Forum Topics

European Summer Time

At last, the dark days are over and done with and we can all enjoy European Summer Time. (could someone tell the weather, please!)Anyway, here's a positive message from William Bloke or Billy Bragg that is worth spreading! Peace and Love to one and all!'Felt greatly inspired to be among the tens of thousands of people gathered in central London yesterday to protest against a politics that seeks to blame immigrants for all of society's ills. The concerns that people have about rising cost of living, widening gaps between the rich and poor, an over-stretched NHS, the lack of affordable housing and the effects of the climate crisis cannot be solved by rounding up people of colour and forcing them to 'remigrate'. ''Between now and the next election, there will be politicians of the Far-age right and the far right who will bang the drum for remigration in the hope that no one will ask them how they intend to address those aforementioned problems. Yesterday suggests that the people of Britain will not allow themselves to be fooled by such shysters.The Together Alliance has the feel of the Rock Against Racism campaign, specifically that actions of RAR's sister campaign, the Anti-Nazi League, which was made up of many civil society organisations such as the trade unions, charities and faith groups. That sensibility was underlined for me by having one of my old pals from those days, Jerry Dammers of the Specials, join me onstage to say a few words of solidarity.''What I found most encouraging yesterday was the number of young people in attendance. Marching for Rock Against Racism was my first politcal activism and the concert at Victoria Park in Hackney was a catalytic experience. Seeing so many people of my generation come together to oppose discrimination of all kinds gave me the courage of my convictions. ''I hope yesterday saw the introduction of a new generation of activists whose lives will be changed by what they saw and heard on the march. Because by being there, they have joined an anti-fascist tradition that stretches back not just to Rock Against Racism in the 1970s, but all the way back to the Battle of Cable Street in 1936.'

Gerry Boyce ● 2d10 Comments ● 1d

Pro-Palestine, Antisemitic Doctor In Court Today

Dr Rahmeh Aladwan, 31, of Pilning, South Gloucestershire was arrested at her home address by Met officers on the morning of Thursday, 26 March for breaching police bail conditions imposed following previous arrests. She was transported to a central London police station where she was charged with the following offences:* On 21 July 2025, on King Charles Street, London used words that were threatening, abusive or insulting intending thereby to stir up racial hatred or having regard to all the circumstances was reckless as to whether racial hatred would be stirred up (Section 18 Public Order Act 1986). * On 19 November 2025, published or distributed written material that was threatening, abusive or insulting intending thereby to stir up racial hatred or having regard to all the circumstances was reckless as to whether racial hatred would be stirred up (Section 19 Public Order Act 1986). * On 23 July 2025, invited support for a proscribed organisation - Hamas (Section 12 (1A) Terrorism Act 2000). * On 23 August 2025, invited support for a proscribed organisation – Hamas (Section 12 (1A) Terrorism Act 2000). * On 7 October 2025, invited support for a proscribed organisation – Hamas (Section 12 (1A) Terrorism Act 2000). * On 31 December 2025, invited support for a proscribed organisation – Hamas (Section 12 (1A) Terrorism Act 2000).She was charged under the Terrorism Act with allegedly inviting support for a proscribed group on four occasions between July and December last year.The allegations relate to online material and comments.Aladwan was also charged with two counts of stirring up racial hatred through both written material and words.She appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court this morning.Prosecutor Carl Kelvin told the court the doctor is accused of writing “I don’t condemn Hamas. I don’t condemn October 7” and “I condemn the existence of Israel” in a post on July 23.On December 31, it is alleged she wrote “Free the world from Jewish supremacy”, he added.The court heard that on the second anniversary of the October 7 attack she is accused of posting an image of a bulldozer along with text reading “Glory to the Palestinian resistance”.Carl Kelvin prosecuting said: 'Between July and December she posted a large quantity of material on social media and took part in a number of protests against Israel and in support of people in Gaza.'One of Aladwan's posts called Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis a 'genocidal murderer,' it is claimed.He said another of her posts on X read: ‘I don't condemn Hamas. I don't condemn October 7. I don't condemn armed resistance to occupation.'She also allegedly called on the world to 'Jewish supremacy', adding that 'it's simple as humanity versus evil'. Dr Aladwan was arrested at her home in Pilning, south Gloucestershire, on Thursday morning for allegedly breaching police bail conditions imposed after previous arrests, police said.She was taken to a central London police station and charged with the six offences.Aladwan, who is British Palestinian and appeared in the dock on Friday wearing a beige hoodie and a black jacket, was released on conditional bail ahead of a next hearing on April 24 at the Old Bailey.She spoke only to confirm her identity and indicate her pleas.Following the hearing, Aladwan was greeted by more than a dozen protesters waving Palestinian flags, carrying placards and banging a drum. After being handed a microphone, she directly addressed the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, shouting: 'Let me tell you again Wesley Streeting, game on! Game on! Free Palestine!'When she appears at the Old Bailey on 24th April I hope she is found guilty and given an appropriate jail sentence. She won’t be shouting ‘game on’ to the judge.   Or if she does, hopefully she’ll get a longer sentence for contempt of court. P.S.  This hate-filled individual had been suspended by the NHS for the past 15 months, presumably on full pay.

Sue Hammond ● 4d34 Comments ● 1d

East Putney’s Secret Garden

Fascinating!Fawe Park Road’s secret garden: 137 years old, full of wildlife, and about to go official.Network Rail wants to turn the remains of a Victorian flying junction into a community nature reserve.Buying a house that backs onto a railway line is one of those decisions people agonise over. The noise, the vibration, the feeling of living on the edge of something industrial. But residents on the even-numbered side of Fawe Park Road have always had a secret: between their back garden fences and the nearest track, there is a huge strip of green space, dense with trees and scrub, alive with birds and insects, thick enough to muffle the sound of passing trains and rich enough to support the kind of wildlife most Londoners never see. Most have probably never thought much about why it is there.The answer turns out to be remarkable. The green strip is the remains of a Victorian flying junction, built in 1889, whose track was ripped up more than 35 years ago. It already has formal nature conservation protection. And now Network Rail wants to turn it into a nature reserve.The strip runs in a long curve from near East Putney station towards the main line at Putney, roughly 400 metres long and up to 50 metres wide at its broadest point. Laid out straight, it would stretch the length of four football pitches, tucked behind a residential street. It traces the route of a railway track that was ripped up more than 35 years ago. In those three and a half decades, nature has done what nature does when left alone. Secondary woodland has grown up on the old embankment. Dense scrub provides cover for nesting birds. The kind of undisturbed grassland margins that support invertebrates, slow-worms and hedgehogs have established themselves along the edges.What makes this particular strip remarkable is that Wandsworth Council has already recognised its value. The corridor is designated a Borough Grade II Site of Importance for Nature Conservation, carried forward in the Local Plan adopted in July 2023. That designation gives the land formal planning protection. It means its wildlife value is officially acknowledged, even if most of the 381 residents on Fawe Park Road have no idea. The council’s Wild Wandsworth biodiversity plan, approved in February, commits to a full resurvey of all designated wildlife sites across the borough between 2026 and 2028. The Fawe Park Road corridor is one of them.Having walked over Woodlands Bridge hundreds of times over the years I never noticed this huge green strip of land although I do remember hearing the distinctive noise of the freight trains.   This was posted on my street’s WhatsApp and the full version is below:https://putney.news/2026/03/29/fawe-park-roads-secret-garden-137-years-old-full-of-wildlife-and-about-to-go-official/

Sue Hammond ● 2d0 Comments ● 2d