There's no such thing as a right to work
The Right to Work campaign is marching on Downing St.
They want to highlight the number of people unemployed (2.64 million on the figures just in, up 128,000 on last month). Fine and good.
Just one problem: there is no right to work. Sorry about that, but it doesn’t exist. How could it? It’s ludicrous.
Evening Standard – Right to Work demo near Downing St
Right to Work website
ONS – Labour Market Statistics, December 2011
14 Dec 2011
Domestic violence peaks at Christmas
The Met police get plenty of stick on these pages but videos like this one, re-released in an effort to pre-empt the expected rise in incidents reported over Christmas, deserve our support.
Context: the latest figures show there were 119,794 reported incidents of domestic violence in London in 2010. As Adam reported back in March, that’s an 18% rise on 2009.
Adam Bienkov at Snipe – Domestic Violence incidents up 18% in London
14 Dec 2011
London agenda for Wednesday 14 December
1. Go to the most bizarre Christmas party that anyone will ever attend. In Soho, natch. [Le Cool]
2. Visit Lena Weber, editor of Vintage Guide to London, to get that Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany’s look [Run Riot]
3. Explore the incredible art of composition and making music from scratch at Open Ears [Don’t Panic]
4. Watch Kasabian and Miles Kane at the O2 [Time Out]
5. Tell JJ Charlesworth, editor of Art Review, Adrian Searle and Tom Morton why art criticism is ridiculous [Ian Visits]
6. Find Andrew Burton’s Chimney [Tired of London]
14 Dec 2011
After 16 cyclists die on London's roads, Tory cyclist 'honks for Boris'
So, after a year which has seen 16 cyclists die on London’s roads, which vehicle have London’s Conservatives – the ones which walk out of meetings rather than discuss road safety – chosen to help push Boris Johnson’s re-election push?
That’s right, a bicycle. Meet the Honk for Boris bike, lovingly created for 20-year-old Tory activist and Boris buddy Einy Shah by Barnet-based Cole Coachworks.
Whether the friends and families of those who have died on London’s roads will be as keen to “honk for Boris” is another matter, but photos of the bike feature on Cole Coachworks’ Facebook page.
Naturally, Shah, who’s the deputy chairman of London Conservative Future, is delighted with her new wheels. Another visitor, though, was less impressed…
“Every campaign needs an Einy!,” boasts Boris’s brother Jo Johnson. With a bike like that, she’s no doubt got a bright future – just so long as she avoids the Bow roundabout, the Kings Cross one-way system, the north side of Blackfriars Bridge, the Elephant and Castle…
13 Dec 2011
13 Dec 2011
Kensington and Chelsea councillors refuse to pay staff London living wage
They voted on it and everything. It’s pretty disgusting when you think about it.
Conservative Cllr Warwick Lightfoot, the head of finance, had this to say:
“The council does not support the adoption of the London Living Wage…It is the role of the national government through the social security system to top up earnings in relation to family circumstances.”
The London Living Wage is set at £8.30 an hour.
Kensington and Chelsea Chronicle – Council against London Living Wage
13 Dec 2011
Zebra and Snake down their Burden
You may remember us posting a teaser for this song a few weeks ago – well, Finnish electro-pop maestros Zebra and Snake have now unveiled the full track “Burden” as a free download, ahead of their debut album “Healing Music”. On the strength of the tracks they’ve put out so far it’s going to be, to use a technical music journalism term, a proper corker.
13 Dec 2011
Why the Europe furore matters to Londoners
Money, of course.
The city sells more than twice the value of stuff to Europe (the top line in the chart) as it does to North America or Asia. If Europe goes tits up, we won’t be far behind.
For example, over £1bn worth of clothes are shipped out of London each year. 11% of that goes to Italy, and 5% to Greece. If they stop buying there, jobs start going here. This is why this stuff matters, because it will ultimately affect how much money you have to spend on beer and boxsets.
Chart and data taken from Melisa Wickham’s paper for GLA Economics – An analysis of London’s exports (pdf)
Bonus fact – the European country which spends the most money buying London’s goods is Belgium. Diamonds mostly, I suspect. Good old Belgium.
13 Dec 2011
London agenda for Tuesday 13 December
1. Watch the saucy 70s flick the Night Porter at the Bethnal Green Town Hall Hotel, then listen to designer Roksanda Ilincic discuss the film [Le Cool]
2. Find out if our Christmas traditions are really traditional at The Idler Academy’s History of Christmas [Run Riot]
3. Hear the Kolacny Brothers and the Scala all-girl choir at the HMV Forum [Flavorpill]
4. Watch the Christmas Bboy jam of the year at Floor Rippers [Don’t Panic]
5. Listen to a small, up and coming choir at Westminster Abbey [Time Out]
6. Even though we don’t have flying cars, listen to some people discuss How the Space Age has Changed our View of the Universe [Ian Visits]
7. Sing carols at Christ Church, Southwark [Tired of London]
13 Dec 2011
Teeo by Vadoinmessico
Vadoinmessico is very much an international affair, with members from Italy, Mexico, Austria and the UK. Now residing in Hackney, their music swings with a woozy confidence, like Roy Orbison and Avi Buffalo after a fortnight in Tijuana. New single Teeo is released December 19th via Outcaste/PIAS.
12 Dec 2011
Snipe Highlights
Some popular articles from past years
- Peter Bayley has worked for 50 years as a cinema projectionist in East Finchley
- Silencing the Brick Lane curry touts could be fatal for the city's self-esteem
- An interview with Desiree Akhavan
- Nice map of London's fruit trees shows you where to pick free food
- The five spookiest abandoned London hospitals
- The five best places in London to have an epiphany
- Hope and despair in Woolwich town centre
- The best church names in London, and where they come from
- A unique collection of photos of Edwardian Londoners
- Punk brewery just as sexist and homophobic as the industry they rail against
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