Well not much is rushing forward at the start of the year but couple of things I want to pick up on in the world of crazy.
First I want to pick up on Camden, you know that borough that Lilith was based on that has given us so many laughs over the years for its inaccuracy (follow up point a bit later). Spearmint Rhino wanted to relax it's conditions and applied to the council this was turned down by the committee and when appealed at court the judge backed the council. Now the rights and wrongs of the judge are one thing but I am concerned by the SEV Licensing committee which was a 4 person committee and if the it is split the chair had final say.
So what was wrong with the committee? Well allow me to introduce Cllr Gardiner and Cllr Eslamdoust who are a couple and both sit on the SEV licensing committee with Thomas G as chair. Now the judge views that one household having complete control of SEV licensing does NOT infringe any rules which may be right but the spirit of fairness does seem to be a little off centre. Now this has been rolling on since 2012 but it is interesting that the council has change the committee to a 5 person version. Think they may have been worried about being taken to court or a regular basis.
Cllr Gardiner and Cllr Eslamdoust may have links to religious circles, Cllr Eslamdoust is on the religious education committee SACRE and noticed that Cllr Gardiner happily tweeted to the church where his and Cllr Eslamdoust BANNS were read. If anyone has any additional info on this Camden power couple I would be happy to find out (e-mail at the bottom).
So Object has not been doing much as they have got all involved in the lets say music objectifies campaign. But I was browsing their facebook page and noticed they had links to e-petitions for Worcester and York. Seems they want people who do not live in the area to get involved in these local campaigns. Surely if the locals did not want the clubs there would be no need for the petitions but typical of Object that they want people who will not be affected by the clubs to have a say in them.
Finally back to Lilith, as we know Eaves has removed it completely from their site and we know (because we have the figures) that in fact the true story behind Lilith is that there is no link to rape. Now I thought I would help Object by tweeting this at them but strangely I have had no reply or acknowledgement. Not a surprise really but the fact they know that there is no Lilith report and still have a dead link even after doing new pages for the music campaign just shows how far they will go to manufacture issues that do not exist to try and prove their point.
TonyN (tonyprince@acdcfan.com)
Why don't the members of Object Now just shut up shop altogether, and stop pretending that the general public or anyone influential cares what they have to say any longer? Since the revelations on this blog about the manner in which they ran their anti-striptease campaign, the Guardian (which once used to publish articles which were practically verbatim press releases from Object) has distanced itself from this pro-censorship lobbying company; they've very little cash left (also reported about on this blog); and the appointment of Anna van Heeswijk as Secretary (since replaced by Silvia Murray-Wakefield) and Charlie Dacke as a Director should have been the writing on the wall for anyone who still took this tawdry little group seriously. They can't even manage their own website competently, nor are they able to put together a campaign any longer without enlisting the help of other organisations. Time for them to call it a day!
ReplyDeleteYou would hope that they would recognise that they have nothing to offer and with the slow implosion that has been going on we would have seen an end to the stupidity. However having tried to engage and even help then get the details right there is a strong sense they operate in denial. Still it has encouraged me to go onto twitter to object watch. Sooner or later I expect that they will have no choice but to stop. Until then they do provide that sense of amusement that also leaves a bitter taste.
DeleteAs for the Camden licensing situation...in-ter-est-ing! One wonders how many other local authorities have made similarly questionable appointments...
ReplyDeleteI had not thought to look at this but saw it on a piece from a google alert. Melon Farmers has also picked up on this. The fact is I have no idea how many Councillors are either married or cohabiting and what this may do to SEVs. Certainly we need to examine links between councilors and campaigners to see if any chance of external influence (like Leeds). But couples who can control even 40% of a vote would worry me never mind 50%. If people do come across situations like this we really need to know.
Deletetonyprince@acdcfan.com if people find any info
Talking of Object and Lilith, Anna van Heeswijk has crawled back out from under her stone again, and the Guardian has once again provided a platform for her absurd, evidence-free opinions:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/28/lap-dancing-clubs-tougher-legislation
I noticed that article too. Nice to see that she has been ripped apart by the majority of the commentators over there.
ReplyDeleteThe Labour MP who wants to toughen the regulations is also featured in the Hull Daily Mail and gets a well deserved bashing too:
http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/Hull-MP-wants-people-power-block-lap-dancing/story-20499552-detail/story.html
Just listening the to the 10 minute motion first listen. Due for second hearing on 28th Feb. I will be blogging about this but have a specific bit of writing to do first. Sounds like it wont be passed as it needs government support and not likely to get it. Diana Johnson had a good rant and made the usual trafficking hint that would have been Lilith before its death.
DeleteOn re-reading the Guardian article, I noticed the following quote:
Delete'One woman told Object: "I was frightened of the men who came out of that pub, especially the men in groups leering at women walking past."'
Yes, believe it or not, van Heeswijk has actually resurrected one of the manufactured claims from the Object activist group, which were used in Hackney and exposed on this blog!
By the way. Van Heeswijk's article shows the Time Gap in Blackpool. That closed years ago.
ReplyDelete