A great day at Chris and Jason's Civil Ceremony, Remembrance Sunday and Hibs get a win!!!

These are a few pics (more on Facebook) of the really great day at Chris and Jason's Civil Ceremony. The Service was held in St. Peter's Church Liverpool Grove with the Reception in a beautiful venue, the Museum of Gardening at Lambeth Palace. A really great time was had by all!!

On Sunday it was Rememberance Day and Dora an I laid a wreath at the new camberwell memorial before going on to the Service at Walworth Town Hall. it was great to meet up with my good freind and new Alderman Ian Driver who brought Annie and Suzie along!!

Hibs picked up all three points at Gretna with a Fletcher goal so another good away win to keep us up there in that top three area!!

Scotland take on Italy next week in the make or break game so a nervous few days ahead!!

Harriet's 25th and Lib Dems trying to join Labour!!!

These are a selection of photos from last night's Celebratory gathering for Harriet Harman as she reaches 25 years as an MP. the Prime Minister Gordon Brown was the guest of honour, with Jaqui Smith, The Home Secretary and other MP's attending as well as familiar faces from the last 25 years of the Camberwell and Peckham Labour party. It was a really good evening and a great way to celebrate Harriet's 25 years and in particlar her, and Gordon's good year in 2007!!

Southwark news had an interesting piece on Columbo Blango's repeated attempts since 2006 to join the Labour Party, but of course only at a price!! The price being a guaranteed £40,000 a year Executive position and proposterously enough a safe Labour Seat at the General Election!!! Talk about delusions of grandeur!!!!

Anyway the Lib Dems can rest easy in their beds as we dont want him in the same way that we did not want Dr Ola when he tried to come back!!! Columba's heady mix of ignorance and arrogance continues to embarrass and anger us so he wont find any support on our side and if any of his colleagues wish to join us they have to know that there wil be no deals or promises which is all they seem to want so again we say forget it!!!! Columbo says that Tayo was overhead saying that Columbo was the Labour Party's strongest asset and if he stays on the ruling Lib Dem/Tory Exec he just might have a point????

On a happier note my best wishes go out to my good friends Chris and Jason as they have their Civil Ceremony tomorrow and I will be ther wishing them well for a great day tomorow and a long and happy future together!!!

It is a football free weekend as Scotland prepare for the match against Italy so I hope that Scott Brown and his team mates prepare well and stay injury free for next Wednesday's crunch match!!!! Only a win against the WORLD CHAMPIONS will do!!!! No pressure!!!

Tories focus on low tax and immigration shock!! and Hibs drop points to Hearts!!

In a real shocking turn, the Tories focussed on immigration and low taxes over the past week!!! Whatever next?? It is interesting to see that whatever they proport to represent in the new Cameron spun Tory party the default position is always immigration and taxes and of course it can get them into trouble!! Another Tory Candidate being forced to stand down after commenting that "Enoch Powell was right!". this is the danger that cameron will always have, turn a bit reactionary and all the old skeletons come out of the closet !!!
Harriet celebrates 25 years as an MP this week and we will be at Portcullis House to celebrate with her in what has been a very good year!! With 5 jobs and the highest labour majority in London there will be much to celebrate!!!

I have another hectic week in and out of the Town Hall with OSC tonight and Housing forums and T&RA meetings all week!!
It is pretty much like this all the way through to Mid December!!!


Dad was at Easter Road yesterday and I watched the derby match at home. It was a classic brains against brawn encounter with Hibs on top with the brains in the first half but muscled out by brute strength in the second, not helped by a referee who allowed blatant shirt pulling all match without once blowing up, including Fletcher being hauled down in the box and Lewis Stevenson bodychecked in the box in quite a ridiculously blatant manner !!! In reality Hibs were less that sharp in the final third and should have tied the game up after some comedy Hearts defending but overall probably not an unfair result!!

Chairing Camberwell Community Council and Cllr. Baichoo resigns!!

I was unexpectedly Chairing the Camberwell Community Council on Tuesday due to Sandra feeling unwell and after getting over the shock of doing it at short notice actually enjoyed it! I have Chaired a number of the Planning Meetings but that wa only the second full CCC that I Chaired. The key item was agreeing the CGS Funding for the year which i think was done with our usual thoughtfulness and thoroughness so thre was little dispute from the attendees (actually a better turnout than of late probably due to the CGS bids?).

On Wednesday I Chaired the Education and Children's Scrutiny Committee where we signed off the Extended Schools report and agreed the scope of the Youth Scrutiny as well as Interview Caroline Pidgeon (she is always well briefed and well supported so a positive experience unlike with some of her colleagues!!)

November is a really busy time both at the University and Town Hall so I just have to count down the days to Christmas!!!

Following on from last week's report Southwark News announced today that Paul Baichoo is resigning for "health reasons" but do rather dwell on a web site with pictures of Paul raving in Ibiza with comments like "But take drugs anyway...go on!". Paul's health of course is his priority and frankly his private life is his own affair but I do get angry at the perception that the Lib Dems are forcing him out due to his increasing dissatisfaction at their policies and behaviour all under a health smokescreen? Something below most politicians but we are talking Liberal Democrats here!!! As well as the fact that they cant run a sweet shop they also appear to be a particularly nasty organisation to be involed with as more and more of their current members are steadily finding out (as well as their past 2 National Party Leaders!!)

A Riverside By-Election beckons and I hope that constituents really take a good look at the Lib Dems and not just the myth of the Blessed Simon. The Tories also fancy doing well in that ward so we may see trouble in paradise in the Lib Dem/Tory coalition over the next month or so!!!

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!!