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Architects for Social Housing (ASH)
ASH has been set up to respond architecturally to London's housing crisis.
Sponsorship and Censorship: Why ASH is withdrawing from the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2019
Posted on May 3, 2019 June 20, 2019 Categories Exhibitions and Films
The recent arrest and subsequent imprisonment of the Wikipedia founder Julian Assange has sent out a clear message to whistle-blowers and those who dare publish them that the freedom of the press is not so much under attack as under lock and key. But the truths to be considered out of bounds for publication from now on are not limited to the war crimes of the US military, but include those closer to home. London's housing crisis, for example.
For the past four years Architects for Social Housing has faced censorship for our attempts to publicise our analyses of the causes of, and solutions to, this apparently intractable crisis. This censorship has come not only from the London councils implementing the demolition of what's left of our council housing and replacing it with largely market sale properties for overseas investment, but also from an architectural press too busy courting developers and celebrating their designs to consider the social cost of their commissions.
Faced with this blanket indifference, ASH has looked for other forums in which to disseminate our work. This year we have been approached by a number of art and architecture institutions to collaborate on exhibitions, and our proposals have continued our attempts to expose the economic causes, social effects, and design and policy alternatives to London's estate regeneration programme. Behind its facade of 'regeneration', this programme is both socially cleansing Inner London of its working-class communities and physically clearing the land for the construction of the deposit boxes for global capital that have driven housing costs in the capital up to the point where 1 in every 52 Londoners are now registered as homeless.
Unfortunately, the financial roots of this crisis have burrowed so deep into our economy, and spread so wide through our cultural institutions, that the art world has proved anything but the garden of free expression it likes to paint itself as being. On the contrary, these roots, which over the past four decades and more have turned the art world into an arm of the public relations industry, is just as adept at closing down publicity when it threatens to expose its workings.
This article is about ASH's attempt, over the first four months of 2019, to collaborate with institutions of art and architecture, in both the UK and abroad, to produce and publicise its analyses of the economic causes of London's crisis of housing affordability: causes in which, strange as it may seem, such institutions play the role of accomplices, propagandists, and where necessary censors.
1. The Chicago Architectural Biennial
'I think it is important to distinguish between the traditional notion of patronage and the public relations manoeuvres parading as patronage today. The American term "sponsoring" more accurately reflects that what we have here is a real exchange of capital: financial capital on the part of the sponsors and symbolic capital on the part of the sponsored. Most business people are quite open about this when they speak to their peers.'
– Hans Haacke and Pierre Bourdieu, Free Exchange (1995)
In January of this year, one of the Curators for the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2019 began discussions with us about the possibility of ASH contributing to the exhibition, which opens in September 2019 and runs to January 2020. We weren't interested in simply exhibiting ASH's design alternatives to the demolition of the estates we have helped save, but wanted to use whatever funding was available to produce new work.
In August 2017 ASH had taken up a week's residency at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, during which we produced a wall-sized map identifying every London housing estate we could that has recently been, is undergoing or is threatened with regeneration leading to the loss of homes for social rent. We identified 237 such estates. In response to this map, whose publication on our website has had over 5,000 visits, we have been asked by numerous people for the data on these losses – by campaigners wanting to use them, by academics wanting to quote them, by politicians wanting to challenge them. Compiling that data, however, is the work of many people with specialist skills and knowledge over a protracted period of time, and we have been unable to find the funding required to pay them to do so. Until, we thought, now.
Our project proposal for the Chicago Architecture Biennial, which changed in how that data would be displayed but not in how it would be compiled, was for a team of 8-10 ASH researchers – both architects and engineers – to assemble as much data as we could about London's estate regeneration programme over a roughly 5-month period. This data would include the information allowing us to calculate the number and tenure of homes demolished on each estate (homes for social rent and leasehold properties), the number and tenure of dwellings on the new development (affordable rent, shared ownership and market sale properties), and therefore the total number of homes for social rent lost to each regeneration scheme. Plus, of course, the names of the London council responsible for demolishing it, the architectural practice responsible for designing the new development, and the property developer responsible for building it.
Although we initially imagined displaying this data on a wall-mounted interactive map, we subsequently changed this to a more low-tech display (above) consisting of a floor map in which each demolished or threatened estate is marked out, and surrounded on four sides by a visual representation of London's estate regeneration programme. This was to be composed of an A4 sheet for each estate comprising a photograph together with some of the key data. Stacked up for each borough, this would form a city-scape of London's property developments arranged north, east, west and south around the map. All the data we had managed to compile would then be uploaded into an online map that would be launched at the opening of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and to which campaigners and researchers could add further and updated data long after the ASH display had been taken down. In this way it would constitute a resource on which residents, campaigners and researchers could draw to establish the real costs, social, economic and environmental, of London's estate regeneration programme.
Finally, because we didn't want our display to be only a record of the catastrophic loss of social housing this programme is implementing, we also proposed producing two architectural models of ASH's design alternatives to demolition for the West Kensington and Gibbs Green estates in Hammersmith and Fulham and the Central Hill estate in Crystal Palace, both of whose campaigns of resistance are still alive. Our aim in doing so was to show that the current mass-demolition of London's housing estates in a middle of our crisis of housing affordability was not only contributing to that crisis but architecturally unnecessary. On the contrary, what the ASH model of refurbishment and infill has demonstrated on the half a dozen estates for which we have produced design alternatives, is that we are able to increase housing capacity on estates by around 50 percent, make at least half of the new dwellings available for social rent, while selling and renting the remainder to generate the funds required to bring the existing homes up to the Decent Homes Standard plus, as well as fund the new dwellings.
We quickly found the researchers, model makers and map designers for the project, all of whom were enthusiastic about contributing to a project they felt had potentially great social significance and widespread use in combating one of the primary causes of London's housing crisis. And we were pleased to find that the Chicago Architecture Biennial agreed with us, and were equally enthusiastic about our proposal. Until two weeks ago.
This article is to explain – not least to the 14 or so collaborators we had so far assembled to work on it – what happened to this project, the data for which no other salaried academic, Greater London Authority researcher or UK Government department has compiled, and why the ASH proposal to assemble that data for public scrutiny has been terminated. The quotations from Free Exchange, a discussion between the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and the German artist Hans Haacke about corporate sponsorship of art institutions, are offered as context to this termination. The following chronology charts the stages of the proposal, development and sudden cessation of what we believe to be an important project, for which ASH continues to look for funding.
7 February. On behalf of the Curatorial team, the Executive Director formally invites ASH to submit a project proposal to the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2019. In the letter the Biennial, titled . . . and other such stories, is described as:
'Developed through a research-led approach, . . . and other such stories will address the potency of space, architecture, and the natural world as they relate to four areas of inquiry: (1) No Land Beyond, which draws inspiration from indigenous approaches to nature, ecology, and landscape that transcend property ownership; (2) Appearances and Erasures, which explores both shared and contested memories in consideration of monuments, memorials, and social histories; and (3) Rights and Reclamations and (4) Common Ground, which foreground aspects of rights, advocacy, and civic purpose in architectural practice, including affordable and equitable housing.' (our italics)
18 February. ASH sends our initial project proposal, for which we propose an estimated budget of £20,000 for the research component, with further estimates for the exhibition display to follow.
12 March. Following a Skype conversation with the Curator, who encourages us to make a larger estimate for the entire project, ASH sends a total estimate for a budget of £50,000, with the research costs again £20,000.
13 March. In response to a request for a breakdown of project costs, ASH sends a detailed budget for £49,900, with research costs at £20,760.
14 March. ASH's participation as one of the Exhibition Contributors to the Chicago Architecture Biennial is made public. In the press release the Curatorial Focus repeats the description of the biennial as being 'Developed through a research-led approach'.
22 March. Following a reconsideration of the display component of the proposal, ASH sends our revised project proposal, the display component of which we estimate will cost less to produce.
5 April. ASH has a Skype meeting with the Curator, who gives our revised proposal the 'green light', and the Deputy Director, whom we take through the revised proposal. She is positive about it. We emphasise to her that, as the research will be extensive, we are eager to make a start, and have the budget for the research confirmed by the Exhibitions Manager.
9 April. ASH holds the first research meeting with four of their project researchers. We advise them that the budget has not yet been confirmed, but that they are free to start researching.
11 April. ASH sends the Chicago Architecture Biennial the revised and reduced budget estimate of £42,284, a reduction of nearly £8,000, but with research costs still at £20,760.
12 April. ASH has a Skype meeting scheduled with the Exhibition Manager, from whom we are expecting to have the budget confirmed, but this is postponed on the day. However, the Assistant Curator writes to us that she has informed the Exhibitions Manager about our Skype meeting with the Deputy Director, and that the former 'feels pretty comfortable and has seen your updated budget'.
16 April. ASH holds the second research meeting with four more project researchers. Again, we advise them that the budget has not yet been confirmed, but that the Exhibitions Manager is 'pretty comfortable' with our proposal.
17 April. ASH receives an email from the Assistant Curator informing us that they will be allotting ASH $20,000, with $2,500-$5,000 for materials and installation of part of our proposed display, and the remaining $15,000 to be used as we wish. Since $20,000 is the equivalent of £15,400 for the entire project, and $15,000 is £11,500 for the research (leaving aside the two models), it isn't clear to us what they expect us to spend it on. In response we write back:
'We are a little surprised as the last email you sent was that [the Exhibitions Manager] was 'comfortable' with our updated budget. $20,000 (£15,000) is a prohibitive reduction in what we had been discussing with [the Curator]. The project we have proposed can't be produced for that, so we will have to have a complete rethink. It's a shame the funding constraints weren't communicated to us much earlier, as we have now spent considerable time working on this proposal already. We are now available on Friday, so let us know when you can speak.'
Lendlease international property developers, one of the sponsors of the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2019, announces that it has completed:
'26 townhomes, six penthouse apartments and penthouse-level amenities at The Cooper at Southbank, its 29-story, 452-unit luxury apartment tower at 720 S. Wells St., in Chicago's South Loop. Together, the deliveries represent the final phase of construction on the riverfront high-rise, the first of several residential towers planned in Lendlease's 7-acre Southbank development.'
18 April. ASH has a phone-call with the Curator, who informs us that no other contributor to the Chicago Architecture Biennial she is aware of has had their proposed budget cut by two-thirds. However, contrary to both our invitation to participate in the Biennial and the published statement that the Curatorial Focus is a 'research-led approach', she now suggests that the Biennial does not support research-based proposals. We explain that without the funding for the research our project cannot be completed, and ask her to speak to the Exhibitions Manager – with whom we are yet to have a meeting – and ask why our funding has been so drastically cut.
19 April. ASH receives an e-mail from the Curator suggesting we either reduce the scope of the project and use the £15,000 to research only Inner London (a suggestion that is impractical since maybe 80 per cent of the demolished or threatened estates are located in Inner London), or that we 'rethink' our proposal. She says nothing about the reason why our budget was cut. In response we write back to the Curator, the Assistant Curator, the Exhibitions Manager and the Deputy Director of the Chicago Architecture Biennial asking for an explanation of why our proposal has been rejected:
'Thank you for your email, although unfortunately it doesn't address what we discussed this morning. In our conversation we asked you to answer two questions, which you said you would put to [the Exhibitions Manager] and get back to us with answers. These were our questions:
'Why has our budget been cut by two-thirds from £45,000 to £15,000, when our proposal has stated from the beginning that the research on which the proposal is based would cost £20,000? This isn't a budget cut, this is an outright rejection of the ASH proposal that you, as the Curator, gave the 'green light' to on 5 April.
'Why, if the biennial is not willing to give money to research-based proposals, as you said in our conversation this morning, have we been allowed to develop this proposal over the past two months, having submitted it to you on 18 February? If we were told outright that there was no money for research we would either have rethought our proposal or declined the invitation. As it is, we've wasted two months of work, not only our own, but that of web designers, model makers, and the 8 researchers we have engaged. We anticipated that our entire budget might not be fully met, and we were willing to sacrifice the models, which would have accounted for £10,000 of the budget, a reasonable cut. A £30,000 cut, in contrast, isn't reasonable, its prohibitive.
'As we explained to you, given the political dimension of our proposal and the fact that the Chicago Architecture Biennial has chosen to accept international property developers Lendlease as one of its sponsors, we are understandably suspicious about why this late and outright rejection of our proposal has been made. Until we receive answers to these questions, we are not willing to spend any more time developing a proposal to work with an organisation that may reject it again, unless that organisation is willing to be honest with us.
'As we also said, we would consider submitting the ASH models alone, though in the absence of the map they would require contextualisation within London's estate regeneration programme, a programme in which Lendlease plays a prominent and aggressive part. We are not willing to submit ASH's work without that context, which would open us to justified accusations of "art-washing", or to put our name to an exhibition that censors the content of exhibitors' proposals. We look forward to hearing your response.'
ASH is yet to receive a response from the Chicago Architecture Biennial, which has subsequently ceased all communication with us. Now, this sudden slashing of an contributor's budget by two-thirds after two-months of discussions and the termination of communication with a contributor after two months of meetings may be usual practice for the Chicago Architecture Biennial, but we don't believe it is. To understand why, it's necessary to go back to the previous year, and ASH's involvement in an exhibition that is still being held at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in London at the time we publish this article. Although our involvement in this exhibition was initiated several months earlier than our involvement with the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the bulk of that involvement runs parallel with the time-line above.
2. The Serpentine Sackler Gallery
'In order to avoid censorship, artists and institutions applying for public funds are now driven to exercise self-censorship. It is well-known that self-censorship is often more effective than open censorship. And it doesn't leave a dirty trail.'
18 July 2018. ASH is invited by the Community Projects team at the Serpentine Galleries to be a Research Partner on the artist Hito Steyerl's exhibition, Power Plants, at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, and to develop one of the Power Walks that accompany the exhibition.
6 September. The Community Projects team reiterates its wish to commission ASH for a walk on research 'related to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.'
27 November. ASH agrees to organise and lead a Power Walk, and informs the Community Projects team that its focus will be Kensington Palace Gardens, the most expensive address in the UK, and the London residence of 8 billionaires, including the British property billionaire Jonathan Hunt, the Saudi Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd, the Ukrainian oil billionaire Leonard Blavatnik, the Chinese property billionaire Wang Jianlin, the Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich, the Indian steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, the Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah, and the British motor-racing billionaire Bernie Ecclestone.
5 December. The Community Projects team writes that it is 'great' that ASH 'already has an idea of how you'd like to frame the walk and where.'
17 December. The Community Projects team writes that it is 'excited' to develop this walk with ASH, commenting on Kensington Palace Gardens: 'That road is crazy!'
21 January 2019. ASH meets with the Community Projects team to share the content of the Power Walk. ASH tells the Community Projects team that it will produce a booklet to accompany the walk. The Community Projects team says the Serpentine Gallery will produce the booklet, and that to do so they need the text one month before the Power Walk itself.
31 January. Following the meeting, the Community Projects team writes that it is 'really excited to be working on this' project with ASH.
8 February. ASH sends the Community Projects team a one-page summary about the walk for the Serpentine Galleries website. This clarifies that the walk 'will be accompanied by an information booklet containing a map of Kensington Palace Gardens and short financial biographies of its residents and landlords.' ASH sends a jpg of this map (below) with the individual buildings numbered. ASH agrees to get the text for the booklet to the Community Projects team by 23 February.
18 February. The Community Projects team informs ASH that the date of the Power Walks has had to be moved back. ASH agrees to lead the walk on the revised date of Saturday, 13 April, and asks for confirmation that the Serpentine Galleries is 'still willing to print this [research] as a short booklet that will be available as part of the walk, as we discussed'. Given the changed date for the walk, ASH requests a new deadline for the text of 13 March, to which the Community Projects team agrees.
4 March. ASH sends an audio recording of the booklet text to the Community Projects team for editing by Hito Steyerl, to accompany which they are filmed walking in Kensington Gardens from the Serpentine Sackler Gallery to the entrance to Kensington Palace Gardens.
5 March. ASH sends the text for the booklet to the Community Projects team a week ahead of the deadline. In it we write that the purpose of the walk is two-fold:
'To explore the relationships between investment in London residential property by high net-worth individuals – of which the residents in Kensington Palace Gardens represent only the extreme end – and the crisis of housing affordability and rising homelessness in London.
'To test – by our presence and actions on Kensington Palace Gardens – the legal limits of our rapidly-diminishing rights of way, public assembly and freedom of expression on UK land in the wake of new Government legislation on anti-social behaviour and anti-terrorism over the past two decades.'
14 March. The Community Projects team introduces ASH by e-mail to Evening Class, a collective of designers that have been commissioned by the Serpentine Galleries to design ASH's booklet for the Power Walk.
20 March. At the request of Evening Class, ASH sends them a word document of the text for the booklet.
21 March. The Community Projects team write to ASH saying they have questions about the 'centring of details and background and names and addresses of everyone on the road.' ASH responds:
'The names and addresses of the people owning the properties on the street are publicly available, so we don't see a problem with that ourselves, although the gallery might. If the Serpentine Gallery is worried about upsetting its patrons we'd rather you say so, so we know.'
ASH additionally informs the Community Projects team that the human rights lawyer, Jamie Burton of Doughty Street Chambers, will be attending the walk and informing walkers of their legal rights. ASH reiterates that we are looking forward to seeing the design of the booklet.
25 March. The Community Projects team write to ASH, claiming that 'this print piece has evolved from our initial conversations about making a bust card or information on the legalities of public access.' The Community Projects team agree an honorarium for Jamie Burton. ASH clarifies that the text we submitted on 5 March, 3 weeks ago, 'is what we'll be reading from during the walk,' adding: 'It's up to you whether you want to print it as a booklet. It'd be nice, but we never expected it.'
26 March. The Community Projects team writes that they will 'send over the edited version of potential print when we receive it.' This edit never arrives.
3 April. The Community Projects team write to ASH that:
'We are really keen to support you to share the research you have been gathering in relation to the walk and your wider campaigns. For example, how the housing crisis is linked to overseas investment, alongside the facts about increasing legalisation affecting our rights to access space in the city. With this in mind, and also taking into consideration advice from our legal team about the naming of people in the booklet, we'd like to suggest that we don't print the information on the day but that Evening Class (who have already drafted a design) continue to work with the content as a PDF that we then share with you, and you make available to those that are interested. For example, at the end of the walk you can say the content of this walk is available in a PDF that we (ASH) can share with those that are interested in following up. As a document it can then continue to be used in other contexts also, where useful to ASH or others thinking through/researching these issues.'
ASH responds that, given that they have discovered that both Leonard Blavatnik and Lakshmi Mittal, both of whom are residents of Kensington Palace Gardens, sit on the Council of the Serpentine Galleries, we understand their decision not to print the booklet, but adds the following:
'Just so it's very clear, though: whatever your lawyers say, there is of course no legal barrier to identifying who lives in a property and what they do for a living, and the Serpentine is merely protecting its financial interests. ASH will, therefore, be reading this information on the walk itself, and we won't accept any attempt to censor us from anyone associated with the Serpentine Galleries. If any of you are not happy with that, it's best you don't accompany us on the walk, as we don't want to be resisting both you and the police.'
The Community Projects team responds that: 'We are happy for this information to be shared on the walk, and to be present of course', and that they will 'speak with Evening Class, so that once the designed PDF is finished, this can be shared with you.'
8 April. The Community Projects team sends ASH a transcript of Hito Steyerl's edit of their audio recording for the film in the exhibition. In addition to information about Kensington Palace Gardens, this includes biographical information about one of its residents, the Sultan of Brunei, though nothing about Leonard Blavatknik or Lakshmi Mittal.
10 April. ASH attends the press preview of the Hito Steyerl exhibition. The data ASH contributed to the exhibition as Research Partner, and which is exhibited in that part of the show titled Actual Reality, includes the statements: 'Commonly known as Billionaire's Row, Kensington Palace Gardens is the most expensive address in the UK'; and 'Billionaire's Row does not appear on Google Street View. Both photography and filming are strictly prohibited.'
At the preview ASH is filmed by the Serpentine Galleries' Communications team, explaining why they are leading a walk along Kensington Palace Gardens. ASH had been informed by the Community Projects team that: 'There will be a very quick turnaround for the edit of the films, which will be shared with you by the end of the week for your sign off.' ASH never receives this final edit for signing off, and the film never appears on the Serpentine Gallery website for the exhibition, while the films for the other three Power Walks are posted on YouTube.
During her speech to the press, Hito Steyerl raises the issue of the sponsorship of the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, linking it to the Sackler family's pharmaceutical company, Purdue Pharma, which produces the highly addictive opioid painkiller OxyContin, and likening the relationship to 'being married to a serial killer'. In response to this speech, which is widely reported in the art press, a spokesperson for the Serpentine Galleries said:
'The Serpentine is a gallery that supports artists and their right to express their views. We have heard what Hito Steyerl has had to say today and the important issues that she has highlighted. Donations to the Serpentine from the Sackler Trust are historic and we have no future plans to accept funding from the Sacklers. We remain committed to being an open platform where emerging and established artists can be seen and heard.' (our italics)
11 April. Evening Class writes to ASH:
'We were contacted by curators at the Serpentine gallery to work on the design of the Power Walk booklet. After recent correspondence with the Assistant Curator we understand the booklet is no longer going to be printed (not even for the walk) and no design for a PDF/digital publication is needed. We were actually ready to share the first draft for the first round of feedback but they asked us not to share the design of the booklet with you. We were baffled to hear this news so here are a few questions and thoughts we would like to share with you.
'How do you feel about it? Have you got more information about why they have taken this decision? Do you know if Hito Steyerl is aware of the Gallery decision not to print/publish the booklet at such a late stage? We believe there is enough content to produce relevant material for a broader conversation on, amongst other things, the role of publishing, transparency and financial dependency of cultural institutions and so on. Given the topic of the exhibition and the participants involved in the projects we feel strongly about continuing the publication of your research and even potentially expand the text with a foreword by the artist which could presumably give international resonance to the above issues. Evening Class is interested in continuing the collaboration with you and happy to discuss this further.'
12 April. ASH responds to Evening Class:
'Yes, we are interested in continuing the publication of our text, and we like the idea of asking Hito to write a preface. To your other questions we don't want to give an answer at present. There's a lot of opposition to our walk from the gallery, and we don't want to give them any reason to cancel the walk tomorrow. Could we ask you, therefore, not to communicate anything about your e-mail to us to the gallery until it's over? Once the walk is done, we'd be happy to meet up and discuss your idea, and answer your questions as best we can.'
In a telephone phone that morning, as ASH is printing the booklets for their Power Walk, the Community Projects Curator puts pressure on ASH not to 'name names' the following day. ASH reiterates its stance not to be censored, citing in this context the arrest the previous day of Julian Assange, the founder of Wikipedia, in the Ecuadorian Embassy and the necessity of defending our ability to publicise the names and activities of powerful and dangerous individuals.
13 April. On the day ASH leads their Power Walk, in addition to the two Directors of ASH and the human rights lawyer we asked to accompany us, in attendance are no less than six employees of the Serpentine Gallery, including the Community Projects Curator, the Community Projects Producer, the Assistant Digital Curator, the Head of Communications, the Exhibitions and Architecture Curator, plus someone who had been contracted by the gallery to collect participants' feedback on the walk. We had previously been told by the Community Projects Curator that the Chief Executive Officer of the Serpentine Gallery, Yana Peel, was so concerned about the content of our walk that she was going to attend, but as far as we could establish (as we were never introduced to her) she did not. However, the opposition to our walk increases throughout the day.
First, of the 30 tickets allocated to the walk, only 20 people attend, even though there is a waiting list of 30. Second, the microphones and headphones we and the walkers were given don't work. Third, two Serpentine employees filibuster for 25 minutes about the exhibition at the start, eating into the 2 hours we had been allocated for the walk. During the walk itself, the Community Projects Curator, who otherwise doesn't listen to any of the readings from the booklet, continues to attempt to dissuade ASH from entering Kensington Palace Gardens, quoting a lack of time, etc. Then, as we approach the gate to Kensington Palace Gardens, the Community Projects Curator announces that the entire staff of the Serpentine will not enter the street, and are dissociating the Serpentine Galleries and themselves individually from the ASH Power Walk. The contractee who was meant to collect feedback from the walkers continues with us, but she is called back half-way down the street. The rest of the participants on the walk are understandably confused by all this, until we stand outside the properties of the eight billionaires resident on the street, and read out the list of their financial interests in the UK, which for two of them, Leonard Blavatnik and Lakshmi Mittal, includes sitting on the council of the Serpentine Galleries. Then the penny drops.
Finally, having returned to the Serpentine Gallery, as ASH and several other participants, including our human rights lawyer, are discussing the walk in the Serpentine Sackler cafe, the Community Projects team, who refuse our invitation to join us, ask to speak to us in private at the next table. Here they demand that we remove their names and the name of the Serpentine from all future publications of the ASH text. Since we had only mentioned their names to thank them we are happy to do so. However, since ASH's name hadn't yet been removed from the Serpentine Gallery website, we saw no reason to remove its name from ours. When we once again explain to the indignant staff that ASH doesn't accept being censored by people who invite us to work with them, the Community Projects Curator responds: 'How dare you accuse us of trying to censor you!' At this point one of the two leaders of the ASH Power Walk gets up and re-joins the rest of the participants at the next table, who have witnessed the conversation. After he leaves the Curator of the Community Projects team accuses him of being 'aggressive and violent'.
Apart from these clumsy attempts to sabotage it, the walk itself was very successful. Many of the participants participated in reading the texts at the various points we stopped at on the walk. They were reassured by the human rights lawyer's clarification of their legal rights on Kensington Palace Gardens. On our own behalf, Jamie Burton had read the booklet through and confirmed that there was nothing libellous in it. We all observed the conditions imposed by the Crown Estate not to photograph or film on the street. And even though we had run over the 2 hours duration of the walk due to the deliberately delayed start, about 15 participants walked along Kensington Palace Gardens, about three quarters of the ticket holders that had turned up. At the conclusion of the walk, around 4.30pm, ASH was rather profusely thanked by the participants. Unfortunately, since the Serpentine Gallery had stopped the person they had paid to do so from attending, there was no-one to register the positive feedback.
Oddly, the opposition to the walk we anticipated from the police and security services on Kensington Palace Gardens didn't materialise beyond being trailed by a Crown Estate guard up and down the street, although he didn't interrupt us; plus an amusing exchange with someone we presumed to be one of Leonard Blavatnik's security guards. As we were standing outside Blavatnik's property at 15 and 15b, a guard came out and asked to see the booklet we were reading, which is titled Inequality Capital, and asked: 'Are you against inequality?' Then, realising what he'd said, he answered his own question: 'Of course, we're all against inequality!' He laughed, said it was clear we 'weren't trouble makers', and went back inside with a copy of the booklet. Whether he showed it to his employer we don't know. But the strange truth is that if there was any manifestation of the power of the billionaires who own property on this street, then it came through the Serpentine Gallery itself. If it did – and we have no proof that it did – this would be an example of how 'soft' power works, and say something about the function and role of art institutions.
In fact, ASH's walk was never about this function, and our original draft of the booklet said nothing about the link between the residents of Kensington Palace Gardens and the Serpentine Galleries, of which we were, perhaps naively, unaware. It was only when, on 3 April, ten days before the walk, the Community Projects team told us that the Gallery would not publish our booklet, that we began to look for the reasons why. However, we did not draw attention to this connection on the walk itself, nor did we read the preface, which we felt necessary to include only as an explanation of why we were collaborating with an institution with financial connections to such individuals, and what we hoped to achieve by doing so. We only mentioned the presence of the residents on the Council of the Serpentine Galleries at the end of the walk, when we were reading the individual biographies, which the other participants – rightly or wrongly – interpreted as an explanation of why the entire staff of the Serpentine Galleries had rather preposterously marched off. The purpose of the walk, however, as clearly stated in the booklet, was to test the limits of our ability to complete our discussion about the causes of London's housing crisis and rising homelessness, of which the private residents of Kensington Place Gardens are both particular and emblematic. As the opposition to our walk increased, we became convinced that, in a walk about power – which is both a cause and an effect of inequality – the Serpentine Sackler Gallery had emerged as the unlikely site of its manifestation. As the unpleasant events on the day of the walk proved, we were right.
14 April. The following day the webpage for ASH's Power Walk is deleted from the Serpentine Galleries website.
17 April. The link to the entire Power Walks webpage on the Serpentine Galleries exhibition webpage is removed, deleting not only the contribution of ASH, but also of the other Power Walk organisers, Constantine Gras (on 27 April), The Voice of Domestic Workers (on 28 April), and Disabled People Against Cuts (on 4 May).
(As reported in Part 1 of this article) on the same day, ASH is informed by e-mail that the budget for their display at the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2019 has been cut by two-thirds from £45,000 to £15,000, effectively rejecting our proposal that had been formally accepted by the curatorial team two weeks earlier.
18 April. Having brought the deletions of the Power Walks from the Serpentine Galleries website to the attention of Hito Steyerl, who contacts the gallery, the webpages are restored. In conversation ASH is informed by a source who does not wish to be identified that an unidentified employee of the gallery was sent on the Power Walk with instructions to text back to the Chief Executive Officer, Yana Peel, what was said, and that it was this that led to the Chief Executive Officer instructing the Community Projects Curator to stop any employees of the Serpentine Gallery from entering Kensington Palace Gardens, and to formally dissociate themselves and the gallery from the ASH walk in front of the other participants. Our name having been restored to the Serpentine Galleries website, ASH publishes the text of our walk, Inequality Capital: A Power Walk by Architects for Social Housing, on our website.
19 April. (As reported in Part 1 of this article) ASH e-mails a written request to the Chicago Architecture Biennial asking for an explanation of why our proposal has been rejected at such a late date. At the time of publishing this article, two weeks later, at a time when we were scheduled to be signing a contract with them, we are yet to receive any response from the Chicago Architecture Biennial, which has subsequently ceased all communication with us. Faced with this silence, we have belatedly discovered that the Artistic Director at the Serpentine Galleries, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, is also one of the London representatives on the International Advisory Committee of the Chicago Architecture Biennial. Unfortunately, as it turns out, we had informed the Serpentine's Community Projects team of ASH's participation in the Biennial. In the e-mail to our fellow collaborators on the ASH project informing them it has been rejected, we ended: 'The level of opposition we've had to this map from the moment we first started it two years ago is some indication of how powerful it may one day be.'
'Seduction expenses not only serve the marketing of products. It is actually more important for the sponsors to create a favourable political climate for their interests, particularly when it comes to matters like taxes, labour and health regulations, ecological constraints, export rules, etc. The strategic goal is to "neutralise critics".'
Postscript. The day after we published this article the name of Architects for Social Housing was quietly deleted from the list of Exhibition Contributors to the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2019. One of the four themes for this year, Appearances and Erasures, is described in the Curatorial Statement as exploring 'sites of memory and the politics of remembering and/or forgetting in contested spaces, considering space as a marker of past and present social imaginaries, visible or otherwise.' This screen-grab (below), and this article, is ASH's contribution to that politics of remembering.
Postscript 2.
14 June. The Guardian reveals that Yana Peel, the CEO of the Serpentine Galleries, co-owns Novalpina Capital, a private equity firm that in turn controls a majority stake in an Israeli cyber-weapons company, NSO, whose software has allegedly been used by authoritarian regimes to spy on dissidents. The NSO Group is the subject of multiple ongoing lawsuits, and has been criticised by human rights groups, including Amnesty International, which has asked Israel's ministry of defence to revoke the company's export licences. Human rights groups, activists, and surveillance experts have accused NSO of licensing its powerful Pegasus software to countries, including Saudi Arabia, that have used it to target individuals, hack into their phones, and monitor their communications, as well as those of their associates. In response, Yana Peel says:
'Throughout my entire adult life I have campaigned in public and private for free speech and defence of human rights. This is something I feel very strongly about and these values guide decisions in all aspects of my life and work.'
18 June. Yana Peel resigns as CEO of the Serpentine Galleries. The Guardian reveals that Pegasus software had been used to target Saudi dissident, Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered by government operatives, as well as by Mexican authorities to target the phones of activists and journalists. Last year Peel had served as a judge for the international freedom of expression awards held by Index on Censorship, the free-speech campaign group. In a statement on her resignation Peel says:
'In light of a concerted lobbying campaign against my husband's recent investment, I have taken the decision to step down as CEO of the Serpentine Galleries. I am saddened to find myself in this position. I have dedicated the majority of my professional life to public service in the cultural sector. The work of the Serpentine – and its incomparable artistic director – cannot be allowed to be undermined by misguided personal attacks on me and my family. These attacks are based upon inaccurate media reports now subject to legal complaints. I have decided I am better able to continue my work in supporting the arts, the advancement of human rights and freedom of expression by moving away from my current role.
'A word for the wonderful community of artist and supporters, with whom I will continue to engage. The world of art is about free expression. But it is not about bullying and intimidation. I welcome debate and discussion about the realities of life in the digital age. There is a place for these debates, but they should be constructive, fair and factual – not based upon toxic personal attacks. If campaigns of this type continue, the treasures of the art community – which are so fundamental to our society – risk an erosion of private support. That will be a great loss for everyone.'
The timeline of events presented here and the written statements quoted within it can all be verified by ASH's e-mail exchanges with both the Serpentine Galleries and the Chicago Architecture Biennial. ASH would like to make clear that we make no accusation against, or attribute any motive to, either the institutions or the employees of the Chicago Architectural Biennial or the Serpentine Galleries; and we have deliberately removed the names of the employees with whom we had contact during our collaboration with these institutions. What we are presenting here is a factual account of this collaboration. Whatever conclusions readers draw from this account are their own, and do not necessarily reflect those of Architects for Social Housing.
Architects for Social Housing
Architects for Social Housing is a Community Interest Company (CIC). Although we receive minimal fees for our design work, the majority of what we do is unpaid and we have no source of public funding. If you would like to support our work financially, please make a donation through PayPal:
Architects for Social Housing (CIC), company no. 10383452
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Donate to ASH
ASH's Law: A Fundraiser
Why ASH is joining the Labour Party
Inequality Capital: A Power Walk by Architects for Social Housing
The Costs of Estate Regeneration: A Report by Architects for Social Housing
Central Hill: A Case Study in Estate Regeneration
The Truth about Grenfell Tower: A Report by Architects for Social Housing
The Good Practice Guide to Resisting Estate Demolition: ASH Response to the GLA
The Ethics of Estate Regeneration: ASH response to the Royal Institute of British Architects
West Kensington and Gibbs Green Estates: New Homes and Improvements without Demolition. ASH Feasibility Study Report
Housing & Planning Bill: ASH submission to the House of Commons Public Bill Committee
Leaving the Garden: Brexit and the Housing Crisis. ASH presentation at Antarsya debate on EU and the Radical Left
For a Socialist Architecture. Part 1: The Facts in the Case of Patrik Schumacher. ASH presentation to the Department of Architecture, Cambridge University
For a Socialist Architecture. Part 2: The Principles of Architectural Practice. ASH presentation to the Department of Architecture, Cambridge University
The Space of Community in Post-war Council Estates: ASH presentation at the Design Museum
Housing is Not a Human Right: Housing Campaigns Before the Law. ASH Presentation to the Birkbeck School of Law
Policy Proposals on Estate Regeneration: ASH Presentation to the Tulse Hill branch of the Labour Party
Central Hill: A Case Study in Estate Regeneration. ASH Presentation to the Department of Architecture, Braunschweig University of Technology
Housing Crisis or Capitalist Crisis? ASH Presentation at the Platypus Society European Conference 2018
Social Housing Scrutiny Project: ASH Presentation to Haringey Council Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel
Battle of Ideas: Reform or Revolution in Housing? ASH presentation at the Barbican Centre
Sustainable Estates: ASH presentation at the Centre for Alternative Technology (Part 2)
11 Myths about London's Housing Crisis: ASH presentation at the Centre for Alternative Technology (Part 1)
2 or 3 Solutions to London's Housing Crisis: ASH Presentation to the Architectural League of New York (Part 2)
15 Truths About London's Housing Crisis: ASH Presentation to the Architectural League of New York (Part 1)
Future Estates: ASH presentation at the Royal Academy
Urgent Imagination: Conference at Western Front Gallery, Vancouver
Exhibitions, Residencies and Films
Bibliography for a Socialist Architecture: Pollyanna 圖書館 Library, Vancouver
The Right to the City: ASH Residency at the 221A Gallery, Vancouver
This is the Colour of my Dreams: Human displacement and boundaries in our environment. Paintings by Vanessa Gould
Countless Cities: Photographs by Alessia Gammarota
Power Walk at the Serpentine Gallery: ASH Press Release
The Costs of Estate Regeneration: A Film for Everyone
ASH Films: News Reports, Interviews, Presentations, Counter Propaganda, Documentaries, 2015-2018
Mapping London's Estate Regeneration Programme
ASH Retrospective at the ICA
In formation: ASH Residency at the ICA
Case Studies in Estate Regeneration
Public Subsidies for Private Profit: The Colville Estate Regeneration
What is Community-led Housing? Proposal for a Co-operative Housing Development
The Carpenters Estate: A Fresh Start or Business as Usual at Newham Council?
Questions without Answers: Reginald House and Old Tidemill Garden
The Duties of an Architect: Regeneration and Gentrification in New Mildmay
Class War on Woodberry Down: A National Strategy
An Exemplary Regeneration: King's Crescent Estate
Sheffield Tent City and the Social Cleansing of Park Hill Estate
The Intellectual Bloodstain: Academia and Social Cleansing on the Ferrier Estate
Reflections on the Outcome of the Public Inquiry into the Aylesbury Estate Compulsory Purchase Order
Regenerating Hackney's Estates: The Dirty Tricks of a Dirty Council
From Ferrier Estate to Kidbrooke Village: Decoding a 'Place in the Making'
What are the Options? Fred Wigg & John Walsh Towers
Guinness Trust: Occupation of the Loughborough Park Estate
Counter Propaganda
The Sacred Heart of Architecture: Lessons from the Paris Commune
Le rebâtiment de Notre Dame
The Business of Homelessness: My Container UK Ltd
Policy SD10: Social and Racial Cleansing in the Draft New London Plan
Homes for Londoners? Sadiq Khan's Record on Housing
Whatever Happened to the Working Class? The British Ideology
A Home for All? The Art Exhibition as Political Propaganda
Invisible Britain: The Art of Catharsis
Supply and Demand in Centre Point Residences
London's Most Influential: Citigroup and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis
The Architecture of Death
Calling All Architects: New Approaches to Old Housing
Southwark Sleeper: A New Housing Initiative for London's Homeless (Or Not)
What Is To Be Done? Changing Metaphors of Change
The Propaganda of Estate Regeneration: The Lincoln Estate, Poplar Harca and the British Broadcasting Corporation
Manufacturing Consent: GLA Capital Funding Guide: Section 8. Resident Ballots for Estate Regeneration Projects
Dresden Diary: Architecture, History and Politics
The Tower: Rewriting Grenfell. ASH response to Andrew O'Hagan
London's Empty Housing: Causes, Existing Policy, Future Solutions and their Enforcement
iMayor: The Ideology of GLA Housing Policy and the New Policy we need on Estate Regeneration
Scheming Schemes: A Street View of Gentrification
Maintain, Refurbish, Invest: Siemensstadt Housing Estate, Berlin
Narkomfin: Regenerations, Appropriations, Betrayals
Armed Love: Capitalism, Anarchism and the Russian Revolution
Radiant City: The Marseilles Housing Unit
The Way of the Dead: Land, Class and Architecture
J'ACCUSE! Selected Letters to the Architects' Journal, June 2015-July 2017
10 Myths about London's Housing Crisis
Vauxhall Hustings 2017
Social Housing: Demolitions, Privatisations & Social Cleansing
In Defence of Our Land: Historical Similarities Between the Enclosure of Common Land from the Thirteenth to Nineteenth Centuries and the Privatisation of Public Land in the Twenty-First; or, Why the Class War Never Changes, Only its Historical Form
Estate Demolition and the Business of Homelessness
Avant-Garde Architecture: The Seagram Building
A New David: The Journey to Beauty in Architecture
The Working Class Strikes Back
The Housing Question, 1872-2016
ASH meeting with the RIBA
Financial Compensation for Human Rights: The Aylesbury Estate
Land Values: A Short History
Time Out: London's Best Buildings
Memorials of Forgetting: Art and Architecture in Berlin
Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics: Inequality, Housing, Renting, Evictions, Homelessness and House Prices
In Defence of Our Homes: The Art of Resistance
Bleak House: Open letter from Architects for Social Housing to Lambeth Legal Services
Resistance Begins at Home: The Housing and Planning Act
The Doomsday Book: Mapping London's Housing Crisis
Modern Times: A Walk in Charlie Chaplin's Footsteps
Blitzkrieg! Sink Estates and Starter Homes
Let All The Children Boogie: David Bowie and the Housing and Planning Bill from Mars
Housing Bill Diary
Where Will We Live?
The End of Social Housing
The London Clearances
Parliament & Buckingham Estates: A Petition
Resistance by Design
NORTHWOLD ESTATE
Saving Northwold Estate: The Design Alternatives to Demolition
The Consultation Game: TM Architects on Northwold Estate
The Guinness Partnership: Letter from a resident of Northwold Estate
The Future of Northwold Estate
CENTRAL HILL ESTATE
Central Hill: The Alternative to Demolition
The Castle: Freedom of Information and Commercial Confidentiality at Lambeth Co-operative Council
Embodied Carbon Estimation for Central Hill Estate: Report by Model Environments
Deliverability of the ASH proposal on Central Hill: ASH response to Lambeth Labour Council
Criteria for Estate Demolition: ASH response to Lambeth Labour Council
ASH Presentation to Central Hill Estate Residents Engagement Panel
Central Hill: Design Proposals
Facts and Figures on Central Hill Estate
Community Consultation: The Future of Central Hill estate
Good News on Central Hill
In Defence of Central Hill
Central Hill Community
ASH Meeting on Central Hill
Workshop at Central Hill
Central Hill Estate Listing Application
WEST KENSINGTON & GIBBS GREEN ESTATES
ASH design proposals for West Kensington and Gibbs Green Estates
Resistance by Design: West Kensington & Gibbs Green Estates
Home: Pin it Down!
KNIGHT'S WALK
Knight's Walk: The Good Practice Guide to Gentrification
Knight's Walk Redevelopment: Recommendation to Cabinet
Knight's Walk Public Consultation: Alternative Proposals
Knight's Walk: Resident Consultation
Knights Walk: Progress Report
Knight's Walk: Background to Demolition
CRESSINGHAM GARDENS ESTATE
Cressingham Gardens: Design Workshop
Cressingham Gardens: Pilot workshop on open spaces
Architectural Workshops on Cressingham Gardens Estate
Principles of Social Housing on Cressingham Gardens Estate
Cressingham Gardens: Background and ASH Progress
Cressingham Gardens Estate: Background to Demolition
Open Garden Estates Website
Excalibur: Open Garden Estates 2017
Achilles Street: Open Garden Estates 2017
Macintosh Court: Open Garden Estates 2016
Open Garden Estates 2016
Central Hill: Open Garden Estates 2015
Cressingham Gardens: Open Garden Estates 2015
Knight's Walk: Open Garden Estates 2015
Open Garden Estates Flyer
Open Garden Estates
Parliamentary Politics
Representing What? The Rt Hon. Sajid Javid, Home Secretary
The Persecution, Incarceration, Torture and Extra-Territorial Extradition of Julian Assange: Template for a letter to your Member of Parliament
Brexit Countdown
Rebuilding Britain: Housing at the Labour Party Conference 2018
Oy Vey! No Latkes for Labour
Figs from Thistles: Labour's Grenfell Opportunism
London's Local Elections 2018: The Consequences of Voting
Our Urban Millions Must Wrest Control from Hostile, Inhumane Labour
The Social Realism of the Labour Party: Jeremy Corbyn and the Socialism of Fools
This Charming Man: Jeremy Corbyn and The Smiths
Dispossession: The Great Labour Party Swindle
New Old Labour: An Introduction for Housing Campaigners
The Labour Party Conference 2017: Housing Policy and Estate Regeneration
Why I Never Write About the Tories
Jeremy Corbyn and the Haringey Development Vehicle
Oh, Jeremy Corbyn! The People's Assembly
Clusterfuck! Labour's Shameless Council Estate Rip-off
Secure Homes for All? The Labour Party Manifesto on Housing
Vote Labour? The Aims and Values of Estate Demolition
A Vote for Labour is a Vote for . . .
Electoral Defeatism
Stand Up To Labour: The Denials of Momentum
Brexit Diary
No Platform For Labour Lies
Two or Three Things to Remember on this Day of Remembrance
The Peasants' Revolt: Lessons from History
Entente Cordiale: An anal probe into London's housing crisis
Campaign for Beti: Equality Duties of the Guinness Partnership and the Human Rights of their Tenants
Squat Belgravia: The Autonomous Nation of Anarchist Libertarians
The Anarchist Present: Eaton Square
Harrods and the Social Cleansing of London
Resist Guinness Evictions: Campaign for Beti
Stirling Prize Protest 2016: From the Heygate to the Aylesbury
Savills Protest
ASH Lounge at MIPIM UK
Stirling Prize Protest 2015
AJ 120 Awards: Protest
What's the Point? Protest and the Housing Crisis
Memorial for Grenfell
Labour Blimps
Tower, Slab, Superblock: Social Housing Legacies and Futures
Kidbrooke Village: Our Vision for Your Future
Trafalgar Place: The Production of Space
Marzahn: The Place Myths of Social Housing
O. J. Simpson Prize 2016
Bring the Summer Home (The Poll Tax Song)
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Assange
Sympathy for the Tory
The Christ of Journalism
Greece (an Odyssey)
ASH Christmas Carol
The Red Lady of Paviland
Thatcherwocky
Labour Party Conference No. 2
21 Council Army (Poem for Jeremy Corbyn)
Explaining a Few Things
Dear Labour Council
Red Front / Pink Boots
The Seven Stages of Regeneration
Definitely London Town
The Aylesbury Wall
Sweets Way
When We Marched For Homes
Geopoetry: Greenwich Peninsula
The Nation's Favourite Poem
Trolls and Jackdaws
Et tu, Boughton? Silences and Censorship in Municipal Dreams
Déjà lu: Who are Academics For?
The Green-eyed Twitter Trolls: Rab Harling and Stephen Pritchard
Exhibitions and Films
Funding for ASH


text:
Makati parish youth confab to tackle social issues
The Parish Youth Ministry of the National Shrine of the Sacred Heart has been holding a monthly youth conference called YFest as part of the celebration of the Year of the Youth. PHOTO COURTESY FROM YOUNG AT SACRED HEART
By Nikko Balbedina
The National Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Makati City will be hosting a two-day youth conference as part of the Church's celebration of the Year of the Youth.
Organized by the Parish Youth Ministry (PYM), the Parish Youth Day will tackle social issues affecting the youth, the Church, and society.
Among the topics include spiritual warfare, sexual ethics, and same-sex attraction.
PYM Assistant Coordinator Gjian Gallano said that with the event they also hope to bring their National Youth Day experience in Cebu last April to the Metro.
"The organizing committee hopes to plant a seed to the delegates," Gallano said.
"Even if the seed is just to help them realize that they have an important role in the evangelistic mission of the church," he said.
As the Year of the Youth comes to a close on Nov. 24, PYM Coordinator Kristina Abundo hopes "that its graces continue to benefit the whole church will remain."
"We hope to rekindle the fire of evangelization and mission especially among our youth, today's servants of the Lord," she said.
The Parish Youth Day event will be held at the YMCA Function Hall, located across the national shrine in San Antonio Village on Oct. 19-20.
Speakers include Archdiocese of Manila's Office of Exorcism Chief Exorcist Fr. Jose Francisco Syquia, Catholic Apologist and Radio Veritas Program Host Bro. Marco Evangelista and Manila archdiocese's Moderator Curiae Msgr. Jose Clemente Ignacio.
For more information, visit the PYM's Facebook page via www.facebook.com/YoungatSacredHeart/.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We are delighted to offer this 1988 Jaguar XJS Convertible that was first supplied by Drabble and Allen Ltd., Manchester on 27th October 1988. This Jaguar has been in the current ownership for the past 15 years and significantly, the service records that reside within the Jaguar service book, along with the old MoT test certificates and the superb condition may suggest that these low recorded miles are genuine. The history file also verifies that the vendor has maintained the Jaguar well, attending to any work requirements as necessary during his tenure. The coachwork, presented in Signal Red, is in excellent order as is its contrasting cream leather and burr walnut wood trimmings. The car is well appointed with features such as an automatic gearbox, electric windows, electric seats and electric hood and Jaguar alloy lattice wheels with excellent tyres. We are informed by the vendor that the car will arrive at the sale with a fresh MoT test certificate and health check carried out by Sovereign Motors, an independent Jaguar specialist based in Worthing, West Sussex. This genuine UK supplied, right hand drive V12 Jaguar also comes with a UK V5C registration document, Jaguar book pack and history file.
Retaining the roomy cockpit space of the coupé, the convertible naturally boasts all the expected Jaguar refinements, making for a very fine, open grand touring car. The XJS's superlative 5.3 litre engine developed some 295bhp in fuel injected form and, when allied to automatic transmission, gave authoritative 150mph performance. Today, this model is very much establishing itself as a most worthy latter day classic, good examples being eagerly sought by connoisseurs of the marque. With this in mind, is there a better way to enjoy the summer months ahead?
Please note: The private registration plate pictured is to be retained by the vendor. We are advised that an age related plate has been applied for.


text:
Q: Check if a video have sound with ffprobe (for bash use) I'm trying to detect if my videos has sound.
At first I tried to make a 30s sample from it, and check the sizes, but the problem is those are encoded in CBR, which means the sizes are always going to be the same.
But I've discovered ffprobe, which seams quite complicated to manipulate. Can I check if the levels of a video are higher than any number ?
edit : Also, those video files might have an audio stream, but without sound. To sum up, I need to check if there is an audio stream, and in that case, if there is real sound and not only silence.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


On Fri 13th March 2015 Eternal Taal grabbed the opportunity to perform alongside BBC Asian Network's presenter, Tommy Sandhu for BBC's Comic Relief Dance – A – Thon accomplished by X factor's ex presenter, Dermot O'Leary.
A team of eight Bhangra dancers and three Dhol drummers made their way in the early hours of the morning to London, to be part of an exciting event, for an amazing cause. Wearing their uniforms with pride, and carrying themselves with excitement and enthusiasm, the Eternal Taal team performed with the same professionalism and love for performing, as they do for every performance – Big or small.
The team got Dermot dancing and Tommy twirling along with our dancers to our Dhol drumming. Appearing on The Red Button doing what we do best is truly an incredible experience, and we are pleased and excited to share our memorable highlights with you all.


text:
package com.comandante.eyeballs.motion_events.consumers.dropbox;

import com.comandante.eyeballs.EyeballsConfiguration;
import com.comandante.eyeballs.common.ConcurrentDateFormatAccess;
import com.comandante.eyeballs.model.MotionEvent;
import com.dropbox.core.DbxRequestConfig;
import com.dropbox.core.v2.DbxClientV2;
import com.dropbox.core.v2.files.FileMetadata;
import com.dropbox.core.v2.files.WriteMode;
import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
import com.google.common.util.concurrent.AbstractScheduledService;
import com.comandante.eyeballs.motion_events.MotionEventConsumer;
import org.apache.log4j.Logger;

import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Locale;
import java.util.concurrent.LinkedBlockingQueue;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class DropboxMotionEventConsumer extends AbstractScheduledService implements MotionEventConsumer {

    private final LinkedBlockingQueue<MotionEvent> events = new LinkedBlockingQueue<MotionEvent>();
    private final ConcurrentDateFormatAccess concurrentDateFormatAccess = new ConcurrentDateFormatAccess();
    private static Logger log = Logger.getLogger(DropboxMotionEventConsumer.class.getName());
    private final DbxClientV2 dbxClientV2;
    private final EyeballsConfiguration eyeballsConfiguration;

    public DropboxMotionEventConsumer(EyeballsConfiguration eyeballsConfiguration) {
        dbxClientV2 = new DbxClientV2(new DbxRequestConfig("Eyeballs/1.0", Locale.getDefault().toString()),
                        eyeballsConfiguration.getDropBoxAccessToken());
        this.eyeballsConfiguration = eyeballsConfiguration;
    }

    @Override
    public void add(MotionEvent motionEvent) {
        this.events.add(motionEvent);
    }

    @Override
    protected void runOneIteration() throws Exception {
        ArrayList<MotionEvent> flush = Lists.newArrayList();
        events.drainTo(flush);
        uploadFiles(flush);
    }

    @Override
    protected Scheduler scheduler() {
        return Scheduler.newFixedRateSchedule(5, 5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
    }

    private void uploadFiles(List<MotionEvent> motionEvents) throws IOException {
        for (MotionEvent motionEvent : motionEvents) {
            try (InputStream in = new ByteArrayInputStream(motionEvent.getImage())) {
                String dropboxPath = "/motion_events/" + eyeballsConfiguration.getCameraName() + "/" + concurrentDateFormatAccess.convertDateToString(motionEvent.getTimestamp());
                createFolder(dropboxPath);

                FileMetadata metadata = dbxClientV2.files().uploadBuilder(dropboxPath + "/" + motionEvent.getId() + ".jpg")
                        .withMode(WriteMode.ADD)
                        .withClientModified(motionEvent.getTimestamp())
                        .uploadAndFinish(in);

                log.debug(metadata.toStringMultiline());
            } catch (Exception e) {
                log.error("Error uploading to Dropbox. ", e);
            }
        }
    }

    private void createFolder(String dropboxPath) {
        try {
            dbxClientV2.files().createFolder(dropboxPath);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            // Gulp.
            log.trace("Create folder response.", e);
        }

    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Eric Quanstrom is the Chief Marketing Officer for KiteDesk. KiteDesk provides automated prospecting software for B2B sales teams. Among the many topics covered in this episode, Eric and I talk about how to integrate inbound and outbound strategies to optimize sales lead generation, Eric's three secrets to sales development success that are hidden in plain sight and what KiteDesk is doing to amp up the productivity of sales development teams.


text:
ClickFunnels vs Kartra: Which Sales Funnel Builder Wins?
March 10, 2020 by Chris Fong Leave a Comment
Are you looking to build a sales funnel?
Then you are going to want to use a software for that.
A sales funnel consists of many different moving parts so it's important to find a platform that works and is easy to use.
This lets you focus more on your marketing so you can make more sales.
Two of the dominant sales funnel builders in the market today, are ClickFunnels and Kartra. Each has their own loyal supporters.
And I'm a customer of both.
In this article, I'm going to compare these two funnel builders and help you decide which one is right for your business.
Here's what I'm going to cover.
Overview of ClickFunnels
Overview of Kartra
Why You Should Pick ClickFunnels over Kartra
Why You Should Pick Kartra over ClickFunnels
ClickFunnels vs Kartra Pricing
ClickFunnels seemingly came out of nowhere back in 2014, and since then, its founder, Russell Brunson, has taken the company to over $100 million in annual revenue.
So what exactly does ClickFunnels do?
As its name would suggest, ClickFunnels helps you easily create sales funnels to sell your products and services. You can use it to create and link each stage of your funnel, including landing pages, squeeze pages, webinar signup pages and more.
Of course, all great funnels lead to a checkout page, and ClickFunnels allows you to take payments along with more advanced shopping-cart features to increase sales and average order value. These include upsells, downsells and bump offers.
Finally, the more premium ClickFunnel plans even go as far as providing an affiliate portal (to recruit your own army of affiliates) and an email marketing platform to build email campaigns and autoresponders.
Kartra, founded by Andy Jenkins and Mike Filsaime, emerged as an all-in-one online business and marketing solution back in 2018. Since then, it has arguably become the biggest ClickFunnels competitor on the market.
So what exactly does Kartra do?
Unlike ClickFunnels which focuses largely on building out sales funnels, Kartra aims to provide everything you need to start, maintain and grow an online business — hence the "all-in-one" tagline.
This includes a page builder, email marketing platform, shopping cart, webinar solution, and a number of other tools that, coincidentally, are also needed to build effective sales funnels.
Aside from a seemingly endless list of features, another key selling point to Kartra is interconnectivity; everything is built to seamlessly work together so you never have to deal with integration roadblocks or dodgy workarounds.
It has a superior page builder/editor
Whether you choose to go with ClickFunnels or Kartra, you'll be able to pick from a plethora of high-quality page builder templates covering everything from squeeze pages, webinar sign up pages, thank you pages and more.
If you're just looking to plug in a pre-built template, swap out some text and call it a day, you probably won't be exposed to some of the page builder drawbacks that exist in Kartra.
With that being said, there are some considerable advantages to using the ClickFunnels page builder/editor, so, if you're the kind of person who likes to build your own pages from scratch or even tinker with pre-built templates, this could be a big deal.
ClickFunnels is simply more efficient.
For one, the editor is faster in almost every way. Loading page templates is faster, inserting page elements is faster, and even the process of editing a page element (such as text) is faster.
And, unlike Kartra, if you need to edit a column, row or page element, you can hover over the relevant section and click to make changes. You don't need to switch between column and element mode to edit the corresponding sections.
ClickFunnels also has color-coding for each of these so you know exactly what type of element it is before you click it, meaning less time correcting clicks and more time making meaningful changes.
That's not to say that ClickFunnels' editor doesn't have its own annoyances. For example, not being able to use the same URL slugs across different funnels is one big one that pops into mind.
But overall I find ClickFunnels to be the better solution in most situations.
It has way more third-party integrations
Despite being labeled a funnel builder and not an all-in-one solution (like Kartra), there's actually a lot you can do with ClickFunnels right out of the box.
You can build anything from individual pages to full-fledged websites, manage your own affiliates and commission structures, and even run entire email marketing to campaigns to your email list — just like with Kartra.
Sometimes, however, third-party tools just make more sense for our business. Perhaps you prefer FirstPromoter for managing affiliates, or maybe you want to more powerful automations that ActiveCampaign allows you to build.
That's where integrations come into play, and ClickFunnels gives you much more freedom when it comes to outside applications.
Shopping cart integrations
Email marketing integrations
Webinar integrations
E-commerce integrations (Shopify)
Fulfillment service integrations
Kartra, being an all-in-one, is naturally more focused on keeping everything inside the platform, so you just don't have as much flexibility.
The difference here can't be understated. For example, ClickFunnels currently works with all the top email marketing software, whereas Kartra works with ZERO.
That means, if you're collecting email addresses from your Kartra-built pages, you'll also be locked into their native email autoresponder platform unless you go through Zapier. (Yep, another expense)
There's more comprehensive training available
If you're new to selling online, new to building high-converting funnels or just looking to sharpen your marketing skills, you're in luck.
There are few better people on the planet to learn from than Russell Brunson, and he's personally created endless hours of content on ClickFunnels and how to use sales funnels to effectively grow your business.
These trainings include:
Funnel U
Funnel Builder Secrets
Product Secrets
Traffic Secrets
Funnel Hackathon
Funnel Hacking Live (Documentary)
One Funnel Away Challenge
But it gets even better.
At the end of 2019, Russell decided to throw all that training (along with a bunch of extras) into a new product he calls Funnel Flix — "the Netflix" of online marketing and sales funnel training.
At the time of writing, they have around 20+ training videos with more in the works, including live training, daily hackathons, and appearances from big names like Tony Robbins and, of course, the man himself; Russell Brunson.
It's free, but you have to be a member of ClickFunnels to even get access to it and only ClickFunnels Platinum members get all the training inside FunnelFlix.
Finally, the community training around ClickFunnels is insane. I don't think I've ever seen so much voluntary training around a single software product. (Ok… the affiliate program might have a lot to do with that.)
Written guides
Even an audiobook
As for Kartra?
It's fair to say it has a respectable training portal (Katraverse) with tons of free training on how to use the product, but it's nowhere near the same level of training that surrounds Russell and the ClickFunnels brand.
It has a bigger and more engaged community
It won't take you long to figure out that ClickFunnels has a significantly larger fan-base compared to Kartra.
Let's take Facebook, for example.
We're talking about multiple ClickFunnels-focused groups with thousands of members…
…versus a couple of Kartra-focused groups with a fraction of the member count.
As I touched on a moment ago, this disparity absolutely trickles down into community-driven content such as blogs, videos, and podcasts, but that's not all you have to consider.
A community is more than just learning how to use a product; it's the coming together of like-minded people to achieve a common goal.
It's a source of inspiration when you feel burned out and ready to give up.
It's a source of experience when you don't know which direction to take your business.
And it's a source of knowledge when you need help finding a price point for a new product launch.
Plus the results that the community has been getting with ClickFunnels speak for themselves. There are over one hundred Dream Car winners (affiliates with over 100 active referrals) and hundreds more 2 Comma Club Award winners (people who have made 7 figures with a sales funnel).
It's easy to overlook the community aspect when it comes to software products like ClickFunnels and Kartra, but you really can't put a price on the benefits that come from having a strong community behind you.
And ClickFunnels has the bigger, more passionate fan base hands down.
There are so many opportunities to make affiliate sales
Becoming a successful affiliate marketer isn't just about driving traffic to products and offers, it's about driving traffic to the right products and offers.
As a ClickFunnels affiliate, not only do you get access to a generous affiliate program (up to 40% on all sales and recurring payments), you also have the ability to leverage the ClickFunnels product ecosystem.
These products include:
Expert Secrets Book
The One Funnel Away Challenge
Funnel Scripts
Funnel Hacker Cookbook
10x Secrets Masterclass
They also do lots of special affiliate competitions like the upcoming Traffic Secrets book launch and things like the Dream Car Contest.
In other words, you don't need to push a $97/month ClickFunnels membership to someone who isn't ready for it or simply can't afford it. Instead, you can strategically build up to that point.
This is what Russell calls "The Value Ladder":
Email marketing is included with every plan
I already told you that ClickFunnels allows you to integrate with third-party email marketing platforms (autoresponders) like ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign, while Kartra just… doesn't.
While that's a pretty glaring blow for Kartra, there are always two sides to every story and I neglected to mention one important detail earlier.
That is unless you're on the $297/month ClickFunnels plan, you don't even get access to native email marketing features which means you have no choice but to integrate with a third-party.
Fortunately, the same can't be said for Kartra.
Even on the cheapest plan at $97/month, you get access to all the email marketing features including pre-designed email templates, tagging, email automations, drip campaigns, and regular broadcasts.
As I said in our Kartra review, it's not quite as polished as dedicated email marketing tools and it's far from a ConvertKit clone, but it's more than capable once you get past the quirks.
Affiliate management is included on all plans
It's no secret that joining an affiliate program and getting the right people to click on your links is one of the easiest ways to generate an income online.
But, as Leonardo DiCaprio says in the movie Inception, sometimes you need to go one level deeper.
What's the next level?
Recruiting affiliates to promote YOUR products.
If you wanted to do this with a standard website, you would almost certainly need to integrate some additional software that handles affiliate management, like Tapfilliate or PayKickStart.
This kind of software can easily set you back around $100/month, but both ClickFunnels and Kartra have this included as part of their suite.
The key difference, however, is that Kartra includes an affiliate portal on all plans— including their $97/month plan—while ClickFunnels only gives you access to their affiliate portal (Backpack) on the $297/month platinum plan.
If that wasn't convincing enough, Backpack is pretty buggy and isn't known for being a reliable product overall.
It has a superior membership portal
Selling information on a recurring membership model isn't exactly a new concept these days, but the technical hassle of setting up such a system still plagues online businesses today.
Here's the good news:
Whether you choose ClickFunnels or Kartra, you'll be able to create a membership area, embed videos, audio clips, written content, allow access to individual products and bill members on a recurring basis.
ClickFunnels is perfectly adequate for membership sites, but Kartra still takes the edge on this one.
Here's what Kartra can do (but ClickFunnels can't):
It can group products using "levels" and allow access to these levels instead of individual products
It supports native comments/discussions on lesson pages to encourage students to interact with both you and other students
It doesn't allow students to mark lessons as complete and doesn't give any indication of progress
It gives you (the course creator) analytics to see how students are progressing through the course
It has a flexible signup process after purchase (ClickFunnels forces you to use the same email you purchased with)
It allows direct uploads for videos and audio clips
It has an awesome video hosting solution baked right in
It doesn't matter if you're adding a video sales letter (VSL) to a funnel page or the latest funny cat clip to a blog post, you first need a place to host your video before you can embed it.
For Kartra users, video hosting is included in every package starting at 50GB bandwidth, meaning you can upload video content directly to Kartra's servers and embed them into your pages natively.
But more than just being able to host videos, Kartra allows you to customize the video experience in a few interesting ways.
You can customize the appearance of your video player to match your branding (and ensure it doesn't look like a YouTube video)
You can overlay call-to-actions to generate sales or collect email addresses directly from your videos
You can tag leads when they reach a certain point in your video, and it will sync with Kartra's autoresponder
Apply actions when the video finishes, such as looping the video, playing another video or redirecting to a custom URL
ClickFunnels, however, doesn't host video at all. This means either resorting to YouTube (looks amateur) or shelling out some cash for a premium video hosting service, like Vimeo or Wistia.
With paid Wistia plans starting at $99/month for a measly 10 videos, you could end up paying more for video hosting than you do for ClickFunnels.
You can use it to build a full website and blog
If you're considering Kartra, there's a good chance you're looking for something that covers all the bases, including having a fully functional website.
Spoiler: Kartra ticks all the right boxes.
You'll find various high-quality templates for different industries, and you can tie all your pages together with a consistent website header, navigation, and footer. You know, like a real website.
What else does a real website tend to have these days? A blog. Adding a blog to your website is still one of the best ways to generate organic traffic through SEO and social media, and Kartra has blogging functionality built right in.
Can you do this with ClickFunnels? Kind of… but barely.
Yes, it's possible to hack a website together by building the individual pages into a funnel, but it would be painful to manage as everything would be static.
In other words, you'd need to manually edit the header, navigation, and footer on every page when updating or adding new links to your site, and blogging would require manually updating the blog feed every time you hit publish.
Like I said, painful.
It (now) has a more generous affiliate program
If you've been in the affiliate marketing world long enough, you'll know that affiliate commissions on software typically sit in the 10% to 30% range.
With Kartra, you get:
40% on every sale
40% on all recurring payments
Extra commission on all upgraded plans (automatic recalculation)
10% on all second-tier referrals (referrals from your affiliates)
I challenge you to find software products with a more generous affiliate program.
And yes, ClickFunnels has a similar program.
However, not only did they remove tiered commissions, but they also recently introduced levels which make it considerably harder to reach the full 40% commission structure.
These levels are:
Unapproved: Affiliates who are just getting started with the ClickFunnel affiliate program get 20% commission on all sales.
Approved: Affiliates who have made $10k in ClickFunnels affiliate commissions or successfully complete the One Funnel Away challenge get 30% commission on all sales.
Qualified: Affiliates who have referred at least 40 active members to ClickFunnels get 40% commission on all sales.
The standard ClickFunnels plan starts at $97 a month. This lets you build any sales funnel you want, but lacks Follow Up Funnels for email marketing and Backpack for running your own affiliate program. Plus you are limited to building 20 funnels in your account.
Upgrading to the $297 a month plan gets you access to all of ClickFunnel's features, plus unlimited funnels
Kartra, on the other hand, has its Starter plan at $99 a month. You are limited to creating 100 pages, 2 membership sites, and 2,500 leads.
The next level up Silver plan unlocks all of Kartra's features and you can create unlimited pages, products, and membership sites, plus a quota of 12,500 leads.
It also has Gold and Platinum plans which mainly increase the number of leads and emails you can send per month.
For me, the Starter plan pricing for both ClickFunnels and Kartra is comparable. The main plus with Kartra is that you're able to run your own affiliate program on that plan, while you can't do the same with ClickFunnels.
Kartra also has better upgrade pricing. You're saving almost $100 a month vs the ClickFunnels Platinum membership.
Where ClickFunnels has the advantage in pricing is when your email list really starts to grow. ClickFunnels stays at the same $297/mo price point no matter your list size. But with Kartra, you have to keep upgrading your plan as you surpass your plan's quota.
Honestly, ClickFunnels and Kartra are both great products. I'm a customer of both and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.
Kartra really has some compelling features going for it. Their membership sites are great and its affiliate management is much better than ClickFunnels. It also has some features that ClickFunnels is probably never going to add like built-in video hosting, help desk, and calendars.
But there's are a couple of reasons why I continue to make ClickFunnels my funnel builder of choice for most projects.
One, I need the flexibility that ClickFunnels' provides. For example, I am a huge fan of ActiveCampaign, and I think it's much better than ClickFunnels' Follow Up Funnels or Kartra's mail capabilities. And only ClickFunnels allows me to use ActiveCampaign with its built-in integration.
Two, the community and ecosystem that Russell Brunson has created around ClickFunnels is unmatched.
This means more angles to make money as a ClickFunnels affiliate with all the different products you can promote. So I know there's a market for each and every new product that Russell puts out.
And the community is really great. Everyone is so passionate and helpful. And I've been able to find so many different opportunities and partnerships just by making myself a part of the various ClickFunnels' groups.
No matter which solution you pick though, make sure to grab my ClickFunnels bonuses or Kartra bonuses before you buy.
Take the free 14-day ClickFunnels trial
Try Kartra for $1 for 14 days
ClickFunnels vs Kartra FAQ
Which software are you personally using the most?
Although I'm a paying customer of both, I find myself using ClickFunnels more often. I'm more familiar with it, and it's easier for me to create funnels quickly with it.
Is ClickFunnels or Kartra more cost effective for my business?
It honestly really depends on how you are planning to use the softwares. If you need a sales funnel builder with email marketing and affiliate program built in, then Karta is the better deal. However, once your list size starts growing, then ClickFunnels starts to be cheaper since it's email marketing is a fix cost.
Does ClickFunnels or Kartra have the better affiliate program?
ClickFunnels has made some recent changes to its affiliate program that make it less appealing. However, overall I still feel that ClickFunnels better because it has a better value ladder and bigger brand recognition. Kartra is still worth promoting though, especially if you are using them in your business.
Affiliate Disclaimer: I hope you enjoyed this ClickFunnels vs Kartra comparison post. Please note that any links inside this article may be affiliate links to ClickFunnels or Kartra. That means that if you click on one of the links and sign up, I may be compensated for it. If you do happen to click, thanks! Any money we make keeps this site running and allows us to keep producing high-quality reviews. I am an independent ClickFunnels Affiliate, not an employee. The opinions expressed here are my own and are not official statements of ClickFunnels or its parent company, Etison LLC.
Filed Under: ClickFunnels, Internet Marketing, Product Reviews


text:
Sacium obscurum is een keversoort uit de familie molmkogeltjes (Corylophidae). De wetenschappelijke naam van de soort werd in 1852 gepubliceerd door John Lawrence LeConte.

Molmkogeltjes

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


These rental conditions form an integral part of the contract for motorcycle or scooter use between Nguyen y Weinrich S.L. (Rental Company) and the client (renter). Deviating or supplementary agreements, which must be in written form to be legal, are reserved.
a) The exclusive object of the contract with the renter is the temporary letting of the reserved motorcycle or scooter. The motorcycles or scooter are licensed as user-driven rented vehicles.
b) All stated prices are inclusive personal liability. Fuel costs are not included.
c) A security deposit of 300, - Euro until 1.000,- Euro (depend on the model) must be paid upon pick up in cash or by credit card (MasterCard/VISA).
3. Payment and cancellation are regulated by Nguyen y Weinrich S.L. general terms and conditions of business.
The driver has to handle the motorcycle or scooter with care, and in particular, to comply with technical regulations and operating instructions and to ensure road safety. The driver is required to check oil and water levels, tire pressure and drive chain tension at regular intervals throughout the rental period. The driver has to comply with all legal provisions, in particular the road transport laws. He or she is liable for all administrative payments, fines and penalties which are due to his use of the motorcycle or scooter.
a) Allowing any other persons than those named as authorized drivers on the rental agreement, to drive the motorcycle or scooter. Exception is an additional driver, registered in the contract by the rental company.
b) Allowing a duly authorized rider to drive the motorcycle or scooter if he or she has been forbidden from driving, he or she is not in possession of a valid driving license, or he or she is unfit to drive the motorcycle.
c) Using the motorcycle or scooter if the driver is forbidden from driving or is not in possession of a valid driving license.
d) Using the motorcycle or scooter himself or herself if he or she is unfit to drive. e) Taking part in motor sport events of any kind, including the associated practice sessions.
f) Using the motorcycle or scooter away from solid road surfaces or on the beach.
g) Manipulating the speedometer in any way. If the speedometer is found to be defective in any way, the company must be notified immediately.
h) Pledging or selling the motorcycle/ scooter or disposing of the motorcycle/scooter or its parts, equipment, accessories and documents in any way that may injure the rights of the company as owner of the motorcycle or scooter, or any other rights that the company may have with respect to the motorcycle or scooter. i) Parking the motorcycle or scooter in such a way that it is not secured against theft.
j) To take the rented motorcycle or scooter anywhere outside of the territory of Canary Islands. The company has to be notified in advance if it's planned to take the motorcycle or scooter from La Palma to another Canary Islands and must be authorized in written form by the rental company.
5. Obligations and liability of Nguyen y Weinrich S.L.
Nguyen y Weinrich S.L. delivers the motorcycle or scooter in perfect working order, cleaned, and in an operationally safe and roadworthy condition; the seals attached to various components are undamaged. Also the driver is given the motorcycles or scooter papers and the relevant tools. Nguyen y Weinrich S.L. will only recognize pre-existing damage if this has been recorded in written form in the rental agreement prior to delivery and must be confirmed with signature from the renter and the rental company. Repair of tire damage is generally a matter for the rental payer.
The driver is liable to Nguyen y Weinrich S.L. from take over until delivery of the motorcycle or scooter, including slight negligence, with regard to loss (including the mislaying or confiscation of the motorcycle or scooter), and for all damage (such as accident or operational damage, damage as a consequence of improper treatment and damage that constitutes a reduction in value or parts of it) which goes beyond normal motorcycle or scooter use during the rental period. In case of damage to the rented motorcycle or scooter, the driver is liable for repair costs, recovery and return costs, technical expert costs, technical and commercial depreciation, loss of rental income during the repair period, or, in case of outright loss, during the period until replacement is rendered, actually incurred or established by way of expert appraisal. A daily charge is payable for each day lost of rental income. The driver retains the right to demonstrate a lower level of damage. The driver is furthermore liable for additionally borrowed accessories as helmets inclusive helmet shield, jackets, gloves, loss of vehicle registration papers, loss of vehicle keys etc.
For every occurrence of damage, including damage or accidents that occur without the involvement of a third party, the driver is obliged to inform Nguyen y Weinrich S.L. immediately by telephone. Towing and/or repair services should only be engaged after consultation with Nguyen y Weinrich S.L. In the event of an accident, the police must be called immediately in all cases. Evidence (witnesses, physical evidence, etc.) is to be secured, the personal data of the persons involved recorded and all other steps taken which can contribute to establish a proper and complete appraisal of the events leading up to the accident. The driver is committed not to sign any confession statement or to perform any other actions (such as rendering payments or settlements) that could endanger the insurance cover.
a) The motorcycle/ scooter has an all-inclusive liability insurance cover for personal, property and pecuniary damage. The insurance sum is 50 million Euros for third-party damage and for personal damage.
b) The driver is required to deposit the sum of 300, - Euro until 1.000,- Euro (depend on the model) in cash or by credit card upon take over of the motorcycle or scooter, as security. This will be returned in full as soon as the motorcycle or scooter is returned undamaged to Nguyen y Weinrich S.L. Every instance of damage to the motorcycle or scooter will be deducted from the security deposit.
a) Fails to comply with contractual obligations laid out in section 4.
b) Abandons an accident site without authority in the case of culpable accident.
c) Causes damage with intent or gross negligence.
d) Exceeds the agreed rental period in violation with the terms of the contract.
The motorcycle or scooter is delivered with a full tank, clean, in perfect working order, and without discernible defects. The driver has to return the motorcycle or scooter with empty tank, but not on reserve at the end of the rental period at the agreed location and at the agreed date and time; complete with all motorcycle or scooter papers, keys, tools and accessories. All costs for replacement of lost tools, keys and/or papers must be paid by the driver. If the motorcycle or scooter is returned in a heavily soiled state, the driver will be required to pay the cost of cleaning the vehicle.
If the agreed return time is exceeded by more than two hours, the driver is obliged to pay a further day's rental charge in compensation. The driver retains the right to demonstrate that Nguyen y Weinrich S.L. has incurred either no or a significantly lower degree of damage from the excess rental period.
Nguyen y Weinrich S.L. may terminate the rental agreement without notice if important reasons arise that render a continuation of the rental agreement unreasonable. Examples of such important reasons would in particular be the rendering of false information by the renter regarding his/ her person or his/her creditworthiness, and the severe violation of contractual obligations. In the case of immediate termination of the agreement, the rented motorcycle or scooter has to be returned immediately, even if the regular rental period has not yet passed. This has no effect on any claims for compensation on the part of Nguyen y Weinrich S.L.
Nguyen y Weinrich S.L. will not charge any fees for cancelation of bookings more than 30 days before arrival.
of the total price will be due.
No supplementary agreements or amendments to this rental agreement have been made. All contractual agreements must be in written form. This also applies to the lifting of this clause.
Should any provision in this contract be or become wholly or partly ineffective, this will not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. The contract parties undertake to substitute ineffective provisions with regulations that come as close as possible to the commercial purpose of the ineffective provision (Severability Clause).


Mexican embroidered dress stunning peacock and wonderful colors, over natural pre-washed manta. (natural cotton fabric) Exclusive from Aida Coronado collection whimsical details with lots of love from Mexico.
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