Throwing flour at Mrs T.

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Journey intrepidly to Orpington Methodist Church to address the Liberal Democrat Youth & Students conference.

It’s the first time I’ve been invited to one of their events. Display my ‘youth’ credentials by regaling them with

tales of my street cred, In the 70s I marched against ‘Maggie Thatcher – Union Snatcher’ and threw flour bags at her effigy when (before she was Prime Minister) as Education Secretary she wanted to take away power from student unions. All sadly a very long time ago.

Talk about transport and young people – get so carried away that run out of time and lots of people came to me afterwards with questions.

My fan club

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See my fan club are out in force in letters page of Ham & High! Three vitriolic attacks on me personally and the LibDems collectively. Anyone would think there was a by-election on – and there is.

My campaign manager tells me that the more attacks on me the better it shows I must be doing. Of course, it’s not his name in the frame!

In cyberspace, anyone can hear you think

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Close friends and colleagues, knowledgeable about my tenuous relationship with technology, are currently much amused by my elevated geek status, having been pronounced a runner-up in the Guardian’s Political Blog of the Year awards.

For those thinking “what is she on about?” a blog (or web log) is a kind of on-line diary / stream of consciousness / view of the world that individuals or groups place in the public domain on the web to communicate with the wider world.

Political blogging is now becoming a new phenomenon in terms of engaging with the public and making elected politician more accessible and more open. My own blog is a running commentary on my daily activities and thoughts both at the London Assembly and as a Haringey councillor.

“Down to earth and good humoured” is how the Guardian described it. It is a very personal engagement, I have to say. For me when I write, I am writing alone in a room and imagine myself actually talking to people about my day.

I started it last September as a result of a discussion with a close colleague (who is a mega-geek and has been since birth) suggesting that I might like to do this. As a workaholic – I couldn’t quite see where I would get time to do it – but I thought I would give it a go.

It has become therapy in a way. A personal commune with myself – I sometimes even forget that there are people out there reading it. Some have emailed me to say they read it every day – so I have to be careful to remember that it is not a private diary. I don’t record my personal life but inevitably you do get insider information on the behind the scenes rows that cross my path.

It has developed a life of its own – out there in cyberspace anyone can hear you, including an avid reader from Mexico! I have emails from across the world arguing with me over various entries in my blog. It also meanders its way into the pages of other print media from the Scotsman to the Liverpool Echo.

But perhaps best of all, since I appeared in the On-Line section of the Guardian (which I confess to never having read prior to elevation to its pages) my own teenage daughter now rates me!

I have to say I am thrilled to have won this award. I was astonished when I got news that I had been nominated. Amazed when the Guardian shortlisted me into the last twelve and stunned when I was pronounced a runner up.

It was won by thegayvote.co.uk which is a very serious blog where people post their views on the issues of the day and their impact on the gay world.

I think in an age where so few people vote and there is a view (not mine – I’ve met too many!) that politicians are all the same – this intimate and personal recording of a politicians work provides an opportunity for people to see and understand better what politicians are actually doing and thinking.

Readers will be pleased to note that the swelling of my head to gargantuan proportions has been somewhat reduced by said geek friend sending me the actual voting figures that delivered my new found fame. It wasn’t millions or hundreds of thousands of votes I garnered. But I can always dream of next year’s competition…

High noon with Tube Lines

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High noon with Tube Lines! In reality a working lunch with the Chief Exec of Tube Lines, Terry Morgan. Tube Lines is the private consortium who is contracted to look after the infrastructure on the Northern, Jubilee and Piccadilly lines.

Lunching with the enemy – having been a staunch, to put it mildly, opponent of the PPP, I guess the idea was to seduce me in their stylish Headquarters building with its posh conference room with stunning views of the river. Terry gave me a presentation to show me how much they are doing and how well they are doing.

Of course, the PPP companies now have to deliver what’s in the contract, so in many ways my real argument is with the Labour government who part-privatised the tube in a way that will deliver almost nothing in terms of relieving overcrowding and in which there is loads of work and profit for the lawyers – particularly in arguing over who is responsible for what.

One bit of new information surfaced of real interest – but it can’t go into the public domain – yet!

Setting the budget

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Plenary session of the Assembly on the GLA’s budget. Mayor Ken Livingstone made his report and is set to raise the precept on London by 7.5%. Maybe there will be a rabbit out of hat at last minute – otherwise London will be stung again.

The Lib Dems are proposing a precept of around 2.5%. We leave the budget for policing London untouched – but cut out the Mayor’s proposals for extending the congestion charging zone westwards, the West London tram and his very expensive self promotion.

Everyone makes speeches as expected. Lots of bad temper from Toby Harris (Labour) and Eric Ollerenshaw (Tory). For once I don’t speak – enough hot air in the chamber in my view!

No surprises. None of the political parties’ budget amendments lowering the Mayor’s precept get the two thirds majority needed. Needless to say, Labour support the Mayor and therefore his draft budget passes with the support of one third (Labour) of the Assembly. No other forum passes a budget on a minority vote!

Muswell Hill police station

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Meeting with Sir John Stevens, Met Police Commissioner. He suggests that the Muswell Hill police front counter should be open by the summer. I remind him that I have still not had any further info on how the Met is doing following my report and work on its inability to answer non-urgent calls – 40% of police stations did not answer calls. He promises to follow up and arrange a meeting on the work to date.

Happy Birthday Congestion Charging!

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Mayor’s press conference which, not unnaturally, centres on Congestion Charging. He maintains it has been absolutely successful and there are no real problem with business downturn or customer service problems. My own view is that whilst a stunning success on reducing congestion – there are still a few question marks.

Firstly, the charging regime is very punitive. This shouldn’t be about catching out the honest – but simply charging people who still choose or even need to come into central London by car. 165,000 penalty notices a month are being issued. No way are all of them trying to dodge the charge. Casual users often simply forget and by the time they remember they are

whacked a huge penalty charge. I am suggesting that instead of penalties kicking in by 10pm on the day people should be allowed a further 24 hours in which to redeem themselves.

I want people to pay the charge – but it should be easy and not simply nab them for being human. Traffic measures should be about controlling bad behaviour, rewarding good behaviour and targeting the purposely dishonest.

Secondly, I don’t think that one year of a scheme this huge and this new is enough to be confident of the social, financial and business impacts of the scheme. That needs more time, more assessment and more analysis before moving onto other areas.

And thirdly, while the scheme isn’t there to raise money, the original projections of net income by Transport for London put the revenue stream at around £200 million net of penalty notices. In reality this is around £18 million. That throws a huge question mark over Transport for London’s ability to project the economics of transport schemes – which is worrying to put it mildly given the number of other transport schemes in the pipeline.

MUSWELL HILL – LIB DEM ANGER AS COUNCIL REFUSES PEDESTRIAN CROSSING

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The Lib Dem candidate in the Muswell Hill by-election has strongly criticised Haringey Council for refusing to back residents’ and local Lib Dem councillors’ demands for a new pedestrian crossing on Priory Road. Gail Engert has made the comments following the Labour-run council’s refusal to provide money for a new crossing, despite the pleas of local residents, who even brought the issue to a recent meeting of Haringey’s full council.

Gail Engert is backing local residents and says the road is dangerous, with fast moving cars making it impossible to cross the wide road safely to the shops at Park and Priory Village. However the Lib Dems have secured a commitment form the Council to keep the issue under review, and as a short-term measure Gail Engert and Lynne Featherstone will be pursuing the possibility of cheaper measures to make the road safer. These might include ‘slow’ markings on the road and some traffic islands.

Gail Engert comments:

“It is very disappointing to see the Labour-run Council refusing to listen to the huge safety concerns facing pedestrians crossing the road near the bottom of Muswell Hill. While I will be pursuing other safety issues, these are very much half measures, as a proper crossing is needed.”

Muswell Hill councillor Lynne Featherstone adds:

“A crossing would also help to boost the parade of shops at Park and Priory Village, which has lost both a bank and a post office in recent months. We will not let the matter rest, and both Gail Engert and I will be pursuing the issue further.”

LIB DEMS WELCOME COMPULSORY 'METVESTS' FOR HARINGEY POLICE OFFICERS

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Liberal Democrats in Haringey have welcomed the Metropolitan Police’s decision to make officers in the borough wear protective vests. The decision, which also affects eleven other London boroughs, follows a review of health and safety issues following an incident in Newham where an officer was shot.

Lib Dem councillor and GLA member Lynne Featherstone believes the measures are fully justified, in view of the recent incident in Newham and the general problems with gun crime across the capital.

Cllr Featherstone comments:

“I think the Met Police have made a sensible decision. Many officers already wear the ‘metvest’ on a regular basis. This directive merely ensures that they are all protected by this essential, potential life saving piece of equipment.”

However she adds that while protective measures were important, the Government needs to do more to tackle the causes of crime:

“It is important that while police tackle crime, the Government addresses many of the social problems that lead people into crime. Without the Government doing its part, the crime problem will grow and the police will need consider other protective measures.”

Transport outlook

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Transport Chair’s Briefing today. Nothing but storm clouds on the horizon for committee business between here and the election. The Committee’s report on Congestion Charging has run into political difficulties. The Tories won’t sign up to it because it is not critical enough of the Mayor’s scheme and Labour may not because it is too critical. Strikes me then, that the balance is just right! There are only minor amendments still wanted by Labour – so hopefully will sort by time of meeting next Monday.

As for the report on LTUC (London Transport Users Committee) which is aimed at bringing them into the modern management framework – they are not happy. Many complaints and meetings and lobbying going on. The report simply asks the Transport Committee to agree the report and that it be sent to LTUC for response within a month. Change is always a challenge.

But given that LTUC has as many staff and as much money as London Government itself has for all its scrutiny work, we do have to find a way of making it accountable in a way it has not been used to before.