Lynne's Parliament and Haringey diary

I can't sew! But this morning, I went to a small women's training group that teaches sewing, English and maths and IT skills for women. I was there to present the end of term certificates - but first we had a session where they all told me about themselves. There were women from many places in the world - and this lovely small helpful organisation is working away to give them access to jobs and skills. And they were all so lovely - from the two 16 year old sisters from Afghanistan who are clearly going to get to grips with everything in super-quick time (they had certificates in everything) to another girl who had just passed her Britishness test and was telling us all (to much hilarity) what the questions were. Native Brits would almost certainly fail unless they studied for it!

And they asked me to tell them about being a woman in politics. So I did. I rarely speak on that subject or about myself - but amongst this group it seemed appropriate. The group is run by Rafat Mughal who was a Labour councillor when I first was elected to Haringey Council. She left some time back, but her son, Fiyaz, is now a Lib Dem councillor here in Haringey (Noel Park ward – gained his seat from Labour in May).

I think it's rather good that we can all have different political views, even within families - that should be how it is. We can all believe or think different things, dream different dreams, have different desires - but that is what makes the world go round. I can't imagine how dreadful it would be if we were all of one mind!

Off to the Three Compasses (my HQ) for a council of war on what is happening to health in this borough. The cuts are cutting now deeply. Five family planning units gone or going for example. The X-ray unit at St Ann's saved - but many, many other front line services disappearing. And why? Because of this Labour government's lack of understanding about how best to run the health service. They have flung a fortune at the health service - most of which has gone into poorly negotiated doctor and consultant contracts. Their budgeting regime has meant that if a Trust balances its budget (much of which is achieved by cuts) then the following year it must make more 'efficiency savings' so that it can give its 'surplus' to a Trust that has failed to keep to budget. It is theatre of the absurd. It demotivates the good Trusts and rewards the 'bad'. Except that the 'bad' are those Trusts that 'overspend' - but overspending means that they are trying to meet need in the community where elsewhere they are cutting front line services - as here.

Amongst other things, we are meeting to kick off the arrangements for the campaign to force the pace on the progress (or lack of it) on Hornsey Hospital. After the meeting we go off to Hornsey Hospital to set up the campaign shots. It looks so forlorn these days with its closure notices. It is six years since we were promised that if we (residents and Lib Dem politicians) stopped our campaign to save the hospital – then the Trust would together with us to a create new health facility for the community. So we worked with the PCT. There were public meetings and plans and public meetings and working meetings and lots of commitment - even complete planning permission at one stage. But after six years - we are nowhere.

... and on a technical note (highlight of my week this!) I've added links to each post so you can easily post them on del.icio.us / digit. Thanks to Technology Wrap for the tip on how to do it easily.

Labels: hornsey central hospital

First stop major protest against the planning decision made earlier this week where Labour ignored due process and steamrollered through the granting of permission for luxury houses crammed into a backlands site in Crouch End.

I turn up at the site to find over fifty residents there to protest. The local papers are there too. I talk to the residents and following a meeting on Thursday night there has been a slight change in what they want now. Instead of the decision being looked at again in Haringey, they want to finesse the procedure and have it go to a planning appeal with one of Her Majesty's Inspectors.

On the Cranford Way concrete factory, the Inspector over-ruled local concerns, so this isn’t a guaranteed solution – but the residents believe there’s more chance of a fair hearing on this issue with someone from outside than with Haringey Council. (The difference from the concrete factory is that the political pressure on the Council made them come out against the plans in the end). The residents are absolutely determined to take this to judicial review if necessary.

No they haven't gone away - although the Government was forced into delays etc. But the worm is turning. As predicted - and as happened in Australia and Canada – initial high levels of public support for ID cards are falling away as people became more aware and knowledgeable about the realities of identity cards (and their huge cost - let alone database dangers).

A new poll from ICM has a majority against ID cards for the first time (and I love the Home Office spokesperson's excuse given in the story!).

You can still help the campaign - visit www.libdems.org.uk/noidcards

Labels: id cards

Sometimes you win! And although it's not over - for the time being local residents and Lib Dem councillors (and I) have won a real victory in our efforts to extend the consultation process on CPZs (controlled parking zones / residents’ parking schemes) proposed with breathtaking arrogance and flagrant disregard for all who live here by the Labour administration in Haringey.

At the big meeting on this put together by Martin Brophy (now seasoned campaigner) a few weeks ago, the responsible Labour executive member would not attend and officers of the council refused to come. But this week the Labour man – Cllr Brian Haley (who has caused a lot of controversy) – did turn up to the meeting in Crouch End.

Labour haven’t covered themselves in glory on this issue – refusing to come to previous big public meeting; keeping the CPZ proposals a secret and off the agenda of the last Muswell Hill Area Assembly; keeping them a secret from the relevant local councillors and, unbelievably, refusing to let local people bringing deputations to Full Council to even speak.

Labour never learn - the more they try and steamroller things through without proper democratic processes the more trouble they get themselves into. Anyway - Councillor Haley explained at the packed public meeting in Crouch End (at the Holy Innocents Church) that the Council's timetable for taking a final decision on the CPZ schemes has been pushed back from September to November - to allow a new stage of 'communication' to take place.

Hurrah for both people power and Lib Dem campaigning! Labour's demonstrable contempt for the people in the west of this borough has been thwarted by this twin pressure. CPZs are highly contentious at the best of times, and the only way forward is to work with the people - not against them.

Labels: controlled parking zones

4.00 am start and am picked up by car to get me to GMTV for a 6.12 appearance. Drink driving is on the up. Over the summer the police did a one month campaign and found that 1 in 10 drivers are driving over the limit and that about half the people the police pick up for suspicion of driving whilst having taken drugs and are therefore impaired are also nicked.

Seems to me that there is a bit of an issue going on. Breathaliser tests have decreased in the last nine years. Over the same period fatalities have increased. And not co-incidentally (in my view) traffic police have given way to cameras. Now cameras can nab you in a bus lane, in a yellow junction box and for speeding - but they can't breathalise you. And I think that the high chance of not getting caught is beginning to make peoples' fear of losing their license less - so they are beginning to take risks again. Combine that with the hot weather and the extension of licensing hours - and we obviously need to do some new thinking and take some new actions to damp down these figures once again.

The Government have been spending about £3 million on advertising - the shock ones that show you dreadful endings to young lives - but clearly they are not working. Shock wears off - so perhaps the ad agencies need to think how next best to challenge us on drink-driving.

Also, it may be time to look at the 'allowance' for drinking and bring it in line with most countries in Europe. At the moment we allow 80 milligrams of alcohol as opposed to 50 on the continent. For me it's not so much the actuality of the level - but that it is not so easy to measure. It's over a pint and over one glass of wine. Perhaps bringing it (and associated pub measures) in line with a level that is easier to understand and remember would help.

I would also like rather than just being delivered the new figures of one in ten drink drivers to have some drilling down into those statistics so that we know whether people are just over the limit - or whether they are now really drinking without a care.

We need to know what we are dealing with. The drink driving laws are what I regard as one of the all time successful changes in culture - from a time when no one gave a thought to how much they drank before they drove to making it socially completely unacceptable. It was done through a combination of legislation, tough enforcement, excellent penalties (losing license) and a major education campaign through TV. So if the statistics are changing - then we really need to make a move. I would have though the obvious starting place was to make sure no one feels safe about not getting caught - and accept that cameras don't do the job on their own.

In the evening I go to the launch of a book on the history of Noel Park. You know, just sometimes you get a really unexpected evening of delight - this was one such. The author, Caroline Welch, had written this history commissioned by the Neighbourhood Management. Caroline read aloud a couple of passages from the book. The book rightly places Noel Park at the centre of Haringey's historical landscape, highlighting the pioneering design of the social housing on the Noel Park Estate built in the late Victorian period - an artisans' colony. A huge number of local residents from Noel Park have turned out for the evening - very impressive. The social history of our lives is wrapped up in these bricks and mortar. Architecture is social history (and one of my pet subjects actually) and it affects us and we affect it. This particular estate, named after a (very) previous MP, surname of Noel, was the outcome of philanthropic effort.

After the readings (and me), a local historian told us some Noel Park stories - and they too were fascinating. He told of a Chinese Magician who appeared at the Wood Green Empire. His speciality was to get his wife to 'shoot' him and then show the audience the bullet caught in his hand or sometimes spit out from where he caught it in his mouth. One day did not go so well - and he was shot dead. There were many rumours about his wife having had an affair ... Lots of local stories - fascinating. And then a woman from Bruce Castle museum read out the history given to her from a local resident of 'my first married home'. And as she talked of the furnishings, the outside loo and the net curtains - she sparked a memory for me too.

My mother had to work on Saturdays as well as during the week and she was always 'placing' me with one or other relative to look after me. On many Saturdays she would leave me to be looked after at a net curtaining shop on Wood Green High Road - Taylors of Wood Green - at the Turnpike Lane end. I hadn't thought of that in years. Other members of the audience gave their memories too. The woman from Bruce Castle said that she was in charge of oral reminisces - I liked that!

Continue to wrestle with final rewrite of edits on my chapter for forthcoming Centre Forum book Britain after Blair. It's worse than having a baby!

Today's emergency is the granting of planning permission to a backland site in Crouch End. Local residents, local Cllr Dave Winskill, myself and others have long campaigned against this sort of cramming development that does nothing to add to our social housing stock and everything to add to developers' profits. However, I get a desperate email from the residents' group to telephone them to try and get the permission certificate stopped on the basis of the proper procedures not being followed when the Planning Committee considered the application.

The residents , angry at the conduct of the meeting, want me to get the Chief Executive to delay the Permission Certificate pending an inquiry into whether these transgressions have gone as far as to open Haringey Council up to judicial review. I suspect they have and that there are grounds for judicial review. I agree with the residents. To my mind it would simply be much better to refer the decision back to Planning Committee to consider properly under proper procedures before having to go through such a lengthy and probably costly process. I make my request to Dr Donovan (Haringey CE) who promises me she is looking into it and will get back to me.

Labels: centre forum, dave winskill

Off to the Scout Park again for photo op with local commander Simon O'Brian and Ken Ranson (of Scouting Association), two of the Safer Neighbourhood officers from Bounds Green ward and Cllr John Oakes - local councillor. We are there to meet local photographers from local papers to push hard for funding to build replacement buildings for the ones currently not 'fit for purpose'. They are not only not fit but actually in such a state of disrepair that they can't be used.

I am a big fan of this project. I've written the strongest supporting letters I know how to do to support the lottery and heritage bids. I want it for the Scouts - but I also want this amazing eight square hectares of open space in the middle of Bounds Green (that almost nobody even knows exists) to be opened up for all the local young people.

The Scouts will obviously use what they need first - but that leaves oodles of opportunities for our local youngsters. The two Safer Neighbourhood officers are running a scheme this summer for youngsters from Bounds Green between the ages of 13 and 18 to come and do outside activities. And I would like to see a mix it up program which takes kids from all the different schools - so they are not necessarily with their peer groups - and throw them together for a week of outdoors activities. The buildings and open spaces can be hired for meetings and events. There is so much that could be made of this space.

Back to the constituency office for a management meeting. I am trying to arrange a meeting with Richard Sumray - Chair of Haringey Primary Care Trust (PCT) - to push forward the Hornsey Hospital redevelopment. With the dosh now available from the government there is a possible opportunity of forcing the pace.

The hospital closed despite a massive local campaign - and the deal with the campaigners was that it would be redeveloped as a local community health facility with respite care beds etc. etc. It must be something like four or so years since we have been meeting about its future with the PCT - but nothing concrete (literally) yet.

I have decided to try and force the pace on this. The Health Trust insists it must sell off a large chunk of the land - but a) this isn't fair and b) there is not guarantee the funds will go back into this particular site. Anyway - I spoke to Richard Sumray a couple of weeks ago and he promised me a public meeting in September. I believe Richard's assurances that he is committed to pushing the new facility through - but I want to help him by applying as much pressure as I can. My diary organiser had phoned Richard to make the appointment but he is currently in some far flung part of the world. To be continued.

I want to know what the Council are doing about the Noel Park children’s play equipment. It made it into the press when I went over there to meet parents who are outraged that their children are facing a second summer without the promised replacement equipment. I wrote to Cllr George Meehan (Labour Leader of the Council) about it - no reply yet of course. The newspaper had a quote from the council saying they were sorry there had been a delay. But I am now going to write to Ita O’Donovan - who is the Chief Executive - as I expect she will be far more able to efficiently expedite matters than George.

Then it's in to Parliament for the last official day of sitting - so I finish up odds and sods. I pop over with Nick Clegg (Shadow Home Secretary) for a photo op on DNA and then have dinner with my researcher and interns to thank them for their really hard work. The intern system is fantastic - hopefully for both sides. Young graduates mainly, although I have taken some school leavers and gap year students, work for expenses but get useful experience and a better of idea of what such a career might really involve - and also then get to put that they have worked for an MP on their CV. They come and go relatively quickly - but I have to say I have had some wonderful young people over the last year.

Labels: dna, george meehan, nick clegg, richard sumray

Too hot to think or work properly - so by the evening I drift out onto the terrace of the House of Commons for fresh air and because, quite frankly, it is absolutely beautiful. To sit with a drink gazing out on the Thames as it rolls endlessly by, and to watch the river boats and the back drop of the London Eye, is a real perk of being an MP. I know that lots of people think MPs have loads of perks etc - but in my experience this is the real perk of being an MP. As the sun begins to set, late on a summers' evening, the lights that bath Parliament in a golden glow come on and it is just the loveliest experience to be able to sit out on a balmy (if a bit sticky) evening with all that as a backdrop.

I've not managed to blog much this week, so rather than go back over the details retrospectively, it seems better to simply write about the issues that spring to mind.

Very interesting meeting on Tuesday - at a numberless and nameless building with the chief of the new Serious Organised Crime Agency. This new agency is there to get a serious grip on serious crime - trafficking and drugs and major fraud and the like. It was born only a couple of months ago and so for now we could only really talk about where it was going and what it aspired to deliver. Time will tell if the very steely determination to succeed delivers.

The Prime Minister came to the Commons this week to report on the G8 meeting. It was funny reading the George / Tony miked conversation from G8 where the two big boys hadn't realised that the microphones were on. Yo Blair! What struck me most about the conversation was Blair's lack of concern for status in offering to go to the Middle East and talk preliminary to Condi Rice - as he states that it doesn't matter if he comes away without a deal but that it would be bad if she did. I was actually quite impressed that his thoughts were about doing whatever it took rather than about how he looked.

The story is moving pretty fast and there seems to be a split in the Foreign Office and No 10 thinking about Hezbollah and Israel and where blame is to be apportioned. Listening to the debates in Parliament this week, the focus seems to be on condemning Israel for disproportionate action and on blaming Hezbollah for starting this round of fighting and retaliation off. The usual supporters of either side stated their usual allegiances. I really don't think that playing the blame game helps one bit. In fact, the row in Parliament over who is more to blame mirrors almost exactly the endless row between Israel and Fatah or Hamas or Hezbollah as who is to blame.

As I have blogged before - unless George Bush and Tony Blair make the players in this tragedy come to the table and work it out - this will go on and escalate. And it won't be the governments or the leaders of the terrorist groups or us in Parliament who pay the price - it will be the long-suffering public on all sides. They are the sacrificial lambs of the political games in the Middle East.

At the end of the week I went to an away day with some Parliamentary colleagues and Saturday was a very long surgery - and a very hot one - in the toy library at Muswell Hill.

Labels: tony blair

Run in to Parliament - not literally - to prepare for Home Office Questions. Lively debate between Nick Clegg (No 1 in the Lib Dem Home Affairs team), Mark Hunter (No 3) and myself (No 2) on which subject to go on. ID cards narrowly squeaked it ahead of asylum and immigration and the robbery figures to be released later this week.

The new Minister for ID cards, Joan Ryan, has a very hard time defending the indefensible and Nick has some dynamite statistics. 88 million American identities have been stolen. A single master database such as is envisaged for the ID scheme will provide a great big honey pot for criminals to steal from.

Mark's researcher tells us that our visit to Heathrow next Monday is now off. We were originally invited by the group running the immigration operation at Heathrow to come for a visit. But when we said yes we would like to come, it then it had to go through Immigration National Department and then we needed the permission of the minister - and now eight weeks later they had phoned to say the date was no good. What are they scared of? You might think they were blocking our visit...

After Home Affairs questions there was, not surprisingly, a statement by the Foreign Affairs Minister (in the Foreign Secretary's absence) on the Middle East. Listening to the statement and ensuing debate, I return to my view yesterday but even more so: the only solution is negotiation and all the huffing and puffing in the chamber, and all the hand wringing about how important it is to get back to the road map, is no substitute for real action and commitment both now - when it is vital to bring forward a ceasefire - and in the future - when there is no crisis and no world's media looking on.

Labels: mark hunter, nick clegg

Calming down with the Sunday papers I see The Observer has carried the story about DNA that they spoke to me about earlier this week.

A private firm has been secretly keeping the DNA details of thousands of people. I predict that DNA issues will run and run and that all the assurances about the integrity of the database are not worth the paper they aren't written on! The Government says the DNA database and DNA details are tightly controlled - the truth is rather different.

I had headed off this morning for a day of rugby. Not particularly my scene - but we have a great Haringey team - the Haringey Skolars - playing at home today. The Skolars' Chair, Hector, has invited me to lunch followed by the afternoon watching the match. So off I go. The Skolars are Rugby League (not Union - I'm learning) and over the last eleven years they have built up not just a team, but a raft of supporters, Super Skolars (young supporters) and also work in Haringey schools to bring rugby to all. They are clearly completely and utterly committed to improving sport and life chances in the borough. Indeed that is why I am spending the day with them - to show support.

Given that the Skolars won 31 to 6 today (and they have not had the most successful season) it was definitely a very good day on which to see them play for the first time! Their home base is the New River Stadium in White Hart Lane and if anyone is interested they can contact them on 020 8888 8488 and the website is www.skolars.com.

Labels: dna

A friend pointing me in the direction of http://irrepressible.info – Amnesty International's new campaign against attack on people’s freedom of speech on the internet.

I particularly like the little campaign tool they've provided for websites, which allow you to display extracts from censored documents on your own website.

I like this idea of protest - undermining crackdowns on freedom of speech by publicising the material across the internet – and the way it highlights the absurdity of some of the censorship (such as extracts from BBC weather reports being censored!). You can now see the Amnesty button in the bottom right corner of my homepage.

Wake to worsening news on Israel and the Lebanon. It makes me feel physically sick to think of what is happening to the ordinary civilians on both sides. Tony Blair's words from the G8 Summit are really strange - that this is not really to do with Israel and Hezbollah, but rather it's about the axis of evil with Iran as the string puller in the background. It keeps coming back to this vague references to things we, Jo Public, don't know or understand are going on. It's time the government laid this out clearly with evidence. What lies ahead could be so catastrophic that we should know why our leaders say what they say.

When it started last week, the situation seemed redeemable. To me it was unquestionably wrong to kidnap the Israeli soldier - there was bound to be a reaction from Israel in the effort to retrieve that soldier. However, despite Israel's contention that their destruction of the central power station and the shelling of Gaza is not collective punishment - it certainly appeared to target the many indiscriminately. So whilst I was sympathetic to Israel's desire to recover their soldier, it is completely unacceptable for Israel to punish the people of Palestine.

There is also the bitter irony that in the name of being tough on terrorism, Israel is doing just what the terrorists want. They want Israel to be provoked, and been provoked it certainly has. Hamas looked like it was being backed into a very difficult (for it) corner over policy towards Israel and a possible Palestinian referendum on future attitude towards Israel. Losing that referendum (as looked likely for Hamas) would have placed it in a very difficult situation – no longer being able to claim to speak for the people of Palestine. But now with some terrorism, provocation, retaliation and escalation, they may get off the hook as violence spirals upwards and the referendum idea dies. Let's hope not.

My personal position is and has always been to a commitment to a safe homeland for both Israel and Palestine. It is truly time for both sides to stop retaliating for endless wrongs and start negotiating their way to a settled peace for both nations. And it is the duty of the West to use its power and its influence to bring both to the table - something that Tony Blair and George Bush appear to be failing to drive forward. Unless and until the issues in this region are sorted, agreed, implemented and protected - we will continue to experience the destabilising of the Western world through terrorism.

Blair rolled up his sleeves and pursued peace in Northern Ireland. He has not done that for Israel and Palestine. He should use what time he has left to use his influence with the United States - and together bring both sides together around the table to begin a real journey to peace. That would be a real legacy with which to depart his time in office.

Listening to the Sunday political programs this morning with spokespeople from both the Palestinian and Israeli sides, it is clear that positions are hardening, blame is increasing and arguments on who started it are deepening. We will never get anywhere in this climate of escalating blame if all we argue about is who did what. This is truly a moment for the leaders of the world states meeting today to stand together and apply enough pressure to stop the atrocities that are killing ordinary people. It has to stop. There is power in the world to force a ceasefire. That has to be the first step. Israel is not going to be annihilated or driven into the sea - and the Palestinians must have a viable and safe state of their own.

Labels: middle east, tony blair

Busy, busy day! First port of call - Haringey Police Open Day held at St Ann's police station. Beautiful weather - so I wasn't expecting many people to be there, but there were. How far we have come in terms of community relations and making the police part of the local vernacular! The police have worked bloody hard to achieve this. So in the courtyard there was face painting, police motorbikes, a police dog (gorgeous - a six month old pup called Oscar being trained); first aiders, a history of identity parades and much more. So it was fun!

Haringey is a hugely diverse area, and actually does very well in terms of integration. We have huge challenges - but as demonstrated after 7/7 the communications between our communities is there. There wasn't a single incident or attack following the bombings in our area - and it is this work and all the work by the various faith, race and umbrella groups that achieved this. Full marks to Haringey Police for walking the talk!

Straight on to Campsbourne Community Residents' Association where there is an open day for residents to look at the plans for the little square of grass on the estate. There are two alternatives - both very imaginatively designed – and people who come are asked to express their preference. There are also some alternatives for what should be painted onto the paving stones as play equipment is not to be installed. Amongst the choices are hopscotch, clocks and so on. I am reassured that the option of hopscotch is by far and away the most popular - thus proving that just sometimes the old ones are the best ones!

Straight on to Jacksons Lane Community Centre for a two-hour panel debate on Gun and Knife crime. It was a very interesting and lively debate. The officer in charge of Operation Blunt, two mothers from Mothers against Guns, a youth worker and myself, plus a chair.

The audience (which was small and only just outnumbered by the panel) was up for participation - so despite the small numbers I thought some valuable ideas were raised. The most interesting contribution was from a young guy at the back. We on the panel had been banging on about youth diversion etc - and he was saying that you needed to get in and show young people how to earn money (enterprise).

Coincidentally at the police station I talked for a long time to a guy who is running an enterprise effort called BusKids (excuse spelling, may not have got that quite right?). This is a programme to go into schools and teach teenagers money management and entrepreneurial skills to set up small businesses and so on.

The other ruck at the meeting was over reference (by me and others) to gangster rap and hip hop. There was a debate as to whether this was or was not in any way responsible for the rise in gun and knife crime. I think it has an influence but probably not a direct correlation. It sets an atmosphere rather than directly making someone go out and do something. In the end solutions have got to be about changing a whole culture and changing life chances.

Just time for a quick wash and change before it’s on to the 40th Anniversary Ball of the Highgate Society. I grab a dress I have never worn and shoes that are incredibly uncomfortable and off I go. The Highgate Society does and has done over many, many years, the most incredible job of working to improve and protect Highgate. It's a grafting organisation. Day in day out, year in year out, good people work for the betterment of the local and local people - from planning issues to ensuring the future of Highgate Village.

It is much undervalued I believe, for the work it does. Highgate gets scant attention and support from either Haringey or Camden councils who both seem to write it off as being somehow not part of their borough. Reverse snobbishness - which abandons a large swathe of people who have a variety of incomes from indeed the very rich to quite frankly the very poor.

The Ball is held in Highgate School's dining room on the side of one of the playing fields. It is so beautiful - the epitome of an English cricket green with the evening sun falling and sparkling. I dance once - with the new Chair of Highgate Society - and then just before midnight I decide enough is enough and walk home bear footed carrying my high heels in my hands and sink gratefully into bed.

Labels: crime, knife crime

After surgery I go to meet the Chair, Director and staff and associates of Haringey Race Equality Council. We start with the issues that are troubling them - mostly around funding, as these days it is hard to get core funding and whilst the local council has given them three-year core funding, the CRE (Commission for Racial Equality) now only funds projects and only for 12 months. This makes it very difficult to plan or to have continuity of project.

Looking at the wider context, there are clearly issues around the voluntary sector as there is now no forum in Haringey for them. This means that - apart from special bi-lateral arrangements - the different groups are all off in their own silos doing good things but with no overarching strategy and little communication.

The Haringey Strategic Partnership - which does bring a whole range of stakeholders and partners together - leaves many many groups untouched by the whole process according to the Haringey Race Equality Council. And there are further issues coming up about the new communities from Eastern Europe and how you bring them into what for the most part in Haringey is pretty good community cohesion. Interesting stuff.

Then I conducted a little instant research into some of the theories I have written into my forthcoming chapter in the Lib Dem book to be published just before our autumn conference, Britain after Blair. If the reaction I got was anything to go by - I have hit nail on head!

I've been reading with interest the discussion on Iain Dale's blog about my blog, and whether I should allow comments.

I thought that Tim (whoever you are!) put it quite well:

"Lynne's blog is set out as a 'diary', as the title explains. That suggests that she is simply listing the events of her week, and the thoughts she has had on it. I notice with her blog that most of her opinions are linked to what has
happened to her in the week."

But he did go on to say I should allow comments anyway!

Anyway - food for thought there (and in feedback from others), so I'm thinking about turning on comments. Frankly anything that may engage more with the public should be looked at by an MP - though perhaps I draw the line at Big Brother!

One concern obviously is that the comments descend into political Punch and Judy (though Punch and Judy are often funnier!). The comments on Boris Johnston's blog work quite well from what I've seen - but this seems to the exception.

Another thought is that there are plenty of other places where people can talk 'national' politics. What attracts me most about having comments is around engaging better with people in my constituency (Hornsey & Wood Green). Even if comments work well, this local discussion might get drowned out by wider political discussion from people across the country.

So - here's a one-off experiment. You can let me have your comments on whether you think I should allow comments, how they would work best, etc. here - where a sample of them (will) appear too.

Catching up on two more things from yesterday.

First, I went to give evidence at the Watson Road Planning Inquiry. I fight the good fight against these abominable flats. The worst thing about them for me is the size. Yes - they are just about legal - but quite frankly a bedroom that is 8' x 6' is the size of room may be ok for a baby or small child (or box room) but as the child becomes a teenager and has brothers and sisters - it is the local MP they come to in order to beg for more space because they are all on top of each other.

These are future ghettos of dissatisfaction created by lowest common denominator developers putting pressure on local infrastructure and all in the Mayor's name. (See my article about developers here).

Then burst into the Commons chamber just in time to squeeze in next to Nick Clegg, Lib Dem Shadow Home Secretary, who has used an arcane standing order - Standing Order 24 - to call for an emergency debate on extradition with the USA. Amazingly, the Speaker agrees - and with requisite 40 Lib Dems rising to our feet - we secure the emergency debate.

It is our appallingly negotiated extradition treaty with the USA that we wish to rescind. America can take our citizens for trial in the USA only having to show that the person they want is the person they say is the one. On the other hand - if we want to extract an American to our shores - we have to provide evidence that there is a case for them to answer. To add insult to injury - we ratified our side of the treaty and the USA did not. We are supine, as ever, and the USA does a better job of protecting its citizens than we do.

The Lords, also today, put down amendments to the Police Justice Bill to throw out the treaty - and they won (Lib Dems and Conservatives). So when it comes back to the Commons hopefully the Government will see the light.

All this of course has been pushed to the forefront by the Nat West Three who face extradition on Thursday.

Labels: nick clegg

Yesterday, I had an interview with a filmmaker called Carol who is making a film about Joyce Vincent - the woman found dead in a flat in Wood Green and who had been dead for three years. Found with the television on and Christmas presents wrapped, she was relatively young. Carol wants to make a film about the woman and society and how this can happen in today's world.

I run her though my take on all that has gone on - including my visit to the refuge where Joyce was housed at some point over a domestic violence issue. I met with the Housing Association. I talked to the police. I corresponded with the local authority Chief Exec. And I tried my hardest to get a meeting with Women's Aid - but to date they have not responded.

And my conclusions? Well - the Housing Association are putting in place a trigger mechanism so that any one of their around 500 tenants who live on their own will be flagged up if not seen for x amount of time. The Chief Exec of the local authority said that they were satisfied there was nothing in their remit that could have been done. The police revisited the decision they made when they originally went into the flat that it was not foul play. Having revisited the decision - they remained content with it.

I feel duty bound to pursue a couple of things a bit further for this woman whose life ended so sadly. Because whilst the media circus went away - there are still a couple of things that give me concern. The first is the statutory inspection that I believe is meant to be made annually on any such property. The other really results from my visit to the women's refuge that night. A young girl let me in and we talked for about three quarters of an hour. She had been there a year - and never knew or had heard of Joyce Vincent. She said that there wasn't much contact with the women's organisation - and that 'you could commit suicide here and no one would know'. She was due to leave a few days after my visit and I gave her my personal mobile number in case she needed to talk to me. I was concerned that my visit might worry her in some way. In the event, she called me a few days later to say that she had indeed moved into a flat in West Hampstead and the guys doing up the flat had robbed her and broken the lock on the door. In order to get a grant to mend the door lock, she needed a crime number and she was too frightened to contact the police. So I rang the local police commander and got the name of a special liaison officer and the number for her to call. She rang again a couple of days later to say in fact she had gone and stayed at her aunts for a couple of nights and her aunt paid for the door to be repaired.

The reason I wanted to meet with Women's Aid is really to ask about how it works for women when they are in a refuge and when they leave. I suspect many women don't want ongoing contact - but I wondered whether resources are so tight that after care is not offered. I just don't know. I am still hoping to get to see them at some point. I suspect their reluctance stems from trying to avoid the real media onslaught that surrounded the Joyce Vincent case and that they are acting to protect women in such situations. However, there are still some questions.

So - I dropped the filmmaker at the flats above Wood Green shopping city. There is such a fascination for us, I think, to imagine how you could die and no one know or care for three years. Perhaps Carol will find her story - but more likely not. People do have the right to say that they don't want to associate with the world, and if someone wants to cut themselves off - that is their right.

Tory blogger extraordinaire Iain Dale has dropped me a note to say that he's making this blog his blog of the week in tomorrow's (Wednesday's) Channel 4 News Morning Report podcast.

Oh ok Iain ... here's another link to your blog.

UPDATE: Here's a more direct link to the broadcast.

Labels: iain dale

So what to make of Boy Dave and hugging hoodies? I feel that Cameron is making a mockery of politics at the moment. How can people believe or trust their politicians when it is so cynical and so glaringly obvious that these gargantuan shifts in tone are about votes and not conviction?

So whilst Dave sets mood music to be conned by, I remember back to my first Question Time (one week after I was elected to Parliament last year) when Bluewater shopping centre was all over the news for wanting to ban hoodies. Asked my views, I said that any establishment is entitled to a dress code - but that having been said a hooded top was an article of clothing and in my view young people should be judged by their actions not what they wear. The Tory next to me was Boris! Now Boris agreed with me - and Boris is believable - Boy Dave isn't.

Hopefully his merry dance between cuddliness and rightwing views will end up with him losing both the Tory core vote and the centralist votes - who both will see this for what it is.

My Lib Dem colleagues on Haringey Council have demanded a set of emergency Area Assembly meetings to give residents the chance to discuss the new plans for CPZs and parking restrictions. There's little point having Area Assemblies if they aren't allowed to discuss big local issues like this. You can also let me have your views here.

Labels: controlled parking zones

Awake to Steve Richards interviewing Alex (Recess Monkey - Labour) and Iain Dale (blogging Conservative).

The traditional media has decided that blogs are the big news and it would seem that these days bloggers lead the field and the media follow our agenda. Of course Alex and Iain both write really great blogs and their audiences are huge.

They are more overtly political and somewhat different to the blog I keep. They are really political commentators, and whilst national politics certainly features in my blog I also try to use it to communicate with my constituents. Having a distinctive geographically based constituency makes a difference - though I don’t worry too much about this. I much prefer writing what I want to say – and not thinking too closely about what different people might want to read. If they like what I write – good; if not – sorry, I’m going to write my own stuff anyway!

Although the hits I get are pretty huge these days - particularly when there is something going on that people want to come and have a look at - I’m sure Iain certainly is in a different league.

They both also allow comments on their blogs. I have always been sceptical about the benefits of allowing comments on this blog as people can engage with me in many other ways (such as by email), and for the comments to really work you need to take part and engage with each item and its comments. There is no way for me to do that with my work schedule – much as I would love to.

And as I write my blog myself (otherwise there would be no point) and I want to keep it personal, I don't think comments are essential. Reading this blog gets you my direct, personal views. There are plenty of other places for political discussion, including some I occasionally take part in – such as Liberal Review who kicked off an interesting discussion around some thoughts of mine on knife crime.

I also notice that the Sunday Observer has a big article on blogging. I get a mention as having been a trail blazer for blogging politicians. Alex asked me if I would Chair an All-Party Group on this kind of stuff - but I just don't think I can take on more commitments at the moment as I tend to be cursedly diligent!

Labels: iain dale, steve richards

Went to a local Independent School Founders Day service - Channing. Going through the entrance which fronts Highgate Hill was a bit like Disney as you came out the other side into a secret world full of women and girls, with lovely landscaping and clean spaces between the school buildings. Channing has a new Head, Ms Elliott, who gave a very good speech/report at the end of her first year. What struck me was that at A-level they had the best results in the whole of the UK - because in the days when I was at school (and I went to South Hampstead on a scholarship some decades ago), Channing was for nice girls but was not in the real academic race. They seem to be well up there now in terms of academic effort - but still combine a sort of 'nice' girl approach.

Sitting listening to the choir sing songs took me back to my school days - as it was formal in a way that you rarely see now in schools. As if tradition can somehow ensure rectitude. Maybe it can. Half of top jobs were found by a recent report to go to those who have been to independent schools, despite them only forming 5% of the school population. No surprise there. There is still, in my view, often no comparison between private and state education and that is the scandal that goes on untrammelled - particularly in London. If you live near a good comprehensive - then you are lucky.

The Charities Bill wending its way through Parliament at the moment tinkers with the charitable status enjoyed by Independent Schools in so much as it commands such schools to demonstrate that they have and maintain a public interest strand. For most this seems to mean that they are willing to do a few joint projects with the state schools locally and/or rent out their facilities to the local community (at a price!).

My solution is more radical, and as I submitted it in my draft chapter for the next so-called Orange Book - which isn't an Orange Book - and is to be called Britain after Blair. However, the editors so far have rejected my solutions as being too interventionist. I will have a go at it again - but if not - I will publish it on my blog!

Anyway - Channing visited - I rush back to catch the end of the women's singles. It's a long time since I was tennis-mad - and used to ball boy at Queens just before Wimbledon. In fact, I did it three years running, to my mother's dismay, right through both my O and A levels. And because the players knew me - they gave me a free pass to Wimbledon and the Players Lounge for those years. So - I retain a fondness for the game - although I haven't put racket to ball for some years now.

Got an email from a very disgruntled constituent complaining about the Islam Expo being allowed on 'our' patch (at Alexandra Palace) and opening roughly at the same time as anniversary of the 7/7 bombings. I answered saying the timing could be viewed that way - but in reality that the Muslims had born the brunt of the reactions to 7/7. And indeed the Islam Expo is reaching out across communities and extending understanding in my view. That is to be welcomed.

Our foreign policy, waging an illegal war, has caused some Muslims to become radicalised and a few to commit these hideous and unjustifiable acts. Tony Blair says Muslims have to do more. My own view is that we all have to do more. The only concern I would personally voice through my own experience is that I have encountered one Muslim man in a leadership position, who when speaking to me or publicly condemns suicide bombings but who amongst certain other groupings espouses tacit approval. That is not acceptable and I think is about individuals power bases.

[UPDATE: have found out more about this person's views, and it looks like I was mistaken - so I won't be pursuing this further.]

Anyway - to my point - there was an interesting - and largely positive - poll in The Sun (!) about Muslims, extremism and terrorism. It's an internet poll - so we need to be aware of that and polling the Muslim community accurately can be very difficult in terms of who a poll reaches and what selectivity that binds into the results. So we shouldn't get too het up about the details, but overall picture is, as I say, interesting.

Further details are on Anthony Wells's excellent site, but here's what I make of them.

Yes, a small minority of Muslims think our actions in Afghanistan and Iraq justify attacks on British civilians. But it's only slightly more (10% rather than 7%) than the figure in the non-Muslim population. In other words - there isn't a great swathe of the Muslim population that believes in attacks on civilians. As for the deeply wrong minority who do - well, they are nearly as frequently found amongst non-Muslims as amongst Muslims. In fact, as the non-Muslim population is much larger, the majority of people who think such attacks are right are non-Muslims.

Also, a majority of non-Muslims here think problems with Muslim extremism have got worse in the last year. But amongst Muslims themselves - who are of course much closer to what is actually happening in their own communities - the figures are much lower at just under a quarter. And a fifth of Muslims meanwhile think problems with extremism have actually decreased in the past year.

One final straw in the wind: 9% of Muslims think it would be best if they didn't integrate with the rest of society, but 16% of non-Muslims think it's best if Muslims don't integrate. Food for thought there!

In fact listening to radio phone-ins this week was equally struck by number of non-Muslims phoning in to say they didn't want more integration and by a very good call from a woman who reminded us that when Brits go and live abroad, they often open an English pub, wear English clothes, speak English and set up a little England enclave!

Labels: iraq, tony blair

Last night I got a phone call around 6pm to say that Channel 4 are screening the program - 30 Minutes on Sir Ian Blair - that I was interviewed for. Being the day of the bombings I felt a pang of anxiety. I am not a Sir Ian fan - albeit he is not all bad. However, the interview had lasted at least an hour if not more and I had been pretty robust about Ian's ups and downs in his first year of office. But the interview was some time ago - and they certainly hadn't mentioned screening it on the first anniversary of 7/7 - which for obvious reasons is an ultra-sensitive moment. So, as ever, I was trying desperately to remember what I had actually said - and wondered what amongst it all the media would chose to use (normally it feels like only a nano-second actually makes it on to the screen).

In the event, they didn't use the bit on Soham, or on his media gaffs, nor my view that he has politicised the police unforgivably. They didn't use my questioning of his wisdom in partaking in Question Time nor his inappropriate and inaccurate public statements on the shooting at Stockwell. They actually used quite a positive bit (in fact the only positive bit) in which I call him a 'progressive' and say that his real problem is that the good stuff he has delivered like rolling out Safer Neighbourhoods is negated by his mistakes because they have been big and public.

It's a tragedy really, as Ian I think desperately wanted to be the best and most respected Commissioner ever - and it all went so horribly wrong. We will see what the two IPCC investigations say in their reports. If he is found 'guilty' there is no way forward for him; if he escapes - then he had better learn from what has been a pretty disastrous first year.

Labels: ian blair

Latest newspaper column out today - I don't think it will make many developers love me!

Labels: planning issues

In the afternoon I have my first meeting with George Meehan since his reincarnation as Leader of the Council. We have an agreed agenda - and quite quickly get into a real abuse of power that is going on in Haringey. There are three areas where Haringey Council is moving ahead on absolutely vital local issues - and not even consulting with the local councillors at all. I know Labour are angry and scared about their losses at the local elections - but the Lib Dems are democratically elected and it is not only not appropriate to leave them out of things happening in their wards - but it is also unethical.

I put the CPZ travesty directly to George. There are four CPZ areas in the borough up for review to add streets (Wood Green, Bounds Green, Seven Sisters and Highgate) which George has suspended and delayed because the local councillors had not been consulted with.

But there is another bunch of CPZ proposals in the west of the borough, (Fortis Green, Muswell Hill, Hornsey etc) where there are new proposals for great huge new CPZs where the local councillors (Lib Dem) have not been consulted - but hey ho - they have gone out and are going ahead anyway! I asked him to suspend ALL the schemes pending both consultation with the relevant local councillors and also in the light of the imminent new guidance coming down from government about CPZs and the processes around them.

George said that this was not right, that it shouldn't have happened and that from now on it wouldn't. I pointed out that 'from now on' was meaningless as such great swathes of the west would be progressed anyway under these proposals. George has agreed to discuss suspending the schemes with Brian Haley - Labour Executive member for Environmental issues. We’ll see what happens!

We discussed a number of other issues, including the planning enquiry on the Lordship Lane twin towers proposals. It banished the tower block but has allowed the eight-storey block to go ahead. Not a victory in my view. Also on planning – there’s the concrete factory. George says the council committed to the enforcing of the forty-three conditions that the Planning Inspector put on his granting of the appeal by London Concrete.

I also ask him about the council permits for parking that were issued to residents in a new block that had got planning permission on the basis of being 'car free'. This is a great worry for local residents as parking stress is severe in their area.

George says that "only2 seven permits were granted - and when they run out they will not be re-issued. I point out that it is told to me that the developers advertised the flats as being with permits. George says if that is so it is illegal. So if anyone has hard evidence, please let me know.

We then discuss Fortismere School. Haringey Council is sending out a letter to all parents to lay out some of the facts. I am glad as I have been calling for the facts to be given straight so that the parents can make an informed choice and then, hopefully if they answer my call, vote in a parental ballot!

On to Hornsey Town Hall - an exhibition goes up today in the Town Hall and in September the development plan from the Community Partnership Board will go to the Labour executive.

Labels: controlled parking zones, george meehan

Memories of the bombings flood in from every news station and newspaper. I am taken back to a year ago where I remember so clearly my journey into Westminster. It was the first time I took the car up to Parliament - because I had to take a load of stuff in. The radio began to give news of 'power surges' at stations. But I knew after a few minutes that there was a likely terrorist attack in process. And as I drove past Kentish Town station people were being evacuated - and as the news of the bus bomb came over the airwaves I saw buses begin to be emptied of their passengers as the drivers obviously received messages to evacuate the buses. In Parliament there were huddles of MPs and staff around TV screens - and towards lunchtime Charles Clarke came to the chamber to make a statement on the attacks. There was a very, very sombre air that day. And I remember coming out in the late afternoon to go home - giving a lift to two others. Emerging into bright sunshine from the cold and grey of the Commons atmosphere - with thousands and thousands of people walking to get home.

A year on London has proved how strong she is and how our communities - all of us - have held hands to make sure that terrorism didn't triumph. Truly it is together we stand and divided we fall. And the evil that the extremist Islamic terrorists visited upon us will be vanquished if we stay strong.

I go to surgery in Wood Green and then to pay tribute to those who died, their families and the injured and to the work of the emergency services at a short ceremony in Wood Green opposite the Civic Centre. It is a hard day emotionally - lord knows what it must be like for those more closely involved.

Labels: charles clarke

Straight on after the postal services meeting to the anti-CPZ (Controlled Parking Zone) meeting organised in Muswell Hill against the 'Stop and Shop' proposals and the proposed CPZs in Muswell Hill - but also in a number of other areas in the West of the borough.

The local Liberal Democrat councillors were not even consulted about these proposals in their wards prior to the consultation being sent out. Labour are behaving incredibly