be happening.

I am sure you will agree the local community in this area have, in no uncertain terms, made it quite clear what they want to see, that Bridlington Hospital should be restored to its full capacity as a local hospital with the restorations of its services, which had deliberately been taken away in order to prop up the failing hospital at Scarborough

Dec:- 16^th Mr Lansley was informed that the main operating theatre was closed for 13 weeks to allow for certain works to be carried out, it is still closed.

I felt sure at that meeting the Minister had picked up the fact that he had not been made fully aware of the true situation and had only been told what the ‘Trust’ felt necessary to keep him quiet.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

　

　

Dear Mr Knight,

Enclosed comments are of a great deal of concern within the local community, even the hospital staff are finding it difficult not to voice opinions on the present situation, .it is very unsatisfactory all the way round.

Are you able to give any assurances on the future of Bridlington Hospital?

Thank you for passing on to the Secretary of State my comments regarding the meeting of Dec: 16^th sadly I have not even had an acknowledgment, I do hope he did find time to read them.

Yours sincerely,

　May Sexton

The fight by Durham residents that helped force changes in lap-dancing laws

It’s good news that Hackney Council voted last month to ban any new strip/lap dancing venues. 

The local authority's clampdown derives from the 2010 Policing and Crime Act, under which councils were given greater licensing authority and removed sex establishments' rights of appeal if a licence renewal is refused.

The law was changed only after hundreds of local campaigns brought pressure to bear on politicians to change it. One of the most important - and certainly most successful was that undertaken in Durham City. Three years ago I wrote an article for the Big Issue in Wales - due to a major re-organisation taking place at that time, it was never published. So here, for the first time, is the story of those who fought and won.

Originally written in 2008

Kirsty Thomas, and husband and wife Desmond and Ann Evans, recently became the first residents in the UK since the introduction of the 2003 Licensing Act to successfully challenge plans to open a lap dancing club.

Vimac Leisure had hoped to open the club in the historic city of Durham in north-east England. The company however was forced to concede defeat in June after the High Court in London dismissed their application for a judicial review of North Durham Magistrates earlier decision to refuse its application for a new premises license.

The victory by the 3 residents and the dozens who stood alongside them in a year - long struggle should give heart to others fighting to prevent similar establishments being considered elsewhere. Success came in spite of a lack of support from organisations responsible for ensuring the public’s safety.

It is only thirteen years since the first British lap-dancing club, For Your Eyes Only, opened in 1995 in London. There are now over 300 such ‘Gentlemen’s clubs’, the numbers having doubled since 2003. In Wales there are now close to 30 such clubs. Cardiff itself has its very own ‘For Your Eyes Only’ that is open seven nights a week charging £5 before 11.00pm and £10 after and where clients enjoy continuous stage shows and can choose to additionally pay to ogle a dancer in a private booth. A topless lap dance typically costs £10; rising to £20 for fully nude.

It was Ann Evans in July 2007 who first became aware that Vimac Leisure were hoping to turn ‘The Loft’, a night club close to Durham City’s main bus station, into a table or pole dancing club. Walking through the cobbled streets of the ancient city that is dominated by the magnificent Castle and Cathedral she spotted a blue notice on the door.

“I was shocked, I immediately rang the City Council up and they confirmed my fears, but they would only let me take a look at the application in the company of a council officer. I took down notes and when I got back I wrote off a letter to register my objection. We live locally and I was concerned about the affects such a club would have on the community” said Ann Evans, a retired law lecturer.

Under the law anyone wanting to object only had 21 days to do so and   had to be ‘materially affected’ – so a resident living more than ½ a mile from the premises would have found their objections ignored. Despite this the City Council received 51 letters, all from local organisations and people including parents of children and teenagers.

The Licensing Act of 2003 established a single integrated scheme for licensing premises that are used to regulate alcohol, provide regulated entertainment or late night refreshment. Responsibility rests with local authorities. In Durham there are 11 councillors on the licensing committee, it is a regulatory committee expected to take decisions on the face of evidence and not on a political whip. Council officers who said that there were no legal reasons why the application could be refused advised them.

Although the voting figures have never been formally released it is widely rumoured that it took the casting vote of the committee’s chair to grant VIMAC a license. However perhaps conscious of the strength of local feeling restrictions were placed on the days and times when lap dancing was to be permitted – Thursday’s, Friday’s and Saturday’s between 8.00pm and 2.00pm.

In the event neither side were happy with the verdict, the objectors wanting no dancing and VIMAC wanting a lot more. The appeal was heard before Magistrates at North Durham Court in December last year, by which time the campaigners, now backed by a number of local councillors including their own County Councillor Liberal Democrat Nigel Martin and Labour Mp Roberta Blackman-Woods had formed themselves into a vocal campaigning organisation. They appear to have been backed by most local people – the local free newspaper the Durham Times publishing hundreds of letters supporting them with only two against.

Two well- attended meetings were held, at which the well-known women’s rights campaigner Julie Bindel spoke. “She had a great influence after she gave an excellent speech showing how lap dancing exploited the women” said Kirsty Thomas.

“The licensing committee had, wrongly in our view, said our objections had ‘predominantly emanated from a moral stance” said Nigel Martin “but no-one could say that at the appeal. True many people did have moral objections, but the Liberal Democrat position is that as long as these premises are regulated and properly sited then they should be allowed to get a license. What everyone agreed was that the site chosen was inappropriate”.

Anyone hoping to use moral objections to prevent a lap-dancing club is sure to be disappointed as the licensing authority has only to take into account four factors when deciding on an application. These are crime and disorder, public safety, prevention of public nuisance and the protection of children from harm.

“I objected to the lap dancing club because it would have affected the institutions in the local vicinity such as the churches and also local residents who use that area to catch a bus. Furthermore the Shakespeare Hall community centre has a lot of classes for children and this is directly opposite The Loft. Because the sort of clients who use these clubs are sexually aroused and will be walking along the street where there are children and elderly people then I don’t think that is a good mix to create a good atmosphere where people feel free and safe” said Kirsty.

Initially the campaigners had sought to obtain legal advice from licensing specialists in the north east only to find that all of them are working for VIMAC in one form or another. In the event legal advice was provided by the Christian Legal Centre from London who provided a solicitor and a barrister who presented the case put together by the residents at court. There was an outside chance that if they lost then Desmond, Ann and Kirsty would have been left with a large legal bill. “Some people told us we’d be left penniless” laughs Desmond. 

“Our case stuck to the four points. We had hoped that some of the authorities charged with public safety would have assisted us. We worked hard to get the police behind us, some officers supported us on a personal level but when we argued that a lap dancing club was bound to bring with it additional crime and disorder the police said there was no evidence of lap dancing clubs in other parts of the country doing so. It undermined what we were saying. We also approached those charged with child protection at the County Council, but they wouldn’t get involved” says Kirsty Thomas.

“Vimac were able to make great play of our inability to get support from any responsible authority” says Ann.

Backing them however were local students. “We campaigned from the angle of the welfare and safety of the city rather than we don’t want a lap dancing club. North Road is quite a dangerous place, there are assaults on there every weekend, students tend to avoid it at night because of confrontations with locals” said Emma Carter, the education and welfare officer at Durham University Students Union.

“We decided that the main objection would be on public nuisance – people going to the bus station, that the club would be just 150 metres from the Cathedral, which is a world heritage site and that it would over the road from the community centre. We were also able to get our representatives to speak with authority about the local area, the residents who lived there, their ages and how they would be affected. No-one could say we hadn’t done our work” said Nigel Martin.

In the event the Magistrates agreed with them throwing out VIMAC’s appeal, refusing the application for a new premises licence stating the  objectors had ‘focused on the particular entertainment proposed in this specific location’ such that they have been influenced by ‘the relevance and weight of the arguments’.

Now having seen VIMAC’s application for Judicial Review fail Kirsty says hey are “absolutely delighted to have won this case on behalf of the local community.” 

They are also pleased to see that their local MP Roberta Blackman- Woods campaign to change the law to give councils the power to license lap-dancing clubs as sex encounter establishments appears to have been successful. She had argued that the very people most affected by the clubs, the residents who have to walk past them every day, needed to be considered when authorities decide whether to grant a license. Now Gerry Sutcliffe, Bradford Mp and licensing minister has stated that

"The Government is concerned about the current increase in the number of establishments which are putting on lap dancing and similar forms of adult entertainment, and we are aware that these concerns are shared by many local authorities and other stakeholders. It is clear that the protections and regulations set out in the 2003 Act and elsewhere do not go as far as some people would like to control the proliferation of lap-dancing clubs and similar establishments."

Sutcliffe has written to council leaders asking them to tell the Government what powers they want to limit the number of clubs.

Forgiving father

A 13 year-old boy from Crewe recently imprisoned for two years after sexually abusing a seven year-old girl last year needs help and support. So says the victims’ father, feeling that without which the one time family friend will remain a danger to society and himself.

Describing the teenager’s attempt to rape his daughter as “any parent’s worst nightmare” the father added that what was “especially worrying is the boy has yet to show any real remorse. He needs to be assisted into recognising what he has done. Only then can he get appropriate treatment such that when he returns to society his follow up care can ensure nothing like this happens again in the future.”

Despite this concern the father believes his daughter’s assailant should be looking to live elsewhere. He’s adamant he’s not making any threats, but believes many people are angry at the incident and that in the circumstances a different location should be found for the youngster to live in.

On a wider level he’s concerned that far too many young people’s knowledge of sex comes from what they pick up “on the street or catching glimpses of pornographic, often violent, movies at home, where any idea of a loving relationship is absent.” He’d like to see much more being done in schools to giving young people a more balanced view.

Meanwhile he’s continuing to show support to his daughter saying she now found it difficult to sleep in her own bed or use the toilet and that whilst counselling was helping “it was a slow process. One I suspect we might never know has properly worked such that it would make it appropriate to stop.” 

Restore Iraqi workers rights

Hopes that a law introduced by Saddam Hussein banning Iraqi public sector workers from joining a trade union may finally be overturned have been raised after the countries recently elected deputy Prime Minister Dr Nuri Shaways met a delegation from the General Federation of Iraqi Workers.

Created in 1987, Article 150 is now the only law yet to be rewritten following the dictators’ downfall eight years ago. Its opponents believe its retention intimidates workers in a country where wages are little more than £170 a month. With inflation pushing up prices this leaves most families below the poverty level, and many are looking to trade unions for help.

Last year the country’s President, Jalal Talabani, and a number of newly elected MPs, agreed to back the General Federation of Iraqi Workers [GFW] demand to scrap article 150. The demands of the GFW, made up of twelve national unions, were supported by overseas trade unions including the TUC.

However any action had to be put on hold until an agreement could be found on the make-up of the new Iraqi government, and it was only in December that Nouri al Maliki was sworn in as Prime Minister, bringing to an end eight months of political turmoil.

Keeping up the pressure the GFW met with Shaways on February 13^th, reporting afterwards that he had: “agreed on the importance to enact a new labour law immediately acknowledging the demands made by the international labour organizations and by global trade unions. The Deputy Prime Minister added that a proper labour law will be of benefit to the Iraqi government, Iraqi society and the Iraqi working people in general and added by saying that he shall follow the case for the immediate implementation of labour law. He also supported the GFIW demands for fair, independent and proper workers elections.”

If these fine words can now be turned into concrete action it would be a welcome move for those Iraqi workers who have been so badly let down by the coalition forces that have occupied their country since 2003.

Abdullah Muhsin is the GFW international representative and said: “When the USA led coalition forces removed Saddam we, once again, began to openly organise. We welcomed the promises of Blair and Bush to build democracy, and as organisations who represent workers of all different backgrounds we want to be involved in building a new more open Iraq.”

Yet within days of opening a new office in Baghdad in 2003 Muhsin claims they came under attack when “ten armed vehicles arrived and American forces ransacked our premises. They even ripped down posters denouncing terrorism and sectarianism, which we view as deadly enemies of the workers.”

That was certainly the case on May 10^th last year when a textile factory, with a history of trade union organisation, in Hilla, around fifty miles south of the capital, was hit by a series of suicide bombings. These left more than 40 people dead and over a hundred seriously injured.

Less deadly were the attacks in April last year on oil workers, employed by South Refineries in Basra, whose attempt to increase wage levels with sit-ins and a large demonstration were met by the authorities transferring four leaders of the Refinery Workers Union to other parts of the country.  The moves followed events in 2009 when transport workers complained of harassment and denounced the Transport Minister for refusing to recognise the right of their union to negotiate on their behalf.

Abdullah Mushin says that despite these attacks the trade union movement has steadily been gaining strength “because we cut across communities and occupations. We are opposed to religious division, which scares the sectarians who use some of their energies to attack us. Like most Iraqi’s we seek a peaceful end to the occupation forces, as then those who live here can decide how our natural resources can be used. These policies, along with organising in the factories, are gaining popularity. Once article 150 is scrapped we hope to play a full part in building democracy in Iraq.”

For more details see: - http://www.iraqitradeunions.org/

It's a lot of wonga

Ian Holloway’s Blackpool may be like a breath of fresh air to the Premier League. However the seaside club’s willingness to advertise on its shirts a company that charges its customers a whopping 2,689% interest certainly isn’t.  

Wonga.com launched its first website in October 2007 and is backed by major investors, including Accel Partners, and one of the largest venture capital funds in Europe, Balderton Capital. It has advertised heavily on TV, radio, and the web and in newspapers. 

First time customers can borrow up to £400 for any period up to 30 days, with loans of up to £1,000 for those who’ve re-paid previous loans. Applicants are promised an instant decision, and if approved the company claims they can expect the cash to be in their bank within fifteen minutes. At the end of the agreed loan period the company collects a single payment, providing they have the required funds in their associated bank account, from the customers credit card. Any initial failure to pay costs customers £15 whilst interest is charged for up to sixty days. Non-paying customers could see their account passed to an external collections agency.

A wonga.com customer borrowing £199 over 15 days will repay £234.75, with those borrowing £400 over 30 days repaying £525.48.  The company advertises its services on the basis that they’re quick and convenient for customers in urgent need of fast cash, transparent and flexible and compare favourably against the fees banks charge for customers who go overdrawn without authorisation.   

None of which has impressed Halifax MP Linda Riordan MP, who said: “I find it very disturbing that these unscrupulous companies can get away with these adverts. It is disgraceful the levels of APR that these companies are charging. They are preying on some of the poorest people in society, and I find it quite distasteful that people are cashing in on making poor people even poorer. I think this exploitation should stop.” In her attempt to do so she last year raised the issue in Parliament through an early day motion that attracted the support of 42 MPs.

However Errol Damelin, founder and Chief Executive Officer of wonga.com denied the company “preyed on anyone.  As required by law, we publish our typical Annual Percentage Rate [APR] on the website and in our advertising - which would be very high for a traditional loan taken over several years, but we are not a traditional lender. APR is an annual measure and assumes compounding, yet our loans are only available for up to a month and we don’t compound interest.

We are passionate about responsible lending and this means we decline four out of every five applicants, because we don’t believe they can comfortably afford repayment, and our accepted customers are all fully banked, employed and extremely happy with the service we provide. We offer a valued alternative to payday loans and bank overdraft charges when consumers are faced with an unexpected and urgent expense.”

The setting of APRs is covered by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and its regulations. And whilst changes to it took place on February 1st, with the implementation of the Consumer Credit Directive, no restrictions on the level companies can charge was introduced providing they properly inform customers.

Asked whether allowing companies to charge in excess of 2600% was guilty of allowing desperate people to be exploited a OFT spokesperson said the organisation “published last year a review of high-cost credit after considering the case for price controls for pawnbroking, payday loans, home credit and rent-to-buy credit. We concluded they would not address the problems where people who use high-cost credit have limited options. We are concerned that such controls may further reduce supply and considers there to be practical problems with their implementation and effectiveness. Whilst we did make recommendations, which we think would deliver worthwhile improvements, more radical approaches, outside the remit of the OFT, need to be examined by the Government if the fundamental and longstanding issues of lack of consumer power and limited supply are to be tackled.”