What a splendid initiative by Isleworth councillor Ed Mayne (left), taking advantage of a private visit to New York to meet up with a well-known US anti-graffiti campaigner to pick up some advice on fighting crime at no cost at all to the Hounslow taxpayer.Councillor Mayne, who is Lead Member for Community Safety (a post I held between 2006 and 2009), met with Council Member Peter F. Vallone Junior (!) during his trip to the States and was also able to discuss issues surrounding possession of firearms and relationship between civic leaders and police.Speaking to the Hounslow Chronicle (click here for full story), Cllr. Mayne commented: "It was enlightening to meet such a high profile councillor who was happy to engage and share ideas. Councillor Vallone has been a major part of New York's drive for public safety and decreased levels of crime. It was exciting to have him agree with many of the ideas I was proposing and share some of the ways he has made his city significantly safer for residents".Let's hope that some of the lessons learned by Cllr. Mayne during his visit can be put to good use for the benefit of Hounslow residents.
Photograph reproduced with acknowledgements to the Hounslow Chronicle.
Reproduced with acknowledgements to the London Borough of Hounslow.
Over 200 young people in Hounslow this week attended i-Connect, a convention offering advice and support to enable them to build a better future.
Organised by Hounslow Council’s Integrated Youth Support Service, unemployed 16-19 year olds were invited to the event at the Paul Robeson Theatre in Hounslow. Training Providers were on hand to offer apprenticeships, with Foundation Learning courses and volunteering agencies also present to guide visitors through the steps required to apply for the many vacancies available. Connexions and Youth Worker staff were also on hand to offer advice and support throughout the day.
Representatives of West Thames College, based in Isleworth and Feltham, were also in attendance to talk about courses with vacancies for young people.
Cllr Lily Bath, Hounslow’s lead Member for children, youth and families attended the event, saying:
“It was great to see so many young people in attendance here today planning the next stage of their lives.
“We work hard throughout the year to monitor the progress of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) to ensure they have the best possible chance to make the best of their situation.
“This event is just one way in which we offer young people access to the many career opportunities available in the borough; through our work conducted by the Integrated Youth Support Services and the Hounslow Education Business Partnership, we offer targeted support to ensure our young people get the step up they need to succeed.”
Cllr Sachin Gupta, Hounslow’s lead member for education was also in attendance, adding:
“This event offered those young people still unemployed after all the sixth forms, colleges and universities had enrolled their students for the academic year a chance to see the many options still available to them across the borough.
“Young people are the future, key to the success of our area for years to come. It was great to meet many who had come away from the event feeling positive and upbeat about where they wanted to go next in their careers.
“We are doing all we can to make sure not one young person is excluded from reaching their potential.”
Anthony Mulligan, 17, from Hounslow West who attended i-Connect said of the event:
“There were plenty of options to choose from and I got a real buzz going round and seeing what was available.
I’m off next week to an open day at the Xenos Academy as ICT has always interested me, with interviews for the courses the following week. Today has been really eye opening and hopefully I’ll start the course as soon as possible.”
This morning I attended the funeral of Frances Waugh, who had been the partner of Ivybridge activist George Burrell for nearly forty years. My ICG Committee colleague Martin Murphy was also there, as was our former Vice Chair Pat Cole. It was a modest congregation, but Fran was a sweet lady and we gave her the send-off she deserved.
I have had my differences with George. He is a man who has robust opinions and he has never hesitated to express them. But he is a good man and I am grateful for the support that those closest to him on Ivybridge and elsewhere - who were by no means confined to the ranks of the ICG - turned out to offer him in his time of need.
While Martin and I were at Hanworth Crem the ICG's current Vice Chair Andy Sibley was representing us at the Isleworth Youth Action Partnership (IYAP), at a meeting at the Isleworth Explorers' Club. This is one of those bodies that has received correspondence from certain personages ordering it to desist from inviting anybody connected or thought to be connected to the ICG to its meetings. Needless to say those giving the orders seldom attend themselves, but that hasn't prevented said personages from attempting to dictate the agenda. Like all the other organisations that have received this threatening but entirely toothless rubbish, IYAP very quickly filed it under "R".
This afternoon Caroline Andrews was at Brentford Business Watch, which is fairly much what it says on the tin. During her tenure as a Syon councillor Caroline made a lot of friends and contacts, particularly on Brentford Dock, and it is good that she keeps her hand in with those people, who judging by the invites she receives to events seem to value her presence. In this way the ICG can remain informed about all the latest issues and events which is useful if our help is ever asked for.
Tonight Shirley Fisher and Andy were at the Isleworth Bowling Club on a purely sporting visit, but one which will have reasserted our continued support for this excellent local community organisation.
We are currently being attacked on a local Internet forum for attending these events. It would seem that the powers who at this precise moment in time happen to be would prefer that nobody did so. But we are a community group and supporting community events is what we do, even if they themselves couldn't be arsed.
It is with genuine sadness that I resign myself to the fact that the old negativities would appear to remain, and that the political powers would seem not to have relented one iota in their bitter hatred of the community movement. But it is their loss, we will carry on doing what we do and supporting local people and their organisations. The rancorous, septic bile of our detractors deters us not one jot. The community revolution continues in spite of the election result, if our elected representatives will not work with us then we will simply work around them.
Reproduced in full:
"I have come to account to you, conference, for the work I have been carrying out in the coalition government."I have managed to infuriate the bank bosses; acquire a fatwa from the revolutionary guards of the trades union movement; frighten the Daily Telegraph with a progressive graduate payment; and upset very rich people who are trying to dodge British taxes. I must be doing something right."But I am told that I look miserable. I'm sorry, conference, this is my happy face. 'Aren't you having fun?' people ask. It isn't much fun but it's necessary: necessary for our country that our parties work together at a time of financial crisis. And it is an opportunity for the party to demonstrate that we have the political maturity to make difficult decisions and wield power, with principle."As for real fun, I am introducing dancing classes into the coalition. Unfortunately, I keep treading on Theresa May's toes and my partners think I have two left feet."But what is it like being in bed with the Tories? First, it's exhausting; it's exhausting because you have to fight to keep the duvet. But to hold our own we need to maintain our party's identity and our authentic voice. We had to go through a merger to found our party….we'll never merge again."We will fight the next general elections as an independent force with our options open. Just like 2010. But coalition is the future of politics. It is good for government and good for Britain. We must make sure it is good for the Lib Dems as well."What brought this coalition together is the need to clean up the inherited economic mess: the aftermath of the banking collapse; the largest fiscal deficit in the G20."This is bound to hurt. Strong disinfectant stings. The public is, broadly, sympathetic to the coalition. But we are faced with an aggressive Labour opposition which has chosen the easy option of deficit denial. Deficit; what deficit? Nothing to do with us, guv."It has everything to do with them."There was, of course, a global financial crisis. But our Labour predecessors left Britain exceptionally vulnerable and damaged: more personal debt than any other major economy; a dangerously inflated property bubble; and a bloated banking sector behaving as masters, not the servants of the people. Their economic model combined the financial lunacies of Ireland and Iceland. They built a house on sand and thought that they were ushering in a new, progressive work of architecture. It has collapsed. They lacked foresight; now they even lack hindsight."In an emergency it was right to accept large scale deficit financing. But the deficit must now be corrected. Public spending was ramped up using tax windfalls which have gone. We are a poorer country than two years ago and the budget must reflect what we can afford."We know that if elected Labour planned to raise VAT. They attack this government's cuts but say not a peep about the £23bn of fiscal tightening Alistair Darling had already introduced. They planned to chop my department's budget by 20 to 25%, but now they oppose every cut, ranting with synthetic rage, and refuse, point blank, to set out their alternatives. They demand a plan B but don't have a plan A. The only tough choice they will face is which Miliband."A proper debate is impossible with people who start from the infantile proposition that there isn't a problem; and simply hark back to a failed world of 'business as usual'."But our party will emerge with credit from this crisis. We were the first, by far, to warn of the crisis to come. And last year, Nick Clegg and I warned of future cuts. This inconvenient truth wasn't popular but you heard it here first."Then, we established in government the need to combine firmness and fairness. Yes, there has to be a freeze on public sector pay, to save jobs and services, but the lowest paid should be protected. Yes, there will be higher taxes overall. But the broadest backs should carry the biggest burden."But I am also optimistic about the party's future because I know there is stamina and determination born of years of real life experience in local government. Those of you who took power from Labour in Newcastle, Hull, Oldham, Bristol, Sheffield and here in Liverpool had to take unpopular decisions to correct budgets which didn't add up. Nationally we have the same problem on a grander scale and want to learn from your experience."But the real debate is not 'cuts versus no cuts' - an absurd parody of the policy choices - but how we balance cuts with economic recovery and job creation."Growth is essential. Recovery is not possible without sorting out the public finances; but the public finances cannot be sorted out without the revenue from economic growth. Moreover the growth has to be balanced and sustainable, not based on another bubble."But economic recovery will not happen automatically, by magic. Government has a key role. It has to sustain demand. That is basic Keynes. Liberal economics also requires us to remove obstacles to growth led by private enterprise. Among them is the threat to recovery from a credit squeeze by banks on small businesses."On banks, I make no apology for attacking spivs and gamblers who did more harm to the British economy than Bob Crow could achieve in his wildest Trotskyite fantasies, while paying themselves outrageous bonuses underwritten by the taxpayer. There is much public anger about banks and it is well deserved."But I am not seeking retribution. We have a pressing practical problem: the lack of capital for sound, non property, business. Many firms say they are already being crippled by banks' charges and restrictions."The Chancellor and I have set out a range of sticks and carrots to get banks to support the real economy. Tough interventions will be needed if capital which could be used to support business lending is frittered away in bonuses and dividends."The Coalition Agreement was crystal clear, too, that the structure of banking must be reformed to prevent future disasters and promote competition. Our agenda can be summed in seven words: make them safe and make them lend. I agree with Mervyn. We just can't risk having banks that are too big to fail."Beyond the banks, there are vast amounts of institutional capital - in pension funds and the like - looking for productive outlets. The Government is proposing to establish a Green Investment Bank to support environmentally valuable projects and infrastructure alongside these private investors: making the rhetoric of the Green New Deal real."And looking further ahead, my colleague Ed Davey is doing valuable work promoting mutual ownership and also - as in the Royal Mail - spreading worker ownership alongside private capital."I want to announce today that employees in Royal Mail will benefit from the largest employee shares scheme of any privatisation for 25 years. The Liberal Democrats were the first and only party to call for an employee stake and we are now implementing it in Government."The Post Office is not for sale. There will be no programme of closures as there were under Labour."And the principle of responsible ownership should apply across the business world. We need successful business. But let me be quite clear. The Government's agenda is not one of laissez-faire. Markets are often irrational or rigged. So I am shining a harsh light into the murky world of corporate behaviour. Why should good companies be destroyed by short term investors looking for a speculative killing, while their accomplices in the City make fat fees? Why do directors sometimes forget their wider duties when a cheque is waved before them?"Capitalism takes no prisoners and kills competition where it can, as Adam Smith explained over 200 years ago. I want to protect consumers and keep prices down and provide a level playing field for small business, so we must be vigilant right across the economy - whether in the old industries of economies textbooks or the newer privatised utilities and cosy magic circles in auditing, law or investment banking. Competition is central to my pro market, pro business, agenda."But the big long term question is: how does the country earn a living in future? Natural resources? The oil money was squandered. Metal bashing? Mostly gone to Asia. Banking? Been there, done that. What is left? Actually quite a lot. People. Skilled and educated people. High tech manufacturing of which we already have a great deal. Creative industries, IT and science based industries and professional services. In my job I meet many outstanding, world class, British based companies. But we need more companies and more jobs in the companies we have."It is my job as Business Secretary to support business growth. And this knowledge based economy requires more high quality people from FE, HE and vocational training. Here, we have a problem. Businesses cannot grow because of a shortage of trained workers while our schools churn out young people regarded by companies as virtually unemployable. The pool of unemployed graduates is growing while there is a chronic shortage of science graduates and especially engineers."There has to be a revolution in post 16 education and training. We are making a start. Despite cuts, my department is funding 50,000 extra high level apprenticeships this year - vital for a manufacturing revival. My Conservative colleague David Willetts and I want to sweep away the artificial barriers between universities and FE; between academic and vocational; between full time, part time and continuing life long learning; between the academic and vocational. I was the first person in my family to stay on at school beyond 15. I want everyone to have the chance to continue their education."There are some unhelpful, cultural, prejudices and vested interests to overcome. The belief that only A-starred A levels count; not apprenticeships. Or a gold standard as defined by the Russell Group not good teaching institutions like Teesside University or Liverpool John Moores. Or the assumption that top Oxbridge maths brains should go to Goldman Sachs or hedge funds not to Rolls Royce or into teaching. Wrong. Completely wrong."But what do we do when there is less government money?"I realise that there are people in the hall who believe that education at all levels must be free and the taxpayer should pay up, regardless of the bill. In reality the only way to maintain high quality higher education with less government money is for the graduate beneficiaries to make a bigger contribution from the extra earnings they enjoy later in life."I am doing everything I can to ensure that graduate contributions are linked to earnings. Why should low paid graduates - nurses, youth workers or science researchers - pay the same as corporate lawyers and investment bankers? We have to balance higher contributions with basic fairness."The biggest test of our party's contribution to the coalition is whether we can ensure fairness more widely. You'll remember our Conservative colleagues campaigned in the General Election to lift the inheritance tax burden on double millionaires."But they have dropped that commitment. They have gone halfway to accepting our case for equalising income tax and capital gains tax rates. They have accepted in the Coalition Agreement that the priority for cutting income tax is for low earners not top earners."Ironically, we may be able to make more progress on a fairness agenda with the Conservatives than New Labour was willing to do. Labour was constantly on its knees trying to prove that it was a friend of the super rich."It will be said that in a world of internationally mobile capital and people it is counterproductive to tax personal income and corporate profit to uncompetitive levels. That is right. But a progressive alternative is to shift the tax base to property and land which cannot run away and represent, in Britain, an extreme concentration of wealth. I personally regret that mansion tax did not make it into the Coalition Agreement but in a coalition we have to compromise. But we can and should maintain our distinctive and progressive tax policies for the future."I started by saying that I am reporting back to you conference. I want to conclude by saying that your role is crucial. In government we are trying to put Lib Dem ideas into action; your job is to keep us honest. We have punched above our weight in government because we have a democratic party which has clear principles and policies. In a few short months we have showed how we can advance our party's policies and principles while serving the wider national interest. But we need to sell this message. The Tories will not do that for us. We have to do it ourselves. That means focus leaflets and doorsteps. That means you. We need you. All of you".
Many of the national newspapers and sports websites have reported today on the claim by Everton manager David Moyes that a Brentford supporter threw a bottle into the away fans' enclosure following the Bees' historic Carling Cup victory over the Premier League club last night.
It is an unwelcome distraction from the main event, and in my view the claim was made with such a distraction in mind.
I was in Block E in Braemar Road and I witnessed the "incident" first hand. About 20-30 bottles, all of them plastic and most of them empty, rained down upon stewards and police from amongst the Everton crowd following their team's defeat. One of the hundreds of Brentford supporters who had run onto the pitch to celebrate their team's victory picked up one of the plastic bottles and returned it into the crowd. That was it, that was the "incident" that has made all the headlines this morning.
He shouldn't have done it, of course. Two wrongs do not make a right. But the impression created by Moyes' comments is that a glass bottle was hurled unprovoked into the Everton crowd with intent to cause serious injury. This is a grotesque misrepresentation of what actually happened.
I expressed in another thread recently my contempt for the practice of making other people the excuse for one's own failings. I believe David Moyes has quite deliberately blown the bottle-throwing incident out of all proportion as a means of deflecting attention from his team's poor performance, for which he is responsible.
Before last night I had a lot of respect for Moyes. His teams have not done badly overall and I had always protested that a good manager does not become a bad manager overnight. But his tactics yesterday were frankly rubbish and it ill becomes a man of his stature to be resorting to nonsense like this in the hope that the papers will report it rather than the lacklustre performance of his team.
I hope Moyes is charged with wasting police time. And if he is sacked as Everton manager as well on account of his abysmal team tactics then I for one will not be losing any sleep now.
I understand that a very short Special Borough Council Meeting was held last night at Hounslow Civic Centre to consider various questions and motions tabled by the opposition Conservative Group.
The reason it was short was that a Labour councillor moved at the onset of the meeting that it be adjourned indefinitely, and so it was.
Of course this kind of stunt is underhand, bad for democracy etc., but is anybody truly surprised by Labour's actions? I know I do bang on somewhat about the fact that it was a Conservative campaign which put Labour back in office in May - but - well, it was a Conservative campaign which put Labour back in office in May.
The new Labour administration at the London Borough of Hounslow has no respect for its Conservative opponents and, with appropriate apologies to my good friend Councillor Mark Bowen who now leads the Conservative Group (and I wish him well), they don't deserve any respect following the debacle that was the local election.
Labour will simply trample all over them throughout the next four years as they quite rightly do not fear electoral repercussions at the hands of the Conservatives in a borough which has a "natural" Labour majority. Especially with a Conservative-led government in office which, whether rightly or wrongly, is committed to a major cuts programme.
The only hope of unseating Labour in Hounslow now, if that proves to be a desirable objective, lies in the emergence of a third political power within the borough to take on both establishment parties and to present residents with a new, radical, community-led and community-focused alternative. I wonder whether any of the current crop of Conservative councillors is ambitious enough, and angry enough, to wish to join us in helping to bring that about?
In the meantime the opposition should expect much more of the kind of thing they experienced last night. And the less time they spend at council meetings, maybe the more time they will have to reflect upon whether or not the strategy of using the cover provided by the general election to move in on the various independents around the borough in the hope of replacing them in their respective areas of influence was truly a clever one.
I'm still on a high after watching Brentford FC knock Everton out of the Carling Cup on penalties with the two wee ones a few hours ago.
I won't launch into a detailed analysis of the match as it has already been done several places elsewhere, but I will say that although we rode our luck at times the Bees thoroughly deserved their victory for their sheer tenacity and spirit.
Now that we're in the last sixteen there is a very good chance we'll be drawn against one of the even bigger Premier League names. With a son who supports Arsenal and a daughter who supports Chelsea that could present me with a real logistical problem.
But in the meantime let's all just savour an historic victory, and say a big "Well Done!" to Andy Scott and all the lads in the team. They did us immensely proud tonight.
The sad news came in over the weekend that our longtime Ivybridge friend and member Frances Waugh had passed away after having been only fairly recently diagnosed with cancer.
I don't yet know the full details, hence the brevity of this posting. However I and I'm sure all my ICG comrades would like to offer our sincere condolences to her partner George Burrell and to all who knew her, and our support at this most difficult time.
It was a pleasure yesterday (Saturday) morning to help out at the Celebrating Isleworth event organised by The Isleworth Society (TIS) and which is taking place throughout the weekend at Isleworth Public Hall.
I am not going to remember all the participants so I apologise in advance to those I leave out, but from recollection they included the Safer Neighbourhood Team, Extended Schools, Isleworth Bowls Club, Friends of Osterley Park, Isleworth Town School, The Mulberry Centre, Isleworth & Hounslow Charities, Syon Park, St. John the Baptist Church and St. Mary's Church.
The Mayor of Hounslow, Colin Ellar, spent some time visiting the event and made an entertaining speech in which he openly acknowledged the unique character of Isleworth, not just in its history but also as a living community today.
As well as myself several ICG members took part in helping to promote the event, many of whom of course being involved with the participant groups themselves. Former Syon councillor Shirley Fisher manned the entrance before joining the main event in the hall, and her former ward colleague Caroline Andrews will be working during the second day of the event later today.
I will post up some photographs as soon as my children decide to tell me whereabouts in the flat the requisite USB cable has been spirited away to.
Reproduced with acknowledgements to BrentfordTW8.com
Brentford is a 'Home Town' according to the widest ever Clone Town survey results released this week by leading independent think-tank NEF (new economics foundation).The Clone Town Britain Index measures both the identity and diversity of outlets on the core of the high street. It weights more for identity because ownership is critical to the health of the local economy and community. But diversity is important, and so is also included. Towns scoring below 50 on the scale – like neighbouring Chiswick - are classified as Clone Towns. Over half of the stores counted are chains, and there is little diversity. Towns scoring over 65 – like Brentford - are classified as Home Towns, where almost two thirds or more of the stores are independent, and there is a wide range of outlets. In between are ‘Border Towns,’ which are neither highly homogenised, nor strongly independent and diverse. The key to success, according to Andrew Dakers, ward councillor (2006-10) and a guiding light behind the group, is the community identifying a vision of a future that it wants for itself. Constantly in sight is “world-class sustainable development that is also financially deliverable”. The group is supported on a cross-party basis.Chief among issues addressed by Brentford’s community problem-solving has been restoring economic viability, especially in retail. Late in 2005 Jersey-based company Geronimo Ltd purchased freeholds along one side of the high street, later completing more acquisitions to emerge as the centre’s major landowner. Soon afterwards developer Ballymore Ltd’s option to buy the site was revealed, once Geronimo had obtained planning permission for a major mixed use housing and retail development.Other community groups may have chosen to confront the developers. Brentford’s Steering Group sought dialogue instead. Representatives of Ballymore and Geronimo responded to invitations to attend all the workshops in 2007. In consequence the landowners reviewed the group’s recommendations and provided written feedback on aspects of the proposed urban design approach. In a further effort to support the community, the landowners removed boards on some empty high street shops. With the economic downturn delaying redevelopment in 2009 they started making the units available again on short leases to help bring additional vitality back to the town centre, and by May 2010 they were nearly all reoccupied.Three years on and the Steering Group has made a number of key interventions: introducing Christmas lights to the town centre, securing funding for a small car park to capture more passing trade, launching the Wedge Card loyalty card scheme, a town centre website and the town’s first ever public event – a celebration of St George’s Day – in the historic Market Place.Unfortunately, due to a combination of the economic downturn and the developers standing down their development team, dialogue largely stalled, giving campaigners their one serious setback. In autumn 2009 however, a new collaborative approach emerged. With funding secured from Ballymore and the local area committee S106 fund, Ballymore and the High Street Steering Group commissioned a joint workshop and report from The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment. The process worked through the complex urban design required for the site and provides the basis of a brief for the urban planner that will be hired to work up a planning application for the site.In the current economic downturn, upwards-only rent reviews are a major concern for the 50 or so independent high street traders who remain tenants of Hounslow borough. Responding to the local councillors approaches, borough officers are seeking flexible solutions and discussions are now progressing on redefining the rent frameworks. This would substitute lower turnover of tenants and reduced volatility of income in the medium-long term as a goal in place of maximising short term revenue. The proposed framework would consider the type of businesses that are missing from the retail mix when evaluating rental income potential and the marketing of vacant retail units.Nine of the 13 West London villages were registered as clone towns. Richmond tops the table with just five independents counted on its high street, suggesting Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith will have his work cut out in his campaign to create a retail association to save local independents.At the other end of the scale only Shepherd’s Bush in addition to Brentford registered as a home town from West London. How long Shepherd’s Bush’s ethnically diverse Goldhawk Road, with 48 out of 52 shops classified as independent by our survey, can survive remains to be seen. The recession has neatly coincided with the opening of the largest urban area indoor shopping centre in Europe – ‘Westfield London’ – right next door, complete with over 250 chains stores. Of the 18 London villages that were resurveyed from 2005, three worsened. Hampstead, Camden and Brixton all moved from border to clone status. There was better news on nearby ‘hills’, with Streatham Hill improving from a border to a home town and Muswell Hill from a clone to a border town.
What a splendid initiative by Isleworth councillor Ed Mayne (left), taking advantage of a private visit to New York to meet up with a well-known US anti-graffiti campaigner to pick up some advice on fighting crime at no cost at all to the Hounslow taxpayer.
