Lynne's Parliament and Haringey diary

Thursday saw a topical debate on policing in London in Parliament. I took the opportunity to raise with the Minister about the need to station Safer Neighbourhood teams in their own ward - i.e. Highgate!

Of wider note was the brief appearance of the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London - Boris Johnson. Mr Johnson has famously only mentioned London once in his entire lifetime at Parliament prior to his current and somewhat sudden interest in being our Mayor.

So - a debate on what the very heart of Londoners are concerned about - you would have thought he would be there paying rapt attention. None of it. After his 'contribution' he left!

Labels: boris johnson, crime

Well, well - Home Secretary Jacqui Smith seems to have made a right mess of talking about the dangers of walking out at night.

This was in fact the topic of second newspaper column I ever wrote. It was for the Ham & High, back in 2000 and started with a personal anecdote:

A man followed me home from the tube last Wednesday night. It was about 11.30pm. He had been in my carriage from Warren Street, got off at Highgate, was behind me on the first escalator, behind me on the second escalator up to Archway Road - and as I headed up the hill, I was conscious that so did he.

The few people who had started in the same direction, faded away within the first 100 metres - so it was just he and I. I crossed the road - at a point where the pavement narrowed so it would look like the natural thing to do. So did he. When I came to the turn I needed to take - so did he - albeit once again on the opposite side. I was ready for flight - was looking for which houses had lights on, which doors were near. Suddenly he ran across the road towards me and then, with a spurt of speed, arrived on the pavement ahead of me and accelerated away.

Once he was ahead of me and I had him properly in my sights, I felt OK. And then, of course, he crossed the road and went up a drive, got his keys out of his pocket, opened his front door and went home to hearth and family. He had obviously run to get ahead of me to stop me thinking he was following me. Men and women reading this will probably recognise this situation - a woman thinking she's being followed and a man knowing that she's thinking he is following her. That's the situation we have arrived at because we feel unsafe, going home late at night - whether we are or not. (Continued here)

That night, things ended safely for me - as they have indeed on numerous journeys around London, often late at night returning from meetings and events in previously unfamiliar locations.

Yet there are many victims of crime - and even more who have their lives limited and curtailed by their fears of crime (sometimes well founded, sometimes not - but in both cases the fear of crime feels just as real, is just as unpleasant and can have just as limiting an effect on people's lives). So the question of crime - both actual and fear of - is one I'm happy to debate and discuss - and was/is a major campaigning point of mine both on the London Assembly and then in Parliament.

Jacqui Smith though has got the issue all wrong. Not once, but twice she's sounded as if she doesn't understand at all how the rest of us live - saying that no real people are ever out walking in Hackney after midnight (hello? have you looked?) and then that she never walks somewhere she doesn't already know (hello again? I can't imagine living my life never walking somewhere that I don't already know - how do you manage to only walk somewhere you've already driven, cycled etc through?).

One slip of the tongue - fair enough, we all can mangle a word, leave out a word or fluff a line. But to do it twice and at some length - sorry Jacqui, you've really messed up. And you'd be better off admitting that, rather than have the rather bizarre attempt to rescue matters by having your spokesperson ring the media talking about your late-night kebab-buying habits.

Labels: crime, jacqui smith

I've written before about Labour's plans to axe the Parks Police here in Haringey. Well - the latest figures for crime in our parks show exactly why they should be kept!

Also in sobering local news this week was the estimate that up to 50 people will die of fuel poverty this winter in Hornsey and Wood Green - another good reminder, if one were needed, of the need to publicise the Warm Front Scheme to people who could benefit from it. In the scheme's own words:

If you need help paying for heating and insulation improvements in your privately owned or rented home, you, your partner or civil partner may be able to get money from the government's Warm Front grants scheme if, for example, you're receiving income or disability-related benefits.

On a happier note, this week I visited Royal Mail staff in Hornsey to thank them for their efforts with the Christmas post, whilst in international news - the news about new funding for the World Bank reinforces the point that changes in policy are needed too.

Labels: crime, international development

I've written before about the dangers in the government's rather cavalier attitude to innocent people's DNA records - and today's news from the Telegraph is a salutary warning that these are not just theoretical problems:

Thousands of people could be accused of a crime they did not commit as a result of errors in records on the national DNA database, it emerged last night.

In the past year, more than 100 possible inaccuracies in the documentation of DNA profiles have been discovered, and a further 1,500 administrative mistakes have been logged on the system.

The full article is over on their website.

Labels: crime, dna

It beggars belief! Labour Haringey are planning to scrap the Haringey parks Police next year. That's going to make people feel safer using our parks - not!

In order to save £200,000 the new plans from Labour propose to reduce the scheme to using wardens - who won't have the power of arrest. Local Haringey Lib Dems and I have launched a campaign to stop Labour from disbanding the Parks Constabulary. For the last five years they have looked after us in the parks, petrolled, watched over evens and provided a police presence - which we need if we are to feel less vulnerable and make good use of our parks.

The Parks Police play a critical role in keeping local residents safe. Sadly all too often our parks have been the scene for anti-social behaviour - and the Park Constabulary, with powers of arrest, are the key to making the parks a venue for everyone.

Who is going to be on hand to take direct action when someone is tearing through a park on a motorbike in the summer or to check that our parks aren't being used for drug taking and prostitution in winter?

We are proposing our own way forward including proper radio, CCTV links with police, training and more cover. We have been calling for greater integration of our local police and the park team, but Labour now seem to be working away from this. It is park users who will suffer and who are going to be unnecessarily put at greater risk.

Labels: crime

One of the main thrusts of my attack on the Government in my keynote speech at Brighton Conference was on corruption and how it provides support for extremists, comfort for terrorists and sucks away the money from the most needy in development terms.

Needless to say, I raised the spectre of BAE and the dropping of the investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. The whole business stinks - and I am proud that the Lib Dems have led on exposing Labour and Tory hypocrisy on this.

But today in the papers I see that the Labour government are now moving to block cooperation with the US enquiry into BAE. It's come to a pretty poor pass when the US is prepared to investigate and prosecute on bribery and corruption - and our Labour government is ducking and diving. Shame on Gordon Brown.

Labels: crime

Hawthorn Road Street Party was wonderfully organised and a real get together for neighbours who don't always know each other. Did you know that the crime rate falls directly in correlation to how many people know each other within a fifteen minute walk to their house? The better the sense of community in an area – the better people behave and the safer it is. That's why I am recommending in my chapter in the new book on Social Liberalism - Reinventing the State that more is done to encourage the spread of more streets parties around the country. They are a great way of people starting to know each other in an area – something that is often so difficult for people to do – even if they are willing – and especially if they don’t have kids.

I met the guy who was the manager of the Waterstone’s that closed in Wood Green Shame that the Waterstone’s managers who made the decision never seem to have come to the store or asked the manager about his ideas on how to make it more profitable - because talking to him yesterday - he had lots. Anyway - he is now going on to try and get funding to set up his own bookshop. Wood Green needs a good bookshop more than another clothes store. So - as he put it - if you have got £100,000 you want to invest - get in touch!

I am pictured with a brave firefighter and fire engine - a must have at all street parties for the kids who absolutely love hooting and honking (very loudly)!

Labels: crime

So a high profile judge has come out and said that the whole country should be on the DNA database (and visitors to our country). Well - it's more logical than the serendipity we have at the moment where if the police arrest you, regardless of innocence or guilt - your DNA is taken and kept on record. However, it's nuts. Outside of the rights and wrongs of civil liberties and the onset of a police state - the practicalities should see that idea murdered at birth.

Only last week I blogged about the answer to my parliamentary question on the accuracy of the current 4,000,000 strong DNA database - to receive a reply admitting that something like 500,000 of the entries are inaccurate - with wrong name or wrong address.

Why oh why oh why are the government (and judges) so keen on spending zillions keeping track of the innocent rather than tracking down the criminal? Guys - spend the money on police - and on helping to prevent crime through education and youth services.

Yes - DNA is a fantastic detection tool and provides the corroborating evidence required for a conviction. But DNA isn't the Holy Grail - and the more everyone holds it up as such - the less likely we are to have the proper professionalism applied to detecting crime. Eggs and one basket are the words that come to mind.

Labels: crime, dna

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

Labels: crime, ian blair

Wake up to the pleasant news that Liberal Democrats had pushed the Tories into third place in Sedgefield and improved their second place in Ealing Southall.

It is a terrible result for Cameron - particularly as on the actual ballot papers in Ealing their candidates was described as “David Cameron’s Conservatives” rather than simply “Conservative”. This was very much his personal campaign, with the message being “David Cameron wants you to vote for this man”. Reputation on the line – reputation very damaged! Serves him right for hiking someone to stand, Tony Lit, who wasn't a Conservative but was someone who Cameron thought could attract votes. Poor judgement and poor practise.

Labour majorities were slashed - but they didn't lose - which is also one in the eye for the Tories. Though still don't think Gordon will rush into a General Election - having waited all his life to get where he is today would he really risk losing it all so soon?

UPDATE: There's a good round up of what the press are making of the by-elections over at Lib Dem Voice.

Surgery in the morning followed by my regular meeting with police borough Commander Simon O'Brien. I raise the issue of gangs, the parks constabulary and the need for even more Neighbourhood Policing. The parks constabulary now are on the same radio band as the police. I had been concerned that the two systems were making a farce of the parks police chasing a criminal, for example, who runs out the park - but they cannot radio the Met to catch him. Simon assured me that the radios were now all up to modern standards and working together on the new Airwave system.

I discussed some ideas I have for youth diversion - and am putting some proposals together on this. And I also asked whether Haringey Police and PCSOs had any capacity that could be used (if paid for) to deploy to particular projects or areas of need - and the answer is yes. So my council colleagues will be pushing to use this capacity to tackle the persistent areas of anti-social behaviour.

Labels: crime

That's one of the subjects touched on in my latest (and brief!) column about issues around young people and crime in Haringey, written for one of the local magazines:

Are you (whether young or not yourself) intimidated when you walk past a group of young people wearing hoods? Lots of people are – but I still believe that it’s not how young people look but how young people behave that counts. In itself, there’s no particular reason to fear a piece of fabric – but it gets seen a symbolic of a bundle of fears and so induces worry for many people.

You can read the rest of the piece on my website.

Labels: crime

Off to the launch this morning of a new bus safety initiative which will see eighteen Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) on duty in and around transport hubs - kicked off this morning at Turnpike Lane Bus Station.

It is an extension of the partnership between Transport for London (TfL) and the Met Police brokered by the Greater London Authority (GLA). The reason for it? Well, if you map crime - you would quickly find that the hot spots are transport corridors and transport hubs – particularly around the time schools come out and at night (especially Friday and Saturday nights I believe). So this scheme puts more people in uniform on site to deter and tackle crime.

Very welcome, especially as when I have been knocking on doors in Wood Green, the absolute most common issue raised with me is that of crime and fear of crime. We should all be able to go out and onto transport without fear. This move is a real step forward – hurrah!

Labels: crime, tfl

Some helpful advice from the police came in - so thought it might be useful to post it here. It’s about the Personal Property Register that the Met and other police forces are encouraging people to use.

It’s at www.immobilise.com and you can use it to register your mobile phone, iPod etc. Two benefits: if the police recover stolen goods, this register makes it easier to trace the rightful owners, and – secondly – you can use the site to register the theft of devices, and this automatically adds it to the police’s records of stolen equipment. With the theft of these sorts of devices one of the big crime problems in many areas, it’s a service well worth using and promoting.

Labels: crime

Since I posted the piece on meeting three representatives from Haringey's Youth Council and Youth Parliament and said how knife and gun crime was a key issue that worried them - we have had a major gang fight between gangs from Wood Green and Tottenham yesterday afternoon with four stabbings. I will try and get this raised in Parliament – as for all the Government’s knife or gun summits, the problem and the causes of the problem stumble on untouched. The police work hard - but it is clear that what is needed is a massive effort and resource - a continuing focus not just when the headlines hit if we are to impact this at all. So many issues involved - and they all need addressing!

Labels: crime, knife crime

The Muswell Hill and Highgate Area Assembly tonight produced a panoply of police from various streams - transport, parks and neighbourhood. And the good news is that crime is reducing. Of course - the retort is 'I should bloody well hope so'. Well done to all - but it's not rocket science. The Safer Neighbourhood Teams together with Transport for London’s TOCU (officers and support officers on our buses etc) are doing their job. If we had all these extra police and crime wasn't dropping - we would want to know the reason why!

Watched Question Time without falling asleep for once. They all thought that Margaret Beckett should get a sense of humour over Rory Bremner's stunt. But I'm with Margaret on this one. If I had been duped by Rory - I would be pissed off in the extreme - particularly with myself!

Labels: crime, margaret beckett, question time, rory bremner

Did the Politics Show on gun crime in London today. It is the big story at the moment, courtesy of a spate of killings and the shocking ages involved - but gang culture and guns have been running for years.

So - yes it's right to look at lowering the age at which the mandatory sentence for being in possession of an illegal gun can be prosecuted from the current 21 to 17 or 18. But don't just put them in prison - where youngsters can simply learn in crime's best university how to be on the wrong side of everything for the rest of their lives. Use that period also to invest in trying to give them real rehabilitation and pathways to a better life.

The one bit of the proposals from Blair that I thought was spot on was the need to introduce protection for witnesses that come forward to give evidence against members of a gang. But neither legislation nor police powers will change the real malaise. These gang members need such a range of support - from somewhere to go, alternative adults to care about them if their parents or parent don't, life chances and real commitment for long periods from others. There was a guy on the Politics Show from Boyhood to Manhood, who work in South London. We need to ensure that more of that work is going on to support and sustain the individuals and the communities. It's no good just appointing blame. This has to be about bringing support to lone parents and creating means for fathers to be with their children even if the partnership is long gone - or indeed never was. And this gang and gun culture (and I had a bit of bother saying that on TV - it came out gung!) is specific to this particular criminal culture. It is not endemic across all communities. But we all have to help resolve and resource this long term - not just now the spotlight is on it. One idea I would like to see tried more widely here is an American one - where they started something called something like 'dads and doughnuts'. These are evenings organised by schools to bring in fathers with their children - not the mothers. Particularly useful where the parents has split up and aren’t getting on as this way – rather than only the mother attending parents’ evenings and the like - the fathers are more involved and engaged with the school and the progress of their child there.

Combined with the UNICEF report that puts our children at the bottom of the rich nation heap - it has been an eye-opening week. We are doing badly. I don't think you can conflate the two - the gun and drug criminal culture is way beyond the norm. However, we do have a 'behaviour crisis' in terms of the more general findings of the UNICEF report - and I hope it is a wake-up call.

I have some sympathy with the Government in as much as so much of the damage was done under the Tories - and the Labour Government has at least made tackling child poverty one of its priorities. The child tax credits, for example, were not a bad idea - just badly executed.

However, it is clear from the report that we, all of us adults, had better have a look at ourselves and our behaviour - because we are letting our children down.

Labels: crime, dads and doughnuts, politics show, unicef

Recorded recently in Wood Green:




Of course, if you are an iTunes user and have signed up to my iTunes feed (see panel on the right) you'll already have had this film delivered to automatically!

Labels: crime

This afternoon it was out campaigning in Wood Green as part of the Liberal Democrats' We Can Cut Crime campaign.

When you have been in power for ten years like Labour have, you don’t really have much excuse for not getting the capacity of the prisons system worked out properly – nor for having a Home Office that is so badly run. What were all the Labour Home Secretaries doing when they should have been on the job?

With re-offending rates so high we will never make progress until those who are jailed for crimes can be changed from criminals into law-abiding members of society who pay tax, and not cost us our taxes because - remember - nearly everyone will get released from jail at some point or other. But when we do say we're sending someone away for life it should mean that - no more of this nonsense of calling "life" a sentence that is in reality for only a few years. Life should mean life, with clear and transparent sentences everyone can follow.

More police too - paid for out of the money the Government insists on spending on ineffective ID cards. They should spend the billions chasing the guilty not tagging the innocent. Community punishments also - yes punishments, not soft options - to make sure that the non-dangerous criminal pays their dues - but in a constructive way.

It's not rocket science!

And the blueprints are in our five-point plan on www.wecancutcrime.com.

Labels: crime

Officially opened the Safer Neighbourhood Shop in Wood Green. Shopping City has kindly given a prime position for this drop in shop for three weeks over the Christmas period. If you go in (right next to entrance to Shopping City) you will find the local Noel Park Safer Neighbourhood Team (aided and abetted by the local community wardens and the local fire fighters) handing out advice and free gadgets to help deter and prevent crime.

At a time when thieves carry on - even taking presents from around a Christmas Tree as we read to our horror every year in the newspapers - it is important that people take as many sensible precautions as possible both for their home and when out.

There are also smoke detectors from the Fire Fighters - as Christmas is also a time when candles can lead to accidental fires and there is an awful lot of cooking going on at the same time as a bit of celebratory sherry!

So - drop in and take care.

Labels: crime

The cost of jailing someone for one year is roughly the same as the cost of employing a full time policeman for a year. That's the starting point for my piece in this week's Liberal Democrat News about fighting crime:

So when Tories and Labour thump their tubs about being tough on crime, we shouldn’t feel meek about pointing out the costs of their failed policies. Having a large prison population is not a sign of success – it is a sign of a failure to prevent crime and it leaches huge resources away from other parts of the justice system. Instead of prioritising preventative police work and rehabilitating re-offenders, money is sucked into cramming people into poor conditions. Now – you might say, they are criminals so who cares how bad their conditions are?

You can read my answer to this question in the full article on my website.

Labels: crime

Woodside High School are having an anti knife-crime week - and all Tuesday is taken up with me and police and young people talking, with theatre and panels on how to resolve the terrible problems that carrying knives have become.

I give a ten minute introduction and then a senior police officer tells the hall (full of year 11s etc) what the police are doing. Then the Comedy Store takes over. They have a production which addresses the issue through humour, but which addresses the issues of the law, the dangers, situations, peer pressure, life choices - so much better than just talking heads.

People seemed to really enjoy it and so the panel afterwards were flooded with questions - some cheeky - but many seemed very concerned as to what they could or couldn't do within the law. I really hope it beds in. Knives can mess it all up for a child who otherwise has a great life and great contribution ahead of them.

Full marks to Woodside for taking it so seriously and devoting proper time and effort to it. They have a fabulous police officer in the school - Velda Ewen: an absolute gift for the school - committed, enthusiastic and with just the best personality for the job! Congrats to all who took part - and to the kids - 'cos its their lives and in the end - it's they who have to take responsibility for their actions.

Labels: crime, knife crime

When Labour talk about security these days, it's all about fighting criminals and battling terrorists. But there is more to security than that ... as I wrote about in my latest newspaper column, which came out this week:

Amid all the pomp and circumstance (of which there is a lot when Her Majesty pays us a visit in Parliament) the airways were overwhelmed with the Queen’s Speech and the pending Blair Switch Project, but the latest unemployment statistics were published with relatively little comment. The rise in unemployment itself was statically relatively small, but the headline gave me reason to pause: unemployment at seven-year high.

You can read the column in full on my website.

Labels: crime

The Violent Crime Reduction Bill came back to the Commons for Lords Amendments. All over bar the shouting really! The Government had finally realised that it had to lay amendments lengthening the sentence for carrying a knife or bladed weapon in a public place. There had been a Tory amendment to lengthen it to 5 years and a Lib Dem one to lengthen it to 7 (same as for a gun) – but the Government had voted against previously. However, it is often the way that the Government just won't vote positively on an opposition amendment. They vote against and then bring it back themselves later in the process. So who cares - so long as they finally saw sense.

That having been said - it ain’t just the sentence. The real proof of pudding will be less young people carrying - and that needs a mix of police work, prevention, education, making kids feel safe on the streets, giving them life chances, working with them to show it's not 'cool' - as well as the deterrent of a longer sentence and the actual custodial detention itself. It isn't quick, cheap or easy to change a whole culture - but that's what we are up against.

The other highlights were around imitation firearms, Drink Banning Orders and Alcohol Disorder Zones. We support totally the tackling of the twin challenges of weapons and alcohol - but it's how these laws are enforced that will matter. Anyway - now that one is on its way to the final stage of legislation. Whew!

Labels: crime, knife crime, violent crime reduction bill

Managed to get called during Business Questions - which is a quaint way of bringing constituency issues to the fore and asking the Leader of the House (Labour MP Jack Straw) for a debate. The debate I asked for was on the rate of grant from the government for statutory support for asylum seekers.

In Haringey we happily provide support for a very high level of asylum seekers. But if you take even just one element of Government funding support - the rates for looking after unaccompanied asylum seeker children - the grant doesn't come anywhere near the actual cost. And even worse – not only does the Government funding not cover the costs, but the costs racked up by the Government’s failure to make asylum decisions quickly – because much of the cost in that maintenance is due during the period whilst the Home Office (that oh so fit for purpose establishment) takes years to process the legality or otherwise of the asylum seeker.

It is completely unfair and unsustainable on those areas where asylum seekers naturally congregate.Jack Straw's answer - he would pass on my remarks to the Home Office and a slagging off for the LibDems in general. That really raised the tone!

In fact I have just written to Jack Straw over his outburst last week on knives. My Lib Dem colleague, Mark Hunter, raised the issue of lengthening sentences for carrying a knife in a public place and Jack just ranted about Lib Dems opposing longer sentences for knife crime. This is misleading Parliament in the first degree (i.e. untrue! and you can check in Hansard from report stage of Bill in Commons). Not only is this assertion factually incorrect but also completely unwarranted. In response to the recent surge in knife crime, a Liberal Democrat sponsored amendment was laid down in the Violent Crime Reduction Bill (on which I lead for my party) that would increase the sentence for carrying of a knife in a public place to seven years. This amendment was not voted on as a Conservative amendment, take before it ,which would have increased the sentence to five years was defeated by the Government. So the truth is – Labour voted against increasing the penalty for carrying a knife in a public place.

The Bill is coming back to the Commons for Lords Amendments next Monday and Labour will be tabling an amendment to make the sentence four years (which is better than the current tariff), and although it doesn't extend it far enough in my view it is a step in the right direction. I will go into this further when I write up my blog after the debate next Monday.

Labels: crime, jack straw, knife crime, mark hunter, violent crime reduction bill

The last of my speeches from conference is now up on my website - the last one is about how to be effective in tackling crime and the choices that have to be made between being effective and being vindictive.

Labels: crime

Met with local Haringey police commander, Simon O'Brien this morning.

Major success of the day is his agreement, if suitable premises can be found and the Met Estate Office agrees - that we can locate the Highgate Safer Neighbourhood Team in Highgate itself. He even suggested that I should go out with local officers to check out locations - so will do as soon as possible.

This is all part of the wider Met Estates strategy - and my bottom line in Hornsey and Wood Green (agreed by Simon O'Brien) is that nothing goes before there is something else that has been accepted by the public in its place. It's all very well wanting to update buildings - and Lord knows there are buildings that are out of the ark in terms of what is needed for police stations - but where police are stationed is absolutely crucial to public confidence and being part of the community. We don’t want any police stations closed just on the promise that a new replacement will come along some time in future – with all the risk that you end up with nothing which that brings.

We move on to staffing levels for the Safer Neighbourhood teams. Although I hear some 'you never see one' comments – these are much less than before. However there are a few missing from the full complement and Simon says that his target for full complement is probably by October - but the outer limit set by Sir Ian Blair (London’s top policeman) is end December.

The part of our conversation he enjoys the most is when I ask about local crime statistics etc - and whist not everything is perfect it is clear that the police have had phenomenal success in terms of the increased rate of detection. In the end, it's detection that it the first step towards conviction!

Also today had a long, long surgery meeting constituents with their individual issues. Off for a break myself shortly, and as usual during August I'll be largely taking a break from blogging, though this year will put up one or two more contemplative pieces during the month.

Labels: crime, ian 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

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

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

Labels: crime, knife crime

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

Had to change my schedule around to be at Ming's crime speech. I thought Ming did a good job on it - and was disappointed by the leader in the Independent which slags him off and the Lib Dems for not standing up for Liberalism. Bollocks! Press slag us off for being soft on crime and then when we state our credentials more aggressively - slag us off anyway. I do think we should take the world on our terms and I am for going out and being far more bold on our stance. I am convinced that we actually hold the intellectual and policy keys to making the world a better place - which is why both the other parties continually steal or try to steal our territory. It is irksome to see Cameron getting the coverage he does for doing sweet FA other than ride a bicycle with his shoe chauffer in attendance. He ought to have been slaughtered for that.

Then an afternoon of other peoples' problems at surgery at Wood Green Library. The BBC 'See Hear' team arrive to film me after surgery as they are doing more in depth coverage of the Blanche Nevile School for Deaf Children story.

Haringey Council would like to make out that we (the governors, teachers and me) have all made a fuss about nothing - that there was never any intention to close Blanche Nevile. Fly in the Council ointment of course is the letter in my possession from Sharon Shoesmith (Director of Children’s' Services) to Judy Downey (Chair of Governors) stating in black and white that the school is financially vulnerable and that there is a proposal to integrate the deaf teaching into Highgate Primary and Fortismere and to possibly close Blanche Nevile. I rest my case.

Actually, it is fine by me. I am more than happy to have upped the ante on this - now that the Council has been forced to publicly state that the school won't close - mission accomplished. They might not admit they’ve back-tracked, but the key thing is – they have, and that will be good news for the children and parents who rely on the school.

Labels: crime, ming campbell

Campaigning all day on Sunday - except for a journey to a working men's club in Harlesden to take part in the London part of the Sunday Politics Show on BBC. The club was divided into a big bar and a small bar in which the filming took place. I was there early and so just chatted with Simon Woolley from Operation Black vote and the crew. Tim Donovan was the interviewer and the other guests were Grant Shapps (Tory) and Dawn Butler (Labour) and down the line and only speaking to Tim - Nick Griffin of the BNP.

The two discussions were to be Margaret Hodge's pronouncement that 8 out of 10 white working class people in her constituency were considering voting BNP and, secondly, the Safer Neighbourhood Scheme.

So - a short film of canvassing in Hodge's patch and an interview with Griffin. He came over as a racist and a bigot - so at least there was no pretending that that there was anything to do with housing shortages. For the BNP it doesn't matter what the issue is - they will use whatever is the most obvious local scapegoat to pedal their bile. The word 'swamped' peppered Griffin's language.

However, the arrogance and complacency of Labour in this area left them an opportunity. Political vacuums will always be filled. No wonder the film clip showed a local BNP member taking flowers around to Hodge's house to say thanks for putting them on the agenda. The publicity we have all been forced into (including this) as a consequence is ridiculous as their ascendance is minuscule. But because of the filth they pedal - we all must always be vigilant against even this tiny blip on our horizon.

My criticism of Labour for their use of the BNP to try and scare Labour voters into voting Labour is that if there really are 8 in 10 white working class (Labour) voters considering voting BNP (which I doubt) - then where the bloody hell was Margaret for the last four years? Did she not know that there was this undercurrent of frustration and unhappiness amongst her constituents? So why the surprise? It is hard not to be cynical and believe that part of her tirade was scare-mongering. And quite frankly - this cynical use of the race card in reverse is as bad as the Tories use of it at the General Election last year. This is dangerous stuff.

The second issue on Safer Neighbourhoods was kicked off with Dawn Butler bringing out the lie that Labour have been peddling that the Lib Dems and Tories voted against the Mayor's policing budget at the GLA. Tim Donovan did my work for me. He turned on her and pointed out that this was completely untrue. And Tim would know - as he covers the GLA and was there covering the budget debates. As he pointed out - the Lib Dems and Tories both voted on a separate vote for the police budget. And actually - we also put in an extra £20million to increase British Transport Police numbers in London to 272. Voted down by Labour. Anyway - it was good to see that lie rebutted - and not by a politician, by the interviewer himself.

Then she kept trying to say that crime had risen in Islington. The truth is - by the Home Office’s own statistics - that Lib Dem-run Islington has seen a drop in robbery of over 25% between 2002 and 2005, whilst Labour-run Brent (where Dawn is MP) has seen an increase of over 16% and violent crime in Labour-run Brent increased by almost 40% between 2002 and 2005

What drives me mad is the unquestioning repetition of Labour's false mantras. They trot out absolute rubbish - and believe that repetition of the message will damage their opponents - regardless of the truth. Maybe it works - I don't know - but no wonder the public don't believe politicians any more if the truth doesn't matt