Lynne's Parliament and Haringey diary

Wow! Stunning result in Bromley and Chislehurst. A big boost for the party to come so close (agonisingly close!) to winning what was one of the very safest Conservative seat in the country.

For us the lesson is fairly simple – it's a shame that Ben Abbotts didn't quite make it, but it was a fantastic result for him and the team. Also good news for Ming Campbell – he campaigned heavily in the seat.

But for the Tories – it's a real dilemma I think. Clearly the Cameron message is not going down well with their core support. They should have been romping home in a safe seat like Bromley. When I was campaigning there, it certainly looked like the sort of place that is very Conservative. Not any more!

Now off to a weekend meeting of the Government's Community Development Foundation (I'm a trustee) to see how the development of community cohesion is going and can be worked on. It seems from the outside like a very New Labour approach - but will be interesting to see from the inside how it’s going and whether that’s really the case.

One part of the overall agenda is the looking at the community empowerment network. Having handed out the cheques in Haringey to various voluntary groups as part of this scheme, I have been wondering how the success or otherwise of these payments is tracked. Will be interesting to see!

Labels: ming campbell

Another Statutory Instrument - but this time in committee and about extra powers being given to a variety of agencies with regard to intercept and communications data, and also about powers for covert surveillance and so on. Too complicated to relate now – but together the two do rather sum up what politics – and Labour’s approach – is heavily about at the moment.

Prime Ministers Questions (PMQs) sees Cameron flounder for about the third week running while Ming does good. He goes on the dreadful situation in Palestine. Why oh why doesn't Tony Blair roll up his sleeves and work at the Middle East situation the way he did for Northern Ireland? The political will of Blair and Bush just doesn’t seem to be there to sort this out. The people of both Palestine and Israel deserve peace. It is the people who have been completely let down by the rulers - now and before. If the USA and we have muscle - then for goodness sake use it to force the road map through to peace before more generations grow up in fear or poverty and hatred.

After PMQs I am leading on the front bench on a Statutory Instrument on the floor of the House. They are usually done in committees but this is about bringing into being detention without charge for 28 days. It’s the issue on which we defeated the government's push for 90 days. There has been a delay until now because Dominic Grieve (a Tory) suggested that we needed a new code to cover the treatment of those being detained under this new order.

It has taken the Government all this time to come up with it. Considering the indecent rush with which they pushed to get the time without charge extended, it is a bit of a rum do.

We are all supporting the code, but I raise issues around how this is likely to affect a community (the Muslim community) which is already extremely tender from the mistaken crude associations that some people make that Muslim = terrorist. Anyway, the Minister acknowledges the points I raise - and the statute is made.

Labels: ming campbell, pmqs, tony blair

Spent whole morning and lunchtime at a conference about the future of the Police Consultative Group (PCG) in Haringey. The Met Police Authority are cutting the funding - which is terrible. Haringey's PCG is active, useful and works really well with the local Commander and all the groupings.

There is a very dedicated group of activists involved - and it isn't really fair that they will have funding cut to equalise funding to all PCGs across London. I remember well from my time on the PCG that there were some that local MPA link members said were obsolete, non-functioning and needed to be ended - and then others that are active and quite vibrant like Haringey.

Anyway we all say at tables and had sessions addressing a number of issues around how local people could hold the authorities, politicians and police accountable; about the different levels of engagement; about young people and so on. Reasonably useful - but not sure about whether we reached conclusions.

Even more usefully, I met a couple of guys who work with young people. And one was lobbying me basically to stop politicians paying so much attention to the kids who go off the rails but to pay more to those who are positive role models but who might just need a bit of help or funding to get on - into uni - or whatever. And to spend money on a centre for the kids who are good but just need somewhere to go - not just pay attention and money to the negative.

And actually, that evening I am involved in a crime think tank (or anti-crime more accurately), so I bring it up and get it in to the consultative papers that Lib Dems will debate and take forward.

Labels: crime, mpa

Quarterly meeting with David Sloman, Chief Executive at the Whittington Hospital. Overall the Whittington has managed to balance its budget. Phew! But what awaits the good guys is a demand from the Government that they make 'savings' next year. David explains to me that there will be a capital investment (or at least that is the plan) - so that we will get it back another way. We have a discussion about the way health (and everything else) is being regionalised - and I talk about the need for nurses to be able to be caring as well as clinically excellent. So often they are rushed off their feet and so can’t give that extra personal care and attention. I remain convinced that the caring part of nursing is a keep part of medically effective treatment overall.

In the evening I get to go to 350 years of Jewish History. This is Mr Speaker's reception for unsung heroes of the Jewish community and I go to have a drink etc. If Mr Speaker invites you - you go! In fact, I went last Monday to what I thought was this event. As I arrived, I shook hands with Mr Speaker - and in the reception line next to him was a Catholic priest. Which did strike me as odd – but… Then as I moved into the room, there were not very many people and there was a very quiet atmosphere. Jews gathered together are not normally quiet - I know 'cos of family bashes. So I went back to Mr Speaker and asked him. And I had actually arrived at a celebration for the Apostles of the Sea! Mr Speaker kindly invited me to stay - but I said I would come back to the one he had actually invited me to the next week.

This time - the Chief Rabbi was there - and it wasn't quiet! I met a little clutch of women from the Jewish Women's League, a woman from Hornsey & Wood Green, the wife of the Chair of the Board of Jewish Deputies and a wonderful woman who sent people to far off places to do voluntary work. It is funny really. The Jewish population have managed to stay as a pretty firm culture and race - and assimilate at the same time. However, one woman told me that there is quite a lot of trouble and snobbishness about which type of synagogue or congregation that you belong too. There is no culture or race, I guess, who don't have status levels. Great fun!

Labels: david sloman, whittington hospital

Spend day wrestling with the chapter I am writing for the next, so-called, Orange Book. They asked for blue skies thinking; I'm writing on Race and Asylum: Bridging Communities in Britain after Blair.

One part of what I talk about is the low turn-out at elections so that decisions about resource allocation aren't supported by a majority. Now - along comes this email into my inbox about getting people engaged and helping people with no money (unlike Al Gore) to campaign. They allow small-scale, zero-budget campaigners to get on-line for free. They do not raise any revenue from this site. They are doing it for fun and because there are a lot of people out there who can make good use of this type of service. They just need to find them! So I am pleased to put a link to them on my blog: www.CampaignON.com.

Labels: al gore

Summer days and local or school fetes are the order of the day at the moment. Noel Park Community Family Fun Day is one of the ones this weekend. It is a gloriously sunny day. I meander around the stalls introducing myself and learning about what is going on.

The big issue, about which many people wanted to talk to me, is Haringey Council's failure to replace the children’s' play equipment that they removed while building the children’s centre.

Promised now for two years that it would be replaced, local kids are facing their second summer without anything to play on. I will meet one of the organisers about it this week - and a little pressure and some help from the media will hopefully prompt them into action. That's what happened with Campsbourne Play Centre where the Council had been messing them around - and last week I 'opened' the new play equipment. So - action stations!

Then it's on to Bounds Green School where I am working on the refreshment stall, doing a walk about and then drawing the raffle. All went well - and then on to Abbeyfield open day. Abbeyfield is a home for the elderly - beautifully maintained and run. There are cakes for sale (which I buy) and lots of families visiting their loved ones.

Fortuitously on Sunday I am able to get home in time from visits to get home to watch England play Equador. Painful as always! I am in trouble for the next match as I (as a member of the Home Affairs team) sit on the Government's Community Development group and we have to go for a two-day meeting next Friday and Saturday - and although it finishes at 1.30pm on the Saturday the chances of getting back to London in time for the 4 o’clock kick off are nil!

For the answer - you'll have to read my latest column from Liberal Democrat News!

Labels: ken livingstone

Got my new passport this morning! If you remember - I applied for a new one before my old one was due for renewal as a protest against the Government's plans to introduce ID cards. You may or may not know that if you apply for a new passport in future, you will automatically have to have biometric information taken and be put on the National Identity Register (the new big brother database). And this is the first step to the ID card that goes with it. But if you renew your passport now, you can put off those steps for a decade – by which time they’ll have been an election or two, and – with a bit of luck! – the plans will have been stopped.

You can get more information on how you can renew your passport too (if you have one) at www.renewforfreedom.org.

Labels: id cards

Go to early Jewish Assembly at Highgate School where I am to talk briefly on being an MP and then take questions. As I have been told that the questions will be on the Israel / Palestine issue and other Jewish related matters, I try and set out the way an MP makes up their mind on an issue. I think it is always one of the confusions - do you represent the party you stand for, the people you represent or your conscience? Of course, it's all three - with a range of variations on how strong each of those remits is on each issue.

I was explaining that you need to be very clear in your own mind - particularly on those dramatically split issues where both sides have enormous lobbies who are quite venomous if you don't agree with their particular view. On Israel/Palestine I have always been quite clear that the two-state solution is the only way forward, they are both wrong when they do wrong, and the rights and wrongs of history and historic actions cannot be the arbiter of future solutions. It's long and complicated and I do the best I can with a young audience and only a few minutes. I do tell them that an even-handed approach wins you no friends - on either side.

Anyway - we go on to questions. There is one young man who asks, as I have been discussing the difficulty caused to the western world by the election of Hamas, about relations with Hamas. We promote democracy as the fair and judicial way to select our administrations. Palestine has elected Hamas democratically. Previously, they were treated as a terrorist organization. So - the question was how do we deal them? I don't think the young man liked my answer - which was that you have to negotiate. Yes - use all the powers that we in the West collectively have in terms of influence to insist that they recognise the state of Israel - but talk we must.

One of the things that always shocks me about the Middle Eastern situation is the lack of sustained drive and priority that Bush and Blair seem to give to it. I remember Blair literally rolling up his sleeves to get Northern Ireland on the road to peace - and the IRA were terrorists too.

As ever young audiences are always interesting - and I enjoy working with schools greatly. Have had lots of schools up to Parliament for a tour and then I will meet them generally if I am able to take half an hour's questions. Last week - Coldfall and Highgate.

Off to surgery followed by a home visit to one of the audience from the Carer's Conference I did last week. She had just been totally neglected by Haringey Council. As it is so difficult to even get out of the house if you are a sole carer - I said I would pop round to her house. She has a very disabled three-year-old daughter. Without going into details - physically cannot walk, feed herself etc There is an older daughter aged six and the mother has lupus.

She is still waiting, after two and a half years, for an assessment. She has no support. No respite. No social worker. No nothing. I do sometimes wonder what an earth is going on. Most of us who are well, able and in work do regard ourselves as lucky to be so and are glad to pay our taxes so that there is a welfare state there to help those who need assistance. We may get cross when our money is wasted or misused - but certainly we believe in the system and ideals. And when I encounter situations like this - I just want to scream. Do the powers that be have no idea what it is like to try and look after a severely disabled child 24/7 on your own? For goodness sake Haringey - this just isn't on. We will see how quickly we can change this situation.

I had another carer that had spoken up at the conference who came to the surgery. Haringey Council supplied a commode - but it was too big for the accommodation so had to go back and be exchanged for one that was smaller. He is still waiting for the replacement years on. It isn't rocket science for heaven's sake.

Blair's big speech on rebalancing the scales of justice was today. That's all he has left in him - mouthing off about how bad things are. Well 50 pieces of legislation in the criminal justice and home affairs arenas under Labour mean that if things are wrong - there's only one person and one party to blame - and that's T Blair and Labour.

So tough on crime when it comes to talk – but such a catalogue of disasters in reality: porous borders, escaped prisoners, shortened sentences etc etc.

Last thing watch Cameron on Jonathan Ross. Jonathan is a class act - and Boy Dave is not. In fact he looked uncomfortable, wasn't funny, tried to peddle his cuddly mantra (didn't work) and I thought was pretty well exposed as having little understanding of the people. (Oh, and changed his mind on Iraq, again!). At least when Blair and Kennedy go on populist shows, they come over as human and likeable. Advice - stick to reading soundbites at PMQs.

Labels: pmqs

Meet with the Head of Fortismere School and the Chair of Governors this morning. In answer to enquiries about where I stand, I had laid out my views - subject to this meeting. Basically I am against foundation schools in principle because of my concerns over the breaking of ranks with the Haringey community of schools, the possibility of bringing in selection, the difficulty that might be caused by the draining of other schools if Fortismere then expanded, the possibility of loss of statemented places and whether such a move might place Blanche Nevile (school for deaf children and co-sited) in jeopardy. Most importantly, I have asked for a ballot of all parents - as the school will fare better if the parents are on board and seen to be on board with whatever decision is made.

However, I acknowledge that Fortismere has been put in an impossible position by Haringey Council. The meeting confirms my view that, although the Governors have been considering foundation status for around a year, it is the intransigent position of Haringey Council in terms of funding the repair and renovation of the unusable buildings that has forced this issue.

It became clear that it has been indicated to the school that the Council expects to fund any building through the sale of Fortismere's land assets. There will be nothing forthcoming from the Council. Nothing forthcoming from the Government. And it is possible that the Council will decide to remove the £2 million extra squeezed out of them in the wake of the lack of funding from the Building Schools for the Future funding allocation.

Fortismere, not surprisingly, does not trust Haringey Council. Only a short while ago, the Council sold off one of the school's land assets, Strathlene House, on the basis of a promise to the school that they would receive the proceeds. Pigs might fly. And that is the problem. Having been shafted, the Governors are making the only move they can to stop any sale of land for the moment. The move to consider foundation status freezes all assets. Their argument is that at least if the Governors have control in future, the school will receive the benefits of any sales.

I raised the key concerns and received the following responses:

- that Fortismere will continue to be comprehensive and play a full part in the community of schools in Haringey (indeed the new Head has a track record of already doing so in his previous authority)

- that this was not a means of introducing selection as they still have to operate within the national criteria

- that they feel the administration of waiting lists would be fairer and more local with foundation status than with the current situation, where they are administered by Haringey Council

- that this was not the start of the route to becoming a Trust School

- categorical assurances that the Governors have never even discussed becoming a Trust School

- that statemented children will still have the right to name and go to the school to which they wish to be sent

I asked them about a ballot of parents - and the answer was 'we are considering a ballot / survey of parents'.

So! I remain of the view that the Labour Government's policies on choice in schools will usher in the break up of the community of schools in locally administered areas. However, it is quite clear that Fortismere has had enough of Haringey's cavalier attitude towards them in terms of treating them as if they are not part of the community of schools anyhow. Fortismere has not even had a place on the boroughs School Forum to date. I have no doubt that the Head and the Governors are moving to try and protect the school and its future in what they genuinely believe is the best interests of the school. That is why it remains absolutely crucial that the parents are able to express their view through a fair ballot.

From what was said, it was clear that the Governors believe that the vast majority of parents want the school to go down this road. If that belief is evidenced through a ballot then their case is genuinely made. Whatever my views in terms of education - I do understand the local problems that Fortismere is facing and so long as there is a democratic process will support the decision of the parents and school.

Labels: fortismere school

I chair the Lib Dems Liberty Group in the House of Commons and today we meet to discuss the Human Rights Act. It is one of the most important pieces of legislation for our citizens - and yet the Government (which had the balls to do it) now seems hell bent on destroying it.

It is true that it has been misused on occasion and there have been some exceptionally stupid interpretations of the Act that diminish it and hold it up to ridicule - but the fault is not with the Act but the use of it. So education of those who need to be aware of it is critical.

I remember when it was coming in and I was sitting on the Metropolitan Police Authority. We all had lots of briefings. It was clear then that there was a nervousness by, in this case, the police about what they would and would not be allowed to do once the Act came in. In fact, outside of the two absolute - the right to life and the right not to be tortured - the other articles are all about balance and common sense. All of those articles weigh up the balance between the rights and freedoms of the individual against the benefit or disbenefit to the wider community.

Then in the evening I met Al Gore!

A local constituent sent me an invitation to a screening of a film to be released here in September. It is called 'An Inconvenient Truth'. (You can watch the film's trailer on YouTube.com).

It is basically Al Gore's lecture on the Doomsday scenario we are hurtling towards - climate change. Whilst it won't rival Harry Potter in terms of attendance, it is a film that every person should see - because it demonstrates quite clearly our path to destruction. But it has the message that if we change there is hope.

So Al - who was the next President of the United States once upon a time - has taken it to be his life's mission to spread this word and campaign to wake us up.

I was totally impressed with the package and the commitment. After the screening Al Gore came to the front of the cinema and took questions and - shock horror - answered them straight. Then we went to the reception. I was lucky and got to speak to him (sadly no photographs). I congratulated him but did point out that I thought he should edit the shots of him looking pensively out of aeroplane windows - and carbon emissions from air travel didn't feature clearly. He said I was right and etc. etc and shook my hand.

He asked us all to join in this mission - and I am pretty keen to give it a go. More of this later.

As for my own efforts in recent months? Well, I declined my friend Alexis's prodding to put a wind farm on my roof - long before boy Dave Cameron upset Notting Hill by his efforts to be cuddly. I decided not to - because I live in a conservation area and it would just end up as being seen as a publicity stunt and I wouldn't get my wind turbine at the end of it.

I decided that the most environmentally friendly thing I could do outside of recycling and turning off lights etc was to not use planes unless absolutely necessary (and then you can pay for your conscience through carbon offset).

So earlier this year I went for a weekend with my youngest daughter to Amersfoort near Amsterdam by train. It was four trains each way - and having spent the majority of the Friday and Sunday on the train and only Saturday actually with my friends in Amersfoort, I decided that a weekend break was probably not the best way to do this! Not deterred - as I love trains and hate planes - this summer am dragging same daughter around Europe by train. All easily arranged on the phone with RailEurope. I think that - as we have a couple of weeks - it will be a great way to see all these places and the spaces in-between. I just wish we could get train fares down and have airfares better represent the true costs to the environment. It's Lib Dem policy - but Tony B and Boy Dave only like to talk tough on the environment - and that's exactly what they are: tough on the environment!

Labels: al gore, climate change

Meet Becky (World at One Reporter) at 9am to discuss my constituent's case and campaign with regard to Munchausen by Proxy issues. The issues in this case - the man and his family were wrongly suspected of harming their child but persecuted along the way with accusations, lack of support and guidelines and procedures just not being followed.

The prevailing attitude from the Minister and thus the Government is that it is hard cheese if parents wrongly accused have a bad time - that's the price of protecting our children. Bollocks! The Government have not a clue how prevalent this is. They keep no numbers - they don't even try to collect this information. I have no idea if the small number of cases in the Consensus Report are the totality of those affected or the tip of the iceberg.

Of course protecting children comes first - but without a properly commissioned piece of research into the numbers involved, we don’t know how many parents are wrongly accused. Or how many genuine cases there are. Or how parents going through the process can be supported and what measures can be taken. And there is no proper analysis and audit of the procedures, complaints and whether they are being followed or not. We just don't have a clue.

Prime Minister's Questions sees the usual barney between the boys. You voted against this, you said that! I cannot bear the stupidity of this game.

This morning am having an hour's interview by the Audit Commission in Haringey about the Council performance etc for the Comprehensive Assessment. Where do I start? We run through everything from political bias to planning to education to consultation to housing and so on and so on.

The problem I always find in these interviews is to find the right balance. I can only give my own experience with real life examples from my surgery or postbag to illustrate the gaps in their services. The most damning part of Labour Haringey is that they often say the right things but on the ground they don't deliver - and I see the wreckage that they leave by promised action which never occurs.

Nick Clegg (Lib Dem Shadow Home Secretary) and I meet the Chiefs of Police from a number of American cities and criminologists etc in a round-table discussion. Lots of interesting ideas and notions - although it would be fair to say that I don't think there was much common ground on minorities and how to deal with re-offending! But a really interesting group. It is always instructive to exchange views with those in the same field but from other countries.

Then I went to Millbank where there was a screen for the England match. As one colleague said at the end - it was like watching eleven Tim Henmans – i.e. agonising. Still we are through. Hurrah.

Labels: nick clegg

Crime continues - so to speak - with a session for the Lib Dem Home Affairs Team as a prequel to Home Office Questions at 2.30. We thrash around the issues of the day. At the moment with the Home Office in chaos and the Home Secretary is making policy on the run. We are rather spoilt for choice. We choose to go on Sarah's List. As the emotive tensions rise and all of us who are parents, including me, wrestle with our desire to know where paedophiles are so we can protect are children, with the real fact that doing so is likely to send them underground where we have no idea where they are. This is about what's effective - not what sounds tough or soft, but what will work to protect our children best.

Nick Clegg (Shadow Home Secretary) brings up the fact that in the USA where Megan's Law (same thing) operates the number of offenders on the sex offenders list there has fallen to 30%. Here in the UK we have around 90% on the list. So - let's keep cool heads and not jump to the News of the World - but on the evidence as to what works.

After Questions I rush over to Sky to do a pre-record on the news that will break tomorrow about an OFSTED report showing that our schools and councils are not keeping accurate records, nor always doing appropriate criminal record checks, on sex offenders working in our schools. After the hoo-ha when it was discovered that even four years after Soham and the Bishard Recommendations, sex offenders were still being employed - and Ruth Kelly nearly lost her job - this report that she was forced into commissioning reports its damning findings tomorrow.

It's just a parents' nightmare. Even if checks are carried out, they are not recorded or updated - and there are virtually no checks at all after someone has been employed. There should be a rigorous duty on checks and record keeping. And then we get into more nightmares if the Government's Education Bill goes through as the community of schools breaks down and each trust school or foundation school or independent school looks to itself. Checking and monitoring will become even more disparate. We have to have a statutory duty for schools and authorities - clear and no lapses - on this.

Otherwise we will get lynch mobs, the Government will cave in to the tabloids and our children will be less safe than ever.

Labels: nick clegg

Liberal Review has published a piece from me today on how we can help tackle the problems of knife crime.

Labels: crime, knife crime

Have gone into Parliament to talk to about 100 school children, about one-third of whom are from Highgate school in my constituency. They are to have a debate on obesity and food in school and I run them through the debating formalities that we observe in the Commons. They seem somewhat over-awed by the room we are in - which is one of the very grandest Committee Rooms on one of the corridors of power. I spend about half and hour explaining the niceties of terms of address - from Honourable Member (the normal) to Right Honourable Member to Honourable and Learned (if a member of the bar etc) to Honourable, Learned and Brave Member (if from the armed forces). That makes them smile...

Rush back to the constituency for a genuinely happy and heart-warming event. Last year, during the election or just before, Campsbourne Play Centre sent out an SOS to me to help them. With a Labour Council and at that point a Labour MP - residents only came to me as a last resort. Generally they try and work with Labour first - worried that it will upset the ruling party if they are seen to consort with me or ask for help. But desperate times meant that they called me in. The play equipment had been found wanting in health and safety terms a year or so before. No replacements were forthcoming. They had been promised and promised but nothing. So parents were removing their children; there was nothing to play with outside and the charges were rising and rising. Falling numbers could jeopardise the future of the whole play centre. Well - I know how to act. So I went. The parents came to meet me. We took photos. We got publicity. I wrote letters. I lobbied.

And today I went back to cut the ribbon and formally launch the new equipment. And it was gorgeous. The play centre had invited all the parents. There was a lovely buffet lunch and the new play furniture and the sandpit garden - which a loving parent had planted around with the most wonderful flowerbeds - was sparkling in the glorious sunshine. All events should be like this and all campaigns should have such happy endings.

Today also my column appears in Asian Voice - titled What does a white middle-aged woman know anyway?

I am giving the keynote speech at the Haringey Carers Week Conference. It's a pleasure and an honour as carers are unsung heroes saving billions by caring for their loved ones and often sacrificing their own lives and careers. I give my speech. Cllr Bob Harris gives his on behalf of Haringey Council Social Services. And then the carers in the audience have the opportunity to ask questions. Well - all the warm words were blown out of the water as each care-worn, exhausted carer explained just how much Haringey Council had promised and how nothing had been delivered. Carers cannot even get assessments and have to wait for months and months - without which they cannot get even a meagre allowance or be eligible for respite etc. And we heard how they cannot get respite without a major fight. And many of them are ill - so worn by the existence.

Bob gets it in the neck - which is quite right as it is Haringey Council who don't call back and who make these carers struggle to get what should be their support - but he is only in post a few weeks. There is clearly so much going on in each individual's world that I say after this bit of the conference I will come outside and anyone who wants to can talk to me then. When I get outside there is literally a queue - so I take names, cases and contacts and when I go back to my office I pass the details to my assistant to contact each one to make an appointment to come to see me.

Just before I leave this subject - the day started with theatre. A theatre group did a role-play of a woman carer with no English coming to an appointment with a social worker. Within minutes the social worker is shouting with frustration at the woman. It made it so vivid and all could see that this was not the engagement that carers need.

Later in the afternoon, have an interesting meeting with a guy from Hackney CAB. The issue is the behaviour of bailiffs. Now - no-one is going to be pleased when they come knocking. It's a bit like traffic wardens - not going to be loved. But the stories mount about intimidation, no prior notification, swearing and inappropriate behaviour. So I wonder - who monitors the standards. What is the recourse a resident has? Who can advise the resident? Who regulates the code of conduct. The security industry has now, or rather is now, becoming regulated and licensed. Doormen and bouncers now have some form of accountability. So – a bit of investigation is called for methinks.

I literally run to Millbank to do a News 24 live interview on sentencing - which as it was 30 minutes before England's kick off would have had a viewing audience of about five I reckon!

Then sadly I watch the England match against Trinidad and Tobago in my office. I would love to have been able to go home and watch with my kids - but not possible. Parliament is pretty deserted but although business in the Chamber miraculously finishes before 5pm - I am stuck because we are having a drinks with all the Home Affairs journalists at 7pm. At least England won and I go to the drinks happier than I would have been. Interesting talking to various of them. We try and talk about the great matters of principle and policy - and the journos say: sod that, give us real story!

My understanding now - over the speculation that the Government may have over-ruled the police who did not want to go in on the Forrest Gate operation - is that this was not the case. So, although it is very easy to believe the worst of this Government – that is misplaced on this occasion. However, that's in part the legacy of the non-existent WMD that the Government used as a reason to take us into an illegal war. Your credibility suffers for a long, long time.

Labels: haringey council

Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) sees a spat between Blair and Cameron over who voted for what on sentencing. Completely ridiculous exchange between two grown men. Sentencing is too ridiculous at the moment. I think it is the automatic sweeping reductions that shock us all. I am all in favour of having a screw to turn to help an accused decide to plead guilty and save us all the time and money in having to go through the court palaver to prove the case if possible. But we seem to knock one third off every single criminal's sentence if they plead guilty - even if the evidence has them 100% banged to rights. It's a tool to use when the evidence is a bit less conclusive - not a discount for shopping at a store.

And then - we are shocked because the other sweeping reduction is for half the remaining sentence for good behaviour. Once again I am all in favour of a tool to keep prisoners sweet and well-behaved - but automatically knocking half the sentence off seems a bit blunt and somewhat over-generous. No doubt the knees are jerking all over the Home Office and we will hear imminently that 'urgent reviews' and tougher regimes will be in place in the blink of an eye.

I have to dash off at the end of PMQs to do an interview for the World at One on the proposed (or not) amnesty for illegal immigrants. The Government is deciding to call an amnesty because it has done such a poor job on policing our borders, deciding on applications to remain and finding illegal immigrants. So - the estimated half a million can only be coped with and brought into the light through an amnesty. It's an admission of failure.

The danger of an amnesty is that it then encourages people to believe that if they come and disappear for long enough into our grey areas, eventually the Government will give in and call an amnesty. In Spain they had a one-off amnesty. They are now on their fifth one-off amnesty. We do already have in legislation the right for someone who has been here 14 years to apply for leave to remain to be granted - and at that stage it is. However, waiting in limbo and working illegally for 14 years is hardly a path to be recommended. We need to get people to work and paying taxes if they have a right to be here and deported if they don't. An amnesty is just a stop-gap measure for regularising life for those who languish here unresolved. So a cautious welcome for a good look at the proposal - but no carte blanche for all illegals.

Labels: pmqs

Roundtable discussion on police reform. Put together by The Guardian and hats off - because the key voices were mostly in the room. As it was Chatham House rules I can't tell you what was said - but it was interesting to hear the different stakeholders voices make their pitch for their patch. As ever, time ran out - but my understanding is that an amalgam article will appear based on the discussions but with unattributable comments.

Surgery again all morning until lunchtime - three in four days! Then back to the Three Compasses to meet Estelle, who campaigns for Kurdish rights and many other causes. Today we are discussing the coming review of the Terror Laws.

I agree with much of what she says, including the idea that sabre-rattling is the order of the day by the Government so they can continue to support the War on Terror and jump when Bush says.

I do wonder, given the stories now floating around about the police not believing the intelligence good enough to go in on Forrest Gate, whether the instruction came from the Government? Nothing surprises me any more.

It's hot, hot, hot! And I go off to St Barnabas Church off Trinity Road for a service for Cyprus Day. Inside this old church it is sweltering - like a sauna. Other dignitaries and myself are on a raised platform by the dais. It is the day of Pentecost and also St Barnabas day AND Cyprus Day - so the service will be very long. His Eminence Gregorios, Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain leads the celebrations and His Excellency the High Commissioner of Cyprus in Great Britain, Mr Petros Eftychiou was also there to deliver the speech of the day.

The whole congregation was fanning itself with the program. I don't know how the clergy carrying out the service managed to survive in the heavy brocade robes - which were gloriously rich - but hugely thick. As the service went on the incense was pungent and the tones of incantation in foreign tongue mesmerising. I really enjoy religious services. They are always fascinating - and have so much in common with each other, including the collection for building repair. That really is universal! Mind you, Eric Monk, the local beat officer was next to me - and his uniform was no lightweight affair either. Really nice to see how well known he is amongst the community - full credit!

The High Commissioner of Cyprus in GB gave a speech - but it was not in English so I don't know what the subject was - I can only speculate that it was about Cyprus and how to bring the island to prosperity for all. After about two hours the service ended and following photos with the Archbishop I departed homeward.

Visit to a Quality Assured childminder in Noel Park to see more of how the Sure Start program works.

Patty and Roger Wanasen are the childminding couple who I am visiting in their home. The sun is beating down and Patty has told me not to eat before I arrive as she is preparing a picnic lunch. As I arrive I am thinking that it is too hot to sit out in the garden having a picnic and that the children will all get sunburnt etc. When I arrive and am walked through to the garden, however, I see an outdoor palace for children. Proper shading provided by the sort of tents you see at Henley or Wimbledon - one shading a table laid out with a feast (no other word can describe it) and the other covering a play area stuffed with children’s delights in terms of toys and play items.

And all the children and all their parents are there. It was totally delightful - and a truly good news story.

Childminding has always born the brunt of bad associations - the image being someone who has a child and takes in others to made a bit of money, puts them in front of the TV, gives them chips and crisps and takes no notice if they cry.

Well - this is as far from that as you can get. To be Quality Assured through the Childminding Network - locally co-ordinated by Naima in Noel Park - you have to jump through some pretty high hoops in terms of child nutrition, safety, knowledge and so on. Patty shows me around her house which really is a shrine to her love of children and her work - and shows me all of the record keeping on menus for the week, fire drills, accident book, attendance and all the certificates of various training achievement that both she and her husband Roger have attained. Patty is still a bit upset because OFSTED (yes that one) have given her 'good' rather than 'outstanding' and she doesn't know why as she has poured her life and love into her childminding.

I have to say I am astounded too - I cannot imagine a better childminder setup or people more committed and warm and lovely. It's just what you want when you have to leave your child somewhere - someone who will care as much as you. I thought they were outstanding and take the OFSTED report to study it. One parent suggests to me that OFSTED don't like the free play time that Patty and Roger include. OFSTED apparently like children to be worked and instructed non-stop. I agree with the parent - free play time to do nothing, muck around or stare at the sky is vital. I will see when I read the report. But if that is what the case is - then it needs arguing against with OFSTED directly!

All the parents, and both mums and dads were there, were over the moon with the facilities and the personalities (which after all are paramount I reckon) of their childminders - and several of them had decided to keep their child there until school rather than go on to nursery.

All in all, superb. Then on to surgery at Jackson's Lane for another couple of hours. Hot work...

Bad news this week about the decision on the Cranford Way concrete factory - the Inspector has given it the go ahead. Everyone is devastated. Following a tremendous campaign by local people and politicians across the parties - the Inspector deemed to find that all our cares and worries were as nothing. According to his findings we must all be mad. Sadly - it will be ordinary local people who pay the price in their quality of life reduction if we are right and he is wrong.

Goliath has won. Well Goliath in this case has loads more dosh for fancy lawyers.

Oh yes - the Inspector has applied various conditions to London Concrete's permission to go ahead. But I wonder how long their promise to only supply Haringey building sites with concrete will last - and how long before they apply for an extension to the number of lorries going in and out. Enforcement is not the weapon of choice - but now we will just have to see. The planning process is always weighted in favour of the presumption to permit - sadly. And unlike London Concrete who were able to appeal the initial refusal of their plans – residents cannot appeal this decision as there is no appeal against the Planning Inspector. Judicial Review is the only next step - and that would be impossible to stage and even if we could - I don't think they would not find against the process.

So depression all round.

Leave London for Torquay at 3.45 on Thursday for Question Time. Researching - I feel sure that Ming's speech on tax (attacking twin evils of climate change and the widening equality gap by upping eco-taxes and reducing capital gains tapers etc on shares) will be on the agenda. I am wrong in the event - not even a mention.

To my horror, earlier in the day I find out that George Galloway is on the panel. I had been told about David Lammy and Liam Fox - but not gorgeous George. I wouldn't have gone on with him if I had known. He is a brilliant orator - but a dominating bully in terms of a panel. However, no choice by the time I find out. Worse - they sit me next to him. And thus it was - from the terror raid to the murder of the Butcher of Baghdad it was George on his soapbox.

Given Respect only has one seat in Parliament - don't even think he should get the time of day. Particularly after his colleague decided to whip up the divides in Forrest Gate by advising Muslims to withdraw cooperation with the police.

Whatever else I might think about this seemingly bundled operation - the police had to go in. The intelligence seems wanting - and this isn't the first time. But when both Muslims and everyone else need most to rely on each other and hold hands against the terrorists - George's lot are stirring it - and successfully. The march on Friday will not be helpful. Even if peaceful - it is not necessary. The police will get it in the neck anyway if they have got it wrong on such a massive scale again. And the intelligence services need to go back to school - or over to Canada where they seem to get it right - and they could learn a few lessons.

It's an evil agenda - and the shame is - that there is a great need to support the Muslim community in this terrible time for them - as the terrorists hide behind their skirts. But George's way creates division and discord.

Anyway - the boys (and there were four of them and one of me) were all being very alpha male and so hopefully I provided some common sense.

Got back to London around 3am.

Notice in my inbox when I get in (yes - I did - even at that time of night) that some of the DNA stuff has appeared in the media - which is good as I am determined to follow this through until we get results. This was when I discovered from the answer to a Parliamentary Question (PQ) I had tabled that individuals’ samples on the DNA database have been shared with other foreign countries with no real safeguards in place.

Under new EU proposals, all member states will be able to access the British DNA database and the information on it. This is bad in itself and a bad omen for the upcoming ID register, now the Government has made it clear that our personal data can be shared with foreign countries.

There are no real safeguards in place to control this huge database - which leaves it open for misuse, especially as now we find out it's not only being misused in our country but also internationally. What confidence can we have in the Government’s reassurance of the DNA database having proper safeguards when, until last year, they didn’t even collate requests properly?

Labels: dna, george galloway, liam fox

My youngest daughter's 17th birthday today. I have to get her up for presents and cards at 7.30am - poor thing. Finished her AS's yesterday thank goodness. So dash off to work. Am studying the news very hard this week as I am on Question Time tomorrow and live in terror of not knowing about some issue that may come up.

Lib Dem Home Affairs Team first thing - and we thrash out our views on the terror raid in Forrest Gate, discuss trafficking and general crime issues. I have to leave early to go and meet the School Council from Fortsimere School who I have sponsored for a tour and who come up to see the exhibition of some of their work on display at the House. The new head is with them and I ask him for a meeting to discuss the school's desire or otherwise to become a foundation school. I am against this on principle - but Haringey have screwed them financially to the point where I guess they feel it is Hobson's choice. I will try and persuade them - but in the end - so long as there is a proper democratic process for making this decision - it has to be for the school, the students, the governors, the staff and the parents to decide.

I go to PMQs - and then stay both for the statement on the NHS and then the Opposition Debate on Tax Credits. What a mess - both of them!

Labels: nhs, pmqs

Spent the morning in Brixton Prison. I was there for the launch of a new book on Restorative Justice. Prison is unremittingly grim. I know it is meant to be - but sometimes it is portrayed as barely different from our lives on the outside. That is so not the case - and I wish more people could be taken to see and feel the claustrophobia of and harshness of the environment where we incarcerate criminals. It's no cakewalk.

As the hysteria between Tory and Labour crescendos towards locking up everyone and throwing away the key - to show who can be tougher - I am more and more convinced that we need to concentrate on what works; what is effective. The overflowing prisons and increasing rate of offending demonstrate incontrovertibly that the Government's policies are not working. For all the headline grabbing toughness - it's a load of baloney. They keep on preferring headline grabbing new laws to properly enforcing the ones that are already there. And the Home Office – after years and years in which Labour could have sorted it out – is still a mess. Whether it is prisoners walking out of prisons, sentences that mean nothing, probation not coping and people being lost track of - it has almost become farcical.

So whilst I am quite a toughie myself in terms of sentencing and enforcement - what I am completely clear about is the need to reduce offending and re-offending - and you can't do that by simply locking people up. We certainly need to lock up those who might harm us - possibly permanently if the danger is severe. But we also need to make sure that those who will come out of prison one day come out in a state where they get a job, live a decent life and neither re-offend nor become a permanent burden to the tax payer. Otherwise - things ain’t going to get better.

Thus - restorative justice (which has long time been a Lib Dem theme) is now being heralded as one of the ways to do this. Making a criminal meet with the victim they have created can be a powerful step. It brings it home. It's not easy on the victim - but there is a magic that happens (not for all but for some) when they are confronted with the harm they have done. For the first time the reality of the hurt gets through. And some are so affected that the work to make them change begins within themselves. I know - the dangers of being called soft etc - but I tell you - tough methods on their own do not work. The proof is in the criminal pudding. And the better results on pilots where restorative justice has been implemented are impressive.

So - an interesting morning. Walking away from the prison into the sunlight makes you realise how amazing it is to be free - and how close to hell being in prison actually can be.

Do a long interview with Politics Junkie - which is a website just as it says for the sad! Then a quick SI (Statutory Instrument). We are in agreement with this one - which adds bribery and corruption to the crimes that the Serious Organised Crime Agency can investigate.

Last gig for the day is to meet the other judges for the Guardian's Public Services awards. These are to be judged in due course and a gala presentation next December. Bill Morris (Lord now) is one, and have enjoyable chat with him and several others. I find out what I will have to do. Apparently the judging will take place over a lunch - and the prizes awarded as I said in December. Luckily one of the judges who has done it previous years did mention that a very large box of paperwork will arrive prior to all of that. So there's where the hard work will obviously have to be done! Anyway - absolutely delighted to be asked to do this as public services deserve more recognition - or rather the people and organisations that keep it all going. The voluntary sector is included - which is great as they often get left out - but they serve the public too.

Labels: crime

Report came out today by the London Assembly - my old stomping ground. It's the findings of their investigation into how the emergency services and other coped with the London bombings and what problems were encountered.

It's a really good piece of work. I suppose the overarching and key finding was that all the planning that went into London's emergency planning post 9/11 was about the emergency services. What emerged clearly from the investigation was that the survivors and public's needs had not even been factored into the equation. This report is the first to give voice to the needs of those caught up in the events of 7/7 and its findings and recommendations should be taken seriously and implemented.

The main things in terms of the emergency services was the lack of communications. The radio and mobile networks did not suffice and hospital staff found themselves having to go and see what was happening to their crews at the scenes 'cos they couldn't contact them. The train drivers couldn't communicate with their controllers or the passengers. Once the City Police - completely autonomously - closed down the mobile networks except unto a few special exceptions – no-one could contact anyone. So that was a disaster - not just for the services - but ordinary people couldn't find or contact loved ones to let them know where they were or how they were. And it is somewhat arrogant of the City Police to decide that theirs was the only need to be addressed by the plan or their actions. So much room for improvement there.

There were also eye-witness accounts of ambulances turning up without any proper equipments and so on. All things which need grabbing hold of and making sure that checking systems are in place.

Great plaudits, of course, for the bravery of the staff of the services involved - and not a report about blame - but a report that looks at the things that didn't go right on the day and the needs of all those involved in terms of future disaster planning.

Of course, the problem with London Assembly reports is that the recommendations have no teeth and therefore there is no compulsion to implement the findings. That's one reason why we still need a proper public enquiry. The other is that the voice of the people still has not had proper public hearing nor have the public had the opportunity to scrutinise the investigation in public on matters that we all, as Londoners, have a right to have analysed to the same level as the scrutiny in America which did hold a public enquiry.

Footnote to the day - was Mayor Livingstone demonstrating his petty-minded, grubby approach to statesmanship. His comment on the Assembly's work was that it was 'nitpicking'. Don't suppose the relatives and friends of those who died, or the survivors, or the rest of London will be impressed that he places so little value on finding out what happened and making sure we are better prepared in the event that we come under attack again. Well done Ken - generous as ever!

Labels: ken livingstone