After all the consultations, it has now announced the Weston Park, Ferme Park Road, Salisbury Road, Alexandra Park Road and Highgate Village Post Offices will all close. This is outrageous. The government promised it would listen after its drumming in the recent elections, but it is has proved itself completely deaf to the pleas from thousands of local residents and community activists. If Labour was listening, Labour would have stepped in and acted. The message from we the people was clear: we do not want these closures.
Category Archives: Blog
I think ePolitix got it wrong…
Not their best of predictions! Well – it made me smile seeing that still up there today!
Visiting the Harrington Scheme, Highgate
At the weekend, I visited the Harrington Scheme in Highgate where those with learning disabilities and other challenges are trained in skills that will not only lead to employment – but also and being able to manage their lives themselves where possible.
Gardening is their main training program and what a wonderful place this is, both physically and emotionally. It is so beautiful – with well laid out training gardens, polythene tunnels for winter work and a fantastic walled garden. The buildings house a variety of functions including classrooms, kitchens for training in how to cook etc. There is a great need for a new building for more classrooms – but no capital funding available.
What struck me most, outside of the unbelievable dedication, commitment and untiring efforts of those involved like Leila Hodge and the Friends of Harringey and Joanna – one of the key staff members – was the amount of effort and time they all had to spend on fund-raising additional to trying to make this the best of training schemes available to move young people with difficulties into work.
One issue coming down the track is the transfer of their core funding – this part making up about 60% of their total funding – which will transfer from central government to the local authority in two years time. The fear is that Haringey will not passport that money through in its entirety to Harrington – because not all the young people come from Haringey itself but from several other boroughs.
So I will investigate further what safeguards the Government is going to put in place to ensure ongoing funding – as it applies not only to Harrington but to other groups who give benefits to people and are based in one local council area but who provide places for people coming from out of borough as well.
In the old days before central funding they used to cross bill from authority to authority – but that is burdensome and complicated. I would like to see if there is a means to protect the funding to remain for its intended use and to stop authorities re-directing it for their own purposes. Otherwise – groups like this will be in even more funding difficulties.
There were lots of other issues – mostly about funding – which I will pursue on their behalf. But mostly what I want people to take from this blog entry is the wonderful work that is going on to make the lives of those who have so many more challenges than most of us so fulfilled, useful and happy. And to get recognition for all those who are so utterly dedicated and have been over so many years – to carrying on this vital work.
Congrats to all involved with Harrington. I was well impressed!
The ghost at the feast
On Friday went to the ‘thank you’ party for all those who worked on the London elections for the Liberal Democrats. Nice to see Dee Doocey and Mike Tuffrey who are two of our ongoing LibDem members on the GLA and get all the gossip about who was doing what with whom – in the sense of chairing committees and so on. All change again apparently as Liberal Democrats, Labour and Greens combine to try to make the Assembly work and really hold the Mayor to account.
However, the rules are stacked in favour of the Mayor when it comes to the budget – as it requires a two-thirds majority to reject the Mayor’s budget. The Tories have over a third of the seats – so enough to rubber stamp whatever Boris wants. Nowhere else can a budget be passed on a minority vote. Ho hum!
What was either sad or sweet – depending how you look on it – was apparently Ken Livingstone was in the gallery watching the Assembly meeting as it made its first decisions after the elections – the ghost at the feast. I can’t imagine what that felt like – to see the how going on without you – when you have been the sole proprietor for so many years. Poignant – maybe?
I’ve noticed a bit of speculation in cyberworld as to whether Ken will seek a parliamentary seat – perhaps mine or his old stomping ground in Brent. Can’t imagine why he would want to go back into the Commons – as he is reputed to have hated it. Maybe he believes he is the Prime Minister Labour never had and wants to give them another chance. No – he’s not that stupid!
What will Boris Johnson be like as Mayor of London?
No prizes for guessing what my first newspaper column after the London elections is about…
This weekend eight years ago I was elected to the London Assembly – and Ken became London’s first Mayor. It was so exciting – a blank page on which to write the capital’s future. And now it’s Boris! Unbelievable…
What will Boris Johnson do to London? I have to ‘fess up immediately – I was upset by Boris even throwing his hat in the ring – let alone winning. To me he was not someone who had ever shown the slightest interest in London and its key issues prior to this opportunity knocking on his door.
Mind you – Ken had become arrogant from his years in office and really failed to tackle the issues of the sleaze and corruption allegations swirling around his advisers. Two of them had to quit in the end – but we are still left with a whole host of questions over what money went where and why, and Ken never looked like he was really interested in sorting out matters. The cheeky chappy of yesteryear had worn out our good will and we were clearly desperate for change. But will that change be for the better?
To continue reading the piece, visit my website.
What happened to the left-wing Gordon Brown?
Perhaps one shouldn’t interfere with private grief – but I am intrigued by the post-mortems being conducted by numerous people in the Labour Party on the lines of – Gordon Brown, what went wrong? I think there are two main political strategy dilemmas facing the party.
First, keep Gordon or ditch Gordon? Can he really recover from plunging to such depths of unpopularity? Given the increasing volatility of political opinion in recent years, there should be a degree of caution over “worst ratings since the 1930s” type headlines – but there’s no doubt the situation is grim for Labour.
Second – whether with Gordon at the helm or not – should Labour move leftwards? And this is why coming across an old opinion poll recently caught my eye. Back in September 2004 (you know, in those far off days when Gordon Brown was popular, all football matches started at 3pm on a Saturday and there were only three TV channels), YouGov had a poll asking the public to rate various leading politicians on a left-right scale. Now, I’m not a huge fan of such scales – because they strip out other important dimensions, such as liberal vs authoritarian (increasingly important these days!) – but they do have a certain crude use.
And what did the YouGov poll find? Blair was viewed as slightly right of centre (+4), voters put themselves on average slightly left of centre (-2), Charles Kennedy and the Liberal Democrats a bit further left of centre (-15), Gordon Brown further left (-22) and Labour MPs overall at -25. Michael Howard and the Conservatives were way off to the right at +52
Issues like the 10p tax rate fiasco are hardly ones which have left Gordon Brown with a similar left-wing image now. So – does he try to regain that former reputation, which went along with much greater personal popularity back then, or does he doggedly try to stick to a middle ground which – under New Labour and Blair – has steadily drifted to the right? Not an easy choice to make!
Is Labour backing down over changing sexist rules?
So – at last – a question on the Order Paper in Parliament about the Single Equalities Act. I have, since becoming Equalities Spokesperson, been waiting to be able to raise the issue of how our rules about who gets to be monarch gives boys the advantage over girls.
As readers of this blog will know, have been having some success with raising and pushing this issue. The Sunday Times – who covered it on their front page a couple of weeks ago – helped up the ante as when Marie Woolf (journalist) rang Vera Baird (Solicitor General) – and the minister said of course these rules should be abolished – and threw in abolishing discrimination against Catholics too. You go girl.
It’s obviously working as lots of members from all sides of the House raised the issue (for which the technical term is the dry as dust phrase ‘male preference primogeniture’). But since the article the Government has been trying to back peddle on what Vera Baird said – and whilst the Tory front bench spokesperson seemed to be in favour of change – he tried to talk up problems – because any change has to be worked through the Commonwealth – suggesting that it was all so difficult that we might wish not to bother to pursue it.
This sidetracked me a bit. Faced with the usual Tory attitude that somehow it doesn’t matter enough to be dealt with – I momentarily forgot that it is the Government that has to really push this. Reminded of my task my Mr Speaker – I then did pursue Labour – to try and get them to commit to actually walking the walk rather than just their usual talking the talk.
I am worried that this will be kicked into the long grass of too difficult and too much bother and the opportunity presented by the Single Equality Act going through Parliament to kill off this anachronism will be missed.
But it was very heartening to see so many members from all sides in favour of this long overdue change. So we’ll see!
Catch me in the media
A busy burst of media coverage – did a pre-record with GMTV this morning for Sunday – talking about election results and also how to tackle crime amongst young people (6am on GMTV and then 7:25am on GMTV Digital). Doing LBC this evening at 6pm – so call in with your questions! On Sunday it’s The Westminster Hour on Radio 4 at 10pm – and then next Friday, Any Questions, also on Radio 4. Fun, fun, fun!
Also feature in The Times Parliamentary sketch today (in which Ann Treneman treated me with a light touch – for which I am grateful!) and allegations of sexual harassment at the British Embassy in Iraq.
Why Sky is the Liberal Democrats of TV news
I had decided to ask Gordon Brown a question at PMQs today – on listening to the people and learning (post disastrous election results last week) and suggest that if he had the guts he could prove he was listening by dropping the Post Office closure program. (Bad news for us by the way – none of our Post Offices were saved. We will have to get the info on why only a meagre seven in London were saved using FOI and then make hell let loose.)
Anyway – sadly I had to go to a funeral of an old uncle who died yesterday – so missed PMQs. On the radio coming back from the cemetery to parliament, blow me, I heard David Cameron ask exactly my point. That is scary! (For Nick’s questions, see the write-up on Lib Dem Voice.)
Raced to Sky News lunch with Adam Boulton and crew who were lunching Lib Dems to discuss how their news could extend even further into plurality and impartiality through internet and so on. Gorgeous lunch – and always interesting to hear what the other side thinks. Adam seemed to think that Sky News was the Liberal Democrats of news programs – in as much as they are always having to punch above their weight against the terrestrials of BBC and ITN.
I do think – and so did most of us MPs present – that Sky has the best rolling news and breaking news. And although I didn’t see their election coverage (as the stupid row with Virgin robbed me) I gather it was excellent. So unlike the BBC TV coverage that everyone in blogland has been blasting to high heaven for its low grade and tatty approach.
Very enjoyable – and as Julia Goldsworthy pointed out – half Sky’s top ten fanciable MPs were present. So – we ain’t got the power – but we sure got the looks!
More on those Jeremy Vine election night graphics
Well – so far it’s a big thumbs down from readers of this blog for the BBC’s TV coverage of last week’s elections. My poll is currently running at 53% saying their coverage was “very bad” and another 25% saying it was “bad”.
Of course such polls should be taken with a pinch of salt – but reading round the media and the internet, it’s hard to find anyone who has got a good word to say about the coverage. As many people have pointed out – those who are up at 3am watching TV coverage of election results are exactly the sorts of people who want details and decimal points.
My favourite write-up is this one from Heresy Corner:
Far from helping to explain anything, this skit served only to confuse matters. I think the message had something to do with Lib Dem poll numbers, but it’s hard to tell exactly what. It reminds me of one of Humph’s convoluted metaphors designed to illustrate the concept behind One Song to the Tune of Another.
“It might help to think of the Lib Dem leader as a Wild West gunslinger and the percentage share of the vote as old cans hanging from strings in an old-style saloon. Nick Clegg’s task is to use his gun – that is, his campaign team – to “hit”, that is, reach, the “tin cans”, or the target number of votes. But, I hear you ask, what do a lot of empty beer cans rattling around in a bar have to do with the Liberal Democrats? In the studio we’ve got Charles Kennedy.”
If this doesn’t lead to High Noon for everyone responsible, the BBC needs a new sheriff.
Lynne Featherstone 