'Cease and Desist' UKIP threat against Wembley Matters

The UKIP Election Agent for Brent Central, Heino Vockrodt, with jabbing finger, came up to me last night at the Mapesbury Hustings, to threaten action against Wembley Matters.

Vockrodt, glass of wine in hand, said that he would serve a 'cease and desist' order on Wembley Matters if I continued to 'misrepresent' UKIP candidate Stephen Priestley.

Disliking his aggression I told him to go away (in rather more colourful language, I confess) and he turned his attention to a local non-party activist standing nearby, telling her with more threatening body language, "And you! Don't heckle my man!"

Vockrodt stood in Dudden Hill in the May 2014 local elections and hit the headlines over his attitude to Muslims and his suggestion that a Willesden street resembled Helmand Province. LINK


UKIP celebrated its attack on Wembley Matters with a posting on its Brent and Camden Facebook page:

Heino Vockrodt's attack follows a comment submitted to Wembley Matters which I did not publish. It was posted under the name 'TheHV24'.   This is part of what it said:

Martin Francis - the guy who runs Wembley Matters - is a far left extremist activist!
He is Shahrar Ali's electoral agent and supports Mr Ali's fascist "we know better what's good for you so shut up" policies.

This blog is against Electoral Commission rules and I will have it shut down!

Martin Francis & Shahrar Ali are deeply anti-democratic. They're cultural Marxists which can be easily spotted the moment there are a few Black people in the audience: Ali says things like "Black people being brutally arrested by white policemen on Willesden High Road" and other racist remarks.

'TheHV24' also posted my home address on YouTube which I removed.

UKIP's mask of respectability appears to have slipped.

Wembley Matters will continue to cover the election campaign including the statements of UKIP and other candidates.

Greens oppose Harrow School's plans for Metropolitan Open Space development

A petition has been started to save designated Metropolitan Open Space and  a Nature Conservation Area at Harrow Hill Golf Course from plans by Harrow School to turn it into a coach park and astroturf pitches.

The petition can be found HERE

This is the message to Harrow's Dorector of Planning attached to the petition:

Harrow Hill Golf Course is designated Metropolitan Open Space, an area of Special Character and a Nature Conservation area.  There is a proposal by Harrow School to turn it into a coach park and astroturf pitches.

The golf course and cafe serve a wide range of disadvantaged groups and individuals within the local community, has unrestricted and affordable access for these groups and for beginners and children, unlike other courses in the area.

It has a unique and unprecedented range of biodiversity and wildlife and is amongst the few environmentally friendly golf courses in the UK, thanks to its natural horticultural methods. Its biodiversity ranges from bumblebees, butterflies, bats, hedgehogs, and a huge variety of birdlife including owls, woodpeckers, sparrow hawks and migrating birds.

We urge you not to allow this valuable asset to our community, a beautiful oasis of open space for all to enjoy, to become covered in coach parking and all-weather sports pitches.

Emma Wallace, Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Harrow East said today:

Harrow Green party is dismayed by Harrow Schools proposal to build a coach park and astro turf on this wonderful recereational green space, which provides much needed calm away from a very busy road.  

We call on Harrow council to oppose this development and stand up for the unique and diverse open spaces in Harrow, which are increasingly being encroached upon.  The parks, fields and green belt in Harrow have all too easily been seen as places for school expansions, luxury flats and car parks by the council.  

These developments cut people off from accessing public land and completely ignore the fact that they contain a unique and unprecedented range of wildlife and biodoversity, a space for people to exercise and meet, helping communities improve health and well being.  

Harrow Labour council must start protecting Harrow's green spaces for everyone

 

Rebecca Johnson is the Green Party's featured candidate today

Rebecca Johnson is today' s featured candidate on the Green Party national website LINK

 I reproduce the post here: 

In the run up to the General Election we will be giving you the opportunity to get to know some of our candidates. Our key candidates and spokespeople can be found here.

This year we will be standing in over 90% of seats in England and Wales.

Our featured candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn: Rebecca Johnson 

Rebecca Johnson at Saturday's Save NHS Petition presentation

Why are you standing as a candidate?

I'm a feminist peace activist committed to participatory democracy. After joining the Greens I supported getting Caroline Lucas into Westminster and canvassed on behalf of other smart, committed Greens standing for local councils and the European Parliament. So when I was asked to put my name forward this time, how could I say no?

What are your top 3 priorities if elected?

1) Transforming British democracy. It makes me so sad to hear voters in Hampstead and Kilburn say after a hustings that they think I'd make the best MP, they love how I argue for the Green Party's joined-up policies across all issues, but they feel they have to vote for another candidate as it's a marginal seat and they don't want a Tory MP. British politics alienates more people than it engages, especially young people, because under the stale 'first-past-the-post' system, most of us feel that our votes don't count. So we need genuine proportional representation – constituency-based single transferable votes for the House of Commons. We should lower the voting age to 16, and of course replace the unelected House of Lords with a proportionally-elected and much more effective Second Chamber.

2) Tackling homelessness and poverty here, notably in parts of Kilburn. That means ending the scandal of empty houses, reforming Council tax banding and investing in genuinely affordable social housing, and bringing in legislation so that the private rental sector is better controlled to provide fair rents, better accommodation and more secure tenancies.

3) Scrapping Trident and putting the billions we would save into our real security needs, such as a truly world class NHS, lifelong education opportunities, and protecting our planet from the biggest security threat of all, humanity's pollution and climate change.

What made you want to get into politics?

I've been engaged in British and UN politics as a feminist peace activist for many years, promoting equality, social justice, disarmament and environmental responsibility. I lived for five years at the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp to get rid of one generation of nuclear weapons, and then for Greenpeace to ban nuclear testing. Successful in both, but we still have to scrap Trident and build security without nuclear weapons. I decided to join the Green Party in 2009, when I could no longer fool myself that Labour would transform itself into an effective socialist party with the courage to tackle climate change, nuclear disarmament, poverty and homelessness.

What are your favourite things about the constituency?

I love the community spirit here, from parishioners in South Kilburn and Queens Park determined to stop HS2 from destroying their homes and schools, to Belsize Park residents and shopkeepers campaigning to defend their local jobs and shops against Tesco and its identikit, low-pay, profit-first model. And I love cycling to Hampstead Heath and swimming in the women's pond... an oasis of bliss while busy london fades into the background!

Who is your political hero?

Sylvia Pankhurst – the socialist suffragette committed to practical activism on behalf of London's poor, especially hardworking women from British and immigrant communities in the East End. She was feminist, courageous in her commitment to peace, and worked closely with Keir Hardie, Labour's first MP, in breaking the Tory-Liberal two-party stranglehold. From Greenham onwards, I've worn the green, purple and white ribbons of the suffragettes. We must honour their struggle for the vote by refusing to throw our precious democracy away in "tactical" voting for the "least worst" of today's inadequate TweedleCon and TweedleLab parties and their short term political machines. Our votes can bring in the transformational policies this country and our planet need.

Wednesday's strike at St Andrew & St Francis called off to promote negotiations but Thursday's strike still on, followed by public meeting

Teaching unions had planned two days of strikes this week against forced academisation  at Andrew and St Francis Primary School in Willesden on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

Today they announced that they would call off Wednesday's strike in 'an act to show good faith' in order to enable them to promote negotiations with the Interim Executive Board (the body that replaced the governors). The Unions said 'We are really hoping that this extra time will enable proper talks to take place to end this dispute.'

Thursday's strike is scheduled to go ahead and will be followed in the evening by a Public Meeting to discuss the issue. 7pm St Andrews Church, 145 High Road,  London NW10 28J

Brent Equalities and HR Action Plan under Scrutiny on Thursday

An important meeting takes place on Thursday which I hope will not be over-shadowed by the General Election campaign.

At 7pm the Scrutiny Committee, meeting at the Civic Centre, will be considering the Action Plan LINK that has been formulated as a result of the Pavey Review in Equalities and HR Policies and Practice LINK .

The Pavey Review was commissioned following the Employment Tribunal case which found Brent Council and Cara Davani (Head of HR) guily of racial discrimination, victimisation and constructive dismissal.  Interim CEO Christine Gilbert was also named in the Judgment. However the Pavey Review did not set out to look at this particular case.

Brent Council rather than take any action over the personnel involved decided to go to appeal but a Judge ruled that such an appeal had 'no prospect of success'. LINK

The Report going before the Scrutiny Committee is in the name of Christine Gilbert and Cara Davani LINK 

The public and press can attend the meeting.

Preston Community Library is Alive and Kicking - get down there and join in

From Preston Community Library Campaign

Preston Community Library is now open. There is a selection of newspapers, and books available to borrow. The creative writing and Scrabble groups continue to meet on Monday afternoons, and there are now English classes on Fridays as well as Mondays.

This Wednesday, 29 April, Samantha Warrington will be holding her first yoga class, and she's hoping to add weekend classes for parents and children in the very near future. Wednesday's class will be from 7.30 to 8.30; participants need to arrive by 7.15 to register. If you'd like to join either of these classes, please ring Samantha on  07801 697712.

We're planning to add healthy eating classes, knitting classes, a homework club and a community cinema very soon. If you're interested in any of these, let me know.

At the moment we are open to the public from 12.30 - 7 on Mondays and from 11-5 on Saturdays. We want to extend these hours very soon. To do so, we need more volunteers to staff the library, and we're holding a meeting for potential volunteers in the library building this Wednesday, 29 April, at 2pm. If you have some spare time and would like to contribute to the success of a really important project, please come and see us between 2 and 4 on Wednesday.

Finally, this evening sees our next pub quiz at 7.30 in The Preston. Fortunately enough, I've just finished writing it. We aim to start the quiz promptly at 8. We hope to see lots of you there.

Mansfield recommends abolition/suspension of Shaping A Healthier Future in a damning critique

The Mansfield Commission's Interim Report into the Shaping A Healthier Future consultation states of the programme that would rsult in the closure of four of the nine acute hospital sites in the North West London area and the loss of Central Middlesex A&E:  

The SaHF programme in our view was a preconceived solution that was imposed on the North West London health system without there being any clear problem that it was designed to solve. 

In particular there was no proper assessment of the needs of the whole area to which the health and social care system would respond.

 The following recommendations are made:

1.     We recommend that the SaHF programme is abolished / suspended, thereby saving a considerable sum at one fell swoop. 


2.     We recommend that an independent review of the North West London health system is undertaken under the auspices of a joint health and local authority initiative that builds its case on a thorough assessment of the needs for health and social care of local populations, at local levels. 


3.     There must be no presumption that so-called ‘reconfiguration’ of acute services is the solution to what may not be a problem at all. 


4.     In addition there must be no presumption that the solution will involve a top-down approach across the whole area as SaHF assumed; there should be an openness to consideration of local solutions possibly at the borough level where these can be shown to work. 


5.     The NHS and local authorities must agree to work together to achieve a joint aim to provide good accessible health and social care to all local populations within a sustainable financial model. 


6.     We recommend that the attempt to close Ealing and Charing Cross hospitals is immediately stopped; that a guarantee is given to sustain acute health services on these sites – with no more double talk from NHS leaders – until the above review is complete and any associated business cases are taken through to Full Business Case level, which is likely to be at least five years. 


7.     We recommend that in the light of current failures in the system in North West London there is an independent review of the emergency system under the auspices of the above joint health and local authority initiative; and that this as a matter of urgency examines the closure of Hammersmith and Central Middlesex A&E departments with a view to opening these, if that is what the review suggests is needed, and what local people want. Local people must be given honest and genuine choices; the opportunity cost of retaining these sites as A&Es must be made apparent. 


8.     We recommend that there is a review of primary care services in the region, and that following this review, immediate steps are taken to rectify any issues. However any investment must be based on a clear business case that relates costs and benefits to changes across the whole system. 


9.     Likewise we recommend that there is a review of OOH services in the region, to establish a clear case if it exists for OOH acting as a way of reducing demand for acute services, and also as a way of reducing total system costs. Following this review, any investment in OOH services must be based on a clear business case that relates costs and benefits to changes across the whole system. 


10.  In the case of changes that take place in primary care and OOH services as a result of the reviews outlined above, there must be a clear business case presented that makes a clear case for system- wide improvement arising out of these changes, and this should be consulted on with the relevant local populations; there should be no assumption that this is the population of the whole of North West London. 

The full report can be read here: 

The commission's final public session will be held at the Brent Civic Centre on Saturday 9 May 9am-5pm. Brent Trades Council and Brent Fightback are among those who have submitted evidence. It would be good to have as many health campaigners as possible at this session. More evidence will be heard

Protesters demand rebuilding of the Carlton Tavern after its demolition by property speculators

Guest blog by Ella Downing

A successful protest was held today against the demolition of the Carlton Tavern. Around 75 men, women and children attended including local residents, councillors and activists.

The demolition was a act of sheer vandalism by property speculators only interested in profit, regardless of the cost to the local community, and with little or no regard for health and safety.

A further protest will be held outside Porchester Hall at 6:30pm on Wednesday the 29th of April where a council meeting will discuss the matter. Pressure must be put on Westminster to act, and we demand the rebuilding of the Carlton Tavern!