Home win for interfaith at West Ham’s Upton Park

West Ham legend Sir Trevor Brooking scored a hit with Jewish primary pupils at a community football tournament at the Premier League team’s Upton Park.

Ten lucky students from Clore Tikva in Redbridge, and 22 from Simon Marks in Hackney, competed in a five-a-side tournament which placed pupils in teams with children from different faiths and cultures. The pupils, aged nine and 10, met Sir Trevor after last week’s three-hour tournament and were given medals by the former England player and FA development director.

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Darlings, you are all so wonderful

Joanna Lumley was the star attraction at the annual UJIA women’s appeal, praising the “family spirit” of the Jewish community.

The actress, best-loved for her role as Patsy Stone in the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, enthralled guests with anecdotes about her career before earning rapturous applause when she spoke about her recent successful campaign to allow Gurkha veterans to settle in Britain.

She described them as “wonderful, warm people, who I first met because my father served with them while stationed with the British army”.

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MP challenges insurers

Diane Abbott has written to the chief executives of two major medical insurers to demand an end to a postcode boycott of Jews.

The Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington noted that “thousands of members of the Stamford Hill Jewish community were being discriminated against” by HSA and the Western Provident Association.

Ms Abbott — who also contacted the Financial Services Authority — wrote after being informed by a constituent, Rabbi Avraham Pinter, that WPA was not offering quotes on cash plans to people in the E5, N15, N16 and NW11 postcodes.

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ITV defends anti-Jewish comment

ITV has defended the broadcasting of an anti-Jewish remark on a reality show, claiming it was “justified by the context of the programme”.

On ITV1’s Dating The Enemy on Monday night, the female contestant, Bella, was talking with her mother about the male participant, Alan.
When her mother asked Bella about Alan’s religion, she replied that he was an atheist, adding: “At least he’s not Jewish.”

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Muslims snub drive against BNP

The Muslim Council of Britain has been criticised for not supporting a multi-faith initiative designed to formulate a co-ordinated response to the BNP.

Muslim interfaith activist Fiyaz Mughal is upset at the non-attendance of MCB representatives at a meeting held under the aegis of Faith Matters at Westminster last Friday.

Mr Mughal — the Faith Matters director who was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours — had invited 25 “key figures” from ethnic and religious groups to discuss the way forward after the BNP had taken two seats in the European elections.

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Outrage at removal of housing wardens

Jewish residents in sheltered housing schemes in Barnet are outraged at the rubber-stamping of plans to drastically cut the number of on-site wardens.

On Monday, Barnet Council cabinet members voted unanimously for annual “efficiency savings” of £400,000. The money for wardens is no longer ring-fenced through the government-funded Supporting People programme.

As well as a demonstration outside, councillors faced angry questions from the public at the start of the meeting.

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Students 'quarantined' before exam

Jewish pupils in Dublin spent last Shabbat in “quarantine” in order to take an English exam, scheduled for Saturday, the next day.

The eight Sabbath-observant teenagers, who stayed with Orthodox families in Rathgar, south Dublin, had to remain indoors from 9am on Saturday morning, when the exam started for the rest of the country, until 24 hours later when they were able to take the exam.
The decision to quarantine them followed discussions between Stratford College, Ireland’s only Jewish secondary school, and the Irish State Examination Commission.

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Museum shooter is ‘antisemite’

The gunman who opened fire at the entrance of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington on Wednesday was thought to be an 89-year-old white supremacist.

Media reports identified him as James W Von Brunn, a Second World War veteran who ran an extreme antisemitic website, Holy Western Empire.

The man was reported to have entered the museum, just a mile from the White House, shortly before lunchtime and to have fired indiscriminately, injuring a security guard, before other guards shot back. The guard later died in hospital.

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Stamford Hill blasts postcode ‘boycott’

People in Stamford Hill are being refused quotes from a leading medical insurer, which says it is investigating “claims abnormalities” in the area.

The Western Provident Association (WPA) has refused to send brochures for its cash plan schemes to a number of JC readers.
They were told no policies were being sold to people from postcodes “under investigation”. These include N15, N16 and E5 — where many strictly Orthodox people live.

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Bus stop dismays Charedim

A move to establish a direct bus link between Golders Green and Stamford Hill has stalled on cost grounds, to the disappointment of the Charedi community.

Response to a four-month study conducted by Transport for London watchdog London TravelWatch demonstrated “a very clear requirement for a bus service between the two places”.

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Bone marrow group wants more screen tests

A year-long global fundraising campaign supporting Jews needing bone marrow matches has reached London.

Volunteers from the British Friends of Ezer Mizion, which organises bone marrow testing in Israel, were outside north-west London synagogues and shops seeking donations towards a £2.5 million UK target.

Simon Maurer of the British Friends says the campaign will enable “many more Israelis to go for a bone marrow test, which will improve the chances of Jews worldwide finding a match”.

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Fifteen-year-old mourned

Over 1,000 people attended the funeral of a 15-year-old boy from Stamford Hill who died after being in a coma for four days.

Chaim Roth was one of 10 children from a Satmar family in Stamford Hill living in assisted housing provided by Agudas Israel.

According to Yesodey Hatorah School principal Rabbi Avraham Pinter, he had got up after taking a nap in his room but then “collapsed into a coma on the floor”. He died in Homerton Hospital.

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‘Brilliant’ civil servant hit by train

The Newcastle Jewish community is mourning the loss of a “brilliant, kind and unassuming young man”, after the death of 32-year-old Adam Rothapel last Tuesday.

Mr Rothapel, private secretary to Minister of Justice Bridget Prentice, died after being hit by a train at Finchley Road station in London.

Mr Rothapel, who lived in West Hampstead, was due to marry Sam Baden, his Australian-born fiancée, in August. He leaves behind his mother, Hilary.

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