Category Archives: Blog

Leadercide – not so easy

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So – another coup bites the dust.

Hoon and Hewitt have egg, no – a whole omelette on their faces. So what happened? I assume that H & H had reason to believe that the six cabinet members named on the news last night had indicated that they would jump if the water looked inviting. Clearly – within an hour of their letter/text to colleagues  – the water was icy and none of them jumped. And not jumping – the lukewarm messages of support for Brown dribbled out in an untimely and limp-wristed way.

So – Brown is damaged. Labour is damaged. H &H are damaged. Well done team Labour!

But, leadercide is not easy. I first arrived in Parliament in May 2005, to a strange atmosphere in our Parliamentary Party. I didn’t really know why, as this was clearly my first experience of a Parliamentary Party, and for all I knew that might have been normal – but it felt bad.

 Of course, now, we all know from what happened that Charles Kennedy was in trouble because of his then drinking problem and there was a need for drastic action which did take place and did result in his resignation. Of course, the difference is huge in that Charles was a great leader, much loved by the Party and the country and the problem was a very human problem. Perhaps this was even more difficult – as it wasn’t his talent or ability that was the issue – and colleagues were rightly very reluctant to hurt him. However, in a situation which in a way was more difficult, actually Ed and everyone recognised that if we were to act we had to act swiftly and all together or not at all.

However, it was my induction into how important it is to know clearly in your own mind what you believe must happen and then act upon it when and if the moment arrives. I remember getting a call from Ed Davey saying that a letter was going to Charles which basically said if he didn’t resign the signatories would all resign their positions – did I want to be a signatory. I was spokesperson for Crime and Policing at the time but not a member then of our Shadow Cabinet.

I remember saying I would have a think and phone him back. I put the phone down – but within a few minutes picked it up again and called Ed back – knowing in my own mind that Charles had to go for the sake of the Party and therefore I would and should be a signatory. As I walked from my kitchen into the my lounge the moving Sky headline on the bottom of the screen said something like ‘and one of the first signatories is Lynne Featherstone’. It terrified the life out of me. I had no concept of the public aspect of the decisions you take – as a new MP.

Anyway – the point of telling this story – is to demonstrate the importance of making a decision in your own mind – so that when the moment comes those who needed to act did so. What seems to have failed so monumentally in the Hoon/Hewitt fiasco is that they were weak in their actions, that none of the cabinet were prepared to actually show leadership and put their heads above the parapet and the timing and the moment was wrong. It’s a real – he who hesitates is lost – scenario.

With no leadership, no defined successor, no specific action to be taken – even the mild and misguided aspiration that this would settle the matter once and for all – was lost.

Leadercide needs real guts ,and right timing. H & H and the cabinet apparently had neither.

Et tu Brute?

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Just watched the lunchtime news. I don’t know if Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt know something we don’t know – but on the surface this leadership secret ballot is madness. Cameron makes a dog’s dinner of launching the Tory election campaign and Brown’s erstwhile allies rush to help them out of their self-created mess. Can you imagine what Gordon is saying privately at this moment?

Haringey's answer to my plea

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As previously blogged – emailed Haringey CEO to ask for grit for pavements on priority roads and supply of pile of grit to each side road so we can help ourselves. This is the response I just received:

Dear Ms Featherstone and Councillor Gorrie

Thank you for your email and I share your concern about the welfare of residents in the borough, and I hope you will appreciate that our staff are working extremely hard to keep the borough moving. I know you will also recognise that the cold weather has been prolonged and shows no sign of abating, so we are planning carefully to achieve optimum effect of existing and future stocks.

The council’s contractor Enterprise are working to an agreed set of priorities, that we review continually as we receive weather warnings. This does include publicly accessible grit bins across the borough where the need is greatest – for example in areas with steep slopes where footing is likely to be particularly treacherous.

Yours sincerely
Dr Ita O’Donovan
Chief Executive

So – that’s a no then!

Also – note the ‘agreed priorities’ but clearly from the 26 Priority 1 roads ungritted last time and the 63 ungritted Priority 2 roads – even the ‘agreed priorities’ are not being delivered. As I am sending Ms Donovan the named list of these roads – I look forward to seeing what action she and the Council will be taking.

And – reading between the lines – is she saying they haven’t got enough salt or grit?

Has Haringey gritted your road?

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Well – it’s time to see if the deluge of complaints after Haringey Council’s (non-)gritting during the last snow have made an impact on London’s worst council!

In the snow before Christmas I emailed (in my Christmas message to my email list – if you would like to be on it let me know) for people to let me know the status of their road – and the result was that people reported (with road name, time and date) 26 Priority 1 roads ungritted; 63 Priority 2 roads ungritted and 50 non-priority roads remained untouched. I am sending the CEO this information.

Yesterday (with snow expected) I emailed Haringey’s Chief Exec to ask that the Council grit the pavements for Priority 1 and 2 roads as well as the roadway – and to beg that a pile of grit or salt be delivered to all the side roads as soon as is possible – as Haringey don’t appear to clear them even when the cold snap is an extended one.

I know that it is a tough job to get everywhere on the first day – but this looks like it is set to last – and if you are in a side road, however clear the main roads are kept, you may not be able to get to one.

So – once again as the snow falls thick and fast – I could trust what Haringey Council tells me … or I could use you to help be my eyes and ears. Please comment below with road name, the ice/snow situation on the road and what if any gritting and clearing it has had. You can also let me know via Twitter (please include @lfeatherstone so I’ll get all the messages appear in my replies list). Photos would be really helpful too – either via Twitter or put a link in your comment. Thanks!

Oyster Pay As You Go finally comes to Alexandra Palace Station

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Finally, after a long campaign to get Oyster Pay As You Go (PAYG) to work from tube to overground trains – we have lift off. To test the reality of Oyster being extended on Haringey’s train services, I went to Alexandra Palace Station to have a go (before the snow!). It worked – I tapped in and I tapped out! Here’s the clip:

(Also on YouTube here.)

So that’s the very good news at long last. However, the bad news is that if you have a Travelcard with limited zones and you want to go beyond them, you will need another electronic card – an Oyster Extension Permit.

This is unnecessarily complicated and First Capital Connect should have been able to come up with another solution. But given it is the system – and whilst I don’t wish to be overtly rude – First Capital Connect must be mad. You have to purchase an Oyster Extension Permit, but they are not going to be sold from ticket offices at overland stations!

Yes, that’s right – if you want this sort of ticket to use the trains, the train company won’t sell it to you.

Instead you will have to buy them at tube stations or at corner shops which carry the Oyster sign. It’s as if First Capital Connect doesn’t actually want people to get hold of the card!

Anyway it’s a New Year, and this is basically a good news story, so I will temporarily stop railing at First Capital Connect and end on that bad pun.

So it begins………..

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Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It’s off to an election we go – and can’t you just tell from the first salvos from Labour against Cameron and Tories against Brown that it’s going to be an edifying few months.

No doubt we LibDems will be above such things – judging from Nick’s pronouncement this morning (continuing a theme from Conference) that we are different to the other two parties. We are. We definitely are. So – let’s hope we remain different. The last thing this country needs is the same bankrupt politics that has held sway for so long. New hope with each new Government – only to find out within a few years that they fall from grace and were just the same in the end as the one before.

Would we be as good as I believe we would be in Government?

LBC with Kevin Maguire

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Well – I had thought I was going to be on a panel – but found it was just me for the whole hour – which was great but a surprise. My fault for not making sure. Anyway – it was more of a paper review and less about the political issues of the year ahead or my predictions for 2010.

I chose an Andrew Gilligan article from the Sunday Telegraph where he has written a good piece on the business rate tax bombshell that will strike in April. I don’t know about your high street and local shops – but mine in Hornsey & Wood Green are fighting to stay afloat as it is. The doubling, for effectively for many shops this is what will happen, of their business rate is unfair and terrible timing.

I was in my local Highgate Butcher the other day and chatting to them – and Phyllis was telling me that they will face a hike of an extra £23,000 per year for the next five years. How on earth are businesses to magic an extra £500 per week of takings in this economic climate? And our shops are the heart of our local communities. This is just madness. Much better to ensure that businesses survive rather than spend money on benefits for all those who lose their jobs because shops or small businesses can’t pay these enormous hikes.

There was also Haringey’s record on employing illegal immigrants (according to the Mail on Sunday) the worst council at this. The point of the article was mainly that whereas private sector employers have been clamped down on and are prosecuted or fined if they hire illegal immigrants – state authorities are not being treated the same way – so double standards.

I also raised the issue of airport security – because I don’t know about you – but reading this morning’s papers I came to the conclusion that the authorities don’t really know what to do or what will be effective. The idea of banning people from going to the lavatory an hour before landing begets the question is it better to be blown up in mid-air – which would seem the logical alternative for a terrorist – or have I missed something. There were articles about the proposed new body scanners not being able to detect the sort of stuff that the Somalian bomber used. There was the Express managing to get on board with a similar syringe – undetected – and the usual calls for profiling. I think profiling may lead to a false sense of security as if only those that the authorities think are the ‘types’ to be potential terrorists are stopped – if I was a terrorist I would make sure whoever is carrying the bomb didn’t fit the stereotype. All in all – the knee jerk response was uninspiring.

One thing I didn’t get time for was one of the papers this morning it says something like ‘in an attempt to reposition his Party Cameron is going to target more NHS spending on areas of deprivation.’ That’s the truth – it’s about an attempt to be seen as not as anti public services it’s not about improving the health service – it’s about image. Leopard and spots are the words that spring to mind.

Would you leave this country?

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Firstly, obviously, Happy New Year to everyone.

I went to my hairdresser to have a hair cut (too short – hate it) and we were having a conversation about the new tax rate. Or rather, he was telling me of a client who is moving to Switzerland because of the 50% tax rate and the change to bankers’ bonuses etc. He said other clients were thinking of leaving the country (this is a little hairdressers in Finchley Central by the way – not a swish West End jobby)  because of this stuff.

I said (and please remember this is a hairdresser/client conversation and not a political debate) that going to live in Switzerland was a high price to pay to save a bit of tax (sorry Switzerland) as it was boring, made clocks and had nice mountains – but living in London – the most exciting, brilliant city in the world – had to be worth a slightly higher rate of tax particularly as it the new rate doesn’t kick in until you are already earning £150,000.

I then put the case that there comes a point in terms of earnings where the amount earned is enough for a really decent and even luxurious life – and that thereafter it is not such a terrible thing to pay 50% tax. (It was, after all, LibDem policy until we moved to a more progressive form of a tax switch – from income to pollution and taking low and middle income earners out of paying any tax up to the first £10,000 of earnings). Of course, business and profit are to be lauded and encouraged – that is how business works – and I come from a family who all had small businesses and know how tough it is to make a profit.

And we, my hairdresser and I, agree that it is great to want a decent life and be able to afford what you want – but that that there is a need for the common good and the narrowing of the ever-widening gap between rich and poor. We collectively shake our heads sagely in comfortable agreement about the greed that drives people to move their estates off-shore, to become non doms to avoid tax – and all such devious moves to deny the Treasury its tax take.

OK – so I read this morning in the Guardian that Angela Knight, Chief Executive of the British Bankers’ Association has issued a ‘stinging attack’ on the 50% supertax and bankers’ bonuses.  Well – that’s her job – so no surprise there.

But the point is that, even if there had been no economic crisis and no credit crunch – it seems to me to earn £36.8 million before bonus as the top earning Director of a FTSE 100 company did either last year or the year before – is obscenely more than you need to lead a decent or even an uber-luxurious life-style and a bit of extra tax is not only fair but also will make that Director feel better about his humongous earnings – having paid his dues.

Or am I wrong?