They generally kept together the poor fellows because they were at a disadvantage singly and liable to slights in neighbouring streets a police chieftold

“They generally kept together, the poor fellows, because they were at a disadvantage singly, and liable to slights in neighbouring streets,” a police chieftold a visiting writer from London

That was in 1861, and the writer was Charles Dickens. When Anthony Bevins, The Independent’s political editor, reported from his native city in 1989, a huge number of the pubs were still segregated and the police, many local blacks would say, were alot less sympathetic.
The Independent’s investigation into community relations in Liverpool followed a damning report by Lord Gifford who found that racial discrimination in Liverpool was “uniquely horrific.” Mr Bevins concluded that the city practised “its own unique brand of apartheid,” and the population, including some blacks, close their mind to this fact.Nine years on, Tony Blair stated his commitment to a multicultural Britain. He promises to turn Brighton into a British Miami.Yesterday the Irishman, who opened his first seafront nightclub aged 19, said the new-look pier would include two restaurants, two bars, an art gallery, a theatre/concert venue, mooring for 60 boats, an outdoor auditorium and “lots of things I can’ttalk about yet”. He added: “The pier is really one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.”Since 1975 the structure of the pier, which was built in 1866 at a cost of pounds 27,000, has been disintegrating, a process speeded up by successive batterings in stormy weather.Developers hope work will begin in June or July and although the completion date is 2002, the West Pier Trust hopes to make the pier accessible to the public by 2000..

A further pounds 3.55m of lottery money has been allocated for work above-deck to restore the stunning Victorian concert hall, pavilion, arches and balustrading.
England’s only Grade I listed pier will be resurrected as a leisure complex featuring restaurants, shops, a health spa and a museum, at a cost of pounds 35m.Two of the largest private investors drafted in to make the pier commercially viable are London Regional Properties and the restaurateur Oliver Peyton’s Gruppo group.Mr Peyton, 35, one of the youngest, hippest entrepreneurs in London, who has set up the successful Atlantic Bar and Grill restaurant, Coast and Mash, will oversee the running of the pier. As an example of eschewing jargon, it was not notably successful.. BRIGHTON’S historic West Pier, which has been closed to the public since 1975 for fear that it might fall down, has been awarded a pounds 10.65m Lottery grant to help restore it to its former glory, it was announced yesterday. The next resolution called for the “the adoption of the more holistic and integrated approach to arts funding”. Asked whether Arts Council-funded orchestras – which include the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the four London orchestras – would be devolved, Mr Hewitt said that no decision had yet been taken.The council seemed to be making a stand for better communication in the arts, deciding at the council meeting that “the system should rid itself of cliche and jargon”.However, this resolve was short-lived. The question is not how slim the Arts Council is, but whether or not it is socially and culturally representative of a much broader spectrum of the arts and society than it has been.”The new council will devolve some clients to the regional arts boards, whose powers are likely to be increased. There will be important figures from the arts world on the council.”Michael Merwitzer, artistic director of the Kosh dance company, which won an ombudsman’s ruling against the council’s decision to cut its grant, is unconvinced about the promised new efficiency.He said: “There is a serious divide between the in-house culture of the Arts Council and the broader culture of the arts world as a whole.

Five council members are already stepping down as their appointments end on 31 March.It also emerged yesterday that while some of the present council will be encouraged to sit on the new body, there will be no place for regional arts board chairs, or artform panel chairs representing their own advisory panels.The chief executive, Peter Hewitt, explained that the new council needed to have people with a broad national overview.It is expected that it will include a higher percentage of business leaders But Mr Hewitt said yesterday: “We will not be suiting up. Mr Robinson, who is also chairman of the Granada Group, hopes to make the arts funding system more efficient.
The reduction in numbers is likely to entail less bloodletting than has been predicted. THE Arts Council confirmed yesterday that all its 23 members would be standing down over the coming months and the new chairman, Gerry Robinson, would preside over a slimmed-down council of 10 people. The Radio Authority wants whoever wins to encourage people to buy digital radios – currently retailing for more than pounds 1,000 -so they can be mass produced and the price will fall..

Richard Branson, a part-owner of Ginger Media Group, is expected to get involved in the bid.Other radio groups, such as London’s Capital and EMAP, are also expected to bid for the licence by the June deadline. Digital radio – known as DAB – will mean compact disc-quality sound coming out of radios which never crackle or lose their signal. It can broadcast text, graphics, pictures and information services and can talk to personal and laptop computers.
The Radio Authority advertised a national commercial digital licence yesterday that will give the winner 12 years to establish, in competition with the BBC, digital radio in the United Kingdom.Chris Evans’ Ginger Media Group has joined forces in the first bid to be announced with GWR, owners of Classic FM and a network of local radio stations The bid was in the name of a new consortium, Digital One. THE rather dry world of digital radio was given an injection of life yesterday when it was announced that the unlikely bedfellows of Classic FM and Chris Evans were joining forces to apply for a digital radio licence. That meant it may miss the cumulative impact of many GMOs being approved and grown in Britain, he said, adding: ”We ought to flag up things which could be a problem.”. The front- runner is a modified oilseed rape owned by a Belgian company, Plant Genetic Systems.The committee yesterday held its first press conference, on the publication of its fourth annual report, reflecting members’ concern that the public isbaffled and fearful about genetic engineering.Professor Beringer said that the committee’s main aim was not to endorse any GMO product which was more harmful than its ordinary equivalent.The committee considers each application case by case.

There have been many small trials, but the earliest that a GMO can legally be planted on a commercial basis will probably be next spring, or later. The crops are widely grown in the United States, but in the European Union they face hurdles set up by the EU and by its member states. GMOs are created when genes from one plant or animal are shifted permanently into the DNA of another, creating varieties unlikely to arise in evolution or through ordinary breeding techniques.Several companies are jostling to bring GMOs to Europe. The committee’schairman, John Beringer, Professor of Molecular Genetics at Bristol University, said: ”It could be cranking up the pressure on species if this technology proceeds to the limit.”The committee’s job is to advise ministers on what genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, can safely be released for use in the environment.