Where have all the sparrows gone?

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Here’s my latest column for the Highgate Handbook and Muswell Hill Flyer:

A tiger stared out at me from the pages of a Sunday newspaper recently. ‘What will you do after I have gone?’ was the line printed over the appeal to adopt a tiger. Malu Lothi is the name of ‘my’ tiger. I couldn’t bare the idea that these beautiful, beautiful animals might die out and any grandchildren of mine would never have the opportunity to see such magnificent creatures.

However, we have a looming disaster right here on our own doorsteps – because our bird population is dwindling rapidly due to the loss of habitat. Remembering the old adage – charity begins at home –I therefore put up a bird box in my garden to kick-start National Nest Box Week recently.

Haringey’s birds need homes if we are to stop the rapid decline in their numbers. I put up the box to try and inspire others to do same. And at a local meeting last week I met a local residents (taking it even further) who is making a bird box to put in his Highgate garden. Hurrah! But one isn’t enough!

Haringey’s birdlife has dropped drastically in diversity and numbers over the past thirty years and we need lots and lots of local people to put up bird boxes in their gardens too. It’s quick, easy – and helping birds in your own garden isn’t just about the greater good, as it also makes your own garden nicer too. No hair shirts required for this good deed!

The house sparrow was once one of Haringey’s most common garden birds, but according to the results of last year’s RSPB Great Garden Bird Watch survey sighting of it have dropped by 80% reduction in the last 30 years.

I am going to be following the latest developments in Haringey’s bird count and will be announcing the local results of the RSPB survey later this month. Meanwhile, anyone wanting to find out more about how to fit a bird box should visit the National Nest Box Week website.

Loss of habitat and lack of food is really the reason why we see fewer birds in our gardens. So putting up a nest box in your garden is really the best and easiest way to help Haringey’s feathered friends.

If I can – you can!

Politicians and Twitter: why The Times is wrong

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So – Rachel Sylvester in The Times has taken a dislike to politicians who use Twitter.

What particularly gets my goat is the comment from “psychologist Oliver James” who claims: “Nobody would Twitter if they had a strong sense of identity.” Well – I don’t think you’ve ever met me Mr James – and I’m sure they are millions of other Twitter users who you’ve not yet either. And no-one would have time to read the tweets from everyone who uses Twitter. So you’re diagnosing millions of people who you’ve never met – and whose words you’ve never read. Not impressed!

Not surprisingly, I also take issue with her claims about how politicians have reacted to the economic crisis – “The opposition parties are quick to criticise Labour’s decisions but find it hard to say what they would do instead.” Can I introduce you to Vince Cable perhaps?

But what’s really wrong with the piece is the idea that politicians shouldn’t move with the time. I don’t send telegrams. My campaign team has no carrier pigeons. I hardly ever use a classical reference in my speeches. And that’s because I’m not a Victorian politician. Times change. The public changes. Today – 2009 – many of my constituents and other people are on Twitter – and so it makes sense for me to be too. If that’s how they choose to get information, it’s not a lack of identity that makes me honour those choices – it’s respect for the public.

Of course you can’t squeeze everything into 140 characters – but then I’ve not stopped doing other, wordier things (such as this blog, leaflets, speeches etc etc). And as for the parting line in The Times about the need to have politicians with moral fervour – I agree.

By the way – I’ve not counted, but I’m pretty sure you could fit each of the 10 commandments into a 140 character tweet (or the equivalents from other religions). Brief messages doesn’t mean you can’t have beliefs or passion!

Technology Advisory Board news: Howard Dean done, meetup to come

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It was really good to see lots of people come to hear Howard Dean on Saturday at the special event for coding volunteers at our Harrogate conference this weekend. Lots of words of wisdom from him – and lots of enthusiasm to do even more and better things from everyone!

For those who volunteered to help fill the gap in some of our coding and technical resources by filling in my survey a few weeks ago – the next event is a meetup in London later this month. If you filled in the survey, you (should!) have got an invite by email last week to this.

Although we’re having this first meeting to kick things off in London, I’m keen that we involve people right across the country – whether that’s with regional groupings, meetings round the country, online discussions or whatever. As we’re a grassroots party – in part that’s up to you to decide!

As for the rest of the board’s work – keep your eyes peeled for more news!

Local MP sets up urgent meeting with mental health trust following damning report

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After the release of a damning independent investigation into failings in the care of a paranoid schizophrenic who killed one and seriously injured five others in 2004, local MP Lynne Featherstone has set up an urgent meeting with mental health trust bosses to discuss how failings will be addressed.

The report by NHS London into the care provided to Ismail Dogan, who on the 23rd December 2004 stabbed five people, one of them fatally, shows gross failings – both in community mental health care and an inability on the part of the Trust to make sure lessons were learnt.

The report shows that an initial internal investigation was not circulated to staff and middle managers across the Barnet, Enfield & Haringey Mental Health Trust, or Haringey PCT, in order to learn from the incident and avoid it happening again. The report also shows that Mr Dogan’s Psychiatric Nurse amended his notes after the incident to make out his care to be more comprehensive than it actually was. The community mental health team, who managed Mr Dogan’s care in the community, was also shown to have failed in providing ongoing care, which was a direct contributor to the 2004 incident.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“This report has shown very serious failings in our local mental health services. It has shown both a failure to communicate effectively, to spot deterioration in a patient’s health and a failure to act decisively when the patient could have been helped. This culminated in a horrific event with the death of a local resident.

“One of the most worrying issues is the fact that the internal review was not circulated as widely as it should have been. The Trust now needs to demonstrate that it’s prepared to learn the hard lessons, to avoid tragedies like this happening in the future.

“Another equally worrying issue uncovered by the report is that the Trust’s community team was not up to scratch in 2004. With the ongoing consultation to close an acute mental health ward at St Ann’s Hospital and hand over more responsibility to the community teams- we need assurances that today’s community mental health services have improved drastically since 2004.”

How the authorities left someone at the mercy of a highly dangerous man who had already beaten and threatened to kill her on several occasions

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A woman called Sabina Akhtar came from Bangladesh to this country in 2003. She and her husband had an arranged marriage in Bangladesh and Sabina joined her husband in the UK two years later, when she was pregnant with their son, who is now three. On Friday, her husband was sentenced to 17 years in jail for killing her.

He had attacked her 25 times and made repeated threats to kill her. In July he told his wife, Sabina, to prepare for death by reading passages from the Qur’an before warning: “I am going to get a knife and when I return I am going to slaughter you”. A few days later, he stabbed her through the heart.

The inept dealing of this case by the CPS and police – who failed to treat the complaint seriously saying that she was too confused and there were language difficulties – probably resulted in the death of this young woman. The CPS has apologised to the family but the Independent Police Complaints Commission has dropped its investigation of the police handling of this case.

The organisation Refuge is calling on the government to conduct a homicide review. They also believe that the authorities should be sued under the Human Right’s legislation and any damages that might be paid should be used to support Sabina’s 3 year old son. In addition, Refuge hope that such a case would put pressure on the government and the legal system to respond appropriately in future.

Sandra Horley, Refuge’s CEO, said, “In my 30 years of running Refuge, this is one of the most shocking cases I have ever come across. To say we are outraged is an understatement. Sabina Akhtar came to the Police desperate for help and fearing for her life. She was living with an extremely violent and dangerous man and it took incredible courage for her even to come forward. She was isolated, with no friends and family to turn to and the legal system let her down. Domestic killings are predictable and preventable and victims of domestic violence are more likely than any other victims of crime to experience repeat attacks. Years of evidence and research show that abused women are most at risk at the point of separation. The police and CPS should have known this and recognised that Sabina was in incredible danger. They had a duty to protect her and should have acted quickly and decisively to ensure her safety. To not treat her complaint seriously on the grounds that she was too confused and had language difficulties is simply not good enough. Sabina has lost her life and her son has lost his mother – let’s hope that Sabina does not just become another statistic and that the public will stand up and make sure she hasn’t died in vain. We all need to speak out for the dead to protect the living”.

I totally agree!

Come on Barclays!

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One of my constituents, Ralph Crisp, was done by the Barclay’s Bank ATM in Crouch End Broadway the week before last. It’s been all over the local papers but I want to post it here to shame Barclays for their performance in all of this.

It was the sort of scam we are warned about. Some villain has inserted something into the slot where you put your card so that when you put your card in it doesn’t come out. You go home and ring the bank when it opens – but the villains have meanwhile got your card and noted your PIN. Your money begins to be spent in places you have never been.

You phone the bank to say that the machine swallowed your card but at first you don’t suggest canceling card – just ask to have it back. So you go to the bank as it opens next morning. The machine hasn’t swallowed the card and within 15 minutes of insisting on seeing the manager the CCTV has demonstrated the scam.

Astonishingly, you are told that there have been 10 victims of the same scam in the last ten days!

Now when Ralph told me this – my hackles rose. If this had been going on for 10 days – where was the special notice warning customers? What on earth could be the reason for not widely publicising the fact that this ATM was under attack? Where was the duty of care to Barclay’s customers in all of this? Yes – I am writing to Barclays and the police – for what were they thinking? Were they scared of bad publicity? If you’ve got a pattern of crime, why not warn people?

The police say they had four of the then eleven cases reported directly to them. For the bank’s part – as far as I can gather – it is simply a matter for their fraud department and not referred onto the police. Can that really be the case? At what point should such a scam become a police matter? How do the police work with the Bank’s fraud department? Who monitors what is happening and how rigorous and successful the fraud department of banks are?

Yes – the Bank may ultimately cover the cost of what is gone from the account – but that doesn’t make up for the worry and hassle in the interim. It is in the public interest that criminals are caught and in the individual customer’s interests that the bank puts up a public warning at the first realisation of a scam.

So come on Barclays – you’ve got a lot of questions to answer!

Harrogate party conference

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Didn’t really blog from Lib Dem conference over the weekend – reckoning that the world wouldn’t end – I just carried out my duties and enjoyed the debates. I did tweet! But not a lot.

Ironic really – that one of the highlights was Howard Dean’s speech to Conference – and even more – his private session with me and my burgeoning army of coders et al – who will develop (I hope) into a problem busting, tool improving, development force for the Lib Dems.

What was so interesting about Howard Dean’s description of the birth of real political net campaigning, was that the key message was that it was a communication tool to form relationships and that the net was about communities AND that none of it was a substitute for going out door knocking! That said – net political campaigning is key to any modern campaign!

The substance of the debates this conference was children and families – particularly education. Brand new and visionary is our policy of giving parents the choice of parental leave between them up to 19 months – followed by filling in the black hole of child care by extending the right to free early years education to 20 hours a week from the age of 18 months – if the parents want it. Particularly for disadvantaged children – this will give them far better life chances – as according to current thinking it is basically all over by the time you are six! Well – what I mean is that studies show that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are already a year behind by the age of three. Such children are exposed typically to about 400 words a day – whereas their better off contemporaries are exposed to 3-4,000 words per day. You can see my point!

When your child then gets to school – they will find all class sizes halved – bringing that infant school education into line with the sort of numbers in private schools. That ratio is critical to what comes next.

And next – as a child progresses into secondary education – Liberal Democrats propose a ‘pupil premium’ which is basically a sum of money that goes with the child so that schools have the resources to deal with challenges and therefore don’t suffer when they have an inclusive policy.

Going on into further education – Liberal Democrats continue their commitment to scrap tuition fees. Hurrah! And this is now extended to part-time courses as well. Basically – everyone will have five years of post-16 education free – and they can choose where and when they take it up. Flexible and suited to the person -not regimented and forced down your throat by central command!

And of course – there was Nick Clegg’s speech. The content was brilliant – but I will let you read the speech for yourselves. It was strong, radical – and basically the proposition was if you vote Labour or Tory you will get the same old same old that led us to this current destruction. Liberal Democrats are genuinely different. So – if you believe we need change (and personally I can’t see how anyone can think that changing to a Tory Government or keeping the defunct Labour one will deliver anything decent or different or new) then bring in the Liberal Democrats.

Demands for safety measures on dangerous road

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A road in Noel Park which has been the scene of 14 accidents in the past two years has been branded “a death trap” by a local Liberal Democrat councillor. Westbury Avenue, which runs from Turnpike Lane to Lordship Lane, has been plagued by serious incidents including an accident in October 2007 when a one-year-old boy was hit by a bus.

Liberal Democrat councillor Fiyaz Mughal has demanded that Haringey Council investigates the introduction of a 20mph limit to protect residents and pedestrians using the stretch of road.

Cllr Fiyaz Mughal, Noel Park, comments:

“The evidence speaks for itself – this is a dangerous stretch of road and a potential death trap. I know of at least one fatal accident and it is only a matter of time until another road user or pedestrian gets seriously injured.

“I have asked that Haringey Council investigates the introduction of a 20mph limit in this area in hope that this may prevent similar accidents in the future.”

Lynne Featherstone MP, adds:

“The number of accidents on this small stretch of road is alarming. Residents need to know that they will be safe walking down the road. Haringey Council needs to seriously consider further measures to make people safer.”

Haringey drops to be a one star council

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As I twittered yesterday, the latest outside review of Haringey Council has seen its overall rating drop to one star:

The Audit Commission has dramatically reduced the council’s star rating, the system by which council performance is judged.

The rating has been slashed from an “improving well” three stars last year, to a “not improving adequately” one star this year.

The report noted: “The council’s failure in its key priority to safeguard children has been publicly reported and it currently delivers an inadequate service for children and young people.

“There was insufficient strategic leadership and management oversight of the safeguarding of children and young people and a lack of rigorous arrangements for the management of performance.” [Haringey Independent]

Women and the recession

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Well – the debate in Parliament yesterday on support for women during the economic downturn went pretty much as you might expect. We all (cross party) made contributions highlighting the differential impact the recession will have on women (and it will) whilst being very careful to acknowledge the pain that will hit everyone.

From domestic violence, to bailiffs, child care, discrimination in not giving jobs to women in case they get pregnant and paying them off cheaply if they do, lack of women decision makers, the hit on the service sector and the lack of financial resilience of women – who have often not been able to put anything aside etc etc. Women’s vulnerability to the recession was very, very clear.

The problem is that when the opportunity arises to actually change the rules (i.e. the Equalities Bill – which Harriet Harman had said would be with us in April but in this debate said in a few months – what was that about?) the opportunity is not being taken.

Outside of the Prince of Darkness signaling to the media that anything that costs money to business should be scrapped – the Govenrment is being very faint-hearted in putting in the measures that would expose those companies that do discriminate.

One point I raised was about how keen some councils are to bring in the bailiffs – and less keen to talk about rescheduling debt:

It is heartbreaking and terrifying that the debt is transferred to the bailiffs so quickly, because they are relentless, and impose extra charges that deepen the debt. Would the hon. Lady agree that the local authority—in my case, Haringey—should be far more willing to sit down with the person in debt to reschedule it? People are willing to pay off such debt over time and should not be forced to deal with bailiffs immediately because the council does not have time for people in trouble.

You can read my speech itself (this was an intervention earlier in the debate) here.