Conversations like this make it all worthwhile

Out and about today with Community candidate Tricia Doran, who is proving to have been an excellent choice, and another activist canvassing doors in Hounslow South ward. Obviously a lot of people were out at work, but the responses we did get were encouraging. A conversation with one resident was particularly worth recording for posterity:

Resident: I'm not interested in politics at all, sorry.

PA: That's good, neither are we.

Resident: Ugh?

PA: We are residents, we are not interested in party politics. We believe in building strong communities with the capacity to fight their own battles, helped by councillors and activists but not ruled by them.

Resident: But if you are fighting the election you must be politicians yourselves, right?

PA: We have had to register as a political party but we prefer to think of ourselves as a community activist group. We don't have a party agenda, we believe in representing the community on the council rather than the council in the community.

Resident: But aren't you still kind of politicians?

PA: Well I guess it's a question of how you would define a politician, but if you say you won't be voting anyway...

Resident: I didn't say I won't be voting. I always use my vote.

PA: Okay. So you have the Conservatives, Labour and us. Of the three, which would you say were the least like party politicians?

Resident: Well you - of course.

PA: So as you say you're not interested in politics, does that incline you towards us or somebody else?

Resident: Well seeing as you put in like that, if I vote I will obviously vote for you.

PA: And you say you'll definitely be voting?

Resident: Of course, I always do.

PA: That's good enough for me. Good day Sir.

A short while later the three of us bumped into Brad Fisher, Conservative ward councillor and once again a candidate for his party. It was nice that we shook hands and had a good natured if rather brief chat. Nerves can become frayed during election campaigns and harsh words are somethimes exchanged, but it is worth remembering that we are all in this to do a job and most of us try our best to do the right thing for local people, whatever our angle or affiliation.

We enter the last three weeks of the campaign with cautious optimism, but if today's canvass was anything to go by we are really starting to get our hands into the meat at just the right time.

An unholy alliance begins to take shape

When I have a spare moment on my hands I like to trawl through the various comments on the local internet forums. Two of the most popular are ChiswickW4.com and BrentfordTW8.com, both of which are provided by NeighbourNet.

Often one gets drawn into participating. Sometimes a point has to be made, other times it's just for the craic - but speaking personally I find it difficult not to throw in my two penn'orth on occasions.

The exception is in the run-up to an election in which the Independent Community Group (ICG) is participating. This period tends to bring out the worst in our opponents who shift instinctively from crude and clumsy mode into cunning mode, alternately ganging up or engaging in various strategems and ruses to entrap and to compromise. Mindful of the potential the forums have to become the playthings of the unscrupulous I always withdraw from them a few weeks before a major campaign begins.

Invariably this provides a signal for critics to take a pop, in the sure knowledge that I will have rendered myself unable to respond. It would appear that opponents from across the spectrum are becoming enraged by our efforts to disassociate ourselves from conventional party politics, and all the accompanying sleaze and shame. And so now both I and my ICG colleagues find ourselves standing defiantly and unfazed in the firing line of what would appear to be becoming a cross-party offensive against the growing effectiveness of people politics in our little corner of the world.

Today on the TW8.com forum I would seem particularly to have become something of a cause célebre. Threads berating the ICG occupy most of the top ten listings on TW8.com as I write, and the onslaught has been joined by a Conservative councillor, the usual half-comprehending Labour claque and a quite obsessively embittered ex-ICG councillor who turned on his colleagues when it became clear to him that he was no longer up to the job (for what it's worth I happen to believe he had been quite a good councillor, if a tad off the wall, before he lost his self-confidence after his first couple of years in office, but as his belief in himself crumbled he characteristically looked around for somebody else to blame for his predicament). This particular recruit to the claque's destructive cause posts under his wife's name whilst accusing me of being a phoney!

Tonight a new poster, quite possibly a nom-de-plume for a more regular contributor, has taken the debate to its logical conclusion by proposing a formal local alliance between the Conservative and Labour parties in an attempt to arrest the relentless progress of the ICG.

We repeat our view that we stand separate and unashamedly aloof from the sorry, untrustworthy mess that party politics has become locally. We do not consider ourselves to be politicians, pursuing some inflexible dogma irrespective of the will of the people. We are asking "Who Needs Politicians?" and in the light of our achievements over the past four years think it is a reasonable enough question to ask.

Putting Isleworth on the musical map?

I came across this video the other day - local band The Ruskins performing "Old Isleworth", a dedication to their native Worton estate where it was filmed. Note the guest appearance by local legend Dougie Newton:




If you find the whole thing a bit scary listen to the interview with the band below. They seem like a decent bunch of lads:




It's nice to see some local talent emerging in the music world. Let's hope they get the break they deserve and help us to put Isleworth on the musical map.

Please say a prayer for Ashley

I was saddened and shocked this week to hear about the vicious attack that has left 19-year-old Ashley Williams in a coma and fighting for his life (click here for the full story).

I know Ashley, along with his father Patrick and his older brother Ricky and am proud to call them all friends. He is a smashing lad - friendly, witty, kind and totally inoffensive. It is appalling that anybody could have done something like this to such a decent and harmless young man. A 20-year-old man has been arrested and charged with attempted murder - let's hope the courts get to the bottom of this incident and that justice is done.

In the meantime I dearly hope that Ashley comes through this and makes a complete recovery. I will say a prayer for him and implore others to do likewise. For those who don't believe in that kind of thing, please keep Ashley in your thoughts all the same.

Full candidate list for London Borough of Hounslow local elections 2010

No spin, no comment - just the list as it was announced today (sitting councillors in purple):

BEDFONT

BANERJI, Reetendra (Lib Dem)
BEUMER, Alexander (Bedfont Ind Alliance)
BRABY, Patricia (Lib Dem)
BRUCE, Thomas (Labour)
GOODWIN, Margaret (Bedfont Ind Alliance)
GUPTA, Saghin (Labour)
HILLS, Peter (Bedfont Ind Alliance)
JHOOTI, Rajinder (Lib Dem)
MAMMATT, Liz (Conservative)
MEIER, Richard (BNP)
MORGAN, Norcliffe (Labour)
PRUDEN, Bernard (Conservative)
SANCHEZ, Rodrigo (Conservative)

BRENTFORD

BLEAKLEY, Tracey (Conservative)
BOURKE, Joseph (Lib Dem)
CADBURY, Ruth (Labour)
COLLINS, Mel (Labour)
DAKERS, Andrew (Lib Dem)
DYKES, Nicola (Conservative)
FIRKINS, John (Green)
FORD, Colin (Conservative)
HARMER, Matt (Labour)
NAQVI, Mona (Lib Dem)

CHISWICK HOMEFIELDS

BLEACH, Martin (Green)
GLENNERSTER, Ann (Labour)
HOPPER, David (Labour)
McGREGOR, Gerald (Conservative)
OULDS, Robert (Conservative)
PILLAI, Evangeline (Christian People's Alliance)
SOLEY, Anita (Labour)
THOMAS, Julie (Lib Dem)
TODD, John (Conservative)

CHISWICK RIVERSIDE

ATKINSON, Judy (Labour)
BALLENTYNE, Phyllis (Lib Dem)
BARWOOD, Felicity (Conservative)
GOLDSMITH, Daniel (Green)
HEARN, Sam (Conservative)
LYNCH, Paul (Conservative)
O'BRADY, Niamh (Labour)
YATES, Valerie (Labour)

CRANFORD

BOWDREY, Leslie (Conservative)
BUTT, Iqbal (Conservative)
CHATT, John (Labour)
DHILLON, Poonam (Labour)
EMMAMBOKUS, Shafick (Conservative)
GILL, Sarb (Beavers Cranford Party)
KAD, Parmod (Beavers Cranford Party)
MARAS, Sukhdev (Beavers Cranford Party)
SANGHA, Sohan (Labour)
VANSTONE, Lisa (BNP)

FELTHAM NORTH

BOWEN, Mark (Conservative)
DHALIWAL, Sukhbir (Labour)*
DUDEE, Dharmpal (Labour)
EDWARDS, Douglas (Lib Dem)
HUTCHISON, Gillian (Conservative)
TOMKINS, Jean (BNP)
WILSON, Allan (Conservative)
YATES, Syd (Labour)

* Sukhbir Dhaliwal currently represents Heston West

FELTHAM WEST

BENNETT, Joan (Lib Dem)
BOTTERILL, Colin (Conservative)
COOPER, John (Labour)
HARRIS, Barbara (Conservative)
KHAN, Koisor (Conservative)
MITCHELL, Alan (Labour)
SCARLETT, Sarah (Labour)
TAYLOR, James (BNP)

HANWORTH

BARBER, Alan (Labour)
DARAZ, Ann (Conservative)
DARAZ, Michael (Conservative)
HUGHES, David (Labour)
MACINTOSH, Ian (Hanworth Ind Alliance)
MALHOTRA, Mukesh (Labour)
MORGAN-WATTS, Andrew (Conservative)
NAKAMURA, Linda (Hanworth Ind Alliance)
NELHAMS, Christopher (Hanworth Ind Alliance)
SMITH, Robert (Lib Dem)
TAYLOR, Maureen (BNP)
WILLIAMS, Roger (Ind)

HANWORTH PARK

BAYLEY, Adrian (Labour)
BUTLER, Katie (BNP)
CHAUDRI, Abid (Labour)
JABBAL, Paul (Conservative)
MARTIN, Simon (Lib Dem)
SRA, Anant (Labour)
STEWART, Rebecca (Conservative)
WILLIAMS, Beverley (Conservative)

HESTON CENTRAL

DHILLON, Amarjit (Conservative)
DHILLON, Gopal (Labour)
GILL, Mohinder (Labour)
LAKHANPAUL, Bhupindar (Conservative)
MALIK, Karamat (Conservative)
TRIPATHI, Vedhardhan (Ind)
VAUGHT, Peta (Labour)

HESTON EAST

BHATTI, Mohammad (Ind)*
DHIRI, Meenu (Conservative)
KAUR, Kamaljit (Labour)
KENTON, Michael (Conservative)
LAL, Gurmail (Labour)
MANN, Amritpal (Labour)
MARBROW, Nicholas (Ind)*
STEFANO-POULOS, Athanass (Conservative)
RUSHWORTH, Ian (Green)

* Mohammed Bhatti and Nicholas Marbrow are fighting on the same ticket

HESTON WEST

ATHWAL, Gubachan (Conservative)
BATH, Raj (Labour)
BRABY, Bernard (Lib Dem)
BUTT, Mohammad (Lib Dem)
ELLIOTT, Alan (Lib Dem)
GREWAL, Sukhjit (Conservative)
HUGHES, Elizabeth (Labour)
MATTU, Ragveer (Conservative)
RAJAWAT, Shantanu (Labour)

HOUNSLOW CENTRAL

ALI, Syed (Lib Dems)
BATH, Lily (Labour)
DILLON, Prianka (Conservative)
TARIQ, Mohammad (Conservative)
GREWAL, Ajmer (Labour)*
GREWAL, Pritam (Labour)
HOLMES, Toby (Green)
QUICK, Christine (Conservative)

* Ajmer Grewal currently represents Hounslow West

HOUNSLOW HEATH

BILLENNESS, Sally (Lib Dem)
CHEEMA, Dalbir (Ind)
CONNELLY, John (Hounslow Ind Alliance)
DHALIWAL, Surjit (Hounslow Ind Alliance)
ELLAR, Colin (Labour)
GILL, Pendhar (Conservative)
GODFREY, Ranjiv (Conservative)
GREWAL, Dharshan (Labour)
KATHURIA, Sneh (Conservative)
SINGH, Mohinder (Hounslow Ind Alliance)
SMART, Corinna (Labour)

HOUNSLOW SOUTH

DAVIES, Linda (Conservative)
DORAN, Tricia (ICG)
EVANS, Nicola (Green)
FISHER, Brad (Conservative)
FISHER, Pam (Conservative)
KHAN, Cheryl-Ann (ICG)
MALIK, Zara (Labour)
MURPHY, Martin (ICG)
WETZEL, Dave (Labour)
WHATLEY, Bob (Labour)

HOUNSLOW WEST

AGRAWAL, Vikas (Ind)
DHILLON, Ajmer (Labour)
DHIRI, Lata (Conservative)
MAJID, Abdul (Conservative)
MORSON, Winston (Green)
PASHA, Noor (Lib Dem)
SHARMA, Jagdish (Labour)
SOND, Balvir (Labour)
VINEY, Anthony (Conservative)

ISLEWORTH

ANDREWS, Phil (ICG)
BAINS, Mindu (Labour)
BINNS, Andrew (Conservative)
FERRIS, John (Green)
FISHER, Paul (ICG)
MAYNE, Ed (Labour)
SAMPSON, Sue (Labour)
SIBLEY, Andy (ICG)
STOKER, Jennifer (Conservative)
VOUGIOUKAS, Jane (Conservative)

OSTERLEY & SPRING GROVE

ATWAL, Harleen (Labour)
BEATON, Tom (Green)
CAREY, Peter (Conservative)
CHOUDHRY, Virender (Labour)
JAMES, John (Lib Dem)
MALIK, Nisar (Labour)*
O'REILLY, Sheila (Conservative)
REID, Barbara (Conservative)

* Nisar Malik currently represents Hounslow Central

SYON

ANDREWS, Caroline (ICG)
BRADLEY, John (Green)
CURRAN, Steve (Labour)
DENNISON, Theo (Labour)
ELLAR, Jason (Labour)
FISHER, Shirley (ICG)
HARDY, Jon (ICG)
HARGREAVES, Jason (UKIP)
HUNT, John (Green)
POOLEY, Brenda (Conservative)
SCOTT, Diane (Green)
STANNILAND, Helen (Conservative)
THOMAS, Victoria (Conservative)

TURNHAM GREEN

AGIUS, Anthony (Green)
DAVIES, Samantha (Conservative)
LEE, Adrian (Conservative)
MANN, Ian (Lib Dem)
MAYORCAS, Jack (Labour)
McLOUGHLIN, David (Labour)
NATHAN, Peter (Labour)
THOMPSON, Peter (Conservative)

Community at the ready

Well, we now know for certain what everybody had already assumed - that the general election will be held on the same day as this year's local elections, on Thursday, 6th May.

Naturally this will complicate things a little, not only because it is likely to induce a higher turnout in the locals as those attending the polling station are likely, once they are there, to use their other vote, but also because voters will by May 6th have been inundated by the national media with big party politics and the challenge for us therefore is to keep them thinking local.

The ICG will not be taking part in the general election. Our leadership has made it clear that we would like to see the back of the incumbent MP Ann Keen as we feel it is important that borough residents have Members of Parliament who are prepared to work with the local authority regardless of which party or parties happen to be in office at the Civic Centre. However now it is upon us my view is that we will not be devoting too much attention to the shortcomings of our MP, but rather will be concentrating our efforts on getting our own people elected onto the council.

The ICG is fielding a total of nine candidates - Councillor Phil Andrews, Councillor Paul Fisher and Andy Sibley in Isleworth; Councillor Caroline Andrews, Councillor Shirley Fisher and Councillor Jon Hardy in Syon; and Tricia Doran, Cheryl-Ann Khan and Martin Murphy in Hounslow South.

Our policy platform is fairly simple - we wish to empower our community. Whilst recognising that the local authority has an obligation to provide for those who cannot speak out for themselves and who need help and assistance we will not use this as an excuse, as the previous Labour administration did, for exercising political control over the rest of the community. We want to see active, vibrant and independent civic societies, associations and amenity groups operating throughout the community, even if sometimes it means them challenging us as elected members. The Community Group does not consider it has anything to fear from an engaged community.

Whilst our Conservative coalition partners supported our Empowerment aspirations throughout the last four years, we feel their primary interest is low tax and that in the event of an all-out Conservative administration the community agenda is likely to be sidelined. Whilst we support the drive for low tax, we in the ICG see it as a means to an end rather than the end itself. Thus it is our view that the best result for our community at the local elections on May 6th would be once again for the ICG to hold the balance of power on an authority that is under No Overall Control.

ICG councillors will continue to put their own constituents and wards first and will fight for any resources that become available. We will not relent in identifying Section 106 and other funding for local projects, cohesion initiatives and general improvements for those we represent.

We are not satisfied that the new administration which assumed office in 2006 and of which we have been part has completely succeeded in changing the culture within the council bureaucracy. We believe the PIP process, whilst very welcome, was primarily cost driven and that the co-operation of chief officers with this project and with general budget setting has led our partners to look away while our own Empowerment agenda has been frustrated and obstructed by elements within the senior management. Some substantial rectification of this situation is likely for us to be an essential precondition of any future coalition agreement.

Lastly (for the time being) we will continue to provide a voice for the community on such vitally important local issues as Mogden. The campaign against the nefarious activities of Thames Water has demonstrated the value of elected members throwing their weight behind a successful organic initiative by residents.

At the time of writing we have less than thirty days to underscore all the valuable work that we have currently done to open up the process of our local government still further. ICG activists will be unrelenting in our efforts to secure four more years in which to implement our objectives.

Vince Cable MP supports residents' battle against Mogden Pong

Residents of Isleworth and Hounslow South received a very welcome boost yesterday (Thursday) morning when they were visited by Dr. Vince Cable MP, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, who joined Liberal Democrat PPC Councillor Andrew Dakers and eight ICG councillors and prospective candidates at the gates of Mogden Sewage Treatment Works to support our efforts to put an end to Thames Water's callous mismanagement of the plant.

Nearly 1,400 residents are currently engaged in a court battle with Thames in which they are seeking an injunction to compel the water giant to honour its obligations to the surrounding community. ICG councillors Paul and Shirley Fisher have given evidence at the High Court in support of the residents, and Councillor Dakers has attended the court to offer his moral support.

Included in the photo above are Cheryl-Ann Khan (Hounslow South prospective candidate, third from left), Tricia Doran (Hounslow South prospective candidate, fourth from left), Martin Murphy (Hounslow South prospective candidate, ninth from left), Shirley Fisher (Syon councillor and prospective candidate, eighth from left), Caroline Andrews (Syon councillor and prospective candidate, seventh from right), Paul Fisher (Isleworth councillor and prospective candidate, sixth from left), Andy Sibley (Isleworth prospective candidate, third from right) and myself (Isleworth councillor and prospective candidate, far right - no funnies please!).

Dr. Cable's support has always been welcomed by Hounslow and Isleworth residents in the absence of any contact from their own MP.

Would David Cameron's "Neighbourhood Army" build Community Power or stifle it?

Conservative leader David Cameron has announced his intention to set up a "Neighbourhood Army" of 5,000 government trainees whose job would be to set up community groups. The full story can be read on the BBC Politics site here.

Obviously any initiative that would have the effect of helping to empower our communities is to be encouraged, and I guess it would probably be too vain for me to even consider the possibility that he may have picked up the idea from one of his visits to the London Borough of Hounslow, where he will have heard that his party has shared power for the past four years with the Community Group, which was flying the flag for localism before either of the major parties had even coined the word.

But would the recruitment of 5,000 government-trained community organisers who would then be sent into our cities, towns and villages to engender some form of Community Empowerment not be a contradiction in terms?

In short, can Community Power be imposed by government initiative, or must it necessarily be organic and rise unassisted out of the efforts of the people themselves?

Would the organisers withdraw once local people had been trained, and would there be strings attached to the continued support of the "experts" as there always is under Labour?

An interesting debate to be had.

Keep the Tropical Zoo local

An appeal by Councillor Jon Hardy (ICG, Syon ward)

Dear Friends

I don't know whether you saw the item on the BBC News recently regarding the Tropical Zoo which is currently based in Syon Park: if not it can be viewed here. Look out for Alice Purdy making an emotional appeal for the Zoo's survival.

The Zoo, a rescue centre for endangered species and environmental/educational centre which does a lot of sterling work with young people in the Borough, needs to find a new home as its lease with Lord Percy comes to an end this September. We have found them a new site in the East of the Borough but now they have to raise money to build a new centre in which to house the animals.

I know these are cash-strapped times but if you would consider making a small donation to the Zoo we can keep this valuable resource in the Borough for the education and enjoyment of our young people. For those of you who haven't been it is a great day out.

You can make donations at www.justgiving.com/Alice-Purdy.

Even if you can't afford a donation, please forward this to everyone in your contact list so it gets to those who can.

Ann puts on a show but it's not unusual

Back in 2005, shortly before the result of the general election of that year in the Brentford and Isleworth constituency was announced, a peculiar and rather amusing thing happened.

Ann Keen, who had presumably been notified by an associate that she had survived the challenges of the various opposing candidates, at last entered the election count at Hounslow Civic Centre. But that wasn't the amusing bit.

What gave cause for much hilarity was the entourage by which she was accompanied, and the manner of its arrival. Surrounded by young boys attired in near-identical suits, she was escorted all the way from her carriage, up the spiral staircase and through the antechamber to the podium from which the result was to be announced. I could have sworn the spotty oiks were marching in step too, although I concede that just possibly my imagination was playing tricks with me and getting carried away.

This group exercise in delusional self-importance was not in any way untypical, indeed the whole Ann Keen experience has revolved for most of its time around a cult of imagined celebrity. I recall a residents' meeting on my own estate being gatecrashed by the then local Labour Party organiser and a handful of his members who scrutinised the gathering closely, furtively identifying individual residents whom they obviously felt might be vulnerable to an approach before sidling up to them like market spivs and whispering "would you like to meet Ann Keen?", the name itself spoken in a more assertive tone as if to emphasise the sheer generosity of the offer that was being made to the lucky resident.

Until recently, when at long last it would seem to have dawned upon them that she has become a liability, Labour's wannabe local councillors would queue to be photographed with their idol, and would proudly publish their photographs all across their own election leaflets in the apparent belief that their own importance and celebrity would somehow be enhanced by mere association.

Last week, inevitably, the circus came to Isleworth. As Mrs. Keen's gold minibus arrived at the Bridge Link Centre on Ivybridge on Thursday an aide excitedly raced to the passenger side door to open it so that her very important personage could step down and greet the excited throng that been awaiting her arrival.

In actual fact it wasn't really much of a throng. Five or six frankly pathetic ladies who probably hadn't been so excited since the time they threw their knickers at Tom Jones, and a very small handful of bitter and resentful men who still mourn the passing of the good old days when only Labour Party members were allowed to get involved with organising residents' activities, inasfar as any actually took place, on the estate.

And the royal visit itself was a tad disappointing, for there were others who had turned up to actually speak to their MP and ask her questions only to be brusquely advised by one of her hangers-on that she would only be sparing them fifteen minutes of her valuable (and very expensive) time which was just sufficient for her to have some photos taken. The knickerless screamers will probably be sent copies that they will truly treasure for what little remains of their middle age.

For those though who actually had questions to ask or problems to resolve - rehousing issues, repairs, anti-social behaviour, domestic violence and the like - the fleeting visitation did not really provide a great deal of relief. As a result of this the local authority's Lead Member for Housing and Service Improvement, ICG councillor Jon Hardy, has decided at short notice to hold a surgery of his own (see above) to make good the deficit.

The sheer brass neck of these objectionable people who assume themselves to be our lords and masters and who, given half the chance, would reverse the movement towards involvement and participation that my colleagues and I have triggered since becoming part of the administration at the local authority is absolutely staggering. One can only imagine how, in private session, they must mock and pour scorn upon those they represent, or in many cases aspire to.

How gratifying it is indeed to know that it will all be over in six weeks.

Who's next please?

I was just reading on the BBC News website that there is an island off the West Coast of Scotland called Sanda, which has a pub but only one resident.

Let's hope for everybody's sake they never consider it necessary to bar him.

As you were

I'd promised to do a spot of "canvasser training" yesterday (Friday) morning and as my assistant was from the Worton estate I decided to follow the route taken there by the Labour canvassers a week or too back. Not that I believe in letting my opponents set the pace, but because I wanted to test what kind of effect, if any, their four-yearly visit to the estate had had on local morale.

In short, the answer was not a lot. Whatever they had hoped to achieve by visiting Worton it clearly hadn't had the desired effect. Residents there remain as loyal as they have been since the days of the protest nearly a decade ago - as you were as it were - and I was enthused by the sense of optimism that pervades the estate and the feeling that, whilst there is certainly still a goodly amount of work to be done, we were all getting there together.

In the afternoon Caroline and I nipped over to Hounslow South to drop some leaflets and were nearly run over at one point by a visiting Councillor Peter Carey - get your eyes tested man! :o). We survived to complete the drop, meeting a couple of residents along the way whom I knew from way back. Both greeted us warmly and with promises of support.

Later it was across to the airport to collect Joe on his return from Greece. Later today it will be back to door knocking, but in the meantime to bed, shattered but happy with my day's endeavour.