Yes – it is tough out there! But without the Liberal Democrats’ delivering our front page manifesto commitment to raise the tax threshold – we wouldn’t even have that £600. And next year the threshold will rise to £10,000 of earnings before any tax is payable. So how would you use an extra £600?
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/VGQahXAnOn8?rel=0
(You can also watch the film directly on YouTube.)
Lynne Featherstone MP has today condemned Haringey Council, after they admitted that missing artwork in Muswell Hill was washed away by one of their contractors. The portraits had mysteriously vanished earlier this week.
The public portrait display was of local traders, who are speaking out in support of local trade as part of a global art project called Inside Out.
The artist, Matt Humphrey, had wanted to ‘give a face’ to the plight that independent local traders, shopkeepers and creatives are currently facing.
The pictures had attracted a lot of attention, from local press and local residents alike. However, they have now disappeared for good, after being washed away by the Council.
The Lib Dem MP for Hornsey and Wood Green had written directly to the Council two days ago demanding an explanation, as soon as the removal of the art was brought to her attention.
Muswell Hill Liberal Democrat Councillor Gail Engert commneted:
“If officers had simply picked up the phone to the Muswell Hill Councillors, we could have explained the significance of the art to them.
“This would have avoided this incredibly embarrassing situation for the Council, and saved the delightful community portraits.”
Commenting, Lynne Featherstone MP said:
“It is a travesty that Haringey Council removed this artwork. They were fantastic portraits of local traders – inspiring a great sense of community cohesion and originality.
“You would think that after the Banksy saga, the Council would have learnt that people simply do not like high quality street art being removed from their area.
“I cannot believe that common sense didn’t kick in at any point before the pictures were washed away. And shockingly, they did not even attempt to contact the artist before they removed them.
“This is unfortunately just typical of Labour-run Haringey Council – no common sense and no connection with the local community. Residents deserve better.”
The Lib Dem opposition in Haringey have slammed the decision by the Mayor to close the front counter in Muswell Hill and reduce opening hours at Hornsey and Wood Green police stations.
Lib Dem councillor and crime spokesperson, Martin Newton has written to the Deputy Mayor of London objecting to the decision and calling on him to change his mind.
The Lib Dems have argued that having a contact point in Muswell Hill Library instead of the police counter is unacceptable because it will only be open for a short time and will be based in Muswell Hill Library. The library does not have disabled access so will not be usable for disabled people who would be forced to travel across the borough to report a crime.
Haringey Lib Dems have been campaigning for a local base for the Safer Neighbourhood Team on, or near, Muswell Hill Broadway with an accessible front counter for the public to report crimes.
Local Lib Dem MP, Lynne Featherstone, is also fighting the decision and has stated her opposition to the closure of Muswell Hill volunteer counter and the reduction of opening hours at Hornsey and Wood Green stations.
Martin Newton, Lib Dem crime spokesperson and councillor for Fortis Green, Muswell Hill, comments:
“This decision by the Mayor is unacceptable. We need to keep a front counter and safer neighbourhood police base in the Muswell Hill area and to keep Hornsey and Wood Green open twenty-four hours a day.
“The contact point in Muswell Hill Library, open three hours a week is completely unsuitable and will not have disabled access.
“We will continue the fight to keep a police presence in Muswell Hill and keep Hornsey and Wood Green police stations open twenty-four hours.
“I have written to the Deputy Mayor calling on him to change his mind, protect our twenty-four police stations and keep a proper police base in Muswell Hill. I hope he sees sense and listens to us and the pleas of local residents.”
Commenting, Lynne Featherstone MP said:
“I am deeply disappointed with the Mayor’s crime plan for Haringey, which leaves the whole of the west of the borough without any nearby police station open twenty-four hours.
“In the past, I was promised that the Muswell Hill counter would never close without a suitable replacement service. The current alternative presented by the Mayor is certainly not suitable, and I will continue to campaign for an equal or better replacement in the Muswell Hill area. I will also continue to oppose the downgrading of front counters in Wood Green and Hornsey Police Stations.
“I encourage residents with views on the plans to also make themselves heard by contacting the Mayor directly.”
Read the full letter here.
Before
After
Lynne Featherstone MP has today written to Haringey Council, requesting information regarding the disappearance of portrait paintings in Muswell Hill. The Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey and Wood Green was alerted to the disappearance via twitter.
The public portrait display was of local traders, who are speaking out in support of local trade as part of a global art project called Inside Out.
The artist, Matt Humphrey, had wanted to ‘give a face’ to the plight that independent local traders, shopkeepers and creatives are currently facing.
The pictures had attracted a lot of attention, from local press and local residents alike. However, they now have been washed away.
Commenting, Lynne Featherstone MP said:
“Just a few weeks ago I met the artist and saw the portraits of local traders. They were wonderful and it is so sad that they have been lost.
“First, our Turnpike Lane Banksy mysteriously disappeared, and now these wonderful portraits have been washed away.
“More needs to be done to protect high quality public art. It adds vibrancy and originality to our streets and can encourage visitors, which is good news for local businesses.
“The building owners did not remove the art, so I have now contacted Haringey Council to try to find out what has happened.”
Lynne Featherstone, Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, has this week urged local residents to sign up for a scheme that could save them money on energy bills.
The ‘Big London Energy Switch’ is offering residents across London the possibility of paying less for gas and electricity by switching suppliers. If successful, the scheme could see thousands of households across the capital simultaneously change their energy provider, in return for a lower fixed term tariff.
Residents can register for the scheme for free. Energy companies will then compete to offer the lowest price possible to supply those residents. Residents will be informed of the results – and then they can decide whether to switch or not.
In Haringey, a £275,000 Coalition Government grant will also fund a project called 40:20 Home Energy Check-Up. As part of the project, Green Deal Assessors will visit residents’ homes and recommend energy efficiency improvements.
The Coalition Government has also awarded Haringey £153,900 from its Warm Homes Healthy People fund, paying for extra staff to visit 200 older people and contact a further 400 during the winter weather.
Commenting, Lynne Featherstone MP said:
“Whilst we cannot change the weather, the Lib Dems in Government have awarded £46 million to projects across the country to help reduce fuel poverty, boost energy efficiency and encourage switching to cheaper providers.
“I hope that Haringey residents will take advantage of the Big Switch initiative and register before the 8th April. I have emailed over 8000 constituents already to inform them of the offer.
“Other areas have already done this. On average households who took part saved up to £200. You can find out more information and register on the website.”
I’ve just read an article by Haringey Liberal Democrat leader Richard Wilson, which details the many failings of Labour-run Haringey Council over the last month. Unfortunately the failings are all to familiar – they’ve been at this for the best part of 40 years.
The article is a must read for all local residents – who deserve much better!
Full link here: http://www.libdemvoice.org/opinion-haringey-a-council-in-crisis-33896.html
Lynne Featherstone MP has today expressed her disappointment as the final Police and Crime Plan for Haringey was revealed by the London Mayor’s office.
The Plan will see both Wood Green and Hornsey front counters downgraded from 24 hour counters to standard front counters (open during the daytime only.) Muswell Hill front counter, which is currently staffed by volunteers, will be closed.
Tottenham police station will now be the only station in the Borough with a 24hr front counter.
The Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey and Wood Green and the Haringey Liberal Democrats had been campaigning against the Conservative Mayor of London’s plans.
They wrote directly to the Conservative Deputy Mayor of London for Policing, Stephen Greenhalgh, objecting to the proposals to close Muswell Hill police station and to reduce the opening hours at other stations.
Commenting, Lynne Featherstone MP said:
“We conducted a survey and the response was overwhelmingly against a reduction in front counter services. We were very clear in our campaigning that opening hours at our local station should not be reduced; and that a front counter should be retained in the Muswell Hill area.
“That’s why the final plan released today is a great disappointment. It will now be harder for residents to report crimes at a front counter.
“We will certainly carry on campaigning to ensure that a replacement contact point is created in Muswell Hill.”
A fortnight ago I announced that the UK, through the Department for International Development, would throw its weight behind the global movement to finally bring an end Female Genital Cutting (FGC). Momentum is building and I firmly believe we have a chance to end the practice within a generation, stopping the untold physical and psychological damage it is bringing upon millions of girls across the world every year. Our children’s children will be able to look back on FGC as we do foot binding today.
But with this goal comes a whole host of questions – how do we reverse a practice that has been so deeply ingrained in many cultures for thousands of years? How can we address the issue without just driving the practice underground? What approaches work?
Last Thursday I was in Senegal to find some answers. The West African nation has led the world in efforts to end FGC since the Government outlawed the practice in 1999. By the end of last year nearly 6,000 communities had declared they were abandoning FGC and the Government has a target to end it entirely by 2015.
Among the inspirational NGOs helping to make this happen is Tostan. Founded in 1991 by Molly Melching, Tostan has a completely unique approach to working with communities. When invited into a village a Tostan facilitator, who will often be from a neighbouring village, will move into the community and become part of its daily life. He or she will then host regular classes with both adults and children, focusing on democracy, human rights, hygiene and health, as well as basic literacy and numeracy. By empowering the community and informing them of their rights and responsibilities, Tostan enables them to make their own collective decision to abandon FGC.
The process seems to work – more than 6,500 communities in Senegal, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, the Gambia, Djibouti, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso and Somalia have made public declarations for abandonment of harmful traditional practices following the Tostan programme. A UNICEF-funded evaluation found that FGC prevalence in young girls dropped by 77% in the decade following these declarations.
On Thursday Molly invited me to visit Keur Simbara, a tiny village near Thies – Senegal’s second city – to see what Tostan’s programme can achieve. Home to just 300 people, Keur Simbara formally and collectively abandoned FGC in 1998 after following Tostan’s programme. After a wonderful welcome, when this isolated, sandy village became filled with music and dancing, the villagers told me how they came to this hugely impressive decision.
Demba Diawara, Imam and village chief, told of how he dedicated himself to building a consensus for ending FGC in his community – a vital intervention as many falsely link this harmful traditional practice with religious obligation. There is no passage in the Qu’ran nor the Bible that recommends female circumcision. By making a stand, Demba was able to help break the taboo around FGC and make the first steps towards abandonment.
One of the most powerful testemonies was from Oureye Sall. Married by her parents at the age of 14 to a man 41 years her senior, Oureye was also put through FGC as a child. Instead of being given the opportunity to learn how to read and write, Oureye was then was taught how to practice FGC. For years she was the local FGC practitioner, before Tostan’s programme made her aware of the consequences of FGC (terrible health consequences for women) and the Imam confirmed it was not a religious obligation. She is now a pioneer in the movement to end the practice and has travelled to over 100 villages across Senegal to spread awareness of the harm it causes.
Molly Melching, my guide throughout the visit, makes for a truly formidable ally in the movement to end FGC. This was only one village, in one country in a continent which still has a long road ahead of it but this approach – of working alongside and within communities to help them come to their own conclusions about the harm and trauma caused by FGC and change social norms – offers hope that the successes in Senegal can be replicated across Africa. There are countries where this harmful traditional practice is far more deeply ingrained in culture, society and even politics than it is in Senegal, but it’s clear that attempting to dictate to people what is right and wrong when it comes to a 2000 year-old tradition just won’t work.
And given that we have upwards of 20,000 girls at risk of FGC in the UK – the ties between mother countries and diasporas are intrinsically linked – and I am convinced that the answer to our diasporas lies partly – if not mostly – in the behaviour change models bringing such success in Africa.
To find out more about the UK’s fund to help end FGC within a generation, go to http://www.dfid.gov.uk/News/Latest-news/2013/FGM-UK-to-help-end-female-genital-mutilation/
Dancing – well trying!
The Ham and High got it spot on this week, reporting on the costly mistakes of a ‘Council in crisis.’
Haringey Council have always been prone to bad press and terrible errors, but last week this intensified, as the Council quickly lurched from one scandal to another.
The front page article specifically refers to a court case against the Council. A High Court Judge ruled that that the Council acted indefensibly and unlawfully on an anonymous complaint against two parents.
Not only did Haringey Council act unlawfully throughout the investigation, they were also ruled to have also breached the Human Rights Act and will have to pay compensation accordingly.
Compensation following a Judicial Review is very rare, and indicates that the judge feels a real abuse of power has occurred.
This really was a damning verdict against Haringey children’s services, who have again failed the people in this borough.
It’s truly shocking that even after Baby P, they still have not managed to get the department in order.
Haringey Labour have proved themselves incapable of turning around the department. They are truly living up to their reputation as ‘the worst in England.’
Haringey Children, parents and residents deserve better.
Lynne Featherstone MP last week took part in the Wood Green Hunger Banquet, organised by Oxfam volunteer Katrina Gajevska.
The event is part of the ‘Enough Food for All – If’ campaign – which aims to visualise the unfair distribution of food around the world.
The MP for Hornsey and Wood Green opened the banquet by speaking about the role of UK aid in combating hunger.
The Liberal Democrat MP – who is also a minister in the Department of International Development – spoke further about her recent visits to Ethiopia and South Sudan, where she witnessed the effects of uneven distribution of food and hunger.
The attendees then ate different meals, depending on whether they had drawn a rich, middle or poor ticket. The rich received the best meal, the poor ate only a modest portion of rice, and the middle-class got a slightly better menu.
Food for the banquet was donated by the following local businesses: Jai Shri Krishna from Turnpike Lane; Qui from Crouch End; Zer from Crouch End; Dolly’s Delightfuls; Bakes Cakes and Treats from Turnpike Lane; BG Foodtwist from The Harringay Market.
After the event, Lynne Featherstone MP commented:
“I’d like to thank Katrina for organising this fantastic local event, which was a great way of illustrating some of the issues faced by the world’s poorest. It was a pleasure to take part and speak at the event.
“I was very happy yesterday when the Chancellor reaffirmed our commitment to spend 0.7% of GDP on overseas aid – so we can continue to help the world’s poorest and contribute to ending hunger in the developing world.”
Lynne Featherstone 