Lynne's Parliament and Haringey diary

Surgery all morning and the rain seems like it will never stop. But hurrah! Off to France for a week tomorrow!

Off to Hackney for the first anniversary of the Telgraf newspaper - the only paper which has Kurdish and Turkish languages.

My own grandparents only spoke Russian. They never learned English. And there were no newspapers in Russian to tell them what was happening back home or to engage them in the Britain they had come to. As with that many of that generation - England and life was really accessed only through the children - of which they had seven.

Nowadays - we understand clearly that integration and access are vital so that all our communities live happily ever after. It's a fantastic thing really - how we can have our culture of origin and the culture around us - and straddle the two with no probs as the generations move forward. This type of communication really helps.

So well done to Telgraf. Well done to Barclays who sponsored it and are making particular efforts to engage with the Kurdish and Turkish communities.

Bottom left in the picture is Ibrahim Dogus. He is a most fantastic advocate for the community in London and surely much of the reason for so many of the events like this - to which he is astute enough to invite oodles of politicians!

Received a late evening yesterday from Cllr Lyn Weber (Crouch End) about the residents of Claremont and Stanhope roads in the Highgate / Crouch End area who are now in a completely desperate situation re parking. What has happened is that with the advent of the Highgate Station CPZ, the Hillside CPZ (on the Islington side of the borough boundary) etc - this little enclave of roads finds itself much sought after. The still free parking there is now used by some people in the streets with a CPZ so that they don't have to pay, seemingly all the motor repair shops who want to park the cars they are working on somewhere (and they arrive four at a time on vehicle transporters), and all the other people who want to park for the station or wherever - and these streets are the last, nearest ones left available.

The consequence is that residents cannot get to park anywhere near their houses - if they can find space at all - and now want a CPZ themselves, not surprisingly.

I have written to Haringey Council about this anyway - and am waiting for a response. But Cllr Weber has met briefly with Brian Haley and been told that there is no funding before 2008/09. It really can't wait. And given that these schemes bring in a revenue streams for the council you would not think it beyond their wit to borrow from the 08/09 fund to bring the implementation of a CPZ forward - and then pay back out of the early proceeds?

So - Lyn had organised to meet a few of the local residents to look at the situation and decide a way forward. Even though it is mid-August and many people are away - still the parking stress was clear. And several young mothers came with their children to emphasize the fact that if you have young children, buggies, shopping etc - parking a ten minute walk from your front door is a nightmare. Another women was telling me that she was often having to park such a distance a way that she had to walk alone down a street where she was actually scared to do so alone at night.

Cllr Lyn Weber will be organising a meeting with Brian Haley as soon as possible. He had suggested October - but we want that meeting now!

Labels: controlled parking zones, lyn weber

Such an amazing and moving thanksgiving service for Tim Garden. The service - in Hampstead Parish Church - echoed the stature of the man. Having posted previously - suffice to say that his wife Sue gave the most wonderful tribute speech about Tim and their life together. She spoke of how, when they married, as he was only 21 he had to get his commanding officer's permission to marry. He received a four page letter describing to him the folly of early marriage and the taking of a wife being 'saddled with a mill stone around your neck'. Sue said he had coped magnificently with his 'millstone'!

It was a lovely tribute - and what came over clearly from the service and all who spoke was what a loving family man Tim was as well as the respected professional in the other worlds he peopled.

Tremendously sad occasion.

Once more the long fought for, hard won - but still inadequate - 603 Muswell Hill to Swiss Cottage bus route is in the frame! Having met with Peter Hendy, Commissioner of Transport a couple of weeks ago - and harangued him over having more operating hours for the 603 (as I always do) - post meeting it transpired that a review is in train (or in bus to be more accurate).

So I have written to Peter Hendy as below - and would encourage everyone who agrees that the 603 should firstly be retained, and secondly have its hours of operations expanded to either write to me at House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA or email me at featherstonel@parliament.uk and I will pass on all responses to Peter Hendy.

They consult with stakeholders (local authority etc) but if you ask me - it's the people who use or need this route who are the real stakeholders - so make sure you have your say too!


Dear Peter

At our recent meeting when I raised the issue extending the hours of operation of the 603 (as I always do!) you said that the route would be coming up for review and that you would let me know more about it. So I thank you for following up on that discussion – but – the information subsequently passed to me by your office alarmed me.

Far from ‘coming up for review’ it would seem that the 603 is actually under review at the moment. The message I received says that views of stakeholders have been sought already.

Views of stakeholders like the Local Authority and other organizations (which I assume are the sort of stakeholders referred to) are undoubtedly important – but surely in this case – where the route is a response to local peoples’ need (only met to a small extent by a school hours bus) – Transport for London would want to know from those local people what demand is there for both the existing hours and extensions to those hours.

I would like your assurance that no decisions will be taken before I have had the chance to inform my constituents of the review – and given them the opportunity to feed in their views. And I would like an assurance from you that you will take their views on board.

As you know, I believe that this service is highly valuable and personally believe it should be extended through the day and evening.

I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Lynne Featherstone MP
Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Hornsey and Wood Green

Labels: 603 bus, peter hendy, tfl

Do you remember what the news was like during the 1980s? (And I'm envious if you just say you're too young to know!). Back then, economic figures - the monthly inflation figures, the latest unemployment rate, the new balance of payment figures and others - all featured regularly as major stories in the main news bulletins.

For a long time now they tend to feature only occasionally in the news - but the recent turbulence in the world's financial markets have seen financial and economic news back in the headlines repeatedly.

I'm not a financial commentator - so I'm not going to try to predict where the financial markets will go next - but there are two issues around the political impact I'll mention.

First - the big drops in pension fund values will heighten many people's sense of insecurity about the future. Even if they recover, there will be an extra level of worry that it might happen again, or happen worse. If you're caught out retiring when pension fund values are on a down, it's not much consolation to know that people who retire in future years will probably end up benefiting from long term growth in values. It's your pension, here and now, that matters most.

And for the many people who don't have adequate pension schemes - the choppy news is, I think, likely to be put some people off thinking about saving or saving more for a pension - which is bad news too.

Helping to give people a sense of security and control about their financial future may creep up the political agenda again. I don't think it's just about pensions - it's also about simplifying things like the horrendous complicated tax credit and benefit systems, so people can feel they have an understanding of what is happening, and a sense of control over their financial fate. It will also make it more important for parties to feature the economy in their pitches to the public (a subject I've written about recently for Liberator magazine).

Second - if we're facing a period of financial instability, that makes calling a general election a bit riskier. You are the PM. You are ahead in the polls. You call and election - and then what happens if there is a lurch downwards or a new crisis during the middle of a campaign?

So perhaps the events of the last few days make an October election a bit less likely. But best to be prepared - so I'm still making sure we'll be ready in my constituency, even if that preparation is now slightly less likely to be needed. Much better to be over-prepared than to be caught out by surprise!

The Liberal Democrats' "Blog of the Year" competition is back for its second (welcome!) year - and I'm one of the judges again - which also means I am ruled out of the running for the prize - again!

Last year the much deserving winner was Stephen Tall - but as he's a judge too this year, it means someone new has to win! So get your nominations in - details are on the party website. You have until 31st August to get nominations in.

As for why blogging is a good idea for politicians - the speech I gave at last year's award about why I blog seems to still hold pretty true.

Labels: stephen tall

The mobile phone firm Hutchison 3G has brought good news to the residents of Mount View Road. Although they finally won planning permission for their controversial plans for a new phone mast - the firm has now said it isn't (currently) intending to actually build phone mast.

Labels: mobile phone masts

Receive the details of the funeral and commemorative services for Lord Tim Garden who died last week. I am really upset over his tragically early death. I am sure members of all parties understand how deeply it affects all of us in a Party when such a loved and respected member dies.

Tim came to my 'adoption meeting' at the start of the 2005 General Election campaign. He spoke, as always, with such intelligence and force of reason, informed by his successful military career. He was always such a great support to me personally - and I am sure his presence was a large part of why this really was a 'packed meeting'.

Having ascended to the Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet, as part of our International Affairs Team, he and I were both at our weekly meetings and Tim's was always a clear, liberal and persuasive voice - even when Tim's view meant that I had to rethink my position on one issue or another.

He was just one of the most impressive and wonderful Lib Dems there is - and we are truly bereft by his loss. Sue, his wife, is also a major force for good in the party - and I am sure she and the family are inundated with condolences from all of us - as he was much loved.

When I've talked before about corruption and the international arms trade - with the allegations around the Al Yamamah deal with Saudi Arabia particularly in mind - it's not been uncommon to get feedback about these sorts of crimes being - well - ok really, because everyone is at it, aren't they?

Well - that's not my view! So I've done a piece, published earlier today on Liberal Democrat Voice which addresses the issue head on:

Imagine you’ve been burgled and (by a small miracle!) someone is up in court, charged with the burglary. How impressed would you be if the accused said, “OK, I did do it - but you have to understand. I’m a poor student at the local university and all the French and US students there steal things too, so it wouldn’t be fair if I was left out and had to make do without the proceeds of crime too?” Not very I think! But that’s pretty much the excuse so often rolled out to brush away corruption around international arms deals - everyone else gives out bribes you know, and it would be so unfair and unforgivable if we didn’t too.

You can read the rest of my case over on Liberal Democrat Voice.

Labels: al yamamah

Yesterday - was phoned by journalists for comments on the poor 17 month old boy who died in a north London hospital having being horrifically wounded. It looks as if Haringey may be in the frame as the child was thought to be on the 'at risk' register and the police have arrested his mother and her boyfriend.

Of course, the first thing I (and everyone else) always think of when this sort of news hits the streets is Victoria Climbie. Having been a councillor at the time - and seen the catalogue of mistakes made by a number of agencies (not just Haringey Council) - I can't help wondering whether this case is in any way a result of lessons not being learned. I was always horrified that no officer and no politician resigned or was sacked over Victoria - only the end of the chain social worker paid any price for that tragedy.

However, no information hard information as yet - so need to wait and see before forming any views or conclusions.

I should have really mentioned in my earlier post about Waterstone's plans to close their Wood Green branch the blog posting that seems to have started off the campaign - so here is the link now to the Me and My Big Mouth blog.

Labels: wood green bookshop

Water is all around us. We drink it – although most of us should probably drink more of it – I know I need to. We shower in it - at least I hope we all do. We swim in it – that is, if you are one of the lucky ones considering the British summer. We are even made up of water ourselves. And it's a deadly serious area of international development policy.

Labour is dead keen on only helping to fix the water supply crisis in many developing countries by using public-private partnership type setups. Yet we know from our own public services just how controversial, expensive and ineffecient they can be.

So what should we be doing? Well you'll have to read me latest article - this time for Liberal Democrat News to find out!

At the moment the papers are full of "silly season" stories (and blogs seem to be full of stories about how the media are full of silly season stories - we just need the TV to start covering how the blogs are covering ... !), but just because J Prescott and G Brown go off on their summer holidays, it doesn't mean the world stops turning.

So here are five serious (but I hope interesting!) stories that have just caught my eye in between the piece of Lego retrieved from the sea / remember to shake the sand out of your shoes before leaving the beach / etc stories:

a. Good news from the Amazon: the rate of deforestation has fallen by a quarter. Good news for our environment and for us all - which ever country we live in.

b. Sierra Leone has had pretty successful and free elections - and credit where credit's due, this was one country where Labour's much vaunted "ethical foreign policy" did seem to amount to something, with effective intervention to stop horrendous violence.

c. Big floods in China, affecting over 1.2 million people. Many stories of individual tragedy - and as with the Brazil story - possibly an interesting impact on us here in the UK too, because - will we see a run of major floods which the Chinese put down to climate change, and so hastens their own action on the global environment?

d. There looks to be a power struggle going on in Iran with the ministers for oil and mines and industry being sacked. With its nuclear potential, oil supplies and influence over Iraq and other countries the fallout could be a big story. Or it might be just a minor shuffling of names. Time will tell us...

e. Fears of the spread of bird flu may have subsided here recently, but it has just accounted for its first human victim on the island of Bali.

In fact - looking at that list again, I'm not sure that the news isn't more interesting when the silly season arrives!

Labels: john prescott

Stomped around two parades of shops today in Alexandra ward (which runs east from the Fortis Green area through to the western edges of Wood Green).

Outside of parking - there was quite a tirade about the bureaucracy created for small businesses by our now Prime Minister G. Brown.

One chap said he hated him for what he had done. Using the example of his brother-in-law on £25k as a cab driver with a wife earning £5k as a school's dinner lady - he went through the number of people now involved in the process of their tax return and claims (child tax credit etc). His argument was that there were now five people employed in one or other capacity by the Government to deal with the process. Before G. Brown - just one was required. Good point I thought!

Labels: gordon brown

Only time for a quick posting on this issue, but as a lot of people have been getting in touch with me about Waterstone's plans to shut their branch in Wood Green I just wanted to highlight both the online petition (being submitted on Friday so sign soon if you haven't yet!) and what my colleague, Cllr Catherine Harris, has been saying on the issue.

I thought I'd follow up my previous blog posting about the call from some teachers for YouTube to be closed with an online poll!

The wording is from the motion that was passed at the recent teaching union conference, though any wording doesn't quite capture the nuances of all possible views - so please do also use the comments if you want to add a "but..." to your yes/no vote.



(If the voting buttons don't appear it means you - or someone else using your computer! - has already voted).

Labels: youtube

I'd normally expect late July and August to be a bit quieter on my website and blog, with more people on holiday and less politics in the news equalling fewer visitors. But - good news - traffic has been going up and up in the last couple of weeks - which has prompted me to look at what people have been looking at.

So from my web statistics here are the top ten blog postings of mine from the last three months in, drum roll please, reverse order (no peaking straight to the bottom of the list!):

10. Two entries tied for tenth - one on the same topic as number seven (see below), and the other was Which way for Islam? - based on my column for Asian Voice.

9. Parkland Walk - big local issue over its future and whether - amongst various suggestions - it should get concreted over to make for a fast cycle track.

8. Writing to a random peer - part of the campaign to stop Labour and Tory attempts to exempt MPs from the freedom of information rules. We won!

7. Pirate radio station update - the appearance of police adverts on an illegal radio station generated a flurry of interest (though there's lots more to the story overall than just what's in this post - e.g. the bigger issue around illegal radio stations and their impact on other stations). Another posting on this topic also came in at joint tenth.

6. Hearing the Highgate Choral Society - most surprising entry in the top ten list - guess that lots of members of the society may have come to read what I thought of them!

5. Should YouTube be closed? - is this a solution to bullying? Bit surprised that such a recent posting should appear so high in the list, but it's picked up quite a lot of traffic from other sites by the looks of it.

4. Don't vote for me! - no, I'm not running for London Mayor! (I see that Brian Paddick has overtaken me in the online poll since that posting though!).

3. London selection results - who is going to be standing for the Liberal Democrats at the next London Assembly elections? And what to make of the choices?

2. Highbury and Islington station is now on the Northern Line - what's up with the signs at Finsbury Park? But it all ended happily with corrections made. Thank you Tfl!

1. Fortismere School update - perhaps not a surprise that an issue of such importance and passion as the future of a local school brings in the most traffic.

All in all, what do I think of the choices made by you, dear readers? It's quite an interesting mix - some very local stories (which must mean lots of constituents reading this blog) along with wider political stories, and some not very political bits at all. So - quite a good balance I think!

You can now pontificate at length about what this all means for politics, blogging, liberal democracy and the price of fish!

Labels: most popular blog postings, youtube

That's the question I'm asking Sir Ian Blair.

Labels: crime, ian blair

That's the title of my latest newspaper column - and I think you can guess the answer! As I wrote:

The media obsess about the long ‘holidays’ that MPs have – but of course – recess doesn’t equal holiday. I don’t know about all MPs – but certainly all the ones I asked had pretty intense programs.

So - what do MPs actually get up to in the summer then? You'll have to read my piece to find out!

There's a good piece in today's Times about whether or not YouTube should be closed.

Labels: youtube

I've always been slightly scetical of (now) Democrat Presidental candidate Barack Obama since his speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention. It was delivered brilliantly - and there's no doubt his style and content wowed many, many people - but to me - a non-American - there was something very insular, even insulting, in his claim that - after recounting how he came from a poor immigrant family that came together from across the world - "that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible". Nonesense - there are examples fo similar moving, amazing stories from many, many other countries.

So it did worry me a bit how - if he ended up US President - he would really look at the rest of the world. Now I'm worried even more - because he's arguing the case for unilateral military action - in this case saying the possibility of bombing Pakistan without any discussion with Pakistan, the UN or anyone else would be ok.

Sounds like he's getting very close to a Geroge W Bush Mark 2 foreign policy!

I’ve been following the media coverage about the call from the Professional Association of Teachers for sites like YouTube to be closed – because they say they encourage bullying and harassment of teachers.

Both of these are extremely serious issues – but the idea that closing YouTube is the answer causes me two concerns: (a) is it really a solution? and (b) is a complete closing of YouTube an over-the-top reaction (even to horrific individual cases)?

The risk with media coverage of course often is that the details aren’t got quite right – so I went to see what the teachers themselves had said. I have to say – in all honesty – their arguments didn’t persuade me.

The Observer had a good round up story last weekend - but in it one teacher complained that they couldn’t complain against an inappropriate film because they weren’t a member of YouTube. Well – it’s only a matter of a few minutes to become a member and you don’t need to pay anything. Wouldn’t it be better if teachers were members of YouTube and made proper use of its channels for reporting things rather than say, “I’m not a member, so I can’t do anything proper, so the whole site must be closed”? I know this might sound very critical – but if you’re going to ask for the closure of one of the biggest websites (and one that is used for all sorts of funny, entertaining, educational and wonderful purposes – along with all the dodgy stuff) I think you need to really work at using the alternative avenues first.

The union’s website also has the full text of some speeches made in the debate. There were some horrible examples given of abuse – and my heart goes out to those on the receiving end of it – but again there wasn’t any real case made that closing YouTube would really solve the problem or is an appropriate solution. No real case as to how YouTube was failing in its current policies or how they could be improved for the future. And no real case that the existence of YouTube was making the problem worse.

So – if you’re a teacher and agree with what the union said, you’d better get in touch to persuade me to change my mind!

UPDATE: I've got an online poll here.

Labels: youtube

Well - it looks from this morning's papers (Mail and Times) that Brian Paddick is a serious runner to be our (Lib Dem) Mayor candidate. Good thing I've said nice things about him on this blog!

Labels: brian paddick

One of the issues I'm pondering over the summer is what to make of Prime Minister's Question Time. To me - yes, it's great theatre and even fun at time but - it's utterly crap as a way of holding the Prime Minister or Government to account - and I doubt the baying mob moment where everyone (except polite Lib Dems of course!) is cheering or booing does much for the reputation of politics.

After all - what would you think of someone who behaved in a work meeting the way the boorish heckling backbenchers do at PMQs? So - you may have guessed I'm not impressed!

Still though I'd be interested to hear other people's views - what do you make of PMQs? Is it any good? Does it damage politics etc? Let me know what you think!

(Update: my fellow MP John Hemming has expressed his views on PMQs over at his blog).

Labels: pmqs

Congratulations to Channel 4 for - as far as I can see - carrying out a serious investigation into allegations of misdeeds and rips offs amongst its various phone-in contests - and deciding to pretty much scrap the lot as a result. And where they're not being scrapped (how could Big Brother be Big Brother without the voting!) making them only cost-neutral or revenues to charity.

This follows the BBC suspending a whole range of items too. But where does this leave ICSTIS - the regulator who is meant to be keeping things under control and stopping us, the viewer and phone voter, being ripped off?

If ICSTIS was really on top of its job neither the BBC nor Channel 4 would have to be doing this large-scale cull. ICSTIS keeps on dolling out relatively small scale fines - sometimes to the very same firm time and time again. (Just look at the list of rulings against Opera Telecom - the firm at the centre of the GMTV scandal.) That's clearly not working. When you keep on fining the same firm time and time again, isn't about time you should do something different?

ICSTIS is far too reluctant to levy seriously heavy fines or to stop people who have been caught breaking the rules from continuing to provide the same services. It's all been a matter of very, very slow catch up by them. Let's hope they finally pull up their socks and the are rather more effective in future! Their latest annual report boasts (belatedly, hurrah!) about them starting to take more serious action. But if they are honest they'll look around at the shambolic wreckage around them and admit they have failed.

Labels: icstis, opera telecom

Time to break the habit of a lifetime and see my name on a ballot paper - and not put a vote next to it!

I'm talking about the poll over at Liberal Democrat Voice on who should be the next Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor. Thanks all those who've put me (as I type) at the top of the poll, but sorry to tell you - I've no interest in putting my name forward for the selection when it kicks off again latter this year.

As for the other names that are listed - Brian Paddick is the one I'd pick. He impressed me when I was serving on the GLA and the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) - and as I wrote in another blog post at the time:

When I think of my time seeing the Met up close when I served on the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) for five year - Brian is the one officer I met who I believe really understands and gives weight to some of the problems that are contentious.

Labels: brian paddick, mpa

No shops today. Up to Parliament instead for a number of things amongst which is the inaugural meeting of my International Development Advisory Group.

This is an erudite, professional group of people to whom I can put issues or ideas on and who will advise me (by internet mostly). I am putting together a Spokesperson's Paper and I have managed to win my bid for a Spokesperson's Speech at our Autumn conference. I already have put together a group in Parliament of my Lib Dem colleagues who are involved in international development - but that is more about Parliamentary business than developing cutting edge stuff to deal with the sort of challenges I've spoken about before.

Anyway - it was a jolly interesting discussion and fascinating to listen to the experts and their - let us say - range of views. A very good start!