August Back Linx

It’s August Bank Holiday weekend, I’ve got the moodies due to Spurs legendary inconsistency, Mrs Blogger has got the heating on, and it’s raining. So, time to do a bit of house-keeping and catch up with all those part written posts and scribbled notes that are gnawing away at my conscience. And since Anna Raccoon has had a pop at Weggis on links I thought I’d take the advice of “Flesh” and do it as a link fest. But first:

“Flesh” is getting excited about spending all next weekend [4-5th September] in a tent at Hainault Forest Country Park for the Offset Festival, which I missed on my earlier round up. Click that link for details.

Freewheeler highlights “Walk Redbridge” but is not too impressed with our Street clutter. I wonder if [s]he realises the significance of Deynecourt Gardens?

Derek treats us to an extract from Nature’s Bottom Line. A sort of “does my economy look big in this”?

Weggis spots a disguised Trident submarine.

In the Guardian, British Gas [I didn’t realise we still had any] say that homeowners could save up to £1,000 a year if they install solar panels. So what could our council save? Or the NHS? Or the House?

As we await another Redbridge Big Conversation on where to make cuts savings, Lenin’s Tomb declares “Public opinion does not exist”. It goes on “The mirage of public opinion is invoked typically to provide a pseudo-mandate for policies that elites have already decided to implement.” So, no chance of solar panels on the Town Hall then?

Meanwhile down in the south west things are moving apace with applications in the pipeline for solar parks to produce 750MegaWatts.

Just for Knowsie, here’s a lovely post on steam trains by Hannah.

And Eco-street highlights 50 new uses for old things.

Talking of reuse David Cameron is apparently going in for “Nudge Theory”. Also known as "libertarian paternalism" or "choice architecture", I think it means giving public sector workers the elbow? Or is it just another re-wording for using the levers of state to modify our behaviour? Meanwhile local resident and Union Leader Bob Crow accepts a 12% [£10,000] pay increase.

The Doctor muses on how great minds are prone to miss the bleeding obvious. So here’s a poem [the Doc likes poetry] on the subject.

Adessi, a PR company, have signed up for the 10:10 challenge and are keeping a blog on it. But they really ought to consider eating locally grown fruit instead of crisps. Note the link to this site in their side bar which they probably got from Cision.

And to round off, Suitably Despairing doesn’t like the term “Green Jobs”. It’s the word “job” I don’t like!

Now, I know what you are all thinking – what’s that picture at the top got to do with anything? The photograph was taken on Thursday 19th August. A day later the tree was back upright, presumably as a result of the council’s treemen. Yesterday morning, Saturday 28th August that tree had gone missing completely and was nowhere to be seen and the fence in the background had been knocked over. This is a notoriously dangerous bend in Fullwell Avenue and that fence “protects” the side/rear garden of a newly built house that is now up for sale. Just right for a family with young children who want to play in the garden in “safety” away from dangerous maniacs on the road!

Bucking the Trend

Firstly a big thank you to those readers who voted for this blog in the Total Politics Best blog Poll 2010. The Top 25 Green blogs have been announced and we are up one place at number 4, overtaking the doyen of Green Left, Derek Wall, who falls to 5th place. The thing is that while Derek gets nil points for technique and layout his blog still beats this one in terms of traffic volume by some margin. He is well known on the international Green scene, whereas this blog is locally focussed.

There are many ways to judge success or otherwise – it depends upon what you set out to do. When it comes to a vote this blog has an in-built advantage over Derek. Whereas Derek’s constituency is dispersed, some as far off as Latin America, ours is to a large extent localised, and more importantly known personally. So, during July, when I and other B21 members were out and about at meetings or in the High Street or just shopping or in the pub, and we bumped into one of our readers we were able to remind them to vote. When they said they didn’t know how to [or didn’t know how to use email, would you believe] we were there to help and advise. In the trade it’s called “getting your vote out” or “working the doorstep”. You can’t do that on the Internet. It needs that personal face-to-face touch. Therein lies the secret of our success – in this poll at least. And a reminder to all those wannabe politicians.

It is also heartening when you speak to someone for the first time and find they not only read the blog but are very complementary about it. Personal feedback like that counts a lot more than bland internet rankings, which this blog doesn’t do too well in. That’s because we rarely get linked to by other blogs, but then why should they be interested in what’s going on round here? There are not that many other local blogs that I know about.

It also looks like we are going to buck the trend this August in terms of traffic volume – 4 days to go yet but looking good. There has been a steady overall rise in traffic volume over the 4 years this blog has been in operation, but there is always a dip in April [Easter], August [Holidays] and December [Christmas] with each succeeding year being higher than the last. But this August looks as though it will break the monthly record for visits which currently stands at 4,304. Maybe readers are not taking holidays, or taking their Blackberries with them, or maybe it was the controversial topic of the Redbridge Skyride?

Anyway, congratulations to all those in the top 25, commiserations to those who dropped out or didn’t make it, and a reminder to them not to give up. There are 11 new entries this year and at least one of them is a re-entry.

Click for the full list.

Bring on September

The month starts with the new autumn school term on Thursday 2nd. I might just get up early that day and take a stroll to see how the parents react to all the double yellow lines that have appeared around The Glade School during the summer holidays.
About that time Gants Hill roundabout should re-open for business and we will see what impact those traffic lights have. Although TfL have said that getting the phasing right may take “a while”. Given their definition of "on time" this doesn't bode well.

Sadly, the Family Fun Day intended to mark the official opening of Claybury Park has been cancelled due to an administrative cock-up. But never mind. To compensate for your woes there is, on the that very same day Saturday September 4th, the 66th annual Ilford Horticultural Society Autumn Show where Caroline from the Commonwealth gardeners will be exhibiting her pumpkin "if it survives whatever is trying to eat it".

On the same theme we have the 4th Goodmayes Garden Festival on the following day, Sunday September 5th from 1-5pm. This is run by Seven Kings and Goodmayes Allotment Society and has lots of stalls, a vegetable competition (open to all, not just councillors), music and morris dancing. All for just 50p admission adults, accompanied children free. The allotments are behind Poole's Court flats in Goodmayes Lane. Also on this day is a Mass Picnic on Wanstead Flats on the site of the proposed Police Compound for the 2012 Olympics. Mostly, it seems that Newham residents have the hump, but the site is actually in Redbridge.

Moving on we have the unveiling of a memorial plague plaque in Claybury Park with the Duke of Gloucester on the morning of Monday 6th. Invite only by the sounds of it, but on the following weekend on Saturday 11th, we [Barkingside 21] are hosting, with the Ilford Historical Society, a lecture on the history of Claybury Park plus Storytelling with Tony Cranston [Five years +] with stories from the new story education book for Claybury Park, 'Tales from Claybury Woods'. If that doesn’t wet your appetite you could always try the Bush Food Challenge [dried/fried insects, HOT chilli, mashed Ocra, TRIPE, hot chicken gizzard etc] at the "Taste of Africa" event in Woodford Bridge on the same day or the multi-cultural Redbridge Carnival in Valentines Park which runs over both Saturday and Sunday 11/12th.

In between on Wednesday 8th the Friends of Wanstead Parkland have arranged a talk on The Great Gardens of Wanstead House, of which the present Wanstead Park is a mere fragment and were once among the finest in the country. Dr Sally Jeffery of Birkbeck College, University of London, and a renowned authority on the gardens as they developed from the late seventeenth century will give the presentation from 7.30 pm at the Wanstead House Community Centre. Admission is £3.00 on the door.

The following week on Thursday 16th is our first autumn coffee morning where we will have two council officers speaking on enforcement and recycling. On the same day there is a Jobs Fair down at the Town Hall. Not sure what jobs are available these days given the scope of government cutbacks and ominously the notice is well hidden on the council website [you have to scroll down to end of that link], but….

The following weekend September 18-19th is London Open House where listed buildings are opened up to the public for tours. This coincides with the Wanstead Festival on the Sunday 19th and the 4th Annual Country Fayre at Upminster Tithe Barn Museum of Nostalgia.

So, I haven’t mentioned the council yet - saving the best for last. On Monday 6th the overview committee chaired by Bob Littlewood will be reviewing REAct, the Redbridge Environment Action Plan. Hardly a James Bond movie but Bob is keen to hear the views of those interested in the Environment. The following day Tuesday 7th is Cabinet where we might learn in which century the replacement swimming pool might appear. I intend to make a controversial suggestion on council communications at this meeting.

The next Area Committee 3 meeting is on Wednesday 22nd which was to be followed quickly by Area Committee 4 on Thursday 23rd but is now on Tuesday 21st after we have just printed 2,500 newsletters with the Thursday date. But that's AC4 for you, they do have a history of changing their meeting dates. The agendas and reports should appear on the links provided above, 5 working days prior to each meeting.

Apologies if I’ve missed anything.

New Build

This is a guest post from Philip Booth from Ruscombe Green.

What to do during the summer holidays? Well here's a project for children and adults. There are many different ways of making a bug house - basically you can't go wrong but to maximise the number of residents in your new home there are some steps you can take - the RSPB have a good page on how to make insect houses - see here - and the BBC Breathing Places website also has some advice here.












Photos: The Incredible Edible Todmorden is a great project - they have a photo of this first insect tower on their website. Clearly it doesn't have to be this big! The other photos below are of a stack of pallets made into an insect house with old bricks, slate and more for a wildlife garden in the corner of a large allotment site in Exmouth that I visited. However you can also make it in a log like the other photo or indeed pretty well anything.

The holes may be used by solitary bees such as Mason Bees or Leafcutter Bees, which are non aggressive and excellent for pollinating in the garden, helping to increase fruit yields. A durable roof and more solid timber or insulation materials will give excellent insulation for over wintering Ladybirds and Lacewings.



Folk who read the Ruscombe Green blog regularly will know about my wonderment at the leafcutter bees who took up residence in the beehouse I made - see movie of bee with leaf here, plus How to make a bee house.

A Journey of Claybury Park: Stop Press

A Historical Lecture with slide show
Georgina Green on the Repton Period
Ian Dowling on the Hospital Period

Saturday 11th September 2-4pm
Aldborough and Hainault Rooms,
Fullwell Cross Library
Free entry and refreshments

As part of the Park's official opening week, Barkingside 21, in partnership with the Ilford Historical Society and sponsored by Redbridge Council, have organised a historical lecture to take us back in time through the history and changes that have led to what we now know as Claybury Park. From grand country estates to one of the largest mental asylums in Western Europe, a chance to discover one of the borough’s historically rich areas.

We would welcome reminiscences of people connected with the hospital.

STOP PRESS: In addition we have:

Storytelling with Tony Cranston (Five years+)
Hainault Room
Stories from the new story education book for Claybury Park,
‘Tales from Claybury Woods’
Copies and CDs of the book will be available

Autumn Coffee Mornings

Picture credit: Jimjay

Over the next week or so our August 2010 hard copy Newsletter will be popping through letterboxes, but not like the one above, in these here parts of Barkingside. So I thought I had better tell our blog readers what new goodies it contains.

Thursday 16th September 2010
Sue Crawley & Joanne Smallman
Redbridge Enforcement & Recycling Officers

Thursday 21st October 2010
Councillor Ian Bond
The Redbridge Deputy Leader's View

Thursday 18th November 2010
Jan Scott
North East london Area Manager: Victim Support

These are all held in the Hainault Room, Fullwell Cross Library 10:00am – 12:00noon

We do Tea and biscuits too, and it's all Fairtrade.

There is no charge for these events and they are open to all.

Note: While the library itself will be closed from November to March for refurbishment the meeting rooms will remain open for use except during January 2011.

Light Relief

Terry Scott - My Brother.
You know, every night when we’re wide awake, she makes us go to bed.
And then in the morning when we’re fast asleep, she makes us get up.

If you look closely at a map of the United Kingdom you will find that it stretches from about 49° to 62° north. This means that there is quite a wide range of daylight hours between the Scilly Isles and the Shetland Isles. There is nothing we can do about this, it is a fact of where we are. The south of the UK always gets more daylight hours than the north in the winter and less in the summer – period. You don’t like it, move!

60% of the public are backing the Daily Express Time for Change crusade to move Britain’s clocks permanently forward by one hour, according to independent research. The majority of people believe that having lighter evenings in the autumn and winter would be beneficial. A fifth believe that saving lives on the roads would be the biggest benefit. They also believed it would reduce energy bills and make the nation greener.

The thing is that farmers and allotment holders start work when the sun comes up and stop when it goes down, irrespective of what it says on their wristwatch. Changing the clocks does not change when dawn or dusk occur. It is an illusion, a social construct and the sooner we understand that the better our lives will be. Children in the north don’t have to start school at 8:30am. If they don’t like going to school in the dark, then don’t – change the time the schools open.

Supermarkets now have 24hr opening, pubs are open all day and you can catch Eastenders whenever you like. As far as I know there is no law that says you must have lunch at 1pm and dinner at 6pm. You have a choice and you can exercise it.

Travel Concessions Bill 2010

click above to enlarge

One of our members was a little bit worried when he saw the above, a notice in the Evening Standard on 11th August saying that all London councils will be discussing a new Travel Conscessions bill this autumn. He felt that it was a prelude to removing the Freedom Pass or restricting its benefits. A quick search unearthed the consultation document.

In short TfL are obliged by law to have a concessionary travel scheme, but it must be the same for all services it operates. However, TfL now control some railway services and most Railway services still operate an exclusion in the morning peak, whereas TfL services are 24/7. This amendment bill seeks to deal with the anomalies and also provides an arbitration option if London Councils cannot agree a deal with TfL. At present TfL can impose one. So that seems fair enough.

I don’t think there is anything to worry about on this front but we will be keeping an eye on it. However, don’t hold yer breath.

Benefits for the elderly, including the winter fuel allowance and free bus travel, are being targeted by ministers in the hunt for spending cuts. Ministers have resolved to increase the qualifying age for the annual payment from 60 to at least 66, with potentially an even bigger rise.

Ministers are also examining the £1bn-plus cost of providing free off-peak travel from the age of 60[1]. The qualification age could be raised to 65 or 70 or the benefit could be means-tested under proposals being studied by the DWP. Restricting benefits to older people would embarrass David Cameron, who before the election denounced as "lies" claims that the Tories planned to cut them.

The Government is also considering whether to scrap child benefit payments to better-off families to help fund an overhaul of the welfare state.

So, they’ve got us elderly peeps if we stay in or go out or visit our grandchildren who will now be playing with their grandparents inherited marbles rather than a Wii.

Notes:
1. The entitlement to a Freedom Pass is already being phased from aged 60 to age 65 in line with the phasing for women's state pensions. This was effective from April 2010, prior to the last General Election.

Redbridge Skyride Report

I have asked our resident MBE for a report and photos and it will appear here if supplied. In the meantime we have a MOD [Miserable Old Dandy] who lives in the High Street reporting that only 800 cyclists took part and working out the cost per cyclist. I think he was upset at being usurped in the "eccentricity" stakes.

Picture by Freewheeler

I wasn’t there on account of it being my daughters 30th Birthday. Although she does ride a bicycle regularly I don’t think she would have appreciated that as a present. We went to Rollerbowl and then on to Luigi’s for Sunday Brunch.

Anyway there are other notable reports [click on below] apart from the BBC who put the figure of those taking part at up to 5,000, way short of predictions.

The Redbridge Skyride experience by Freewheeler

Redbridge Skyride by Roger Evans

Sky Ride by Keith Prince

Thousands pedal through Redbridge Skyride - Ilford Recorder

Bicycle Days

Well, as it’s the Redbridge Skyride tomorrow I thought I’d do a feature on Boris’ new flagship cycle hire scheme up in Central London, reputedly the most expensive in Europe, launched at the end of last month. I’m sure all those local MOPs [Miserable Old People] will appreciate it.

When complete the scheme will have 6,000 hire bicycles available from 400 docking stations. I was up in London twice last week and true to form I tend to walk around a bit. I did see quite a few people docking and undocking and others riding down the road, so it does seem to be reasonably popular. My main gripe is that there was no docking station anywhere near The Britannia in Lever Street, but there were close by to The Betsey Trotwood, The Masque Haunt [a Wetherspoons], The Master Gunner and The Crispin. Not that I was in a fit state to use one on the way back to Liverpool Street Station.

More photos here.

So, just to wind up Dopeyf and all the other MOPs I would like to point out that 400 docking stations represents a loss of something like 1,600 car parking spaces.

But apart from that major advantage there do seem to be one or two problems, like what do you do when you get to a popular docking station and find it’s full up? And, on close inspection, the bikes do not seem to have any lights [only reflectors] so what happens when the clocks go back in October and it gets dark at 4pm?

Here’s a nice piece of advertising for Barclays from Camden Kiwi.

Beer, Fags, Burgers, Milk and CO2

Important Note for our American readers: Here in the UK Fags are cigarettes!

Right, where do I start, I am aghast. I don’t know what to make of it all. OK Beer it is. After my plea to try and save some of our disappearing pubs the government have decided to abolish the Community-Owned Pubs Support Programme, a trifling £3.3 million programme [one new swimming pool costs £25million, sorry to keep bringing this up] created by the last government to help save pubs in small rural communities. Being a bit of a rambler I do like to have a pub lunch on my wanderings and I am wondering if this will be possible in future. This does not seem to be consistent with Dave’s “Big Society” mantra. Indeed most of his team seem to like a drop themselves. While we are on the subject Reuben takes apart the notion of cheap booze. It’s not cheap, it’s more expensive than it’s ever been, but it is more affordable – there’s a difference.

And in another unexpected twist from the nanny state, Restaurants, cafes and pubs could be forced to list the calories in every item on their menu under Government plans to tackle obesity; plans could also include alcohol with the calorie content of every glass of wine, pint of beer and spirit measure listed alongside its price. This is the present [small?] government, not the last one who banned smoking in pubs and restaurants [for they were the only places left] and introduced graphics on cigarette packets. Has it stopped people smoking? Maybe a few, but how many replace them? This sort of intervention doesn’t work. When will they ever learn? We make our lifestyle choices – period. Get used to it!

So, on to Milk. Being a beneficiary of free milk back in the 1950s, when we were on rations, I must admit I do have a soft spot for it. I relish a pint of milk in much the same way as a pint of beer, nowadays usually when I’m on driving duty. So Anne Milton’s plan to scrap “free” milk for the under 5’s and save £50 million [that’s two swimming pools, sorry] is scuppered by Dave’s unwillingness to be seen as targeting young children. But hey, look, a pint of beer ~ £2.40, packet of cigarettes ~ £6, pint of milk ~ 40p, or 8 shillings. If the “benefit” system is over generous, as they claim, then it’s covered, so why duplicate? If it does benefit certain poor children then the “system” is not working. So deal with that.

“Flesh” thinks it should go for different reasons, but how would Cadburys Dairy Milk [a glass and a half in every bar] cope and does Flesh consume chocolate? More to the point how do you make decent custard for your [freegal] apple and blackberry pies without milk?

And on this very subject Sainsbury's is to roll out "eco-friendly" milk bags and jugs across its entire product range in a multi-million pound move to reduce the carbon footprint of milk consumption. Bags contain 75% less plastic than the bottles in which at least two-thirds of the 180m pints of milk consumed by Britons every week is sold. Less energy is used in making them and they take up far less space when disposed of. Customers switching to bags could save up to 1,400,000kg of packaging every year. All very well but re-used glass bottles from the milkman seemed to work quite well.

So, just in case you climate sceptics think this “new” government will be reducing the burden of regulation on businesses, we have the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) initiative created by the last government but implemented by this one. Companies that fail to register their energy use by next month will be hit with fines that could reach £45,000 under the little-known rules. Those that do participate by declaring their energy use will face charges for every ton of greenhouse gas they produce. These payments are expected to average £38,000 a year for medium-sized firms, and could reach £100,000 for larger organisations. Surveys have shown that thousands of businesses are unaware they are supposed to be taking part, or even that the scheme exists at all.

As I wrote at the beginning, I just don’t know what to make of it all.

Energising Redbridge Council

The trouble with Redbridge Council is that while many of the Councillors and Officers read this blog, they don’t appear to actually listen. It was way back in December 2006 that I suggested that Fairlop Plain is an ideal site for a local wind farm and that it could be a nice little earner.

And as of yesterday [Monday] that nice Mr Huhne, the LibDom Energy Secretary, has lifted the ban [why was there a ban in the first place?] on local councils selling surplus renewable energy to the National Grid. And the Local Government Association has published a report saying that Councils could earn up to £100m per year from selling electricity to the grid. Blimey, that’s FOUR replacement swimming pools per year! At that rate we will be running out of water to fill them up.

At a time of reducing grants from central government you’d think that local authorities would be looking for revenue generation opportunities other than just advertising, wouldn’t you?

But Mr Huhne is not all goody two shoes. Maybe it’s a compromise with his coalition partners but his principled opposition to Nuclear has taken a bit of a knock with the announcement that new nuclear power stations are to open in 2018. Though he did say that "the Government would not subsidise the new nuclear power stations but investors had indicated they were ready to press ahead thanks to rising gas, oil and carbon prices." Note how renewable sources are not even mentioned here.

Meanwhile, in Portugal nearly 45% of the electricity in their grid will come from renewable sources this year, up from 17% just five years ago. Land-based wind power, this year deemed “potentially competitive” with fossil fuels by the International Energy Agency in Paris has expanded sevenfold in that time. And Portugal expects in 2011 to become the first country to inaugurate a national network of charging stations for electric cars.

And to round off Planning Resource report that three regional clusters of offshore wind energy sites around Scotland would deliver more than 5,000 new jobs and generate £300 million a year.

“Harry” the Moth

So there we were, yesterday evening in the New Fairlop Oak at a gathering of the Barkingside 21 troops when one of our eagle eyed Nature peeps spots a newcomer. We named him “Harry” and he is now our official mascot. More photos here. Courtesy of Ktype.

If you are not a local you need to know that Harry Moth is one of our local councillors and was indeed present at the time.

Scams of the Week

A reader writes:

We had some conman knock on our door this week trying to sell us paintings claiming to be from an Israeli University in Jerusalem. I know it’s a well known scam which happens all over the world selling paintings at £40 to £60 when they are really £3 reproductions from China. My Mum and another friend in Barkingside have had the same problem this week with 2 different people doing the same thing.

Please warn other residents. This guy was very convincing and I am normally so careful with people at the door.

From my Inbox:

I received one of those bogus Tax Refund emails from, allegedly, HMRC which managed to get past my spam filter. I must say it’s very good. The online form looks exactly like a genuine HMRC page and they had put customers@hmrc.gov.uk in the name field to disguise the real email address which was services@hmrc.co.uk .

The form was a dead giveaway though – they wanted my credit card details including the PIN number.
Rule number 1. NEVER disclose your PIN number to ANYBODY. It stands for PERSONAL identification number – it’s personal.

The email came from IP address 64.69.35.33 and is registered in the United States to zzstar.com

Fun on the Phone

I get a call from allegedly, Microtalk, who want to save me money on my BT telephone account for which I am paying between £16 and £18 per month. So, how do you know I’ve got a BT account and how much I’m paying, I ask; that’s a breach of the Data Protection Act. Please give me your postal address so I can make an official complaint. I can’t give that information out over the phone he says. So, what makes you think I am going to do business with a company who withhold their telephone number and will not give me their postal address, I ask – hangs up.

Microtalk is legit, you can find their telephone number and their postal address with a quick search on the internet, which I did whilst I was talking to him. Still, it was fun.

Memories:

I am reminded of when my Dad was being plagued by telephone calls from a certain company wanting to sell him a conservatory. In the end he agreed to make an appointment for a sales represenative to call. When he arrived he found that my dad lived in a second floor flat. The phone calls stopped.

Fairlop Heritage

The chairman of the Fairlop Heritage Group, David Martin, has persuaded Harold Bennett, previously Sergeant Harold Bennett of 603 Squadron - the first to fly from Fairlop on 17 November 1941 - to visit Fairlop Waters Country Park for an informal visit on Saturday 14th August. He will arrive around 1pm.
Harold was shot down on 8 December 1941 in the Channel off Le Touquet and spent the rest of the war as a pow. He is now nearly 90 and will be pleased to meet and greet anyone who is interested in those war time years to recount his memories of the time.

David Martin will also be bringing a small table top exhibition on the history of the plain including photographs and memorabilia.

How to Survive the Cuts

Picture: Adelaide Community Garden courtesy Treehugger

The lefty blogosphere is gearing up for action – to Fight the Cuts. The old father time himself, Tony Benn, is mobilising [key lefty word that] the troops. Look at the signatory list, they are all the usual suspects. And if you look carefully you will notice a local [no, not Ashok Kumar; ours is not the same person] anti-fascist activist who actually lives in Islington a few yards away from where I spent my early years.

Luna 17 expands here.
Joseph Healey of Green Left is on the ball.
Richard Lawson is sensible as usual.
And Zoe Williams argues that Industrial action keeps the mechanics and the muscle of conflict alive.

To some extent they have a point.

The government claims the cuts are unavoidable because the welfare state has been too generous. This is nonsense. Ordinary people are being forced to pay for the bankers' profligacy.

The Prats in Spats [as Richard dubs them] who gave the sub-prime mortgage market an AAA rating are the real villains here. And the government’s Catch 22 is that the more they reduce spending the more the economy will contract, pushing their holy grail target of “economic growth” further away.

Locally the cat is out of the bag. This years cuts of £5.6 million are a trifle compared to next years massive £20 million. Already we are looking at closing all public toilets [including the one at Fullwell Cross that we haven’t got yet] and dispensing with Lollypop men and women. Regeneration and replacement Swimming pools are but a distant fantasy.

The point is that those cuts are going to happen whether the left like it or not. They can huff and puff, put their foot down with a firm hand and throw any amount of tantrums they like. Cuts it is. And here lies the left’s Catch 22 problem and grand opportunity.

Suppose they put all that energy and effort into supporting the vulnerable to survive the cuts. Developing volunteer networks, self help groups, tool share groups, skill share groups, community groups, mutuals, freegal swap groups, local currencies, allotment barter groups? Relying upon ourselves and our communities instead of some emotionless bureaucratic state machine. Of course this is exactly what the government want us to do and is what Dave means by “Big Society”. And if successful, and there is no reason it shouldn’t be, the government just turn round and say “There, that wasn’t so bad was it?”

And that ladies and gentlemen is why the left are not going to play ball.

But it is neverheless an opportunity for the left. To revitalise local communities where people connect with each other and support each other. Where social structures are enhanced and embedded into the psyche and carry through to the ballot box.

There are always alternatives to tackling any problem, but conflict and confrontation, upon which the left seems to thrive, is not always the best and most effective way of achieving one’s aims. Sometimes it is better to use your opponents strengths against them.

Discuss.

Elephants and Mice

I am conscious that I haven’t posted much on Wildlife recently, so I thought I’d share with you these two blogposts from the RSPB that caught my eye.

Do elephants rampage through your garden at night?

How to recycle old tennis balls.

Go see. Click those links. It's cute.

Claybury Plaque

As part of the official opening of Claybury Park, the Duke of Gloucester (he doesn’t do weekends) will be visiting on Monday 6th September to unveil a bronze memorial plaque. We don’t know what time and we haven’t been invited [hint] but I expect a few councillors and the Mayor to be there along with various other VIPs and hangers on. The plaque will be sited at the London view point just under Claybury Hall and will be set in the ground flush with the bonded gravel. It has a spiral timeline of the history of the park.

It starts at the year 1200 and says “13th Century: Claybury and Hospital Hill Woods are part of the Claybury Estate which was free tenement held by Barking Abbey.”

Here’s a picture of it propped up against a door at Valentines Mansion where it is being securely held in the interim. A few more close ups here.

Claybury Snag

Last Friday we had the “consultation” meeting on the opening celebrations for Claybury Park scheduled for 4th September. It was not a constructive meeting – it was a rabble. Shouting, interrupting, heckling, all the things that a meeting should not be. There were 5 councillors present from Fullwell and Fairlop wards who were reprimanded for not introducing themselves at the outset - but they were in the audience, it was not their meeting, it was organised and run by the Parks department. One councillor, who tried in vain to bring order, was accused of talking down to people like a schoolteacher. Well, I’m afraid that’s what happens when people behave like spoilt and unruly children. A couple of people walked out in disgust and I spent a bit of time outside too, since it was clear that I would not be allowed to speak by the baying mob inside.

The crux of the issue boils down to this: The Council, supported by Barkingside 21 and others, want to have a family fun day, for 6 hours from 11am to 5pm, and because of the nature of the event they need a license. Unfortunately, the Parks department applied for a generic license, which would have given them the option of holding licensable events every day of the year up to 11pm. There is frankly no chance of this; and the Nature Conservation Team, with whom we work closely, certainly would be opposed to anything that could harm the natural state of the place.

This did not appease the mob, they wanted blood, and they wanted the opening celebration cancelled. They did not want any events taking place in the park at all, despite the fact that this goes on all the time. Some of the reasons given for this:

I object to people coming past my house to get into the park.
It will attract the wrong sort of people.
If you publicise the park we’ll have everybody using it.
I own my house unlike the people in Fullwell Avenue.

On that last point I have to point out that the Home Owner does not own Claybury Park. In fact at one point last year, when the financial crisis hit, there was a possibility that Crest Nicholson could have gone into administration and the land, still legally theirs, would have been a saleable asset. As Private Land it could well have been used for Glastonbury type events or worse. The phrase Caveat Emptor springs to mind.

Also I have to point out that there are already lots of events taking place in the park, just not licensable ones. There are guided walks, tree dressing, and other activities organised by the Nature Conservation Team.

These residents should think themselves lucky to have such a wonderful park on their doorstep and that it is in public ownership. That is public ownership, ie all of us, not just them.

The license application is to be amended and will be put to the Licensing Committee on a date yet to be fixed; we know there will be objections, but the event does have our support and we expect it to go ahead.

UPDATE: Thursday 5th August.
The license application has been withdrawn. The event on Saturday 4th September 2010 has been cancelled.