Caledonian Park, Holloway, Islington

A duck walks into a pub and orders a pint of lager and a ham sandwich. The landlord looks at him and says, "But you're a duck". "I see your eyes are working", replies the duck. "And you talk!" exclaims the landlord. "I see your ears are working", says the duck, "Now can I have my beer and my sandwich please?". "I'm working on the building site across the road", explains the duck. Then the duck drinks his beer, eats his sandwich and leaves. This continues for 2 weeks. Then one day the circus comes to town. The ringleader of the circus comes into the pub and the landlord says to him, "You're with the circus aren't you?, I know this duck that would be just brilliant in your circus, he talks, drinks beer and everything!". "Sounds marvellous", says the ringleader, "get him to give me a call". So the next day when the duck comes into the pub the landlord says, "Hey Mr. Duck, I recko

The new estate building emerging between the towers of the York Way Corporation of London estate. The view from Caledonian Park. December Days

John Thelwall, speech made at Copenhagen Fields in Islington in 1795. I do not mean equality of property. that is totally impossible in the present state of human intellect and industry. The equality I mean is equality of rights. The equality which protects the poor against the insults and oppressions of the rich, as well as the rich against the insults and invasions of the poor. Perhaps before twilight information may be lodged at the Privy Council that I am making an inflammatory harangue to persuade you to level property and murder all the proprietors. But I have taken care, by having a shorthand writer at my elbow, that they shall not be able to prove me to have said anything that I do not say. John Thelwall, Rights of Nature (1796) I affirm that every man, and every woman, and every child, ought to obtain something more, in the general distribution of the fruits of labour, than food, and rags, and a wretched hammock with a poor rug to cover it; and that, without working twelve or

From 2006-12-13

That smelly oil fire at the Buncefield fuel depot near Hemel Hempstead.

From 2006-12-12

Victims of London's property boom Thousands are trapped between spiralling prices and desperate lack of council housing Larry Elliott Friday November 24, 2006 The Guardian Vicky Walsh is a typical Islington resident. Typical but not stereotypical. The stereotypical Islington resident is a well-heeled trendy liberal who takes a surreptitious peek in the windows of estate agents on Upper Street, tut-tuts at dinner parties about the lunacy of the property market and picks up tips from television programmes providing owner-occupiers with advice on how to add value to their homes. Ms Walsh does none of these things because she doesn't own her own home. Like more than 13,000 other families she is on Islington council's waiting list to be rehoused. She needs rehousing because she and her partner live with their two seven-month old twin boys in a one-bedroom flat that an estate agent would call compact and everybody else would call small. Article continues For the past 25 years, de

Prison or death - I didn't care which Dec 5 2006 http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/ By Richard Porritt FORMER homeless junkie Joey Greaney battled back from the brink and is now clean. The 32-year-old has a roof over his head, a newborn baby and a future. And he says he has St Mungo's and its Putting Down Roots project to thank. This is his incredible story. He said: "I was heavily addicted to crack for 10 years.I just looked out for myself and hurt people every day in the things I did. "I was always looking for the easy way to make money. "I am so ashamed when I look back - especially at the way I treated my mother.I stole from her and lied to her. "I knew I would either go to prison or die.It didn't matter to me.It was my life and the way I lived. "In June 2005 I was on parole for theft. "One of the conditions of my parole was I go into rehab for my crack addiction. "To be able to go into a treatment centre I had to be clean for 10 da

Islington Churches Cold Weather Shelter Address: Various venues Phone: 07960 491 151 Hours: 7.30pm-8.30am. Must arrive by 8.30pm. No re-admission once booked in. Gender: Mixed Age: 18+ Target Group: Single homeless people including those with low to medium support needs. Referrals: Self or agency referrals. Phone (1pm-9pm) to check vacancies and venue details. If there is an available vacancy, given directions to the shelter for that evening. All places must be booked in advance. Do not turn up at venue without phoning first. Bed spaces: 15, including a separate area for women. House Rules: No alcohol, drugs, smoking, weapons or dogs allowed on premises. Violence not tolerated. Open: 1st January – 31st March 07

Islington Tribune - by MARK BLUNDEN Published: 8 December 2006 Health centres mothballed FOUR health centres which were due to provide much-needed GPs’ practices as part of the Arsenal stadium development have been mothballed through a lack of funding The Tribune has learned that despite Arsenal paying what is believed to be hundreds of thousands of pounds to build the new centres, Islington’s Primary Care Trust (PCT) does not have the money to fill them with equipment or staff. Under the club’s Section 106 obligations – where it provides community facilities – the buildings were to be provided as a “shell” for the PCT to “fit out”. The four sites are in Hornsey Street, Queensland Road, Highbury Square (as part of the redevelopment of the old Highbury stadium) and Drayton Park. Construction work at all the sites is ongoing except Queensland Road, which has yet to be started. The PCT blames a shortfall in government funding for its inability to fill the centres and decided to use its m

Kayleigh 999 protest goes to Number 10 Jean Murphy, mother of Kayleigh Macilwraith-Christie presents the petition at the door of Number 10 29 November 2006 islingtongazette A TRAGIC teenager's mum has taken her fight to the top. Campaigning Jean Murphy presented a petition with more than 15,000 signatures to 10 Downing Street on Friday. She also held a 50-strong demonstration in Whitehall in a bid to get Prime Minister Tony's Blair's attention. Ms Murphy, 48, of the Market Estate off North Road, Holloway, launched her campaign in memory of daughter Kayleigh Macilwraith-Christie. Kayleigh would have turned 16 on Friday. But the 15-year-old died on July 14 after a series of ambulance service errors meant she did not get hospital treatment until she had been having an epileptic fit for 45 minutes. When an ambulance finally came, there were no paramedics on board. The crew of three emergency medical technicians did not have the qualifications to give Kayleigh vital muscle relax

Sex market action plea Sex market action plea nlnews@archant.co.uk 12 October 2006 PROSTITUTES migrating from King's Cross have turned a Holloway street into the "biggest sex market in London", according to a police officer who patrols it.Sergeant Franc Francioni, who leads the Safer Neighbourhoods team for the Holloway ward, says a "hardcore" of 20 prostitutes are working Market Road and Caledonian Park in "shifts" night and day. He is calling on Islington Council to fund a CCTV system to drive out the prostitutes, pimps and kerb-crawlers who plague the area.Sergeant Francioni said: "Since the crackdown in King's Cross, all the girls have simply walked up York Way to the Market Estate. Virtually all of them are drug addicts. "Kerb crawlers are coming from all over London, and unsurprisingly they tend to make themselves scarce whenever uniformed police show up. We only make one arrest a month on average because they are so hard to catch.

Fancy a brew? 07.07.2006 Thank you Maria Fernandez Burgoa (left) and Carol Mitchell (right) for running a great canteen on the Market Estate in the London Borough of Islington, where Higgins is the main contractor for Southern Housing Group’s complete £40 million rebuild. That means brewing up for 120 workers, who include the Reddington team completing the first five-storey block’s reinforced concrete structure.

When it came to the crunch 31.03.2006 When it was time for the demolition of a disused 150-space underground car park to kick-start a £40 million housing estate rebuilding programme in London on 16 March, main contractor Higgins Construction PLC invited residents to get a first-hand feel of the work. Asbestosis-victim Jim Veal, who has led the tenants' association pursuit of the six-year rebuilding project, was the first to the take the seat in the 30-tonne Volvo 280's safety cab used by contractor Falcon. Whilst Falcon is using this to safely pulverise through the car park's 7,500sq m reinforced-concrete podium, which is 18 inches thick, 79-year-old ex-glazier Jim will continue his fight for compensation for what he's certain was mesothelioma contracted during renovations of City commercial properties in the 1970s. Regeneration contractor Higgins brought in the demolition team at the request of Southern Housing Group, the new owners of the Market Estate. This follows i

Tune into BBC Radio Regeneration 23.11.2006 A BBC crew investigating two months ago how 1960’s multi-storey council estates failed their residents, had to move quick for interviews from the Market Estate in Islington to be broadcast over the next two weeks beginning on 27 November, because Higgins Construction PLC’s complete £40 million rebuild for Southern Housing Group is moving so fast. The estate that is already being rebuilt three months ahead of schedule according to main contractor Higgins’ project manager Peter Crane is one of two to feature in a two-part Radio 4 series of shows called Knocking Down The Past beginning on Monday 27 November at 11am. For the half-hour shows, presenter Sarfraz Mansoor has interviewed residents to compare their estate’s historical misfortunes and newly regenerated futures with those of Glasgow’s once-notorious Gorbals, to see if architects are learning from the past. Market Estate residents were asked exactly how they’ve been involved in the plans