(And a reply? Priceless)
Guest blog by 'Elvin Impersonator'
Meanwhile at Copland a
‘special meeting’ for staff has been called next week to introduce the new
school uniform. Whether this will be the students’ uniform or the one the
teachers will have to wear (shiny estate agents suits, gel, blusher etc) has
not been made clear. Early booking recommended.
Guest blog by 'Elvin Impersonator'
On Wednesday this week letters were
sent to Brent Council nominating, under the provisions of the Localism Act
2011, the extensive green space of Copland’s playing fields as an ‘asset of
community value’. The Act requires local authorities to maintain a list of
sites and amenities which are used by the public and are part of local life.
The letters were signed by representatives of local residents and Copland staff
and students.
When it came to posting the letters,
however, the bill came to £25.60, or £6.40 per letter, extortionate even by
privatisation standards. Why so much? Well it’s the price of experience really.
Last year Brent claimed to have no knowledge of a petition posted to them by
first class post and signed by hundreds of Copland students opposing the forced
academisation of their school. As a result, another petition opposing the Ark
takeover was signed by over 400 students and copies posted to all 63 Brent
councillors. Again it appears that up to 60 of these must have been lost in the
post as replies were received from only three of our elected representatives.
Dozens of additional letters written on the subject and sent to those looking
for our votes on May 22nd have similarly met with no response whatsoever. As a
result it was decided this time to utilise the Post Office service which
registers the sending of the letter and effectively tracks it to its recipient.
But at a cost.
Whether it was a price worth paying
will soon become clear. But if Brent Labour, Lib Dems and Conservatives had sat
down and tried to plan how to alienate this group of ordinary voters and drive
them into the arms of Farage and the Fruitcakes, they couldn’t have done a
better job than they’re doing already. Interesting to see whether the strategy
changes over the next few weeks.
