At Party conference and on route to London Labour regional reception (then the Welsh)
I am attending as a Newham Councillor (self funding) and looking forward to the speeches, stalls and fringes.
There is a stack of housing fringes thi…Read more…
Three Cliff Bay Walk (The stunning and beautiful Gower Peninsula)
Off message but last month Gill and I spent a week on holiday in the Mumbles, South Wales. This walk was magnificent. I have heard over the years many people praise the Gower Peninsula as a top holiday destination but have never been until now.
This w…Read more…
Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby speech to Congress 2018 #TUC150
I am not a member of the Church of England (nor any other religion) but the speech by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the TUC was a master class in humanity. This speech was so powerful since he also criticised past abuses of power by his Church and tr…Read more…
“Fixing the broken housing market – Local Government leading the way” Labour conference 2018 fringe
Will be there.
Read more…
Is it time for a Progressive Alliance to defeat the Tories? Newham Compass with Neal Lawson & Sian Berry
While a very,very worthy aim I don’t think it will work nor is it necessarily the right thing to do. What about a progressive alliance within the Labour Party instead?
But I hope to attend and listen to the arguments. Read more…
Newham Full Council Meeting 17 September 2018 (my twitter feed)
A busy evening. Confirmed new Chief Executive. Passed motions, submitted petitions, deputation that schools should have ballots before deciding to become academies, Councillor questions, public questions, Mayor and CEO report.
At @NewhamLondon Full Co…Read more…
TUC Congress 2018: Tuesday Day 3
Still catching up on posts about last week’s TUC Congress. After a “late night” on the Monday following the UNISON TUC delegation social (and aftermath) I was in Congress for the 9.30am start on the Tuesday but a little slow on “twitter” for some reaso…Read more…
Lehman Brothers collapse – 10 Years on
10 years ago “The filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by financial services firm Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008, remains the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history, with Lehman holding over US$600,000,000,000 in assets”.
Thank you Cllr Veronica Oakeshott – Boleyn Ward
This is simply a lovely photograph of Newham Council Executive Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz, presenting flowers to Councillor Veronica Oakeshott, who has announced her resignation in order to move closer to her family outside London.
Veronica has been a fanta…Read more…
Red Brick – “The Help to Buy Gravy Train” by Steve Hilditch
(Nearly home after a fascinating meeting of London @LabourHousing policy Some great ideas and presentations ( I was late) on Council housing new build, relationship with Housing Associations, Community Land Trusts. Chaired by #GLA #Housing lead @tomcop…Read more…
Let your voice be heard: Stratford & West Ham Citizen’s Assembly
Trade Union Congress finished a little early today (we worked through the lunch break to finish business.Not something that trade unionists would normally encourage in the workplace!). I will post further on the TUC.
So I was able to get a train home …Read more…
TUC Congress 2018: Day 2
A somewhat random selection based on my tweets from Monday.
Frances O’Grady TUC leader in her speech to Congress calls for a 4 day working week for 21st Century. Just as in 19th century the TUC successfully campaigned 8 hour day & in 20th-century …Read more…
Local Government Chronicle Investment Summit 2018
Last week I went to this summit in South Wales on investment in the Local Government Pension Scheme. There was around 250 Councillors and Council pension staff from all over the country.
I am particularly interested in the latest ideas on Risk, Asset …Read more…
TUC Congress 2018: Celebrating 150 years
I am at the TUC Congress in Manchester as part of the UNISON delegation which started at 4pm
today. This is the 150th anniversary of the 1st ever Congress which was also held in Manchester which is why we are back to celebrate. Then only 34 dele…Read more…
NEC Celebrating 25 years in UNISON: NDC 2018
Picture of the UNISON National Executive Council at this year’s National Delegate Conference. All of us (including the General Secretary) are elected via secret ballot by rank and file UNISON members from all parts of the union.
We are wearing g…Read more…
Forest Gate North September Canvass & Street Surgery
Summer is now over and the never ending cycle of political campaigning and street surgeries continues. I missed a canvass session on Wednesday evening in my home ward but went out with local Councillors Rachel Tripp and Anamul Islam this morning (Sasha…Read more…
In Memory of 13 West Ham Heroes killed by Enemy Action 7 September 1940
“Memorial at LBN Abbey Road Depot, to those killed on one of the first attacks on the 7th September, 1940, known as `Black Saturday`. This was the start of the `Blitz`, although not the first bombs to fall on West Ham, Beckton Road was bombed on the 31…Read more…
Unison affirms Sadiq Khan as our London Labour Mayor Candidate
Greater London UNISON’s Regional Labour Link Committee yesterday unanimously agreed to support Sadiq Khan as Labour’s candidate for the Mayor of London in 2020.
It was great that Jeremy headed the list of endorsers and that all wings of th…Read more…
Newham bids to deliver pledge for 1000 homes at social rent
At tonight’s Newham Council Cabinet meeting, it was agreed to support an ambitious bid to the GLA for grants to deliver up to 1000 homes to be built for our residents at social (council) rents.
This was a key part of the newly elected Newham Labour Ma…Read more…
Old ladies tell off kids playing in London council estate 1970s
An age old problem. It hadn’t changed that much when I first started working in Council Housing in the early 1990s in Bethnal Green and still goes on in Newham and elsewhere today.
hat tip “From the Kinolibrary Archive Film collections. To order the c…Read more…