Due to budget cutbacks at newspark taxi fares are now an unaffordable luxury and in a labour of love for newspark’s readership the loyal reporter trudged the streets of Edinburgh, through wind and rain, to bring them a review of some of the highs and lows of the festival.

One of the highlights was Australian Comedian Adam Hills at Assembly. Hills has built up quite a reputation over the years and now plays to packed audiences at the fringe. Hills’ stand-up has a freshness and joie de vivre that many current stand ups lack and it is refreshing to see a show that does not rely on excessive cynicism or audience humiliation. He has the ability to draw the audience in and make you empathise with him and it is undoubtedly this skill that has resulted in him building such a loyal British fan base who return to his Edinburgh shows year on year. Hills manages to put a positive spin on all aspects of life and his comedy is all the more enjoyable for its heartfelt nature. The climax to his show is absolutely sublime and it is not often that you can laugh guilt-free at someone’s description of a race at the Paralympics.

However with the good there must come the ugly and it transpired the funniest part of  The Best of Scottish Comedian of the Year was its unintentionally ironic title. This show at the Underbelly showcases three Scottish comedians a night and I hope to God I saw the dregs of the talent pool because if this is the best up-and-coming Scottish comedy there is a worrying dearth of emerging talent. I expunged the names of the performers from my memory in the secure knowledge that they will never grace the stage again. Their performances were reminiscent of the opening stages of the X-factor where talentless no-hopers are ritually humiliated. You wonder to yourself whoever told these people they were funny? The only possible answer could be their mothers or a sadist.

All I need to say about Reginald D Hunter (Udderbelly Pasture)  is that his routine was excellent and the man himself is excellent, as exemplified by him buying me a drink after the show.

 After 30 years and a Guinness World Record for the longest theatrical run of a comedy show the ever-changing cast of the NewsRevue are still firing on all cylinders. This year the cast includes Adam Buchanan, Becky Moult, James Kermack and Jo Bowis. As a unit they produce wonders in all the roles the plethora of writers have thrown at them. Such a comedic take on current affairs provides a great catharsis for the stress and tribulations brought on by a recession and is no doubt one of the explanations for the great success of this year’s fringe. 

"Let's get tipsy" Ringleader Harrison with companion

By Timothy Dickens, Social Editor

EXCITED students from a London college have been planning a wild celebration and sparked fears of an out-of-control party that could end in tears.

Up to 16 young journalism students from No SWeat Journalism College have used social network sites and email to plan a boozy run-up to their graduation evening in Clerkenwell on Wednesday.

Young graduand and shorthand guru, Philip Harrison, is the ring leader of baccanalian plans dubbed irresponsible by sources at the college.

Unemployed Harrison, 22, from Hadleigh, Essex said in an email to students; “We were thinking of going a little early for graduation to get a little tipsy beforehand.”

In a clear attempt to encourage his peers to heckle their eccentric Director, Mr Stephen Ward, the student added; “the mix of alcohol and Stephen Ward speeches has gota [sic] be a winner.”

The scandal comes after reports of previous student drinking parties that have lasted well into the night. Several wannabe journalists close to Harrison have spoken of an evening out in Clerkenwell and Shoreditch, East London, that was an orgy of “curry, beer and mojitos” culminating in a five am bedtime for many involved.

Failed editor of the college newspaper, The New Spark, Timothy Dickens, said: “I am well up for the lash [heavy drinking] but I don’t understand why we don’t start earlier if the pub opens at 11. I mean, it’s not as if anyone has actually got a job to go to is it?”

No SWeat, based in Clerkenwell Green near the old offices of the Guardian Newspaper, is referred to as No HOpe by many students due to it’s failure to prepare it’s alumni for the digital media age and the current nespaper crisis.

No staff at the college were available for comment when this posting went to wordpress.
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ON TOP OF CRIME: Tough Estates Team on horseback

By Tim Dickens

A TOUGH police unit designed to crackdown on crime is turning the tide on crooks who made certain Enfield Estates no-go zones for residents.
 
The Safer Neighbourhood Estates Team was the first of its type in the UK when it was formed in 2007 by Enfield Council and Police.
 
Over their two year quest to clean the streets of illegal activity, the unit has collared 197 criminals for violent and persistent crimes such as rape, burglary, drug dealing and car theft.
 
One police sergeant, two police constables and nine police community support officers form the team which regularly patrols the most crime-ridden areas of the borough.
 
The team, which is partly funded by Enfield Council, strives to crackdown on drug-taking, criminal damage and other anti-social behaviour at notorious estates across the borough through their high visibility approach.

Enfield Council cabinet member for housing and community safety, Matthew Laban, praised the hard work of officers involved during a tour of inspection last Thursday on the Elsinge Estate in Bullsmore Lane, Enfield.
 
He said: “We were the first council in the country to create this team, and it is excellent that crime has been reduced in targeted areas.
 
“Of course there is still much to do, however they have made a great start in helping the council realise its ambition to make Enfield the safest borough in London.”
 
The Estates team works alongside 21 Safer Neighbourhoods teams across Enfield, which carry out a range of hands-on initiatives to cut the levels of street crime.
 
Borough-wide figures show that violent crime has fallen by 20.7 per cent compared to the year 2007/2008, the largest reduction in London. The overall level of reported crime fell by 6.6 per cent.
 
Acting Chief Inspector Ian Clark, from Enfield Police, said: “The Safer Neighbourhood Estates team is an asset to policing in Enfield. They deal with a wide variety of issues and are of great help to the other safer neighbourhoods teams.

GOING UNDERGROUND: Book groupies on the Picadilly Line

By Tim Dickens

When they tentatively set up a web page asking people to join them in enjoying good books, Southgate bookworms Paul Drinkwater and Dawn Barnes had no idea of the succesful literary society they might create.

But now the North London Reading Group they started has made the shortlist for the 2009 Penguin Orange Readers’ Group Prize, hatched a network of four book clubs with over one hundred members, and has to set up new book clubs for the scores of avid readers on their shortlist.

 Paul and Dawn first met when they found themselves starting another book club, the Oxford Reading Group, in 2003. The club, and their relationship, quickly blossomed.

 When they moved to Southgate, North London, in 2007, the couple decided to appeal for interested book lovers who wanted to meet new people and discover some cracking North London pubs along the way. As soon as the website was set up, they were inundated with interest.

 When she found out that her reading group had been just pipped to the post for the Orange Penguin prize, thirty two-year-old self-confessed book addict Dawn Barnes was obviously a little deflated. “We were a bit gutted not to win,” she laughed.

 “Our group is about bringing people together and being exposed to writers,” says Dawn. Indeed the readers group prize was originally set up to encourage clubs that make reading a more sociable pastime.

 After admitting to being a bit glum about missing out on the top prize, Dawn said she was dismayed that the award went to a book club based entirely online.

 “I suppose we weren’t surprised with the result, given the popularity of websites like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter.”

 “But that’s a bit lonely really, with kids sitting on their own at home with only a computer.”

 The North London Media Group does make good use of all types of online media. Members can find out about meetings on Facebook, or follow the club’s growing success through net phenomenon Twitter, but the real point is to meet up in person, over a refreshing pint, to talk books.

“By actually getting face to face, like we do, you get to meet new people and discover new places all over London.”

In these gloomy days of recession, it is clear that more and more Londoners are turning to books as a more affordable pastime. Reading Groups offer the perfect way to meet other people who share an interest that will not break the bank. They can use libraries and impressive discounts in bookshops to indulge in an old fashioned love of the printed word.

Books have also received a boost from popular TV book clubs, like Richard and Judy, and more recently the online group started by Jonathon Ross, the Wossy Book Club.

“Let’s face it, reading used to be a bit of a geek-fest, but now it’s becoming OK to read,” delights Dawn. The reading group has received over two hundred enquiries since it appeared on the Orange Penguin Prize shortlist a couple of months ago.

It is hard to ignore the social element of this rapidly growing society. As well as monthly meetings at watering holes up and down the Picadilly Line, the club has organised hugely successful literary walks, parties and meet-the-author events.

 At a recent Enfieldian poetry evening, bibliophiles were entertained by poets like Anthony Fisher who read their work and answered questions.

 “The local poets have such a sense of place and belonging that really comes through in their poems. It’s really beautiful,” says Dawn. Through this and other events she and her partner have met scores of different people while indulging their love of words.

 With members mostly aged between 25 and 35, PR executive Dawn would certainly like to make the group more diverse. She sighs as she admits that: “the make-up of the group is a bit disappointing.”

 “Although we have people working in a variety of different professions, from teachers to engineers, having people of different ages and from wider backgrounds would definitely make it more interesting.”

 She hopes that publicity from the prize might attract more varied interest. In her Oxforn based group, one member was older than her mother.

 Although the meet-ups can spark lively debate, all too often there is general agreement across the board, “and it’s rubbish when people agree on something.”

 Do Paul and Dawn have any further plans for their extraordinary book group? “At the moment people come from as far away as Acton, so it would be really cool to set up a book group for each area across London.”

 They say large trees grow from small acorns, and so a huge reading groups can spring from a solitary web page. And with Dawn and Paul at the helm, it seems certain that the North London Reading Group will continue to grow.

By Matthew Chapman

AN “ANTI-CHRISTIAN-hate show” has rocked the ancient university town of St Andrews.

The town, best known as the home of golf and birthplace of the Scottish Reformation, has become embroiled in a religious row after the first ever amateur staging of Jerry Springer: The Opera.

 The musical, by Stuart Lee and Richard Thomas, contains scenes portraying the Virgin Mary as a victim of rape and explaining Jesus’ birth as the result of a “condom split.”

It was performed by students as part of On the Rocks, a new arts festival that sets out to showcase emerging Scottish and student talent through drama, music, dance, comedy, art and film.

Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, issued a rallying call to Christians prior to the festival:

“Ridiculing Jesus Christ will bring shame and God’s judgement on what should with all its history, be a devout seat of learning, not a cesspit,” said Mr Green, “May the Lord bring Christian people out on the streets of St Andrews to witness and evangelise at all the events during the arts week.”

Increased security was required when 40 protestors answered Mr Green’s call-to-arms and picketed the headline show which opened the festival on April 19th.

Banners and placards with such slogans as “What does a loving God do to deserve this?” and “Jerry Springer: the Opera – Anti-Christian hate show” were an ever-present at the festival, which ran from April 19th-26th.

Glaswegian campaigner Bob Handyside said: “They can insult us by all means, but insulting the person of Jesus Christ is a different matter. If it was attacking Islam it would not see the light of day.”

The organiser of the On the Rocks festival, Philippa Dunn, denies the show is blasphemous and was delighted with the reception the show got from students.

“Within the context of the show I do not believe it is blasphemous – it is more of a satire on the world of reality television shows,” said Ms Dunn.

“It is not intended to be serious and the ending of the show is almost joyful. There is a curious morality about it.”

The show received a standing ovation on its first night and had a sell-out run, with restricted view tickets being made available on the final night.

Ms Dunn responded to accusations that the University of St Andrews Students’ Association, the organising body behind the festival, treats Christianity any differently to Islam.

“We would never put on a show that would gratuitously offend any religion or sector of the population,” she said

John MacLean, the show’s director, is a practising Christian and received the rights to the show in time for the festival, after four years of attempting to gain them.

“My own faith means I would never do this to cause offence or mock Christ, “ said Mr MacLean, “Challenging ideas aren’t something that should be shied away from.”

This is not the first time Christian Voice has clashed with students from St Andrews. The organisation previously staged a series of protests in 2004 when students performed Corpus Christi, the ‘gay Jesus play’ written by Terrence McNally.

Charred Lakanal House

By Reena Kumar

A MASSIVE blaze has swept through a tower block in Camberwell killing six people and raised serious questions about the safety of similar buildings all across the capital.

An investigation has now been launched into the cause, which is currently being treated as suspicious.

Ed Hammond, 37, an accountant who lives on the 7th floor, said: “The flats are death traps. If the fire is in the central area you would have nowhere to go.”

The blaze started on the ninth floor of Lakanal House on the Sceaux Estate at 4.20pm on Friday 3 July and spread rapidly to the 11th floor, where all the victims died.

The 14-floor tower block is under severe scrutiny as fears are expressed over its 1960’s design and the safety of other such buildings.

The youngest victim of the tragic blaze was three-week-old Michelle Udoaka who perished along with her mother Helen Udoaka, 34.

The four other victims were Catherine Hickman, 31, Dayana Francisquini, 26, and her three-year-old son Filipe and six-year-old daughter Thais.

Mark Bailey, the boyfriend of Catherine Hickman, paid tribute to the fashion designer and said he had been planning to propose to her.

Mr Bailey who was in New York when the fire broke out said: “I was devastated when I realised she had died. She was a living angel. I had made up my mind to propose when I got back from my trip. Cat had no idea – it was going to be a surprise.”

Sunand Prasad, President of The Royal Institute of British Architects, told the Today programme on Radio 4: “I don’t see why this should have happened, there are three possible escape routes from each floor. For some reason the fire spread in a way in which it shouldn’t have spread.

“By looking at the photos of the fire spread, you can see the flats weren’t sufficiently well designed or built. We need to assure people that this is something that won’t happen again.”

John Denham, the Communities Secretary, has instructed the Government’s Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser, Sir Ken Knight, to report urgently on the investigation into the fire.

A government spokesman told The Independent that Mr Denham wanted to make sure that fire and rescue authorities, landlords and tenants can be told quickly of risks to avoid or changes that need to be made.

He said: “The fire is being investigated by both the police and the fire service. While it would be wrong to draw premature conclusions before we fully understand what happened, I want to reassure the public across the country that we will keep them fully informed and take any remedial action as quickly as possible.

Following the fire Nick Stanton, leader of Southwark Council, said the design of the building was “not untypical” and that £3.5m had recently been spent on refurbishing it to meet current fire safety standards.

Celebrating under the Eiffel Tower

BIG HEARTED Tony Simm, has completed a bike ride from London to Paris raising £7500 for charity.

Tony, 21, from Woodford, East London completed the 205 mile journey within three days, and said it was the hardest thing he has ever done.

“At the end of day one, we had cycled 80 miles and completed 1500 meters of climbing, and I just wanted to get on the train and go home. It was one of the toughest days of my life, I felt like a beaten man.”

But Tony continued and reached the finish line along side his two colleagues, Garret Gaughan, Grahame Dawson and the trio’s boss Alastair Swift. Once the journey was completed the group celebrated with a bottle of champagne under the Eiffel Tower and a few more on the returning Euro Star.

The money raised will be donated to Great Ormand Street children’s hospital, which has been looking after Alastair’s son since birth.

Tony said: “He has suffered from Rheumatoid arthritis since birth, and has to undergo frequent operations at Great Ormand Street ever since, he is sixteen now and we wanted to give something back to the hospital who have been looking after him for so long.”

This isn’t the first charity event Tony has taken part in; he recently rode from London to Brighton in aid of the British Heart Foundation and is planning many more events in the future, although not before a well deserved rest.

Supporters still have the chance to donate money to the charity by visiting the website, http://www.justgiving.com/willisbskl2pcycle1.

THE WORLD of news production has already undergone massive change. The internet has penetrated nearly 80 per cent of British homes, rewriting the way users access, and pay for, news.

Advertising revenue is following traditional readers online, leading to consolidations and closures of regional newspapers across the country, so local papers must be completely up-to-date with the development of online as it happens.

A local newspaper has to have the strongest possible web presence. Paid content just isn’t feasible, so a website needs to concentrate on getting high visitor counts to attract quality advertising revenue.

Websites will need to use all digital means possible to attract visitors. Research by Price Waterhouse Coopers shows that modern users like the ‘TV-like’ feel of websites, so interactive videos and sound clips are essential. They will have to be of a higher quality than we now see on local and national news websites, and sit alongside a range of interactive features.

Although user generated media will play a larger role, we should be careful not to allow it to overtake websites to the detriment of the quality, structured journalism that most people expect.

Breaking news will be broken by mobile web and by sites like Twitter, and these all need to be used to reel the reader into your website.

While readers turn to online for breaking news stories and interactivity, they will still want a tactile newspaper for well written, longer stories and analysis.

Print will continue to be a large revenue source, but we will need to earn the trust of the reader by shunning the ‘churnalism’ available online in favour of quality, in-depth local stories from local reporters and trusted editorial.

I think that the decline of regional television news will mean that, more than ever, people will turn to their local newspaper to find out what’s going on in their immediate community.

We are going to go through further seismic changes, but the fact that readers will always pay for quality news, and advertisers will always pay for access to them, means that the regional press can continue to thrive.

Solon - the 'father' of western democracy

By Matthew Chapman

There is an emerging groundswell of support for a referendum on electoral reform as the public become increasingly alienated by the British political system.

The Vote for a Change campaign is in its infancy and its demand for a referendum by the day of the next general election has already received 3,400 signatories, including the high profile support of Philip Pullman, Damon Albarn and Stephen Fry.

The campaign falls under the auspices of the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) and newspark tracked down Ken Ritchie, CEO of the ERS, to quiz him about the implications of a referendum on electoral reform.

Ritchie is unequivocal in his demands for a referendum.

“In terms of building trust, there has got to be something that happens to politics after the expenses scandal and public anger over expenses,” said Ritchie.

Ritchie realises the various electoral systems are extremely difficult for the electorate to understand and so believes a two tier referendum consisting of the question ‘Do you want change and, if so, what system?’ could lead to difficulties.

Consequently the ERS are proposing that an alternative electoral system is decided upon by a citizens’ assembly, followed by a nationwide referendum on whether to implement it.

The ERS seeks proportional representation and believes that the Single Transferable Vote (STV) is the best way forward.

The STV system could lead to larger constituencies but with more seats in each one, perhaps three or four seats to a constituency.

It would provide voters more scope in voting for individual candidates and not just the party they are affiliated with.

It is hoped this system could transfer the power of accountability back to the electors and inject greater competition back into our democracy.

“Members of Parliament like to have a constituency to themselves, they don’t like competition,” said Ritchie.

“They don’t like the idea that constituents might be able to take their problems and issues to somebody other than themselves – they prefer to have the monopoly.”

It is traditional for the incumbent government not to support proportional representation because the current First Past the Post electoral system greatly favours the major parties.

However Labour MPs have recently come out in support of electoral reform, though some have suggested this is because they are likely to lose the next general election.

Alan Johnson has called for a referendum on the day of the next election and Tom Watson now advocates proportional representation in the form of the Alternative Vote.

This is a surprising political U-turn considering that in 1997 Mr Watson campaigned for the first past the post system as a member of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electoral Union.

The change in tide of opinion within Labour is a shrewd political move. Ritchie said:

“If Labour was actually seen to be taking steps to give more power and more control back to the electorate, that can not be a bad thing for Labour.”

However there are potential pitfalls for Labour within proportional representation. The implementation of the Alternative Vote (AV) system could in fact see them lose even more seats.

“Back in 1997, when Labour was in the ascendancy, AV would have actually given Labour a bigger majority and the Conservatives would have been more disadvantaged,” said Ritchie.

“Now when it comes to people using their second preferences, indications are that there are many Liberal Democrats in earlier years who would have tactically voted for Labour but now will tactically vote to keep Labour out.”

The leader of the Conservatives, David Cameron, has urged the public not to vote for proportional representation.

He cited mitigating factors such as smaller parties having an unfair and disproportionate boost, extreme parties being voted in, the possibility of ineffectual hung Parliaments and the emergence of backroom deals due to no party having a majority.

Although a hard-line supporter of electoral reform Ritchie did concede the possibility of hung parliaments:

“Okay, proportional representation would increase the risk of a hung parliament. You can look across the whole of Europe and those countries using a system of proportional representation – there are good governments and bad governments.”

“What we have got in Scotland now is a situation where the SNP are far short from a majority of the vote. But as Alex Salmond argued, they have got a parliament where issues are decided by the power of the argument rather than the argument of power.”

As for back room deals, Ritchie is pragmatic in his answer.

“I would far rather we had back room deals whereby a majority of the people got most of what they wanted rather than situations where the Labour government vote, thirty five percent of the vote, gets what they want and the other sixty five percent of people get short changed.”

Ritchie ended the interview by reflecting on the BNP’s recent success in the European Elections via a form of proportional representation.:

“I would not defend the [electoral] system that they introduced for the European Parliament.

“If we had the single transferable vote in the North-West and Yorkshire and Humberside it is a reasonable assumption that the BNP would not have won.

“In a system where you have transferable voting, votes can move to other choices of the voters and the large majority of the people do not want to see the BNP winning seats.”

Ritchie attributes the BNP’s current rise in fortunes to the malaise in British politics and argues a change in the electoral system could be used to give the crippled political institution a boost. He said:

“Changing the electoral system is about looking for a way in which you get a different culture of politics. The BNP has been winning in areas that have been largely neglected by Labour.

“You get many people who are supporting the BNP because they feel they are the only people who are, on a local issue, actually standing up for them.

“If we had a more healthy, vibrant democracy then we would not be leaving space for them [the BNP] to occupy.”

By Philip Harrison

Last week London welcomed an American musical sensation from across the Atlantic – she’s blonde, she’s bubbly and she plays the ukulele?

The self-proclaimed “geek” from New York state has made her name covering bands from The Beatles to Kanye West on video site YouTube and has already notched 20 million views.

Last week she played a handful of intimate gigs in the capital but found time to talk to newspark about London, YouTube fame and her starving goldfish.

“London is the place where I realise I can actually be a musician. I met so many cool people there and was shown the city. London as a whole is really fascinating, the people, the architecture…man I sound like such a geek saying that”.

At only 20, Julia Nunes already has a gruelling schedule of gigs and festivals to fit around her university work.

“In term time I’ll travel to some other college, or some other venue, club or coffee house most weekends. I’ve done entire essays backstage at a show or whilst driving” – though she‘s quick to correct herself when she hears my shock – “oh wait but I wasn’t the one behind the wheel, I haven’t tried that one yet anyway.”

Over the past year Julia’s support has grown to over 100,000 subscribers on YouTube though when I quizzed her she jokingly admitted she could only guarantee having met “less than half of them”.

On her unique choice of instrument – the ukulele – “It’s a fantastically simple instrument. It suits me as I like to hear the song stripped down rather than all the instrumentation that goes into the songs that end up on the radio.”

The YouTube “community” has been kind to Julia as she admits without it she would probably be a camp counsellor this summer; but she is still shocked about how it all came about.

“The point of YouTube for me, at the beginning, was that I’d just left for college and had left all my best friends.

“I wanted to show them the songs I was writing and covering but I didn’t want to put it on facebook so that everyone from my highschool could see it. I put it on YouTube assuming that noone would ever find it aside from my three friends I was sending it to; it backfired.”

 Two years on and with 20 million views on YouTube has she managed to translate the internet attention to a glamorous student lifestyle?

“It’s more for the love of playing and doing stuff, but it is cool to get paid.

“Doing it on your own it’s kind of a big money in and big money out deal. I’m spending a lot of money getting to places, recording and equipment.

“My big splurge for today was that I bought my goldfish some fish food cause for a while there they were going without.”

As well as starving goldfish Julia also let slip that she often doesn’t wear ‘pants’ (trousers) when recording her videos.

“I get really hot when I’m singing so if I’m playing a song over and over again I tend to get too warm to wear pants”

After suggesting she might get some unwanted attention if she tried that at her London gigs I’m assured she’s been gigging fully clothed ever since.

Julia’s videos can be found at www.youtube.com/jaaaaaaa with more information at www.junumusic.com.