LUTON-born TV personality Stacey Dooley caused something of a social networking stir on Monday night as her latest documentary on the rise of extremism in her home town aired.

BBC Three show Stacey Dooley Investigates: My Hometown Fanatics explored the polar extremes of Luton’s connections with the English Defence League and Islamic extremism and why the town has become labelled as Britain’s ‘extremist capital’ by certain quarters of the media.

The programme saw Stacey clash with members of a protest group led by extremist preacher Anjem Choudhury who marched on Luton Police Station in September last year, speak to EDL leader Stephen Lennon and walk the streets of Luton dressed in a niqab to gauge the reaction of townsfolk.

And the show sparked much debate on Facebook and Twitter which continued yesterday, with Stacey’s name ‘trending’ on Twitter while the documentary aired.

Viewer Debbie Jones said on our Facebook page yesterday: “It touched upon the issues we have here in Luton, but are those issues really any different to those of any other town or city in the UK. I see it as just another opportunity to single this town out.”

While Derek Borino added: “It touched on issues that had died down and just highlighted the town’s issues again making the town look one-dimensional.”

Luton Borough Council leader Hazel Simmons said yesterday that most residents enjoy the town’s multiculturalism.

She said: “The programme usefully highlighted that ignorance of different cultures is the main cause of extremism, and affirmed the need for everyone to understand each other.

“The reality is that Luton’s rich multicultural community is celebrated and enjoyed by the majority of its residents who are justly proud of their town, and feel their lives have been enriched by mixing with people from different backgrounds.

> To read the full story, pick up a copy of this week’s Luton News on sale now

LUTON-born TV personality Stacey Dooley says it would have been ‘hypocritical’ not to tackle issues in her home town for a BBC documentary when she’s travelled the world to get to grips with contentious topics abroad.

BBC Three Show Stacey Dooley Investigates: My Hometown Fanatics caused a social networking stir as it was ‘trending’ on Twitter when it aired on Monday night, sparking much debate.

But Stacey was happy with how the show, which explored extremism in Luton, came across.

She told the H&P yesterday: “I was nervous about it but the team were great and the director was really keen to get everything done accurately. You’re always going to get people who don’t agree.”

“When the BBC asked me what did I think about it, I did give it a lot of thought because it’s one thing going across the world and talking to people about these issues, but I think it’d have been slightly hypocritical to go abroad and tackle issues but shy away from some in your home town.

“To be honest, I think it would be ridiculous to say there are no problems in Luton because quite evidently there are.

“You’ve got organisations like the Al Muhajiroun and the English Defence League popping up but you have to bear in mind that they are a tiny minority.”

During the show, Stacey visited Luton’s Central Mosque and interviewed EDL leader Stephen Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson).

She admitted it was odd filming in her own town and interviewing someone she recognised from her time growing up here.

She said: “I knew Tommy when he wasn’t part of the EDL and for him to be this figure that’s recognised around the world, I thought ‘oh my God’, it’s nuts.

“It was strange, I haven’t seen him in years but it was important to talk to him because so much is made of Luton and I wanted to make sure it was all done accurately.”

Viewers also saw Stacey involved in a fierce exchange with an Islamic protestor who criticised the way she dressed during a march on Luton Police Station led by extremist preacher Anjem Choudhury back in September.

Stacey stumbled across the protest moments after finishing filming scenes dressed in a niqab in Luton town centre with two young Muslim girls, who she says she can’t speakly highly enough of.

And the contrast between the attitudes of the two young girls and similarly dressed women on the march left Stacey saddened.

“I didn’t even know (the protest) was happening, we’d just dropped the two girls off home and were in the middle of it,” she said.

“To see women wearing similar outfits and using that as an excuse to push messages that most other Muslims don’t agree with is sad.

“It feels gutting that we’re all Lutonians, we should be pally as we’re all young girls, but in Luton there’s a tiny minority and they want to spoil it for the rest of us.”

And Stacey, who shot to fame after initially appearing on Blood, Sweat and T Shirts on BBC Three in 2008, praised the work of council and police efforts to ensure harmony in Luton.

She said: “I think it’s easy to put down organisations that are trying to sort out the situation because they haven’t been able to sort it out straight away, but you have to realise that these organisations are hell bent on getting their message across so it’s not going to change overnight and we have to praise anyone who is trying to sort it out.

“I think we have to not let them get anyone into their way of thinking. It’s a case of non-Muslims and Muslims together against extremists.”

IF you’ve got a beef about something in you area, come along and have your say.

Toddington councillors Norman Costin and Tom Nicols will be holding a help and advice surgery at Toddington Library, Market Square, on Saturday (February 25) from 10am to 12 noon.

> For more information contact the member support team on 0300 300 6090.

MORE THAN £4 million – that’s the staggering amount of prize money Mecca Bingo in Luton’s Skimpot Road paid out to customers last year.

General manager Paul Martin said: “Bingo is more fun than ever and over the last year we’ve seen an increase in customer numbers and more people under 35 coming through the doors.”

EIGHT “luxury camping pods” are being planned at Whipsnade Zoo as charity chiefs aim to make it a year-round attraction.

The Lookout Lodge pods are set to open up a new market for the 80 year-old hilltop attraction.

“Everything we do has mission overlay,” said Zoological Society of London (ZSL) director David Field. He explained that the zoo wants to give visitors experiences that turn them into champions of Whipsnade and to reconnect people with nature.

Mr Field became a champion of nature at a very young age and wants other people to have experiences that do the same for them.

ZSL aims to put 10 per cent of its turnover into conservation efforts around the world. In a good year that can add up to £10million.

Also on the cards this year are a sophisticated indoor play area and refurbishment of the sealion enclosure as the zoo aims to give visitors more of what they want from a day out in the Chilterns.

Last year, some 500,000 people went through the zoo’s gates, with more than ever during the warmer than average winter months.

“We want to encourage people to visit the zoo throughout the year, not just during bank holidays in August,” said Mr Field. He added that by encouraging people to make repeat visits, its conservation efforts can continue into the long term.

> See our video interview with David Field at www.hemeltoday.co.uk/news/business

SO, our whole economic system is suffering from a massive hangover but it’s binge drinking that’s going to get sorted out.

You may wonder whether that nice Mr Cameron has got his priorities right – but there’s no denying that, if he can make some headway, he’ll have made as big a contribution to public health as his unlamented Labour predecessors did by introducing the smoking ban.

There’s a strategy on the way, of course, but for starters the PM has called for bars and supermarkets to help tackle a problem that costs the NHS £2.7bn a year.

But it shouldn’t be about money, and we shouldn’t even be thinking about a ban.

And the PM ought to be looking to recruit far beyond the pint-pullers and grog floggers to help achieve this admirable end.

It’s one of those issues – like seat belts and the smoking ban, which have been great successes, and the ban on using your mobile at the wheel, which is still a boil to be lanced – where the vast majority of us are just waiting for someone to take a sensible lead.

And the way to do it is to make life more difficult for the drinker – and when I say drinker, I don’t just mean the lager-fuelled lout or the alcopop addled teenager – I mean all of us.

I’m fed up of all sorts of expensive measures being put in place to pick up the pieces of other people’s lack of self-control. The aim has got to be to stop people regarding the act of getting completely hammered as an option for a night out, or even a night in.

So here are a few ideas to throw into the mix, for the PM to consider over a relaxing glass of wine one evening.

Number 1, ban all alcopops. Strong drink isn’t supposed to taste like lemonade.

Number 2, restrict the sale of all spirits to people over the age of 25. If I had my way I’d also make it illegal to use mixers to soften the taste of hard liquor, for the same reasons that alcopops have to go, but I do enjoy the occasional gin and tonic so that one will have to stay on the drawing board.

Number 3, by all means introduce a higher unit price for alcohol but don’t penalise those who enjoy a bracer but know when to stop – jack up the pub prices only after the first two drinks, introduce maximum purchase rules in supermarkets and the like just like they have for painkillers these days, and halt the sale of alcohol in containers larger than one litre, especially if we’re talking about super strength cider.

Number 4, forget street pastors and people being paid by the public purse to get drunk and incapable kids home safely. Employ them instead to wander town centres at closing time, corner people who have had a skinful, and paint their faces purple.

The paint should not be permanent, of course, but it should be pretty much immovable for a week or so as evidence of a bender that would last a lot longer, and be a lot more visible, to the world at large than a hangover.

Then it would be for the rest of us to bring peer pressure to bear, and sneer and snigger at the victims for long after whatever memory they had of a good night out had faded. Purple paint would make them pariahs, and we’d soon change their habits.

CHILD SAFETY is top of the list at Luton’s Dallow Primary School.

A £10,000 grant from the National Lottery’s Awards for All programme means they will be able to provide child safety advice as well as loan equipment such as safety gates and cupboard locks to parents.

A variety of community groups across the East of England will benefit from the awards, totalling £402,472

A NEW strategy to increase the number of passengers and staff travelling to Luton Airport by public transport has been announced.

The airport says it wants more than 40 per cent of people travelling to and from the airport to do so via public transport by 2017.

And it wants the proportion of staff travelling alone by car to and from the airport to be 60 per cent or lower by 2017.

Currently, 71 per cent of non-shift workers drive alone.

]]> 1.3541297 Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:01:21 +0000 http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/more_choice_for_senior_citizens_1_3541298

Just because you’re over 55 doesn’t mean giving up on life and going into a home.

Luton Borough Council runs several sheltered housing schemes which they describe as ‘an exciting and modern way of living.’

They will be manning a stand at Melson Square (near Mothercare) on Monday (February 27) between 9am and 5.30pm for people interested in finding out more.

The event has been organised jointly by the council and Age Concern Luton.

> For more details call 01582 546646.

POLICE will put a rolling road block in place while the Highways Agency installs new gantries on the M1 on Friday night (February 24)

Traffic will be reduced to one lane in both directions between junctions 10 and 12 from 10pm, with the road block slowing down traffic and bringing it to a halt for 20 minutes while each gantry is lifted and bolted into place.

The road block will take place between midnight and 3am, when traffic flows are at their lowest, the agency says.

For updates visit www.highways.gov.uk

SQUATTING. It’s a word that creates fear and loathing among residential landlords.

Squatters move into empty properties and take over occupation without obtaining the permission of the owner, their agent or the person legally entitled to live there.

But the law on squatting could be about to change.

Towards the end of 2011 the government took action to make squatting a criminal offence by incorporating a new clause into the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill 2011.

The Bill is currently making its way through the House of Lords toward the Royal Assent needed to turn it into law.

It will, if passed, make anyone who enters a residential building as a trespasser and is living in the building, guilty of a criminal offence.

Adrian Mason, of agent Belvoir Luton, in Marsh Road, said: “It’s a very significant move and a welcome result for our industry.

“Squatting can have a devastating effect on a landlord’s business and it can be very difficult, time-consuming and expensive for them to remove squatters from their properties. Regaining possession can be a long and drawn out process and it creates real problems when trying to re-let a property to a potential new tenant.”

“While it is not necessarily widespread in our region, squatting has been a growing problem nationally and an issue we have taken a great deal of interest in, to help protect our landlord clients.”

Belvoir say it is almost impossible for landlords to successfully claim for damages, since the perpetrators more often than not have limited financial means.

In Scotland, squatting has been a criminal offence for over 150 years and anyone found guilty can be sentenced to up to 21 days in jail. But in England and Wales, owners have had to use civil courts to enforce their rights.

A 2010 UK Bailiff Company report found a 40 per cent rise in squatting eviction cases and a 132 per cent rise in squatting over a 15 year period.

Belvoir Luton, along with more than 140 other Belvoir offices throughout the UK, has backed a long-running campaign to change the law in England and Wales.

The campaign was spearheaded by the UK’s largest industry bodies, the National Landlords Association and the Residential Landlords Association.

Mr Mason added: “We welcome the government’s decision to criminalise squatting.

“We will continue to support the industry bodies – who are pushing for further clarification on issues surrounding immediate re-possession of property, so our clients can build their property portfolios without hindrance from unwanted trespassers.”

LOCAL designer Lewis-Duncan Weedon is showing his first menswear range at London Fashion Week.

The former Putteridge pupil who operates from his Stopsley atelier said: “I had such a large calling from clients I decided to do a menswear ready-to-wear collection.

“It’s a mix of loose-fit blazers, fitted tweed waistcoats and matching pants.”

He will also be featuring his latest womenswear look entitled ‘Russian princess meets Scottish lord.’

His fall and winter collection will be shown at the Montcalm Hotel in Marble Arch on Thursday (February 23) at 6.45pm.

Celebrity guests include Blue Peter presenter Zoe Salmon, musician Leee John, Harri from The Only Way is Essex and Kimberleigh from Britain’s Next Top Model.