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Rough Music 16 - October-November 2007

What's In This Issue:
Anston House Aggro - Anston House in Preston Rd, Brighton is occupied as more 'development' threatens to blight the area.
Red Letter Day - Brighton posties join the mail strike - and give the reasons for it.
Landing Jeer - Shoreham Airport expansion company goes bust..
Blowing Yer Stack - The proposed Newhaven incinerator - toxic, and a complete rip off as well.
Broken Art - Council cleaners in graffiti art exhibition white-wash balls-up.
Nursery Crimes - Privatised children's centre in Moulsecoomb to close after funding dries up - but not before the company has sucked local funding dry.
Picture Imperfect - Those filming Smash EDO protests are targeted by police - yet under no real legal basis.
Never Ending Tory - Tories win council elections on promise of er... repairing the seafront bandstand.
Wanker's Corner - Step forward Dr David Bull - tv presenter and Tory candidate for Brighton Pavillion in the next election.
West Bank Story - A delegation of activists from the Tubas region of Palestine come to Brighton.
Word To The Wise - Local activist Marcus Wise gets special treatment by Sussex plod.
Taking A Barracking - Will the old Preston Barracks site on Lewes Road become yet another supermarket - this time a Waitrose?
Trees On The Line - Local activists are trying to stop trees being felled on railway embankments in Hove.
Rough Music Gig List - Forthcoming events around Brighton.
What Is Rough Music

ANSTON HOUSE AGGRO

AS PRESTON ROAD TREE CAMPAIGNERS GET BAD PRESS

RM salutes the Anston House tree camp on Preston Rd. Resisting the weather, police intimidation and black propaganda from the Argus they’ve stood their ground to save trees from greedy developers.

Developers Bridgetown Properties illegally felled ten impressive oaks and beeches despite Tree Preservation Orders. Protestors, including Sandra Dunne and partner Colin, moved on to land next to Anston House in Preston Rd - dubbed Brighton’s ugliest building (at least until they finish the Gehry Towers). The Haslemere-based company will now be unable to bring the building down.

With four smaller trees left to defend, Sandra, Colin and a growing group of supporters are vowing to stay for the duration. “What they’ve done is out of order. The trees had been there a hundred years or more. They’ll clear the site over our dead bodies.”

But the media have been telling their usual one-sided story. With no proof, protesters are blamed for everything going; the weather, smoky fires, drugs, local crimewaves, oh and while you’re at it stolen statues. Yep Steve Ovett doing a runner was pinned on the obviously middle-distance hating treehuggers. They swiftly nicked Sandra and took her off to the station.

In an exclusive interview with RM, Sandra told us that upon arrival at the station she had a reception committee of about 20 cops, all craning round keen to see the inhumanly strong individual who could’ve possibly dragged the bronze behemoth across the road. When the slightly built Sandra emerged from the van, jaws dropped and she was released four hours later – unsurprisingly without charge.

The camp has been targeted by some idiots recently, threatening to ‘burn them out’ , and setting fire to pallets near the road. The scapegoating is no doubt due in part to the Evening Anus’ reports which, having initially started off positively and then have, as you’d expect, turned a whiter shade of (Daily) Mail. The fact are that none of the campers ‘use’, and many of them have actually been involved in cleaning up the site – with recyclable piles of metal, glass etc stacked up in clearly marked areas are merely inconvenient facts to our rival publication.

Although backing down from her original support for the campers (no doubt with one eye firmly on Argus-voters), local Green councillor Amy Kennedy has an online 136-name petition to be presented to Brighton and Hove’s full council meeting on October 18th, calling for Bridgetown to be prosecuted. As the trees all had Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs), they face a likely maximum fine of £20,000 per tree (for a summary conviction by magistrates - cheap at half the price for developers) – although if the council had the balls it could go for full indictment by jury and get them fined £21m (double the cost of development) with a jail term on top. But it’s not likely the council will rock too many boats – they’ve long wanted the site developed and what’s a few trees among friends?

Support the camp – they need food, warm clothes, tarps and blankets. It’s located just north of the entrance to Preston Park on the opposite side of the road near the building with all the colourful faces painted on it...

RED LETTER DAY

Brighton’s posties have been rock solid in their support for the national strike. RM spoke to one disgruntled parcel humper who told us, “We realise this strike is causing inconvenience but apart from vague waffle about pay and conditions in the media – most people don’t really know what the strike’s about. Royal Mail want to casualise letter delivery.

They want us to start an hour later in the mornings but finish an hour and half later. On paper this doesn’t look too bad, although it is going to cause problems for those of us who rely on those hours to to provide childcare with a partner who works afternoons and evenings.

But what they really want is to get rid of the early morning shift allowance, which amounts to £15 or £20 a week. They’re offering a 2.5% pay rise over two years but with inflation that’s actually a pay cut!

The real stinger though is that instead of the ‘job and finish’ system where we get home as soon as we’ve done our rounds, the management want us to hang around ‘til half two to work in the sorting office. Of course that means that they’ll be able to start laying off night sorters. Really they want more work for less pay.
At this rate being a postie will stop being a job providing a living wage”.

The strike gets the RM stamp of approval (we only hand deliver)

LANDING JEER

The RM finger of doom strikes again, as Shoreham Airport owners Erinaceous plc’s face foreclosure over debt of around £150m.

RM knew something was up when we revealed in July (RM#15) that the shady company had been trying to lease out their ill-gotten gains. B&H Council ‘foolishly’ sold off the site at a fraction of what it was worth.
This was after Erinaceous shares took a tumble at the beginning of the year, following an investigation over an alleged £10m fraud, involving overvaluing properties (RM#11). Although there are new daily flights to that offshore bank account in the Channel Islands thanks to climate criminals Sky South, the proposed extended or even new runway looks miles off and Neil Bellis has been sacked as Erinaceous chief exec with finance director Michael Pearson following him out the door.

The current plans for Shoreham, which include new hangars, an office development, control tower and fire station, with a spring-clean of the Art Deco terminal, are no longer guaranteed.

The hangar, which was going to be knocked down, has been given listed status while the laughable plans to build flats about 20 yards from the runway (RM#15) were scrapped following concerns raised by English Heritage.

Airport manager, John Haffenden claims that Sky South’s 70-minute flight time, makes it the fastest route from your Sussex country residence to that weekend Paris retreat. No mention of the fact that it’s short haul flights like that which are one of the fastest growing causes of climate change.

Wake up Shoreham! For information on local anti-expansion group CARE (Communities Against Runway Expansion) go to www.adurcare.wanadoo.co.uk

BLOWING YER STACK

Newhaven incinerator: a toxic rip-off

Things have been heating up considerably in the story to turn Newhaven into a giant incinerator (See RM#3 and RM#8) as protests have got just a little bit more explosive.

With the billion pound 25-year monopoly-on-a-plate deal long since signed off with global pollution for profit corporation Veolia (nee Onyx), the county council have now fallen foul of the oldest bidding process trick in the book.

First you bang in a low quote and secure the contract, then wait until the council (well the ones you haven’t bought off, of course) are so far down the road they couldn’t politically or financial start the whole consultation and planing process all over again... and then blackmail them.

Veolia have successfully convinced the council that the projected ground preparation and plant construction costs have - quite legitimately - gone up a bit...er well doubled actually, but still a snip at £145million!

Either terrified of, or too deep in bed with them, the council held secret meetings - banning council members from revealing any details - and have totally capitulated to Veolia’s demands. They agreed to bail out the company by extending the contract for a further five years, bringing the desperately needy Veolia Inc at least an extra £35 million, while costing Sussex and Brighton & Hove taxpayers millions more (rent alone on the proposed site will cost them over £8 million).

And did we mention that the designed capacity of the plant is actually twice the size of the council contract – surely there’s some handsome profits to be made down the line flogging off burn-space to all comers!
Perhaps hitting B&H voters in the wallet may succeed in galvanizing them where just asking if they really thought the answer to Brighton & Hove Plc’s consumer-led planet-killing waste problem was to dump it all a few miles downwind and burn it, failed. OK it does seem less hassle than recycling or changing lifestyle habits but just keep your fingers crossed that the wind doesn’t blow the the toxic ash your way. The council also put in sweeteners like agreeing to compensate Veolia if for any reason the project collapses and indemnifying it for any costs for any legal challenge brought by campaigners.

So what of the resistance? Dove2000 (www.dove2000.org.uk) continue their efforts, generating huge petitions, hundreds out at protests and doggedly pursuing all the legal avenues. While this has had predictably little effect on councilors hell-bent on their big deal it has given outraged locals a platform for protest and kept the anti-incinerator campaign in the public eye. It is now becoming increasingly clear that direct action may be the only solution once the building works actually start.

There’s been a wild-card splinter group kicking off some more extreme action lately. In August a letter from the ‘Newhaven Burner Bomb Team’ landed on the mat at Sussex police HQ, saying that bombs had been planted at the pier, the Old Steine, Preston Park and South Moulescoomb. Whilst many Brightonians would probably happily see at least half of those locations blown to bits, it was just a hoax from a short-fused local.

Police later arrested a 79-year-old man over the incident, but have not yet charged him with anything. At least this proves that not all bombers are angry young men and shows how passionately people are feeling over the big Newhaven stitch-up.

BROKEN ART

Unhip council cleaners were caught on the hop when they took it upon themselves last week to remove a whole lot of unsightly graffiti from the Ink_d gallery in North street. Unfortunately it turned out the ‘Portslade Massif’ tag turned out to be a piece by ex-KLF (remember them torching a million quid in the mid 90s? Of course, if you can remember it you weren’t really there...) now ‘modern artist’ (thanks Banksy!) James Cauty. Inside the poncy gallery, his works were being flogged for thousands of quid, but although the paint was on private property, thought-police cleaning crew had other ideas.

In a brilliant bit of spin, worthy of a KLF stunt, the council spokesperson managed to accept responsibility for the gaffe in passing whilst actually bigging themselves up: “We apologise for removing the writing from the window of the art gallery. It was a genuine mistake, one amongst the many successful and careful removals of graffiti that the council cleans off private properties every year...” Now that’s art.

NURSERY CRIMES

BEAR FACED CHEEK AS CHILDCARE HITS BUFFERS

The council (and govt)’s never-ending love affair with paying the private sector to run public services continues to prove no picnic for those on the receiving end (‘customers’ they like to call you). Another fine example comes from Moulsecoomb Children’s Centre in, er, Moulsecoomb.

Three years ago the council decided to reject an offer by the local primary school to provide nursery services, but of course plumped for the private option, in the shape of oh-so-funkily-branded ‘Buffer Bear’ PLC.
Buffer Bear were only too happy to get their paws in the subsidy honey pot, scooping up cash from both the council and infamous quangocrats eb4U (See RM#7).

But the funding contracts were only for three years, and now the freebies have dried up, Buffers have announced that all of a sudden they’re upping sticks and heading for the woods.

With little notice and no contingency plan in place, the centre is set to close on Oct 19th.

Of course, it was impossible for the council to anticipate that a private company would only play ball as long as it was profitable, or realise that services in an area predominantly home to less-well off families will always need subsidies (compared to Landrover Avenue where a nice living can be made giving toddler yoga classes) – oh except that a Buffer Bear nursery in Whitehawk closed 18 months ago for exactly the same reasons!

Still, they’ve already trotted out the mainstay excuses that as Buffer Bear are a private company – well, they have no need to be transparent so the council couldn’t have known they were going down the toilet! And as they’re are a private company, the council can’t consult with parents over the decision – take it up with the Buffer board, Britney! Sorry little Marshall, no fun and games for you in the neighbourhood...

The council have made vague promises to look into other options but parents have seen nothing yet materialise. They have already staged two demos but the damage to their kids’ continuity of early developmental education has been done. Some of the cash- poorest families in Brighton are now facing travelling all over town to find childcare.

Still there is some good news; Buffer apparently hold a 9-year lease on the property and anyone wanting to take over will presumably have have to buy them out of it, at least giving their balance sheet a tidy little boost!

PICTURE IMPERFECT

As we bring Sussex plod’s attitude to those filming political events into focus... During the period when activists outside EDO’s factory were subject to a High Court Injunction (see RM#4), they were forbidden from filming (One man was remanded to Lewes prison before having his charges dropped). Of course since that court case collapsed, that doesn’t apply any more - but the police seem determined to enforce it anyway.

Starting in January this year, cops began seizing the cameras of anyone who might have videoed an action at EDO. This move is legally dubious to the say the least – police have no right to seize any video footage you’ve taken no matter how convenient it is for them to dispose of any evidence.

One cameraman who had both camera and footage seized after a brief struggle has put in a complaint to Sussex Police, which was duly acknowledged by both Lewes and Brighton HQs. However months later he enquired about the progress of his complaint only to have it explained that it was being dealt with by none other than Inspector Kerry Cox – who had suggested to EDO MBM that they get an injunction in the first place.

Unsurprisingly then, consideration of the complaint didn’t get rushed through. Deciding to bypass the fat laden arteries of Brighton police’s bureaucracy, the cameraman took his case to the IPCC (an acronym to remember: the Independent Police Complaints Commission).

They duly told him that there was no record of him ever making a complaint to Sussex Police. Nice work, Inspector! Of course this is all mere incompetence and not Sussex Police wanting to defer any legal discussion of the legality of the seizures as long as possible in order to continue the policy....

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NEVER ENDING TORY

After their breathtaking rise to power (on the back of a 39% turn out), Brighton Tories must be relieved that Neo Labour won’t be calling a sudden election. A quick scan of their website reveals that “Current policy wiil (sic) be available soon” ...and the only thing they’re celebrating is a plan to repair the bandstand on Brighton seafront and a merciless crackdown on chewing gum. So basically they’re just gonna carry on with all the disastrous labour council schemes with just a slightly different coloured rubberstamp.

Of course to get elected - even by such a slim majority - the Tories had to put on a show of giving a shit. In fact they like to boast about how they’ve been ‘immersing themselves’ in the local community. Of course they’ve immersed themselves in some communities more thoroughly than others – diving into high rolling Brighton was obviously less of a chore than wading through the murky puddles on Horsdean travellers site.

Labour policy against travellers wasn’t exactly ‘welcome one, welcome all’ (see RM#15) but the Tories are planning another turn of the screw, promising instant crackdowns. Local tories aim to court the curtain twitching massive by turning travellers into a public enemy.

Of course the fact that the council spends more money each year on combating travellers than it would cost to provide sites goes unmentioned. Their policy is to reduce the number of travelling families in Brighton to the national average i.e. 50. Of course there are no plans to bring the number of D-list celebs, estate agents or media luvvies down to the national average. Just more putting the boot into those who live a little more freely.

Green Councillor Bill Randall, whilst noting the cost caused to local council tax payers (and therefore Bill’s constituents’ wallets) for cleaning up sites, moved in a recent council meeting that more be done to support travelling families. The motion was ‘amended’ by the Tories by removing all mention of the harm done to travellers through inadequate provision of decent services and the striking out of a proposal to ‘ensure gypsies and travellers and the organisations that represent them are involved in drawing up the plans for a national network of sites.’ Caring democracy in action!

Keeping council tax increases to a minimum and house prices going up is the familiar Tory concern. Local Authority departments are busy worrying where the axe is going to fall as spending is hacked back. So its back to the bandstand as the only positive story.

Doing up the crumbling seafront structure would cost a whopping £850,000. The council made unsuccessful pleas to the National Lottery, but now council leaders have decided to fund the refurb out of our pockets. The Tories are planning to plunder almost half of the £1.5million Strategic Investment Fund on regenerating this part of the seafront. Well better than spending it on libraries or care homes for the elderly..!.

Why not help the council rebuild the bandstand? Donations of building materials can be sent to Brighton Pavilion Conservative Association, FREEPOST NAT20397, 66a Boundary Road, Hove BN3 5YZ.

Incredibullshitter

Sporting a David Van Day-busting hair do, one Dr David Bull this month joins the exclusive club of Brighton & Hove wankers.

Of course Dave isn’t really a doctor, OK he qualified as one, but he makes his money as a children’s TV presenter – the original Torytubbie - which might explain the Mickey Mouse bollocks he’s pushing. He’s the new shiny new parliamentary candidate for Brighton Pavilion whose latest high-brow newsheet tackles the issues that really matter - asking readers to write in with details of their favourite bistro!

David Bull (whose hobbies include ‘good restaurants’ and ‘property’) runs his own branding consultancy, ‘Incredibull Ideas’, which must come in handy as he’s trying to rebrand a bunch of clapped out string-’em-up homophobes as a hip young caring sharing therapy group, complete with a nice picture of a tree for a logo.

Rest assured TV Doctor Dave is rescuing the NHS by personally demonstrating against the closure of local A&E centres by releasing blue balloons and tying himself up in red tape. Even RM, with its finger on the activist pulse, missed that demo! And exactly which overpaid PR guru told the Tories that people would really believe that the NHS could ever be safe in their hands?

For some pre election plotting, or just to relieve the boredom as the evenings draw in, - why not pop out for a curry with Dave’s fanclub, Conservative Future? Organised on campuses and in local schools, CF provides the leg work for the well-gelled wannabe MP and are responsible for the dodgy newsletters and right wing propaganda dropped through your letterbox.

They run regular socials, including a pub quiz team and, like their masters, are just desperate to find out what you think about things - let ‘em know by emailing info@brightoncf.co.uk. There’s also some more David Bullshite at www.brightonmatters.com

WEST BANK STORY

PALESTINIAN DELEGATION TO BRIGHTON

A group of Palestinians from the Tubas region of Palestine visited Brighton in September as part of the Brighton-Tubas Solidarity Group, a project aimed at creating links between grassroots groups in Brighton and Tubas. The group aimed to raise awareness of the problems faced by Palestinians under occupation in the Tubas region.

The Jordan Valley, part of the Tubas region, has been de facto annexed by the Israeli state because it is one of the most fertile areas of the West Bank. Israeli state owned agricultural company Carmel-Agrexco makes a killing out of growing fruit and vegetables on stolen Palestinian land.

Agrexco takes advantage of the strangulation of the Palestinian economy by US and EU sanctions and restrictions on freedom of movement to employ Palestinian workers on poverty wages and exploit child labour.
One member of the group, an ex-political prisoner, was prevented from travelling by the Israeli authorities who said his ID, which they had issued, was illegible.

The group spoke at several public meetings (incidentally getting a real eye-opening experience when they blundered accidentally on to West St one typical late Saturday night), including meeting dozens of community groups, the Sussex Uni Student’s Union, five local schools and several campaigning groups. The aim is to set up sustainable solidarity links to highlight the war crimes being committed against the people of the Tubas region. They also took a trip to EDO MBM to see where the munitions used to keep them under the Israeli heel

. The Brighton-Tubas Solidarity Group sends regular delegations to Palestine and is currently supporting the building of a school in an area where Israeli military law deems building unlawful.

See www.tubas.brightonpalestine.org or email tubas@brightonpalestine.org

WORD TO THE WISE

One anti-war activist and celebrated local Rough Musician, Marcus Wise has come in for more than his fair share of police harassment as a result of his involvement in the SMASH EDO campaign. After getting busted for cycling through red lights on a critical mass demo (see RM#9) he’s been the cause of a fair amount of earache to one of Sussex’s finest: PC Sean McDonald (see Wanker’s Corner RM#8). Although Sean’s job is to hang around annoying protesters, causing him to be an unwelcome presence on most of the city’s demos, he tried to get Marcus fitted up for a prosecution under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 – for stalking him!

In 2006 Marcus was at one of the regular noise demos outside the factory and got stung with a Fixed Penalty Notice for eighty quid under public order laws. PC McDonald, acting with PC Andre Bernascone, wrestled Marcus into the back of a van and tried to issue the FPN. After Marcus refused, they settled for taking his name and address.

Six months later, at the limit of the time for prosecution, the police finally got their way and Marcus was charged under Section 5 of the Public Order Act, i.e. ‘causing alarm, harassment and distress’. Poor Sean was apparently threatened by Marcus offering him to “take that uniform off – and we’ll go one-on-one down the road”, bullshit of the first order as shown by the sub-Bill scripting of the insult. RM pictures him, pen in hand hovering over the words “You’ll never take me alive Copper...”

Events then took a bizarre twist when as Marcus was summonsed for the comparatively minor charge, Sean chose to supplement his original one page statement - which although improbable at least confined itself to events on the day – with a three page history of the last few years dredging up every encounter he’d ever had with Marcus. These, he suggested, amounted to a course of conduct under the harassment act – a much more serious charge, punishable by up to five years in prison.

Making surreal reading, Sean included events like Marcus warning people during the Naked Bike Ride “Watch out everyone – the police are around – hide your money”, following Sean around a Christmas-time EDO demo in town with a sign saying “Do not talk to this man”, and gloriously shouting through a megaphone at another demo, “I might be the biggest wanker in Brighton but at least I’m not in Wankers Corner” - to which Sean added ‘I took this to be a reference to internet website and magazine Rough Music’ – Oh yes fame at last!

After being refused legal aid, Marcus defended himself in court and won a reprieve from the bail conditions the prosecution wanted to impose. On August 10th all charges were dropped. Two days later and Marcus was arrested again under an 1871 bye-law. Since then he’s been bailed back once a month while the plod dither about whether or not to charge him. When will they Wise up?

TAKING A BARRACKING

For five long years, the council have been agonising (read: waiting for the right tempting offer) over what to do with former Preston barracks, on the Lewes Rd next to the University of Brighton site. Plans have of course, entirely revolved around enticing a major supermarket in (is there any other way?!). Publicly, they promised ‘regeneration’ for the site... inevitably meaning a retail park with 12,000 sq foot of office space, ubiquitous luxury flat blocks all laced with the usual bluster about bits of affordable housing.

Initial hopes that neighbours B&Q might just gobble up the chance to build themselves an extension all the the way to the Barracks fell though when they pulled out in April 2006. Then talks with Sainsbury’s, already located just down the road on the Vague Gyratory broke down and looked likely to scupper the plans, but thankfully another suitor has now been found in the shape of home of the less-than-affordable Waitrose.

Our increasingly desperate rival, the Argus, broke the news, describing the plan as an “18-storey tower block, bars, businesses and a supermarket the size of a football pitch.” (Ooh a football pitch! More interesting news would have been a football pitch the size of a supermarket...And here’s Rooney, taking a corner from the left and...oh, no, it’s nowhere near reaching the box, Brian!)

What yet another superstore and development in the already traffic-chocked area will do for the local environment is pretty obvious, but don’t be surprised if the plan seems to win though any challenges to it... The council doesn’t know any other way and despite a rumble of discontent here and there, councillors have already voted to support the scheme so that negotiations can take place on a development agreement...

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TREES ON THE LINE

By the time you read this the ‘Save the Trees’ campaigners of Addison Road, Hove, who delayed fellings on the Brighton to Littlehampton line in March, are likely to have been back in action (October 13th) after Network Rail announced their latest tree clearance.

In March, around 50 protesters disrupted two chainsaw operatives from clearing trees from embankments, with some putting themselves directly between the trees and saws.

Rather than manage the trees sensibly through coppicing, which means the embankments remain intact thanks to the trees’ roots and the neighbourhood gardens remain free of dodgy poisons, Network Rail has a national money-saving policy to cut trees down and poison the roots. Short-sighted and dangerous, as when it rains landslides are more likely.

Call 735770 for details of local protests against November’s planned fellings, and while you’re at it if you fancy giving the chainsaw operatives your ha’penny worth, the contractors are Homegrown Timber on 07887 610863.

RM will be reporting on both protests – come and show your support – you know it makes sense!

Rough Music Gig List

OCTOBER

• 10th – Bad Karaoke demo outside EDO MBM, Home Farm Rd see www.smashedo.org.uk
• 11th - SMASH EDO benefit gig - Inner Terrestrials (punk with mandolins) and more at Cowley Club, 12 London Rd. £5 ‘suggested’ donation
• 15th - Jubilee library - Public consultation with the police 7.30pm
• 23rd - Hands Off Forum “The New Scramble for Africa” - the USA, EU, and China are all involved in a struggle to control African resources, and how is this affecting the African people? A talk and discussion. 7.30-9pm, Brighthelm Centre, North Rd. See www.watchingthewarmakers.org.uk
• 24th - No Sweat: Harvard Living Wage – a film screening about how students at Harvard took on university managers to help campus cleaners and caretakers win a living wage. Plus discussion with anti-sweatshop campaign group No Sweat. 7pm, Cowley Club, tel 07811 723131 email bellaciao@fastmail.fm web www.nosweat.org.uk
• 28th – Sunday Roast – benefit for SMASH EDO at the Cowley Club 2 ‘til 6. Bar open
• 31st – Hallowe’en DEMO outside EDO MBM 4 ‘til 6. Fancy dress.

Regulars

• Smash EDO Noise Demos - Every Wednesday 4-6 outside EDO MBM – Home Farm Rd Brighton. www.smashedo.org.uk
• Critical Mass - meet 6pm the Level on the last Friday of every month. Bring bikes, lights and noise! Next one October 26th - See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/criticalmassbrighton
• Sussex Action for Peace - Activists Meeting every Tuesday fortnight, 7:30 pm, Brighthelm Centre, North Rd. All welcome. Next one October 16th - see http://safp.info
• Big Lemon buses are running a bio-diesel £1 a go anytime or £2 for an all day pass service between Falmer & Brighton station. Non-profit, community interest company, www.thebiglemon.com