ACOMSDave

Community Journalist

Archives for September 2016

Human Rights – The Legal Act in the UK

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Human Rights ActI asked a friend who is retired with a wide set of experiences in dealing with Human Rights, to give me his impression on the removal of the Human Rights Act from the UK, and what impact it would have.
He believes that repealing this Act which brings into domestic law the European Convention on Human Rights, will be a difficult job for the UK Government. Attempts here (N Ireland) to have a Bill of Rights expanding on those rights conferred by HRA are doomed in the short to medium term, despite the Good Friday obligations. He is part of the Human Rights Consortium and during the past 10 years or more since he started to attend, virtually no progress has been made.
He believes that Brexit will further complicate matters as various parts of these islands work out relationships between each other and the EU.
On the Consortium, they have encountered a lack of interest in the Bill of Rights, with the UK Government, the Irish Government and the NI Executive playing each other off. The DUP, mean as usual, don’t really have much of an idea about the value of rights, unless they are to their narrow benefit. It’s rather depressing!
He feels that one possibility is that Scotland, opposed to repeal or amendment of the HRA, might have its own Bill of Rights. It has vehemently opposed the “regressive” proposals for a British Bill of Rights.
On a case by case basis, any repeal of the HRA will be aired by the UK courts, ending up in the Supreme Court. The courts will not want to have to do what is essentially the work of Parliament. That relationship between Parliament, Government and Judiciary can be fractious at times, particularly here (N Ireland) where issues such as sexual orientation and abortion grab the attention of a very religious and conservative Attorney General.
hr-actN Ireland is still awaiting the reserved judgements in the two marriage cases and the Ashers appeal. And it looks like the current Attorney General in N Ireland is being very wide in his interpretation of his role, and there have been requests that he stand down or stop pursuing his own agenda which seems to definitely have a very select bias from my own and others  observations.
As with all these things we will have to wait and see how things develop, but of one thing I am certain the removal of the current Human Rights Act will not be to our benefit, and I honestly believe that LGBT rights and other diversity groups will suffer if it is taken away.
Links to further reading

A visit to Cullera, Valencia

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The drive from Real Monasterio DeSanta Maria de la Valldigna to Cullera is a relatively unexciting drive, it takes you along the CV 600 then the CV605 and takes about 28 minutes.

 

Part of the way is well signed, but when you get close to the town then things got slightly more difficult, but with luck and guesswork we found our way to the metal bridge at the Oliva/Gandia end of town and then down to the beach area.  Parking was relatively easy, as at this time of the year there was free parking up to 8.30 pm – please note that during the various holiday seasons parking charges are in force, don’t get caught out, it does get costly.

Cullera Beach - 1

Cullera Beach – 1

Cullera Beach - 2

Cullera Beach – 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Having successfully parked and made our way to the beach we walked up to the restaurants strip, and Eli my guide took me to her normal eatery – the service was attentive, and the food was lovely.  It was added to by being able to sit outside and look out over the sea and beach area and to see families and individuals enjoying themselves. There was a fair cross-section of ages, and a lot of those on the beach appeared to be Spanish.

Having finished and paid for our lunch, we then decided to go for a stroll looking at the few shops with things to sell – a lot of it was you would guess for the tourist market, but there were still some items of interest.  There was no point of us walking into the main part of the town, as it was Saturday and after 1.30pm which meant that the local shops had closed for the weekend.

At the end of the strip but the blue fountain, we were able to get a glimpse of the castle on the hill – or more rightly I should say  it is a fortress built in the 13th century over the old Moorish fortress.

Cullera - Fortress -2

Cullera – Fortress -2

Cullera - Fortress -1

Cullera – Fortress -1

It was then back to the car, calling into the Ale-Hop – a shop which seems to have a wild mix of items, but for myself I loved the books which they had for drawing and writing – wonderful exotic backs and covers, and not expensive for what you where getting.

 

ale-hop-cullera

ale-hop-cullera

The drive back to Oliva was uneventful, and everyone went home having had a wonderful day, both in terms of place and weather.

 

Links:

Real Monasterio De Santa Maria de la Valldigna

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Today I had the lovely task of chauffeuring two friends to see the Real Monasterio DeSanta Maria de la Valldigna, followed by travelling to Cullera for lunch.  Both of these locations are located in Valencia, and both for completely different reasons are worth seeing.

Valldigna - Two Friends

Valldigna – Two Friends

 

The monastery is set in superb grounds, in a lovely valley, with a lovely backdrop of mountain ranges.

…The monastery was founded in 1297 by James II of Aragon. Since the beginning, it was one of the most important monasteries of the Cistercian order. It was founded by the monks of Santes Creus in the Tarragona province. The whole Valldigna valley belonged to the monks, according to a royal order.

The monastery was inhabited by monks until 1835, when a revolt in the Valldigna valley took place after the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal. After that, the monks were forced to abandon the monastery. Most of its goods and works of art were sold, plundered or destroyed….(Wikipedia)

I was immediately taken by the tranquility of the location, of the range of buildings and outhouses, and with the internal art work shown in the main building in the grounds.  The interior of the main building shows only a flavour of what it must of looked like at the high of its occupation by the monks.

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Valldigna – Interior

Valldigna - roof atrium

roof atrium

 

I fell in love with quietness of the location, and with the beauty of the craftsmanship and thought which had gone into the plans for the monastery.  It obviously was a place of work, but also of contemplation and spiritual retreat.

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I have been smitten by this monastery and will be returning at least once a  month so that I can sketch and paint some part of it, and also to take time out to recharge my batteries.

 

Links:

Course 2 – Day Seven: Glass — Interact with a Surface

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Experimenting with glass as a surface can create multi-layered and unpredictable shots. Consider this landscape from an estate near Inverness, Scotland:

glass

It’s a lovely scene, but what happens when we place an old, creaky window between the viewer and this garden?

window

Even if you prefer the view without the window, note how this pane of glass introduces a story and adds a layer of complexity to the image. What’s the story behind this estate? Who’s looking out the window?

#developingyoureye #surfacetension  #acomsdave

The challenge here was to find a photograph which generated interest, which was if possible outside the normal framework, and could lead to a story being formed, and also provide different surfaces for the viewer. I have also created a challenge within a challenge, in that I am only using my camera on my phone for these photographs, and the phone is now three years old.  I went out looking over a number of days and nights in Oliva, Valencia, and these are the pictures I have selected along with the surface:

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Now choosing a favourite picture for this challenge was difficult, mainly because they were all giving a different story, and not one of them was what you would call a stupendous photograph, but in the end I have chosen Reflections on Reflections, a picture taken through glass at dusk, with little shade and a hint of flash of a shop selling high end sun glasses.

Surface - Reflections on Reflections

Reflections on Reflections

with a close second was, Shape of things to come, a photograph of a paint shop window whose display was of almost gouda quarters in different colours with paint tubes set in some of the holes.

Surface - shape of things to come

Shape of things to come

 

I hope that you will enjoy my choices, and would welcome any comments that you have.

 

 

 

 

Recruitment Drive

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NIGRA is on a recruitment drive for you!
The law in Northern Ireland on gay relationships was changed through the actions of NIGRA and Jeff Dudgeon’s legal case which went through the legal system in the United Kingdom and then to the Europen Courts of Human Rights. NIGRA and Jeff did not do this on their own, it was through the efforts of many fundraiser throughout the UK and Ireland that this was managed. The case was won, but the fight still needs to go on to achieve full equality. If you have time and want to help then contact us through our website (http://nigra.org.uk/) – we have room for everyone!
So this is a recruitment plea asking you to give  us some time and help us develop the various projects which we have in mind:

  • An ‘Online’ LGBT Archive so that we can record our history, both the past and the current as it unfolds.  Recruitment - LGBT ArchiveWe need to interview the players in out history before they leave us, we also need to develop photographic evidence of artifacts before we arrange for them to be deposited in the Ulster Museum with whom we have now agreed a facility for depositing items like placards, photographs, home videos of historical moments, paintings etc.  Documentation can be deposited with the PRONI (Public Records Office Northern Ireland), and we have already done this for items from Jeff’s case and also from PA’s archives
  • Monitoring of Stormont and Westminster, particularly now we are through the Brexit vote.  We need to ensure that we know what is said and what is planned, and where necessary activate the community as required when we need to pressure our politicians.

These are only two of our projects, there are others, and off course we would welcome suggestions from you.
Please contact us and volunteer.
 
 

Course 2 – Day Six: Landscape — Crop Your Image

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In today’s challenge, which I am a little behind in doing (ugh!) I was to walk in the footsteps of masters like Ansel Adams and focus on landscape photography.

Landscapes generally focus on wide, vast depictions of nature and all of its elements, from formations to weather. In this genre of photography, you won’t find much of a human presence: nature itself is the subject. A focus on nature isn’t mandatory, however — you can also capture a sweeping panorama of a city.

Landscape

Today, I was to take a picture of a landscape. Focus on the gestalt — the entire setting as a whole, like the shot above of the English countryside in Kent — rather than a specific subject or focal point within the scene. The setting itself is the star.

Oliva, is a small Spanish town with beaches and a seaport close by, but it does not have what you might call spectacular scenery on the doorstep; so when I was looking at this challenge I tried a number of different shots and subjects to try and match the challenge, and this is my selection:

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My final selection came up with the diversity that the town has to offer if you go hunting for it, but, it takes time and patience – it is not always obvious where your journey is going to take you, but it is worthwhile and usually productive.

However for the challenge I had to choose one, and this is my choice,

Landscape of road bisecting orange grove trees

Road in the distance

I would have loved to choose the either of my two photographs for the Old Quarter, but they are not landscape – but this I believe has merit.  It reflects the farming background of Oliva, its rich history in producing oranges and all the off-shoots from oranges; but what it doesn’t reflect is the fact that prices for oranges have been driven down through the ground, and that the younger people do not want to work on the land for peanuts.

#developingyoureye #Oliva #Orangegrove #Oldtown