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Originally, the Storm Kettle was handmade in Ireland - often by travellers who produced them in copper - for fishermen, itinerant workers and tourists. John Grindlay, who with his wife owns and runs the Eydon Kettle Company, modified the design and implemented modern manufacturing techniques in the early 1960’s.
John Grindlay borrowed an original copper kettle and took it to England during the winter. Tooling was manufactured and the first 10 kettles eventually produced. These were very quickly sold for £10 each in 1979, the assembly work being carried out by Mr Grindlay’s children who were then 8 years and 10 years old. Popular demand meant that production had to increase. Since 1979 the numbers sold have substantially increased each year.
Mainly these Kettles, whether sold in the UK, Germany, or elsewhere, are used by sportsmen, holiday makers, expedition organisers and outdoor enthusiasts. They have even accompanied the explorer John Blashford-Snell, while he was searching for signs of early civilisations on a trip to Central America.
Nowadays they can be found in the Solomon Isles helping remote islanders boil water to purify it, in remote parts of Southern Africa, where dried cattle dung is used by the Zulus as fuel, or in the Sahara Desert on expeditions.
Using a Storm Kettle means you can boil water easily, in the wettest and windiest of weather, both rapidly and safely. They are also environmentally friendly as you only need a sheet of newspaper and a handful of twigs as fuel. So the simplicity of the Kettle ensures that boiling water is always available, without the need to use gas, petrol or any other artificial fuel.
Storm Kettles come in two sizes, the Original and the Popular. The Original will boil up to 2.5 pints (approx. 1.5 litres) the Popular up to 2 pints (approx. one litre) – that should ensure more than enough hot water is available for you within minutes - at any time.
The water boils rather quickly and can be kept going by just adding further small sticks into the fire that is going in the burner beneath the kettle via the “chimney”.
One word of warning even though it is mentioned more than once in the literature and also on a sticker on the kettle itself: NEVER EVER use it with the cork in place. While the cork is very handy for carrying the kettle with water in it when heating the water the cork must be taken out of the spout.
I am always amazed though that they never seem to have found a take up by the still travelling Romani in the UK and elsewhere. The Storm Kettle does away with the need for a fire for just the purpose of brewing a cup of tea or coffee or even for the making of some other hot beverage. I can but highly recommend them for our use as well.
While the Storm Kettle and accessories do not come cheap they certainly do not cost a fortune and will save a lot of trouble for those of ours that are, even if only occasionally, still po drom.
The Prices for the kettles are: £43.00 for the Popular and £44.50 for the Original. Prices include V.A.T. and carriage.
Reviewed by Michael Smith (Veshengro), February 2008
Strasbourg, 20.02.2008 - The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, today presented his human rights assessment report on Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Whilst underlining that the authorities have ratified key European and international human rights treaties and adopted legislation and action plans in important areas, Mr Hammarberg highlighted the need for further efforts to ensure concrete implementation of the reforms. His recommendations focus on internally-displaced persons and minority returnees, Roma, children, poverty and social exclusion.
The Commissioner considers that the effects of years of conflict have contributed to persisting poverty, social exclusion and inequality; social assistance is not distributed fairly and elderly people, single-parent families and people without health insurance coverage are particularly vulnerable and risk destitution.
He stated that further efforts are needed to facilitate return of people who were displaced during the conflict and that appropriate housing, infrastructure and services should be offered without discrimination to all returnees. Commissioner Hammarberg also urges national authorities to provide assistance and integration opportunities for those who cannot return to their places of origin.
Refugees who have been under temporary protection should be offered a durable solution, particularly those for whom return to Kosovo is not yet possible. Legal safeguards should be introduced to protect persons deprived of citizenship from being returned to countries where they would be at risk.
Furthermore, the Commissioner recommends more positive action for the protection of national minorities. The rights of Roma to education, employment, health and housing rights should be given priority. The report also sets out specific recommendations to combat violence against women and children.
The Commissioner recommends swift action to finally establish the office of the ombudsman at a State level. While he notes progress in the judiciary with regard to independence and professionalism, Mr Hammarberg expresses concern about the huge backlog of cases in the courts. There is an urgent need for an action plan to remedy this problem, he suggests.
The report, based on the findings of an official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina in June 2007, is available on the Commissioner's website (www.commissioner.coe.int).
Those European countries which are in such a hurry to recognise Kosovo's independence should also stand up for its beleaguered minorities, of which there are a few.
For almost a decade western attitudes to Kosovo have reinforced the adage that the truth is rarely pure and never simple. As far as Kosovo and the Albanians is and was concerned there truth that was presented to the West was not the truth at all. The West, for some stupid reason, however, swallowed it hook, line and sinker.
In 1999, George Robertson, then Britain's defence secretary, claimed that Nato had undertaken a "fight for a downtrodden people and it has won". The question is who were the downtrodden people that he was referring to?
While it is claimed, and to some extent some of it may indeed be true, that forces controlled by Slobodan Milosevic were responsible for heinous crimes against the ethnic Albanian community that Robertson purported to champion, the fact is, and this was borne out by comments of the KOFOR troops, including high ranking officers, who stated “my God, we backed the wrong side”, as they saw what really had been going on.
In the security vacuum that followed Nato's "victory", there was a wave of violence against Kosovo's minorities: the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians (three groups often described as "Gypsies") and the Serbs. By some estimates, up to four-fifths of the 120,000-strong Roma community were driven from their homes in an true effort of ethnic cleansing. A litany of killings, arson and rape has been documented - in many cases allegedly perpetrated by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (Hashim Thaci, the KLA's political leader at the time, is now prime minister). The majority of Gypsy Mahallas in Kosovo are nowadays ruins and shells and still people are being sent there to be attacked again and often killed.
It has always been the aim of the KLA and those associated with them, but also others that were working on the “liberation” of Kosovo to have a Kosovo for Albanians only and to drive all non-Albanians out and then attach Kosovo to a “Greater Albania”; only they are not going to admit to this now, are they.
Those who fled Kosovo have been reluctant to return and it is not hard to grasp why. Facing almost total unemployment and a dearth of social services, some Roma in Kosovo have been reduced to living on scraps of food from rubbish containers. With a principal Roma neighbourhood in Mitrovica almost completely destroyed in 1999, many of those remaining have been forced into substandard shelter by the UN in an area of toxic contamination which they are not, so it is reported again and again, permitted to leave. Illness is unsurprisingly widespread. All those “refugee camps” are under UN control.
Surely, there is an onus on those European countries who supported the Nato campaign and are now recognising Kosovo's independence to stand up for its beleaguered minorities. How can it be, then, that some of the same countries have made the plight of those the minorities even worse?
UN data indicates that about 2,000 people were forcibly sent back to Kosovo from other parts of Europe last year and more than 3,500 in 2006. A further 90,000 could still be deported, Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary-general, has said.
In 1999, Germany's involvement in the Nato effort caused ructions among its Green party, which then belonged to the ruling coalition. To its shame, Germany has been happy to expel significant numbers of Kosovars who have sought refuge on its soil. According to reports, those expelled have included people suffering from trauma who will almost certainly not receive the specialist care they need upon return. But then Germany always likes to get rid of the “Gypsy problem” fast regardless as to whether it is safe for those Gypsies to return or not, as was shown in the 1980's with the Roma and Sinti from Macedonia.
These expulsions disregard warnings by the UN's refugee agency that Serbs and Roma risk persecution if forcibly returned. Similar conclusions have been drawn by Kosovo's ombudsman, who found that returnees continue to be stoned on buses and have their property attacked. In 2006, some returnees were murdered and bombed, he added, and while such incidents had not reoccurred by the time his latest annual report was published, fear that they will persists.
Amnesty International, meanwhile, is perturbed by the woefully inadequate number of prosecutions stemming from past crimes, including war crimes. This means that the people accused of inflicting terror on minorities are frequently still at large.
In theory, the EU's decision to dispatch a law-and-order mission to Kosovo will remedy some of the underlying problems by helping to establish a properly functioning system of justice. But it could still be a long time before the Brussels institutions merit across-the-board confidence in Europe's newest country.
Kosovo's Gypsy population certainly has now been abandoned – not that the UN did much for them (in fact the actions of the UN caused lead poisoning to so many children) – by this overly fast wish to accept Kosovo as an independent state into the family of Nations and here with the like of the EU and the USA in the very forefront. I just would love to know what the hurry is here.
Michael Smith (Veshengro), February 2008
Recently supposed Sinti judges, Rechtsprecher, have had a declaration posted on a forum on the Internet condemning various activities and practices by (young) Sinti in Internet forums, chat rooms, and the like and while I, for one, can but agree with the spirit and the sentiments expressed in that decree, the same is invalid without the names and the proper titles of the judges that made it. However, challenging this fact publicly was not permitted, as I found out. The post I made on those forums questing the validity and such, was not allowed past the censors and the threat was thereafter locked on all the forums concerned.
Those “judges” make a mockery out of our ancient system of justice by not being prepared to stand by this with their names and ranks, so to speak. Furthermore, the way this degree has been composed and worded is already out of keeping with Romanipen mentioning some things that should not be mentioned by name, theoretically, and the anti-Romani way that some young folks dress should also have been included in those condemnations.
Such actions by so called “judges” and the statements, written in such a childish way without names and titles, make the Romani People, and especially the Sinti in Germany, etc., and our system of justice, into a laughing stock in the eyes of the Gadje. Or are the German Sinti and those in Austria, and such, so far removed from the true system of Romani justice. One can but wonder.
Judges who do not have the courage of their convictions to put their names to such a statement and decree do not deserve nor have the right to be called judges and deserve no respect at all, as they would be incapable to even judge an allotment garden produce show. Dordi! And the Sinti in Germany and such places are governed by such “leaders”. One can but feel sorry for them.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), February 2008
The above is the statement of a Mr. Fred Adams, of Huntingdonshire, in his application for planning permission for developing his own caravan site.
The Adams family (no relations to the one on TV) who Romany-Gypsy are trying to get planning permission to put six caravans on a field off Chatteris Road in Somersham has put forward another application.
Permission for a similar project was refused by Huntingdonshire District Council at a meeting in St Ives in November.
At the time, the applicant, Fred Adams, told the council's development control panel that he wanted to use the land as a home for members of his extended family.
He added that he was a genuine Romany Gypsy and it went against his beliefs to live in a house.
However, Mr. Adams currently lives in a house, so it would appear, which he wants to sell in order to develop the caravan site for he said he planned to sell his house in Stukeley Meadows and use the money to develop the site to include six pitches, a roadway and hardstanding on the field, which is more than a mile from the centre of the village.
District councillors, however, decided that access from the site to the main road would be dangerous and that the site would have an adverse impact on residents, businesses and the character of the area.
Mr Adams has now altered the planned access to the site with a view to gaining planning permission for the scheme.
Somersham Parish Council, which also objected to the original development on the grounds that it would be unsustainable, was going to consider the plans at a meeting on Monday, February 4, before they are put before Huntingdonshire District Council.
Statements like that by Mr. Adams in an attempt to get planning permission for such a site do not help at all and do no one any favors, not even the person making them. In fact they will make it worse for others to get permission.
I too am a true, as Mr. Adams says, Romani-Gypsy but I do live in a house and I know probably more about the true beliefs of the People than Mr. Adams, I am afraid to say, will ever know. His claim as to living in a house being against Romani beliefs is absolute humbug. How can he justify such a claim anyway as he currently lives in a house he owns?
If he wants to have his extended family live with him, which is something that I can understand and that is why we, as a People need to fight for the right to be able to develop our own settlements, then he should say so properly and, maybe, buy a bigger house or even a farm where he can then develop building where members of his extended family can live. The rest is hukaben and kek else.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), February 2008
...declared Jacques Abardonado (29), who plays for the Nuremberg Football Club in Germany, who until recently was a player for O.G.C. Niece in France, whence he comes, in an interview.
Jacques Abardonado, also called “ Pancho”, the blond-headed Manouche, wants, with this declaration, to improve the image of the Romani People. “Gypsies”, 'Pancho' said, “are always seen by the public as people wanting a fight and as thieves and vagabonds. When we arrive at a place the shout immediately goes forth 'Watch out! The Gypsies are in town!' I have got a different image here and I can change the image of the People by doing this”.
This is a very refreshing thing, to have one of the likes of “Pancho” stand up publicly and declare that he is Rom, Gypsy, and proud to be one.
What is stopping you, and you, and yes, you there in the corner too, from doing the same and proclaiming openly that you are ethnic Gypsy and that you are proud to be thus?
Oh, what was that? You say that that is easy for him... he is a professional footballer. Well, he is also not the only professional footballer who is Rom and also not the fist to be open about it but, as far as I can see, he is probably the only one who has ever been that open about it.
All I can say is “good on you, mate!” to “Pancho” and hopefully many young Rom will take him as a role model and, aside from modelling themselves along his lines, so to speak, also follow his lead of publicly declaring membership of the People of the Rom.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), February 2008
The Archbishop of Canterbury says the adoption of certain aspects of Sharia law in the UK "seems unavoidable".
Dr Rowan Williams told Radio 4's World at One that the UK has to "face up to the fact" that some of its citizens do not relate to the British legal system.
Why Her Majesty's subjects in the UK should have to face up to the fact that Sharia Law is unavoidable, as Dr Rowan Williams, who is not fit to be the Archbishop of the Church of England with statements such as this, has said, beats me. If some people living in this country have problems with the British legal system, that of criminal law and that of civil, maybe then it is time that they, who do not with to accept the system of this country leave it – permanently. If you live in this country then you live by its rules not your rules. Period! Dosta!
Read on...
As many as 2,000 children of Roma gypsies have been trafficked into the UK to be schooled in the art of street crime by modern-day Fagins, the Government was warned today.
Tory Anthony Steen (Totnes) said the children were brought to Britain for the express purpose of committing crimes and "milking" the benefits system.
Sold for up to £20,000 each, they were "debt bonded" to criminal gangs and could net as much as £100,000 a year, he claimed.
He warned it was a new "phenomenon" in Britain which was approaching "siege" levels but which no one had grasped the significance of yet.
Mr Steen called for a new offence of "criminally exploiting others" and for the children concerned to be treated as victims of crime and repatriated with the support of reputable child organisations.
He was speaking in a Westminster Hall debate after last month's high-profile rescue by police of 10 children from a so-called "Fagin's Gang".
The children were taken into care after officers raided 17 addresses in Slough, Berkshire.
Nine have since been reunited with their families who live in the UK.
Police believe the children were being held by organised criminal gangs from Eastern Europe and being forced into a life of crime.
Opening the debate, Mr Steen told MPs: "What is happening is that organised criminal networks are trafficking Roma children into Britain and other EU countries, notably Italy and Spain, and using them to milk the benefit system and undertake criminal activities such as shoplifting, pick-pocketing and ATM theft."
The Metropolitan Police estimated up to 2000 Roma children have already been trafficked into the UK, he added.
"None of them go to school, they are not on social services databases, they aren't cared for by foster parents, they are completely under the radar."
Meanwhile, Romanian nationals accused of crime in Metropolitan Police areas had soared 786% since 2006 and Bulgarian nationals by 250%.
"These gangs are buying children and schooling them in the art of street crime," Mr Steen alleged.
"The twist is that many of these children are under 10 years old and have no criminal liability in this country."
Mr Steen continued: "This is an entirely new form of trafficking because although the children are often with their own family, their family is mortgaged - debt bonded to the criminal gangs.
"The families sell their children for cash and the child is expected to pay off that debt by crime.
"We have hundreds - but no doubt in time thousands - of these kinds of families in Britain whose sole aim is to milk the benefit system and steal on the streets."
Mr Steen claimed London was "a sitting duck" for Roma-organised crime and that it was spreading throughout the regions.
"Intelligence has been received that children and adults are being sold between the gangs in the UK as well as being trafficked into the UK - evidence of sales for amounts of between £20,000 for one or more persons including babies and very young children," he said.
"Intelligence has also been intercepted that reveals a criminally active child can earn approximately £100,000 per year for the organised criminal network that controls her or him."
Home Office minister Vernon Coaker stressed that criminality not nationality was the issue, adding: "We are not stigmatising all Romanians."
He said crimes committed by trafficked children were concentrated in certain areas and police were already taking "robust" action.
Government intelligence suggested there were about 180 Roma children trafficked into the UK, Mr Coaker added, and a database was currently being created to record all victims of trafficking.
Meanwhile, new assessments of the threat posed by organised criminal gangs were being compiled by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency.
Mr Coaker, the minister responsible for tackling child exploitation, said Roma families could claim benefits in the UK but there was no automatic entitlement.
He told MPs the Government was looking at creating "specialist local authorities" to handle care and support for child trafficking victims.
"We are looking at perhaps 40 across the country," Mr Coaker said.
Ministers were also talking to European colleagues about better integration of the Roma community, he added.
Mr Coaker pledged to raise the matter with the Romanian, Bulgarian and Albanian ambassadors on a forthcoming trip to their countries.
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Editorial comment:
It is this very kind of behaviour by some members of the Roma community that is the very reason, aside from the fact that they simply are not Roma, that Romanichals and other Sinti, as well as the Cale, while Romani, do not wish to be called Roma or referred to as Roma.
It is high time that the Roma leaders did something against this, or are they involved in this? Then again, would a true leader of his people go about “warning” countries like the UK that his people will be all headed for the Uk in order to “milk the system”, as some of them have done? What is the reason for a “leader” of the People making such statement? One can only guess and wonder, methinks, but it would appear to me to be some kind of blackmail. In other words: “offer me some money and I will see to it that those subjects of mine do not go to your country to milk the system” seems to have been the attitude behind this. Therefore, one can only wonder why none of the “leaders” speak out against what seems to be going on here with those trafficked Roma chave.
Instead of pretending that this is not happening and that Roma do not sell children the honest leaders of the community should do something about it. All our groups have been able to do so far is openly mention that this is happening but again and again we have been attacked then and being called racist and whatever for saying so. This editor was personally offered a small, approx six or seven year old Roma boy in a town in Surrey for sale by other Roma, who, purportedly came from the former Czechoslovakia and who have been living from begging on the streets of said town in Surrey.
So, let's stop pretending it is not happening, for it is. Now let's see what we can do about it.
Then again, those that could do something about it, i.e. those very same Roma(ni) organizations that have the money, are the very same that deny that this is happening. It has been going on for years and years, decades and decades, and has been documented in films even. However, each and every time “leaders” and Roma(ni) academics have tried to deny this.
Instead of denying the existence of this we, as the People as a whole, must fight this and stop the exploiters. How? Well, maybe someone out there has some suggestion, other than the Kliste.
MVS, Feb 2008
Within working session of the United Nations Committee on Non-Governmental Organisations which took place in New York from January 21st till January 30th 2008 and where 145 organisations’ applications were analysed, Romani CRISS – Roma Center for Social Intervention and Studies was approved as NGO in Consultative Status with Economic and Social Council ( ECOSOC)
(http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2008/ecosoc6321.doc.htm).
Romani CRISS is the first Roma organisation in Romania and the fifth in our country to be approved in the Consultative Status with ECOSOC. This fact infers communication of meetings of ECOSOC and of subsidiary bodies, as Romani CRISS may make proposals in regard to the agenda and may distribute documents. The competencies of NGOs with consultative status are available at http://www.un.org/esa/coordination/ngo/pdf/res96-31.pdf.
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), along with the General Assembly, Security Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice and the Secretariat, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The United Nations family, however, is much larger, encompassing 15 agencies and several programmes and bodies. Established in 1945, the UN has 192 member states and the mission to maintain international peace and security; to develop friendly relations among nations; to cooperate in solving international economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems and in promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; and to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in attaining these ends. On December 14th 1955, The General Assembly decided that Romania became part of UN.
Cezara David
Public relations coordinator
Romani CRISS
Residents of Norwich-based sheltered housing schemes will have more comfort in their own homes when nine new No Cold Calling Zones were launched by Norfolk County Council Trading Standards on Tuesday January 22.
The zones take the total number of zones in the county to fourteen - and will be located at Fellowes Close, Custance Court, Silkfields, Meadowsweet, Ryrie Court, Millers Lane, Stone Road, Alfred Nichols Court and Seabrook Court.
Signs have been erected in these locations, to warn potential uninvited door-to-door callers that they are not welcome - with residents given information for their homes to help them to fully deal with any caller who ignores the warnings.
The County Council's Head of Trading Standards, David Collinson, will be launching all the schemes at 11.30am at Fellowes Close, Earlham - meeting residents and representatives of the various housing schemes.
David Collinson, Head of Norfolk County Council Trading Standards, said: "Research done with over 9000 consumers by the Trading Standards Institute showed that 96% of respondents do not want cold calling - something which is often used as a smokescreen for con men and criminals who prey on vulnerable households - particularly older people.
"No Cold Calling Zones support residents' ability and confidence to say no to unwanted cold callers and have been proven to reduce crime and ultimately provide an increased feeling of security for residents.
"The zones also provide Trading Standards with valuable information about traders operating in the area, which aids effective enforcement against doorstop crime."
In order for Trading Standards to support a location to become a No Cold Calling Zone, it has to meet a number of criteria.
These include the history of cold calling there, the number of incidents reported to Trading Standards and the Police, the residents' vulnerability, and the support of the local city, town or parish council all taken into consideration.
So, Fohki, you have been told. Don't get lawed, get wise. As I have told you all in the article “No Cold Calling Areas”, you don't go and call at the door; you leaflet. You all have cell phones (mobiles) nowadays, I am sure. And, for o Del's sake, don't sham for a change. Give a proper day's work for a proper day's lova. Don't ask £1,000 for a £100 job. That's how you ruin it for everybody.
Michael Smith (Veshengro), January 2008
PLANS to build a new gypsy and traveller site in Allerdale have taken a step forward this week.
Allerdale Council’s watchdog, the Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee, has said they are happy with a new strategy to combat prejudice against gypsies who move to the area.
The strategy, which has been drafted to comply with the Race Relations Act, aims to understand and raise awareness of the needs and culture of gypsies and travellers in the area.
It will look at reducing prejudice and enhancing accommodation, education and employment issues.
This is the first step in the process that will continue over the next few years.
About 40 gypsy and traveller camps are set up in Allerdale every year, but this year the number has increased.
Because there are no authorised sites it often results in the need for legal intervention.
All districts in Cumbria are having research carried out to identify the need for named sites.
The results should be ready by the end of February and then the process of identifying potential sites and bidding for Government money will begin.
Kim Suttle, Allerdale’s housing services manager, said at the moment the council has difficulty with gypsies and travellers because they don’t provide any sites where they can go.
Councillor Barbara Cannon said: “I think the strategy itself is fine and is well overdue.”
In April 2006 plans to create a permanent site in Workington or Maryport were put on hold following strong opposition from residents.
Four sites were earmarked in Workington – the former tannery on the A594, land south of Siddick, land at Oldside and a site south of John Pier pumping station.
In Maryport the three potential sites were land south of the harbour, a site at Ellenborough Place and one at the Glasson Industrial Estate.
The strategy will eventually go before full council.
Editorial Comment:
Oh, here we go again... Gypsy site placed on an Industrial Estate, probably like the site at Earlsfield near Wimbledon, London, where it is right next to the cement works. Ever so healthy. If it is not near such a place then it is right next to sewerage plants, refuse tips, and such places. I guess all but those that are entirely blind can see the pattern. The Gypsy, that is us, the Rom, are seen as nothing more than rubbish.
Michael Smith (Veshengro), January 2008
A group of Romany Gypsies could be forced onto the streets if they are not permitted to live in caravans at their parents' home it was claimed at an appeal hearing yesterday.
The site at Woodview, Leys Lane, Attleborough, belongs to Adam and Abronica Jones who were given permission to build a bungalow on the land.
Some of the couple's adult children are now living in caravans in the grounds with their families, without planning consent. An application to regularise the situation, retain four static caravans, and bring in two more to replace existing touring caravans was rejected by Breckland Council in February last year, and Mrs Jones lodged an appeal.
The site is outside the main settlement area and Viv Bebbington, senior development control officer, said the council accepted Mr and Mrs Jones met the criteria that enables an exception to planning policy, as they had led a travelling lifestyle. "The council's view is that not all the people living on the site fall within the specification of Gypsy. They need to justify the need for the exception to be made," she explained. However, the Jones's daughter Charmaine told the hearing they had travelled across the country and might be away from home for three or four months at a time.
Breckland Council has a shortage of Gypsy and Traveller sites, and resident Gary Hamer, who owns land next to Mr and Mrs Jones, said he was considering developing his property for the purpose. "If this application is successful then my plan, after speaking to my solicitor, is to go to the council to open up the whole woods as a transit site. We have worked out there should be enough to get 75 plots on that site."
Planning inspector Dennis Bradley, who conducted the hearing, expects to announce his decision in about a month.
Editorial Comment:
And where are all the big mouths now, such as Puxon, et al, who are very quick on the ball when it comes to Irish Travellers and when they want them to be seen as “ethnic Gypsies” - God forbid – but when it comes to bona fide Romanichals who are settled in one place proper and who just wish their grownup offspring to remain with them in the same place they can nowhere to be found. Well, neither were they anywhere around when Susie King needed help in Leatherhead. Only good the local Gohjas wanted her and the chavies to atch where they are.
Can we see the pattern now, everyone... a quote from the council man... The council's view is that not all the people living on the site fall within the specification of Gypsy... that means that this authority has decided that if you are a Rom and settled you are NO LONGER an ethnic Gypsy and therefore no longer have recourse to the rights. Dordi!
Michael Smith (Veshengro), January 2008
The Road Back
A Romany Story
William Lee (author)
Minerva Press 1999
No ISBN
115 pages, paperback, 8”x5.75”
Available only direct from the author
Price: 8 GBP
“The Road Back” is the sequel to “Dark Blood” by the same author and we all know, I am sure, whether with books or with movies, that sequels all too often are nowhere as good as the first one. “The Road Back” is here one of the few exceptions, as it is indeed as good as “Dark Blood” and the story is as fast moving and gripping as the first book.
In “The Road Back” we find Cornelius Lee having escaped from prison and beginning a rather epic journey back to Kent; a journey that will, ultimately, change his life.
Cornelius is still wanting to get even, as he might see it, with Ethan as is set to fight him again for May.
As the same time as Cornelius is on the way back to Kent, Ethan and may are also on a journey, back to Tattlebury, not realizing that they soon will encounter Cornelius again.
There is one extremely hilarious, to me at least, passage in the book, and that is where May is trying to learn to drive the new lorry. I laughed tears reading this as the very description reminded me of my dear blessed Deia learning to drive a motor.
This is all I shall give as a small synopsis of the story in the book as I do not wish to spoil it for the reader.
William Lee is a storyteller par excellence and he may even surpassed himself here.
All I can say is “Thank You, Uncle Bill, for sharing this story with us all and I hope for many more to come”.
And now folks, go and buy the two books. You will not regret it.
To order this book send a cheque of £8 (in the UK) (Overseas please inquire cost and rates for shipping from the author) to:
Romanybooks@aol.co.uk
Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro), January 2008
MOVES to take decisions on providing Gypsy and and Traveller pitches out of local control are causing concern.
The number of pitches needed in Hertfordshire will total more than 176 by 2011 according to proposals which are due to get the green light next week.
The proposals have caused a stir with county and local councillors, and have been labelled as "rough-shod riding".
On Monday Hertford and Stortford MP Mark Prisk challenged the government to "make a statement on the provision of sites for Travellers and Gypsies in Hertfordshire."
Iain Wright MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government, said: "The Government recognise the need to address the on-going shortfall in permanent and transit sites for Gypsies and Travellers."
He added: "The East of England regional assembly is preparing an alteration to the regional spatial strategy for the East of England, which we understand is due to be approved by the assembly on January 25.
"This alteration will determine how many pitches will be required for gypsies and travellers in the region. The current draft suggests the need for 1,187 pitches by 2011, 176 of which are in Hertfordshire."
Councillor Peter Ruffles (Conservatives, St Andrews) said: "Pitches in Hertfordshire have been well managed in my experience, for a good many years. My problem comes when people claim that special cases for Gypsy sites over-ride the existing planning policy controls which quite rightly limit the development of homes for others."
He added: "176 sites cannot possibly be introduced into Hertfordshire under these terms, so I oppose the rough-shod riding of the East of England Assembly."
Derrick Ashley, executive member for planning, external relations and waste, criticised planning decisions being taken at a regional level.
He said: "All planning is now in the hands of the regional assembly, what I would describe as a 'semi democratic quango' but this is due to pass into the hands of the East of England Development Agency (EEDA), which is a non-democratic quango.
"The whole move is away from local decision-making.”
Editorial Comment:
The truth is that, it would appear, the Gypsy Site provision must be taken out of the hand of local authorities and ideally placed into the hands of a body that will cover the whole of the country so as to make for evenhanded work. There is, yes, surely, a need for locals to be able to voice their opinion but this cannot and must not be on the grounds of reasons that are normally given such as “the presence of Gypsies makes the value of the houses decrease” and “crime will increase”, and such. That is, when it comes to Gypsies proper, that is to say, the Romani, nothing but racism. It could be said that in the cases of other itinerants the fears often are well founded.
MVS January 2008
The Building & Social Housing Foundation today called on the Government to address the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers in the new Housing and Planning Delivery Grant (HPDG).
The Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) has been consulting on proposals for the allocation mechanism for the new £510m Grant, but BSHF has responded, noting that it makes no attempt to address the very serious housing needs of Gypsies and Travellers.
According to research highlighted in BSHF’s 2007 report into the housing situation of Gypsies and Travellers, twenty-one per cent of all Gypsies and Travellers living in caravans are legally and practically homeless, having no lawful place to park.
However, less than one square mile of land in the whole of England would be sufficient to provide pitches for all Gypsy and Traveller families who are currently homeless.
The report also found that Gypsies and Travellers experience the worst health and education status of any disadvantaged group in England with 18 per cent of Gypsy and Traveller mothers experiencing the death of a child, compared to one per cent in the settled community.
It also found that Gypsy and Traveller children have significantly lower educational achievements.
Although Gypsies and Travellers are legally recognised as ethnic groups, racist attitudes towards them are still common.
This has been a major factor in the current under-provision of suitable authorised sites and the high number of unauthorised encampments, with all the tensions this can create with neighbouring communities.
Jim Vine, Housing Policy Analyst for BSHF, said: “Last year our report called for urgent increases in the provision of authorised sites for Gypsies and Travellers; the Housing and Planning Delivery Grant is one tool that could help to make that happen.
“The stated aim of the Grant is to incentivise improved housing delivery, including more effective planning, and nowhere is this more needed than housing for Gypsies and Travellers.”
He added: “Under-provision of appropriate authorised sites causes problems for the travelling and settled communities alike.
“If there are insufficient pitches on authorised sites Gypsies and Travellers are forced to resort to unauthorised sites.
“These unauthorised sites are inevitably harder to service, so lead to issues such as waste not being routinely collected.
“Conversely, well-run authorised sites can receive services very similar to ‘bricks and mortar’ homes; rent and council tax can be charged and refuse collection can be regular.”
MORE ethnic minorities should find their way into the predominantly white and middle class world of farming, according to the country’s best known black farmer.
Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, who runs the Black Farmer brand, said the country's agricultural industry would benefit greatly if more people from ethnic minorities and urban areas started farms.
The Conservative parliamentary candidate for Chippenham in Wiltshire argued the farming industry needed “new ideas”.
He said: “The big thing the farming community needs is fresh blood.
“The relationship with the consumer has been lost because of the rise of supermarkets over the last 20 years.
People from ethnic communities and urban environments know what food people as a community want and they could produce it.
Change
“Change is essential to bring more interesting ideas into farming.”
Mr Emmanuel-Jones moved to the UK from Jamaica in 1961 when he was just four years old. He was inspired to become a farmer by watching his father tend to his allotment in Birmingham as a child.
He said many ethnic foods are imported to the UK and argued that if farmers were producing it locally they could discover a cash cow.
He added: “People from ethnic minorities should group together and buy their own land.”
It can be seen how many, like Mr. Emanuel-Jones' father, tend allotments and how the entire families decamp to their on the weekends and other times tending their gardens. In many areas of the country there seem to be now more members of ethnic minorities that have allotments than do “whites”.
If one can bring social or ethnic minorities into farming it will help it to cope with all kinds of challenges in the future.
This could also be a good idea for many of the Romani-Gypsy families in the UK (and elsewhere), that is to say to buy farms,especially those in need of lots of TLC (which may not cost that much then). The large clans would do well to do that and in the same way this could combat the apparent government housing policy to break up the “large” Gypsy families, destroying the family structure and with it the Romani Culture.
The faming industry in this country, and not just in this country, is still dominated by a certain clique of white, middle class people. Diversity really benefits all sorts of organisations and businesses, but not really agriculture.
Many of the Romani probably will be reading this and wondering as to whether this writer has lost his marbles and probably think “we are not farmers”. Why not?
The Romani in the UK traditionally worked on farms and many, I am sure, could run farms as well and efficient as the non-Romani.
There are many Rom that are farmers in other EU countries, even in Germany, and many have been for generations. So, what's keeping you?
Getting hold of farms in need of TLC also would enable many of the families to atch together in one place and, with the right attitude to the farming neighbors, I am sure, Rom could be as accepted as others who set up farms.
Michael Smith (Veshengro), January 2008
Dark Blood
A Romany Story
William Lee (author)
Minerva Press 1999
ISBN: 0-75410-703-5
118 pages, paperback, 8”x5.75”
Available only direct from the author
Price: 8 GBP
Dark Blood is the story of Ethan Bray, a Romany boy orphaned in World War II, growing up with Gohja folks. Into his settled farming life in post-war Kent comes May, the daughter of the Romany-Gypsy Tucker Beaney; but Ethan must face great dangers and personal conflict in order to win her hand in marriage.
It took me just a little over a day to read this book from cover to cover, not wanting to put it down.
I have laughed and I have cried, and I have fumed with anger at the injustices done to the characters just for being Romany, while reading this book; emotions aroused by the beautiful telling of this story.
Dark Blood is a fast moving story that will grip the reader nigh from the first page and will not let go till the last word.
This is how a story should be told, the story of the Romany, telling parts of our Culture without disclosing too much.
I can wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone. You will not be disappointed and Dark Blood is equally suited for adults and young people alike.
Go and buy the book and support a Romany author who has used his own money to self-publish his books through a so-called “vanity publisher” so that all can enjoy those stories. But having done the publishing by means of a “vanity publisher” it was sure no vanity on Kako Bill's part. We must all thank him for having done so.
Yes, I did say books in the last paragraph. There is indeed a sequel out to Dark Blood, thank the Duvel.
To order this book send a cheque of £8 (in the UK) (Overseas please enquire cost and rates for shipping from the author) to:
Romanybooks@aol.co.uk
Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro), January 2008
Councillors of the City of Rome have been calling for separate school buses for (immigrant) Roma children as, so it is claimed, Roma children used to fight with the Italian children on those buses.
How long would it be before the call would go out to have separate school buses for Italian Sinti and Roma children? And what next? Separate sidewalks for Sinti and Roma and for “normal” Italians?
Regardless of the fact that this did cause an outcry among the people and especially some more senior people in Rome's city government and one particular councillor, who was a member of the Communist Party in fact, has now resigned and left his post, Italy most certainly is and will be in the future one EU country to watch and closely monitor in regards to Anti-Gypsyism.
We all must keep a rather close eye on the EU per se for this is but the tip of the iceberg, of that I am sure, and it would definitely appear as if move are afoot in many, if not indeed most, EU member states against the Rom. (I use the term Rom here as an all inclusive term to encompass the Sinti, Roma, Kale and indeed other Romani groups).
Vigilance must me maintained and the world must be made aware of any such racist Anti-Gypsy actions and even the mere proposals wherever and whenever they may raise their ugly heads.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), January 2008
She bilked brokenhearted woman out of $220,000
By TRACY JOHNSON
P-I REPORTER
The 26-year-old woman was so heartbroken over a breakup with her boyfriend that she trusted two Seattle fortunetellers to help her win him back.
Sophie Evon and her daughter-in-law, both self-proclaimed Gypsies, lit candles, burned leaves and convinced the woman that they could break the spell that had supposedly been cast on her ex.
They just needed to borrow her savings so that they could pray over it.
"Through the whole thing, I always had doubts," the woman told a King County judge on Friday. "I thought (Evon) cared about me. ... She was good at sensing my doubts and re-establishing my trust throughout the whole process."
Read on...
Editorial Comment:
With these kind of folks guaranteeing continuous unfavorable and even bad publicity as regards the Romani-Gypsy, and yes, the Evon and Lee families are Romani, and this is also the case here more than likely, we certainly do not need to look for enemies.
We, the Romani People and Nation, must begin to clean up our own act by policing our own. While fortune telling is fine, in my book, scamming and fraud is not.
MVS
Originally, the Storm Kettle was handmade in Ireland - often by travellers who produced them in copper - for fishermen, itinerant workers and tourists. John Grindlay, who with his wife owns and runs the Eydon Kettle Company, modified the design and implemented modern manufacturing techniques in the early 1960’s.
