Camden seeking Sustainability Engagement Officer

Readers will be aware of the cuts made in Brent Council's environmental department. Interesting then to see this job advertised in neighbouring Camden:

SUSTAINABILITY ENGAGEMENT OFFICER

Sustain our community

Our team

Sustainability and Green Space is a busy, high-profile team working across the organisation and with external partners and the wider community, currently based at 5 St Pancras Square.

The role

You’ll lead on the design, delivery and promotion of green community engagement initiatives and events and develop partnership approaches aimed at increasing green actions and green activism amongst Camden residents and communities. The key focus of the role will be on domestic energy efficiency and affordable warmth, air quality and food growing and nature conservation. You will be responsible for coordinating the provision of green advice, information and resources through a variety of channels.

In collaboration with the communications team, you’ll be responsible for managing the design, project management and promotion of green community engagement initiatives, ensuring their successful delivery through cross working within the council and with partners, leading internal and external project teams. You’ll also provide or commission advice and training on green issues to internal staff and the wider community.

Applying analysis and intelligence skills, you’ll conduct research on best practice and the latest thinking relating to community engagement, synthesising findings, contributing to proposals and recommendations that fit the organisational and strategic context in Camden.

Full details HERE

Some lessons for Corbyn from attacks on Harold Wilson?

The revving up of the campaign against Jeremy Corbyn, within and outside the Labour Party and in the press, including the Guardian, reminds me of a period in recent British history when Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson was under similar attack.

The documentary above is rather slow moving but well worth viewing for those who weren't around at the time.

This was the cold war era and also that of the IRA campaign in Northern Ireland. What was clear then and demonstrated by the documentary is how the Establishment saw Harold Wilson as a threat to their privilege and used a range of dirty tricks and what the documentary calls 'black propaganda' against him using the media, MI5 and the CIA to undermine him. In addition of course Wilson earned US ire by refusing to send British troops to Vietnam.

I think Wilson puts his finger on it when he says:

They would naturally be brought up to believe that a socialist leader is a communist.

This assumption, whether really believed or not, is behind much of what is being said about Corbyn today.

Major General Alexander Greenwood, a stock broker from 1963-1976, talking in the documentary about the situation in the UK under Wilson, says:

You know, the people in the City of London, they weren't liking it. The people who work as stock brokers, they usually come from the best schools. A lot of them have titles you know. They weren't liking it at all. 

Our current City workers come from a wider range of backgrounds but they aren't 'liking' Corbyn' at all' either.

All this of course led to discussions of a coup involving Lord Mountbatten, Cecil King and the Queen Mother and the need to put a 'strong man' in charge of the country. LINK

I am not a conspiracy theorist but is is clear that Corbyn will be resisted by the Establishment and they will resort to dirty tricks to thwart democracy if they feel it necessary. The cold war has gone and Corbyn's democratic credentials are such that trying to label him a 'Communist' will probably fail. The MI5/6/CIA/KGB operations have been replaced by more sophisticated operations.

Tony Blair's dire warning about Corbyn may well reflect his concerns over Iraq and the Chilcot Inquiry. Corbyn was straightfoward when asked on News Night about war crimes and whether Blair should stand trial:

If he has committed a war crime, yes. Everybody who has committed a war crime should be.

Not something that will please the military or secret services.

In Corbyn's case, rather than Moscow being the focus of dirty tricks and smear campaigns, it might well be Palestine. He has been attacked for his pro-Palestine positions and accused of supporting Hamas and Hezbollah in the press and on Labour blogs. LINK  LINK

Former Tory MP Jerry Hayes suggests on his blog that rather than the Establishment, the threat against Corbyn could come from elsewhere:  LINK:

 Rogue elements within the security services, Mossad, American NSA veterans and a whole host of the weird and the not so wonderful could be very tempted to remove Corbyn and his chums from the scene. rogue elements in Mossad may present a threat to Corbyn.

Tongue in cheek Hayes advises Corbyn to get a food taster.

Of course Corbyn is a long way from being leader of the Labour Party, and much further from winning an election and being Prime Minister, but it is  worth  bearing in mind the lessons from the Harold Wilson era as events unfold.

Note:

I was working in a lowly job in Fleet Street between 1964 and 1971 compiling stock exchange reports for Reuters Economic Services, but it did mean that in the Fleet street pubs I was hearing many of the rumours and conspiracy theories referred to in the documentary.

I was in the weird position of cultivating stock brokers as part of my job in order to get inside information on share movements and also being a militant trade unionist representing  Natsopa clerical workers in RES.

Contradictions, don't you love 'em!

GET READY: 'Dancing in the Street' Kingsbury High Friday August 21st

"Dancing in the Street" 1985 (with Mick Jagger) from David Bowie on Vimeo.

You can't afford to miss the performance of the summer on Friday August 21st when 'Motown comes to London Town' takes to the stage at Kingsbury High School.

You may not have seen the version above before but the words will be familiar. Young people have been attending workshops to develop their show which will feature many Motown classics incorporated into a love story.

Proceeds will go to Five Loaves a charity set up to raise awareness of sexually abused children in Jamaica.

People were turned away last year due to the popularity of the show so get their early.

Housing Battle: Sweets Way Resists make bailiffs retreat

From Sweets Way Resists LINK

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On Monday, people kept a family from being evicted and pushed a council to reverse the decision that would have left them homeless. But we need to keep up the pressure to keep Mostafa and the family safe

On Sunday night, many of us didn’t go to sleep. Bailiffs were due at 46 Sweets Way and because we had seen what Mostafa and his family had gone through, and we had seen them failed over and over again by the various systems that are meant to protect them, we knew we needed to prepare with them to stay in their home.

We were prepared to do everything peaceful within our power to stop High Court bailiffs from entering the home of the last family at Sweets Way and making them homeless. Some of us planned to take photos and document the experience, others were prepared to take civil disobedience and face arrest.

But whatever kind of action we spent the night before preparing to do, we prepared to do it because it was right.

As it turned out, there were enough of us there that sending away the bailiffs proved to only require a very passive form of resistance: being there! Enough of us, even, that they didn’t show their faces or even make an attempt to breach the gauntlet of more than 60 people (including allies from Our West Hendon, Barnet Housing Action, Haringey Housing Action Group, Barnet Alliance for Public Services and Black Dissidents) and an extensive array of amateur barricading.

In fact, we only even found out that the bailiffs had come and gone when we called Barnet Council’s lawyers. We asked if the bailiffs were still scheduled to arrive and were told that the two thugs that had been dispatched knew immediately they were no match for our collective power, and left. (They didn’t use exactly those words…).

You could feel the sense of collective power in the air – we knew what we had achieved, and the energy was electric! A group of regular people had sent away the bailiffs and kept a family in their home! And we knew we would be able to do it again.

Better yet, as Barnet had been punishing the family over the a small amount of rent arrears accrued since the Council unexpectedly cut their housing benefit, they received a message this afternoon informing them that their housing benefit had been reinstated, retroactive a month ago. This will address their arrears and allow Barnet to once again own up to their responsibility to house the family appropriately.

This is a clear victory spurred by our collective action to highlight the Council’s many failures to Mostafa, and the number of media requests that came off the back of our action. Once again, Barnet need to find the family somewhere to go. And it’s up to us to make sure they have a home until the point where they have an alternative that truly meets their needs.

This will require a lot of work from all of us, preparing to fight off the bailiff threat whenever it rears its ugly head. High Court bailiffs don’t normally offer a time or date when they are coming, and are entitled to use physical force to enter and remove families from a house. Because of this, Mostafa and the family remain barricaded in and ready for an attack.

We need to be there with them.

We have a strong contingent of occupiers staying around Sweets Way at the moment, but we need more people who can stay there (or who live very locally) in the coming days, to ensure an initial line of defence when bailiffs do return. It would be tragic if all our hard work yesterday was lost because a few of us slept late one day.

Get in touch if you live within in a few minutes of the estate, or can come stay over during the coming days. sweetswayresists@gmail.com / 07812 372 298

We are all inspired by what we were able to do on Monday – let’s be sure it continues to grow!

Insults, threats and Intimidation no way to run a leadership contest

I am not involved in the Labour Party leadership election except as an interested  observer. However I think this Facebook posting by Javier Farje, which the Labour Party Forum decided not to publish,  deserves a wider audience. (Javier has explained that he meant no offence in his reference to troskyists and apologises to anyone who took offence.)

What was supposed to be a debate among candidates and different positions within the Labour Party has become a war against Jeremy Corbyn. The insults, the threats, the intimidation.

I joined the LP because, for the first time since I moved to the UK 27 years ago and became a British citizen in 1996, I felt that I could become a member of a party that, despite the different approaches to the issues that most concern our society: unemployment, poverty, the neglect of the manufacturing sector, among other things, at least agrees in the need to discuss the best way to make Britain a fairer place. 

I am neither a socially inadequate trotskyist entryist nor am I a disguised tory determined to wreck the LP. Like thousands of new members, young and old, native and, like me, adopted British citizens, I am a person who feels invigorated by the speech of a politician who, after many years of hearing other LP politicians, speaks his mind, without gimmicks or focus groups. 

As a journalist with almost 40 years of experience, 14 of them working for a major British and international broadcasting organisation, I know when I see a bad economic programme or an illegal war. So when Jeremy Corbyn challenges the current post-Cold War 'consensus' or the levels of poverty that can be easily be avoided if we increased taxes by a mere 0.5% to the richest people in the country, then I have to agree.

What is the response of the other candidates and their informal spokespeople? The Alan Johnsons, the Alistair Campbells, the Tony Blairs, the Peter Mandelsons of this world? A better programme, a valid alternative? No. The threat. The insult. 

To suggest that the election of a new party leader should be postponed because some people do not like one candidate is dishonest and undemocratic. The threat of an internal coup if Jeremy Corbyn wins reminds me Latin America, the continent where I was born, with its dirty tricks and its sometimes sleazy political system. It is shameful. I didn't join the LP for this. 

Burnham, Cooper, Kendal, convince me that what you have to offer is better than what Jeremy Corbyn offers. Don't patronise me with the idea that we would be going back to the 80s. And do not insult my intelligence suggesting that people like me do not know what we are doing. If any of you convinces me, I am happy to change my mind and vote for one of you. You have not done that so far. 

And that is not Jeremy Corbyn's fault.

Update on The Winston Churchill Wembley French School

Living locally I have been following with interest the redevelopment of the former Brent (and Wembley) Town Hall as, what we have been calling locally, the Wembley French School. It is not clear what the new bus destination that will replace 'Brent Town Hall' will be.

The internal works are nearly complete and most activity is now on landscaping works. One can't help but be struck by the high quality of the work for this private fee paying school in comparison with the 'off the peg' cheap new school build in the public sector as well as free schools in converted buildings with little play space: compare these grounds with Michaela's tiny 'car park' play space benath the building and next to the railway line.

Many of the trees on the site have been kept which provides pleasant shaded areas around the buildings and there has been some new planting and landscaping.

The Lycee International Londres Winston Churchill is due to open on Thursday September 3rd to Years 1-11 and applications are open until Wednesday August 26th.

The playground on the space once occupied by the huts of the Town Hall annex - new primary building in background

The front of the building which is to be a running track

Primary building from The Paddocks

Impression of finished building and grounds

Brent Edinburgh to London bike riders help raise more than £50,000 for Palestinian children

The  Big Ride bikers completed their Edinburgh to London fundraising ride for the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) this afternoon at Archbishop's Park, Lambeth. They had cycled 435 miles in 9 days.

Among the more than 200 riders were Kam Datta and Alberto Zerda from Brent.  Kam raised more than £1000 and  Red Spokes, the organisers, hope that the total will reach £60,000.

You can still donate at:

https://www.justgiving.com/project/1977747

This is the statement about the project on the Just Giving website:

What is the problem the project is addressing?

Children in Gaza live with the constant threat of Israeli military assault and the ongoing blockade of basic necessities and medical care. There is widespread poverty and a closed environment where people and goods cannot travel freely. The UN estimates that 400,000 children in Gaza are showing signs of severe psychological distress including bed-wetting, nightmares, aggression, phobias, extreme withdrawal or anxiety and difficulty eating, sleeping or speaking.

How will this project solve the problem?

The situation for children in Gaza is an emergency. MECA will use your donations to provide emergency aid to families in Gaza and deliver medicine and medical supplies to hospitals. MECA will support community-based organisations that run creative writing programs, sports teams, art and music classes; to build playgrounds and much more. Meanwhile, The Big Ride is working to raise awareness in the UK about the situation for children in Gaza.

What is the potential long-term impact of this project?

This project will reduce the children's risk of disease and malnutrition by addressing basic needs for food, medical care and adequate shelter that could impact their development and long-term health. By involving children in creative community activities, the project will also protect children's long-term mental health, making them more resilient against the risks of severe anxiety, depression, aggression and withdrawal.

Congratulations to Kam and Alberto and all the other participants who ranged in age from 14 to 80.

Tory propaganda: celebrating free school's 'achievements' before it opens...

Anyone who doubted that free schools are a Conservative political project should be convinced by the public relations offensive launched by prominent Conservative politicians.

The latest was a reception in the House of Lords hosted by Schools minister Lord Nash for free schools due to open in September. The Kilburn Times LINK reported:

It is yet to open but the achievements of a new free school in Kilburn has been celebrated in the House of Lords.

What a fantastic new concept - celebrating achievements before they happen! Parents of as yet unborn children can throw parties to celebrate their child's first steps and football clubs can tour their cities on open top buses to celebrate their league achievements before the season opens.

Of course we have been here before with the Michaela Academy free school declaring itself  'Exceptional' on a massive, illegal billboard outside its Wembley Park building before most staff had been appointed, children recruited or any lesson had taken place.

This was followed up by Boris Johnson, a few months after the school had opened, declaring on a visit in his usual understated way that 'this is one of the most extraordinary schools I've seen' comparing it to Eton and hailing Michael Gove's darling Katharine Birbalsingh as a “powerful and visionary head teacher”.

On Twitter @Mapesbury commented:

Surely that Gladstone free school deserves a celebration more for having 120 pupils but no school! That's a mean feat.

By the way, Gladstone is also 'Exceptional' before it opens or teaches anyone and Kilburn Grange Free School still has vacant places for its reception class in September.

Now I'm off to organise a celebration of the Green Party's 2020 General Election victory hosted by Baroness Jones in the House of Lords to take place in September.