🇺🇦Ways to help Ukraine, guilty verdict in murder trial, council tax increase and more 🤑

Welcome to our weekly news briefing! This week we're covering how to help the people of Ukraine and the highlights from Brighton and Hove City Council's latest budget.

Please share this with anyone you think would be interested, and if you think you've got a story to tell about our city, consider signing up to contribute here.‌

Four found guilty of the murder of Billy Henham.

We covered the case extensively a few weeks ago, and can now confirm that Gregory Hawley, 29, Dushane Meikle, 28, Lamech Gordon-Carew, 20, and Alize Spence, 18, have been found guilty of murder.

Billy's family said:

Billy, our son and Rory’s brother, was cruelly and coldly taken from us.

It is hard to describe the horror of losing a family member to murder, especially in such a brutal and needless way. We cannot fathom as to why anyone would inflict such cruelty on someone so helpless.

He was a kind and peaceful young man; a free spirit who happily chatted to those he came across. We can well imagine, in his impaired and vulnerable condition that night, he was drawn towards the squat party and went into the North Street building not understanding the danger he was putting himself in.

In CCTV pictures we’ve seen of him, across the road from the squat, it hurts not to be able to make him hear our cries, warning him not to go in.

Sentencing will come at a later date.

Yes to swimming and youth arts, no to statues in council budget

Free swimming for children and a fully funded Youth Arts programme are coming to the city following Brighton and Hove City Council's latest budget for the next year.

The Youth Arts Programme, which was set to be impacted by budget cuts alongside community libraries, will be fully funded thanks to joint amendments from Labour and the Green Party. Children will no longer face service charges at the library, and fines for those under the age of 18 will be replaced with an 'incentive model'. Our technical director wishes they had this in place for over-18s too, after a recent £2.50 fine.

More street lighting and CCTV will come to the city 'to improve safety', with Sussex Police set to look into hotspots, especially regarding women and young people.

Policies put forward by the Conservatives including a £200,000 monarchist statue for the Platinum Jubilee failed to pass.

Council tax is set to rise by 2.99 per cent, with one per cent allocated to adult social care, and parking permits will rise by up to £100 for people with more than one vehicle.

🖋 NIBS 🖋

• The Brighton Half Marathon took place yesterday. Congratulations to all those who took part, especially to any of the flock who entered! Our editor ended up briefly running with the pack and found it invigorating... for the time it took to cross the road.
• A poppy mural on the birth place of a veteran has been painted over, and people are furious. The house at 148 Lewes Road, which is blue plaqued for Second Lt Ernest Frederick Beal VC, now has white paint over the poppies.
• Despite schools having referred to 'parents and guardians' for at least as long as the editorial team can remember, elements of the national media have decided to confect a controversy around this and sadly so have certain elements of the local press here in Brighton and Hove.

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What's happening? As we're sure everyone knows, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine last week, which has resulted in hundreds dying and thousands being displaced. We want to dedicate The Big One this week to ways people can show solidarity and help the people of Ukraine.

A demonstration was held yesterday at The Level, where people from Lithuania, Russia and Baltic countries spoke against the invasion. Lloyd Russell-Moyle, MP for Kemptown and Peacehaven, spoke at the demonstration, saying:

We are all united about the absolute abhorrence of what Putin and his regime is doing.

Ukraine voluntarily gave up nuclear weapons and for that we assured them that they would be protected. That their their sovereignty would be ensured. And we have a duty to ensure that those pledges and promises are upheld too.

Up until last week this government was still selling drone technology to Russia despite our calls for them to stop. Until last week, the Conservative Party were receiving donations from Russian oligarchs and people who supported Putin.

We need to do more. But we also need, as we've heard, to accept Ukrainian refugees in this country.

Suggesting that people can apply for the usual visa is not good enough and is not acceptable.

Peter [Kyle], myself, Caroline [Lucas], we will continue to make sure that city of Brighton and Hove's voice are heard loud in Parliament, that we do not allow a weak set of reactions against this and that we stand shoulder to shoulder with those fighting the imperialist fascist regime in Russia.

What can I do to help? Further information can be found at Stand With Ukraine Brighton & Hove, which will be updated with more ways to support the people of Ukraine as they become available. For now, they encourage people to donate (information available here), to not support Russian businesses and to check with your gas supplier if it uses Russian gas, and to not buy it if possible.

🎶Gigs: share this: The Manatees will be at The Prince Albert on Wednesday 2nd March, Self Esteem at Chalk on Thursday 3rd March, and the ever-wonderful Nilüfer Yanya will be at Resident Records on Sunday 6th March. All very much worth checking out, as is Brighton Eyeball, which has some of the city's quirkier music offerings to share.
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‌🎥Cinema: Period drama Cyrano will be showing this week at Duke of York's. Starring Peter Dinklage and Haley Bennett and filmed in Sicily, this 'warm, witty and wise' film features unrequited love, male self-esteem issues and secret flirting plans. Tickets here!

🏛Exhibitions: International Women's Day is being celebrated by Brighton Museum, Brighton Dome and Brighton Women's Centre in a day of discussions, music, dance, workshops, talks, arts and crafts, performances, causes and campaigns. This will take place on Saturday 5th March from 10am, and feature a comedy writing workshop, a panel discussion on women's safety and a pop-up feminist bookshop.

🚩Political education: A course ran by Transform Brighton and Hove starts tonight. Running every other week, the free Understanding Capitalism course will be held from 6pm to 8pm at Community Base, Queen's Road (a Zoom option is also available) and will run for six weeks. The course will look at the problems of this political economy, and is open at people with no previous knowledge in the subject. Tickets are available here.

Swoop in

If you have a story for Seagull, please get in touch with our editor at [email protected]. And if you want to contribute:‌

☕️ Where to eat? 🥪

Coffee: Bond Street Coffee in Bond Street (no!) will satisfy even the fiercest coffee snob with its wide variety of coffees and brewing methods. Just don't sit in the chair in the window—that's the editor's seat!

Dinner‌/Pint: The Farm Tavern, on Farm Road in Hove, reopened last Friday! With an excellent bangers and mash menu shared with its sister pub The Geese on Southover Street and the possibility of meeting Gumbo the dog, this 'hidden back-street gem' is a real pleasure.

🔜 Next Time 🔜

That's all for this week—don't forget to fill in our contributors form if you'd like to get involved, forward to friends who might be interested and if you've been forwarded this and enjoyed it (or are reading on the website), please subscribe:‌