Friday 23 November 2007

Alan Davidson


I'm grieving over the loss of a dear friend and Labour Party comrade, Alan Davidson.

Alan died suddenly, though he was only in his early forties, on Tuesday. There was no warning, no opportunity to say goodbye. My heart goes out to Alan's beloved wife, Anna.

The last time I saw him, he was in good spirits and full of ideas. That is how I will always remember him. He had been immensely proud to lay a wreath at Streatham War Memorial on behalf of Streatham Constituency Labour Party. We talked for a long time after the ceremony about anything and everything, as we always did.

He was one of the most committed activists in Streatham Labour Party. I believe he had a bright future and (I know) big plans ahead. It is so sad that the future and those plans have been snatched away from him, and he has been snatched away from us.

We all have those moments when we hear terrible news, and we always remember where we are.

I was at home, up a ladder, painting a wall when I got a message from the Labour Party to say Alan had died. It was devastating, and ironic at the same time. Only days earlier, I had been offering Alan my services to hang wallpaper and for painting at his own home. Alan was not gifted in the painting and decorating department, and I think he was about to take me up on the offer.

Only a few days ago he and I were chatting about the writing of a history of Streatham Labour Party, and the need to archive all the election leaflets and pictures and minutes of meetings which have accumulated across the constituency over the years. Alan, as ever, was all for going full steam ahead.

There are so many conversations left unfinished between Alan and I, so many ideas left undeveloped, that the suddenness of his death has left me not really believing it has happened. But it has happened.

I went to a building society in Streatham High Road yesterday and saw a dark-haired man with his back to me, wearing a jaunty fedora just like Alan's. I paused in the doorway, hoping that the man would turn round and turn out to be the wonderful Alan, but knowing full well that it couldn't possibly be.

Alan and I met ten years ago, when he was working at Millbank for the Labour Party and I was working at Downing Street as a civil servant. I took to him instantly, sensing the warmth and generosity of spirit he showed throughout all the years I knew him.

It was Alan who suggested, in a beery conversation at the Westminster Arms, that I should look in Streatham for somewhere to buy a flat - a flat being what I was looking for. After a circuitous search, and many false dawns, that was what I did. Alan was one of the first to welcome me, and was always a welcome guest at my flat.

He relished a full role in Streatham Labour politics, and was always an intelligent, interesting and provocative speaker when he made contributions at any of our meetings.

He was also a staunch trade unionist, with his roles in the constituency and in his union (Amicus, now Unite). I recall bumping into him at Conference recently in Bournemouth, toiling up a hill returning from a demo, rolled-up banner over shoulder, as happy as anything that he had been part of a big protest march on the seafront. He was unique, a man of many interests, individual and irreplaceable. I also recall meeting him later that day in a Bournemouth hotel bar, pint of Guinness in hand, glued to the Rugby which was playing on a screen in the corner.

Though we disagreed frequently, I always knew he spoke from a principled stance. He never wavered, or spoke to one audience differently from another. I admired him for that, amongst many other things.

When I became a councillor and then a Cabinet member, Alan would offer me considered advice about policy, or more personalised advice on how to give the best of myself at public meetings. That advice, in an occasional string of phone calls, texts and emails, has continued up to now. It was always couched in a friendly, amusing way and I always valued it.

I've been reading through his emailed comments after a public meeting just a few weeks ago. He said: "You have to stop holding the mike with both hands. Just think of a good crooner: Mel Torme or Bing Crosby. They always used the spare hand to sing and speak their feelings. You need to loosen up your delivery. Try to modulate more and project your voice."

I can hear him say the words, with that gentle Kiwi lilt he had. If it was face to face advice he was giving - "a quiet word, Councillor" he would say - an almost avuncular hand would be on my arm or elbow. None of Alan's advice was lost on me - I have borne it all in mind. At another public meeting, on the evening of the day he died, I was putting Alan's advice into action. A political Bing Crosby I will never be, but he has helped me to be a better public speaker.

I remember Alan very fondly in so many different settings - at stuffy receptions in Westminster, thoughtful seminars and symposia, in the crushed bars at Conference, at CLP and branch meetings, wine tastings and parties, and out campaigning in all weathers. He was an enthusiastic campaigner, and a natural on the doorstep.

I'm proud to say he worked like a Trojan during my by-election in October 2005, and again when the whole council was up for election in May 2006. He was also a great campaigner at GLA and General Election times.

I have very happy memories of being out knocking on doors with Alan in torrential rain, when it was also miserably cold.

The weather got so terrible at times that we kept our spirits up by making up alternate lines of Limericks, poking fun at the Lib Dems, each Limerick related to the roads we were canvassing at the time. I wrote the best ones down in my diary, and here are a couple.

A Lib Dem who leafleted Braeside
Had "issues" with those on the "gay" side
In true Lib Dem fashion
He altered his passion
In the arms of a trucker from Tayside

A Lib Dem who canvassed in Churchmore
Had a bottom a dog made a lurch for
Said he - no pretence -
"Ow! - can't sit on the fence ...
So instead of just sitting, I'll perch more."

Alan loved the Labour Party, and the Labour Party loved Alan, in all his flamboyant ways. The hats and scarves, the fob watch and chain. His laughter, and ability to chuckle at himself, the looks of intense concentration as he listened to others' views. He loved to chat and gossip, and loved to be in the know about issues large and small. He loved intrigue but hated infighting. He would have had so much more to offer the Party in years to come, and we discussed his plans many times over the years, with me lending a comradely ear. His death is a tragedy, but he is missed and will be remembered long into the future he should have been a part of.

Locally, Alan did good service in many ways for Streatham Labour Party, and for his chosen communty as a helper at Keith Hill's surgeries, for his local (St Leonards) Safer Neighbourhood Panel and as chair of governors at Woodmansterne Primary School. He gave a lot back to Streatham. He was also the proud author of elegantly waspish letters to the South London Press and other local papers.

I am proud to have known Alan. I am proud to have been a sounding board in his parliamentary ambitions - he would have made a great MP had he lived.

Wherever I go from now on, and whatever I do, there will always be something of Alan with me, reassuring me, but ensuring that I give the best account of myself and my party.

Tuesday 2 October 2007

The battle against guns will be won at the grassroots


This is an article I wrote for Progress, the magazine of Labour's Progressives.

Lambeth calling

The battle against guns will be won at the grassroots

01 October 2007

This summer, our cities have seen a number of young people, typically teenage boys, slain on our streets. A rising sense of moral panic, ramped up by a media hungry for summer stories, has seen politicians of all parties trying to address an issue which is no stranger to Lambeth.

Here, crime is the Labour administration’s top priority, being the main concern of residents. There were over 3,000 fewer offences committed last year, the fifth successive year of crime reduction. But seven murders in a nine-week period have again underlined the need to continue to address violent crime among young people.

Sadly, too many politicians respond in a default way. I never thought I would hear a Tory leader quoting the Sex Pistols, but for David Cameron to talk about ‘anarchy in the UK’ is doubly disturbing. First, because it feeds a sensationalist media agenda, and, second, because it was the social conditions created by the Conservatives’ legacy which contributed to the problems of inner-city violence that we see today.

Some of Cameron’s proposals are welcome, but I cannot believe that the Conservatives are serious about correcting the social ills which they did so much to bring about. Eighteen years of Thatcherite rule saw horrendous riots in Brixton and other parts of the country, and pushed aspiration and wellbeing in Britain’s black and minority ethnic communities to an all time low. The decimation of urban and industrial areas in the 1980s and early 1990s created both a black and a white underclass.

In 1997, Labour was entrusted with the task of tackling these inequalities. Over the past decade optimism has been repaid with better schools and measures to address poverty, as well as Sure Start. But action has been focused too much on broad national intention and not enough on very localised application.

Neither local government, the police, the health service nor the voluntary sector, have yet been trusted enough by the centre to work together on local solutions. The government has introduced tougher legislation to deal with criminality. But more needs to be done to encourage localised action on the causes of crime - poor housing, poverty, school exclusions, drugs, absent fathers and fractured families.

Strong, patient and responsible action is needed in places like Lambeth. Guns and gangs have been a growing problem for years, and it will take years to grow the solutions. In Lambeth we are prepared for a long, determined journey with our communities, and our police. A gangs commission, set up by Lambeth Council, is currently taking a comprehensive look at our problem.

We are realists. It may take 10 years, probably more, working with children from the earliest age and their parents before we see tangible benefits. In the meantime, we are in much need of stronger legislation on weapons and drugs. But we also require funding and support from the government to engage better with young people and their families, to improve council housing and build another secondary school in addition to the two we are now building.

More ‘role models’ are an obvious and talked-about answer, but the best and most consistent role models are good parents, and the best places to learn how best to live are first in the home, and second in a strong community with inclusive facilities for study and leisure.

Yes, we should be also be tough. Crime and antisocial behaviour are intolerable. Discipline is everything, in the home, in school and on the street. The government is right to tackle crime and poverty, but it must also give greater attention to the strains of debt on low-income families and the pull of consumerism on our children.

It is in our communities that the lasting solutions will be emerge - better parenting, more encouragement through school, proud neighbourhoods that celebrate young people and prepare them for a future as working citizens, equipped with the skills to raise families, walk away from conflict with their peers and to live useful lives within the law.

Mark Bennett is Labour councillor for Lambeth and cabinet member for safer communities.

Saturday 11 August 2007

The Importance of Being Ernest's Great-Grandson


I travelled up by train to a family barbecue in North London today, hosted by my cousin John Garrad.

Part of the reason for getting together was for older members of what has become quite a far-flung family to share old photographs, memories, keepsakes and the like, and for younger members of the family to get to know each other better.

It was fascinating to read the obituary (pictured) of my great-grandfather, Ernest Garrad, from the TOT (Train Omnibus Tram, a friendly society, a forerunner of the London Transport Benevolent Fund) magazine of December 1929. Ernest started life in the East End as a road-sweeper, the son of a policeman. He served with the 20th Hussars in India, South Africa and the Great War. He served with Kitchener's and then Roberts' Horse, and in the Great War was a motor mechanic.

He was latterly a ticket collector at St James's Park tube station, by coincidence the station I used frequently when I was working for the Labour Party at Old Queen Street. I've always felt really at ease at St James's Park, and now I know why.

I'm supposed to have been given my middle name after this man. However, for mysterious reasons, it appears that he used the name Ernest and the name Edward, and my grandmother was under the impression that his name was Edward. So my middle name is Edward when it should really be Ernest!

As Wilde said "It is a divine name. It has a music of its own. It produces vibrations ... The only really safe name is Ernest."

So maybe I'll have to change it, or add it in.

Thursday 2 August 2007

Gordon Brown Wows the USA


If proof were needed of Gordon Brown's stature as a statesman, his visit to the United States, which included the remarkable move of getting the United Nations to back a peace plan for Darfur, has provided it. A friend in Washington has sent me the following link to a pro-Gordon paean by Brent Budowsky, who goes as far as wishing that our new Prime Minister could be President of the United States.

"Imagine," says Mr Budowsky "an American president who would speak as Gordon Brown speaks, and do what Gordon Brown proposes to do!

"November 2008 is coming and Americans will be astonished at the outpouring of idealism, optimism and excitement when the dead hand of the current course is removed, and a new government brings new life to our democracy and renewed
appeal as a beacon for the world.

"Gordon Brown, a man who prepared to be prime minister for a decade, has spoken the words with eloquence, and offered the plan with depth, that is a gateway to the future and a forerunner to what is coming.

"A new Democratic president, backed by a new Democratic Congress, working with a brilliant British prime minister, backed by a Labour Party majority in Parliament, would create a program that would rally support throughout the world, lifting two proud nations while lifting the aspirations of people everywhere."

http://thehill.com/op-eds/gordon-brown-for-president-2007-08-01.html

Tuesday 31 July 2007

Cameron's leadership: A Miraj


How amusing but also how appalling to hear David Cameron on the Today programme this morning, lashing out at anyone who has recently dared to criticise his leadership of the Tory party. I suppose if he attacks everybody, then that makes him inclusive.

Cameron was actually on the airwaves to tout his latest policy idea, which is to take away the right of appeal from children who have been excluded from schools. To my mind, as a school governor, the appeal process is vital, giving an opportunity for a child's case to be scrutinised by a higher 'court of appeal' than the school, allowing for justice to revisited and done if the exclusion has been unfair. Cameron, incidentally, got it wrong in saying that "perhaps" school governors could sit and hear exclusion cases as if that was some new idea that had just occurred to him. Governors already do that, the final decision does not rest with the head teacher as Cameron appears to believe.

Then it was on to the meat of the interview, Cameron's wobbly leadership of dissenting Conservatives.

Ali Miraj, on the board of two Tory policy reviews and the man who introduced Cameron at the launch of his leadership campaign, has become disillusioned, asking for "some substance and some credibility and not box-ticking and gimmickry". He has also said that "Cameron in my view has got substance, somewhere in there, but I'm afraid that in recent weeks, that has been taken over by PR."

Showing a spectacular lack of substance and a rather immoderate temper to judge by his rising tone of voice, Cameron hit out at Mr Miraj saying "I think listeners will draw their own conclusions about someone who one day asks for a peerage, to be elevated to the House of Lords, and the next minute launches a great attack on the leader of the Conservative Party."

With what evidence does Cameron make this serious assertion? Miraj has denied it.

Miraj, a former Conservative councillor and twice a parliamentary candidate, has responded: "Instead of engaging with the actual significant points I was making, he is trying to smear me now, which in my view is very, very disappointing and smacks of a complete lack of integrity. They can smear me as much as they want. They will be the losers if they don't engage with the points I have made."

Cameron then turned his anger on Lord Saatchi, who has said that "nicey-nicey" politics will not help the Tories win the next election. Cameron said, paying scant heed to the 18 years of Conservative rule (when of course the guiding Thatcherite motto was that there was no such thing as society) that his "answer to Maurice Saatchi is that the big question facing Britain today is how to mend our broken society."

Next up for scorn was Lord Stanley Kalms, the party donor, who last week dared to opine that Cameron's Conservatives "need to do some rethinking". Cameron retorted: "I don't think he knows what's going on in the Conservative party review groups. Stanley Kalms has never supported the Conservative party under my leadership. He takes a very backward looking view of these things."

I wonder whether any of this would be happening now if David Davis had won the Conservative leadership. Perhaps ordinary Conservative voters outside Mr Cameron's metro-bubble are wondering too. Is he thinking what they're thinking? I doubt it.

Monday 30 July 2007

Richard Stott


I was deeply saddened when I heard this morning that Richard Stott, with whom I worked closely during the editing process for the single volume of Alastair Campbell's diaries, died this morning from the pancreatic cancer he had been fighting against for much the project.

I had known Richard slightly ever since I worked in the Downing Street press office, but got to know him well as we went about the protracted editing process. I came to admire him as a journalist of great flair and fibre, and phenomenal energy. He coped with the disease with immense courage and bullish good humour, as well as what I would describe as an optimistic fatalism, often shown in sudden flashes of biting - but good-natured - wit, very often at his own expense.

I will always recall the long discussions we had about the relative merits of one form of words over another for various footnotes. He would often correct me over a point of syntax, and I would often correct him back on a point of detail. He never got impatient or gave the impression that he thought his view (ie as one of the great modern newspaper editors) was any more valid than the whippersnapper he had been asked to work with.

The last time I saw him, perhaps a few months ago, he had just had weeks of therapy and seemed to be very much on top of the cancer, cracking jokes - usually at the expense of the man he called either "Campbell" or (for more pointed fun) "the diarist", who had worked for Richard when he was editor of Today. Working closely with Richard was a great education and great entertainment - he would frequently have me in stitches with a mischievous remark, lobbed like a hand grenade into the most serious conversations.

I can remember at that last meeting, a long evening called to take careful stock of where we were with the diaries with publication looming, that despite his obvious ill-health he had the team laughing off our worries for him. He did a very funny and totally spot-on impression of Alastair reading out his work for the audiobook version with every snort and throat-clearing that anyone who has had a conversation with AC would recognise instantly.

I'm sure Richard was pleased to know that The Blair Years was published, and I know AC made a point of driving to see him in hospital, where he had worked on the last proofs of the book, where he was presented with the very first copy off the presses.

I am sorry I will never see or talk with Richard again. He was a good man, a Labour man, and only 63. Cancer is the cruellest of diseases.

Saturday 7 July 2007

Streatham Vale Flower Show



Since I was elected as a councillor, I have attended the Flower Show that is held biannually in the Holy Redeemer Church Hall in the Vale. It's always a fun event, organised by the Streatham Vale Property Occupiers Association, harking back to the earliest days of the Vale in the late twenties and early thirties, when the residents would vie to win various cups and shields for their garden and allotment produce, their cakes and their jams.

The show is still going strong today, and today's event saw trestle tables displaying the best in flower and vegetable arragements. Tea was served, old friends caught up with news and raffle tickets were sold - I won a nice little paintbox for my nephew when the draw was made by excited local children, overseen by former Conservative councillor for Streatham Vale (1986-98), Simon Hooberman.

The Flower Show is a testament to continuity, and the strength of the community young and old in Streatham Vale.

Sunday 24 June 2007

It's Gordon and Harriet


I was up in Manchester today for the Leadership Conference, held in the Bridgewater Hall. It was a really positive event, and it was nice to see Lambeth well represented there.

The announcement of the results for Deputy Leader were pure political theatre, with twists, turns and suspense throughout. There were gasps as the results were read out by Mike Grffiths of the NEC, and consolatory applause as one candidate was knocked out of each round.

Finally, it came down to two candidates - Alan Johnson, tipped by many as the favourite (who had been nominated by Streatham CLP) and Harriet Harman, who eventually won. Sky News had announced Johnson as the winner minutes before the announcement, only to have to retract and apologise, proving the old saying about Sky - "never wrong for long".

Coming out of the hall, there were a lot of long faces, and a lot of shocked ones. I went to the bar with some friends and we watched as various followers of various candidates got their bags and drifted home.

This all goes to show that the Labour Party can do the surprising thing, even surprise itself. She's only been elected for a matter of hours, but I have no doubt that Harriet will be a notable Deputy Leader, who will attract many people back to the party, and new members too.

I spoke to an old friend from '97 on the phone this evening and he said, wisely: "Harriet wanted it enough. The others didn't. She won." And now that she has won, we should all support her to do the job.

It was a historic occasion - seeing Gordon Brown accept the leadership, and Tony Blair standing down. Gordon made an acceptance speech that was ambitious, substantial and serious, with much for local government to think about. The poll results today - putting Labour significantly ahead of the Tories - stand us in good stead as we embark on a new era of Labour government.

Friday 15 June 2007

Lambeth's X-it project shows strong practice


I'm pleased to report that a youth project in Lambeth, X-it, was highly commended in a Home Affairs Committee Report out today on young black people and over-representation in the criminal justice system.

MPs on the committee contacted young people from Lambeth’s X-it programme who gave evidence for the report.

One young person gave her views on the programme this morning, outlining her experience of young people and crime in the area. The reporter mentioned she was part of a successful Lambeth programme that has prevented re-offending in over 70 percent of cases.

BBC News Twenty Four and the Today programme did interviews this morning at the Marcus Lipton Youth Centre, with young people on the project, myself and project organiser Julia Wolton.

Two other Today programme pieces on the Home Affairs Committee report included a broadcast from the Boyhood to Manhood centre in Peckham and an interview with Kids Company founder Camilla Batmangheldjh.

Wednesday 6 June 2007

The core of prejudice at the heart of Cameron’s Conservatives


It has emerged that almost two thirds of Conservatives apparently believe that immigration has not “been good for Britain”, according to a survey carried out by a leading Conservative website, whilst only a third of Conservatives would attend a civil partnership ceremony.

The findings were published by ConservativeHome, at:

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/torydiary/2007/06/is_this_you.html

The survey results state that only 34.4% of the 1,294 Conservatives who took part in the survey considered that “immigration had been largely good for Britain”, whilst only 66.3% would “go to a civil partnership ceremony if invited by a friend.”

This survey shows the core of prejudice at the heart of Cameron’s Conservatives. Labour equality activists from the BME and LGBT communities have maintained that divisive Tory attitudes are alive and as insidious as ever, and here is the proof. It seems that David Cameron has so far managed to chloroform dissent within his ranks, but it is now reviving.

These findings will come as a shock to many people in Lambeth for example, where the Conservatives affect a cuddly image. When Tories express their real views they prove that only Labour has the commitment and the support from within to promote equality, whilst the Tories remain as entrenched in their attitudes as ever. They still have a long distance to travel from lip service to genuine belief.

Monday 21 May 2007

The Joy of Stench Pipes


I was at the Patrolling the Streets Scrutiny Commission tonight giving an update on the introduction of the 22 new Police Community Support Officers we as a Labour council have invested in. I have a feeling the Commission was supposed to report its findings at the beginning of the year, but here we are in May. Could this have anything to do with it being chaired by a Lib Dem?

Anyway, I was followed in the hotseat (bear in mind this was hardly the Spanish Inquisition) by Cllr Jackie Meldrum, the Deputy Leader, who was answering questions about our plans for greater community engagement.

Jackie prefaced her remarks by expressing her views on the literally hundreds of council staff who patrol Lambeth streets, from highways engineers to refuse collectors.

She then went slightly off the page, and I was unable to force back giggles, when she told the assembled councillors, officers and single member of the public that: "I'm very interested in stench pipes."

I may have giggled at the sudden remark, but there is a seriousness to the situation, both in terms of sanitation and conservation. She was referring to the 158 stench pipes there are (apparently) dotted around Lambeth, only about six of which the council and Thames Water actually know the location of.

So I'm publishing a picture to give a general indication, in case anyone bumps into one (not literally I hope). They are taller than lamp posts, Victorian in design and probably looking a bit the worse for wear since they have been forgotten about. So support your local stench pipe, if you can find it first.

Sunday 20 May 2007

Deputy Hopefuls Come to Streatham South



This afternoon 5 of the 6 candidates for Deputy Leader of the Labour Party came straight from a large hustings in Coventry to a branch social in Streatham South. We had laid on a good spread for Peter Hain, Hazel Blears, Harriet Harman, Jon Cruddas and Hilary Benn, and a large number of local party members came along to enjoy the sunshine and pick the contending brains. Some people came with very searching questions about party democracy, Iraq, equalities issues, poverty in Africa and a host of other subjects.

It was slightly surreal standing in the garden while the contenders mingled with Streatham members. It was all perfectly amicable and the members were chuffed to bits that these busy political figures had taken time to come to SW16 to hear what the members wanted to ask them before they made their decision about who to vote for.

There's an article in the New Statesman about it here, which rather misses the point that it was intended to be a small, friendly and intimate event, to contrast with the big hustings we will see in the next few weeks:

www.newstatesman.com/200705220003

Wednesday 2 May 2007

Letter to The Times


I've written the following letter to The Times after reading the obnoxious article today by Mr Weak himself, former prime minister John Major, who attempts to throw vitriol on Labour's record over the past ten years.

Dear Sir

John Major accuses the Labour government of being “a waste of time” (The Times 2nd May).

Does John Major consider the minimum wage or two million more people in work to be a waste of time? Or the huge improvements in the NHS and education? Or the ban on foxhunting, which David Cameron wants to repeal as a priority of any new Tory government?

This shameless and arrogant piece is an insult to the millions of people who wasted their time on the dole under Major's disastrously weak and uncaring government. I recall his own Chancellor, Norman Lamont, saying the country's slump was “a price worth paying'” - a piece of spin strangely resonant in today's Tory party under his former spin doctor, David Cameron. Meanwhile, his trade secretary Michael Heseltine, who had promised “to intervene breakfast, dinner and tea to help British companies” busied himself before one breakfast in 1992 by making nearly thirty thousand miners redundant before lunchtime. Leaving aside the worst recession in British history, what achievement can Major really be identified with? The cones hotline?

Yours faithfully

Cllr Mark Bennett

Labour Councillor for Streatham South

Major's article is at: www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article1733740.ece

Monday 23 April 2007

National Councillors Day

Not only is it St George's Day today (Huzzah!) but it is also (allegedly) William Shakespeare's birthday. The old bard would in fact be 443 if he were alive today.

These dates are well known - even if Shakespeare's actual birthday is probably a matter of wishful thinking - and reasonably well marked. What is not so well known is that John Shakespeare, the Sweet Swan of Avon's dear old dad, was an Alderman in Stratford - an early representative of local government.

So I say to myself, why shouldn't we use the same day to mark the national poet, England's national saint and our much-maligned elected representatives in local government?

If Britain can have a national jelly bean day (as we did, yesterday) and a national allotments week (coming our way 13-19 August) and even a national moth night (11 August, put it in your diary), surely it's not beyond the bounds of possibility to have a national councillors day. I doubt the greeting card industry would be rushed off their feet with requests for "Happy Councillors Day, Councillor!" cards, so it's got to be cheap.

Surprisingly, Shakespeare didn't write any grand dramas about cloak-and-dagger town hall intrigues - even though he spent a lot of time in Southwark.

W. S. Gilbert, however, gave us his appreciation of the role of new-fangled county councillors in the 1893 Gilbert and Sullivan opera "Utopia Limited":

"This County Councillor acclaim,
Great Britain's latest toy —
On anything you like to name
His talents he'll employ —
All streets and squares he'll purify
Within your city walls,
And keep, meanwhile, a modest eye
On wicked music halls."

Ah yes, those wicked music halls. Still a problem.

Happy St George's Day!

Sunday 22 April 2007

Streatham Common Kite Day

Out, with some friends and a picnic, to watch the kites on Streatham Common. For the last ** years, the Common has hosted a Kite Day, and every year the event goes from strength to strength.

Here's a link to a video of what was going on:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wfDbXrbexz8

And here's a link to the Kite Day website:

http://www.streathamkiteday.org.uk

Tuesday 3 April 2007

differing with Mandela

I don't think there's much I would differ on with Nelson Mandela.

But I have to take issue with the great man's reaction to the recent incident of the Tory councillor in Brent who thought it was acceptable to blacken his face and wear a badge declaring himself to be "Councillor Nelson Mandela".

This followed hard on the heels of Tory MP Patrick Mercer, a former Army Colonel, being sacked from his party's front bench for these comments: "If you'd said to them [black soldiers he commanded], 'have you ever been called a nigger?' they would have said 'yes'... that's the way it is in the army. If someone is slow on the assault course, you'd get people shouting 'come on you fat bastard, come on you ginger bastard, come on you black bastard.'"

Cllr Brian Gordon's actions show at best a lack of judgement and at worst the lack of respect that can lead to racism.

Now Mandela's spokesman has reportedly said: "We shouldn't be over sensitive about issues of this nature. Mr Mandela thought it was quite funny. In no way the character was harmed of Nelson Mandela. We can't find anything derogatory in someone dressing up, in fancy dress, portraying Nelson Mandela."

It's a gracious view entirely in keeping with Mandela's forgiving character, but it must be said it ignores the message that Cllr Gordon was, knowingly or unknowingly, sending out about black and minority ethnic people by relegating an iconic black leader to the realms of a fancy dress joke. Cllr Gordon has said: "I am amazed that one or two people are becoming so worked up over a fancy dress outfit that was no more than a piece of harmless fun."

Harmless fun? As Labour MP for Tooting Sadiq Khan said recently: "Anybody who understands racism knows it is a broad spectrum of things. It starts with ridicule and ends with people dying because of the colour of their skin."

What can't be denied or excused, even by the greatest and best of human beings, is that there remain deep-seated problems of acceptance and opportunity for black people living in modern Britain, which is why the Tories should not be allowed to get away with this councillor's behaviour. An example must be made. He should be sacked.

Let's not forget that this is the same Tory party whose leader said last year: "I want our new councillors and council candidates to lead the fightback against racism and division." So Cameron is either out of synch or out of touch with his party. Or out to lunch along with his PR gurus.

Monday 2 April 2007

Cameron: a tale of two Charlies

Dave the Chameleon, it would appear, is back. Only today he is being compared both to an Easter egg and a style icon.

Charlie Porter of GQ, the men's magazine for the incurably sharp-suited, has declared "Behold! Here's a politician who understands the news agenda is set as much by appearance as it is by words. He impressed our voters with his consistently improved appearance."

Hmm. A bit more to politics than appearance, as I would be happy to demonstrate on most mornings. The appearance of having policies is one thing, but Cameron's Tories don't score too well on that either.

Meanwhile, at the Guardian, the newspaper of record for the less-than-sharp-suited (and bravo for that), one Charlie Brooker is saying:

"David Cameron is an idiot. A simpering, say-anything, dough-faced, preposterous waddling idiot with a feeble, insincere voice ... he appears to consist of little more than a media profile designed to appeal to unthinking snap judgments ... there is nothing to him. He is like a hollow Easter egg with no bag of sweets inside. Cameron will say absolutely anything if he thinks it might get him elected. If a shock poll was published saying 99% of the British public were enthusiastic paedophiles, he would drive through the streets in an open-top bus surrounded by the Mini Pops. He's nothing. He's no one."

Make of these opinions what you will. I know what I think, which tends ever so slightly towards the latter view. But in the end, as Cameron might well be thinking, what possible difference can two Charlies make?

Tuesday 20 March 2007

Equality Act Regulations

Interesting to look at the voting records on the draft Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007, which passed through the Commons last night, by 310 to 100.

Interesting because 85 Conservative MPs voted against. Only 28 Tories voted for the regs, including Cameron. Of those 28, only 6 were from the 2005 Conservative intake (of 51 MPs), which suggests that all is not as it should be in Cameron’s made-over Conservative party.

Sunday 18 March 2007

Tories, Lib Dems and police

Interesting to read recent comments from Nick Herbert MP, Conservative shadow for policing, who said: “We do have the best resourced police service, more police officers and other stuff that we’ve ever had in this country before.”

Contrast that praise for the police, and the tacit acknowledgement that Labour has invested massively in policing, with the snipes the Lib Dems in Lambeth have been making at police recently.

Labour in Lambeth is investing in 22 PCSOs, ensuring they are fully trained by their implementation date (in April) which will mean that there will be 85 fully trained PCSOs utilising over 30 powers on the streets of Lambeth, divided equally across the 3 police sub-commands. The police support this move, which is why they have come in for flak from the soft-on-crime Lib Dems.

Our increase in PCSOs will further increase the already higher number of police patrolling staff we have in Lambeth (953), in comparison to Lib Dem Southwark (836)

Saturday 17 March 2007

lights, camera, inaction

I did a street stall in Streatham Vale this morning, and the predominant issue people raised with me was what I expected – the new traffic lights. There are now three sets of lights within 100 yards, and they have been turned on without being phased properly by Transport for London. My Labour colleagues and I, and the Streatham Vale Property Occupiers’ Association, have been nagging the Transport folk at Lambeth to pile the pressure onto TfL to get things sorted. However, the lights are still unphased and a number of people have been issued with tickets because they got stuck in the yellow box when the lights suddenly changed. While I was doing the stall, the traffic stretched from one end of the Vale to the other, all noise and fumes. The weather forecasts suggest the weather on Monday will be arctic, but I am having a site meeting at 9am with officers and residents to make sure everyone understands the problem thoroughly and find some solutions.

Wednesday 14 March 2007

Clapham Common debates next Labour leader

I was asked along to the Clapham Common branch meeting this evening to take part in a debate about the next Labour leader. No “moments of madness” here. It was a really interesting discussion, and as well as a positive comparison between Blair and Brown, and some observations about the challenges facing Brown when (I would say if, but when is more realistic) he becomes leader and Prime Minister, I made the point that with one leader stepping down and another about to be selected, a debate about the future direction of the party was timely and healthy.

Wednesday 7 March 2007

Streatham Area Committee

At the Streatham Area Committee this evening, frustrations around the latest delays to the Streatham ice rink were voiced loud and clear by the handful of residents who came. It was irritating that no officer from the council was there – as they should have been - to respond to questions. It was also irritating that nobody from Tesco was present, as they are, shall we say, at the centre of this project.

Luckily, knowing he would want a chance to set the record straight after much misinformation and rumour-mongering from the opposition, I had asked my Cabinet colleague Cllr Paul McGlone (Regeneration and Enterprise) to come along and he was able, within the constraints of commercial confidence and legal negotiations, to explain the complexities of the situation.

The key thing is that the £1.2 million needed to fill the funding gap we inherited is secure in Labour Lambeth’s forward plan. There are big tensions between the existing planning permission, how we can achieve the most desirable outcome for local residents, customers and other local businesses and the most logical way of building such a complex project.

As a Streatham councillor I have always been clear that there should be continuity of ice provision in Streatham. That is what residents and skaters want. The scheme also requires a number of permissions and licences – not all of which have been secured (because these processes take time, as if this process hasn’t taken a huge amount of time already, even allowing for four years when the Lib Dems seem to have sat on their hands and left the negotiations to officers), and the cost of building large projects is accelerating, partly as a result of the Olympics.

Nobody can deny the invaluable resource that the ice rink has been in the past and must be for Streatham in the future. It is aggravating to see the existing rink deteriorating state, and I would urge Tesco to listen to the people of Streatham and work with Lambeth to expedite the new facility that local people want – after all, these are the very people Tesco want to shop in their store.

Monday 5 March 2007

shopping with a sixteen-year-old

I took my niece, who is sixteen (and, arguably, sweet), out shopping today to buy some new clothes. This meant a lot of hanging around outside fitting rooms in various shops waiting for her to emerge in umpteen pairs of jeans, most of which looked the same to me.

We had a nice day out, and it was good to spend time with her, as I hadn’t seen her for a while. We chatted about her lifeguard training and had a good laugh at some of the weirder garments on display in the shops. But it’s almost impossible to take a day off. My phone was going at regular intervals, so I often found myself in the middle of two conversations like this:

“Hi John. Oh, hi, love. No, not you. Yes, they’re cool. No? They look like they fit to me. Sorry, John, say that again, no I wasn’t talking to you just then. No, it’s ok, I can talk. Sorry – say again? No, not you, love. Not you, John. Are you pleased with them? What’s that face for? Sorry, John, yes it sounds like a good idea, let’s do that. Maybe you can get them taken up. Yes, the jeans. No, it’s ok, I can talk. Well, try the other ones on then. What’s the timescale for that? And hurry up this time. No, not you. HOW much?!”

Wednesday 28 February 2007

February - a month to challenge Lambeth

It has been an extremely hard month for the Labour administration and Lambeth police, with the murders of 16 year old James Smartt-Ford at Streatham Ice Rink on 3 February and 15 year old Billy Cox at home in Clapham on Valentine’s Day. We organised public meetings to listen to the concerns of the community, which were intense, emotional occasions which allowed people to share their fears and ideas.

The eye of the world’s media was fixed on South London and gun crime, particularly with the further killing of Michael Dosunmu, aged 15, in neighbouring Southwark on 6 February.

Three teenagers who had no idea they would never see March.

In Lambeth we have been very clear that the answer to this terrible waste of life lies in the community. We as council can do all we can – and we will - the police can do all they can – and they will - but in the end it is behaviour that needs to change and families that need to become stronger, taking greater responsibility for their young people.

That’s a tough message, hard to say and hard to hear, but it’s true.

The faith community has been an excellent support over the past few weeks, and the march which took place between Peckham and Brixton, which Cllr Steve Reed, Cllr Lorna Campbell and I took part in, was a testament to the growing sense that together with police and the community we must stand, as one, to eradicate gun-enabled crime from our streets, and to encourage young people, in the words of participants in the recent protest march between Peckham and Brixton, to “pick up your future and put down your gun.”

It was encouraging to visit a youth project called The Palace in Streatham Hill (their website is at www.palaceroad.com) which is just starting up, having had to wait for Section 106 monies to be released to them for necessary works on their building. I went away and made some calls and wrote some emails and the delay seems to have been sorted, so I was pleased to assist Glen Neil, the director, to get things moving.

On my visit I met an award-winning film-maker called Alastair Pirrie, who works with the youngsters on film projects, and who proposed to me a film on gun crime to be shown in all Lambeth schools. Called “Fast Train to Fool City”, it has been made by young people in a very short time, calling in all sorts of favours from professional crew members, and hopefully it will send out a strong message that guns are not cool fashion accessories, but evil instruments of death and waste.

I spent a lot of the month in negotiation on the tasking and deployment of the new PCSOs we are buying in to replace the council warden schemes, including a scrutiny call-in of the decision which had very little to do with scrutiny and was essentially just an excuse for the Streatham Lib Dems to attack the Labour administration and Lambeth police for trying to make the streets safer and have them patrolled by people with appropriate powers and police back-up.

The Labour administration held a sustainability conference, where local people concerned about climate change could come in and talk to experts, as well as put forward ideas for things Lambeth could be doing better – turning down the ferocious heating in the Town Hall would be progress – and watch the Al Gore film, “An Inconvenient Truth”. Labour announced a 20% cut in carbon emissions in Lambeth in 5 years, which is ambitious and, I trust, achievable. This includes staff walking to work or using public transport rather than their car, which obviates the need to make streets safer.

The Town Hall was also the scene, on 28 February, of a 450-person demonstration against proposed changes in eligibility criteria for adult social care, timed to coincide with Full Council. It’s a proposal that has been put forward very reluctantly and we are still looking at avenues which might allow us to avoid this change, including enlisting our three Labour MPs to lobby government. Nonetheless, Full Council was a night for difficult speeches, emotional arguments, and decisions, despite Liberal Democrat efforts to cynically divert attention from their responsibility for the financial mess Labour inherited, a mess which has brought us to this point. It’s also important to remember that there was no financial cut in care services. We are putting in an extra £1.9million. The problem is, even that huge amount is not enough to meet the growing demand.

There are two separate elements to this issue. Firstly the eligibility criteria and secondly the reductions in voluntary sector funding. On the latter of these two issues, Cabinet colleagues and I are absolutely clear that savings are unavoidable. If local circumstances (including the financial mismanagement of the previous administration which left virtually nothing in reserves) and national spending settlements are forcing Lambeth Council to tighten its belt in a number of areas, it is right and realistic that some of these savings must also be made by the voluntary sector. Of course these savings should not be made without regard to the important service provision of the voluntary sector, but those organisations cannot be hermetically sealed from the spending pressures we – and many other local authorities – face.

Failing to take these decisions would have left the Council unable to balance its budget. People may doubt our hearts and our values, but we had no alternative given the massive rise in demand and costs which we had no way of paying for as a result of Lib Dem recklessness in setting a 0% Council Tax increase last year as a cynical election bribe, as if anyone could forget their cumulative 38% Council Tax hikes in the previous years.

In the midst of this, the Audit Commission published Lambeth’s CPA rating, taking a star away. This judgement, based largely on assessments carried out before Labour was elected in May 2006, puts us in the eccentric position of now being a one star authority which is “improving well”, with 75% of services getting better.

Ah well, we always knew it would hard to close the book on the damage of the Lib Dem years. The one star is their final chapter.

2 Comments »

Displaying results 1 to 2 out of 2
Gina said,
Streatham

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 - 11:12 AM

I can't believe that the Lib Dems are attempting to say that they prefer 'wardens' to neighbourhood policing. I have NEVER seen a warden in my life and in fact did not realise they still existed. Good on you for being brave enough to face down the Liberals opportunism in order to get a better deal for local people. Why are the Lib Dems so anti-police?

John said,
Mon, 19 Mar 2007 - 9:58 AM

The lib-dems were delivering leaflets yesterday saying that the poor star rating was all labours fault. Labour needs to counter this with their own leaflet. Also people in Streatham and other area affected by kerb-crawling need to be enlightened about the Liberals attitude to the issue. Basically they want to decriminalise it. People in the areas affected o have the right to know about the rubbish the Liberals are spouting.

Thursday 25 January 2007

The dignity of difference

The Dignity of Difference was the theme chosen by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust this year for annual Holocaust Memorial Day Service, which was held in the Assembly hall of the Town Hall this evening. The theme was about remembering that many groups were victimised under Hitler’s vile regime simply because they were different.

Jews, Roma and Sinti, Russian prisoners of war, black Germans, trade unionists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, political opponents, disabled people, homosexuals and lesbians all suffered because what made them different was perceived as a weakness to Hitler’s ideal society.

The chosen theme also reflects a desire for us to continue strengthening our communities by promoting harmony with in our community, including religious and racial harmony.

I represented Lambeth Council in hosting the evening and standing at the front throughout I found the programme spiritually uplifting. The creative use of music, readings and reflection I am sure inspired all those who attended to reflect on the atrocities of the past and also our role in making sure they are not repeated.

I was deeply honoured to attend and thank all those who organised and participated in the event. By continuing to remember all those who suffered we show that we have the compassion to listen, reflect and learn from each other. Qualities we in Lambeth endeavour to foster, grow and maintain.

1 Comments »

Displaying results 1 to 1 out of 1
Andy said,
Clapham Town

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 - 4:02 PM

well written and researched piece, it conveys a strong message quite often missed in todays hedonistic world

Sunday 21 January 2007

Eid-ul-Adha at the Town Hall

A very well-attended celebration at the Town Hall this afternoon, to mark Eid-ul-Adha, which marks Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son for God.

I was honoured to meet and talk to a large number of Muslim residents from around Lambeth and beyond.

My name was kindly written out for me in Arabic script, a fascinating memento that I will treasure, though it’s slightly too complicated to use as a signature.

It was a good day, and a good opportunity for Lambeth’s Muslim community to come together in Lambeth’s Assembly Hall to show the wider community a part of what it means to be a Muslim in modern Britain.

Saturday 20 January 2007

a busy day in Streatham South

We work hard in Streatham South, the three of us. We held a surgery, a public meeting about a major planning issue and a street stall this morning.

It was a bitterly cold day, and at one point it was raining so hard and blowing such a gale we were at risk of floating along Streatham Vale clinging to our upturned stall.

But we persevered and it was good to sit down at Dave Malley’s house with soup and bread, and take stock of everything we had done together during the morning.

Friday 19 January 2007

Delivering quality and tackling inequality for the LGBT community

I sincerely hope the Government does not buckle under pressure from the religious right and allow a discriminatory exemption for religious adoption agenciesin the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations.

If you look back at the key planks of equality legislation for the LGBT community, most have been introduced since May 1997, or by a Labour government thirty years earlier.

There was the Sexual Offences Act of 1967, which decriminalised homosexual acts between two men over 21. Labour legislation.

Same-sex partners recognised for immigration purposes – 1997. Labour legislation.

The ban on gays in the military thrown out – 2000. Labour legislation.

After years of struggle, the age of consent equalised at 16 in 2001. Whose legislation? Labour’s, of course.

2002 – equal rights recognised for same sex couples wanting to adopt unwanted children into a stable, loving home. Labour again.

2003 – Labour repeals the Tory badge of hate, Section 28, and enacts employment equality legislation outlawing discrimination of LGBT workers.

2004 – The crimes of buggery and gross indecency abolished by Labour’s Sexual Offences Act.

2005 – The insurance industry drops “the gay question”. Labour creates Civil Partnerships.

The Conservatives can, I suppose, take some credit for decriminalising homosexuality in Northern Ireland (1982), and reducing the age of consent from 21 to 18 (1994). But those advances are overshadowed by Section 28, and all the other assaults against equality mounted by the unreconstructed Tories who still exist in the shadows behind David Cameron.

Wednesday 17 January 2007

Sherlock Holmes and the Streatham Area Committee

I’m a Sherlock Holmes fan. It was a maxim of his, who according to Conan Doyle’s stories visited Streatham once or twice, that “when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

At the Streatham Area Committee this evening, I was quietly reflecting that the Lib Dems should follow the Great Detective’s guidance, instead of posturing endlessly with their own brand of “truth”, which relies on whatever is most improbable, without eliminating anything, except the truth.

As an example of Lib Dem truth management, one of their number said the Area Committee is a great example of local democracy in action, even though members of the public who come to its meetings can usually be counted on the fingers of one hand.

If tumbleweed had rolled through that room, it would not have seemed out of place. Indeed, it would probably have contributed something more constructive than the average Lib Dem councillor.

Why was I thinking about Sherlock Holmes? No idea, but it turns out by freaky coincidence that on this day in 1863, the painter Horace Vernet died in Paris. Sherlock Holmes once told Dr Watson that: “my grandmother ... was the sister of Vernet, the French artist.”

Leaving the fictional great-nephew issue aside, Vernet once refused Louis Napoleon’s request that he erase an inconvenient person from one of his paintings by saying “I will not violate the truth.”

If only the Lib Dems were so principled. Or indeed, principled.

Sunday 14 January 2007

cutting the cuttings

Lambeth’s communications department has made the sensible decision to save upwards of £5000 a year, and a lot of paper, by going electronic with the council’s press cuttings. Up to now councillors have had a twice-weekly bundle of press cuttings delivered to our doormats.

Cue outrage from the Liberal Democrats, whose experience with electronic voting has clearly left them e-phobic. I can imagine them now, at their next group meeting:

“Down with electronic voting we say! Down with that interweb thing, down with the wireless and anything connected with Messrs Edison, Bell or Logie Baird. Up with the abacus, up with ink and vellum, up with chalk and slate. Up with deforestation and waste paper baskets – those nice wicker ones, nothing too modern.”

One of their number today felt moved to email the communications team to register his protest. I expect that, in his anger, his quill snapped on his last sheet of foolscap and he was forced, with gritted teeth (and everything else clenched) to resort to the “new writing” to make his point.

He said, curtly: “This is not very helpful. Press cuttings are difficult to read on screen. Please continue to send me the press cuttings in hard copy.”

He does not say why the cuttings are difficult to read on screen. I’ve had a look at the new system and it’s so simple that a potted cactus could master it.

I suspect it has more to do with the number of press stories detailing Labour’s positive programme of action in Lambeth since May 2006, and the occasional nod to the floundering Liberal Democrats. That must be difficult to read.

My advice to the Lib Dems is to put their hand in their orange leatherette purses and buy the local papers – two editions of the excellent South London Press per week for the very reasonable price of 50p each (ten bob in old money), available from all good newsagents. The other two local papers are free.

3 Comments »

Displaying results 1 to 3 out of 3
Lambeth pen pusher said,
Phoenix House, Vauxhall

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 - 8:36 PM

The email was sent to all councillors and the reply from Cllr Julian Heather was also sent to all councillors, having a go at an officer. Not a private email and not a very pleasant one neither. What is that in the councillors' code of conduct about "failing to treat people with respect"? If he wanted to show disrespect one to one, he shouldn't of pressed "REPLY ALL".


Rob F said,
London

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 - 2:02 PM

When you say this cllr e-mailed the communications team, does that mean that you reproduced a private e-mail between a cllr and an officer? Did you ask the permission of either party first?

John Lee said,
Mon, 22 Jan 2007 - 10:05 AM

E-phobic lib Dems? Good grief!!

Friday 12 January 2007

school leaving age

Great news that the school leaving age is to be raised to 18. It should provide the extra impetus for a much larger number of young people to get qualifications and skills, including vital life skills, they would not otherwise have gained.

I left school at 17 to work as a hospital porter. It was only later that I went to university, and I feel I got more benefit from doing things that way. I had more experience of life when I eventually pitched up at university at 21, and in the intervening years I had saved enough to be able to manage my finances over three years of study without getting into debt.

My dad left school at the age of 15 in 1955 to work as a labourer, later qualifying as a plumber. His dad left school at the age of 12 in 1917 and went to work digging gravel, later becoming (among other things) a painter and decorator.

It's amazing how opportunities for young people from working class families have advanced over the past century, due in no small part to successive Labour governments, including this one.

I can only speculate what my dad and granddad might have done with their lives if they had been encouraged to learn as young people are today. As a school governor, it's a privilege these days to see youngsters excelling.

Monday 8 January 2007

problem poll

I was curious to read the YouGov poll that was published today in the Guardian, commissioned by Jon Cruddas MP.

It suggests that only 1 in 3 voters have been contacted by Labour since the general election in 2005.

Apparently 62% of people have had no contact with the party since the last election. That's a big worry.

Jon Cruddas, whose hat is already in the ring for the deputy leadership, said: "This poll is a wake-up call, but the debates we will have this year give us a perfect opportunity to turn things around. We're at our best when we have activists on the streets knocking on doors, speaking to people in our communities. Some people may think that clever direct marketing techniques can win us elections, but these results are a reminder that we can't beat the Tories without Labour activists on the doorsteps."

Quite true, but I hesitate to beat myself up about it. In Streatham South, the picture is somewhat different. We work hard and have a good voter contact rate to show for it. Every household regularly gets something from us, which is reflected in consistent waves of calls, emails and visits to our surgeries. Whether or not our leaflets are read avidly is another matter, but I've no reason to think we aren't communicating as much as we should be.

On top of that, we knock on doors all over the ward and make ourselves as visible and approachable as possible with walkabouts and street stalls.

But Jon Cruddas is right that we should never allow ourselves to become complacent. We need to keep Labour in government, and build on the progress of the last ten years.

Thursday 4 January 2007

Home Secretary visits Streatham

John Reid, the Home Secretary, took time to come to Streatham today for a “Let’s Talk” event, to make a keynote speech and meet local Labour activists.

Introduced by Lambeth’s Labour leader Steve Reed, we heard a considered and thoughtful speech, ranging widely from his Home Office portfolio to talk about a bigger picture for Labour supporters and activists as we prepare for challenges ahead, post Tony Blair.

He also took time during his speech to praise what we have been doing in Lambeth since May, mentioning our stated mission of “delivering quality and tackling inequality.” He also highlighted his approval of our decision to invest in more PCSOs to patrol the borough.

He also answered questions from his audience, ranging from human trafficking to the condition of local school buildings.

Some people who weren’t there have seen it as a gauntlet being thrown down for the leadership. I didn’t see it that way – more as a discussion about where the party goes a decade on from winning in 1997, and about the need to adapt to new challenges as we find and face them.

Whether or not people define themselves by New or Old Labour labels, he said our aim must remain “to show that we are as much on the side of those who were getting on, as we are for those who need help."

He said: "Though Tony may be stepping down, the underlying philosophy and direction of New Labour is one shared by all of us in government and all of us who form the leadership and will continue undimmed. New Labour did not and will not start and end with Tony Blair's leadership. It will continue."

"It's important we make that very clear indeed, because otherwise we will allow, by default, the impression to persist that New Labour is, and has been, nothing more or less than Tony Blair. Our opponents will try to sow that seed. They will personalise the whole issue."

"The Tories will try to argue that Tony Blair equals New Labour. Therefore they will say that when Tony Blair goes, New Labour goes. Wrong - and we have to make sure that people understand that that is wrong.

"The New Labour project was not the product of one person nor even a small group of people. It was the product of the efforts and energies of many people over a long period of time.”

Wednesday 3 January 2007

Lib Dems: the Tories who dare not speak their name

If anyone ever wondered whether Lib Dems are really Tories in quaint tangerine disguise, the defection of Richard Porter, a former Lib Dem councillor and parliamentary candidate in Southwark, seems to confirm it.

An LGBT campaigner, he wrote the Lib Dem manifesto on LGBT issues for the last general election.

He said in April 2005: "We must never forget that it was the Conservative government who denied our community basic human rights for so many years."

Yes, quite.

He also said, conveniently ignoring (as Lib Dems tend to do) the long campaign for equality that has gone on in the Labour movement for decades: “in a sense, legislative changes are easy.”

Yes, Mr Porter, how easy legislative changes were in the 1980s and 1990s when the party you’ve just joined held sway. How childishly simple it was for them to introduce Section 28, and what a doddle it was for them to resist equalising the age of consent before May 1997. Looking back, civil partnerships would have been the work of a moment for your party. Gay adoption rights – easy-peasy. Joining the Armed Forces? Gay? No problem, we’ll just pass a little Bill to help you out. Pardon the pun, dear.

Curious then that this same Richard Porter should now be saying: "Ming Campbell is a 'has-been' and since he has been in control of the party, they have been stuck firmly in reverse gear.

He continues thusly: "After the election [which he lost – Camberwell and Peckham, proprietor: H. Harman, Labour] I took time out to reflect on my own personal beliefs and values [losing by 13,483 votes can do that to a Lib Dem]. Previously I thought that these values were best represented by the Liberal Democrats but I now believe that the principles of freedom from state interference, personal freedom, the environment and civil liberties are all areas where the Conservative Party leads the way."

So there we have it. His thinking is all cock-eyed (apart from the bit about Ming Campbell’s leadership), but at least Mr Porter has stepped out of the tangerine closet and declared himself, as every honest Lib Dem should, as a true blue Conservative. Maybe he was just going through a phase.

Curiously, the Conservative gay group, Torche, seems to have tight-lipped on their new arrival. But then their website, which appears not to have been updated since Stanley Baldwin was in Downing Street, is not exactly overflowing with news about any Tory fight for equality.



2 Comments »

Displaying results 1 to 2 out of 2
Mel said,
Streatham

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 - 11:06 AM

I suppose one difference between Mark and Lambeth's Lib Dems is about £3m. That's the amount of fraud that was going on at the town hall before Mark helped to kick them out of office last year.


Ben Russell said,
sleaford - Lincolnshire/north kesteven

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 - 10:50 AM

i'll be honest, i didnt read the bulk of this blog but the point stands that at the little intro piece clearly condemns the lib-dems! you are labour! traditional lefties, steadily becoming more right wing then the conservatives, at what point do you lose all sense of self and criticise the actions of another party who may or may not (as i suspect is really the case) be doing something similar to yourself!

Tuesday 2 January 2007

Lib Dems = Chaos

I’ve been re-reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses in the recent translation by David Raeburn. I only mention this because a particular passage from Book One (Creation) reminds me strongly, on a number of levels, of the Liberal Democrats of Lambeth.

This is Ovid’s description of Chaos, the state that came before order was created (think May 2006):

“A crude, unstructured mass,
Nothing but weight without motion, a general conglomeration
Of matter composed of disparate, incompatible elements.”

A few lines later, Ovid continues:

“None of the elements kept its shape,
And all were in conflict inside one body: the cold with the hot,
The wet with the dry, the soft with the hard, and weight with the weightless.”

Talking of Lib Dem chaos, I was surprised to read the other day that Menzies Campbell had visited the Sackville Estate in Streatham several weeks ago, together with an individual called Chris Nicholson, a former Lib Dem councillor in Kingston (“he’s not LOCAL!!!” – will the Lib Dem leaflets be informing anyone of that I wonder…) who is being hawked as the Lib Dem PPC for Streatham, though he appears to live in Furzedown Ward, the part of Streatham that falls into Tory Wandsworth and Labour Tooting.

He seems to have usurped a youngish Clapham Common councillor who stood against Keith Hill last time round. What furious cataclysm has happened in the Lib Dem ranks in Streatham, can we wonder? Just think back to Ovidian Chaos – “a general conglomeration of matter composed of disparate, incompatible elements.”

I passed Menzies Campbell shortly before Christmas, in St Stephen’s Hall in Westminster, where he appeared to bump into a statue. I’m not sure what or who he bumped into in Streatham, but there was a write-up of his visit in the Streatham Guardian, in which he shared a few pearls of Menziesian wisdom about the pressures on social housing, but curiously nothing, on the face of it, about the daggers-drawn, knickers-knotted position of Lambeth Lib Dems on the ALMO that Labour is proposing to bring Lambeth’s housing stock up to Decent Homes standard.

Mr Kingston, or whatever his name is, could have said something about the ALMO but appears to have said nothing – unless the reporter considered it a waste of shorthand.

Instead, we were treated to the following colourful utterance: “I am delighted Menzies decided to come here … I hope it will be the first of many visits to Streatham.”

Yes, Ming, come to Streatham and campaign for Decent Homes, rather than just talking about them, or allowing councillors from your party to obstruct them.

Lib Dems = Chaos

I’ve been re-reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses in the recent translation by David Raeburn. I only mention this because a particular passage from Book One (Creation) reminds me strongly, on a number of levels, of the Liberal Democrats of Lambeth.

This is Ovid’s description of Chaos, the state that came before order was created (think May 2006):

“A crude, unstructured mass,

Nothing but weight without motion, a general conglomeration

Of matter composed of disparate, incompatible elements.”

A few lines later, Ovid continues:

“None of the elements kept its shape,

And all were in conflict inside one body: the cold with the hot,

The wet with the dry, the soft with the hard, and weight with the weightless.”

Talking of Lib Dem chaos, I was surprised to read the other day that Menzies Campbell had visited the Sackville Estate in Streatham several weeks ago, together with an individual called Chris Nicholson, a former Lib Dem councillor in Kingston (“he’s not LOCAL!!!” – will the Lib Dem leaflets be informing anyone of that I wonder…) who is being hawked as the Lib Dem PPC for Streatham, though he appears to live in Furzedown Ward, the part of Streatham that falls into Tory Wandsworth and Labour Tooting.

He seems to have usurped a youngish Clapham Common councillor who stood against Keith Hill last time round. What furious cataclysm has happened in the Lib Dem ranks in Streatham, can we wonder? Just think back to Ovidian Chaos – “a general conglomeration of matter composed of disparate, incompatible elements.”

I passed Menzies Campbell shortly before Christmas, in St Stephen’s Hall in Westminster, where he appeared to bump into a statue. I’m not sure what or who he bumped into in Streatham, but there was a write-up of his visit in the Streatham Guardian, in which he shared a few pearls of Menziesian wisdom about the pressures on social housing, but curiously nothing, on the face of it, about the daggers-drawn, knickers-knotted position of Lambeth Lib Dems on the ALMO that Labour is proposing to bring Lambeth’s housing stock up to Decent Homes standard.

Mr Kingston, or whatever his name is, could have said something about the ALMO but appears to have said nothing – unless the reporter considered it a waste of shorthand.

Instead, we were treated to the following colourful utterance: “I am delighted Menzies decided to come here … I hope it will be the first of many visits to Streatham.”

Yes, Ming, come to Streatham and campaign for Decent Homes, rather than just talking about them, or allowing councillors from your party to seek to withhold them from Lambeth tenants.

Monday 1 January 2007

Happy New Year

Just to wish everyone a peaceful and prosperous 2007.