Strangely, for a nation which continues to maintain a military presence in Afghanistan (at an average cost of £5bn a year) the UK does not appear to have been affected by Afghan asylum seekers to quite the same degree as other European countries like France and Germany.
This is despite the fact that a recent report published by the Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office, draws attention to the fact that the second quarter of 2011 saw a 23% increase in asylum claims across the 27 EU member states[1], with the highest numbers coming from Afghanistan (closely followed by Russia, and then Iraq). A total of 6,460 Afghans lodged retrospective asylum applications in that quarter, with “the largest numbers of applications for international protection” being lodged “in France, Germany and Belgium,” in that order.
During this period the UK received just over 2,000 asylum claims a month, slightly less than Belgium. Given all that we have done in the previous decade to drive Afghans from their homes, surely the least we can do is take a greater share of the burden from our EU partners?
1 The report, on ‘Population and social conditions,’ can be found here http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-SF-12-011/EN/KS-SF-12-011-EN.PDF
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
Cute Puppies and Kittens
In an effort to attract more mainstream interest to the blog, I'm posting a few drawings from my sketchbook featuring loose but - I hope - frankly adorable observational (apart from the one with the rabbit) drawings scanned from my sketchbook. (To prove how good my scanner is, look for the ghost of images showing through from the reverse of some of the pages!)
In case some of you are wondering if being in love has made me go soft, most of these were drawn in the months prior to meeting Jane, proving that I've always been a soft bastard!
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Serendipity in Brighton
As some of you may know, about seven years ago I was a contributor to the Glasgow-based underground comic Freak. You are probably also aware that my partner and I are regular visitors to Brighton, down on the south coast of England. I haven't been in touch with Freak's creator, the indefatigable Doctor Simpo, since about 2004, nor seen his work around. Imagine my surprise, therefore, when my partner and I wandered into a joke shop on Bond Street, Brighton, only to find a pile of copies of Doctor Simpo's Things and Stuff solo comic just inside the door. I was delighted that he was still working and finding people to stock his comic. I thought that he must have a good relationship with these people, too, as they have a few original Doctor Simpo drawings on the wall too... and some more of his comics... and some more original art hanging on the walls. What was this place?
It was at this point that a guy in a fez wandered over and introduced himself as "The Doctor." It was the first time I had met Doctor Simpo in person, having only corresponded by letter, email and telephone, during the old freak days, and he took the opportunity to show us around his latest project - Frighton or Bust. He even gave me a copy of the final Freak (issue 5, see above), which contains a two pager of mine, but which I never received for one reason or another at the time.
Frighton or Bust is in town for an initial run of two months, as a fully functioning gallery/comic shop/joke shop/magic shop, so that means that you have until the end of January 2012 to get down there and check it out. It's well worth a visit if you're in town.
Friday, 14 October 2011
What Has Boris Ever Done for Us?
Boris Johnson is a conservative journalist and politician whose appearances on the satirical TV news show Have I Got News For You and comments in the press can sometimes be very witty and amusing, while at other times being outright insensitive and even a bit racist (such as the time when, on the campaign trail, he cringingly described a young black child as a “picaninnie”). But, putting aside the casual racism, let’s take a look at what he has done for London since being elected Mayor?
His Staff at City Hall
His administration did not get off to the best of starts, being dogged by scandal from the beginning. First, there is the case of his first Deputy Mayor for Young People, Ray Lewis, who was appointed by Johnson on May 6 2008, two days after assuming control of City Hall.
Lewis had been embraced by senior Tories for his work with disadvantaged youngsters at the Eastside Young Leaders Academy in east London. Understandably if you consider that his approach to London’s problem teenagers was one of tough love and strict discipline. However, before he could damage these youngsters further, Lewis was forced into the position of having to resign only two months after being appointed to his role, following allegations of financial misconduct during his previous career as a Church of England priest [1]. Johnson claimed he was “misled” by Lewis [2], whose resignation came within days of the resignation of one of Johnson’s senior advisors, James McGrath, over racist comments he was alleged to have made about African-Caribbean migrants.
Early Initiatives
One of Johnson’s first moves as mayor of London was to ban the consumption of alcohol on public transport, which TfL’s director of transport policing and enforcement described as “reasonable”, and to halt the westward expansion of the Congestion Charging zone introduced by previous Mayor Ken Livingstone (primarily, it seems, to satisfy the residents of Kensington & Chelsea), which annoyed motorists no end but resulted in a noticeable improvement in air quality in central London.
He also set up the Forensic Audit Panel, tasked with monitoring and investigating financial management at the London Development Agency and the Greater London Authority, which had previously investigated allegations of financial mismanagement itself. However, questions were raised about the “politicization” of this nominally independent panel. It is headed by Patience Wheatcroft, a former editor of the Sunday Telegraph and wife of a Conservative councilor, and three of the four other panel members also enjoy close links with the Conservative Party.
Wasting Money
In 2009, at the height of the MP’s expenses scandal, it was revealed that Mayoral expenditure on taxi fares had risen significantly under Johnson’s administration, and that “out of a total of £8,169 in personal expenses incurred since he took office, taxi costs were by far the biggest item as he ran up a bill for £4,698 to be ferried across the capital” [3].
Green Credentials?
A keen cyclist, in July 2010 Johnson launched a new bike hire scheme in London, popularly known as the “Boris bike”. The scheme, which was sponsored by Barclays Bank with the stated aim of turning London into a “city of cyclists”, was subsequently undermined by his decision to cut £10m off the budget for new cycle lanes in London [4]. An unintended bonus of the scheme, though perhaps one not appreciated by Johnson or his sponsor, was that the bikes provided anti-arms trade activists with a wonderful means of drawing attention to the fact that the scheme’s sponsor, Barclays, also invests heavily in the international arms trade. This was done by pasting info stickers across the large Barclays logo which the bikes were originally emblazoned with.
Charitable Projects
To his credit, Boris Johnson supports a number of charitable causes, including The Iris Project, an educational charity which promotes the teaching of classics, ancient languages and culture in inner city schools.
Courting the Gay Vote
He has also made a serious attempt to distance himself from his support for the homophobic Section 28 which he supported back in 1988. This nasty piece of legislation, which prevented teachers from “promoting homosexuality” by talking about it in the course of regular sex education classes, and hampering their ability to tackle homophobic bullying in schools, was only repealed in 2004. Like most Tories, Johnson voted in favour of the legislation at the time, although he now thinks, like the rest of his party, that it was a “bad idea.” Quite when his views altered is not clear, as he was still making comments like this one, in his book Friends, Voters, Countrymen, as recently as 2001:
“If gay marriage was OK – and I was uncertain on the issue – then I saw no reason in principle why a union should not be consecrated between three men, as well as two men; or indeed three men and a dog.”
I hope this was intended as a joke, and that the “libertarian” stance he has adopted towards LGBT rights subsequently, especially in interviews given to the gay media [5], is sincere. He has, it must be acknowledged, voted in favour of civil partnerships in recent years.
Law and Order
One of the things which undoubtedly played a part in Johnson winning the 2008 mayoral election was his decision to halt the planned westward expansion of the congestion charge, especially into the wealthy boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea. This certainly mobilized the owners of expensive 4x4’s against previous mayor Ken Livingstone, and his power mad crusade to improve the air quality for people who live or work in central London.
Given his previous track record of abolishing funding for bike lanes and protecting the freedom of rich people to drive high polluting vehicles, it is easy to see that Johnson is a mayor who takes no serious interest in environmental issues. But his electoral base tend to care more about law and order and the economy than “wooly” issues like environmental health, so as long as he’s tough on crime it should be all plain sailing, right? Could anything really work against him at the next election?
In February 2011 Mayor Johnson announced that he would be slashing 300 police sergeants from London’s 630 teams (in June the Met Police figures revealed that the number of officers in London would be cut by 1,800 over the next two to three years). This would seem to be an inevitable consequence of the cuts to public services demanded by the government, except that somehow the number of City Hall staff on 6 figure salaries has increased from 16 to 28 [6].
Will Londoners be taken in a second time, or will Johnson return to what he does best, peddling his unique brand of wittiness and bigotry on satirical quiz shows?
Notes:
1 http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jul/05/boris.london
2 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7491084.stm
3 http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23711920-boris-johnson-dents-cycling-image-with-4698-taxi-bill.do
4 http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/nov/21/london-cycling-boris-johnson
5 http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-5535.html
6 ‘Police cuts in spotlight as 2012 ballot draws nearer’ Morning Star, Thursday July 14 2011
His Staff at City Hall
His administration did not get off to the best of starts, being dogged by scandal from the beginning. First, there is the case of his first Deputy Mayor for Young People, Ray Lewis, who was appointed by Johnson on May 6 2008, two days after assuming control of City Hall.
Lewis had been embraced by senior Tories for his work with disadvantaged youngsters at the Eastside Young Leaders Academy in east London. Understandably if you consider that his approach to London’s problem teenagers was one of tough love and strict discipline. However, before he could damage these youngsters further, Lewis was forced into the position of having to resign only two months after being appointed to his role, following allegations of financial misconduct during his previous career as a Church of England priest [1]. Johnson claimed he was “misled” by Lewis [2], whose resignation came within days of the resignation of one of Johnson’s senior advisors, James McGrath, over racist comments he was alleged to have made about African-Caribbean migrants.
Early Initiatives
One of Johnson’s first moves as mayor of London was to ban the consumption of alcohol on public transport, which TfL’s director of transport policing and enforcement described as “reasonable”, and to halt the westward expansion of the Congestion Charging zone introduced by previous Mayor Ken Livingstone (primarily, it seems, to satisfy the residents of Kensington & Chelsea), which annoyed motorists no end but resulted in a noticeable improvement in air quality in central London.
He also set up the Forensic Audit Panel, tasked with monitoring and investigating financial management at the London Development Agency and the Greater London Authority, which had previously investigated allegations of financial mismanagement itself. However, questions were raised about the “politicization” of this nominally independent panel. It is headed by Patience Wheatcroft, a former editor of the Sunday Telegraph and wife of a Conservative councilor, and three of the four other panel members also enjoy close links with the Conservative Party.
Wasting Money
In 2009, at the height of the MP’s expenses scandal, it was revealed that Mayoral expenditure on taxi fares had risen significantly under Johnson’s administration, and that “out of a total of £8,169 in personal expenses incurred since he took office, taxi costs were by far the biggest item as he ran up a bill for £4,698 to be ferried across the capital” [3].
Green Credentials?
A keen cyclist, in July 2010 Johnson launched a new bike hire scheme in London, popularly known as the “Boris bike”. The scheme, which was sponsored by Barclays Bank with the stated aim of turning London into a “city of cyclists”, was subsequently undermined by his decision to cut £10m off the budget for new cycle lanes in London [4]. An unintended bonus of the scheme, though perhaps one not appreciated by Johnson or his sponsor, was that the bikes provided anti-arms trade activists with a wonderful means of drawing attention to the fact that the scheme’s sponsor, Barclays, also invests heavily in the international arms trade. This was done by pasting info stickers across the large Barclays logo which the bikes were originally emblazoned with.
Charitable Projects
To his credit, Boris Johnson supports a number of charitable causes, including The Iris Project, an educational charity which promotes the teaching of classics, ancient languages and culture in inner city schools.
Courting the Gay Vote
He has also made a serious attempt to distance himself from his support for the homophobic Section 28 which he supported back in 1988. This nasty piece of legislation, which prevented teachers from “promoting homosexuality” by talking about it in the course of regular sex education classes, and hampering their ability to tackle homophobic bullying in schools, was only repealed in 2004. Like most Tories, Johnson voted in favour of the legislation at the time, although he now thinks, like the rest of his party, that it was a “bad idea.” Quite when his views altered is not clear, as he was still making comments like this one, in his book Friends, Voters, Countrymen, as recently as 2001:
“If gay marriage was OK – and I was uncertain on the issue – then I saw no reason in principle why a union should not be consecrated between three men, as well as two men; or indeed three men and a dog.”
I hope this was intended as a joke, and that the “libertarian” stance he has adopted towards LGBT rights subsequently, especially in interviews given to the gay media [5], is sincere. He has, it must be acknowledged, voted in favour of civil partnerships in recent years.
Law and Order
One of the things which undoubtedly played a part in Johnson winning the 2008 mayoral election was his decision to halt the planned westward expansion of the congestion charge, especially into the wealthy boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea. This certainly mobilized the owners of expensive 4x4’s against previous mayor Ken Livingstone, and his power mad crusade to improve the air quality for people who live or work in central London.
Given his previous track record of abolishing funding for bike lanes and protecting the freedom of rich people to drive high polluting vehicles, it is easy to see that Johnson is a mayor who takes no serious interest in environmental issues. But his electoral base tend to care more about law and order and the economy than “wooly” issues like environmental health, so as long as he’s tough on crime it should be all plain sailing, right? Could anything really work against him at the next election?
In February 2011 Mayor Johnson announced that he would be slashing 300 police sergeants from London’s 630 teams (in June the Met Police figures revealed that the number of officers in London would be cut by 1,800 over the next two to three years). This would seem to be an inevitable consequence of the cuts to public services demanded by the government, except that somehow the number of City Hall staff on 6 figure salaries has increased from 16 to 28 [6].
Will Londoners be taken in a second time, or will Johnson return to what he does best, peddling his unique brand of wittiness and bigotry on satirical quiz shows?
Notes:
1 http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jul/05/boris.london
2 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7491084.stm
3 http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23711920-boris-johnson-dents-cycling-image-with-4698-taxi-bill.do
4 http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/nov/21/london-cycling-boris-johnson
5 http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-5535.html
6 ‘Police cuts in spotlight as 2012 ballot draws nearer’ Morning Star, Thursday July 14 2011
Monday, 5 September 2011
Community Gardens of Melbourne
Check out this short article I penned recently about the beautiful community gardens they have in Melbourne, Australia, which my equally beautiful and eco-minded Australian fiance Jane introduced me to during our recent trip there - http://www.peacenewslog.info/2011/08/ceres-and-the-community-gardens-of-melbourne/
We visited the massive Ceres Environment Park as well as the much smaller Veg Out community garden in the suburb of St Kilda. The latter is where the photos were taken, although this was uncredited.
I must say how pleased I am to have my piece in the 'cultural resistance' section!
We visited the massive Ceres Environment Park as well as the much smaller Veg Out community garden in the suburb of St Kilda. The latter is where the photos were taken, although this was uncredited.
I must say how pleased I am to have my piece in the 'cultural resistance' section!
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Capitalising on anti-capitalism
It seems dreadfully amiss that I haven't posted any toons on here lately. So here's one I did a while ago, inspired by some of the sights and sounds of Camden Market...
Monday, 4 July 2011
...And Continuing The Downbeat Theme
Bad Press Ltd, the independent comics publisher run by comics giant Alan Grant, which until recently had been putting out the quarterly adult humour mag Wasted, has sadly gone into liquidation.
It was fun to be a part of Wasted, and an immense honour to be featured alongside so many artists and writers who I admire greatly, and who have always been incredibly supportive of new and aspiring talent (like yours truly).
Anthology titles are vehicles for a wide array of talent, and underground mags are often intermittent, short-lived enterprises. I've no doubt that many of the characters which appeared in its pages will rise, phoenix-like, in new and unexpected places.
I hope to return soon with tales of new beginnings.
It was fun to be a part of Wasted, and an immense honour to be featured alongside so many artists and writers who I admire greatly, and who have always been incredibly supportive of new and aspiring talent (like yours truly).
Anthology titles are vehicles for a wide array of talent, and underground mags are often intermittent, short-lived enterprises. I've no doubt that many of the characters which appeared in its pages will rise, phoenix-like, in new and unexpected places.
I hope to return soon with tales of new beginnings.
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