1,2 even 3 Jobs!!, Labour Party Deputy Leadership Contest, Big Brother and Scotland keep dream alive in Toftir!!

Above is a picture of Kim Humphries, Caroline Pidgeon and other Lib Dem and Tory luminaries celebrating "100 Days of Spin" no doubt over some champagne and canopies whilst many residents live in properties with leaking roofs and no heating?
News in the press that Kim has given up his day job and is now full time which is to be welcomed. Lets hope that "one job" Humphries can focus on the real issues and away from key rings amnd press releases!! I recommend a stint on Housing Arbitration as a real window into how we provide our services. I am constantly being reminded by our Legal Advisor not to show by outrage at the way in which tenants are treated but it is difficult at times.
Meanwhile Caroline Pidgeon now has three jobs! Cabinet and Ward member, Vauxhall PPC and GLA List member . I congratulate her and know that she is a very hard worker but I do wonder how much of her valuable time she can focus on Southwark especially glancing at her Caroline4London website which suggests that no London Brough is free from her constant attention?
I am happy with my 2 jobs at the moment and cant wait for the end of the Academic Year at London Met to let me get on with stuff ahead of next year's intake!!
I am now recieving pamphlets and emails from all six of the Deputy Leadership contestants as the ballot date draws near. I will have two votes, as a Labour Party member and as a GMB Member. I am of course supporting Harriet but do like Hilary Benn and hope to see him in a leading position in the Gordon Brown's Cabinet.

Channel 4 is in more bother with Big Brother as they had to remove a contestant for using the "n word" at a fellow black contestant. It is very likely to have been a stupid attempt as "street talk" by a white middle class girl to a black inner city "street wise" girl rather than an overtly racist comment but in the light of the last Celebrity BB she had to go!!! It is interesting that many black youth gangs do use that word in their title, perhaps a bit like gay men and women using pegorative expressions themselves but the diffewrence of course is that whilst acceptable from the inside, where context is everything, it is not acceptable from he outside as Emily has just found out with her 15 minutes of fame now over! Some of the press are reporting the high levels of intelligence of housemates with quotes like "did the Titanic really sink?" and "is an egg a vegetable?". With racist comments and idiotic questions the spirit of Bermondsey girl Jade Goody is clearly alive and well in the BB House!!!!
Scotland beat the Faroes 2-0 in the Torfir sunshine where the Tartan Army outnumbered the locals!!(see below). Not really that suprising but we have sufered at the hands of the Faroe Islanders before so it was good to get a win and see ex-Hibs player Gary O'Connor score, fully rehabilitated back into the squad after going awol last year! I saw the second half and they did look tired with the midfield and attack looking better than our defence!

John Collins has announced that Hibs will tour Austria pre season before the 2 games against Middlesborough and Blackburn Rovers. Collins seems to have an affiliation with Austria with 2 Austrians in the squad already and apparently at least another one to join.
Exiting goalkeeper Simon Brown, one of the rebels, criticised Collins for running the Spanish break like a prison , back by 10pm and no drinking! Whilst it may have been a bit ott these are highly paid professionals who should be able to go for a week without drinking in nightclubs!!!
There is little support from fans for the rebels so Collins is still a favourite with the them although a lot will rest on the start to the new season with virtually a completely different squad!!

No Politics!!!!, No Football!! Music Anyone???and what about the London 2012 logo?

With the football season over and a lull in the Town Hall I am listening to Virgin Radio at work and it is clearly targetted at my profile as the playlist is very similar to my ipod selection and there are 3 albums that I am, metophorically wearing the hole out of ( a vinyl metaphor for the older audience!!).

They are in no specific order:

Keane - a great follow up to 'Hopes and Fears' which I even prefer, would love to see them live at the 02 if only they can keep out of rehab long enough!!!
A really brilliant and positive album from Razorlight with tracks that, along with Snow Patrol, you cant get away from on the radio and TV adverts!

My absolute favourite album for a number of years this really is top quality with a number of very strong tracks and I thoroughly recommend it to all!!!!

In many ways I think these groups resemble the other "studenty" groups of the 80's and 90's James and Wonderstuff which are still very popular and now reformed and gigging again!!

Lots of discussion about the new logo, I actually dont mind it and get the point but am very surprised about the photosensitivity allegations and amazed that they did not check all this out!! You would think for £400K+ they might have considered this??

I am not so sure that an animated logo is such a geat idea as much of the representation on merchandise will be two dimensional unless they do it in a 3D format ?

News from the Hibs Box office is that season ticket sales are booming despite the internal; strife and a number of players leaving. Confidence is high of topping the 10,500 record season ticket sales of last season and an average attendance of 14,600!! Dad has his already!!!

Bonkers Fest in the Camberwell Sunshine!!!!

On Saturday I was at the second Bonkers Fest Fair on Camberwell Green, a much bigger and brighter affair that last year. Below is a map of camberwell green and where the various activities were positioned:

It was a really good day but also brought attention to the issues around mental health and it was highlighted in London Tonight that evening. Jo Brand was excellent as usual and opened the event by firing a cannon full of bananas!!
I would really love to see the Green used for similar events every couple of weeks in the summer to bring back the idea of the Camberwell Green Fair from the 19th Century up to date!"
Below are some of my pictures from the day including Jo opening the event :

I donned my "Bonkers" hat for the day and wore dark glasses to protect my anonymity!!

The pictures below are of my god daughter, Shauna and friend, Bradley enjoying themselves in the sunshine!!

Camberwell Community Council , "Forgotten Camberwell" and " Bonkers Fest". Hibs Ladies win Double and Clayton arrives!!!

I am now taking on my new responsibilities as Camberwell Community Council Vice Chair working with Sandra Rhule, the new Chair. We had out first planning Meeting which Sandra chaired very well and our first Chairs/Vice Chairs meeting which was very interesting and useful. I think some very good points were raised during the meeting from all political sides as the review if the Community Councils progresses. my only concern is that the Executive Member, Columbo Blango, did not appear to be listening and his only interest seemed to be getting the meeting over as quicklyy as possible! Anyway more of that in the future!
One interesting item was some funds available to improve non Town Centre Retail areas in each Community Council area and sandra and I both immediately thought of the Southampton Way parade of shops and whispered it in unison! below is a map of the area which local residents have called the "Forgotten Camberwell" and have an active website which i have linked to below:

Forgotten Camberwell
The Camberwell Community Council will clearly be discussing this over the next few months but it could be a really exiting way to meet the demands of many of the exasperated local residents?

On Saturday is the secoond Bonkers Fest in Camberwell with Jo Brand opening the event at 12pm firing lots of bananas ( an emblem of the event) out of a cannon!! Website below:
Bonkers Fest 2007
My favourite Jo Brand quote was when she performed at the Camberwell Arts Week some years ago and said " I looked up Camberwell in the London Rough Guide and found it under f***ing rough!!" All said lovingly as Jo worked at the Maudsley Hospital for some years before showbiz beckoned!!
I will be takijng some snaps to put up next week so hope that the weather holds up?

Just to report back that Hibs Ladies won the Cup and League double again this year, winning the League for the fourth time in five years!!
New striker Clayton Donaldson arrived in Edinburgh ready for the new season and I am sure that he will prove to be a great buy for us and score plenty of goals !! He could be the buy of the season ?

Lib Dem/Tory Open Government, Harriet Harman for Deputy Leader and Jason Scotland for Hibs and ? and Chris Killen signs for Celtic!!

Today's Southwark News is covering Council Plans to move to Bermondsey.... Shock horror!!!! The decision was taken weeks ago and passed through OSC despite our objections.! They also seem unclear on the location.. obviously not looking at the SE1 Forum Website or even my Blog!!! This is a bad decsion, taken in haste and tying up the Council in a very expensive deal and I am afraid, SN, that it is too late for indignant Editorials!!!
The Camberwell and Peckham Labour Party GC met this week to endorse Harriet as our candidate for the Deputy Leadership and then gave a very strong performance on the Newsnight Hustings, I thought that Harriet and Hilary Benn were the best two performers by far!
I note that Lib Dem blogger is attacking my comrade Cllr. Mary Foukes on her assertion that a Lib Dem abstained in the Mayoral Vote recently. I can confirm that he definately abstained as I was closely watching him as he had abstained at the previous Council Assembly and I thought that he might do it again. Interestingly the Council Officers marked him down as a yes vote giving a 32 to 30 final vote but it was in reality 31-30!! It did not make any difference so we let it go but if it had been a vital vote we would have demanded a recount!!

Hibs are apparently interested in St. Johnstone and Trinidad and Tobago Striker Jason Scotland, not before time!!! He is clearly the best striker in the first division and played very well in both Cup competitions this season. He would be a very good buy and work well with new signing Clayton Donaldson. Hope we get him!!!
More bad news is that Chris Killen has signed for Celtic! Hibs could face a Celtic team next seasion with 5 Hibs players Caldwell, Brown, Miller, Riordan and now Killen all playing!! I fear some very heavy defeats at the hands of our old players next season!!
I still dont understand the decision of John Collins not to offer Killen more than a 1 year deal and can only assume the rumours ar true that Killen was one of the "troublemakers" identified by Collins and booted out as a result? I think that this is a mistake and we should have tried to keep him although he is now quoted as describing Hibs as a "stepping stone" which may be true but is a bit ungrateful considering the way in which he was supported by the club through a serious injury... but heho! that is football for you!!!

Thoughts of Chairman Kim, Southwark News, the Town Crier and a Bank Holiday Weekend in Southwark(mainly!)

Southwark Deputy Leader and Tory Leader Kim Humphries was given a full double page spread in Southwark News last week to express his thoughts on all and sundry, inlcuding the merits and demerits of individual Labour Councillors! This follows on from the Council leader, Lib Dem Nick Stanton, having the same opportunity the week before.

the glorious "100 Days of Change" is now over and now we are back to the grim reality of a Housing service which does not meet the needs of tenants. I was called by a tenant with a roof leak a number of times over the weekend as he was unable to contact the Call Centre or get through on any Emergency number! This is the reality that needs to be faced and if Kim, who is not doubt "capable" can make it better then I will be the first of applaud him but lets wait until we see real long term embedded change for the better before we have any more Champagne Receptions and fancy key rings? In truth I dont really blame Kim, Toby, Lewis or any Tory for the present situation as they were given their positions of power by a weak and incompetent bunch of Lib Dems and you really cant blame them for taking it up! All the responsibility lies with the Lib Dems and I am sure that they will play the political price!
Southwark News also decided to tear into us over our position on the new Mayor but in reality are mising a key point! Althoguh the focus of our anger is the one reported incident which was completely outrageous, Bob Skelly has continued to treat the labour Group with complete comtempt since he has been elected and now appreas to treat Southwark residents likewise if his recent performance at OSC is anything to go by!

Strangely I have found him helpful and knowledgeable on the educatioin Scrutiny but once into a more "political" forum he seems switch on the alter ego and I am afraid that you can not expect respect from a group of people that you have treated with contempt for years, it just does not work like that!!! I can happily separate my political differences with opposition members, and of course very occassionally my own colleages!, but still respect them as individuals and for the positon that they hold. It is a simple rule that not everyoine in the Council appears to understand!
My good friend, Town Crier Peter Moore, was in the news after the BNP used his image in Election material and he has condemned them publically and demanded that they never use his image again! Good for you Peter!!!!
I had an excellent weekend with my sister and especially enjoyed Othello at the Globe with Eamonn Walker as Othello and Tim McInnerry ( both above) playing Iago both brilliant in the leading roles!!
It was good to spend most of the weeeknd in Southwark enjoying what it had to offer and even bumped into my Glorious Leader, Peter John, in the Tate Modern.

I also must comment of the fact that the Tate Modern was packed on Sunday, Othello was a sell out of course and even the Dulwich Gallery Exhibition from the Ufizzi had a sizeable queue!!

Most Boring Council Meeting of the year??, Citrine and a weekend of Culture(ish!!)

It was apparently the most boring Council Assembly of the Year according to Tory Whip Lewis Robinson but I actually quite enjoyed it!!

There were over 40 votes taken on the night and the Labour Group lost most of them but stil clearly won on points as the lib dem/Tory Administation did everything they could to limit the Labour Group and the residents of Southwark from having an effective voice in the Town Hall! I wont go through the detail as it no more than we have come to expect from this pathetic bunch but even although they were all bored by the meeting, they suddenly all perked up as they voted through pay rises for Councillors three times higher than what they are giving Southwark council staff so not all bad then was it??

I did manage to refer to Citrine's ABC of Chairmanship as the standard we should aspire to but they were not interested and now have in the Council constitution a "delete all.." clause which will make an absolute mockery of the motions process in all future Council Assembly's.

My Ward colleague, Chris Page, was excellent in his new role of Labour Group Chief Whip whilst his predecessor, Paul Bates, lay ill in a hospital bed with appendicitis.. get well soon Paul!!

The dynamic of the Lib Dem/Tory Coalition is interesting with Lewis Robinson taking centre stage last night, a strewd move as Lewis can make the most unreasonable thing almost sound ok (almost but not quite Lewis!!)and he is well liked and respected on the Labour benches.

Nick Stanton gave glowing tributes to his team, many of whom have never uttered a single word in the Council Chamber since the Election in May 2006 and many of his own backbenchers looked even more unhappy with him, for the 4th time in a row, one of them broke the Lib Dem/Tory Whip last night!!! How long can this go on????

I am waiting for my sister to arrive for the weekend and have the following planned:

300 at the IMAX tonight(looks tremendous and I am a big fan of the B movie original 300 Spartans, saw it at school!)

Lion King with my friend's 6 year old daughter and her class mate on Saturday, saw it 2 yeasr ago and a couple of shorterned versions at DisneyLand Paris but it is Shauna's 6th birthday on Tuesday and she wanted to go with her friend! It is another excellent show!

Othello at the Globe on Sunday- I have never seen a version of Othello in the Theater or on TV so am looking forward to it. I am taking Bernadette to lunch in the restaurant beforehand so should be good as long as it does not rain !!

And Dulwich Picture Gallery on Bank Holiday Monday so I hope the weather holds up. There is a special Renaissance Exhibition which brings back memories of my summers in Florence when I was at school and Involved ina Town twinning between Edinburgh and Florence.

An unusual weekend for me with no politics, apart from the 2 surgeries on Saturday, and no football as the season is over!!!!

Sad to see that Liverpol could not repeat their exploits of 2 years ago losing 2-1 to AC Milan, who probably were the best side in Europe over the Season, knocking out both Celtic and Man Utd. on route to the Cup.

The real story is the incridible 5 European champions League Winners Medals for Paulo Maldini! I cant see that being beaten! I actually saw Maldini play at the san Siro stadium with Gullitt, Van Basten and Rikyard in 1991!!! Best defender of his generation in the World!

I have now recieved my 07th Heaven DVD and am currently wearing it out on the TV at home!!! Dont want to wait 16 years for another day like that but great memories!!!!!