The perils facing separated young asylum seekers

This report  by Nicky Road of a recent conference has been forwarded by the Institute for Race Relations and should be of interest to teachers, social workers, lawyers and refugee groups in Brent.

The  conference, organised by the Royal Holloway and the Tavistock and Portman NHS on 19 September, brought together lawyers, teachers, mental health workers, social workers, refugee organisations and young asylum seekers to share their knowledge and experiences and to establish a network to collate information and track the outcomes for separated young people seeking asylum.

The excellent contributors detailed both the legal minefield of seeking justice for these young people and the emotional and psychological impact of displacement and a very uncertain and potentially life-threatening future. Young people from Afghanistan also participated in the day and spoke about their experiences of living in the UK, gaining education and qualifications, making friends and a life here only to be met with a very uncertain future as they reach 18.

There were speakers, films taken by young people speaking about their lives, a performance of Mazloom, a play based on words and experiences of young asylum seekers, and a film called Hamedullah. This is the true story of Hamedullah who fled Afghanistan as a teenager and lived safely in Canterbury until Border Agency officials came to his house in the middle of the night, arrested him and removed him to Kabul on a charter flight. Sue Clayton, a film director working in the Media Department at the Royal Holloway, filmed the day he was led to his flight and gave him a tiny video camera which he has since used to capture his experience of returning and his daily struggle to survive. This film is a very powerful testament to the dangers that these young people face when they are forcibly removed and gives the lie to the official statement that it is safe for these young men to return.

The greatest sense of injustice voiced by those young people present was the inequality in the way they are treated in the UK. The different standards of the legal representation they receive was also voiced by many, lawyers included. Supporters of these young people have started to show extracts of Hamedullah to judges, highlighting what they can expect on their return, and this is proving an increasingly effective way of influencing the decisions taken by courts.

The film Hamedullah costs £10 with all the proceeds going to this young man to support him whilst he tries to make a new life for himself. He has been unable to get work, has no family left and his village is in one of the most dangerous areas. He is viewed with great suspicion as belonging to neither country.

Hirani and Spencer to debate hospital changes on Tuesday

There is to be a 'Question Time' style debate  between Dr Mark Spencer, Clinical lead, NW London NHS and exponent of Shaping A Healthier Future's proposals which  include the closure of Central Middlesex A&E,  and Cllr Krupesh Hirani, Brent Council lead member for Health and Adult Social Care,

The debate takes place on Tuesday October 9th, the day after the Shaping A Healthier Future consultation closes.

It will be part of the agenda for the Harlesden Connect forum at 7pm, All Souls Church, Station Road, Harlesden (next to Lloyds Bank)

Seneca chief apologises for Wembley stink

Part of the Seneca mural on its NeasdenMRF

John Carey Junior apologised at the Wembley Connects event this week for the stench that hung over the Wembley and Neasden area for more than a week over the summer, coinciding with the Olympic Games events at the Stadium and Arena.

Seneca,  which has an MRF (Materials Recycling Facility) in Hannah Close, was contrite. The company  has prided itself on its environmental credentials with parent company Careys part-funding the Welsh Harp Environmental Study Centre.

They admitted to management problems as well as technical ones and admitted that the incident led to 5,000 extra tonnes of waste going to landfill. The smell worsened when the pile of waste was disturbed to be shipped out to landfill by a fleet of lorries.

 They blamed the initial problem on the accumulation of organic waste from black bag collections in municipalities other than Brent, where there were not separate composting collections or where there were no facilities for these in flats. The manager responsible had been 'let go', and organic waste was now being turned around within a 24 hour period, rather than festering on site. Odour repressants had been fitted and the odour extracted from within the building.

In response to questions Seneca confirmed that they were seeking a rail connection to transport waste materials (the site is next to the Chiltern Line) and that plans for a biomass plant were planned to go ahead but had been delayed when Seneca's partner went into liquidation.

The Environment Agency in a  briefing dated October 12th and distributed at the meeting said:

We are currently considering our enforcement options. This is  a live investigation and because of legal sensitivities, we are not able to discuss how the investigation is progressing. We will of course keep in touch with people who contact us and ask to be kept informed when we can say more. 

We have received a number of late reports of odour during recent weeks. We would ask that the local community immediately contact us on our 24 hour incident hotline telephone number 0800 80 70 60, if they smell odour which they believe is coming from Unit 2, Hannah Close.

In my contribution I reminded residents that there are a number of waste plants in the area and that Seneca was just across the railway lines from St Margaret Clitherow Primary School and Chalkhill Primary School. The proposed Wembley Stadium Primary would not be far away in Fulton Road. Brent Council had discussed the issue of the accumulation of such ' dirty neighbour' waste firms in the area in its Wembley Plan consultation. The consultation on the plan's preferred options closes on Monday October 8th. Residents who are concerned should go to Brent Council's consultation portal HERE to submit their views.

The consultation closes at 17.00 on Monday.

Join the Save Our Hospitals march on Saturday in Shepherds Bush

Brent Fightback will be supporting this march: 

SATURDAY 6th OCTOBER
...sees the climax of our campaign when we MARCH from Shepherds Bush to Lillie Road - the route symbolises the link between Hammersmith and Charing X hospitals, and the people who use them.

We need a huge turnout to build on the success of the March in Ealing a few weeks ago and our own Public Meeting last week.

We know many people from the Ealing and the Brent campaigns will be joining our march to support us and emphasize the London-wide opposition to these closures - let's make sure that this march is the biggest yet!

This is the last show of public feeling before the consultation closes on Monday 8th October when the joint campaigns will be handing their petitions - with over 50,000 signatures - to NW London NHS bosses.

The Programme of events is: 11am onwards: Assemble ROCKLEY ROAD W12
(just south of Shepherds Bush Green - map)

      12 Noon:          March moves off along South side of Shepherds Bush Green Click HERE for Map of Route

 1pm (approx)in Lillie Road Recreational Ground:
    RALLY

Speakers will include:

Carlo Nero, Chair of Save our Hospitals Campaign
Paul Kenny, General Secretary of GMB
Andy Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith
A surprise celebrity (who we can't name yet!)

plus speakers from Hammersmith and Charing Cross Hospitals' staff, and Hammersmith and Fulham Council. There will be a band to lead the march and entertain us at the Rally

WE STILL NEED YOUR SUPPORT TO MAKE THE MARCH A SUCCESS:

PUBLICITY
It is vital that we publicise our MARCH, right up until the event itself. We will be all around Hammersmith and Fulham on Thursday and Friday leafleting the Rockley Road and Lillie Road areas, as well as holding a stall at Charing Cross on Thursday 12noon - 2pm. PLEASE help with leafleting on Thursday or Friday: check the website for more details or emailcampaign@saveourhospitals.net to find out how to volunteer.

MAKE SURE all your family, friends and neighbours know about the march! Pass on this email NOW to everyone you can - you would be surprised how many people STILL DON'T KNOW about these plans to shut A&Es! STEWARDS

We still need stewards to help direct the march. It will not be an onerous task - you will just need to arrive a little earlier for a safety briefing and wear a yellow jacket which we will provide. But we DO NEED more volunteers: we have promised the police that we will be a well-organised and orderly march. We need lots of stewards to ensure everything runs smoothly. If you're coming anyway, why not volunteer by emailing: campaign@saveourhospitals.net

One year of closed libraries to be marked on October 13th

Spare some time for Preston Community Library

Message from Preston Community Library

We are please to announce that Preston Community Library a charitable company, has now obtained Charitable status. 

The books from the pop up library and others are at 235 Preston Road which, subject to volunteers  and suitable safeguards to the office, is proposing to open initially from 10am to 1.00pm on Sundays from the 14th October and Thursdays 2.30pm to 4.30pm from the 18th October (we selected Sunday because there is free parking in Preston Road)

However as Saturday 13th October 2012 is the anniversary of the date when Brent closed the six libraries, 235 Preston Road will be open so residents can join the library and current members can borrow books.

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS!!!!

There is much to do and even half an hour or an hour would help.  We have something for everybody from sticking labels into books, designing notices, keying information into the computer, moving furniture, putting up shelves, sorting books, etc.

The office is open from 8.00am until 3.00pm Monday to Friday and at times has to be closed when we are transporting books so volunteers are urgently required.

Volunteers are also needed to staff the office on the days the library is open to check books out, and tidy returned books etc.

CAN YOU HELP AT ANY TIME BETWEEN NOW AND THE 13TH OCTOBER?
 IF SO, WHAT CAN YOU DO?

IF YOU ARE ABLE TO HELP PLEASE GET IN TOUCH. 
IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO WOULD LIKE TO VOLUNTEER,
PLEASE FORWARD THIS LINK TO THEM 

Kind regards

Jacqueline Bunce-Linsell
Volunteer Manager
Preston Community Library
Tel:  020 8904 2229
Mobile:  07905 846483
E-mail:  prestoncommunitylibrary@live.co.uk

Natalie Bennett: The trouble with Labour... public sector pay freeze, NHS privatisation, green economy

Natalie Bennett on Huffington Post

As October begins, and the Labour Party conference is in the headlines, people across the country are preparing to unite for a march in London to stop austerity's attack on the UK.

And while the two are in the news, the obvious question is: 'Will Ed Miliband, Ed Balls and other shadow cabinet members express unequivocal support for the March for a Future That Works?'

The march, which takes place on 20 October, has been organised by the trades union movement and will see thousands of members of the public, union members, political organisations and campaign groups show their opposition to the Coalition's heartless, failed, false economies.

The government's cuts have not only failed the most vulnerable, who are forced to watch as the services on which they rely are taken from them, or even those who have lost their jobs as the government sets about trying to make the economy grow by removing money from it.

They have failed everyone. Even those of us fortunate enough not to have lost our job, or a benefit on which we relied, must face the fact that the coalition's policies have not even achieved what Osborne promised.
In June 2010, he told us that the cuts would hurt. They have. He told us that they were necessary. The Green Party disagrees, but if the chancellor lacks the imagination even to consider a 'plan B', he can perhaps be forgiven for thinking that they were.

But he also told us that his cuts would reduce the deficit. They have done the opposite. Instead of reducing the deficit by 4.6%, as the Chancellor promised, his economic illiteracy has instead forced it to grow by 22%t between April and August.

The Coalition promised 'change'. Instead, the government has given us more of the same privatisation, casualisation, and demonisation of the poor, people with disabilities, and public sector workers.
So much for the Coalition. But isn't this where we would expect the Labour Party to step in?

To take care of its traditional supporters, those who work, or want to but cannot, to build a better future for us all?

The opposition is in the middle of a 'policy review'. So far, it has taken since February 2011.

Nobody expects rebalancing the national finances to be straightforward. And nobody believes it's in Labour's interests to reveal policies which could be 'stolen' from them - even though it could be in the nation's interests to hear them.

But the problem with Labour at the moment is not what it is NOT saying: it's with what it IS.

Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls was RIGHT to warn that the coalition's austerity plans would crush any chance of a 'recovery'. But he has recently told us he would stick to public sector pay freezes, which will leave thousands of workers worse off, year on year, in the face of inflation.

And while Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham tells us he will 'repeal the Health and Social Care Act. Full stop,' the party's leader seems not yet to have made up his mind whether to reverse the effective privatisation of almost half of the NHS.

Perhaps he doesn't know. Maybe his Party hasn't yet made up its mind. But on 20 October, I and other members of my Party will be out on London's streets, supporting working people and making it clear that we understand you cannot put an economy back on its feet by throwing people out of work and undermining the public services that keep society ticking.

We believe that the green economy - vital in any case to avert international climate disaster - holds one key to tackling the deficit. The government's own figures show green business is the only sector bucking the recession, with 4.7% growth from 2010-11, providing an extra £5.4bn of economic activity.

We must get serious about reviving our manufacturing industries and bringing food production back to Britain. That's essential - environmentally and economically. And we need workers to be able to buy the goods and services they need. The Labour Party may not agree, although we hope it does. But whatever its view is, now is the time its traditional backers - and the country as a whole - need help.

We will be marching on 20 October. Will the Labour Party?

Why staff are essential to a safe London Underground

From  the RMT

A London Underground cleaner pulled a child to safety from a railway line just moments after a driver hit their trains emergency brakes and prevented what could have been a fatal incident.

The eight year old boy was pulled to safety from the Jubilee Line tracks at Stanmore just moments after a train was brought to an emergency stop by the driver a few feet away.

This incident comes within days of a young girl being hit by a train on the Victoria Line. Previously a child on the Jubilee Line who had fallen between the train and the platform at Finchley Road could easily have lost his life, had the driver not spotted him on CCTV moments before he was about to depart the station.

All of these incidents come at a time when the London Mayor Boris Johnson and London Underground are planning for driverless trains, and the drastic reduction of station staff.

A leaked document on LU management plans for London Underground gives detail of these plans and ideas. London's Mayor Johnson has spoken openly of his wish for trains to operate on the underground without a drivers cab. These plans would most likely mean having no driver at the front of the train to see any dangers or risks ahead.

All of these incidents could easily have been much worse had it not been for professional train drivers reacting swiftly to stop their trains, and station staff and contractors speedily dealing with these situations.

The cleaner who reacted without thought for their own safety - and in doing so pulled a young child to safety - is a hero. The train driver who reacted swiftly to stop their train having spotted the child on the tracks ahead is a hero too.

The RMT has long called for more staff, not less on the underground. These incidents demonstrate a few of the reasons - in the most real of terms - of why staff are essential to a safe railway