Digest: Father's death in balcony tragedy, and AI protesters head to 'Knowledge Quarter'
What's been happening in Camden and Islington
Welcome to another Monday Digest from NewJournal+. These round-ups go out free to all subscribers. This week’s email has been put together by Isabel Loubser.
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Enjoy today’s update.
BALCONY TRAGEDY
POLICE are still in the midst of their investigations after a man fell from a balcony in Swiss Cottage last week. The 58 year old father — who is yet to be named — passed away after the glass panel on his balcony gave way at Campden House on the Harben Road estate.
His neighbours say the tragedy has sparked safety concerns about their balconies, and the UK's health and safety executive has launched its own investigation. Some tenants leaders are calling for a full check on every council estate balcony in the borough,
The Town Hall said it is fully cooperating” with police and had visited the flats to block access to balconies with a similar design.
AT WHAT AGE DO THEY GET PHONES?
ADOLESCENCE creator Jack Thorne visited a school in Gospel Oak to encourage parents to stop giving smartphones to their kids. He called on the government to intervene and put an end to children's unrestricted access to social media on phones. His Netflix hit show raised questions about what happens when children are exposed to explicit images, harmful content, and misogynistic ideologies and sparked a national conversation about how to impose limits on this.
Parents at Gospel Oak primary school were encouraged to take matters into their own hands and sign up to a Parent Pact, an agreement that they would not give their children smartphone until the age of 14 and not let them on social media until they were 16.
The hope is that this stops children feeling left out or excluded because all their peers are in the same boat i.e. smartphone free. Easier said than done, but Camden is to become the fourth borough in London to ban phones in school for Year 7s, with the hope that this will be rolled out to older kids on a year-by-year basis.
RISE OF THE ROBOTS
PAUSE AI is returning to protest outside the Google DeepMind offices in King’s Cross – and the so-called ‘Knowledge Quarter’.
Next week, more than 100 people are expected to gather to warn about the dangers of the speed with which AI is developing. The group says that AI models are “accelerating unpredictably” and that various international pledges are not being adhered to.
They don’t just mean being able to make silly pictures or memes of babies talking.
The campaigners have been trying to pressure tech bosses and government leaders to take the threat seriously, and have staged multiple protests over the past two years.
Our YouTube channel Peeps spoke to them last year as they stationed themselves outside the AI summit in Bletchley Park.
They say that 75 per cent of people want the government to take action to slow down AI but fear that the urgent action necessary is yet to be considered.
In contrast, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has already put getting literate in AI at the heart of his plans for young people and an AI campus will work with local schools in Camden.
BIRTHDAY PARTY HORROR
A WOMAN has been found guilty of murder after stabbing a 31-year-old mother from Islington. A six-week trial concluded with Hope Rowe being convicted of killing Charlotte Lawlor at a children’s birthday party last September.
Ms Lawlor’s family have spoken out about how no sentence will ever be enough to help them overcome their loss, and said they had “lost everything” after her death.
They described Charlotte as kind, adventurous, and the “life of the party”.
Her grandmother Sharon told stories of her acting as a child and being in the film Notes On A Scandal, and recalled family summer holidays to Clacton and Spain.
Ms Rowe’s partner Leigh Holder was found guilty of perverting the course of justice by driving her away from the scene and helping her dispose of the knife. The pair are due to be sentenced in the coming weeks.
NOT AGAIN!
JUST weeks after we reported that a man was stuck in a lift in the Chalcots for an agonising hour, the same thing has happened again – this time in a different block.
An 86-year-old resident in Bray tower went to take her bins out only to be trapped in the lift for 90 minutes. She said she was pacing up and down in the lift calling for help. Eventually the fire brigade arrived to break down the door.
Read the full report in the New Journal this Thursday.
ICYMI ROUND-UP
A 92-YEAR-OLD broadcasting icon has been calling on the council to drop some more kerbs around Primrose Hill. Baroness Joan Bakewell, who now uses a mobility scooter, said that the Town Hall need to make life easier for those with wheelchairs and buggies to manoeuvre around streets with steep pavement edges.
THERE was another famous face in Camden this week, as Fresh Prince of Bel Air star Will Smith popped up in a Caribbean restaurant. Owner Roger Shakes was asked to black out his windows so that the musician and actor could enjoy some goat curry. The trip to Roger's Kitchen came after Mr Smith had joined DJ AJ for a surprise performance outside Kings Cross.
POLICE have arrested a 69-year-old woman after Jennifer Abbott was found dead in her flat in Mornington Place. The nationals have descended on her estate to try and get all the grisly details about how and why Ms Abbott was killed, but our reporter Caitlin Maskell has a long read about a colourful life that led her from Beverly Hills to Camden.
THE Whittington cat is set to get a makeover as the council prepare to restore the feline statue in Archway. Some debate has raged about whether the ears should be replaced — with the original sculptor offering to replace the cat for free — but everyone seems to be happy that the Grade II listed monument is at least getting some touching up.
It was the final nail in the coffin for parents, teachers, and schoolchildren who have been protesting against Islington Town Hall’s decision to close two primary schools in the borough. A judge has now ruled that they have no legal grounds to argue against the council’s plan, and they must start registering their children to start somewhere new in September
A rare moth that has only been spotted twice in the last 11 years was found in a garden in Highgate. The Four-spotted Footman was captured in a moth trap, photographed and released. It is a sign of better air quality in London, a moth expert said.
PLUS: Paralympic legend Ellie Simmonds visited Acland Burghley School to talk to young athletes who have benefited from financial funding from the GLL;
A choir founded by medics at the Royal Free is celebrating 30 years of singing this summer;
Street Storage, a charity which helps homeless people store their belongings, has warned that there is a surge of rough sleepers being told to move on;
Thames Water works in Highbury Grove are set to cause major travel disruptions throughout the summer;
Special ‘Refugee Week’ events in Islington saw councillors and community members prove that the borough is far from an “island of strangers”;
A campaign to bring back bins on the canal was highlighted in the House of Lords, with the Islington Tribune also being name-dropped;Hundreds turned out to party in the street for Alma Street Fair in Kentish Town on Saturday;
Chloe Kelly looks set to sign permanently for Arsenal;
A memorial event was held for the late Phil Cowan, the well-known community figure in Primrose Hill;
More delays with announced for HS2;
AND there was a big crowd at Talacre on Sunday for special musical performances and much more to celebrate Windrush Day – see the current print edition for our special supplement.
WHAT WE’VE BEEN REVIEWING
FOR our Windrush special edition, Dan Carrier spoke to Professor Paul Lashmar about his recently published Drax of Drax Hall, which tells the story of how one family got rich and stayed rich off the back of the slave trade. See our print edition.
THEATRE editor Lucy Popescu watched Stereophoic at the Duke of York’s Theatre, an award-winning play that follow a successful rock band as they try and record a new album
LLOYD Bickham went to try out Pizza Bun in West Hampstead, a restaurant promising to “reimagine the pizza experience” and was not disappointed.
LAST UP…
BEFORE we go, a big shout out to Sam’s Cafe in Primrose Hill, which has supported the New Journal and Tribune by sponsoring our special projects over the last couple of weeks. There’s so much to choose from on the menu and, nom nom nom, it’s very much worth popping in for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
No – they did not know we would be mentioning them in this week’s newsletter!
For those who don’t know it’s co-owned by the amazing Sam Frears, who battles a rare disability and is now almost blind, and his old friend, the best-selling novelist Andrew O’Hagan. It’s on the corner of Chalcot Road and Fitzroy Road. Give it a go.
That’s it for this week, look out for more bonus features coming on NewJournal+ later this week. And… if you can… please do consider an upgraded subscription. Every penny raised is vital in covering the costs of what we do. Look out for Isabel’s discount, which can be found HERE.