Category: news

The Victorian Society has released a list of what it says are the 10 most endangered buildings in England and Wales.

It follows a public appeal by the charity to find the most threatened Victorian and Edwardian buildings.

The buildings are in Leicestershire, Birmingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Sheffield, Grimsby, Liverpool, Manchester, London and South Wales.

Included is a former ice factory, an old fire station and a school.

This is the fourth year the Victorian Society has run its endangered buildings list, which aims to highlight the problems facing historic properties.

In order to be on the list, a building has to be at risk, whether from demolition, insensitive development or years of neglect, the society said.

The list of 10 was drawn up using nominations from members of the public.

Dr Ian Dungavell, director of the Victorian Society, said: “Our heritage is a finite resource and once historic buildings like this are gone they cannot be replaced.”

Also on the list is a boarded-up former orphanage in Liverpool, designed by Victorian architect Alfred Waterhouse and built in the 1870s, and a former Unitarian chapel on Upper Brook Street in Manchester.

The roof of the Grade II-listed chapel, which dates back to the late-1830s, has been taken off for safety reasons and the Victorian Society wants Manchester City Council to ensure the rest of the building is protected.

“Time is running out for the chapel,” said Dr Dungavell. “As the longer it lies empty and exposed to the elements the harder it will be to save.”

Also on the list is the former Moseley School of Art in Birmingham, built in 1898, which is now the headquarters of the British Association of Muslims.

The Victorian Society is concerned about the building’s “deteriorating condition”.

Dr Ian Dungavell said: “Even in harsh economic times historic buildings like the former art school need to be cared for or they won’t survive for future generations.

“This is a nationally significant building and we urge the council to use its powers and make sure urgent repairs are carried out.”

The former Wedgwood Institute in Burslem in Stoke-on-Trent has been included on the list.

Until recently, it was home to Burslem’s public library, but closed two years ago due to structural problems, the society said.

The library books have been moved elsewhere but the building remains at risk of further deterioration.

The full Victorian Society list includes:

Hammerton School, Ouseburn Road, Darnall, SheffieldGrimsby’s former ice factory, Gorton Street, Grimsby, North East LincolnshireWedgwood Institute, Queen Street, Burslem, Stoke-on-TrentBradgate House Stables, Bradgate Hill, Groby, LeicestershireRoyal Liverpool Seamen’s Orphanage, Newsham Park, Tuebrook, Liverpool30 Euston Square, LondonThe Unitarian Chapel, Upper Brook Street, ManchesterOld Fire Station, Court Road, Barry, South WalesNormansfield Hospital, Kingston Road, Teddington, Greater LondonFormer Moseley School of Art, Moseley Road, Birmingham

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A run-down housing estate in Sydney that has become a symbol of Aboriginal disadvantage is to be torn down in an effort to revitalise an area that was once at the heart of indigenous political activism.

“The Block”, as it is known, began as a bold social experiment in the 1970s.

The government of Gough Whitlam, stung by rising Aboriginal homelessness and discrimination by landlords, bankrolled the purchase of property by indigenous groups in the inner city district of Redfern.

The site quickly became a magnet for Aborigines from around Australia, but was infiltrated and eventually overrun by heroin dealers in the 1990s.

The Block has never recovered. Many of its terrace houses are derelict and its open spaces littered and overgrown.

It stands in the shadow of the proud skyline of central Sydney: the haves and have-nots of Australia’s most prosperous city separated by a short walk.

In February 2004, the police were bombarded with petrol bombs by Redfern residents, enraged after 17-year-old Thomas Hickey died accidentally during an alleged police chase.

The disturbances left dozens injured and cemented the Block’s violent reputation.

“It is time for changes. This bit of land is like the Aboriginal graveyard. People come here to shoot up, to have drugs. In other words, they come here to die,” said Mick Mundine, the head of the Aboriginal Housing Company, who has championed the redevelopment for more than a decade.

“It is time for us to build this new community.

“It is not going to be perfect as everybody knows there is not a perfect community anywhere.”

But the demolition could signal a fresh start that could bring to an end the cycle of crime and unemployment.

The final draft has yet to be approved but the plan is to build 62 apartments for indigenous residents as well as student accommodation, a gym and a cultural arts centre.

Tenants with drug-related convictions won’t be allowed in.

The area will be renamed The Pemulwuy Project after a celebrated indigenous warrior.

Ray Minniecon, a local pastor, believes the rebuilding will harness the area’s unique spirit and provide business opportunities: “It is a delicate balance as to how you maintain your history, your culture, your identity. The ways in which the Block has been redesigned encompasses all those kinds of challenges.

“It gives us for the first time in this country an opportunity to put in place within a city a design that comes from the Aboriginal people, for Aboriginal people.”

The bulldozers could move in within months, and while the transformation of the Block is seen by some residents as a step forward, others view the scheme with deep suspicion.

“It can’t stay as it is,” says Bruce Ellis. “It is progress and is going to be a good thing.”

However, his friend, Peter, is not so sure.

“I was taken from my parents when I was eight. I ran away from that institution and settled on the Block. And for all the different tribes from around New South Wales, this was the meeting place.

“But now with this new redevelopment, that’s going to change everything,” he says.

Others believe that once the remaining tenants have been moved, the Block will lose its Aboriginal heart forever.

“By the time the redevelopment happens, we are wondering who is going to be housed here,” said Margarita Guevara.

“I think they are trying to move our people out of here and create urbanised suburbia for the white fellas.”

The Aboriginal Housing Company has insisted that indigenous residents will be invited back when the builders leave.

As one elder told the BBC, the plan to revive the Block will allow the community to pursue “the dream of living an Aboriginal life in a white man’s world”.

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India’s most expensive film ever is a Frankenstein tale of a scientist who makes a robot in his own image, which turns into a monster and falls in love with his maker’s fiancee.

And it looks set to be another mega-hit for one of Bollywood’s most bankable stars, Rajinikanth, a balding 61-year-old whose unstoppable box office staying power seems almost as incredible as the film’s plotline.

Made with a budget of 1.6bn rupees ($35m; £23m), Enthiran is a story about a killer robot who multiplies into a million clones, destroying Chennai (Madras), the capital of the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

But this terrifying army of androids is dwarfed in real life by the legions of fans of the movie’s cult mega-star, Rajinikanth, Bollywood’s highest-paid actor.

In Enthiran (Robot), Rajinikanth plays the nutty professor and his creation, the humanoid robot, Chitti.

The lovey-dovey android serenades his creator’s fiancee, played by another Bollywood star, Aishwarya Rai, singing that he will seek love in places “where Google searches can’t reach”.

She purrs and calls him her “toyfriend”; he sings that her beauty has set him burning to temperatures that even the “Atlantic Ocean cannot cool”.

Smart lines, diabolical characters, high-voltage action and impressive special effects make this a promising Indian popcorn movie.

Then there are the lush song sequences in exotic locations like Machu Picchu.

The film’s spin machine claims that the Peruvian authorities had “refused the shooting of a James Bond film, but allowed our Rajinikanth to dance”.

The critics may be cringing, and at nearly 180 minutes, Endhiran is rather long, but the film has stormed the box office since opening last weekend.

The movie is also the product of an industry which is fast becoming globalised, despite its unique brand of cinema.

The special effects are cooked up by a Hollywood FX shop that has worked on films like Jurassic Park and Terminator.

The action scenes were staged by a Hong Kong choreographer who has worked with Jackie Chan and on the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

The music is scored by the Oscar-winning AR Rahman – the songs are a fusion of lilting Tamil numbers set to Malaysian rap and hip hop, and bouncy electro-pop.

As so often, Rajinikanth steals the show.

“The two worthwhile creations of God are you and me”, he tells the film’s heroine.

At least half that statement would be heartily agreed with by members of the more than 6,000 Rajinikanth fan clubs that have spawned across India.

He is especially popular in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, where film stars are venerated like gods.

In a recent article, slate.com rated Rajinikanth as the second-highest-paid actor in Asia, after Jackie Chan.

“If a tiger had sex with a tornado and then their tiger-nado baby got married to an earthquake, their offspring would be Rajinikanth,” says a review in slate.com.

In Japan, his film Muthu was dubbed in Japanese as The Dancing Maharaja and became a huge hit in 1995.

Rajinikanth’s success is all the more remarkable considering he has no obvious aptitude as a dancer – a talent so desirable for Tamil musicals.

His eccentric mannerisms and histrionics have earned him the nickname Style King. But he remains the most beloved star of the Tamils.

His fans thought nothing of queuing from the early hours outside cinemas on the day of the film’s premiere.

Rajinikanth’s followers have been known to perform Hindu bathing purification rituals on his posters.

The success of Endhiran ensures that their worship of the Bollywood megastar will continue.

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State television in North Korea has for the first time showed live pictures of leader Kim Jong-il with his son and presumed heir, Kim Jong-un, at a huge military parade.

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A Republican politician in the US has been criticised after pictures of him dressed in a Nazi uniform emerged on the internet.

Senior Republican figures have now sought to distance themselves from Rich Iott, a House candidate from Ohio.

Mr Iott admitted being a member of a group that re-enacted SS battles.

But he said he had been involved in re-enacting from many different eras and did not mean “any disrespect to anyone” in the US military.

Several photographs show Mr Iott posing as an officer in the Waffen SS – the combat wing of Hitler’s feared Schutzstaffel.

The pictures first appeared on the website of Wiking, a re-enactment group based in America’s mid-west.

Mr Iott, who uses the character name Reinhard Pferdmann, has admitted being a member of Wiking, saying it was a “purely historical interest”.

And in a statement on his website, Mr Iott said: “Never, in any of my re-enacting of military history, have I meant any disrespect to anyone who served in our military or anyone who has been affected by the tragedy of war, especially the Jewish community.

“Historical re-enacting is a hobby enjoyed by millions of men – and women – around the world. I have been involved in historical re-enacting from many different eras since I was in college.”

Mr Iott also posted several photographs which showed him dressed in a US World War I uniform and also in a Union uniform during a Civil War re-enactment.

Despite this, the situation is now making some in the Republican Party uncomfortable, the BBC’s Ian Mackenzie in Washington says.

On Sunday, Republican whip Eric Cantor said he repudiated Mr Iott’s actions.

“I do not support anything like this,” he told Fox News on Sunday.

The Iott controversy comes amid growing concern in the Republican party about the views of some candidates for the mid-term elections in November, our correspondent says.

He adds that the growth of the ultra-conservative Tea Party movement has left them with one would-be senator who has questioned the civil rights legislation in the 1960s, while another confessed to dabbling in witchcraft and suggested scientists were implanting full human brains into mice.

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Dave Walder misses a late penalty as champions Toulouse beat Wasps in the Heineken Cup.

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Hungarian crews are racing against time to build an emergency dam as cracks widened at a burst reservoir that spilled toxic sludge.

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A Leicester boy is hoping for a perfect 10, as he celebrates a very special birthday.

George Lippitt, from Thurcaston, will turn 10 at exactly 1010 BST on 10/10/2010.

His mother Jodie Lippitt, 34, said family will gather at 1010 BST to celebrate with George at home, who is really excited about his special day.

“I couldn’t believe it when the midwife wrote the time and date on his sheet – we have been waiting for this day.”

Mrs Lippitt said George, who is her first-born, had always been special.

“When I found out I was pregnant I was told there was a 99.9% chance the baby would be unhealthy, so when he arrived safe and well it was a real relief.

“He was born at a special time and has been special ever since.”

George, who is a keen golfer, will celebrate with a birthday cake in the shape of a golf course 10th-hole.

He will celebrate with his mother, father Wayne Lippitt, 35, sister Grace, seven, and other family members before going on to a skating party with 17 of his friends.

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Two men are expected to go on trial in Iraq later accused of murdering six Royal Military Police officers in 2003.

Hamza Hateer and Mussa Ismael al Fartusi will go before Baghdad’s central criminal court.

The military police officers – or Red Caps – were killed by a mob in the southern Iraqi town of Majar al-Kabir.

John Hyde from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, whose son L/Cpl Benjamin Hyde, 23, was among the dead, said the case was making “slow progress”.

The other Red Caps who died were Sgt Simon Hamilton-Jewell, 41, from Chessington, Surrey; Cpl Russell Aston, 30 from Swadlincote, Derbyshire; Cpl Paul Long, 24, from Tyne and Wear, L/Cpl Tom Keys, 20, from Bala, North Wales, and Cpl Simon Miller, 21, from Tyne and Wear.

They had been on a routine operation to train local police, and according to some reports had been playing football with the Iraqi police officers when a crowd of between 400 and 500 people attacked.

The six men were chased into a police station, where they were shot.

Their families have long campaigned for those responsible to be brought to justice.

In February, Iraqi authorities took eight people into custody. Of those, six have had the charges against them dropped.

Last month the hearing involving the two remaining men was adjourned to give witnesses more time to travel to court.

The families of the six men have been told they will not be allowed access to court during the trial.

Instead, updates will be e-mailed to them via the British embassy in Baghdad and the Ministry of Defence.

An inquest into the Red Caps’ killings in March 2006 found that the men had been given antiquated radios and inadequate ammunition.

The soldiers had 50 rounds rather than the standard 150 rounds and had left base without a satellite phone, meaning they could not call for help.

But the coroner said having and using better communications would not have saved them and found they were unlawfully killed.

The families of the men have been calling for an independent inquiry since then, arguing that negligence by Army personnel led to their deaths.

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Serbian protesters have thrown petrol bombs and stones at people taking part in a Gay Pride parade in Belgrade.

Police used tear gas against the rioters, who tried to break through the armed security cordon protecting the event.

The march is now moving through the Serbian capital.

The first ever Gay Pride parade in Serbia in 2001 was broken up in violent clashes provoked by far-right extremists.

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Riot police in the Serbian capital Belgrade have fought running battles with hundreds of far-right supporters who tried to disrupt a Gay Pride march in the city.

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People deaf from birth may be able to reassign the area of their brain used for hearing to boost their sight, suggests a study.

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The parts of our DNA which may influence body shape – including the classic “apple” or “pear” shape in women – are revealed.

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The BBC-produced film Five Daughters, about the murder of five women in Ipswich in 2006, has won a film award at the Raindance festival in London.

It was named best UK feature by a panel of judges including Charles Saatchi and Motorhead singer Lemmy.

New York-based feature I Am A Fat Cat was named the film of the festival.

Best international feature went to Son Of Babylon about an Iraqi boy searching for his father after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Directed by Mohamed Al Daradji, the film won two awards at the Berlin International Film Festival and one at Sundance Film Festival.

Five Daughters, which starred Ian Hart, Sarah Lancashire and Jamie Winstone, was shown as three hour-long episodes on BBC One in April.

Steve Wright was convicted of murdering the women, who worked as prostitutes to feed their drug addictions, in 2008.

Stanley Pickle picked up best UK short and the international prize went to LIN.

The award for best debut feature went to The Story Of My Space and the best micro budget feature was given to Macho.

The best documentary category was a tie between Sounds Like A Revolution and There Once Was An Island.

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A man is charged with raping the same woman twice in three months in south London.

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