In the newspapers today: Walter Tull and Post Office queues

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Two stories from the Journal:

SUPPORT is mounting for a life-size bronze statue to be built remembering a pioneering black footballer and First World War hero at the new Spurs stadium…

Early backers of the online petition include Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, and Walter Tull’s biographer Phil Vasili.

Mr Blumsom said: “I’ve always been fascinated by Walter Tull’s story. He had to overcome prejudice and racism both in his career as a footballer and as a soldier.

“I’ve suggested that this statue should be placed in a prominent position on the approach to the new stadium.” (Full story here)

And then also more on the problems of queues at our Post Offices in the run-up to Christmas:

URGENT talks will be held with Post Office bosses after MP Lynne Featherstone attacked excessively long Christmas queues after half the branches were axed.

The MP for Hornsey and Wood Green said queues outside the Crouch End post office stretched far down the pavement during the festive season despite promises from the Post Office.

She said: “It’s plain to see that the remaining post offices are finding it difficult to cope with the increased customer pressure.

“It’s not exactly rocket science that closing every second post office locally would result in larger queues at the remaining shops.”

Six branches across Haringey were given the chop this summer including two in Crouch End – Ferme Park Road and Weston Park – leaving the remaining branches struggling to handle the additional customers. (Full story here)

Local MP recycles Christmas cards to help fund tree planting

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To encourage local residents to recycle their Christmas cards and enable thousands of new trees to be planted, Lynne Featherstone MP has done her bit by recycling her cards at Tesco on Hornsey High Street.

The Woodland Trust, which is running the Christmas Card Recycling scheme, sends all cards collected to paper mills where they are recycled into new paper products. The money that is raised then goes to plant thousands of trees in the conservation charity’s forests all over the UK. Last year, the 73.6 million cards recycled turned into 17,000 new trees.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“This scheme is great- all the lovely cards received for Christmas turn into new paper products, plus new trees are planted. It’s sustainable, green and helps our forests grow and flourish: win-win all round!

“So do your bit to make sure that 2009 gets off to a great start – pop into a local Tesco, M&S, WH Smith or TK Maxx and recycle those cards.”

Appeal for review of local hospitals' mobile phone policy

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Local hospitals have been called upon to review their mobile policy as soon as possible by local MP, Lynne Featherstone, following the relaxation of the government ban on their use.

Allowing the greater use of mobile phones will allow patients to avoid costly in-house phone services that often charge near premium rates for making and receiving calls.

Lynne Featherstone has written to the chief executives of the Whittington, North Middlesex and Haringey Teaching Primary Care Trust (TPCT) calling for an urgent review.

The Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey & Wood Green says:

“Some of our local hospitals already have progressive policies on mobile phone use, but I hope they will seize this opportunity to review their policy and give patients the greatest freedom possible to stay in touch.

“Of course there must continue to be sensible restrictions to preserve tranquillity and protect privacy. However, I think it’s easy to underestimate the holistic benefits of being able to receive a goodnight text from a loved one when you’re ill.

“I hope our local hospitals will act swiftly to see if greater use can be allowed.”

Councillor Richard Wilson, Haringey Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson, adds:

“The exorbitant rate of hospital phone services can mean that people, particularly those on lower incomes, are virtually cut off from friends and family when they need them most.Our hospitals must do what they can to help patients stay connected.”

Lynne Featherstone comes second in Lib Dem MP of the Year

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Hornsey & Wood Green MP, Lynne Featherstone has come second in an online poll for Liberal Democrat MP of the year.

The poll of 1,380 people is featured on the blog of political commentator Iain Dale and placed Lynne Featherstone number two out of 63 Liberal Democrat MPs.

The vote of confidence comes hot on the heels of Total Politics magazine tipping the Hornsey & Wood Green MP as one to watch in 2009 in its January edition.

She was praised in the magazine for the way she, “comes over as a normal person, rather than an inhabitant of the Westminster village” and for her plain talking.

Commenting, Lynne Featherstone MP says:

“It’s always reassuring to receive any vote of confidence, but the most important part of my job is standing up for the people of Hornsey & Wood Green and I’ll carry on doing this regardless of what the pundits say. And in the end it will be their vote that counts!

“2008 has been a difficult year for Haringey and its residents. On top of having to deal with the repercussions of the economic downturn, the council has been beset by tragedy and disaster.

“I look forward to the year ahead to lobby for change so we can start restoring confidence in the borough’s children’s services as well as helping people through these difficult times.”

Sharon Shoesmith

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A flurry of calls from the media following the not entirely unexpected news that Sharon Shoesmith is appealing against her dismissal and apparently seeking compensation – Evening Standard jounalist said up to £170,000.

I hope her appeal fails because she signally failed in her child protection responsibilities – that was the damning conclusion of the Ed Balls ordered investigation. This concurs with my own experiences of trying to get her to deal with cases where there was a complaint against something in her department. The answer I often got was ‘children’s services are working fine’. She seems to be more interested in defending her department than dealing with the issues I brought to her.

If she were now to get paid for failure it would send out a message to those in these incredible responsible and vital positions that they can fail with impunity – and get paid for their trouble.

UPDATE: Daily Express has more, including the reaction from my colleague Robert Gorrie:

Robert Gorrie, leader of Haringey’s Liberal Democrat opposition, said: “We have said from the outset that those responsible for this tragedy should be held to account and that there should be no rewards for failure.

“Sharon Shoesmith was responsible for the council service that failed Baby P. I hope the original council decision to terminate employment without payment of notice is upheld.”

Seven Sisters by-election – Wards Corner backing for David Schmitz

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As the Seven Sisters by-election enters its final full week of campaigning, Liberal Democrat candidate David Schmitz has received a major boost, with the support of the President of the Wards Corner Market Traders.

David Schmitz has campaigned for months to protect the site, despite Labour-run Haringey Council’s plan to bulldoze the area, and the Conservative betrayal of Mayor Boris Johnson, who promised to help, but who now says the controversial and unpopular development is “to be welcomed”.

Raul Mancera, President of the Puelito Paisa (Wards Corner Market Traders), says of David Schmitz:

“The attitude of Haringey Council under Labour towards our market has shown how little they respect our area and its people. David Schmitz has been a good friend to us – offering us free legal advice throughout the campaign to stop the demolition of Wards Corner and the destruction of our Latin American market. Please vote for him in the Seven Sisters by-election on the 15th of January.”

David Schmitz comments:

“I am very pleased to have received Raul’s support, and the campaign is really building momentum as we enter the final full week of campaigning.Only the Liberal Democrats can challenge Labour in Haringey, and I am delighted how many people are now coming over to us.”

Why the number of female MPs matters

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The Christmas edition of the Electoral Reform Society’s magazine, The Voter carries this short article from me:

Houses of ParliamentSadly, I am one of only 126 female MPs in a Parliament of 646. Parliament remains an old boys club, with its adversarial style of politics where bully-boy tactics are the norm; any of you who’ve watched PMQs will be fully aware of this.

And this feeds a political system that is so busy being adversarial that it forgets to be effective. This lack of representation is repeated throughout our political system. In local government, women make up just over a quarter of local councillors, whilst with MEPs it is a similar story: just one quarter female.

The quality of our government suffers from these imbalances – an impact which therefore affects us all, men and women. Women need to be there, with men, making these decisions, to ensure that public services and policy are relevant to all people and are capable of having a real effect on the lives, not just of women, but of everyone in society.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the allocation of resources, where the macho boys culture so often summons up the massive project and neglects the important details. When I was chair of transport at London Assembly it was starkly clear. Why is it that an obsession with boys-toys – the macho game of who’s got the biggest airport or the longest train – delivers multi-billion pound budgets for massive transport infrastructure projects yet not even a fraction of those budgets were spent on so called ‘soft measures’, such as making sure you can fit a double buggy through the door of a bus and making sure that local shopping centres and services are easily accessible – really easily accessible – through using public transport?

But it should not be a question of either or – it should be a matter of both. Some of our Nordic counterparts are light years ahead in terms of female representation, and we can see the practical effect on policy and resource priorities. Take Finland – with its childcare allowance for women who stay home and look after children under the age of 3 and its municipal care for children who are below the school age of 7.

We have come a long way in 90 years. It’s not enough, but we are constantly pushing, and constantly forcing change. I hope that within the next decade we will able to celebrate the achievement of equal and proper representation of women in politics, as another 90 is far too long to wait for this change!

It isn’t enough that women have the vote, and it isn’t enough that Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan all rank above us internationally when it comes to women’s representation. Equal representation and involvement in politics is our right, and it is the women today who will bring about change tomorrow, by demanding the equal representation they deserve and by working together to achieve it.

Ten most popular blog postings (4th quarter, 2008)

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No real surprises here, with one story dominating your and my attention – the awful death of Baby P.

10. George Meehan and Liz Santry resign – the two key Labour councillors (council leader and lead member for children’s services) finally took responsibility for Haringey Council’s failings.
9. Baby P investigation update – thoughts following a meeting with Cabinet minister Ed Balls.
8. Panorama on Baby P – my advance thoughts, particularly on how the pressure to agree may result in people not sticking by their concerns.
7. Baby P at PMQs – a very brief post, but got lots of traffic due to the Brown-Cameron spat making that PMQs very high profile.
6. The departure of Sharon Shoesmith – my reaction to the (eventual) departure of the head of Haringey’s children’s services and education.
5. The roles of Sharon Shoesmith and George Meehan – in which I explain why I believed they should take responsibility for the errors and blunders exposed in the Baby P saga.
4. Brian Coleman and the Fire Brigade – see no.3.
3. Fire Brigade rushes to help – the Brian Coleman saga where, for latecomers, I feared for my and family’s safety, called the Fire Brigade – who said I did the right thing – but Brian Coleman (Conservative London Assembly member) took it upon himself to criticise. Cue numerous comments on my various blog postings and via my website from firemen agreeing with my actions.
2. Reading the Baby P Serious Case Review – after initially being kept secret, the review was shown to a small number of MPs, myself included
1. Baby P verdict – reaction to the trial verdict.

So – that was the last quarter. Let’s see what gets your attention in the next one…

Things can change

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I read a piece on Paul Linford’s blog about another boy who died in terrible circumstances at the hands of his foster parents – who astonishingly had been cleared to adopt. However, it was this boy’s tragic death, John Smith, that brought about a change in the law – a change that was able to be used for the trail following the death of Baby P:

A group of journalists from the Brighton Argus launched a “Justice for John” campaign after murder charges against his adoptive parents were dropped in favour of a lesser charge of cruelty on the grounds that it could not be proven who had struck the fatal blow. In the end, this led to a change of the law, and the creation of a new offence of causing or allowing the death of a child – the offence of which the vile killers of Baby P have now been successfully convicted and for which they will be sentenced early next year.

You can read the full post on Paul Linford’s site – but to my mind, there are two points rising from this. Firstly – it shows what can be done when people put their mind to it. For all the flaws in our democracy and system of government – individuals can get together and bring about change.

Secondly – Baby P’s tragic death raises the question of whether the maximum sentence for this (new) crime is high enough. It can cover such a wide range of circumstances that there needs to be the flexibility to deal with the circumstances of an individual case, but the maximum sentence available (I believe it is 14 years) is now facing a growing grassroots campaign organised primarily by mothers and grandmothers.

My own priority is to push for a public inquiry to ensure that the full range of necessary lessons are learnt and then changes applied because – vital though a just legal system is – in the end a court case and a jail sentence can only deal with the aftermath of tragedy. Avoiding the tragedy in the first place is the main objective.

But for me, the shining message from Paul’s post is that things can change. It takes action and commitment – and here we have a bunch of those who are only slightly less reviled than politicians – journalists – who saw something that wasn’t right – and took the action necessary. Hurrah for journalists – on this occasion!