Video: The Battle of the Beanfield, Free Festivals and Traveller History with Andy Worthington on Bristol Community Radio
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Last week I was in Bristol for a screening of ‘Concrete Soldiers UK’, the new documentary film about the cynical destruction of council estates, and residents’ brave resistance to the destruction of their homes, which I narrate. The screening was at the People’s Republic of Stoke Croft, a pioneering community space in a once-neglected area of Bristol that has now started to be devoured by the insatiable profiteers of the “regeneration” industry. My article about the screening is here, and a brief report about the screening is here, and while I was there I was also interviewed by Tony Gosling for Bristol Community Radio, which is based in the PRSC complex.
Tony and I have known each other for many years, through a shared interest in Britain’s counter-culture, and it was great to take part in his politics show for the station as the author of two very relevant books, Stonehenge: Celebration & Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. Although we discussed the film, that interview has not yet been broadcast, because Tony’s primary focus was on discussing the traveller community of the 1970s and 80s, the free festival scene, focused particularly on Stonehenge and Glastonbury, and the Battle of the Beanfield, on June 1, 1985, when, with Margaret Thatcher’s blessing, 1,400 police from six counties and the MoD violently decommissioned the convoy of vehicles — containing men, women and children — that was en route to Stonehenge to establish what would have been the 12th annual Stonehenge Free Festival.
To discuss the above, Tony had also contacted Sean, a veteran traveller, who still lives in a vehicle, and still upholds the DiY values of that time. We had a wonderful discussion over 40 minutes, which Tony has put on YouTube, illustrated with traveller photos by Alan Lodge, and which I’ve cross-posted below. Read the rest of this entry »
Andy Worthington Joins Panel at Homeless Film Festival’s 50th Anniversary Screening of Ken Loach’s ‘Cathy Come Home’, LCC, Fri. Nov. 18
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I’m delighted to have been added, as a commentator on Britain’s housing crisis, to a panel discussion taking place after a screening this Friday, November 18, of ‘Cathy Come Home’ at London College of Communication, at the Elephant & Castle, London SE1 6SB. The screening marks the 50th anniversary of the broadcast of this hugely important drama about homelessness, written by Jeremy Sandford and directed by Ken Loach, and first broadcast on November 16, 1966, in the BBC’s series, ‘The Wednesday Play,’ which aired between 1964 and 1970, tackling contemporary social issues that might not otherwise have reached a wide audience. Also screening is a short film about London’s homelessness crisis by photographer Don McCullin. Thanks to Polly Nash for adding me to the panel.
The event is part of the Homeless Film Festival, and it runs from 6.30-9pm in Lecture Theatre B at the LCC. Also on the panel is a very good friend of mine, Val Stevenson, Chair of The Pavement, the magazine for homeless people, and Michael Chandler, Programme Director of Cardboard Citizens who make life changing theatre with and for homeless people. The page for the event is here. Please note that it is free, but booking is required.
Writing about the importance of ‘Cathy Come Home’ this summer, and the impact of homelessness and housing stress on people’s mental health, journalist and author Clare Allan, in an article for the Guardian, wrote how “this drama about a young mother caught in an impossible, inhuman system, which leaves her homeless, destroys her marriage and ultimately robs her of her children, led to public outrage, a surge in donations to the charity Shelter and the founding of the charity Crisis the following year.” Read the rest of this entry »
Photos: March for the Homeless Opposite 10 Downing Street, London, April 15, 2015
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On March 15, 2015, 22 events took place in the UK, Ireland, the US and Canada to raise awareness of homelessness, under the umbrella heading, “March for the Homeless.” I attended the protest in London, opposite 10 Downing Street, where campaigners had arranged for homeless voters to register for the General Election on May 7, and there was a free food kitchen.
Homelessness has increased by 55% since the Tory-led coalition government came to power, and, of course, has increased specifically because of the introduction of certain disgraceful policies — the benefit cap, which attempted to portray those receiving benefits as the problem, when the real problem is greedy landlords; and the bedroom tax, whereby a cabinet of millionaires, with more rooms than they can count, passed legislation forcing people on benefits living in social housing who are deemed to have a “spare room” to downsize, even though there are few smaller properties to move to, and many people, treated as worthless “units” by the government and kicked out of their homes, have had to be rehoused in the private sector, thereby increasing the overall housing benefit bill.
An article in the Guardian last June stated that, in 2013, “112,070 people declared themselves homeless in England — a 26% increase in four years. At the same time, the number of people sleeping rough in London grew by 75% to a staggering 6,437.” In addition, as the Streets of London website notes, there are also “around 400,000 ‘hidden homeless’ in the UK, living out of sight in hostels, B&Bs, ‘sofa-surfing’ or squatting.” Read the rest of this entry »
Who's still at Guantánamo?
