Love it. NEWHAM GREAT HOUSING COUNCIL. Way to go
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Hat tip Martin WarneRead more…
Sunday Times on Suicide Bombers: “I don’t really mind if they don’t leave the country, so long as they blow themselves up – somewhere a decent distance from where the rest of us live. Tower Hamlets, for example”
I have just made my first ever complaint to the press regulator https://www.ipso.co.uk/complain/ about the article yesterday in The Sunday Times about suicide bombers blowing themselves up in Tower Hamlets.
I have worked in Tower Hamlets for 25 y…Read more…
Tonwell walk Hertfordshire (Ramblers route) – Big Skies, Slave Trade, Toll roads, Double VC, Harvest Festival
Off message this was a seriously good Sunday walk that Gill & I did late September which is only a short drive from London (apologies to my fellow Newham Cllr Daniel B for using the “D” word). It was the first walk that I had downloaded from the Ra…Read more…
“Raid uncovers horror conditions” Housing in Britain 2018
I was also simply appalled to visit such a dirty, infested, unsafe and unlicensed house and to hear from tenants about the threats made against them. I felt that I was back in Victorian East London and not the 21st Century. Sickening.
Hat tip Ne…Read more…
Boleyn By Election canvass: Brexit demo dodgers, Daily Worker, ASB, West Ham FC, The Boleyn Pub….having a Labour Doorstep laugh
Picture collage from yesterday’s campaigning in Boleyn Ward by-election, Newham. There had been 3 teams out in the morning and I joined our truly exceptional candidate, Moniba Khan, for the 3pm session with as it happens, all West Ham CLP comrades.
Tw…Read more…
10,000 Housing workers face threat to their pensions because: “The whole yardstick for measuring the cost of liabilities in pension schemes is broken”
This is my message to UNISON members of the Social Housing Pension Scheme, who will no doubt be worried about their families pension futures.
Inside Housing magazine has reported on this completely unwarranted attack on the Social Housing Pensio…Read more…
Newham Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz delivering on election manifesto promises and shares power
On Monday evening Newham Council Cabinet & Mayoral proceedings was important, historic, a little exciting yet also reassuringly mundane. In the finest tradition of UK Local Government.
There was a mass of important Council business to wade throug…Read more…
UNISON LGPS Seminar – Tuesday 11th of December 2018 – 10.30am to 4.30pm
The union’s Capital Stewardship Programme is holding our annual seminar for all LGPS Board members, branches and activists on the governance and economics of the LGPS. There are major reforms being implemented England, Wales and Scotland and these will…Read more…
Vote Moniba Khan – Labour’s candidate for the Boleyn by-election on Thursday 1st November 2018.
Pictures from Saturdays afternoon canvass in Boleyn ward, East Ham. Meeting point is the 1966 World Cup Champions statute. There were 2 canvass teams, one with the Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz and the other with the candidate, Moniba Khan, which I was sen…Read more…
News | Army Sergeant Major responds to soldier conviction
Ace comments by a British Army veteran, Sgt Major Glenn Haughton, about racists in the British Army.
“Haughton’s service medals include the Gulf Medal, the General Service Medal, the Iraq Medal, and the Operational Servic…Read more…
Wansted Flats WREN: History walk following summer fires
This afternoon Gill and I went on a walk organised by the local conservation and wildlife group called WREN in the “flats” (ancient heath land, part of Epping Forest, now owned and managed by the City of London) right next door to where we live.
UNISON London Regional Council: Speakers on Camden Parking Strike; Rise of the New Far Right & Legal measures to fight mental health discrimination at work
I was little late turning up to the Greater London UNISON Regional Council on Thursday, so missed the guest speakers from Camden UNISON on their dispute with Parking Contractors NSL on poverty pay (see UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, on th…Read more…
Newham private rented sector licensing scheme breaks £5m barrier for recapturing lost Council Tax
Since the introduction of licensing in 2013 an extra £5,002,203 has been collected from rogue landlords renting out houses in multiple occupation.
Newham’s Private Rented Sector (PRS) licensing scheme began five years ago but was forced, by governme…Read more…
Weakening of trade unions behind pay stagnation, says Bank of England’s Chief Economist
Andrew Haldane, Chief Economist at the Bank of England, has pointed to the decline in trade union power as a key factor in the last ten years of real wage stagnation, alongside the rise of insecure work, low productivity and automation.
Speaking to tr…Read more…
Join us campaigning in the Boleyn ward by-election
“There is a by-election in Boleyn ward on Thursday 01 November. Please join our fantastic Labour candidate, Moniba Khan (seen with Newham elected Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz), out on the doorstep speaking with residents about their priorities for our bor…Read more…
UNISON – the union for Housing association workers
New recruitment leaflet from UNISON. A key message is that more employers sit down with UNISON to negotiate terms and conditions that any other union in the sector and that we represent workers interests around the table.
I was an trade union activist…Read more…
A day in the life – Thursday 27 September 2018
This is one day in my life as a Newham Council Cabinet member, which was particularly busy but pretty much reflects what all Newham Cabinet members experience on a regular basis. Compared to the Mayor’s normal diary, it was probably a walk in the park….Read more…
Councillor Report to West Ham Labour Party Branch October 2018
Councillor Report to Branch4 October 2018 WEST HAM WARD LABOUR PARTY
tel: 0203 373 3456 or email John.Gray@Newham.gov.uk
Surgeries and case work
Please note the new time and place of my Councillor Surgeries
· Stratford Libra…Read more…
New UNISON Convenor to Clarion Housing Group: Joseph Ogundemuren
Passing on the baton as the new UNISON Convenor of Clarion Housing Group to Joseph Ogundemuren (middle of picture) following a unanimous decision at meeting of activists last month.
Joseph is a proactive and experienced UNISON steward, member of the L…Read more…
Is it time for schemes to run to safety? Professional Pensions Opinion Piece
As concerned pension funds are flocking to ‘safe’ assets or buying equity protection, John Gray points out there is no such thing as a ‘free lunch’ in lifeThere is an ancient saying attributed to Saint Teresa of Avila that “More tears are shed over ans…Read more…