Homelessness and Rough sleeping. The Government is looking for solutions

London (Giulia Faloia) – Theresa May’s Government is going to use £100m trying to solve the problem of many people living on the streets of London.

In fact wandering on the City you can easily see men and women sleeping on a piece of cardboard asking for money. The majority of people use to call them homeless but they aren’t always right. Let’s try to clarify the concept.

Being homeless means having no place to call home. There could be a lot of different reasons for it. For example they might have had problems with their family which means they had to move out, or they could have mental health issues.

Being homeless doesn’t always mean that someone is living on the streets. It could also involve a person who’s temporary living on a friend’s coach or in a temporary accommodation provided by a local charity or the council.

Rough sleeping is a type of being homeless. This is about people who have absolutely nowhere to stay, so they have to find a place to sleep at night, which is often on the streets. They may have to rely on local groups, like churches, to provide them with hot meals, and could sleep in a different place each night.

globaltimes.cn

James Brokenshire, the communities secretary, said that efforts to tackle homelessness had “not being good enough” with 4,751 people sleeping on the streets each night.

He added that the strategy of the government will offer help to those with mental health problems and addictions, domestic abuse victims, those leaving prison, and will set about researching the scale of LGBT+ homelessness.

Labour disagrees claiming the lack of urgency while charity Shelter said the plans were not a “total fix” for homelessness.

The new strategy will be based on three steps: prevention, intervention and recovery. 

Up to £30m of the fund will be used for mental health treatment and to provide training for frontline staff to help those under the influence of the synthetic cannabinoid spice.

A further £50m will be used to fund homes outside London for people ready to move on from hostels and the ones looking for help after domestic abuse. 

Accommodations will also be provided for people leaving prison trying not to let them on the streets.

The problem is huge and clear to everyone who walks on the roads of London. This is a first effort to deal with one of the most evident issues of the City.

Is Internet taking our free time off?

(London, Gruppo Federico II – Marzia Gravante, Ylenia Gravante, Sara Gravante, Paolo Di Puorto) – During the last month we have been in London asking more than 2100 people how much time they spend online. We discovered that the majority of them use internet in their free time and that the majority of them cannot live without any tech devices.

The public survey carried out by our team reveals currently some Londoners spend almost an entire day per week online. Both Netflix – with more than 7 hours per day – and social media with at least 6 hours. The reason? They want to  keep up with their friends’ lives as well as curious to discover what is happening across the world.

The results are not so that diverse to the latest researches, according to which the UK adults spend more time online than asleep, with an average of 9 hours per day online and only 8 hours sleeping.

The most alarming news concern children though, who are now spending more than 24 hours a week on tech devices. In fact a lot of parents are worried that it may cause problems by affecting them also psychologically.

 

The chart above depicts all people interviewed, divided according to their ages, in order to identify which generation is the top online consumer. As we can see, people between 14-25 years old are the ones who use the Internet the most (50%), compared to those between  26 to 40 years old who don’t use internet as much as them. Still, we can apply the stereotype that older people are more conservative and traditional to their habits, as they are not very integrated in such online trend.

However, we need to consider that many people use internet to work, but as our public survey reveals,  the same people spend 2 or 3 hours more on social media in their free time instead of going out and spending time with their friends. 

Walking and commuting across London we notice that many people are nowadays busy on their smartphones, by avoiding eye contact or conversations with people. Such behaviour is very common in the tube, the place where we started asking why. 

The first answer that came up to our minds was that people are becoming addicted so much to their smartphones, or any other tech devices, that they’re unable to live without them. 

In fact when we asked if they could live without any tech devices many looked at us oddly. Why? Most of them were surprised and excited at the idea that they would like to try such experience.

Why is this such habit became so popular? Tech devices, especially in a city like London, are much more convenient as they instantly find you a solution to your needs. 

So,  in a world made mostly by apps, are people are aware of how much time they usually spend online?  Having asked our questions people started to think about the time they spend online doing nothing productive and realized that probably their free time has decreased since they started using the internet. 

An interesting interview is the one we did to a researcher who  said that he usually spends about 6 hours online per day. He also said that he couldn’t live without technology because – once again – he needs it for work and to make his researches easily. So of course not everyone spends too much time online doing nothing and not everyone thinks that the internet is ruining our life. We have to admit that it really helps us doing things in a much a faster way.

What we learned from this experience is that, fortunately, very few people use internet in an excessive way. It happens that sometimes they use it even when they don’t really need it. However  for somebody checking their phones has became an habit and they forgot that they can live perfectly without them.

Brexit seen by another point of view

London (Valeria Piccioni) – The phenomenon of the Brexit will have an impact on the future of the European Union: the difficult situation of the UK will affect the trade marketsboth internally and externally. However it is important not to fall in hasty conclusions. Infact, as soon as the UK leaves the EU, many changes will arguably be implemented in the trade with EU and with the Commonwealth countries.

The Commonwealth is an intergovernmental organisation made of 53 member states that are mostly former territories of the British Empire. Leaving the EU, the UK will exit the customs union and the bloc’s external commercial policy. This political phenomenon could put EU in a better position for possible trade market deals with Australia and New Zealand after Brexit. Indeed, New Zealand’s trade minister, David Parker, said that the UK’s withdrawal did not diminish the potential gains for his own country which would come from breaking down trade barriers with the remaining 27 member states.

Moreover also Australia has been currently under the spotlight. As a matter of fact UK is the big country’s eighth largest two-way trading partner. Australia’s Commonwealth Bank currently declared a doubling in costumers.

Australian government is now negotiating a deal with the EU. Nevertheless, according to experts, Brexit could be a new opportunity for the Australia and New Zealand to sell in a tariff-free market in the UK.

By establishing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Australia could achieve a new deal between its and UK’s enterprises. This recent treaty will also consider theregulations for the relocations of the enterprises allocated in both of the Countries.

In order to dislocate Australian and New Zealand companies to London, the businesses would require real estate services to stay in UK. For this reason, it is important  to focus on Stonelink International, London’s Real Estate Broker.

“International firms, especially from Australia and New Zeland who have a lot moving parts in terms of relocating staff and family, logistics & transportation of vital equipment want to ensure the commercial space and property they will move into, is ready for them, well ahead of time” said Nicholas Tsiougos, Managing Director of Stonelink International.

It has always been argued that several business and investments will experience  numerous difficulties after  2019. However this hypothesis could possibly not be accurate. As a matter of fact, a considerable amount of businesses has not been affected by Brexit. On the contrary, these enterprises have experience and unexpected growth. Therefore Brexit is likely to offer Britain different opportunities which are neither better nor worse than the previous ones.

Future starts here: the visionary exhibition

London (Valeria Piccioni) – The pioneer city of London inaugurates a visionary exhibition: “Future starts here”. This exhibition displays the future of design. Located at the Victoria and Albert Museum, it will be open until 4th of November. Over 100 prototypes that could possibly change the world will be exposed. As a matter of fact these inventions will probably influence our daily life shaping our routine .

The first department focuses on the ralationship between humans and technology. For instance the department displays “super-clothes” similars to wearable muscles thanks to bio-meccanic contribution. Moreover, there are exposed solars t-shirts which absorb sun’s Energy allowing to charge phones and cameras.

The Second part deals with the issues regarding public aereas. Some of protypes exposed will be: the first model of the zero-emission city, Abu Dhabi, or «The House of One» in Berlin that is at the same time a Church, a mosque and a synagogue.

Furthermore among the greatest inventions that exibition hosts it is possible to admire Volkswagen’s without-driver car, micro-satellites that throw artificial falling star in order to give an impression of atmosphere works. Moreover Samantha Cristoforetti’s pot is also being displayed. An area regarding the considerations revolving around the future of democracy along with progress can be visited within the exibition rooms. In addition the corrent department about life after death also focuses on the illusion of immortality.

Furthermore it is ipothetically possible to transfer cerebral connections in a USB key in order to create an avatar with artificial intelligence. It could be also doable to make disks conteining human knowledge’s heritage. Humanity is trying to fight mortality by surviving a possible extinction.

The final aerea displays several sprinkling questions over the exhibition’s walls. The main ones are: “What makes us human?” “Does democracy still work?” “Who wants to live forever?” “We are alla connected but do we feel lonely?”.

“Since the beginning our exposition sponsored pioneering art, sciences, design and technology” stated Tristram Hunt, the gallery’s director “we are in the middle of a digital revolution and with this exibition we want to research the most exciting experiments and the most incredibles teories about our future in order to take them out of the laboratori in order to share them with the audience.”

A draft bill for Italians abroad

London (Valeria Piccioni) – The new draft of the Italian Government deal takes into consideration the matter of Italians abroad’s.

“Regarding the Italian communities situated abroad, it is necessary to highlight knowledge and experience heritage in order to support Made in Italy, the Italian culture  and the Italian language all over the world. Furthermore, the election procedures in the foreign jurisdiction and the rappresentative institutions of the General Consulate (CGIE and COMITES) must be reformed. These measures will make these organisations more efficient, more transparent and less subjected to vote misrepresentations. Moreover,  concerning the COMITES and the CGIE, it is necessary to specifically reform the purposes of these institutions in order to blend them with the parliamentary representation. Finally, the diplomatic and consular net must be reformed in order to grant adequate services to the growing Italian communities that are settling permanently abroad” declares the final draft officially published on Friday.

Until now there has been a real negligence towards this matters: apparently, only the Italian citizens living in Italy seem to be considered whereas instead 4.2 millions of Italians abroad seem to be neglected.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the 18 Parliament members elected abroad from over 1 million and 100 thousand voters met for the first time during this legislation in the Chamber of Deputies. Are they conscious about the current lack of attention towards the Italians abroad? In the meantime, this meeting has highlighted some of the main issues of the Italian communities abroad which are:

  • Foundation of a “Bicameral Commission for the issues of Italians abroad”
  • Reform of voting procedures
  • The strengthening of Consular resources

It is important to remember the controversial relationship between the unborn Italian Government and Bruxelles. The faces of this new Government are still unknown, therefore Europe fears an Italian economical collapse. Recently, Salvini and Di Maio against Manfred Weber, exponent of the German CSU and president of the popular European party at the Europarliament who stated “Irrationals or populists actions could cause a new euro crisis” he said to them. “You are joking with fire because Italy is heavily indebted.”.

“Italians are tired of taking orders from Brussels and Berlin!” replies Mara Bizzotto, leader of the Lega in the European Parliament “Merkel and her proconsuls in Brussels always assembled and disassembled Italian governments according to German and their banks’ interests “.

Love at the time of Tinder: are dating apps making Londoners more lonely?

by Valerio Esposito

London is a city where it’s easy – almost inevitable – to feel lonely. In such a fast-moving environment it is becoming increasingly difficult to connect with other people. You see it every day: your co-worker is leaving for a better job, your neighbour is moving out because the rent is too high and the girl who made your morning coffee moved back to her country.

It’s a city of 9 million people, and yet it’s never enough to ease your misery: everyone is too caught up in their daily drama to care about others, to even realise that they’re there. And at the end of the day, you crawl into an empty bed and search for the easy solution on the screen of your phone, trying to find comfort in yet another dating app.

A recent survey[1] conducted by tech start-up Wonderush showed that 64 per cent of Londoners feel lonely on a daily basis. Of those surveyed, 65 % attributed their loneliness to the demands of their job, while 42 % said that London itself is the main cause.

Loneliness is a tricky concept: it can be social or emotional, the latter being more damaging. Research suggests that the feeling of loneliness does not arise from the lack of company, but rather the lack of emotionally fulfilling connections. Just try to take a train in the city and look around: not a whisper, or a smile or even innocent eye contact. We are like flies in a web, permanently alone, helplessly disconnected.

But are dating apps making it worse? It sure is difficult – almost impossible – to form meaningful relationships just by playing a little game with the thumb: swipe left, swipe right. Ugly and hot. Good and bad. The selection mechanisms have never been so simple – and ruthless. People have become bidimensional exchange goods, with no depth: their worth is established by the movement of a merciless finger.

”I’ve tried Tinder but it didn’t work. I found that fast mechanism of ‘consumption’ degrading and impoverishing. This model makes it impossible to develop a relationship,” comments retail worker Fiorina, 36. “You can’t keep up with it, you’re always greedy and you can’t focus on what’s in front of you because you’re impatient to see what’s next.”

Julia Keller, love coach and author of Attract Authentic Love, attributes this to our “incapability to communicate with each other. Some say that dating apps were invented because we lost this ability. Or maybe they made us lose this ability. It’s a chicken and egg kind of situation, hard to tell”.

We are a selfish generation and yet we live in the senseless effort to project ourselves onto others. That new pair of shoes, that stylish haircut, that rejuvenating cream and the new red lipstick. Why do we do it, if not to make ourselves more appealing – or tolerable – to others? This is just one of the many faces of this business called love.

Dating apps are perhaps the newest – and most insidious – degeneration of this business. It’s no surprise that people’s approach towards relationships has become increasingly business-like. Student Aara Syed, 19, explains how she felt that “dating apps might be a way to tick a box: boyfriend sorted. People might feel that way because it’s so easy to meet people and have many options. But it doesn’t work like that”.

The truth is that, most of the times, dating apps create a demand by exploiting basic needs: human contact – and affection. They claim to sell a solution: if you can’t find the one, they’ll do it for you. ”We’ve lost the notion of process. We don’t take the time to solve the problem but we just move on to the next things. And that’s why we are constantly dissatisfied. And constantly lonely,” Keller adds.

In the meantime, it seems as dating apps try to convince you that what you want is easy to get; and you end up wanting more – and faster. It’s a scam, a palliative. It offers relief but it doesn’t heal people’s brokenness.

Yes, technology is breaking us. We don’t work the way we used to. ‘’How do you even meet people in the real world?’’ is a question that I have heard countless times. I usually answer with another question: ”How did your parents meet?”

Julia Keller argues that ”It’s a completely different world than it was the time of our parents. People are confused and busy. The world is becoming much more superficial and we find ways to make love faster and easier and this leads to a lot of disappointments”.

Indeed, things have changed. Millennials are the main victims, for they were born in the era of dating apps and might not even know that they have an alternative. Jekaterina Drozdovica, 20, a student in London, explains how “what were normal human interactions are now considered abnormal. Especially in London, If I just went to a bar and started a conversation with a stranger it would be considered… creepy”.

We got to the point where starting a conversation in a train or in a pub has become weird. But, ironically, sending and receiving ”dick pics” and other obscenities is more tolerable.

Maybe it’s true: the world has changed and dating apps have become an essential tool for human interactions. This leaves us wondering if it’s worth fighting the new system or if it’s just better try to find a way to deal with it. Aara is not sure whether dating apps should be completely demonized: ”I can’t say that they make things worse, but they clearly don’t help”.

Love Coach Keeler, on the other hand, believes that it’s all about “learning to navigate the odds. Good or bad they might be, dating apps are still a practical way to get to know people. And once you’ve met someone you just need to know the right thing to do from there”.

[1] http://blog.wonderush.com/pull-sickie-make-friend-month/

London is the best city for financial resources and quality of life

LONDON – Just like every two years, PwC – PricewaterhouseCoopers, a multinational professional services network and the largest professional services firm in the world – published the “Cities of Opportunity” survey, a chart of the cities that better put financial dynamism and high quality of life together.

This year’s survey was the seventh one managed by PwC and it shows the social and financial status of 30 of the biggest cities in the world, taking into account ten factors, including public transport, business development facilities, suitableness for living, use of technology and cost of living. The survey shows that cities can be successful when they both register excellent financial performances and present valid social elements such as the quality of life, elders’ welfare and even the readiness to face natural catastrophies.

www.e-architect.co.uk
www.e-architect.co.uk

London conquered the first place in this chart for the second time in a row: the city excels three out of six factors, including technology development, innovation, suitableness for living and business growth. The following six spots are occupied by Singapore, Toronto, Paris, Amsterdam, New York and Stockholm. Milan is the first Italian city in the chart, ranked 18th – his reputation and image have been strongly boosted by the Expo Milano 2015, which brought tecnhologic innovations and more openness to people, goods, economies and information.

Two million people in London at risk of food poisoning from pink burgers

LONDON – According to research released a few days ago by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), almost two million people in London are at risk of food poisoning from pink burgers at Bank Holiday Barbecues. The FSA is encouraging all those who are getting their BBQs this weekend to fully cook their burgers: this warning has been made because the research has shown that despite 71% stating they are concerned about food poisoning, nearly half of them would still eat a burger that is not fully cooked; moreover, 54% of them admitted that they even undercook burgers at home.

In order to help BBQs lovers enjoy their burgers safely, the FSA has teamed up with Phil Vickery, British rugby legend and Masterchef winner, who will give his contribution in raising awareness about best burger practice. He stressed that it is very important that people don’t try to cook burgers that are rare or medium at home: “Some restaurants can serve them this way because they have strict controls in place, covering how burgers are prepared and cooked, but cooking burgers that are rare or pink at home could really ruin your weekend.” In addition to these useful piece of advice, he shared his personal favourite way of cooking burgers: he likes his burger properly cooked through with a top of Romaine Hearts lettuce, tomato and English cheddar cheese.

bassetlaw.gov.uk
bassetlaw.gov.uk

What makes Steve Wearne, the Director of Policy at the FSA, worried is the general ignorance about the presence of bacteria in burgers. He said: “Burgers are not like steak. Harmful bacteria can be carried on the surface of cuts of meat. When a rare steak is seared these bacteria are killed, but burger meat is minced so bacteria from the surface of the raw meat gets mixed all the way through the burger. These bacteria can remain alive on the inside, unless the burger is fully cooked through, no matter how good quality and expensive the meat.” Moreover, many people – over a third of all people in London – incorrectly believe that eating a rare burger is the same as a rare steak when it comes to food poisoning risk and even those who wouldn’t usually choose a rare burger could get ill this weekend, since they said they would eat one if it was given to them.

What both Wearne and Vickery advise is for everyone to be cautious: cook your burgers through and fully enjoy your weekend, without having to worry about the consequences of an unhealthy BBQ next week.

What to do in London this weekend

LONDON – Just like every other weekend of the year, we here at Italoeuropeo provide you all with the best ideas to spend an awesome and unique weekend in London, one for each day of this Bank Holiday Weekend.

londontown.com
londontown.com

Make sure to be free on Friday in order to experience an interesting and peculiar event taking place on the John Lewis rooftop garden, which opened at the end of May and will close on September 4th, after hosting pop-up restaurants in collaboration with Night Tales, a coffee shop, and various other activities, including this one: an Etsy pop-up Shop. Just in case some of you don’t know what Etsy is, it’s a peer-to-peer (P2P) e-commerce website focused on handmade or vintage items and supplies, as well as unique factory-manufactured items. On Friday, 20 makers will be selling their wares, giving visitors the chance to pick up everything from plant pots, vases, jewellery and notebooks to handmade vessels, mobile phone covers and pretty little paperweights. If you want to reach the venue, the address is: 300 Oxford St – the event will be on from 9.30am until 9pm.

©-Stuart-Leech
©-Stuart-Leech

On Saturday, it is definitely a must – if the weather will cooperates – to go and spend a proper day on Camden Beach, set on the roof of Chalk Farm’s Roundhouse. Entry is free but it does get quite busy so make sure you head there quite early if you want to have a sure sunny spot. Otherwise, you can book one of the private beach huts and you’ll have way more personal space. You’ll be able to relax in a deck chair with a rum cocktail, play a little ping pong, grab some food from the barbecue or build a magnificent sandcastle. The beach opens at 12am – it will be open to the public until August 29th. If you want to know more, visit the Roundhouse website.

timeout.com
timeout.com

And now we get to the main event of the weekend, of the week, of the month and probably one of the most awaited of the whole summer in London: on Sunday 28th, make sure you take the whole day off to go and enjoy the Notting Hill Carnival, Europe’s biggest street festival, a vivid spectacle representing London’s multicultural past and present. It’s also a vital date in any party-lover’s diary. It will start on Sunday at 9am and it will continue into Monday; it takes place all over the W10 area: Notting Hill, Ladbroke Grove and Westbourne Park. If some of you are not familiar with the origin of this festival, it is A celebration of the capital’s Caribbean communities, their culture and traditions, which has been taking place since 1964, featuring two days of fantastic live music ranging from reggae to dub to salsa. The celebrations also include soca floats, steel bands and a whole lot of jerk chicken and fried plantain. [x]

600 extra armed police to be deployed in London as a long-term response to terrorism

LONDON – Authorities have announced on August 4th that an additional 600 armed officers will be deployed in London as a long-term response to the series of deadly attacks that happened across Europe. The threat level of the city remains “severe“, but it has been announced that this move made by the Metropolitan Police is not linked to any specific intelligence; Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Met commissioner, said that he is sure people will understand their determination to protect London and its citizens after all that’s happening in the EU. He also added that having firearms officers who will use force to stop attackers is essential, since the majority of London police officers do not carry firearms and therefore could not protect themselves and the public if faced with an armed terrorist.

His statement and convinctions are fully shared by Sadiq Khan, the Mayor, who puts London public’s safety and security before everything else. “There is no reason to be alarmed. Our police officers are working together with our communities to prevent the possibility of an attack“, he said.


This will not be the last addition to the Police: as stated by the Police Federation chairman, Steve White, the best-case scenario is to recruit an extra 1,500 officers in two years. “Some forces are getting volunteers coming forward, but they are not always being selected because they don’t meet the criteria or they are not of sufficient quality to go through the rigorous selection and training process”, he added.

Home Offices figures for the year to March 2016 showed that the number of armed officers in England and Wales significantly dropped, but police chiefs are confident forces’ number will get back to normal over the next 18 months.