Rachel Holdsworth

Book Review: Coconut Unlimited By Nikesh Shukla 28.10.2010

rachelholdsworth — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 13:01:35 +0000

Growing up in Harrow in the mid 90s, Amit is confused. He’s Indian, but his ambitious parents send him to an almost-entirely-white private school. Along with his two friends, Anand and Nishant, they have racial abuse heaped on them by their classmates and teachers – but their education marks them out as coconuts by the Indian community. So they respond by wanting to be black. Specifically black hip hop artists, but that’s not easy in the days before Spotify and Napster and you haven’t got a clue what this Nas guy sounds like…

Read the original post at Londonist.

Mayor Lobbies For London Housing Benefit Exemptions 28.10.2010

rachelholdsworth — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 12:59:04 +0000

Boris Johnson and 12 Tory MPs for London are pressing for exemptions to housing benefit caps. In the wake of news that up to 82,000 households could lose their homes in the capital, the Mayor and parliamentarians have been trying to persuade the government to remove the cap for Londoners, or cut costs by paying the money direct to landlords. Johnson is also pushing hard for tenants who care for a relative locally or have children in special schools to be allowed to stay in their homes…

Read the original post at Londonist.

Train Staff Not Allowed To Give Medical Help To Passengers 22.09.2010

rachelholdsworth — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 12:57:06 +0000

If you’re feeling at all unwell don’t travel by First Capital Connect, or make sure there’s a qualified first aider in your carriage. After a man collapsed at St Alban’s station a few weeks ago and FCC staff said they didn’t have first aid training, witness Rachel Hughes has been told by the TOC that some staff did have the necessary skills – of course they do, anyone’s who’s worked anywhere knows companies have an obligation to train some first aiders – but at FCC, that training does not allow staff to treat passengers…

Read the original post at Londonist.

News Shopper Rewards Anti-Gay Letter 27.8.2010

rachelholdsworth — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:13:03 +0000

Local paper News Shopper has rewarded an anti-gay letter with its star prize. Mrs S Fitzsimons, of Lewisham, wrote to complain about a recent front page story detailing areas in the borough listed as cruising grounds by a website (which, uh, by the way, is really not front page news). “This is meant to be a family newspaper,” she writes. Quite. Oh, but then she continues… “and not some sleazy sex advertiser for the perverted”…

Read the original post at Londonist

Lewisham Deptford MP Joan Ruddock’s Election Expenses Reveal Electoral Commission “Loophole” 26.7.2010

rachelholdsworth — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:22:50 +0000

A Londonist investigation has revealed that Lewisham Deptford MP Joan Ruddock may have taken advantage of a loophole in Electoral Commission guidance, which allows an election candidate to avoid submitting receipts accounting for expenditure.

Read the whole post at Londonist.

Did The BNP Vote Really ‘Collapse’? 14.5.2010

rachelholdsworth — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:18:08 +0000

While so many other political issues were up in the air last Friday morning, one of the few things that became immediately clear was that the BNP had had its arse kicked. It lost all 12 seats on Barking and Dagenham Council and Nick Griffin was pushed into third place during parliamentary elections in Barking, where Labour’s Margaret Hodge actually increased her majority. Even the Times was talking about “indications of a national collapse in the BNP vote“. But is that really what happened?

Read the whole post at Londonist.

Fury At Southeastern Trains Epic Snow Fail 6.1.2010

rachelholdsworth — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:15:41 +0000

And the award for biggest overreaction to the forecast snowpocalypse goes to: Southeastern Trains. We told you yesterday that they were planning to run a revised service, but what nobody knew until this morning was that would involve just two trains an hour on each Metro route and that at 8.36pm a large “Gone Home” sign would be hung on the doors of Charing Cross. That’s right: South East London is, in effect, cut off this evening…

Read the whole post at Londonist.

Opinionist: G20 Protests 6.4.2009

rachelholdsworth — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:01:08 +0000

We’ve been talking a lot about the G20 protests this week and been mulling over a number of points. Namely, police tactics and what the point of it all was?

Read the whole post at Londonist.