POLICIES NOT PERSONALITIES? TEST YOURSELF

An enterprising site has been set up which lists the policies of six political parties in 10 areas.  You choose the most important policy areas for you personally, and then vote for the policy you prefer.  This is done blind - you are not told which policy belongs to which party.

At the end you are told which party your choices favoured.

Simple?  Have a go by clicking this link  VOTEFORPOLICIES

Boris turns Brent Cross protests into a joke

Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, demonstrated his cosy relationship with developers and contempt for democracy when he spoke at the London Planning Awards 2010. He dismissed the widespread opposition to the environmentally disastrous Brent Cross Cricklewood Regeneration with a flippant 'Never Mind'.

The fact that the Mayor gave the opposition such contemptuous and cursory consideration must reinforce the pressure on the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to call in the application for a Public Inquiry.

Darren Johnson, Green Party AM said,

This sound clip reveals that beneath the Mayor's chuckling veneer lurks a cavalier disregard for the views of Londoners and a reckless abandonment of any pretence of reaching an informed and balanced view of major development applications and their environmental impact. A public inquiry is essential.

Brent Needs the Green Party's Equality Policies

from 'The impact of income inequalities on sustainable development in London' a report for the London Sustainable Development Commission by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett of the The Equalities Trust. PDF of the report HERE

A key report concludes this month that:

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  Economic growth has ceased to be a reliable source of higher standards of wellbeing. Many countries achieve levels of life expectancy similar to Britain but at a fraction of our levels per capita  of national income and emissions.
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  The high rates of many social problems in London, and Britain more widely, are directly attributable to the scale of inequality and would be reduced if inequality was decreased.
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  This means that future improvements to the quality of life now depend more on narrowing income differences than on economic growth.
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  The pressure to consume is substantially increased by inequality because inequality increases status competition.
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  The achievement of a low carbon, sustainable society depends on people's willingness to act for the common good. Greater equality strengthens community life, public spiritedness, and trust while weakening individual status competition.
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  Tackling inequality and climate changes requires a change in mind-set away from anti-social consumerism and instead an ethos where wework together to improve the quality of the social and natural environment.

The full report goes into much more detail about the benefits of greater equality and is at pains to point out that the benefits would not only be for the poorer section of the population but for everyone. The table above shows the impact for London as a whole.  Elsewhere in the document figures show that with greater equality Brent would almost halve its incidence of mental illness, sharply reduce teenage pregnancies and reduce the level of obesity (currently the third highest in London).

As Brent Green Party's spokesperson on Children, Families and Schools, and a school governor, I was struck by the graph based on Unicef research that shows the UK's position on children's wellbeing/income inequality.

All this makes the Green Party's redistributive policies absolutely central in tackling social and climate change problems.  In creating a more equal society we will be giving ourselves important weapons to tackle issues that threaten us all.

Why Equality is Better for Everyone

Read this book before casting your vote in the election:



The Spirit Level, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, Penguin, £9.99
ISBN 978-0-141-03236-8

CLICK HERE for Equality Trust slide show giving the statistics used in the Spirit Level

Message from Greenpeace: Government must reconsult on 3rd runway

"Fantastic news! Both the climate and common sense have scored a major victory at the High Court today, where the government's plans for a third runway at Heathrow have been dealt a huge blow.

In response to a legal challenge against the mounted by a coalition of organisations that include Greenpeace, Lord Justice Carnwath ruled that the Government's decision to give a green light to the proposed third runway does not hold any weight. He said that their claims to the contrary were 'untenable in law and common sense'.

The judge said that the government's decision hadn't properly taken into consideration climate change policy or the economic case and surface transport. Effectively this means that for the runway to go ahead, the government will have to re-consult on these major issues as part of an overhaul of its wider aviation policy.

While the government has been sent back to the drawing board, it is very hard to see how it can resuscitate any enthusiasm for the new runway. However, we will be keeping a very close eye on the situation, and we won't rest until the any new government has scrapped the plans categorically and permanently."

Martin Francis, Green Party candidate for Brent North said, "This is great news but we must remain vigilant and make sure the thrid runway is a feature in the forthcoming election campaign.

I am one of 73,000 people who have become beneficial owners of Airplot, bang in the middle of the proposed site,  in an attempt to spread ownership of the land needed for the third runway and make the government deals with thousands of individual owners.  We're still going to need your help to see the runway off once and for all. We want to reach 100,000 beneficial owners - so tell your family and friends to sign up! "  SIGN UP HERE

Jarvis PLC - a narrow escape or warning about the future?

News that Jarvis PLC has gone into administration may revive old memories amongst Brent councillors and headteachers.

Ten years ago the then Labour Council was negotiating for a Private Finance Inititiave deal for its schools, one of the biggest deals in the country. The PFI would have handed the schools over to private companies.  The company would rebuild the schools and take over their maintenance and be paid back over the 25 years.

Jarvis was one of the two bidders left in the ring and local headteachers were invited to the Town Hall council chamber to see presentations which were of course glossy.  I quite upset one Jarvis suit when I asked him if about criticisms of Jarvis's rail operations and what that said about their fitness to maintain our schools. He hotly argued that rail maintenance was a totally different side of the business.  Jarvis later had to admit liability for the Potters Bar railway accident.  It eventually sold off its school building arm to a French company.

After spending more than 2 years on the project and hundreds of thousands of pounds, we returned after the summer holiday in 2001 to find that the officer responsible for PFI had mysteriously disappeared - we assumed he had been sacked. The Council announced that the project to rebuild 17 secondary and primary schools had been abandoned for 'reasons outside the council's control'. Mystery still hangs around what really happened...

Just imagine the what could have happened to Brent schools if Jarvis had won the contract.  Would we now be spending hundreds of thousands of pounds keeping the company afloat?

Bye-bye Bob

More fun and games amongst the Tories in Brent as we head for the elections. The Conservatives already have two candidates in Brent North (one under an 'Independent' label) . Now we have a Conservative group leader in Brent, who isn't standing in the local elections, but won't resign as leader until after the election.

Bob Blackman has announced he won't be standing in Harrow East MP. However this means the Tories will go into the council election fight with a leader who will have his mind on other matters, and who won't be there to pick up the pieces after the election. Will there be moves to replace him before May 6th?
It will mean that Tory candidates will be fighting with one eye on the upcoming leadership battle and jostling for position. Cllr John Detre (Northwick Park) has already thrown his hat in the ring.

Atiq Malik, standing as an Independent in the Brent North Parliamentary constituency (where I am also a candidate) is one of two Conservative councillors (the other is Robert Dunwell) who formed the Democratic Conservative Group, following disagreements over Blackman's leadership. Blackman was also indirectly criticised by Merrick Cockell, Chairman of London Councils, after he failed to win against Navin Shah in the London Assembly elections in 2008. Cockell said then, "Internal divisions have certainly had an effect and if you are not pulling together defeat is what happens."

A month before the election the Evening Standard had reported accusations by black Conservative Party members that they had been treated in an 'insensitive and unsympathetic way' when trying to attend a local party meeting in Brent North.

Blackman survived an attempt at deselection in Harrow East in 2008 because of his 'underperformance' at the Assembly elections. At the time Conservative Home reported that Conservative HQ were 'disappointed' that deselection wasn't successful.