Monthly Archives: Jan 2006

Kurdish human rights

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In the evening host an event at Parliament – with a number of pretty high power speakers – about human rights issues for Kurdish women in Turkey. The event was titled “Ongoing Violence Against Kurdish Women in Turkey; What the EU-Turkey Accession Talks Offer Women”.

Estelle from the Peace in Kurdistan campaign had approached me to host the event – and the speakers included: Sehnaz Turan – a Kurdish human rights lawyer based in Istanbul; Baroness Helena Kennedy; Margret Owen a barrister and adviser to KHRP; Monireh Moftizadeh – founder member of Kurdish Women’s Project who worked om the Kurdish women’s charter and MEPs Jean Lambert and Sarah Ludford – and me!

Kurdish women in Turkey are fighting on two fronts for their freedoms and rights – both rights for women and for Kurds.

APOLOGY DEMANDED OVER COUNCIL'S £10M IT OVERSPEND

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On Monday (6th February) Haringey Council will be called on to hold Executive members to account over the wastage of £10 million of public money through a massive overspend on the Council’s IT upgrade project (Tech Refresh).

The motion tabled by the Lib Dem opposition also calls on the Council to acknowledge the findings of the damning Audit Commission report into the project, released earlier this month.

Opposition Leader, Cllr Neil Williams, who has tabled the motion says that the Executive must be held to account over the ‘negligent’ handling of the case.

Cllr Williams comments:

“To allow a budget to slip by £10 million is a totally unacceptable waste of public funds. I hope that on Monday members vote as responsible, elected representatives rather than whipped party members.”

PROBING QUESTIONS INTO WEBSITE FAILURE

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Residents in Haringey are regularly being prevented from accessing information about Haringey Council due its long-running website problems, according to Cllr Jonathan Bloch who hopes to get answers from the Council on Monday.

Cllr Bloch, along with many residents, has been unable to access the Council’s website regularly since the beginning of January. He is concerned that many people who need to access information on Council-run services often can’t get access.

At Monday’s Full Council he expects an explanation as to why the website has been inaccessible for so long and what they plan to do to prevent this happening again.

Cllr Bloch (Muswell Hill) comments:

“We are keen to get to the bottom of this website debacle. It is essential that the Council reassures residents that this kind of failure will not reoccur, and that adequate back up procedures are in place in the event of the site going down.”

Regional conference

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Do a Saturday surgery today at Muswell Hill library. Don’t use this venue too often as there is no disabled access. Lots of heart rending situations this morning. I sometimes despair of the Home Office and its decisions – such as when I have to sit with a woman who has been raped and tortured – and yet has had her final notice that her appeal to stay is rejected.

I will write to the Minister and beg on compassionate grounds – but Tony McNulty’s ears are usually hardened to such pleas. A statistic is one thing – a woman in absolute despair and fear is another.

After surgery I go to Guildford to address a Lib Dem regional conference on ‘How we won Hornsey & Wood Green’. As well as the motivational story – which Hornsey & Wood Green is – I refer to our difficulties. I talk about ‘recent sticky moments’. Yes – as a gale of laughter shook the room – I realised my choice of words was not (or was!) well chosen.

Laughter being the best medicine it was a very jolly rally and I have no doubt when our leadership contest is done and dusted – we will be just fine. Particularly if Chris Huhne wins. I think he will bring that fresh feel to the Lib Dems – and now we need that more than ever.

Ken's at it again

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See my old sparring partner Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, has a pop at the LibDems on the Assembly and at me in particular in his new column in the Ham & High today! I love it when Ken gets his knickers in a twist about me. Reading the politics of this – for Ken is always about votes – he is bigging up the Greens on the Assembly (who sold out to him long ago) and worried about the success of the LibDems in London coming up to the local elections. I will be in his sights as we have a fair chance of taking over Haringey Council from Labour. So the man’s a complete dirty street fighter – and this is his way of reaching out to my neck of the woods.

I used to be rather more of a fan of his in the early days of London government where, as Chair of Transport in London, I stood shoulder to shoulder with him supporting the first Congestion Charge and against Labour’s PPP for the Tube. But wow he’s Labour’s man at City Hall – not a peep about the Tube and particularly us poor Northern Line sufferers.

It’s no good Mayor Livingstone trying to have a go at me just ‘cos I didn’t like or support his West London Tram plans. He did a consultation and the people didn’t like it. As for residents in Haringey – don’t forget that Ken supports the concrete factory against local residents wishes. He also supports having tower blocks plonked in Wood Green without infrastructure – again against local wishes.

As for the Labour government’s commitment to the environment – the Government just moves the targets every time it sees it is going to fail miserably. Charity starts at home Ken. Have a go at your mates in Whitehall rather than trying to dabble in the politics of Haringey!

Later on, film crew arrive from the Dimbleby Show to film a little intro to the live interview they will be doing with Chris Huhne tomorrow. I hope it came across that he is a human with a hinterland. I think Chris is a modern man and understands the pressures of real life. He has a proper hinterland. And he has had the balls (although I think I used the word guts) to rise to this challenge. He can take on Gordon (I still don’t think Cameron has it in the longer term). He is tough, decisive – but also warm and friendly – and clear about direction. So – hope they edit kindly and big him up!

Simon Hughes

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Simon Hughes is indeed in the tabloids today – as being gay or bi-sexual. Now, it is hardly news to anyone I know – but Simon has always protected his right to keep his private life private – and I support him on that. But the attack is because a week ago to three newspapers he denied he was gay. I guess he was cornered and the question was never going to go away – and he just made an error of judgement. The media say he lied. I think he just defended himself badly. So another roller coaster for the party to bear as this latest news works its way through the rounds of the media.

It is the first question Steve Richards asks myself, Ed Davey and Phil WIllis who are having a pre-recorded panel session which will go out Saturday at 11am – the Week in Westminster. This is a panel of the key supporters for the leadership – me for Chris Huhne, Phil Willis for Simon Hughes and Ed Davey for Menzies Campbell. So – whilst none of us would go on any media to discuss Simon – once they’ve got you there anyway, there’s no stopping the question. We all basically defended Simon’s right to privacy and right to be whatever sexual orientation he wanted. Then, thank goodness, we get on to policy areas and have a right good ding dong. Great fun!

I get a call last thing because we (Lib Dems) need to put out a statement on Sir Ian Blair’s attack on the media for being biased towards coverage of white murders. For bizarre reasons he chooses Soham as an example of their bias. I remember the coverage at the time – because first the poor girls were missing and we all went on that journey of anxiety as we moved toward the eventual horrific reality. It would have been the same what ever colour the girls were. It was a huge story and the press were bound to follow that one.

However, Ian Blair is right to highlight the issue of bias in coverage. But when I think back I can remember examples both ways – when two murders occur when sometimes the black murder will be covered and sometimes the white. So methinks we need proper examination of this issue – as it is a very important one. We need to look at the way information about a murder gets to the press. Which stories originate from the police forces themselves. What are their policies in terms of media liaison over murders. Let’s have an analysis of all murders and their coverage over the last few years and see what led to what. I am not happy about statements that are not backed up by factual analysis on this. So I welcome the opening up of this as an area for concern – but let’s get it right and based on factual information.

Get home late – just in time for Question Time and Simon Hughes is on tonight. I don’t know if it’s good or bad to have such a media opportunity at this point when there is a feeding frenzy around him. It did give Simon the chance to put his case – which he did as well as he could under the circumstances.

Police reform

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There is a lobby of parliament today by the Association of Police Authorities (APA). The Government wants to merge the current police forces into fewer but larger police forces. Almost everyone is against this.

Labour state that it is to plug a gap that appeared during the Soham murders where a local force did not have the specialist capability to deal with the investigation – and argue that a larger police force would have the capacity. But a smaller force can always bring in such specialist skills when needed. And what we know is that Safer Neighbourhood Teams and local policing work – work in terms of intelligence, in terms of public visibility and so on. In other words – local services, delivered close to the people they are meant to serve, work best. Labour’s proposals centralise the controls of forces – just going the wrong way. And as ever – this nonsense will cost millions and millions and millions.

So the APA have come to see me to put their case against the Government proposals. I am with them on this. There will be an opposition day debate on this next week in Parliament.

The Lib Dem leadership contest rolls on – an my boy Huhne is definitely coming up on the rails – overtaking even Simon Hughes now in the betting. Having taken an hour’s questions from Stroud Green Residents’ Association I get home just in time to listen to the special Any Questions being held in Richmond. They all did pretty well I thought. What is very striking is that following the first hustings, where Chris laid out some key themes around eco-taxes, taking the low-paid out of tax, localism and so on – the others are now singing the same song. I guess this is how it goes. I remember the Mayoral contest in London last time – where Ken and Steve (Norris – in case you’ve forgotten) apart from a couple of issues largely took our ideas.

In fact, it made me laugh today when I heard that Ken is going to allow an extra day to pay on the congestion charge. I first floated that one even before the Mayoral contest – and Ken pooh-poohed it publicly at many an Assembly. But now it will happen! So – look out for Oxford Street to be humanised and for GPS to come to bus management instead of CountDown and AVL!

Simon sounded a bit lacklustre – probably explained later by a text around 10pm saying Simon would be in the tabloids next day. Who says Liberal Democrats are dull?

POLICE AND JUSTICE BILL A MISSED OPPORTUNITY

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Commenting on the publication of the Police and Justice Bill, Liberal Democrat Policing Spokesperson, Lynne Featherstone MP said:

“The Bill gives the Home Secretary carte blanche to meddle in the composition of police authorities without having to ask for Parliamentary approval.It gives absolutely no reassurance to those of us who fear the loss of local accountability under the police merger plans.

“The proposal for the police to be sent a list of every passenger on every domestic UK flight is a deeply worrying intrusion into people’s private lives.It adds another building block in the construction of surveillance society.

“This Bill would have been a golden opportunity to reform the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act which currently bars many ex-offenders from finding work.The Government has been promising action on this since 2002.Instead of taking an important step to cut reoffending, they have chosen yet again to focus on centralising power.”

GOVERNMENT'S POLICE MERGER PLANS A DOUBLE WHAMMY FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES

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Lynne Featherstone MP, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson, commenting ahead of the lobbying of MPs by the Association of Police Authorities today over Home Office plans to merge police forces, said:

“The Government’s proposals are a double whammy for local communities.People will be expected to fork out more Council Tax to pay for the cost of the mergers, but at the same time they will have less of a say in how their police force is run.

“The Home Secretary should look carefully at the alternative suggestions on the table. He can deliver improvements in policing without severing local links.”

PLANNING: MIXED FORTUNES FOR LOCAL CAMPAIGNS

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Local residents and campaigners from Creighton Avenue (N10) went home from Monday night’s planning committee with mixed feelings.

Some were celebrating success, having seen the plans for six four-storey houses to replace 14-16 Creighton Avenue rejected. Others were left extremely disappointed by the Committee’s failure to accept their objections to the proposed care home at 79 Creighton Avenue.

The plans for 14-16 were the second version, an initial attempt to get permission for seven houses having been recommended for refusal last year. The new plans were recommended for approval, but having heard the objections of residents and ward councillors the committee agreed to throw the proposals out.

Local ward councillor Matt Davies (Liberal Democrat, Fortis Green) comments:

“I am delighted for the residents of Creighton Avenue and Pages Hill that these proposals have been rejected. Campaigners have worked hard to show that this development would be unsuitable for the site and this is their just reward.”

However, the proposal to build a three storey care home at 79 Creighton Avenue, where Strathlene House currently stands, was approved. This approval came despite strong concern – and objections from more than 100 residents – based on issues of overlooking, traffic, size and design.

Matt Davies comments:

“I am disappointed the committee failed to take the concerns of local residents seriously on this application. The planned demolition of Strathlene House is highly undesirable and the new building will be both ugly and far too large for the site. The impact on neighbours, especially those in Ringwood Avenue, will be extremely overbearing. The general impact on the area of the cheap looking design and increase in traffic will also be very high.”