Property Versus People

 TOGETHER against evictions.  Unite union flags on tenants' demonstration.  Which side is Labour on?

HOUSING campaigners and other friends are going to Lambeth County Court on Friday to show support for a worker from St.George's Hospital, where I used to work, who is facing eviction from her home, with her two kids, - by a so-called charity. Marian is a Guinness Trust assured shorthold tenant (AST) and she has been living in Kenwood House in Loughborough Park since 2007. Due to the ongoing regeneration of the estate, Guinness Housing Association are taking Marian to court to get possession of her flat which she shares with her two children aged 4 and 8.
Marian is one of the last AST tenants who has refused to leave to make way for Guinness to demolish her block. She is a healthcare assistant in St Georges Hospital and cannot afford private rents in London - she is demanding alternative affordable accommodation. The campaign by Guinness ASTs has meant that almost all the other ASTs who resisted eviction have been rehoused and nobody has been forcibly evicted. Campaigners want to show Guinness that Marian has strong support to resist any attempt to evict her too.


Help stop the eviction – Protest for Marian
Friday August 28 at 13.30
Lambeth County Court, Cleaver Street, Kennington, London, SE11 4DZ

The Loughborough park estate in Brixton was a 1930s estate of 390 social rented flats – until Guinness began their regeneration programme to demolish it and replace it with 487 new-build apartments. When Guinness started on this regeneration strategy more than a decade ago they decided not to take on any more housing association tenants with full life-time tenancy rights and as vacancies came up they brought in ASTs (assured shorthold tenants) who could keep the buildings occupied temporarily before they bulldozed them – but would not need to be rehoused by Guinness when they evicted them.

Many of the existing tenants, however, were not happy with the regeneration plans and opposed the move to new high-rise blocks which would lead to higher rents and would destroy the beautiful old buildings on the estate which had a unique architectural value. They lobbied and challenged the planning process and tried to set up their own tenants association but were blocked by Guinness and eventually ignored by Lambeth council.

The planning permission was delayed by many years but in the end Guinness even threatened to sell the estate outright if they were not allowed to go ahead with their regeneration plans and Lambeth capitulated. Guinness promised only 30 extra social housing units in the new development for rent to people on Lambeth’s housing waiting list – but even this was a deception as the number of social rented housing tenants had already markedly decreased (being replaced by ASTs) so the net effect of the regeneration will be a REDUCTION in social rented flats on the estate from the original 390 dow
- See more at: http://housingactivists.co.uk/protest/a-history-of-guinness-the-loughborough-park-estate/#sthash.3j57gqqe.dpuf

MARIAN is NHS Care Assistant.
Who cares about her and her children?

The battle on the Guinness estate is part of the ongoing struggle for living space in London which has intensified under this government. "Regeneration" becomes a formula for property development that forces working class people out of neighborhoods and even out of the capital, housing benefits are capped while rents are allowed to soar, and new developments bought and sold for profit and even money-laundering while even people in good jobs haven't a chance of buying. With some 40 per cent of council homes sold under Thatcher's much-vaunted "right to buy" policy now in the hands of private landlords and property companies, the Tories have promised to extend this to housing associations - though it would impinge on their charity status, and the cost would be subsidised at the expense of councils building new homes.

Some Tory councils in the capital have waived any obligation on builders to provide affordable homes, and made it clear they don't   want  working class and poor people in their borough anyway.   But some Labour councils too have proved unable or unwilling to resist the trend, and are telling homeless families they must move hundreds of miles away if they want to be housed.         

For all it's called "Conservative", the government can be radical when it is taking away our rights, be it in the workplace or at home. Anticipating more homelessness, and people ready to take desperate measures whether individually or organised, Cameron's Con-Dem coalition introduced legislation turning squatting of empty homes into a criminal offence.

 Some people seem to have decided this was not going far enough. Last year the social media repeatedly carried a news story from the London Borough of Redbridge about police snatching food and sleeping bags or blankets from homeless people who had taken shelter in an unused building.
People who read about this were rightly incensed about this nasty, brutal behaviour by the police who, though acting on their own initiative, said they had been asked to discourage vagrants from using the premises.  But if some Labour politicians had their way such actions would be more general and much worse.

As a local activist in Lambeth observed last year:

Chuka Umunna, Tessa Jowell and Lib Peck recently called for an extension to the law forbidding squatting to include commercial properties as well as residential. Clearly they are on the side of property developers and landlords against the homeless and those great experimental centres of creativity, artistic endeavour and learning that have been made possible by squatting. ....

I have visited several of these places and I am well impressed by their achievements. Did those three visit any of these establishments or were they running on the pure, unadulterated juices of prejudice, hearsay and the tired old Tory canard of squatters stealing peoples homes?

- See more at: http://housingactivists.co.uk/squatting/look-back-anger-lambeths-betrayal-commitment-social-housing/#sthash.S0Y6RwEs.dpufLib Peck is the leader of Lambeth council, and I was told there was a particular local problem over the West Norwood library site.  But whatever the rights and wrongs of that, by turning to the Tory government and asking for it to extend its laws, the Labour trio were opening the door to further oppressive action against the homeless, against community and cultural groups that have made some very creative use of empty and often derelict buildings in Lambeth and other places: and potentially also against workers or anti-cuts campaigners occupying premises to resist closures. It is a far, sad cry from the days when Lambeth Labour was used to being branded "loony left" by the press because it tried to resist the Tories and defend services to local people. 

So whose side is Labour on, the property speculators or the working people? Most Labour people I know would indignantly reply "the people of course!"  But look again at those names. Chuka Umunna was elected MP for Streatham in 2010, and the following year made Shadow Business Secretary. Calling for Labour to target Conservatives and "aspirational, middle-class voters", he said  the party needs to be "on the side of those who are doing well,."and on May 12, announced his candidature for the Labour Party leadership, only to withdraw it three days later. But he has not desisted from acting as a voice for the Right, and warning us what awful things will happen if we vote for Jeremy Corbyn.

Tessa Jowell, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, which if I'm not mistaken covers the Guinness estate at Loughborough Junction, served in both the Blair and Brown governments, while her international business lawyer husband ended up serving time in an Italian prison as a result of the money-laundering and bribery linked to former Italian prime minister (and Blair chum) Sylvio Berlusconi. Jowell is now hoping to be Labour's candidate for Mayor of London, and presumably also hoping that voters remember her part in securing the Olympics for London, rather than asking whether she really knew nothing about her husband getting Berlusconi to pay their mortgage.

There's certainly nothing about it in the letter I've received from "Trade Unionists for Tessa", signed by John Hannett, general secretary of USDAW. A lot of my friends seem to be supporting Diane Abbott for mayor, while my union's London region is backing Sadiq Khan, currently MP for Tooting. Like a lot of Unite members I was surprised just after the general election to receive a 'phone call from someone in a union survey team asking my views about the mayoralty. Contrary to the story that appeared in Private Eye, they did not mention any potential candidates, but asked what I thought should be priorities.  I said something about housing and might have also mentioned transport, and I probably was not alone, as together with a Living Wage, these are taken up in Sadiq Khan's leaflet. 

As it happens, though I'm not keen on the mayoral set up at all, or maybe because of that, I have chanced my first choice vote on a rank outsider, Christian Wolmar, whom I only know through his books on London transport, though I see he has also worked for the housing charity Shelter. At least he is not a clown and he is the only candidate standing who is not a career politician.  Whether or not he is the man we need we'll see, but at least his candidature will give them a shake up. I was helped to my decision by seeing Christian on TV recently where he said he would support Jeremy Corbyn (as does Diane Abbott of course),  Since then he has been kept out of another hustings programme, and he also had some interesting things to say about property:

Chuka Umunna, Tessa Jowell and Lib Peck recently called for an extension to the law forbidding squatting to include commercial properties as well as residential. Clearly they are on the side of property developers and landlords against the homeless and those great experimental centres of creativity, artistic endeavour and learning that have been made possible by squatting. See examples (here, here and here)
I have visited several of these places and I am well impressed by their achievements. Did those three visit any of these establishments or were they running on the pure, unadulterated juices of prejudice, hearsay and the tired old Tory canard of squatters stealing peoples homes?
- See more at: http://housingactivists.co.uk/squatting/look-back-anger-lambeths-betrayal-commitment-social-housing/#sthash.S0Y6RwEs.dpuf

The Loughborough park estate in Brixton was a 1930s estate of 390 social rented flats – until Guinness began their regeneration programme to demolish it and replace it with 487 new-build apartments. 
When Guinness started on this regeneration strategy more than a decade ago they decided not to take on any more housing association tenants with full life-time tenancy rights and as vacancies came up they brought in ASTs (assured shorthold tenants) who could keep the buildings occupied temporarily before they bulldozed them – but would not need to be rehoused by Guinness when they evicted them.
Many of the existing tenants, however, were not happy with the regeneration plans and opposed the move to new high-rise blocks which would lead to higher rents and would destroy the beautiful old buildings on the estate which had a unique architectural value. They lobbied and challenged the planning process and tried to set up their own tenants association but were blocked by Guinness and eventually ignored by Lambeth. 
The planning permission was delayed by many years but in the end Guinness even threatened to sell the estate outright if they were not allowed to go ahead with their regeneration plans and Lambeth capitulated. Guinness promised only 30 extra social housing units in the new development for rent to people on Lambeth’s housing waiting list – but even this was a deception as the number of social rented housing tenants had already markedly decreased (being replaced by ASTs) so the net effect of the regeneration will be a REDUCTION in social rented flats on the estate from the original 390 dow
- See more at: http://housingactivists.co.uk/protest/a-history-of-guinness-the-loughborough-park-estate/#sthash.3j57gqqe.dpuf

The Loughborough park estate in Brixton was a 1930s estate of 390 social rented flats – until Guinness began their regeneration programme to demolish it and replace it with 487 new-build apartments. 
When Guinness started on this regeneration strategy more than a decade ago they decided not to take on any more housing association tenants with full life-time tenancy rights and as vacancies came up they brought in ASTs (assured shorthold tenants) who could keep the buildings occupied temporarily before they bulldozed them – but would not need to be rehoused by Guinness when they evicted them.
Many of the existing tenants, however, were not happy with the regeneration plans and opposed the move to new high-rise blocks which would lead to higher rents and would destroy the beautiful old buildings on the estate which had a unique architectural value. They lobbied and challenged the planning process and tried to set up their own tenants association but were blocked by Guinness and eventually ignored by Lambeth. 
The planning permission was delayed by many years but in the end Guinness even threatened to sell the estate outright if they were not allowed to go ahead with their regeneration plans and Lambeth capitulated. Guinness promised only 30 extra social housing units in the new development for rent to people on Lambeth’s housing waiting list – but even this was a deception as the number of social rented housing tenants had already markedly decreased (being replaced by ASTs) so the net effect of the regeneration will be a REDUCTION in social rented flats on the estate from the original 390 dow
- See more at: http://housingactivists.co.uk/protest/a-history-of-guinness-the-loughborough-park-estate/#sthash.3j57gqqe.dpuf

Chuka Umunna, Tessa Jowell and Lib Peck recently called for an extension to the law forbidding squatting to include commercial properties as well as residential. Clearly they are on the side of property developers and landlords against the homeless and those great experimental centres of creativity, artistic endeavour and learning that have been made possible by squatting. See examples (here, here and here)
I have visited several of these places and I am well impressed by their achievements. Did those three visit any of these establishments or were they running on the pure, unadulterated juices of prejudice, hearsay and the tired old Tory canard of squatters stealing peoples homes?
- See more at: http://housingactivists.co.uk/squatting/look-back-anger-lambeths-betrayal-commitment-social-housing/#sthash.S0Y6RwEs.dpuf

“Last week, the political Establishment figures watched as I was undemocratically excluded from appearing on what was supposed to be an election hustings broadcast on LBC radio,” Christian Wolmar said.

“Now, it is reported that three of my Labour Party rivals for selection have been having their campaigns generously funded by property developers.

“My party colleagues forgot to mention this at our election debates.”

Property Week reports today that, “Big-name property developers and investors have emerged as some of the biggest donors to London mayoral candidates in the early stages of the campaign.”
It had already been established that Dame Tessa Jowell received £10,000 towards her campaign from the chairman of Chime Communications, the company founded by Mrs Thatcher’s former spin doctor, Tory peer Tim Bell. Dame Tessa has since taken an executive job with a Chime subsidiary.
Now Property Week reports that Canary Wharf Ltd has given £11,500 to the Jowell campaign, which has received another £5,000 from the former chairman of Land Securities.

Sadiq Khan’s campaign has received nearly £40,000 in donations from three major property developers.

And David Lammy’s campaign has racked up donations amounting to almost £40,000 from various companies and individuals with multi-million-pound interests in property development in the capital.

Christian Wolmar said: “How can these Labour Party candidates for London Mayor say they will drive a hard bargain with developers while taking money from them?

http://unitelive.org/displaced-and-dispossessed/

http://housingactivists.co.uk/category/guinness-trust-2/

http://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2015/04/brixton-evictions-and-regeneration-the-story-of-the-guinness-trust-estate-in-loughborough-park-brixton/

http://housingactivists.co.uk/squatting/look-back-anger-lambeths-betrayal-commitment-social-housing/

http://www.wolmarforlondon.co.uk/what_do_property_developers_expect_in_return

Hame to Scotland's Hot Summer

 NO EASY BERTH for privateers


SCOTLAND'S First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was on bright and sparkling form when she visited the USA earlier this month. Appearing on the satirical news programme The Daily Show she told host John Stewart: "You billed me on your website as a comedian - so you've raised all these expectations that I'm going to be funny".

"And I'm a politician, and as you know, politicians are rarely very funny."


Then when the conversation got on to Scottish oil stocks, Stewart mockingly asked: "How much are we talking about here? May we invade you."

Sturgeon replied: "I think this is progress because you just heard there Jon, presumably on behalf of the United States ask permission to invade an oil-producing country, it doesn't usually work that way."

 But the SNP leader was coming home to face trouble in her own back yard - almost literally - and residents who say its beyond a joke.  While she was away the  'Let's Save Govanhill' campaign group was taking council officers on a tour of their estate showing them the amount of rubbish strewn around, which they blame on neglect and fly-tipping.

They are calling on Glasgow city council leader Gordon Mathieson to intervene.
The group have also met with Nicola Sturgeon as part of their campaign. She was MSP for Govan before that constituency was abolished, and still represents the area as MSP for Glasgow Southside.

The campaigners have posted photographs of rubbish-strewn streets and greens on Facebook. Demanding "serious intervention into the ghetto Govanhill has now become", Liz Armour of the Save Govanhill group said : "Yet again the images of Nicola Sturgeon's constituency have shocked many people. Others have said this is nothing new. The sad thing is children live in this filth and they see the squalor everyday surrounding them.

"Despite council officials viewing it firsthand on their tour we are not holding our breaths waiting for some serious action from them, instead we will continue holding our noses at the stink that Govanhill is now creating for Glasgow."


http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/13332113.Campaigners_call_for_action_over__filth_and_squalor__in_Govanhill/

When I first heard that protesters were going to Nicola Sturgeon my thought was that surely this was a council matter, and not up to the First Minister?  I wondered if the Labour Party was stirring things up, and deliberately diverting people's frustration so as to embarrass the SNP leader. But a friend who lives in Govan assures me people there are well aware of the Labour-led Glasgow city council's responsibilities, and were turning to their MSP because they felt the authorities were neglecting them.

Meanwhile, away from the schemes and back-streets of Glasgow, another struggle is taking place, and this is one we predicted.  In 2007, hearing that the SNP having received funds from the Souter family  had dropped its position on public ownership of transport, I wondered how this might affect Caledonian MacBrayne, whose ferries provide the vital service to the Scottish islands.
http://randompottins.blogspot.co.uk/2007/04/but-they-can-buy-our-politics.html

Now here is Richie Venton, industrial organiser for the Scottish Socialists Party:

Caledonian Macbrayne (CalMac) ferry workers – members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ union (RMT) – are taking industrial action in defence of their pensions, jobs, conditions of work – and against privatisation by the Scottish government, who seem set to hand the publicly-owned CalMac ferries over to the private, profiteering Serco.

They start with an overtime ban, followed by a 24-hour strike.

The workers run lifeline services to remote communities on the Clyde and Hebrides CalMac ferries.

These RMT members deserve and need the solidarity of every worker in Scotland.

They are themselves often members of the island communities who depend on these lifeline services. They are dedicated and hardworking, going out in all weather, and have only resorted to this action because of the threat to the services they provide as well as the jobs and conditions they’ve gained through collective union efforts.

SWEEPING MAJORITIES FOR STRIKE

They decided on this course of action by sweeping majorities in a ballot of RMT members, who make up about 680 of the 1,400-strong workforce. In a decisive 60% turnout, on a two-question ballot, 98% of them voted in favour of industrial action short of strike action, and 92% in favour of strikes. Even if the Tories’ vicious hurdles against the right of workers to withdraw their labour had already been made law, there would still be a legal majority for this solidarity action.

That in itself illustrates the strength of feeling of a workforce that has tried every other option to get guarantees on their pensions and against compulsory redundancies.

Read more about the CalMac struggle at Richie Venton’s blog.

https://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/calmac-ferries-trade-unions-sold-down-the-river/

http://richieventon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/calmac-ferries-sold-down-river.html



In another dispute, hospital porters who have been fighting for upgrading and a raise in pay have taken their protest to the Dundee offices of Scottish Health Minister Shona Robinson whom they say is blocking their award.
http://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-courier-advertiser-perth-and-perthshire-edition/20150627/281852937219721/TextView

More than Chutzpah Behind the Bulldozers

 

 HOW IT WAS

A historic London pub has been demolished by a developer's bulldozers, without planning permission, and without warning to people in neighbouring properties or any precautions for their safety. Even the landlady was not told.

Now people are watching to see what action Westminster council takes, and demanding the company responsible are compelled to make good what they have destroyed or that the site is taken off them and used for social housing -and a new pub or social club.

 "Passers by stared in amazement as two bulldozers tore into Carlton Tavern in Carlton Vale, destroying its shell and all its contents including a wide screen television, darts trophies, pictures, and a pint glass left on a table.

No safety precautions had been put in place resulting in concerns about security of nearby buildings and if the utilities had been switched off prior.

Patsy Lord, the pub’s landlady, rushed to the scene from her home in Maida Vale after she was alerted to the demolition and told she needed to move her son’s car. After opening for business on Monday and hosting an Easter quiz, she was told the pub would be closed for an ‘inventory'."

Local councillor Tom Crockett said: “Neither the council, my fellow councillors nor local residents had any notice of this demolition which I saw with my own eyes being conducted without any obvious safety precautions such as hoardings, barriers or formal traffic controls. All took place as children on school holidays played outside and unsuspecting traffic went past through clouds of smoke and dust.

(This might well have included asbestos dust - RP)

“The demolition clearly took place under a cloak of secrecy; neither the locals nor the landlady knew. Televisions remained on the walls and the bar appeared fully stocked.

“We are urging officers to take the strongest action open to them. I have personally taken the time to ensure that photographic and film evidence has been collated and passed to officers for referral to the Health and Safety Executive whom I urge to consider bringing prosecutions.”

A Westminster council spokesperson told Londonist: “Westminster City Council’s Planning Enforcement Team received a report that the Carlton Tavern was in the process of being demolished. A planning inspector of the planning enforcement team visited the site immediately following receipt of the report and noted at 2.30pm that the building had indeed been substantially demolished with only one side wall remaining
This is truly outrageous behaviour which has to be dealt with properly. "

 In the past we have remarked on the mystery fires which destroyed some derelict pubs when owners were waiting for planning permission.  But in this case the company neither took its time waiting nor resorted to subterfuge. It is possible one reason for its hurry was that a preservation order on the building was expected, so the bulldozers were ordered in first.

Councillor Rita Begum, Maida Vale ward for Labour, said: "It was a shock. I have never seen anything like it in my entire life. "I went past just the other day and there were people drinking inside the pub - there was no warning whatsoever.

"They were going to confirm it as a listed building on Wednesday. I think the developers found out it was going to be a listed building and that's why the destroyed it.

Planning permission was sought in June 2014 on behalf of CLTX Ltd by Kieran Rafferty, of KR Planning, who describes himself on Twitter as an "independent planning consultant helping people deal with the anchors on society". 


As for the chances of even Tory Westminster council having to take tough action, this may not be easy.  The company which had applied to build flats on the site  is C. L. T. X., based in Tel  Aviv.

As one commentator says, "The only director of C.L.T.X. Ltd is Ori Calif, born 1977 (Director ID: 915883939) Registered address and Trading Address in London is 21 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3HH. Other registered address for Calif is 8 Shaul Hamelech Blvd, Tel Aviv, Israel 64733. Any lawsuit will be an issue since the company is only worth £942 and has £1,458 Cash It has £5,917 Assets with £4,975 Liabilities. I suppose jail would suffice!!"

This has brought some wry allusions to Israeli house demolitions, and we could also refer to the use of planning regulations to order them.  But more to the point, we must wonder how a company based so far away, and with such modest assets, could find its way among the big boys of the London property market and propose to build a block of flats, with apparently less cash than you would normally need to pay a deposit or raise a mortgage to buy a flat in London?

It must take chutzpah, sure, but surely also require good contacts. My guess, as a mere amateur with no business experience or proper knowledge of these matters, is that this company must have backing. And if they were tipped off that the building was about to be listed, so that they decided to send in the bulldozers right away, that sounds like they or their advisors had a useful contact in Westminster council's planning office.  Only saying....

 


 
http://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/news/heritage/shock_as_historic_pub_in_kilburn_is_demolished_with_no_warning_and_without_permission_1_4027231

http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/developer-demolishes-historic-london-pub/8681094.article

http://londonist.com/2015/04/shock-as-historic-pub-demolished-without-permission.php

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/11525262/Bulldozers-level-historic-pub-the-day-before-it-is-due-to-be-listed.html

http://www.endole.co.uk/company/07578871/cltx-ltd 

• C.L.T.X. limited - incorporated 25 March 2011. Companies House has a proposal to strike off, perhaps due the non delivery of their 31 March 2014 accounts which were due 31 December 2014. Registered office 21 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3HH. One director - a Mr Ori Calif of 8 Shaul Hamelech Blvd, Tel Aviv, Israel 64733. C.L.T.X. has a subsidiary Ye Old White Bear Limited - again registered at 21 Bedford Square (this is probably their accountant's office). Ye Old White Bear was founded on 11 June 2013, no accounts or company return ever made so there is again a Companies House proposal to strike off. Our old friend Ori Calif is the sole director, but this time his address is given as 28 Kensington Park Gardens, Notting Hill W11 2QS and his occupation given as lawyer. There is a law firm called Ori Calif & Co registered at 8 Shaul Hamelech Blvd which claims a special focus on international taxation and real estate. Don't know if it is connected but there is a pub called The Old White Bear in Hampstead which was supposedly saved from being developed into a 6 bedroom house last year, but apparently has yet to re-open as a pub.-         'Wolfie Smith'

http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/carlton-tavern-in-carlton-way-kilburn-is-demolished-with-no-warning-and-without-permission.333913/

Meddler on the Roof

SINGING from the same...er hymn sheet?  Or getting another report on Tower Hamlets? Eric Pickles, here with Home Secretary Theresa May, is Minister for Communities and Faith. So will he put money where his mouth is, and help repair synagogue roof?

(a real East Enders' tale)

A former East Enders actress says the series is unreal in its depiction of the area's ethnic make up. I've often thought the same about its socio-economic model. I can suspend disbelief and accept residents going to the cafe for breakfast, on Coronation Street or Albert Square, is a dramatic device.
But an entire community living by pulling pints or selling each other dodgy gear from market stalls seems a bit unreal to me.

With no one leaving the Square for work, or social life, I fear the effect of isolation and inbreeding once associated with Fenland villages, though it spares us Walford residents grumbling about London's transport problems or talking about the bus strike.

Steering clear of anything political seems a soap rule generally, though Coronation Street once had young Ken Barlow worrying his Mum by going on a CND march. (I don't know whether this had anything to do with ex-miner and Left-wing writer Jim Allen contributing scripts. I did go on a march down Cross Lane, Salford. not unlike the one heard going past the Street on Corrie.)  Brookside, which I rarely watched, had brother-sister incest and bodies under patios, one Liverpool-born critic I know praised the "social realism"; but as a regular fan confirmed to me, nobody in the series ever once mentioned the three-year long struggle waged  over Liverpool docks.  

This must have been galling for one member of the cast, ex-docker Peter Kerrigan, who'd entered TV in a Jim Allen play, and hadn't forgotten his old comrades. But in the end it was Robbie Fowler who broke the TV blackout on the dockers.

Anyway, to get back to 'East Enders',  I thought I'd suggest a real East End story, albeit introducing a couple of implausible characters. The Rt.Honorable Eric Pickles MP is, to quote his full job title, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Minister for Faith. After recent tragic events in Paris and before sending out a letter to mosques on their duty to prove they are British, Pickles took part in a photo opportunity alongside Home Secretary Theresa May, both holding up signs declaring 'Je suis Juif' - I am Jewish. My reaction when I saw this was a horrified shudder, but I suppose that is ungracious. There is a way that Pickles could win appreciation.  

Here is an item that caught my eye in the online Jewish News:
"A group of young Jews are fundraising to help save one of London’s oldest synagogues on Nelson Street, Whitechapel. East London Central Synagogue, founded in 1923 is the East End’s oldest purpose built synagogue, but its roof is collapsing and its original features are in need of major repair. Jewdas is aiming to raise at least £5,000 to save the synagogue, and have started a campaign. http://www.jewishnews.co.uk/fundraising-campaign-save-whitechapel-shul-state-disrepair/

Jewdas, as their name suggests, are a witty, irreverant but creative young group whose seemingly wild but well-organised cultural events have breathed new life into their community, and its better traditions, while blowing more than a raspberry at the Establishment. Some of these young people were to be seen marching behind the Young Jewish Left banner on last year's Gaza demonstrations.
Now they are showing the same lack of inhibition taking responsibility for something constructive and positive.

It's almost like a small piece of Cameron's forgotten 'Big Society', but without the big money advertising, over-paid CEOs,  and exploited charity workers.  Jewdas are just amateurs. 

To understand the background, mind, let's start with an item headed 'Politics and race: A tale of two mayors',  which appeared in 2013, in of all places,  The Economist:  

 STRIDING into the east London Central Synagogue, Lutfur Rahman grasps Leon Silver, a wiry Jewish elder, in his arms. Mr Silver hugs back. Since winning the mayoralty of Tower Hamlets, an east London borough with a quarter of a million inhabitants, in 2010, Mr Rahman has allocated some £3m ($4.5m) to repairing religious buildings. The synagogue is one of them. Tactile and soft-spoken, with a beaming countenance, Mr Rahman—a Bangladeshi Muslim—is every bit the local champion.  http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21589485-two-very-different-models-running-diverse-bit-east-london-tale-two-mayors

The contrast in styles was with Newham's Labour mayor Sir Robin Wales, who I'll deal with another time. The E15 mothers protesting social cleansing and taking part in Saturday's housing march have already been dealing with him.

That 'Economist'  article appeared on November 9, 2013,  which happened to be the anniversary of Hitler's Kristallnacht pogroms, a point that's only been given significance now by news of swastika graffiti in parts of east London, and Holocaust memorial posters being defaced.

 Lutfur Rahman was re-elected mayor of  Tower Hamlets last year, but his re-election is being challenged in the courts. In December, although a police investigation found no evidence of fraud, Eric Pickles sent his commissioners in to take over the council, having received a report from Price, Waterhouse and Cooper alleging a “worrying pattern of divisive community politics and alleged mismanagement of public money by the mayoral administration of Tower Hamlets”.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/dec/17/eric-pickles-commissioner-takeover-tower-hamlets

So how does that affect the synagogue?
"East London Central Synagogue, founded in 1923, is the East End's oldest remaining purpose built synagogue. It is a remnant of a once thriving Jewish East End culture, and an important emblem of Jewish Heritage. The synagogue was due a grant from Tower Hamlet's Council to cover much needed renovations - in particular the roof, which the congregation has been waiting to repair for many years. However, due to recent intervention in the running of the council by communities minister Eric Pickles, the grant has been frozen, and is likely to be much lower in value if it is still given. " https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/save-the-shul

We might add that as well as amalgamating several previous congregations, the synagogue hosts varied cultural as well as religious activities. Keeping it going helps maintain Tower Hamlets' diversity, affording confidence to old East Enders staying in the borough and newcomers deciding to make it their home.  


One does not have to agree with Lutfur Rahman's policy of working with faith groups, or other aspects of Tower Hamlets council, to see that it is not quite the "divisive" policy unduly favouring Muslim groups or places of worship which media and political rivals have been suggesting. We do have to ask whether Pickles, and those egging him on,  have been divisive in singling out Tower Hamlets for intervention.  

And while we admire the spirit of those young people who have taken responsibility for raising funds for East London synagogue, it does not seem unreasonable to ask that Mr.Pickles and his commissioners, and anyone else who meddles in Tower Hamlets, should take responsibility for honouring the council's legitimate pledges.

   The synagogue in Nelson Street.
http://www.jewisheastend.com/nelsonst.html

All Souls to Austerity, or 'Gilded Age' for Some?

IT might be Christmassy, if it had some decorations. But if it looks cold in this picture, now its worse -the lights are off,  and the building's up for sale.

NO, this isn't the Pottins family mansion in seasonably wintry guise, but it is a place where I frequently went back in the 1960s, and not just to get out of the cold, when I was living in Kensal Rise. Providing an escape from boring drudgery at work and the walls of my bedsit, and free at that, the Kensal Rise library with its books and newspapers (casettes and computers hadn't yet arrived)   offered truths and tales a plenty. I don't think it occurred to me that it had a tale of its own -and more to come.

The street names - College Road, and All Souls Avenue -were a clue.  In those days you could walk from West Kilburn almost to Harlesden, pass three public libraries, and not see a pub. When you crossed the Harrow Road there was one on the corner of Scrubs Lane, the College Park. The reason for the 'dry' zone in between, so I was told, was that much of the land was owned by All Souls College, Oxford, who cared about the residents' moral welfare and sobriety.

If this was old-fashioned paternalism, it had its good side. All Souls had gifted the land for the library on College Road.  When it opened in 1900 it had a distinguished guest, Mark Twain, who happened to be staying at Dollis Hill at the time. There was a brass plaque commemorating his visit.


http://www.savekensalriselibrary.org/2011/01/21/local-author-maggie-gee-writes-about-kensal-rise-library/

 When local people heard four years ago that their library was one of five which Brent council wanted to close, they thought that its distinguished past might be evoked to save it. Particularly as  the site had been given under a covenant specifying that the building be used as a public reading room and library. Residents in Cricklewood thought they had a similar case for their library too.

The campaign to save Kensal Rise Library did not stop there. Campaigners lobbied the council and took a coach up to Oxford to protest at All Souls College, with some support from students. They held local meetings and cultural events, and gained national publicity. Besides local teachers and trades unionists, they gained support from Alan Bennett,^[9] Zadie Smith,^[10] Nick Cave^[11] and the Pet Shop Boys.^{[2]   
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensal_Rise_Library}


After the council had taken away the books and closed the building, the campaigners set up a makeshift Pop Up library on the corner, with donated books and volunteers. It withstood the weather only to be torn down by heavies sent down by All Souls, no longer so interested in maintaining cultural standards as engaging in property development. 

Along the way, the Kensal Rise campaign has seen some interesting developments. One, a property developer's application for planning permission for the library site brought heaps of e-mails of support.  Only thing is they were mostly fakes. Some came from non-existent IP addresses, others from the same business premises, or purported to be from people who had not sent them. The council had to investigate. It also decided to notify the police. Meanwhile the campaigners persuaded All Souls and the council that any development of the building for flats must leave space for community use as a library. How much, and whether it would be sufficient for both lending and reading room is not so clear.

But two things have been made clear, just before Christmas. 
"The Kensal Rise Library building is up for auction this month, with a guide price of £1.15m.
Although planning permission has been granted to convert the majority of space in the building into flats, it still has a dedicated space on the ground floor earmarked for community use, which the Friends of Kensal Rise Library hope to run as a community library.
The community space is still controlled by the original owners of the building, All Souls College, Oxford, which sold the building to a developer on the basis that: "a certain amount of space in each building is leased on a rent-free basis for 999 years to enable continued provision of library services to the residents."
 
 http://www.thebookseller.com/news/1m-auction-kensal-rise-library-building

So the main use of the building will be for profitable development by anyone who can find £1.15 million or more, while the council's obligation to provide a proper library, run by professional staff, for residents and their children, is being replaced by a promise of space for unpaid volunteers and whatever books they can acquire. Call it Cameron's 'Big Society', brought in by Brent Labour council's cuts.


As for the law and order aspect, in February it was reported that police were delaying their investigation to seek more evidence.
http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/local-news/delay-fraud-investigation-police-wait-6679597



 And now, just in time for the Christmas break came the news:   ' Brent Council has been informed that the Crown Prosecution Service is to take no action regarding the fraudulent emails sent in support of Andrew Gillick's original planning application for Kensal Rise Library.
Arnold Meagher, Brent Council's Principal Lawyer, Housing and Litigation Team wrote:

    I write to advise that the Council has been informed of the outcome of the investigation regarding Mr Gillick and the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service.

    The Crown Prosecution Service has decided that there is insufficient evidence to support any prosecution against Mr Gillick and therefore, no further action will be taken against him. "

    70 or so fraudulent emails had been sent including one using the name and address of local business woman Kirsty Slattery.  Reacting to the news this afternoon she said:

    I think the whole process has been purposely drawn out and detrimental to the people and businesses it affected. So somehow no one is responsible for these acts of fraud (?) according to the CPS and at no point has anyone even received an apology from Brent Council.

    The fraud affected my business as it misrepresented my standing in the community. This should never have been allowed to happen, someone ought to have been held accountable for these deceitful actions and the very least I would expect is a sincere apology."

Kensal Rise Councillor Dan Filson was even more scathing:

This news seems released by the CPS deliberately at a time when attention is elsewhere. Shame on the CPS.

    I am appalled that an attempt - by whoever, though the email thread heading may offer a clue - to pervert the planning process had not resulted in a prosecution.     It would be useful to know if the reason for this decision is insufficient evidence linking the alleged perpetrator to the offence(s) or an unclear charge upon which a prosecution could be hung?

    A dangerous precedent has been set, that a fraudulent attempt to mislead a planning authority as to the level of support for a planning application from the community and as to who in that community is supporting it by way of impersonation. We don't now know whether this stunt has been pulled in respect of other applications in this or other boroughs.

    Labour leader of the council Muhammed Butt said:

   " It is bitterly disappointing that the police have chosen to ignore the evidence found in the council’s own inquiries and drop their investigation. When the future of the building affects hundreds of Brent residents and the entire Kensal Rise community, any issue of alleged fraud must surely be a priority in order to maintain the trust of local people. "
http://wembleymatters.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/no-prosecution-decision-in-kensal-rise.html



We might contrast this episode with the alacrity with which the Metropolitan Police moved on Christmas Eve to evict squatters from a former RBS building in Westminster, where they had invited homeless people to join them, and planned to serve Christmas Dinner.

They might not like being called "plebs", but its we real plebs who should feel insulted by being compared to the Metropolitan Police. In any conflict between property interests and the interests of working people,  the police and the Crown Prosecution Service know what side they are on, and it isn't ours. And unfortunately I don't see any reduction in police numbers changing that bias, nor is it likely to improve if 'proper coppers' are replaced by enthusiastic volunteers.

It is a pity we have not a writer like Mark Twain to follow up some of these stories. His young hero Tom Sawyer could have figured in another of Brent's library campaigns, Preston Park, among the youngsters writing on its short-lived "democracy wall".  Huckleberry Finn might have been trying to serve up Xmas dinner in that empty bank, instead of helping runaway slave Jim along the river bank. But best of all, Twain's less well-known work 'The Gilded Age', which summed up a society of profiteering, property speculation, exploitation and corruption, might be updated from booming late 19th century America to today's different times. An age of austerity, true, but still a Gilded Age for some.  

Not letting A&E be a casualty

IT'S some years now since I was taken ill at the end of  a day  at work, and when the symptoms persisted after I got home, knowing my GP's surgery would be shut, I rang NHS Direct. The nurse who called back advised me to take a cab right away to the nearest hospital A&E.

Living at the time quite near Park Royal, or Central Midddlesex, hospital, I did not bother calling for a cab, but walked over to the A&E where after some time in a busy, crowded and noisy waiting area (so bad the overworked and stressed receptionist could not hear me properly, so any record will show a visit by someone with a similar but differently spelled name to mine), I was seen to, and kept in under observation. After three night's rest which I turned into a week off work I was pronounced well enough, and am here to tell the tale.

A friend whose initially similar symptoms, misdiagnosed as "just a bug" by his GP,  turned out to be something more serious, ended up dying after treatment in the same hospital, a year or two before my short stay. But that is a different story, though it explains why I got the wind up when taken ill.

 The A&E and much else at Central Middlesex has changed beyond recognition since my brief stay. There's a bright new entrance, a bigger, more comfortable waiting area, and better facilities, and the hospital as a whole seems to have grown, with new buildings partly paid for if I'm not mistaken by a so-called Private Finance Initiative (PFI). 

Unfortunately, these things come at a price. If I still lived nearby I'd no longer be able to stroll up the road to be seen there, nor can my former neighbours rush down with their kids when they are injured, nor anyone who has an accident in Park Royal's many workplaces. Even the new bus station handily placed outside the hospital entrance is not much use now. You won't have to wait in a queue at the Central Middlesex A&E anymore, because after cutting back on its services, the health authority has - as people predicted - shut it altogether.  The same thing has happened to Hammersmith hospital too.

As was also predicted -  though not by the authority and experts, it seems - not only are people from Willesden and Acton facing greater difficulty and a longer journey reaching the alternative - Northwick Park hospital in Harrow -but the staff at Northwick Park A&E, which we were told could provide a better service, are having difficulty coping with the increased workload. So wherever you live the result is longer waiting times, more stressed staff, and - as is happening elsewhere -ambulances kept waiting to discharge patients, when they could be going on their next call.

Patients in west London have the longest wait for A&E treatment in the country following the closure of two casualty units.

Each week hundreds wait for longer than the NHS target of four hours, as pressure has soared at the three nearest hospitals.
Critics say axing the casualty units at Hammersmith and Central Middlesex on September 10 has put other hospitals under “unbearable pressure”, with patient care suffering as a result.
Figures from NHS England reveal the trust that runs Northwick Park and Ealing hospitals was the worst in the country for A&E performance in the final two weeks of October.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/waiting-times-at-ae-at-west-london-hospitals-hit-a-record-after-closures-9850531.html

So much for the promise of "centres of excellence" created by concentrating facilities at one site.

Ealing hospital was only saved incidentally after massive demonstrations by local people, and some outspoken health professionals, with support from the council as well.  Where people were slower to wake up and mobilise, the cuts have gone full steam ahead.

Some people in the health service, and in the media of course, seem to think it is their responsibility to make excuses for government and blame the public when things go wrong. So we were told that reducing casualty services to one site would be better for us. Delays in ambulances reaching calls are supposedly explained by people making frivolous calls (though in my experience ambulances are not sent out to anyone who asks, just like that); not to the government reducing the number of ambulance stations, nor to ambulances having to queue to discharge patients at hospitals.
And see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30566207

The other day I saw some jobsworth on TV explaining that the reasons Northwick Park was having difficulty seeing patients in time was that once people know an A&E facility is there they will use it.
Maybe if I were more cynical I'd suspect the idea had been to move the service away from the more centrally placed and accessible Central Middlesex hospital, hoping enough people had no idea where Northwick Park was or how to get there, and a lot of them would not make it.

A couple of years ago, having heard a revealing talk from Dr.John Lister of London Health Emergency about what was happening to the NHS, Brent Trades Union Council of which I am a member decided to commission a report from him, with the aim of alerting people to what was threatened in north-west London. With help from Ealing and other trades councils this was published as a news-sheet.

http://www.healthemergency.org.uk/pdf/NorthWestLondonNHS-UndertheKnife.pdf

Though the Central Middlesex A&E has closed, the fight is not yet over. This week I received a press statement from the Brent borough council;


Independent commission to review A&E closures in West London
2 December 2014

An independent commission, chaired by leading barrister, Michael Mansfield QC, is being set up by Brent Council along with three other local councils in west London, who have been deeply concerned by deteriorating local hospital services.

The closures of hospital A&E services in West London have been followed by lengthening waiting times for residents struggling to get seen at over-burdened neighbouring hospitals. With the expected imminent spike in demand from winter pressures, fears are rising that lives are being put at risk.

Growing disquiet at the knock-on effect on other hospitals, of the closure of emergency services at Central Middlesex and Hammersmith, has also resulted in the surprise announcement by NHS England of its own inquiry into how hospital reconfiguration in west London is being handled. The councils remain concerned about the impact of closing further services at Ealing and Charing Cross hospitals on the remaining emergency services in the region.

Official NHS figures show the trusts that run St Mary's, Charing Cross, West Middlesex, Ealing and Northwick Park hospitals have all failed to meet A&E waiting time targets over recent weeks.

In the three weeks after 19 October, all three hospital trusts dipped below the national target, which says 95% of patients should be seen within 4 hours. Performance at North West London Hospitals Trust, which runs Ealing and Northwick Park hospitals, fell to just 67.8% of patients being seen within 4 hours, the second worst result in the country.

Now, Brent Council along with Hammersmith & Fulham, Ealing, and Hounslow have got together to set up an impartial inquiry to look in depth at the impact local closures are having, and at the implications of further hospital reorganisation proposals, including the planned closure of services at Ealing Hospital and Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith.


As well as reviewing the evidence provided by the NHS to support their reorganisation, the commission will be asking others to contribute evidence. It will also commission further research to fill the gaps in existing evidence.

Councillor Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, said: "Our worst fears, about the effects of closing local A&Es before the expansion of Northwick Park was complete, have come true. Brent residents now face the longest A&E waiting times in the country and immediate action needs to be taken to resolve this situation as we are talking about life and death emergency treatment. Further delays to the A&E improvements at Northwick Park will only make the problem worse. West Londoners deserve the best healthcare and this joint review will be vital in shining a light on what has gone on with these botched A&E closures."

Last week, hospital bosses faced tough questions from Councillors at Brent Council's Scrutiny Committee who decided to keep the matter under review.

Michael Mansfield QC last year chaired the Lewisham People's Commission, an inquiry into the proposals to close services at Lewisham Hospital. He has represented defendants in criminal trials, appeals and inquiries in some of the most controversial legal cases in the country. He represented the family of Jean Charles de Menezes and the families of victims at the Bloody Sunday Inquiry. He chaired an inquiry into the shoot to kill policy in the North of Ireland and has represented many families at inquests, including the Marchioness disaster and the Lockerbie bombing. He also represents the family of Stephen Lawrence.

Weekly A&E figures supplied by NHS England http://www.england.nhs.uk/…/ae-w…/weekly-ae-sitreps-2014-15/
RSS
Statistics » Weekly A&E SitReps 2014-15
The Weekly A&E collection collects the total number of attendances in the week for all A&E types, including Minor Injury Units and Walk-in Centres, and of these, the number discharged, admitted or transferred...
england.nhs.uk|By Statistics

Two Women of Worth

MINNIE LANSBURY on her way to arrest.

The other evening I heard an interesting, indeed inspiring, talk about Minnie Lansbury, who was one of the rebel Labour councillors in the London Borough of Poplar who went  to  prison rather than deprive local people of services or impose a heavy tax burden on the poor.

The speaker was Janine Booth, an RMT trade union member and author of "Guilty and Proud Of It!", about the Poplar councillors, just back from doing some further research in Holland, and with her enthusiasm and illustrations she really brought her subject to life.

Born in 1888, the year of the great matchgirls strike which launched the New Trade unionism in the East End, Minnie Glassman was one of seven siblings, her family Jewish immigrants  who had fled the poverty and persecution of Czarist Russia.

 Her father, Isaac Glassman was a boot finisher, who might work 13-14 hours a day, when there was work to be had. As this trade declined, he managed to become a coal merchant, delivering with his horse and cart around the East End.  On one occasion, in Stratford, he was attacked by two men in the street, for no apparent reason other perhaps than that they recognised him as a Jew.

On May 20, 1913, Isaac was able to pay his £5 fee to become a naturalised British citizen, entitled to vote.   Minnie's mother Annie did not bother. She would not have been given a vote anyway -there were still five years and a world war to go before women achived that, and then incompletely.

But Minnie was not one to wait.  Having become a teacher in a London County Council school for a grand £7 a month, she joined the National Union of Teachers, and in 1911 and 1913 her East London branch discussed motions for equal pay for women - at that time more than two thirds of the profession - passing one second time around.  That too did not become official union policy till after the War.  Meanwhile Minnie Glassman also joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) - she became a Suffragette.

With the outbreak of the First World War, the leaders of the Suffrage movement, the Pankhursts, were swept into the patriotic tide - except for Sylvia, working in the East End of London, who refused to suspend her campaign for women's rights or her socialist opposition to the war. Her East London WSPU, which was also Minnie Glassman's branch of course, was expelled.

While Christabel Pankhurst and her allies distributed white feathers, and campaigned for conscription, and internment of aliens, it was Sylvia Pankhurst and her supporters like Minnie Glassman in the East End who made sure soldiers' children were fed, campaigning for wives to receive payments and widows their pensions, and against price rises and profiteering. They re-opened a run down pub as the Mother's Arms, providing cheap nutritious meals. They supported refugees against being deported back to Russia to serve in the Czar's army.

 Minnie, who had married George Lansbury's son Edgar in 1914, carried on teaching, but she became particularly well-known and liked for her work on war pensions.

The East London suffragettes differed from the national WSPU in another respect. They recognised that not just women but many male workers too still did not have the vote, and decided this too was their business.  The East London branch became the Workers Suffrage Union, adopting a class point of view, and its paper changed its name from Women's Dreadnought to Workers' Dreadnought. They held some lively meetings at the dock gates.

Both Sylvia Pankhurst and Minnie Lansbury welcomed the Russian Revolution, and in their own ways became Communists, but they came to differ about what was to be learned from it.  Sylvia had seen enough of right-wing Labour opportunism and support for the war, and despite campaigning so long for the vote, distrusted anything to do with parliament or resembling reformism. In vain did Lenin, seeing such fervour as a childhood malady of the new Communists, seek to persuade her to have anything to do with the Labour Party.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/

Young Minnie, on the other hand, perhaps from being closer to the working class (and less personally scarred than Sylvia), rather than theoretical grounding, saw the opportunity to continue the kind of struggles she had engaged in, and make some gains, not for herself, but for the working class.  The Labour Party had not yet bolted its doors against the Communists. With George Lansbury leading the Labour Party in Poplar, and taking  the council, Edgar became a councillor and  Minnie was made an alderman.

Poplar was one of the poorest areas of London, and its low-paid workers were hit by post-war recession and lay-offs. The council, introducing a number of impovements from equal pay for women and a minimum wage for council workers, to free school meals for poor children, and heating the water in the second-class dwimming baths. It brought in electrification, and it wanted to launch public works for the unemployed, but the government refused funding. The council had to find money for poor relief -unemployment benefit - in those days. With so much low rent, low rateable value property in the borough, it also had to raise a precept, just like Kensington or Chelsea, to such costs as the Metropolitan Police.

It was the Poplar councillors' defiant decision in 1921 not to raise this money, in order to challenge this unfair funding and demand "equalisation of rates", which led to their imprisonment. They marched to jail heads held high, and cheered by supporters. They were able to hold council meetings in prison, and George Lansbury addressed crowds outside through the bars of his cell.

Although the Labour Party leadership condemned their action, two other east London boroughs decided  to join Poplar's lead. Eventually, the councilors were released, and the government rushed through measures to ease the burden, including £250,000 a year subsidy to Poplar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoykPEbD9Ms

http://www.merlinpress.co.uk/acatalog/GUILTY_AND_PROUD_OF_IT_.html.

Alas, though she had gone to prison in high spirits, Minnie's health suffered from the conditions inside, and she died on January 1, 1922, of pneumonia and infuenza. When her death was announced at a rally, people broke down in tears.

The working class had lost a fine, heroic fighter.

After her death, Edgar Lansbury married again, to actress Moyna Macgill. He served as mayor of Poplar from 1924-5.  That year the couple had a daughter Angela Lansbury.  A memorial clock to Minnie Lansbury was put up on Electric House, Bow Road. When it was restored in 2008, actress Angela Lansbury was proud to contribute, and send a message of support.
 http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/hollywood_star_writes_message_as_suffragette_minnie_honoured_1_666715

MINNIE LANSBURY'S CLOCK  on Bow Road, E3.  Edgar's daughter, actress Angela Lansbury, contributed to restoration.

Meanwhile, Across the River... 

 Unlike Minnie Glassman, Ada Brown was not born in the East End or South London, but in a small Northamptonshie town called Raunds. Coming to London to work among the poor, Ada joined the West London Mission, then in  1897 transferred to the Bermondsey Settlement. There she met Alfred Salter, then a student at Guy's Hospital. It is said that he converted her to socialism and she encouraged him to become a Christian, though Alfred too came from a religious family. They joined the Peckham branch of the Society of Friends (Quakers) together, and were married on 22 August 1900.

Alfred Salter set up a low-cost medical practice in Bermondsey, and in his first week made 12 shillings and sixpence, but he soon needed to expand this practice as more patients came.  Offering services free to those who could not pay, Dr. Salter also pioneered mutual health insurance schemes and adult education classes on health matters.

Though they had joined the Liberal Party to seek improvements in the area, the Salters decided to join the Independent Labour Party (ILP) led by James Keir Hardy in 1908. In November 1910 the ILP nominated seven candidates for the borough council elections in Bermondsey. Only one, Ada Salter was elected, becoming the first woman councillor in London. Personal tragedy struck when the couple's daughter Joyce – then eight years old – died of scarlet fever.  Perhaps if they had not chosen to live in the poor inner city and send their daughter to the local school this might not have happened. Ada was defeated in the elections of 1912.

However, the Salters did not give up. Ada Salter was re-elected to the councilin 1919, and in the 1922 General Election Alfred Salter, was elected MP for  Bermondsey West. The Labour Party also had the largest number of seats on the Bermondsey Borough. Ada now became London's first woman Mayor. As a socialist she declined to wear Mayoral robes or the chain of office.

With a Labour majority on the council, it could do something about public health, which Alfred Salter had recognised as a priority. It launched a campaign,  with special films which were shown to large crowds in the open air,  and pamphlets distributed throughout the borough. A systematic house-to-house inspection was conducted to seek out conditions dangerous to health. Premises where food was sold were constantly examined and samples of foods were taken away for analysis.


The people of Bermondsey welcomed the actions taken by the local council. In the 1925 elections,every seat on the Borough Council and the Board of Guardians returned Labour members. The parliamentary seat and the two London County Council seats were also held by the party.

When the Labour Party took office in 1922 the death-rate was 16.7 per 1,000. By 1927 it had fallen to 12.9. In 1922 the number of new cases of tuberculosis was 413. In 1927 it was 294. Deaths from the disease fell from 206 to 175. Alfred Salter claimed " Though Bermondsey is an overcrowded industrial area, with few amenities and a poor population living under great residential and economic disadvantages, yet if the death rate continues to diminish at the present rate, the borough will be entitled in a few years to be regarded as one of Britain's health resorts. Day in, day out, year in, year out, this wonderful preventive work, scientifically organised and directed by trained brains, is going on like clockwork. The Labour majority in the Council intend to employ any and every means to stamp out preventable illness."

The Salters had acquired a convalescent home in Kent for Bermondsey people, and Alfred Salter also campaigned successfully to obtain a solarium for TB patients. Some children with tubercolosis were even sent to Switzerland for fresh air, while for healthier youngsters the council established a number of local play grounds. Dr.Salter had been one of the founders of  what became the Socialist Medical Association and in 1931 he visited the Soviet Union with its President Somerville Hastings.

Ada Salter claimed to know nothing about her husband's speciality, health, but she made her own contribution to improving life in Bermondsey, and London, by her passion for having trees planted in city streets, and gardens. Though Alfred Salter resigned from Bermondsey Borough Council in 1931, Ada remained, continuing her effort  to make Bermondsey into a Garden City.

Fenner Brockway, wrote about the progress made by 1937:
"By this time Bermondsey's trees and flowers were famous. Travelling on the Southern Railway by the long viaduct which crosses the borough passengers noted with wonder the avenues of green between the crowded buildings, the beds of tulips or dahlias in the gaps between the houses, the climbing roses on the balconies of the tenements. Films of the streets, gardens and churchyards were shown all over the world and some American visitors included them with Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London in the sights of London."

Elected to the London County Council in 1925, Ada Salter became Chair of the Parks Committee in 1934, and worked on behalf of the introduction of a Green Belt.

ADA SALTER



During the First World War Ada and Alfred Salter worked for the Non-Conscription Fellowship. Ada  was also active in the Women's Labour League. At the end of the war she was amongst the British delegation to the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom conventions in Zürich and Vienna. 

The Quaker pacifist faith which had strengthened the couple's resolve during one world conflict was less helpful as a guide as a new one loomed. Alfred Salter fell out with fellow socialists in Bermondsey in 1937 when they mobilised to block the way to Mosley's fascists, in the Battle of Long Lane.  He also believed somewhat naively that appeasement might avert war with Germany, though unlike Tory appeasers who sympathised with Hitler, Salter hoped that ordinary Germans could be encouraged to turn away from the fuhrer. Perhaps he did not fully grasp what was happening to anti-Nazi Germans. During the war, to his credit, Dr.Salter was one of the few political voices against indiscriminate mass bombing of civilians.   

Ada Salter died on 5th December, 1942. Alfred Salter wrote a month later: "The loneliness grows deeper and has not lessened in the slightest with the lapse of time. Sometimes it is almost unbearable, but I have to learn to bear it."
http://spartacus-educational.com/PRsalterAD.htm

Whatever we think of Alfred and Ada Salter's overall politics, what endeared them to local people and remains in memory was their dedicated effort to raise the health and quality of life of working people, and replace ugly slums with their vision of a garden city.

A rose garden, opened in 1936 within the Old Surrey Docks area (near Southwark Park),was spontaneously referred to as the 'Ada Salter Garden' from the start, and in June 1943 the name was formally recognised by the LCC.  A Salter Memorial Lecture is promoted by the Quaker Socialist Society each year

After a statue of Alfred Salter, seated on a park bench, was stolen in November 2011, probably for its scrap value, plans were made to replace it with statues of both Alfred and Ada, and of the dayghter they lost. A campaign was launched to raise £50,000 for this, and my own trades council in Brent was one of many labour movement bodies which contributed. Southwark borough council, which nowadays includes the Bermondsey area, agreed to match what was raised.   

The new statue of Ada Salter is to be unveiled at 2pm on Sunday, November 30, at Bermondsey Wall East SE16.
http://www.southwark.gov.uk/news/article/1851/long_awaited_alfred_salter_statue_set_to_be_unveiled_in_bermondsey

http://blackcablondon.net/tag/ada-salter/

GARDENS IN DOCKLAND part of legacy by which Ada Salter is remembered.

Chuck out Chuka and co., and Leave the Squatters!

THANKS to sharp-eyed friend Dave Osler for spotting this little gem of Labour front bench wisdom, which he posted for comments on Facebook:  

"The big difference between 1979 and 2013 is that we are all capitalists now. The question is, what sort of capitalism do we want? We embrace free markets but we want competitive and free markets and more responsible capitalism."

- Chuka Umunna, Labour's business spokesman and former corporate lawyer, quoted in today's Financial Times.

Some people have wondered whether "responsible" free market capitalism is one of those impossible things in which you have to believe, or say you believe, if you want to get on in politics, others darkly question whether political careerists really believe anything except the desirability of office.

But to be fair, this is not the first time Chuka Umunna has shown his dedication to the system, and I see no reason to doubt his sincerity. Having just seen him on TV, I expect we'll be seeing more of him, but a bit of news from back in September should suffice. At the time I could hardly believe my ears, and had to check, but here's what one socially conscious blogger said about it:

As homelessness in the capital soars, three senior Labour Party figures have launched an all out attack on homeless people by demanding new laws to protect property developers and landlords from squatters.

Head of Lambeth Council, Lib Peck, MP for Streatham and Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna along with Dulwich MP Tessa Jowell have all signed a joint letter this week written to bungling Justice Secretary Chris Grayling demanding that the squatting ban be extended to commercial properties.

Showing exactly whose side they are on – and it ain’t ours – the treacherous trio claim:

“Unfortunately, the problem of squatters for commercial property owners has since worsened, and Lambeth has seen an increase in the number of squatters now specifically targeting non-residential buildings. Extending the law to protect businesses would be a welcome move.”

The letter contains examples of spurious claims about squatters damaging property, even stooping as low as claiming that an attempted suicide in one squat is a reason that this vital lifeline for homeless people should be banned.

One of these squats was Patmos Lodge, a former care home which had been home to 100 previously homeless residents until they were violently evicted on the orders of Lambeth Council.  The Council want to demolish the building and flog off the land, no doubt to property developers looking to build yet more yuppy flats.

Multi-millionaire property tycoons have long attempted to blame squatters for damage caused to buildings left abandoned as investments, or simply because they’re so fucking rich they can afford to leave a property empty. They seem to believe they have a divine right to occupy large swathes of city centres, leaving buildings to become derelict eyesores until they judge it profitable enough to bother knocking them down and turning them into luxury flats that local people could never dream of affording.

 Meanwhile at least one homeless man has died as a direct result of the ban on squatting in residential properties.  Daniel Gauntlett was just 35 years old when he was found dead of hypothermia outside an empty bungalow in Aylesford at the end of February.  Reports claimed he had previously attempted to sleep inside the boarded up property but had been prevented after police were called.  The  bungalow was due to be bulldozed.

http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/labour-mps-call-for-extension-of-squatting-ban/

At least we can't accuse the Con Dem coalition of failing to do joined up thinking, when knowing the effect of benefit capping, bedroom tax, soaring rents and house prices, they criminalised squatting to prevent people using their own initiative to find a roof over their heads.

The bill was ushered in with lots of media stories about homeowners returning from holiday to find their house squatted, and supposedly undesirable persons cheekily inhabiting luxury mansions. The truth is that of 33 convictions in in the first six months of the new law, three of which led to jail sentences, not one concerned premises which anyone was living in.   
before they were squatted.

Meanwhile, the great Tory policy to which Labour succumbed, of giving tenants the "right to buy" council homes, has ended up with nearly half of them in the hands of private landlords, espcially in London, and being rented to those who can afford it at well above council rents.

http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/tenancies/report-finds-52000-right-to-buy-homes-in-london-now-rented-privately/7001600.article




http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/12/right-to-buy-housing-scandal

Lambeth council, which once had a more enlightened policy on squatters, has had long-term residents evicted from flats so the developers can get to work. But it seems this is not enough. Having blamed squatters for damage to a local library, which the council had left empty for two years on the promise of an entertainment centre, or other development, Labour has turned to the government for help.

Criminalising squatting on commercial premises would give the police something to do, with so little real crime on our streets, and make the task easier for the brave boys in blue like those in the London Borough of Redbridge who, in order to discourage homeless rough sleepers from kipping in a disused council swimming baths were reduced to   
robbing them of food and blankets. 

It could also strengthen the hand of the state for evicting and punishing workers who occupy factories or other workplaces to resist closures and sackings, or rescue backpay and pensions they are owed. (Visteon workers, whose fight still goes on.).

It would certainly hit many community groups that occupy premises to try and maintain services (Friern Barnet library) that are being closed, or organise cultural activities.

At one time we might have expected a Labour council and local MPs to assist such activity. Now it would at least give the lie to David Cameron's mythical belief in the 'Big Society'!

But hey! "We are all capitalists now!" Or so we are told by Labour's business spokesman. About whom,  as no less than the Daily Mail assures its readers, it can be said he is not so much a British Barack Obama as
A "Black Tony Blair"

The only squatters Labour needs to get rid of are those occupying leading positions at national and local levels whose loyalty and faith is dedicated to the capitalist system, maintaining property and poverty to sustain their privilage.

But I am not holding my breath, any more than you do.