Russian New Year party in Cheshire cancelled

Unfortunately the Russian “Old Style” New Year event scheduled to take place tomorrow night near Chester has been cancelled. Organiser Tatyana Tatarenkova states that an alternative event will be held around St Valentine’s Day – further details to be announced nearer the time.

East European immigration – “Make it short, make it snappy, make it up”

Today’s papers (with the Daily Mail leading the charge as usual) are again full of lurid tales of how all Britain’s economic woes can be conveniently blamed on those hardy perennials of scapegoating – East European migrant workers. We have responded in the past to this misleading, divisive and pernicious propaganda (see here, here and here) and will not do so now in any detail. Besides, the reasons why these latest figures are so wrong that the British media coverage of this issue would be funny were it not for the fact that youth unemployment in the UK is indeed a very serious problem (albeit not one that can be blamed on East Europeans) is carefully explained by Matt Cavanagh in the New Statesman today. His great piece which systematically takes apart the MigrationWatch figures can be read by clicking here. Ironically, research by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research has also shown that immgration from Eastern Europe may well have acted “as an economic stimulus, pushing total employment levels higher and dole claimant numbers lower than they would otherwise have been” (but of course you won’t read that in The Mail or The Sun - whose slant on this issue is simply part of their wider agenda of propping up the Coalition government and campaigning for the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union).

Alarmist media coverage of the cost of appeals against refusal of settlement visas, also based on MigrationWatch figures, has also been shown to be innaccurate.

Interestingly, once it  emerged that there was more to the truth than the tabloid headlines suggested the papers completely changed tack the following week, this time with banner headlines screaming that, far from “taking our jobs” East European migrants were it seems claiming UK state benefits in their thousands (this story emerging after the government mischieviously and prematurely leaked data to the media). But yet again these headlines targeting East Europeans proved to be the polar opposite of the truth, for as Jonathan Portes pointed out in his excellent response (click here to read in full)  “migrants are about half as likely as non-migrants to be claiming out-of-work benefits“.

Lancashire’s Russian-speaking community celebrate Orthodox Christmas

Lancashire’s Russian-speaking community turned out in force on the night of January 7th to celebrate Orthodox Christmas. This was a family event and organisers Inessa Gee-Ivanova of Lancashire BME Pact  and Elena Duckworth of Global Expression both did a fantastic job. However even they were surprised by the turnout – 140 tickets were printed and all were sold within days, with many more people turning up on the night, with the result that St Anne’s Cricket Club was full to overflowing!

There was a really good mix of people – ranging from migrant workers from the Baltic States to Russian speaking students and academics, women from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and their English husbands and families and stars from Blackpool’s entertainment industry – and of course lots of kids, for whom it was a great chance to meet with other Russian-speaking children and keep in touch with their Slavic roots!

If you have more pics of this event that you’d like us to add then do email them to us by clicking here.

Below: Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost – the Russian Father Christmas) and the witch Baba Yaga in the 1964 movie Ded Moroz (click image to watch with English subtitles):

Evening of Russian song – Bolton 17 December 2011

Evening of Russian song – Bolton 17 December 2011 – featuring balalaika players Denis Furse and David Lomax from North Wales

 

 

 

S novim godom 2012!

 

Come to our Russian (“Old Style” New Year i.e. according to the Julian Calendar) party which will take place at Backford near Chester on January 14 2012 at 6:00 pm.

The evening includes:

·         buffet

·         dancing

·         singing

·         competitions

Drinks are not included in the cost of tickets but will be available at the bar.

Tickets available:

£20 at the entrance

£18 in advance

£15 students

The party will take place at

Mollington Village Hall, Station Rd, Backford, CH1 6NT (click here for the Village Hall’s website)

Parking spaces are available.

For further information and for purchasing tickets please contact Tanya via mobile 07403283904 or e-mail by clicking here

We look forward to seeing you!

Lytham on Ice – Dec 2011 to Jan 2012

Blackpool and the Fylde Coast is home to a small but highly skilled community of Russian speaking ice skating stars, of whom perhaps the best known are Natalia and Alexei Kislytsin.

Join them over the festive season in Lytham for a series of ice events aimed at skaters of all levels. Click image above for further details. (See also Kyran Bracken’s Ice Party).

 

Celebrate Orthodox Christmas in Lancashire – St Annes Cricket Club, Vernon Rd – Jan 7th 2012 (5 – 9 pm)

Come and join us for a family celebration of Orthodox Christmas on January 12th at St Annes Cricket Club, Vernon Rd, Lytham St Annes, FY8 2RQ.

All welcome!

To book call Elena on 01253 365630 or 0776 692 1201

Click here for directions to St Annes Cricket Club

ROOF Charity Concert, RNCM, Manchester – Friday 9th December 2011

To book tickets online click here

A victory for common sense…

The outcome of this week’s hearing of the Special Immigration and Appeals Commission (SIAC) in the case of Katia Zatuliveter (about which we have written previously) must have come as a great relief to her family and friends. The tribunal held that the evidence against Katia was not sufficient to even “suggest” (much less prove) the accusations of espionage made against her. This must have been an extremely stressful year for Katia and her family. This decision should be seen as an indication that justice and common sense have at last prevailed over the distasteful hysteria, paranoia and xenophobia whipped up by the media (with the honourable exception of The Economist) and egged on by politicians and security service spooks whose talents did not seem to extend beyond the ability to cobble together yet another ”dodgy dossier” to justify their existence. Despite such unpleasantness, from this decision we can see that the independence of the judiciary, the separation of powers and the rule of law are all ideals that still count for something in British justice. The last word should perhaps go to Katia’s father Andrei who eloquently expressed his feelings thus:

“Next time they accuse someone of spying and try to deport them perhaps they can make sure they have some evidence, at least the bare minimum. It was a nightmare year. I was always confident in the UK justice system but there was enormous pressure on it and the tribunal could have caved in to that pressure.”

Bring the Gagarin statue to Manchester!

On July 14 a crowd gathered in London to witness the unveiling of a statue in commemoration of the first man in space, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Unfortunately it has been announced that the staue has to be moved by 2012. In the light of this, Manchester amateur astronomer and space enthusiast Gurbir Singh has launched a campaign to request that the statue be relocated to Manchester, something that we at Russian Lancashire wholeheartedly endorse, especially in the light of Gagarin’s famously successful visit to Manchester in 1961 and more recent ties between the city and the wider North West region with the stunning achievements of Russian scientists. Please sign Gurbir’s petition here and let’s bring the Gagarin statue to Manchester for good!