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ukrfeminism · 4 months

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Knife crime against women and girls has more than doubled in five years and campaigners are warning that not enough is being done to keep them safe.

New figures obtained by The Independent show the number of women who were killed, injured or threatened by a knife soared from 6,000 in 2018 to more than 13,700 in 2022 – laying bare the scale of the crisis. The offences include ones relating to robbery, rape, homicide, public order and theft.

Elianne Andam, 15, is among the victims of knife crime, having been killed on her way to school in Croydon last September. Mehak Sharma, 19, was stabbed to death in the same borough last November having just moved to the UK from India.

Campaigners say the statistics, which cover the last available full year of 2022, show the country needs to tackle the crisis, particularly when it relates to domestic violence, with Labour MP Jess Phillips warning: “Things are getting progressively worse.”

Nick Gazzard, whose 20-year-old daughter Hollie died after being stabbed 14 times by her violent ex-boyfriend in 2014, said: “If this was terrorism, there would be a national outcry.”

The figures for 2022 reveal that:

The number of female knife crime victims surged by 43 per cent in the West Midlands, from 1,010 in 2018 to 1,448 in 2022, according to the UK’s second-largest force

In Essex, the number of victims more than quadrupled in the same time frame – from 435 to 1,879

And Avon and Somerset recorded the number of victims as rising 46 per cent over five years, from 593 to 868

After a Freedom of Information request made by this publication, 26 of the UK’s 43 police forces provided data on knife crime where the victim was either a girl or a woman. The Metropolitan Police, Britain’s largest force, did not respond.

The latest full-year countrywide figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), also for 2022, show that 282 homicides – or four out of 10 – were committed using a knife or sharp instrument. This represented a 19 per cent increase over the previous year.

Police said the way knife crimes are recorded had changed in 2019 but they could not attribute the rise in figures to those changes.

Knives and sharp instruments are the most common weapons used to kill women in this country. ONS data shows that, in the year ending March 2022, one in three female homicide victims was killed by a partner or ex (33 per cent), while more than one in 10 died at the hands of a relative (13 per cent). Some 40 per cent of the deaths occurred in or around the home, compared to 7 per cent in the street or other public spaces.

Ms Phillips has long championed the fight against domestic violence but says the government’s Domestic Abuse Bill does not do enough to protect women. The MP for Birmingham Yardley blames a reduction in youth services and workers, local council cuts, and a lack of police and judicial resources for fuelling the crisis.

The MP, who every year in parliament reads out the names of women killed by men, said: “Things are getting progressively worse, knife crime against women is classic domestic abuse but that’s not ever included in knife crime strategy.

“If only they [the government] cared as much about sexual and domestic abuse as they care about Rwanda.”

The law currently states killers who bring a weapon to the scene face a minimum 25-year sentence, while sentences for those who do not start at 15 years. As domestic killers are more likely to use a weapon lying around the house, like a kitchen knife, they can end up with more lenient jail terms.

Carole Gould has campaigned to close the legal loophole ever since her 17-year-old daughter Ellie was killed by her boyfriend of three months when she ended the relationship.

Thomas Griffiths was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 12-and-a-half years in 2019 after he walked into Ellie’s family home, strangled her and then stabbed her 13 times, attempting to frame the attack as a suicide by inserting the knife in the side of her neck.

“She’d only been going out with him for a few months,” her mother said. “The ending of a relationship is the most dangerous time in a woman’s life.”

Campaigner Ngozi Fulani told The Independent that the cost of living crisis may also have had an impact on the rise in crimes against women.

Ms Fulani set up the charity Sistah Space to advocate for Black female victims of domestic abuse in the wake of the deaths of Valerie Forde and her 22-month-old daughter Jahzara. They were both stabbed to death in 2014 by Ms Forde’s ex Roland McKoy, who was jailed for 35 years.

“We have seen a significant rise in reporting to us of knife or sharp instrument attacks,” Ms Fulani said. “We are in a time of economic depression right now and we find perpetrators in unstable economic situations will often become violent.”

Sistah Space has campaigned for Valerie’s Law, legislation that would make specialist training mandatory for all police and other government agencies that support black women and girls affected by domestic abuse.

“We want people to understand one thing – domestic abuse is not a woman’s problem,” she said. “It’s an everybody problem.”

For Deniz Ugur, deputy director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, violence by men against women is part of a cultural problem that needs to be tackled.

“Women and girls face the constant threat of male violence, whether that’s in public spaces, the workplace, online or in our own homes, where the majority of this violence takes place,” he said.

“If we are to change this then it is critical that the government prioritises and invests in quality relationships and sex education based on consent and equality, and public campaigns to shift the attitudes that justify and normalise this violence and abuse. Women and girls deserve better.”

Conservative MP Caroline Nokes has criticised the government for refusing to commit to a new educational strategy for boys which would aim to tackle sexual harassment and gender-based violence.

The chair of the cross-party women’s and equalities committee said: “Education is a powerful and necessary tool in preventing violence against women and girls. Relationships, sex and health education that continues past secondary school and that engages proactively with boys and young men is crucial to combat harmful attitudes.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The government is committed to raising the bar in how these vile crimes are dealt with.

“We have gone further than ever before in protecting domestic abuse victims, classifying it as a national threat. Our innovative Young Women and Girls Fund also delivers specialist interventions to vulnerable young women and girls at risk of exploitation or violence.

“We will continue to work closely with the police and courts to bring more criminals to justice, and have set clear expectations for how the police should respond.”

#Articles #MVAWG #law

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obaewankenope · 2 months

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Seeing the stuff about the SNP and Labour and Conservatives and how SIR Lindsay Hoyle is being targeted by everyone because, as he stated, he tried to provide a variety of options for MPs to vote ammendments on because he'd had a meeting with police that same day about threats to MPs safety... And he's a well known person for caring about the safety of his fellows in the House... And like, the whole thing is just a mess.

Convention is not law.

By tabling a Labour Ammendment, SIR Lindsay Hoyle went against convention in the House, not law.

And conventions are gone against in the House, many many times, like, for example:

During a general election, the Speaker will stand for election in their constituency unopposed by the major parties. During the election, the Speaker will only campaign as a Speaker seeking re-election and not on any political points.[3]

This convention was not respected during the 1987 general election, when both the Labour Party and the Social Democratic Party fielded candidates against the Conservative speaker, Bernard Weatherill, who was MP for Croydon North East.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) does stand against the speaker if they represent a Scottish constituency, as was the case with Michael Martin, speaker from 2000 to 2009.[4]

The Speaker enjoys wide discretion to interpret the Standing Orders and relevance of precedent. They decide the procedure of the House.[1]

[source: Wikipedia]

Another "convention" which is well known for Conservatives to ignore, especially in recent years (looking at Boris fucking Johnson):

Any member that misleads Parliament is expected to resign.

[source: Wikipedia]

With accusations against Starmer and Labour being thrown by the SNP and Conservatives about pressuring etc, you have to remember that without the minutes being shared, OR an official statement in Parliament (where MPs aren't meant to lie or mislead Parliament) stating that Labour didn't do this, the SNP and Conservatives can and will keep throwing this accusation around.

But tabling an opposition ammendment as well as the government one to a motion is against convention but not against Parliamentary law.

I like convention to be followed but exceptions do get made, as we've seen in the past. Or changes to the conventions change to accommodate different circumstances:

The Prime Minister should be a member of either House of Parliament (between the 18th century and 1963).

By 1963 this convention had evolved to the effect that no Prime Minister should come from the House of Lords, due to the Lords' lack of democratic legitimacy. When the last Prime Minister peer, the Earl of Home, took office he renounced his peerage, and as Sir Alec Douglas-Home became an MP.

Another one:

All Cabinet members must be members of the Privy Council, since the cabinet is a committee of the council. Further, certain senior Loyal Opposition shadow cabinet members are also made Privy Counsellors, so that sensitive information may be shared with them "on Privy Council terms".

[source: Wikipedia]

Incidentally, we saw Labour Privy Counsellors not be given information recently by the Government about military actions against Houthis and there was some drama about that in the news and Parliament. Some argue convention was ignored there, others that it wasn't. But these aren't codified, written down laws or anything that Must Follow Exactly Every Step Exactly and so that means conventions have wiggle room.

Especially in special circumstances.

Personally, I've met SIR Lindsay Hoyle before and he's not a man who bows to pressure. He admits when he messes up, tries to not mess up again, and definitely learns from his mistakes. But he's a man who has been in Parliament for a long time, speaks with many MPs across all parties and has seen the rising hatred and violence aimed at MPs over the years get worse and worse.

The issue around Israel and Hamas and Palestine is messy and highly contentious with the public. Threats to MPs really are at an all time high. SIR Lindsay Hoyle is not a man who ignores danger to his colleagues. He's not a man who just lets things happen to avoid rocking the boat if he can do something to possibly protect his colleagues.

I get the anger of the SNP at their day being marred by a Labour Ammendment being added to the discussion alongside the Government but, honestly, this is more political games because I cannot imagine fora second that the SNP can see that Labour is still ahead of them in Scotland, especially with all the stuff that happened with Sturgeon and want to undermine them in an election year.

All I truly care about is one: treating SIR Lindsay Hoyle as a man who tries to do the right thing whenever he can (and owning up when he is wrong), two: getting the Conservatives out of power because we damn well need them out, and three: doing something about the issue in the Middle East because people are dying.

SIR Lindsay Hoyle has given the SNP an emergency motion debate to actually address that last point. That's more than other Speakers have done in the bloody past. Literally.

#Uk politics #SIR Lindsay Hoyle #Getting right tired of people ignoring his title here bc wouldn't do that to others even when they've pissed you off #Politics #United Kingdom

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malmumf · 14 days

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brookstonalmanac · 19 days

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Events 4.9 (before 1950)

193 – The distinguished soldier Septimius Severus is proclaimed emperor by the army in Illyricum. 475 – Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysite christological position. 537 – Siege of Rome: The Byzantine general Belisarius receives his promised reinforcements, 1,600 cavalry, mostly of Hunnic or Slavic origin and expert bowmen. He starts, despite shortages, raids against the Gothic camps and Vitiges is forced into a stalemate. 1241 – Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol forces defeat the Polish and German armies. 1288 – Mongol invasions of Vietnam: Yuan forces are defeated by Trần forces in the Battle of Bach Dang in present-day northern Vietnam. 1388 – Despite being outnumbered 16:1, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy are victorious over the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Näfels. 1454 – The Treaty of Lodi is signed, establishing a balance of power among northern Italian city-states for almost 50 years. 1609 – Eighty Years' War: Spain and the Dutch Republic sign the Treaty of Antwerp to initiate twelve years of truce. 1609 – Philip III of Spain issues the decree of the "Expulsion of the Moriscos". 1682 – Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana. 1784 – The Treaty of Paris, ratified by the United States Congress on January 14, 1784, is ratified by King George III of the Kingdom of Great Britain, ending the American Revolutionary War. Copies of the ratified documents are exchanged on May 12, 1784. 1860 – On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville makes the oldest known recording of an audible human voice. 1865 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the war. 1909 – The U.S. Congress passes the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act. 1917 – World War I: The Battle of Arras: The battle begins with Canadian Corps executing a massive assault on Vimy Ridge. 1918 – World War I: The Battle of the Lys: The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps is crushed by the German forces during what is called the Spring Offensive on the Belgian region of Flanders. 1937 – The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London. It is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe. 1939 – African-American singer Marian Anderson gives a concert at the Lincoln Memorial after being denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution. 1940 – World War II: Operation Weserübung: Germany invades Denmark and Norway. 1940 – Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway. 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Bataan ends. An Indian Ocean raid by Japan's 1st Air Fleet sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and the Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire. 1945 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran pastor and anti-Nazi dissident, is executed by the Nazi regime. 1945 – World War II: The German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer is sunk by the Royal Air Force. 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Königsberg, in East Prussia, ends. 1945 – The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed. 1947 – The Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. 1947 – The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride begins through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel. 1947 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 22 relating to Corfu Channel incident is adopted. 1948 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in Colombia. 1948 – Fighters from the Irgun and Lehi Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, killing over 100.

#Events

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itsrattysworld · 3 months

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denimbex1986 · 3 months

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'I almost never identify with characters in films. At the moment I can only recall doing so with Phil Connors in Groundhog Day. There’s always something about hanging back, not feeling part of the whole trick of it. That is one of the tremors in Andrew’s Haigh’s film All of Us Strangers, how a whole generation of gay people (I would say queer people, but there’s an exquisite dissection of the difference between the two identities in the film) find themselves subtly apart from the world from a young age, strangers in their own families.

So, I mention that I rarely identify with characters in films just to offset what might now seem like a worrying descent into narcissistic personality disorder. Before I’d even seen the film people who’d seen previews had told me I had to see it, or perhaps, I absolutely should not. Articles I read told me this tale would overlap with so many of my own specific personal experiences. Haigh grew up in a suburban semi in Sanderstead, the actual house featured in the film, in one of the poshest parts of Croydon and also the highest point in the town. This topography Haigh explores early on with vertiginous shots where it feel like we have not just reached the outskirts, but the edge of the world. This is the tipping point, where Andrew Scott’s character Adam – a writer – see-saws from the world of the practical everyday into a ghost world where his long dead parents are still alive, and he can visit them any time he wants to try to achieve the adult relationship he was robbed of. That relationship is particularly important to Adam because as an anxious and bullied gay child he never reconciled his inner and outer lives with them.

So, I grew up in another of Croydon’s highest points, the council estate of New Addington. And my parents died many years back too, when I was in my twenties. Since then I have also become a writer, though one considerably less toned than Andrew Scott. Did I ever feel I reconciled my inner and outer lives with my mum and dad? Well, they never met anyone I dated, and to be honest, at that point I hadn’t really dated anyone. The problem here was, I got on so well with them, too well, really. They acted in some ways as a shield, so that I didn’t have to seek anything other than quick encounters with other men to satisfy the gay part of myself, because all of the other emotional parts were invested in them. They also were terrible at feelings, boxing and hiding everything away. I remember talking to my mum about how sad I was that a guy I liked was going away to Canada. Her response was a brisk don’t be so wet, and that was that. After they died, and I was in my thirties, suddenly I began to have relationships. Had I been hiding this part of myself all along? Why was I now a teenager two decades too late? The first two proper boyfriends I had became an immediate conduit to feelings unconnected to them. My grief at the end of those relationships far outweighed the relationships themselves, feelings I now recognised as entirely displaced from one loss to another. These stunted emotional states are explored in the film, as we see Adam resist opportunities for companionship and love, that part of him seemingly bottled up in the sense of loss he feels for his parents, and an inability to move past it.

What would I feel now, if my parents turned up, still living in our house in Fairchildes Avenue? I passed the house recently, and rather than them waving from the window I saw that the entire front garden they had spent years planting with bits of cuttings from here and there had been ripped up, and a massive SUV sat there on the fresh grey brick paving. Would there be awkwardness reconciling them to my life? Not at all. Would I want to see them again? I think after several decades reconciling myself to their deaths the last thing I could cope with would to be some cheery instant rewind, a matter of fact return to my life. Grief is about distancing yourself, protecting yourself. There can be no distance or protection if the barrier between life and death could be so porous and two-way. Adam handles that side of it remarkably well. Even the thought of that makes me feel a bit shaky.

But there are other currents too. Growing up in the era of the AIDS crisis leaves Adam with a fear of sex that does not easily go away, just as it did for so many of us. You can never really dissolve away something so deeply held, it has to be fought over and again, different situations and people bringing it to the surface in new ways all the time. He summons that era with music that takes us back to that moment of crisis. Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s The Power of Love (‘I’ll protect you from the Hooded Claw, keep the vampires from your door’). Blur’s Death of a Party (‘Should have slept alone’). And a banging tale of loneliness, Pet Shop Boys’ I Want a Dog. Loneliness is the upshot of these anxieties. Never trusting or relating to other, shutting yourself away, engaging superficially, but never really there, like a ghost. The club scene was shot at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, a place I went every Saturday night for 15 years, to Duckie. Again and again the film walked over my grave.

Perhaps the most curious aspect for me, is that it is based on a book, Strangers by Taichi Yamada, that I worked on the marketing for when it was first published in English by Faber and Faber. I remember it being a really hard book to talk about, because it was as much an atmosphere piece as it was a story. The ghosts of Hideo Harada’s parents aren’t presented to scare or shock, this isn’t a ghost story for effect, instead using the idea of ghosts as memory to slide in and out of a life story. The ghosts are presented as flatly normal, just as they are in the film. My recollection of the book was its quesy tone of sickness and distortion, and the film starts off so matterof factly I wondered if it might be going for something quite different. But instead Haigh introduces the darker tone gradually. As a ghost story the film is not about the supernatural in the way that traditional horror or genre fiction might be, rather it feels like The Shining or The Innocents, where the memories and the clues suggest this might be all in the head rather than actually literally happening. Strangers was one of the best books I worked on, and it has stayed with me, much as I’m sure this film version will too.

So, now I have another high concept film I can identify with, one with fewer bleak jokes about living your worst life than Groundhog Day. All of Us Strangers is for all of us strangers, I realise that from the reaction it has had. But it can also mean something particularly personal to me, I can allow that too. The book, the place, the time, the era, the anxieties, the lost parents, the club, the grief, the depression, the loneliness, the empty towers, the ghost suburbs. Last year I felt I wrote a lot of maudlin stuff like this, and I decided to stop that. Well, thanks, Andrew Haigh. Thanks a bunch.'

#Strangers #Taichi Yamada #Andrew Haigh #Croydon #All of Us Strangers #Groundhog Day #Andrew Scott #Blur #Death of a Party #Frankie Goes to Hollywood #The Power of Love #Royal Vauxhall Tavern #Pet Shop Boys #Always on My Mind #Paul Mescal #Claire Foy #Jamie Bell

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dower · 4 months

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No city for the young anymore

In 1985 I moved to London as a pimply-faced 19-year old in search of adventure, culture, and opportunity. London was buzzing: Loud, late, gritty, seedy, and gaudy. It was wonderful and terrible all at the same time.

Familiar, yet unshackled, London was a counter-culture post-punk world, dominated by the young go-getters and overrun with Thatcher’s Generation X. Bowler hats, umbrellas and pinstripe suits (I kid you not) writhed a contorted yet sombre last waltz.

I was privileged to be part of it all. It felt like existing at the maelstrom centre of the cultural universe. My universe. During this hedonistic period, and my first home was 200 square feet in Zone 2 bedsit land - Kilburn, NW6 - it cost a princely £175 per month - Or £720 in today’s money.

It was my first time living away from home and my rent was higher than my Mother’s 3-bed council house in East Yorkshire. But, even a wet-behind-the-ears teenager at their first job in London could afford to live a short hop away from the heart of the city.

Central London, specifically Covent Garden/Soho was my real home - nine stops southbound from Kilburn on the Bakerloo line took me to Piccadilly Circus - the start of many a nights’ adventure. London was full of people like me. The West-End became so deeply ingrained in me that 40 years later I still yearn for “town”.

Living and breathing mid-eighties London changed me, changed my world and drove me on, setting the trajectory and boundaries of my life even today.

I was lucky. I could afford, even on a modest £10k salary, to live in central London. And not just live, but partake in all it had to offer. If I recall correctly, my rent (including bills) came to about 20% of my income.

Of course, today if you wanted to rent in Zone 2 then you’d need to set aside £2k pm and using my 1985 income/rent rule, you’d need to earn £125k. If you only earned the London average, you’d need to spend 80% of your salary on the roof over your head.

London is eating itself. No wonder so many flat-share, and live an hour away. It’s getting to a stage that there is no London left for the young or the disaffected.

Since the turn of the century, London has become a place for the wealthy middle-aged to invest in property, rather than for the young to do some actual living. If we’re not careful we’ll gut the hell out of the whole of central London and it will resemble what Mayfair looks and feels like today - a ghost town of concierge accommodation and soulless streets.

You see, and this is the catch, London’s vibrancy, its grittiness, all came from the disaffected young adults that made areas such as Soho, Covent Garden, Fitzrovia, and even Mayfair their own places. Yes, we are now older but without the exuberance of youth, the West-End is just another soulless shopping mall.

If you want grit today, go to Shoreditch / Brick Lane - but be quick, some of those properties on Fournier St are deep into seven figures. Or head further east away from town, away from the beating heart of London. Keep going till the M25 and the border with Essex beckons. But that’s not London anymore, no more so than, say, Croydon. Not my London, my london has a W in the postcode, followed by a single digit number.

Obviously this is the somewhat tainted retrospective of a northern kid coming of age in 80s London. Nostalgia runs deep as we look back, ably supported by selective memories of forty mostly kind years.

I’ll see out my London, not yours, nor anyone else’s. But, a small part of me weeps for the loss of that opportunity - to come of age in a slightly seedy London, no matter how odd that sounds.

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chloeunitfive · 5 months

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rspb dearne valley - old moor

RSPB Old Moor is an oasis for wildlife and a visitor haven with easy access from the M1 and A1. The reserve has strategically placed viewing hides and open vistas over the wetland habitats. As a visitor haven nature reserve, Old Moor has a top-rated family offering with wild play areas, activities and trails to help you and your loved-ones connect with nature.

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Highlights and key moments

In 1889, Emily Williamson created the Society for the Protection of Birds with one core aim – to fight a fashion for feathers and exotic plumes that were driving birds including little egrets, great crested grebes and birds of paradise towards extinction. Her all-women movement was born out of frustration that the male-only British Ornithologists Union was not acting on the issue.

Saving wildlife

Emily’s efforts soon gathered pace and after joining forces with Etta Lemon and Eliza Phillps, the movement grew in popularity and influence. So much so, that in 1904 the society was awarded a Royal Charter, making it the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Eventually, the 1921 Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act was passed, marking the RSPB’s first successful campaign for nature.

Protecting places for nature

Conservation has always been central to the RSPB and in 1930 the society bought its first nature reserve. In 1947, Minsmere was made a reserve and avocets – once extinct in the UK – bred at both Minsmere and the nearby Havergate Island. More reserves followed, and the RSPB now manages over 200 nature reserves across the UK.

People power

In 1965, the RSPB launched the Young Ornithologists Club (now known as the Wildlife Explorers) for young people, and in 1979, with a special slot on kid’s TV show Blue Peter, launched the Big Garden Birdwatch. This annual event to count garden birds is now the world’s largest citizen science project and provides a valuable snapshot to our birdlife is faring.

A global force to save nature

The early 90s saw the RSPB consolidate its international efforts and in 1993, the society became a Partner of BirdLife International, the global partnership formed to join bird and conservation organisations worldwide. By 1997 RSPB membership passed over one million members and we are now the largest nature conservation charity in Europe.

Together with our members and supporters, the RSPB continues to work with the same determination and passion to save nature as that of our founders over 100 years ago.

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Our Timeline

1889 - 1899

1889 February: formation of the embryonic Society in Didsbury. Emily Williamson Hon Secretary until May 1891.

1891 The Didsbury group and ladies attending Eliza Phillips' Fur and Feather meetings at her house in Croydon amalgamate to become the Society for the Protection of Birds.

June: Duchess of Portland accepts the office of president and remains so until her death in 1954.

October: First report of the society. Society's first publications - two pamphlets and three leaflets, including one by W H Hudson entitled The Osprey, or Egrets and Aigrettes. Leaflet no 1 = Destruction of Ornamental Plumaged Birds.

1892 Constitution adopted. Margaretta Lemon (universally known as Mrs Lemon, married to Frank Lemon) appointed Hon Secretary. 1894 W H Hudson elected Chairman of Committee (i.e. council).

1895 Montagu Sharpe (later Sir Montagu) elected Chairman of Committee and remains so until 1942.

1897 First office established in London, at 326 High Holborn in the offices of Witherby & Sons, publishers - the Hon Sec and a paid assistant secretary work from here.

1898 June: Office moves to 3 Hanover Square, rented from the London Zoological Society. First Society Christmas cards produced - some 4,500 cards are sold.

1899 September: Queen Victoria confirms an order which certain regiments should discontinue wearing 'osprey' plumes.

1900 - 1904

1900 First legacy received - £25.

1901 Society gives prizes for essays suggesting the best way of establishing Bird and Tree Day (ie the start of the schools educational programme). First watcher appointed, to protect breeding pintails at Loch Leven, Scotland.

1902 Bird and Tree Scheme initiated - continues until 1964. Watchers' Fund started.

1903 April First issue of Bird Notes and News, the first regular publication for members. Society's first postcards appear featuring various species of bird.

1904 3 November Incorporated by Royal Charter - now The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Frank Lemon appointed Hon Secretary. Membership subscription set at one guinea for fellows, five shillings for members.

1905 - 1929

1905 Watchers' Committee established.

1906 RSPB sells its first nestboxes.

1908 Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Bill introduced to Parliament (but not passed until 1921).

Inspector appointed by RSPB to investigate caged bird trade.

1909 Office moves to 23 Queen Anne's Gate.

1913 Perches on lighthouses installed.

1922 Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act, passed in 1921, comes into force on 1 April, the culmination of the RSPB's original raison d'être. W H Hudson dies on 18 August, naming the society as a high residuary legatee.

1923 April Offices move to 82 Victoria Street.

1930 - 1939

1930 The purchase of Cheyne Court, Romney Marsh, announced, the RSPB's first nature reserve. The first land bought was an 18-acre meadow in 1928. The whole reserve was sold in 1950, because drainage of surrounding land had caused it to lose its original attraction for birds.

1931 RSPB prosecutes an oil company for allowing oil to escape from their vessel near Skokholm off the Welsh coast - fined £25.

Wild Birds Protection Legislation (N Ireland)

1932 Dungeness and East Wood reserves announced (though land obtained at both in 1930) - the RSPB's oldest extant nature reserves.

1933 Protection of Birds Act passed, concerning trade in and taking of wild birds for aviculture. Came into force 17 May 1934.

1936 R Preston Donaldson appointed secretary.

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2017- 2019

2017 The Albatross Task Force has been so successful that black-browed albatross has recently been downgraded to ‘Least Concern’. Argentina has announced new measures to introduce bird-scaring ‘Tori lines’, which are predicted to save 9,000 albatross lives a year. We helped launch NFFN: “The Nature-Friendly Farming Network has launched and will provide a platform for farmers to use their voices to advocate for farming that works for people and wildlife. Farmers have come together to demonstrate what they do for wildlife, whilst still producing plentiful quality produce by building markets for nature-friendly farming products. The members are committed to secure farming policies that support wildlife, sustainable agriculture and fairness for farmers." The ‘Puffarazzi’ project brought in more than 1,400 pictures of puffins from 602 people over 39 sites across UK and Ireland. Tracking 22 and 11 puffins respectively on the islands of Shiants and Unst also revealed foraging patterns for the species. In Sierra Leone, $1.8 million has been secured from the West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change Programme to scale up conservation work across the 350,000 hectares of the Greater Gola forest landscape. At the same time, we have worked with 1,500 farmers to produce rainforest friendly cocoa, with 12 metric tonnes exported and the first trial RSPB Gola chocolate bars produced. Target species favoured by the conservation methods are the white-necked picathartes and the pygmy hippopotamus. Our vulture programme in Nepal is celebrating a major milestone as six captive-reared, Critically Endangered, white-rumped vultures have been released into the wild after 7 years in captivity. This exciting news followed the thankful end in this region of diclofenac sales for veterinary purposes and a partial recovery of the wild population of the species. In September, we reached a major milestone in our battle to save Lodge Hill, the most important site for nightingales in the UK. The planning application for 5,000 houses was withdrawn, with more than 10,000 people objecting to the application to build on this incredibly important SSSI. 2018 The Shiants are declared rat-free after a partnership project to eradicate invasive rodents. The first storm petrel chick is heard calling on the islands. Thanks to the efforts of the RSPB Investigations team and Sovereign Base Area Police, illegal bird trapping on the UK Base in Cyprus falls by 70%. First bittern heard booming on the Isle of Wight - at RSPB Brading Marshes. Nightjars breed at The Lodge for the first time in 45 years. The Wallasea Wild Coast project in Essex is completed. Sherwood Forest now managed by an RSPB-led group, new visitor centre opens. One hundred years since white-tailed eagles were lost from the UK, there are now more than 100 pairs breeding in Scotland. The first WTE chicks on Orkney for 145 years successfully fledge on Hoy.

2019 RSPB marks its 130 year anniversary! In a historic first, the RSPB purchased land in a UK Overseas Territory, ten acres of tropical rainforest in the Cayman Islands, home to Grand Cayman blue iguana. Best ever year for bitterns in recent times, with over 100 male bitterns recorded on RSPB nature reserves. RSPB Cymru helped launch the Celtic Rainforests Wales LIFE project to restore, protect and enhance the ancient Welsh woodlands. The RSPB released a single of pure birdsong, Let Nature Sing. It reached number 18 in the UK music charts. Together with over 70 other organisations, the RSPB launched the State of Nature 2019 report, a detailed analysis of the status of UK species.

2020 - Present

2020 From March, the global coronavirus pandemic forced national lockdowns and widespread hardships. The RSPB launched a weekly email Notes on Natures for supporters and to share news about nature. This now reaches over one million people. Many people turned to nature during lockdown and the RSPB experienced an uplift in the number of people sharing sightings of birds and wildlife. The RSPB launched online events to share in the joy of nature during lockdown – including the Breakfast Birdwatch and Dawn Chorus Day. Record-breaking year for UK’s rarest seabirds, roseate terns, with 130 breeding pairs recorded on Coquet Island. Twenty-year anniversary of nature friendly farming at RSPB Hope Farm was hailed a success as wildlife numbers soared. UK Overseas Territory of Tristan da Cunha became one of the world’s biggest sanctuaries for wildlife thanks to joint efforts of the RSPB, local people and partners. Crane numbers hit a record high of over 200 birds after becoming extinct in the UK nearly 400 years ago.

2021 The RSPB recorded the largest Big Garden Birdwatch ever, with over one million people taking part. Golden eagles breed again in Orkney after an absence of almost 40 years

#Youtube

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insidecroydon · 7 days

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Auckland Rise residents suffer the 'curse' of Brick by Brick

Our housing correspondent, BARRATT HOLMES, reports on how some of the warnings about the council house-builders’ ‘affordable’ homes are becoming an costly reality in Crystal Palace Residents in supposedly “affordable” shared ownership homes built in Crystal Palace by the council-owned developer Brick by Brick have been hit with a 35% service charge hike. Highly charged: Sinead Harmey (right), a…

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#Alison Butler #Auckland Rise #Brick by Brick #Claire Bonham #Colm Lacey #Conservative #Croydon #Croydon Council #Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood #Jo Negrini #Labour #Liberal Democrats #London #London Borough of Croydon #Tory

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bellamancuso · 5 months

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Intersections.

Boxpark.

I researched into Box Park as I felt it was a smart way of using up previous material and giving it a second life. It became the first pop up dining and shopping area in 2011 and has 3 current locations.

In 2011 Hackney council told box park to add chevrons outside the venue and now it is part of their design. In 2016 Box Park came to Croydon which is the closest to my home. I usually go to box park to catch up with people and socialise with new people. It is a fun place to go out for food and is open till quite late in the evening. As it is indoors, it stays quite warm and has heaters to provide warmth in the winter and fans for the summer. In 2017 Stormzy performed at the Croydon venue which drew in large masses. This idea lead me to think that having a space for people to perform, socialise, play and eat would be beneficial in my project overall as it is a specific intersection that I hope to cover in my final outcome.

'Boxpark has become the biggest food, culture and social hub in London with local communities at its heart. This unique experience is based on Boxpark's "Eat. Drink. Play." philosophy.'

#intersections #intersectionsresearch

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jordanraymond1995 · 6 months

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daviscasssss · 7 months

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Book a Christmas taxi to Croydon-02086886644

To book a Christmas taxi to Croydon with the phone number 02086886644, you can call the company directly. You can also book a taxi online through the company's website, if they have one.

Here are the steps on how to book a Christmas taxi to Croydon with the phone number 02086886644:

Call the company at 02086886644. Tell the operator that you would like to book a Christmas taxi to Croydon. Provide the operator with your pick-up and drop-off addresses. Tell the operator the number of passengers and any special requirements you may have, such as a wheelchair-accessible taxi or a taxi with a child seat. The operator will give you a quote for the fare and confirm your booking. Here are some tips for booking a Christmas taxi:

Book your taxi in advance, especially if you are traveling on Christmas Day or if you have special requirements. Get a quote from several taxi companies before you book to get the best price. Make sure that the taxi company you choose is licensed and insured. You can check this on the website of the Croydon Borough Council. Confirm your booking with the taxi company the day before your journey to avoid any misunderstandings. I hope this information is helpful. Have a Merry Christmas!

To book a Christmas taxi to Croydon with the phone number 02086886644, you can call the company directly. You can also book a taxi online through the company's website, if they have one.

Here are the steps on how to book a Christmas taxi to Croydon with the phone number 02086886644:

#airporttaxi #croydontaxi #gatwicktaxi #airport transfer #taxi service #taxi

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nlgwj-esq · 8 months

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Monday_11_September_AD:2023_Q1154GMT

Today I reported suspected neglect of horses. basically got rejected. view transcript below:

Scout:

Hi, how can I help?

You:

I'd like to report suspected neglect of horses in Croydon borough in Greater London

Scout:

Thank you for contacting us about this.

Scout:

I would like to transfer you to an advisor to report this, is that okay?

You:

Yes

Scout:

Please provide your details below before I transfer you

Scout:

Thank you for your enquiry. I have made a note of all the details and transferred this to the team who will respond to the chat shortly - please keep the window open.

Arron:

Hi, I'm an RSPCA Customer Advisor and I'd be happy to help you today. Please wait while I read through your previous conversation and understand how I can help. Thanks for your patience.

Arron:

Hi there, you are speaking to Arron at RSPCA, Can I take a brief description on what the issues please?

You:

Yes

Arron:

Hi there Neil how is it i can hep today?

You:

I regularly drive past a field with horses where I suspect them as without water

Arron:

Okay Neil Please can you provide me with a description of the animal, such as breed, colour, name if known, age if known and any distinguishing features?

You:

I'm unaware of the breeds and ages

You:

Brown

Arron:

Okay thank you

Arron:

Okay so then Neil, do you drive past the horse on a day to day basis?

You:

The location is junction of Duppas Hill Road and Stafford Road

You:

3 or 4 occasions each week

Arron:

is that in Corydon?

You:

Croydon

Arron:

Thank you

Arron:

Do you know if the horse has got any injuries?

You:

Arron:

Okay thank you

Arron:

We are currently experiencing unprecedented demands on our service and are having to focus our limited resources to attend to animals with the most critical welfare concerns. The situation you have reported today unfortunately doesn't meet this criteria, I’m sorry we are not able to assign one of our front-line resources to attend to your concern today We will record the information you have provided and keep it on record. Should the circumstances change, and the animal's welfare deteriorates please contact us again (01151061) and we will reassess the situation

The agent has ended your chat session.

You:

Please reconsider. Horses in captivity need to be cared for properly. They cannot help themselves. If you require water, you can turn on the tap and fill a glass cup. They cannot help themselves! I'm vulnerable and drive motability vehicle. I've been worried for several weeks about this. I reported and complained to CROYDON council, but they replied 'its a private Field, so they cannot intervene ' please reply. Also advise if I can complain about it, and how?

You:

Please can you put this through to the person in charge?

#Spotify

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