A friend of mine sent me the letter below from friends in Zimbabwe and asked that I send it on to anyone with clout, which I am doing – but also posting it here in the hope that the message is carried far and wide:

I reckon that these are the last days of TKM and ZPF. The darkest hour is always before dawn.

We are all terrified at what they are going to destroy next……..I mean they are actually ploughing down brick and mortar houses and one family with twin boys of 10 had no chance of salvaging anything when 100 riot police came in with AK47’s and bulldozers and demolished their beautiful house – 5 bedrooms and pine ceilings – because it was ‘too close to the airport’, so we are feeling extremely insecure right now.

You know – I am aware that this does not help you sleep at night, but if you do not know – how can you help? Even if you put us in your own mental ring of light and send your guardian angels to be with us – that is a help -but I feel so cut off from you all knowing I cannot tell you what’s going on here simply because you will feel uncomfortable. There is no ways we can leave here so that is not an option.

I ask that you all pray for us in the way that you know how, and let me know that you are thinking of us and sending out positive vibes… that’s all. You can’t just be in denial and pretend/believe it’s not going on.

To be frank with you, it’s genocide in the making and if you do not believe me, read the Genocide Report by Amnesty International which says we are – IN level 7 – (level 8 is after it’s happened and everyone is in denial).

If you don’t want me to tell you these things-how bad it is-then it means you have not dealt with your own fear, but it does not help me to think you are turning your back on our situation. We need you, please, to get the news OUT that we are all in a fearfully dangerous situation here. Too many people turn their backs and say – oh well, that’s what happens in Africa

This Government has GONE MAD and you need to help us publicize our plight—or how can we be rescued? It’s a reality! The petrol queues are a reality, the pall of smoke all around our city is a reality, the thousands of homeless people sleeping outside in 0 Celsius with no food, water, shelter and bedding are a reality. Today a family approached me, brother of the gardener’s wife with two small children. Their home was trashed and they will have to sleep outside. We already support 8 adult people and a child on this property, and electricity is going up next month by 250% as is water.

How can I take on another family of 4 —–and yet how can I turn them away to sleep out in the open?

I am not asking you for money or a ticket out of here – I am asking you to FACE the fact that we are in deep and terrible danger and want you please to pass on our news and pictures. So PLEASE don’t just press the delete button! Help best in the way that you know how.

Do face the reality of what is going on here and help us SEND OUT THE WORD.. The more people who know about it, the more chance we have of the United Nations coming to our aid. Please don’t ignore or deny what’s happening.
Some would like to be protected from the truth BUT then, if we are eliminated, how would you feel? ‘If only we knew how bad it really was we could have helped in some way’.

[I know we chose to stay here and that some feel we deserve what’s coming to us]

For now,— we ourselves have food, shelter, a little fuel and a bit of money for the next meal – but what is going to happen next? Will they start on our houses? All property is going to belong to the State now. I want to send out my Title Deeds to one of you because if they get a hold of those, I can’t fight for my rights.

Censorship!—-We no longer have SW radio [which told us everything that was happening] because the Government jammed it out of existence – we don’t have any reporters, and no one is allowed to photograph. If we had reporters here, they would have an absolute field day. Even the pro-Government Herald has written that people are shocked, stunned, bewildered and blown mindless by the wanton destruction of many folks homes, which are supposed to be ‘illegal’ but for which a huge percentage actually do have licenses.

Please! – do have some compassion and HELP by sending out the articles and personal reports so that something can/may be done.

‘I am one. I cannot do everything, —but I can do something.. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. What I can do, I should do. And what I should do, by the grace of God, I will do.’ – Edward Everett Hale

Here’s my latest column for a trio of local magazines:

Queue early for Christmas
I got a Christmas Card (how sweet) from the Post Office giving me the last posting dates for Christmas – 18th for 2nd class, 20th for first class and 23rd for special delivery.

But given the closure of our beloved Highgate, Alexandra Park Road, Ferme Park Road, Salisbury Road and Weston Park sub-post offices by our hideously, short-sighted Government – it isn’t the popping them into a post box that’s going to be the problem. It’s the long, long queues that will form at the remaining Post Offices as we desperately try and send our parcels and buy our stamps. It will be horrendous if the already lengthened queues are anything to go by.

At the beginning of October, residents were already having to wait nearly twice as long at Post Offices as they did before this round of closures. Postwatch showed that the average time taken to be served was 28 minutes – up from 15 minutes.

I have done my own survey – and am still doing it (so if you want to record your own waiting times, just email me on lynne@lynnefeatherstone.org for survey details). I am doing this so that I can stand up in Parliament and present the evidence from here, locally, to try and persuade Gordon Brown of the error of his ways.

In mid-November, I was on Ken Livingstone’s radio show on LBC and at the end he said (pinch your nose as you say this to engender the dulcet, nasal tones of ex-Mayor L) ‘Lynne, you can have a minute to rant about whatever you want’.

Not one to to look a gift-horse in the mouth I made an on air appeal direct to Gordon Brown! Please, please, please Gordon – you have relented on the Post Office Card Account which will mean that 3,000 sub-post offices across the country will not have to close. But that isn’t fair on us who have already had our much-beloved and absolutely vital heart of our parades torn from us – leaving the elderly, the vulnerable, mothers with buggies, homeworkers and pretty much everyone else just fed-up with you. This is your opportunity to make yourself really popular.

Sadly, he was in New York, so missed my pleading. However, I followed it up with a letter to him asking same. I await a response!

And you know what? When they closed our local offices, the Post Office promised that they would introduce extra resources / facilities at the ones that would have to take the displaced business. I wrote to ask them what they had done in terms of this promise – and the answer came back – nothing!

And so my tip for Christmas – don’t leave visiting the Post Office until late December, when you do make your trip give yourself plenty of time – and have a cup of tea and take a deep breath before heading off because even so – with those broken promises, you may find some very long queues!

There’s a competition going on to see which parks in London will get money for improvements under the “Help a London Park” scheme. One from Haringey – Lordship Recreation Ground – is up for the contest, and you can vote for it at www.london.gov.uk/parksvote/region/north/lordship.jsp

My colleague Cllr Dave Winskill (Lib Dem, Crouch End) puts it very well:

I have a real soft spot for Lordship Rec. Years ago, when I was student, I had a vacation job as a park keeper there and fell in love with the place. It is a real green oasis in the built up city and I hope everyone will take half a minute to vote. The local Friends Group has worked really hard and deserves the money to make the improvements.

So please go and vote!