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Feb 5, 2025 | 
novaramedia.com | John Lubbock |Daisy Steinhardt
The Prince Charles Cinema, on a side street off Leicester Square, is one of central London’s few independent cinemas. In the touristy West End, the cinema is a beacon for film lovers, attracting 250,000 people a year to its two screens which often screen cult and classic films. Now, however, it’s under threat from its property developer landlord. The Prince Charles rents the building from Zedwell LSQ Ltd, a subsidiary company of Criterion Capital, on a long-term lease basis.
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Nov 28, 2024 | 
eastlondonlines.co.uk | John Lubbock
The cost of temporary accommodation for homeless residents of Hackney is projected to have almost doubled over the current financial year, the council has disclosed. The estimated cost of more than £40 million represents a 95% increase over the projected £20.6 million allocated budget.
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Nov 27, 2024 | 
novaramedia.com | John Lubbock
The Metropolitan police’s counter terrorism unit raided the Kurdish Community Centre (KCC) in Haringey, north London, on Wednesday. It arrested six people as part of an investigation into the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been a prescribed organisation in the UK since 2001. The raid – the second on the centre this year – coincided with the anniversary of the beginning of the Kurdish armed struggle against the Turkish state, which is also the date the PKK was founded.
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Nov 18, 2024 | 
johnlubbock.medium.com | John Lubbock
John Lubbock·Follow6 min read·--New Cross’s empty buildings tell a story of economic crisisThe Flower of Kent, Lewisham Way (Image by John Lubbock)In recent years it’s become very noticeable that pubs, bars and clubs have been closing at an alarming rate across London. It’s hardly a surprise, with Londoners now spending on average of their income on rental costs. The cost of living crisis following Covid-19 has also seen alcohol prices shoot up, with pints of beer in some pubs now costing over £7.
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Sep 3, 2024 | 
aoav.org.uk | John Lubbock |Iain Overton
This briefing paper aims to identify Members of Parliament (MPs) in the 2024 UK Parliament who are likely to be sympathetic to issues of conflict resolution, human rights, and disarmament. The focus is on understanding which MPs from the newly elected Parliament are most inclined toward progressive stances on international affairs, particularly those aligned with humanitarian concerns.
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Sep 2, 2024 | 
aoav.org.uk | John Lubbock |Iain Overton
The 2024 UK Parliament has welcomed several new and existing MPs who bring with them a wealth of experience and commitment to humanitarian issues, conflict resolution, and international development. These MPs are poised to play a significant role in shaping progressive foreign policies and promoting human rights.
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Aug 13, 2024 | 
declassifieduk.org | John Lubbock
Should journalists go on propagandistic tours to Israel? The groups organise interviews with hardline Israeli minister Amichai Chikli. (Photo: Carlos Luján via Alamy)Western journalists are accepting trips to the Middle East organised by pro-Israel advocacy groups, it has emerged. Reporters from the Spectator and Newsweek magazines and a Sunday Express correspondent were among “top flight journalists from across Europe” who the groups helped to visit Israel in June.
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Apr 27, 2024 | 
johnlubbock.medium.com | John Lubbock
How the West got ‘Deep State’-pilledConspiracies about ‘elites’ secretly controlling politics are nothing new, but the use of the Turkish ‘Deep State’ concept is. Truss told Steve Bannon at CPAC that the ‘Deep State’ was responsible for her demise as PM. There is a paranoia emerging at the highest levels of Western politics: a conspiratorial belief seemingly held by elite politicians from Donald Trump to Liz Truss that they are not really in charge of the countries they have led.
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Feb 8, 2024 | 
johnlubbock.medium.com | John Lubbock
I was listening to Irish podcaster Blindboy talking to Professor Carl Chinn about English working class history and why it’s hard for progressive English people to talk with any love about their national identity, due to our concentration on national politics rather than material working class history. Chinn brought up the example of the Crooked House, a pub in the Black Country which burned down after it had been acquired by developers. A court case about what happened is ongoing.
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Jan 31, 2024 | 
novaramedia.com | John Lubbock
On the evening of 26 November 2023, Turkan, a Kurdish woman in her 60s, received a phone call telling her around 50 police officers had turned up to the Kurdish Community Centre in Harringay, north London, and tried to force entry. “They [the police] said: ‘You’re doing an event which is not legal in the UK’,” Turkan told Novara Media. “I said: ‘What do you mean it’s not legal?
