Bill for ID cards goes up by another £52 million

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What would you rather spend an extra £52 million on: a huge IT project to keep tabs on innocent people or things such as more police to catch criminals? I think you can guess my answer! Today’s Guardian has the story about the bill for Labour’s ID cards scheme going up and up – and this on the button quote from my colleague, Chris Huhne:

The problem is not the ease with which we can give up sensitive personal data, but the ease with which the Home Office loses it. Costs are already spiralling out of control without a single card being issued.

If you haven’t yet, do go and sign the Liberal Democrat petition against ID cards at www.libdems.org.uk/noidcards

MP Lynne Featherstone has Christmas card fun at Highgate Primary School

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Yesterday Lynne Featherstone visited a painting class at her old school, Highgate Primary, to see how the children were getting on with their entries for her Christmas card competition.

This year the theme is ‘I’m dreaming of a green Christmas’, with pupilsgiving their interpretation of recycling at Christmas. The winner will be selected on the basis of how imaginatively the students interpret the theme and on how eye-catching the design is.

All primary schools in Hornsey and Wood Green have been invited to send in their entries. The deadline for the competition is Friday the 7th November, but any late entries will be accepted until the end of next week.

The winning design will feature on Lynne Featherstone’s Christmas card that is sent to several thousand homes.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“It was great to pop back to my old school to see how the kids were getting along with their Christmas designs. There were some fantastic ideas and I can see some real contenders for first place.

“I’ve already received some fantastic entries but I am sure there will be a last minute flurry. I’m really looking forward to sitting down with my office and going through the entries. Thanks to everyone who have already sent me their contributions.”

Lynne Featherstone helps coach crash victims get right to apply for local school

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A couple who had their home demolished in the Muswell Hill coach crash can this week finally hand in their daughter’s application for a local primary school, after Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone stepped in to highlight Haringey Council’s incorrect interpretation of its own policy.

Andrew, Caroline and their three-year-old daughter Delilah Macaulay-Smith earlier this year had to temporarily move to Finchley as repairs to their demolished house were carried out. Haringey Council informed them that as their temporary place of residence was now in Finchley, they would be unlikely to get Delilah into a local school. In desperation the coupled turned to their MP, Lynne Featherstone, for help.

After months of correspondence Haringey Council finally agreed to change its mind, admitting that their rules could allow the family’s Muswell Hill address to be used when applying for local schools.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“Andrew, Caroline and Delilah have been through such trauma this year already, not least by having half their house demolished in the crash. Hearing that Delilah might not be able to get into a local school was almost the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“I’m delighted that Haringey saw the injustice in this case and changed their minds. It’s wonderful to see the family so happy and with a new positive outlook on the future.”

Caroline Macaulay adds:

“When Haringey Council told me that I couldn’t apply for primary schools in the borough, I burst into tears and felt sick with worry for weeks.

“We were all still suffering from the trauma of the accident. But now, on top of all that, it looked like Haringey were going to unfairly penalise a young child – through no fault of her own – and refuse her a place in one of the local schools.

“At a time of immense trauma, all we got from Haringey Council was a doggedly unsympathetic response. It felt like we weren’t dealing with humans, just robots. My heartfelt thanks goes out to Lynne. Thanks to her humanity, compassion and endless support we got through this dreadful experience.”

A story with a happy ending: the KFC banners in Crouch End

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Here’s my latest piece for our of our local magazines (the Crouch End Flyer):

A story with a happy ending – shock horror! Without being overly twee – and not necessarily being always on the side of conservation per se (as to me it kind of depends what you are conserving) – I do believe that the appearances of Crouch End Broadway is definitely worth preserving and conserving – which means sometimes taking up the cudgels in its defence!

Let me explain. Crouch End Broadway is in a conservation area. But Haringey Council has introduced contracts to display adverts on banners hanging from our lampposts as well as a plethora of self-promotional council propaganda on same.

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) availed themselves of this advertising opportunity and took out a contract with Haringey Council to display their banners in Crouch End. But they were – let us say – ugly, noticeable and then some. Basically they stuck out like a sore thumb – and so Councillor Dave Winskill (Liberal Democrat, Crouch End ward) and I launched a two-pronged attack on the garish KFC banners.

I’ve nothing against Kentucky Fried Chicken – other than its calorie count! – but the banners streaming (or should I say screaming) loudly in the middle of a conservation area were out of place in Crouch End.

First shot at Haringey Council brought complete intransigence from Labour over their removal. Pleas to Haringey to remove the banners fell on deaf ears with officials citing binding contracts as the reason they couldn’t be removed.

So I wrote to KFC’s UK Managing Director to request that they take action to ensure the withdrawal of the ad campaign.

As the ante was upped with questions asked at council meetings, Haringey Council finally took its fingers out of its ears and took action to end the contract and the banners were removed. That’s when politics works!

Now we need Haringey Council to make sure that future contracts only allow appropriate advertising sensitive to any local area they are placed in. – and that means in some areas, no advertising at all on lamp posts. As ever, one of the keys to sensible policy making is making sure policies aren’t just splattered across the whole borough (“Adverts? Put them everywhere!”) but that local circumstances are taken into account. But for the moment – success!

Credit anti-crunch!

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We are all worried about how deep and how hard the recession will bite. Our jobs, our homes and local businesses: who will be hit and how can we best survive?

Our high streets in Highgate Village, Archway Road and Muswell Hill are full of shops that we all depend on – and they too will be wondering whether they can survive the economic downturn. So we need to try and bring our custom to our high streets even more. If what money we have we can spend locally, then we all can play a part in saving our local parades and high streets.

Turing to the bigger picture – I’m not sure that the political slanging match about who was to blame between Labour and Tory is much help in the current situation. So – I thought I would ask you to let me know your personal concerns about your life, your home, your business and your job as the downturn hits. That way I can report that back into the parliamentary debate so that we can press hard for action to mitigate and alleviate where possible.

The thought of a major financial institution collapsing all so easily captures centre stage – but those should not be the only concerns in our minds. The effects on people’s lives matters and should not be squeezed out.

That’s why the four-point plan launched recently by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and his deputy Vince Cable focused strongly on people’s day to day lives:

1. Cutting taxes for struggling families so people will have more money in their pocket. We would cut taxes for people on low and middle incomes – the money for this coming from closing tax loopholes for the super-rich. It’s only right that the tax system treats us all fairly, especially at times like these.

2. Lowering energy bills so people can afford to keep warm this winter. As wholesale fuel prices fall – they have dropped 28% since August – utility companies must lower people’s bills too as quickly as they raised them!

3. Keeping people in their homes, so you don’t need to fear unfair repossessions. We must ensure that banks only ever repossess people’s homes as a last resort. This is the one that the Government has now agreed with us and has promised action on.

4. Lower mortgage payments and cheaper business loans through big interest rate cuts. People and businesses need help paying off their mortgages and loans, so we need substantially lower interest rates.

These four steps would make a real difference to our well being, but to really represent everyone whatever your situation, it’s crucial that I understand exactly how people’s lives are being affected here. So please, get in touch with your stories about how the credit crunch affects you and yours.

(c) Lynne Featherstone, 2008

A story with a happy ending: the KFC banners

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A story with a happy ending – shock horror! Without being overly twee – and not necessarily being always on the side of conservation per se (as to me it kind of depends what you are conserving) – I do believe that the appearances of Crouch End Broadway is definitely worth preserving and conserving – which means sometimes taking up the cudgels in its defence!

Let me explain. Crouch End Broadway is in a conservation area. But Haringey Council has introduced contracts to display adverts on banners hanging from our lampposts as well as a plethora of self-promotional council propaganda on same.

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) availed themselves of this advertising opportunity and took out a contract with Haringey Council to display their banners in Crouch End. But they were – let us say – ugly, noticeable and then some. Basically they stuck out like a sore thumb – and so Councillor Dave Winskill (Liberal Democrat, Crouch End ward) and I launched a two-pronged attack on the garish KFC banners.

I’ve nothing against Kentucky Fried Chicken – other than its calorie count! – but the banners streaming (or should I say screaming) loudly in the middle of a conservation area were out of place in Crouch End.

First shot at Haringey Council brought complete intransigence from Labour over their removal. Pleas to Haringey to remove the banners fell on deaf ears with officials citing binding contracts as the reason they couldn’t be removed.

So I wrote to KFC’s UK Managing Director to request that they take action to ensure the withdrawal of the ad campaign.

As the ante was upped with questions asked at council meetings, Haringey Council finally took its fingers out of its ears and took action to end the contract and the banners were removed. That’s when politics works!

Now we need Haringey Council to make sure that future contracts only allow appropriate advertising sensitive to any local area they are placed in. – and that means in some areas, no advertising at all on lamp posts. As ever, one of the keys to sensible policy making is making sure policies aren’t just splattered across the whole borough ("Adverts? Put them everywhere!") but that local circumstances are taken into account. But for the moment – success!

(c) Lynne Featherstone, 2008

Election night

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Well – the must have invite of the year – to the American Embassy on election night! I got there about 10.30pm – which is a really late start for an early to bed early to rise sort of a geek like me. However – the general excitement of the potential of the night worked its magic and I managed to stay there until around 2am.

So – what’s it like? Incredibly well organised – as American official entertaining always is. Obviously disappointed to find that there were around 1,499 other invitees – but hey. Amongst said invitees the celebs I noticed (or rather my escort for the evening Ed Butcher – local Liberal Democrat councillor for Stroud Green and my Head of Office pointed out) were: Matt Damon (except I think later this proved to be someone else famous who I had never heard of; Janet Street-Porter, Alistair Campbell, lots of MPs and ministers etc, broadcasters like Jonathan Dimbleby (brother David obviously busy on air) and Nick Robinson, Andrew Rawnsley and lots and lots of others I am sure.

Peter Lord, who had kindly invited me (he is the American officer designated with attending to Liberal Democrats politically speaking) said that Madonna and Gwyneth had been invited – but declined. Their loss, our gain!

Anyway – as I said – Americans do these things well. There were flashing lit American flag badges for the Embassy staff so you knew who to approach to ask any questions. There were stars and stripes hats and tiaras – which I didn’t manage to get hold of. There was a Burger King serving hamburgers, fries and a vegetarian option, a Subway – and loads of drinks bars as well as circulating, fill your glass sir waiters and canapes continually appearing. Well done for hospitality. And there were bands like part of Squeeze and others – not to mention on arrival, cheerleaders outside doing pretty stunning acrobatics!

Then, of course, there were screens everywhere and a big armchaired film theatre where you could go and watch coverage in seated comfort. It was quite difficult to follow what was happening as sound (or rather lack of it) was an issue. However, having studied various screens, I was able to follow what was happening – and it was pretty amazing as it became clear pretty early on that it was going Obama’s way and that the ‘Bradley effect‘ was nowhere to be seen.

So – all great fun – and even I enjoyed it and actually talked to people. I am not a party person to be honest. Give me one to one over dinner – that’s the conversation I am best at. However, I did alright. At 2am I decided that it was time to go home and watch the rest on telly with my daughters – which is what I did.

I must have drifted off at about 3.30am – but my older daughter this morning said something very interesting – and she is extremely perceptive and analytical. She ended up watching ITV’s coverage until 6am this morning because she said it was excellent. She said it was direct, unembellished, used eloquent and knowledgeable presenters, didn’t dress it up with lots of irrelevant stuff and was intelligible and intelligent. She said BBC was overdone and confusing – and CNN was nothing but adverts. Broadcast companies take note.

As for the result! It would have been deadly to wake up and find McCain as President Elect – that much I know. As a Hillary supporter – I moved my allegiance to Obama – with qualifications. He certainly inspires and I don’t think I have ever heard a politician with that level of ability in terms of oratory. So it was good to wake up to a new era – but proof and pudding will be the real test – and that is yet to come.

Getting kids active

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Lord’s Cricket Ground – well, not the ground but one of the hospitality areas for Sainsbury’s Active Kids conference. Sainsbury’s, in corporate responsibility mode, have invested a lot of time and energy in working with thousands of kids to find out what they think could be done to get them to be more active. Today’s event is the ‘winners’ from eleven schools across the country (St Aloysius from my patch) to come and present their proposals to invited guests – as well as the big wigs from Sainsbury’s.

The kids were absolutely brilliant – presenting all kinds of ideas from health diets and how to cook to alternative sports for those who perhaps don’t take to the normal netball, football etc.

I’m sure Sainsubry’s will be reporting on all the details – but the idea is good. Corporate responsibility is an interesting one – and on the whole I have decided that whilst the company may very well be doing it to improve the public view of them and even ultimately up their sales – en route they can do quite a lot of good. Given that obesity is a major challenge (and cost) coming down the line – we do want to see our leading supermarkets acting responsibly.

The day itself was brilliant for the kids as they had a number of ‘celebs’ there including Peter Jones (Dragon’s Den) for the entrepreneurial kids, Dame Kelly Holmes and a gold medal cyclist for the sporting, Levi Roots (Reggae Reggae sauce) and so on – and the kids really did seem to have a great time.

Of course – proof of pudding will be what Sainsbury’s do with the results of all this effort. The kids expect!

Liberal Democrats congratulate police on Haringey knife crime record

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As recent figures show that the Met’s dedicated knife crime team has removed 139 weapons from the streets of Haringey since May, local Liberal Democrats recently joined an afternoon patrol to congratulate them on the encouraging record.

Lynne Featherstone MP and crime spokesperson Councillor Ron Aitken joined the officers from Operation Blunt 2 – dedicated to fighting knife crime by enforcement, prevention and education. The team has arrested 151 people and taken 82 knives and 57 other weapons off the streets of Haringey since its creation in May.

Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, commented:

“It’s great to hear that 139 weapons have been removed from the streets of Haringey, but even greater to see that it’s coupled with a real effort to come to terms with the cause of violence by talking to and really engaging with the young people.”

Cllr Ron Aitken adds:

“It’s clear that there’s been a real effort by the Police to engage with young people and related with them to explain the dangers associated with knife violence which has claimed 27 victims in London this year. The officers we have met here today really show immense commitment. It’s so great to see an approach that really does work.”

Christmas posting dates

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Can’t believe it is already November – but given it is – thought it might be useful to post (ha ha) the main inland postal deadlines for this Christmas:

* First Class – Saturday, 20 December
* Second Class – Thursday, 18 December
* Special Delivery Saturday guarantee – Friday, 19 December
* Special Delivery – Tuesday, 23 December