More on Cliff's Statue, because......"he deserves it"

I am going to resist having a giggle about this proposal for a statue of Sir Cliff Richard at Wembley Arena but enjoy one of your own by looking at the document yourself HERE

Conversations on Making and Saving Energy

Transition Town Kensal to Kilburn and 

Brent Friends of the Earth

present

        Energy conversations:

how to make it and how to save it

 

3 Great Speakers: 3 Great Conversations

Armstrong Yakubu, Foster and Partners: Sustainable Cities

Tom Pakenham, Green Tomato Energy: Passivhaus and Solar PV

Sarah Nicholl, Transition Belsize: Draught Busting

Monday November 14^th 2011, 7.30 – 9.30pm at the Rotunda,

St Anne’s and St Andrew’s Church,

125 Salusbury Road , NW6 6RG

Please bring food and drink to share

Transition Kensal to Kilburn – Growing a Greener Community.

Find out more at: http://ttkensaltokilburn.ning.com/

Lies, Damn Lies, and Library Transformation

The quote in the November Brent Magazine

Brent Council's dismal record of misinformation and disinformation over public libraries, which started of course with the misleadingly named 'Transformation Project', has been highlighted again today.

The Brent Magazine, which is still flopping through letter boxes, claimed that all Brent residents were 1.5 miles from a library. Toni McConville, Director of Customer and Community Engagement for Brent Council said:

The information about the 1.5 mile distance that residents would need to travel to a library was provided by the Library Service. An assumption was wrongly made that this meant one of the council's remaining libraries rather than a library in the vicinity.

I'm sorry for the error and have pointed it out to the communications team so that the mistake is not repeated.

Graham Durham,Secretary of Save Cricklewood Library Campaign,  said:

This is the latest in a series of misleading information on library cuts.Throughout the consultation and in endless meetings Annjohnette has stated it will be 1.5 miles to a Brent library - it is now clear that this claim was utterly untrue.Any resident of Wembley or Willesden could have told the council this.

Preston Library campaigners are marching from South Kenton to Kingsbury Library on Saturday afternoon to demonstrate the distance to their nearest library following the closure of Preston Library.

Willesden Green Library to close for 2 years - 0nly 5/12 Brent libraries will be left

Library campaigners have reacted angrily to the admission by a senior Council officer that Willesden Green library, including the archive collection will be closed for two years from April 2012.

Writing to Brent SOS Libraries on 3 November 3rd, Jenny Isaac, Assistant Director (Neighbourhood Services) confirmed that only a side hut in Grange Road will be left open.  It will have study space for only eight people, six computers, and only a very limited supply of books will be available. This news comes on top of the closure of half the borough's libraries last month.

Graham Durham ,Secretary of Save Cricklewood Library Campaign, said:

The boarding -up of nearby Neasden and Cricklewood Libraries - and the stripping of all books from Cricklewood - before the legal case was completed has already shown the contempt Brent Council has for local people in the area. Although  Councillor James Powney and library chiefs Sue Harper and Sue MacKenzie have refused to meet Cricklewood residents for over eight months now, they did promise that a wonderful facility would be available at Willesden Green.

This promise has now been shown to be a complete lie. In fact study opportunities and access to the internet, as well as local research and book lending, will be virtually non-existent. In their  discussion of 'pop-up' libraries  the range of overpaid Council officers and Labour Cabinet members are having a really bad taste joke at the expense of young and old who cannot afford to travel even further afield to Harlesden and Kilburn.

It was already a very difficult and expensive journey for parents with small children from Cricklewood and Neasden to Willesden Green - now that option has been destroyed for a generation of children.

The Brent Executive is due to consider a report on the redevelopment of Willesden Green Library at their meeting on November 14th at Brent Town Hall.

Further details HERE

March on Saturday to the Democracy Wall and Kingsbury Library

Preston Library Campaigners will be calling in at the Democracy Wall (also known as the Wall of Shame) when they march on Saturday from South Kenton Station to Kingsbury Library. They will leave South Kenton at 1.30pm and will call in at the Democracy Wall about 1.50pm.

You are invited to join in and dress up as your favourite story character.

Lucas to speak at Occupy LSX tomorrow - "this is real politics in action"

The UK's only Green MP Caroline Lucas will speak out in support of the "real politics" of protest at the 'We are the 99%' rally taking place outside St Paul's Cathedral on Saturday 5 November.

The MP for Brighton Pavilion, who pressed David Cameron to support a 'Robin Hood Tax' on financial trading during Prime Minister's Questions earlier this week, will join with protesters to show support for the Occupy movement against economic injustice.

Saturday's rally, taking place from 2pm, will be followed by a march on Parliament from St Paul's.

Caroline Lucas, one of the few MPs to have visited the Occupy LSX encampment, said:

"As the public becomes more aware of the injustice and unsustainability of our economic system, more and more people are taking to the streets for a different kind of society - one which puts the interests of the many before those of a powerful minority.

"That the leaders of the mainstream political parties have completely failed to engage with what is happening down at St Paul's and at protests across the country shows just how painfully out of touch they are with the public mood for change.

"This is real politics in action - and the voices of those ordinary and extraordinary people who want a fairer, greener system to replace the stocks-and-shares house of sand that sustains corporate capitalism must now be heard.

"The global financial crisis and billion-pound bailouts have exposed the plain truth that the entire economic system is rigged against the hard working majority. As a first step towards mending the damage wreaked on our society by reckless financial gambling, the Government must back a Robin Hood Tax at the G20 Summit in Cannes - with the revenue ear-marked to address sustainable development and the growing climate crisis."

Greens ahead of Lib Dems in London Mayor Poll

These are the latest figures in the London24 on-line poll on the London Mayoral election:

London Mayor poll

Who would you be voting for if the London mayoral election was taking place today?

Boris Johnson 36 %

Ken Livingstone 31 %

Brian Paddick 5 %

Jenny Jones 21 %

Someone else 5 %

Would not vote 3 %

Equalities Commission gets involved in Brent libraries appeal

In a significant new development in the Brent Libraries Appeal,  I understand that the Equalities and Human Rights Commission has now got involved. The Appeal decision is likely on Thursday/Friday of next week,

The Commission have attached themselves to the Appeal on issues relating to the Council's Equalities Act duties and will be sending their own QC to assist Brent SOS Libraries legal representatives.

This could pave the way for investigation of other matters relating to the council cuts where campaigners have questioned whether the council has fully carried out their responsibilities under the Act.