Barry Gardiner spices up Labour Deputy Leader campaign

Barry Gardiner has arranged a meeting at Moore Spice, in the Wembley Retail Park, for Brent Labour Party members to hear a short speech from Caroline Flint, a candidate for Deputy Leader. Her speech will be followed by a Q & A session.

The meeting is on Tuesday 7th July at 8pm. 

Flint is MP for Don Valley and is Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

Upcoming events at Preston Community Library

From Preston Community Library Campaign

Firstly, a reminder that July's pub quiz is tomorrow night (Monday, 6 July) at 7.30 in The Preston. As usual, we aim to start the quiz promptly at 8. I hope to see lots of you there. Next month's quiz will be on Monday 10 August.

Our new film club opens its doors for the first time on Monday 13 July with a screening of To Kill a Mockingbird at 6.30, preceded by a performance at 4.30 of the novel's trial scene with pupils from local schools. This event is timed to coincide with the publication of Harper Lee's new novel. Please note that only members of the library can be admitted to this film; you can join the library at the door. 

Our next show will be Brent History on Celluloid, at 2pm on Thursday 23 July. Film London's archivist Louise Pankhurst will be presenting a selection of films from the Brent Museum and Archives, offering a glimpse of the borough's rich celluloid history.

The library will continue to open on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays throughout July. Our current classes and other activities will continue, and this month we are adding IT classes for adults and Story and Rhyme for children. The Story and Rhyme sessions will be from 11 to 12 on Saturdays for children from 5 to 8 years old, who must be accompanied by an adult. IT for adults will be on Wednesdays at 3 and at 7. Places on these IT classes are limited and booking is essential. Please phone Ray Patel on 07952 425902. Details of all of this are, as ever, on our website; https://brentlibraries.wordpress.com/ .

Our current licence in the Library building expires on July 31, and the future remains uncertain. It now looks very likely that a school will be using the building, possibly for a fairly short period, from September. When that happens, our use of the building will be limited to weekends. I will write to you about this when I know more. In the meantime, if you have any views on the future of the library, please let us know.

Greens welcome the Greek 'NO' to bailout proposals

Greens have welcomed the outcome of the Greek referendum, which has shown around two thirds of voters have said ‘No’ to European Union and International Monetary Fund bailout proposals for more austerity in exchange for rescue loans.

Caroline Lucas MP said:

“The Greek people have made a decision which must now be respected. This referendum has seen EU states do their very best to undermine the democratic will of the Greek people but it’s time to draw a line under the past and move onwards.

“History shows us that countries can escape crippling debt in a just way. In 1953, at London Conference, Greece was among the European nations signing a deal which allowed for the cancellation of German debt, to enable the country to grow again after the destruction of the Second World War. Europe needs to come together to offer the Greeks a deal which allows their country to be rebuilt.”

Molly Scott Cato, Green MEP for the South West, said:

“This referendum has provided an opportunity for all EU states to reflect on the balance of power between finance markets and democratic governments. We now need to see an urgent conference to address the issue of Greece’s debt with restructuring and debt relief a clear outcome. There also needs to be clear support for rebuilding the economy, especially by investing in sustainable sectors of the economy.”

 Michael Rosen posted this on his Facebook page today:
 
Standby for long grey files of Europe's elder statesmen
their wallets stuffed with the riches of
bad banking, offshore deals and weird deals
we know not of
standing solemnly in front of us
telling us that the Greek people
are mad, irresponsible,
and don't understand money.
Standby for them to tell us that the system
is essentially good and the Greek people
are essentially bad,
standby for them to tell us that their core belief
that money can create money is
wise and wonderful
and that the wicked Greek people
are betraying the law of nature
that whatever is lent must be given back
a hundredfold
and the law of nature that trees produce olives
is as nothing compared to that.

Update on Perivale Warehouse Fire

From the London Fire Brigade late yesterday:

Around 120 firefighters and officers tackled a fire at a warehouse, containing a number of commercial and factory units, on Wadsworth Rd, Perivale this evening.

Around 30 people left the building before the Brigade arrived and there were no reports of any injuries. The blaze gutted the large 75 metre by 75 metre building and at the height of the fire smoke could be seen across the whole of London.

Station Manager Jeff Lisle who was at the scene said: 

"Crews worked very hard in extremely difficult conditions to bring this fire under control. Firefighters used aerial ladder platforms to tackle it from numerous vantage points and to prevent the blaze from spreading to neighbouring warehouses. 

“Although not in a residential area the smoke from the fire was travelling quite a distance so we advised locals to keep windows and doors shut as a precaution." 

Twenty fire engines from stations including Heston, Northolt, Chiswick, Wembley, Park Royal, Ruislip, Ealing, Hammersmith, Willesden and North Kensington were at the scene.

The Brigade was called at 1852 and the fire was under control at 2344. Crews are expected to be at the scene throughout Sunday damping down the fire. 

The cause of the fire is under investigation.