Cymru's Capital City Called Caerdydd ...

:: Matt, 27, ex-Para, Welsh Big Issue vendor ::

: Singers Outside The Six Nations Stadium ::
:: Masses of Rugby Fans Passing Cardiff Castle ::

:: Myself Holding the Welsh Dragon By Its Tail ::
:::::::
Hebogyddiaeth was most interesting at Castell

Caerdydd after stopping by at its Porth Y Gogledd.

Afterwards, I then ventured to Heoy Y Tollty

along with taking a look at Amgueddfa G. Cymru,

Eglwys Dewi Sant, and the Y Farchnad Ganolog.

::

Are you still with me? Sorry if you don't speak

Welsh, but neither do I. Such above was the Welsh

names and spellings of places and streets that de-

lightfully teased me on my arrival here at the capital

of Wales. Along with me, came over 45,000

rugby fans to attend The Six Nations Rugby

Games between Scotland and Wales. Ironically,

I saw more men in tartan kilts at Welsh Cardiff,

than I'd ever seen at Scottish Edinburgh ...

::

So here I am at Cardiff on my first visit to Cymru's

Capital City Called Caerdydd. It's a growing city

of over 315,000 people in population ...

::

I don't have time to write more about my visit to

Wales. But, I'll share some nice photos to share with

you on my return to England of The Big Issue vendor

Matt, an ex-Para, at age 27, with painted Red Dragons

on his cheeks in support of the home Welsh rugby team.

I will also add a couple of other images I took while

in Cardiff. (I've now uploaded such for you).

::

As for the Six Nations event of teams from England,

Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy and France, Matt told

me it was "no good" for him since most of the crowded

rugby fans had come to eat, party and carouse before and

after the game that Wales won over Scotland. The city had

closed down much of the downtown area to traffic to acco-

mmodate the masses of walking and scurrying rugby

supporters that packed the streets like sardines and with

many moving in incorrigible packs. The sports fans, it

seemed, had no interest whatsoever in either The Big

Issue or its friendly Welsh-based homeless vendors ...

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=Cymru%27s+Capital+City+Called+Caerdydd+...+&btnG=Google+Search&meta

Cheers, Monty. +1st Sunday in Lent, 2oo8.

Sharia Law Was The Top Topic At The Great Hall.

Illustrious and notable members of The

British Establishment were in full bloom

among the more than 1,000 people at The

Great Hall of The Royal Courts of Law to hear

in person the Archbishop of Canterbury's

extraordinary and controversial lecture on

"Islam In English Law." I was there, too.

I also got to meet him personally and to

take a series of photographs of him up close

at the end of his historic lecture, which was

chaired by Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers,

who is the current Lord Chief Justice of

All England and Wales.

;;

At the reserved front row, I saw Lord Justice

Anthony and Lady Stella May, Sir Christopher

Clarke, Lord Harry Woolf, His Excellency

Mohammed Belmahi, Morocco's Envoy to

the Court of St. James; Halldora Blair, wife

of Anthony Blair's brother Michael Blair, Q.C.,

Marie Papworth of the Lambeth Palace Press

Office, and Rev'd Jonathan Goodall, the

Archbishop's personal Chaplain, among many

others notables like the Anglican Suffragan

Bishop of Kingston, Rt. Rev'd Richard Cheetham,

who I photographed with his consent; Members

of Parliament, the Dipomatic Corps, Islamic

representatives, High Court Judges and

Barristers from the Inner and Middle Temples.

I saw alot of familiar faces at the lecture, but

to which I couldn't always put a name to them

myself while my evening friend Elizabeth

Middleton did so for me rather quickly. She

seems to know everybody in Who's Who.

;;

I sat on the front row of the unreserved seats at

about six yards or so from the archbishop himself.

Next to me was John Madeley, Lecturer in Govern-

ment at the London School of Economics (LSE) and

who speaks at least four languages. Next but one to

me, was Egyptologist Don Stewart of Wellington,

New Zealand, although he's of British birth.

;;

So what then was the substance of Archbishop

Rowan Williams' extraordinary and controversial

lecture on "Islam In English Law" at The Great

Hall? Of course, once the words "Islam" or

"Muslim" and/or "Islamic" are used, it seems to

create an immediate fearful reaction or curious

response among the British public and media.

We have in England almost 1.8 million Muslims

and so that too brings about various emotions

and mental images among many non-Muslims.

Why do you think that over 1,000 people went

to great pains to obtain the most sought after

tickets to such a lecture? And especially a lecture

coming from the global Christian leader of the

world's 77 million member Anglican Communion

to which Dr. Williams so clearly represents ...

;;

The catch word was "ISLAM" and that's what got

everybody's attention at what the archbishop

planned to say on that top topic at The Great Hall.

Unlike Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Williams

did not create a Muslim furore by making

negative comments that would only enrage

the majority of the Islamic faithful. Good for

His Grace and good for us. But instead, the

shrill British secular media and some fellow

Christians have now created a huge hullabaloo

about what the archbishop had to say regarding

Sharia Law in British society. I suspect most of

those now screaming at the top of their heads

neither attended the lecture nor heard it from be-

ginning to end, like I did. And those same people

calling for His Grace to now "resign" from his

Canterburian archbishopic are either stupid or rash

people or just plain ignoramuses in my personal

opinion.

;;

So again, what what did Archbishop Rowan

Douglas Williams actually say at his superb

lecture? Here is a brief synopsis in Dr.

Williams' own words:

"It seems unaviodable and, as a matter of

fact, certain conditions of sharia are already

recognised in our society and under our law,

so it is not as if we are beginning in an alien

and rival system. "We already have in this

country a number of situations in which in-

ternal law of religious communities is recogn-

ised by the law of the land as justifying

conscientious objections in certain circum-

stances.

"There are ways of looking at marital disputes,

for example, which provide an alternative to

the divorce courts as we understand them."

;;

I fail to see anywhere in the archbishop's

speech of one and half hours at where he called

for Sharia Law to replace and be codified over

existing British Law or to call for such Islamic

Laws to be the future English law of the land.

As for Sharia being already in existence, he is

right on the ball. My own British bank provides

Sharia banking accounts to anybody wishing to

have Islamic complied accounts. If the British

don't want to have to deal with such issues

raised by Dr. Williams, then the government

should never have granted immigration status

to hundreds of thousands of Muslims now living

and working legally in Britain. The only other

answer would be to hold mass expulsions of

all Muslims in the UK much like the Spanish

did centuries ago during the Moorish era.

;;

I think the 104th Archbishop of

Canterbury has been particularly brave to

even enter into any discussion about Sharia

Law for it seems everytime a non-Muslim

leader talks about Islam in any shape or form

there is always some kind of backlash either by

the Muslims themselves or now by Christians

and secularists. What this will do is to bar any

mention of Islam at future public forums and/or

in ecumenical discussions between Christians

and the Islamic faithful. It seems now almost

dangerous to raise the spectre of Islam and

Christianity that will only further islolate two

of world's major religions between them

in the future.

;;

Let me leave you with the brief news

highlight on His Grace's lecture as reported

by Ecumenical News International (ENI)

from Geneva:

:: Anglican leader's Sharia

comments stir furious British response ::

"A suggestion by the Archbishop of Canterbury,

Rowan Williams, that certain aspects of Islamic

Sharia law be incorporated into the British legal

system has triggered political fury and a heated

debate on religious tolerance.

The archbishop, who is the leader of the worldwide

Anglican Communion, made his comments first on

the BBC radio programme The World at One on 7

January and then expanded on them later in the

day during a lecture at the Temple Festival Series

in London. His suggestion was that a small portion

of Sharia, which itself is a portion of Islamic law

based on text in the Qu'ran but which is not codified,

could be incorporated into British law."

Truly, Monty. +The 3rd Day of Lent, 2oo8

:: Above Photostock Caption ::

The Most Rev'd and Rt. Hon Rowan Douglas

Williams, 104th Archbishop of Canterbury.

UPDATE:

Orthodox prelate says 'liberal Christianity'

threat to church unity. Geneva (ENI).

A senior Russian Orthodox Church bishop

has criticised suggestions by the Archbishop of

Canterbury Rowan Williams that some aspects

of Islamic law should be recognised in the British

legal system, as representing a "politically correct"

Christianity. "It is not our task to defend Sharia

law, or to commend alternative lifestyles or to

promote secular values. Our holy mission is to

preach what Christ preached," said Bishop

Hilarion of Vienna and Austria, the represent-

ative of the Russian Orthodox Church to the

European institutions.

The Ecumenical News International.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=Sharia+Law+Was+The+Top+Topic+At+The+Great+Hall

St. Valentine, 2oo8.

The Conway Farts and Tarts Incorporated (CFTI) ...

If being avaricious and conceited are the hallmarks

of today British Members of Parliament, then

Derek Conway is the modern poster boy for them.

An elected Tory hobnob from his low class origins of

Gateshead, the greedy son-of-bitch has represented

Sidcup and Old Bexley for years as a Conservative

MP in the Houses of Commons. While there, old

Derek figured out how to "milk" the system to gratify

himself and his happy family and political lifestyle

at the expense, of course, of the abused taxpayer.

He got his two Harrovian sons, Henry and Freddie,

and his daring wife Colette, all enrolled on the

parliamentary payroll costing the public almost

£400.000 (or nearly $800.000) to satisfy

Derek's desire to keep all the money in the family

and the family all together in their nouveau riche

status and cynical behaviour ... In the meantime,

the good folkz at Old Bexley and Sidcup kept re-

electing Derek Conway, age 54, to represent them

while being kept in the dark of the "legal" shinnangins

and unpublicised financial featherings of his. The late

Tory Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath held the seat

before shabby Conway ...

::

And if you take a quick look at his two Harrovian

sons, they're typical of spoilt bratz, spongers, and

university divas that reek of unearned privilege and

self-entitlement. His eldest son Henry Conway, 25,

seems to be nothing more than a gay fart and tart.

::

So then, is dad Derek Conway the new breed

of mainstream British MPs? You bet. Take a look

also at Anthony Blair, our ex-Labour Prime

Minister and MP, and see the greed that he now

flaunts without a pause as he exploits every

cranny he can to get more dough in his open-

ended pockets. The real tragedy, aside from his

pathological greed, is that he was ever allowed

to bed down at 10 Downing Street for 10 whole

years of his wretched and destructive leadership

that was Anthony Blair at his worst and a terrible

nightmare for the British people. He's the greediest

ex-Prime Minister to scar the face of England with

millions of quids and bucks being harvested by

him for his autobiography, et al. Why would anybody

want to read what Blair has done and what he says?

We know enough about him already, so why read

any more about him? I certainly, don't. And, we're

still in the New Labour nightmare after Blair with

Gordon Brown, the unelected brickhead.

::

Back now to old Derek Conway ... It

doesn't matter what the political stripe is

of the person - be they Tory, New Labour,

Lib-Dem, Independent, etc. - when it comes

to free money at the expense and exploitation

of the system. Rather, it's the position that

he/she holds that leads to temptation, moral

breakdown and corruption to then grab

whatever can be gotten to get away with.

Innate honesty and public service means

little to them. Only money and preferably

lots of it by any which way they can get

their filthy hands on such. I believe many

of those elected to represent us are already

pre-disposed to grabbing whatever they

can and seek to be elected so that they

can precisely do that ... Some are already

so corrupt before they get to Parliament

they simply go to an higher level once

they get there. The only time they care

is when they get caught - like Derek

Conway - for fear of their skin then

coming off their own tender hides.

::

As for family and siblings being employed by

MPs, such should be absolutely ban without

any further ado. Especially, in light of the

Derek Conway public exposure. One wonders

who else among other MPs are financially

showering their relatives and next of kin

right today, or have already done so, at

the expense of the public purse? It is like

they've turned parliament into a "mom

and pop" business, while the business of

truly representing the people has been

pre-empted by many of the MPs them-

selves. We elect MPs, not their families

don't we?

::

Derek Conway should be facing a term in

jail and/or complete removal from office, if

the truth be known. But instead they kicked

him out of the Commons for a token of only

ten days. On top of that, he could be payrolled

to get at least another £120.000 before he steps

down at the next general election, when hope-

fully will also bring about the total demise

of New Labour and their hideous henchmen.

::

In the meantime, son Henry Conway is off here.

there and everywhere to splash out with his own

sickening brand of conciet and arrogrance by

jet setting off to the New York Fashion Show.

In a short and tight frock, he'd look pretty good.

He seems, does Henry, to be the proud door

boy of his own homosexual debauchery, too.

He likes to monkeyfy for sure.

+

But more importantly, the 'gaybo' should now

be thinking first about his mom and dad and his

brother Freddie as the family enters their dire

and poor financial straits with the public purse

now shut off to daddy Derek Conway. I might

suggest that Henry register an unlimited

entertainment company appropriately called:

"The Conway Farts and Tarts Incorporated."

That should help their future earnings after

The Conway Debacle of their's has brought

shame to the country, to parliament, and

above all to themselves at the Palace

of Westminster ...

Honestly, Alex Albion.

:

:

:

:: SO SAM WAS IN SOME SORT OF

"ACCIDENT" OR WAS SHE, REALLY? ::

Sam has been with The Big Issue forover

ten years. She's a fixture at the Covent

Garden distribution spot where

many of the vendors have been abuzz all
week long about Sam having suffered what
appears to be facial bruising and black
eyes and some disfigurement. Sam is noted
for having been chosen to rough sleep with
then Dame Anita Roddick, who wanted to
experience abit of homelessness for her-
self. But for Sam, married now with one
little kid, the reality of being homeless
and a pregnant woman then on the streets
was not make believe. It was all too real
for her. So Sam is a pretty tough person.
+
Yet, the fact that she was showing the
scars and wounds of whatever happened to

her last week was what got many of the

vendors' attention and tongues wagging
knowing that Sam isn't the kind of person
to just stand there and take it.

+
So what really happened to Sam? Nobody
at The Big Issue or Sam or her friends
are telling any of the vendors despite
the amazing stories going around of what
many believe may have happened to her.
+
First I heard that she'd gotten beaten up in

a domestic dispute, then that she and another
woman had been in a fight over something, then
the story by mid-week was that Sam had been
attacked and robbed of the magazine takings
or money collected from vendors who had
paid for their mags to sell, and the stories
just wouldn't go away. I was asked if I had
seen Sam and I said "no" that I hadn't seen
her since the story first broke.
+
So finally, I asked Big Issue staffer Steve
Farrell whether Sam had been robbed or what?

He said, "It was an accident." I almost
asked him what kind of "accident," but he
wasn't in a very talkative mood nor very
warm toward me since Steve is basically
a moody type at which you never know
whether he'll be cold or warm or something
in between. He is usually something in be-
tween for the most part. I shouldn't have
expected him to tell me much anyway. Since
Big Issue staffers are generally a clique
unto themselves and also protective and
defensive of each other first and foremost.
They oftentimes view vendors as somehow
inferior to them, but the fact of the
matter is they come from the same ranks

of the homeless themselves. So I cannot see

how they believe they are somehow more im-

portant than those vendors they oftentimes

begrudgely and mechanically "serve." Steve

was, as some of you know, the same guy they
photographed in The Big Issue for its
fundraising appeal about a year ago.
They dressed him up to the nines, too.

He also represented The Big Issue at

the 2oo7 Commemoration Service for

the Homeless Dead and at where he

fell asleep on the front pew - in full

view of the packed congregation of 350

interfaith people - during the solemn

service held at St. Martin-in-the-Fields

come last November. I was there, also,

as an invited speaker and spoke some of

the names of the 127 homeless dead.
+
So, if they simply told everybody

upfront of what had really happened

to Sam - unless some kind of court

case is forthcoming out of it - then

that would help bond staffers and

vendors alot more together. Although,

I don't think they give a damn or a

hoot about "bonding" anyway outside

their little clique, which over the

past couple of years has become more

pronounced I think.
+
I am, nevertheless, very disturbed

to hear the various stories this week,
especially if Sam for some reason was
in fact beaten-up or attacked physically
for some reason by somebody that obviously
knew her to begin with. Steve didn't even
share a personal thought with me about Sam.
He just refused to say more other than
Sam "was in an accident." As I then
walked back on Saturday morning to my
pitch, I bumped into yet another vendor
who immediately told me, without me even
asking, that another vendor had had some-
kind of altercation with Sam. When I
asked him if he knew anything else, he
carried on with yet another story on the
tale he began with. He said the matter
was being "hushed-up" by The Big Issue
at the order of it co-founder John Bird.
No matter what, nobody has the right
to bang-up on a woman or to do her
an "accident." Period ....
+
Sincerely, Monty.
+CANDLEMAS, 2oo8.
:: UPDATE ::
Now a few days later, another
vendor told me that he asked
Sam what had happened to her.
She told him she'd "fallen down"
and hurt herself. He accepted
that was what had happened.He
also said that many of the
vendors were "drama queens"
and would say anything to get
the attention of others. But

later, yet another vendor,
perhaps the 7th or 8th, told me
that he'd seen her and she had
her "eyes popping out of her face"
and damage all under her nose and
lips. He said Sam had been beaten-
up without a doubt. Yes, she
probably did fall as she claimed
but it was no accident, he
thought, in the sense of what
we mean by "an accident." So the
saga of what really did or didn't
happen to Sam continues unabated
among The Big Issue vendors who know
her and the Covent Garden distribution
clique. In the meanwhile, she is hopefully
on the mend presumably and no doubt,
sooner or later, the true story of what
really happened will slip out or be given
away despite all the stonewalling ...
Whatever, the American quip says it
all regarding Sam: "PAST GRIEF,
IS PAST HELP."

+
Now the very latest story goes like
this: Sam was approached by two or
three rough characters and banged
up by them late at night at her
abode ... Really? I guess any
story is possible with those

drama queens, yes?

My Polaroid Poets and Other Pomegranates ...

::: Guitarist and Singer Danny Shevlin :::

::: Poet Tom Royston :::
::: Poet Laureate of England Andrew Motion :::

Above me and below me and on my
left and on my right and in front of me
and behind me all I could see and
hear were poets of various distinct
note from the Poet Laureate of
England to the Poet Marginalized.
So I "polaroided" them poetically in
my first photographic essay by the
use of polariod media only.

+
One poet had the face of a of walter-
melon when he spoke, another was all
so whimiscal, yet another seemed more
poet than poet, and while I write I would
never try writing poetry even if what I

write is called poetry by some.

+
Poetry I leave to those who profess
to be poets or the poetically-inclined.
The only poetry I know is what I see
in my lens and I try to capture that
whenever I can in the images I take
no matter of who or of what
I am photographing ...

+
Andrew Motion seems to be an
emotionally man to me. Perhaps even
a little bit strange in how he comes over.

Some say he's punctilious and supercilious

and others say he's superb as the Poet
Laureate of England that entails him
writing to mark the Queen's official
birthday and for state occasions

requiring a poet like him. When I first
approached Andrew himself he was
engrossed in his poetry, I guess. I intro-
duced myself, but I soon realised he was too

engrossed in his appointed task as the lead
poet and guest of honour at the Euston

charity event to which I attended ... So I

backed off and bid my time to approach him
again so that he could "polaroided" by me

for my photographic essay. That I did, has

seen in my above caption polaroid of him.

He pretty much leered at me as I explained

to him that I don't take mugshots, I take

photographs. What's the difference, he may

have asked? I would have answered "you."

Frankly, I wasn't comfortable with the man.

I don't know why. Not that Andrew Motion

did anything wrong. I think it was the lack

of any personal chemistry between us.

Whatever, he was the first Poet Laureate I

had met and also the first I photographed.

Poet John Sheehy (shown above) is nitty-gritty in

his poetry coming from his roots of South Western

Ireland. I enjoyed his presentation and his lack of

artifice in what I heard of his moving words. He

was simply plain and simple and to the point ...

To have "polarioded" him was my good chance to

also have spent sometime just chatting with him

about his poetry ... and about him.

I was delighted to bumped into Rt. Rev'd James Land-

staff, the Anglican Bishop of King's Lynn, who I

promptly "polaroided" among the poets, artists,

and other pomegrantes at the charity do. I seem to

have a knack for meeting various ecclesiastic figures

ranging and ranking from cardinals, patriarchs,
archbishops, bishops, archdeacons, monks and

seminarians. Bishop Landstaff was an easy subject

to photograph and even easier to talk with as he

and I did as fellow Anglicans ... No, the bishop

did not read any poetry nor does he write such.

He was there as a trustee of the charity of Housing

Justice, which organised the evening event

under the heading of "Connecting Voices."

Living in an government-funded hostel for the

homeless at Cambridge is Danny Shevlin, who

is talented beyond words to me. With those

classic guitars of his and his unique style of

singing, I don't see why he needs to be in any

kind of hostel for he could earn a small fortune

from the musical and stage talents I saw of him.

+

Danny Shevlin was the highlight of the charity

event. He is with ''Creative Futures," that seeks

to empower maginalised artists and writers. All I

can say is more power and more success to Danny,

who I took a number of polaroids of with his Pete

Doherty-like looks and his incredibly photogenic

face and body posture. I just hope the Shevlin

boy doesn't imitate the Doherty diaster ... Also,

note the lead polariod I took of him at the top of

this online report of mine ...

+

Look at Danny's face and at what age would

you think he was? Okay, 16, 17, 18 or 19?

Hold on, this guy is age 35 and I think I

asked him two or three times to be sure I

got his age right. Most of the women at his

performance, of course, just swooned all

over him ... Lucky him. And, good luck to him.

I'm no expert on poetry, but John Paul O'Neill

most certainly is. His name is widely known

among the poetry curcuit of England and Eire.

An afforable man, Poet O'Neill stands on his own

two feet and delivers his own brand of poets

that enables him to earn his keep by writing

and reading his own poetry. You'd have to be an

idiot or a goon not to relish his poetic persona

that I clearly saw in John Paul O'Neill, who was

billed as pretty much a top dog poet by the

charity sponsers ... So he should be. I've in-

cluded the single polaroid above for you to see

him that I took of him at the very end of the

evening's almost three hour programme ...

Ingrid and Laurence I happily "polarioded," has
shown above, as part of my overall photographic
essay via the media of polaroid of the poets and
artists and other pomegranates I met during
the evening. Ingrid is the poetess and Laurence
is the "pianist," so to speak, with the harmony
of his soothing mandoline ...
+
Hope you've enjoyed
my storyline from "Connecting Voices,"
which was brought to us be the dedication of
Alison Gelder and Alistair Murray among others
at the registered charity of Housing Justice ...

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=My+Polaroid+Poets+and+Other+Pomegranates+...+&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Truly, Monty. +The Vigil of Candlemas, 2008.

Interfaith Commemoration on Holocaust Memorial Day, 2oo8.

Having seen both the Auschwitz (shown above with me)

and Birkenau Nazi Death Camps with my own Anglican

eyes on my journey to Poland's Cracow two years ago, I

now have even a deeper feeling of the diabolical horror

that took place there when I was only in an English cradle

at then a baby boy of the Second World War.
n
As an avid and an avowed and an affirming adult Anglican,

Protestant Christian, and living Gentile, I have a true fond-

ness today for our Jewish friends and their tradition and

culture and not to mention my utter fascination with the long

history of the fathers and mothers of the Jewish Diaspora.

The East End of London speaks of their diaspora as clear as

a bell. Today, however, the East End has become almost

everything but traditionally Jewish. The once local Jews

have now gone to new abodes at places like Edgware,

Chigwell, Finchley, and Camden Town and they have

seemingly abandoned their maternal home. At WWII,

there was 150 synagogues in the East London.

Today, there's just 4 ... It's like a vanishing act all of

its own. So now, the once proud community of British

Jews sees the rise and expansion of Muslims, Bangla-

dashis and Asians galore at the East End. The masses

of textile, clothing and schoolwear wholesale businesses

along the hub of Commercial Road is now controlled,

for the most part, by the new immigrants with hardly

a vestige left of Jewish entrepreneurship and owner-

ship to be anymore found.

n

So to sit, talk, and listen for almost four hours, like I

did, inside the East London Central Synagogue (ELCS)

-- opened in 1923 or at the Rabbinical Year of 5684 --

was my public affirmation and open solidarity with our

Semitic brothers and sisters along with those present

of differing faiths and creeds to me and to them. I have

always felt at home in the Synagogue for I have visited

such before in America, Morocco, and Germany. It was,

however, my first visit to any British Synagogue and I

was so pleased that I did. Unlike the Christian tradition,

at the synagogue one's head must remain covered

either with a "couple" or "yarmulka" or skullcap

or one's own hat. So you don't take your hat off.

If you do, you'll be gently told to cover your

bare head like I was at the synagogue.

n

The important occasion at ELCS was to mark

Holocaust Memorial Day, 2oo8, with an Interfaith

Commemoration. Thus came the local mayor Anne

Jackson, the local police inspector Paul Sloan, and

the local priest the Rev'd Father Allan Green,

among perhaps 95 or so other good folkz that

gathered inside the synagogue to pay remembrance

and homage to the six million people who so savagely

perished by the utter Nazi barbarity and Fascist

mechanization of now more than 60 years ago.

n
And there was Ilana Cravitz with her folksey violin

and James Siverly with his old accordian playing such

Yiddish pieces as "Zog Nit Keyn Mol," "Der Yidisher

Soldat in Di Trentshes," and my favourite "Doyne

un Khosidl." Yiddish music simply haunts me.

n

The memorial theme was"Imagine, Remember,

Reflect, React." Indeed, we did in our own way.

We then heard from Jane Barraclough speak

from a multifaith perspective. Ram Chandra

Saha from an Hindu point of view and Ansar

Ahmed Ullah from his Muslim overview.

n
Readers Alice Kingsnorth, Barry Davis,

Roland Maltman, and Henry Glanz, read

poetry and Hebrew writings about the

Holocaust for us all to remember. The

shofar was befittingly sounded to the mark

the close of the Interfaith Commemoration.

I think the presence of the local rabbi would

have been rather nice, too, for such an inter-

faith assembly, but I didn't see any sight or

sound of any rabbi. Perhaps, he was busy

elsewhere at another synagogue like the

one I saw from the outside as I walked

passed Watney Market to see the 1903

Synagogue of the Congregation of Jacob

and Chevra Yisroel and Bikur, which I

promptly photographed on such a lovely

Sunday afternoon in late January at the

dying Jewish heart of the East End.

n
Before I entered the synagogue, I took

a long stroll around the East End since I

had never really been there before other than

perhaps driving thru it at years and years ago.

I discovered a couple of interesting things at least

to me. At Parfitt Street, I saw the closed Jewish

Boxers Cafe with two large enamel signs in the

shape of boxing gloves ... It was neat. But my

biggest surprise was at Varden Street just the

next block up from ELCS at Nelson Street.

There I noticed the Free Presbyterian Church

of Scotland (FPCS) that I'd never before

encountered. I popped my head inside

and thought it was like one of those old

Welsh Congregational Church chapels that

I remembered well from Gwynedd of my

first teens ... (See more about FPCS at

the end of this post).

n

But for now, the Interfaith Commemoration

was indeed commendable. The only thing

that wasn't commendable was during the

morning cultural walk from Aldgate to

Whitechapel. Stones were thrown at the

defenceless walkers and one person was then

rushed to hospital after being hit badly by one

or two of the stones ... While I wasn't there

personally, the open anti-Semitic incident was

graphically told to me just moments before

the start of the Interfaith Commemoration.

I was truly appalled at what I was told. Are

the Fascist ghosts of Sir Oswald Moseley

and his black-shirt thugz still acting out

at London's East End?

Faithfully, Monty. + Sexagesiuma, 2oo8.

The FPCS has about 60 churches worldwide from

Oban to Odessa, from Santa Fe to Stornaway, and from

Vatten to Vancouver. Plus, presence even in Jerusalem.

While I was at the Zoar Chapel, Paul Rowland intro-

duced himself to me and asked me what interest

I had in visiting. I told him I curious about FPCS.

He told me his church was fundamentalist, evan-

gelical and strictly biblical. It was also, to say the

least, ultraprotestant in its preaching and

religious outlook. If rigid Rev'd Ian Paisley of

Northern Ireland is considered to be a rip-

raw protestant, then FPCS makes him look

like a flaming liberal ... Indeed, The Free

Presbyterian Church of Scotland rejects

Catholicism, interfaith endeavours, gay

marriages, and open-minded Anglicanism,

among its other "anti-isms." When I told

Paul Rowland I was going to the synagogue,

he replied: "You did claim to be an Anglican,

didn't you? To him, the thought of someone

like me going to an interfaith event wasn't

his cuppa of tea. I later discovered he,

Mr. D. P. Rowland, was general secretary

of the Trinitarian Bible Society, which

publishes its 48-page periodical "The

Quarterly Record" in glossy format and is

most professionally written and presented

like a quarterly treatise on biblical questions

and Free Presbyterianism, religiously

conservative to the enth degree. So by

exploring the East End, I not only learned

about the death of the old Jewish enclave

but also of Calvanistic religiosity just one

block away from the Central Synagogue.

n

London (ENI). The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and Britain's Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, will mark Holocaust Day 2008 by attending a national ceremony in Liverpool which this year is a European Capital of Culture. The west coast English city was chosen in November to hold the national commemorations for the Holocaust memorial day. This is commemorated on 27 January each year on the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. [516 words, ENI-08-0064]--Posted

By thebiggerissue.org to thebiggerissue.org at 1/27/2008 11:58:00 AM

:: UPDATE: More 1,600 people attended the above International

Holocaust Day ceremony at Liverpool, so reported the British media

the day after the major religious event ::

Cases Studies + Stories on Big Issue Vendors in UK + Abroad ...

I'm posting just a few weblinks of cases studies and news
stories on Big Issue vendors, et al, and the homeless from
around the globe. I shall add more weblinks

from time to time ...

:: The Joseph Roundtree Foundation ::

www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/housing/510.asp
:: A Primary Health Care Study of Vendors

of The Big Issue in the North ::
www.crashindex.org.uk/database/500.htm
:: Peer Education Among Big Issue Vendors ::
www.nice.nhs.uk/nicemedia/documents/peereducation.pdf
:: Big Issue Vendors in Australia ::

http://www.bigissuevendors.net/
bigissuevendors.net/vendors/vendorroom/Kerrie/Kerrie.html
"More than one-third of (UK) Big Issue vendors are ex-prisoners."
www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/381-38k
:: Football, Homeless & Big Issue Vendors ::

www.hwb.co.za/releases_2006/060703_h_world_cup.html

:: "His worst period was the 2-3 months after The Sun

newspaper ran an article alleging that The Big Issue

sellers were earning over £100 a day." ::

Scroll Down To 'A Big Issue. Street Life'

www.n16mag.com/issue1/p5i1.htm
:: Small Papers, Big Issues ::
The Ryerson Review of Journalism
http://www.rrj.ca/issue/2002/summer/373/

:: Homelessness Sunday ::

http://www.wingfinger.co.uk/_html/casehomeless14.html

:: American Case Studies and Solutions to Homelessness ::

http://www.endlongtermhomelessness.org/

:: Story on Neil The Ex-Prep School Boy-Cum-Big Issue Vendor ::

ely.anglican.org/parishes/camgsm/Majestas/1997/December.html

:: The Big Issue in Japan: "Small Body, High Hopes." ::

http://www.bigissue.jp/english/english1.htm
:: Has the Big Issue's founder become its biggest problem? ::

guardian.co.uk/media/2002/jul/01/mondaymediasection.homelessness
:: Romanian families muscle in on the (Big Issue)

magazine market ::
Also Scroll Down To Readers Comments on The Big Issue

theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1412142.0.0.php
Street News Service (SNS)

streetnewsservice.org/index.php?page=archive_detail&articleID=511

Best regards, Monty. +St Francis de Sales, 2oo8.

So-Called Big Issue "Vendors Party" That Was ...

Of the hundreds of Big Issue vendors just
in London alone, only about 15 or so got to
last Saturday's so-called "Vendors Xmas
Party" that was held at the Turnmills Night
Club at London's Clerkenwell Road, EC1.
There was more TBI staffers than vendors at
the "do," so I'm told when I finally found out
this afternoon about the "party" that was ...
It's almost as if they wanted to keep the
thing a secret or to tell only a very select
few of vendors ...

For over a month I had repeatedly asked and
asked about the time and date of the vendors
xmas party. I finally gave up asking since none

of The Big Issue staffers I asked seemed to know

or they simply didn't want to tell me ...

Whatever, there was no meal given to
vendors at this year's "xmas party," I am
told. When I was there two years ago, nice
home-cooked meals were given to all the
vendors present. Staffers Jeanine Walker,
Paul Joseph and John Duffy were among those

who helped do the great cooking. I know because

I have a photo (shown above) that I took of the

cooks and helpers there at that time. This year

the vendors only got coke and I guess chocolate

bars with little else for the handful of vendors

arriving for the so-called "party" that was ....

If The Big Issue really wants its vendors
to attend such a "party," they would surely
publicize it either in the magazine's weekly
section "Streetlevel," or distribute flyers
for all to know in advance or simply have
the staffers at the various distribution spots
make a point of telling all the vendors when
they come to buy their magazines that they'll
be a party for them on so and so date and
at so and so place ... Nothing of the sort
happened as far as I know ...

Okay, so I, like hundreds of other vendors, miss-
ed this year's so-called "vendors party" because
we wasn't told it was on or when or how.
Never mind, I guess we didn't miss much after
all ... So just after I got the late news of the party
that was, a young fellow stopped at my pitch want-
ing money because he said he'd just gotten back
to London from Ireland after burying his dead
mom over Christmas. What he forgot was that
he'd told me the same exact story the Christmas
before with teary eyes. In other words, he'd no
more buried his mom than I'd taken a jump from
the top of The Gherkin. I gave him a few quid
no matter what. I would have done that even if
he'd have simply asked me to help him out alittle.


Before him, came a middle-aged fella with a
rather strange inquiry ... He wanted to know
if I was aware of any case studies of homo-
sexuality, pediphilla, and beastality among
Big Issue vendors. "What? Say that again,"
I retorted contemptuously ... He repeated
much what he'd already said, but used the
word "gay" the second time around. I won-
dered if the fella was looking for some kind
of sexual titillation or something else. I told
him to go "googling" and see if he was sub-
liminally satisfied with whatever he may or
may not find on the search engines. While I
doubted very much that he'd find the
specific study he seeks, if such was ever
done or even exists, on the human sex-

uality of the homeless and specifically

on the sexuality of Big Issue vendors

or sellers, I became otherwise curious

about what kind of case studies had

been thus far undertaken regarding
the lifestyle, condition, and personal cir-
cumstances of Big Issue vendors both
in the UK and abroad.

With the results of my online research,
I shall shortly present weblinks to some
case studies that should be of interest to
such vendors and the public at large.

In the meantime, I shall now plan for next
year's 2oo9 Big Issue "Vendors Xmas Party"

in the hope that I will not miss it yet again ...
Cheers, Monty. Big Issue Vendor No. 236.
+St. Ildefonsus, 2oo8.

:: Above Photo Caption: Cooks and helpers at The Big Issue

"Vendors Xmas Party," of two years ago and which was then

held on January 14th, 2oo6 ::

UPDATE: Another London vendor made these

comments to me today since my first post above

about this year's "do." He went to last year's 2oo7

Vendors Xmas Party that he said was at Kings Cross.

"When I got there all they had was a bowl of soup.

They told us the bar was open not for us. We could

only drink orange juice or bottled water ... I'd say

there was 20 (Big Issue) sellers at the most. I shall

not go again, mate, never ... " Why? "Didn't like it ...

No fun. Not worth going for that bowl of veg soup.

No mate, not for me or you ..."

+The Conversion of St. Paul, 2oo8.