Dirty Tricks, Council Assembly, Cardiff, Spineless SFA and Hibs playing tonight!

Whilst it was probably right for Damien McBride to fall upon his sword there has been a lot of self-righteous crap spoken by the Tories and the Press on this! Does anyone seriously believe that political parties continually examine opposition politicians private lives for political gain? In fact the main perpetrators are the Chief Whips of their own parties (remember Francis Urquart from House of Cards!"). Sending emails out from No.10 was clearly stupid although I am still unclear as to how an email sent to Derek Draper ended up in Guy Fox's inbox? There are so many leaks coming from inside the Party that sending anything like this by email is really stupid !!

I managed to rush back from Cardiff with my Rucksack to make most of Council Assembly. Just got in to hear Nick Stanton make some obscure point about how a Labour Councillor earned his living? Does that now mean that we can examine the working and private lives of opposition members and raise it at Council Assembly? That will be fun!!! Stanton also treated us to his whole range of emotions from A to B in another bewilderingly unintelligible rant, amusing point is when he joked about suspending standing orders to continue for a half hour and Mayor Eliza Mann asked for a seconder to the proposal!! Such high quality in public office it makes you wonder why you bother!!! (I bother to get rid of these idiots!!!)

I had a really good 3 days in Cardiff at the USHA Annual Conference at Cardiff University and was able to see a bit of the City for the first time!
The Formal Dinner took place in the fantastic setting of the National Museum of Wales with the Mayor welcoming us and a Welsh Male Voice Choir thrown in! A great evening and a successful event!

I has to take a picture of this statue of Anuearin Bevan in Cardiff town Centre, a radical socialist and a true Welshman!

No surprise to hear that the spineless SFA are now back peddling on the lifetime ban to the two morons Ferguson and McGregor!!

They went out on an 8 hour drinking bender between two World Cup Qualifying matches, were dropped to the ebnch (should have been sent home then!) and sat in the dug out in their Scotland kit doing what is pictured!!!

I hope they not only play for Scotland but get sent on a free to Greenock Morton!! I think that Rangers Boss Smith is more offended and has more guts than Burley will ever have.

Hibs play St. Mirren tonight at their new ground(will be watching it on Setanta live) and need a win to be in the top 6 for the split! I was disappointed to read Mixu saying that if they make the top six they can "enjoy" the last 5 games! Never mind enjoy what about trying to get the 4th place and a UEFA spot (looks like Hearts have 3rd spot and they are playing well!). If he does not have ambition beyond coming 6th then we need a new Manager!

Clear choices at the G20, Camberwell Baths get Govt. cash, Visit to Brum and Scotland win!

With the G20 London Summit in full swing it is clear to see the differing political agendas from the right and left with the Brown and Obama leading the call for further spensdning to encourage the World Economies, and the right of Merkel and Sarkosy (and Cameron!) trying to stop further investment hoping that the economy will just put itself right (maybe the tooth fairy will get it going!).
This is all to the good as it really does show the stark differences and how UK would be aligned if, god help us!, Cameron and the Burlington Tories were in charge!!

Great News this week as the Government awards £1.45 Million for the development of Camberwell Leisure Centre. I am sure that the recent visit by the Sports Minister helped but there is now no excuse for the Council to get on with this and give us a Centre that the people of Camberwell have been crying out for for years and which they deserve!!

It was my turn this week to do the Councillor Column in Southwark News and I expressed concern if we did not get the award but was very happy to hear the really great news!! Well done to all involved now lets' get on with it!!

I was at Birmingham University this week for the first of my work Conferences and went on an unexpected tour of JR Tolkien's haunts when he lived in Birmingham which made the evening go by! Included was the Water Works with the "Two Towers" which apparently inspired him!

Scotland got the needed win, 2-1 over Iceland last night with Hibs very own Stephen Fletcher scoring the winner!

We just need to keep on building up the points and hope for the 2nd place behind Holland which is very much within our reaches!! After that who knows who we will get in the Play-Offs?

Lib Dem/Tory repeated mis-use of Council Publications, Conference Season at work and Scotland lose to the Dutch!

I really am getting very angry about this Lib Dem/Tory Administrations flagrant and repeated mis-use of the Council's Communications, Southwark Life, Website, Council Tax Statement to make deliberate and misleading party political attacks blaming the Government for all their negligence and incompetence. I see again in the current Southwark life Nick Stanton blaming the wicked Labour Government for all his decisions to cut services and vastly hike up charges!! The real reason is course is to protect his "War Chest" for next year's Council Elections and I really hope that his disgraceful cynicism is justly rewarded by Southwark residents next May!!

I am off to Birmingham University tomorrow for the Higher Education Business Continuity Network Annual Conference. The Campus is fantastic so hope the weather is nice!

Cardiff University follows the week after for the Universities Health & Safety Annual Conference and then off to Edinburgh for Easter so pretty hectic couple of weeks!

Scotland were rather rolled over by the dutch tank in a 3-0 defeat to Holland in Rotterdam on Saturday!

The home tie against Iceland on Wednesday really is a "must win"

Quiet week ahead, Hibs cant win and Scotland lose 5 out of 6!

It is a relatively quiet week for me at London Met and at the Town Hall as we move ever closer top the Easter break.
I had a weekend looking after Shauna and going to see Oliver! which was fantastic!!
I have a couple of T&RA Meetings at Crawford and Castlemead this week and am reserving on the Full Planning Committee tomorrow evening. I enjoy it as long as I don't have to do it too often!!
Hibs could not do better than a no scoring draw at home to Aberdeen despite having numerous chances during the match but failing to take any of them!! Hibs need to start winning and getting up the table to leave a fight on for one of the two UEFA Cup places for next season.
Scotland ended the 6 Nations with their fifth defeat against the English at Twickenham but all in all did not play badly over the series with the exception of the poor opener at home against the Welsh. Something to build on?

Good News on Burgess park, War Memorial challenge, Oliver! on Saturday and Hibs and Scotland with tough matches at the weekend!!

Had a good Scrutiny Meeting last night with very positive news about Burgess Park, not only now with a £6M pot to spend over the next 2 years but an additional £1M to open up a new Entrance and Cafe and Play Area at Chumleigh Gardens. i made the point that people expect to see change happening soon so hopefully by the late Summer the Chumleigh works will be complete and other "quick win" projects will be underway to really start the dramatic changes which will take place over the next 2 years!! Really exciting!!

I also put in a last minute bid to CGS for some more funds for Camberwell Green to really start on some of the key elements of the unsuccessfull Mayors Bid to make some key changes in that park as well!
I have a new War Memorial challenge given to me by a constituent to find or replace an old Memorial which used to be positioned on some buildings by the Park on Albany Road commemorating a WW1 Zeppelin attack which left more than 20 dead. i am on the case and hope to have something in place as soon as i can as I think that it is important to remember these events!

I am off to see Oliver ! with Shauna on Saturday and looking forward to it. I saw the last production with the excellent Robert Lindsay as Fagin, a role he repeated on a non musical BBC production a few years later! looking forward to seeing Rowan Atkinson tackle it and have heard very good reports about the whole production, backed up by record ticket sales so should be good!!
Hibs play Aberdeen at home on the back of last week's Derby win so confidence should be high but Aberdeen are a very well organised team and a win of any type will be a good result!!
Looks like Motherwell Goalie Graeme Smith is likely to join on next season so may be farewell to Ma-Kalamby who has been very hit and miss for us.
Scotland end a disappointing 6 Nations with a trip to Twickenham without much hope after England's display against France last week!!! With the exception of the opener against Wales some good overall performances but just not good enough to hold on over 80 minutes and that is the challenge for next year!!

A Walk Through Burgess Park and Hibs beat Hearts at last!!

I am Chairing the Scrutiny A Meeting this week on Burgess Park and had a walk through the Park last week and took lots of pics and plan to do a presentation of them to show the good the bad and the ugly and of course where the £6M needs to be spent!

Hibs had a good and much needed victory over Hearts at the weekend even although it was with the help of a rather fluky header from Fletcher! Anyway they all count and hopefully signals a strong end to the season!

Victory over Child Care Charges at OSC and a Weekend on the South Coat of Kent!

A rather heated night in the Town Hall last night at OSC at the Call-In of the executive's decision to massively increase charges of child care by around 25%, meaning a real cost increase for some parents of up to £50 per week!
The reasoning behind it was really quite laughable (if it was not so serious!) eg."by putting our prices up private providers look more attractive!". Non of the reasoning made any sense and was quite ridiculous after just setting a 0% increase in Council Tax and cutting over £2M from thew Childrens' Services Budget!
The Lib Dems and Tories were, of course, all whipped in a "non-whipped Committee" to vote the referral back motion down forgetting of the Parent Governor Rep who voted with us making 4-4 with Fiona as Chair having the casting vote so we sent it back!! A great result and hopefully the Executive will give more thought to what they are doing before they do it? ( mind you I am not betting any money on it!)
My only slight regret on the night was that I had the chance of seeing Franz Ferdinand at the Hammersmith Apollo last night but passed on it to do my duty!! DOH!!!
I spent the weekend with the "Alderman" as I call him Ian Driver, and we explored the Cinq Ports and visited Dungeness and Derek Jarman's place and went on a funky miniature railway which was fun!

Rememberrring the Miners Strike and why I became involved in Trades Unions and Politics!!

It is an important Anniversary today for British society as well as me personally. The Miners Strike began on this day in 1984, orchestrated by a vicious Thatcher Government to crush the Miners Union once and for all. The consequences were profound for British society and it made my blood boil to hear that stupid old dinosaur and buffon, Peter Walker, thje then Secretary of State for Energy, on TV this morning still trying to justify it, although her did a deservedly very hard time form the BBC Journalist!!

I saw the stage show of Billy Elliot a few weeks ago with stark imagery of the strike including Met Police on duty at the Durham Picket Lines waving tenners in the faces of the Miners!!
My first ever direct political action was to take part in the Miners March in Birmingham when I was a Post Grad Student at Aston University and when I came to work for Southwark Council in December 1984 I joined NALGO and collected money for Kent Miners every Friday afternoon on the steps of Spa Road Town Hall.

I recall collecting money from cars stuck t the traffic lights at Southwark Town Hall and getting over £200 an hour in our buckets!!!

I was clear then why I wanted to be involved with politics and be in the only party seriously intent on making society fairer, the Labour Party!! A decision I have never regretted or doubted since and I have now been in the Party for 23 years and an Elected Councillor for 15 years!!

Sad News at Death of Anne Worseley, Burgess Park wins and Camberwell Green loses out in Mayor's Fund and Blue Elephants in Camberwell!

On an otherwise very good day we had the very sad news about the death of my friend and former Labour Group Colleague Anne Worseley who dies after suffering a major stroke on Saturday. Anne was a hard worker all her like and and believed passionately about good education,music and the Labour Party.

I last saw Anne at the Labour Group Christmas Dinner and took this picture of her having a great time with friends, on the left between Peter and Mark. She will be greatly missed!!
Great news today about Burgess Park receiving the Mayor's top award of £2M with another £4M from the Aylesbury Regeneration we can make a real difference. I had an early morning meeting to discuss the Burgess Park Scrutiny report and had to plan for two outcomes but now can look forward to the positive outcome and bringing about real change to Burgess Park over the next couple of years!Fantastic News!!!

Of course all tempered slightly by the news that Camberwell Green missed out on the £400K pot so it is back to Plan B to spend the CGS Funds available and I plan to put in another CGS bid for this year to really improve things in the Green! The Boris wigs did not work I am afraid but a really good campaign and support from the Council so no criticism there!

Finally I attended the Wyndham and Comber T&RA Meeting last night and there was a really good drama presentation from the Blue Elephant Youth Project which they take around local schools. It was very good and again shows how lucky we are to have such an innovative Theatre in the Ward!

Brilliant Sculpture in Camberwell, Scotland win and Hibs dont again!

On Saturday I went along to the unveiling of a new Sculpture on Camberwell Grove/Champion Hill Junction of a wolf on the prowl with a ram protecting a ewe with her young. it looks fantastic and everyone was stopping to have a look whilst we were there.
I would love more sculptures around Southwark and Camberwell in particular . This was funder through the CGS scheme of Camberell Community Council and the next round has just kicked off so we are looking around for projects to support for this year.

Scotland played well on Saturday beating Italy comfortably 22-6 and looked much more like the team that can give everyone a hard time. it really shows that the wrong team was put out against Wales and how much we rely on the Evans Brothers! I think we can beat the English now!

Hibs put on another laboured performance against Falkirk at home and a 0-0 draw the almost inevitable result! More points dropped as we slide further away from those EUFA Cup places!!

Tragic news about Ivan Cameron, the Do-Nothing Budget, Violent Crime Summit, Museums are packed, Hibs are shocking and Scotland getting better!

First thing to say is how tragic the news is today at the reported death of David Cameron's disabled 6 year old son Ivan. The loss of a child is really unimaginable and David Cameron has been very positive in his media image of a parent with a disabled child and to be in the public glare must make it all the harder so my thoughts are with the Cameron family at this time! Terrible news!!

Back to normal business and Monday's Council Tax Setting Council Assembly and the passing of what we are calling a "Do-Nothing budget".

Whilst we all agreed a freeze on Council Tax we did not agree on how the budget was allocated with huge cuts in childrens', adult care and elderly services , the Tory Lib /Dem Coalition declaring that it made clear what their priorities were!! Exactly!

Furthermore many services are suffering "death by a thousand cuts" as charges are raised , in some cases by 70%!! Also some bizarre things like £500K for the new Canada Water Library running costs when it wont open until mid 2010!, £50K for Community Warden bikes (gold plated?) and the "burying " of millions of pounds of additional Government money aimed at economic regeneration and employment in reserves no doubt to build up a "war chest" for next year's pre-election giveaway budget!! Shameful and shocking and all done with Lib Dem,s cackling and guffawing their way through the meeting ably led Linda Manchester who acted like a cross between Cruella de Ville and Widow Twanky!! All chat and clear party political bias from the Mayor who interrupted every Labour Member speaker all evening and played footloose and fancy free with Standing Orders all night!!! We all were very angry and I did have a bit of a rant at the end but even for the Lib Dems they were too much !!!

I attended the Violent Crime Summit in Glaziers Hall on Monday and was abit disappointed not to see more community involvment but in the most part a re-hash of the ground already covered in the pre-summit last December. I am happy to support the intiative as long as it brings about real and measurable results and a couple of things became clear to me during the day. Firstly that there is a lot of good practice but it is not been shared or replicated adequately and developed as key elements of any strategy within Southwark. Secondly not enough clear performance or outcome indicators which are importnat in understanding what works and what does not!! Anyway I will continue to support it as long as things progress but will be quick to criticize any stagnation, this in the week of course of a a fatal shooting in Dulwich!!

On a more positive note I spent a few days with my Finnish Cousin Merja visiting every Museum virtually in London and was gratified to see them absolutely packed, just look at the picture I took! Highlights were the Darwin Exhibition at the Natural History Museum, The Tzars Exhibition at the V&A and the Ian Fleming/James Bond Exhibition at the Imperial war Museum (more pics on my Facebook page). It really does show that the Labour Government policy to make Museum entry free was the right one and that the great British public have a great appetite for Museums and our history and heritage!!
Another highlight was going to see Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace, a fantastic show with great songs from Sir Elton with brilliant lyrics from Ben Elton including a great one called "Happy Christmas Maggie Thatcher!" . Merja was a bit surprised by the kids swearing on stage but a really great show and thoroughly recommended and it brings back all the pain of the Miners Strike and reminds me (if ever I needed reminding!) why I hate Margaret Thatcher and all her evil deeds so much!

Hibs were absolutely shocking against Inverness last week going down 2-0 with comedy defending and players who really looked like they did not give a toss!!! shockingly bad and at this rate we wont make the top six never mind third spot!!! Atrocious!!!

Scotland take on Italy in the Six Nations at the weekend with a much better performance against France so hopeful of a first win of the Campaign.

Council Budgets being prepared, London in the Snow, Camberwell Green awaits the results of the Mayors Bid and Scotland go down to the Welsh!!

The Tory/Lib Dem Administration are putting the budget together for surely their last year in power for many years with the traditional "bribe" of a Council Tax Freeze but of course millions of pounds of cuts in vital services the inevitable result. We are looking over their proposals and will be putting together our Labour Group Budget for the Council Tax setting Meeting of Council Assembly coming up soon!!

Another great picture of London in the snow that I did not take but liked it all the same and took it from Flikr!

It really did look beautiful and when I went up to Bath University on Tuesday the snow was still on the ground but the University is at the top of a very long very steep hill!

This is a nice picture of the Camberwell Green Tree Lights which I like and still have my fingers crossed for the Mayors Fund which we should be hearing about within the next month!

Scotland went rather tamely down to Wales at Murreyfield last weekend 13-26 which disappointed me as we usually do well against them at home.
Max Evans did get over for a score at the end but a bit of criticism directed at Coach Franck Hadden so he has something to prove in Paris this weekend against France and is playing the Evans brothers together for the first time, yet another set of rugby union brothers playing for their country. Still I don't fancy their chances against the French in Park Des Princes!