Latest news with #NewcastleCouncil
ITV News
01-08-2025
- Politics
- ITV News
First-ever monument in the UK to honour Roma Holocaust victims unveiled in Newcastle
A monument has been erected in Newcastle dedicated to remembering the suffering and murder of the Roma during the Holocaust. It is the first, and only permanent, memorial in the UK for the victims of the genocide of the Roma. The exact number of Romani people who died during World War II at the hands of the Nazi regime is unknown - but it is thought it could be as many as half a million people. The memorial unveiled on 1 August hopes to serve as a tranquil space for visiting families and friends, as a place of reflection and to ensure those who lost their lives will not be forgotten. ITV Tyne Tees spoke to one woman at the event, who shared how "important" the commemoration was for her family. She said: "It's very important to me, especially my family, because my grandfather's father died in Auschwitz, but unfortunately we have no memory of that, because of World War II. "It means a lot to us to have the memorial stone here today." Another person said that it was "really amazing" that this happened, whilst another said "I'm really happy to see what Newcastle Council has done for the Roma community." In 2023, former Councillor Nicu Ion introduced a motion to Newcastle City Council, leading to the official recognition of the day - 2 August - being a day of commemoration for the Roma victims of the Holocaust. As part of this initiative, the council pledged to provide a space at the Civic Centre for a dedicated memorial. Nicu Ion attended the unveiling event and spoke about how the memorial is also dedicated to soldiers from the North East, who helped free the Roma survivors of the Holocaust. "It's really important to acknowledge the British soldiers from the North East who actually fight to liberate the concentration camps, where Roma were prisoners, and Bergen Belsen is one of them, where the majority of prisoners in those camps were actually Roma. "So we wanted to pay a special tribute to the British soldiers, so there's a powerful connection," he said. It is hoped that the memorial can be used to educate others about the Roma victims of the Holocaust. Ruth-Anne Lenga, from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), said: "It's been so long forgotten. It's been ignored. There's not enough research about it, and teachers really struggle to know enough to feel confident to teach about this subject. "So at the IHRA we're really determined to support the Roma communities, not just in this country, but internationally."
The Advertiser
24-07-2025
- Politics
- The Advertiser
'They weren't threatening but they were very clear': what the Chinese said during their visit to Newcastle
Newcastle Lord Mayor Ross Kerridge admits he was "a bit surprised" the subjects of Tibet, Taiwan and nuclear submarines arose during a meeting with Chinese Consul General Wang Yu, which had been pitched as a 'meet and greet'. The same issues were again raised during a lunch with Hunter union representatives following the meeting. Last Thursday's meeting with the Lord Mayor, chief of staff Gina Hanson and government relations manager Nikki Taylor had been scheduled with the recently appointed Consul General about six weeks ago. No agenda was provided, and no other councillors, nor members of the City of Newcastle's executive leadership team, were present. After exchanging pleasantries and engaging in a general discussion about the city, the delegation proactively raised their country's position on Tibet and Taiwan. "We talked about Tibet and how many Tibetans live in Newcastle. I said, yes, there is a Tibetan community in Newcastle and they don't cause any trouble," Cr Kerridge said. "They talked about their position on Taiwan in much the same way. "I was a bit surprised; they weren't threatening, but they were very clear." The conversation then moved to whether Newcastle was going to be a nuclear submarine base. "I remarked that Newcastle Council's long-standing policy is that we are a non-nuclear city, but that any decision about a submarine base would be a matter for the state and federal governments. He did explain that a submarine base in Newcastle would make China less interested in investing in the area," Cr Kerridge said. Cr Kerridge said that, while he was satisfied with how he handled the conversation, he said he would have sought advice if he had been aware the contentious issues were going to be raised. "If they had said that they wanted to talk about those things, we would have sought advice. By putting it on the agenda, it would have been more than just, 'this is our position', Cr Kerridge said. Cr Kerridge said the meeting highlighted the need for the council to develop an external relations policy. 'As I see it, part of our role is to liaise with groups like this. You should have a standard approach about what you engage in and how you do it." Minutes of the meeting were circulated to councillors and subsequently leaked to the Daily Telegraph. "(Leaking the minutes) doesn't help our relationship with China. It's important that we are polite and respectful to all countries," Cr Kerridge said. The lord mayor's second-in-charge, Liberal deputy lord mayor Callum Pull, said he was left in the dark about the meeting with the Chinese diplomat. Cr Pull said it was "made clear" to the lord mayor that the meeting should be reported to Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong. "Reading the record of this meeting immediately rang alarm bells," he said. "I and other councillors have questioned why we were not informed of, or invited to the meeting, and why the meeting occurred with apparently no agenda, stated intent or clear purpose." The Newcastle Herald understands at least one other councillor was invited to the meeting. Since Cr Kerridge's election, he has held meetings with Kongsberg Defence Australia, the Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery, Newcastle Airport, the Port of Newcastle and the Hunter Defence Task Force. Defence has signed an $850 million contract with Kongsberg to establish Australia's first guided weapons production factory at Williamtown. Liberal Senator Maria Kovacic, duty senator for the Hunter, has publicly stated that the meeting should "ring alarm bells at the highest levels of government". Cr Pull said the Opposition's concerns about the matter are "well-founded" as it is unclear whether the lord mayor was exposed to sensitive information concerning national security at prior meetings. "I encourage the Commonwealth to take all necessary steps to assess and respond to any potential national security risks this meeting may have caused," he said. "I am also deeply concerned about what seem to be threats if we support the Tibetan or Taiwanese communities. "As councillors, we should support all communities regardless of their ethnic background." Following the meeting with the Lord Mayor, the Chinese delegation met with Hunter union representatives for lunch at the Dockyard Hotel in Honeysuckle. Hunter Workers secretary Leigh Shears said the lunch followed a dinner he had recently attended at the Chinese embassy with members of the South Coast Labour Council to commemorate the 1938 Dalfram Dispute. "The dinner was the initial contact for us. We saw the delegation's visit to Newcastle as an opportunity to establish a relationship with the Chinese companies that own 21 per cent of our electricity assets, are a major owner of coal assets in our region as well as the port," Hunter Workers Secretary Leigh Shears said. "From our perspective, those were the things we wanted to talk to them about." Mr Shears confirmed the issues of Tibet, Taiwan and nuclear submarines were raised. "They didn't go into detail about their positions or what their concerns were. They said there is a Tibetan community here in Newcastle. Do you know them? "I said I don't know personally and we left it at that. They didn't raise it in a confrontational way and it wasn't awkward." Hunter Workers presented the delegation with a framed print of Newcastle Trades Hall secretary George Bass leaving Newcastle Courthouse with Chinese seafarers during the 1937 Silksworth Dispute at the Port of Newcastle. Newcastle Lord Mayor Ross Kerridge admits he was "a bit surprised" the subjects of Tibet, Taiwan and nuclear submarines arose during a meeting with Chinese Consul General Wang Yu, which had been pitched as a 'meet and greet'. The same issues were again raised during a lunch with Hunter union representatives following the meeting. Last Thursday's meeting with the Lord Mayor, chief of staff Gina Hanson and government relations manager Nikki Taylor had been scheduled with the recently appointed Consul General about six weeks ago. No agenda was provided, and no other councillors, nor members of the City of Newcastle's executive leadership team, were present. After exchanging pleasantries and engaging in a general discussion about the city, the delegation proactively raised their country's position on Tibet and Taiwan. "We talked about Tibet and how many Tibetans live in Newcastle. I said, yes, there is a Tibetan community in Newcastle and they don't cause any trouble," Cr Kerridge said. "They talked about their position on Taiwan in much the same way. "I was a bit surprised; they weren't threatening, but they were very clear." The conversation then moved to whether Newcastle was going to be a nuclear submarine base. "I remarked that Newcastle Council's long-standing policy is that we are a non-nuclear city, but that any decision about a submarine base would be a matter for the state and federal governments. He did explain that a submarine base in Newcastle would make China less interested in investing in the area," Cr Kerridge said. Cr Kerridge said that, while he was satisfied with how he handled the conversation, he said he would have sought advice if he had been aware the contentious issues were going to be raised. "If they had said that they wanted to talk about those things, we would have sought advice. By putting it on the agenda, it would have been more than just, 'this is our position', Cr Kerridge said. Cr Kerridge said the meeting highlighted the need for the council to develop an external relations policy. 'As I see it, part of our role is to liaise with groups like this. You should have a standard approach about what you engage in and how you do it." Minutes of the meeting were circulated to councillors and subsequently leaked to the Daily Telegraph. "(Leaking the minutes) doesn't help our relationship with China. It's important that we are polite and respectful to all countries," Cr Kerridge said. The lord mayor's second-in-charge, Liberal deputy lord mayor Callum Pull, said he was left in the dark about the meeting with the Chinese diplomat. Cr Pull said it was "made clear" to the lord mayor that the meeting should be reported to Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong. "Reading the record of this meeting immediately rang alarm bells," he said. "I and other councillors have questioned why we were not informed of, or invited to the meeting, and why the meeting occurred with apparently no agenda, stated intent or clear purpose." The Newcastle Herald understands at least one other councillor was invited to the meeting. Since Cr Kerridge's election, he has held meetings with Kongsberg Defence Australia, the Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery, Newcastle Airport, the Port of Newcastle and the Hunter Defence Task Force. Defence has signed an $850 million contract with Kongsberg to establish Australia's first guided weapons production factory at Williamtown. Liberal Senator Maria Kovacic, duty senator for the Hunter, has publicly stated that the meeting should "ring alarm bells at the highest levels of government". Cr Pull said the Opposition's concerns about the matter are "well-founded" as it is unclear whether the lord mayor was exposed to sensitive information concerning national security at prior meetings. "I encourage the Commonwealth to take all necessary steps to assess and respond to any potential national security risks this meeting may have caused," he said. "I am also deeply concerned about what seem to be threats if we support the Tibetan or Taiwanese communities. "As councillors, we should support all communities regardless of their ethnic background." Following the meeting with the Lord Mayor, the Chinese delegation met with Hunter union representatives for lunch at the Dockyard Hotel in Honeysuckle. Hunter Workers secretary Leigh Shears said the lunch followed a dinner he had recently attended at the Chinese embassy with members of the South Coast Labour Council to commemorate the 1938 Dalfram Dispute. "The dinner was the initial contact for us. We saw the delegation's visit to Newcastle as an opportunity to establish a relationship with the Chinese companies that own 21 per cent of our electricity assets, are a major owner of coal assets in our region as well as the port," Hunter Workers Secretary Leigh Shears said. "From our perspective, those were the things we wanted to talk to them about." Mr Shears confirmed the issues of Tibet, Taiwan and nuclear submarines were raised. "They didn't go into detail about their positions or what their concerns were. They said there is a Tibetan community here in Newcastle. Do you know them? "I said I don't know personally and we left it at that. They didn't raise it in a confrontational way and it wasn't awkward." Hunter Workers presented the delegation with a framed print of Newcastle Trades Hall secretary George Bass leaving Newcastle Courthouse with Chinese seafarers during the 1937 Silksworth Dispute at the Port of Newcastle. Newcastle Lord Mayor Ross Kerridge admits he was "a bit surprised" the subjects of Tibet, Taiwan and nuclear submarines arose during a meeting with Chinese Consul General Wang Yu, which had been pitched as a 'meet and greet'. The same issues were again raised during a lunch with Hunter union representatives following the meeting. Last Thursday's meeting with the Lord Mayor, chief of staff Gina Hanson and government relations manager Nikki Taylor had been scheduled with the recently appointed Consul General about six weeks ago. No agenda was provided, and no other councillors, nor members of the City of Newcastle's executive leadership team, were present. After exchanging pleasantries and engaging in a general discussion about the city, the delegation proactively raised their country's position on Tibet and Taiwan. "We talked about Tibet and how many Tibetans live in Newcastle. I said, yes, there is a Tibetan community in Newcastle and they don't cause any trouble," Cr Kerridge said. "They talked about their position on Taiwan in much the same way. "I was a bit surprised; they weren't threatening, but they were very clear." The conversation then moved to whether Newcastle was going to be a nuclear submarine base. "I remarked that Newcastle Council's long-standing policy is that we are a non-nuclear city, but that any decision about a submarine base would be a matter for the state and federal governments. He did explain that a submarine base in Newcastle would make China less interested in investing in the area," Cr Kerridge said. Cr Kerridge said that, while he was satisfied with how he handled the conversation, he said he would have sought advice if he had been aware the contentious issues were going to be raised. "If they had said that they wanted to talk about those things, we would have sought advice. By putting it on the agenda, it would have been more than just, 'this is our position', Cr Kerridge said. Cr Kerridge said the meeting highlighted the need for the council to develop an external relations policy. 'As I see it, part of our role is to liaise with groups like this. You should have a standard approach about what you engage in and how you do it." Minutes of the meeting were circulated to councillors and subsequently leaked to the Daily Telegraph. "(Leaking the minutes) doesn't help our relationship with China. It's important that we are polite and respectful to all countries," Cr Kerridge said. The lord mayor's second-in-charge, Liberal deputy lord mayor Callum Pull, said he was left in the dark about the meeting with the Chinese diplomat. Cr Pull said it was "made clear" to the lord mayor that the meeting should be reported to Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong. "Reading the record of this meeting immediately rang alarm bells," he said. "I and other councillors have questioned why we were not informed of, or invited to the meeting, and why the meeting occurred with apparently no agenda, stated intent or clear purpose." The Newcastle Herald understands at least one other councillor was invited to the meeting. Since Cr Kerridge's election, he has held meetings with Kongsberg Defence Australia, the Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery, Newcastle Airport, the Port of Newcastle and the Hunter Defence Task Force. Defence has signed an $850 million contract with Kongsberg to establish Australia's first guided weapons production factory at Williamtown. Liberal Senator Maria Kovacic, duty senator for the Hunter, has publicly stated that the meeting should "ring alarm bells at the highest levels of government". Cr Pull said the Opposition's concerns about the matter are "well-founded" as it is unclear whether the lord mayor was exposed to sensitive information concerning national security at prior meetings. "I encourage the Commonwealth to take all necessary steps to assess and respond to any potential national security risks this meeting may have caused," he said. "I am also deeply concerned about what seem to be threats if we support the Tibetan or Taiwanese communities. "As councillors, we should support all communities regardless of their ethnic background." Following the meeting with the Lord Mayor, the Chinese delegation met with Hunter union representatives for lunch at the Dockyard Hotel in Honeysuckle. Hunter Workers secretary Leigh Shears said the lunch followed a dinner he had recently attended at the Chinese embassy with members of the South Coast Labour Council to commemorate the 1938 Dalfram Dispute. "The dinner was the initial contact for us. We saw the delegation's visit to Newcastle as an opportunity to establish a relationship with the Chinese companies that own 21 per cent of our electricity assets, are a major owner of coal assets in our region as well as the port," Hunter Workers Secretary Leigh Shears said. "From our perspective, those were the things we wanted to talk to them about." Mr Shears confirmed the issues of Tibet, Taiwan and nuclear submarines were raised. "They didn't go into detail about their positions or what their concerns were. They said there is a Tibetan community here in Newcastle. Do you know them? "I said I don't know personally and we left it at that. They didn't raise it in a confrontational way and it wasn't awkward." Hunter Workers presented the delegation with a framed print of Newcastle Trades Hall secretary George Bass leaving Newcastle Courthouse with Chinese seafarers during the 1937 Silksworth Dispute at the Port of Newcastle. Newcastle Lord Mayor Ross Kerridge admits he was "a bit surprised" the subjects of Tibet, Taiwan and nuclear submarines arose during a meeting with Chinese Consul General Wang Yu, which had been pitched as a 'meet and greet'. The same issues were again raised during a lunch with Hunter union representatives following the meeting. Last Thursday's meeting with the Lord Mayor, chief of staff Gina Hanson and government relations manager Nikki Taylor had been scheduled with the recently appointed Consul General about six weeks ago. No agenda was provided, and no other councillors, nor members of the City of Newcastle's executive leadership team, were present. After exchanging pleasantries and engaging in a general discussion about the city, the delegation proactively raised their country's position on Tibet and Taiwan. "We talked about Tibet and how many Tibetans live in Newcastle. I said, yes, there is a Tibetan community in Newcastle and they don't cause any trouble," Cr Kerridge said. "They talked about their position on Taiwan in much the same way. "I was a bit surprised; they weren't threatening, but they were very clear." The conversation then moved to whether Newcastle was going to be a nuclear submarine base. "I remarked that Newcastle Council's long-standing policy is that we are a non-nuclear city, but that any decision about a submarine base would be a matter for the state and federal governments. He did explain that a submarine base in Newcastle would make China less interested in investing in the area," Cr Kerridge said. Cr Kerridge said that, while he was satisfied with how he handled the conversation, he said he would have sought advice if he had been aware the contentious issues were going to be raised. "If they had said that they wanted to talk about those things, we would have sought advice. By putting it on the agenda, it would have been more than just, 'this is our position', Cr Kerridge said. Cr Kerridge said the meeting highlighted the need for the council to develop an external relations policy. 'As I see it, part of our role is to liaise with groups like this. You should have a standard approach about what you engage in and how you do it." Minutes of the meeting were circulated to councillors and subsequently leaked to the Daily Telegraph. "(Leaking the minutes) doesn't help our relationship with China. It's important that we are polite and respectful to all countries," Cr Kerridge said. The lord mayor's second-in-charge, Liberal deputy lord mayor Callum Pull, said he was left in the dark about the meeting with the Chinese diplomat. Cr Pull said it was "made clear" to the lord mayor that the meeting should be reported to Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong. "Reading the record of this meeting immediately rang alarm bells," he said. "I and other councillors have questioned why we were not informed of, or invited to the meeting, and why the meeting occurred with apparently no agenda, stated intent or clear purpose." The Newcastle Herald understands at least one other councillor was invited to the meeting. Since Cr Kerridge's election, he has held meetings with Kongsberg Defence Australia, the Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery, Newcastle Airport, the Port of Newcastle and the Hunter Defence Task Force. Defence has signed an $850 million contract with Kongsberg to establish Australia's first guided weapons production factory at Williamtown. Liberal Senator Maria Kovacic, duty senator for the Hunter, has publicly stated that the meeting should "ring alarm bells at the highest levels of government". Cr Pull said the Opposition's concerns about the matter are "well-founded" as it is unclear whether the lord mayor was exposed to sensitive information concerning national security at prior meetings. "I encourage the Commonwealth to take all necessary steps to assess and respond to any potential national security risks this meeting may have caused," he said. "I am also deeply concerned about what seem to be threats if we support the Tibetan or Taiwanese communities. "As councillors, we should support all communities regardless of their ethnic background." Following the meeting with the Lord Mayor, the Chinese delegation met with Hunter union representatives for lunch at the Dockyard Hotel in Honeysuckle. Hunter Workers secretary Leigh Shears said the lunch followed a dinner he had recently attended at the Chinese embassy with members of the South Coast Labour Council to commemorate the 1938 Dalfram Dispute. "The dinner was the initial contact for us. We saw the delegation's visit to Newcastle as an opportunity to establish a relationship with the Chinese companies that own 21 per cent of our electricity assets, are a major owner of coal assets in our region as well as the port," Hunter Workers Secretary Leigh Shears said. "From our perspective, those were the things we wanted to talk to them about." Mr Shears confirmed the issues of Tibet, Taiwan and nuclear submarines were raised. "They didn't go into detail about their positions or what their concerns were. They said there is a Tibetan community here in Newcastle. Do you know them? "I said I don't know personally and we left it at that. They didn't raise it in a confrontational way and it wasn't awkward." Hunter Workers presented the delegation with a framed print of Newcastle Trades Hall secretary George Bass leaving Newcastle Courthouse with Chinese seafarers during the 1937 Silksworth Dispute at the Port of Newcastle.
BBC News
23-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Newcastle's Covid era leader doubts public would lockdown again
The man who helped lead the North East's response to the Covid pandemic believes the public would be far less willing to follow similar restrictions the fifth anniversary of the first Covid lockdown is marked, Nick Forbes, who led Newcastle Council between 2011 and 2022, said he was proud of the way the region responded in the first months of the he also said he fears the government handling of the crisis and its politicisation, had undermined the response that made the initial 2020 lockdown said there had been "scepticism" that the message to reduce social contact would be "taken seriously", but that it had been in the region. "They acted to protect their families, their neighbours and the NHS," Forbes, who was also the Labour group leader of the Local Government Association, said."Looking back, one of the things I am most struck by is what a sense of collective responsibility people in the region had. "Sadly that wasn't reflected by some of the actions going on in government at the time." 'We dreaded Fridays' Forbes says public unity fractured when the government began to impose regional restrictions which often confused local leaders and the public."The later ones when we started to get into arguments about tiers and different restrictions for different parts of the country got ever more chaotic and confusing and undermined the whole concept of acting as a nation," he said."We used to dread Fridays because we knew that was when the government would announce which areas of the country were going to face restrictions for the coming week. Often the announcement was made before we knew the details."Of course the council was then flooded with people asking what it meant. Could they get married? Could they go to funerals?" Forbes said he set up communication between Number 10 and the region's council leaders to try and get an early warning of the he said he sensed unity ebbing away, making it less likely that the public would be as willing to tolerate any future added: "I felt lockdowns and restrictions getting more political as the pandemic went on. "I could feel it as people started to protest about it and it became an issue of identity and free speech as much as public health and safety."And I worry now whether, particularly given the chaotic nature of the government's approach at the time, we would still have the national ability to respond in quite such a collective way without that politics getting in the way of what we would need to do to keep each other safe."When lockdown was announced on 23 March 2020, large parts of the economy also had to shut down. Government support through loans and furlough helped businesses survive, but there remains a hangover. Ollie Vaulkhard heads a group which runs more than a dozen bars and venues across the North East."Hospitality today is still burdened with huge debt from that time," he said. "We, as a company, won't recover our balance sheet from the impact of Covid for probably another three or four years."People left the industry, but there have been changes big and small. Nobody stands in bars anymore and people use credit cards not cash."He believes the government's response to the pandemic was wrong."The NHS has challenges, many people died of Covid, many businesses went to the wall, government debt is at an all-time high. "That seems a really big price to pay." Worsening mental health A price was also paid by young people. Lockdowns designed to protect older and vulnerable people saw schools, colleges and universities shut. Durham University interviewed young people in the North East about their Dr Hannah King said young people felt isolated and experienced social anxiety. "In the last 20 years young people in our society have gone from having the lowest level of reported symptoms of mental health, like anxiety and depression, to having the highest levels," she said."What happened is that the pandemic intensified those difficulties and those inequalities, making it much worse for young people now."She believes that might make it harder to persuade young people to make sacrifices said: "Young people were very much missed out of the debate, but the irony might not have been lost on them. "While they were being portrayed as party-going super-spreaders, and the health secretary of the time was on the radio saying: 'don't kill your granny', members of the government were breaking those rules." Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
