Local artist Jamie McCartney shared his thoughts on how to decipher the difference between erotic art and pornography at a debate last Saturday (February 22).
With use of imagery to demonstrate his points, McCartney illustrated just how difficult it is to draw the line between art and porn.
The internationally recognised experimental artist famed for his Great Wall of Vagina sculpture then went on to give an in-depth Q and A session, answering questions surrounding the art/porn debate.
The debate was a curtain raiser to the opening of The Naked and The Nude exhibition at the Warehouse Gallery which runs until March 8, where McCartney’s work is included amongst those on display.
For further details on Naked and Nude, CLICK HERE:
Labour and Cooperative have tabled an amendment at the Council’s budget debate on Thursday to guarantee the Pride Parade continues in 2014.
Cllr Warren Morgan
Labour will block the planned £5 a month council tax rise and reverse several of the cuts to services planned by the Greens in their Budget, it is revealed today.
The ammendment will guarantee another year’s funding for the Pride street parade, which Labour view as an essential part of the city’s annual calendar of events. The £25,000 will come from the money earmarked by the Green Administration for their proposed council tax referendum which Labour are seeking to block as they intend to protect services for children, people with learning disabilities and park users.
Labour Leader Councillor Warren Morgan, said:“The Green Budget is a political one, we will stop their costly council tax referendum and block the unaffordable increase, using the money instead to reverse cuts to social care and maintain services – like park cleaning at weekends – that the Greens have said they will cut. Our focus is on people not politics.”
Labour will use some of the £900,000 the Greens want to spend on a referendum to keep Able & Willing, a council-supported business employing people with learning disabilities (www.ableandwilling.org.uk), going. Warren along with serveral Labour councillors visited the centre last week and have pledged not to put people with learning disabilities out of a job.
Labour will also reverse the cut in grant funding to dozens of community groups across the city proposed by the Greens. “These community grants are essential to keeping many organisations heads above water” said Cllr Morgan, “it’s wrong at a time like this to hit community groups with cuts.”
The cuts in the Green budget proposals to homework clubs and to respite breaks for children with disabilities will also be blocked by Labour’s amendments. “We think it is essential to keep these services to children going, instead of adding yet more money to the travellers’ budget as the Greens are proposing.”
The Greens have said they want to stop cleaning parks around the city at weekends, although not in the city centre areas represented by Green councillors. Labour will block this cut by suspending the Green’s tree planting programme.
Cllr Morgan concluded:“We think these are the right priorities for the city and residents, we would like to do more to focus spending on jobs, homes, and schools, fixing potholes and helping people struggling with the cost of living, but that will have to wait till after the elections in 400 days time when we hope to see the end of this Green council.”
The Budget and the Labour amendments will be voted on at a council meeting this Thursday, Febuary 27.
Labour claim the cost to the city of a referendum proposed by the Greens Administration to raise council tax more than 2% is close to one million pounds.
Cllr Warren Morgan
Labour and Cooperative councillors will try to reverse some of the worst cuts in the Green council budget, whilst blocking the proposed £5 a month rise in council tax. The news has been announced as the costs of holding a referendum, in which the vast majority of residents have said they will vote no, has skyrocketed to almost a million pounds.
Leader of the Labour Group Cllr Warren Morgan, said:“we have been told by officers that the costs of the Greens holding and then losing a referendum on their council tax increase could be as much as £900,000. We believe that when we are facing cuts that money should be spent on services, so we will be voting against the rise and the referendum.”
“In our budget amendments we will propose reversing the Green cut to Able and Willing, the council-supported employer for people with learning disabilities. We also want to stop them cutting grants to community groups, and put a small sum into keeping the annual Pride parade going.”
“I believe our opposition to tax rises people can’t afford, and our support for communities in our budget amendments shows that we and not the Greens have the right priorities when it comes to running the city.”
With extended opening hours the Pride festival in Preston Park promises to exceed last years success with over 40,000 people dancing, partying and celebrating Pride.
Pride is unique because unlike many other festivals almost 30,000 people arrive at Preston Park in a very short period as the parade arrives at the park and this will always be a logistical headache.
To help address this issue Pride 2014 will operate a designated gate system (indicated on e tickets).
During peak entry times which are between 1pm and 3pm (when the Parade arrives) extra gate lanes are being opened, however visitors may wish to arrive before or after peak times as there’s still loads of time to enjoy the extended hours of entertainment.
This year Pride will also introduce an optional wristband pick-up option from Monday, July 28
from the Pride Welcome Centre above Charles Street Bar, Marine Parade BN2 1TA.
The Pride team have been listening to feedback and these are just a few of improvements being introduced to help make your Pride experience in 2014 even better.
Early Bird ticket are now on sale:
There are a limited number of Super Early Bird tickets available at £9 and Early Bird tickets costing £12.50 have been frozen at last years prices. Buy now at last years prices and you get two hours extra on the park.
Once the early bird tickets are sold a discounted £15 advance (first release) will be available for a limited period then tickets increase to £17.50/£20 and more on the day.
Ticket will be available in local venues within the next two weeks. (no booking fees apply).
Pride Directors Paul Kemp and Dulcie Weaver set up Brighton Pride Community Interest Company to organise a two week Arts and film festival and to stage the Pride Festival and Parade on Saturday August 2, 2014 and the Brighton Pride Arts and Film Festival July 18 – August 3, 2014
£1 per head for each ticket sold is ring fenced for the Rainbow Fund to distribute through their grants program to LGBT organisations, along with any profits after operational costs.
HIV charity sees 15% rise in people seeking financial help for basic living costs.
More than 15 years after modern antiretroviral medication transformed HIV into a manageable condition, lack of government support is leaving too many people with HIV facing a cycle of poverty, according to a new report published today by HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust (THT).
The charity has revealed that, in the last year alone, it has seen a 15% rise in the number of people applying to the charity for small grants to cover basic living expenses including food and clothing.
THT’s HIV & Poverty report www.tht.org.uk/poverty is based on an analysis of nearly 2,000 applications made in 2012 to its Hardship Fund, which provides grants of up to £250 for people with HIV in financial crisis. The report, together with new figures for 2013, suggests that, rather than lifting people with HIV out of poverty, the fund is increasingly plugging the gap where statutory support in the form of benefits, Asylum Support, and local community services is failing to meet people’s needs.
According to the report, 46% of applicants living with HIV to the Hardship Fund in 2012 had a disposable income of less than £50 a week and 35% had no disposable income at all.
The majority of grants were used to cover basic costs, including food (47%) and clothing (10%).
The charity is also reporting that between 2012 and 2013 it has seen an increase in the number of applications from those whose benefits are under review (86% – 69 to 128 applications) or have stopped altogether (63% – 43 to 70 applications).
The number of people who received more than one grant per year rose by 42% (from 305 to 433).
THT is warning that, without adequate support from the welfare system, financial stress, poor diet, and other factors associated with poverty can lead to mental and physical ill health for people with HIV, in turn making it harder for them to re-enter employment or regain financial control.
Paul Ward
Paul Ward, Acting Chief Executive of Terrence Higgins Trust, said:“In an age when highly effective treatments mean people with HIV can live long and healthy lives, it is nothing short of a disgrace that HIV and poverty should still so often go hand in hand. Last year, one in every 40 people diagnosed with HIV applied to our Hardship Fund. We know that factors such as illness, discrimination, uncertain immigration status, mental health issues and family breakdown, can leave people with HIV needing extra support at certain points in their lives. But all too often our grants are only able to tide people over from day to day, rather than supporting them out of poverty.”
“The numbers in this report should act as a warning sign at all levels of government that people with HIV are not receiving the level of support needed to meet the most basic of costs. It is vital that people with HIV are fairly assessed and that financial support is sufficient to allow them to eat, clothe themselves and stay warm, and ultimately regain long-term financial security.”
THT has set out five key recommendations for local and national government:
• The Government must ensure those who need support are fairly assessed and that benefits are sufficient to cover basic costs
• The Work and Pensions Select Committee should hold an inquiry into the impact of welfare reforms
• The Department for Work and Pensions must ensure that people are supported to find sustainable employment suitable for their long-term health and wellbeing
• The Government should aim to complete the asylum process within six months and must allow people to work after 30 days
• Local Authorities must assess needs of people living with HIV in their areas and provide adequate services
The Poverty & HIV report is based on 1,918 applications to the Hardship Fund, as well as referrals to The Food Chain, a charity which provides nutritional support to people living with HIV. The Food Chain reports that 70% of people who use the service are living on less than £49 per week, with clients increasingly accessing the service as a result of poor diet associated with rising food prices.
Siobhán Lanigan
Siobhán Lanigan, Chief Executive of The Food Chain, said:“The poverty statistics in this report are truly shocking and they tell just one part of the story. Every day The Food Chain hears from people living with HIV of their real experiences of having no money for food that week, of going hungry in order that their children may eat and of literally not knowing where their next meal will come from. Good nutrition makes a world of difference to how people get well and stay well and it is especially important for people with HIV in order to sustain as healthy an immune system as possible and support the efficacy of HIV medication. Access to food for all is surely a fundamental tenet of a humane society and we need to ensure that the most vulnerable people in our community continue to have that access.”
Men Get Eating Disorders Too is to hold their fifth year celebration event Stand Up To Eating Disorders at the Latest Music Bar in April.
The charity was founded in April 2009 by recovered bulimia sufferer Sam Thomas from Brighton. He wanted to use his own experience with an eating disorder to help and support others with similar conditions.
Sam Thomas
He said:“The event will be a showcase the work of the charity and future developments. It’ll be attended by a mix of special guests, our valued supporters as well as interested members of the community. We plan to make this event to remember for a charity that is growing from strength to strength!”The host and main act is Dave Chawner – a rising star on the stand up comedy circuit – who will be sharing his experience of anorexia in a sketch.
The charity is offering talented singers, bands and comedians the chance to perform at the event. Send your application via email linking to material on SoundCloud/YouTube to sam@mengetedstoo.co.uk
The deadline for applications is March 16. Acts will be chosen and notified before the end of March.
Tickets are available for £10. To purchase, CLICK HERE:
What: Stand Up To Eating Disorders
Where: The Latest Bar, Manchester Street, Brighton
Leading sexual health charity says England can be the first country in the developed world to turn the tide of HIV infection.
Terrence Higgins Trust (THT), the UK’s leading HIV and sexual health charity, has outlined how England has a ‘once in a generation’ opportunity to turn the tide of its HIV epidemic by 2020, making it the first country in the developed world to do so.
Three Hundred HIV experts met in London last week to hear THT and the HIV Prevention England partnership launch their joint paper 2020 Vision: making England’s HIV prevention response the best in the world.
The paper outlines for the first time a series of hard targets the nation can aim for to slash new infection rates within the next five years.
These targets include:
A 125% increase in the number of HIV tests undertaken each year by people at greatest risk (an extra 250,000 tests a year)
A 50% reduction in the number of people with undiagnosed HIV (10,000 people)
75% of all people with HIV to be on HIV treatment and uninfectious
If these targets are met within the next five years, the partnership estimates that by 2020 the number of new HIV infections in England would be slashed by one-third, from around 6,000 cases to 4,000 cases each year, saving the public purse an estimated £560million a year in HIV treatment costs.
Paul Ward: Acting CEO, THT
Paul Ward, Acting Chief Executive at Terrence Higgins Trust, said:“England is now at a tipping point in its fight against HIV. Thanks to the NHS, we already lead the world in ensuring people with HIV are on treatment and uninfectious. Driving down undiagnosed infection is the final piece of the puzzle. With around two-thirds of new infections passed on by people who don’t know their status, the more people we test and treat, the fewer lives will be damaged by this entirely preventable virus.
“All that is needed to achieve this vision is an extra £20million a year investment in coordinated HIV testing programmes; a tiny fraction of the public health budget. There is no other health area where, for this size of investment, the State could bring a serious health condition under control.”
Dr Valerie Delpech
Dr Valerie Delpech, head of HIV surveillance at Public Health England, added:“There are now more than 100,000 people living with HIV in the UK, and around one in five remain undiagnosed. These individuals are more likely to present with advanced infection, and to pass on the virus. It is vital we invest in HIV prevention, to address the social and structural barriers that mean too many people are currently not getting tested, and reduce new HIV infections across the UK.”
HIV Prevention England is a partnership of community organisations headed by Terrence Higgins Trust and funded by the Department of Health to carry out national HIV prevention work in England among communities at an increased risk of infection.
To download: 2020 Vision: making England’s HIV prevention response the best in the world, CLICK HERE:
Conservation work has begun on one of the longest green walls in the country on Brighton seafront to protect a variety of coastal plants and repair the concrete wall.
Over 90 different species are growing on the Madeira Drive retaining wall on the north side of Duke’s Mound to the east of Brighton seafront. Up to 20 metres high and 1.2 kilometres long on a wall nearly 200 years old, Brighton’s green wall is one of the oldest and longest in the country.
Brighton & Hove City Council is working with the guidance of Brighton and Hove Building Green and the Ecology Consultancy, pruning back foliage and enlarging the bed at the foot of the wall.
This autumn the council will carry out repair work to the concrete wall itself to maintain the effectiveness of the wall and provide an ongoing habitat for plants and wildlife.
As well as an impressive display of Japanese spindle growing almost up to the upper promenade, the wall contains the nationally scarce hoary stock, a coastal plant most commonly found on the south coast.
The Japanese spindle was deliberately established in the early nineteenth century when the wall was built, as a means to improve the appearance of the seafront for visitors and local people. Originating from Japan, Korea and China, these hardy plants are amongst the oldest surviving plants of this species in the UK.
Work is being carried out now on a 400 metre stretch to avoid the bird nesting season.
National Student Pride takes place in London this weekend.
Student Pride began at Oxford Brookes University in 2005 as a response to the Christian Union’s talk on Homosexuality and the Bible and has most recently been held in Brighton.
This year student organisers were forced to move the event from Brighton where it had been staged for the last five years through rising costs, and are staging it in London for the first time.
Students come from the four corners of the UK and Ireland for the event and organisers hope that by staging it in London it will increase attendances.
Tom Guy, National Student Pride President, said:“More than anything, our move to London is a sign of our growth and a tribute to all the students, sponsors, supporters and friends who have helped us develop from a one-off event to an essential part of the UK’s LGBT calendar”.
The weekend started on Friday with a screening of Call me Kuchu, a documentary about the LGBT situation in Uganda at Channel 4. The moving documentary follows LGBT activists in Uganda fighting against issues such as the Kill the Gays bill.
The screening was followed by a Q&A session with Tris Reid-Smith (Editor in Chief of Gay Star News), Peter Tatchell, Alistair Stewart (Assistant Director of the Kaleidoscope Trust), and Deborah Lane-Winter (Channel 4).
On Friday night the party moved to G-A-Y for registration and a club night.
Today, Saturday 22 there was a free daytime event at the University of Westminster’s Marylebone Campus. One of the main attractions was a Question Time session, in association with Attitude Magazine. Attitude editor Matthew Todd was joined by Paris Lees, who recently topped the Independent on Sunday’s 2013 Pink List alongside Lord Waheed Ali (the first gay Muslim peer), John Amaechi OBE, Amy Lamé, and Milo Yiannopoulos.
Also this afternoon there was a Bake Off, hosted by The Great British Bake Off’s 2012 winner, John Whaite and comedian Zoe Lyons; live music throughout the day; and a job fair, where employers such as National Student Pride’s sponsors, EY, Clifford Chance, The Co-Operative and IBM, were exhibiting alongside companies such as BP, GE, 4Talent, RAF & Navy and Teach First.
Tonight the club night returns to G-A-Y where Eternal and Grammy award winning Foxes are performing.
Tomorrow, Sunday the weekend finishes with a Rocky Horror Picture Show sing-along at the Prince Charles Cinema in Soho, with tickets from just £3.
National Student Pride is platinum-sponsored in 2014 by EY for the fourth consecutive year.
Liz Bingham (Managing Partner for People, UK & Ireland at EY, and Student Pride ambassador) said:“We are very proud to support National Student Pride for another year. At EY we are passionate about enabling people to come together in an environment where they feel included and respected. National Student Pride enables LGBT students to do just that”.
Law firm Clifford Chance are gold sponsors, with IBM, The Co-Operative and Asda as silver sponsors.
For more information about National Student Pride, CLICK HERE:
St Mary’s Church are launching a new fundraising group The Friends of St Mary’s, Brighton on Tuesday, February 25.
Friends of St Mary’s would like to see the church restored and thrive as a community resource.
St Mary’s is a friendly, inclusive space with ambitions to grow and offer more to the people living in the local community around it in St James Street. It has staged the annual World Aids Day Concerts for the last few years and hosted the community funeral of Phil Starr.
The Friends group will raise funds for the restoration of the church building and to increase awareness of its heritage value and potential as a community resource and arts venue.
They hope, by mid-2016, to have built a new entrance with integrated toilet, kitchen and bar facilities on part of the block of Council-owned land immediately to the west of the church.
The aim is to secure better facilities without compromising the fine acoustic and aesthetic appeal of the church’ interior while at the same time improving amenities and the streetscape environment for everyone in the St James’s Street neighbourhood.
The launch is an informal, drop-in affair, with live music, refreshments, and a short presentation on the history of the church building. Everyone is very welcome, so please extend the invitation to your family, friends and colleagues.
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