Greens call for an immediate end to the Israeli attack on Gaza as thousands prepare to demonstrate tomorrow

On the eve of the National Demo for Gaza (above) the Green Party has today called for an immediate end of the Israeli attack on Gaza, and for the British government to apply all possible pressure to achieve that end.

Natalie Bennett, Green Party leader, said:

With the death toll in Gaza soaring past 250, with many of them civilians, including many children, we need strong international pressure to stop this violence.

Israel’s actions extend very far beyond any reasonable response to the Hamas rocket attacks.

Killing hundreds of innocent civilians will worsen Israel’s security, not strengthen it.

An immediate ceasefire is essential, and it must be responsibility of all states and political actors in the region to stop this cycle of outbreaks of conflict.

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas has previously written to the Foreign Secretary to urge him to step up action to secure an end to the latest escalation of violence between Israel and Palestine, and to oppose any attempt by the Israel military to launch a ground attack in Gaza. Lucas has also called on the Government to do more to work towards securing a lasting and just peace in the region, based on a two state solution, and to urgently address ongoing human rights violations:

News of the latest ground offensive is horrific. The International community is compelled to condemn this offensive with a collective voice, to demand an immediate cease fire and to hold Israel accountable for the assault. Violence begets violence – and this cycle of violence must end now.

Green Party International Spokesperson, Tony Clarke commented:

World governments need to ask themselves some serious questions about their continued inaction and also of the failure of Israel to uphold UN resolutions, every incursion, every new settlement by the State of Israel simply acts as recruitment drive for those in Palestine who can only see resistance through violence. Each rocket launch from Gaza brings a heavier response from Israel, and the cycle of violence continues unchecked. We must bring about a ceasefire and must get talks on a two state solution back on the table.

Natalie Bennett added:

There are many heartrending tales of tragedy and loss from Gaza. But the damage to al-Wafa rehabilitation hospital is particularly disturbing. Israel needs to be held fully responsible for its use of missiles and artillery in densely populated civilian areas.

We need to not only see an immediate end to the current violence, but a renewed commitment to negotiating towards a peaceful, lasting two-state solution.

Labour shifts budget meeting to support anti-fascist unity demonstration

The Deputy Leader of Brent Council, Cllr Michael Pavey, has confirmed that the Budget Meeting scheduled for tomorrow will now start later at 2pm to enable councillors to attend the counter demonstration in Cricklewood.

North West London United  has called for supporters of Cricklewood's diverse but united community to assemble at 113 Cricklewood Broadway from noon tomorrow.

The community is opposing a demonstration by a small extreme right-wing group, the South East Alliance, who are returning to the area after their failed march several weeks ago. The SEA Alliance recently took down their Facebook page which had much evidence of their Islamophobia in comments and photographs and have started a new sanitised page.

Opponents remain in no doubt of their true nature and are determined that they should not disrupt and divide our community.

Dawnites strengthen position in Brent Central CLP

Michael Calderbank

Supporters of Dawn Butler, made an almost clean sweep in elections to Brent Central Constituency Labour Party  General Committee last night.

Michael Calderbank, who was banned by Brent officers from the local election count in May, becomes Secretary. Terry Hoad was elected Chair but Cllr Janice Long survived as Vice Chair and Membership Secretary. Ivor Etienne was elected Vice Chair, Campaigns.

Cllr Ketan Sheth, former chair of Brent Planning Committee had already resigned. Karin Barrett, a powerful figure in Brent Central did not stand again  and Graham Barrett was ruled out for Treasurer by the GC gender balance rule.

Cllr Tom Miller defeated Graham Durham for the Trade Union Liaison post. Araz Moiz is the new Treasurer.

I understand that former councillor James Powney, who has been very concerned about leaks from the Labour Party to Wembley Matters, was rather perplexed by the rules, but all was sorted out eventually.

Former councillor Jim Moher, who recently had a  run in with the news editor of the Kilburn Times, will be Dawn Butler's election agent for the 2015 General Election.

Brent NHS CCG takes its toys away

Guest blog by Nan Tewari

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In the most extraordinary spectacle I have ever witnessed in over 40 years of attending public meetings and meetings of public bodies (two different things) on Wednesday evening, Brent NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) fell out spectacularly with its patient representatives. In short, the CCG refused a perfectly reasonable, unanimous patient request to change the order of the agenda items of the patient engagement meeting and in the face of patient disapproval, decided to close the meeting with no business having been transacted. The badly run meetings (by a CCG public appointee) had failed consistently to run on accepted lines, namely, apologies, approval of minutes. matters arising etc. and as a result, minutes of meetings held in November 2013, March 2014 and May 2014 have never been approved and therefore cannot be put onto the CCG website for the benefit of the public at large.

The law requires CCGs to consult with patients and the public on proposed changes to the delivery of health services.   Failure to comply with the requirement can be serious with the CCG being challenged by providers as well as by individual patients and groups of patients who perceive changes as being detrimental.  Even if the CCG is confident that it is making the best decision, it still needs to go through a proper and proportionate public engagement process.

In order to meets these legal obligations, the CCG set up a committee of its Governing Body called the Equality, Diversity and Engagement (EDEN) Committee to provide itself with assurance that its public involvement activity in the multiplicity of proposed service changes was as robust as it should be.

My fellow patient reps and I (some, appointed by the CCG and others, elected by fellow patients) worked really hard to help the CCG and pointed out where it could be open to challenge.  We take the view that we are neither a rubber stamp nor nodding donkeys, and it is our duty to withhold the desired assurances if patient involvement is unsatisfactory.  The CCG did not appreciate this one little bit and started a smear campaign against patient reps saying that we were failing in our duties.

The CCG is effectively rewriting the rules to tell patient reps how they must act. In the course of doing so, they are also breaching all of the accepted rules of public body committee procedure and have stated that their particular public body (the CCG) does not have to act in accordance with these norms.

I have taken up this guest blog spot, courtesy of Martin Francis, because there is nowhere officially in Brent CCG for patients to air their views on matters of public involvement in proposed changes to local health services as is required by s14Z2 of the NHS Act 2006 as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2012. It would be interesting to hear what others patients and members of the public have to say.