THAT Olympic branding...

Take Action Against Junk Mail

Newham is awash with junk mail. Our letter boxes are stuffed full of it every day and leaving aside the content of the rubbish that people distribute, the impact on the environment is immense.


On average, each UK household receives 18 items of junk mail every week, leading to 21 billion junk mail items distributed to UK households on average every year. The annual total of unsolicited mail and hand-delivered flyers in the UK weighs about 550,000 tonnes. The vast majority of this is unsolicited unaddressed junk mail. The production of junk mail also uses a significant amount of energy and causes air pollution. Each tonne produced uses enough energy to heat an average home for 6 months and causes 26 kilograms of air pollutants.

According to Environment Agency, reducing 1 tonne of junk mail saves 17 trees, 2.3 cubic metres if landfill, 31,400 litres of water, 4,200 kilowatt hours of energy, 1,600 litres of oil and avoids 26 kilograms of air pollutants.

Fortunately, you can do something about it.

Firstly, put up a sign saying 'no junk mail'. You can make your own, or buy one - we like the fancy (and cheap) ones available from www.nojunkmailsigns.com

Next up, return the junk mail you receive to the people that distributed it.

Download this flyer (PDF), cut it into 'compliment slips' and post the junk mail back to the companies that produced it - no need for a stamp, making them pay may help them to focus on the bigger picture.

If enough of us start to do this, maybe the junk mailers will get the message.

As for the unsolicited mail that is actually addressed to you, you can cut down on this by registering with the Mail Preference Service.

Some junk mail is actually delivered by your postie - you can cut back on this by registering with the Royal Mail Opt-Out Service

Mission Accomplished Day - Tuesday 1st May

The Life and Death of Tom Hurndall - Killed by an Israeli Sniper

Newham Bookshop and Newham Monitoring Project present:

Defy the Stars - The Life and Death of Tom Hurndall

Tom Hurndall was an English photojournalism student. In April 2003, he was shot in the head as he carried a Palestinian child out of the range of an Israeli army sniper in the town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Tom was unarmed, and wearing the internationally recognized peaceworker’s fluorescent orange jacket. Severely wounded, he never recovered consciousness and died nine months later in a London hospital.

Defy the Stars by Tom’s mother Jocelyn Hurndall tells the story of Tom’s life and tragically premature death. Published by Bloomsbury in April 2007.



Join Jocelyn Hurndall in conversation with Asad Rehman, chair of Newham Monitoring Project, on:

Wednesday 25th April
7 pm at Stratford Circus,
Theatre Square,
London E15

(tube:Stratford)

Tickets - £5 Book or reserve tickets by calling Newham Bookshop on
020 8552 9993

Let 2000 Demos Bloom!

THE MARK THOMAS SOCPA CHALLENGE
Get your application forms in by this Saturday (14 April)!

On the 5th of April Mark Thomas and a group of regulars at the Mass Lone Demos arrived at Charing Cross police station armed with 1,184 requests for demonstrations in the SOCPA zone. The demos will take place on the 21st of April. The aim is for people to carry out 20 demos each in the SOCPA zone in one day and to get as many people as possible to do so.

1,184 forms!

The designated area that the law applies to covers the Southbank to Millbank, from St James' Park to Hungerford Bridge, and from Admiralty Arch to MI5. Any individual wishing to demonstrate within that area - just one person with a banner or a badge - needs permission from the police.

LET TWO THOUSAND DEMOS BLOOM!

You can join the challenge to New Labour's liberty threatening laws. So far 59 individuals have applied for 20 demos each (with 4 single demo requests) but anyone can come along on the 21st of April. Get involved and let's have 2,000 demos!

This is how it works: Each demonstrator holds a 10 minute demo at 19 different places (the start and finish demonstrations are in Parliament Square) and then gives themselves 10 minutes to get to their next demonstration. For an information sheet see below or visit: www.markthomasinfo.com includes how to organise the demos, a list of places you might want to protest at in the designated area, a map of the SOCPA zone and access to our easy to fill in application printer (type in the bare details of your demos and in seconds you will get 20 forms set up and ready to print.)

If you want to demonstrate on the 21st of April you have until 10.30am Saturday the 14th of April to get your forms into the police at Charing Cross police station. [You can post your forms but you'll need to send them special delivery - see www.markthomas.info for details.]

If you can't make the whole event but want to come and join in why not come along to the final demo at Parliament Square at 5.20pm on the 21st of April, you will need to apply for permission for your demo.

Remember there's no obligation on you to turn up for the demos that you apply for, so if you think you "might" be around on the 21st and "might" want to hold 20 demonstrations then make sure you'd be legally in the clear by applying - under SOCPA the police *must* process your applications if you get them to them a week in advance.

THE MADNESS OF SOCPA

So far Maya Evans has been arrested and convicted of ringing a bell and reading out the names of British and Iraqi war dead. This was illegal without permission. Mark Thomas has had to get permission to wear a red nose on Red Nose Day in Parliament Square - as he might have been arrested without permission. A young woman was threatened with arrest for wearing a T shirt with some of Brian Haw's art works printed on them- when she pointed out to the police officer that she was advertising the Tate Britain show by Mark Wallinger the police withdrew the threat of arrest. A man dressed as Charlie Chaplin with a sign saying "Not Allowed" was arrested outside Downing St, he was convicted under the SOCPA law.

If the law is a bad and stupid law then challenge it! The Home Office said "We understand from the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police that during the period 1 August 2005 to December 2006 1,379 demonstrations have taken place with an authorisation." Already we have given the police over a years worth of demo's in one day. Let's get to 2,000!

SO JOIN IN

The police MUST give permission for the demonstrations according to the law and the Home Office. The info pack should help you through any problems or questions you have but you can always email us here if you have a question on the demos or SOCPA. Please drop us a line here to let us know if you are joining in, so we can keep a running total of the demos.

ONE FINAL NOTE

For information also visit: www.markthomasinfo.com/demo/april212007.asp

Rest in Peace - Gilly Singh Mundy

It is with enormous sadness that we have to pass on news of the death on Saturday 17 March of our great friend Gilly Mundy, a management committee member for the Newham Monitoring Project (NMP) and former caseworker for NMP between 1993 and 1997. Gilly collapsed at work on Thursday 15 March and never regained consciousness. He was just 36 years old.

As a campaigner and activist, Gilly managed to cram so much into his own life and touch the lives of so many others that it is almost too painful to imagine what more he could have achieved. As well as supporting the victims of racist violence in east London whilst at NMP, he worked for the Lawrence Family Campaign during the inquiry into Stephen Lawrence’s murder. As the senior caseworker for INQUEST, the charity that advises bereaved people and their lawyers following contentious deaths, he helped hundreds of families who had lost loved ones in police and prison custody. And through an organisation called Conscious Clubbing, he helped organise music events to raise money for the many causes he supported, including the work of Newham Asian Women’s Project

But most of all, Gilly had a rare gift that made him so special: the ability to connect on a personal level, quietly and generously, with absolutely everyone he met. It was a talent that made him so important to those he supported in his work and so loved by his wife Debbie, his family and the huge number of friends who now grieve for him.

His wife Debbie has asked that anyone in Newham who knew Gilly and might be thinking about sending flowers to his funeral should instead consider donating to the memorial fund that his family has set up for the causes that were so close to Gilly’s heart.

Cheques should be made to ‘The Gilly Mundy Memorial Fund’ and can be sent to the family via NMP at The Harold Road Centre, 170 Harold Rd, Upton Park, London E13 0SE.

A memorial blog has been set up at http://gillymundy.blogspot.com

Oscar Mistakes

As this year's Oscars approach, everyone seems certain that Dame Helen Mirren's performance in 'The Queen' is a surefire bet for Best Picture, but the Academy has a long track record (in my view) of picking the wrong film. For starters, the best films of 2006 - Pan's Labyrinth and United 93 - aren't even nominated this year.

So here is a rundown of previous fifty years of winners and the films that should have won:

2006 - Crash - should have been A History of Violence (not even nominated)
2005 - Million Dollar Bay - should have been Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (not even nominated)
2004 - Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
2003 - Chicago - should have been The Pianist
2002 - A Beautiful Mind - should have been Memento (not even nominated)
2001 - Gladiator - should have been Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2000 - American Beauty
1999 - Shakespeare in Love - should have been Saving Private Ryan
1998 - Titanic - should have been LA Confidential
1997 - The English Patient - should have been Fargo
1996 - Braveheart - should have been The Usual Suspects
1995 - Forest Gump - should have been The Shawshank Redemption
1994 - Schindler's List
1993 - Unforgiven
1992 - Silence of the Lambs - should have been JFK
1991 - Dances with Wolves - should have been Goodfellas
1990 - Driving Miss Daisy - should have been Field of Dreams
1989 - Rain Man - should have been A Fish Called Wanda
1988 - The Last Emperor - should have been Full Metal Jacket (not even nominated)
1987 - Platoon
1986 - Out of Africa - should have been Ran (not even nominated)
1985 - Amadeus - should have been The Killing Fields
1984 - Terms of Endearment - should have been The Right Stuff
1983 - Gandhi
1982 - Chariots of Fire - should have been Raiders of the Lost Ark
1981 - Ordinary People - should have been Raging Bull
1980 - Kramer Vs Kramer - should have been Apocalypse Now
1979 - The Deer Hunter
1978 - Annie Hall - should have been Star Wars
1977 - Rocky - should have been Taxi Driver
1976 - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - should have been Dog Day Afternoon
1975 - The Godfather Part 2
1974 - The Sting - should have been The Exorcist
1973 - The Godfather
1972 - French Connection
1971 - Patton - should have been MASH
1970 - Midnight Cowboy - should have been Easy Rider (not even nominated)
1969 - Oliver! - should have been A Lion in Winter
1968 - In the Heat of the Night - should have been Bonnie and Clyde
1967 - A Man for All Seasons
1966 - Sound of Music - should have been Doctor Zhivago
1965 - My Fair Lady - should have been Dr Strangelove
1964 - Tom Jones - should have been How the West Was Won
1963 - Lawrence of Arabia
1962 - West Side Story - should have been The Hustler
1961 - The Apartment - should have been Elmer Gantry
1960 - Ben Hur - should have been Anatomy of a Murder
1959 - Gigi - should have been The Defiant Ones
1958 - Bridge Over the River Kwai - should have been 12 Angry Men
1957 - Around the World in 80 Days - should have been The King and I
1956 - Marty - should have been Bad Day at Black Rock (not even nominated)

Post 9/11 Blues

This is great...

Films in 2006

Another year, another summary of the films I've been to in the last year.

Despite still no longer having the time to write reviews, I haven't yet broken the habit of heading straight for a cinema when I have a few hours to kill - 38 times this year.

I was saying to a friend recently that 2006 had been a year of fairly mediocre films, but looking back on those I've seen in the last twelve months, that's not true: there have been some excellent movies, a number I'd love to see again.

Here's the list - as usual, with star ratings (out of 5)

Ratings:
5 stars: Unmissable!
4 stars: Definitely worth seeing
3 stars: Decent film
2 stars: Disappointing
1 star: Pants
No stars: Why was this released?

In date order - five star films highlighted in bold

Jarhead (***)
Memoirs of a Geisha (**)
The Constant Gardener (***)
Syriana (*****)
Tsotsi (****)
V For Vendetta (*****)
The Inside Man (****)
Capote (****)
Massaker (**)
Good Night and Good Luck (*****)
Mission Impossible 3 (**)
Hidden [Cache] (**)
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (*****)
Brick (****)
Donnie Darko (*****) - again!
X Men 3 (***)
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (****)
Superman Returns (****)
Warrior King (***)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (***)
Nacho Libre (**)
CSA: Confederate States of America (****)
A Scanner Darkly (****)
Right At Your Door (****)
Children of Men (*****)
An Inconvenient Truth (*****)
Primo Levi's Journey (***)
Days of Glory [Indigènes] (****)
The Prestige (****)
Casino Royale (****) - twice
The Page Turner (****)
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (*)
Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (**)
Shortbus (****)
Eragon (**)
Pan's Labyrinth (*****)
Flags of Our Fathers (***)

Newham's voluntary sector - the Trojan Horse for backdoor privatisation?

Newham takes a step closer to the possibility of backdoor privatisation of a swathe of council services in the coming months. Key to this process is what many will see as a surprising potential Trojan horse – the charities, voluntary organisations and community groups that seek to represent, defend and support the most disadvantaged in east London. Their involvement is a central plank of the Blairite agenda for so-called ‘public service reform’, with the Local Government Association suggesting that half of all council services could be outsourced to not-for-profit sector organisations by 2010. And the decision by Newham council to move away from providing grants and towards commissioning services from local voluntary and community groups has left these organisations in a flat spin.

In part this has been because the council is consulting on the services it might want to outsource, but has already started the process of commissioning before consultation has been completed. This has left everyone confused. But mainly it has geared up local organisations for an undignified scramble for money, one that looks likely to shut out smaller groups or make them dependent upon the goodwill and favour of their larger counterparts. In this respect, local groups have already started to mimic the private sector in looking for ways to survive in a market environment, eyeing the competition and keeping their plans closely guarded. But what is most surprising is that a voluntary and community groups, at heart people and community orientated, have accepted this ‘reform’ without question.

There has been almost no debate amongst groups about whether this is really the direction they should be taking or if it is in the interests of those they work with. Nor does there seem to be any recognition of the many failures of the market, from rail privatisation to education and the NHS, where the private sector has demonstrated its inability to apply market methods to delivering public services. As Martin McIvor, Director of Compass (by no means a particularly radical think tank), has argued, “complex services, in which strategic planning, efficient integration and the maintenance of universal standards are at a premium, are likely to suffer when ownership is fragmented, resulting in increased costs and risking the emergence of unaccountable local monopolies.” There is a real prospect that what already looks like a hastily thought through commissioning process in Newham risks exactly this outcome. Not only could there soon be a widening gulf between the larger charities that become the new providers of contracted services and the rest of Newham’s beleaguered voluntary and community groups. But will services suffer as they are split apart, only for those who trying to deliver them to find they are shackled by the contracts they have signed?

The disappear of grant funding will undermine many of the strengths of Newham's not-for profit sector, such as the value its independence from the state provides in encouraging the self-organisation of communities or vulnerable groups to exercise their rights and articulate their concerns, or its ability to experiment and therefore offer alternatives to the way things have always been done. But more competition and dependence on contracts will also force voluntary and community groups to make increasingly commercial decisions that could move them further and further away from their fundamental principles. Will becoming more like the private sector mean cost cutting and depress already lower salaries in the not-for-profit sector? Is there more chance that users will face new or increased charges? Will the cohesiveness and shared vision of the not-for profit sector, and its ability to act together in the face of inflexible and bureaucratic decision-making by the council, disappear forever?

Most importantly, does the lack of capacity of voluntary and community groups to cope with growing levels of contracting out herald the arrival in three years time, when the new contracts will end, of the private sector, ready to step in when voluntary and community organisations are judged to have ‘failed’? Is Newham's not-for-profit sector holding open the door for privatisation by stealth?