Obscene rag sparks outcry

8:15am Monday 2nd July 2007

A community newsletter supported by the police and with a "Tiddlers" column for children has sparked outrage by including full frontal nudity and obscene sexual swear words.

The latest Kemptown Rag, which is delivered to all properties in the Kemp Town area of Brighton, contains explicit images of naked men showering on its cover and obscene four letter swearwords in one of its columns.

The fortnightly free publication has a regular entry by PCSO James Conway and its "Kemptown Tiddlers"

column is aimed at children.

Many residents say they are offended by the rag's content and do not want it to continue as a community newsletter.

Barbara Aston, of Bristol Street, Kemp Town, said: "It offends people's sensibilities and is incredibly seedy.

"I would like to see the end of the magazine. I would like them not to put it through my letter box any more "It should only be available in certain places for people who want to read that type of thing."

The Rag is delivered to 6,000 properties in the area, increasing to 7,000 on July 5, and falls through the letter box of Kemptown Community Centre.

Manager Tony Shadbolt said he bins the magazine when it gets delivered because of its obscene language.

He said: "We just cannot have the magazine here.

"We cannot have the C-word where we have children.

"The C-word is used to put somebody down and is about the worst thing you can say."

Sussex police are considering ending its association with the Rag.

A police spokeswoman said: "Neighbourhood officers contribute to local newsletters on a regular basis and PCSO James Conway has provided information to the Kemptown Rag for three months in good faith, as it is delivered to a large number of local residents and businesses.

"Given the nature of this particular edition, we will review whether we continue to contribute and be affiliated to the publication.

"We will also investigate any complaints we receive in relation to perceived offensive material."

Kemptown Rag editor Sarah Hall said she has not received any complaints.

She said: "I honestly don't believe it uses swear words out of context."

The swear words were contained in a column by erotic service provider Letitcia.

Hall continued: "In fact, Letitcia's is probably one of the most popular articles in it.

"You can only judge by the response, and the response is positive."

"Letitcia", who wrote the offensive Page Three article, said: "Do you think a publication which has a readership of 6,000 people and has one or two people complain should be held to ransom?

"It is entirely up to the editor what she thinks is inappropriate or not.

"If there was a problem with my article the editor would say something to me and she has not."

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