It has just been confirmed that offices along Commerce Way, Purley Way are being vacated on the advice of the police.
The offices are situated near the the PC World store which was attacked by rioters and looted last night.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
The morning after the night before.
I have just got home from Croydon town centre - instructed to leave by security guards because it simply is not safe. The Whitgift Centre, the main shopping centre, has been closed and the glass doors in the building are being reinforced with wooden panels.
Reinforcement and protection are also a common theme along Church Street, the road which joins the now well-known Reeves' Corner. Shopkeepers have closed early, after securing pieces of wood onto their shop fronts. People are desperate to protect their livelihood: the owner of a bridal shop said she would just be pleased to have a paying customer having stayed open until 6 p.m. yesterday evening, by which time most of the shops had been closed for several hours.
Reeves itself is now a shell. Despite the area around the smouldering building being completely cordoned off, crowds of people gather to see the damage for themselves, taking videos and photographs. I over-hear a man, head-in-hands, "I'm just hear to help clear out a friend's shop".
Rumours of further attacks are rife on social networking websites and local residents are preparing for another night of expected riots.
Reinforcement and protection are also a common theme along Church Street, the road which joins the now well-known Reeves' Corner. Shopkeepers have closed early, after securing pieces of wood onto their shop fronts. People are desperate to protect their livelihood: the owner of a bridal shop said she would just be pleased to have a paying customer having stayed open until 6 p.m. yesterday evening, by which time most of the shops had been closed for several hours.
Reeves itself is now a shell. Despite the area around the smouldering building being completely cordoned off, crowds of people gather to see the damage for themselves, taking videos and photographs. I over-hear a man, head-in-hands, "I'm just hear to help clear out a friend's shop".
Rumours of further attacks are rife on social networking websites and local residents are preparing for another night of expected riots.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Latest Reports
The latest report from Croydon is that the riot has spread to the shops on Purley Way. Rumours among local residents are that the multi-chain stores Currys and PC World are being looted.
Six police vans have been sighted travelling along Mitcham Road towards the lombard roundabout and the Purley Way area.
No reports have been confirmed.
Six police vans have been sighted travelling along Mitcham Road towards the lombard roundabout and the Purley Way area.
No reports have been confirmed.
London Riots hit Croydon
As I am writing the smoke from Croydon town centre billows overhead. The London riots, which began as a peaceful protest in Tottenham over the death of Mark Duggan, have spread to the town.
West Croydon has been the worst hit, particularly Broad Green where several buildings including a local music shop have been set alight.
The furniture store Reeves; a landmark in Croydon which stands on Reeve's Corner, has been the biggest structural casualty so far. The building is now engulfed in flames. From my own house, less than ten minutes away from the burning building, I can see plumes of thick black smoke. The sounds of helicopters and sirens are ever present.
Along Mitcham Road, one of the main roads out of the town centre, people are gathering outside of their homes to witness the scenes for themselves.
In the last three days riots have taken place across the city, were looting and arson attacks have been rife.
West Croydon has been the worst hit, particularly Broad Green where several buildings including a local music shop have been set alight.
The furniture store Reeves; a landmark in Croydon which stands on Reeve's Corner, has been the biggest structural casualty so far. The building is now engulfed in flames. From my own house, less than ten minutes away from the burning building, I can see plumes of thick black smoke. The sounds of helicopters and sirens are ever present.
Along Mitcham Road, one of the main roads out of the town centre, people are gathering outside of their homes to witness the scenes for themselves.
In the last three days riots have taken place across the city, were looting and arson attacks have been rife.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Pray for Jay - AFC Totton XI versus Brockenhurst FC XI
Follow this link to see extended highlights of the charity game played at AFC Totton's ground in aid of Jay Young.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcgqBHcFEmw
The game was organised to raise money for Jay's rehabilitation treatment and the teams were made up of close friends and players from two of Jay's former clubs.
All money taken on the gate, as well as proceeds from other fundraising activities on the day, went towards his specialist treatment.
Hope you all enjoy the film.
Filmed and Edited by Aimee Pickering
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcgqBHcFEmw
The game was organised to raise money for Jay's rehabilitation treatment and the teams were made up of close friends and players from two of Jay's former clubs.
All money taken on the gate, as well as proceeds from other fundraising activities on the day, went towards his specialist treatment.
Hope you all enjoy the film.
Filmed and Edited by Aimee Pickering
Tom Wolfe and The New Journalism
Tom Wolfe’s New Journalism deals with what made the new style of journalism so absorbing and gripping. Social realism is incredibly important to the new journalists and it was said that the most important literature being written in America at the time of the movement was non-fiction. There are a few specific devices that new journalism uses and below are notes from the chapters in which they are discussed.
1. The Feature Game
- a humorous, detailed lead up to Wolfe’s work on the New York Herald Tribune
- in his opinion, reporters at the time lacked ambition
- journalism is a game –its all about getting the scoop and is rife with competition
- all journalists were working towards, what Wolfe calls, the final triumph – writing a novel
- Wolfe had very little respect for feature stories
- Portis, Breslin, Schaap, Mok and the “fat man” – Wolfe would do anything for a story
- The importance of the novel: a psychological phenomenon
- “By the 1950s The Novel had become a nationwide tournament” asserts Wolfe
- Portis lived ‘the dream’ – he wrote a novel, in a fishing shack in Arkansas
2. Like a Novel
- the increasing popularity of novel writing influenced traditional journalism – using conventions from a novel
- reporters started finding stories for themselves
- Wolfe had a dim view of local reporters, believing they ‘ran out of stories’ far too quickly
- Approaching journalism in the same way you would a novel; with imagination
- Writing with a different point-of-view – for example, beginning with narration
- Writing in a different dialect, known as chameleon writing, to attract a larger audience and simply make the writing more interesting
- Resulted in more intense, detailed and time consuming journalism that entered into the audience’s mind rather than merely stated facts
- Included an over-use of punctuation
- Tom Wolfe pioneered New Journalism, bringing it away from the novel’s stylistic writing
3. Seizing the Power
- The New Yorker affair – April 1965
- The Columbia Journalism Review and the New York Review of books
- June 1966, The personal voice and the impersonal eye – the literary world was starting to recognise non-fiction as an artistic form
- Works such as “M”, a book on the Vietnam way by a reporter and “Paper Lion” a piece on American football
- The 1960s – realism, scene-by-scene construction, full dialogue, third-person point of view and describing everyday things
- Truman Capote used third-person point of view, although Wolfe was highly critical of this technique
1. The Feature Game
- a humorous, detailed lead up to Wolfe’s work on the New York Herald Tribune
- in his opinion, reporters at the time lacked ambition
- journalism is a game –its all about getting the scoop and is rife with competition
- all journalists were working towards, what Wolfe calls, the final triumph – writing a novel
- Wolfe had very little respect for feature stories
- Portis, Breslin, Schaap, Mok and the “fat man” – Wolfe would do anything for a story
- The importance of the novel: a psychological phenomenon
- “By the 1950s The Novel had become a nationwide tournament” asserts Wolfe
- Portis lived ‘the dream’ – he wrote a novel, in a fishing shack in Arkansas
2. Like a Novel
- the increasing popularity of novel writing influenced traditional journalism – using conventions from a novel
- reporters started finding stories for themselves
- Wolfe had a dim view of local reporters, believing they ‘ran out of stories’ far too quickly
- Approaching journalism in the same way you would a novel; with imagination
- Writing with a different point-of-view – for example, beginning with narration
- Writing in a different dialect, known as chameleon writing, to attract a larger audience and simply make the writing more interesting
- Resulted in more intense, detailed and time consuming journalism that entered into the audience’s mind rather than merely stated facts
- Included an over-use of punctuation
- Tom Wolfe pioneered New Journalism, bringing it away from the novel’s stylistic writing
3. Seizing the Power
- The New Yorker affair – April 1965
- The Columbia Journalism Review and the New York Review of books
- June 1966, The personal voice and the impersonal eye – the literary world was starting to recognise non-fiction as an artistic form
- Works such as “M”, a book on the Vietnam way by a reporter and “Paper Lion” a piece on American football
- The 1960s – realism, scene-by-scene construction, full dialogue, third-person point of view and describing everyday things
- Truman Capote used third-person point of view, although Wolfe was highly critical of this technique
George Orwell and the politics of language
Below is a brief look into the politics of language:
The main thing I took away from the HCJ lecture on language was thus: if you can control language, you can manipulate reality. Language is the way in which we express and determine facts, and so if you can control it you control what people believe is true - ultimately the way in which they live.
George Orwell writes about the idea of 'thought crime' in his celebrated novel '1984'. This is the idea that the state can even control your mind and the way you think. Orwell has been championed by many as the best journalist in the English language. He was politically left-minded but anti-Communist.
He created the phrase "Doublethink" - believing that two contradictory statements are true and therefore controlling thought. His most famous phrase was “Newspeak” and referred to the way in which thought was controlled through the use of language.
Orwell took this concept from Totalitarianism and was horrified at the use of propaganda – controlling language through censorship and complete media control.
The use of euphemisms in language became incredibly important with linguistic reform and the introduction of politically correct language and metaphorical speech. Orwell heavily influenced this reformed language and examples of this include “War is Peace” and referring to nuclear weapons as “the Deterrent”.
In modern day almost all advertising is Orwellian – we constantly speak in metaphors, similes and euphemisms.
From the lecture I learnt that in a journalist’s world there are four things you must never do with language:
1. never use a cliché
2. never use a long word when a short one is adequate
3. never use the passive form when you can use the active
The main thing I took away from the HCJ lecture on language was thus: if you can control language, you can manipulate reality. Language is the way in which we express and determine facts, and so if you can control it you control what people believe is true - ultimately the way in which they live.
George Orwell writes about the idea of 'thought crime' in his celebrated novel '1984'. This is the idea that the state can even control your mind and the way you think. Orwell has been championed by many as the best journalist in the English language. He was politically left-minded but anti-Communist.
He created the phrase "Doublethink" - believing that two contradictory statements are true and therefore controlling thought. His most famous phrase was “Newspeak” and referred to the way in which thought was controlled through the use of language.
Orwell took this concept from Totalitarianism and was horrified at the use of propaganda – controlling language through censorship and complete media control.
The use of euphemisms in language became incredibly important with linguistic reform and the introduction of politically correct language and metaphorical speech. Orwell heavily influenced this reformed language and examples of this include “War is Peace” and referring to nuclear weapons as “the Deterrent”.
In modern day almost all advertising is Orwellian – we constantly speak in metaphors, similes and euphemisms.
From the lecture I learnt that in a journalist’s world there are four things you must never do with language:
1. never use a cliché
2. never use a long word when a short one is adequate
3. never use the passive form when you can use the active
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