Hate Crime: Mother welcomes film

THE MOTHER of Sophie Lancaster, Sylvia who lives in Haslingden, Lancashire, has welcomed a new film on hate crime stimulated by her daughter Sophie's ghastly murdered in Bacup's Stubbylee Park.  Sophie was killed by a vicious gang alienated because of her Goth clothing, as she heroically defended her boy friend Robert Maltby on the 11^th, August 2007.  The film 'And She Cried' is a fictional adaptation by Leaky Shed Films that is inspired by the events surrounding Sophie's death.   

In the Spring of 2012, Northern Voices' interviewed Sylvia Lancaster some months before a play Black Roses by Simon Armitage about Sophie's murder was staged at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester staring  Julie Hesmondhalgh (CORONATION STREET).  This play was a great success, and this year another radio play 'Porcelain - The Trial For The Killing Of Sophie Lancaster' was performed about the trial of Sophie's teenage killers, two had been jailed for murder, the other three were sent on lesser offences.  

In 2012, Sylvia told us at that time that being a 'Goth' for Sophie 'was not just a fashion to her, I think she was challenging convention.'   She told NV No.13 in the Spring issue of 2012: 

'She  was definitely different!  From an early age she always had empathy with harmless people.  So much so, at times, she would sometimes sleep in a bedding box rather than a bed...  After about the age of three she'd just wear whatever she wanted such as a grey tee-shirt and black sweat pants.'   

Last week, the new film was premiered at the Odeon in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.  The film was put together without a budget and with £100,000's worth of gear provided by major cinematic companies.  A whip-round at the film's showing raised £200 for the Sophie Lancaster Foundation. 

Last Saturday's Rochdale Observer reported that at the opening of the film:
'All eyes were on a glamorous group of people at Rochdale’s Odeon cinema when they arrived to be given the red carpet treatment.   They hadn’t gone to see The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Transcendence or Pompeii, but 150 of them dressed to impress went to watch the world premiere of Rochdale-made And She Cried.  The audience of cast, crew and friends, including the Mayor Councillor Peter Rush, packed into Screen 9 for the special All Across the Arts premiere of the Rochdale-based Leaky Shed Filmsproduction of the movie inspired by the hate-crime killing of Sophie Lancaster.'

Anyone who has followed the story of Sophie Lancaster as we have, and having read the book 'Weirdo, Mosher, Freak: the murder of sophie lancaster' of the background to Sophie's death by the Bacup journalist Catherine Smyth, might welcome all this 'glamorous group' attention, while at the same time wondering about how, given Sophie was a ' "Punk Goth" like... Adam Ant's "New Romantics",' she herself would have taken to this kind of 'glamorous' backdrop. 


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NORTHERN VOICES 13 - the printed / physical version of N.V. - deals with some of the issues that the others on the so-called British left won't touch. Starting with an interview with Sylvia Lancaster, mum of the murdered 'Goth Girl' / 'New Romantic' Sophie Lancaster, who was kicked to death up Bacup, in Lancashire, in August 2007.  How do you feel about a new 'Hate Crime' on the statute book? Previously, Northern Voices has given you 'The Gangs of Manchester' dating back to an early 20th Century, but that was about lad's gangs: does the merciless killing of our sublime Sophie represent a step into a darker age?  To be up-to-date and understand the way Northern Voices thinks and is different from other publications you should read the real and physical N.V.



The printed version of NORTHERN VOICES 13, with all sorts of stuff others won't touch and may be obtained as follows:
Postal subscription: £5 for the next two issues (post included)
Cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' at
c/o 52, Todmorden Road,
Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.
Tel.: 0161 793 5122.
email: northernvoices@hotmail.com
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Porcelain: The Trial for the Killing of Sophie Lancaster

THE Royal Exchange Theatre presents

A special 'one-night' only event.

Porcelain: The Trial for the Killing of Sophie Lancaster is a drama documentary made for BBC Radio 4 including interviews with Sophie's mother Sylvia Lancaster and dramatised scenes based on court transcripts written by Ian Kershaw.

It was first broadcast on Radio 4 on Monday March 1 at 14.15pm and we will be re-playing it in our Studio space on Saturday 8 March.

It is the second play following on from Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster.

Sophie Lancaster was a young student who was attacked in Stubbeylee Park, Bacup, Lancashire. Sophie suffered fatal injuries while cradling her boyfriend Rob's head in an attempt to protect him from a the attack by a group of youths. Rob survived but Sophie went into a coma and never recovered. She later died on 24 August 2007.
Political, vegetarian, a pacifist, Sophie showed signs of wanting to be different from an early age. Sophie and Rob dressed in a unique way, expressing their individuality as creative artistic people through goth-style clothes, piercings and make-up, which provoked the fatal attack in the early hours of that Saturday morning. Sophie had been dating Rob Maltby, an art student for 3 years.

This is a one-off opportunity to experience a radio play in a unique way within the surroundings of the Royal Exchange Studio.

Black Roses returns to Royal Exchange

Award Winning Play about Sophie Lancaster returns to the Royal Exchange Stage 

THE Royal Exchange Theatre’s acclaimed production of BLACK ROSES: THE KILLING OF SOPHIE LANCASTER – starring Coronation Street’s Julie Hesmondhalgh - is to return in 2014. 

A sell-out success when it premiered last year, audiences will have a second chance to see this moving response to the tragic death of the young gap-year student when it comes back to The Studio at the Royal Exchange from Wednesday 26 February to Saturday 8 March.

The Royal Exchange has been awarded funds as part of Arts Council England’s Strategic Touring Programme which means the production will also be able to tour North West community venues and theatre spaces next year, (tour dates yet to be announced) with accompanying participation work and resources. 

Written as an elegy to Sophie by poet Simon Armitage - alongside the words of Sophie’s mother Sylvia Lancaster – the play was brought to the stage for the first time in September 2012 and played to packed houses throughout its run. 

The production features the original cast which includes Rachel Austin as Sophie and Julie Hesmondhalgh (best known as Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street) as Sylvia. It won two Manchester Theatre Awards - ‘Best Studio Production’ and ‘Best Performance in a Studio Production’ (for Julie Hesmondhalgh).

The play tells the story of Sophie Lancaster was beaten unconscious in Stubbeylee Park, Bacup in August 2007 and later died from her injuries in hospital.  She was 20 years old, had just passed her A-levels and was working out what to do with her life. She was killed because she was dressed differently. 

The piece – originally a radio play - provoked an unprecedented response when it premiered on BBC Radio 4 in 2011. The play went on to win the BBC Audio and Music Best Speech Programme of the Year Award.  The Royal Exchange production is co-directed by Royal Exchange Artistic Director Sarah Frankcom and award-winning BBC Radio Drama producer Susan Roberts.

Sarah Frankcom said:   'Sophie's story needs to keep being told, again and again. The award allows us to take Black Roses to communities and audiences we haven't yet engaged with and to build relationships using the play as a springboard. It is also a great example of what we believe theatre can be and do - provocative, challenging and profoundly affecting.' 

Alison Clark-Jenkins, Arts Council Director, North said:
'Black Roses had a very strong impact on audiences when it was first staged last year and so I’m pleased that the Royal Exchange Theatre will now be taking a piece of work with the same high quality production values into community venues in the north.  One of the aims of our Strategic touring fund is to enable people across the country to have improved access to great art visiting their local area and this tour will offer more people, particularly young audiences, the opportunity to experience this powerful work.'

The production supports the ongoing work of the Sophie Lancaster Foundation, which promotes respect and understanding of subcultures in our communities. More information is available at www.sophielancasterfoundation.com.
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The current printed issue of NORTHERN VOICES No.14, is now available for sale - see below.   There are also a few copies of Northern Voices No.13, with the NV interview with Sophie Lancaster's mum, both can still be obtained see details below:
Postal subscription: £5 for the next two issues (post included). Cheques made payable to 'Northern Voices' should be sent c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.
Tel.: 0161 793 5122.
email: northernvoices@hotmail.com

Greater Manchester Police Adopt 'Hate Crime'

Twenty-year-old goth Sophie Lancaster was kicked and stamped on by youths in a Bacup park

GREATER Manchester Police (GMP) have become the first force in the UK to treat the recording of attacks on members of subcultures, such as goths and emos, as hate crimes offences. Previously hate crimes were only registered for offences against race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity. GMP has worked with a charity set up following the murder of 20-year-old 'Goth' lass Sophie Lancaster in 2007. 

On 24 August 2007, Sophie Lancaster was brutally attacked in Stubbeylee park in Bacup, Lancashire, along with her boyfriend Robert Maltby, because of the way they were dressed.  She was kicked and stamped on as she cradled her badly beaten boyfriend.  Mr Maltby made a partial recovery from his injuries, Ms Lancaster slipped into a coma after the attack and died later in hospital.  Last year, Northern Voices'* published an interview with Sophie's mother Sylvia Lancaster, and last September The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester put on a play related to the incident entitled 'Black Roses'.

Today Sylvia Lancaster, who helped set up the foundation and who has fought to make attacks on sub-cultures like the Goths a 'Hate Crime' said: 'It is a very proud day for me personally and the rest of the team.  It is a validation of the work we have undertaken in the past five years and hopefully other forces will follow GMP's lead.  A big thank you to Greater Manchester Police and all our supporters.'   Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan said:  'People who wish to express their alternative sub-culture identity freely should not have to tolerate hate crime.'  The Manchester police said the change would enable officers to give more support to victims of anti-punk or anti-Goth crime.  But it won't necessarily mean tougher sentences.

The ex-director of public prosecutions, Lord Macdonald, said he had reservations about changing the legal definition of a hate crime.  He said:  'People's racial origins, their religion, their sexual orientation, people's dignity in the face of disability - these have been lines in the sand with the law saying, look, these are crimes that threaten social cohesion as a whole and therefore national life.  I'm a little cautious about watering down this concept.' 

Ryan Herbert and Brendan Harris, both from Bacup, were jailed for life in 2008 for Miss Lancaster's murder and for causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Maltby.   When sentencing them, Judge Anthony Russell QC said:  'This was a hate crime against these completely harmless people targeted because their appearance was different to yours.' 

The Goths emerged as a youth subculture in the 1980s and the term was initially used to describe a form of music.  Since then it has come to cover literature, art and fashion, with its exponents often dressing in dark clothing.
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There are still a few copies of the printed version of NORTHERN VOICES No.13*, available for sale with the Sylvia Lancaster interview, it can be obtained as follows:  
Postal subscription: £5 for the next two issues (post included). Cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' at c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.
 
Tel.: 0161 793 5122.

email: northernvoices@hotmail.com

Northern Voices and t'other buggers: AF & MI5

NORTHERN VOICES must be doing summat right because soon after Simon Danczuk made his speech on child abuse and cover-ups in the House of Commons on Tuesday last week, someone hacked into the Northern Voices e-mail account, and our server closed it down.  At the same time Northern Voices is under attack from a group, perhaps a hundred strong nationally, called the Anarchist Federation (AF) and an affiliate of theirs with a bit of a grudge now nicked-named the 'Salad Cream Queen'.  This lady rose to fame with her twelve  'Nutcracker soldiers' in a star performance at the London Anarchist Bookfair, where she trashed the Northern Voices bookstall and sprayed salad cream on the photo of the murdered 'Goth girl' from Bacup, Sophie Lancaster.  Meanwhile over the last few weeks while we have been researching the story of Cyril Smith and the allegedly abused lads at Cambridge House in Rochdale in the 1960s, both John Walker, the former editor of the Rochdale Alternative Paper in the 1970s, and I have been receiving Trojans on a systematic basis.  On that same evening Edna, our pet goat, sustained a bloody nose; is someone trying to send us a message?

What's it all about? 

The pet goat's injuries was probably down to the local kids in Castleton, Rochdale, throwing stones and the attacks by so called 'anarchists' at the bookfair has something to do with them being thin-skinned about some criticism contained in an obituary about one of their members.  But the attacks on the Northern Voices e-mail account and John Walker's e-mail are more suspicious.  Possibly it is a rival journalist trying to get an inside story relating to Sir Cyril Smith, or given the interest of special branch and MI5 in the Cyril Smith case, perhaps, when we at www.northernvoicesmag.com and Paul Waugh on www.politicshome.com  broke the story of Cyril Smith's alleged abuse of boys at Cambridge House in the 1960s, other agencies were crawling all over us.  This is particularly ironic given that the members of the Anarchist Federation are one of the most coy and shy political groupings in the country:   that they should start throwing salad cream and acting daft in public just at the moment when MI5 might suddenly be taking an interest in Northern Voices and its associates is comical in the extreme.  These shy lads and lasses couldn't have picked a better time to get noticed if they'd tried.

Falling over Five Leaves

The Doghouse is the spiritual home of Northern Voices!

Malcolm Muggeridge once described the job of an editor as that of 'a blind man with a stick'.  In other words an editor ought not to be a single-minded campaigner who knows everything, because monomania is not a luxury he can afford if he or she is to do the job properly.  On Northern Voices our editorial approach is to stumble forward as best we can nervously deciding how to deal with such tricky problems as that presented by the interview with Sophie Lancaster's mother, Sylvia Lancaster, and deciding on a sincere attitude in our leading article in NV13 to her call for an extension of the Hate Laws to deal with horrendous crimes like the murder of her daughter for being a 'New Romantic' or a 'Goth'.  I was much less anxious about Northern Voices' criticising someone I knew like Bob Miller, than I was at challenging the views of a stranger like Sylvia Lancaster, because I thought that someone who was within the libertarian and anarchist tradition would appreciate the need for criticism, and while accepting that there would be those who would spring to his defence I expected them to employ reasoned arguments.  How wrong can one be!  Sylvia Lancaster thanked Northern Voices for airing the issues surrounding her daughter's death and she said that she was in no way offended by our obvious differences over the matter of our opposition to her Hate Law campaign, while the friends and family of Bob Miller employed methods more commonly associated with right-wing organisations in this country:  the people involved would appear to have been associated with the national organisation called the Anarchist Federation (formerly the Anarchist Communist Federation), although it is understood that Nick Heath has described the attack as an 'unofficial action' by members of the Anarchist Federation.

Perhaps, if Northern Voices is to engage in the investigative and independent journalism commonly associated with Private Eye down South, we must expect that our spiritual home may come to be the Doghouse.  Last Saturday, at the London Anarchist Bookfair an incident occurred in which we were certainly were placed in the Doghouse and for the moment we leave it to a report on the Five Leaves Blog fiveleavespublications.blogspot.com/ (dated 28th, October 2012) below to describe what happened:

'Congratulations to the organisers for another great Bookfair.  But there was an unpleasant incident. Five Leaves stall was next to that of Northern Voices. Early in the day a small group from Manchester asked the one person at NV to leave. It was not clear to me at that moment why. It turned out that the magazine had some time ago written a rather unfavourable and, indeed, rather unpleasant obituary of the Manchester anarchist Bob Miller. Some time later in the morning a large group of people, from Manchester and elsewhere, returned to the stall, and when the stall holder refused to leave, wrecked it, stealing most of the material on display and covering the stall-holder and the stall (and one unrelated stall-holder behind NV) with salad cream. Though the stall-holder was uninjured, save for a bruised face when he fell and some irritation from the cream getting into his eyes, he was pretty shocked, as was anyone seeing the incident. I have no doubt that his original article was unwise and should not have been published - the best critique of it appears on NV's own rather good blog, October 4th at www.northernvoicesmag.blogspot.com  - but a dozen or so people attacking one person and his stall (with little heed for collateral damage) was bullying.  I've mentioned in a previous posting (about David Hoffman vs. Freedom magazine) that when negotiations between injured parties break down that people must find a way of resolving their difficulties without going to law or, in this case, force of numbers and salad cream - ideally by arbitration. Fortunately this incident took place at a quiet time, in a quiet corner of the Bookfair.'

Black Roses' Review: Killing of Sophie Lancaster

AS we entered the last week of the play 'Black Roses - The killing of Sophie Lancaster', I chatted with the father of the actress of the young lass Rachel Austin who took-off Sophie in the play in The Studio at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester.  He had just bought a copy of Northern Voices 13, with an interview with Sophie's mother, Sylvia Lancaster.  One woman had just said to me how awful it was, the more so for where it took place in a town called Bacup, that is so much a part of traditional Lancashire.  It is hard to believe that a town like that could have led to a crime of such bloody proportions as she and her boyfriend were kicked by a mob of local lads.  In the end she died of her wounds and her lover, Robert Maltby, was left traumatised and physically damaged. 

The play, in which Julie Hesmondalgh of Coronation Street plays Sophie’s mother Sylvia, has sold-out of the original tickets, and more space has been provided owing to extra demand for seats.  Last Saturday, at the matinee the audience was mostly female and middle-class.  This play originated on Radio Four, but the austere surroundings of The Studio set serve the theatrical purpose well.  Thus, we have the homely Mum philosophising, while the exotic 'Goth Girl' is hovering round her like a spectre from a different realm.  In an interview with Northern Voices last year, Sophie's mum, Sylvia, had said:  'For Sophie being a Goth was like being a "Traditional Goth", she was a Goth like Adam Ant's "New Romantics" and Boy George'.

Poetry by Simon Armitage and homespun philosophy by Sylvia Lancaster; the exotic and the everyday captured together in the same small space.  Individuality and the ordinary united.  During last Saturday's performance one man collapsed and the play had to be stopped.  Troubled teenager grows up to become an accidental martyr in Stubbylee Park, and an icon of the outsider is created.  The tension in the play thrives between mother and daughter, as the shadows form and the trainers stamp their marks on both Robert and Sophie:  aim for the face seemed to be the general war cry of the five-man mob.

Catherine Smyth in her book 'Weirdo, Mosher, Freak: the murder of sophie lancaster' (2010) price £7.99 available at the Cornerhouse Cinema Bookshop on Oxford Street in Manchester, wrote:  'Personally, I felt Sophie's murder was more akin to a Manchester, Liverpool or London crime, but not Bacup...  High unemployment, crime, alcohol abuse and drug dependency has meant that any beauty in Bacup is often overshadowed and the town's decline is obvious for all to see.'

Play runs until September 29th, 2012.  Tel.: 0161 833 9833 (www.sophielancasterfoundation.com)

This Month's Northern Voices' Top 5 pageviews:

158 pageviews:  New Charter takes over Tameside Reporter. Is this ...

3 Sep 2012
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112 pageviews:  Bolton Council say 'Bye-Bye' to Gary Neville's Tel...

25 Jun 2010
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56 pageviews:  WOOLAS SUSPENDED BY LABOUR PARTY!

6 Nov 2010, 1 comment
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51 pageviews:  BLACK ROSES: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster

16 Aug 2012
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48 pageviews:  Blacklisted worker Colin Trousdale calls on Unite ...

31 Jan 2011
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Edirorial comment:  It's not surprising that the 'New Charter' takeover of the Tameside Reporter is the top performer in the last month on the Northern Voices Blog.  The Garry Neville story has been the best all time performer and one Sophie Lancaster posting, last April, has had 453 pageviews in all.  More curious in the last month, are the 56 pageviews for the 6th, November 2010 posting on the suspension of Phil Woolas from the Labour Party and the 48 pageviews for the 31st, January posting on the blacklisted electrician Colin Trousdale.

BLACK ROSES: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster

IN Northern Voices No.13 - the Summer 2012 issue, I interviewed Sylvia Lancaster about her daughter  Sophie Lancaster, who on 11th, August 2007 was beaten unconscious in Stubbeylee Park, Bacup and later died from her injuries in hospital. Sophie then was 20 years old, had just passed her A-Levels and was working out what to do with her life:  She was killed because she was different.

On the 19th, September The Studio of the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester will be putting on a performance of 'BLACK ROSES' with words by Sylvia Lancaster; Poetry by Simon Armitage.  The production will be co-directed by Sarah Frankcom and Susan Roberts.  In Northern Voices No.13, our arts correspondent, Christopher Draper placed the Royal Exchange among the top six theatres in the North of England.  BLACK ROSES continues showing until the 29th, September:  Box Office 0845 450 4808.
Website www.royalexchange.co.uk

 

A MOVING RESPONSE TO THE DEATH OF YOUNG GAP-YEAR STUDENT SOPHIE LANCASTER

BLACK ROSES is an elegy for Sophie in which she tells her own story through a series of poems by the award-winning poet Simon Armitage, alongside the words of her mother, Sylvia Lancaster, remembering her daughter’s shortened life.

The piece provoked an unprecedented response when it premiered on Radio Four last year, winning the BBC Audio and Music Best Speech Programme of the Year Award.

Now re-imagined for the theatre with Rachel Austin and Julie Hesmondhalgh (CORONATION STREET), BLACK ROSES is co-directed by Royal Exchange Artistic Director Sarah Frankcom and award-winning BBC Radio Drama Producer Susan Roberts.
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The printed version of NORTHERN VOICES No.13, now on sale with all sorts of stuff others won't touch and may be obtained as follows:

Postal subscription: £5 for the next two issues (post included). Cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' at c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.

Tel.: 0161 793 5122.

email: northernvoices@hotmail.com

Link4Life in Rochdale: A Child of the Enlightenment?

DOUBTS about Link4Life's committment to the spirit of Voltaire and the Enlightenment in the arts, will continue following the decision of Link4Life boss, Peter Kilkenny, to refuse to stock the current issue of Northern Voices in the shop at Touchstones in Rochdale Town Centre.  Touchstones bookshop had sold copies of the previous issue of Northern Voices with our review of the Liam Spencer exhibition in last year, but this year they returned Northern Voices 13 having read the mildly critical article by Debbie Firth of the Touchstones Challenge campaign group, dealing with what she thought was a Link4Life managerial bias against the arts in Rochdale.

This is disappointing as Northern Voices 13 carried an interview with Sylvia Lancaster, the mother of Sophie Lancaster, the murdered 'Goth girl' and new romantic, from up Bacup.  It also included a review/ excerpts from Catherine Smyth's book 'Weirdo, Mosher, Freak: the murder of sophie lancaster', which is on sale in Touchstones Bookshop.  In the 1970s, the Rochdale Alternative Paper (RAP), according one of its former editors, John Walker, had some difficulties getting the reference library to stock that paper in what is now Touchstones but was then the Rochdale Central Library.  The difficulties were overcome at that time, because the local librarian stood up to the politicians who wanted to exclude that controversial local publication. 

In Rochdale town centre, copies of Northern Voices 13 with Debbie Firth's article in, is available at Gallery Number Ten at 10, Bailie Street, and at Martin's News in the Rochdale Bus station.
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The printed version of NORTHERN VOICES 13, with all sorts of stuff others won't touch and may be obtained as follows:

Postal subscription: £5 for the next two issues (post included)

Cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' at

c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.

Tel.: 0161 793 5122.

email: northernvoices@hotmail.com
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Sophie Lancaster Foundation & UK Government Hate Crime Action Plan

In this Summer's issue of Northern Voices 13, we did an interview with Sylvia Lancaster, Sophie's mum, about among other things her proposals for changes in the law on hate crime.  I took the view then that a specific change in the law would do damage to a more tolerant society and I still stand by that.  The recomendation in the report below at 1.10 is a guideline which allows for a wider definition that a judge may take into account when sentencing.

-Sophie Lancaster Foundation Report (March 2012)-

In its introduction, the report states:

'1.9 In 2007, the police, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Prison Service (now the National Offender Management Service) and other agencies that make up the criminal justice system agreed a common definition of monitored hate crime to cover five ‘strands,’ in particular – disability, gender-identity, race, religion/faith and sexual orientation. Primarily, this was to ensure a consistent working definition to allow accurate recording and monitoring.


1.10 This does not mean that crimes motivated by hostility or hatred of other characteristics, such as gender, age or appearance cannot happen. The tragic murder of Sophie Lancaster, who was attacked simply because of her appearance, is a graphic illustration of this fact. Although crimes such as this may fall outside of the nationally monitored strands, they are nonetheless hate crimes, and they should therefore be treated as such....'

The Sophie Lancaster Foundation has been campaigning for an extension to the current strands to include 'alternative subcultures or lifestyle and dress-code' and welcomes this action plan and the commitment to eradicating the hatred that blights so many lives.

As a member of the UK Government’s Cross Party Hate Crime Advisory Board, Sylvia Lancaster has worked with her colleagues on the board over the last two years to ensure that not only does Hate Crime remain a priority but that it reflects the reality of the level of Hate Crime suffered by differing groups, including 'alternatives'.

This launch of this report is a very important step for the Foundation. The recognition of Judge Russell’s sentencing of Sophie’s murder as a Hate Crime within it validates our work in the Hate Crime field.

We hope it brings a greater understanding amongst the professionals in the justice system, leading to an increase in the reporting and prosecution of hate crimes and incidents perpetrated against people from alternative subcultures.

Thank you for all the support you have all given us to get to this point and please stay with us as we work to a more tolerant society.
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Get the printed version of NORTHERN VOICES 13, with a leading interview between the editor of NV and Sophie Lancaster's mother, Sylvia, all sorts of stuff others won't touch and may be obtained as follows:

Postal subscription: £5 for the next two issues (post included)
Cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' from
c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.

Tel.: 0161 793 5122.
email: northernvoices@hotmail.com _______________________________________________________

NORTHERN VOICES No.13: Out Now!!!

NORTHERN VOICES 13, - the printed / physical version of N.V. - deals with some of the issues that the others on the so-called British left won't touch. Starting with an interview with Sylvia Lancaster, mum of the murdered 'Goth Girl' / 'New Romantic' Sophie Lancaster, who was kicked to death up Bacup, in Lancashire, in August 2007. How do you feel about a new 'Hate Crime' on the statute book? Previously, Northern Voices has given you 'The Gangs of Manchester' dating back to an early 20th Century, but that was about lad's gangs: does the merciless killing of our sublime Sophie represent a step into a darker age? To be up-to-date and understand the way Northern Voices thinks and is different from other publications you should read the real and physical N.V..

Other stories include an apparent attack on the arts in Rochdale by the Link4Life organisation; 'The Strange Burnley story of Philip Morrell: the man who resisted Britain's participation in World War One' by Rev. Father Petty; an interview with a Libyan freedom fighter in Manchester by Barry Woodling; Tameside Eye & Salford Spy; Bribery & Corruption Column covering blacklisting; work-for-dole; allegations of bribery on Bury Council, 'environmental vandalism' at Chat Moss in Salford and  Les May on what he is now describing as 'Backdoor Privatisation' in Rochdale.

Do you think theatres and drama are Crap? Well, if you do or you don't, there's a review of Six O' the Best Northern Theatres by Chris Draper and with 'Miss Julie'* staring one of our northern actresses Maxine Peake, and starting at Manchester's Royal Exchange on the 12th, April, you can decide if it's worth a visit to Theatre -in-the-Round, based on what Chris has to say about the state of our local theatres up North. In our coloured centre-spread there is an image of an anarchist scarf that James Keogh, a volunteer in the Spanish Civil War 1936-39 and who last November was awarded a Blue Plaque by Tameside MBC, sent to his mum in Ashton-under-Lyne. Did James buy it on the Ramblas in Barcelona after he arrived in Spain in 1937? Then if you fancy a bit of culture you can have a look at our view of the Ford Madox Brown Exhibition, and the tricky business that led to his painting of the murals in Manchester Town Hall: our centre spread includes 'Bradshaw's Defence of Manchester A.D. 1642'.

Then there's history with 'Peterloo & the politics of Failure' by Dick Dutch and more of Chris Draper on the Sheffield outrages and sucking-up to the bosses by British trade union gaffers.

* 'MISS JULIE' by August Strindberg at the Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester:
a new version by David Eldridge, from a literal translation by Charlotte Barslund
'I can't run away, I can't stay. I can't live, I can't die. Help me'
MAXINE PEAKE plays Miss Julie. Known for her television appearances in SILK, the BAFTA nominated HANCOCK & JOAN and SHAMELESS, she is reunited with director Sarah Frankcom, whose recent successes at the Exchange include the award-winning PUNK ROCK and A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE.
'Sweden, 1894. Midsummer night’s celebrations are in full swing but the Count’s daughter, the beautiful and imperious Miss Julie, feels trapped and alone. Downstairs in the servants’ kitchen, handsome and rebellious footman Jean is feeling restless. When they meet a passion is ignited that soon spirals out of control. Strindberg’s masterpiece caused a scandal when first produced – and has been hugely popular ever since – for its searingly honest portrait of the class system and human sexuality.'
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The printed version of NORTHERN VOICES 13, with all sorts of stuff others won't touch and may be obtained as follows:
Postal subscription: £5 for the next two issues (post included)
Cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' at
c/o 52, Todmorden Road,
Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.
Tel.: 0161 793 5122.
email: northernvoices@hotmail.com
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Sophie Lancaster in Stubbylee Park & now it's Ben Moores in a Waterfoot Kicking

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The full Northern Voices interview 'SUBLIME SOPHIE, PRIDE OF OUR ALLEY' with Sylvia Lancaster, Sophie's mum, is now available in the printed version of NORTHERN VOICES 13, which may be obtained as follows:
Postal subscription: £5 for two issues (post included)
Cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' at
c/o 52, Todmorden Road,
Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.
Tel.: 0161 793 5122.
email: northernvoices@hotmail.com
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LAST Friday, the Manchester Evening News reported an attack on teenage heavy metal fan Ben Moores behind the Co-op Supermarket in Waterfoot only two miles from Stubbylee Park in Bacup,Lancs, where in August 2007 Sophie Lancaster was murdered and her boyfriend Robert Maltby was left with life threatening injuries. Sophie was beaten to death because she was dressed in the style of a traditional Goth, and Ben was battered as he was reportably abused in the same way as a 'Mosher!' and a 'Freak!' Catherine Smyth, in her book 'Weirdo, Mosher, Freak: the murder of sophie lancaster' (2010) (available at Touchstones Musuem Bookshop, Rochdale) wrote: 'If only they'd stopped at name calling'.

The current printed issue of Northern Voices No.13, also on sale at Touchstones, has an interview with Sophie's mother Sylvia Lancaster. Sylvia told Northern Voices last October: 'For Sophie being a Goth was like being a "Traditional Goth" or "Punk Goth".' It was really about being different or sensitive with a love for the surface of the earth and all its creatures.

An editorial in last Friday's Manchester Evening News, detailing the similarities of the recent case of Ben Moores and the attack on Sophie in 2007, laments that 'if this teenager (Ben Moores) has been put through such an ordeal (as Sophie) at least in part because of the way he looks, then it would be a sad reflection on how little the world has been changed by Sophie's needless and so widely reported death.' It seems that the police are not treating Ben Moores case as a hate crime, and we must await more evidence before jumping to conclusions.

Ben's mum, Gale Moores has said: 'It was awful ... he had blood pouring from his ears and face and bald patches ... it scares me because of what happened to Sophie Lancaster.' Sylvia Lancaster, who as Sophie's mum has tirelessly campaigned for these kind of assaults to be classed as 'hate crimes', told the media that Ben's ordeal implied that the lessons of her daughter's death in Stubbylee Park had not been learned.

Northern Voices strongly believes that the cultural lessons about tolerance of differences of life style and dress have to be learned in our society, but that that will take much more than a change in the law however well meaning. Even some of the parents of the assailants of Sophie seemed to condone the actions of their kids; that suggests that there is a problem that runs deep in modern society. It needs uprooting, and there can't be any quick fix to such a crisis in nature of the human condition.