13/12/2015 – Scene Magazine – From the heart of LGBTQ+ Life

Council performance improves under Labour according to ‘City Tracker’

Posted on 13/12/2015 by Sarah Green

According to the latest City Tracker report published last week, residents say the council is improving under Labour.

Cllr Warren Morgan: Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council

The aim of the City Tracker survey which is commissioned by Brighton & Hove City Council, is to find out what residents think of Brighton and Hove as a place to live, and to track key performance indicators including satisfaction with key services.

♦ 55% of residents think the council is now making wise use of money, an 18% jump on last year.

♦ 72% of residents are now satisfied with how clean their street is, up significantly from 57% under the Greens last year.

♦ Satisfaction with refuse collecting has doubled from 31% to 64%.

♦ The figures for recycling are even better with 67% happy, up from 44% under the Green administration.

Councillor Warren Morgan, Leader of the City Council, added: “We pledged when we took over from the Greens that we would end the drift and division, and get the basics right. This first measure of how the Labour Administration is doing is very encouraging, with residents saying that services are getting better, despite the unprecedented cuts being imposed on us by the Conservative Government. We have got a grip on council finances by reducing the overspend by £8 million, and now we have evidence that the changes we are making to service delivery are already having a positive effect.”

Cllr Gill Mitchell, who chairs the Environment Committee, said: “These figures prove that the steps we have taken since May are winning approval from residents and hopefully will lead to better recycling levels.”

Almost a quarter of residents responding say they won’t have enough money to meet their basic living costs in the coming year.

The council hopes to remedy this by focussing efforts to help people through the Fairness Commission.

REVIEW: Miss Hope Springs at Komedia

Posted on 13/12/2015 by Graham Robson

Tragic glamour puss and songstress, Hope Springs, sprinkled a bucket-load of lametta over the Komedia on Tuesday, December 8, with Now It’s Christmas Time, her sparkling Christmas show filled with festive songs so finely sculpted you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d long-since entered the classic Christmas songbook!

The creation of Ty Jeffries, ex-Vegas chanteuse and towering blonde, behemoth Hope has come such a long way since Je m’appelle Hope, her inaugural show in 2011.

By using a palette of many fine influences she evokes the sadness of broken dreams, faded glamour and delusions of grandeur – all told under the weight of a blow-dried Dusty Springfield wig and enveloped in a layer of 1970s variety show cheese, harking back to pop-up acts entertaining the nostalgic at Butlins, bingo halls and Benidorm.

Dressed in a festive sequined two-piece, Hope’s expert piano playing was leavened by the addition of a double-bassist and a percussionist, both of whom gave the songs an added injection of festive oomph, most noticeable during the up-tempo numbers, and especially forceful during the finger-snapping Christmas Calypso, which was drenched in sunshine and the tinkle of glockenspiel!

If Hope has the monopoly over anything it’s the range and tapestry of emotions she displays, from the steeped-in-cyanide The Devil Made Me Do It, a girl-gone-bad anthem of epic proportions and a sure fine hit for women serial killers everywhere, to the cloudy-eyed whimsy of Paper Moon, a touching and fragile When you Wish Upon a Star moment.

Outside of the songs, one of the best devices of the show was the repartee, used sparingly to segue into the songs, and as a tool to deftly introduce Hope’s character, and share her many idiosyncrasies, in fine strokes. From Hollywood schmoozing to being touched up by who she thought was Barbra Streisand, You could say I’m making this up! was the underlying theme.

The funniest of these, and indeed the most effective, was the story of Hope writing the theme tune to Joan Crawford’s final film, the utterly ridiculous Trog. The song didn’t skulk away from the preposterous subject matter, but instead revelled in its absurdity: “It’s not his fault he’s a trog. He can’t help it he’s a trog. That hairy bastard is a trog!” – all delivered with real conviction!

And that was the crux of the evening. What Hope Springs brings to the stage, and this time of year, is that no matter what life throws at you or how difficult things become, there’s always one thing you can hold onto no matter what: Hope!

A five-star show from a unique five-star artist.

For more information about Hope, click here:

Now It’s Christmas Time with Miss Hope Springs

The Komedia,

Tuesday, December 8