alt.cardiff Issue 1
‘I NEVER WORE THAT SKIRT AGAIN’ HOW new technology IS COMBATTING STREET HARASSMENT
January 2021
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NEWS NEW ZINE CONNECTS INDEPENDENT BUSINESSES WITH CONSUMERS A group of volunteers have launched Bizzy which lists Cardiff businesses with short features and illustrations A new zine called Bizzy has launched to connect independent businesses and Cardiff residents to get the community back on their feet. After the tide of disappointment and frustration for these businesses in 2020, 21-year-old Rebecca Cox set up Bizzy. Rebecca explains the aim of Bizzy is to encourage people to explore independent cafes rather than settling for the comfort of chain restaurants. The zine features vibrantly illustrated content with 20 participating independent shops and cafes. including the plastic free shop Ripple Living, the Little Man Coffee Co. and the plant shop and café Eartha. Issue one was published November 25 2020
Now a team of nine, Rebecca says, “We all have full time commitments and Bizzy became our passion project.” She is also a café manager at Wild Thing which is an independent vegan café located on Cathays Terrace. Time and costs meant that the first zine could only be published online on Issuu. Head of design Issy Priddey acknowledges, “We’re starting up a business and community in 2020, which is a time where businesses and communities are really struggling.” Rebecca says, “We can’t wait to put together our Spring issue which we aim to be printed and stocked around Cardiff.” REBECCA ASTILL
WHAT’S IN THE NEWS A PINK UNICORN IS RUNNING TO RAISE CANCER AWARENESS Alex Line is dedicating November to running around Cardiff dressed as a unicorn to raise awareness and money for cancer and mental health. All the money raised is going towards the Sue Ryder charity. After losing a close friend’s mum to breast cancer following a 4 year battle, Alex decided to start his campaign, running between five and 15 kilometres a day over the 30 days of November. All progress is tracked on the Instagram account @runningstupid_forcancer. He explains he wanted the costume to be pink for breast cancer awareness and big so people doubled back and took note of it. He says, “I’ve scared a few dogs accidentally, and some people have thought I’m on a stag do!” The second year Cardiff University student explains that the topic is also personal to him, as when he was 16 he was ill in hospital and told he could potentially get cancer. Although he escaped the diagnosis of something so serious, he aims to get people talking about cancer and mental health. Alex says, “It’s the least I could do to add a bit of positivity to people’s day and get the conversation going, that’s what matters.”
HOPES FOR FANS TO RETURN TO PRINCIPALITY STADIUM The Welsh nation are hoping for their national rugby team to get some wins under their belt as they return to the Principality Stadium in the new year, with rumours that they could be joined by their loyal fanbase. The stadium was acting as an extra field hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic, but was decommissioned three weeks ago. A Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) representative says, “We have been working towards several possibilities and now have a complete Covid-19 compliant plan in place.” The decision remains with the Welsh government and Public Health Wales, but the stadium team are preparing for all options. Stuart Doel, a 52-year-old rugby coach from Llandeilo, insists that fans are crucial to competitive play in any rugby game, because players feed off the energy of their supporters. He says, “I believe a stadium full of supporters would improve how teams play and perform.”
INTERVIEW
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Meet the man who hates Love Actually so much he wrote a book about it GARY RAYMOND DISCUSSES PUBLISHING DURING LOCKDOWN Gary Raymond published his fifth book How Love Actually Ruined Christmas in November during the Welsh firebreak lockdown. The book is a scene-by-scene description of his abject hatred of Love Actually. Alongside being a writer, Gary is also editor for Wales Arts Review and presents The Review Show on BBC Radio Wales. In a pandemic-dictated Zoom call, Gary appears in a loose maroon shirt and large square glasses. His new book is intended to make people laugh in a sharp break away from the usual sober tone of his work. It was June when he suggested to his publisher that this would be the perfect time to write the book. His publisher said yes without really thinking he’d write it, and five months later it was published. He explains, “Being a writer is about having one eye on the reader.” Gary was initially struggling with a noir novel but changed course, deciding that writing something funny would be a better use of his and his readers’ time. The critique of the British classic seems to have hit the mark and currently has a four star rating on Goodreads.
THE ROAD TO SUCCESS
Gary didn’t always have the success he does now. He worked temporary jobs like data entry and bartending throughout his 20s because all he wanted to do was write. He strokes his beard and says, “I’m 41 now, and up until I was about 37 I probably only earnt a couple of hundred quid my whole life from writing.” Then in 2012 he started Wales Arts Review along with a few friends, which is now a premier national online hub for arts and culture. “I remember very well, me and a couple of the guys were watching the football in a pub round the corner from here, funnily enough,” he says, pointing behind him. “It was a Wednesday night and we were kind of like, you know, we should just set up a website.”
However, one issue the site has found to be exaggerated by the pandemic is sourcing new writers. According to Gary, “A number of writers have been like, ‘hey, what do you want me to do, I’ve got much more time on my hands’ and some writers have been like, ‘I’m so overwhelmed by the intellectual, emotional weight of what’s going on, I can’t be creative at all.’”
My novels come from twisted “ bastardised versions of things that have happened to me
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This writer’s block wasn’t an issue for Gary, who wrote the first draft of How Love Actually Ruined Christmas within a couple of weeks. He says, “I had the time, momentum and motivation to write something funny and I had the subject.”
WELSH ROOTS
Although Gary was born and brought up in Newport, he doesn’t feel the pull of a Welsh identity. When he was younger, he felt a stronger connection with England, being so close to the border, and even supported the English football team. He quickly adds: “I’d never support the English rugby side of course, that would be disgusting. Oh god that would be horrible!” He is now settled and starting a family of his own, but says the traditional leftwing views of the Newport working class still strongly influence his writing. “My novels come from twisted bastardised versions of things that have happened to me,” he says.
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LONG READ
They said she wouldn’t dress like that if she wasn’t asking for it. She never wore that skirt again. 64 percent of women in the UK have been harassed on the street.
REBECCA ASTILL
Women are using new technology to combat street harassment Women are using smartphone apps to protect themselves against sexual predators in the winter months
“I
never wore that skirt again after that,” says Ellie. She is talking about the time she was verbally harassed by two men on Queen Street as an 18-yearold student. Ellie was initially approached by two men in their early 30s who asked for her number. She politely refused and continued shopping. About 20 minutes later, she passed them again, and the men shouted at her, asking why she wouldn’t give them her number, catcalling and shouting. An older man stepped in and told the men to leave her alone, but they told the man that “she wouldn’t dress like that if she wasn’t asking for it”. Ellie was
wearing a jumper, skirt, tights and a coat. She’s 21 now and avoids walking around certain parts of Cardiff alone, including Richmond Road and the notoriously unsafe Rhymney Street bridge joining Cathays and Roath. Ellie explains a large part of this is due to warnings from other women on Facebook groups like Overheard at Cardiff about per verse men.
Using Facebook groups to stay safe These groups like Overheard at Cardiff, which has over 30 thousand members, and safety apps like Hollie Guard are
becoming increasingly popular methods for young women to stay safe as the darkness starts to creep in earlier. One such post on Overheard at Cardiff in Januar y describes “A man about 35-40 years old and 5ft10 with dark brown hair” who offered to buy a girl clothes. Another post on Connect Cathays in July describes a man offering money for sex, and when they refused saying, “Oh baby come on.” posts always pinpoint the location of the incident, sometimes even with sneaky snapshots of the perpetrator. Overheard at Cardiff is a closed Facebook group which anyone can join once approved by an administrator.
There are also Facebook group chats On the app, when your phone for women walking home alone in the is shaken, a message is sent to a city which can be joined through links predetermined trusted contact to alert posted on the Overheard page. that you are in trouble. One in particular called “Cardiff The app is championed by South Women Walking Home” allows Wales Police. Detective Superintendent members to Mark Lewis of post their A to A startling 1427 cases of rape South Wales B route on the incidents and crimes were Police says, “We chat and see if promote the use recorded by South Wales of Hollie Guard anyone is walking a similar way police from 2019 to 2020 and welcome nearby to buddy people taking up. With over one hundred members, additional steps, such as personal there is often someone close. safety apps, to help stay safe and feel As invaluable as these warnings reassured.” are for deterring women away from He added that they also advise problem areas, there is not much people walking in the hours of the groups can do in a situation of darkness to stick to well lit routes, confrontation. The Home Office Crime stay in groups or pairs and use public and Policing statistics reported that a transport where possible. startling 1427 cases of rape incidents A Hollie Guard representative and crimes were recorded by South explained, “The added confidence and Wales police from 2019 to 2020. security which comes with knowing if you do come into trouble, you can raise an alert instantly does massively help.” Safety apps are always They said there has been a spike in on hand to help downloads and alerts sent during the This is where apps like Hollie Guard recent winter months. are handy. Hollie Guard is an app Annie Holcombe, a 20-year-old created after the death of 20 year-old student at Cardiff University, posted Gloucester hairdresser Hollie Gazzard, on Overheard at Cardiff last December who was stalked and murdered by her encouraging other young women to ex boyfriend in 2014. download the app. She said she felt safer walking around Cardiff by herself since having it on her phone. Shockingly, in the UK, there is no law against verbal harassment.
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The Hollie Guard app can be downloaded on any smartphone
Men are free to shout rude and sexual comments at young women without the fear of even a fine. This is why it is paramount that technology adapts to keep women safe.
The real facts behind street harassment
With a new Women’s Aid Cardiff report finding that 80 percent of the women they asked aged between 17 and 24 had been cat called and 38 percent followed, women are increasingly reliant on the technology in their pockets… or on their wrists. Alex Boardman, a 21-year-old physiotherapist living in Cardiff, explains she feels safer knowing her Apple watch has an emergency SOS button. All she has to do is hold down a button to start an SOS call to emergency services. She says, “It’s easy and discreet. If I found myself in a scary situation, I could call for help without them realising and stopping me.” While this is symptomatic of a larger cultural problem of gender based violence, until attitudes change, technology is the second best solution. Until Ellie can wear her skirt again and women can feel as safe as men when walking the streets alone, new technologies are on hand to protect and reassure women. According to a 2016 YouGov report, Ellie is only one of the 64 percent of women across the UK who have been harassed on the street.
Men have been reported to masturbate on the bridge which joins Rhymney Street and Richmond Road in Cathays