You often hear a phrase when it comes to vulnerable adults, the poor and people that society consistently fails, gives up on or actually, wants to fail. It goes something like, "A lot of people fall through the cracks in society" or "Some people just slip through the safety net." Here we have a classic case in which Brighton and Hove City Council have opened up a crack and pushed a man down it.

I've just received a phone call from the office of Caroline Lucas MP for Brighton. Ms Lucas met Jason Evans, a friend of mine, recently. Having seen the video interview with Jason from over 3 weeks ago, she wanted to meet him and learn his story. He was honest with her and she was very receptive to him. Impressively (and I do believe this is genuine), she affirmed that she would do all she could within her power to house Jason as an emergency. Let's face it, she did not have to meet him in the first place, but she was quite shocked by my video interview with him. He …

From The Eye of a Needle

Just recently I have been struck by the indifference and hypocrisy of some of the hostel workers in Brighton. In particular, New Steine Mews appears to be quite a case in point.

Jason Evans, now homeless once more in Brighton has some pretty stinging words to say about his experiences resulting in his eviction from New Steine Mews, the 'Place of Change' in Brighton.

According to Jason, the reason for his eviction is as follows:

Jason was in the reception talking with one of the staff members of the hostel. For some reason or another, the particular staff member is alleged to have called Jason an 'Arabic bastard'. Not being one to always turn the cheek, Jason, in response, called the staff member a 'Spanish bastard' in return. Jason maintains that later in the evening the two men shook hands and were able to overcome whatever mild altercation they had had earlier.

'Big deal', you might be thinking and I'd agree with you. Bu…

I just took a call from Hove Police Station's custody. Poor Jason. He was arrested last night for that most shocking crime of begging.

He was two days from getting his benefits and was planning to give them to me to look after so he wouldn't spend it all at once. The last time he received some benefits, a weeks ago, he went to his street friends and dished it all out to them. "When I've got, I give out," he said, "because that's what good people do." Of course, I urged him not to, but Jason is as Jason does.

I spoke to his rough sleepers worker and he said, "He'll get 30 days inside for breaching his ASBO." His rough sleepers worker is right when he says that Jason needs re-hab, detox, encouragement to face up to his dual addiction, face his problems, get clean, access services and all the rest and yet, the punative method of dealing with Jason clearly doesn't work. Yes, he begs. Yes, he begs to get beer or something which is appar…

Jason Evans is free...apparently. George, Diane and I went to pick him up from Lewes Prison on Wednesday. He looks well, having been inside for 9 months. He's been getting three square meals a day, resting, working out, learning a few skills, like cleaning and looks much stronger than he did when he went inside, albeit that he was convicted in a most underhand and corrupt manner by a system rigged against him, a system which criminalises his illness and his behaviour and which persecutes him while offering him no support whatsoever.

This is a rather clumsy photo montage, as you can see, but I wanted to produce an image of what an ASBO actually looks like, though it looks much more wicked in its true effect on an individual, and so you could read just how draconian and absurd is the law that the wretched Labour Government, that revolting 'Party for the Poor,' that the shambolic and vacuous 'People's Party' enacted in order to curb 'anti-social behaviour'…

I've already posted once on Jason Evans, a 40-year-old man in Brighton who is on an ASBO until 2012. Here he talks more about his personal struggle with the Police, life in hostels and Highdown Prison where he has been for about 4 weeks for breaching his ASBO.

I expect that there is a book in Jason, a story that would make you weep. My knowledge of his personal history is sketchy, but I know that he suffered tremendously as a child, shunted from care home to care home with little experience of what we would call love or paternal or maternal care.

He has been alcoholic and and drug addicted for a long time and I expect that for many men and women in Brighton in Jason's situation that the pursuit of illicit drugs is rooted and cemented in a deep emotional trauma from childhood, the coping mechanism for which becomes hedonism and drugs.

It is odd then, that a society which throws its hands up in the air in outrage at the abuse scandals which have hit the Church, in Ireland especi…

I've been out busking a couple of times this week. First, I went out to see George and Diane by the taxi stand on the London Road. I went out really to see if I could talk with some of the men and women who live in homeless accommodation in Brighton. A local reporter wants me to put him in touch with some people who live in homeless accommodation because a certain local newspaper would like to run an investigation into the homeless system in Brighton. Unfortuntately, when I managed to get a man called Peter to talk on the phone the local reporter was away from his desk, but he did have a lot of interesting things to say.

Because I was going to see George, I took my guitar. It turned out Peter played guitar too and really rather well. He did an excellent version of 'The Needle and the Damage Done' by Neil Young and 'Comfortably Numb' by Pink Floyd. There was a nice vibe among a small group of people singing along to some classic songs. George was half way through a…

Benedict XVI had certain themes and motifs that he kept coming back to concerning the sacrality of the liturgy and worship, the Person of Jesus Christ, charity and truth. Much of what the mass media has told us about Pope Francis has been conveying message through image - embracing the outcast - in a message that says 'preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary use words'. In terms of words - and there are quite a few of them in the Message for the World Day of Peace today - a theme that it appears is close to the heart of the Holy Father is 'fraternity'.

When I hear the insistence on themes of 'mercy' and 'fraternity' from His Holiness, I keep getting images of depressed, downcast and perhaps at times abject Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate in my mind, but I will try to put these thoughts to the back of my mind. His Holiness's words today did however convict me of personal sin. I had a homeless friend who came to Mass this morning back to wat…

I have had a couple of very kind emails offering me legal advice on the situation with my van. I appreciated the emails very much but the van situation has moved on and so has the man dwelling within it.

I must say I pretty much crapped myself when I found the letter from the Council on the front of the van and so took the van to the to the nearest repairs garage as a friend had said he would pay for it to get fixed.

The date of the letter warning me of a £1000 fine was January 5th, so I didn't know how much time I had to get it off Preston Park. George had said he was interested in having the van for free but has now baulked at the £704.00 price for getting it back up and running and roadworthy. I don't blame him. The van has caused me nothing but grief ever since I bought it and he now knows that it is something of a drain.

Now I find myself in a moral dilemma. I could scrap the vehicle and receive £300-500 for doing so, with a local scrappage firm. It would be sad to see it…

I'm working on the video footage I took of the Rosary Crusade. Here's a treat from the journey back.

With the sun setting in the West, the train heading South and the darkness descending upon the East, suddenly, from the East, came this resplendent rainbow.

What a stunner! Even better on full view...

 “The rainbow is a symbol of the peace and reconciliation which the blessed Virgin, our Mediatrix, effected between God and man.” ~ St Anthony of Padua

Jason and I managed to catch the 12:19 to London Victoria and as soon as we got on the train a parishioner of St Mary Magdalen named Ann stopped us and asked us to sit with her. At times Jason and I slipped into the next carriage where things were a bit quieter and Jason spent about half an hour entertaining a small baby in a pram with a fluffy bunny toy. The little baby was very giggly while Jason entertained her. Jason spent time explaining to the mother and friend that he had the night before won second prize in a singing comp…

Yesterday was a breath of fresh air for me on a personal basis.  I taught at the Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project (BUCFP), Adobe InDesign, a desk top publishing software to a class of six.  So much more rewarding and so much less exasperating than teaching a class of 33 six year old children! Also, it feels good to be able to use a talent God has given me in a positive way, rather than just arseing about like I normally do.

One lady has been asked by the BUCFP to design a 'Rough Sleepers Guide to Brighton', the contents of which have been drawn up with the help of Paul and Neil, regular users of the Soup Run.

There is a life-affirming atmosphere at the BUCFP.  At lunchtime, the children come out of the creche and it feels like a proper family centre with people chatting and eating a cheap meal.  Over the next few years it is likely that due to cuts and the resulting public sector unemploymed, this place will get even busier.  Brighton has always been a bit of a gra…

Recently, Brighton has been in the news on two or three fronts. First, we had the Liberal Democrats here in Brighton hosting their party conference. Then, a teacher of moral relativism in Brighton decided to flee the country with his school pupil causing the girl's parents to plea for her safe return. Say a prayer for all concerned. Before this, however, Brighton hit the headlines for Christian and Green councillor for Brighton and Hove, Christina Summers.

Christina, as we know, attracted the ire of the Green Party because she felt unable in her conscience to sign a Green Party pledge to support 'same-sex marriage'.

Thus did a hitherto fairly unknown Green councillor hit national headlines for defying the consensus of current British politics that the 'gay marriage' debate is over and that its attending doctrines are already sacrosanct.

The Green Party, swift to move to counter what could be considered a PR disaster, as it could be seen as somewhat authoritarian, …

Shelter were today on St James's Street in Kemptown aggressively begging for money. The sad irony is that Jason was in police custody at the time, probably for going up to people and asking for money thus breaching his ASBO. St Francis of Assisi certainly never reprimanded beggars, choosing to be a beggar for God Himself. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta encouraged the poor to beg. Jason's approach to begging is, at least, more respectful than asking people for their credit card/debit card details.

Further, I know that Shelter have a charity shop on Western Road, but as far as I know they don't actually do anything for the homeless in Brighton. I'd be happy to be corrected on that point.

The two chuggers I saw today on St James's Street even had the brazen audacity to do their charity mugging right in front of a guy selling The Big Issue!  I'd never busk right in front of a Big Issue seller. It's so flipping shamelessly rude!

At least if when people give a quid t…

Ed West has written an excellent article on a new study that belief in God may be inversely correlated to belief in Government.

I think every generalisation is open to accusations that one is being crude, but it seems that there is a certain strand of atheist on the 'left' who replaces God's Divine Power and Sovereignty over human affairs, with the State. In the absence of God, as V.I Lenin asked, 'What is to be done?' Unfortunately, when the State has too much power over individual freedom and liberty, things usually get messy, even with the best of intentions. Above is Jonah Goldberg, whose book, 'The Rise of Liberal Fascism', Ed cites in his article, talking about why fascism is a product of progressive movements of the 'left', rather than the 'right'. Brighton is one of the most left-wing towns in the United Kingdom. It is a town well known for its 'liberalism' and yet the State rules with an iron fist over the poor. Here is Jaso…