The art of hedging

As one who has been known to take the occasional flutter I am probably more familiar than most with the concept of hedging one's bets. Many a time I have backed a soccer team or a horse with one book and then laid it off with another at a favourable price, locking in a guaranteed profit.

Sadly Hounslow New Labour's latest act of hedging, taking an anti "cuts" stance whilst simultaneously demanding even bigger reductions to our borough's spending than we have currently managed is not likely to reap dividends. Those whose loyalty is not to New Labour are unlikely to be taken in, whilst traditional Labour supporters whose instinct it is, like mine, to protect services first and foremost will in all likelihood be confused and demoralised by this latest volte face.

Thus the debate at this week's Borough Council meeting at which the first tranche of proposed savings was introduced saw New Labour in mid fluster. As soon as Labour Deputy Leader Councillor Ruth Cadbury began to issue forth in a schoolteacher-like tone, voice filled with an absurdly exaggerated indignation that was so clearly contrived, it was obvious to me that the party had not been briefed as to whether it was required to support the proposals and demand that they should be taken further, or oppose them with a flourish of socialistic ardour.

My suspicions were confirmed when the Labour Group proposed that the report be deferred, ostensibly on the grounds that they had not had enough time to consider it.

One cannot but admire the lengths that the depleted ranks of Hounslow New Labour are prepared to go to in their efforts to try to keep their alleged Members of Parliament in office and in the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed. Their willingness to sacrifice their credibility and if needs be to allow themselves to become a borough-wide laughing stock in the name of that quest is certainly to be respected.

The whole glorious farce was beautifully epitomised by Councillor Mohinder Gill, a likeable chap, when he raised his hand to oppose the recommendations, then quickly dropped it again after looking around and seeing that his colleagues had been instructed to abstain.

One is almost tempted to hope that the sacrifice turns out to be worth it. Almost.

A firm foundation?

Yesterday I drove to Penge, a place in South London that I'd heard of but had never before had cause to visit, to sit the first day of my Congregational Federation foundation course for which I have been sponsored by my local Church.

For those who feel it is their calling the course can be the first small step towards becoming a preacher, providing the grounding in theology that is of course an essential prerequisite for such a commitment. For others it is simply an opportunity to broaden one's knowledge base and sometimes to exchange ideas with members from other congregations.

I'm not in any way sure that I'd be cut out to deliver sermons from the pulpit. Public speaking I am accustomed to, but whether I am the right person to be setting myself up as an example for others to aspire to is another matter entirely.

Time will tell. For the time being the plan is to quietly complete the course and consider my options.

The Lead Member presents...

One of the most enjoyable tasks that I find myself undertaking in my capacity as a local councillor and Lead Member is making presentations to various members of the community who have in some way or another contributed towards improving our society and the lives of those around them.

Some weeks ago I attended a function at the Master Robert Hotel at which I was called upon to present awards to members of the community who had engaged in anti-crime work on their respective estates, helping the police and the local authority to tackle anti-social activity. It was a sobering reminder that whatever platitudes we as politicians or public figures may give voice to, it is always the community itself which is in the frontline of having to deal with the effects of crime.

Then shortly before the recent Remembrance Day parade Councillor Paul Fisher and I had the pleasure of handing a framed certificate to Ralph Clifton, landlord of the popular Griffin public house in Brentford, in recognition of his extraordinary success each year in raising funds for the Poppy Appeal. Just a few days later he once again amazed us by announcing that he had generated a further £1,100 this year.

And last Wednesday I ventured along the road to the Green School after having been consigned to my flat for nearly two weeks by illness (Caroline's illness, not mine, but someone has to feed the kids) to present Bronze Awards to dozens of local schoolchildren for their work on the Duke of Edinburgh Scheme. They, together with the Silver and Gold Award winners who regaled us with tales of their sometimes extraordinary adventures, presented a face of today's youth that is sometimes overlooked amid the media stories of knives, drugs and criminality which seem to dominate every issue of our national newspapers.

At the conclusion of the Duke of Edinburgh event due tribute was rightly paid to the amazing Dot Hasler, who has co-ordinated the scheme in the London Borough of Hounslow for many, many years, and who will be retiring from her role in a few weeks' time. Her tireless efforts will be sorely missed by the local authority, and by the youth of the Borough.

Events such as these serve as a useful and in some ways humbling reminder of what community empowerment is actually about in practice. Real people, working selflessly, to make a local environment a better place and to improve quality of life for those around them, often without the recognition which we as elected officials seem to expect for ourselves.

The Parade in Pictures

Scenes from the Isleworth Remembrance Day Parade -
Sunday, 9th November 2008

A section of the parade in North Street shortly after march-off. Behind Councillor Paul Fisher and myself are Mary Macleod, the Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Brentford and Isleworth and (partially obscured) Councillor Barbara Reid.



Residents of Isleworth pay their solemn respects to those local servicemen who gave their lives in two World Wars and other conflicts.



Local Church leaders conduct a non-denominational Service of Remembrance. My Pastor, the Reverend Antony W. Ball, is third from the left in the front row.


Councillor Paul Fisher lays a wreath on behalf of the community of Isleworth.


















The Mayor, Isleworth councillor Dr. Genevieve Hibbs, represents the London Borough of Hounslow.

















Nick Buss pays his respects on behalf of Isleworth Congregational Church.


















The Pride of Murray Pipe Band leads the column along Twickenham Road after the Service.



Further along Twickenham Road. The blonde on my left arm is my daughter - honest!



Into Brantwood Avenue. The flag-bearer leading the parade is Vic London, active ICG member and one-time local election candidate (Osterley & Spring Grove, 2002).



On to the home straits, the marchers are led back to base by the Mayor and the Borough Commander of the Metropolitan Police, David Bilson.

Lest we forget. Wreaths at the Cenotaph pay tribute to Isleworth's fallen.

Lest we forget

Just as we do every year, myself and several ICG colleagues have been helping the Isleworth Royal British Legion to sell poppies at a number of local outlets including the large Tesco stores at Isleworth and Osterley.

The Poppy Organiser at IRBL is my father, Ronald Andrews, and it is probably fair to say that other ICG members make up the larger part of the selling team that has seen collections increase steadily each year for the last several years.

In Isleworth the parade itself, which takes place this Sunday, has also been growing. At first this may seem odd, with the number of ex-servicemen ever decreasing for obvious reasons, but Isleworth of course is a community in which civic participation is now actively encouraged across the board. Whilst a dozen or so years ago the parades would be attended only by ex-service people, a few Legion members and a small gaggle of local dignitaries, it is now possible to count in the hundreds the number of ordinary, everyday members of the community who come along to honour those who gave their lives for us all. I believe this is a welcome development.

It is a fitting tribute to the gallantry and valour of these brave people that their memory should not only be being kept alive, but that awareness of their sacrifice should actually be increasing.

If you are reading this article before November 9th and haven't yet bought a poppy, please pop along to Tesco or another local vendor and do so now.

A chilling memory at the birthday celebration of Jalaram Bapa

On Wednesday I joined the Hounslow Borough Commander of the Metropolitan Police David Bilson, Superintendent Clive Chalk and the London Borough of Hounslow's Head of Equality and Human Rights Celia Golden for a celebration of the birthday of the Hindu saint Jalaram Bapa at the ShriJalaram Seva Trust in Barrack Road, Hounslow.

Mindful as ever of the the challenge involved in celebrating a minority culture in our borough whilst at the same time taking care to stress the need for divisions within the community to be broken down and a new unity to be built on the greater values which are common to us all as human beings, I had the benefit of a long and extremely interesting conversation with Amina, the President of the Trust, who explained some of the work that his organisation had been doing within the wider community in the immediate surrounding area. Celia and I resolved that we should help and encourage him in this kind of barrier-breaking activity in any reasonable way that we could.

After our chat and some food, we guests were invited to take part in what it is probably fair to say was the longest introduction to the cutting of a birthday cake that I have ever witnessed, with over two hours of singing and dancing as well as some seriously funny banter between the talented Master of Ceremonies (or, as she was female, should that be the Mistress of Ceremonies?) and the 250-strong crowd. I also delivered what I believe to have been the first public speech I have ever made without my shoes on.

An area of the hall behind the five-foot long birthday cake was sectioned off in dedication to the great saint, and confetti and colour and decoration abounded. Also in evidence were several painted swastikas, which left me with a chilling and sobering thought as I monetarily recollected a function of a substantially different kind, of which I was once a guest of honour in that very same hall when it had been an annexe of the Hussar public house, which for a time was populated by the local skinhead and general right-wing youth fraternity a little under twenty years ago.

The swastika is, of course, a sacred symbol in Hinduism. Nevertheless I was left wondering just how many people of my acquaintance from those bad old days would ever be blessed with the opportunity to come back in shoes (well, socks) similar to mine and take part in such an infinitely more constructive and gratifying event.

Pride in our borough

When we as an administration speak of pride in our borough, we refer of course to our facilities, our services, the unique character of our towns and villages and most importantly of all, of course, our people.

However on Monday, in the company of the Leader of the Council Peter Thompson who also leads for the borough on Community Cohesion, I took part in a presentation which left me immensely proud of our officer team of specialists in Equalities, Community Cohesion and Community Safety which is quite possibly second to none in the entire country.

The occasion was a presentation to the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) in support of Hounslow's application as a borough for Beacon status in Community Cohesion.

So often these events become exercises in box-ticking, with wearisome speeches about performance indicators and targets which leave one with an impression of subject matter that has been thoroughly digested but not quite really understood.

When it comes to our Community Cohesion work there is not a question of any lack of understanding, nor of clarity of vision as to where we want to be headed. For us it is not about getting a financial reward or a star in our merit book, but about eradicating genuine disadvantage and disengagement and building a complete sense of unity and togetherness in a borough where Everybody Matters.

As well as the Liberal Democrat Leader Andrew Dakers, who has always been supportive, I was grateful to Labour councillor Nisar Malik, who led for his party in the absence of his Group Leader Jagdish Sharma and who very graciously paid tribute to the work of the new administration in building Community Cohesion, as well as to the previous administration of course for the work that it too did in the field. Newly elected in 2006, Councillor Malik has sometimes had a rough time of it in the Council Chamber as a result of one or two comments made which could perhaps have been better worded, but I've long believed him to be one of the stars amongst the current crop of Labour councillors as well as himself being a very likable and decent guy.

Obviously one of the factors that will determine the success or otherwise of our Beacon status application will be the calibre of the opposition, and that is something over which we clearly have no control. Nonetheless I am happy that, even if in the event we are not successful, we have assembled a team in Hounslow that really is going to do the business in building cohesion in our borough in the coming months and years.

Double-Life Syndrome - am I a little bit odd?

I don't think I would ever leave Isleworth to live anywhere else. With all my roots, my childhood and my memories being there, it would seem almost like a betrayal, even though the majority of the people I grew up with have long moved on to pastures new.

When I am at home though, there is nothing I look forward to more than my next holiday. It doesn't much matter whether it's a week in the Algarve or a £9.50 Sun weekend on the Isle of Wight, I love to be across the water and away from it all.

And then, as soon as I arrive at my apartment, caravan, bungalow or whatever, almost the first thing I do is log onto my laptop and attend to my casework or liaise with my Community Group colleagues back home.

Somebody once described it as "Double-Life Syndrome", the desire always to be part in one place and part in another.

As I write I approach with a little sadness the last night of a week-long stay on the Island. Having spent the first three nights in a modest chalet at Whitecliff Bay, we then moved across to Rookley Country Park for another four in one of Island View Holidays' impressively spacious new bungalows.

As each member of my family has distinctly different interests, life is always a compromise. At Whitecliff Bay much time was spent amusing the children, including endless games of pool with Joe. On one occasion though we managed a very pleasant walk along the beach during which he was able to put his geological expertise to good use by describing to us all the many rock formations along the multi-hued cliffs (see above).

Rookley provided me with an opportunity for a spot of fishing, while Caroline took the little ones to the cinema. Then today it was the turn of Caroline and I to venture out on a five-mile cliff-top walk, much to the chagrin of the couch-potato tendency.

Whilst I'm no stranger to walking, the cliff-top hike (below right) was a completely new experience. The official guides assume that the walker is an anorak, familiar with the requisite lingo. Thus it was that I found myself hundreds of feet up in the air, one eye straining down at the sea below whilst keeping the other out for a "triangulation point" without having the foggiest what one actually looked like.

Somehow we got down, and back, and now it's off to the club to watch a cabaret for the last time before making our way back to TW7 in time for my Ivybridge surgery. And looking forward, no doubt, to next year's holiday.

Mere words, or an historic breakthrough?

Tonight Borough Council approved a motion proposed by the Leader of the London Borough of Hounslow, Councillor Peter Thompson, and seconded by the Community Group's Councillor Paul Fisher, supporting the Sustainable Communities Act and its intention to allow local authorities and their communities to drive assistance given by central government to reverse community decline and promote thriving, sustainable communities.

The Act defines four aspects of sustainable communities thus:

• the improvement of the local economy,
• protection of the environment,
• promotion of social inclusion, and
• participation in civic and political activity.

Significantly, the motion was supported without amendment by all the parties on the local authority. In other words, for all the political parties represented on the London Borough of Hounslow, participation in civic activity by all residents is now a recognised and desirable objective!

The importance of this cannot be overstated. It effectively means that, even for those who have bitterly opposed the ICG since its inception in 1994, it is now acknowledged that we have been right all along. Our rationale as an organisation has been utterly and unanimously vindicated.

Just last March a Community Group motion tabled a motion to Borough Council which included the following: "This council undertakes to extend its support and assistance to all independent community organisations which can reasonably demonstrate that they represent the aspirations of the community they serve, without seeking to influence or direct those organisations in any way other than with their consent.

"Furthermore this council accepts as a fundamental principle the equal right of all residents to participate in all fields of community and civic activity, and deplores any action which might give office or other advantage to any on grounds of political preference or affiliation.

"This council therefore instructs the Executive member responsible for improving community engagement following Annual Borough Council in May 2008 to investigate and thereafter to implement measures through which the consultative and participatory processes may be improved, and all officers to recognise and to actively assist in the delivery of this policy."

Although passed by Council, New Labour at the time could not bring themselves to support these sentiments and the whole Group abstained.

Obviously any policy statement is about the doing and not just the saying. However the fact that all parties felt able to offer even their in-principle support to such a radical departure from previous thinking could be a sign that the message is at long last getting through.

Never before has this space been so keenly watched as it will be over the coming months.

Innocent mix-up, or a new low in New Labour's war on the Worton community?

On Monday a local Somali community leader received an unexpected telephone call from the alleged Member of Parliament for Feltham & Heston, Mr. Alan Keen, inviting him to a reception that evening with the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street. Evidently a spare ticket had become available at the last minute. A little perplexed, he nonetheless accepted and attended the event.

The reason that a ticket had become available at such short notice may well have been because the name of Councillor Paul Fisher, Hounslow Council's Lead Member for Service Improvement and Community Empowerment, had mysteriously been erased at about the same time from the list of invitees.

Councillor Fisher had been invited to accompany one of the young residents of Isleworth's Worton estate who had recently received the Metropolitan Police Commissioner's Community Safety Peace Award for their work under the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. Sadly the youngster concerned, Jamie Kempson, was understandably overwhelmed and did not wish to attend the reception without Councillor Fisher, who was refused admission at the door.

Lurking in the background when Councillor Fisher arrived was Mr. Keen, and his unsuspecting Somali accomplice.

Even by the standards of political pettiness and spite that have earned New Labour in Hounslow the notoriety they deservedly enjoy, particularly in Isleworth, it seems difficult to credit that they would stoop so low as to deprive a hard-working and community-spirited young member of the community the opportunity of a lifetime, to meet the Prime Minister and to have his good work receive the recognition and congratulation it deserved from the most senior political figure in the land. However there are a number of incidents which, whilst they may constitute nothing more than a series of coincidences, certainly give us food for thought.

One is that the Somali activist in question was one with whom Councillor Fisher and myself have been working very closely and constructively on a series of community cohesion projects. Part of New Labour's modus operandi in these parts is to try to overawe those in the community it seeks to use by impressing them with its importance and contacts. Residents of my own estate have been offered the impossible-to-refuse opportunity to "meet Ann Keen in person" (no less) in exchange for their acquiescence on specific community issues. If the gentleman in question was as shallow as New Labour assumes he and other members of the hoi polloi to be, he might well have been flattered enough to sell his soul to New Labour. In any event, inviting this particular guest has all the hallmarks of "getting one over" on the hated ICG and Worton community.

Another is that on the very morning following this incident, at 10:29 to be precise, this very blog was visited by somebody at the Houses of Parliament (thanks Statcounter). Don't they say felons always return to the scene of their crimes? There being nothing on here at that time about the incident, whoever it was only hung around for four seconds.

I sincerely hope that this incident was nothing more than an innocent mix-up, and that it was not the latest manifestation of New Labour's long-running hatred of the residents of the Worton estate (residents one of its representatives abused as "whingers" a few years back when they dared to oppose the Party's plans for their green). If this is the case, I promise to publish any statement from New Labour to that effect here on this blog . Should such a statement not be forthcoming people will draw their own conclusions, and those conclusions will no doubt differ from person to person.

In the meantime, all I can say is roll on the general election!

Supporting our local football club - the Lionel Road Project

Two Queens Park Rangers supporters and a Swansea City fan were given the opportunity to progress their footballing education last night when they and other members of Hounslow Council's Executive were guests at Brentford Football Club as we watched our local team demolish Morecambe 3-1 to climb to second place in the League Two table.

Earlier we had been given an update by the Club and its partners on its ambitious plans to build a new 20,000-seater stadium at Lionel Road, a little over half a mile up the road from the Club's current home at Griffin Park.

Whilst the planning detail itself is a matter for the Sustainable Development Committee and one in which we cannot interfere, the Council is being asked to give its support to the principle of the build, and I don't think I'm giving any secrets away when I say there is a general feeling of enthusiasm and goodwill towards the Club as it attempts to turn around its fortunes off the pitch as it has already begun to do on the pitch.

In this modern day and age it is unsustainable for a professional football league club to only be in operation for about 25-30 days each year, and the size and physical location of Griffin Park does not lend itself to expansion on any significant scale. The unwelcome spectre of groundshares as far away as Woking were looming over the Club just a few years back, and there had also been talk of relocating to Feltham Arenas and Western International Market, amongst other sites, before Lionel Road became the preferred option.

Since then the Club's development partner has successfully acquired the land, and the Project at last looks ready to roll.

Speaking personally as a Brentford supporter (although not in recent years as regular an attendee as I would like to have been) it has been a pleasure and a privilege to lead for the local authority on this Project and if, as looks increasingly likely to be the case, it comes to fruition there will be few as happy to have played a part as me.

Giving a new meaning to travelling to work

Isn't modern technology wonderful? Less than ten minutes ago I took this, admittedly rather grotty photograph from the window of the 17:30 ferry from East Cowes to Southampton, and now here it is on my blog.

Over the last three days I must have done more work than I had managed during the previous fortnight. Whilst lots of people can say they travel to work, I take the notion very literally.

Please keep an eye on this blog over the next couple of days for a really big story. There are some great things happening in the community of Isleworth right now.