Green Party supports 'Space for Bicycles' campaign after latest road deaths

From Natalie Bennett's blog: LINK

There was a mood of sadness, but also determination, at two events in London tonight marking recent road deaths in which vulnerable road users were killed by lorries.

First, outside City Hall, Roadpeace with the Lorry Danger group (also including LCC, CTC, British Cycling and Living Streets) held a vigil acknowledging the death of an elderly pedestrian, who hasn't been named, in Fulham. (Short report here) and the death of cyclist Philippine de Gerin-Ricard on Cycle Superhighway 2 outside Aldgate East station.

It was a brief but moving ceremony at which the names of many recent pedestrian and cycle road victims were read out.

The organisers are vowing that they will return to City Hall on Friday at 5pm in any week in which a cyclist or pedestrian is killed on London's roads - sadly I fear it may not be long before they have to return.
National statistics show a steady trend in increasing cycle deaths and injuries, as do those in London.

The second event was organised by the London Cycling Campaign - around 400 cyclists gathered at Tower Bridge and cycled past the site where Philippine de Gerin-Ricard was killed, chanting "Blue Paint is Not Enough", in reference to the limitations of Boris Johnson's cycle "superhighway" scheme.

Some passing cyclists joined the ride as it took the short route - there was a lot of support also from passers-by.

Earlier in the day, in the West End, I'd had seen an awful brush with potential tragedy. A private small rubbish lorry, driven by a man who seemed to be either in a temper or a huge rush, came at undue speed around the corner of Old Compton Street into Dean Street, over-ran a parking space, then reversed into it at speed, stopping inches before an elderly man who was crossing the street, as I and several other people in the vicinity yelled out. If it hadn't been summer and his window open, I doubt he would have stopped.

It's the kind of incident that's almost commonplace - it as one speaker at the vigil said, we need to be aiming towards zero deaths on the road. We won't get that without serious changes in infrastructure, a lot more driver education,and enforcement.

No Olympic legacy at Copland as Ofsted leads to sports day cancellation

Just the day before Copland Community School was to hold its eagerly awaited sports day it was cancelled by the interim headteacher who has been in post for just two weeeks. The PE department, staff and students had been planning the event for weeks.

One year after the 2012 Olympics it appears that the idea that the Olympics 'legacy' would motivate young people and enhance the status of sports in schools has been trampled into the ground.

In a letter circulated to staff  on Dr Richard Marshall's it was  stated  that because of Ofsted the school's priorities had  to change and that it was now busy 'on this new agenda'. This had made it necessary to postpone sports day until next year.

In my view, one issue that is often missed is the impact of negative Ofsted judgments and schools being put into special measures on students at the school. Feeling bad about your school and its teachers and facing negative comments from friends who attend other schools impacts on the morale and self-esteem of students.

I understand that Copland students have been circulating a petition in support of their teachers in the face of this negative publicity. The sports day decision is likely to alienate them further and perhaps will be interpreted as some kind of punishment for the school's difficulties.

Green Party condemns Royal Mail sell-off and supports CWU resistance

Responding to the announcement yesterday by Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable that a majority stake in the Royal Mail would be sold off by the government, Green Party leader Natalie Bennett said:

The privatisation of Royal Mail is the latest ideologically driven, disastrous step by this government which is doing nothing to start the essential reshaping of the British economy, but is determined to hand over the last bits of the family silver to multinational companies.

The approach of privatisation has proved disastrous for our water system, disastrous for our electricity and gas supplies, and particularly disastrous for our railways. Yet still the push towards it, from Margaret Thatcher through Tony Blair to David Cameron continues.

Green MP Caroline Lucas, with her private members' bill to bring the railways back into public ownership is leading the way to reverse this trend. What we need is for the Labour Party to show that it has broken with its New Labour past and back it. That would add a sense of verisimilitude to Labour’s criticisms in parliament today of the Royal Mail move.

Bennett offered congratulations to the CWU and the Royal Mail workers, who are resisting the government's attempts to buy them off with a share handout to staff:
 
They understand that privatisation is a devil's pact that inevitably results in damage to staff pay and conditions, cuts to services, and profits stuffed into shareholder's pockets, all too often through the conduit of tax havens.

The Stunner slips out of Brent. Mission accomplished?

Jack 'The Hair!' Stenner, Muhammed Butt's political adviser, is off to pastures new. Stenner has been busy since he left university in 2009 working for the Yes To Fairer Votes campaign, joining Ed Miliband's leadership campaign team, working for Barry Gardiner as Communications and Campaign Officer and managing Labour's Brent North General Election campaign. His association with Gardiner led him to become Director of Labour Friends of India.

Stenner became Muhammed Butt's political adviser, heading up the Leader's Office, just a month after Butt ousted Ann John as leader in May 2012.

His job appeared to be to remove Brent Labour's toxic image after the library closures under the Ann John administration which caused concern in senior Labour circles nationally.  A new approach was developed which promised dialogue with the community and  campaign groups but with the Labour Group committed to a 'No ifs, no buts; we must make cuts!' position very little actually changed except the mood music.

Butt, who is not a great public speaker, began,  as a result of Stenner's role as both minder and mentor, to make more coherent set piece speeches, although these were often derailed when he lost his cool during opposition interventions. Labour's public relations was improved by the appointment of James Denselow to head up communications for the party.

The group around Ann John, which included some experienced Executive members, continued to be a threat as Butt had only won by the narrowest of margins. In early 2013 there was a flurry of activity as Stenner found himself in a central role in Brent's version of the Thick of It as the John faction appeared to be ready to move a vote of no confidence in Butt's leadership. This failed to materialise when it became clear the votes didn't add up and instead an anodyne motion committing the factions to be nice to each other was adopted.

By the time of the May 2013 Annual General Meeting of the Labour Group plans were well advanced for a number of challenges to some of the Executive and Cllr James Powney, deeply unpopular over library closures was defeated along with Janice Long, Lesley Jones and Mary Arnold. A very new, but ambitious councillor, Michael Pavey joined the Executive along with Roxanne Mashari and James Denselow.

Perhaps rather insensitively this was spun to the local press as the victory of the young, dynamic, energetic and talented, perhaps by a young, dynamic, energetic and talented political adviser!

Some further tidying up is nearly complete over Labour candidates for the 2014 local elections and of course the selection, from an extremely crowded field, of a Labour candidate for Brent Central has still to take place, but Jack Stenner will perhaps be leaving Brent claiming 'mission accomplished'.

If that mission was to make Brent Labour more electable, and to bury the Ann John toxic waste so deep underground that the public will forget about it, we will only be able to judge in May 2014.

Meanwhile Barry Gardiner may well be feeling rather contented with what The Stunner has accomplished.

Sacrificing childhood to capital

I explored Fryent Country Park with 28 eight and nine year olds today. They found their way out of a maze made of willow saplings and as they emerged from the woods marvelled at the sight of hay meadows stretching out in front of them. Reading their eager faces I could see that they were yearning to run through the long grasses and wild flowers and they were ecstatic when I let them go with meadow brown butterflies rising and fluttering above their heads as they  tumbled laughing into the sweet smelling hay.

Later they saw ponies and horses in a paddock  commenting on their stature and comparing the slender legs of a pony with the stocky legs of a carthorse, describing the feel of the donkey's  lips on their hands as they fed him, the colour of  the pony's teeth and loving being so close to an animal..

In the orchard they found toads, newts, millipedes, ladybirds, woodlouse, slugs, worms and snails and examined them through a magnifying glass. All the time the children chatted about their discoveries and pointed out their observations to each other. At the ponds they found tadpoles and tiny froglets and as with the mini-beasts eventually returned them gently and safely to their habitat.

In the afternoon in the cool of the Barn Hill oak woods the children worked together in self-chosen teams to build shelters for themselves. Small children managed to drag great tree trunks across the clearing and with their friends propped them up to make a tipi or tent shape, sometimes their structures collapsed, but they returned to the task with enthusiasm and perseverance.

After saying goodbye to the tired but happy class and their teachers at the bus stop I returned home just in time to hear Michael Gove on the Radio4 news speaking about the new national curriculum and the need to keep up with our international competitors and how this meant 'raising the bar' and children of 5 doing fractions and computer programming.

I could get into an argument about the accuracy of international comparisons and Gove's misuse of the PISA evidence (see LINK) but actually this isn't the point, The real issue is the Government's determination to make education serve the needs of the economy, and by that they mean global capitalism, and introducing its ethos and discipline  into schools both through the curriculum and through its rapidly privatising structures.

The child is no longer at the heart of education and education is no longer holistic, liberal and liberating.. Instead global capitalism and rampant consumerism is in charge and children and childhood are subjugated to its needs. With a fact based curriculum producing test and  examination results as a product, teachers subject to payment by results, and 'failing' schools that don't buy into the system forced to convert into academies, schools are being industrialised.

With university teacher training set to be replaced by 'sitting next to Nelly' work-based training, teachers will effectively be deskilled and no longer have the background in educational philosophy, history, cognitive psychology, learning theory  and subject knowledge possessed by past generations of teachers. Pearson and Amplify (the education arm of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation) stand by with an i-Pad based individual curriculum for each child LINK, which rather than, as claimed, 'freeing up the teacher', could eventually replace him or her.

What is really incredible about Gove's 'vision' is that it probably won't actually serve the long-term needs of capitalism because it will produce narrow individuals, schooled into passing examinations and taught not to question, when what a society facing  the twin crises of dysfunctional capital and climate actually need is creativity, imagination and the ability to think and act  beyond self-interest.

I must return to the woods...

Has the Green Party got the capacity to take on this challenge?

Bennett calls for Europe to find Snowden a place of safe asylum

Green Party leader Natalie Bennett has called on the EU’s diplomatic leader to act to find US whistleblower Edward Snowden a place of safe asylum.

Mr Snowden is currently believed to be in the transit area in a Moscow airport, and a plane carrying the Bolivia’s president home from Russia was refused permission to fly over several European states on the suspicion that Mr Snowden might be on board, causing a serious diplomatic incident.

Ms Bennett said Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security should be taking a lead in view of the fact that Mr Snowden had clearly acted as a whistleblower, exposing in the PRISM and Tempora programmes what the EU Justice Commissioner has identified as breaches of what should be “mutual trust and good practices in relations between friends and allies”. (1)

Ms Bennett said: “The UK, and many other European states, have whistleblower legislation that explicitly protect individuals who speak out about wrongdoing, and it is clear that Mr Snowden were he a national of those states would be eligible for that protection. Additionally, European states owe him a debt for exposing the action that the US was taking against them.

“The United States should be treating Mr Snowden in this manner, but given this seems unlikely, the European Union, and individual EU states, as beneficiaries of his revelations, have a responsibility to act in ensuring his security.”

The French, German and Finnish Green Parties have each respectively called on their countries to offer asylum to Mr Snowden.

Ms Bennett added: “The normal requirement for someone being in the country in which they are requesting asylum should clearly be waived in this case. Mr Snowden should be given a chance to peacefully and safely reveal further information, and to rebuild his life in a safe haven, whether in Europe or outside it.”

1. http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-13-607_en.htm

NO COMMON PEOPLE! Unique selling point for Willesden Green Library development

When we were campaigning against the Willesden Green library redevelopment we high-lighted that no affordable homes were to be built on the site once owned by Brent Council (ie our land). Brent Council argued that  Galliford Try/Linden Homes had to be sure of a profit in order to be able to build the Culltural Centre for zero cost to the Council so no affordable homes were included.

Now like a slap in the face for those on the Council's housing list, the estate agent advertising in Singapore has made the lack of affordable homes/key worker homes a selling point! Presumably this ensures prospective buyers have the 'right' sort of neighbours.

EXTRACT FROM PUBLICITY LINK

THE LIBRARY @ WILLESDEN GREEN, LONDON
PRICE FROM GBP350,000 (SGD6xxK)

Willesden Green is one of North London’s liveliest and most cosmopolitan areas, whose excellent Zone 2 Jubilee Line connections really set it apart.

The Library takes a prominent position on Willesden High Road, and sets new standards in contemporary accommodation for the area. This exciting scheme comprises four buildings, offering ninety-five highly specified 1 and 2 bedroom apartments, many with balconies or terraces. The development is gated and has underground parking for residents: always a bonus in London.

SELLING POINTS:
• Prominent position on Brondesbury Road and Willesden High Road
• Next door to the forthcoming Cultural Centre
• Within 3-minutes ride to Zone 2 London tube station or 5-minute walk
• Within walking distance to Queens Park
• Willesden High Street is thronged with shops, supermarkets (Sainsbury’s Supermarket is a few minutes’ walk from The Library), cafes and restaurants and is a few minutes’ walk from Brondesbury Park
• Excellent transport links – Zone 2 Jubilee Line with direct connections to key interchanges including Baker Street, Waterloo, London Bridge and Canary Wharf
• No key worker/affordable housing (my emphasis)
• High quality fixtures, fittings and finishes
• Fully fitted kitchen by Symphony with integrated appliances and granite worktops
• Estimated Selling Price: From £350k (SGD 6xxk)

UNIT MIX:
Milne Place (Block A)
1 Bedroom: 545 sqft – 626 sqft
2 Bedroom: 759 sqft – 1005 sqft

Lewis Court (Block B)
1 Bedroom: 546 sqft – 554 sqft
2 Bedroom: 614 sqft – 862 sqft

Developer: Linden Homes and Green Urban
Address: 95 Willesden High Road, London, NW10 (Zone 2 on Jubilee Line)
Tenure: 999-years
Estd Completion: Summer / Winter 2014; 4Q 2014
Site Area: 83,958.50 sqft

CALL SALES HOTLINE: + 65 90933158 TO REGISTER YOUR INTEREST☎

Public Meeting this afternoon: Impact of NHS Reforms on our local services

There will be a public meeting this evening organised by Unison Brent and Harrow Health branch and Unison Nowrth West London branch. 4pm-6pm Tropics Suite, Bridge Park Complex, Brentfield (Harrow Road) to consider the impact of NHS reforms on local services and to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the NHS.

Speakers:

• Diane Abbott, MP, Shadow Minister for Public Health
• Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council
• Eddie Jaggers, Unison, Full Time Officer for NW London
• Martin Rathfelder, Director, Socialist Health Association
• Cllr Patrick Vernon, Member of Ed Miliband Taskforce on Mental Health & Society
• Anne Drinkell, Brent Fightback
• Other speakers to be confirmed

RSVP: samantha.banton@nhs.net to confirm attendance. Refreshments will be provided There will be information from health related service providers in Brent.

Unfortunately although Andy Burnham will be in Brent he will be visiting Central Middlesex hospital and having a photo call at Harlesden station with Labour Party members rather than attending the public meeting,