FREE FOOD FOR TURNING VEGGIE

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Free food for turning veggie

An animal campaign group is offering free food to two schools if they make their switch to vegetarian meals permanent.

St Barnabas CofE Primary, in Evington, and Highfields Primary – both Leicester – have been serving vegetarian meals because of concerns about potential contamination of halal food.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) has written to the head teachers to offer free vegetarian sausage rolls for every student if they make the meals a permanent fixture.

Leicester City Council withdrew a halal lamb burger from its school menu in April after it claimed tests showed up to 50 per cent pork in a sample.

Independent tests for the supplier, Paragon Foods, showed no contamination.

In a letter to the schools, Mimi Bekhechi, from Peta, said: "Studies have shown vegetarian kids grow taller and have higher IQs than their classmates and they are also at a reduced risk for heart disease, obesity, diabetes and other diseases in the long run.

"Meat, diary products and eggs are the main culprits in the obesity epidemic. Meat production is also a leading cause of water depletion, soil erosion and most other environmental problems, according to United Nations scientists."

Susan Poole, head of St Barnabas, and Jane Ridgewell, head of Highfields Primary, declined to comment.

"AMAZING" FESTIVAL KICKS OFF

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

"Amazing" festival kicks off

A cultural festival of dance, cooking, entertainment and everything Indian has kicked-off.

This weekend, the city's Cultural Quarter is hosting the third annual Indian Summer. Festival director Bipin Anand promised the best yet.

He said: "It's going to be an amazing festival. Since we started in 2011, we have refined and perfected the festival and now have nine venues and will make good use of the Cultural Quarter.

"We've got some great guests, including the comic Paul Chowdhry, and people can learn how to make a great curry, have a go at different dances. There are more than 100 things for people to enjoy."

THIS WEEK'S VISITORS (1,894)

Here are the top ten countries from which the blog has received visits in the past week.

1. United States 437
2. Russia 411
3. United Kingdom 366
4. Germany 239
5. Slovenia 115
6. China 109
7. France 80
8. Netherlands 73
9. India 32
10. Ukraine 32

This week's total: 1,894 (last week: 2,240). These are aggregates of figures from the top ten countries only. Blogger's analytics doesn't show the numbers of pageviews below the tenth-ranking country and they don’t show the cumulative total including those additional countries, which is undoubtedly larger than the number shown above.

The world map at the top of this post is the graphic that I see on the stats page. The darker the green, the more pageviews from that country. I can see different versions of that map for "now" (i.e. in the last two hours), "today", "this week", "this month" and "all time". They're updated each time I look at them.

MEET TAIWO (TONY) ROTIMI

Taiwo (Tony) Rotimi

An appointment this morning with Taiwo (Tony) Rotimi, Project Manager of LACBA (Leicester African Caribbean Business Association) Enterprise Academy, which is based in the Melbourne Centre in Highfields. 

I'm here to discuss a couple of book proposals that Tony's been nursing for a while. I've worked with him before in a freelance capacity on a number of titles published under his name, but we haven't done anything together for some years now. We met recently at a workshop run by the Heritage Lottery Fund at Voluntary Action LeicesterShire and thought it a good time to renew working relations. The last few titles we worked on were The 365 Tools to a Fulfilled Life, Short Quotable Bible Verses and Behind the Clouds. In case you haven't seen or heard of any of these books, faithful reader, you can check them out by clicking on the respective titles or by visiting the website of the publisher, Platinum Consolidated.

Tony invites me to attend the launch of his latest book (one in which I wasn't involved), Understanding the Person of the Holy Spirit in a few weeks at the New Covenant Church. That'll be nice.

Tony belongs to Leicester Pastors Forum and he offers to raise the topic of establishing working relations between this body and Leicester Council of Faiths at one of their future meetings. This would be a good thing, as the Council of Faiths has never managed to establish strong relations with African Heritage Churches in the city. If Tony can help rectify this, then he'll be doing us all a favour.

MY CRAZY WEEK: GET READY FOR AN INDIAN SUMMER

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Bipin Anand

My crazy week: get ready for An Indian Summer

Monday: It begins on the back of four hours' sleep for the third day in a row – a whole lot of coffee and the excitement of the impending An Indian Summer (AIS) festival will keep me going, writes Bipin Anand.

After gulping my coffee, I head to the Curve theatre to run through the 20-odd AIS activities they will be hosting from June 27 to 30.

I grab a quick lunch on the mad dash back to the office where there are e-mails to be answered and social media to update. I attend a daily festival team meeting in the afternoon and then head back to the office and catch up with the leaflet and event guide distribution team.

Tuesday: Another early start. I do an interview on Tommy Sandhu's Breakfast Show on BBC Asian Network, meet with local car park owners to organise parking for An Indian Summer artists and continue inviting people from the UK/Europe to An Indian Summer, which is now just nine days away.

Soon it's 5pm and I realise I've forgotten to have lunch and grab a quick sandwich. I fire off a few e-mails, plough through paperwork and finally go home exhausted – at 10.30pm. I sign off after midnight, even with the buzz of the festival I just can't work anymore.

Wednesday: Arriving at the office I find three team members already there hard at work, everyone's so excited, it's a great atmosphere!The morning is spent setting up interviews with Pukaar News before a lunch meeting with AIS project and event managers Swati and Jiten.

The team is buzzing with the announcement that Leicester has made the final four of the City of Culture finalists! I pop over to the University of Leicester to run through details of their involvement in the AIS launch, meet with Phoenix's CEO to run through details for next year's AIS, and confirm transport for tabla artist Mayur Narvekar (arriving by flight from India) is all good for the following day.

Thursday: I'm jolted awake with a mixture of nerves and excitement at the realisation that there is now just one week to go. I have a meeting with AIS media team coordinator, Simon Aitchison, a health and safety walk through with my brother and event manager Jiten.

Lunch is delivered by my wonderful mum on her way to work. I edit video footage, help with leaflet distribution and attend a meeting with the manager of Chutney Ivy to discuss our launch – in aid of Unique Homes for Girls – next Wednesday. A break is much-needed so I switch off my phone and sneak off to catch a movie at Phoenix.

Friday: After a jog and meditation session, I am fired up and ready for the day ahead. I'm greeted by Gurdeep, AIS's creative director, and the decoration team – they will be putting into action the AIS decoration plan as of today. I attend the City of Culture team meeting as one of the executive board members of the bid team. A day of meetings, run-throughs with the team follow before I pack up slightly early, head home and put my feet up – an awesome feeling.

Bipin Anand is festival director of An Indian Summer, from June 27-30 in Leicester's Cultural Quarter

MERCURY OPINION: GOLDEN MILE GATEWAYS ARE A GREAT IDEA

This is from the Mercury Opinion column in today's Leicester Mercury:

Golden Mile gateways are a great idea

Belgrave traders have raised the idea of large Indian-style gateways to mark either end of Leicester's Golden Mile. It would create a landmark in a similar way to the Oriental arches in Manchester's Chinatown. Leicester Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby is enthusiastic about the idea and would support it if the traders were to pay for it themselves. That last point touches on the issue of how this would be funded and that does not appear to be entirely clear yet.

Notwithstanding that potential stumbling block, it is an excellent idea. This area of Leicester is already scheduled for a major change with the demolition of the Belgrave flyover next year. This has caused some anxiety among motorists. However, there are many benefits to the area itself. The Belgrave flyover is an unattractive structure which separates the Golden Mile from the city centre. Its demolition will remove that barrier.

The creation of the landmarks being proposed by the traders would further add to the character and distinctiveness of this area and make it more of an attraction to visitors to the city. It has a fine array of shops and this would help to make them even more of an attraction. One would imagine, however, that landmarks of this nature would be expensive and the crucial issue is coming up with a funding plan. We would love to see this idea get off the ground.

LARGE GATEWAYS PLAN FOR ENDS OF THE GOLDEN MILE

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

The distinctive gates in Chinatown, Manchester

Large gateways plan for ends of the Golden Mile

by Dan Martin

Large Indian-style gateways could be put up to mark either end of Leicester's Golden Mile.

Businesses along the busy shopping street in Belgrave are looking at establishing landmarks similar to the Oriental arches in Manchester's Chinatown.

Traders' representatives have been holding discussions with city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby about the idea.

Sir Peter said: "It is an idea that has come forward from the traders as a way of demonstrating the identity of the Golden Mile.

"They have expressed an interest in getting something at either end which would show people when they are entering what is a specialist shopping area.

"They want something at the city end and something at the Melton Road end.

"I have seen Chinatown (in Manchester) and it looks good. I think something similar could work here.

"There is a precedent for doing this in the city already – the arch at the entrance to the market, though that is much more modest than what is being considered."

Sir Peter said he was enthusiastic about the idea and would support it if the traders were to pay for it themselves.

He said the planned demolition of the Belgrave fly-over, set to take place after Sainsbury's relocates from Belgrave to Melton Road at the end of this year, could allow some sort of new public art feature.He said: "It is an idea in its very early stages."

Dharmesh Lakhani, chairman of the Belgrave Business Association, said: "We are looking for something that makes people think of India and the subcontinent, but with elements of Leicester and the UK.

"It could well be a gateway and we could then use an image of it as branding all along the Golden Mile. It would be lovely to have something like that.

"We are not certain yet how it would fit in with the road structure or the space available.

"Whatever we do, it will be something that reinforces the character of the Golden Mile and encourages people to visit."

Mr Lakhani said people in the area would be asked what design they would like to see in place. Children at Abbey Primary School have already come up with a series of designs that could be considered.

Leicester East MP Keith Vaz said: "The Golden Mile is a defined area of shopping excellence known across the country and I think it is a great idea.

"It would come into its own at the time of Diwali.

"It is an ambitious idea and I will support it."

Travel agent Dipak Varadia, 51, from Brandon Street, off Belgrave Road, said: "We should definitely do this. At the moment, that big, ugly concrete fly-over hardly says 'Welcome to the Golden Mile'.

"When it has gone, we can replace it with something beautiful."

MEDIEVAL MYSTIC WILL BE TALK OF THE CHURCH

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Medieval mystic will be talk of the church

Bishop Street Methodist Church in Leicester is holding another of its Talks in the Chapel series.

After talks on Richard III, Christmas carols and the 50th anniversary of the religious best-seller Honest to God, the next topic will be Hildegard of Bingen, the medieval mystic.

Hildegard was an independent thinker and artist who led a convent of nuns in Rupertsberg, in the Rhineland. She wrote poetry, composed songs, drew pictures and wrote about medicine and natural history.

The talk will be on Thursday, July 4, between 6.15pm and 7.15pm. Admission is free.

FIRST PERSON: FAITH SCHOOLS HELP REINFORCE SOCIAL DIVISIONS

Harry Perry has written the First Person column in today's Leicester Mercury:

Faith schools help reinforce social divisions

State education must not be allowed to discriminate by religion, says Harry Perry of Leicester Secular Society

All state-funded schools should be open to all children regardless of their parents' religion. Seems obvious when stated like that, doesn't it? Taxpayers from across the belief spectrum pay for our state schools yet there is in our country a Government-promoted policy for large numbers of publicly funded schools to be allowed to discriminate on the basis of parents' beliefs.

Why should that be? We also pay for the NHS, police and armed forces, for roads and social services and for the criminal justice system, yet nobody would dream of arguing aspects of these should be managed differently for people with different beliefs. So it should be for schools.

Even where faith schools have made pledges to ensure a mixed intake, we find admissions are skewed towards children of their own religion.

A national campaign has been launched to oppose religiously selective school admissions policies. It is called the Fair Admissions Campaign and you can easily find it on the web.

This campaign is particularly relevant in Leicester, where diversity of beliefs and communal harmony are trumpeted as our unique selling point in a world where religious conflict is a growing threat to international peace.

Elsewhere, we hear of children from families with the "wrong" beliefs being forced to travel far to find a non-discriminatory school.

There is a growing trend for parents to lie about their religious beliefs and even to attend services as part of the deception, in order to get their kids into a favoured school. How can that be a good example?

The most dramatically segregated schooling system in the UK is in Northern Ireland, but even there, after decades of civil strife, politicians are now pressing for integration.

Why is it important? It must be clear – especially from recent events – that so many of the tensions and conflicts in the UK and elsewhere are based on faith and ethnic divisions. Our communities remain riven by the differences which we should be learning to set aside.

Religiously selective schools cannot, of course, be held solely responsible for these problems, but they do underpin a system in which children learn they are different. They do not build friendships with others and the separation of children within schools reinforces wider divisions, as parents do not meet at the school gate.

It is vital individuals throughout the education system recognise and adhere to an inter-cultural approach that seeks at every opportunity to get people to mix rather than living with a constant emphasis on difference.

WHY WOULD THEY WANT TO VISIT US?

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Why would they want to visit us?

All right, so Leicester has been shortlisted in the final four to be the City of Culture 2017, but what does it mean for us the people of Leicester?

Firstly, it means our leader, Sir Peter Soulsby, can throw more good money (that we have not got) at a project (that we may not get).

Why, and for what purpose?

In my opinion, Leicester is not fit for the purpose.

Why would anybody want to come to Leicester, when we have the following:

Bus service not fit for purpose.

A city centre you cannot drive into.

At least three entertainment venues that rely on the council for support.

Untidy streets.

High Street and shopping centres with empty shops.

With exception of the Leicester Tigers, no sporting achievements.

Every week at least one or two fast food outlets closed due to environmental or health concerns.

This list is not exhaustive and no doubt other readers could add their own thoughts.

I for one would not go out of my way to visit Leicester if it was selected as City of Culture 2017.

Ian G Lambert, Leicester