No Abiding City

Brighton's homeless have, according to the BBC, doubled this year. Meanwhile, I received a text telling me that, in Oxford, homeless are left outside in the cold because all the shelters are full. I am quite certain that there is an unusually large queue for this time of year at the soup run on the seafront, due to what has been described as a "purge" from London, around venues for the Olympics and that some have made their way to the 'city by the sea'.

The BBC link above actually has some quite shocking quotes from homeless people who tell of their having been forcefully pushed out of areas of London. The South East is therefore receiving some more homeless than is apparently usual. China did the same, India did the same, so who can blame that other 'third world' nation, the UK, from doing the same. After all, they're not good for tourism and the image of the UK.

It has been a strange two days or so. On my way to going to visit George and Diane yesterday I came across a couple, Neil and Margaret, outside the Jobcentre in Brighton, having recognised Jim, a former successful jockey, now hanging out in Brighton hoping to be found by the Rough Sleepers Team in Brighton. He turned up at the door of the Church on Friday during Catechism asking for a sleeping bag. Fr Ray gave him his jacket and I gave him a duvet from the garage of the Church. His story is rather confusing, I have to admit, but however he got here, he is in Brighton and is now rough sleeping.



Despite the fact that the interview above is rather 'in your face' I thought it worthwhile posting it up. It isn't 'politically correct', it isn't necessarily 'tasteful' and it isn't that 'pleasant', but nevertheless, these are the real opinions of real people living life on the edge in Brighton and for that reason they are worth hearing. I don't personally agree that 'foreigners' are taking a great deal of housing, certainly not in Brighton, Brighton being not half as cosmopolitan a city as, say, London, but nevertheless, that is their perception. Given that the man, Neil, has fought for this country and is left destitute after his stint in Northern Ireland, I certainly believe his words are worth listening to. I found it astonishing that the couple were looking for work at the Jobcentre even though they are homeless, but, even so, they are cut off from the benefits system, Neil having missed his letter telling him he has a medical assessment, when he was in Manchester, because they sent the letter to the wrong address. If you don't turn up for your medical assessment, in this country, then you are cut off from the benefits system. They've been in Brighton a week or two and sleep in a car park and it is getting colder by the day.

Their words are a challenge to us all. Perhaps there are issues with them, there is likely to be, but I believe that the Gospel still speaks through them. They are right to say that unless they have been here 6 months sleeping rough then they will not be considered to have a local connection and the Council will not house them until they have seen winter through.

I recently heard that a man of just 39, a rough sleeper called Steph Kelly died in Brighton on the streets. He had been taking a great deal of drugs over time, upon his release from prison. At the meal at the evangelical Church for the homeless on Monday they gave him a minutes silence. Men and women cried as they remembered the friend that they lost to drugs, alcohol and a cocktail of prescription drugs. People had tried to warn him to stop but he couldn't, wouldn't or didn't think he or the life he was living was worth it. You might perhaps think that street homeless and hostel homeless would become immune to hearing of the deaths of their brothers and sisters, but despite the harshness of their lives, often ravaged by alcohol and drug addiction, they intensely love their brothers and sisters. I know someone who says he has 20 friends who died in the last two years. He worries that he is next, but he 'doesn't care' either whether it is him. He says he cares when others die, but he doesn't care if he dies. There is a certain nihilism there, a devil may care attitude towards himself and yet when it comes to others, it is something else entirely.

Meanwhile, this evening, I met a lady who had a most horrendous story to tell. She is a mental health nurse who now feels she cannot work in the United Kingdom because the NHS is so appalling. She complained of the way in which the NHS deals with mental health patients and especially the 'care in the community' system. She said that in America, things are markedly better, whereas here, we never get to the root of the problem for mental health patients and just throw medication at them and then let them go. However, tonight she was particular angry.

Why? Well, her story, or rather the story of her niece, who she was comforting tonight, is not pleasant. The story of her niece is, in fact, perhaps the most harrowing story I have heard for a long time. Recently, her niece, who I met, and her boyfriend and son, befriended someone in their area. They didn't know he had mental health issues. One night, he called at her flat, where she lives with her boyfriend and son and was troubled, so they invited him in for a cup of tea. The man proceeded to go to the kitchen and got knives out of the drawer and started cutting himself up in front of them. In fact, he started cutting himself up so much that he cut a vast array of his arteries all over his body. The boyfriend tried to stop him but he just kept grabbing more knives. The mother had to get the son and literally throw him out of the house while getting the neighbours to call the emergency services. By the end, the man was dead, only to be brought back to life later by the emergency services. The niece now lives in a house which is covered in the man's blood. Totally covered in blood.

They have tried repainting the walls but the blood is still coming through. The man thought he was possessed and was trying to cut 'the demon' out from himself. He was rushed to hospital but the couple and the son were left in a house literally covered in blood. Understandably, they want to move but the Council are not yet doing anything to move them. The house should really be abandoned by now, in my opinion, and they are still in shock. But the most harrowing aspect of the story is that even though the man was at death's door, having cut himself to pieces, literally with parts of his internal organs hanging out, he is now out of hospital and is calling at the door of the couple and he won't stop going round. Why has the man not been sectioned? Why is he not in a secure hospital? Is he not a 'danger to himself and others'? Well, this is 'care in the community'.

Apparently, it was Margaret Thatcher who closed down all the mental asylums of Britain and just let the society that she said did not really exist deal with psychopathic mental patients. Say a prayer, or a Rosary, for the lady (you can pray for the 'iron lady' as well, of course), her niece and her family as despite the terrible things that have happened at the flat, the local authority seems to be washing their hands of the situation, while they are still trying to wash the blood off the walls and repaint them despite the fact that blood is still coming through. I don't know why people who are troubled come to Brighton but they do. Some people are desperate to get out. The lady I was speaking to about it is Catholic but she has lost her faith over the years, so say a prayer for her too and for the protection of her relatives.

The niece, who still lives in the same house, still coping with the trauma of what happened went on her way back to the same house where the same guy is still calling round is on the edge of a breakdown. Her boyfriend is, following what he saw, having a nervous breakdown. I told her that the Catholic Church has exorcists but that it is likely that 99% of cases are literally to do with 'mental health'. She replied that if you had seen this guy cutting himself open and opening up his chest in front of you, his eyes and face changing so much that that person you thought you had met was no longer there, you'd know that demonic possession is totally real.

Oh and, last, but by no means least, pray for the man who is (at best) seriously mentally ill, who is harrasing the family and that the authorities will take action that will save his life and bring peace to their lives. Welcome to Brighton and, remember, its nothing like what the Council and tourist board say it is. You could have the best 'global economy' run by a world bank in the World, even one run along the lines of the Church's social teaching, but, somehow, I don't think it would save the West. Only Our Blessed Lord can save this country.

This is Laurence England reporting to you live from Brighton and, while the view here is sometimes pretty, there is no doubt in my mind that this country is going to the wall, big time and how! If you live in the countryside, well, good for you! My advice, for the time being, is stay there! And it isn't even Halloween yet...Ave Maria, gratia plena...Anyway, to end, let's end with something light. As you'll hear from our video, I've got nothing on John Squire, but George, even though he isn't famous, is still a better singer than Ian Brown. Why not say a prayer for Ian and his ladywife too who is, apparently, a Mexican lady.

The Riots and Emergency Temporary Accommodation

17/19 Grand Parade, Brighton

Readers of this blog will be aware of posts I have written on the appalling nature of the emergency temporary accommodation in Brighton for homeless, mentally ill people, people with addictions, or just people who have been placed by the Council into terrible accommodation for the simple reason that there is, in their view, 'nowhere else' to place them. In fact, it is not fair to say that everyone in 17/19 Grand Parade is even 'vulnerable'. One guy I met there was just trying to get along and get work in Brighton.

What I have seen of 'emergency temporary accommodation' is pretty shocking. More shocking to me was the extortionate amounts of money the Council hands over to limited companies such as Baron Homes Corporation Ltd, or Helgor Trading Ltd, or some other private firm, for their services to the Council. On average, per person, £200 a week was paid by the Council to these companies in order to keep a 'client' housed. This is, as we know, more than double what it costs to rent a normal studio, or even 1-bed flat in Brighton.

One thing I've noticed about the riots in London is that the tragic fires that raged through the City have turned up some gems of information in their wake and the site is now worth a good old archaeological dig. Why? Well, one riot victim, a lady called Vina, told Sky News about her ordeal at the hands of rioters in Tottenham, against the backdrop of her flat, in which only a charred bookcase was still left standing. She was asked by the interviewer whether the Government had promised her help in order to resettle and the lady answered something like this, though this is by no means verbatim:

"David Cameron has promised help to the homeless victims of these riots, but when I went to the Council and asked for help, all they could offer me was a room in temporary accommodation for £200 a week. There was no way my boyfriend and I will pay £200 a week for a room in temporary accommodation, so we'll be staying with friends or relatives. We can't afford to pay that and why should we for one room!? It would be alright if he and I were on the dole, it would all be paid for by the Council in housing benefits, but I work and so does he. I'm disgusted by the Council's response."

Now, as anyone who reads this blog will guess, what she said sent alarm bells ringing in my ears. In this time of crisis, the Council has no proper accommodation to rent out for the homeless who have been swelled in their ranks by this lady and her boyfriend. What the Council does have is an arrangement with a landlord who, most likely, runs an operation rather similar to 17/19 Grand Parade, Brighton. The newscaster was flabberghasted by the lady's assertion that the owner of the temporary accommodation in Tottenham was charging £200 a week to stay in one room - but then - he would be - because this nationwide scandal and flagrant waste of taxpayer's money has not yet been exposed or made public. It needs a thorough investigation by documentary makers at our beloved BBC in order to expose it.

The arrangement is thus: Private companies own much of the temporary accommodation in the United Kingdom. To them, it is just real estate and capitalism in action. They cram their accommodation with poor and homeless people because the Councils have nowhere else to put them (because acting as their guarantors for nice accommodation wouldn't be on because they are not "worthy"). Because of the scarce resources Council's have in order to house people, the unscrupulous landlords, owners and companies who run these operations charge something in the region of between £28-£50 (I kid you not for this is how much Diane and George are paying each in Worthing) a night for the privilege of staying in a room where you would not keep a dog and in which you will find it often tricky to swing a cat.

These private registered trading companies have Councils over a barrel - they are used by the Council in order to respond to homelessness. Quite rightly, the lady whose house was sorrowfully burnt down in Tottenham by thugs refused the Council's offer because it is a truly astonishing waste of her money. However, what she may or may not have considered is that the Council is wasting a truly astonishing amount of her money anyway, because as she pays Council Tax, she is in fact paying the Council so that the Council can shell out £200-a-week for someone to stay in the local temporary dive of accommodation owned by an unscrupulous, exploitative landlord, owner or indeed registered trading limited company. It is, of course, a stitch up, I just cannot believe I was so naive to think that this farce was limited to Brighton and was not general all over the South East and most likely the United Kingdom.

Councils are literally pissing public money down the drain by paying £200 a week to rogue landlords just to place vulnerable and homeless adults into squalour. It is true for Brighton and Hove City Council and I will bet it is also true for the Councils of London and beyond. So, there is a diamond which has emerged from an unhappy fire. I pray for the lady and her boyfriend and hope they find somewhere nice soon.

Hostels and Hotels

Anyway, back to those riots. Alarm bells rang in my ears once more this weekend when I read an article by a lady who is friends or mentors gang members in the areas of London which experienced the riots. The lady is called Harriet Sergent, I'd like to meet her if I can, and it is is by far and away the best article on the riots I have read, but unfortunately it was in the Times Review, so it is unreadable to all who refuse to pay more into Murdoch's empire. She explained quite unequivocably that the riots have been caused by lamentable education, illiteracy, absent fathers and male role models, lack of employment opportunities and the fact that all of them are better off on benefits. But here is why alarm bells rang for me:

"Men like Sweets are rare. The majority, black or white, live lives similar to Mash, Bulldog or Lips either in Council flats with their single mothers or on their own in a hostel. In his small and dingy room, Lips keeps his clothes in a black rubbish bag, Apart from his mobile phones he has no other possessions other than a towel and a framed photograph, both of which I had given him."

Hostels are no fun at all but at least they are staffed usually quite well. The question is are men that Harriet met in hostels or are they, indeed, in temporary emergency accommodation? I would expect that these men are in the same kind of accommodation that the working, more monied lady who had her flat burned down was offered as refuge by the Council for £200 a week. If these boys are indeed in that kind of accommodation then whether they worked or not, they would still never cover their rent in order to get out of these places and 'get on in life' - if, if they had the means to do so. In other words, Council policy of spending loads of taxpayers money to place single men and women into squalid temporary accommodation run by rogue landlords and companies actually has the effect of trapping those men and those women into that accommodation merry-go-round. They are condemned to live there because there is no escape from it, even if you found work - because you would actually be kicked out onto the street if you did find work because you wouldn't be able to cover your rent plus your "top up fee" for the privilege of staying in squalour.

£50 per night each at the public's expense to stay here...

George and Diane are in the process of moving back to Brighton, but things have been no different, really, in Worthing.

The Wolsey Hotel, left, acts as temporary emergency accommodation for Councils in Sussex, including Brighton and Hove. The owner, a lady called Evelyn (or 'Evil Inns Ltd', as George calls her) runs 3 or 4 similar hotels on the seafront of Worthing.

Outside the 'Hotel' is a sign that makes it appear it is trading for business, with a telephone number and the rest. Of course, if you were a holiday maker looking for somewhere to stay you'd never get in to this B&B because it ceased being a traditional B&B a long time ago. It is, as I say, 'emergency accommodation' and the lady owns 72 rooms along the Worthing seafront in three or four different 'Hotels'. She's been clever about it as well, making many rooms smaller by partitioning them to make the business more profitable, just like Baron Homes did with some of their rooms at 17/19 Grand Parade.

Evelyn charges each council £50 per night for a customer to stay at the hotel. This is double what she could charge daily for a normal customer apart, perhaps, from at weekends. She is onto a good deal, wouldn't you say? With 72 rooms she must be making approximately £1,314,000 a year. At the hotel you can't smoke, or drink, or behave as if one were 'on holiday' because it is not a B&B for tourists, no matter how much it appears as if it is - it is 'emergency accommodation' for the homeless. In fairness to her, she does at least give them bed and a cooked breakfast.

However, regardless of whether she is an evil old witch exploiting the poor or a concerned and loving neighbour who takes in the vulnerable, one thing is clear. Each Council with whom she does business is spending on average £350 a week on each person to live in a small room on the seafront. There is accommodation for that staggering amount in Brighton and Worthing, but it is at the upper end of the market and for that money you would be able to rent a 3-4 bed house with a garden for £1400 PCM. 

Where Ruthless Capitalism Does Business with the Welfare State

Now, if you are scandalised by that astonishing waste of public money, how scandalised do you think those who inhabit these temporary accommodations feel when they find out how much the Council is giving to these opportunistic landlords and private registered companies? Really rather scandalised indeed! Everytime George thinks about it he nearly blows a gasket! This is sheer and total Council-led incompetence that borders on corruption. There is no reason that the Councils could not act as guarantors on these individuals to find them more suitable accommodation - they would save millions of pounds a year in doing so - it is just that they do not think that poor people are "worthy".

It is plausible that I am exaggerating the case here, but it would not surprise me if a proportion of those who rioted were indeed staying in temporary emergency accommodation and were and are trapped there, surrounded by drug addicts, alcoholics, mentally ill people and people like themselves who had fallen through the system and into the arms of a company like Baron Homes Corporation Ltd, who are milking the Council dry in order to place human beings in dogs homes. If that is true, then I am not surprised that those people rioted. Rioting is never the answer to the problem, of course, but it would mean that there is a legitimate grievance to the frustration of many men and women, black and white, in London.

The Duty of the Fourth Estate 

Nobody should be covering the Council's arses or those of companies ripping off the taxpayer and the poor into the bargain. The public has the right to know the true nature of the temporary emergency accommodation in both London and the provinces of England, so that the grave and terrible injustice of the rich's exploitation of the poor for profit is known generally and universally across the land. Their despicable deeds must be exposed for the sake of Justice, for Heaven's sake as well as for the sake of the poor people who must inhabit these disgusting tenements. The Council offered this accommodation to the lady whose flat was burned down and out of hand she rejected it. Good for you, girl! The poor, however, have no such choice - they accept what they are given - but it must be made known to the people of this country and the Fourth Estate needs to investigate the great British housing benefit rip off being conducted by rogue landlords, companies and owners of temporary emergency accommodation in which Councils are complicit in both this crime and the flagrant waste of British taxpayer's money. I hope and pray that that day comes soon and here is the man, Robert Peston, who I hope will help me to expose it because this is not just a moral scandal, but an economic one.

New Protest Song Alert: The Eye of a Needle

I don't have sound on my computer, so I'd be interested whether the sounds levels regarding vocals and guitar on this are about right, or, indeed, not. Regardless of whether this song is good or whether it is something that wouldn't make a Pete Doherty B-side, I don't imagine I'll ever get a job working for the Leisure and Tourism department of Brighton and Hove City Council. Lyrics below...


The Eye of a Needle

You’re down and out in Brighton
So now what you gonna do?
Though there’s ‘To Let’ signs everywhere
This city’s got no room for you
You’ve got some cash
But the agents they want more, more, more
You need a flat
But brother you are poor, poor, poor

So you go and see the Council
Maybe they’ve a room for you?
You drag your belongings
Down Crack Central avenue
You were full of hope but now that you’ve arrived-rived-rived
You see the room and you break down and you cry, cry, cry

There’s a soldier up above who’s been beating on his wife
He left Iraq but now he can’t cope with civilian life
And there’s a sad man rapping at your door, door, door
Asking, “Here, do you know where I can score, score, score?”

Then you lay on your mattress,
Out the corner of your eye
You spy a used needle that an addict’s left behind
You’ve never stayed anywhere like this before-fore-fore!
There’s a dry patch of blood upon the floor, floor, floor, floor, floor!

Oh this is Brighton
Brighton
Welcome to Brighton
17/19 Grand Parade
Brighton

There’s a sad man rapping at your door
His arms are cut to shreds and now he’s asking for your support

You get a letter from the Council
Telling you the room’s price
You ask, “How can it cost that for this squalid little dive?”
Then another letter comes up to your door, door, door
You’ve got to pay 'top-up' or you’ll be out in the morning

You ask who runs this joint
You find out that its Baron Homes
They’re making money out of you
It chills you to the bone
The owners making loads of cash, cash, cash
You see another tenant in a body bag, bag, bag

[Audacious key change]

You’re down and out in Brighton
So now what you gonna do?
When the eye of a needle is just what you’re passing through
You tell the Council but they don’t really mind, mind, mind
Do they care if you should live or die?

You wait for 7 hours at the Council
Maybe there’s another room
“There must be more to Brighton than Crack Central”, Oh , but you?
You’re not welcome in this town because you’re poor,
"Here’s a ticket to the town where you come from,"
The rich they are welcome here, that’s all
But not you, no, you are not really their sort,
Then a stranger walks straight through your door, door, door
He’s got the keys he’s the tenant from before-fore-fore!
There’s a bad man rapping at your door, door door!
Asking, “Here brother, do you want to score, score, score?”
The Council ask, “Have you ever considered Eastbourne?”

This is Brighton
Brighton
Brighton
Welcome to Brighton
Brighton
17/19
Grand Parade
Brighton

[Repeat to Fade]

Great Eastern Pub, Brighton

The poor unwelcome here

Yesterday I popped into the Great Eastern pub on Trafalgar Street in Brighton to meet George and Diane.  We were having a nice drink and a chat in the sun when the afternoon turned sour.

I sat down, had a pint with my erstwhile busking buddy and we began chatting. A little earlier he had had a disagreement with the man serving behind the counter who I think was the landlord. Basically, he had been waiting quite a while and the guy serving had been ignoring him.

A couple kept um-ing and ah-ing about what they were going to order and finally settled on a cocktail for which the pub didn't have the oranges for it, or something like that. So, they were still um-ing and ah-ing. George grew a little impatient and asked whether, while they were deciding, he could order a drink.

The landlord looked at him very dismissively and replied in what George understood to be a rather rude fashion. Eventually, he was served but he felt like the landlord was being rather off with him.

George and Diane were sat outside on the benches where customers sit. They know a lot of the poor, homeless and drink and drug addicts of London Road. Four or five came along and said hello and chatted, asking how George and Diane were. A couple of girls with white rosary beads came along, talked to George and Diane and called them 'Mum' and 'Dad'.  George and Diane really care about a lot of the poor of Brighton, having known at least some of their experiences in life. They have the trust and love of the poor of London Road.

Anyway, so after I'd given George his St George's day card, albeit somewhat belatedly, we returned to chatting when the landlord and a man who turns out to be the proprietor of the pub sat down. The disagreement over what had happened with regard to being served reappeared. George said something about the fact that respect is a two way street. It was clear that there was quite some animosity towards George from the landlord. They had a little disagreement outside while sat on the benches and left it there. Then, while the landlord and proprietor were sat nearby, in earshot granted, I asked George what was going on. He went on to explain what had happened, to me.

While George was telling me what had taken place, the landlord suddenly got in a huff. I told him, George and I were having a private conversation and that if he didn't like it he could go inside or something. I must say the landlord was most conceited in the way he talked to George. He became visibly angry, his face wobbling with anger and eventually blurted out that neither George, nor I were welcome in his pub, that we should drink up and leave. So, I said to the guy words to the effect that this all seems a little disproportionate to what had happened. Nobody had raised their voice or their arm. It sounded to me like customer service (the customer is always right and all that) was something reserved only to some, but not to others. George said words to the effect that if he wanted us to leave they should give us our money back for the drinks we had just that second bought (my round, you understand). The landlord said no, but the owner of the pub convinced him to do so. Both were incredibly arrogant in their behaviour towards George and me too. I thought George, in contrast, was relatively mild-mannered and restrained.

For some reason, the landlord asked me what I do for a living. I don't start the exam invigilating until Monday, so I told him I was unemployed. He looked at me and said, "That doesn't surprise me!" What a cheek! And he's saying that to one of his customers! Anyway, so I said to him, "We'll go, but remember that old adage about a bad customer experience, about how that customer tells at least 7 people and those 7 people tell another 7 people and that's how some businesses fail - bad reputation." Then, to my outrage (Peter Tatchell, eat your heart out), he said sneeringly, "You're not customers." So, I said back to him, "Oh, why is that?" and he replied, "er...because you're barred." So, I said to him words to the effect that that was not what I thought he meant. I told him words to the effect that I think what he really meant is that he thinks he is more human than we are but that really he is inhuman.

Now, that may have been grossly uncharitable of me to say that, but I just couldn't understand why both the landlord and the owner of the joint had it in for George, who, were he a different 'class' of customer, who perhaps wasn't on friendly terms with some of Brighton's poor, then he might just have been differently treated. Secondly, as far as customer service goes, it was just absolutely appalling. The customer is always right, at least that is what I was told when I worked for Halfords in my teens, even when they're wrong. I was shocked and appalled at George's treatment. Personally, I think he just hated George because he hates the poor and probably hates the Lord Jesus too, Who, of course, loves him dearly (so important to remember that!).

Anyway, that's all folks. I've written this post for one reason and one reason only. To show the Great Eastern pub that a bad customer experience is told to at least 7 people, who then in turn tell 7 other people and that this effect is even more magnified, when you tell all the readers of your blog which gets around 800-1000 hits a day. Don't go to the Great Eastern pub, local readers, they persecute the poor and banish them from their premises only for speaking their minds and for standing up for their consumer rights. What is more, I'll bet there's not that much on Google search about the Great Eastern pub, so this should go quite near the top of the search engine results in no time whatsoever. I haven't labelled a post for ages. I think I'll do it this time. It helps with Google search results, apparently. I think I might Twitter this and Facebook it too. God bless you, readers! This is my first, but possibly not the last, pub review. To their credit, the beer was nice...Horrid staff, though.

Mwa-hah-hah! Nobody expects a mystery shopper! Gosh! What do you know!? Its on the first page of Google already! Mwa-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah!

Wiston Clinic, Pregnancy and Abortion

Are you considering an abortion at Wistons Clinic, Brighton?

Due to the fact that my blog post appears quite high on the Google-search...

If you are considering an abortion at Wistons Clinic, please be reassured that there are alternatives to abortion. Studies have shown that the psychological, physical and spiritual effects of abortion can be highly damaging and traumatic, in terms of feelings of loss, pain, regret, guilt and despair.

Life UK provide assistance in terms of housing and care to mothers who are struggling to cope with the prospect of motherhood. The charity also offer a free helpline to those in need of non-judgmental counselling and advice for those who feel torn because of an unwanted pregnancy or are considering abortion or who have procured one and need post-abortion counselling.

If you feel you fit into either of these categories then click the link here to access the Life website. Their hotline is 0800 915 4600 or you can 'text to talk' at 07786 200330.