Thursday 27 August 2009

Who’s to blame for Upton Park footie disaster?

The fans, stewards, teams or the police – who’s responsible for the fracas during the West Ham v Millwall Carling Cup tie on Tuesday night?

Thirteen people were arrested and a man was also stabbed nearby.

The police issued a statement which reveals they were not expecting drama of this scale; they say there was no intelligence of the sudden pitch invasion.

However, several fans at the match said that security arrangements were inadequate for a game between teams whose supporters have a rivalry dating from the 1920s, according to The Times

The fans in turn have been blamed, with others calling them all sorts of unkind names.

But one unimpressed Jenny, writing in the London Paper’s Letters section, says she objects to the fans being referred to as mongrels because her mongrel dog has a higher IQ than most of them.

Ouch!

Friday 21 August 2009

Great way to end nutty sales

Children and their famlies have been saved from eating dangerous peanut butter sold in local shops.

Health officers from Newham Council confiscated and destroyed about 200 plastic containers of groundnut products manufactured in Ghana by Jesu Aka Ltd. They are distributed by Marduro UK Ltd.

Many of them were seized in the borough's Green Street area in Upton Park. However, the council's food safety team have warned there could be many more circulating in Newham and across London.

The brands, which are sold widely in Afro Caribbean shops, contain levels of aflatoxins which are way above recommended levels.

Aflatoxins are a type of toxin found naturally in some foods that have been linked with cancer when eaten at high levels. There are strict limits on the level of aflatoxins in foods imported into the UK and the rest of the European Union.

Saturday 8 August 2009

Residents urged to stroll in cemetery

I haven’t heard anyone say they plan to spend an afternoon enjoying the green landscapes at a cemetery, have you?

Call it spookie, but Hackney folk have been given £92,000 to ‘connect’ with their cemetery.

The funding comes from the Natural England and the Big Lottery Fund’s Access to Nature campaign, a £25 million grant programme to connect communities with their local green spaces.

The cemetery, Abney Park in Stoke Newington, is now a local nature reserve and conservation area; it also contains a classroom, visitors’ centre and a disused central chapel.

The cemetery’s plans will involve free environmental education, craft workshops and nature trails.

It is also hoped the funding will allow residents to gain experience of nature in urban landscapes.

Sure does change your concept of strolling in the cemetery, doesn’t it?