Brixton Clifton Mansions former squats - background, 2011 evictions and latest news

[quimcunx]

What's your address LT? Let's test the theory.

 

[Laughing Toad]

Has anyone ever put an open invite to a party at yours on facebook? I've seen a few reports on the news about such things.

No. I wonder why that might be? Perhaps is has something to do with me not being a squatter.

Even if people did arrive at my door, I wouldn't let them in.

Even if they did come in, I wouldn't allow them onto the roof.

Even if they did get onto the roof and started throwing things off, I would call the police and have them charged with criminal damage.

And you can be sure that if I got an eviction notice, I would be fighting it in the courts, and not barricading myself into my home.

 

[ddraig]

 

[Laughing Toad]

Do stop feeding the troll and let the thread get back to being relevant.

I thought you were ignoring me.

 

[TruXta]

I thought you were ignoring me.

He can still see that you are posting, just not what you are posting.

 

[Blagsta]

No. I wonder why that might be? Perhaps is has something to do with me not being a squatter.

Even if people did arrive at my door, I wouldn't let them in.

Even if they did come in, I wouldn't allow them onto the roof.

Even if they did get onto the roof and started throwing things off, I would call the police and have them charged with criminal damage.

And you can be sure that if I got an eviction notice, I would be fighting it in the courts, and not barricading myself into my home.

Costs?

 

[Laughing Toad]

What's your address LT? Let's test the theory.

My address is well known, and it's on facebook, as it happens. You are claiming that the residents had nothing to do with the invites, so for the experiment to work, I'll have nothing to do with the invites to my house wrecking party. You have to spontaneously arrive without my help. Good luck.

 

[Blagsta]

My address is well known, and it's on facebook, as it happens. You are claiming that the residents had nothing to do with the invites, so for the experiment to work, I'll have nothing to do with the invites to my house wrecking party. You have to spontaneously arrive without my help. Good luck.

What costs?

 

[Gramsci]

that would be illegal

squatting is a civil offence
if you don't like it, tough toady

Luaghing Toad will be happy to know this Government wants to make it illegal:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2...law-criminalise-homeless?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

Squatting in this country has a long history going back to medieval times. After WW2 ex servicemen squatted old army bases due to lack of housing.

The most recent new squatters are my East European friends. Watching Clifton being evicted I met a Polish friend of mine who was passing by. As he said where are all those people doing low paid jobs supposed to live.

In the 60s squatting was about alternative ways of llfe. There was a lot of empty property in London.

There has always been squatting by those who are not well off as well.

The main problem in London now is a lack of affordable housing. The last Government did little to remedy this. This present Government is out to destroy affordable housing.

Unlike other European Countries in this country private tenant rights have been eroded. Most are on 6 months ASTs. There is little or no private rent regulation. With the caps to Housing Benefit many will have to move. Private landlords have done well out of HB.

See here about Westminster Council report on effect of HB caps:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/p...ster-prepares-for-housing-benefit-cuts-exodus

 

[TruXta]

Luaghing Toad will be happy to know this Government wants to make it illegal:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2...law-criminalise-homeless?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

Squatting in this country has a long history going back to medieval times. After WW2 ex servicemen squatted old army bases due to lack of housing.

The most recent new squatters are my East European friends. Watching Clifton being evicted I met a Polish friend of mine who was passing by. As he said where are all those people doing low paid jobs supposed to live.

In the 60s squatting was about alternative ways of llfe. There was a lot of empty property in London.

There has always been squatting by those who are not well off as well.

The main problem is London now is a lack of affordable housing. The last Government did little to remedy this. This present Government is out to destroy affordable housing.

But but but.... they're not paying their rents! They're not like me! They're filthy lawbreakers! Bwa bwa bwa bwa!!!!!!!!!!! /Laughing Toad

 

[Aquamarine]

People who squat do so because they are in desperate need of housing. Government plans to legislate aside at the present time at least I don't thinks its possible in principle to condemn or condone squatting given ;how out of control the whole housing sector is - vested interests within what has emerged as a veritable homelessness industry, local authority corruption and so on.

 

[Gramsci]

A homelessness industry? Local authority corruption?

More like the power of developers to get there way to make the most profit. Developers fight tooth and nail to lower the amount of affordable housing in large schemes. They also sit on "Land Banks" to limit house building to help keep prices up.

 

[Gramsci]

But but but.... they're not paying their rents! They're not like me! They're filthy lawbreakers! Bwa bwa bwa bwa!!!!!!!!!!! /Laughing Toad

Shall we start writing Laughing Toads posts for him? Save LT the bother. No he loves it attacking the feckless layabouts on U75

reminds me of Alf Garnett

 

[Gramsci]

History of early squatting. A great British tradition:

http://www.inpressbooks.co.uk/cotte...en_history_of_housing_colin_ward_i016204.aspx

"Squatters were the original householders, and this book explores the story of squatter settlements in England and Wales, from our cave-dwelling ancestors to the squeezing out of cottagers in the enclosure of the commons.

There is a widespread folk belief that if a house could be erected between sundown and sunset the occupants had the right to tenure and could not be evicted. Often enquiry into the manorial court rolls shows this to be the case. Unofficial roadside settlements or encroachments onto the 'wastes' between parishes provided space for the new miners, furnacemen and artisans who made the industrial revolution, while cultivating a patch of ground and keeping a pig and some chickens. Colin Ward's book, full of local anecdote and glimpses of surviving evidence, links the hidden history of unofficial settlements with the issues raised by 20th century squatters and the 21st century claims that 'The Land is Ours"

 

[Aquamarine]

A homelessness industry? Local authority corruption?

Well, yes, i think so - there is Homelesslink, the umbrella membership body for the homeless sector as a whole, the likes of Shelter, Crisis , Centrepoint etc - none of which technically house anyone and so can afford resplendent refurbishment of their blazing, bright office builidings in the city. There are also real issues around data discrepancies relating to the different types of homelessness recognised by london boroughs and witin the homelessness sector itself.

 

[Blagsta]

Rough sleeping counts in Westminster are regularly fiddled. It's an open secret amongst homelessness services in that borough.

 

[TruXta]

History of early squatting. A great British tradition:

http://www.inpressbooks.co.uk/cotte...en_history_of_housing_colin_ward_i016204.aspx

"Squatters were the original householders, and this book explores the story of squatter settlements in England and Wales, from our cave-dwelling ancestors to the squeezing out of cottagers in the enclosure of the commons.

There is a widespread folk belief that if a house could be erected between sundown and sunset the occupants had the right to tenure and could not be evicted. Often enquiry into the manorial court rolls shows this to be the case. Unofficial roadside settlements or encroachments onto the 'wastes' between parishes provided space for the new miners, furnacemen and artisans who made the industrial revolution, while cultivating a patch of ground and keeping a pig and some chickens. Colin Ward's book, full of local anecdote and glimpses of surviving evidence, links the hidden history of unofficial settlements with the issues raised by 20th century squatters and the 21st century claims that 'The Land is Ours"

That thing about erecting a house between sundown and sunset is remarkably similar to some stories I've heard from Turkish mates. They've call squatters gecekondu in Turkish, meaning something like "come by night".

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

I think this really needed to be a lot larger

 

[HandinHand]

I think this really needed to be a lot larger

 

[madzone]

I like my job.

He's fit as fuck

 

[EastEnder]

He's fit as fuck

Gramsci?

 

[madzone]

Gramsci?

I've never met Gramsci so it's hard to say. That cute little policeman however....

 

[Gramsci]

No Im not as fit as that Copper.

More into hot WPCs myself.

 

[EastEnder]

I've never met Gramsci so it's hard to say. That cute little policeman however....

You're being superficial again... I've warned you about this!

You'll never become a good judge of character if you can't begin to appreciate inner beauty...



P.S. FWIW, coppers are not exactly known for radiating inner beauty...

 

[madzone]

You're being superficial again... I've warned you about this!

You'll never become a good judge of character if you can't begin to appreciate inner beauty...



P.S. FWIW, coppers are not exactly known for radiating inner beauty...

I don't want to marry him, I'd just like him to take down my particulars.

 

[Onket]

Groundbreaking stuff, well done.

 

[ViolentPanda]

This afternoon I told two police in front of the building about the robberies. Their response: "we couldn't get near the place because we were being bottled." Maybe the crims anticipated that a squat party would be a lawless free for all?

You probably misheard the Old Bill. Going on their usual standard of behaviour, what they actually said would have been "we wouldn't go near the place because we're bottlers".

 

[ViolentPanda]

Oh, so the squatters were acting out of charity! My mistake. I thought they were just a lawless mob who wanted something for free instead of paying for it like the rest of us.

If you had a clue what you were talking about, you'd know that more often than not squatting is a quid pro quo. The presence of people preserves the fabric of buildings better than leaving them derelict. It's not about "charity", it's about acknowledging that it's more often advantageous for long-term empty stock to be squatted than to leave it to rot, which it'll do more quickly if unoccupied.

 

[ViolentPanda]

For instance, on the night before they were evicted, they had a big party, at which people were apparently throwing things off the roof. I don't let people in my home if I think they're likely to put hot cups on the living room table, let alone lob random projectiles off my roof.

So despite the vast amount of reportage detailing that the majority of partiers had fuck-all to do with Clifton Mansions, it's all the fault of the squatters?

You schmendrick.

 

[Laughing Toad]

If you had a clue what you were talking about, you'd know that more often than not squatting is a quid pro quo. The presence of people preserves the fabric of buildings better than leaving them derelict. It's not about "charity", it's about acknowledging that it's more often advantageous for long-term empty stock to be squatted than to leave it to rot, which it'll do more quickly if unoccupied.

You wish.