Call us now

Author: Besi

Community Works call rally against cuts to voluntary and community sector grants

Posted on by Besi

Voluntary sector organisations to protest against cuts to their funding by the Green administration before budget debate.

HOve Town Hall

The Council are proposing a 10% cut to annual and three year discretionary grants to the voluntary and community sector amounting to £165K.

Community Works formerly the Community and Voluntary Sector Forum are calling for all voluntary organisations to rally outside Hove Town Hall tomorrow, February 27, to protest against the cuts and help demonstrate its negative impact on over 100 community groups and voluntary organisations across the City as councillors arrive for the budget debate.

Representatives from voluntary organisation are asked to meet outside Hove Town Hall in Norton Road, Hove on Thursday, February 27 from 3.15pm to 4.15pm.

Sally Polanski , CEO at Brighton and Hove Community Works in Queens Road, said: “We understand that amendments to the specific budget proposal will be put forward by opposition political parties, but there is no guarantee they will be voted through, because the process of voting and the politics of the decision-making are so complex.”

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/events/668136116562480/?notif_t=plan_user_joined

What: Save Our Grants Protest

Where: Outside Hove Town Hall, Norton Road, Hove

When: Thursday February 27

Time: 3.15-4.15pm

DWV to appear at Bar 7 in Crawley

Posted on by Besi

International drag queen ‘girl’ group to perform at Crawley’s only LGBT Bar.

DWV

International drag queen ‘girl’ group DWV – Willam, Detox & Vicky Vox are flying in from the USA to perform at Bar 7 in Crawley.

Three of the most famous drag queens on the planet, DWV – Willam, Detox & Vicky Vox will be starting their European Tour with two shows at Bar 7 in Crawley.

Willam & Detox shot to fame on cult US reality TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race, and Vicky Vox is from US Drag band Tranzkuntinental.

WEB.600 copy

To check out their side-splitting viral YouTube music videos Boy Is A Bottom, CLICK HERE: 

Tickets are now on Sale!

To book tickets, EMAIL:

For more information, CLICK HERE: 

What: DWV: William Belli, Detox and Vicky Vox

Where: Bar 7, ‘Bar 7’ & ‘The Lounge at 7’:  7 Peglar Way, Crawley, West Sussex, RH11 7AG.

When: April 23 and 24

Time: Doors open 6pm, last entry 10pm, close 03.am

Cost: Wednesday General Admission – £40: General Admission + Meet n Greet + Professional Photo £60

St James Community Action Group AGM

Posted on by Besi

One for the diary.

St James Street Action GroupSt James Street Action Group will be holding their AGM on Wednesday, March 26 at St Mary’s Church on the corner of St James Street and Upper Rock Gardens.

Residents are invited to bring a bottle and meet fellow residents. Agenda to follow.

 

 

 

 

City’s food business hygiene continues to improve

Posted on by Besi

Brighton & Hove’s food safety plan for 2014/15 reveals standards of hygiene in the coty’s food businesses have continued to improve.

Brighton & Hove CouncilThe percentage of food premises achieving a standard of 3 to 5 on food hygiene ratings has increased from 91.4% in December 2012 to 92.9% in January 2014.

The number of five star-rated premises has also risen, from 1,311 in April 2012 to 1,469 in January of this year.

Brighton & Hove City Council has been very active in prosecuting a minority of premises for food hygiene breaches. There have been six between April 2013 and January 2014, compared to three to four a year on average before that. Most of these have involved mouse or rat infestations.

In the same period, April to January, 48 hygiene improvement notices were served and seven businesses voluntarily closed.

The annual feed and food controls service plan will be discussed by the environment, transport and sustainability committee on March 4.

Cllr Pete West
Cllr Pete West

Chair of the committee, councillor Pete West, said: “Standards of food hygiene in the city are going up, with more food businesses than ever achieving five stars and nearly 93% having three or more stars, which is better than the national average.

“Where poor hygiene is found, the food safety team works with those businesses to help them improve. Customers are also more aware and are contacting us more, which means that our food safety team can intervene earlier. Five star establishments can advertise the fact on their windows, which is an added selling point and provides consumer confidence.”

Publicity from prosecutions for food hygiene breaches has also raised both awareness and food standards, while the council claims more businesses are calling for expert advice and staff are able to provide greater support to the poorer performing establishments.

There are 2,577 restaurants and other caterers in the city and the service performs well in comparison with other councils. Brighton & Hove is the eighth largest of the 56 unitary councils by number of food establishments and is one of only three that has undertaken 100% of its planned interventions. Brighton & Hove is also above average with 92.9% of its food businesses having hygiene ratings between 3 and 5.

 

LGBT Humanists condemn Uganda’s anti-gay legislation

Posted on by Besi

Pink Triangle Trust, the LGBT Humanist charity condemns the draconian anti-gay legislation introduced in Uganda and blames malign religious influence on Parliamentarians and the wider population for bringing it about.

George Broadhead
George Broadhead

The PTT Secretary George Broadhead, said: “Much has been made of the influence of American Evangelical Christians in bringing about this legislation, but other malign religious influences seem to have been totally ignored.

“When  the legislation was first mooted in 2012, The Uganda Joint Christian Council, which includes Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox bishops, called on parliament to move it forward. Top religious leaders from across the country asked Parliament to speed-up the process of enacting it to prevent what they called ‘an attack on the Bible and the institution of marriage’. Speaking after their annual conference organised by the Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC), an ecumenical body which brings together the Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox churches, the bishops resolved that the parliamentary committee on Gender should be tasked ‘to engage the House on the Bill which was now at committee level”.

“When  the legislation was first mooted in 2012, The Uganda Joint Christian Council, which includes Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox bishops, called on parliament to move it forward. Top religious leaders from across the country asked Parliament to speed-up the process of enacting it to prevent what they called ‘an attack on the Bible and the institution of marriage’. Speaking after their annual conference organised by the Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC), an ecumenical body which brings together the Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox churches, the bishops resolved that the parliamentary committee on Gender should be tasked ‘to engage the House on the Bill which was now at committee level”.

“At the end of December 2013,  the Anglican Archbishop of Uganda, the Most Rev Stanley Ntagali, said ‘In Uganda, there are so many injustices like child sacrifice, domestic violence, drug abuse which are now a big issue in our schools…I want to thank Parliament for passing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. I want the world to understand what we are saying. Can you imagine your son brings another man at home for introduction?’ Bishop Wilberforce Kityo Luwalira commended MPs for passing the Anti-Homosexual Bill, but asked them to object the proposed law to legalise abortion describing it as murder. The Bishop of Mbale, the Rt Rev Patrick Gidudu, asked Ugandans and political leaders who are against the Bill ‘to seek God, repent and renew fellowship to save the country from God’s wrath’.

“Significantly, Ugandan scientists reported that people did not choose their sexual orientation, that homosexuality was not an abnormality, that homosexuals had always existed in Africa and that current attitudes to homosexuality in Africa were largely a result of Muslim and Christian missionaries and colonial powers.”

 

IPCC appeal for witnesses to Brighton incident.

Posted on by Besi

IPCCThe Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating an incident in Brighton involving police, following which a woman died in hospital.

The incident took place in the late afternoon of Monday February 17 2014 in the Kemp Town area of Brighton.

The IPCC is asking for anyone who was in the area of Lavender Street and Malthouse Court who witnessed interaction between police and a woman with a small dog and a man on a fold-up bicycle to contact them.

The woman was white, aged 36, around 5ft 6 inches tall, with dark hair and wearing a large navy jumper. The man is white, aged 34, around 6ft tall, of skinny build with shoulder-length blond hair, wearing a light grey hooded top and carrying a backpack.

According to information from Sussex Police, the incident began at around 4.50 pm in Lavender Street. Police state that during the incident the woman collapsed at the scene and officers carried out resuscitation on her before paramedics arrived and she was taken to hospital in a serious condition at around 5.45 pm.

The woman died in the Royal Sussex County Hospital on Thursday evening (February 20). A post mortem is due to be carried out.

The investigation by the IPCC is being carried out following a referral from Sussex Police.

It is understood that two plain-clothed Police Community Support Officers on foot and one police officer in a marked police vehicle were initially involved, and four further officers subsequently attended the incident.

IPCC investigators were in the Kemp Town area of Brighton from 4pm yesterday, February 24, conducting house-to-house enquiries and appealing for any witnesses who may have seen the incident to contact them.

Anyone with information can contact the IPCC investigation team on freephone 0800 096  9078

Or EMAIL: 

Jennifer IPCC Commissioner Jennifer Izekor said: “We have spoken to the woman’s family to advise them of our investigation and I would like to offer my sincerest condolences to them at this very difficult time. We are investigating what contact police had with the woman and man prior to the woman collapsing and being taken to hospital. We are gaining initial accounts from the police personnel involved. Investigators are carrying out house-to-house enquiries at the scene and we would really like to hear from any independent witnesses who were in the area on that Monday afternoon and saw what happened.”

Tories propose £25,000 grant to secure Pride Parade in their budget proposals

Posted on by Besi

Tories unveil their council tax freeze budget.

Cllr Geoffrey Theobald
Cllr Geoffrey Theobald

Cllr. Geoffrey Theobald, leader of the Conservative group on Brighton & Hove City Council has unveiled his Group’s plans for a council tax freeze ahead of the Council’s Budget setting meeting on Thursday, February 27.

The proposals for a freeze would take advantage of the £1.2 million of recurrent annual funding from the Government’s council tax freeze grant scheme.

Other proposals being put forward by the Conservatives would all take effect from April 1 if agreed.

These include:

• A £25,000 grant for the Pride Festival to ensure the Community Parade can go ahead.

• Reversing the £165,000 cut to the grants programme for Community and Voluntary groups.

• Reversing the £84,000 cut to the short break respite care budget for disabled children.

• Helping traders and small businesses in the city by reducing the cost of their parking permits.

• Restoring £20,000 to the Brighton & Hove School Music & Arts Service budget.

• Transitional funding to help Able & Willing – the Council supported business for people with learning disabilities – to develop a more viable business model.

The proposals will form amendments to the main Budget and, if agreed, will be funded from a number of sources including back office savings in areas such as:

• Human Resources

• Communications and Scrutiny

• Reducing the number of Trade Union officials who are funded by the council taxpayer

• Adopting a tough but fair approach to income collection across the Council

• Reversing the proposed increase in the Travellers’ Budget

• Carrying out a proper tendering exercise on the Council’s in-house Youth Service to enable the not-for profit voluntary organisations to take over the running of the service

Conservative Group Leader, Cllr. Geoffrey Theobald, said: “Brighton & Hove’s Pride is an internationally renowned event which, last year, was attended by 160,000 people and contributes an estimated £13.5 million to the local economy, in other words, money in the pocket for our local businesses and traders. It also generates significant sums of money for local LGBT and HIV good causes – over £43,000 last year. We are, therefore, delighted to be able to put forward a Budget amendment to continue to give £25,000 to the Pride Festival to ensure that the much-loved Community Parade can go ahead. I urge the Green and Labour Groups to support our amendment on Thursday.”

On his proposal for a council tax freeze he added:  “I firmly believe that this is what the vast majority of the city’s residents want and they simply won’t understand why the other two parties continue to spurn the Government’s generous funding. It is not too late for the Labour Group, in particular, to change their minds and support our freeze proposal. After all, their plans for a 2% increase would break their pledge to keep any increase below inflation and would only generate an additional £800,000 funding, out of a £750 million Budget.”

Cllr Ann Norman
Cllr Ann Norman

Conservative Group Finance Spokesperson, Cllr. Ann Norman, added: “Clearly, had we been in Administration we wouldn’t have started from this position and we believe that a thorough market testing exercise of all the Council’s services is needed. After all, the Council’s independent auditors continue to say that our services are more expensive than other similar councils. However, I’m pleased that we have managed to find enough money to offer residents a council tax freeze, help businesses through reduced parking permit costs, support community and voluntary sector groups and protecting funding for short breaks and outreach services for disabled children. I urge the other two Groups to support our sensible, fully-costed proposals.”

Mike Weatherley MP
Mike Weatherley MP

Mike Weatherley, MP for Hove & Portslade, concluded saying: “I know that residents will be pleased that my Conservative council colleagues have proposed a sensible budget that includes a council tax freeze. When faced with the prospect of a massive 4.75% rise, I think lots of people will be asking questions on why the opposition are not making our council more efficient, rather than simply asking residents to foot the bill for council waste.”

 

Conservatives condemn signing of Ugandan anti-gay law

Posted on by Besi

Decision by Ugandan President Museveni to give his assent to controversial anti-gay law condemned by Conservatives.

President Yoweri K Museveni
President Yoweri K Museveni

The new law imposes a life sentence on those who commit a new offence of “aggressive homosexuality.”

Crispin Blunt MP
Crispin Blunt MP

LGBTory patron and former Prisons and Youth Justice minister Crispin Blunt said: “President Museveni has signed the Ugandan anti-homosexuality law, quoting Ugandan medical authorities in explanation. This Pontius Pilate defence will not wash in the light of history.

“His position is arguably worse, because he has given every indication of understanding the issues. He knows his pseudo-scientists have produced bigoted baloney that flies in the face of global medical opinion.

“Ugandan decision makers have united in this piece of populist cruelty directed at a minority of their own people. They must now face at least some modest consequences themselves. A travel ban seems wholly appropriate.”

Mark Simmonds MP
Mark Simmonds MP

Mark Simmonds, Conservative minister for Africa at the Foreign Office, raised the issue with President Museveni when he visited Kampala last year and discussed the law with Foreign Minister Kotesa shortly after it was passed by the Ugandan parliament on December 20.

Commenting on the bill’s passing, another Conservative Foreign Office minister Hugh Robertson described it as: “incompatible with the defence of minority rights” stating that it “would increase persecution and discrimination of ordinary people across Uganda”.

The Department for International Development (DFID) has provided funding to the NGO Sexual Minorities Uganda for training, advocacy and the cost of legal cases related to the protection of LGBT communities and ministers from DFID and the Department of Energy and Climate Change met with the organisation’s executive director Frank Mugisha when he visited London earlier this month.

Scotland protest against Uganda anti-gay law

Posted on by Besi

Equality charity calls on Foreign Secretary to recall the UK ambassador to Uganda and use diplomatic channels to uphold LGBT human rights world-wide.

President Yoweri Museveni
President Yoweri Museveni

The Equality Network, the Scottish lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality charity, will hold a national protest in Edinburgh against a new anti-gay bill signed into law today by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

The new law punishes LGBT people with up to life imprisonment for acts of aggravated homosexuality, criminalises the promotion and recognition of same-sex relationships, and makes it a crime not to report LGBT people to the police.

The Equality Network claims the impact of the law is likely to make it almost impossible for people to be openly LGBT in Uganda, and will severely restrict the work of LGBT support groups and charities in the country.

The protest, will take place on the Mound precinct in central Edinburgh from noon on Friday, March 7, has been organized by the Equality Network to show that Scotland stands in solidarity with LGBT people in Uganda and those suffering human rights infringements worldwide.

The Equality Network is calling on UK Foreign Secretary William Hague to recall the UK’s ambassador to Uganda, and use its diplomatic channels to ensure LGBT human rights are upheld in Uganda and around the world. The charity is also calling on the UK government to urgently review the aid the UK provides to Uganda to ensure funds provide maximum support for equality.

Scott Cuthbertson, Community Development Coordinator for the Equality Network, said: “This is a sad day for humanity and a devastating blow to equality and human rights around the world. The signing into law of regressive legislation in Uganda will see the mass criminalisation of LGBT people, and anyone who supports or helps them.”

“As the eyes of the world fall on Scotland during the Commonwealth Games we must stand shoulder-to-shoulder with LGBT people in Uganda and all those around the world facing violence, discrimination and imprisonment because of who they are and who they love.

“We call on the UK Government to make a strong stand for human rights by recalling the UK ambassador to Uganda for consultation, and by urgently reviewing the distribution of UK aid to Uganda to ensure maximum support for human rights while maintaining the level of funding.”

The Scottish protest will coincide with an international day of action called by Nigerian LGBT activists who are facing similar laws and restrictions in Nigeria.

The Equality Network says that while Scotland has made significant progress towards achieving LGBT equality in the law and society, the situation for LGBT people is deteriorating in many countries, with anti-gay laws being passed recently in Uganda, Nigeria, and Russia, and over 70 countries worldwide still having laws that criminalise homosexuality with punishments ranging from fines, to imprisonment, and the death penalty.

The charity points out that more than half of the 78 countries that criminalise homosexuality belong to the Commonwealth, which it says is a disturbing legacy of colonial rule.

Later this year Glasgow will host the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the Equality Network will be working with the Scottish Government and LGBT groups across the Commonwealth to highlight the challenges many LGBT people continue to face.

Kemptown MP Kirby raises Uganda’s anti-gay laws with government

Posted on by Besi

Simon Kirby MP tables question in Parliament asking what the Government is doing to promote equality for LGBT people in Uganda.

Simon Kirby MP
Simon Kirby MP

Simon, the MP for Kemptown and Peacehaven has raised the issue with the Department of International Development, after Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni threw his weight behind the country’s ant-gay legislation.

Simon said: “Anti-gay legislation in Uganda is well documented, and the President’s move to support an oppressive Bill is a very worrying development.

“I have raised this issue with the Department for International Development, because the efforts to persecute gay and lesbian people in Uganda deserve international attention and the condemnation of the UK Government.”

 

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