Strippers in Edinburgh have told Sky News the council’s decision to ban sexual entertainment venues (SEVs) will financially devastate them, as the clubs and the union launch a judicial review to challenge the shutdown of the city’s clubs.
Three Edinburgh clubs (Baby Dolls, The Western and Burke and Hare) and the United Sex Workers (USW) union argue the council vote to limit the number of licensed venues to zero from April 2023 will force the industry underground, making it riskier for the women.
‘It should be my choice’
Edinburgh dancer Sasha told Sky News the choice should be hers to make.
“I think it is our right to choose that and I don’t think it’s right for feminists to tell women what they should and shouldn’t be doing with their bodies, what jobs they should do, and what jobs they shouldn’t do,” she said.
Image: Sasha is an Edinburgh-based stripper
Sasha added that working as a stripper means good money and flexible shifts that helps her as a mother.
“As a parent, I just find it very flexible and there’s a potential for it to be well paid, so it ticks a lot of boxes for me. Particularly the flexibility, the money is never guaranteed, but the flexibility is great.”
Sasha doesn’t believe changing what she does is an option.
“It’s not that easy, we’ve been doing what we’re doing, most of us, for years – and that’s our trade, it’s our industry and that’s what we want to continue doing to make money.”
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‘Epitome of the patriarchy’
However, for those campaigning for the ban of strip clubs, they say the choice to do this work shouldn’t be available.
Former Labour councillor and writer Susan Dalgety believes the council’s decision is right for women.
“As a feminist, I think that men paying us for sexual favours is the worst kind of exploitation of our bodies,” she said.
Image: Former Edinburgh Labour councillor Susan Dalgety
“And it is the epitome of the patriarchy that men are much more powerful in society than women, and that all we are there for is either to reproduce the next generation or for the sexual entertainment of men.
“All Edinburgh is doing is saying that in our city we do not want to legitimise sexual entertainment. It’s living pornography.
“It is young women taking their clothes off and dancing sexually for the pleasure of men.”
Ms Dalgety’s views have changed. As a young councillor, she believed such clubs should exist and be properly regulated for the safety of women.
In the 1990s, she voted to licence saunas “knowing full well that they were brothels”.
“Edinburgh was the epicentre of the AIDS epidemic in the UK in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and it was spread through the drug using community,” she said.
“So it was in the heterosexual community and sex workers, unfortunately, were at a much higher risk of it,” Ms Dalgety said, adding the policy choice back then was “a public health decision”, but now she thinks the very existence of any sexual entertainment venue is problematic.
Forcing women into dangerous conditions
Mina from the USW union told Sky News that exploitation isn’t found in the clubs; instead, it is in forcing women into working minimum wage jobs.
“The patriarchy exists across all aspects of society, so clearly stripping is not free from that. However, it is the dancer’s decision to choose that form of work, they’re not being exploited,” she said.
Image: Mina from the United Sex Workers union
“United Sex Workers take the position that shutting down legal, regulated place of work for dancers who are primarily women would force them to work more dangerous conditions, especially in a cost of living crisis.
“Sex workers are not to be blamed for exploitation of actual violence because it splits women into particles of good and bad. And it’s never that simple, and it’s not fair.”
Previously, sex workers have told Sky News that the cost of living crisis means they are unable to say no to dangerous clients.
Decision is for ‘prevention of crime and disorder’
In a statement, Edinburgh City Council told Sky News the decision to close down the strip clubs was for the “preservation of public safety and the prevention of crime and disorder” and that “SEVs can still apply for a licence and a committee would consider them against the agreed policy”.
The judicial review decision is expected to take several weeks, possibly months.
British star Lesley Manville and American actor John Lithgow have won the acting categories at this year’s Olivier Awards, which recognise excellence in London theatre.
Lithgow, 79, played Roald Dahl in Giant, which is about the children’s author wondering whether to make a public apology.
While accepting his award he appeared to reference the current controversy over Donald Trump’s second term as US president.
The Conclave star quipped: “It’s not always easy to welcome an American into your midst, and at this particular moment, it’s probably a little more complicated than usual.”
He also told the audience at the Royal Albert Hall that the “special relationship is still firmly intact”, despite Mr Trump imposing tariffs on British exports to the US.
His co-star, English actor Elliot Levey, took best actor in a supporting role.
Giant was also named best new play.
Image: Lesley Manville was best actress. Pic: PA
Manville, 69, was honoured for her performance in the Greek tragedy Oedipus at the Wyndham’s Theatre.
She said she felt “emotional” while accepting her statuette because it was a production she had “felt very strongly about being” in.
Manville, who played Princess Margaret in The Crown, added that she was taking an early flight to Dublin on Monday to do some filming, and would not be getting “much sleep tonight”.
Image: Romola Garai was best actress in a supporting role. Pic: PA
Best actress in a supporting role went to Romola Garai for her performance in The Years, based on a memoir by French writer Annie Ernaux.
Garai, whose film credits include Scoop and Atonement, was nominated in the same category for Giant.
Image: Elliot Levey was best actor in a supporting role. Pic: PA
Dame Imelda Staunton won a fifth Olivier, for best actress in a musical for the London revival of classic musical Hello, Dolly!
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button won best new musical, a best actor musical award for Lark Rise To Candleford actor John Dagleish, and the outstanding musical contribution award.
The annual event was co-hosted by British singer Beverley Knight and Pose star Billy Porter.
Despite The Who’s Quadrophenia being set over 60 years ago, Pete Townshend’s themes of identity, mental health, and modern masculinity are just as relevant today.
The album is having a renaissance as Pete Townshend’s Quadrophenia A Mod ballet is being brought to life via dance at Sadler’s Wells East, and Sky News has an exclusive first look.
As Townshend puts it, the album he wrote is “perfect” for the stage.
Image: Pete Townshend
“My wife Rachel did the orchestration for me, and as soon as I heard it I said to her it would make a fabulous ballet and we never really let that go,” he tells Sky News.
“Heavy percussion, concussive sequences. They’re explosive moments. They’re also romantic movement moments.”
If you identify with the demographics of Millennial, Gen Y or Gen Z, you might not be familiar with The Who and Mod culture.
But in post-war Britain the Mods were a cultural phenomenon characterised by fashion, music, and of course, scooters. The young rebels were seen as a counter-culture to the establishment and The Who, with Roger Daltry’s lead vocals and Pete Townshend’s writing, were the soundtrack.
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Quadrophenia the album is widely regarded as an essay on the British adolescent experience at the time, focusing on the life of fictional protagonist Jimmy – a young Mod struggling with his sanity, self-doubt, and alienation.
Townshend sets the rock opera in 1965 but thinks its themes of identity, mental health, and modern masculinity are just as relevant today.
He says: “The phobias and the restrictions and the unwritten laws about how young men should behave. The ground that they broke, that we broke because I was a part of it.
“Men were letting go of [the] wartime-related, uniform-related stance that if I wear this kind of outfit it makes me look like a man.”
Image: Paris Fitzpatrick and Pete Townshend. Pic: Johan Persson
This struggle of modern masculinity and identity appears to be echoing today as manosphere influencers like Andrew Tate, incel culture, and Netflix’s Adolescence make headlines.
For dancer Paris Fitzpatrick, who takes on the lead role of Jimmy, the story resonates.
Image: Paris Fitzpatrick, who takes on the lead role of Jimmy in the ballet
“I think there’s a connection massively and I think there may even be a little more revival in some way,” he tells Sky News.
“I love that myself. I love non-conforming to gender norms and typical masculinity; I think it’s great to challenge things.”
Despite the album being written before he was born, the dancer says he was familiar with the genre already.
“I actually did an art GCSE project about Mods and rockers and Quadrophenia,” he says.
“I think we’ll be able to bring it to new audiences and hopefully, maybe people will be inspired to to learn more about their music and the whole cultural movement of the early 60s.”
In 1979, the album was adapted into a film directed by Franc Roddam starring Ray Winstone and Sting but Townshend admits because the film missed key points he is “not a big fan”.
“What it turned out to be in the movie was a story about culture, about social scenario and less about really the specifics of mental illness and how that affects young people,” he adds, also complimenting Roddam’s writing for the film.
Perhaps a testament to Pete Townshend’s creativity, Quadrophenia started as an album, was successfully adapted to film and now it will hit the stage as a contemporary ballet.
It appears that over six decades later Mod culture is still cool and their issues still relatable.
Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet will tour to Plymouth Theatre Royal from 28 May to 1 June 2025, Edinburgh Festival Theatre from 10 to 14 June 2025 and the Mayflower, Southampton from 18 to 21 June 2025 before having its official opening at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London on 24 June running to 13 July 2025 and then visiting The Lowry, Salford from 15 to 19 July 2025.
Russell Brand has been charged with rape and two counts of sexual assault between 1999 and 2005.
The Metropolitan Police say the 50-year-old comedian, actor and author has also been charged with one count of oral rape and one count of indecent assault.
The charges relate to four women.
He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday 2 May.
Police have said Brand is accused of raping a woman in the Bournemouth area in 1999 and indecently assaulting a woman in the Westminster area of London in 2001.
He is also accused of orally raping and sexually assaulting a woman in Westminster in 2004.
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Ashna Hurynag discusses Russell Brand’s charges
The fourth charge alleges that a woman was sexually assaulted in Westminster between 2004 and 2005.
Police began investigating Brand, from Oxfordshire, in September 2023 after receiving a number of allegations.
The comedian has denied the accusations and said he has “never engaged in non-consensual activity”.
He added in a video on X: “Of course, I am now going to have the opportunity to defend these charges in court, and I’m incredibly grateful for that.”
Metropolitan Police Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, who is leading the investigation, said: “The women who have made reports continue to receive support from specially trained officers.
“The Met’s investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police.”