Call us now

Day: May 29, 2014

Brighton woman pleads guilty to £134k+ benefit fraud charge

Posted on by Besi

A Brighton woman has appeared at Lewes Crown Court today, Thursday 29 May 2014, for a preliminary hearing about benefit fraud she is said to have committed over a nine year period between 2004 and 2013.

Brighton & Hove CouncilJanice Purdie of Shoreham Road, Hove, claimed £ 83,113.95 in housing benefit and £8,212.55 council tax benefit that she was not entitled to as she owned a property in London, and later overseas, and had over £16k in the bank. Because Ms Purdie did not declare her property assets she also received overpayments of £39,541.71 for Income Support and £3,319.17 in Pension Credit.

Ms Purdie has pleaded guilty to all charges and will now appear on June 25 2014 for sentencing.

The case is a result of a joint investigation carried out by Brighton & Hove City Council and the Department of Work and Pensions after an allegation of undeclared capital and property was made by a member of the public.

BHCC’s senior investigator, Penny Wood, said: ”This is a prime example of someone blatantly abusing the system despite having accrued assets that many people struggle to attain over a lifetime. The benefits system is there to support those in need and with resources ever stretched this sort of abuse cannot be tolerated.”

 

 

Nipples, cocks and Dali!

Posted on by Besi

New film tells extraordinary story of the King of Brighton’s eccentrics.

Drako Oho Zarharzar
Drako Oho Zarharzar

A new British independent documentary, The Man Whose Mind Exploded, which was played at the British Film Industry’s recent Flare Festival of LGBT cinema, explores the extraordinary past and never-ending now of Drako Oho Zarharzar: philosopher, muse to Salvador Dali, drug dealer to the Rolling Stones, and King of Brighton’s eccentrics.

The film follows Toby Amies’ unusual relationship with Drako Oho Zarharzar – one of Brighton’s living landmarks – known for his bald head, waxed moustache, and habit of cycling around Kemptown in a cape.

However, in his earlier life, he was a stunningly beautiful and sexually adventurous young man – who posed for Dali, danced at the Folies Bergère, dealt drugs to the Rolling Stones, was an early pioneer in extreme body modification and collaborated with his friend Derek Jarman, most notably in The Garden.

Drako suffered serious brain damage in a car accident in the 90s, leaving him unable to form new memories. The film covers his last days in a tiny council flat in Kemptown: now in his seventies, he can remember being discovered by Dali, but not where he went yesterday.

As Amies visits Drako over the course of several years, the line between biographer and carer becomes blurred, resulting in an intimate record of a painful, touching and frequently hilarious relationship.

Tovy Aimes
Tovy Aimes

Toby Amies, director and co-producer, who made much of the film in his garden shed, said: “I started off telling the story an extraordinary man who’d lived an extraordinary life. But it became a story about how someone copes when their memory doesn’t work, and what that does to their identity.

“It’s also about my friendship with Drako, and what it’s like to try to look after someone who isn’t looking after themselves – and there are a lot of people who can identify with that.”

 

To see a trailer of the film, CLICK HERE: 

For more information, CLICK HERE: 

 

New adoption agency launched in the North East

Posted on by Besi

A Newly launched independent adoption agency ARC Adoption North East, only one of three such agencies set up in the UK has put roots down in Sunderland as it starts work to match parents and children across the UK.

The ARC Team
The ARC Team

ARC has been launched on the back of a successful application for Government funding to establish an adoption service in the region and is registered with Ofsted.

Nine staff have been appointed with a range of experience and qualifications in the field of social work, specifically in the area of adoption. The team is led by director Terry Fitzpatrick who has a background of over 30 years working in social work with most of that time spent working at senior manager level in the adoption field. The team are implementing a number of innovative approaches which will spearhead and reform the way adoptions are made in the UK with a child-centric approach and working widely with a range of partners from across the UK to achieve successful outcomes for children and adoptive parents.

Terry Fitzpatrick, director of ARC, is on a mission to achieve its target of providing a loving home for over 100 children from the North East and the rest of the UK over the next three years.

Terry said: “There are 6000 children in the UK who are in the care of local authorities and who desperately want to be settled within a permanent adoptive home. We are dedicated to working with children and families and a range of organisations in both the public and voluntary sector so that we can secure a happy home life for as many children as possible.

“The team at ARC feel it is a privilege to work in the field of adoption and we are looking to increase awareness about adoption and the opportunities for children in the region to experience a positive family life.

“Families come in all shapes and sizes and from a range of backgrounds and we would encourage anyone to contact us if they are interested in adopting, whatever their own family structure. We want people to come along and have a chat through what’s involved in the process of adoption and to hear how we stay involved with people throughout the whole process from initial discussions right through to post-adoption support, it really depends on what the family need and that’s what makes us pretty unique.”

People of all backgrounds, whether single or not are welcome to enquire about adoption.

For further information, CLICK HERE:

Or telephone:  0191 516 6466

 

Hove MP Weatherley calls for “Google to take lead in the fight against piracy”

Posted on by Besi

Mike Weatherley, MP for Hove & Portslade and Intellectual Property Adviser to the Prime Minister has published a report entitled Search Engines and Piracy.

Mike Weatherley, MP: Interlectual Property advisor to the Prime Minister
Mike Weatherley, MP: Interlectual Property advisor to the Prime Minister

The report outlines the shortcomings of search engine providers in the fight against online piracy and recognises that although search engines cannot be attributed as a cause of online piracy, they can certainly do more to tackle the high level of piracy in the UK. Piracy is estimated to cost the creative industries £400m per year in music and film alone. The report asserts that Google, as the main provider of search facilities in the UK, should take a leading role amongst search engines to tackle online piracy.

Mike’s threefold approach to prevent online piracy – education, carrot and stick – aims to reduce Interlectual Property (IP) crime and encourage the industry to provide easier access to legal material.

Mike’s additional Follow the Money initiative, adopted following a 2013 study demonstrating the effectiveness of targeting revenue streams that fund piracy sites, has also played an important role in the fight against IP crime.

Key recommendations that are proposed in the report include tackling the funding for pirates under the Follow the Money initiative as well as devising a protocol between search engines and rights holders to remove blocked sites from search algorithms once a formal court order blocking the sites from access via the main UK ISPs has been made.

Cutting off revenue sources that fund illegal sharing is an effective measure, with estimates stating that 95% of pirate sites could close as a result of the initiative.

Further recommendations of the report address the education part of Mike’s strategy through the proposal of warning marks, which would offer consumers guidance as to which sites are legitimate, as well as the carrot element, by ensuring that consumers are directed to legal sites to access material.

Rights holders, including the British Recorded Music Industry (BPI) and the PRS for Music, have spoken out about the role of search engines and have called for Google to implement initiatives that include the prioritising of search results that are based on their legality and the removal of autocomplete suggestions that are interlinked with piracy.

Mike said: “Search Engines can – and must – use the resources available to them in order to safeguard the UK’s creative industries. Piracy remains the biggest threat to the growth of digital commerce; if we want the UK to continue to be a leader in creativity and innovation, the UK must also be an international leader of IP rights protection.”

To read the report in full, CLICK HERE:

 

Are you a budding writer?

Posted on by Besi

Brighton & Hove City LibrariesAre you aged 16-19 and want to perform at Pride this year?

Brighton and Hove City Libraries are looking for budding LGBT writers to perform at Pride on Saturday, August 2 in the Pride Literature & Spoken Word Tent. If you are new to writing you can go along to one of their FREE writing workshops where you can hone up your skills for writing and perform your work at Pride:

The workshops are on:

July 17 – Brighton Jubilee Library (16-19only) 5.00-7.00pm

July 26 – Brighton Jubilee Library 10.30- 12.30pm

July 28 – Lewes Library 6.00-8.00pm

To book a place EMAIL:

If you love Writing and identify as LGBTQ you can:

• Go along to a writing workshop before Pride

• Perform your work in the Literature Tent at Pride in the park

• Help out in the Literature Tent

To find out more EMAIL:

 

PREVIEW: Strictly Resounding

Posted on by Besi

Resound Male Voices will be presenting their next concert, Strictly Resound, on Saturday, July 5, at Brighton, Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College (BHASVIC) Hall in Seven Dials at 7.30pm

Resound Male VoicesThe chorus will be paying tribute to the popular BBC programme Strictly Come Dancing.

Resound Male Voices will present an evening of dance-inspired music that’ll make you two-step and tap your feet whilst paying tribute to the popular BBC programme Strictly Come Dancing.

Led by Stefan Holmström, Swedish opera singer and vocal coach, Resound Male Voices will be joined by a group of live musicians and will show off a few moves of their own courtesy of West End director and choreographer Alex McQuillen-Wright.

The concert will feature songs by Arbeau, Piazzolla, Irving Berlin, Scissor Sisters, Pink Martini, Jobim, Jim Croce, Van Morrison and others.

From an elegant Viennese waltz to a passionate Finnish tango to the drunken tale of the best salsa dancer in Brighton, you won’t want to miss this unique programme.

What: Strictly Resound with Resound Male Voices

Where: BHASVIC Hall, 205 Dyke Road, Brighton, BN3 6EG

When: Saturday, July 5

Time: 7.30pm

Tickets: Early bird £10/£8 and £12/£10 on the door.

To purchase tickets online, CLICK HERE:

Or telephone BHASVIC on: 01273 552200

 

 

 

Latest News

Arts Komedia to celebrate 30th birthday in May
Community News Brighton & Hove Rainbow Run to return for third fabulous year in August
International News Foreign Office issues travel warning for LGBTQ+ tourists travelling to Greece
Pride Feels so good: Leeds Pride reveals big name acts for 2024 Pride event
X