Tories play dangerous game with Independance, Camberwell interests English Heritage and Hibs lose again with 10 men again!"!!!!

The SNP had their Conference this weekend with that bufffoon Salmon and his sidekick Spurgeon making clear their plans for a referendum on Independance even although they have little chance of geting it through!! The key thing is for the other parties to hold ranks on this and surprise suproise it is the " Unionist" Tories who now appear to be giving them support. this through Rifkind's stupid ideas about an English Constitutional Committee. Harriet made a good point on the Andrew Marr show when she asked if she could vote on fishing policy as there were no trawlers in Peckham!!! All this of course from a man who imposed the Poll Tax on Scotland, was licked out and now represents Kensington and Chelsea!! I ask you!!!!! This is all grist to the seperatists mill and is a very dangerous game which could result in the break up of the United Kingdom!!!

News that English Heritage are interested in investing in the buildings around camberwell green due to it's key strategic nature (wish the Lib Dem/Tort Executive understood that!!!) . This is really exciting news and could be yet another indicator of the regeneration of Camberwell, all done in spite of this Administration and not because of it!!!
I feel very positive about the future for Camberwell as I feel that there is once again a momentum building up that we need to harness and direct over the next few years!!!



Somewhat unsurprisingly Hibs lost again, lose one and they seem to lose the plot for a while!! Really unprofessional and is always our undoing!!
We gave away a stupid goal in the first 15 mins when our Captain got into a tangle with our goalkeeper and once again we had a player sent off and had to try and get back into the game a man down!!! Not good and Collins really needs to show his Managerial metal to get them back on track!!
We are still third as Celtic, Rangers, Hearts and others all appear to be dropping poiunts all over the place!! Motherwell and Dundee Untied seem to be the in-form teams at the moment!!

A Night at the Blue Elephant!, Camberwell on the Up? and a great night at the Emirates!!

Chris, Dora and I spent last night at the Press Night for the new production "Behind the Mirror" at the Blue Elephant Theatre in Bethwin Road! We all had a great time and we really are lucky to have the Theatre in the Ward and appreciate the hard work and commitment of Jasmine, the Director and Chris, Trustee Chair is making it work so well!!

It was also good for Chris, Dora and to get out as well and we have decided on a new policy of getting to know the social side of our belove Camberwell Green Ward as much as we know the Estates and streets!!

Our Camberwell Community Council next week will be decising on the Cleener Greener Safer Funds of this year and we met last week to draw up a likely list. I thing that we have done well to spread the resources across the CCC area both in terms of geography and types of project and hopefully allocate funds which will draw in further external resources and so make our money go further?

Of course half the applying groups will be unhappy and i do think that the funds available needs a hefty increase, at least up by 25% next year for us to attempt to meet the increasing expectations from the local communities. In truth to fund all applications would have taken more than 5 times the allocation not to mention the increased Officer resources toi make it happen. We are lucky in Camberwell to have Ruth Davies and Jeremy Linden whom I have a lot of confidence in and have a close hands on working relationship with!! They certainly earn their money!!

The Camberwell Green Public toilet is eventually open and the lights have been fixed to the central tree on the Green for switch on. We will hopefully get some CGS money for the Green and there seems to be a lot of residential and commercial activity in Camberwell so I am hopeful for the future it just needs to be harnessed and controlled as well as being encouraged so that the whole diverse community of camberwell benefits not just the affluent few!

Yesterday's Southwark News had an article about Lib Dem Councillor Paul Baichoo and his non-appearance at Council Meetings. He is apparently unwell and of course his health must be his first concern and I wish him well as I have always had a good working relationship with him.
However I cant help feeling that some of his absences are due to his growing disatisfaction with his party shown by his breaking of the whip no fewer than 3 times in as many months and I am sure that that will not go away? I am led to believe that to avoid the triggering of a Bye Election he was picked up a well known Lib Dem Party hack( I am sure you can guess who!!), driven to the Community Council Planning Meeting for 10 minutes to sign-in, and then driven back home effectively turning the clock back to zero!!! The interview was a strange one as it started on Paul's health and then went on to his unwillingnes to be seen as a Councillor???? All very strange!!!!! I wish Paul well and a speedy recovery on all fronts!!!

On Tuesday I went with my friend Tsui to the Emirates for my first full match and saw Arsenal equal the Champions League beating Slavia Prague 7-0! It was a great night and a fantastic performance as well as great to catch up with Tsui and James!!! Back to earth at Easter Road as Hibs take on st. Mirren tomorrow, should be an easy win (we beat them 5-1 in the corresponding fixture last year!) but need to see how the players react to last week's first defeat of the season?

CBBC Comes to Camberwell and Hibs lose in a bad sporting weekend!!!

The BBC has their RAW Festival in Camberwell green over the weekend with lots of shorytelling and games for the kids!

It was a great atmosphere and the tents were full all weekend!! Many congratulations to the BBC who have taken some flack recently! I wonder if Sky would do something like this???

In a bad sporting weekend, with Lewis Hamilton failing at the death and the Springboks being just too good on the day in Paris, Hibs added to my gloom by going down 2-1 away to Motherwell, their first defeat of the season but their second defeat to Motherwell!!

But the real story was Morais stupidly getting sent off for a two-footed challenge after 20 minutes!!! Wonder if it was as bad as Dirk Kuyte?? It is really criminal to leave your team playing with 10 men for 70 minutes!! Apparently we hit the post and bar in the final few minutes!!

Also Ross McCormack scoring twice and making a real name for himself this season! How long do we have to wait for a Rangers or Celtic bid??

I am of to the Emirates to watch Arsenal against Slavia Prague and will watch Chelsea at home on Wednesday!!

Camberwell & Peckham Fundraiser and Scotland lose in Georgia!!

Last night I was at a very successful Camberwell and Peckham Labour Party Fundraiser in the Pomodoro and Mozarella in Camberwell with over 100 Party members. Harriet, Val and lots of Councillors were there and the guest of honour was the youngest Minister in the Government, David Lammy MP.

We do have a really active social scene in the party now and have Quiz Nights and christams Parties ahead, not to mention Harriet's 25 Anniversary celebration next month!

As always we have our musical interludes with the Red Rosettes and of course ourr answer to Edith Piaf, Joan Amodio!! Je ne regret rien!!!

Disappointment in Tblisi as Scotland went down 2-0 to Georgia meaning that we have to beat Italy next month to qualify!! I always feel that if italy need a draw hewy will get it!! Looking at the BBC site there is a way that a draw could be enough if France lose to Ukraine away, which is very posible, as apparently placings are not made of goal difference but on head-to-head results and Scotland beat France home and away!! I have never heard of this rule before but it may work in our favour?

Hibs play Motherwell away and may be happy to take a point away from the game with Motherwell in such good form at the moment!

There is concern about John Collin's future as after quickly turning down the QPR job it is rumoured that Bolton are interested after Sammy Lee's departure and I imagine it would be very difficult for John to turn down if asked??

Ming dumped and John Collins Manager of the Month

Westminster was rocked to the core! ...well there were a few ripples anyway!, when it came as no surprise to hear that Ming had been toppled! All apparently his own decision, I can just imagine Ming at the edge of the precipice with the point of many sharp daggers at his back and Simon Hughes lovingly whispering to him " Ming it's your decision!" The Lib Dems really are falling apart, with stubbornly low opinion polls, poor election results this May, on the back of bad results last year, especially in the northern parts of Southwark!!

In my view this is a good development for the Labour Party as the Lib Dems will now make their inevitable jump to the right, leaving clear blue water between us and the Tories and Lib Dems. A new shiny right wing Lib Dem Party will be welcomed by most of the Southwark Lib Dems not to mention my Blogging friend Andy Mayer!!

I cant wait till the elections next year and beyond especially, the General Election campaign in Bermondsey and Old Southwark and the Southwark Elections in 2010 where they will be bounced out of power once and for all and then we can set about clearing up the mess that they will have left behind!! Talking of which I see that two more experienced Officers, Chris Bull and Chris Horn have left the authority, we received an email telling us that Chris Horn had already gone!!! What on earth is going on in that Town Hall ??? Talk about rats deserting a sinking ship!! Even the ruling Lib Dem/Tory coalition must see that there is now a serious problem but perhaps a strike amongst Housing staff will wake them up?? WE NEED TO GET THEM AS FAR AWAY FROM ANY POWER AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE!!!



Good to see John Collins get the Clydsedale Manager of the Month for September and turn down the Managers Job at QPR!!

With plenty of ex-Hibs players in the Scotland first team and plenty more current Hibs players in the under 21 and youth squads he has a good group of players around him and Hibs along side Motherwell,Hearts and Kilmarnock, take most of the credit for their home grown talent that they have developed over the past years. Hibs new £6M Training Centre is further committment to this. pity that the big two Celtic and Rangers could not invest a tiny amount of their resources,preferring instead to "hoover up" players form the other clubs at a knock down rate!!!

Petition at Denmark Hill Station, Post Office dispute "over" and Scotland win again and close in on European Championship Finals place!!

I have just had an early start to the week handing out leaflets outside Denmark Hill Station with Val Shawcross, Veronica Ward and Peter John! there is a consultation process going on at the moment with one option being to cut off the London bridge loop to Denmark Hill. standing there at peak times makes you realise how busy that little station is as how disasterous it would be if it did not go through London Bridge, a major London transport hub! there was a great deal of interest and Veronica had to go back and get more leaflets so it should be a really good and positive Campaign!!
The Royal Mail strike is apparently almost settled but wildcat action continues. I have seen a lot of anti CWU press coverage and even a Face Book Group set up to tell them to get back to work!! I have to say that I have always suspected the Royal Mail Management of being out and out bullies and what I hear of this dispute my view has not changed!! There were reports of men turning up for work to be told that if they entered they were accepting the Management position!!! Outrageous and really the Government needs to interevene and tell those managers to sort themselves out!!! More power to the CWU and the Royal Mail Workers!!!!
Great story today about a High Court decesion not to allow the Tories to keep a £8.3M bequest given to them in the 1980's. His son said that he was "deluded and insane"
There is a classic quote from the High Court judge, who ruled that the Tories could not keep the money, said Mr Kostic would not have left the money to them if he had been "of sound mind"! No arguements from me on that score!!!

Scotland took another giant step towards the 2008 European Football Championships with a tremendous 3-1 win against a very good Ukrainian side, World Cup Quarter Finalists in 2006!

With 24 points we still may need another 4 out of 6 to qualify from Georgia away on Wednesday and of course World champions Italy at home in November!! There is no doubt that we have a really good sqaud with strength in depth who are confident but we could actually end up with 27 points in the Group and still come thrid!! Germany qualified on Saturday with 20 points!! Two more very nervous nights ahead !!!

Of course the Rugby World Cup continues to surprise with England's excellent performance in beating France on Saturday. They are clearly not the best team in the tournament but may prove to be the best competition team?

Meanwhile South Africa saw off Argentina rather easier that I suspected but it seemed that it all caught up withu the Pumas who looked exhausted at the start of the second half and it was pretty clear from them that there would only be one winner. A really interesting final looms with everyone in Engalnd pretending to be rugby fans but not understanding any of the rules and only knowing Jonny Wilkenson's name!! Roll on Saturday!!

Pre Budget Statement and a long night at OSC!!

Alistair Darling's Pre Budget Statement


I heard most of it and thought that it was very clever as it did rather take the wind out of the Tory sails and did tackle the problem area of Inheritance tax which appeared to be a key element in the good Tory polls recently.
At the end of the day no one will care whose idea it was just that it is seen to be fairer!!
KEY POINTS
Growth forecast cut by 0.5%
Tax receipts down by £1.8bn, public sector net borrowing up by £4.3bn
Inheritance tax threshold raised to £600,000 for married people or those in civil partnerships
Crackdown pledged on "non-domicile" tax payers
10% tax rate on private equity capital gains abolished so private equity bosses pay more
Green taxes on flights not passengers from 2009

When the General Election is called it will be a clear choice the two men opposite and their competence and I am confident that the great British public will make the right choice!!!!


It was a long night at OSC on Monday where we questioned Columbo Blango, always a less than than enlightening experience and we also discussed the Camberwell Lesiure Centre and Newington Reference Library. All in all a good night for the Labour Group members who offer the only real Scrutiny in the Town Hall with the Lib Dems and Tories stitching things up ahead of the meetings!!
Once again it became clear how little knowledge and understanding Blango has about his brief and we cant even embarrass him as his personal arrogance just blanks out all the criticism! We presssed him on personal assurances but he also showed that he is incapable of making a decision and prevaricated on even the simplest of requests!!! Quite depressing really!!
The Report back from the Camberwell Baths Group was a lot more positive with officers now apparently fully behind the full developement of Camberwell Leisure Centre!! Jenny Agutter was there lending support again and there is now a clear programme to provide an Officer to work on putting together and submiting bid and reviewing development proposals ahead of a report back to Executive next february at the latest!! Something we can really hold them to!!!
Scotland prepare for the crucial final 3 games of the European Championship Qualifiers with a home game against Ukraine, away against Georgia and a final home game against World Cup Winners Italy!! I think that we probably need to win both games but a win and a draw will keep us in there, all depends how France get on in their matches!! It would be great if both sides were already through by the last game as it would save me from another very nervous night!!

Election Hysteria over! Hibs Top of the SPL (for 1 day anyway!) and Scotland lose out to the Pumas 19-13!!

So there will be no Election (thanks god!!) and Gordon Brown can get on with running the Country and putting forward his own agenda. The Press are clearly furious with the Labour Party and even the BBC, and Andrew Marr (above) really tore into us as thjey obviously feel that they have been "done over". I really dont get why as brown clealry said nothing about an election and as a cautious man it would have been a risk and actually more cynical if he had called a snap election so he could not really win?? Whilst I hate to say that agree with anything that the Lib Dems say i do agree with fixed terms as with every other election in the UK as it really is an anacronism that gives an unfair advantage to the Party in Government!


Hibs had a great 1-0 victory over Rangers at Ibrox with David Murphy scoring with a header!! We went top of the SLP for the first time in around 10 years for one night until Celtic won on Sunday.
Considering that Hibs lost 17 players in the summer including their 4 best first team players we are doing exceptionally well but evryone is sensible enough not to get too excited as it will be different when injuries and suspensions kick in as we just cant keep up with the big two's huge depth of squads !

Ma-Kalamby played well and has been a real assett to the club and is clearly enjoying the football!!

Last night I watched nervously as Scotland almost beat Argentina to make the Rugby World Cup Semi Finals losing 19-13 ! We had a really good start with Parkes long penalty and I think that we really lost out way when we conceeded the Penalty after a very strange refereeing decision not to recognise Rory Lamont's call for the mark!! The charge down try before half time made it difficult and the Pumas pack really took control.


In the second half we eventaully had a go and really took the game to Argentina with Cussier's try and at the very end were within a metre of their line but a wrong decision to kick from Parkes ended the game for us! If we had kept going I am not convinced that a very tired Puma pack would have held out!!








In conclusion Hernandez played brilliantly again with some unbelievable touch kicking and their pack was too strong for us and it is great for Argentinian rugby and really they have a chance of going all the way. With the All Blacks and Aussies out and the South Africans not looking unbeatable it is very open and even England must be thinking about retaining the World Cup!! Who would have said that 2 weeks ago?

For Scotland a decent tournament and a real chance gone to get to the last 4 and beyond!