menu

Caroline Lucas re-selected to fight Brighton Pavilion

Caroline Lucas, MP
Caroline Lucas, MP

Caroline Lucas MP has been re-selected as the Greens’ Parliamentary candidate for Brighton Pavilion constituency for the next general election, in 2015.

The MP, who became the UK’s first ever Green Member of Parliament when she was elected in May 2010, said she will campaign hard for a second term to “provide the strong independent voice for Brighton and Hove that people deserve at Westminster”.

Caroline said:

“Representing the people of Brighton Pavilion is an amazing privilege, and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to stand again in 2015 and continue my work.

“A crucial part of my role as MP is holding the Coalition Government to account over its chronic mishandling of the economy – and the failed austerity policies that are harming people and public services across this country.

“I’m determined to ensure that my constituents’ opposition to the hugely damaging cuts to welfare support continues to be heard loud and clear in Parliament, as well as carrying on my work to boost the local economy sustainably – such as playing a key role in the winning campaign to bring ultra-fast broadband to the city and ensuring the voices of small and independent businesses are heard.”

She added:

“Whether it’s using my position on the Energy Bill committee to lobby the government for urgent action to reduce fuel poverty to help many of my constituents struggling to stay warm in their homes, or generating a debate in the city about a fresh approach to drugs policy, I’m proud of the work I’ve been able to do so far.

“The most satisfying aspect of the job is being in a position to help the many people who come to my weekly surgeries and write to me on issues ranging from housing problems to benefit claims – and to raise their wider concerns in Parliament through debates and direct questions to ministers.

“There is enormous public anger about what the main political parties are doing to the economy and our public services – and people tell me that they value a strong independent voice in Brighton and Hove which offers a clear, green and progressive alternative.”

Gaydar and Grindr remove advert after protests

WEB.600An advert that appeared on Grindr and Gaydar and other dating sites and apps over the weekend has been removed following protests on Facebook and via Twitter.

The advert, under the heading ‘Got the cool gene?’, promoted a test that could determine whether an individual had a genetic mutation which makes HIV infection less likely.

Matthew Hodson
Matthew Hodson

Matthew Hodson, of the gay men’s health charity GMFA, was one of many who protested.

Matthew said:

“With thousands of UK gay men becoming infected with HIV each year, it seems particularly irresponsible to be suggesting to gay men that they may be immune.”

He added:

“It’s true that some people are less vulnerable to HIV than others, because of a specific gene mutation. However, even if you do have this mutation, it only offers partial protection – it does not guarantee that you will not become infected. Using condoms and lube is a much better method of prevention than a test that tells you that you may be less likely to catch HIV than someone else. I am delighted that Grindr and Gaydar have both removed this advert.”

The responsibility of gay dating websites and apps for the health of their users, and in particular their impact on sexual health, has been hotly debated over the last few years. The latest issue of the sex and health magazine, FS, looks at the impact that recent technology has on sexual health.

It’s clear that technology has changed the way that many gay men meet new sexual partners and young gay men are now most likely to explore their sexuality for the first time with men that they meet online or via an app.

The changing face of gay dating presents both challenges and opportunities for HIV prevention. Because many gay men now meet away from the scene, some of the traditional ways of reaching gay men with safer sex messages may now be less effective. However gay men are able to access a wide range of sexual health materials online, GMFA’s sexual health information site at: www.gmfa.org.uk/sex receives hundreds of thousands of visitors from gay men each year. Many dating sites actively seek to provide their users with health information, and sites such as Gaydar and Manhunt are a part of a scheme which enables men who have been diagnosed with an STI to alert their recent sexual partners.

You can read the Tech Sex feature in the latest issue of FS magazine, alongside other health related articles for gay men, including an interview by HIV-positive activist, Kristian Johns, with his HIV-negative partner, exploring the challenges that their sero-discordancy raises.

FS magazine is available for free in gay venues and GUM clinics in London.

It can be viewed at:

FS magazine is now also available to download on your iPhone, iPad or Android device for free.

View:  or search for ‘FS magazine UK’ in iTunes and Google Play.

La Traviata: ENO: Opera review

La traviata, Corinne Winters, 7 (c) Tristram KentonLa Traviata ENO

This brand new production of Verdi’s La Traviata by Peter Konwitschny is intellectual opera all pared down and hollowed out, it’s been boned and all the fat cut out, even – curiously enough- any mention of Violetta being a sex worker, which makes some of the story difficult to grasp. Giving a daughter to Germont just further muddles the motives of Violettas rejection of her declared love and it would have been better to use the word ‘whore’ and have it done with. Director Konwitschny has taken much out in his pursuit of realism it leaves this rather sharp and angled story less natural.

Read the synoposis here:

The set is an endless succession of huge curtains allowing us to both see and not see what is happening, they are suggestive of both the performance space itself and Violettas life being one long series of performances until the literal final curtain of her death.  This is obvious but also powerfully simple. The lack of any other real furniture or set just highlighting the feeling of the unseen life beyond this curtained off space. This Spartan look throws every nuance of the music and singing into focus it also suggests that we – the audience- are part of that decadent world condemning Violetta and enjoying her downfall. Lighting Designer Joachim Klein works with delicate compassion to support the narritve flow whilst keeping the dramatic bursts in balance.

8435404116_4eba629f42_bVioletta’s character is the only one in the entire opera who acts with any humility, humanity and honesty and removing these vital indications of her scandal and place in society was a cut too far for me, it made it more difficult to understand her fall and the motives of those around her.  They are an ugly, rough, crude bunch and the misogamist and objectifying attitudes towards women are brought to the fore in this production.

It’s performed with power though and an untreated piece of emotional theatre, all the focus on the music and voices, although the ENO chorus do a good job – as always- of providing both some light relief and terrifying grotesques.

Michael Hofstetter’s conducting is spot on and the orchestra give this music the lift and energetic sense of spellbinding inevitability it needs. It was enthralling, the lack of interruption by interval giving the music a fresh compelling drive towards its monumental conclusions.

8435395644_e967e06a97_b

New American soprano Corinne Winters gave a wonderfully illuminating performance as party girl and fembot Violetta really throwing herself into the maelstrom of emotion, her voice is enthusiastic and vulnerable and effortlessly beautiful giving all the colour required by Verdi and she delivers those high notes with conviction and brilliance, lyric tenor Ben Johnson’s geeky shy Alfredo is yet another step towards the huge promise of his voice, every time I hear him he impresses me. Anthony Michaels-Moore’s Germont was forceful and blunt bringing out the mean and bullying manipulation edges just right.

The chorus were on great form and do a lot of rushing around the stage, ending up slumped in despair and tangled in ripped down curtains and slowly dragging themselves towards the wings, a great end for them although it did remind me of the final scene of the Rocky Horror Show.

La traviata, Corinne Winters, Ben Johnson 13 (c) Tristram KentonThis was the ENO doing what it does best, taking a well loved classic and reflecting and reviewing it to give it new life, teasing out the themes and subtext and pressing home the beauty of the music.  It’s not the most charming or romantic production of La Travitta I’ve seen, none of the love scenes were convincing, but it was certainly the most arresting one, I was totally absorbed by its headlong rush into tragedy and the singing and music was of astonishing quality.  Oh and it’s the shortest la Traviatta as there’s no interval, which ain’t so bad when you’re dealing with Verdi.

Go and be delighted, the final scene is a triumph of ENO’s pursuit of presenting new talent and allowing it to shine with undimmed brilliance.

ENO. London Coliseum, St Martins Lane

Tickets from £12

For more info or to book tickets see the ENO website here:

Feb 2, 7, 12, 21, 26 & Mar 1 at 7.30pm | Feb 9, 16, 23 at 6.30pm | Mar 3 at 3pm 
Running time: 1hrs 50mins (NO INTERVAL) 
Signed-performance, Tue Feb 12

 

 

Kemptown MP seeks your views on ‘Equal Marriage’ today

Simon Kirby, MP
Simon Kirby, MP

Simon Kirby, MP for Brighton Kemptown, is seeking peoples’ views on equal marriage ahead of the vote in Parliament this Tuesday, February 5,

Simon  is supportive of proposals to legislate for equal marriage same sex couples.

He said:

“As part of the DCMS team responsible for bringing this legislation before Parliament, and as an MP who is proud to represent a constituency with a significant LGBT community, I am a firm supporter of equal marriage, however I am very keen to get people’s views.”

 

To have your say email:

Equality charity warns against scare tactics

The Equality Network, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality charity that runs the Equal Marriage campaign in Scotland has issued a warning in response to the latest press release from Scotland for Marriage.

Responding to the claims made by Scotland for Marriage, the Equality Network point out that the proposed equal marriage legislation will increase religious freedom by allowing religious groups to choose whether or not to conduct same-sex marriages.

The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill also includes a guarantee protecting free speech and makes no changes that will affect education or employment.

Tom French
Tom French

Tom French, Policy Coordinator for the Equality Network, said;

“Anti-gay campaigners will no doubt spend a lot of money on misinformation and scare tactics, but the large majority of people across Scotland support same-sex marriage. This legislation will deliver equality and increase religious freedom, and that is why most MSPs and many religious people support it.”

On Tuesday, February 5,  Westminster MPs are expected to vote by an overwhelming majority in favour of same-sex marriage for England and Wales when the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill has its Second Reading in the House of Commons.

The Scottish Government is currently running a public consultation on the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill, which will legalise same-sex marriage in Scotland. The consultation closes on Wednesday March 20 and a final version of the bill is expected to be introduced to the Scottish Parliament in summer 2013.

Opinion polls have shown consistent public support for same-sex marriage across Scotland. The most recent poll in Scotland was conducted in June by Ipsos MORI. It showed record support with 64% of Scots in favour of a change in the law, and just 26% opposed.

Separate polls conducted over the past three years by ICM, Populus, YouGov, Angus Reid, and the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, have all shown similar levels of support.

Two-thirds of MSPs have now signed the Equality Network’s Equal Marriage Pledge committing themselves to voting in favour of same-sex marriage. Signatories include First Minister Alex Salmond, all Cabinet Ministers, and the leaders of all four opposition parties. Whilst 87 MSPs have now said they will vote in favour, just 10 remain publicly opposed.

Most countries around Scotland already have same-sex marriage, including Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Spain and Portugal. The French Government have pledged to bring forward legislation soon.

Prostrate Cancer risk trebles

WEB.600

Boys born in 2015 will have almost three times the risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point during their lives than those born in 1990.

Latest figures from Cancer Research UK show that the lifetime risk of prostate cancer will rise from five per cent (1 in 20) for boys born in 1990 to just over 14 per cent (1 in 7) for boys born in 2015.

This is largely due to increased use of the Prostate Specific Antigen Test (PSA). This test detects a wide variety of prostate cancers, including those which will never be life-threatening, as well as aggressive forms of the disease, but unfortunately, it does not distinguish between the two.

PSA testing has rapidly boosted the number of men being diagnosed with the disease.  Today, around 41,000 men per year are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the UK – up from around 15,000 men per year 25 years ago.

But the rise in prostate cancer diagnoses isn’t just because of increased testing. Higher numbers of prostate cancer cases are also due to more men living to an older age, when the disease is most likely to develop.

The good news is that death rates from prostate cancer in the UK are 18 per cent lower than they were 20 years ago. This is likely to be because of improved treatments and PSA tests which can help diagnose cancers earlier, when the chances of survival are greater.

Today, around 10,700 men die each year from prostate cancer in the UK.

Research has led to more widespread and earlier use of hormone treatments prescribed since the early 1990s.  More recently, a range of new hormone treatments have been developed to prolong life – such as abiraterone which was approved by NICE in May 2012 to treat patients with advanced disease, and which is a drug which Cancer Research UK scientists helped to develop.

Professor Malcolm Mason, Cancer Research UK’s prostate cancer expert, said:

“We’re detecting more cases of prostate cancer than ever before. And we’re carrying out an intensive amount of research to find better methods than PSA to distinguish between the minority of cases that are life threatening and do need treatment – the vipers – from the majority of cases that don’t – the grass snakes. But there is much more to be done.

“Targeting the tests at men who have a higher risk of developing prostate cancer might be a better approach than screening all men. Research has already saved lives from prostate cancer. But there is uncertainty over the best approach to treating some forms of the disease.  Surgery and radiotherapy – with their potential side effects – is one option, to be balanced against the option of careful monitoring with regular checkups.”

Cancer Research UK’s scientists have carried out research that suggests a protein called MSMB (Beta-microseminoprotein) may be better at identifying men at higher risk of developing the disease. But more work is needed to prove if this test could be useful.

Dr Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: 

“Thanks to people’s generosity, our world-class scientists are leading the way to understand why some cancers are aggressive and others aren’t. We need to build on the great progress already made and develop more targeted treatments for those men whose disease is life-threatening. We also need to develop better tests that will help us to know when to leave harmless forms of the disease alone.”

X