» City up for change?
Phil Mills reports on masked protesters calling on Cameron, £5,000 offered for burglars, and city geting poop patrol
From man hunts to drum’n’bass crimes and some rather familiar-looking masked invaders, we’ve certainly had another colourful and varied week.
An award of up to £5,000 has been offered in the search for two thieves who burgled homes in East Sussex in November.
Sussex Police have worked with the independent organisation Crimestoppers to release an e-fit of a man who attacked 77year old William Skipper during one of the break-ins. The incident, which took place in Hadlow Down on 6 November, was followed shortly after by a burglary in Ditchling on 19 November.
Meanwhile, Brighton Magistrates have fined a couple £1,930 for repeated noise offenses. Janis Boucher and Jamie Johnson of The Highway, Moulsecoomb, were sentenced after repeatedly disturbing neighbours by playing loud drum’n’bass music, shouting, and clattering around their residence. They were also found guilty of breaching a noise abatement notice.
On the subject of fines, dog owners who fail to clean up their pet’s mess will now be issued £80 on-the-spot fines by wardens patrolling dog-walking hotspots around the city. The council will be focusing on the Elm Grove, Brunswick Square, Queens Park Road, Westbourne Villas, Palmeira Square, Knowle Estate and Hangleton Park areas.
Councillor Geoffrey Theobald, Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “The council is committed to creating a safe, pleasant and healthy environment for our residents and visitors, and those who spoil our city will end up facing a fine. Allowing your dog to foul a public place is unpleasant, anti-social and also against the law.”
Whether or not this is yet another excuse for the state to keep watchful tabs on the general public, it is hard not to agree that our streets would benefit greatly from more mindful dog owners.
Talking of bad citizenship, a 62-year-old cyclist was left seriously injured after a hit and run on Friday. The Hove man was knocked down by a white vehicle as he rode southwards along Montpelier Road at around 5.15pm.
On other matters, one obvious way we, the public, can make an impact on the way the country operates is by voting in elections and (the occasional) referendums. And what better chance to have our say than by voting in a referendum on proposed changes to the electoral voting system?
When the government announced plans for the UK-wide referendum last month, Cameron and the Conservatives opposed them, claiming it a waste of the tax-payer’s money. It is now uncertain as to whether the bill will become law before the next general election, and with the Tories still leading in the polls, it looks likely
to never happen.
In protest, the organisation Vote for a Change took to the seafront ahead of Cameron’s visit to the Brighton Centre on Saturday. Sporting cardboard face-masks of Cameron and his colleagues and a banner reading ‘How do you spell change?’ the group turned heads, and rightfully so. In protesting an issue as crucial as this, a fresh way of attracting attention is central, and what better place to set up camp than in Brighton?
