Reindeer at National Ice Centre

I've just heard about an even being held at the National Ice Centre on 21-23 December which includes live reindeer being there to be fed and petted by visitors.

There are serious welfare issues for reindeer being used in this way and it seems odd that the council allows events like this to happen yet, rightly, does not allow live animals in circuses performing on its land.

As a result I have written to my local councillors about the issue and I suggest that you do likewise. The text of my email is below and includes relevant links for information.

"I am writing to you with serious concern about the planned even at the NIC featuring reindeer being available to 'pet and feed' 21-23 December
https://www.national-ice-centre.com/christmas-at-the-national-ice-centre/
There are serious concerns for the welfare of reindeer taking part in events where crowds, noise and physical contact will be inevitable. These animals are simply not used to such conditions
http://www.captiveanimals.org/news/2013/10/caps-warning-over-reindeer-welfare-in-run-up-to-christmas
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-30127377
It also seems odd that, while NCC refuses to allow live animals to perform in circuses held on council land yet it allows reindeer to be used in such a way, when the likelihood of stressful encounters from crowds is so much greater. Furthermore, escapes from festive events is not unprecedented
http://www.nottinghampost.com/chaos-carlton-reindeer-escapes-festive-event/story-28397074-detail/story.html
This raises issues of possible injury to both the reindeer and the public in such a built up area.
I ask that you urgently raise this issue within the council and/or other authorities as appropriate with a view to stopping the reindeer to be put at risk in this way. I also ask that, at the earliest opportunity, you initiate discussion within the council to deal with the issue of reindeer at festive events as part of the council's animal welfare policies.
Thank you for your attention and I look forward to hearing back from you"

Anti-Corbyn Councillors

Labourlist has published a letter from 500+ local councillors calling on jeremy Corbyn to stand down as leader of the Labour Party. A small number are from Nottingham City Council and I list them below;

Alex Norris (Basford)

David Trimble (Dunkirk and Lenton)

Nick McDonald (Bulwell Forest)

Sam Webster (Wollaton East and Lenton Abbey)

Steve Young (Clifton South)

Toby Neal (Berridge)

Brian Parbutt (Sherwood)

Nicola Heaton (Bridge)

I provide these details merely for information, you may wish to write to them (politely is best) if you are a constituent and/or remember them when the next election comes up in 2019.

Update; just checking this again following reports that the list was partly fiction. As far as NCC is concerned there are a couple of additions added above

#givetowhothefuckyouwant

Apparently there's been some strange posters popping up around Nottingham telling you what to do with your own money

Reckon they should sack the graphics designer mind...

Addendum - in case you're wondering what this is all about it's NCC's latest campaign to demonise beggars

Hate Crime Reporting - Surreal Follow Up

Shortly after posting my piece the other day about NCC's poor quality advice on how to report hate crime, I found myself in this slightly surreal Twitter convo -

In case you didn't know, Antcliff is NCC's Chief Anti-Social Behaviour Officer.

I was actually trying to report a Community Protection Officer for disability harassment against me. As you can see, I did try to tell him, just not sure that he took it in.

Anyway, thanks to Mr Antcliff I did manage to report one of his staff for a hate crime, got a hate crime number and everything.

Nottingham City Council's Shit Hate Crime Advice

An extract from the City Council's webpage on hate crime reporting (link to screenshot as I guess it may change soon) -

• Stop Hate UK has a 24 hour third party reporting line for witnesses and victims of hate crime. This reporting service is independent of the police and will not pass information to them, unless the caller wishes for this to be done on their behalf
• ...
• Email talk@stophateuk.org 

An extract from the email I received from Stop Hate UK today -

"Unfortunately this is not something we are able to look into as we are not commissioned to operate in Nottingham..."

Thanks a lot Nottingham City Council for your bullshit hate crime reporting advice.

Important note; Stop Hate Uk's website DOES say that they are available to assist with LGBT hate crime across England, Wales and Scotland. It's just that I was trying to report disability hate crime. Mind you I don't think that NCC recognises that such a thing exists.

Approved Rebellion

Funny old world this. One day you get an email from Nottingham City Council including the following;

"We were successful because of the link to the riots of October 1831 when a crowd of Nottingham citizens surged towards the Castle, furious with the residing Duke of Newcastle who had just openly declared his opposition to the Reform Act. This banner is a representation of the democracy the Nottingham rioters were protesting for.

The people of Nottingham burnt down castles for the right to vote. What a talking point for the electorate of the city today!"

Riots! Protest!! Burning down castles!!! Heady stuff. This concerned the planned transformation of the castle which will include a museum of rebellion.

Another day we get this in the paper from Leader of the Council Lord JoCo;

"[Staff] were subject to some frankly appalling behaviour from protesters at the weekend when they vandalised this building at significant cost to local council tax payers.
 
Let's be absolutely clear, they were not homeless, there have not been homeless people in any number in any of those protests. We are talking about the same people who have been involved in taking advantage of Mickey Summers around his particular issues, and Tom Crawford around his particular issues.

This is a small number of antiestablishment protestors whose interest is in protest, damage, threatening and actually, from time to time, violent behaviour towards council staff."

Anti-establishment! Appalling behaviour!! Chalk on buildings!!! What a wanker.

You see, there is approved rebellion eg, that which happened a long time ago or which was against someone else, and there is forbidden rebellion, that which tackles the unfairness and injustice happening today which the council is at least partly responsible for. This is the kind of thinking that requires us to celebrate burning down castles yet condemn chalking slogans on the Council House.

Fun fact; this celebrating the reform act riots was actually my idea, I included it in an April Fool post about 6 years ago. We all know they read the blog (nasty letters threatening me over the state of my garden tend to coincide with my now occasional flurries of blog posts or anti-council Twitter rants) but strangely, I haven't been given any credit yet.

Wonder if the homeless camp will find it's way into the forthcoming 'Museum of Rebellion'?

Fun fact 2; more people have been arrested and/or charged over the homelessness camp and associated protests than over the entire housing allocations scandal which saw hundreds of council houses misallocated and several disappearing off into dodgy right-to-buy deals. It also included a council employee attacking squatters with a cricket bat...

Beckhampton Mother and Baby Unit

Nottingham City Council is proposing to close the Beckhampton Mother and Baby unit, a specialist centre providing education and support to school age pregnant young women. It is proposed that students should remain in mainstream schools instead, with extra support provided 'when required', presumably by a peripatetic support system rather than one on site.

The Post has an article today including interviews from pupils and you get a strong impression that such an approach will be inadequate. I have also heard from someone connected to the school that referrals to the unit are being blocked to give the impression that demand is falling.

Graham Allen, MP for Nottingham North, has publicly criticised the move which is almost unheard of when it is the City Council responsible for a proposal. Normally Labour Party solidarity prevents him from sticking his head above the parapet.

There is a petition against the proposals and you might also wish to respond to the public consultation being run by the Council. We are told that no decisions have been made (yeah right) so if enough people respond maybe they'll change their minds. We can live in hope.

More Human Rights Hypocrisy

The City Council jumped on the bandwagon today and organised a vigil for the victims of the Paris attacks, complete with local bigwigs.

I feel obliged to point out that the City Council took absolutely no notice of the massacre of over 2000 people in Gaza by the Israelis.

Furthermore, the number of people killed in Paris is approximately the same as the number of people executed by the Chinese regime in three weeks, something that Nottingham City Council is falling over itself to invest in.

Fucking hypocrites.

Who Cares About Human Rights? Not Nottingham...

Not a huge amount to say about this that I haven't said already in similar circumstances but Nottingham City Council is proudly (or should that be Proud-ly?) announcing that it is joining a delegation to China to scrounge for some cash.

Once again, no regard for China's appalling human rights record and the international community is left with the impression that Nottingham is a city that doesn't care about such things, as long as we get some Yuan.

Way to go guys, I don't think.