UCU calls for submissions to the union's response to the Government's Prevent review

From the University and College Union (UCU)

The government recently announced that it would be carrying out a formal review of Prevent, part of which includes the duty on universities and colleges to have 'due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism' which was imposed as part of 2015 terrorism legislation.

A review of Prevent is something that UCU and others have repeatedly called for since the statutory duty was introduced and we want your views and experiences of how Prevent impacts on both staff and students across England, Wales and Scotland.

UCU has a number of objections to the Prevent duty, including its threat to academic freedom and freedom of speech, the risk that the broad definition of terrorism could stifle campus activism, damage staff/student relations and discrimination against BME and Muslim staff and students.

The specific questions being asked by the review can be found in the formal online Home Office survey but it will look broadly at the following areas:

• Is Prevent achieving its objectives?
• How effectively is Prevent being delivered at local and national levels?
• How effectively does Prevent interact with other safeguarding and vulnerability strategies?
• How effective is the statutory Prevent duty; and how effectively is it being implemented?
• How could Prevent be improved to respond to criticisms and complaints?
• What should the government consider in the development of Prevent over the next 5 years, as the threat evolves, in order to best engage with and support people vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism?

If you have experience of Prevent in the workplace and would like to inform the UCU response, please send your views and examples to Will Pickering by Monday 18 November. We are also interested in hearing from members who are studying the impact of Prevent.

The review is also welcoming individual responses from those with direct experience of, or views on, Prevent. A summary of the review and questions can be found here and the full survey is here if you want to respond to it in person as well as through UCU.

Jo Grady
UCU general secretary

Indefatigable NEU members fight for their jobs after Brent Council's decision to close the Strathcona site

Protest to save Roe Green infants-Strathcona jobs 4pm tonight Brent Civic Centre

Cllr Butt addresses staff and parents at an earlier demonstration against closure

Following the Brent Labour Cabinet's decision to go ahead with the closure of the Strathcona site of Roe Green Infants School the battle has now shifted to saving the jobs of school workers. The two sites are run as one school so everyone is affected by potential redundancy although Gail Tolley, Strategic Director, has said that she does not expect compulsory redundancies.

To ensure that jobs are not loss NEU members will be demonstrating outside Brent Civic Centre at 4pm today.

Gail Tolley told a meeting of Chairs and Vice Chairs of governors last week that at least two neighbouring boroughs were closing primary schools due to falling pupil numbers and several primary schools in Brent that had expanded with new build were now going to reduce their numbers by one form of entry.

The Impact of Air Pollution on Children's Health - Clean Air for Brent meeting November 12th

From Clear Air for Brent

As you hopefully know by now we are holding an exciting public meeting at Queens Park Community School on Tuesday 12th November 7.30-9.30pm with a really strong variety of speakers.  It is also our AGM and we are inviting members to stand for the steering group. 

 

There is a particular vacancy for someone who would like to up our social media profile, though we would love to hear from anyone who feels they might have something to offer the group, taking us forward or in different directions. Your energy and enthusiasm will be appreciated. We meet five or six times through the year with email conversations between the meetings. If you would like to stand please  email cafbrent@gmail.com as soon as possible and one of us will be in touch to find out what your strengths and interests are.

In the meantime if you are coming to the meeting but have not yet signed up on Eventbrite please do here - it really helps us to know what the numbers will be.  A flyer with all the information is also attached

Please do pass this on to your network groups - all are very welcome.

At the meeting we are proud to present some great speakers who will bring a wealth of knowledge and suggest action to be taken:

Dr Ian Mudway of King’s College, London, a leading expert on air pollution and its impact on health and Rosamund Kissi-Debrah, the mother of Ella Roberta, who died aged 9 in 2013 after a severe asthma attack, whilst living next to the South Circular road.  The pathologist who carried out her post mortem said it was “one of the worst cases of asthma ever recorded in the UK”. Rosamund is now a passionate campaigner against air pollution and in May 2019 her daughter’s inquest was re-opened.  We will also hear from Cllr Thomas Stephens who chairs Brent Council's Air Quality Scrutiny Task Group and Humphrey Milles, a local resident who has been driving a national ad campaign on awareness of pollution issues.

See you on the 12th!

 

Best,

Clean Air for Brent

'Lonely Courage' film & guest author at Preston Library on Saturday

Brent Council washes its hands of Delipod Hub

Statement issued via Twitter today

URGENT: Delipod Hub Monday Deadline -please sign the petition to stop this physical, social & cultural vandalism

A message from the managers of the  Delipod Hub

 Link to Performance Compilation HERE

Hi All, Since we opened the Delipod Hub has attracted artists, artisans, writers and musicians along with customers from toddlers to grannies and the full diversity of cultures for whom Brent is home. Little did we know however that the Delipod Hub was held with such affection until the petition to save it was launched by a local resident’s association only a few days ago.

It has now over 800 signatures and rising, and the voices of support have been spontaneous, many and loud. For your information, we have now signed the lease surrender document as we had built up arrears and were under threat of legal proceedings - this after repeatedly trying to engage with Brent on this issue for well over a year.

I wrote to the local councillors on Friday. I have written again just now stating that we will not start to any significant dismantling of the Hub until Tuesday leaving the option open on Monday for a reconsideration. Perhaps this is too strong, but from the messages of support we’ve received, it’s almost like the Hub’s closure would be an act of physical, social and cultural vandalism.

Seee the one-minute compilation of some of the live music nights held at the Hub – it’s fab. Please do sign and spread the petition: LINK   Monday!!!

Thank you, Peter (Billy) & Serena

Local history on show in Kingsbury Road

Guest post by local historian Philip Grant

If you don’t live in Kingsbury, or visit Kingsbury Road, you may not know that for the past 18 months the Council has been carrying out “town centre improvements” there (funded mainly by the GLA). These include new paving, new trees, new cycle lanes on both sides of the road and extra cycle parking stands for the station and shopping centre.

As part of the consultation exercise for the improvements, I suggested that local history panels (which I offered to design, free of charge) could be provided as part of the new seating areas. I received no response to this suggestion, until I mentioned it, several months later, to one of my ward councillors. Then, as if by magic, it was welcomed as a good idea.

Earlier this month, after a lot of input and “chasing” on my part since the summer of 2018, four illustrated panels, telling “The Kingsbury Road Story” were fitted to bench seats along the north side of the road. This document tells you where you can find them, and gives a taste of what you will discover on each panel.

Click bottom right to enlarge to full size

Does Kingsbury Road have much of a story? After all, it is just a suburban local shopping centre, isn’t it? 

Well, most of the buildings you see there today appeared in the 1930’s, and there are interesting stories behind some of them, but the history of this thoroughfare goes back a lot further to Kingsbury’s Saxon origins. Its name means “a place belonging to the King”, and was first recorded in the reign of King Eadwig. (Never heard of him? He was only King from AD955 to 959!)

You can see Kingsbury Road on an extract from a map drawn in 1597, shortly after a wealthy local farmer, John Lyon (founder of Harrow School), gave money to provide £2 a year for the upkeep of the road – labour (at tuppence a day) was cheaper then. Putting gravel on the surface during the summer was meant to stop the road from becoming too muddy during the wetter winter months, and the same method was still being used by the local Council in 1910, when this photograph (by a farm near today’s Kingsbury Station) was taken.

The local history panels bring the story of Kingsbury Road right up to the rich cultural mix of shops you will find in Kingsbury Road today. The heritage trail they provide will hopefully guide visitors along the road, from the Kingsbury Station bus stop to the library (closed for refurbishment from 11 November to 15 December inclusive), which will be one of the venues for the LBOC 2020 “Museum of All Brent Life”.

I hope that readers will enjoy “The Kingsbury Road Story”. If so, perhaps they can suggest other locations in Brent where similar history panels might be appreciated, and get their local councillors on board, to make the idea a reality.

Philip Grant.