Kenneth “More” Cuts

Today B21 received an email urging me to support a petition opposing the closure of the Kenneth More Theatre. It’s not being closed – it’s having its grant cut. A grant paid for by you and me the council taxpayer. A quick look at the now well over 400 signatures shows that quite a few of our members and contacts have already signed it. This is just one of a number of specific campaigns so far and I expect to see more of them in the coming weeks as people find out the detail.

Earlier, at Full Council on 20th January, Elizabeth Milne age 16 made an impassioned speech against the £800,000 cuts to the Redbridge Music Service while a petition of 1,560 was presented.

B21 has also just been “added” to the Facebook group “Save Goodmayes Library” by Cllr Bert Jones without my consent. There is also a website which I’m not going to link to because it publishes the home address of the Cabinet member responsible. True, her home address is available on the Redbridge-i website, and they could have legitimately linked to that public domain page, but they didn’t. Lack of internet manners and etiquette there!

The truth is that these cuts are across the board and the council is between a rock and a hard place. They could increase Council Tax, except if they did the government grant would be reduced even further. It would be counter productive. They can’t spend money they haven’t got and they are not allowed to borrow for current account expenditure. Period. There are going to be things in there that each of us has strong feelings about.

A few years ago, when Laurence Davies was council leader, I personally submitted a 670-signature petition asking for something to be done about the then scourge of our open spaces – the unlicensed scrambler bike. I think we would have got the Parks Police anyway so I’m not claiming credit, but I am a bit miffed. The team is being reduced from 2 sergeants and 12 constables to 1 sergeant and 8 constables.

Then there was the campaign to “save our Nature Conservation Team” back in 2007. The nature conservation team plays a key role in safeguarding biodiversity which is a local authority responsibility. In addition they also support the parks team in organising community engagement events and key educational activities. The team comprises of 3.5 posts and the proposal is to delete 1.5 of these posts.

Do you eat out, indulge in the odd takeaway or buy food from local shops? You might want to think twice in future. The environmental health team and specifically Food Safety Officers are being reduced from 4 to 3.

Troubled by anti-social behaviour? The weekend daytime service is removed and CCTV operator coverage on weeknights is reduced. Schemes to combat doorstep crime like ‘No Cold calling zones’ and trading standards advice are to cease.

Four public toilets are to be closed and those that remain will not have an ‘attendant’. Street cleaning is being reduced from every 5 days to every 10 days for residential roads and smaller shopping areas. Early morning and Sunday Sweeps in major shopping areas are cancelled. Street scene [these are the enforcement officers: litter, grafitti, fly-tipping etc] is being cut from 17 to 12.

I could go on but I’ll stop there, because I want to highlight this: The Adult Services budget. This is a statutory requirment and looks after the elderly and the vulnerable.

“Increase the contributions required from service users towards their community based care.”
£561,000 for 2011/12. £749,000 in the following 2 years.

Where's the petition/campaign for them? As the man said “We are all in this together”.

Scenes from King George Protest March

After speeches from figures including Lee Scott MP, Council Leader Cllr Keith Prince, Whipps Cross UNISON branch secretary Len Hockey, Labour Health lead Cllr Ross Hatfull and consultant Dr. Anna Athow, the marchers paused for a photo call before setting off towards the town centre (Note the Carnival Queen extreme right).

There was a strong turnout on the day by Perryman’s Farm residents.

Seven Kings Singh Sabha Gurdwara provided food and hot drinks as more speakers (including campaigners for the Whittington hospital and from Waltham Forest and Southend KONP branches) addressed the crowd outside Harrison Gibson’s store in Ilford High Road.

More signatures were gathered for the petition against the closure of Accident and Emergency facilities at King George hospital.

Images and report by Bob Archer.

Fullwood Picks Litter

Last week children from Fullwood Primary School were out in Barkingside and Claybury Woods with Barkingside 21 on a Litter Pick. They collected eight bags of rubbish in one hour in Claybury Woods alone. They are fed up with the litter that blights our local environment and tired of their parents and families having to pay excessively to clear up other people’s mess. Too right. This is “Big Society” stuff. It is all too easy to “walk on by” taking the view “why should I pick up somebody else’s mess”. Of course it would be wonderful if those who don’t care didn’t do it in the first place, but that’s not the whole picture. Litter, debris, detritus is not necessarily dropped or discared by “other people”. You too, could well be responsible for some of it. Putting your weekly rubbish out in black bags means they are susceptible to Foxes and Cats tearing the bags and the contents being strewn out in the road and blown by the wind to who knows where.

Get a bin and put your black bag[s] in it.

And if the wind blows some litter into your front garden, don’t just kick it back out onto the road, pick it up and put it in the bin, in the knowledge that just maybe somebody else will be doing the same down the road with your waste that has blown into their garden.

Don’t let those who don’t care drag us all down to their level.

Logo For Sale

The Conservative Party announced yesterday that they intend to sell off their Logo [shown] for £250million. Applications from the private sector and in particular Donald Trump, Centre Parcs and the Logging Industry should be made in writing to George Osborne, 11 Downing Street, SW1A 2AA.

However, it would appear that there is some opposition to selling of this much loved piece of our natural heritage:-

“England's public forests are to be sold off to the private sector for up to £250m, the Government announced yesterday in one of its most contentious policy decisions. In a move squarely driven by the ideology of the Conservative "Big Society" agenda, most of the 637,000 acres of state-owned woodland in England, owned and maintained by the Forestry Commission, is to be sold off over the next decade, despite an angry campaign of opposition and a recent poll showing 84 per cent of the public are firmly against the idea.” – The Independent.

"The Forestry Commission is probably the most enduring and finest legacy of the Conservative/Liberal coalition government which came to grief in 1922. What a shame it would be if another Tory/Liberal Coalition killed it off, 90 years later." Peter Oborne in the Telepgraph

Her Majesties Opposition is not amused.

38 Degrees petition on forest sell-off - 284,317 signatures so far.

Forest sell-off protest in Gateshead.

Pay & Display

A couple of days ago I popped into Fullwell Autos on the roundabout and was greeted with a petition, which I signed, as follows:

Barkingside Business Partnership, local traders, residents and shoppers in Barkingside oppose the proposals in the Redbridge council budget to both the introduction of Sunday parking charges and the increase in the operational hours of charging to apply on Monday to Saturdays in both the pay and display meters and surface car parks. We request that all parking charges be reduced to assist local business.

It has been organised by the Barkingside Business Partnership and should be available to sign in most of the shops on the High Street. The increase in operational hours mentioned is from 7am to 7pm. I think that might catch a few people out who are not aware of the change when it happens.

Now, I’m not personally convinced that parking should be allowed on the High Street itself at all. What we want on the High Street are people on foot, not in cars. I’m told that whenever there is a proposal to pedestrianise a High Street the traders go ape-sh1t, but after it is introduced they love it.

On the other hand I also think that we need to look closely at levelling the playing field and at our own behaviour and expectations as customers and shoppers. The supermarkets generally have free parking as do shopping Malls like Lakeside and Bluewater, but not the Malls in Ilford or Romford. There you have to park in a multi-storey and pay.

But pay or not, once you have parked at one of these places you’ll have a lengthy walk to the front door, and more walking to the shop or isle you want to visit. You can’t park your car in the beer section of the supermarket or directly outside the shoe shop in Lakeside. So why do you expect to do that in the High Street? In truth most of us don’t, because there are only limited spaces available.

We really do need to sort out the relationship between High Streets and cars.

In more news on the budget proposals Pay & Display is to be introduced in:

Claybury Broadway
Clayhall Avenue
Fencepiece Road
New North Road
Horns Road
Beehive Lane
Aldborough Road South
Roding Lane South
Snakes Lane East
Wanstead High Street
Meads Lane and
Chadwell Heath.

Twenty’s Plenty

Last year a new 20mph zone was implemented around The Glade School, without any bumps or humps. Increasingly local authorities up and down the land are bringing in 20mph limits on ALL their residential roads – the nearest to us, and one of two in London, is Islington.

Now there is a major NHS report on road deaths and injuries that strongly recommends a general 20 mph speed limit, without humps and bumps, on all residential roads.

The report emanates from the Directors of Public Health in the North West and draws attention to the high rates of death and injury on roads in the region where children are more likely to be injured in RTCs than anywhere else in the country.

The reports main points include:

• Child casualty information shows that two-thirds of children who are killed or seriously injured on the roads are boys.
• Over four-fifths of child casualties occur on roads that have a speed limit of 30 mph, and statistical modelling shows that up to 140 killed or seriously injured child casualties could be saved each year if 20 mph speed limits had been applied in these areas.

Other regions like ours may have slightly better records but could follow suit to reduce road deaths further. Now there’s a way to reduce the demand at King George Accident & Emergency.

But as usual not everyone is happy – it’s anti-car.

Discuss

The full report, Road Traffic Collisions and Casualties in the North West of England, was produced by the North West Public Health Observatory in conjunction with NHS North West, the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University, the Child and Maternal Health Observatory and the Trauma and Injury Intelligence Group.

New community school for Barkingside campaign still needs your support

There is still time for you to express your views regarding the new school for Barkingside. Regular readers of this blog are hopefully aware that Barkingside 21 has joined together with local residents and parents to support the Council’s bid to open and run a new primary school on the site of the current Ilford Jewish Primary school, you can sign our online petition here [Click!]. We have recently delivered over 2,500 leaflets publicising this issue and got very cold collecting signatures on the High Street and even made the papers. If you have already signed the petition then please let your friends, family, colleagues and neighbours know about this issue and encourage them to sign as well. If you have one of our leaflets please send off the letter attached, if you don't have a copy please follow this link. You can also email the Council direct here [Click!].

In case this is the first you have heard about this issue (where have you been?) there follows a quick reminder about what is going on. The governors of Ilford Jewish Primary have decided to close their school on that site. The Council have decided to open a new school on the site and as required by the Education Act 2006 an open competition is being held to decide who should run the new primary school. Bids were submitted by 3 organisations, including the Council, on the 13th of December 2010. Two public meetings were held in Ilford Town Hall on the 6th January, whilst presentations were given by each of the bidders these mostly over ran and there was little or no opportunity for questions from the floor. All is not lost though, as currently there is a period of consultation which ends at 5.00pm on 3rd February 2011, so we encourage everybody to take this opportunity to express their views. As the Council is bidding the decision will be taken by an independent organisation The Office of School Adjudicator.

We support the opening of a new community school which would be wholly run by the Local Authority because:

• The school will need to serve all of the diverse communities in Redbridge. We believe this can be best achieved by a school which is under the control of publicly elected and accountable Politicians and Local Authority Officers.
• A very significant investment is required to buy and develop the site. If the Local Authority is to invest over £3m of tax payers' money into this project we believe that it should remain a community asset which serves the whole community equally.

If you support the establishment of a community school please sign the petition so that your views can be represented. The petition can be signed online or if you want to sign a hard copy you can go to Mr Simms, Clintons Cards, Danny's Pie and Mash or With Love Florist on Barkingside High Street.

Matt

Climate, Behaviour and Banks

A few years back I reported on how the Campaign against Climate Change had refused to invite a Conservative politician to speak at their rally. I had suggested John Gummer who was then a MP. Now Lord Deben he was speaking recently to Cambridge University students as Ellee Seymour reports.

Here’s what he thinks of Lord Lawson:

Nigel Lawson is wrong because even if he is right, we have to do it, but he is also wrong because it is illogical. It is illogical if a very large body of opinion suggests that this is a serious fact and we, because it is convenient for us, take the easy way out. That’s always been wrong. In the end, say the sceptics were right, what harm has it done? We’ve created whole new industries, we have cleaned up our atmosphere, we have a healthier place to live and we have protected ourselves from over use of our resources. I don’t think there is an argument against it.

There’s more over at Ellee’s place and well worth a read, particularly the bit about the burden of proof and how it relates to CFCs and the hole in the Ozone layer.

Meanwhile the Telegraph report last year was the coldest in Britain since 1986, according to the Met Office. However the rest of the world was warmer than ever. The Met Office said that as a whole the world was 0.50C (0.9F) hotter than the long term average of 14C (57.2F), making it the second hottest on record after 1998.

Up in Fife, Scotland they have a new research centre dubbed the Hydrogen Office. It is powered by a wind turbine but also has hydrogen fuels cells that store electricity from the turbine to smooth out supply and demand. Now what have I been saying….. if we can run mobile phones and laptops on batteries we can do it with pretty much everything else.

With advances in battery design, fuel cell storage, hydro-storage and the North Sea Interconnector, the variations in wind power output will soon be smoothed out and it will be one more argument against wind turbines that will be shown to be scaremongering by vested interests. – says Suitably Despairing.

And German conglomorate Siemens is investing £80million in a wind turbine plant up in Hull creating 700 jobs. - The Guardian.

Talking of Germans I was delighted to see this video below on Stairs. I think I have mentioned stairs on this blog before. It is a demonstration of how mass behaviour can be changed by thoughtful design. Why oh why do people buy electrical goods to save ‘labour’ and then buy more electrical goods to keep fit?

I got that from Jim via Facebook [thanks], and over on the Daily Maybe he reviews Bjørn Lomborg.

Lomburg says we keep promising to cut emisions but we don't - so let's stop promising to cut emisions and get on with coping with the mess we're making….

Not that I'm against useful technologies or substantial investment in renewable energies, as Lomborg also suggests….

And there’s the problem – investment or lack of it. We have an ideological battle going on at the moment. The coalition government are intent on cuts whereas others say we should be investing in the future. The government say we’re skint, but are we? Overall I mean.

The Daily Mail tells us that middle-income families could lose up to £2,800 by 2013 after planned changes to income tax, child benefit, tax credits and VAT according to think-tank Resolution Foundation.

They also tell us that savers [possibly those same middle income families] have been stuffed for £60billion since the Bank of England cut the base rate to its historic low point.

So where has all that money gone? Banks are there to provide capital investment for business but they are not doing it – they are paying it out in bonuses, Gah!

Children at Risk

A couple of weeks ago Jack Straw, former Home Secretary, caused controversy over his claim that some British Pakistani men regard white girls as "easy meat" for sexual abuse. His remarks have been both condemned and praised – see quotes in the Telegraph report here.

Our Muslim leaders here in Redbridge weighed in with their own criticism in the Ilford Recorder.

But at no time did Mr Straw mention Muslims or say that all Pakistani men are a problem – he used the word “some”. It is rather strange because not all Pakistanis are Muslims and we do have quite a large community of British Pakistani Christians here in the UK who have, so it seems, chosen to remain silent on this topic. So, why the outraged reaction from the Muslim community?

This might have something to do with the fact that 50 out of the 56 men convicted in English courts of on-street grooming of girls are Muslims, but not all of British Pakistani origin.

Of course it is unacceptable to typecast a whole community because of the actions of a minority, but equally so it is wrong to sweep a problem under the carpet for fear of upsetting our ethnic cousins and being targeted by the Politically Correct thought police.

There is a well-known Muslim spammer by the name of Iftikhar Ahmad [those last three characters are quite indicative] who is banned from most blogs and forums I know of, but not RBCF. Here he makes some good points, like White European men who travel to the far east for sex. But his overall message is that it is not the fault of Muslim men – to paraphrase: they have been dehumanised by Western culture and white women are slags. It is at root the fault of our education system where British Teachers are chicken racists.

This man is the Muslim equivalent of the BNP and EDF and I suspect is doing more to further their cause and recruitment than any other. It is precisely why we, Barkingside 21, are supporting the Council’s bid for a community school. It is only when we grow up together that we truly understand and appreciate each other’s culture and can put our own into the wider context. Some, like Iftikhar and Nick Griffin, see that as dilution, I see it as enlightenment and I am stronger for it.

So, let’s all calm down. Let’s make Redbridge the Castile of the 21st Century a place where we learn from each other. Not just Muslims and Christians, but also Jews, Bhuddists, Hindus, etc and not forgetting those of no faith.

Which brings me back to the problem, for there is a problem, and it needs professionals to sort it out. Barkingside is partly famous for Doctor Barnados and they have some suggestions.

They have a campaign called Cut them free, which focuses on the unknown facts of the rise of Child Sexual Exploitation in the UK and their request to Government to do everything they can to tackle this issue.
The campaign calls for these children to be given the same protection afforded to babies and younger children and launches a report Puppet on a String which points to some worrying new trends identified by our 22 specialist services. Trends identified by Barnardo’s specialist services:

• Trafficking is becoming more common and sexual exploitation more organised. Twenty one of its 22 services worked with children moved between towns and cities across the UK
• Grooming is becoming more sophisticated. The internet and mobile phone technology are increasingly being used by abusers to target and exploit children
• Younger children are increasingly at risk. The average age of service users has fallen from 15 to 13, with some services now working with children as young as 10.

As part of the Cut them free campaign Barnardo’s is asking for the secretary of state for education to appoint a minister to bring forward an action plan which will:

• Improve early identification of child sexual exploitation – by ensuring that all professionals are aware of the tell-tale signs related to sexual exploitation
• Improve statutory responses and the provision of services for exploited children – by ensuring that universal services can respond to victims of sexual exploitation and that there are clearly determined pathways from universal to specialist services
• Improve the evidence and data on the numbers of exploited children
• Improve prosecution procedures to increase the number of cases leading to a conviction, particularly in supporting child victims to act as witnesses

Barnados Press release
Cut them Free campaign – Barnardos homepage
Barnados Campaign page

I wonder though, in these times of austerity, whether the coalition government are prepared to prioritise this with some cash [a la Banker's bonuses] or do the 'free market fundamentalists' see this as an opportunity to make some money out of child exploitation and to improve GDP?

Sorry about that, I'm in a really bad mood at this moment. I KNOW that most Conservatives and Libdems would be horrified by that statement but that's precisely the bleedin' point!

The "free market" is not all it's cracked up to be. Think about it. Please.

Redbridge Cuts – How does it affect me?

We all know that our local Council ‘back office’ staff have been busily working away trying to make budget savings while not impacting on front line services. The cuts though are a fact of life and have to be made, the government says so and they are not open to negotiation [or are they?]. One wonders whether there will be any ‘back office’ staff left to work out the next round of cuts.

The LB of Redbridge budget for 2011/12 was agreed at Cabinet recently and now goes to Full Council on 3rd March 2011 for approval.

The Leader says on his blog:

Our proposals are strongly influenced by residents’ views in the Redbridge Conversation.
Our priority is to protect frontline services as far as possible by making as many efficiency savings from our ‘back office’ functions as we can. Nevertheless the scale of the savings is so big that some impact on services will be unavoidable.
However we are doing our best to protect the most vulnerable residents in the Borough. For instance, we decided not to go ahead with changes to the criteria for accessing our adult care social services, which would have denied services to some vulnerable people.
I know that some of these proposals will worry residents. We have not made any of these proposals lightly, but I do believe we have done all we can to reduce the impact of the savings on services.

To find out what this means to you there is an on-line summary of the Budget proposals. A further round of consultation will take place at the next round of Area Committee meetings starting next week and at the Overview Committee and Scrutiny Committees. I expect there will be a cabinet member present at each meeting to explain the detail and answer questions. You can also write to the leader direct via email.

King George Hospital Protest

A protest march against the proposed closure of the Accident & Emergency plus Maternity facilities at King George Hospital, Barley Lane is planned for Saturday 29th January 2011. Start at 12noon at Little Heath Green (just up the road from King George) and ending at 2:30pm at Ilford Town Hall.

A collaborative effort organised by the British Pakistani Christian Association, British Sikh Council, Keep the NHS Public and Pakistani Tehreek-e-Insaf, but mostly Wilson [megaphone] Chowdhry again.Speakers include:

MP Lee Scott - Opening Speech
Cllr Keith Prince - Leader of Redbridge Council
Cllr Ross Hatfull - Health Scrutiny Committee
Darren Johnson - Green Party London Assembly member
Jim Fagan - Keep the NHS Public, Waltham Forest
Frank Wood - UNITE NEC Trade union Office
Norman Traub - Southend Against The Cuts
Raj Chanan - VHP Ilford Hindu Centre
Shahid Dastigir Khan - Pakistan tehreek-e-insaf
Upkar Rai - British Sikh Council and Vice President Seven King Gurdwara
Brian Davison - Borough Dean United free Church
Wilson Chowdhry - British Pakistani Megaphone Association

Keeping Watch

The Annual General Meeting of the Redbridge Neighbourhood Watch Association will be held in Valentines Mansion on Tuesday 25th January 2011 starting at 7pm with backstop at 9pm. All neighbourhood watch members are entitled to attend but in the event of a vote, as there will be to elect executive committee members, only one vote per watch is allowed. No agenda as yet but we do know that there will be Crime Prevention devices (purchased by RNWA) to be given away plus boxes of white paper to assist watches in the printing of newsletters.
Image: from left - Lisa Cherry (Borough Watch Manager), Karen Campbell (RNWA Secretary), Inspector Darville, Isla Martin (RNWA Treasurer). The RNWA handing over names for over 50 new applicants wishing to join or initiate a Neighbourhood Watch Group.

After a shakey and troubled start the RNWA now seems to be working well with a settled management team at the helm headed up by the Chairman Wilson Chowdhry. There has been a series of three Barbecues/Picnics across the borough to promote neighbourhood watch and these have resulted in more than 50 residents signing up to either join or start a neighbourhood watch in their locality. The events were in central Ilford, Woodford and Wanstead. The next one is scheduled for Chadwell in March.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodies?

Half Term Worms

The Nature Conservation Rangers send their best wishes for a very Happy New Year for 2011!

“Hopefully the snow has left us well and truly behind and the warmer weather is now on its way. We have lots of volunteering opportunities and family events planned for the next few weeks so we hope to see you all soon.”

They have, as usual, a full programme of events to keep you active, healthy and interested in nature. I’ve picked a few that caught my eye, and in particular for the half-term school holidays, 21-25 February. I’m sure there will be a few readers with children or grandchildren of school age who will be interested in worms, I know I was at that age.

Saturday 22 January
Winter Woodland Walk
Join Pat Hart for a walk through Claybury Woods and Park seeing resident and wintering birds. Woods can be muddy, please wear suitable footwear.
12 yrs +
9.00am to 11.30am
Claybury Woods, gate at the junction of Roding Lane North and Vicarage Road

Tuesday 25 January
Willow Tunnel Creation
Join the rangers to build on the successful willow dome of last year. We’ll be creating a willow tunnel for the enjoyment of all.
10.30am to 3.30pm
James Leal Centre, Ray Park, Snakes Lane East

Monday 21 February
Beginner’s Bird Watching for Children
Come for a walk and talk about how to identify birds by shape, size, colour, song and call.
10 yrs +
10am to 12noon
Booking essential
Claybury Woods

Friday 25 February
Wonderful World of Worms
Come and join the rangers to learn all about these wonderful creatures and the important work they do. You’ll also get the chance to create your own wormery.
6 yrs +
10.30-12 noon
Booking essential
James Leal Centre, Ray Park

Nature Conservation Ranger Team
London Borough of Redbridge
Culture, Sport & Community Learning
James Leal Centre Ray Park Snakes Lane East
Woodford Green Essex IG8 7JQ
T: 020 8559 2316

Fake Technical Support Scam

This morning I received a telephone call [number withheld] from an asian lady claiming to be calling from Microsoft Technical Support and saying my computer has been infected by a virus and could crash if I don’t do anything about it. Ha ha! I strung her along for a while with questions like "can you give me the serial number so I know which computer you are talking about?", but then had to go out to visit my new grand daughter who really was born last Wednesday. Whilst chatting I was also Googling and brought up the below. So, when I said "I am looking at your website right now and it says that you don't make these type of calls" - click brrrrrrrrrrrr!

Of course I could have just hung up, but where's the fun in that? I like it when they hang up. It's a trophy.

See Guardian report from last July here.
And Redbridge-i last August here.

And see Microsoft advice here:

Microsoft does not make unsolicited phone calls to help you fix your computer
In this scam cybercriminals call you and claim to be from Microsoft Tech Support. They offer to help solve your computer problems. Once the crooks have gained your trust, they attempt to steal from you and damage your computer with malware including viruses and spyware.
Although law enforcement can trace phone numbers, perpetrators often use pay phones, disposable cellular phones, or stolen cellular phone numbers. It's better to avoid being conned rather than try to repair damage afterwards.

Treat all unsolicited phone calls with skepticism. Do not provide any personal information.
If you receive an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft Tech Support, hang up. We do not make these kinds of calls.

And neither does any other reputable company.

Synergy and Fuel

I was wondering when this would happen. Remember, not so long ago, when petrol was approaching £1 per Litre and the Hauliers were up in arms? Well, it’s way over that and has been so for a while, it’s called “market economics”, so today…

Hauliers said they were already planning for a possible blockade in protest at prices, which have hit a fresh record every day since the start of the year. There are nearly 400 forecourts in Britain charging 130p a litre for unleaded petrol and four that are selling petrol for 140p a litre. - The Telegraph

But the current high oil prices are an opportunity to free ourselves from fossil fuel addiction says The Independent

Higher oil prices do indeed pose an economic threat, but they also offer an opportunity for the world to redouble its efforts to end - not just reform - fossil-fuel subsidies [editor's emphasis] and look for cleaner sources of power. Along the way, this route offers cash-strapped governments a way of generating jobs and stimulating their economies. Britain could be at the forefront of this new energy sector.

Meanwhile BBC's Brian Milligan attempts to drive an electric Mini from London to Scotland, using only public charge points. The BBC

On electric cars both China and Israel are aiming to complete a nationwide recharging grid within 10 years.

China and Israel have both drawn the conclusion that the electrification of transport is a critical step in moving towards a more sustainable future, breaking the inexorable connection between economic growth and oil dependence. That means powering our cars without oil. After nearly three years of development, ...... people will be able to drive electric cars throughout the entire country with guaranteed mobility, zero oil use and zero exhaust emissions. The total cost of implementing such a nationwide network in Israel is equal to less than seven days of fuel use by current petrol-engine cars in the country. That amazingly small number holds true in most countries around the world—China included. The Economist

And that’s not all. China has improved its energy efficiency by 20% in just five years. Mind you it’s a bit drastic - cutting power to industry and imposing rolling blackouts. Huffington Post. Still, if you've charged up yer laptop you can still surf the internet.. if you're not in China.

There must be better ways as London Assembly member Darren Johnson explains in "Lagging Behind".

Synergy: Describes a combination whose value is greater than the sum of the separate individual parts.

Fish Week on C4

This is a [part] cross-post from Suitably Despairing and follows on from this.

There's something fishy going on at Channel 4 this week - it's Fish Fight Week!

With a series of special programmes, they look deep into the fish industry and don't like much of what they see. From investigating trawling, taking on the EU, looking at what goes into our fish and how fresh they actually are, and the fight to save, the channel has a good, hard look at something that is mostly out of sight, out of mind for the shoppers of Britain.

Tuesday 11th January

Hugh's Big Fish Fight
On: Channel 4
Time: 21:00 to 22:00
It is well known there is a problem in the oceans. In his new campaigning series, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is leaving the comfort of River Cottage to find out what is going on at the industrial end of our fisheries. And what he finds is that its not just bad... it's mad.

Wednesday 12th January

Arthur's Hell on High Water
On: Channel 4
Time: 20:00 to 20:55
Chef and eco-friendly restaurateur Arthur Potts Dawson is passionate about the environment and sustainable food, and thus not a fan of trawler fishing where boats fish with huge nets and catch vast numbers of fish; the majority of which end up dead back in the ocean because they cannot be sold. In a bid to understand the realities faced by the trawler men who are trying to make ends meet, Arthur takes to the seas for one week, living and working alongside life-long fishermen on a commercial trawler and testing his ethics as he sees first hand the struggles faced by commercial fisherman. He has to find his sea legs and work round the clock to help deliver the right catch while tackling the rough seas. Will the experience challenge Arthur's preconceptions, or will he still believe that a fisherman's methods and way of life need to change for the good of our seas?

Hugh's Big Fish Fight
On: Channel 4
Time: 21:00 to 22:00
Hugh's fish fight goes global as he starts to investigate the problems with tinned tuna, before crossing swords with his old adversary, Tesco. After finding out that sharks, turtles and rays get caught up in the purse seine nets which supply the majority of tuna to the UK supermarkets, Hugh heads to the Maldives in search of an alternative, and finds one of the most pristine, and well-protected marine environments on the planet; and a sustainable, ethical, source of tinned tuna, caught by traditional pole and line methods. Meanwhile, some friends from Greenpeace launch their own investigation into the source of Tesco's tuna. And what they find out in Ghana gives Hugh all the evidence he needs to call for a much anticipated meeting with his old friends at the supermarket.

Thursday 13th January

Hugh's Big Fish Fight
On: Channel 4
Time: 21:00 to 21:55
Hugh's fish fight takes him to Scotland, to meet with the largest farmed salmon producing company in the world, before he heads to Brussels to try to knock some sense into the bureaucrats about the scandal of discards. In order to add some urgency to his campaign, he launches a website http://www.fishfight.net/, which goes viral, and picks up 24 000 supporters in just 24 hours. Fishermen from all over the country descend on Westminster to add their voices to the protest, which ends with a rallying cry to all of us to try to help sort out the mess our fisheries are in. Hugh believes we all need to try and eat different types of fish, to relieve some of the pressure on cod, tuna and salmon, and we need to add OUR voices to the campaign to stop discards.

Saturday 15th January

Dispatches
On: Channel 4
Time: 19:05 to 20:00
Fish Unwrapped.
As part of the The Big Fish Fight season on Channel 4 championing sustainable seafood, Dispatches investigates the fish sold on Britain's high street to find out where it is sourced, how it is processed and what is actually in it. In this report, Channel 4 News presenter Alex Thomson unwraps one of the nation's favourite dishes. Through DNA testing he discovers the fish in fish and chips may not be quite as advertised and exposes how one major supermarket is misleading consumers about the sustainability of the cod it sells. The apparent health benefits of fish have driven demand from consumers and made it a lucrative multi-billion-pound industry in the UK. But Thomson reveals the chemical additives used in some fish products. He also uncovers that packaged fish on sale in the chilled section of the supermarket may have been frozen for nine months before it's defrosted and sold to consumers, some of whom assume this is fresh.

Sunday 16th January

Gordon Ramsay: Shark Bait
On: Channel 4
Time: 21:00 to 22:00
Gordon Ramsay loves sharks - and this passion leads him on his most personal mission yet: to investigate the controversial dish, shark fin soup. It's estimated that each year 100 million sharks are killed worldwide and Gordon wants to find out if the slaughter is really necessary. Gordon confronts the horrific fate of these beautiful and majestic creatures. He is told their decline is irrevocably damaging the delicate balance of our oceans' food chain. To understand more about the kings of the ocean, Gordon plunges in to swim with the deadly bull shark, in his scariest challenge to date. Sharks are both terrifying and beautiful, but experts believe overfishing is threatening to drive a third of the world's open ocean shark species to extinction. Incredibly, some of the most threatened species remain untouched by international fishing regulations. What Gordon discovers on his journey leads him to campaign against the brutal and destructive shark fishing industry.

Excerpts taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from
http://www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=20818
Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.

Boris in Whip Wednesday – Shock!

Yes Bouncy Boris will be here in Redbridge next Wednesday 12th January to help plant 2,500 whips [small tree saplings] in Roding Valley Park. He is due to arrive at 10am and along with corporate volunteers from the GLA and Mordoch Mansions News International will be with spade for photo opportunity alongside Roding Councillors.

On the following Saturday 15th January there is a community event [see flyer] where they hope to plant another 4,000 whips. That’s a lot of whips! There will also be free woodland arts and crafts activities, face painting, live music and refreshments. These two events are both located behind Onslow Gardens and Old Mill Court. No date has been set, as far as I can tell, for the planting of whips on the site north of Charlie Brown’s roundabout. Site A as shown here.

Choose Well (NHS Redbridge)

Last October Judith alerted me to a new public education programme about what hospital service to aim for when you feel ill (attempting yet again to stop inappropriate visits to A&E). She did however point out that the NHS Redbridge publicity budgets have been severely constrained, and suggested we invite someone from the Communications Department to one of our coffee mornings. Since we are not having one in January and have not booked anything for this year it has sort of taken a back seat. But our Chairman did pick up a leaflet from somewhere [the Library I think] and since the subject has been raised in the comments here I thought it about time we entered into the spirit of partnership and gave it a bit of free publicity. There is also a website.

Click on the images to enlarge.

T’is the Season (Ticket)

Season ticket prices for rail travel rose by an average of 5.8% on Sunday, with some increasing by as much as 13%. The Campaign for Better Transport began a campaign against rail fare rises at Charing Cross this morning, asking commuters to sign petitions, write to the government and take part in protests …

The BBC
The Independent
The Express

The campaign has also won the backing of broadcaster Michael Palin, whose said passengers being "held to ransom" would be forced on to the roads.

Don’t worry Michael, the government have ended Labour’s "war on motorists", and introduced a series of pro-car measures yesterday. The Independent. And of course Boris has scrapped the Western Extension.

So, this meeting with Boris on “Let’s Talk Transport” at the other end of the Central Line in Greenford on Wednesday 19th January 2011 should be a lively affair as Tube season ticket prices have also risen by equivalent amounts.

Of course if you are a Redbridge resident who has already bought your tube season ticket it will be valid to Greenford as it is also in Zone 4. Why not pop over and pay him a visit to tell him what you think? And do report back.

Looking Forward

Traditionally this is the time when I make a few predictions for the New Year. But since I’m pretty crap at it, scoring only what one would expect from random hits, and since I’m in a bit of a pessimistic mood right now I am breaking with tradition.

Last year I predicted that the colour of 2010 will be Blue – and it was. Chelsea Football Club duly won the Premiership League and FA Cup double although I got the shade wrong on the FA Cup.

We elected a Blue (Conservative) government in May to replace the old conservative (Blue Labour) government we had had for the previous 13 years. But with a twist. The new government arrived having been infected with what we thought was a “Yellow” virus and hopes that this would mix with the Blue to produce a Green government were quickly dashed when it turned out to be just another Blue strain. Her Majesties Opposition – Caroline Lucas, who I predicted would not get elected – is having a tough time shadowing all the Ministerial posts all on her own, while the Siblings of Blue Labour sit back and bide their time. You can hardly oppose when you haven’t got an alternative, can you?

Here in Redbridge though, the mix seems to be having some effect with shades of Green hauntingly and tantalisingly shimmering in the early morning dew but fading in the full sunlight of day that is the reality of the financial straightjacket of government dictat.

So, the colour of 2011 will be White.
Not so much a prediction more of a hope.
The White Doves of Peace.

Oh, and White shirts at Wembley in May, it is after all 2011!

Here’s Fleetwood Mac

Looking Back

Yes folks, it’s time for the end of term report for 2010.

So, how have we progressed? Not much changes, but there are some.

The absent Public Toilet at Fullwell Cross.
- still absent and the word is that the expected 'Tardis' opposite the library [not exactly popular anyway] will be scrapped. BUT the refurbishment of the library means that the toilets there will be less prone to vandalism and open to the public.
Barkingside Regeneration Feasibility Study.
- completed but Dr Who has gone missing with all the money
Completion of Barkingside High Street Road works
- the roadworks at the Fremantle traffic lights have been completed but not the right turn traffic light filter.
Improvement of the High Street Alleyways.
- can it get any worse
A Regular Market in the High street
- Still no action. But that’s the “market” for you!
Putting the Plan into Action at Fairlop Waters
- More Progress. Really looking good over there if you can afford the car parking charge. But you can now get there on foot via the new pedestrian crossing. You don’t want to go by car and risk your suspension on those speed “cushions”.
The Fairlop Waters memorial
- No progress, but another excellent memorial service courtesy Fairlop Heritage Group
King George Hospital A&E and Maternity
- doesn’t look good said the consultant.
A Bus route along Forest Road.
- Now, note to self: we really need some public pressure on this one.
The Clayhall Avenue/Woodford Avenue junction
- still a nightmare BUT CCTV cameras are on their way. Just need to work out where to place them to capture number plates - £££££££s for the council coffers.
A replacement Swimming Pool
- plug pulled and down the drain! Probably drifting past Southend about now.
Webcasting
- still awaiting make-up contract or automatic digital picture enhancement
e-petitions
- the e-petition was not accepted as it did not have enough signatures
Redbridge-i Forum
- unlocked and now post moderated. But still the usual suspects dominate.

If I’ve missed anything remind me in the comments.

Here’s Mike and the Mechanics

Accident & Emergency

As you all know the Accident that is “Health for North-East London”, which resulted in the Emergency proposals to remove the financial drip from our local A&E and Maternity services at King George Hospital, was started by the last Labour Government under Lord Darzi back in 2008. Since May 2010, the position of the new ConDem coalition has not been too clear although there have been rumblings about their plans for the future with regard to obesity.

As reported earlier there is an Emergency Full Council meeting this coming Tuesday [4th January] and it will now be preceded by an Emergency Health Scrutiny Committee meeting at 6pm in the Town Hall.

It is almost a 100% probability that the council will refer this decision to the Health Secretary for review, such has been the nature of the local campaign with all political persuasions united against this threat. But that doesn’t mean they don’t still need your help. Yes, I know you’ve signed the petition and been on the various marches but we need a good show of support for the photocall – outside the Town Hall ~ 6:45pm for the local press.

UPDATE: As predicted.
Wanstead & Woodford Guardian
Ilford Recorder
Andy Walker