Re: From Val at FT
Subject: Re: From Val at FT
From: "Val Stevenson" <val_stevenson@dennis.co.uk>
Date: 3/23/10, 13:14
To: "Barrett Brown" <barriticus@gmail.com>

Re: From Val at FT Not yet, I’m afraid – the project is going ahead after the launch of the Pavement website.

The Pavement itself may be a decent story, though, and it, too, is internet-based. We have a storage area*, but the London and Scotland editions (a third is on the way, and we aim to provide UK-wide homeless news and information resources) are run without proper offices by dispersed teams of volunteers. We are the only magazine in the UK written for rough sleepers and the vulnerably housed, though there are, of course, mags sold by homeless/vulnerably-housed people to get/keep a roof over their heads – The Big Issue, for instance.

I was one of the people behind the Rights Guide for Rough Sleepers, which covers the main legal problems experienced by rough sleepers. (I’ve attached the cartoon about it which normally features our homeless superhero, Street Shield, and the press release is at http://bit.ly/4RrqMk) We are planning a series of legal guides and will be providing legal training through a McKenzie Friend scheme (http://bit.ly/c7lnWm) to counter the disproportionate amount of legal nastiness experienced by our readers - we’ve run many stories about rough sleepers being hosed down and assaulted by police and local government officials. My eventual ambition is to obtain the repeal of the 1824 Vagrancy Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagrancy_Act_1824), which makes it homelessness illegal.

We’re investigating other decent stories, like EU citizens being illegally deported and people being threatened with incarceration in mental hospitals if they don’t cooperate. Our unpaid journalists produce their work at the end of their real job – we have hacks from the BBC, newspapers and magazines. If that’s of any interest, Richard, the founder (left Naval intelligence, thought he’d do a bit of voluntary work, and five years later..!), and I are both on Skype, email and just about every other means of electronic communication! If not, I’ll certainly keep you up to date with developments on the union of the homeless.

Vx

* Officially we have an office, but it is unheated with a hole in the roof, and we keep deliveries in a corner!


On 23/3/10 15:19, "Barrett Brown" <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:

Val-

Thanks for getting back to me and for suggesting those folks. I'll get in touch with them soon. Also, as I'm now keen on internet-based corroboration schemes, I'd like to write about your project as well for True/Slant and perhaps also HuffPo (where most of my stuff is picked up). Do you have a press kit or any other written materials I could use for a short description of what you're doing, which I would couple with a few paragraphs about the opportunity to do these sorts of things in general?

Thanks,


--

Val Stevenson
Reviews editor, Fortean Times (forteantimes.com) - "Possibly the most
entertaining publication on the planet" - Wired
30 Cleveland Street, London W1T 4JD

Personal site: nthposition.com - "the 21st century answer to the vanished local bookshop kept by an avid reader with style and taste and real insider knowledge" - Marina Warner. Shortlisted, European Online Journalism Awards, 2003; winner, Utne Independent Press Award, 2004; Webby Worthy, 2005; selected for the British Library archive, 2006.

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