Monthly Archives: Apr 2008

Haringey's Liberal Democrat Leader to step down

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Haringey’s Liberal Democrat council group leader, Neil Williams, has announced he is stepping down as leader. Cllr Williams, who has led the Liberal Democrats for the past four-and-a-half years, is to complete his term of office at his party’s Annual General Meeting in May, where a new leader will be elected.

Cllr Williams wants to give a new leader plenty of time to prepare for the next local elections in 2010, where the Liberal Democrats need just a handful of votes, and three more councillors, to take control of Haringey Council, ending four decades of continuous Labour rule.

Neil Williams was first elected to Haringey Council in Highgate in May 2002, where a big swing wiped the small Tory opposition off the political map in Haringey.He took on the leadership of the Lib Dems 18 months later, in January 2004, leading a group of 15 Liberal Democrat councillors. Since then, the party has gone from strength to strength. The Liberal Democrats have won four landslide local by-elections, taken seat after seat from Labour in the council elections in 2006 and seen the election of Lynne Featherstone as the Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey and Wood Green.

Commenting on his time as Haringey’s Liberal Democrat Leader, Cllr Neil Williams says:

“I’ve really enjoyed leading the council group for nearly five years now, and it’s been a great pleasure to play a part in so many successful campaigns. There have been tremendous highlights. I’ll always remember waiting at the bus stop with Lynne Featherstone on the first day of the 603 bus running through Highgate. After so many years of campaigning, it was a great moment and we were both choked. More recently, the campaign to save Jacksons Lane, and the huge response from Highgate residents, was a real highlight.

“I’ve really enjoyed the election successes too, with so many new friends made, new party members, and council seats gained from Labour, but especially the moment when I phoned Lynne Featherstone to tell her that she had been elected as MP for Hornsey and Wood Green in 2005. These are the moments you don’t forget.

“However, we need a leader to take us through to at least 2014. Ten years in the role I feel would be too long for me, so it’s definitely time for a change. The Liberal Democrat Council group in Haringey has so many great people coming through. It’s a fantastic group that is just raring to go when it comes to taking control of the Council. I’m really looking forward to the new team in place, but most of all I will have more time to spend on the most enjoyable part of the job, which is working with my two ward colleagues Rachel Allison and Bob Hare as a ward councillor for Highgate.”

Lynne Featherstone MP adds:

“Neil has been a brilliant Leader of our council group. It’s not just that he is talented in the chamber – which he is. It’s not just that he has guided our Liberal Democrat group from 15 to 26 members ready to take Haringey Council next time – which he has. It’s not just that he has a sharp political brain – which he does. It’s that he has been a friend and trooper for over ten years and co-author of the rise of the Liberal Democrats in Haringey. I’ve no doubt that whatever role he takes on next Neil will be brilliant again.”

Olympics and politics

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I can’t help but observe the contrast between how Britain and China deals with protestors. In Britain – the police’s response to protests during the passage of the Olympic Torch through London was to pop the torch on a bus for a bit. How very English! And then in China we have the dark side of the contrast – the violence, gunshots and even deaths that are the frequent response to protests.

Standing in Bloomsbury Square last Sunday chanting ‘China Out’ in reply to a young Tibetan shouting out through a megaphone ‘Free Tibet’ reminded me not only of the issue in question but also of the feeling you get when you go out onto the streets to claim your democratic right to peaceful protest. It is active. And it makes you feel that you are not taking it lying down; not abjectly rolling over, tut-tutting at the pictures on the news whilst saying there is nothing I can do.

Indeed, in a world of global, near-instant media, protests in one part of the world can garner coverage all over the globe – including, directly or indirectly, in China itself. (I know how well the internet reaches all sorts in China from when I was on the London Assembly – and got a three page marriage proposal from a fisherman in a remote part of China!)

As you may have guessed – I don’t buy the argument that Olympics = sports = you mustn’t say anything about anything other than sport. The Chinese Government has been repeatedly and politicising the Olympics for its own ends – so simply mouthing that formula means conceding it is ok to politicise the Olympics to promote thuggish authoritarianism but not ok to speak out against such behaviour. Where is the morality in that approach of self-censorship and unnecessary deference?

It’s a question of morality that, I hope, our Prime Minister will consider more carefully as the Olympics approach. So far, Gordon Brown seems too timid to show any real displeasure at China’s repeated abuse of basic human rights. Numerous other government heads have spoken and acted – but not our own. What is the point of having the privilege of holding a post such as Prime Minister if you’re not willing to use it to speak out when needed? Will Gordon Brown continue to jump through every hoop the Chinese present to him, or will he find the moral voice to speak up for the rest of us?

I am luckier than most people in that as an MP I can raise issues in a way most people cannot, including in Parliament where I have also criticised China for failing to fully use her influence with the Khartoum government to stop the genocide in Darfur. But there is nothing like physically making a public statement the way you can in a protest.

It was inevitable the second China was awarded the Olympics that there was going to be a need to use the opportunity both to engage with China – and also to clearly state the sort of behaviour we find acceptable – and that certainly does not include what we have seen directly in Tiananmen Square, what we are seeing in Tibet or what we are seeing via China’s failure to act in Darfur.

On Sunday we saw people in London coming out to show China our disapproval of her behaviour. Who would rather it any other way? Would the silence and compliance of Gordon Brown’s meek appearance in Downing Street really have been preferable?

But events do not stop with last weekend, nor with the Olympics this summer. I am part of a group of British MPs who take part in a forum to build and strengthen Chinese/Anglo relationships. The Chinese Ambassador to Great Britain, who is a delightful and disarming and extremely personable woman, said at one of these sessions that we in the West have a responsibility to help China understand what being a responsible world power means. That is a challenge and offer I am happy to take up.

It has to be carrot and stick. The Olympics are a significant carrot. Our protest – a small but necessary stick. I have no doubt that in the long term all our interests will be best served by engagement and the formation of sustainable bonds – set alongside clear and unequivocal speaking out on human rights abuses and similar issues.

Photo credit: Flickr user http2007

(c) Lynne Featherstone, 2008

Wood Green Animal Shelter – and a very cute kitten

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Lynne Featherstone with kittenWent to the opening of the revamped Wood Green Animal Shelter in Lordship Lane today. Having visited a little while back – before the renovations – it was just fantastic today to see how vastly improved the new facilities are – no comparison.

Before it was miraculous that the very committed staff could even work in the cramped conditions. The building hadn’t been touched since the early seventies.

Now – there is a beautiful reception area, consulting room, proper operating and prep rooms, X-ray room, hospital cages for the sick animals and outside in addition to the existing out buildings for cats a new homing facility. It was a joy to see.

It’s just a wonderful thing for us to have in Wood Green so that people who love their pets can take them to a vet when they are sick without the worry of the disgusting amounts that private vets now charge. Here it is really a donation / nominal fee.

The service Wood Green Animal Shelter provides has always been exemplary and fantastic – mostly due to the dedication and commitment of the staff and the organisation. Now they finally have the facilities to match the service.

A special treat for me was getting to hold a kitten that one of the cats for rehoming had given birth to. There were four just beautiful little kittens and I held the greyish tabby – and desperately wanted to take him home with me. There’s nothing to match a kitten for pure adorability!

The morning after the night before: the moment when it looked like Paxman might punch Johnson

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So – Newsnight’s Jeremy Paxman grilled the three main candidates for Mayor last night. Personally – I thought Jeremy won hands down. Boris was appalling – and Paxman nailed him on his waffle approach by asking him for a figure for something he was proposing re-replacing bendy buses. Boris was baffled. Boris was bamboozled. But Boris didn’t answer the question. Boris was exposed as not knowing a thing really about bus costs.

At one point I nearly thought Jeremy Paxman was going to punch him – as he strode menacingly towards Boris repeating his question as Boris refused to answer!

Ken was somewhat downbeat – but competent. And Brian, despite a slightly nervous start in his statement, went on to make good substantive points about how to really tackle gun and knife crime – not just talk about it like Boris or say you can’t do anything about it like Ken.

Brian attacked Boris over his lack of experience of delivery and management. When asked about second preference votes – Ken said without hesitation that he would prefer Brian to Boris – but Brian said basically a plague on both their houses and that they were both bad in different ways. So true Brian – so true!

UPDATE: Here’s the Paxman/Johnson face-off from YouTube:

Featured on Liberal Democrat Voice

Liberal Democrats call for suspension of health plans to allow residents to give views

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Haringey Lib Dems have called on Haringey NHS bosses to come clean on their plans for relocating GPs – and let local people have a real say.

Liberal Democrats on Haringey Council’s Scrutiny Committee argued on Monday night that the Primary Care Trust’s strategy was too vague on plans for when GPs move into new polyclinics.

The proposals, which include the provision of minor surgery and emergency facilities at polyclinics, were debated at a meeting of the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) on Monday evening. Liberal Democrat Councillor David Winskill said the proposals were ‘vague and uncertain’, particularly plans to radically change GP coverage in the borough.

Liberal Democrats have asked Haringey Primary Care Trust (PCT) to suspend the timetable of the adoption of their ten year strategy and come back with more detailed plans to allow for further public consultation.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Martin Newton comments:

“We have no real idea what the criteria will be to decide which surgeries will remain and which will be relocated – never mind what the actual changes will be.”

Liberal Democrat Councillor David Winskill adds:

“The report is basically a work in progress. Both political parties agree that, like the Post Office, the GP network is too precious to be tampered with without informed input from residents. I have suggested that the Council should hold a health scrutiny review to give residents a choice.”

Liberal Democrat Adult Social Services Spokesperson Cllr Richard Wilson adds:

“Haringey Liberal Democrats will continue to press for the PCT to respond to and take account of residents’ worries about access and continuity of care that GPs provide.”

Brian Paddick's new website: take a look

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Good to see that Brian Paddick’s new website is up and running – and worth waiting for.

Having had a look at Ken and Boris’s sites – Brian is now definitely winning the website battle! It’s direct, well-designed, colourful and easy to use.

Looking at Ken’s very dull, very drab effort, strikes me he feels that he has so much publicity through the state publicity machine that he doesn’t feel the need to put anything into his website. Lord knows he has plastered his face on enough things during his term of office – albeit with ‘Mayor of London’ as opposed to ‘Ken’ as the wording – to make sure his beautiful mug is burned into our brains at every turn. As for Boris – well his website at least shows willing – in that you can see effort has been made and thought has been given – but it’s not very interesting with a format that is too intense in terms of content on the home page etc.

Anger at further Haringey Council incompetence over parking plans

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Plans to help beleaguered residents in Crouch End beset by parking displacement chaos since last summer faces yet more delays.

The new setback follows Haringey Council’s failure to send the promised draft consultation documents to local residents’ representatives via email which resulted in only five responses arriving before the initial deadline.

After investigations by local Liberal Democrat councillor, Lyn Weber it was discovered that some of the residents’ representatives groups had not received correspondence from Haringey Council asking for their views. It has emerged that Haringey Council department had handed over the names without complete contact details. The deadline for groups to respond has now been extended until this Friday.

Cllr Lyn Weber (Crouch End) comments:

“Haringey Council has an unfortunate and uncanny knack of destroying any confidence built up surrounding this project.The time is ticking away and whilst it was agreed to extend the submission deadline to this Friday it still leaves a sour taste.One hopes that the future is brighter and more positive.I am sure Cllr Haley will be disappointed and I have asked that he resolve this communication issue today to enable residents to respond by the new deadline of Friday.”

Thames Water urged to plug dangerous Stroud Green leak

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Action from Thames Water over an ‘abandoned’ water leak on Upper Tollington Park, Stroud Green (N4) has been demanded by local Lib Dem councillor, Ed Butcher. There have been reports the leak has been running for several weeks causing disruption to traffic and excess water flowing over into neighbouring streets.

Councillor Ed Butcher has been in urgent contact with Thames Water head office demanding action to repair the leak.

Commenting, Councillor Ed Butcher says:

“It difficult to see why anyone should take any future pleas to save water seriously when thousands of litres of water have been wasted here.

“I was chatting to one resident who told me it has been like this for weeks – this is completely unacceptable.Thames Water should be treating it as an emergency, not as a ‘whenever we get round to it’ repair. “

Councillor Richard Wilson, Liberal Democrat ward colleague, adds:

“Traffic has to circumnavigate this whopping great hole and it is on the corner of a busy junction.It is causing unnecessary danger to drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.This should be treated as a priority.”

Devastating impact of Post Office closures

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The proposed closure of local Post Offices will have a devastating impact on people’s lives, particularly on small businesses and home workers. That was the verdict of local Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone as she handed in her official response to the Post Office consultation that ended on Wednesday, April 2nd.

Ms Featherstone handed in her detailed response calling for all the Post Offices to be kept open along with more than 2000 letters, petitions and emails she has received from constituents supporting her stance. *

Her response also included the emails she had received supporting the government’s plans for closure – there were just 4 of them!

Ms Featherstone comments:

“The scale of the response and the detail of people’s comments show just how much these Post Offices will be missed if they close. The Government must listen to what is so clearly the will of the community to keep these Post Offices open.

“Closing these Post Offices is madness. Many form the beating heart of local shopping areas – if they go then other shops on these parades will become more marginal and less able to survive in a retail environment where they are more and more under fire from the big out of town supermarkets. We risk empty shop units which in turn lead to vandalism and crime.”

* Whilst over 2000 responses of various sorts were received, it is possible that some of these may be duplicates where the same person has responded through several different media.