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SPAC-backing Tory campaigned on Remembrance Sunday
Political editor WALTER CRONXITE reports on the latest, and late, entry to the Croydon General Election campaign
After much dither and delay, and some serious second thoughts among local Tories, the Conservatives have finally got round to announcing the name of their candidate for Croydon North in the December 12 General Election.
Your hand-picked Tory candidate for Croydon North: Donald Ekekhomen. Possibly in Nando’s. No sign of a Remembrance poppy
And after issuing a campaign photograph (which appears to have been taken in Gavin Barwell’s favourite Nando’s) at the weekend, Donald Ekekhomen promptly went out and campaigned for the Tories on Remembrance Sunday.
Who says these people have no class?
Not for the first time recently among the borough’s Lab-Con political duopoly (like Skipper and Edwards in last week’s Fairfield council by-election), Ekekhomen owes his role as a political candidate not because he is the choice of their party’s members, but to a stitch-up taken in a back-room.
In this case, he has been imposed on the local party from a short-list of four by a decision taken by Conservative central HQ. All entirely possible under Conservative rules, and all very undemocratic.
Ekekhomen was named as the candidate for the very safe Labour constituency only at the weekend, seven to 10 days later than most Croydon candidates were determined by the major parties. It is suggested by our mole in the lawn outside Croydon Tories’ Purley HQ that local leadership figures Tim Pollard, Mario Creatura and Ian Parker held off on any announcement last week because of the mounting controversy engulfing their operation caused by their increasing involvement in Fairfield with the cult-like SPAC Nation church, which is currently under scrutiny by at least four major investigations from three public bodies, including the Serious Fraud Office.
Make a splash for cash: Purley Swimathon back for 33rd year
The Purley Swimathon will be diving head-first into another charity fund-raising venture next March, when teams of swimmers set off to help boost charities’ cash reserves.
The Purley Swimathon will go to any lengths to raise money for charity
Since 1988, the Purley Swimathon – organised by Purley Rotary – has helped to raise more than £500,000 for local charities and organisations. The 2020 Purley Swimathon will be held at Purley Leisure Centre on Saturdays March 7 and 14.
Teams of up to 10 swimmers have the opportunity to raise money for their favourite local charity or organisation. Continue reading
Posted in Charity, Purley, Purley Pool, Purley Rotary Club
Tagged Purley, Purley Pool, Rotary Club of Purley
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Serious Fraud Office investigating SPAC links to 50 companies
Extent of fraud investigations into controversial church are revealed, as national newspaper follows up on Inside Croydon’s story, and further disturbing allegations begin to emerge over child-safeguarding
The Serious Fraud Office has been investigating the cult-like SPAC Nation since February, after a whistleblower presented Scotland Yard and the Charity Commission with a file of at least 50 company records, all with links to members of the money-grabbing church.
Gavin Barwell has met with SPAC Nation before and was Downing Street chief of staff when Tobi Adegboyega (far right) had tea at No10
The Sunday Times is reporting today that the whistleblower’s dossier, “raises concerns about pastors at SPAC Nation allegedly putting pressure on young people to take out loans to give to the church, and other financial irregularities”.
It was these allegations which Inside Croydon was first to report a week ago.
SPAC Nation, the Sunday Times reports, “is accused of raising money by persuading parishioners to set up companies and arrange overdrafts with a bank.
“The companies are then struck off for failing to fill in annual returns, leaving banks out of pocket. More than 50 suspicious companies were set up by people alleged to be SPAC Nation members, most of which were dissolved with no activity, according to the dossier.” Continue reading
Posted in 2019 General Election, Charity, Church and religions, Crime, Croydon Central, Croydon North, Gavin Barwell, Mario Creatura, Steve Reed MP
Tagged Barwell, Conservative, Croydon Central, Croydon North, Gavin Barwell, Jayde Edwards, SPAC Nation, Steve Reed OBE, Tobi, Tobi Adeboyega, Tory
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Charity Commission probes SPAC for breaking ‘no politics’ rule
Now the subject of fraud investigations, the controversial SPAC Nation church is also under threat of losing its status as a registered charity, too, which could cost it an estimated £250,000 per year
SPAC Nation, the money-grabbing cult-like church who worked with Croydon Tories to put up a candidate in this week’s Fairfield council by-election, may have jeopardised their charity status by dabbling in politics.
SPAC Nation leader Tobi Adegboyega (right) at the Tory conference with Conservative Mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey. SPAC’s charitable status is being reviewed
The Charity Commission is “aware of concerns” relating to SPAC Nation appearing to support a political candidate. A condition of having charitable status, with the considerable tax breaks that go with it, is that an organisation is expected to remain strictly apolitical.
Jayde Edwards, 20, a “pastor” in SPAC Nation, was the Tory candidate in Fairfield, where she and her church colleagues mobilised hundreds of their congregation to canvass and campaign over the past month. Edwards did not win the election, but her church’s involvement in politics could end up costing SPAC Nation its charitable status. Continue reading
Posted in Charity, Chris Philp MP, Church and religions, Fairfield, Mario Creatura
Tagged Charity Commission, Conservative, Fairfield, Jayde Edwards, SPAC Nation, Tobi Adeboyega, Tory
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Labour’s Croydon South candidate wins campaigner award
Olga FitzRoy, Labour’s General Election candidate in Croydon South, has been named as Music Week‘s Campaigner of the Year at their Women In Music Awards.
Award-winning campaigner Olga FitzRoy at todays Labour campaign launch with John McDonnell
FitzRoy won the award for her work on the #SelfieLeave campaign, which looks to change the law to allow parents who work as freelancers to take shared parental leave.
As a result of the campaign, the government is now consulting on changing the regulations around shared parental leave.
FitzRoy works as a sound engineer. She has worked with Coldplay and the Foo Fighters, and she mixed the music for the 2012 London Olympics. Last year, FitzRoy was named in BBC Radio 4’s Women’s Hour Powerlist, for her campaigning and professional successes.
At yesterday’s Music Week ceremony, FitzRoy was presented with her award by Tom Watson, Labour’s shadow culture secretary. Continue reading
Posted in 2019 General Election, Croydon South, Olga Fitzroy
Tagged Croydon South, John McDonnell MP, Music Week, Olga Fitzroy, Tom Watson
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Beddington Farmlands come alive as wildlife winter wonderland
Teal flying over the wetlands at Beddington. Photos by Peter Alfrey
The cold fingers of winter might be touching us as we head into November, but as local naturalist PETER ALFREY observes, the wildlife sanctuary at Beddington Farmlands is full of life
Following lots of rain and the recent habitat improvements carried out by Viridor, Beddington Farmlands has been transformed into a huge wetland with more than 200 teal on 100 acre lake this week. Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Peter Alfrey, Waste incinerator, Wildlife
Tagged Beddington Farmlands, Beddington Lane incinerator, Peter Alfrey, Viridor
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Jones leading calls for a change of laws over tram safety
Sarah Jones: campaigning with the families of tram crash victims for new safety laws
On the eve of the third anniversary of the Croydon tram crash, families of the victims have launched a campaign to reform tram safety, demanding that “the tragedy of the Croydon tram crash must never happen again”.
Supported by Sarah Jones, who is seeking re-election as Labour’s MP for the area, the families are calling for new laws, including “death by dangerous driving on the tramways”.
The tram crash at Sandilands early on the morning of November 9, 2016, was the worst tram accident in this country in more than a century, when seven people died and more than 60 were hurt, some suffering life-changing injuries. Continue reading
Labour win Fairfield by-election despite 10% vote drop
WALTER CRONXITE crunches the numbers after a council by-election where the biggest losers were the residents of Croydon
Having already lost Labour one council seat, Caragh Skipper managed not to lose in yesterday’s Fairfield by-election
Jack Buck, the Labour Party paid employee who fixed the Fairfield ward selection so that his friend, Caragh Skipper, could be nominated as the candidate for a safe seat, last night hailed a “great Croydon Labour victory”, as he supped his over-priced craft ale at the by-election party held in the formerly Tory-supporting Matthews Yard gentrification bar.
With “great victories” such as that masterminded by Buck and council leader Tony Newman, if played out across the whole country, Labour will lose 30 seats at next month’s General Election.
Skipper, at the third time of trying, has finally found a way on to the Town Hall allowances gravy train, much to Newman’s evident relief in the early hours of this morning, as he propped himself against the bar, his hands firmly in his pockets as he let others pay for his celebrations.
But post mortems and recriminations over candidate choice and the outcome of yesterday’s by-election seem certain, for the local Tory Party as well as Labour. Continue reading
Posted in 2019 General Election, Andrew Rendle, Caragh Skipper, Chris Philp MP, Crime, Croydon Central, Croydon North, Croydon South, Fairfield, Jose Joseph, Mario Creatura, Niro Sirisena, Sarah Jones MP, Steve Reed MP, Tony Newman
Tagged Boris Johnson, Caragh Skipper, Chris Philp MP, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Croydon North, Croydon South, Fairfield, Jack Buck, Jayde Edwards, Labour, Liberal Democrats, London Borough of Croydon, Tony Newman, Tory
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Labour’s Reed: Tories should drop Creatura over SPAC scandal
In the dog house: Mario Creatura
The mounting scandal over the cult-like SPAC Nation church should force the Conservative Party to sack Mario Creatura as a General Election candidate.
That’s the view of Steve Reed OBE, who will be seeking re-election as the Labour MP for Croydon North on polling day, December 12.
Earlier this week, Inside Croydon revealed that members of the SPAC Nation church are the subject of fraud investigations by the police and a multi-national bank.
One member of SPAC Nation, 20-year-old Jayde Edwards, was the Tory candidate for the Fairfield ward by-election, where voting has just closed. Continue reading
Posted in 2019 General Election, Crime, Croydon Central, Croydon North, Fairfield, Gavin Barwell, Mario Creatura, Sarah Jones MP, Steve Reed MP
Tagged Barwell, Conservative, Croydon Central, Croydon North, Fairfield, Gavin Barwell, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Mario Creatura, Sarah Jones MP, Steve Reed OBE, Tory
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School governor using social media to spread race hate
What sort of school could possibly want to have an unapologetic racist on its governing body? GENE BRODIE, our education correspondent, reports that some on the far-right are trying to ‘normalise’ their conduct by infiltrating community organisations
Michael Swadling: followed by Brexit Party bigot
Earlier this week, readers of the free morning newspaper Metro were treated to a story about Daniel Rudd, the Brexit Party’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Stoke North.
Before he deleted his Twitter account, Rudd’s hate-filled tweets included no-doubt spittle-flecked rants about “gimmi-grunts”, Hindus and Muslims, and suggesting that cosmetic testing should not be carried out on laboratory animals, but on Remainers instead.
A closer examination of one of Rudd’s obscene outbursts showed that he was quoting a tweet posted by Croydon’s Michael Swadling, which suggests Rudd was following him on Twitter. Continue reading
Zellweger as Judy, Knightly in trouble and Calamity with Doris
We are in a climate emergency, in case you hadn’t noticed.
But in Australian eco-doc 2040, being screened at the David Lean Cinema next month, solutions that could help to save the planet and which are already readily available are outlined. Continue reading
Posted in Cinema, David Lean Cinema Campaign
Tagged David Lean Cinema, David Lean Cinema Campaign
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Southon’s auction adds glamour and glitter for Christmas
This blue enamel brooch has an auction estimate of £60 to £80
Prepare to be dazzled – the final Catherine Southon auction of the year, right before Christmas, has one of the best selection of glittering jewellery going under the TV antiques expert’s hammer.
The auction, at Farleigh Golf Club, Selsdon, on November 27, is offering up for sale some precious gems across a range of prices. Continue reading
Music Relief Foundation screening, David Lean Cinema, Nov 13
Posted in Cinema, David Lean Cinema Campaign
Tagged David Lean Cinema, Music Relief Foundation
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Fear of confrontations at polling stations after activist incidents
Jo Negrini, the council’s chief executive who also serves as the borough’s chief returning officer in charge of the organisation and conduct of elections in Croydon, has received requests to arrange for additional security at the polling stations for tomorrow’s Fairfield council by-election.
Negrini received the request following ugly incidents over the weekend when gangs of men canvassing for the Conservatives confronted and shouted down Labour activists.
“Austerity is a state of mind,” was one particular favourite shouted chant at Labour supporters by a group of Tory supporters.
The Tory candidate in the Fairfield by-election is Jayde Edwards, a 20-year-old pastor in the controversial SPAC Nation church. Inside Croydon reported earlier this week how SPAC Nation is at the centre of fraud investigations by the police and other bodies.
Continue reading
Remembrance Service, Purley Memorial Hospital, Nov 10
Posted in Church and religions, Community associations, Purley
Tagged Purley, Purley Memorial Hospital
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Stoke The Crow book reading, Crystal Palace, Nov 14
Posted in Activities, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood
Tagged Bookseller Crow, Crystal Palace
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Croydon Tories’ leader distances himself from SPAC Nation
Last month’s Tory Party conference, where SPAC Nation’s Jayde Edwards (out of picture) was given a prime position with Mario Creatura close to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. SPAC Nation is at the centre of a police fraud investigation
On the eve of the Fairfield council by-election, the leader of the Conservative group at Croydon Town Hall has tried to distance his local party from the controversial SPAC Nation.
The Tory candidate in Thursday’s Fairfield by-election, 20-year-old Jayde Edwards, is a pastor in the evangelical church.
Yesterday, Inside Croydon revealed that cult-like SPAC Nation is at the centre of investigations by the police and a major bank over allegations of fraud. Continue reading
Posted in 2019 General Election, Church and religions, Croydon Central, Croydon Council, Fairfield, Gavin Barwell, Mario Creatura, Sarah Jones MP, Tim Pollard
Tagged Barwell, Boris Johnson, Conservative, Croydon Central, Fairfield, Gavin Barwell, Jayde Edwards, SPAC Nation, Tim Pollard, Tobi Adeboyega, Tory
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£300 residents’ parking tax? Sign up for scrappage fund
If you’ve just been hit with a £300 bill from Croydon Council just for the “privilege” of parking your car near your home, or even if you’ve seen the previous £80 a year residents’ parking permit fee more than double, then help could be at hand.
Time to scrap the old jalopy?
Londoners are being encouraged to bid for a share of City Hall’s newly opened £25million polluting vehicle scrappage fund, which provides up to £2,000 a time for scrapping older, more polluting cars.
The scheme is aimed at helping low-income and disabled Londoners.
The fund has been launched by the Mayor of London ahead of the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which will reach the North and South Circulars in 2021. It offers those motorists in the capital who receive benefits either £1,000 for scrapping a motorcycle or moped, or £2,000 for scrapping a car.
Gates Foundation boosts Rotary Club’s collection to fight polio
More than £1,300 was raised to help eradicate polio around the world at an event staged last week by the Rotary Club of Croydon.
The World’s Greatest Meal event, with guest speaker Trudi Hilton, saw members donate hundreds of pounds, the final collection for the End Polio Campaign being tripled thanks to the generosity of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Hilton is a Rotarian and a Global Pharmacy Consultant who, after 20 years working in the NHS, became a humanitarian aid pharmacist and has since worked in many disaster areas and developing countries all over the world. Continue reading
Goal-scorer Smith slots in quickly as Trams sign three players
NON-LEAGUE NEWS
by ANDREW SINCLAIR
They must have considered installing revolving doors at the dressing room entrance at Croydon Arena by the end of last month, as while two players left Croydon FC during October, manager Liam Giles was signing up three new faces for his squad.
There’s no transfer window in the South East Counties Football League, down in tiers 9 and 10 of the English football pyramid. No transfer fees, either, usually, and certainly no agents. So any transfer “wheeling and dealing” often comes down to the clubs’ coaching staff’s personal contacts and relationships with players. Continue reading
Posted in Croydon FC, Football, Sport
Tagged Andrew Sinclair, Croydon Arena, Croydon FC, Liam Giles
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