Dos the 'market' govern us now?

Well, I used to worry that multinational companies really ruled the world and that governments were relatively powerless...

Now is seems that the markets can impose unelected technocrat governments (Greece and Italy) and via Standard and Poor's rating agency make whole regions quake in their boots and adjust their policies to please the market.

Where were Standard and Poor's  when the banks were behaving so recklessly back before 2008?

Where does that leave democracy and our right to elect a party that will govern in OUR interests?

See Wall Street Journal on S & P's role in original US mortgage crisis HERE

Draft West London Waste Plan

Avoiding this....but what will replace it?

 The draft Plan for dealing with the waste of the boroughs of Brent, Richmond, Ealing, Hounslow, Hillingdon and Harrow can be found HERE  It is an item on the agenda of Brent Council Executive at the meeting to be held on Monday 12th December, 7pm at Brent Town Hall.

Standing Up for Climate Justice

Several thousand  people did just that today when they marched from Blackfriars Bridge to the Houses of Parliament midway through the Durban Climate Change talks. It was important amidst all the devastation of cuts, unemployment and the euro-zone crisis to remember the even larger environmental crisis engulfing our planet.

A 'new look' education authority for Brent?

Following moves by various Brent schools towards Cooperative Trust status or Cooperative Academies, the Children and Families department of the Council  has put forward some proposals to headteachers for a possible  'new look' education authority. This would reduce the services provided  by the authority to a small statutory core with many more being provided through collaborative arrangements between schools. The collaboration could be formalised into a social enterprise.

I understand that this is based on:
1. An expectation of a sharply reduced central education budget.
2. A recognition of the enormous amount of expertise that exists within the schools.
3. A recognition that schools want more autonomy.

Although this addresses the attraction of the Cooperative model's ethos and criticism of the deteriorating quality of some LA services, it does not deal with the short-term financial gain some secondary schools hope to get through academy conversion.

In this week's Brent and Kilburn Times (see below) I called for an open debate on the future of the Brent education system. The initiative from the Council makes this even more necessary.

Click on image to enlarge

Plans for new waste sites in Brent dropped

The draft West London Waste  Plan in October 2010 proposed 4 new possible sites in Brent for redevelopment for processing residual waste, as well as two existing ones . The revised list, following consultation, only includes the two existing sites: Twyford Waste Transfer Station and Veolia Transfer Station, Marsh Road. The site in Hannah Close.Great Central Way is now occupied and so is no longer proposed. Careys. the waste management company, who are contributing to the running of the Welsh Harp Outdoor Education Centre, now have an MRF (Materials Recovery Facility) in Hannah Close.  Brent Council says that the other three sites are now 'for one reason or another, considered too difficult to deliver'.  The sites were at Asia Sky, Abbey Road; rail sidings, Premier Park Road, and Alperton Lane industrial area, Marsh Road.

This will be a relief for Brent residents but Ealing does not fare so well and some of their sites are close to the Brent border.   Three existing sites are listed including one at Quattro in Victoria Road, Park Royal as well as two new ones in Park Royal (see below).

The Brent Executive will be asked to approved a revised WLWP for publication at its meeting on December 12th. Once the document has been approved by all 6 WLWA boroughs it will be made available for a further six weeks consultation in February 2012. Authority will then be sought from each borough to submit the Plan to the Secretary of State for Examination in Public. This is likely to take place in late 2012 and the plan adopted in early 2012.

In tandem with this the WLWA will be completing the selection of the new contractor for the multi-million 25 year residual waste contract. As posted previously this includes controversial Veolia who run the Marsh Road Transfer Station in Brent.

No technology has yet been put forward for the new sites, this will be done at the planning station, and environmental groups will be monitoring for any incineration or other potentially harmful processes.

Stand Up for Climate Justice Tomorrow

The Brent contingent going to the Climate Justice march will meet at 10.45am tomorrow at Willesden Green Station.

Click on image to enlarge

Victoria Brittain on 'The Meaning of Waiting' Wembley Dec 13th

Join IHRC on December 13th for an evening with Victoria Brittain discussing her play The Meaning of Waiting where eight women tell their stories using their own words of the unseen fallout of the war on terror in Britain. These are stories of real women, from cultures as varied as Palestine, Senegal, Jordan, Libya, St John's Wood, and the English Midlands that all came to the UK as refugees, or married refugees. After 9/11 the world they loved here vanished almost overnight. One after another they were engulfed by isolation and private terror.

Entry is free to book a place please call 020 8904 4222 or email events@ihrc.org, or leave your name and details in store.

Date:                                 13 December 2011 (Tuesday)
Time:                                 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Venue:                              IHRC Bookshop, Gallery and Information Centre
                                          202 Preston Road, Wembley, HA9 8PA
Nearest train / tube:        Preston Road (Metropolitan Line), South Kenton (Bakerloo Line, London Overground)

A fun day with a serious message for the Coalition

 

My home-made placard for today's National Strike disappeared at Lincoln's Inn Field today only for me to spot it later being sported by a young student. She was disarmingly unapologetic so I decided the fact that my efforts had been taken up so enthusiastically by the next generation  was a tribute to my artistic expertise!

The earlier rally at the Torch in Wembley had standing room only and with more than 50 Brent schools closed there was a great spirit of solidarity and some fantastic speeches. Labour councillors Janice Long and Mary Arnold were in the audience. The march itself was high-spirited, comradely and lots of fun with women in the majority.