Firefighters are human too-support our strike for fairness

As firefighters strike again today this open letter to the public sets out their case. Higher retirement ages for teachers ansd firefighters are examples of decisions made on the basis of accountancy rather than the realities of the job.LINK

Dear Citizen of the United Kingdom,

It is with a heavy heart that I feel I have to write to you. I am a Firefighter and I feel it’s my duty to explain to you why I have chosen to take Industrial Action. This I’m afraid is the only option I have left. I have spent my working life serving you. I have seen and done things that nobody should ever have to, but I do it and live with the scars because I am Firefighter, it’s what I do. I am there when you need me the most, willing to lay my life on the line to help you and your family in your darkest hour.  I am not a hero, in fact I resent that title. I am a human being just like you, only a human who has dedicated their life to train and train and train again for any situation. Who has fought through heat and smoke to be there when you need me the most. Who has studied for hours numerous cars to know the best way to cut you free. Who has swum in icy lakes to save you from drowning.  This is to name but a few.  I don’t do it for thanks, I don’t do it for praise, I don’t do it for money,  I do it because I am a Firefighter. It’s what I do. The only thing I ask, which I never thought I’d have to, is to be treated fairly and with respect.

The current Government have decided that since the financial crisis, people like me will have to pay for it. People who are easy targets.  This not only includes nurses, teachers, police, ambulance staff and other essential  services, but people who rely on benefits through no fault of their own to survive. We continue to be penalised while the real crooks get away with it. The Government have decided my future and I must accept whatever decision they seem fit.  No negotiation, no looking at any evidence provided, just dictating what I must concede to.  This I can not do.  It is not in my nature to lie down and accept what is unfair and unjust.  I am a Firefighter, the clue is in my title, I will fight for what I feel is right just as much as I would fight for you or your family’s life.

This weekend sees 96 hours of Industrial Action been taken all over England. In Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, Industrial Action will be avoided as negotiations have taken place and the relevant authorities have seen sense in sitting round a table and compromising to find a solution.  I am bitterly disappointed that the current Conservative Government, particularly Eric Pickles along with the current Fire Minister Penny Mordaunt  and former Fire Minister Brandon Lewis, think so little of us that this has not been an option.

It has become apparent that members of the public think that I am asking for more pension and more pay. This is certainly not the case, even if the Government let you believe this.  I am not asking for a single penny more.  Just what I signed up to and what I was told I was guaranteed.  The Government have started to lay new pension regulations which will be unattainable for many Firefighters’. The Fire Brigade Union has plenty of evidence to back this up*. In my 50’s, I will be asked to take a fitness test which hasn’t been laid out in writing, so I have no idea what it will involve. If I fail the unknown test I will face the choice of dismissal or a heavily reduced pension.  A decision I feel is immoral for just getting older.  The Government are also taking more pension contributions for longer and then paying out less.  This is unacceptable without any negotiation. The last time I checked we were in a Democracy, not a Dictatorship. My message to the Government is simple. Negotiate with us, don’t put us in a situation where we have no choice but to strike.  It’s not fair on Firefighters or the Public.  You have a responsibility to all of us.  Take it seriously.  This is not a game.

Please do not think that the decision to take Industrial Action has been taken lightly. It pains me that this has been our only option and even now the Government refuse to negotiate.  I wish for no lives to be endangered, but this is only the beginning of our fight.  More cuts are to come.  You will have less and less Firefighters, less and less Fire Stations.  Fire Engines are becoming a thing of the past as 4×4’s and even Mini’s are being used.  I hope that you can support me in this time of need and put pressure on your MP to challenge the way that I have been treated and the way the future looks for your Fire and Rescue Service.  The Government will try to tell you Fires are a thing of the past.  This is not true.  We still face overwhelmingly difficult fires on a daily basis across the UK.  The Government however fail to tell you that flooding has significantly increased. They fail to tell you how the Fire and Rescue Service have had to face new threats with Terrorism as 7/7 showed. We face new challenges with more and more chemicals that are used in the modern world.  The Government don’t tell you that much of what I do isn’t in my ‘role map’ but I do it voluntary so I can deal with anything thrown at me. We may be called Firefighters, but fires are only the start of it.

I implore you to speak to your MP and tell them your feelings. You can find them here http://findyourmp.parliament.uk.   Go out and show your support on the picket lines. Speak to a Firefighter, they will be happy to answer any questions you have.  We need you!  Help us to stand up for the future of not only ourselves, but the future of the Fire and Rescue Service in England.
Thank you for reading.

Yours sincerely

A Firefighter of England.
* http://www.fbu.org.uk/

Barry Gardiner: Injury prevented me from voting for recognition of Palestine

I have received this reply to a message I sent to Barry Gardiner MP (Labour Brent North) asking him to vote for the recognition of Palestine on October 13th and a follow-up email asking why he wasn't present for the  vote:

Thank you for contacting me about the debate regarding the recognition of Palestinian statehood that took place in the House of Commons on the 13^th of October. 

You will, I am sure, be aware that the House of Commons voted in support of the motion with a significant majority of 276-12. Labour voted for the motion because it reflects our support for the principle of recognition of Palestinian statehood.

Unfortunately, I sustained an injury on the Sunday evening and had to go to the hospital, so I was not actually present for the vote. Had I been able to attend, I would have voted to recognise Palestine along with my colleagues in the Labour Party. I believe the events of recent months have made it clear that such progressive steps are essential to avoid further violence and bloodshed.

I also believe that recognition of Palestine at the United Nations would be a further tangible step along this route. That is why I have supported the Labour Party’s consistent calls upon the Government to commit Britain to supporting the Palestinians' bid for recognition at the UN, in 2011 and in 2012, in order to restart peace negotiations.

COPLAND IS GETTING GOVE’S ‘REVERSE -TROJAN -HORSE’ TREATMENT

Guest blog by Will Shaw

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the case, the bizarre events surrounding the Birmingham ‘Trojan Horse’ schools should have finally made clear that Ofsted exists to give the government the inspection reports it requires to support whatever its  schools strategy happens to be at any particular time. If the inspectors don’t come up with the right report they can be sent back into schools until they do. This is not usually necessary as the inspectors know what is expected of them and they dutifully supply it. Their lack of integrity or principled independence of thought can be measured by their deafening silence in objecting to this role over the years  and the extreme rarity of any individual resignations.

Ofsted inspections are a key weapon in the government’s overriding aim of ultimately turning  all (state) schools into centrally-run academies and  taking them out of local democratic accountability.  Once Ofsted supplies the government with the ‘appropriate’ inspection report on a school, the next stage is special measures, the imposition from outside of a non-accountable IEB  and forced academisation. This is the stage Copland has been at since last September. 

Obviously, this stage in the process has to appear  to be both necessary and beneficial and it’s Ofsted again which is used to show how much schools like Copland  improve as a result of the government’s wise policies. At Copland, if the inspectors are to be believed, the beneficial results of government policy were almost instantaneous. Their report after last November’s visit spoke of  the school having ‘turned a corner’ and ‘students making better progress’. It continued ‘ teaching …..attendance and punctuality are improving’, ‘students are keen to learn’, ‘ there has been a sea-change in the pace of improvement’, ‘the interim headteacher and associate headteacher and very strong governance of the IEB are driving this change well’ and so on; and all this after only 6 weeks! The nature of the narrative had been set. 

March 2014’s Copland report took the hagiography to the next level:  ‘… the  headteacher of St Paul’s Way is an astute Chair of the Interim Executive Board….. IEB members are asking the right questions about the school’s performance.. balanced in the rigour of challenge and in the quality of their support. Senior leaders are ‘stepping up to the plate’ more …. having greater impact on the work of the school ……... responding well to the high level of challenge being laid down by school leaders and the IEB... ……more accurate understanding of students’ needs  ……..higher expectations for students……  behaviour is much improved and the school is a more respectful place…… zero tolerance to poor behaviour … ….. an attitude of respect between and among students and staff……more confident and articulate learners. …….a richer quality of teaching…..teaching is better… lessons are more structured’. Clearly carried away with the spirit of the thing, the reporting inspector at one point came over all Mills and Boon and, revealing  a bureaucrat’s tin ear for the speech patterns of 21^st century London youth,   wrote this:

 ‘One student, capturing the views of many, said, ‘We can see hope now.’ This new-found optimism is palpable’.  

 (I like to imagine the inspector considering whether to  attribute the final 6 words to this ‘student’ as well, but wisely deciding that this might be pushing it a bit). 

It’s difficult not to laugh (if only at the writers’ belief that they could get away with this tosh) but many teachers and pupils have worked very hard at Copland this year and it’s a pity that any truth which these Ofsted reports might contain is tarnished by the relentless gung-ho bollocks  of the rest of it. But then, establishing  the truth is not at all what these inspections are about. How could they be when 2 inspectors come in for a day and a half and watch 10 or 15 minutes of a few lessons?  No, as in Birmingham their function is to provide bogus supporting evidence for actions already decided on. In the case of Copland, we are being provided with the  narrative of the ‘saving’ of a school by Gove, forced academisation, ‘tough’ but necessary action, (60 staff and half the curriculum axed), and finally the salvation that is The Ark Rescue.  

It’s a satisfying narrative  so far and it will be interesting to see how far the Ofsted inspectors think they can push it when the report on their imminent final visit comes out in a few weeks time.  As the purpose of the report is pre-determined and as the inspectors know what is expected of them (and  also know that their continuing employment depends on their coming up with the goods), the report  might as well have been written last September. If it was, I hope they don’t change anything if they , by chance, should come across this blog. And if they’re looking for further fictional inspiration, what better place than in the sort of book that, if he’d ever read it, Michael Gove would surely have banned, if only for the fact that it isn’t even really a decent, proper, stout English novel but rather some thin, poncey, foreign-sounding thing called a ‘novella’: Animal Farm.

“It has become usual in Wembley to give Mr Gove, Michael Pavey, the IEB, the Interim Headteacher and the Associate Headteacher  the credit for every successful achievement and every stroke of good fortune at the school. You will often hear one pupil remark to another, “Under the guidance of our Senior Leadership Team  I have progressed  five levels in six months” or two teachers, enjoying a drink at the staffroom water-cooler, will exclaim, “thanks to the leadership of Headteacher  Marshall and  Associate Headteacher John, how excellent this water tastes!”...” (With apologies to  George Orwell).

The next Copland Ofsted visit is ‘imminent’  and the inspector’s report will be published in a few week’s time. But please remember, and thanks to Martin, you read it here first.

Greens support firefighters' fight for fair pensions and retirement

Willesden Green Green Party candidates Shahrar Ali and Martin Francis join the picket line

It  was good to join the Fire Brigade Union pickets at Willesen Fire Station this afternoon to express Green Party support for their Bank Holiday strike against changes in their pensions and working conditions. Firefighters, like teachers, are facing an increase in the age at which they can retire. 

The professions are very different but in both cases the government is ignoring the effect of age on the capacity to do the job effectively. Both firefighters and teachers face the prospect of having to retire early through illhealth or competency procedures with a detrimental impact on their pensions, apart from the demoralising effect of end a career on such grounds.

The Green Party Trade Union Group issued the following statement this afternoon:

The Green Party Trade Union group sends its support to FBU members striking over the May bank holiday weekend 2014 against “totally unworkable, unaffordable, unsustainable and unfair” changes to firefighters’ pensions. GPTU recognises that FBU members perform strenuous, dangerous and, at times, heroic work on behalf of the community. Their dedication is needed by us all as they are increasingly on the frontline against the damage being caused by climate change. Instead of taking effective measures to combat climate change the government disgracefully attacks firefighters’ just rewards for their vital work.

Shame on the government and victory to the FBU!

Pete Murry, GPTU Secretary

Where does Barry Gardiner stand on fracking?

I was approached recently by some neighbours, concerned about the environment and the future of their young children, and therefore interested in  their MP's position on fracking.  They knew that the Green Party  POLICY LINK was opposed to fracking anywhere in the UK but were not sure about Labour's position. Labour Brent Council had opposed fracking in Brent but not elsewhere.

I said that Labour appeared to be ambivalent but undertook to write to our Brent North MP, Barry Gardiner, a shadow minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for an authoritative statement:

This is what he said:

I know there has been real concern about the potential environmental dangers of fracking and I agree that this process should only go ahead if it is safe and environmentally sound. Indeed, it is only by fully addressing legitimate environmental and safety concerns about fracking through robust regulation and comprehensive monitoring, that people will have confidence that the extraction of shale gas is a safe and reliable source that can contribute to the UK's energy mix.

Shale gas does potentially offer an opportunity for the UK to improve our security of energy supply, to replace depleted North Sea gas reserves and to displace some of the gas we currently import. Shale has should not, therefore, be dismissed and I believe it is right that any communities that do host nationally significant energy infrastructure are able to share its rewards.

However, the Government also need to get their priorities right and I do not believe that fracking is the silver bullet for all our energy needs that the Government seem to suggest. Indeed, it is unlikely that it will be possible to extract shale gas in large volumes in the immediate future in the UK or that it will make a significant difference to consumer bills.

Given this and the legitimate safety and environmental concerns that have been expressed, I believe there should be a cautious and proportionate approach to shale gas exploration.

It is also unhelpful for the Government to have established a false opposition between shale gas extraction and investment in renewable energy. Gas will, of course, continue to play a part in our short and medium term energy mix but here is not reason why this should preclude heavy investment in renewable generation, which represents the long-term future of our energy sector.

I know that some environmental groups have also expressed concern about the Government's approach to encouraging shale gas production and I hope the Government will now listen to these concerns and adopt a more cautious and proportionate approach that address key safety and environmental concerns.

Protests continue against fracking in Barton Moss, Salford. Report HERE

Green Euro candidate hits out at industrialisation of schools

A leading Green Party politician has condemned Government league tables that show nearly half the areas with primary schools not meeting new nationally set targets are in Yorkshire.

Cllr Andrew Cooper, who is lead Green candidate for Yorkshire & the Humber in the European elections next year, said he was at least as concerned about the process of league tables as he was about the findings. Greens would abolish league tables as they are currently devised and used.

Many areas badly affected by Government austerity
“These targets are nationally set and take no account of local issues," said Cllr Cooper . "It is telling that many of the schools identified are in areas of social deprivation which have been especially badly affected by the Government’s austerity drive.

League tables a crude mechanism
"Using league tables, which by default rank schools above or below others, is a crude mechanism for determining real educational needs and outcomes. It is not helpful and simply stigmatises schools where teachers, parents and pupils are often working incredibly hard in spite of frequently lacking resources or having to keep adjusting to changing diktats from central Government.”

Cllr Cooper went on to say, ”This comes in the same week we have heard that the Coalition’s flagship policy on free schools is running two times over budget and failing to meet need in areas with oversubscribed places. It is dreadful for the Government to now compound this assault on education by using a one dimensional process to assess our primary schools.”

Cllr Cooper added, “Greens want a very different approach to education. We support a model where needs are determined more locally but on a community basis rather than in the way free schools are allowed to operate, and in particular we want the education process to be one that is geared to individual children’s needs rather than Michael Gove’s latest idea.”

He said that Greens support primary children starting academic schooling at 6 rather than 5, which would be in line with successful education systems such as those in several European countries. Prior to that, building on the Surestart programme, a system of free nursery education should be available with an emphasis on learning through play. Greens would also adopt the Scandinavian model of “all through schools” where pupils would remain in the same school throughout their education but the schools themselves would become more local in their nature and smaller than some of the super-sized establishments found across the UK today.

“We want schools that are linked to the local community, not Whitehall, and that are central to the local area and focus on the varying needs of children,” said Cllr Cooper. “The Government has a two-faced approach of encouraging elitist free schools which drift off in their own direction but then imposes a one-size-fits-all assessment which simply tarnishes the reputation of less well resouced schools and even their local area."

Cllr Cooper concluded, ”Like any parent, I want my children to have an education that meets their needs, not some national target. Schools should not be exam factories; pupils are children, not widgets.”

Why we cannot let Gove get rid of our teaching assistants and instead should celebrate them

The role of Teaching Assistant (TA) has been transformed over the last decade or so. The role has been extended and professionalised from the old days of washing up the paints and tacky backing work cards.

Now TAs are involved in teaching 1:1 and in small groups, often through 'Intervention Programmes' for phonics, literacy and maths. Others may carry out speech therapy and physiotherapy with pupils after being trained by the professionals who no longer deliver the programmes themselves. Some act as mentors or counsellors to pupils experiencing problems.

TAs take part in education and training and qualifications such as NVQ :Level 3 or equivalent are required. A recent phenomenon has been graduates taking on the role in order to gain some experience in teaching before undertaking a post-graduate training course.

What they have in common is low pay and usually a 'term-time only'  contract. The cliché 'overworked and underpaid' really does apply: along with 'undervalued'. As spending cuts bite and schools look for 'savings' TAs are more easily dispensed with than teachers and Government questioning of their effectiveness doesn't help.

A further strength, often overlooked but one that I valued as a primary headteacher, is that they are usually part of the local community, know the families out of school as well as in school, and are the public face of the school on the street when often, particularly in cities, teachers live some distance away and commute to work.

Now Unison and the website TeacherRoar have launched a campaign to celebrate the contribution of TAs and, based on my experience in schools and the many wonderful TAs that I have seen in action, one that I am pleased to back. @TeacherROAR has been tweeting TA celebratory stories which will culminate in a Day of Celebration of TAs on Friday November 29th.  Further information can be found on the Unison website HERE and on the TeacherROAR blog HERE

I am grateful to TeacherROAR and Sarah who normally blogs HERE for permission to reproduce an account of her mornig's work as a Teaching Assistant.  Here it is: 

I received an email yesterday from my union. I am a member of Unison and the email was to tell me about a day - 29th November 2013 - a day to celebrate Teaching Assistants. Now why would they be wanting to do that? Why celebrate Teaching Assistants? Well, the reason is because if the UK Government has its way there might not be any Teaching Assistants in schools in the future.

Unison is fighting to save Teaching Assistants. The Government has decided that Teachers can do the job of Teaching Assistants. We are an expensive luxury.

So, let me tell you a little bit about my day and you can decide whether I am an expensive luxury and whether my Teachers can do my duties instead.

I am paid, as are my colleagues, from 8.50 am. I actually arrive each day at 8.25 am and start to prepare for my day. I help my Teacher welcome the Year 1 children and look after any of them who are upset or wobbly that day. I am there for any parent who wants to chat. If a parent needs to chat to my Teacher, I take the children in so they don't have to stand in the cold.

I have organised a rota for myself, (in my own time,) so that I can fit in all the children who need extra help. Working from information collated by my Teacher I have organised the children so that all of of them can reach their potential. By 8.50 I have started 1 to 1 work on phonics, handwriting, reading, number work.At 9.05 I bring out my 2nd group for 15 minutes, catching up on phonics, High Frequency Words. During this time the Teacher has taken Register and is into the Phonics session.

All the time I am listening to the lesson in the classroom, ready to go in if needed, because there are children who have Special Needs and I might be needed to sit with them. In Year 1 children very rarely have been statemented yet so there is no funding for 1 to 1 support. Therefore the General T.A (me) has to be there for them.

By 9.15 the Literacy Lesson starts and I either sit on the carpet with particular children to support them or spend time writing up my interventions so far that morning ( because I have to provide evidence of the work done with the children). Then I start checking reading books. I either change them or initial that the record has been checked. When the children go to their tables to work I go with them. I know which table because I have spent time (my own time) reading the Teacher's detailed plans, emailed to me each week.

Most of the time I work with the children who find school tricky. The Teacher and I alternate daily with the groups so that she spends time with all the children. There are children who find it so hard to sit still, concentrate, form letters. I am there to encourage, push, support, explain.

It's amazing the number of ways you can find to explain a single thing! And it's amazing how many children find the simplest thing (to you and me) impossible to grasp. If I or the Teacher wasn't sitting with them they would not know what to do, how to start. One of my greatest skills is patience. To find yet another way to explain something, but to do it with kindness and humour is what I love to do. And at the same time as I am helping this child there are another 5 on the table who need me too.

Of course the Teacher could sit with them ... but what about the other 25 five year olds?

By 10 am its time for Assembly and I keep a group back to read with. I read with every child in the class at least once a week, assessing their skills and giving them tips and encouragement as we go along. Whether that child gets lots of support at home and loves to read or receives minimum support and finds reading hard, hard, hard -  I find the way to help them achieve their best, help them enjoy reading. The joy of seeing a child move up a level or get excited about a book is just wonderful.

After break (10 minutes) I read the story while the Teacher reads with another group (they try to read with every child once a week too).

Then it's Maths and the same sort of support as I have given in Literacy. My last group goes out with me at 11.50 for a quick recap on numbers - formation, number lines, counting. Then at 12 it's time for home ...

But we don't go home do we? Most T.As in my school stay and get the jobs done that they couldn't do in the morning...like changing reading books, putting up displays, changing the role play area, filing ... It's a rare day that I go home before 12.35 and some days I stay until 1pm, an hour over my paid time. Obviously this is up to me. It's my choice that I stay, but then that's the sort of people T.As tend to be. We don't do our job for the money, we do it because we love it, love the children.

An ordinary morning is what I have described above. I haven't told you about my playground duties, my chats with children whose parents are breaking up, whose granny has died, who have seen their dad beating up their mum... I haven't told you about the chats with parents who are worried or don't "get" phonics. I haven't mentioned helping children who have wet themselves or been sick everywhere or had a massive nose bleed.

Of course the Teacher could do all these things too. She gets into work at 7.30 and stops for lunch at 12.55 ( 15 minutes break ... soooo lazy!!) then works through until 5.30 when she goes home sorts life out for her own children and then carries on with school work. The thing is though that if she did my job, the things I do, then when would she actually be teaching? Or maybe we should just forget about all the small groups I take out, forget about reading with the children?

There are Teaching Assistants in my school who work 1 to 1 with children who are autistic or have long term illness, children with behavioural problems who, if left to their own devices could be dangerous both to themselves and other children. Without their T.As these children would be lost. As it is, their parents have to fight for help. How could they access education without the care and 1 to 1 support of a Teaching Assistant? T.As deliver physiotherapy programmes, Speech and Language interventions, administer medication...

Teaching Assistants are the unsung backbone of the education system. We work for just over minimum wage and we work because we choose to give our best for the children in our care. In my school the T.As are hard working, intelligent (many are Graduates) and very caring. Often it is the T.A who has the time to sit and listen to a child, who picks up on the underlying problems a child faces. We are part of a team, with our Teachers, trying to create an environment where children can learn and enjoy learning.

Teachers work incredibly hard already. If we were not there to do the things we do then I really hate to think what would happen to the children who need us. Teachers cannot physically do their own jobs and ours. It's impossible. I despair at the short sightedness of the UK Government and their plans.

If you have a child in school then please celebrate how fortunate they are, not only to have Teachers who work their socks off, but also Teaching Assistants who do their best to support, care and guide. It has been a long time since all we did was wash up paint pots.

You can support the campaign by putting a 'Twibbon' on your Facebook or Twitter profile picture. Follow this LINK

Lucas: Government must retain obligation to tackle fuel poverty

The Green MP Caroline Lucas will today accuse the Coalition of trying to “weasel out” of a long-standing duty to eliminate fuel poverty.

Ahead of today’s Commons debate on fuel prices she has drawn attention to a move by the Government to abolish its statutory obligation to eliminate fuel poverty.  

Under the 2000 Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act, the Government has a duty to eradicate fuel poverty by 2016.   However, the Coalition tabled an amendment to the Energy Bill in the Lords, which would replace this duty with a commitment merely to address the situation of people living in fuel poverty, without any targets or timescale.

Lucas has tabled an Early Day Motion calling for ambitious fuel poverty targets to be reinstated, with the support of other MPs on the cross party parliamentary fuel poverty group.

The motion urges Government and parliament to support an amendment from crossbench peer Lord O’Neill of Clackmannan, which reintroduces energy efficiency targets in order to ensure robust action to eradicate fuel poverty.

Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, said:

It’s a scandal that millions of households in England are currently in fuel poverty, with this figure set to grow dramatically as wages fall and energy costs rise. The Coalition is weaselling out of its duty to help people struggling with cold homes and high fuel bills.  Without targets set in legislation, there is no guarantee that this or any future government will take the necessary action on fuel poverty.

The Coalition must rethink its decision to downgrade its commitment to ending fuel poverty and recognise that energy efficiency provides the only cost effective long-term solution to unaffordable energy bills.  This needs to be a higher priority for all politicians. Having clear fuel poverty and energy efficiency objectives in primary legislation is a crucial first step.

This would help drive a nationwide upgrade to the housing stock, which would be a great boost for the energy efficiency industry and jobs too.

We won't be SILENCED: oppose the Gagging Law

Lorries promoting government racism in Brent condemned

Brent has been chosen as one of six borough for the dubious honour of hosting a campaign that panders to the racists of the EDL and echoes the 'Blacks Go Home' slogans of the National Front in the 70s.

In the 70s I was one of many in anti-racist groups who organised weekend actions removing  or painting over the slogans from the walls and doors of London. The slogans, often aimed at individual homes. as below, were designed to intimidate.

Now it is a government that is funding a campaign with exactly the same aims. It shows, contrary to the multi-racial bliss promoted by the government over the Olympics, that racism is now acceptable.

As a teacher I was very aware of the impact racist and anti-refugee campaigns had on children in our schools, making them anxious and insecure and sometimes ashamed of their status. This campaign will have a similar impact and seems designed to reassure the racsits that the government is taking action but will have the effect of stirring up resentment, suspicion and fear.

The choosing of Brent for such a campaign, when there was that notorious YouTube video about Wembley by a far-right racist group not so long ago is deeply offensive.

Sarah Teather MP spoke out against the campaign saying:

This is the latest in a string of Home Office announcements that are designed to make the government look tough on immigration. But I fear that the only impact of this deeply divisive form of politics will be to create tension and mistrust to anyone who looks and sounds foreign. These adverts are nothing less than straightforward intimidation and … can only have bad consequences for communities like those I represent in Brent, where people from all faiths and races have mixed for decades. We will all be much poorer for it.

Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council said yesterday:

Placing these posters in the most diverse borough in the UK is inflammatory and divisive. I have people in my surgeries every week who have been wrongly processed by the home office or who have come from places they simply can't return to and are now going to feel publicly threatened as a result of these posters. It's disgraceful and frankly unwelcome in our diverse and united borough.

I welcome their statements and am keen to discuss what we can do as a community once these lorries of hate are on out streets.

Supreme Court rules UK failing to protect people from air pollution

The Supreme Court has declared that the UK Government is failing to protect people from dangerous levels of air pollution. This decision paves the way for the European Commission to take legal action against the UK.

Air pollution causes 4,000 early deaths each year in London alone and poses a particular danger to children and those with existing health conditions.

The court case, brought by environmental lawyers at Client Earth, concerns 16 cities and regions which government plans show will suffer from illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide, a toxic gas - until as late as 2020 or 2025.

The Supreme Court confirmed that because the Government is in breach of the EU Air Quality Directive “the way is open to immediate enforcement action at national or European level”. However, before deciding whether to take further action to enforce the law, it has referred a number of legal questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

 Jean Lambert, Green Party Member of the European Parliament  for London and an honorary founder member of Clean Air London said:

This ruling confirms what many of us have been saying for a long time:The UK Government must do more to protect the population from harmful levels of air pollution.

For too long we’ve seen action on air pollution happening at a snail’space. The government must take heed of this ruling and get to work on drastically reducing the levels of pollution in our towns and cities.

James Thornton, ClientEarth CEO, said 

This historic ruling marks a turning point in the fight for clean air and will pile the pressure on Owen Paterson. Faced with court action on two fronts, he must now come up with an ambitious plan to protect people from carcinogenic diesel fumes. Until now, his only policy has been lobbying in Europe to try and weaken air pollution laws.

The Supreme Court recognised that this case has broader implications for EU environmental law: The Government can’t flout environmental law with impunity. If the Government breaks the law, citizens can demand justice and the courts must act.”

Butt challenges Teather to 'pick up the phone' and make a difference to Brent residents

 The early start to the campaign to win marginal Brent Central following Sarah Teather's sacking from the Government and her pledge to devote herself to her constituents,  was confirmed today when Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt wrote her an open letter accusing her of not standing up for Brent residents.

Writing on the Labour List website LINK today her said:

Dear Sarah,

As Leader of Brent Council, I was somewhat surprised to read in our local paper this week that you have been “working with the Council” on the issue of welfare reform, and are leading our efforts to mitigate the impact on our residents.

I was surprised because I don’t remember your help in preparing residents for the cuts in Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit that are going to devastate our community. Surprised because I don’t remember your help while everyone at the Council was refocusing their efforts on getting as many residents as possible into work and increasing local wages to minimise the impact.

Nor do I recall you standing up for residents by supporting our stance on the Living Wage, or helping reduce residents’ bills through our bulk energy buying scheme. I don’t recollect your offer of assistance in tackling slum housing and rogue landlords or in persuading landlords to accept lower rents rather than throw residents out on the street.

I can’t remember you lobbying Eric Pickles not to strip over £100 million from our funding or to give us the money our residents deserve for underestimating our population by over 60,000. Nor do I remember your help in supporting Brent’s food bank as they broke their own record for the number of vouchers given out in a single day over Christmas.

That’s because unlike the other MPs in Brent, you haven’t helped us or our residents with any of these issues – so far. 

If you really want to help our residents, instead of writing press releases claiming undue credit, why don’t you pick up the phone and ask what you can do to actually make a difference?

Our residents need someone to persuade this Government that they simply can’t take any more pain, they need someone to stand up for them in Parliament on a regular basis and they need help bringing together all partners in Brent to work together to protect them.

I look forward to your call; there is a lot of work to do.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Muhammed Butt
Leader of Brent Council