UK Sex Sells News

A debate is needed about changing the prostitution laws, the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) has said.

Deputy Chief Constable Simon Byrne, Acpo's lead on prostitution and sexual exploitation, has also called for the funding of a national database of men suspected of attacking sex workers.

He was speaking after the murders of three women who worked as prostitutes in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Byrne said any murder [was] one too many and if we can do something simple and effective to stop that then we should do so . Perhaps the law does need changing - some of it is frankly complicated

In many cities across the UK, details are already gathered about so-called ugly mugs - men who have been violent or threatening towards sex workers. Someone can rape in Liverpool and the sex workers in Manchester would not necessarily be aware, said Shelly Stoops, of support service the Armistead Street Project in Liverpool: We need something to co-ordinate and link up all the information... and something that the police can look at on a national level and see patterns and trends of offending. Preventing attacks. Late at night ugly mugs leaflets are handed out in Liverpool by outreach workers, along with condoms and advice.

Byrne said: There is another dimension - there is a significant cost to investigating a murder. When times are tough and you have all the austerity and revolution going on in the public service... there's some hard [edged] maths to be done here. If you can invest a small amount of money in rolling the scheme out, you can prevent an awful lot of crime .

The Home Office says it has been carrying out a feasibility study into the possibility of a national scheme and it will be considering its recommendations. It plans to publish guidance in the spring on how best to police and deal with problems linked to prostitution.

But some people involved in sex work want more fundamental changes to the legislation surrounding prostitution, such as designated red-light zones or decriminalised brothels. It means the people that are there to protect you, can also arrest you, said Rosie Campbell of the UK Network of Sex Work Projects, so [sex workers] can be reluctant to go the police.

Britain's Prostitutes - Life on the Edge will be shown over the New Year's weekend on the BBC News Channel.

One of the realities of censorship is that the mean minded are never satisfied.

The logic works that they perceive a social problem, so suggest that banning something can cure the problem. But of course it doesn't cure anything, and the problem continues. Therefore the small minded claim that the ban wasn't enough and even more has to be banned...and so on.

Having had there repressive way with lap dancing, the Daily Mail feels that Britain would benefit from further miserable morality lectures. So on with the next target, burlesque.

The Daily Mail has just published an article with the garish headline:

Burlesque? It's just grotesque: When Penny Wark visited the artistic clubs, she was appalled to find more sleaze than tease

To be fair I think the 'grotesque' was added by the headline writer rather than the reporter, but it is still basically a miserable, holier than thou, morality piece:

See  article from  dailymail.co.uk

In theory, burlesque means provocative performance art that sends something up, as it did in the 18th century, when it lampooned classical theatre and opera.

Today, purists insist that while burlesque is bawdy, it is not just about striptease. It's a fine distinction. More traditional: Edinburgh festival favourite Camille O'Sullivan sings, and does not strip

And in practice, the show I watch confirms that burlesque has become the acceptable middle-class codeword for a form of stripping that is sanitised and can therefore be regarded as safe.

The girls are pretty and have classic hourglass figures — tiny waists and enviably full breasts that are pert without any assistance.

They try to be cheeky and don't have hard, worn or sad faces. They don't hustle and they don't offer private extras.

All this makes them no threat to overweight, middle-aged men who enjoy a spot of leering in a setting that doesn't jeopardise their respectable careers or marriages. Well, not much.

..Read the full article

A deal on setting limits for lap dancing clubs in Birmingham has been struck – but city licensing chiefs are still unsure what, if any limit should be.

Under the deal they agreed that there should be guideline limits for certain localities such as Broad Street, Hurst Street or Moseley, but will set the limits in future.

Nutters have lobbied hard for the committee to halve the number of clubs on Birmingham's Golden Mile from four to two. But the committee was warned by chairman David Osborne that they face costly judicial review if they set an arbitrary limit. He said: These venues rake in money, enough to fund a judicial review whereas the council is cash-strapped.

Councillor Bob Beauchamp thought that no limit was needed as they already have unimaginable power to refuse clubs.

Hackney Trades Union Council (TUC) passed a unanimous motion last week to take a public position against Hackney Council's proposed nil policy towards sex establishment licensing.

The union also resolved to support the application of model rules for venues set out by the GMB sex workers branch. The motion was proposed by John Page of the GMB union and amended by the performers union Equity.

Prior to the vote, a panel of guest speakers gave their views on the subject before the topic was put to the floor. Dr Kate Hardy from Leeds University has interviewed 200 dancers for a study on regulation within the lap-dancing industry.

Her research showed that many dancers had actively left a job to pursue a career in dancing, citing a high level of job satisfaction and flexible hours as benefits. High commission rates, a paucity of changing facilities and lack of information about unions and insurance were problems highlighted.

Hackney clubs in particular were singled out by the study as the type of well-run and regulated venues that dancers seek to work in. Suzanna Slack, an ex-dancer from the GMB , praised Hackney's venues, describing them as national treasures . She said: Men and women in these clubs are less likely to be extremely drunk because security is so tight. Unlike at corporate lap dancing clubs, they are renowned for respecting the dancers. I suggest paying these clubs a visit, the bar staff are women and they are women run.

A statement was read out from Reverend Paul Turp of St Leonard's Church, Shoreditch High Street, in which he expressed concern that a nil policy would bring back the bad old days' of seedy unlicensed venues.

Cllr Angus Mulready-Jones told the meeting that there are wide ranging views within the council. He said: I would like a system to protect workers, not the people who blush when they see what goes on in that industry. I do not feel we should be over critical just because it is near at school or church. Making a policy on that basis concerns me.

Edie, a dancer who worked in Browns, one of the venues concerned, for eight years, said: It was an incredible place to work. Commenting on the wider issues she said: There is no link between Hackney clubs and sex trafficking.

Cllr Carole Williams said: I would be minded to vote against it. My concern would be what would happen to the dancers if venues were unregulated. She added: There is a middle way to protect dancers and workers.

Outside Hackney town hall in east London a battle for the soul of Shoreditch is raging as an unlikely coalition of strippers, club owners and a vicar pit themselves against a range of mean minded women's groups and residents who are fighting to close down the area's strip pubs and a sex shop.

Around 30 erotic dancers, plus bar workers and strip club owners, marched on the town hall to protest against the council's proposal to operate a nil policy in the borough.

It was a good natured protest supported by 50 or more people. which wasn't too bad for a cold grey Friday morning. As is the joy of Hackney, a very wide range of people showed up to oppose this outrageous and unwise proposal.

Carrying a banner outside the town hall, Jennifer Richardson, a stripper at Browns, one of four clubs clustered around the Shoreditch area, said the clubs were a vital part of the borough's heritage. If we lose them, Hackney loses part of its character and its edge . These places are a seed bed for creativity in the area. Without them, it loses a lot of its individuality.

But nutter group, Object, argues that the clubs supposedly create a no-go area for women and foster an atmosphere of aggression that many find intimidating.

But the women protesting were furious that they could be seen as victims. They insisted there was solidarity between the strippers at the four Hackney clubs, the dancing happened on stage and a no-touching policy was strictly enforced. Although men did sometimes offer to pay more for private sexual activities, they could be politely rebuffed, or ejected from the establishments, they said. Loretta Landon was pragmatic about her job. Frankly, I think the men who come into the clubs are more objectified than we are, she said. Some of them might have these romantic fantasies about us, but to us they are just walking wallets.

Tensions between the two groups are running high. Edie, who did not want to jeopardise her day job by giving her real name, called Object a fanatical fright group . A stripper in Hackney for 12 years, she argued that she had felt more demeaned working as a PA in the City.

This is about prohibition and curtailing the rights of adults to decide what they want to do, she said. I am an adult and I don't want to have to justify myself to a bunch of childish hysterics on some kind of Victorian missionary quest to save the fallen. What about all the Hackney trannie bars and gay cabarets – will the moral police censure them?

The strippers and their clubs have found support from an unusual quarter. The vicar of the local St Leonard's church in Shoreditch has accused Hackney council of trying to impose a moral code on its residents, and argued that the area would be more dangerous if the clubs lost their licence. I've been here for 27 years and I remember the struggle to get these places licensed in the first place, he said. They were run by criminals, they were squalid – now they are well-run and brilliantly controlled. Why would we lose control of something that we worked so hard to get under control? The consequences of that worry me deeply.

Club owners argue that if the council pushes ahead, 400 jobs will be lost and girls women forced underground into more dangerous, unregulated situations.

The UK's anti-trafficking policy is undermining the rights of sex workers, leaving them vulnerable to arrest and conviction or, in the case of migrant workers, detainment and deportation. The UK is also failing to meet its human rights obligations to trafficked persons, particularly men, transgender people and people trafficked into non-sexual labour, says a report by sex worker rights network, x:talk.

The report, Human Rights, Sex Work and the Challenge of Trafficking [pdf] describes how the UK's anti-trafficking policy has created new crimes around the selling of consensual sexual services between adults and how its implementation has resulted in an increase in arrests and convictions for sex workers and others in the sex industry. The combination of anti-trafficking raids, brothel closures and increased surveillance of the indoor sex industry has caused serious disruptions to sex workers' working environments and made the industry less safe, especially for migrant sex workers. The report describes the UK anti-trafficking measures as causing an unprecedented incursion into the lives and work of people employed in the indoor sex industry .

It finds that many undocumented migrants are unable or unwilling to exercise their rights as workers, or access basic services, such as healthcare. Provisions in the Policing and Crime Act 2009, introduced to combat trafficking, have resulted in a situation where migrant sex workers do not seek redress when they are wronged or abused and are more vulnerable to exploitation and rights abuses.

Ava Caradonna, sex worker and spokeswoman for x:talk, said:

We have always suspected that attempts to address human trafficking have been co-opted by people with another agenda—the eradication of the sex industry. What the x:talk report has highlighted is that, rather than assisting and supporting trafficked people, anti-trafficking policies have been most effective at putting the safety, health and even the lives of sex workers at risk. They have also helped to make sex workers a soft target for the Border Agency.

x:talk has recently filed an Freedom of Information request for details of the Poppy Project, to coincide with the report's release. The request aims to find out how the Poppy Project have spent more than £9m granted by the government and what support it is provided to trafficked women – information that is not currently publicly available.

Hackney Town Hall, Mare Street, London
Friday 10th of December 10:30am - 12:30pm

On Friday the 10th of December GMB members will take to the street at Hackney Town Hall to protest a proposal that threatens 400 jobs.

Show your support by attending this protest!

Why: 400 jobs are at risk of closure because of the council's plan to adopt a nil policy on clubs that would put an end to the renewal of licenses. GMB members will demonstrate at Hackney Town Hall on Friday 10th December over Hackney Council proposal of a nil policy for strip venues and sex shops as they believe they no longer fit in with the character of the borough's town centres and neighbourhoods which will cost 400 jobs.

There are 4 strip venues and one sex shop in Hackney, most of these premises have been in business for over 30 years, and licensed by Hackney under the Sex Encounter Premises Act for over ten years. Hackney have already been licensing these businesses under strict rules and regulations for years. The consultation for this policy is closing on Monday 13th December and the protest to show opposition of GMB to this.

Hackney are concerned about the poverty and high unemployment levels in the Borough, yet by implementing this nil policy, they will be putting approximately 400 local people out of work

Thierry Schaffauser, president of the GMB sex workers and adult entertainment branch said: GMB adult entertainment branch is supporting its members working in Hackney adult venues. 400 jobs are at risk of closure because of the council's plan to adopt a 'nil policy' that would put an end to the renewal of licenses.

We are worried that the workers will be pushed to work in unlicensed venues or for private parties where they are more likely to be pressured to perform sexual acts they don't necessary want to do and where safety, exploitation and working conditions are much worse. Nudity has nothing degrading. What is degrading is bad working conditions and that's what the nil policy will create in Hackney.

Traditional East End strip pubs are well run and already subject to strict license and this is an sexist proposal. There is a huge hypocrisy of the female run, owned and staffed venues being targeted but the gay sex encounters venues in Shoreditch being exempt and unaffected by the 'nil' policy. So this makes the proposed policy nothing to do with morality or cleaning up the area and everything to do with attacking a woman's choice of work and means of earning money.

This is a very independent and creative business, unlike the larger; well know 'chain strip clubs'. To destroy this would be to ruin one of the great characteristics of Shoreditch that has directly fed into the music, arts, and performance scene in the area. We are pro-freedom and anti-censorship.

Adults chose to work in these pubs and chose to go to these pubs, nothing illegal is happening. Strippers are not victims and owners are not all wicked old men. All adults should be free to choose their employment and entertainment.

The Good Vicar of St Leonard's

A vicar is backing a campaign to keep open lapdancing clubs threatened by closure under licensing reforms.

The Rev Paul Turp of St Leonard's Church in Shoreditch has criticised Hackney council for attempting to impose a moral code on east London residents with proposals which could outlaw erotic dancing venues, sex shops and adult cinemas.

Rev Turp, an inspiration for the BBC comedy Rev starring Tom Hollander, has a parish which contains four long-established lapdancing bars — Browns, The White Horse, Rainbow Sports Bar and Ye Olde Axe as well as sex shop Expectations.

Threatened venues say more than 400 jobs are at risk and have been joined by Rev Turp, residents and other local businesses to oppose the proposals. A protest is planned for outside Hackney Town Hall next Friday.

Rev Turp said that although he does not frequent the establishments, he believes they should be allowed to keep operating as they are well regulated and cause far fewer social problems than alcohol or drugs. He said: I would prefer if it didn't happen, but Hackney council cannot impose a moral code on it citizens, it can only impose a criminal code. I've been here for 27 years and there have been no problems. They are not dodgy, back-street places where people are getting ripped off. They are well run and the council has done a good job at licensing them.

Richmond police said they found traces of the class A drug in the toilets and saw one dancer dash into a cubicle and flush something away when officers raided the Piano Lounge, in King Street Parade, Twickenham.

Undercover detectives also claimed they saw physical contact between dancers and customers when they visited on September 17 this year.

Nutters have supposedly 'bombarded' Richmond Council with complaints and police will apply to the authority to revoke the club's licence.

The Piano Lounge's licence will be reviewed at a Richmond Council licensing committee meeting on Monday.

Update: Delayed Hearing

13th December 2010. Based on article from  richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk

Solicitor John Andrews, representing the Piano Lounge in King Street Parade, Twickenham, asked Richmond Council's licensing committee, which was due to discuss its future on Monday, to delay the hearing until January 20 next year.

Club owner Walter Angliss said the drug claims were absolute nonsense .

Update: Continuing

27th January 2011. See  article from  yourlocalguardian.co.uk

Piano Lounge has been saved from closure.

Owner Walter Angliss was hauled in front of Richmond Council's licensing sub-committee after Richmond Police officers claimed they found traces of the class A drug.

Dancers at the club were also alleged to have been spotted having physical contact with punters when undercover detectives visited the club in September.

Despite the usual objections from local nutters, who claimed the club was not suited to a residential area, councillors decided to allow Angliss to continue running the business - but slapped him with a three-month suspension and imposed additional licensing conditions.

Update: Further threat

13th March 2011. See  article from  strip-magazine.com

It looks like the Piano Lounge in Twickenham is under further threat as Richmond council has decided on a nil policy for the borough.

Update: Fined

24th March 2011. See  article from  richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk

Walter Angliss appeared at Richmond Magistrates' Court after undercover police officers visited his club in September and saw a number of breaches. Dancers were found to be in physical contact with customers and each other and did not remain standing during their performances, as required. Angliss also admitted allowing Thai massages to take place without council permission.

He was today ordered to pay £ 5,765 by magistrates.

In January Richmond Council's licensing sub-committee suspended the club's licence for three months. Angliss has appealed the suspension and this will be heard on March 30.

New plans to tackle prostitution by criminalising pimps, brothel keepers and customers are to be launched in the Scottish Parliament.

Labour MSP Trish Godman, who unsuccessfully attempted to add a prostitution amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill that was passed in the summer, is to launch a consultation on a new private members bill, with people able to comment on it until 18 February.

The Criminalisation of the Purchase and Sale of Sex (Scotland) Bill , focuses on the people who facilitate and purchase sex, while treating the sex worker as a victim.

Ms Godman said: Prostitution should be regarded in Scotland as an abuse and an exploitation that will not be tolerated - we must call time on the punters, pimps and brothel keepers. My legislation will challenge the whole acceptance of men buying sex.

Update: 'Consultation'

Thanks to Melanie-H
27th November 2010. See  'Consultation' document [pdf] from  scottish.parliament.uk

Trish Godman has published a worthless one sided, and presumably private 'consultation' which only allows for opinions supporting her aims:

• to make the purchasing/selling of sex indoors illegal;
• and to strengthen existing legislation to criminalise activities linked to prostitution, specifically advertising and facilitating

She has put together a 'consultation' document with no provision whatsoever to oppose the proposal. It asks:

1. Which option do you favour? Please explain the reasons for your choice.
   Option 1 is to criminalise both the seller and the purchaser;
   Option 2 is to criminalise only the purchaser.
    
2. What penalties would have a deterrent effect for the purchaser/seller?
    
3. What are the barriers to policing and enforcing a prohibition on advertising?
    
4. What penalties are appropriate for those who advertise brothels or prostitution, bearing in mind these may range from individuals such as prostitutes to organised crime gang members?
    
5. What are there barriers to policing and enforcing this aspect of the proposal?
    
6. What penalties are appropriate for those that facilitate prostitution, bearing in mind these might be individuals such as prostitutes or organised crime gang members?
    
7. What other costs might arise as a consequence of this proposal?
    
8. Are there any equality issues that arise from this proposal?

Responses are invited by 18th February 2011 to:

Trish Godman MSP
Q2.08a
Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh EH99 1SP

Tel: 0131 348 5837
Fax: 0131 348 6460
E-mail: trish.godman.msp@scottish.parliament.uk

Newspaper editors across London have been sent letters by police threatening that they could be prosecuted for sex adverts involving women who have been trafficked.

A letter was sent to more than 170 editors by the Metropolitan Police Service telling them they could be held criminally liable if adverts in their titles turn out to be linked to human trafficking, exploitation or proceeds of crime.

The letter from Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Martin, head of the Human Exploitation and Organised Crime Unit, asks editors to put a system in place to ensure they do not accept adverts which are a front for such criminal activity.

The letter from DCS Martin says advertising in newspapers could play a key role in allowing the exploitation of trafficked victims. He writes:

The adverts in question often purport to be massage parlours, saunas or escort agencies, but are in reality a front for criminal networks to advertise trafficked victims for sexual services.

I am therefore seeking your support to help us address this issue by ensuring that your publications do not allow advertising space to be utilised to promote these practices.

Advertisements that offer multi-national or young women or which are sexually suggestive in tone are often the type found to be linked to the provision of sexual services and / or the presence of trafficked women.

It is these types of adverts I am seeking your support in preventing. I would ask that you put in place a system to satisfy yourselves that those seeking to place advertisements are genuine concerns or businesses and not a cover for the types of criminal activity highlighted above.

As you will appreciate, criminal liability can arise in certain circumstances where evidence clearly shows that the advertising in question supports or promotes offences associated to trafficking, exploitation or proceeds of crime.

I can't pretend to be surprised by the retreat from the promised repeal of crackpot laws.

With Theresa May - definitely not to be confused with Teresa May without an aitch! - at the Home Office, this retreat is sadly to be expected. One of the more disgraceful exchanges in the last parliament was between her and the possibly even more egregious Harriet Harman. May asked the right honourable lady to join her in deploring research which debunked the great trafficking myth. Harman, unsurprisingly, immediately did so.

Read that again - very slowly and very carefully. May asked Harman to join her in deploring.... RESEARCH. You know, the stuff carried out by academics, with a string of degrees as long as your arm, in universities, published in refereed academic journals, read by other equally brainy academics who will jump down the authors' throats if there's the slightest fault in the argument and/or data. So watch out, Julian Petley, Julia O'Connell Davidson, and any other scholar who stands out against this tide of bullshit. Don't expect much government funding for your work. That ministers or shadow ministers should spout off in parliament deploring research is a crass attack on academic freedom. How dare people who know what they're talking about dare to challenge the bovine prejudices of May and Harman!

Two pub landlords have been fined for breaching licence restrictions by allowing lap dancers to perform in their pub, following an investigation by Hillingdon Council.

Mukhtiar Singh Sandhu, the designated premises supervisor, and Richard Whallen, manager at the De Burgh Arms, in Station Approach, Hayes, pleaded guilty to allowing a licensable activity to be carried on without authorisation at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court.

They were each fined £1,500 and ordered to pay £352 court costs.

Whallen's licence was also suspended for two months, although the pub will still be able to trade without lapdancing performances under Sandhu's personal licence.

Punch Taverns, the pub's licence holder, had applied to the council to amend the terms of licence to permit lapdancing in the De Burgh Arms but this was refused in January. A temporary events notice was granted to allow a dozen performances to take place over the course of 12 months but the pub landlords allowed the lapdancing to continue once the quota had been reached.

Councillor Jonathan Bianco said: The council will not stand by and allow premises to so blatantly disregard the restrictions in place. We are currently encouraging residents to have their say on how the council should deal with new applications for sex entertainment premises. This is an opportunity for people to share their views and help shape the way the council works, so I would encourage our residents to take part in the consultation.

The consultation closes on 7th January 2011. View the consultation document at www.hillingdon.gov.uk .

A draft version of the new council policy to restrict and control strip clubs, or sexual entertainment venues as they are officially known, has rejected the chance to set a quota for Birmingham.

But a significant number of committee members, including Labour spokeswoman Barbara Dring and several Conservative members, support a cap.

At present Birmingham has about a dozen licensed strip clubs, including five on Broad Street, but supporters of a cap would like to see that number halved.

Officials, backed by Liberal Democrat chairman David Osborne, believe that not setting a limit will give them greater control and allow them to judge each venue on its own merits. Coun Osborne (Lib Dem, South Yardley) said: I have been to a conference with leading licensing lawyers who say that it is better to not set a cap, because it might fetter our future decisions. This way we have total discretion to judge each club on its own.

Broad Street businesses pleaded for a limit on the number of lap dancing and strip clubs allowed to operate in the city centre. They claim that a recent flurry of applications for new venues would deter investment and harm the city's reputation. But of course they have commercial interests in keeping competition under control.

They have called for a total limit of two clubs in Broad Street to be included in the city council's new policy on sexual entertainment venues even though there are currently four operating in the area.

Birmingham's licensing committee was split over whether or not to set a city-wide limit, compromised on guideline limits for various localities including Broad Street and Hurst Street. A limit on the number of clubs will be set in the next few months

The new licensing powers, which will come into force on January 3, 2011, gives the committee greater freedom to reject strip club licenses and the ability to set higher license fees. The proposed fee for a new licence is £9,935 and £5,070 for a renewal or variation.

The draft policy states that sites near residential areas, shopping centres frequented by families, tourist attractions, places frequently visited by families such as schools, swimming pools and parks and places of worship are inappropriate.

The policy comes into force on January 3 and the new licenses will be decided and awarded in July 2011. Existing venues will be allowed to continue until January 3, 2012.

Whether it was the cold or the recession, Erotica 2010 – the 15th year of the international sex exposition – appears to have ever so slightly wilted.

It is not exactly shrivelled, but is a little smaller; not the proud, thrusting standard-bearer of the UK's adult erotic industry it once was.

A quick totting up through the programme suggests around 20 fewer exhibitors than two years ago.

That's not quite the official line, however, as an advance statement from the show's organisers proclaims: More than 150 leading companies from all aspects of the sex and adult entertainment sectors will be represented at the three-day love fest, which is expected to attract around 60,000 and generate £12m in revenue .

...Read the full article

The nutter hype that kerb crawlers would 'flood' into Hackney as the 2012 Olympics approach have predictably failed to materialise, according to police.

Health 'experts' had warned that an influx of migrant construction workers employed on the Olympic Park could spark a surge in prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases in the host boroughs.

But Sgt Steve Wright, of Dalston safer neighbourhoods team, who has been leading a mean minded police crackdown on kerb crawlers this week, said the predictions had not come true.

Wright said: Something we looked at – having liaised with the Olympic team and looking at previous Games in other countries – is that if you were going to have an increase it would be when all the workers arrive. . But it didn't transpire. Most of them have gone home or to work somewhere else – and we didn't have a higher rate.

Thierry Schaffauser, president of the GMB branch of the International Union of Sex Workers, agreed that Hackney had not seen an increase in prostitution in the run-up to the Olympics and argued the predictions had been used by politicians to further criminalise sex workers.

Schaffauser said: Attacking kerb crawlers is attacking our livelihood and our safety . You have to go to more remote areas and you have less time to decide whether or not to get into the car. There is no evidence to suggest the Olympics will cause an increase in sex workers – but we will see what the impact is.

A petition has been launched against a newly opened lap dancing club in Hounslow.

MIST Gentlemen's club, at the site of the old Riley's snooker club, at the west end of the High Street, is described on its website as Hounslow's first and only full nude lap dancing venue .

About 50 people had signed an online petition as the Chronicle went to press with opponents describing the club as seedy and offensive and claiming it will attract the wrong type of people.

However, owner Pritpal Dhiman defended the new venue, insisting it would bring in a good class of clientele and would have all necessary security measures in place.

Dhiman claimed anyone passing the club during the day would have no idea what it was. He said the entry price and the cost of drinks, which will start at around £5, would put off any riff raff .

We've put CCTV cameras all around the outside of the building and we've brought in the best security, he said: I don't understand how this will affect the people signing this petition when they're sitting at home watching Eastenders in the evening. Why don't they start a petition about the pound stores which are bringing the town down?

The club will be open from 8pm-4am during the week and 8pm-4.30am at weekends. According to the website, a full nude dance will cost between £15 and £250, and touching is strictly forbidden.

A council spokesman said a licence had been granted on September 14 but councillors and residents this week questioned why the application had not been better publicised. Hounslow South ward councillor Bradley Fisher said he was horrified the application had been allowed to slip through under the radar .

The public entertainment licence for Spensley's Emporium on Albert Road, which includes the first-floor Secrets lap dancing club, is to be reviewed by Middlesbrough Council's licensing committee.

Cleveland Police raised concerns about the club after CCTV showed girls dancing closer to customers than the rules allow.

Along with the police, Middlehaven Community Council has also written a letter of objection to the committee. Chairman Linda Lewis said: The rules are there to protect the girls and they should be followed. I won't be attending the meeting. Apparently they will be showing the CCTV footage and I don't want to see that sort of thing.

Lee Spensley, owner of Spensley's Emporium and Secrets, admitted rules were broken but insisted steps have been taken to prevent further breaches.

Councillor John McPartland, who previously feared that prostitution could increase in the town centre because of the operation of a lap dancing club, said: The reasons I opposed the club when it was first introduced have not materialised so I will not be opposing it this time. As a ward councillor I haven't had any complaints from any residents since it opened. I strongly oppose lap dancing clubs on moral grounds but moral grounds is not an argument that can be advanced.

A council hearing to review the club's licence is scheduled for December 1 and 2.

A Medway councillor, who was caught in a police operation against street prostitution, is rightfully refusing to resign. He was caught with a sex worker in his car and cautioned at Medway Police Station.

Nick Brice was then thrown out of the Conservative Party.

Then members of Medway Council's moral standards committee told the newly independent councillor that he should stand down for bringing the authority into disrepute . Fellow councillors say they believe that he should be excluded from any decision-making on the council.

But rules is rules and the rules state the council cannot sack him because the incident was in his own time .

In an exclusive interview, divorced Cllr Brice said: I believe I've been vindicated and I do not have to resign. I will not resign. I've learnt my lesson. That night I did something stupid. It was a stupid act, but I was acting in a private capacity.

London's Hackney business owners have criticised new proposals to restrict licences to sex shops and clubs.

As reported in the Citizen last month, Hackney Council is currently carrying out a consultation its new draft document on sex establishments, which introduces a nil policy such that new licences will not normally be granted and existing ones will be less likely to be renewed.

Some businesses are claiming that it will result in the closure of legitimate businesses during a recession and that it may force those employed in such businesses into unlicenced sex trade activity. Hackney currently has one licenced sex shop and four premises that are licenced to provide live performances or displays of nudity solely or mainly to sexually stimulate audience members. All but one of these are located in Shoreditch, which has many clubs and bars with late licences and a limited number of residential buildings.

Expectations, on Great Eastern Street, is Hackney's only licenced sex shop. It is open during normal business hours and does not have an explicit fascia. Yet, under the new policy, this business is under threat. Chris Graham-Bell, a director of the Millivres Prowler Group which owns Expectations, said: We are contesting the policy. It is stupid to lump sex shops and clubs together as we are completely different.

We have been going 30 years and until five years ago there was no question of us having a licence at all – we didn't need one. We chose to get a licence so we could stock R18 DVDs, we were not forced to get one. We have no objection to having a licence, or the council restricting the number of licences it gives out. If necessary, we will withdraw the sale of the DVDs.

Pauline Bristow, partner and licensee of the White Horse on Shoreditch High Street, has also voiced objections to the proposed policy. You cannot turn around and say we cause more problems than discos that open until 4am, she said. We are open from 12 noon until 12 midnight, we have a 1am license but we only use it in December.

A licensee for 25 years, Pauline has lived in Hackney for 32 years and has seen the borough change. The problem is, the council are thinking 'we are an up and coming area, we have all this stuff like the Olympics coming up, we don't want these sorts of places'.

If we have to close, 75 people will be out of work including bar staff, the girls and security. In Hackney overall we reckon it will be 300. It is not going to help the unemployment figures in Hackney, which the council considers a deprived borough. They will also lose money from the licences, about £5000 per venue. It's not going to help anything at all. Our livelihoods will be threatened.

There are fears that closing licenced establishments will not only lead to more unemployment, but may force the workers into more dangerous, unlicenced venues, some of which operate as brothels. This is a prospect Pauline is well aware of. If we close, there are a lot of unlicenced venues where the girls will be encouraged to do much more than dance, she said.

Have your say on licensing sex establishments in Hackney. The consultation runs until 13 December.

A lapdancer claims she will be ogled more if unjustified proposals by Reading licensing bosses are given the go-ahead.

New licensing rules could see performers restricted to dancing at least a metre away from customers, although councillors admit it would be difficult to enforce the policy.

Sophie Norris who performs at the Sugar Lounge in St Mary's Butts, said: It is not a lapdance if you are a metre away. It takes away a bit of the intimacy. When you are closer there is more eye contact, but if you step back it becomes more intrusive as they are going to be ogling your body more like a strip-o-gram.

The dancer, from Tilehurst, who runs the club with husband Michael, added: What the council is saying is unjustified. There has never been a complaint or problem and I cannot see the point in changing something that works so well.

Reading Borough Council's licensing applications committee considered changes to a draft policy on the regulation of sexual entertainment venues. These refer to any premises where there is a live performance or display of nudity designed to stimulate the audience. Councillor Deborah Edwards proposed the change to the policy, seconded by Cllr Peter Beard, after concerns a 50cm rule was too close.

Cllr Tony Page asked whose professional judgement stipulated 50cm was the distance and asked if the Lap Dancing Association UK (LDAUK) had been consulted.

Council officers admitted there wasn't any set criteria and the decision had been made simply on what they deemed was appropriate.

The proposed policy was agreed by the committee and recommended for approval at the next full council meeting on November 29.

Rrepressive new rules on sex shops and lapdancing clubs will force the operators to fork out more than £16,000 per year if they want to continue trading in the borough.

Changes to licensing rules agreed last week also give Hammersmith and Fulham Council greater power to close down venues which it feels are operating in inappropriate sites.

Sex establishments near residential areas, schools, nurseries, youth clubs, places of worship, leisure centres and community buildings could be refused a licence when new rules are adopted in April.

There are currently two venues in the borough which are classed as sex establishments – lapdancing club Secrets in Glenthorne Road, Hammersmith, and sex shop Simply Pleasure in Hammersmith Road, Olympia. Both will be allowed to continue running for one year, but must apply for a new licence within six months and will have to pay an annual fee of £16,688.

A council report said local residents will now have more opportunity to raise objections to sex establishments annually when the operators are forced to renew their licence.

Greg Smith, the council's resident services leader, said: [48] Residents have told us they do not want sex establishments opening in inappropriate places, such as in residential areas or near schools.

A public consultation was held between June and August, in which just 59 people took part. Of those, 48 felt it would be inappropriate to issue a licence near residential areas, schools or other places regularly used by children, and 39 said they should not be issued near a place of worship.

The presence of sex venues in the borough drew a mixed response from residents writing to the council. One woman of Carthew Road, Hammersmith, said: Since Secrets opened I have noticed fewer incidents of fights and scuffles in the street, vomit and blood on the pavement and noise in the later hours. The pubs which were on the site previously were rough pubs, with no doormen and much more hassling of women who pass by.

But another resident said: The licensing fee should be significantly higher than proposed, at least 40% of gross annual profits, adding: If ordinary people don't stand up for keeping their borough free from such business, then the atmosphere of our neighbourhoods will be determined not by decent families and businesses but by an ever-growing sleaze factor.

Tim Hemming, director of the Simply Pleasure chain, called the fee in Hammersmith and Fulham unacceptable and outrageous , with only the West End branch of the sex shop being charged more by its local council, Westminster. He said: What these councils are doing is exploiting us. They issue a renewable licence, visit our premises possibly once a year, have a look at it and charge us £16,000.

Lap dancing comes to Southport. Club Heaven, on Coronation Walk is now offering adult dances.

Rev Richard Vernon, a minister at Elim Church, said: It is a shame. People make their own choices about how they live and that is absolutely fine but when you deal with people whose lives and marriages have been wrecked by pornography, you have to look at the long term consequences. It is the image that the club portrays. We want to turn Southport into a classic resort.

Town centre councillor, Sir Ron Watson, said: It is something I would prefer not to see. In terms of developing as we have done, as a classic resort, it hardly fits in with it. Personally, I would much prefer it if it was not there but there is no point pretending that there is no need for it or it would not have opened. The club does not fit in with the general ambience of town, particularly as a classic resort.

The problem is that it is a tiny minority who would like this sort of entertainment.The impact in terms of the public perception of Southport is important.

Bunny girls will return to London next year with the opening of a new Playboy Club, Hugh Hefner has announced.

The venue was once the height of decadence when it opened in the swinging Sixties attracting stars such as Sir Michael Caine, George Best and Jack Nicholson.

But after closing its doors almost 30 years ago, the club is to stage a comeback at a new location in London's Mayfair.

The new Playboy Club will include a restaurant, cocktail bar and casino, spread over two floors. The return has been trailed for at least a decade but now Playboy and its partner London Clubs International say they will open the venue in the first half of 2011.

London's original Playboy Club at 45 Park Lane opened in 1966 and became a noted hangout for celebrities and the wealthy. It closed in 1981 after gaming licences were revoked.

The number of lap dancing and strip clubs in Birmingham could be halved under new powers adopted by Birmingham City Council licensing chiefs.

It means that club owners could be put through what a licensing lawyer has described as a beauty parade to see which ones get the licence and which ones have to cover up.

Birmingham's 15-strong licensing committee is currently split over what limit to set on sex entertainment venues. It meets on November 17 to set the cap.

Many feel that the dozen or so currently allowed in Birmingham is too many and expect a limit of about six to be set. Others believe that quality gentlemen's clubs are part of a modern city nightlife.

Labour group licensing spokeswoman Barbara Dring (Oscott) thinks a cap is needed, but is unsure at which level. She said: We have just granted two licenses on Broad Street and there could be dozen more in the pipeline so this change has come at the right time. A cap is needed otherwise we could end up with our own version of Soho.

Other committee members are ready to push for half-a-dozen. One suggestion is a couple on Broad Street, a couple near the Arcadian and a couple elsewhere.

Such a move would lead to the dozen strip clubs competing for the six licenses next year. Solicitor Andrew Potts, at a recent licensing hearing likened the competition to a beauty parade.

Committee chairman David Osborne (Lib Dem, South Yardley) does not believe that a limit is necessary and wants to judge every club on its merits. He said: I am delighted that we have adopted this new legislation. I am not sure how happy the industry are going to be about it.

We can now consider moral objections, economic issues such as impact on other businesses and take representations from a wider area. I know there are those who would prefer no lap dancing clubs at all. My thoughts are that if we have a cap, we could box ourselves in. It would be better to be flexible but I am willing to be persuaded otherwise.

In recent years a motley crew of government agencies, police forces, human rights activists, feminists, religious groups and celebrities have turned human trafficking into one of the biggest issues of our time.

The anti-trafficking lobby claims that millions of people around the world – mostly women and children – are being smuggled across borders by means of threat and coercion and are forced into prostitution, bonded labour and domestic servitude. The UK media – both broadsheet and tabloid – has slavishly accepted this narrative, filling column inches with salacious reports of foreigners trapped in cellars, used for tawdry sex and held under the threat of murder and even voodoo.

But this modern-day slavery scare is underpinned, not by hard evidence, but by speculation and prejudice. It is a moral panic which masks a fear of foreigners, of fluid borders and of women who exercise their agency by moving across the world in the pursuit of a better life. Despite the alarmist reports, time and again the thousands of victims and perpetrators that the anti-trafficking lobby claims are out there fail to materialise.

...Read the full article

Newspapers which publish sex adverts could face prosecution by the Metropolitan Police.

As part of an investigation into sex trafficking, the Croydon Guardian reports that a senior police officer saying editors who continue to run adverts for brothels could be arrested.

Vice squad detective inspector Kevin Hyland told the paper: It is an offence to advertise for prostitution. If newspapers do run adverts there is a possibility of prosecution. The legislation we are thinking of using is aiding and abetting offences of controlling prostitution for gain, offences of trafficking under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and possibly money laundering.

A Croydon Guardian article claims sex adverts were estimated to be worth more than £44m for the regional press in 2006.

A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Service said its Human Exploitation and Organised Crime Command was a specialist unit tackling trafficking and prostitution and a number of people had been jailed in recent months. She said: In many of these investigations, the organised criminal networks have sought to advertise through local newspapers or advertising journals.

It is important that everyone plays their part in trying to reduce the opportunity of criminal networks to continue their illegal activities and their exploitation of vulnerable people through advertising sexual services. The MPS is working with the media to tackle this.

Denis MacShane, the former Europe minister, has been referred to the Metropolitan police over allegations about his expenses and suspended from the parliamentary Labour party.

Denis MacShane has been noted on Melon Farmers many times for a bad censorial attitude, but particularly for his roll in the exaggeration of sex trafficking figures. His figure of 25,000 trafficked sex workers in Britain hung round for ages before being discredited. Of course to give his due, it is far less than the travelling band of 40,000 trafficked sex workers that tour the world's major sporting events.

An inquiry by John Lyon, parliamentary commissioner for standards, into the complaint against the Rotherham MP has been suspended until the question of possible criminal proceedings has been resolved.

The complaint against MacShane is understood to have been submitted by the British National party and relates to travel expenses for work conducted in Europe in the last parliament. The Commons committee on standards and privileges, which oversees Lyon's work, said it had agreed that MacShane's conduct should be reported to the Met.

MacShane said: I have been informed by the parliamentary commissioner for standards that he has written to the Metropolitan police in connection with his inquiry into a complaint against me filed in June 2009. I will of course co-operate fully with the police, as I have with the commissioner. Scotland Yard confirmed that it had received the complaint.

A Labour party spokeswoman said MacShane had been suspended from the parliamentary party and had had the whip withdrawn pending the outcome of any investigation.

Plans to launch a second lap-dancing club in Leamington Old Town – featuring both male and female dancers – have been granted permission.

Owners of Amara club in Court Street plans plays, films, live and recorded music and dance. In addition they listed plans for themed evenings featuring semi-nudity including lap-dancing featuring both women and men.

But they of course insisted it would be a sophisticated and elegant club with registered door supervisors, strictly no under 18s allowed in and no material of an adult nature displayed outside the venue.

The plans have drawn a string of complaints from nutters. One objector wrote: The cumulative impact of two strip clubs would further consolidate Old Town as a progressively 'no go area' for women, particularly after dark. Adult entertainment venues have been linked to a significant increase in sexual harassment of women who live, work and travel through the area.

Another person writing from Leamington and Warwick Academy of Dance said it would be highly inappropriate for the young girls there to be exposed to the sort of clientèle a club of this kind would attract.

In addition a doctor from Waterside Medical Centre, in Court Street, said it would be an absurdity to have a strip club within 100 yards of a family practice which had 1,500 registered under 16s.

And a spokesman for the Christian Resource Centre bookshop on Radford Road suggested the club would hamper ongoing efforts by local council to change the tacky image of the area.

Recently Hackney council invited residents to have their say about a nil policy being proposed for adult entertainment in Hackney. In essence it means no more licenses will be granted nor will existing ones be renewed, when they come up for renewal.

According to Cllr Chris Kennedy: The Licensing Committee is proposing a 'nil' policy on licensed sex establishments as we do not believe they fit with the character of our town centres and neighbourhoods.

The consultation which began last month will end December 13th and will ask the Council to adopt the revised policy on January 26th.

Currently Hackney has a total of 5 adult establishments, all located on the southwestern tip of the borough bordering on the City of London financial centre.

Four of them offer strip tease and lap dancing, totally nude. They are long established and famed: The White Horse,  The Rainbow Sports Bar both on Shoreditch High Street, Browns and Ye Olde Axe on Hackney Road. The fifth venue is a discreet adult store – Expectations on Great Eastern Street that caters more to the gay community.

To the best of my knowledge none of them have ran afoul of vice laws such as prostitution, which would usually guarantee criminal prosecution, revocation of license and closure. So why is Hackney Council proposing a nil policy for adult entertainment venues?

Pauline Briscoe owner of The White Horse on Shoreditch High Street says: If a nil policy is introduced, we will have to let go of our staff, who depend on us for a living. That will be more people claiming benefit. Our establishment has never been a problem.

Briscoe, who closes her club, The White Horse, at midnight says her flat above the White Horse is next to a bus stop and she is awoken at 4 am when clubbers are pouring out of the night clubs. She said the noise and chaos can be quite unbearable.

Regardless of who frequents lap dancing clubs, there are women who depend on the money they earn. One of them who spoke to Hackney Hive is a 21 year old Uni student said: This is worrying for me as I find I can fit dancing around my education easier than other part time work. I also don't have to work as many hours as I would have to in a more tradition job, to make the money I do.

Hackney Council Out of Line

Based on article from hackneycitizen.co.uk

It is not clear that Hackney Council's nil policy is in line with changing trends in public opinion. A survey carried out as part of the 27 September Sunday Morning Live discussion on BBC1 showed overwhelming public support for accepting prostitution, with 71% of the British public in favour and only 29% against.

This echoes a government funded Ipsos MORI poll in June 2008: 59% agreed that prostitution is a perfectly reasonable choice that women should be free to make.

In the Sunday Morning Live debate, Catherine Stephens of the International Union of Sex Workers (IUSW) called for policy that solves problems based on evidence and reality, rather than on ideology, dramatic individual cases and stereotypes. She argued that stigmatisation of sex work plays a large part in violence and trafficking.

According to the IUSW the clients are not the problem; they cite evidence showing that the majority of robbery, abuse and physical or sexual violence experienced by sex workers comes from those who do not pay for sex. Many assailants express hatred of sex workers and appear to feel their actions are legitimated by the social attitudes of abhorrence for commercial sex.

Stephens says, It's time to start treating women with respect and equality, regardless of their sexual behaviour. It's time to give people in the sex industry the same human rights as other citizens, so we can work together for safety, and call the police without fear of arrest. It's time to decriminalise prostitution.

A recent Welsh Assembly report concluded that it is highly likely that the Ryder Cup will result in a surge in sex trafficking to Wales. As evidence, it pointed to how Greece licensed new brothels ahead of the 2004 Athens Olympics to meet demand and said that mega-brothels were built to satisfy sex-seeking football players and fans during Germany's 2006 World Cup.

The media has repeated the assembly's claims without question, predicting that the Ryder Cup will fuel a boom in women and children forced here from abroad to work in the Welsh sex industry.

But there is one problem with all this: the claims around the Athens Games and the World Cup in Germany in 2006 are based on myths that refuse to die.

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