| 2nd September |
Trafficking in New Laws... |
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Government wait for details before opting into EU anti-trafficking directive
Permalink full story: Trafficking Hype...Trafficking figures hopelessly over exaggerated |
Based on
article
from guardian.co.uk
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The
government coalition has decided against endorsing an EU directive
designed to co-ordinate European efforts to combat the trade in sex
slaves.
The coalition is invoking a special British right on any EU justice
and home affairs measures. The directive will be decided in the EU by
the system known as qualified majority voting, according to which no
member state can wield a veto. But Britain has the right to decide
whether to opt in.
A Home Office spokesman said: Human trafficking is a brutal form
of organised crime, and combating it is a key priority for the
government. The UK already complies with most of what is required by the
draft EU directive.
The government will review the UK's position once the directive
has been agreed, and will continue to work constructively with European
partners on matters of mutual interest. By not opting in now but
reviewing our position when the directive is agreed, we can choose to
benefit from being part of a directive that is helpful but avoid being
bound by measures that are against our interests.
Law enforcement agencies estimate that 2,600 foreign women have been
forced into prostitution in brothels in England and Wales. Only five
people were convicted of human trafficking for sexual exploitation in
the first six months of this year, according to figures from the UK
Human Trafficking Centre, compared with 33 and 34 in the previous two
12-month periods.
The number of prosecutions has remained reasonably steady, at 114 in
2008/09 and 102 in 2009/10, according to figures released by Dominic
Grieve, the attorney general; but the conviction rate has dropped.
A spokesman for the CPS said the number of convictions varied for
several reasons, including the fact that fewer cases may be brought to
prosecutors for consideration, and that fewer defendants may be involved
in each trial: We acknowledge that it is challenging to successfully
prosecute human trafficking cases, but we are committed to bringing
prosecutions when there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public
interest to do so, he said.
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| 29th August |
Off to a Tee... |
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Pornography is far too complicated to distil into a smart T-shirt slogan
Permalink |
See article
from guardian.co.uk
by Helen Walsh
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Over
the next few weeks, as students start filtering back for the new term,
we'll no doubt witness the return to our streets of the dreaded slogan
T-shirt. Personally, I've never quite been able to grasp this quaint
custom of wearing one's heart on one's… heart. No matter how noble the
sentiment, going public with your polemic leaves you open to ridicule –
and the occasional slap if the dictum is provocative enough. When I was
a student, such sloganeering tended to be simplistic: No to war!
or Yes to peace! For the hip post-feminists of the new
millennium, there was a low-cut novelty T-shirt (available in pink for
that added sprinkle of irony) that pulled no punches with its These
tits are real! declaration, and underneath, in italics: Touch
them and see! Once, and only once, I observed the command and felt
the full, stinging force of girl power, right across my cheek.
...Read the full article
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| 28th August |
Degrees in Lap Dancing... |
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Well educated lap dancers and no evidence of trafficking
Permalink |
Based on
article
from independent.co.uk
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The
first academic research project into lap dancing has found that, rather
than being uneducated young women who have been coerced into the
industry, one in four dancers has a degree and has been attracted by the
money.
Dancers took home an average of £232 a shift after paying commission
and fees to the club, with most working between two and four shifts a
week – giving them annual incomes of between £24,000 and £48,000 a year.
The researchers found no evidence of trafficking in the industry, and
concluded that career and economic choices were motivations for dancing
rather than drug use or coercion.
Aspiring actresses, models and artists used exotic dancing as a
career strategy which fitted alongside their other work, training or
studies. Unemployed new graduates – mainly with arts degrees – were also
dancing because they could not find graduate jobs and found that lap
dancing paid much better than bar work.
The main attraction of the work was the flexibility it offered to
combine different work options and studying.
The research by Dr Teela Sanders and Kate Hardy, from the University
of Leeds, found the vast majority of dancers reported high rates of job
satisfaction.
However, the researchers also found dancers' welfare was often
disregarded. They called for better regulation to improve dancers'
safety and security, including the banning of private booths in clubs,
arguing that women could be in danger when alone with customers or that
standards could be lowered by women offering more than was allowed in
dances. Dancers were also open to financial exploitation by the clubs
who could impose charges and fines.
The preliminary findings of the year-long study, which will include
interviews with 300 dancers, reveal that all the women interviewed had
finished school and gained some qualifications. Most (87%) had at least
completed a further education course, while one in four had
undergraduate degrees.
Just over one in three dancers were in some form of education, with
14% using dancing to help fund an undergraduate degree, 6% to help fund
a postgraduate degree, and 4% using it to fund further education
courses.
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| 27th August |
Hooters in Cardiff... |
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Cardiff Feminist Network whinge at Britain's 2nd Hooters restaurant
Permalink |
Based on
article
from bighospitality.co.uk
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American
restaurant chain Hooters, known for its female waitresses, has
received permission to license a new site in Cardiff and has filed
applications to open sites in both Brighton and Bristol.
These join the only UK branch of Hooters in Nottingham, which has
been trading for 12 years.
The new Cardiff branch will serve Hooters' all-American menu. Diners
will be served as usual by waitresses in orange shorts and a white tank
top.
Although the brand is popular in the US, with locations booming
across 44 states, the proposal for its expansion to Cardiff has not been
welcome by some.
The Cardiff Feminist Network, an online community of feminists has
been promoting its Say No to Hooters campaign petition to fight
for the image of their Wales's women.
Sally Hughes, an activist for the cause said: Hooters is an
American family restaurant chain come porn-shop, lap-dancing strip club.
The objectification of women is not taken seriously enough in our
society.
The decision to grant a license to the Cardiff venue comes at the end
of the statutory consultation period, in which the council said no valid
objections were made.
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| 20th August |
Shock Horror Expose... |
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Croydon Advertiser runs a brothel expose on one of its own adverts
Permalink full story: Small Ads for Sex Workers...Government set to ban small ads |
Based on
article
from theregister.co.uk
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The
Croydon Advertiser has recently run an exposé of a sinister
brothel operating in the same building as a charity for the
elderly.
The quality piece of investigative journalism recounts how a fearless
undercover reporter was offered sex with a prostitute for £50 at the
seedy enterprise in London Road, West Croydon.
Having made absolutely certain he was being offered sex in return for
cash, the hack made his excuses and left, as journalistic
tradition requires.
The Advertiser notes that the establishment was advertised as
'Oriental Massage Croydon' through a card in the window of Eshop General
Stores, in London Road.
Here's where the wheels come off the paper's probe, however. As the
Guardian explains, the reporter could have saved himself a trip to Eshop
General Stores by turning to page 52 of his own paper, which carries an
ad for the very bawdy-house he was investigating.
Nutters of the Croydon Community Against Trafficking (CCAT) noted:
CCAT is baffled by the utter hypocrisy of the Croydon Advertiser; on the
one hand to have a front page article about sinister brothels in our
midst, and then, on the other, to take money from the same brothel and
help it to thrive, demonstrates an alarming degree of double standards
from our local family newspaper.
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| 16th August |
Go Dutch... |
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Council deputy leader supports legalised prostitution
Permalink |
Based on
article
from theboltonnews.co.uk
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The
Bolton Council deputy leader has backed calls to legalise
prostitution.
Lib Dem David Wikinson, who was responding to a blog by North
West Euro MP Chris Davies, in which he called on Deputy Prime Minister
Nick Clegg to follow the example of the Dutch, says the issues would
split all sections of society.
Wilkinson said: There are crime and disorder issues surrounding
drugs and moral and ethical issues around prostitution and assisted
dying.
My own personal view is that while I find prostitution morally
offensive, I do agree that if it was to be legalised, it would allow
greater control.
In his latest online blog — titled Nick, go Dutch! — Mr Davies
puts forward the case for Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, whose mother
was born in the Netherlands, to promote a more liberal approach to the
controversial issues. He said: When it comes to dealing with
controversial issues like drugs, prostitution and medically assisted
dying, the Dutch are simply more grown-up.
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| 8th August |
Well Missed... |
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Well known London strip pub landlady murdered whilst on holiday
Permalink |
From
strip-magazine.com
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Denise
D'Courtenay who has been landlady of the Queen Anne pub in Vauxhall
for over 30 years was murdered while on holiday in the Dominican
Republic at the end of July.
The Queen Anne was for many years the only strip pub south of the
river and has been presenting striptease for nearly 50 years.
And on the
subject of London strip pubs, some thoughtful soul has created a google map showing most of the ones in London, see
maps.google.co.uk
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| 7th August |
Nasty Policing... |
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London police post details of sex workers even when unconvicted of a crime
Permalink |
Based on
article
from guardian.co.uk
See also
Police slam internet justice - then use it themselves from
theregister.co.uk
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Sex
workers and their support groups have condemned a police operation to out
prostitutes even when they have not been convicted of any crime.
Six street-based sex workers in Newham, east London, were named on
the Metropolitan police website. Police posted their photos, full names
and dates of birth.
In a second case, two Polish women who were selling sex from their
home in Aldgate, east London, were raided by City of London police as
part of Operation Monaco.
Operation Monaco was launched in May 2009 but police have admitted
that just one charge of controlling a prostitute for gain has been made,
as well as 52 charges for placing cards in phone boxes advertising
sexual services.
Police took photographs of the Polish women, who were not charged.
Last Sunday, photos appeared in News of the World. The women said they
were distressed by the police raid and the lack of warning that their
pictures would appear in a tabloid newspaper. Vicky, one of the two
women said:
Why have the police done this to me? I
work as a childminder and a cleaner and do some sex work to make ends
meet. I pay tax and national insurance and am not doing anything
illegal. A lot of people know me, and even though the News of the World
blocked out my face I'm still identifiable by my hair, clothes and
jewellery.
The police were looking for money and found £50
from a customer. We never use drugs and are always sober when we're
working. The police kept asking us over and over again if we'd been
trafficked. We haven't been, and we signed a piece of paper to say that.
The women lodged a complaint with the newspaper, which removed their
images from its website.
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| 4th August |
London Flooded by Bollox Claims... |
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Nutters claim sex workers will flood in for the London Olympics
Permalink |
Based on
article
from thurrockgazette.co.uk
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Prostitutes
are expected to flood south Essex during the 2012 Olympics, a Thurrock
nutter group has claimed.
So called 'experts' at the South Essex Rape and Crisis Centre have
already begun investigating what can be done to discourage an influx of
prostitutes and protect women from being trafficked into the area.
Sheila Coates, director of the centre, based in Thurrock, said:
Research has shown that during large sporting events, sex crime actually
increases because of the large number of participants and a lot of
people travelling from country to country. Sadly, pimps see that as a
way of increasing their income and we will see women trafficked to the
area.
We are going to start looking at research
available from the winter Olympics in Canada and the World Cup in South
Africa to see what the impact may or may not be. In Vancouver it looks
like it wasn't as big a problem as anticipated because they planned for
it and planned it out. [or maybe those 'anticipating' the big
problem were making bollox claims to forward their own anti-prostitution
ends].
A spokeswoman for Essex Police said the force had not been made aware
of any expected problems.
Meanwhile in Brent
Based on
article
from harrowtimes.co.uk
A nutter Brent councillor has called for politicians and police
across the capital to work together to tackle the 'problem' of
prostitution.
Authorities are expecting a sharp rise in the number of brothels and
prostitutes in London to coincide with the 2012 Olympic Games, as
millions of people flow into the capital.
Councillor Ann John, leader of Brent Council, led a review while in
opposition into the amount of brothels and street prostitutes operating
in the borough and what measures should be taken to tackle the
'problem'.
John said she had not appreciated the impact and scale of the problem
of prostitution before undertaking the council study, and called on
others to take it more seriously than it has been in the past. She said:
Perhaps we should be rethinking our attitude towards it. It's not
legal so why are we tolerating it? I have asked for it to be a policing
priority, I have asked other services to make sure we get support to
exiting prostitutes.
John's study called on all newspapers to ban adverts for adult
services, or at least take more editorial control over what is printed,
but she said this advice has not been adopted. She said: I am a bit
disappointed nothing has happened about that. It is difficult to get
hard evidence, and difficult to survey punters, but one of the reasons
advertising in local newspapers is so high [in Brent] is because of the
sporting venues, and other boroughs don't get as much.
She added in one week she counted more than 100 adverts offering
adult services in the two local newspapers still carrying them,
including some which mentioned race as part of the deal – something
which is banned.
Work on tackling prostitution in Brent has now been taken up by the
crime prevention strategy group, in conjunction with the borough's
police.
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The UK Government is consulting with the public about which laws should
be ejected in a great repeals bill
So today we are taking an unprecedented step.
Based on the belief that it is people, not policymakers, who know best,
we are asking the people of Britain to tell us how you want to see your
freedom restored.
We are calling for your ideas on how to protect
our hard won liberties and repeal unnecessary laws. And we want to know
how best to scale back excessive regulation that denies businesses the
space to innovate. We're hoping for virtual mailbags full of
suggestions. Every single one will be read, with the best put to
Parliament.
So, finally, after years in the wilderness,
freedom is back in fashion. This is our chance to redraw the boundaries
between citizen and state. It's your chance to have your say.
Let me know of any suggestions deserving of support
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