UK Sex Sells New

Mobile phone networks have been asked to cut off sex workers ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

City Hall chiefs have called on phone companies to help crack down on prostitution in the lead up to the sporting event.

They want help targeting numbers advertised on thousands of sex calling cards that appear in phone boxes throughout the capital.

Kit Malthouse, deputy mayor for mean mindedness and policing, said the mobile phone numbers are a valuable resource for those behind the sex industry.

He said an agreement must be reached between mobile phone networks and police that sees them taken out of use as soon as they are identified.

Malthouse said: If you are an American tourist and if you walk into a telephone box you would think it was a sex shop. We want a streamlined, agreed process for barring these numbers because they become very valuable for a number of reasons. Firstly, they become a source of repeat business. Plus the numbers operate as a kind of switchboard, there will be several poor girls operating behind the number. Hopefully it will become dangerous to advertise your number in these boxes because you may loose your business.

Chief executives of all the major mobile operators have been invited to a meeting at City Hall in October. City Hall named Vodafone, Orange, O2, 3, Virgin and T-Mobile as the main companies in their sights.

Malthouse has had a bee in his bonnet over calling cards since 2000 when he worked as a councillor in Westminster. At one point campaigners stood in Oxford Street handing out calling cards printed with details of mobile phone company bosses.

A billboard of a  glamour model has sparked nutter complaints to the advertising censor.

Lapdancing club Perfect 10s pasted the poster on the side of a cafe in Blackpool Road, Ashton, to advertise an event marking the Preston city centre venue's seventh anniversary.

The 15ft picture shows a pouting woman peeling her knickers off, with a banner across her chest saying: Say hello to my new boobs for the first time at Perfect 10s.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has received three complaints about the poster, which was put up last week.

Some locals believe the billboard, was too graphic. Janine Reynolds said she would not be happy if her two-year-old grandson spotted the picture: The children from St Andrews School are off for six weeks but they'll still be going on the park opposite. It's the bottom half of the picture – they should have cut it off from the navel down.

The ASA said there are no specific codes regarding nudity in adverts and context is taken into account.

Businessman Edgar Wallace, part of the consortium which owns Perfect 10s, said: I have not personally received any complaints or heard of any problems about the poster. However, if public opinion comes out in favour of removing the poster, I will remove it straight away.

Harmony For the second time in two years, UK-based retailers and readers of English magazine Erotic Trade Only voted Harmony Films Best British Film Brand for 2009 at the publication's award show on 5 July.

A single ETO award for Best Film Brand is tremendous, but winning two is outstanding, Jason Maskell, Harmony Films' manager of sales and marketing, said. We're very pleased our peers in the UK adult industry recognized the quality that goes into each production Gazzman, Tanya Hyde, Strangelove and Dave West shoots.

Maskell stressed that Harmony Films spares no expense to shoot elite X-rated performers in locations around the world: The fans' tastes have matured and it's never been easier for them to compare reviews and discuss movies with other enthusiasts. Harmony Films will continually seek to raise the standard of the industry to meet their demands.

The owner behind Scotland's newest lapdance club has a sideline in hardcore porn films starring his dancers.

Spearmint Rhino tycoon John Gray boasts that his gentleman's clubs are in the fantasy business with strict no-touching rules.

The American also has an X-rated Rhino Girls website at www.TheRhinoGirls.com offering hardcore action that the girls can't do in the clubs.

Whingers who failed to stop Scotland's first Rhino club opening in Glasgow this month predictably condemned the company's porn business. They say the explicit online content blurs the lines between lap-dancing, porn and prostitution.

Sandra White MSP said: I've been suspicious of the club's insistence that it offers nothing but squeaky-clean, harmless fun but the Sunday Mail has uncovered a part of the business that clearly goes far further than that. I hope this leads to the club's closure in Glasgow.

Last week Glasgow councillors banned the club from describing itself as a gentleman's club in taxi adverts as true gentlemen would be embarrassed to visit it.

The deputy leader of Glasgow City Council, Jim Coleman, a leading crusader against the sex industry, has written to Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill urging the Scottish Government to categorise lap-dancing venues in the same bracket as sex shops.

He hopes it will result in the clubs being driven out of Glasgow.

By attaching the same licensing conditions, Coleman said he believes the local authority will have a tighter control over the setting up and operation of lap-dancing venues.

In the letter, he said it would seem the climate is right in Scotland to take decisive action after the Home Office announced its intention to re-categorise lap dancing venues as sex encounter establishments.

He said: A move to re-categorise the licensing of lap-dancing clubs away from the "entertainment" provision towards "sex shop" licensing would give local authorities greater powers to apply conditions and restrictions on such clubs.

Indeed, in Glasgow, the local authority has set the provision for sex shops at nil due to the underlying belief that there would be an overwhelming contradiction in licensing such exploitative activities, while at the same time trying to promote a Scotland grounded on human rights and equality for all.

Last night, however, his latest attempt to amend the legislation appeared to have floundered. A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: The licensing of adult entertainment is for local licensing boards to make decisions in light of their local policies.

In implementing the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 boards have been given the power to limit licensed premises including those offering adult entertainment premises and impose any relevant condition on how such a premises operates.

Anybody can object to an application and even after a licence has been granted anyone can call for a review of the licence in operation.

A drive to clean up Soho and to diminish its red-light image has been unveiled by Westminster City Council.

Council leader Colin Barrow has pledged to shut down the last remaining unlicensed sex premises following the recent closure of 51 sex shops and the complete eradication of clip joints.

Councillor Barrow said: The idea that the seedy side of Soho is a magnet for tourists and creative trade is a flawed one. It may well be a curiosity, but there is no compelling economic argument for this.

This is not about sanitising the area ...BUT... simply making it fit for a modern capital city where people are more aware than ever of the true costs of prostitution and drugs to society.

A senior police officer claims that there are more fake prostitutes and drug dealers than real ones on the streets of Soho in London's West End. Soho was once known as a notorious area for its sex shops, but now while there are still some prostitutes who work inside some premises, the ones on the streets are almost all fake operators.

Det Chief Supt Andy Rowell says that the area has been cleaned-up by the police, but now the danger comes from con artists targeting gullible foreign tourists and out-of-town visitors.

The fake drug dealers pass off boot polish or liquorice as cannabis, and wax wrapped in foil as crack cocaine and aspirin pills, with the markings rubbed off on the side of a matchbox, as tablets.

Where the fake prostitutes are concerned, around 15 of them work together by taking a deposit for a room then disappearing, or luring a punter into an alleyway where a male accomplice will relieve them of their cash.

Rowell said: Soho is now a safe place to come and enjoy yourself - but please don't come looking for drugs and prostitutes. You will almost certainly get something you didn't expect.

Nutters are planning to protest outside a neighbour's house in South Gloucestershire which has been used to shoot pornographic films.

They say there is a constant procession of women and men going to and from the house. Up to 20 residents are set to stage a protest in their street on Saturday morning, after previously making a series of complaints and gathering signatures on a petition.

People living in Bradley Stoke, said they are making a stand because police and council officials have declined to take any action.

Adult film producer James Edwards agreed to sign an Acceptable Behaviour Contract – described by the Home Office as a voluntary agreement made between someone involved in anti-social behaviour and the police – more than two years ago, after residents said his pornographic activities had spilled outside the house into the front garden when explicit scenes were being shot.

Police issued an £80 fixed penalty notice on a woman who was urinating beside a lamppost whilst being filmed.

Fred Hillberg said residents had had enough and wanted action taken because they claimed their lives were being made a misery because of Edwards's activities: We started having to put up with pornographic activity about five years ago which eventually spilled out into public view. We approached the police, South Gloucestershire Council and even the Home Office and provided surveillance video, adverts, website data and pictures but to no avail.

Neighbour Pete Kite said: This is no place for this sort of thing. It's degrading and affecting our lives and property status.

Another neighbour, Mike Otley, said: It lowers the neighbourhood and attracts the wrong sort of people into the area.

Edwards said he was not doing anything unlawful in his home and said the accusations were causing him stress: The police have fully investigated the complaints from my neighbours and as far as I am aware the police don't have an issue with me.

Police Inspector Kevin Thatcher said there was insufficient evidence to back up some accusations being made against Edwards by the residents. But he said: However, we believe the occupier is legitimately running a pornographic recording studio.

A spokesman for South Gloucestershire Council said: Mr Edwards received an Acceptable Behaviour Contract in 2006 for six months and there were no reported breaches during this period. We will look into the current situation further.

Update: Making a Scene

1st February. See article from news.bbc.co.uk

James Edwards who uses his home near Bristol as a studio for adult films has been confronted by neighbours protesting outside his property.

People who live in the same cul-de-sac demonstrated outside Edwards' house with placards claiming his business is affecting the prices of their property.

Peter Kite, who also lives in the cul-de-sac and was taking part in the protest, ludicrously claimed: The police say it's legal but they don't see everything. If you've got pornography here now, you're going to have prostitution next, you're going to have drugs. In a residential area? No way - no way.

Clone Zone Ltd has averted a financial crisis and has now been purchased by novelty manufacturer Libertybelle U.K. Ltd.

It will continue operations from four of its 10 brick-and-mortar outlets in Birmingham, London and Manchester.

The Clonezone sale includes the Clone Zone brand, stock and Internet retail business, according to a published report. The remaining retail locations will be sold. Five stores have already been sold to Nice 'n' Naughty and will operate under Nice 'n' Naughty branding.

The business, as it was structured, found it hard to maintain market share when faced with growing competition on the Internet, said Asher Miller of David Rubin & Partners, a London-based insolvency firm appointed to the case. With this restructuring and renewed investment, coupled with a new focus on Internet retail, the Clone Zone business will have the best chance of survival.

We are delighted that we have been able to secure the future of Clone Zone with a partner from within the industry that brings a tremendous amount of expertise in sales, marketing, [novelty] design and manufacturing, said Mike McCann, the company's newly appointed managing director.

Thou shalt not lie... Unless you are preaching nonsense

Church of England dioceses are to call for a government crackdown on human trafficking in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympics to prevent a repeat of the supposed mega brothels set up in German cities for the 2006 World Cup.

Nutters will discuss the matter at a General Synod next month following a motion set down by the dioceses of Newcastle and Winchester.

We do not want this same kind of thing for London 2012, said the Revd. Canon Michael Webb of Newcastle Diocese.

The dioceses called for the government, police and officials to combat the evil trade of trafficking and forced prostitution through legislation and enforcement. They pointed to the World Cup in Germany, where, they said, city officials adopted a pragmatic approach towards catering for the sexual desires of the estimated three million football fans who attended the tournament.

Sex huts for prostitution were set up, filled with 40,000 extra prostitutes, while special licences were issued allowing prostitutes to offer sex on the street, they said in a background paper.

Some studies however suggested that prostitution levels may have in fact decreased during the World Cup.

We wish to support and encourage H.M. Government to do everything in its power to ensure that nothing like this is allowed to happen in our cities, the dioceses added. [you mean like prostitution decreasing during Germany's world cup] .

Britain's Home Office said initial risk assessments have recognised potential risks created by London holding the Olympic Games: We are aware that the preparations for the London Olympics in 2012 could attract criminals who seek to profit from the fact that hospitality, catering and construction workers are required as well as the risk of an increase in prostitution, including those who have been trafficked.

Lap dancers are the credit crunch’s latest victims as recession-hit men tighten their belts.

The owner of one of Cardiff’s largest lap-dancing bars claims the 30 girls who vie to peel off their underwear on weekends were finding it harder to persuade punters to part with their cash.

Ian Willison, who owns Fantasy Lounge, said: We have our regulars but the credit crunch is affecting more professional people like bankers and solicitors, the traditional white-collar workers and high-flyers.

People are still going out but they are being a bit tighter with their money, that’s what everyone in the industry has found.

The volume of customers through the doors is the same, but people aren’t spending as much. The girls definitely have to work harder to get someone to pay for a dance, because everyone is jostling for custom.

I’ve been talking to owners of other lap-dancing clubs and we are all very concerned about 2009.

I think it will hit us this year if the recession is as bad as experts predict. But we have already taken steps to encompass that. Measures include half-price dances before midnight on week nights. He added: Lap dancing has always been seen as a luxury where people go every couple of months, but clubs need to be more affordable.

Adult retailer Ann Summers has apologised for offending a shopper with one of its saucy shop fronts. But it did not say it would remove the window display’s suggestive sale sign despite a letter from the council asking them to tone it down.

Harrow council wrote to the sex toy and lingerie chain over the sign in which an elongated letter ‘l’ in 'sale' is depicted in an apparent sex act below the catchline get excited.
Ann Summers

Kevin Gooch was shocked to be confronted by the image when he was out shopping with his young son in the Harlequin shopping centre in Watford. In a letter to the Harrow Times, which prompted the council to take action, he said: I was surprised and somewhat shocked to see Ann Summers displaying a pair of open lips with a five foot erect penis just about to enter into them. I feel this sends out a very strong message. I do not want my young children to be subjected to this kind of subliminal messaging when going shopping.

Harrow council’s deputy leader Susan Hall wrote to retail boss Jacqueline Gold to ask her to consider changing the display. The lips image is an obviously suggestive one, and not even Mary Poppins would think it doesn’t refer to a sex act.

An Ann Summers spokeswoman said it had not yet received the council’s letter but the sale signs had been used for the past three and a half years.

She said: We aim to have fun in what we do without offending. However, we do take our role seriously and apologise if we have offended the customer in question and what he has interpreted from our window.

A teacher in the UK who was a part time porn-star has been found guilty of unacceptable professional misconduct.

Andrew Beasley - who worked at a school in east London - appeared in TV programmes and films described as having a sexual nature, but did not earn any money from the movies.

Britain's General Teaching Council says what he did was a breach of the standards of the profession.

London's Metropolitan police have admitted turning a "blind eye" to many of London's brothels and massage parlours because it believes the public would not support a total clampdown on prostitution.

Commander Allan Gibson told a committee of MPs the force knew rapidly when sex was being sold and could devote a lot more of its resources to tackling the problem, but chose not to do so.

Gibson, the officer in charge of the force's human trafficking unit, claimed this was because police felt Londoners were willing to tolerate a certain level of prostitution and a full-scale crackdown would be a very difficult thing to sell to the public. The Met insisted it was determined to stamp out serious criminality connected to brothels, such as people-trafficking. But the admission that it allows many to operate produced an angry response from fem-Nazis. The Met's stance was revealed in evidence to the Commons home affairs select committee.

Gibson said the force only raided brothels where it believed serious offences were being committed. We could commit a lot more of our resources to prostitution. Would that be the right thing to do? It is a matter of to what extent we target our resources at this problem. There is a sense in which there is a tolerance of a certain level of prostitution in society.

Gibson added that prostitution would be a difficult problem to eradicate and conceded, when asked if the Met was turning a blind eye , that it frequently did so. However, Gibson said raids to combat people-trafficking, rape and other serious crimes were conducted regularly.

He added: I f we were to focus on prostitution alone, I think you would end up in a situation of saying there is a certain amount we should do but perhaps not exhaust all our resources doing it.

Jenny Jones, a man hating member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said many women would support a far more aggressive approach: Who are the Met to decide that we want them to turn a blind eye? This a very misogynistic view which is out of date

London MEP Mary Honeyball, who campaigns against men's rights, described the Met's stance as astounding. Giving brothels the green light so publicly is to say, 'Yes, we will tolerate violence and abuse against women so long as it's behind closed doors'.