Whoosh! Over four hundred people have already signed the petition to save Jacksons Lane Community Centre. Thank you to everyone who has signed so far, whether online or through the petitions we’ve been distributing in the area. If you’ve not signed yet, please do add your name – just have to click here and fill in the online form.
Highgate councillor Neil Williams and I feature in the Journal’s coverage of the story this week, which you can read here.
As the Evening Standard reports today:
Ken Livingstone has been accused of “misleading the public” after claiming an internal probe into the City Hall grants scandal was independent.
The Mayor was attacked by MPs from all three big political parties over his claim about the London Development Agency review. It examined allegations that LDA cash was misappropriated by friends of his adviser Lee Jasper…
Today the London Assembly heard evidence from two senior LDA officials dramatically at odds with Mr Livingstone’s claims.
Andrew Travers, who led the review, told Assembly members: “The review has been conducted by a team of LDA staff supported by a team of internal auditors – the conclusions of the review are mine alone.”
LDA chief executive Manny Lewis said the review had spoken neither to Mr Jasper, nor to anyone from the suspect projects or not employed by City Hall.
Labour MP Kate Hoey, Lib-Dem Lynne Featherstone and Conservative Greg Hands accused the Mayor of misleading the public. Mr Hands, MP for Hammersmith and Fulham, said: “It is deeply misleading for Mr Livingstone to suggest that the LDA has either been cleared or that the enquiry is independent.”
Ms Featherstone said: “Ken has no shame. It is almost as if if he shouts loud enough he makes what he is saying true, but the evidence shows that what the Mayor has said is not true.”
Ms Hoey, MP for Vauxhall, said: “The Mayor has been consistently misleading the public over the status of this review. It was not independent and it did not clear Mr Jasper or the LDA. People need to wake up about what is happening.” …
Assembly members fiercely criticised a Mayoral and LDA press release issued last Friday claiming the review had given the projects the all-clear. Lib Dem leader Mike Tuffrey described it as “spin” … [See my previous blog entry on this]
Mr Travers also confirmed that the review had not spoken to Brenda Stern, the ex-LDA whistleblower at the centre of the allegations involving one of the projects.
Well – having referred one institution (the monarchy) to the Equalities Commission, I find myself invited to another institution (Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour) to talk about it. They hauled in Charles Mosley as the reactionary to argue the case against stopping male preference primogeniture (i.e. to argue that it’s ok for a man to bump a woman in the line of succession to the throne just because they’re a man).
I don’t really think there are any valid arguments against changing rules on this – and indeed plenty of other monarchies have already changed.
As I said on the program – the current sexism is offensive! It says to me that this country still believes men are better than women. A large part of the monarchy is about symbolism – so what does it say that we let it be a sexist symbol? We romped through all the arguments – but to be frank – none stood against the central plank of discrimination.
Having referred the issue to the Equalities Commission – I expect that they are wondering what to do. If they take it seriously – as they should given their charge to fight discrimination – then they will come out and say that this is a wrong that must be righted, that they will put a working group together to advise the Government on taking this forward and say that Parliamentary time must be made available to see this through.
There have been efforts before by Private Members’ Bills – but at no point has the establishment been moved to actually get to grips with this. By omission this could remain the status quo forever. I hope that the Queen (who I was told by my opponent today on Woman’s Hour is pro this change!) will also suggest via usual channels that this should be done.
Anyway – it was a good debate – and three cheers for Woman’s Hour for giving it air time!
(And if you missed hearing it, you can listen again via their website).
UPDATE: Local newspaper coverage here.
Women 
at the school gates are a goldmine of talent, enterprise and skill – but they sometimes need an extra helping hand on the road from where they are back into the working world. I faced the same. I was at home (albeit working from home) for years whilst my children were young – and it’s a real challenge. Well – Women Like Us is an organisation that set out to help address this pool of unused talent – and has been sooooo successful that they are now working with around 3,000 women on their books, are used by big companies to recruit staff and so on.
Yesterday the Fire Service had a women’s recruitment team and fire engine come to Campsbourne School at close of play so that mums collecting their offspring (and it is overwhelmingly mums, not dads) could meet and talk with fire fighters about such a potential career. It’s a good one. Always a local station near home – and a really interesting career. Not just fighting fires – obviously – that’s about 2% of the job. Much of it is community-based fire prevention, teaching, talking and training.
The kids loved the engine, the fire hose and the uniform and we all had a great time. Hats off both to Women Like Us for the real inroads they are making and the possibilities they are bringing to women’s lives and the women firefighters – who were not only inspirational – but great fun to talk to.
UPDATE: local coverage of the story here.
There’s still a huge need for equal pay legislation – and legislation with real teeth – in order to deal with discrimination in pay rates for men and women doing equivalent or the same jobs.
However, the Equal Pay Act doesn’t seem to be up to the job.
The question of the Act is very much back in the news after the Equality and Human Rights Commission called on Monday for it to be scrapped and replaced with more appropriate legislation.
My own views are along similar lines – the current law simply isn’t working as it should to protect people from discrimination. The Equal Pay Act itself is based on the outdated view that discrimination is a rare occurrence perpetrated by individual ‘bad’ employers but fails to recognise the wide-scale structural discrimination that exists.
Part of the answer to this is for class actions to be seriously considered by the Government as a way of reducing the burden on victims and the tribunals – i.e. have legal actions which cover many employees in one go, rather than having to have separate legal cases for each person.
This individual system is the current approach – and it means the whole system is bogged down in massive numbers of cases. The result – it’s taking far too long for people’s cases to get through the system, and the longer a case takes, the longer justice is denied.
In addition, Ministers should also consider compulsory equal pay audits across the board to bring discrimination to light. These could be followed by a ‘protected period’ for employers to put their house in order before a lengthy tribunal process becomes necessary. In other words – highlight the problem, give people a chance to put their house quickly in order – and then if they fail, take legal action. Again, the idea is speed up the system and rescue people from intolerable delays until the system gets round to dealing with their case.
The Guardian picked up on my views – you can read their piece here and you can see my press release here.
Up for a 6:15am pre-record with the Today programme this morning – about the allegations of corruption and misappropriate funds hanging over the London Development Agency. It’s turning into quite an involved saga, with a whole host of allegations – but the latest twist is very simple.
The LDA carried out an investigation, but it wasn’t thorough – and was then misrepresented in the LDA’s own press release as giving the body a clean bill of health.
The LDA’s press release on the results of its internal investigation doesn’t leave any room for doubt as to what they wanted people to think: “Allegations of LDA Corruption False” and the first paragraph is equally bullish: “The report has been issued of the review of allegations of LDA corruption and collusion in improperly awarding funds made by the journalist Andrew Gilligan in the Evening Standard in a series of articles in December 2007. The review finds these to be unfounded.”
Now, if only that was the case! In fact, three of the allegations were passed to the police to look into, a fourth is already under police investigation and it looks like a fifth will end up with the police too. That’s not the picture you’d expect when phrases like “unfounded” are being used, is it?
Then there’s the case of Brenda Stern – who lost her job after speaking out. Was she sacked for whistle blowing on financial scandal? That’s an episode that needs serious investigation – but the review didn’t even interview her.
There’s more in today’s Evening Standard, including this damning quote from her:
“The schedule of allegations published with the review claims I never complained of losing my job for raising concerns about one of the projects. I most certainly did make that complaint and I am very surprised indeed that the LDA claims to have investigated this project without even trying to contact me.”
In response to one of my earlier blog postings about the monarchy, Jim made a comment about what other countries with monarchies have done – pointing out that the rules have been changed in other countries so that women are no longer discriminated against when it comes to choosing who gets to be monarch.
That’s a good point, which I’ve been looking into further. Here’s a summary of some of the changes:
If countries like these can change their rules to stop sexism being built-in to their monarchies, why shouldn’t we?
P.S. Another piece of reporting of the story – over on the Haringey Independent’s blog.
Residents in Haringey are being asked their views on tube services locally and across London. Local Lib Dems have carried out surveys at tube stations in Highgate and Seven Sisters to gauge public opinion on tube transport in Haringey. Residents’ views and ideas will then be used to urge the Government and the Mayor of London to address Londoner’s concerns.
Haringey Lib Dem survey is part of a wider investigation by Lib Dems throughout London headed by Lib Dem mayoral candidate Brian Paddick.
Cllr Monica Whyte (Hornsey) and Lib Dem candidate for the London Assembly comments:
“Many people in Haringey use the tube everyday and they must have a say in deciding future developments. Lib Dems are visiting local tube-goers throughout Haringey to make sure their concerns are raised.
“Anyone stuck on a Northern misery-line train at eight o’clock in the morning will tell you that the tube network needs investment and change. We hope that by listening to users that we will be able to press the government and the Mayor to provide a service that the people of London and Haringey want and deserve.”
Brian Paddick, Lib Dem mayoral candidate, adds:
“I have launched this survey to hear what local residents have their say on what the tube needs to be improved.
“Since Ken Livingstone took over as Mayor, tube fares have risen by 25% in places like Haringey and Enfield.Londoners are paying some of the most expensive tube fares in Europe.”
As the Arts Council continues to consult on its controversial threat to axe a vital grant to Jacksons Lane Arts and Community Centre in Highgate, local Liberal Democrats are urging as many people as possible to sign a petition demanding that they reconsider the decision.
Lib Dem Leader and local councillor Neil Williams says that responses from Highgate and Archway residents have been flooding in at an astonishing rate to the party’s headquarters. The party has also been out collecting signatures and has set up an on-line petition.
Lib Dem MP Lynne Featherstone is to meet official from the Arts Council and Lib Dem councillors are to discuss the issue with Haringey Council tomorrow, where they will show the strength of feeling on the issue.
Lib Dem Leader and Highgate councillor Neil Williams comments:
“The more people I speak to about the issue, the clearer it is to me how strongly local residents feel – and it’s also clear how wide an area the Centre serves, going well beyond Highgate and Archway. There are very few such community based arts facilities in this part of Haringey and beyond. ”
Local Lib Dem MP Lynne Featherstone adds:
“Cutting the grant is absolutely indefensible. We need to show them that Haringey is fully behind the Centre, and we need as many local people to respond as possible.”
Local residents can sign the Lib Dems’ petition at www.ourcampaign.org.uk/jacksons. People can also write to express their views to Haringey Lib Dems, FREEPOST LON11153, 100 Uplands Road, London N8 9BR, and these will be passed on the Art’s Council.
Responding to comments this morning from Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, that the Equal Pay Act is contributing to a huge backlog of equal pay cases at employment tribunals and is past its ‘sell-by date’, Liberal Democrat Women and Equalities Spokesperson, Lynne Featherstone said:
“The current law simply isn’t working as it should to protect people from discrimination.
“The Equal Pay Act is based on the outdated view that discrimination is a rare occurrence perpetrated by individual ‘bad’ employers but fails to recognise the wide-scale structural discrimination that exists.
“Class actions should be seriously considered by the Government as a way of reducing the burden on victims and the tribunals.
“Ministers should also consider our proposal for compulsory equal pay audits across the board to bring discrimination to light. These could be followed with a ‘protected period’ for employers to put their house in order before a lengthy tribunal process becomes necessary.”
Note: more information on Trevor Phillips’s comments is on the Commission’s website.
Lynne Featherstone 