At Last! Muhammed Butt breaks silence over Euro2020 Final mayhem - was it worth waiting for?

 

Cllr Muhammed Butt, yesterday broke his silence over the violent scenes at the Euro2002 Final at Wembley Stadium - two weeks after the event and announcements from the police, UEFA and the FA of their own inquiries.

Cllr Butt did not refer to the Scrutiny Committee's recommendation that Brent Council set up its own independent inquiry on the Council's role. The recommendation was not on the last Cabinet agenda. Neither did Cllr Butt refer to the claim LINK that the FA did not want a large police presence at the match because 'it's bad for optics' or that Brent Council, Quintain and the Football Association have an 'uncomfortably close relationship'.

This is Cllr Butt's statement as it appears on the Council website::

We welcome the independent review, announced by the FA, to get to the bottom of the scenes we saw at the EURO 2020 Final. It is important that a full and thorough review takes place and that any lessons that can be taken from the events of the England v Italy game are learnt.

The council will be fully participating in that review and will take on board any recommendations Baroness Casey has for activities under our remit.

Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council

Controversial Queens Walk block of flats close to completion

 

The original detached house that had been allowed to fall into disrepair

 

When plans were put forward for the demolition of a detached house, 44 Queens Walk, at the corner of Queens Walk and Salmon Street, Kingsbury, it was met with some opposition because it would be replaced by a block of flats. Residents were concerned that it was out of keeping with the fairly uniform white painted houses of Queens Walk and would open the way to similar developments ,spoiling the suburban character of the area. LINK

Brent Planning Committee agreed the demolition and the new block. The two mature oaks on the site were preserved.  The new development is now almost complete as you can see below.  I understand that an offer to paint the block white ,so as to be in keeping with the rest of Queens Walk, was rejected by planning officers, presumably on the grounds that the modern corner plot block would 'make a statement'.

 The new block, named Krishna Court, has its pedestrian entrance on Salmon Street while its car park and vehicle entrance is on Queens Walk, further separating it from that street.

Today's  pictures:

 View from Salmon Street

The suburban detached houses of Queens Walk in the background
 

The gardens of Krishna Court

UPDATE

The flats are now on the market via Ellis & Co. 1 bed £365k, 2 bed £515k-£520k and 3 bed £575k. I think there are 7 or 8 flats on  the site of what was a single family house so the economics are clear.

Vigil for Bibaa Henry amd Nicole Smallman, Barn Hill pond, Tuesday August 3rd 7pm

 

Brent needs a Food Justice strategy says newly formed campaign group

 

Campaigners at the Granville. South Kilburn

A local campaign launched at the Granville Garden and Community Kitchen on July 10th has
issued a petition calling on the Council Leader Muhammed Butt to declare Brent a Right to Food Borough with its own Food Justice strategy. The campaign aims to ensure all Brent residents have access to safe, affordable, nutritious and culturally-appropriatefood every day of the year across their whole lifetime.  

Sign the petition HERE

Representatives of food-related initiatives in Brent met to discuss with Dee Woods (co-founder of the Granville Kitchen), Fahim Dahya (Sufra NW London) and Ian Hodson (National president of the Bakers’
Union) the best way to address food insecurity in the Borough. 

 

Alex Colás, acting co-convenor of the Brent Right to Food campaign, said:

Food poverty is the result of structural injustices connected to health, housing, employment and wider social inequalities. It needs systemic solutions that empower communities with public resources, including land, retail space and procurement directed toward a more just and sustainable local food system.

 Anyone wishing to support the aims of the campaign can get in touch with the organisers at this email address:

 brentright2foodcampaign@outlook.com 

Cllr Shama Tatler, Lead Member for Regeneration, elected to Labour's London Regional Executive

 

Shama Tatler, Brent Lead Member for Regeneration, Property and Planning has been elected to  the London Labour Regional Executive. She alongside Izzy Lenga, an NEC member of the Jewish Labour Movement, will represent London Division 7, covering Barnet, Camden, Harrow and Brent.

Cllr Jumbo Chan was previously a representative of the Division.

Shama Tatler  was named  in the list of Women of Influence 2021 on The Planner, the website of the Royal Town Planning Institute. The citation read:

Councillor Tatler is passionate about planning and regeneration, and the role it can play in improving the lives of residents in Brent. She is very pro-inclusive growth. She is incredibly supportive of the staff, and also shares best practice amongst other lead members by speaking at events and working with PAS and the Local Government Association. She is a great role model, being young, female and BAME.

 

Tina Rotherway and Martin Hemingway to stand as Green Party Co-leaders

 SOURCE

 

Announcement of intention to run as Co-Leaders Green Party England & Wales 2021 - Tina Rothery and Martin Hemingway:

These upcoming elections for Leadership come unexpectedly and at a crucial time for the Green Party; we face the ever-growing climate emergency and if ever there was a time for a strong, focused and effective Green Party, it’s right now.

As Co-Leaders we have very different skills, knowledge, work and life experiences to bring to the role; what we do share though, is the determination to unite and lead the Party with common sense, for a common purpose.

Our focus will be on the core concerns of the Green movement and the Green Party:

- campaigning to protect the health of our home, the earth

- campaigning to elect Green councillors and MPs to help bring this about

Our focus will also be on bringing the Green Party together:

- exploring the ways to deal with the issues that divide us, because there is far more that unites us: the health of our home and the health of our Party, matter to every member.

- ensuring a culture of openness and productive engagement with one another, so that our diverse membership can feel informed and involved.

About us

Tina Rothery:

When I discovered that Martin would be willing to run with me as Co-Leader, most of my concerns left me. I have the utmost respect for his length of service to the party and more than anything else, his honesty, integrity and commitment to fairness.

What Martin brings with his rich party knowledge, I will add to with my experience of environmental campaigning. Although my actual career has focused primarily on communications as a reporter in Hong Kong, broadcaster in Luxembourg, writer in Spain and copywriter in the UK, it is this last decade in the environmental movement that has provided the more useful skills: movement building, working across divides, creatively addressing problems and ensuring a presence in every arena relating to the issues; from political, to grassroots and neighbourhoods.

As a campaigner I co-founded the group ‘Nanas UK’, bringing together a specific demographic to commit to the task of stopping fracking. UK Nanas helped raise the profile of the anti-fracking movement by touring the country, hosting and attending events, taking part in actions and securing endorsements and media coverage from Emma Thompson, Vivienne Westwood, Bez (Happy Mondays), Mark Ruffalo and of course, the Green Party. Our campaign continues until there is a full ban on fracking. I believe ‘Nana’ is a transferable skill in this GPEW leadership campaign

My roles within GPEW include running in two general elections (George Osborne in Tatton and Mark Menzies in Fylde) and I am currently the co-chair of Blackpool & Fylde Green Party. Up until Brexit, I was employed as Social Media Officer for Gina Dowding (former) MEP for the North West; an incredible role that took me to Brussels and allowed me to participate in a host of activities including participating in the plan for a North West Green New Deal.

Greta Thunberg accurately said ‘our house is on fire’ and I see the Green Party as the only political party that has the extinguisher (and that we need to set the example by getting our own fires under control).

 

 

Martin Hemingway:

This election was not expected. Standing in it was not a realistic plan until conversations with Tina coalesced into a determination that something had to be done, and that we were the team that could re-establish the credibility of the Green Party in the face of the climate crisis.

I bring to the partnership fifty years of political campaigning experience, including 12 years as a councillor on Leeds City Council, the second largest council in the country. Experience in formulating and carrying out policy; experience of a wide range of governmental and non-governmental organisations, experience of meetings, hustings, television and radio, including a speaking tour of Japan as Chair of UK Nuclear Free Local Authorities.

In the Green Party I have been a lead Euro candidate, coming close to election in 2009, a General Election candidate five times, a City Council candidate many times; all with hustings, meetings and extensive media work. Some of my past interviews are on YouTube.

Perhaps also of importance I bring over ten years of active involvement in the governance of our Party, as a member of GPRC, and as a member of SOC. Experience of many of the problems in the Party, but experience that has brought me close to a lot of members, and has, I trust, demonstrated my honesty. Preparation of agendas for Conference has brought me close to policy concerns of members, and involvement on the equivalent committee for the Global Greens conference widened the range of concerns.

I bring nearly twenty years of work in my local party and in my region, in roles ranging from Local Party Support to Co-ordinator, getting to know my own region and its local parties well.

I started out as an archaeologist, and a PhD on the period of the last glacial maximum gave me an early introduction to climate theory. I retrained to teach Geography, and then retrained in Law, including Legal Practice. I have taught in schools - mostly in deprived areas, in university, in adult education.

This is us and we look forward to the election ahead and hope we can earn your vote.

    

Latest Covid statistics for Brent

 From Government Statistcis LINK

Cases in Brent

A confirmed case is someone who has tested positive for coronavirus.

193 new people had a confirmed positive test result reported on 23 July 2021.

Between 17 July 2021 and 23 July 2021, 1,312 people had a confirmed positive test result. This shows an increase of 23.9% compared to the previous 7 days.

Vaccinations in Brent

Vaccines are currently given in 2 doses, at least 21 days apart.

205,938 people had been given a first dose by the end of 22 July 2021.

149,855 people had been given a second dose by the end of 22 July 2021.

Healthcare in London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust

Some people with coronavirus have to go into hospital.

4 people with coronavirus went into hospital on 18 July 2021.

Between 12 July 2021 and 18 July 2021, 48 went into hospital with coronavirus. This shows an increase of 37.1% compared to the previous 7 days.

There were 40 patients in hospital with coronavirus on 20 July 2021.

Some people in the hospital need to use a special device called a mechanical ventilator to help them breathe.

There were 4 coronavirus patients in hospital beds with a mechanical ventilator on 20 July 2021.

Deaths in Brent

There were 0 deaths within 28 days of a positive test for coronavirus reported on 23 July 2021.

Between 17 July 2021 and 23 July 2021, there have been 0 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test. This shows no change compared to the previous 7 days.

 

Dawn Butler's 'Liar' speech in full

 Via They Work for You

The last 18 months have been a tale of the good, the bad and the ugly.

The good is that the people of Brent and elsewhere have joined together to form mutual aid groups, religions have come together to find common ground, and strangers are now firm friends. The bad is this Government’s catastrophic handling of the pandemic, the mixed messages, the corruption in plain sight, the authoritarian laws and the erosion of our democracy. And the ugly is that racism in society has reared its ugly head, spurred on by Government reports and the hyping up of the culture war and the war on woke.

While the NHS was coping with 130,000 people dying from the pandemic, the Prime Minister was making his mates rich. Cronyism is rife and old chums are given jobs regardless of their skillset—some a little bit on the side. This has been one big experiment for this corrupt, authoritarian, racism-laden Government, and I am not scared of saying it like it is.

The Government said we need to talk about class, so let us do it. Let us call out this toxic elitism once and for all. Byline Times, the Good Law Project, Novara Media, openDemocracy, Amnesty and Liberty have all exposed the Government, and the Government’s response is to spend public money defending the indefensible.

It is funny how there is no money for NHS staff, yet £1 billion of covid contracts have been awarded to Conservative donors. We were told that Ministers were not involved, but then the Good Law Project exposed emails from the Prime Minister’s advisers and the Home Secretary lobbying for money. The corrupt, authoritarian approach of this Government would be condemned and investigated if it were happening anywhere else in the world.

The 1% believe they owe nothing to society. They do not believe in the NHS, and they do not support it. This week I spoke to Orwell Foundation youth writer Manal Nadeem. She wrote:

“Let anti-racism be both common logic and law. May we have more accountability than apologies. May performative, placeholder posts be followed by policy… When the future arrives, let the minimum wage be a liveable wage… Let survival be a birthright... When the poor cannot pay with anything else, let us not ask them to pay with their lives.”

Poor people in our country have paid with their lives because the Prime Minister spent the last 18 months misleading this House and the country.

Peter Stefanovic from the Communication Workers Union has a video with more than 27 million views online. In it he highlights that the Prime Minister says: that the economy has grown by 73%—it is just not true; that he has reinstated nursing bursaries—just not true; that there is not a covid app working anywhere in the world—just not true; and that the Tories invested £34 billion in the NHS—not true. The Prime Minister said

“we have severed the link between infection and serious disease and death.”

Not only is that not true but it is dangerous.

It is dangerous to lie during a pandemic, and I am disappointed that the Prime Minister has not come to the House to correct the record and correct the fact that he has lied to this House and the country over and over again.