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Platform Films’ The Big Lie II, Ruskin House Film Club, June 28
Posted in Cinema, Ruskin House
Tagged Gaza, Genocide, Keir Starmer, Labour, Palestine, Ruskin House, Ruskin House Screen Club, The Big LIe
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Younger people have had their futures sold down the river
CROYDON ELECTION QUESTIONS
For this General Election, Inside Croydon has been offering a platform to candidates from across the political spectrum, from across the borough’s four constituencies. Much the same questions, their answers published at length.
Our first interview is with CLAIRE BONHAM, the Liberal Democrat candidate in Streatham and Croydon North
Interviews by VIMAL VIVEGANANDA
Q Why should we trust you, or your party?
Well, you should trust both. And there’s a couple of reasons for that.
I think firstly, one of the main things about Liberal Democrats in general and the way that we set policy is it’s very democratic. It’s very much done by listening to people in my consultation at local level. So we’re not funded by trade unions or feel like we need to prioritise policies for older people because they’re the people who vote for us. Continue reading
Posted in 2024 General Election, Brick by Brick, Claire Bonham, Council Tax, Croydon parks, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Housing, London-wide issues
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, 2024 General Election, Brick by Brick, Claire Bonham, Council Tax, Croydon, Crystal Palace, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, David Cameron, General Election, General Election 2024, Liberal Democrats, London, Nick Clegg, Say No To 15%, Sir Ed Davey, Streatham and Croydon North
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Anger after residents’ IDs used to support planning application
KEN LEE reports on a troubling development involving an HMO development in Selhurst
An attempt to obtain planning permission to convert a rundown office block in Selhurst into a house of multiple occupation, or HMO, has been thrown into doubt following what is alleged to be a serious breach of personal data, with residents’ information being used without their consent to create false claims of support for the application.
The move to get a change of use to an 11-bedroom, 16-occupant HMO – including the provision of parking spaces, cycle storage, communal garden and bin storage – at 1-11 Neville Road was “supported” by residents who had no idea their details had been taken by someone and added to the application, which was filed in early May.
Selhurst ward councillors Catherine Wilson and Mohammed Islam are on the case. On a neighbourhood WhatsApp group, Councillor Islam communicated his anger over the “alarming” move that “needs thorough investigation”.
Posted in Catherine Wilson, Croydon Council, Housing, London-wide issues, Mayor Jason Perry, Mohammed Islam, Planning, Selhurst
Tagged Catherine Wilson, Croydon, Croydon Council, HMO, House in Multiple Occupation, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Mohammed Islam, Neville Road, Planning, Selhurst
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Cyber criminals carry out threat to publish medical files
Russian cyber hackers who conducted a ransomware attack on major hospitals in London have published confidential files containing personal details of patients, NHS England has confirmed.
The cyber attack was carried out against Synnovis, a private pathology firm that analyses blood tests for Guy’s, St Thomas’ and King’s College hospitals, forcing hospitals to cancel almost 1,600 operations and outpatient appointments. Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Health
Tagged Dr Chris Streather, Guy's Hospital, Hack attack, KIngs College Hospital, NHS, NHS England, NHS London, Qilin, St Thomas' Hospital, Synnovis
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Two weeks early and most candidates are conceding defeat
Irons under fire: Labour’s officially approved candidate for Croydon East (the police are still investigating the selection process) had lots of support at last night’s meeting
ELECTION SKETCH: As other parties’ candidates in Croydon East have admitted they will lose come July 4, Labour’s shoo-in as a new MP calls her party’s bankrupting of the borough and its part in illegal hacking as ‘a load of nothing’.
KEN TOWL went to the hustings, so that you didn’t have to
I was in search of truth last night, and I found more than I bargained for at the Woodside Baptist Church.
These hustings were being run in collaboration with St Luke’s, the church over the road, and with the Hyderi Islamic Centre, all members of Citizens UK, a politically unaffiliated community activist group. I spoke to church secretary, Neil Scarse, who confided to me that he was undecided between two of the candidates and hoped to decide tonight after hearing them. Continue reading
Posted in 2024 General Election, Andrew Pelling, Croydon East, Jason Cummings, Ken Towl, Natasha Irons, Peter Underwood
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, 2024 General Election, Andrew Pelling, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon East, General Election, General Election 2024, Green Party, Jason Cummings, Ken Towl, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Natasha Irons, Peter Underwood, Tory
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Watch out! Those Taylor Swift online tickets could be a scam
The real thing: Taylor Swift’s on stage at Wembley tonight. But check carefully where you’re buying those tickets online
Trading standards has issued a warning to residents about online ticket scams for Euro 24, the Paris Olympics and stadium concerts, like this weekend’s Taylor Swift gigs at Wembley, and music festivals like Glastonbury.
“Fraudulent tickets are often sold on social media, online marketplaces, genuine selling sites or fan forums,” Croydon Council said today. Continue reading
Women’s Group, Cassandra Centre, Norbury, every Thu
Posted in Cassandra Centre, Charity, Norbury
Tagged Cassandra Centre, Croydon, Norbury
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Met reports itself to watchdog over murder suspect Saadi
Charged: the court artist’s drawing of Nasen Saadi
The Bournemouth beach murder case, in which a Croydon man, Nasen Saadi, was arrested and charged with murder and attempted murder, has led to the Metropolitan Police referring itself to the IOPC, the independent police watchdog, over “contact its officers had with a man in south London” in February this year.
In a statement issued by Scotland Yard today, the Met said it had received a complaint in early June from a “third party” over the handling of an allegation earlier this year. Continue reading
Starmer’s a no-show for Labour’s secretive Fairfield Halls rally
WALTER CRONXITE, our political editor, wasted his morning turning up to see the son of a toolmaker, who swerved at the first sign of awkward questions and so missed out on seeing the mess made of Croydon by his Labour Party colleagues
The Labour Party appears still to be in denial over the damage that its members did to Croydon when they crashed the council’s finances, after they planned to stage a pre-election rally this morning outside the Fairfield Halls, which stands as a lasting monument to their crass mismanagement.
Monument to failure: the flawed £70m Fairfield Halls refurbishment was a significant factor in Labour crashing the council’s finances
But what promised to be a potential car crash for Keith Starmer’s election battle bus was subject to a last-minute diversion. It might be looked back on as a lucky escape.
Under the now discredited council leader, Tony Newman, the Fairfield Halls arts centre was closed for more than two years, for a refurbishment and modernisation costing £30million. The project was supposed to have been managed by Brick by Brick, the council-owned housing company that borrowed £200million and never made a penny profit.
Once contractors cleared the site in 2019, little of the promised refurb had been completed, and Brick by Brick left the Labour-controlled council with a budget-busting bill for the works of £70million. Little more than a year later, Newman was forced to resign as leader, external auditors published the first first of two damning reports, and the council declared itself effectively bankrupt for the first time.
Yet none of this recent tawdry local history appears to bother Starmer’s Labour Party, as they push on, juggernaut-like, towards what is predicted to be a landslide General Election victory on July 4. Continue reading
Posted in 2024 General Election, Ben Taylor, Croydon East, Croydon South, Croydon West, Fairfield Halls, Natasha Irons, Sarah Jones MP
Tagged 2024 General Election, Ben Taylor, Brick by Brick, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon East, Croydon South, Croydon West, Fairfield Halls, Gaza, General Election, General Election 2024, Genocide, Keir Starmer, Labour, Liz Kendall, Natasha Irons, Sarah Jones MP, Steve Reed OBE
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Philp’s Hampstead address exposed by wife’s business dispute
Double-whammy: yesterday’s Grauniad report appeared within hours of the latest polls that show Chris Philp will lose his Croydon South seat on July 4
Two weeks to election day, and a long-running business dispute involving his wife has put more pressure on ‘local’ Tory seeking re-election in Croydon South. By STEVEN DOWNES
On the day that another poll predicted he would lose the Croydon South parliamentary seat he has held since 2015, Conservative government minister Chris Philp’s General Election hopes were dealt another telling blow with headline news that his wife, Elizabeth Philp, is subject to a complaint to the Crown Prosecution Service and is embroiled in a High Court corporate espionage case, where she has been accused of stealing “trade secrets”.
Hardly a great look for the policing minister who earlier this year doubled down on his “zero tolerance towards all crime” and said that he wanted “a back-to-basics approach that significantly increases the number of criminals caught and prosecuted”. Continue reading
The Nasty Party gives rape-shaming Slator a job in Bromley
Our Beckenham correspondent, PETTA WOOD, reports
Just in case there were any lingering doubts, the Conservative Party in Bromley at election time has doubled down on its reputation as The Nasty Party by giving an important position to a councillor who 18 months ago was kicked out for his “despicable” and “dangerous and stupid” remarks about a rape victim.
Knocking people up: rape-shamer Shaun Slator (back, centre) canvassing with Tory colleagues including ex-MP Sir Bob Neill (right) and Peter Fortune (front)
According to Bromley Council’s official election records, Shaun Slator is working as the Conservative election agent for Peter Fortune in Bromley and Biggin Hill.
Last year, Slator was deemed so toxic that he had his party membership suspended.
Slator posted comments on Twitter in early 2023 that suggested that the victim of a rape in a park was likely a sex worker. Underneath a link to an online news story reporting a rape in Plumstead, he wrote: “More likely that it’s a punter that didn’t pay.”
He later deleted the post and deactivated his social media account.
Slator was the chair of the Bromley and Chislehurst Conservative Association at the time, where the MP was long-serving Sir Bob Neill. Continue reading
Inflation down to 2% – but it’s too late to save Sunak’s Tories
Two sets of figures were released this morning – one generally good news for the nation as a whole, the other spelling more doom and gloom for the Conservative Government under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. WALTER CRONXITE explains why
The annual rate of inflation finally returned to 2% in May, according to figures released this morning by the Office for National Statistics. But it has taken almost two years for the Bank of England’s grip on borrowing rates to get rising prices back to close to being under control after the brief, but disastrous, period in power of Thick Lizzy Truss and her KamiKwasi mini-budget sent the UK economy into a tailspin. Continue reading
Rivers Week organisers call for urgent action on London floods
London urgently needs to become a “sponge city” – better designed to absorb and hold rainwater – in order to deal with the potentially catastrophic impact of the climate emergency.
Sponge city: bringing the River Wandle back to the surface of Wandle Park is among the methods used to reduce London’s flood risk
That’s according to the organisers of London Rivers Week, which starts on Saturday.
The climate emergency has increased the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, with localised flooding increasingly common across all parts of the capital.
Parts of Croydon have been under an Environment Agency flood alert because of raised groundwater levels for most of this very wet year. Continue reading
Sutton and Cheam election hustings, Cheam Road, June 29
Posted in 2024 General Election, Croydon East, Croydon South, Croydon West, Streatham and Croydon North, Sutton and Cheam
Tagged 2024 General Election, Croydon, Croydon East, Croydon South, Croydon West, General Election, General Election 2024, Streatham and Croydon North, Sutton, Sutton and Cheam
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Eagles fans cry fowl play as Palace sign betting firm sponsor
INNIS BEEKE on the PR disaster around the unveiling of Crystal Palace’s 2024-2025 season shirt
Bet you didn’t see that coming: Palace’s new shirts have the logo of a little-known Vietnamese gambling firm
Crystal Palace has been forced to call in lawyers and crisis management specialists after the launch of the club’s new kit quickly turned into a PR disaster, risking alienating many thousands of loyal fans.
Because after having moved away from having betting firms as the club’s shirt sponsors, the new 2024-2025 kit was unveiled last week plastered with the name of Net88, a little-known, Vietnam-based bookie which had only just established a presence in the UK to try to capitalise on the exposure that Premier League clubs get in the Far East.
What was supposed to be a cherished moment to celebrate the club’s traditions, with a shirt with special detailing to mark 100 years at Selhurst Park, rapidly deteriorated, as fans used social media to vent their fury at club chairman Steve Parish, with many latching on to internet rumours that Net88 even run markets on cockfighting, and worse. Continue reading
Posted in Business, Crystal Palace FC, Football, Sport, Steve Parish
Tagged Crystal Palace FC, Net88, Selhurst Park, Steve Parish, The PHA Group, Tim Jotischky
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School site to be sold off as pupils finish their final term
Education correspondent GENE BRODIE on the latest move by the borough’s biggest landowners in the slow, death throes of one of Croydon’s best-known schools
The final bell, on the final day at the end of the school’s final year has not yet been rung, but the money men (and women) at the Whitgift Foundation are already hustling the remaining young pupils out of Old Palace’s prep school in South Croydon, in their race to flog off the site and try to plug the gaping hole in the charity’s accounts.
End of term: the nursery and prep school on Melville Avenue will soon close for a final time
The Whitgift Foundation is one of these private school businesses that is registered as a charity, even though it is really a multi-million private business as a property owner and developer.
Last September, the Foundation shocked even the Croydon establishment when it announced that it would be closing its £18,000 a year girls’ school, both at its secondary site in Croydon Old Town, and the nursery and prep on the site of the former Croham Hurst School at Melville Avenue in South Croydon. Continue reading
Posted in Charity, Housing, Old Palace, Planning, Property, Schools, South Croydon, Whitgift Foundation
Tagged Croydon, Emily Boynton, Hammersfield, Hammerson, Knight Frank, Melville Avenue, Old Palace, Old Palace of John Whitgift School, Old Palace Prep School, Old Palace School, South Croydon, Westfield, Whitgift Foundation
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Poundshop politician who puts the ‘sham’ into shambolic
The banner gives the game away: last night’s sham hustings and shambolic TTIP rally, attended by just two election candidates, including the ‘star’ of the show, Donna Murray-Turner (right), of the Taking The Piss Party
ELECTION SKETCH: It was billed as a ‘hustings’, but was really nothing other than a rally for fringe party TTIP’s star candidate. KEN TOWL went along, so that you – and hundreds of others – didn’t have to
“Somebody at this table is going to be voted in,” announced our host, Anthony King, sweeping his hand to his left where the candidates sat in a row, a little before the fireworks started. We were at The Well, a community hub on Whitehorse Road, at an event described as “Meet Your Next MP!”
King was wrong, of course. Or at the very least, highly likely to be wrong. Only two of the four people seated to King’s left last night are even candidates in the General Election to become Member of Parliament for Croydon West.
The elephant in the room was that the person almost certain to be Croydon West’s MP (the Electoral Calculus website puts it at 100%) was not in the room. Sarah Jones, the Labour candidate, will be at Thursday’s (genuine) hustings at the Stanley Halls. Anthony King, “community activist”, wouldn’t be going to that, because of the football. Continue reading
Posted in 2024 General Election, Croydon West, Donna Murray-Turner, Ken Towl, Marley King, Sarah Jones MP
Tagged 2024 General Election, Anthony King, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon West, Donna Murray-Turner, General Election, General Election 2024, Ken Towl, Labour, Marley King, Taking The Initiative Party, Tory, TTIP
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Voters being taken for granted as ‘battleground’ moves south
As postal voters start to receive their ballot papers ahead of the General Election on July 4, others in parts of Croydon are beginning to feel that their votes are being taken for granted by Tories and Labour, as our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE, explains
Without wanting to be too Orwellian, all voters are equal but some voters are more equal than others.
It’s often said that you only see a politician at election time. But in Croydon in 2024, even this seems to be another election untruth for many Croydon voters, who are asking: “Where are those leaflets?” “Where are those party activists?” “Where are the candidates?”
Where’s Steve?: Steve Reed has been spotted all over the country. Just not in Croydon North so much. Bookies have Reed at 1-500 (win £1 for a £500 stake) to win Streatham and Croydon North
The political parties might say that they want your vote, but residents reckon that in most of Croydon, not much effort is being taken to win that vote. At the halfway stage in the 2024 General Election campaign, and by and large, Croydon’s voters are being taken for granted.
Croydon now has four parliamentary constituencies – Croydon East, Croydon South, Croydon West and a bit of Streatham and Croydon North. In two of those areas – West and North – despite all of the main parties claiming that they are fighting for every vote, there’s been little or no campaign activity. Continue reading
Posted in 2024 General Election, Chris Philp MP, Croydon East, Croydon South, Croydon West, Jason Cummings, Natasha Irons, Sarah Jones MP, Steve Reed MP, Streatham and Croydon North
Tagged 2024 General Election, Animal Farm, Chris Philp MP, Croydon, Croydon East, Croydon South, Croydon West, General Election, General Election 2024, George Orwell, Jason Cummings, Natasha Irons, Orwellian, Sarah Jones MP, Steve Reed OBE, Streatham and Croydon North, Tony Newman
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Croydon West election just got interesting with Labour split
It has been slim pickings for surprises in Croydon’s election campaign so far, but tonight’s rally for a Taking The Initiative Party candidate might just cause a stir, reports our political editor, WALTER CRONXITE
Defection: until she declared for TTIP, Donna Murray-Turner was regarded as a potential future Labour candidate
Probably the biggest surprise of the General Election campaign in Croydon so far, possibly the only surprise, was the inclusion on the candidates’ declaration lists of Donna Murray-Turner as running for the Taking The Initiative Party in Croydon West.
In what has so far been a ho-hum, hum-drum election campaign (only 17 days left to go, folks!), Murray-Turner’s defection from the Labour Party caught many by surprise.
It was around that time that Murray-Turner released a highly emotional, very personal and somewhat distressing video which has been widely seen on social media. In her video, recorded in her car, Murray-Turner made serious allegations against a senior figure in TTIP, and accused the party of having inadequate safeguarding policies. Continue reading
Posted in 2024 General Election, Andy Brittain, Crime, Croydon West, Donna Murray-Turner, Knife crime, Policing, Sarah Jones MP
Tagged 2024 General Election, Anthony King, Ch Supt Andy Brittain, Croydon, Croydon West, Donna Murray-Turner, Drug gangs, General Election, General Election 2024, knife crime, Labour, Mayor Sadiq Khan, Metropolitan Police, MOPAC, MyEnds, Sarah Jones, Taking The Initiative Party, TTIP
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End of an era but Kenley’s Wattenden Arms is given a reprieve
Reprieved: Battle of Britain pub the Wattenden Arms re-opens on Thu, June 20
The historic Battle of Britain pub, the Wattenden Arms in Kenley, has been given a reprieve.
In April, Inside Croydon reported how the pub’s owners, Stonegate, were seeking a new tenant to manage the premises on a five-year lease with £40,000 per year rent (Stonegate reckon the pub can generate a £600,000 annual turnover).
The pub was closed yesterday, but only for some rapid redecoration and renewal before it is open again for business from Thursday (there may be a football match on that evening…).
Saturday night saw a big party for regulars and locals, to mark the end of an era, the final night in charge of the Wattenden for the long-term manageress. Some drink was taken. Continue reading
Posted in Business, Kenley, Pubs
Tagged Battle of Britain, Croydon, Kenley, pubs, RAF Kenley, Stonegate Pubs, Wattenden Arms
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Council’s open invitation to fly-tippers at Purley Way fields
Open invitation: the feeble security on the gate to Purley Way Playing Fields makes it easy access for fly-tippers
There are multiple reasons why Croydon has become such a soft-touch for fly-tippers since Jason Perry became executive Mayor.
Because as well as not bothering to prosecute fly-tippers, part-time Perry’s council appears to be going out of its way to make the illegal activity as problem-free as possible. Continue reading
Friends of Woodcote Primary School Summer Fair, June 22
Posted in Activities, Community associations, Schools
Tagged Woodcote, Woodcote Primary, Woodcote Primary School
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From a GP’s on the High Street to hosting dinner for the King
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: An eminent and pioneering surgeon of the Victorian age, who performed operations on European monarchs and could command fees equivalent to £10m in modern-day values, began his medical career as a GP in Croydon. DAVID MORGAN traces the remarkable career of polymath Sir Henry Thompson
Portrait of a polymath: Sir Henry Thompson, as painted by Milais in 1881
Discovering that someone had lived and worked in Croydon during the Victorian age was the last thing I expected to find when I visited Framlingham Castle in Suffolk recently.
In the local studies section was a display case devoted to a leading son of the town, Sir Henry Thompson.
His short biography included: “After a private education he was appointed to a general practitioner in Croydon in 1844.”
His time in Croydon was at the very beginning of his career in medicine, a stepping stone on the path to greatness, as he went on to become one of the country’s leading surgeons.
Thompson was born in Framlingham in 1820. His parents, staunch Baptists, ran a shop in the market town. His father, also Henry, was a tallow chandler – a candlemaker. His mother, Susannah, was a very good artist. Young Henry was privately educated by the non-conformist pastor at the nearby village of Wrentham (my father was the lay pastor of that same chapel in the 1980s). Continue reading
