Education the focus for campaigning this weekend

The National Union of Teachers will be out in force this weekend campaigning for the best education for all children and arguing for investment in schools and measures to reduce child poverty and inequality.

Saturday also sees a Labour offensive against the government's proposals on grammer schools with journalist Owen Jones and Tulip Saddiq  Mp for Hampstead and Kilburn due to campaign at Kilburn tube station from 11am on Saturday.

Poo, pavements & potholes - hot topics for Wembley Connects on Wednesday

A pavement 'repair' in King's Drive, Wembley

Fly-tipping in Chalkhill

After Paris Agreement ratified by EU bloc, Green MEPs call for united pressure on the UK government

EU Environment Ministers met today  in Brussels and  announced  that the bloc has agreed to ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The UK’s Green MEPs have welcomed the news and are calling on the UK government to now ratify the agreement without delay. The European Parliament is expected to seal the decision in a vote next week. The EU’s ratification must be followed by individual agreement from all member countries.

Jean Lambert, MEP for London, said:

Its good news that all 28 EU member states have agreed to make this move and help the global agreement on climate change enter into force. The timing is important – China and the US are already on board and India says it will sign up this weekend, so the EU’s decision comes not a moment too soon if it is still to be seen as an active force on this vital issue.

With 2016 virtually guaranteed to be the hottest year on record, and new warnings from scientists about the scale of the climate challenge, the action required to meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius target in the Paris agreement cannot be underestimated. There is no time to lose. UK taxpayers’ money needs to stop propping up fossil fuel suppliers with eye-watering subsidies and go instead to a clean energy transition and the green jobs that come with it.

Molly Scott Cato, MEP for the South West, and Green Party’s spokesperson on EU relations, said:

The EU has been crucial for the fight against dangerous climate change and has set targets which prevented our government from totally crushing the renewable energy sector. But as we prepare to leave the EU it is a worrying fact that many of those who campaigned to leave and are now steering our course and are deeply sceptical about climate change and not remotely interested in pushing for a renewable energy transition.

So it is critical at this time that climate campaigners, those from the renewable energy sector, progressive politicians; indeed, anyone who cares about a safe and secure future, work together. We need to pile pressure on the government to sign the Paris Agreement without further delay, to stay within the single market which will protect the most important climate and energy targets, and to bring about the transition that will make climate stability a reality.

Keith Taylor, MEP for the South East, and member of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee, said:

Again, the UK is set to follow where the EU leads, with Theresa May announcing her intention to ratify the Paris Agreement ‘sometime before 2017’. Such a loose and lackadaisical commitment demonstrates a failure to understand the importance of the agreement and suggests little intention of honouring it.

With no indication from the government that it intends to drop plans to continue fast-tracking fracking and oil and gas drilling, or reject the ‘airport capacity crisis’ myth and say no to expansion at Gatwick and Heathrow, ratification is empty symbolism. Theresa May can sponsor the development of new fossil fuel reserves and encourage expansion of an aviation industry that already emits more CO2 than 129 countries. Or the Prime Minister can make a genuine commitment to meeting the climate objectives set out in the Paris Agreement. She cannot do both.

'Change of culture' needed to ensure positive use of self-directed mental health support

The Brent  Health and Wellbeing Board on Thursday 6th October has a heavy agenda but the report on Brent Mental Health User Group's (BUG) research into the use of self-directed support is well worth a substantial discussion. LINK

Although overall the findings are positive the recommendations point to areas of tension which are worth investigation, including the possibility that is some cases the support may be directed by others who think they know better than the user about the support they need:

Recommendations from the report include:

·      Ensure that staff maintain the ethos of self-directed support, enabling individuals to use direct payments in ways that they feel will meet their social care needs

·      Individuals need to have more choice about their personal assistants and staff need to work with them to ensure they feel in control of their relationship.

·      Staff need to work with individuals to enable them to identify and utilise personal assistants to do what they feel motivates them as opposed to what staff think will motivate people

·      Individuals need to be actively involved in measuring their progress; flexibility to meet individuals changing needs also needs to be incorporated

·      The role of personal assistants needs to be distinct from that of staff in specialist mental health services

·      Where individuals are using personal assistants via agencies, the role of the agency needs to be clear

The section of the report on 'Changing the Culture' is key:

While some progress towards change has been made, mental health services do continue to use the traditional, chronicity approach – characterised by staff ‘managing risk and care’. This represents a barrier to achieving consistent use of self-directed support by individuals using services to deal with mental health issues.

 Service providers need to replace this approach with all elements of a wellbeing and recovery and personalisation approach which is consistent with national expectations of services.

Staff need to be provided with comprehensive wellbeing and recovery training such as that designed and run successfully by BUG for some years, based on the approach developed together with people using services, carers and clinicians from a range of disciplines by National Institute for Mental Health England (NIMHE). Staff need to work with people as unique individuals in the context of their lives, in equal partnership, facilitating their identifying what they feel will enable them to improve all aspects of their wellbeing and move towards recovery. Staff’s practice needs to incorporate a strengths-based approach – recognising and building on people’s strengths and engaging with their intrinsic motivations as opposed to trying to create artificial motivations. As well as using reframing skills to challenge negative assumptions about individuals and turn them into opportunities to get to know and work with them as individuals, staff also need to use a positive risk- taking approach, enabling individuals to stretch themselves and try new things in order to achieve their potential.

Use of self-directed support needs to be incorporated, including to facilitate a personalisation approach, enable individuals to address all aspects of their wellbeing, develop their self-management and utilise community resources. Individuals who took part in the survey talked about how use of self-directed support had enabled them to regain their loss of identity as well as having developed a sense of purpose in life.

Other recommendations follow:  

Individuals Being Actively Involved in Their Use of Self-Directed Support

People’s response to this research has indicated that they are often not aware they are using self-directed support.

1.  Experience to date has indicated the importance of people using services leading to a greater extent as opposed to staff deciding what will motivate them. People also need to be actively involved in their use of self-directed support.

Creating Opportunities for Individuals to Meet Each Other

People do not have many opportunities to meet each other.

1.  Opportunities need to be created for individuals using direct payments to meet and gain peer support from each other, sharing their experiences and finding ways of resolving any difficulties.

'WE ARE THE LIONS' Grunwick40 Exhibition opening soon. Can you help?

From Grunwick 40

We are the Lions Exhibition

October 19th 2016 to March 26th  2017
Open Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm; Saturday Sunday 10 am to 5pm

The Library at Willesden Green

Forty years ago a group of workers in a backstreet Willesden factory stood up to their unfair bosses and kickstarted one of the longest and most important industrial disputes in British history.  Led by Asian women, the strike challenged stereotypes, changed the face of white male trade unions and inspired others to speak out against injustice.

We need volunteers

• To sit in the gallery and oversee the space
• Where possible engage people in the exhibition and the activity space for families.
• Commit to at least 5 sessions between October and April.  A session can be all day or a half day.   The exhibition is open during library hours including weekends

We can offer:

• Briefing and training about the exhibition. ( First briefing planned for Oct 20th 4.30pm)
• Expenses up to £10 a session to cover out of pocket expenses 
• Museum work  experience and references where appropriate

Reply to G40Volunteers@gmail.com
Find us on     Twitter.com/Grunwick40                                          Facebook Grunwick40

Soil isn’t sexy but we need to dig in and help conserve it

I am just back from a few days away in Cambridge and the surrounding countryside so this press release from Green MEP Molly Scott Cato has come at a time when I am reflecting on what I saw.  It is not just the concreting over of vast tracts of land on the outskirts of Cambridge but also the intensive and vast mono-culture that is evident.


Molly Scott Cato,, who sits on the European Parliament’s Agricultural Committee, has echoed calls for radical reforms to agriculture as the UK prepares to leave the EU.  A campaign for reform is being launched by campaign group Greenpeace who have called for an end to the single payment scheme, arguing it disproportionately benefits large landowners and fails to deliver enough public benefit.
Greens have long championed reforms to the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) calling for a farming support policy which improves soil fertility, protects and encourages biodiversity, safeguards animal welfare, reduces the use of pesticides and fertilizers and promotes crop rotation. They have also called for a ceiling for farm payments of €100,000 a year, allowing more money to go towards supporting a shift to smaller scale sustainable farming and creating long-term employment in rural economies. However, Molly also believes the government have stood in the way of implementing green measures under CAP. She said:

We need to ensure that farm payments are not directed towards wealthy landowners, a choice that was made by the UK government rather than the EU during the CAP era. The government had an opportunity to cap payments over a certain threshold and allow payments to smaller farmers with under 5 hectares. They chose not to. Likewise, with part of farmers’ payments under CAP already dependent on implementing greening measures, DEFRA chose a restrictive approach, failing to give farmers many options in implementing such measures.

I have long argued to cap the CAP and for CAP payments to be based on the achievement of environmental benefits but it is often conservative governments, supported by their land-owning baron chums, who have blocked reforms.

Molly and her Green colleagues Jean Lambert MEP and Keith Taylor MEP recently made a written submission to the Commons inquiry on The Future of the Natural Environment, expressing their concerns about the future of farming support following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Molly said:

The government has failed to outline its vision for British farming following the vote to withdraw from the EU but shows worrying signs it will try and take us down a route to intensify our farming industry. There is also the risk of losing the environmental protections pioneered in the EU, such as the Birds and Habitats directive. We must also acknowledge the huge and important part farming can play in averting climate chaos by capturing carbon.

So, this is a critical time for small scale farmers, environmental campaigners and progressive politicians to seize the moment and help shape a healthy, economically sustainable and environmentally-friendly agriculture sector for the future. 

Molly is also supporting a new European Citizens’ Initiative, People4Soil which aims to get over a million people to sign a petition to put pressure on EU institutions to adopt specific legislation on soil protection. Writing for the New Scientist on the new initiative, Molly said:

Soil is critical to much of our food. It also safeguards biodiversity, as a habitat for below-ground life as well as helping mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. Given the importance of agriculture, food sovereignty and security to the EU, it’s time legal safeguards for soil were introduced in Europe and beyond.

Alarm bells should ring! 'NW London NHS 'Transformation Plan' to be discussed on Monday at Brent Civic Centre

From Brent Patient Voice LINK

For the first time since the local NHS and Council bureaucracies started drawing up the NW London Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) in January of this year, they are going to allow members of the great unwashed British public to discuss it in a face to face meeting on 26 September.

Cllr Krupesh Hirani, Chair of Brent’s Health & Wellbeing Board, responding to a BPV Steering Group Member, writes:

I am hosting a Public Engagement event where anyone can attend on Monday 26th September at 6pm (Brent Civic Centre – Grand Hall).

The Health and Wellbeing Board is on Thursday 6th October at 7PM (Brent Civic Centre – Boardroom). 

The Plan claims to be able to save £1.3billion from the NW London health budget by 2020 and at the same time make lots of improvements to your care. Do you believe it?

Meanwhile in another part of the wood the Chief of NHS Providers (hospital trusts around the country) says “the NHS can no longer deliver what is being asked of it for the funding available.” Observer 11.09.16. It seems he has not heard of the STPs – or does not believe in them.

Brent Council meeting on 'extremism' leaves community voices off the platform

Invitation from Brent Council:

As a respected community and voluntary sector organisation doing valuable work in the borough, we are writing to you to make you aware of the second of a series of events called It’s Time to Talk - focussing on important matters affecting our local community. The event will take place at Brent Civic Centre on the 3^rd of October 2016 at 6pm, discussing the challenging issue of extremism in all its forms.  We would like to take this opportunity to invite all members of the community and voluntary sector in Brent to the event.  

There will be a number of high-profile speakers attending including Alex Krasodomski-Jones of the think-tank Demos, Dr Sara Silvestri of City University London and a number of other speakers who will participate in a ‘question time’ style event on this challenging but important issue. Attendees will be asked to submit their questions online prior to the event.

This event is part of the Council’s wider It’s Time to Talk campaign which aims to empower residents and community leaders to talk about difficult issues like this one and work together with partners to tackle them. If you would like to have your say on the issues, please come along to this FREE event and help us create a stronger, safer Brent.

Since the above invitation was sent to me a further speaker has been added: Dr Varun Uberoi of Brunel Univsity. The meeting will be chaired by Cllr  Michael Pavey, Brent Council  lead member for Stronger Communities.

It strikes me as insulting that there is not a single member of the local community, or a local community voluntary organisation on the platform.  They are just there as audience to hear from the experts. Surely these grassroots organisations are experts on how the government's approach to extremism is affecting people locally?

Local organisations have challenged Cllr Butt, the leader of the Council, on its implementation of the Prevent programme, without success and were unable to elicit any information from him about which local organisations he had consulted on the issue. A request to him from An-Nisa, a group working in  Brent for more than 30 years, to facilitate a meeting with Brent headteachers on the extremism issue, and particularly the implementation of Prevent in schools, has also met with no response.

Prevent itself has been criticised by Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham who said:

The Prevent duty to report extremist behaviour is today’s equivalent of internment in Northern Ireland – a policy felt to be highly discriminatory against one section of the community. 

  That single event  (9/11) shocked us out of the optimism and unity that had been so tangible just five years before. That is exactly what it was designed to do, just like the Manchester bomb, but this time, instead of building bridges, we seem to have slipped back into the language of division, suspicion and alienation.

An Early Day Motion has been tabled in the House of Commons reflecting community concerns over Prevent:

Early Day Motion 425

That this House welcomes the Government's strong commitment to keeping Britain safe from terrorist attacks; believes that the Prevent strategy is no longer fit for purpose to serve this agenda; notes that there is little evidence to support Prevent or the conveyor belt theory of radicalisation; further notes that no impact evaluations or indicators are available that show Prevent has been successful; further believes that the severe lack of transparency with the Prevent strategy strongly undermines it; notes that Prevent has had a worrying impact on freedom of expression at schools, colleges and universities; believes that the behavioural indicators of possible extremism are vague and unhelpful; believes that the rhetoric of British values is alienating to many who already believed in those values and encourages ministers to adopt a more inclusive approach and rebrand these as universal values; is strongly concerned that the British Muslim community has been particularly stigmatised by Prevent; encourages ministers to engage with affected communities and their relevant grievances, including around foreign policy issues; further encourages ministers to engage with community actors and organisations that have grassroots credibility; believes that ultimately extremism is best tackled by the Government working in partnership with communities and engendering genuine two-way trust, neither of which Prevent has enabled; and therefore calls on ministers to scrap the Prevent strategy in its entirety and replace it with a community-led programme that builds institutions and resilience for tackling social problems, has grassroots credibility and empowers communities rather than alienating them.

If the policy stigmatises and alienates the Muslim community it appears entirely wrong to leave them off a platform where there is a real danger of the presentations being academic and unconnected with the real issues on the ground - although of course I may be proved wrong.

These are notes on the panel:

Alex  Krasodomski-Jones (Demos):

Alex is a researcher of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media. His primary research interest is political extremism and its reportage on social media. He also manages CASM’s analytics capability, including data collection, analytics and visualisation. 

Alex is a frequent media commentator, and writes regularly for the Huffington Post and Spectator. He led Demos’ project mapping the political Twittersphere ahead of the 2015 General Election, which was launched on BBC Newsnight

Dr Sara Silvestri (City University):

Dr Silvestri has directed the Islam in Europe programme at the European Policy Centre (Brussels) and has been a research consultant to the British Council, Ethnobarometer, the European Commission, and the British Government. Prior to that, she had worked in the Cabinet of the European Commission President and had been an Associate Fellow with Chatham House (London).

As an expert on Islam in Europe, religion, and intercultural relations, Sara serves in the advisory board of the British Council's 'Our Shared Future' programme, the ESRC 'Radicalisation Research' portal, and the EuroMediterranean Foundation Anna Lindh (for which she contributed to the first Gallup opinion poll of the EuroMediterranean region).

She is also a member of the scientific committee of GIERFI (a network for the study of Islam and women in Europe) and is a member of the UN Alliance of Civilizations' Global Experts group.

Dr Varun Uberoi (Brunel University):

  I combine normative political theory and political science to examine the theory and practice of fostering unity amongst the culturally diversity citizens of modern polities. My theoretical work examines what unity amongst the citizens of a polity is, how it differs from similar ideas like loyalty and belonging, why such unity is important and how it can be fostered ethically. My empirical work utilises archival and elite interview data to examine how the governments of two parliamentary democracies, Britain and Canada, have attempted to foster such unity as well as the role that Muslims often play in contemporary debates about unity.

Michael Pavey, none the less, sees this event as involving the community, and reflects some of the approach recommendations of the EDM:

The issue of extremism, and how best to prevent it, is a complex, emotive, and highly debated one.

Here in Brent, our aim is to use this event to really involve the community and create real, community-led solutions to tackle the issue of extremism, in all its forms, in our Borough. I hope that residents from all backgrounds will come along and share their ideas.

I am far from convinced that this event, given the format, will fulfil Pavey's aim.

To attend you need a ticket available HERE