MEDIA SAVVY
WHO’S BEEN SAYING WHAT..?
In England, alcohol consumption has actually been falling for
over five years. The problem is that in this country we have a
culture of drinking that is anti-social, destructive and yobbish.
We always have had, and unfortunately, probably always will.
And as David Cameron, a former member of the Bullingdon
Club, should know, it is something that has little to do with
money. So if the government insists on cutting drinking by
raising prices, then it should raise them so that Château
Margaux goes up by as much as Strongbow Super.
Daniel Knowles,
The Telegraph
, 23 March
This announcement is utterly wrongheaded. I had hoped that
the Prime Minister's nannying tendency had gone when his
complaints about Terry's Chocolate Oranges being on sale at
the checkout counter at WH Smith had been derided a few
years ago. It appears not…Why should the rest of us pay for the
damage done by alcohol abusers to themselves and to wider
society when they should bear the cost themselves? Is it too
much to ask that they ought to stand the cost of a visit to A&E
and the damage they cause by their drunkenness? Bad drivers
pay more each in car insurance.
Donal Blaney,
Daily Mail
, 23 March
Our alcohol crisis in the UK is a daily catastrophe. Libertarians
will whinge about regulation and the unfairness of minimum
pricing (as if supermarkets loss-leading on alcohol and
charging us more for other goods is fair) but as ever they want
all the individual licence without the social responsibility. The
crisis speaks for itself – we are failing the vulnerable and
allowing an unhealthy, under-productive society to persist. We
needed a comprehensive alcohol strategy to transformEngland
and we didn’t get one today.
Julia Manning,
Daily Mail
, 23 March
Minimum booze prices is a policy I’mwith David Cameron on. I
don’t recall the Prime Minister endorsing the idea when he
earned £84,000 on the side from the Tiger Tiger bar chain. So I
welcome the repentant sinner, recalling that Gordon Brown
also flirted with the plan when he was PM, before letting it go
as flat as a day-old pint. We can all sit around complaining
about drink-crazed kids kicking heads in and smashing up
towns. Or we can do something about it.
Kevin Maguire,
Mirror
, 7 March
To intervene early in some families is not to criminalise
toddlers, as some on the left claim. Indeed, we should stop
force feeding already anxious but able types, and be less
squeamish about intervening in ‘chaotic’ families.
Suzanne Moore,
The Guardian
, 21 March
The coalition government has continued to criminalise the
vulnerable, sad, addicted and sick who make up most of our
homeless population. It has also cut funding for services by
more than 25 per cent. Since homeless people are the opposite
of the Olympian ideal, God only knows what measures they
will experience to keep them out of sight this summer.
Mark Johnson,
The Guardian
, 20 March
Reader’s question:
I’ve been sex working for some time and have become more and more
worried about working on the streets. A friend and I want to work
together in a house as we will feel safer indoors and know that someone
else is there in case we get into trouble. I don’t want to break the law –
are our plans legal?
Kirstie says:
As I’m sure you know, sex working is not illegal but many activities around it are – for
instance, soliciting for sex. For this reason, working on the street can be problematic,
particularly with undercover police operations. As you point out, it can also be dangerous
for some women so I understand that you may feel safer working from a property.
Again, sex working from indoors, even in your own home, is not illegal if you are
working on your own. Problems arise where there is more than one person working from
the premises for the purposes of prostitution, even if working on different days.
Sometimes people try to get round this by renting individual rooms or flats separately, but
if it can be proven that they are effectively working together this may also amount to a
brothel. Unfortunately, you and your friend working together indoors would not be legal
as you would be guilty of ‘keeping or managing a brothel’, an offence that carries a
maximum of seven years imprisonment.
Another way to increase safety indoors is to employ a maid who can be there for
security and to do tasks such as cleaning, preparing food and running errands at the shop.
If the maid’s activities extend past this to taking money (even tips) from clients, then the
maid is at risk of being prosecuted for causing or inciting and controlling prostitution for
gain. This is an offence that can again carry up to seven years in prison. If you are the only
person working from premises, with or without a maid, this is perfectly legal.
You must also keep in mind housing issues, especially if working from your own home.
It is likely that using the property for the purposes of sex working will be considered a
breach of your tenancy and you may be subject to possession proceedings. If this happens,
you are at risk of losing your home. There is also the possibility of the premises being
closed by police if they are suspected of being a brothel, but remember the definition of a
brothel is more than one person working out of a premises. The court can make an order
for the property to remain closed for up to six months, and possession proceedings are
likely to take place in the meantime.
You are sensible to consider the safest options for you in terms of minimise the risk of
sex working, but unfortunately the current laws do not go far enough in assisting sex
workers with this.
Email your legal questions to claire@cjwellings.com.
We will pass them to Kirstie to answer in a future issue of DDN.
Release publish a helpful guide on this issue and more, sex workers and the law.
To order your free copy call 0845 4500 215.
April 2012 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 7
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
Media Savvy |
Legal
Release solicitor
Kirstie Douse
answers your legal questions
in her regular column
LEGAL LINE
CAN I WORK FROM HOME
WITH A FELLOW SEX WORKER?