I was shocked to hear the sad news that UNISON stalwart, June Poole, has passed away after a short illness. We were supposed to meet yesterday at the UNISON centre in London for a Board meeting of the Welfare Trustees.This meeting was cancelled out of …Read more…
Speech to Cabinet on “Alternative Finance Proposal for Newham Pension scheme” (Special Purpose Vehicle)
Below is the full version of the speech I gave this afternoon at the crowded Cabinet meeting at Newham Dockside in support of last night’s recommendations by our Overview & Scrutiny Committee.The recommendation was that we should not spend up to £500k on a SPV for the pension fund without the…Read more…
South West Ham Independent Labour Party – “Wanted £2000 For New Buildings”
Ht tip Captain Swing who noticed this in an ebay auction. I am not sure who “Treasurer Alderman W. Bell 15 Mafeking Road E16” or what was the “New Building” appeal or why the “Bullfinch”? but suspect he is the former Mayor of West Ham mentioned here ht…Read more…
Newham Overview & Scrunity “Call in” on SPV – 6.30pm Monday 24 August 2015
Tomorrow evening at Committee Room 1, East Ham Town Hall, members of Newham Council Overview & Scrutiny will debate a request from a Cllr that up to £500,000 should not yet be spent on a proposed Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for its staff pension fund.
Cllr Farah Nazeer has asked that this…Read more…
Labour Party Leadership discourse
Last Saturday I was in North Wales and went out for an evening meal and family get together in a small bistro restaurant in Ruthin, Denbighshire called “On the Hill”. There was 6 of us aged 25 to 74 sitting in a private table in the corner away from ot…Read more…
Vote FIAZ, Rokhsana #1 – London Executive on Association of Labour Cllrs
(In a personal capacity and as a Newham Cllr I fully support Rokhsana as a candidate to be the ALC rep for London. She has integrity and principles and will be a fantastic advocate for London Councils at the ALC).
Vote FIAZ, Rokhsana #1Association of …Read more…
Select Committee on Future for Housing Associations – Have your say
My UNISON branch Greater London Housing Associations and the national UNISON Community Service Group Executive are asking members to make submissions to the Parliamentary Select Committee investigation into the future of Housing Associations. See below…Read more…
Londoners’ walk up Place Fell
Off message but last week I was on holiday in the Lake District and went for a superb 8.5 mile walk up and down Place Fell then alongside Ullswater. The weather was unusually kind, warm and sunny (unlike some of the other days – there is a reason why t…Read more…
Social Rents in Newham are the highest in country
“Figures showing the borough has the least affordable social housing in the country have prompted calls for action from campaigners and MP Stephen Timms.
Newham came top of 338 locations with an average rent of £128.89 a week, the Office for National Statistics data covering England and Wales…Read more…
TUC National Rally & March on the Tory Conference 4 October 2015
“Sunday 4 October – “No to austerity, yes to workers’ rights””On Sunday 4 October, the Conservative party will open their annual conference in Manchester. After five years of austerity, falling living standards, pay freezes and huge cuts to public services, a new parliament won’t offer a…Read more…
Murad Qureshi AM on West Ham and the Olympic Stadium
It is the last chance tonight to watch the BBC investigation “When the Hammers struck Gold” on iPlayer. The programme was first shown on August 6th and alleged that the UK taxplayer has been ripped off in the deal over the use of the Olympic Stad…Read more…
UNISON Capital Stewards Website
I have just signed into the new UNISON website for Capital Stewards and will start posting some links and articiles over the next few days. The site is currently only for UNISON activists and is password protected. If you are a UNISON pension trustee o…Read more…
Why trade unionists are saying #YesWeKhan
This post was published yesterday on Left Foot Forward.
“Sadiq Khan’s mayoral manifesto shows his commitment to helping working people
While there are a number of good candidates standing to be the Labour Mayoral Candidate in 2016, there is one outs…Read more…
Overview & Scrunity “Call in” expenditure on Newham “Special Purpose Vehicle”
I was very pleased to hear this evening that members of Newham Council Overview & Scrutiny Committee had agreed to “call in” the Executive Mayor’s decision to spend up to £500,000 on developing a “Special Purpose Vehicle” (SPV) for the Newham Staff Pension fund without agreement that it…Read more…
West Ham Ward welcome to our new Labour Party members
Picture from last Thursday with West Ham ward officers busy filling out names and addresses on welcome letters to new members. We then went out and hand delivered the letters speaking to the new members whenever possible.
The new members I spoke…Read more…
LGA legal advice on Pensions for Councillors
The Local Government Association has publised guidence obtained from Eversheds solicitors on “Powers of Councils to Pay Pensions to Elected Members”.
The summary of this advice (copied below) is in its latest newsletter which can be found here. &…Read more…
London Loop Walk Section 5: Hamsey Green to Benstead Downs
Off message but another marvellous 10 mile loop walk from last Saturday. Hamsey Green is not easy to get to from East London. Train it to East Croydon then 10 minute walk to 403 bus to Hamsey Green. Used “The London Loop” guide book.
Weather was…Read more…
The Fair Work Agenda: Labour Leadership Contenders on Fair Work and Trade Unions
Check out this very useful report by Unions21 on where all the Labour Leadership candidates stand on Fair work and trade unions.
“The exam question Labour’s leadership candidates were posed for our new publication was set by the Unions21 steering committee: “Outline your views on fair…Read more…
Memorial to 5 Beckenham Fire Fighters killed by Enemy Action in West Ham Ward
Last Saturday I posted on a London Loop walk here http://grayee.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/london-loop-walk-section-4-west-wickham.html in rural Croydon, South London.
I was astonished to later find out that a memorial in a Church grave yard in West Wickh…Read more…
Dare To Dream: Shape the future of London
On Tuesday evening I went to the launch of #Daretodream in South London with fellow Newham Cllr Rokhsana Fiaz OBE. This was an amazing networking event for young people on how to shape the future of London. The theme was that politics matters to …Read more…