Is the new Power Station scheme to change people’s quality of life?

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Rob Tincknell was interviewed in The Standard, Hong Kong’s biggest circulation English daily, about the plans for Battersea Power Station earlier this month. The power station was bought by three Malaysian companies, SP Setia, Sime Darby and Employee’s Provident Fund, in June last year. Tincknell said that the Malaysian’s vision for the site is better and different from the previous schemes, since this one is bigger and it is going to influence people’s quality of life.

Tincknell failed to mention that people’s quality of life is not only going to change for the better. Like we have mentioned before, many in the nearby communities are people on low incomes, and with a luxury estate just across the road from their homes the rents will rise and their quality of life will get worse.

Developers who want to attract really wealthy buyers have to build super-size apartment buildings with flats bigger then 6,000 square feet. The new penthouses in Battersea are planned to be 8,000 square feet, a size aimed to appeal more to the rich rather then the members of the Battersea community.

Tincknell also mentioned that no other plans have had a good solution to the public transport, but this scheme is planning to extend the Northern Line with public money, a 1 billion loan from UK government to Transport for London.

Two things are interesting with this statement. First of all, the previous owners of Battersea Power Station, who Tincknell also worked for, were the one’s who planned the extension of the Northern Line. Second, the owners were also suppose to pay for the extension as a contribution towards section 106- planning gain. Somewhere down the line the private-funding of the underground extension has turned in to a public-funding.

In the end Tincknell said that tourists want to come and see things that are authentic, and he means that the Power Station surrounded by ugly new buildings will give “authenticity” to the place. The only question is, will Battersea Power Station survive after its chimneys have been taken down to be rebuild, and how much of its authenticity will it be able to keep?

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Londoners paying for most of the new West Ham stadium

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It has now been decided that West Ham Football Club are the new tenants for the Olympic Stadium. They have agreed to a 99-year lease with the LLDC (London Legacy Development Corporation), and are planning to move in to the stadium for the 2016-17 season.

The conversion of the stadium will cost £150m of which West Ham will pay £15m, the local council £40m and £80m will be 18.75% is private sources and 81.25% public money. UK government has also set aside £25m of funds if needed for the work on the stadium. Other then that the club is going to pay £2m per year as rent and share the revenue from catering on the match days and any naming rights deal.

Even though different events are going to take place in the stadium, other than football games, West Ham Football Club are getting the stadium for a ridiculously small amount of money, while Londoners have to pay for most of the conversion.

Are there not better things to spend millions of pounds on than on a private football stadium? When the government are making cuts in welfare and cap the housing allowance to £400 now in April, forcing 761 families just in Camden Council to move, is it really necessary to put public money in to an investment like this?

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Battersea Power Station only a place for the rich?

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Supposedly, Battersea Power Station is getting a new life. The vision is of a lively community where people can contact each other through their own social networks,  meet their neighbours in memberships clubs, small children  splash in a pool while their mums chat, shoppers cruise cafes and exclusive shops unique to the area- for some a nice vision.

A marketing person’s image of the perfect place to live, why would you ever want to move from one of the top five places in London? What can possibly be wrong with a community like this?

One problem can be that the first 800 flats are being sold off plan to rich people in Asia. Even if the plan is to build 3,500 new homes, when a forth of the houses are being sold to people who probably will not live there most of the time, will that really contribute to a lively neighbourhood?

An other question that needs to be raised is what is going to happen to the existing communities in Battersea? With luxury estates being built in the area, bringing expensive shops with them, the rents of the properties in the surrounding areas will probably be rise substantially. Especially if they succeed in building this community for rich people, the demand for apartments will rise and once again the rents will get higher.

With many people in the neighbouring estates, such as the Patmore estate, being low-income, a rent increase would be devastating. This would lead to most of the people being forced to move, but the question is to where? And is it really fair to force people who served and have been a part of a community to leave it just because of the effects from the luxury buildings across the road. Especially since almost a forth of the flats will not be sold to people in London who needs a place to live.

So one person’s idea of the perfect community is a nightmare for others.  Is it really worth the price? And do we really want to live in a world where some people are worth more than other just based on money?

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Money requested for new prison at Guantanamo

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Too many times have we heard about Obama’s promise to close down Guantanamo bay. Still nothing has happened. For too many years have hundreds of men been held in the prison, most of them for no reason at all. What is even more fascinating is that more money have been requested for a new prison at Guantanamo, some of the money is rumored to go to a new camp 7.

Why build a new prison if you are going to close it down? Why still keep prisoners who are cleared for release in Guantanamo? For me it seems like the US government are just coming up with new excuses to avoid closing Guantanamo, avoid taking consequences for their actions at the prison and avoid letting the truth about the torture that the prisoners have subjected to to reach the public.

The hunger strike is still going on at the prison. Guards have confiscated the prisoner’s Korans and other personal items. They have also been disrespectful during praying time.The only way the detainees can protest is by refusing to eat. Why is it so hard to respect people’s religion and how can the world just stand and watch these men being treated like they are worth nothing?

And other question that I hope we will get answered soon is, what is going to happen to Shaker Aamer? Will he ever be able to seet his family again or is he going to spend the rest of his life in a prison, even if he has been cleared for release twice?

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“New” idea to turn Battersea Power Station in to a rollercoaster

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The “new” idea of a roller coaster wrapped around the power station.


A similar idea but from 1988

Wired Magazine wrote earlier this week about who the Architecture firm Atelier Zündel Cristea (AZC) had won a competition hosted by ArchTriumph. The competition was to use the Power Station as inspiration to imagine a new Museum of Architecture.

AZC idea was to build a roller coaster around the Power station, add some new floors, have galleries inside and use the roof for exhibitions on architecture.

The idea of turning the Power Station into a roller coaster is not new. It is an old idea from Margaret Thatcher’s eighties that thankfully never happened.

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Shaker Aamer Awareness Week

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This week is the Shaker Aamer awareness week and with a massive hunger strike going on at Guantanamo, the media are paying extra attention to the easily forgotten detainees at the prison. Even though the U.S government are pretending that the hunger-strike does not exist, there has been a renewed focus on Shaker, the last British resident in Guantanamo.

Shaker Aamer, who has been cleared for release both under President Bush and President Obama, has been in the prison for 11 years. Shaker’s family have launched an e-petition that needs 100,000 signatures before the 20th of April 2013 to be eligible for a Parliamentary debate about how the UK government can ensure Shaker Aamer’s return to his wife and four children in Wandsworth South London.

This week there are a variety of events to alert people to the awful things that happen at Guantanamo, to remind people about Shaker Aamer and to encourage them to sign the e-petition.

For more information about the different events please visit:

Shaker Aamer awareness week
Save Shaker
Andy Worthington

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Digital Video Production for the Web- Short Training Courses

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Digital Video Production for the Web

NGOs, charities, social enterprises and small businesses have been badly hit by the recession and funding cuts. To reach out to your target audience and get your message across there is an ever increasing demand for online video- producing high quality online videos need not be an expensive luxury.

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DIY digital film making and successful use of No/Lo budget techniques, can slash your production costs and actually improve your production values.

By training existing staff or volunteers in the techniques of high quality digital film making organisations can greatly reduce production costs. When people working on the ground document their own activities and events and record client testimonials you can often get better results than with a hired film crew of strangers.

Where your workers have built relationships and trust with your clients they can film more relaxed and interpersonal moments, moments that might elude an external film crew, making for a more direct and powerful film.

This practical hands-on course aims to give you the “future proof” information you really need to know to produce high quality videos by concentrating on the techniques and skills that stay constant, regardless of passing developments in software, technologies and formats.

The training is not technology specific but gives you the knowledge and attitude to get the best out of whatever equipment is to hand, to navigate your way around the complexity of codecs and formats, to identify and solve technical problems. You will learn the techniques and methods of high quality digital production in a way you can speedily pass on the knowledge and expertise to other members of your organisation and client base.

Organisations with a member of staff who have completed the course can hire Spectacle’s equipment at a 15% discount.

The course is modular. You can take just the 2 day production course or the 3 day course that includes post production and uploading video to the internet.

For more information Digital Video Production for the Web

If you are interested in booking the course please visit the How to Book page.

For information on other Spectacle training courses

Or contact training@spectacle.co.uk

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Palm oil biofuel is endangering the homes of Orangutans

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The UK Government are proposing to support the burning of 500,000 tonnes of bio liquid per year in power stations. The largest part of this fuel will be palm oil, since it is the cheapest vegetable oil. One such Combined Heat and Power Station is planned for the Battersea Power Station site.

Even though some bio liquids can be good and environmentally friendly, the use of palm oil ruins the rainforest and the home of orangutan, an animal that today is nearly extinct.

We have written before how Sime Darby, new owners of Battersea Power Station, have carried out illegal logging in rain forests and endangered the homes of orangutans. So Sime Darby, with their production of palm oil,  is not only a threat for Battersea Power Station, but also for orangutans, the rainforest and in the end our environment.

 

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Shaker Aamer-11 years in Guantánamo

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Today is the 11th anniversary of Shaker Aamer’s detention in Guantánamo. He has been detained without trial and has been approved for release twice, but he still remains in Guantánamo. So today, when most of us celebrate valentines day, Shaker Aamer and his family have been away from each other for 11 years.

Please help Shaker Aamer to get out of this injustice by signing the e-petition to the British Government calling for his immediate release. Let him reunite with his wife and four children, one of whom he has never met.

Order Spectacle’s DVDs  Shaker Aamer: a decade of injustice ( New Version) and  Outside The Law: Stories from Guantánamo

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Shaker Aamer, the bitter face of Saint Valentine’s Day

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The 14th of February is known for being the day of the love. However, for Shaker Aamer this date commemorates his imprisonment in Guantanamo. Eleven years being far from his wife and children, without having had a trial or any charges brought against him.

As an act of ‘love’ this 14th of February sign the e-petition to the British Government calling for the immediate release of Shaker Aamer.

 

If you want to know more about Shaker Aamer’s story watch our documentary: ‘Shaker Aamer: A decade of injustice’

 

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