Greens call for Coronavirus Solidarity Pact

The Green parties of the United Kingdom have called for the Westminster government’s forthcoming emergency coronavirus legislation to a Coronavirus Solidarity Pact to ensure that vulnerable people are offered extensive protections and security.

They added that the Pact, and other actions, must follow extensive consultation with the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland governments.

The Green parties called for the Solidarity Pact to include measures (with sufficient funding for the devolved administration to provide similar arrangements under their responsibilities) including:

* Funding and arrangements for free deliveries of food and essentials for people over the age of 64 and people with disabilities
* Funding for families with children receiving free school meals to cover the cost of replacement meals should schools be closed
* Acting to ensure essential hygiene supplies are available at reasonable prices
* A holiday from council tax for each household affected by the coronavirus, with compensation to councils for the lost revenue
* A suspension of no-fault evictions or the eviction of anyone affected by the coronavirus crisis and a freeze on rental payments for those affected (with compensation for landlords for the lost rent)
* An end to the five-week delay in claiming housing benefit
* An end to all benefit sanctions for at least the length of the crisis
* A ban on the cut-off of electricity, gas and water supplies to residential properties and small businesses during the crisis
* Support for small businesses affected by the coronavirus, including a business rates freeze for those affected
* Funding for special provision to assist homeless people off the streets, with facilities provided for any homeless person needing to self-isolate and/or suffering from illness
* Giving asylum-seekers the right to work and providing financial support when needed to individuals with “no recourse to public funds” visa status
* Provisions to ensure that prisoners and others in detention receive the best possible protection and medical support

Sian Berry, co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, said:

“The coronavirus threat is a time for national solidarity. There is great fear and anxiety about the pandemic. Individual security - the confidence that you won’t be made homeless, lose your utilities, or go hungry - will provide a crucial bedrock.”

“The government also needs to stress that there is only so much it can do. Personal and community solidarity - people checking on vulnerable neighbours, setting up systems to ensure vulnerable friends and relatives get regular phone contact - is going to be crucial in the coming months.”

Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Green Party, said: 

“That solidarity has to extend to between Westminster and the national governments. Scotland urgently needs clarity over the implications of last week’s budget. The relationship between Holyrood and Westminster has to be reforged, which means Westminster acknowledging its responsibilities to act as an open, cooperative partner as we face up to this great challenge.”

Clare Bailey, leader of the Northern Ireland Green Party, said: 

“The situation of Northern Ireland is different to the rest of the United Kingdom. We need to work in tight cooperation with the Irish government with an all-island approach. That means Westminster has to provide the funds we need, but also be flexible in understanding our approach is different to the rest of the UK.”

Anthony Slaughter, Wales Green Party leader, said: 

“Meaningful input from Wales into Westminster decision making is crucial. We also need strong support for small independent businesses. Without that, we risk emerging from this crisis with our communities hollowed out and our economy even more concentrated in the hands of the few.”

Thy Kindom Come: Rev Paul Nicolson (10 May 1932-5 March 2020) Lived Adventurously, Building Compassion & Dialogue

“Compassion in politics has to transcend and override all party political allegiances.” — Paul Nicolson Source LINK

---

Paul Nicolson demonstrating outside Church House “in the role of a homeless person for five hours from 9am to 2pm,” 13 Feb 2020. Placard states: “86,130 families in temporary accommodation in England, with 127,000 children. “4600 people sleep rough every night.” “With & for Street & Family Homeless.”

---

I am grateful to Alan Wheatley formerly of Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group for this guest post

Retired Revd and Taxpayers Against Poverty (TAP) founder Paul Nicolson wrote on 14 February 2020:

Yesterday, Thursday 13th February 2020, I was begging on the doorstep of Church House, Westminster in the role of a homeless person for five hours from 9am to 2pm. It was the last day of the February meeting of the General Synod, which is the governing body of the Church of England comprising a House of Bishops, a House of Clergy and a House of Laity all meeting together. I was supporting from the street two excellent motions to be voted on that day. One was promoting a better friendship between church members and impoverished people in line with the priority given to it by Jesus. The other was opposing the shredding of legal aid which is blocking access to justice for many Both motions were passed unanimously. 

 By demonstrating for the homeless I wanted to draw the attention of Synod members to the concerns I hear so often from TAP’s supporters about the Church of England’s commercial use of very valuable land in ways that do not contribute to ending homelessness. 

I was wonderfully cared for by the door keepers of Church House who brought me coffee and checked I was OK from time to time. Two friends came to be with me for about an hour and another brought me lunch and hand warmers. “I did not feel the cold until after I had finished the vigil. Then my body felt chilled until it warmed up in the early hours of the next morning. Charities, shelters and cold weather policies of local authorities simply do not meet the need for or the right to a home in all weathers….” LINK 

 

Core values and compassionate listening leading to rapport with poor people

 

Yes, Paul was a great and compassionate listener despite being very hard of hearing. It was through such compassionate listening that he became a devout campaigner and, I’d say, “early warning system” for what has only made it to the mainstream with the pandemic of Universal Credit injustices.

A key example of that was illustrated by his sending me a Guardian Society cartoon from July 2003 in response to my 2016 reflection that saying, “Telephone calls [to the Universal Credit helpline] can cost up to 55p a minute from pay-as-you-go mobile phones, which are commonly used by people with lower incomes,” is less illuminating than saying that the call charge is £33 per hour.

Paul responded to my observation: “Dear Alan – I wrote a similar letter to Guardian Society in 2003. It was published with the following cartoon. - good wished – Paul” 

Benefits helpline message: “All our operator are busy just now… Why don’t you go out and buy another top-up card?” 

I first met Paul in about February 2012 at a street demonstration outside Parliament, a few months before his 80th birthday. The backdrop to our meeting was parliamentary debate about the Welfare Reform Bill 2012, spearheaded by investment banker David Freud who had been Blair and Brown’s ‘welfare reform guru’ before accepting a life peerage on the Tory benches. 

Had Paul Nicolson been recognised as a government ‘welfare reform guru’, things would have been very different than they are now. Whereas New Labour had talked about getting Incapacity Benefit claimants into jobcentres since at least as early as 2000/2001, I had been a disabled jobseeker since 1977 witnessing inadequate governmental support for disabled jobseekers. 

Paul had been an anti-Poll Tax campaigner in the early 1990s while I was more intent on “slugging it out in the hope of making it instead of fighting the forces that exploited [me]” and that David Freud represents. (Social mobility quotation by Dinyar Godrej, New Internationalist, March-April 2020.) He thus set up anti-poverty charity Zacchaeus 2000 (Z2K) and attended court hearings of debtors as a McKenzie Friend and would have interacted with people not readily considered “core Green Party voters.” 

The masthead text of the Z2K: Fighting Poverty website currently reads: “We believe the social security system should be a tool to help people move out of poverty and into a stable, dignified life. “We work with people in London to solve their housing and welfare issues. We campaign to change policy that is causing the most harm to our clients.” LINK  

Opposing ‘poverty porn’ and the taxing of incomes too low to tax

 

Under New Labour the public perception of benefit claimants was largely skewed by a blitz of Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) ‘Targeting Benefit Fraud’ adverts toward the manufacture of consent for harsher treatment of benefit claimants while claimants were already hard hit below the mainstream radar. Eg LINK  Whereas Z2K stands with and for poor people, Citizens Advice England now kowtows to a DWP gagging clause. LINK   

 That does not surprise me. On 20 January 2005 I got a phone call from prospective employer telling me that my pre-Christmas 2004 job interview had been successful, pending references and police check, but I also got a call from the DWP telling me that my Jobseekers Allowance was suspended because I had not attended my first signing-on session after the Christmas break. As I explained to the CAB worker who later handled my case, as a very long term disabled jobseeker I had experienced emotional turmoil since the 22 December 2004 job interview. I had been out of full-time waged employment for over a decade and really wanted the job. I had felt like a prisoner facing “all the joy and fear of leaving such incarceration” and the date stamp for my 14 January signing-on date had been a blur. 

So the CAB worker got on the phone to DWP: “This is Elizabeth from Kentish Town CAB and I’ve got one of your claimants, a Mr Wheatley here and he’s got himself into a right mess...” leaving me feeling humiliated and deeply ashamed more than wronged by a heartless system in which I had heard of myself at the jobcentre as “an overstayer on New Deal” in 2003! (Yes, I did get my Jobseekers Allowance reinstated, but….) 

Though Paul Nicolson stood down from his directorship of Z2K when he set up the more outspoken Taxpayers Against Poverty, I doubt very much that I would have got such ‘just deserts’ handling from Z2K! 

Yet the gulf between claimant realities and government spin widened cataclysmically with the emergence of ‘poverty porn’ tv documentaries such as ‘Benefits Street’ and ‘Can’t Pay, We’ll Take It Away’ that Paul opposed. 

When Tory Government brought in the reduction of Council Tax support for benefit claimants, Paul decided on civil disobedience, by refusing to pay his Council Tax, and being taken to court until the London Borough Haringey reinstated full Council Tax Reduction for benefit claimants. LINK His stance later helped lead to a revolution within the Labour Party in Haringey, deselecting right wing Labour councillors who would engage in ‘social cleansing’ of council housing stock to the benefit of Australian company ‘Lend Lease’. LINK 

 

Paul’s legacy

 

The above is just a sampling of what Paul Nicolson undertook, and this is already a long article. I shall just close here by emphasising that he had been working on the Elimination of Homelessness Bill with support from Debbie Abrahams MP (Labour) and Compassion in Politics at the time of his death, and supply the following ‘further reading’ links. And the best way that I can pay tribute to his work is for me to carry on with the benefits justice campaigning we had in common. 

Further Reading

 http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/ 
http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/news/the-secretary-of-state-shall-each-yearc-publish-a-scoial-housing-plan-seeti
http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/news/reverend-paul-nicolsons-fight-on-behalf-of-the-most-vulnerable-continues-on
http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/news/building-on-the-legacy-of-martin-luther-king-tap-e-petition-published-in-th 
https://policypress.wordpress.com/2016/12/07/danny-dorling-on-the-housing-crisis-and-hope-for-the-future/
https://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.com/search?q=nicolson

UPDATED WITH WHATSAPP WARD LIST Brent Covid-19 Mutual Support Group joins nationwide movement

Dozens of ‘mutual aid’ groups have sprung up across the country to support those suffering from the effects and threat of the Coronavirus outbreak[1]. 68 groups have been set up online, with volunteers coordinating via WhatsApp and Facebook groups and offering people in self-isolation help with shopping, dog walking and picking up prescriptions. 

Brent Covid-19 Mutual Aid Facebook Group is HERE and regularly updated with ward level information.

The groups, which are being coordinated nationally by ‘Covid-19 Mutual Aid UK’, have organised online meetings today, as well as taking to the streets to give people flyers describing the kind of support they are offering.[2] As well as practical support the groups are offering telephone calls with people who are self-isolating due to infection or increased vulnerability.

Anna Vickerstaff, one of the coordinators of the national network, said:

“No matter what we look like, where we live, or how much money we have, getting sick reminds us that at our core we’re all just human. And in every country it’s the old, the sick and those already struggling who will be affected worse. That’s why we set this network up - because we want to make sure that no one in our communities is being left to face this crisis alone, and because we want to try and redress some of the serious inequalities this outbreak will expose.

“Groups are being set up and run entirely by volunteers - and our hope is that they can help to make sure people who need support get it. With the NHS and public services having been so ruthlessly underfunded in the last decade, we really just want to make sure that people don’t end up suffering alone, or without the basics and support that they need from the outside world.

“There’s some pretty big questions about whether or not the government’s response to this crisis has been fit for purpose. So it’s even more important that so many ordinary people across the country are keen to offer solidarity to each other in a moment of need. We’d love to see even more communities get involved too - and we’re developing resources to help people take action in their neighbourhoods.” 

Contact: Kevin Smith on kevin@neweconomyorganisers.org 

Covid-19 Mutual Aid UK social media channels: Twitter | Facebook

[1] A full list of groups is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18P898HWbdR5ouW61sAxW_iBl3yiZlgJu0nSmepn6NwM/edit#gid=1451634215

[2] An example of the flyers is above

Local WhatsApp Groups

Start a WhatsApp group for your ward and post the link as a comment under this post. Find out which ward you're in here: https://www.brent.gov.uk/gis-maps/constituencies-map/

Fryent & Queensbury Wards: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Bn8Cy69ZwBx6q1LP0Wl7nZ
Welsh Harp Ward: https://chat.whatsapp.com/FYn2vN9DpPQI1yuShQRRJS

Preston Ward: https://chat.whatsapp.com/HJtBJ7J1qD4AlntPENQHoM

Sudbury Ward: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Bg55G0YkHwD8wzhM5dZPFe

Wembley Central & Tokyngton Wards: https://chat.whatsapp.com/LpiXo1PWhKo3E7N81ytMnY

Alperton Ward: http://bit.ly/AlpertonCommunity

Dollis Hill Ward:
https://chat.whatsapp.com/LVKL3OtAr5C8T4Q2ZdZMor

Dudden Hill Ward: https://chat.whatsapp.com/GXkw2mPyFQGDrpFeI6OpKJ

Harlesden Ward: https://chat.whatsapp.com/JaPl27n631hB9s7dsU4JRb

Stonebridge Ward: https://chat.whatsapp.com/EPo4hiDPleJCzqxCHtu6aS

Kensal Green Ward: https://chat.whatsapp.com/ErIH3qh58x9ItoloWMbPVm

Willesden Green Ward: https://chat.whatsapp.com/HR4w5JBb54lIDnb1kKmgAv

Mapesbury Ward: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KwsPFCaRykuBYbd13oee2C

Queens Park Ward: https://chat.whatsapp.com/InRvopV6bDN8xWpEMnwtwP

Brondesbury Park Ward: https://chat.whatsapp.com/LY4Wop8q7MXEW7PdagoTfI

Kilburn Ward: https://chat.whatsapp.com/BmhmzqqVoQjGstCRqnbaiJ

Neasden Ward: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K6dMaUFYLwD1jT2J0JLMJG?fbclid=IwAR0G5XxYQmhPDsZyoJ1wmiVig9PdjrfzLmD33aZZeTf5o2_nSDfD-9Hs2oc
Barnhill  https://chat.whatsapp.com/Gjs9fPraprdAwxStabFuCe?fbclid=IwAR1N06GuM2HB4h0T2bD2KW2FMry4aikpeOE2FvRqLlwrIvxH4vtpvLeuka8

Thanks to Ian Saville for this sign that people who are self-isolating may wish to place on their front door. (Click on bottom right corner to enlarge)

Take a Trobridge Walk in Kingsbury

Sketch map for Trobridge Walk No.4

Guest post by Philip Grant

The weather is fine and you’re feeling well, so no need to self isolate. But sports events are cancelled, mass gatherings are banned, and you’re fed up with watching repeats on TV or bingeing on box sets. You still want to follow the sensible social distancing advice, but you also want to be outside and getting some exercise. Why not take a Trobridge Walk?

You remember that there was a blog last month about an exhibition at Kingsbury Library, celebrating the life and work of the architect Ernest Trobridge LINK . It said that you could pick up free self-guided walk leaflets, so that you could go out and enjoy some of Trobridge’s beautiful designs for yourself. 

GOOD NEWS! You don’t even have to go to the library to get hold of the leaflets. Information about the exhibition is now on the Brent2020 website, and this includes “deluxe” illustrated versions of the walks LINK . You will need to scroll down the information page, but there you will find pdf documents for each of the four self-guided Trobridge walks, which you can download to use at any time convenient to you.

You can get to the start of each of the walks by bus (follow the health advice to keep at least one metre away from other passengers), if you don’t live close enough to get there on foot. Walks 1 and 4 are fairly level, while walks 2 and 3 involve some steeper hills. The choices are:

1.     Thatched timber cottages – from Kingsbury Road (buses 183, 204, 302, 324)

2.    Cottages to castles – up Buck Lane, from Hay Lane (buses 204 or 324)

3.    The “castle” blocks of flats – from Kingsbury Green (buses 83, 183, 302)

4.    Old St Andrew’s Mansions – from Blackbird Hill (buses 182, 245, 297, 302)

The Trobridge family at “Hayland” in the 1920s (courtesy of Brent Archives)

Trobridge Walk No.1 will introduce you to the architect’s first two estates of thatched timber homes, including the FernDene Estate which he began in 1920. One of these houses, “Hayland”, is where Ernest and Jennie Trobridge lived with their family from 1921. Trobridge died in 1942, aged just 58 (he was a diabetic and refused to take insulin, then produced as a by-product from slaughtered cattle, because of his strict vegetarian principles), but “Hayland” is still owned by one of his grandchildren.

You can also pass “Hayland” on the way back from walks 2 and 3. But remember that all of the Trobridge designed buildings you will see on the walks are peoples’ homes, so please respect their privacy.

“Hayland” from the corner of Roe Green Park in 2018

Even though there are no thatched cottages on Trobridge Walk No.4, there are still some amazing design features in his 1930s maisonettes at Old St Andrew’s Mansions. There are also links from this pdf to other local history articles on the Brent Archives website, about Blackbird Farm and St Andrew’s Old Church (after which this development was named).

6 & 7 Old St Andrew’s Mansions, Old Church Lane

I hope you will welcome the opportunity these walks offer, to discover some of the interesting buildings that the north of Brent has, and find out more about the story behind them. There will be views you’ll want to take photos of with your ‘phone or camera. Share these with your friends on Instagram or other social media, and encourage them to take a Trobridge Walk!

Philip Grant

Covid-19 closes Swaminarayan Mandir

Green Party cancels Spring conference due to Covid-19

The Green Party has taken the decision to cancel its Spring Conference which was due to take place in Brighton on the weekend 20-22 March.

Statement:

As a democratic party, conference plays an important role in determining policy and the overall direction of the party, as well as providing a space for training and discussion for members. 

However it would not be responsible to continue with our plans given the ongoing situation. 

In lieu of conference, plans are already underway to provide members with access to fringe sessions and interaction opportunities online throughout the course of the weekend. 

We will be offering refunds of fees for those already booked. We hope that, given the party will face a significant financial loss as a result of this decision, those members that are able to consider foregoing this will do so.

Jonathan Bartley and Sian Berry, Co-leaders

Liz Reason, GPEx Chair

Mary Clegg, Chief Executive

Amelia Womack, Deputy Leader

Sufra Foodbank: Coronavirus Will Affect Services for the Most Vulnerable - Appeal for donations & changes in service

An appeal from Sufra Foodbank

The Perfect Storm for Food Banks 

A Note from the Director

It’s the last thing we need when experiencing the highest demand for emergency food aid in our history: Coronavirus.

While people are fighting over the last toilet roll in their supermarket, our donations of food from the public are dwindling, and we are struggling to purchase the food and toiletries we provide in the quantities we need. It’s likely that the situation will deteriorate further in coming days.
Aside from a host of additional hygiene measures designed to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus in our community, we are having to make some difficult choices about how – and if – we can run our services.

Never before in our history have we cancelled Food Bank or Community Kitchen – not even when it falls on Christmas Day or Easter Sunday. But we have now stripped back our services to ensure that we can still support the most vulnerable in a way that minimises potential transmission.

Our guests (service users) have more vulnerabilities than the average population. Many of them are refugees or asylum seekers with links to Iran, Italy and other countries which have experienced high risk of infection.

From this week, our Community Kitchen will operate on a take-away basis, meanwhile all of our advice work for food bank guests, refugees and asylum seekers will be done over the phone.

It’s likely that by next week we may need to move to Phase 2 of our action plan, which will involve shifting to a delivery-only service for the majority of our food bank guests.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. All the indications are that the UK is on the precipice of a recession, which will mean that financial donations to the charity will also start drying-up while demand for food aid rises. Add to this the impact of austerity and universal credit and you can see why this really is the perfect storm.

Families that visit food banks simply can’t afford to hoard food in the way that others have been doing in the past few days. That’s why we’re asking you to donate surplus food or toiletries to Sufra NW London (or any other food bank near you). Click here to see a list of items we need.

Please also consider making a financial donation to help get Sufra through the next few months.
Thank you.
Rajesh Makwana
Director @SufraNWLondon

Young black males event to help them connect with Brent's best jobs and training opportunities

Brent has a high number of exclusions from school that disporportionately affect black boys as well as high future unemployment rates in this group.

Press release from Brent Council

Young black males are being invited to attend ‘Moving on Up’ at the Brent Civic Centre later this month in a bid to help them connect to some of the borough’s best jobs and training opportunities.
One of the council’s key aims is to ensure everyone has the opportunity to succeed by reaching their full potential at school and beyond and this year’s event builds on last year’s success.

Research shows boys of Black Caribbean heritage historically under-perform at school compared to their peers, and fare less well than other groups in the labour market - but the good news is that gap is closing.

Councillor Amer Agha, Brent Council’s Cabinet Member for Schools, Employment and Skills, said:

 “We have done a great deal to address this issue and we are now seeing some positive results and so we are delighted to be supporting this important annual event once again.

 “We’re hoping that many young people between the ages of 16 and 25 years-old take up the opportunity to access some great careers advice, plus training and job opportunities.

 “This year we’re lucky enough to have once again attracted some great inspirational speakers who do a great job in connecting to the audience.

 “Brent Council is committed to making sure that everybody in Brent has access to better jobs and training.”

 Inspirational speakers, Rants ‘n’ Bants and Andrew ‘The Investigator’ Muhammed, will encourage attendees to ‘reach for their dreams’ along with discussions and workshops around:

• Negative stereotypes of young black men which create obstacles preventing them from competing fairly for good jobs;
• The importance of role models and mentors in helping young people succeed;
• Improving the employment opportunities for young black men in finance, technology and digital and construction industries; and
• Setting out how local employers and the council can help them succeed.

The first 50 young people to arrive will receive a £20 voucher for London Designer Outlet. Lunch will also be provided.

 Friday, 20 March 2020, 11am-2pm, Brent Civic Centre

 To book free tickets go to: https://movingonupengagementevent.eventbrite.co.uk