Latest news with #Haringey
The Sun
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Pregnant Katherine Ryan horrified as she's hounded by bailiffs over £10,000 council tax bill
KATHERINE Ryan has revealed she's been hounded by bailiffs and treated like a tax dodger after council blunder saw her wrongly held responsible for £10,000 in unpaid bills. The comedian, 42, says she was footing the council tax bill for her tenants at a London flat she owns with husband Bobby ever since they rented it out in October 2023. 4 She paid the charge voluntarily - as a gesture of goodwill - to make things easier for her renters in the gothic church conversion in Crouch End. But she was shocked to then discover that Haringey Council believed she still lived there, classed the property as a second home, and hiked her council tax by 200%. When payments didn't match the inflated charge, they sent bailiffs to her house. Speaking on her podcast Telling Everybody Everything, Katherine said she sent them the tenancy agreement as proof that it wasn't her second home, and explained: "We pay the council tax because we want to make it seamless for everyone, but we don't live there.' 'I never got a reply. I emailed four times,' she added. 'I called and was on hold for 40 minutes - then they just sent me back to the switchboard.' Katherine, who is pregnant with her fourth child, was forced to take matters into her own hands last week and travelled to the council's Wood Green office herself. 'I finally spoke to a woman who said, 'Oh yeah, we didn't receive any of your letters.'' She was then told that, legally, landlords aren't responsible for council tax if the property is tenanted - unless it's classed as a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO). Because the tenancy agreement hadn't been logged, the council wrongly billed her and added the second-home premium. 'She goes, 'We can't go after you for council tax because you don't live there.' And I was like, 'Well, apparently you can - I've paid you ten grand and you've sent bailiffs to my house. Twice.'' Katherine was told she could apply for a refund but that the council would now send her tenants a backdated bill for the entire period. 'I was like, 'What!? You're going to send my tenants a bill for ten grand dating back two years?' She's like, 'Yep... Sometimes this causes problems - tell them not to freak out.'' She asked if the credit could be transferred but was told the tenants were 'just going to get a big bill.' 'Luckily, I'm in contact with the tenants,' she said. 'They trust me... But the bureaucracy! What if English wasn't my first language? 'Navigating all of this, there's got to be a better way.' 4
Irish Independent
25-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Gold for Sligo boxer Jason Clancy in prestigious Haringey Box Cup in London
This Box Cup is one of the biggest and toughest in Europe the venue was the fabulous Alexandra Palace looking down on London city. Maduzi, in his first International tournament, was very unlucky not to get the win and it was felt the referee was a bit harsh in the 3rd round. Maduzi will learn from this experience going forward. This was Clancy's third attempt at Haringey gold and this year he didn't hold back, the Sligo boxer had a fantastic tournament, winning his final bout in style against an English Champion. This gave him a standing count in the third to be crowned Haringey Box Cup champion in the 86kg category. Clancy and Maduzi's coach, Jason Clancy snr, who couldn't attend, said he was gutted he couldn't be there in the boys' corners, but is very proud of their performances over the weekend. 'They showed me the training and dedication myself and James have done behind closed doors in Seán McDermott has paid off and we are very proud of them,' he added.
The Guardian
12-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
‘I felt hopeful about my daughter's future': the farmers fixing our eco crisis
We Feed UK is a project pairing photographers with nature-friendly farmers to raise awareness of their positive solutions to the environmental crises we face. From all-women worker cooperatives in Edinburgh to traditional fishing practices off the southern coast, these stories touch every corner of the country. Sandra Salazar D'eca founded Go Grow With Love in Tottenham and Enfield, to support women of African and Caribbean heritage in nurturing a reciprocal relationship with local land. We Feed the UK is published by Papadakis with support from the the Gaia Foundation Photograph: Arpita Shah In Haringey, London, Paulette Henry and team run Black Rootz. You can read more here Photograph: Arpita Shah Oceans have nourished us for thousands of years, but the bounties of our blue planet are ebbing. You can see more images of fishers working off the coasts of Cornwall and the Scilly Isles in this gallery Photograph: Jon Tonks Photographer Jon Tonks: 'Being a small-scale fisher offers a few metaphors for life. When the weather tells you not to fish, listen. Allow the seas to replenish. Sustainable fishing means something different to everyone, but real sustainability teaches us not to be greedy, to give nature a chance, and leave enough for the next generation. There is an understanding in these parts, an atmosphere, of people who live by the sea. Knowing when to fish, but more importantly when not to' Photograph: Jon Tonks Sons inherit Scottish farms in 85% of cases, yet over half of UK family farm workers are women. In Edinburgh, Lauriston Farm is run by a majority-women workers' cooperative, who are drawing on the power of local people to restore a 100-acre urban growing site. When it started in 2021 it was the largest urban farm in Scotland Photograph: Sophie Gerrard/Sophie Gerrard 2023 all rights reserved Photographer Sophie Gerrard: 'Our landscape is part of our identity in Scotland. Yet that's a story predominantly told by men. Where are the women's viewpoints? These photographs focus on their contribution. There is so much scope for positivity in these landscapes, with new opportunities constantly opening. This is a movement' Photograph: Sophie Gerrard Incentivised by the increasing cost of artificial fertiliser, Stuart Johnson (of West WharmleyFarm in Northumberland) started to naturally restore the soil on his family farm by brewing up his own compost teas and introducing mob grazing. With dung beetles and earthworms as the crucial collaborators – recycling waste, excreting nutrients and improving drainage – wildlife is returning. Stuart won Soil farmer of the year in 2023 Photograph: Johannah Churchill Photographer Johannah Churchill: 'When I met Stuart and his family I felt hope for the first time in ages. Post-pandemic, with the cost of living crisis, and war and destruction all around us, it is impossible not to get bogged down. This has been much more than a commission: it's felt like coming up for air' Photograph: Johannah Churchill Irish flax has been turned into linen for 2,000 years, or so the peat bogs tell us. But a 20th-century tangle of changing circumstances, including two world wars, was the downfall of homegrown handkerchiefs. After 50 years, Helen Keys and Charlie Mallon from Mallon Farm, Co Tyrone are reviving the tradition of growing flax for fibre. Their 'wee blue blossom' is chemical-free, sown with a 'fiddle', harvested by hand, 'scutched' on a restored turbine, and threaded into local supply chains Photograph: Yvette Monahan Photographer Yvette Monahan: 'The most profound lesson I learned at Mallon Farm is the transformative power of personal passion in creating change. Helen Keys and Charlie Mallon have turned the land from a dairy farm into a biodiverse flax, food and wildlife ecosystem. Caring is growing a plant that knows this landscape, preparing bare fields for tiny seeds and trusting the natural cycle of the earth and the unpredictable Tyrone weather patterns. After 100 chemical-free days, the harvest is pulled and tied by the caring hands of family and friends' Photograph: Yvette Monahan The Black Country's identity was forged by coal mining. From this legacy of extraction, Neville Portas (from No Diggity Gardens) has sprouted allotments now nourishing the earth. The community's circular system of growing food and composting waste keeps No Diggity Gardens rolling. When that soil is left undug, carbon is kept underground, revealing the real value of the world beneath our feet Photograph: Ayesha Jones Photographer Ayesha Jones: 'Through this project, I've witnessed how impactful nurturing the soil can be, not just for the earth but for everyone and everything. Nurturing soil is not just about growing food; it's about cultivating a deeper bond with nature and inspiring the next generation' Photograph: Ayesha Jones Bannau Brycheiniog (the Brecon Beacons) is home to the UK's largest intergenerational nature restoration project, Penpont Photograph: Andy Pilsbury Photographer Andy Pilsbury: 'Whether photographing tree grafting or sheep shearing or river surveys, it was always about community. This became the real strength and focus of the work. Every time I came away from the Penpont project, having observed the restorative harmony that was unfolding, I felt hopeful about my daughter's future' Photograph: Andy Pilsbury Fordhall Organic Farm in Shropshire is the first community-owned farm in England. Photographer Aaron Schuman: 'Fordhall has grown into a nurturing farm for the surrounding community who can visit, volunteer and actively engage with the land. Each person is encouraged to develop a relationship with place that is intimate, immersive and 'hefted' to the land itself. This work represents my own profound experience of connection, and the immediacy and sensorial intensity of the nature I found there' Photograph: Aaron Schuman On the organic, 300-acre Strickley Farm in Cumbria, James Robinson is weaving a wild tapestry of grassland, woodland and becks, threaded together by seven miles of ancient hedgerow. Through an intimate knowledge of the species that share this space, regenerative farming practices, and his family's unique hedge-laying language, James is creating an agriculture for the entire community of life Photograph: AJP/Johannes Pretorius Lúa Ribeira photographed trial plots at Gothelney Farm in Bridgwater, part of the South West Grain Network Photograph: Lúa Ribeira
The Guardian
06-06-2025
- The Guardian
High court tells UK lawyers to ‘urgently' stop misuse of AI in legal work
The high court has told senior lawyers to take urgent action to prevent the misuse of artificial intelligence after dozens of fake case-law citations were put before the courts that were either completely fictitious or contained made-up passages. Lawyers are increasingly using AI systems to help them build legal arguments, but two cases this year were blighted by made-up case-law citations which were either definitely or suspected to have been generated by AI. In a £89m damages case against the Qatar National Bank, the claimants made 45 case-law citations, 18 of which turned out to be fictitious, with quotes in many of the others also bogus. The claimant admitted using publicly available AI tools and his solicitor accepted he cited the sham authorities. When Haringey Law Centre challenged the London borough of Haringey over its alleged failure to provide its client with temporary accommodation, its lawyer cited phantom case law five times. Suspicions were raised when the solicitor defending the council had to repeatedly query why they could not find any trace of the supposed authorities. It resulted in a legal action for wasted legal costs and a court found the law centre and its lawyer, a pupil barrister, were negligent. The barrister denied using AI in that case but said she may have inadvertently done so while using Google or Safari in preparation for a separate case where she also cited phantom authorities. In that case she said she may have taken account of AI summaries without realising what they were. In a regulatory ruling responding to the cases on Friday, Dame Victoria Sharp, the president of the King's bench division, said there were 'serious implications for the administration of justice and public confidence in the justice system if artificial intelligence is misused' and that lawyers misusing AI could face sanctions, from public admonishment to facing contempt of court proceedings and referral to the police. She called on the Bar Council and the Law Society to consider steps to curb the problem 'as a matter of urgency' and told heads of barristers' chambers and managing partners of solicitors to ensure all lawyers know their professional and ethical duties if using AI. 'Such tools can produce apparently coherent and plausible responses to prompts, but those coherent and plausible responses may turn out to be entirely incorrect,' she wrote. 'The responses may make confident assertions that are simply untrue. They may cite sources that do not exist. They may purport to quote passages from a genuine source that do not appear in that source.' Ian Jeffery, the chief executive of the Law Society of England and Wales, said the ruling 'lays bare the dangers of using AI in legal work'. 'Artificial intelligence tools are increasingly used to support legal service delivery,' he added. 'However, the real risk of incorrect outputs produced by generative AI requires lawyers to check, review and ensure the accuracy of their work.' Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The cases are not the first to have been blighted by AI-created hallucinations. In a UK tax tribunal in 2023, an appellant who claimed to have been helped by 'a friend in a solicitor's office' provided nine bogus historical tribunal decisions as supposed precedents. She admitted it was 'possible' she had used ChatGPT, but said it surely made no difference as there must be other cases that made her point. The appellants in a €5.8m (£4.9m) Danish case this year narrowly avoided contempt proceedings when they relied on a made-up ruling that the judge spotted. And a 2023 case in the US district court for the southern district of New York descended into chaos when a lawyer was challenged to produce the seven apparently fictitious cases they had cited. The simply asked ChatGPT to summarise the cases it had already made up and the result, said the judge was 'gibberish' and fined the two lawyers and their firm $5,000.
The Independent
04-06-2025
- General
- The Independent
Campaigners fight to save 120-year-old tree from ‘irrational' local council
Campaigners are fighting to save a 120-year-old London Plane tree which the local council is threatening to bring down after a lengthy legal battle. Haringey Council in North London has said the tree on Oakfield Road, Stroud Green, must be removed because it has caused damage to properties nearby. A notification on the felling from the council said 'the tree has contributed to tree root damage to the adjacent properties. Pruning was unsuccessful, and movement of the properties has continued'. Residents now have until 17 June to respond to the notice. Annette Elder, solicitor and member of Haringey Tree Protectors, said the decision from the council was 'completely irrational'. 'Mature trees like the Oakfield plane are vital in urban areas—for cooling, biodiversity, air quality, and residents' wellbeing,' she told The Independent. 'It makes no sense to remove them without robust evidence that they are causing active harm.' The council said the trees have caused subsidence in nearby properties. Subsidence occurs when the foundations of a home become unbalanced due to the ground sinking. This can move walls and floors from their original groundwork and cause severe damage. Trees can cause subsidence when its roots grow into clay soil and take up enough moisture, which causes the soil to dry out and shrink. Ms Elder told The Independent claimed that the owners of the two houses affected by the subsidence have reached agreements with their insurance companies to pay for repairs on the house, so there was no need to fell the trees. 'There's no clear evidence that the tree poses a real or immediate threat—especially once underpinning takes place,' Ms Elder added. 'Even Haringey's own Tree and Woodland Plan states that trees should not be removed or pruned solely because of a potential or perceived future subsidence risk. 'We believe this is a completely irrational decision. 'If you follow this logic, almost every street tree in the area could be considered a risk. Are we going to fell them all?' Ms Elder said there are reportedly around 200 active insurance claims in the borough relating to potential tree-related subsidence. 'Subsidence is a wider issue—climate change, increased heat, and flooding all contribute to greater soil movement, particularly in clay areas,' she said. 'It's precisely because of climate change that councils, including Haringey, have pledged to increase canopy cover.' A Haringey Council spokesperson said: 'We are currently consulting on a proposal to remove the tree. 'The court ruled in 2024 that a previous decision by the council to remove the tree was lawful and has refused permission to bring an appeal against this. We are undertaking a further consultation in view of new statutory requirements that have come into force since that decision. 'Our proposal is based on consideration of the evidence submitted on behalf of the owners of the properties. 'We will carefully consider all the feedback we receive, including any new information or changes of circumstances, before coming to a final decision on the future of the tree.'
