My experiences of marching for a future that works

The photo, taken by Alan Stanton, highlights clearly that all ages were protesting!

By Lucette Davies

On Saturday 20^th October many people travelled to London to demonstrate against current government policies. This demonstration attracted many different people and all of them upset and angry with this government.  The anger was evident by the noise and I found it pleasing to see such a variety of opinions expressed in so many different ways.  The photo shown highlights that clearly all ages were protesting!  The day left me thinking and questioning my own beliefs, so I chose to write this piece to reflect my thoughts.

A group of us eagerly met on Saturday morning at Eastbourne Station to get the train to London and join the March for a Future that Works.  The TUC had allowed Eastbourne a number of free rail tickets.  Considering that the travel was free and there was no early morning start I hoped that there would be a sizeable group attending.  I cannot seem to be able to grasp why so many people do not want to engage in politics.

The group was very small and we had a think about how much money was wasted by the TUC on train tickets not used.  Someone told me that numbers were expected to lower than of those that turned out for the March for the Alternative in 2011.  That also puzzled me as I know there were many people who in 2011 said they had some confidence in the government but now believe the opposite. I thought on the train about the local people I know whose living standards are very poor as a result of coalition policy.  I wondered why they were not with us.

The march was upbeat and many people had made a lot of effort with placards and banners.  It was quite amusing to see how many placards had the word ‘pleb’ within the caption.  I hope Andrew Mitchell has realised that he drew a lot of attention to himself with delaying resigning until Friday.

Twitter was telling me that the rally in Hyde Park had started long before we got to Parliament. Quite exhausted we arrived at Hyde Park even if it was towards the end of the rally. We saw a few speeches and used copies of the Morning Star to sit on the wet ground so we didn’t get wet. The train was not till quite late and if we had sat in Hyde Park any longer we would have been cleared away with the litter!  The only thing left was to head towards Victoria station and a convenient pub.

Walking down Victoria Street made me remember that I find this side of London odd.  There we were; walking boots on, placard rolled up and heading for a pint, when we had to stop as a ridiculously long limousine tried to get round a corner.  People bustled in and out of expensive office blocks while others were sleeping rough in doorways. (I have read there are 50% more rough sleepers in London this year than last). We passed Harvey Nichols and I quietly hoped that if I ever became rich I wouldn’t be spending that much on a skirt.

I saw a young man walking along the pavement and I wondered how he could walk as the soles of his shoes had half torn away.  Immediately after this I saw a group of gentleman off to somewhere in black tie. This bizarre existence where there are people with vastly more than they need, alongside people with so little of their needs met, is what I find extraordinary.  I wondered why these so wealthy people cannot give to ease the suffering in others.  But then I wondered why I had walked past so many of the rough sleepers and not given a penny to any of them.

I claim to be a socialist and to not understand why inequalities happen.  However, I need to think about why I didn’t give to those rough sleepers on Saturday myself.

Olympics dig Britain out of the recession

By Emily Sargent and Lalage Wordsworth

The British economy has struck gold thanks to the boom generated by sales of Olympics tickets.

20 per cent of the overall growth of Britain’s economy announced this morning has been attributed to Olympics and Paralympics ticket sales.

Pippa Middleton’s trip to Brighton Pier

By Mathew Beech

Pippa Middleton was seen with friends on Brighton's pier.
Credit: jtkfr

Brighton got a visit from one of the world’s most talked about women when Pippa Middleton had a trip to the historic Palace Pier at he weekend (Saturday, March 10).

Prince William’s sister-in-law was spotted by sun-seekers making the most of the hottest day of the year so far, at the city’s famous landmark.

Carly Wilson, 33, told the Argus: “She was with another girl. They were dressed in Hunter wellies and a quilted Barbour jacket.

“A lot of lads who looked Hooray Henryish were sitting at a bar further up, sipping champagne.”

He’s Gum Mad!

By Evie Purves

What do you think about gum on the street pavements? Disgusting? Dirty? Well, I think the majority of us would agree. But not this man…

Ben Wilson has been brightening up the pavements of London for the past eight years with his weird yet wonderful hobby of painting discarded chewing gum. His tiny artworks are becoming a regular sight in parts of London and he even gets requests from the public! Not so long ago, The Royal Society of Chemistry asked Mr Wilson to paint each of the 118 elements.

Despite his actions receiving a raised eyebrow or two, Ben Wilson has described it as “making something special out of what people find disgusting…people have the right to be creative”.  He has so far created more than 8,000 chewing gum masterpieces.

Mr Wilson has said he has a tendency to “go for the older ones as they have less moisture which makes it easier to paint”. Although just to be on the safe side, Wilson brings along his Bunsen burner to dry out any chewing gum that he deems “too moist”.

This is no quick job though! Wilson spends anything between one hour and three days creating his mini masterpieces, and doesn’t settle for anything less than perfection. He has even appeared on a television programme in South Korea about his strange pastime, which has made him into a minor celebrity. What a legend!

Perhaps more people should get involved? One thing is for sure, Mr Wilson is the epitome of creativity!

Review: Joe Pug

The Borderline, London, Feb 23 2012

by DAMIEN MURPHY

Credit: Damien Murphy

Why Chicago’s Joe Pug didn’t feel the need to return Kemptown’s Brighton Ballroom is his business. If the growing success that has taken him off the back roads and into the bright lights has gone to his head, you’d never guess it from his easy, genial demeanour on Borderline’s stage. In any case, the Borderline is off a backroad, down an alley, in a basement, so it’s all relative.

Relativity is key with Joe’s songs, in that they can become different beasts in different settings. On his unadorned debut EP, Nation of Heat, he delivers songs such as “I Do My Father’s Drugs” and “Nobody’s Man” with a fierce desperation. Live, however, they become pleading and fragile, taking on the greater restraint found on follow-up EP In the Meantime. On the title song of that latter collection (available for free on his website), he strips the mournful confessional down even further. He sings the aching “Unsophisticated Heart”, from his current album Messenger, as though no one were in the room but himself and whatever sad, imagined face he seems to see on the back wall of the club.

He wears his influences openly. Cryptic couplets trip from his tongue like a freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (“I am the brush, I am the strokes / I’m sickness come to the best of folks”). His plaintive harmonica wails recall Nebraska-era Springsteen. Dylan comparisons are inevitable, yet Pug effortlessly avoids sounding derivative. The parallels are there, in the lyrics and the delivery, but he is unmistakably his own man, and his songs bear his own idiosyncrasies. He strays from his own material just once to offer us “Deep, Dark Wells” by an obscure folk singer named Harvey Thomas Young, which he reverently tells us “should be a part of the American songbook”. That this cover – while a fine song – is the set’s weakest moment says quite something about the quality Pug’s own songs.

Between songs, he shows himself to be a thoroughly affable gent, accepting offers of whiskey as if he was down the pub with mates, and inviting the crowd to come and see him after the show.  “You don’t even have to buy the record,” he says. “Just come over for a chat. We don’t have any other friends in London”. He is clearly moved in complimenting his accompanying guirtarist and support acts (Christof, and Bhi Bhiman – both fine songwriters in their own right). When a woman howls out for “Hymn 52!” his response is perfectly pitched to save her blushes. “I haven’t written that one yet,” he hints gently. “But when I do, you’ll be the first to hear it”, before playing the gorgeous “Hymn #35”.

In the end, he reverts to the raging delivery of old, pounding out “Nation of Heat”, a disgusted indictment of the misplaced pride of his homeland, where “it ain’t rare to hear the streetlights call themselves stars”, and rounding out the set with a wild, stomping singalong on “Speak Plainly, Diana”, the only song from the EPs to be revisited on Messenger. It is a tremendous finish to a powerful celebration of the art of songwriting.

Before taking his leave, Joe returns to play us a new song, in which he says “If you remember one thing, then you remember this/ when the lights came up, there was nothing left that I could give.” He speaks the truth, and though you may not always know what he’s singing about, you damn sure believe it as fervently as he does.

Joe Pug’s second full length album, The Great Despiser, is released on April 24. A live album, Live at Lincoln Hall, is available for download for $5 (around £3.20), through his website.

Setlist

Nobody’s Man / Lock the Door, Christina / Messenger / I Do My Father’s Drugs / Unsophisticated Heart / How Good You Are / In the Meantime / Disguised as Someone Else / Hymn #35 / Deep, Dark Wells (by Harvey Thomas Young) / Hymn #101 / Call It What You Will / Nation of Heat / Speak Plainly, Diana / [encore] New Song

Popular M25 bus tour extended

Coach tours will take in the sites of the M25

A coach tour of the M25 has proved to be so popular that three additional dates have been scheduled.

The Brightonand Hove Bus company has been deluged by people wanted to go on the four and half hour trip around the London orbital, they have quadrupled the amount of spaces on offer.

Brighton Lite Interviews We Were Evergreen before their Headline Show in London Tonight

By Kayleigh Rose Lewis

Fabienne, Michael and William have been putting the fun back into music.

Photo courtesy of Lucy Roiter, Manager