Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Lydia taking the leap--I'm a Tory now!
Hello Harringay,
A few weeks ago a good friend in the Conservatives asked me to run under their banner in the local elections and I didn't laugh right in his face.
My original excursion into politics was in 2001, when I joined the Conservatives because I was so angry about the Victoria Climbie thing but then I left them in 2005 because:
a) I got fed up of politics and
b) I got fed up of the Conservatives (mind you I was just as fed up of the other lot).
When, a few weeks ago, I was invited back to the treadmill, I wasn't any better disposed to the political life but there is so much sh*t going on in this borough that I decided I couldn't ignore it any more. I don't fit that well into a Party mold but seeing as the Conservatives are the only group really serious about opposition in this borough and seeing as I am an Angry Old Woman, I decided that *someone* has to do something. Don't talk to me about the LibDems. The place for nodding dogs is in the back of the car, not in the Council chamber.
*If you want to follow me on Twitter, the address is <@LoveHarringay>
*If you want to get in touch with me by phone, leave a message with Tottenham Conservatives on 020 8374 6305. I'll get back to you. Or email loveharringay@gmail.com.
*If you want to discuss political theory, ring the LSE.
And from now on, you can be as suspicious as you want about anything I say.
btw:
I and my two running-mates, Sean Rivers and Massimo Rossini (NB--Rivers, Rivlin & Rossini make The Three Rs, which all good Conservatives support) will be putting out a leaflet soon.
The local party have agreed to let us write up our own stuff, so we are actually going to be working hard on it, ourselves. At least take a look when it lands on your doormat.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Takki Sulaiman when a Haringey councillor was Deputy to Cllr Gina Adamou, when she was Chair of Social Services. Below is his letter to the Guardian on 14 January 2002.
Needless to say, former councillor Sulaiman was unhappy at the idea that: the chap at the top does the decent thing and falls on his sword" . The only "chaps" I can recall falling on their swords were Cllr George Meehan and former Cllr Liz Santry who stood down as (respectively) Council Leader and Cabinet member for Children) following the death of Peter Connelly. Although they didn't resign as councillors. George Meehan, of course is still a councillor; actively supporting the appalling Claire Kober. While Liz Santry did not seek re-election but remains a prominent member of Hornsey and Wood Green Labour Party. Liz Santry played an important role in last year's candidate selection process as "Procedure Secretary".)
"Ian Willmore (Comment, January 12) offers a one-dimensional perspective on the Climbié case that serves only to satisfy our instinct for blame. His view is that "this inquiry is all about responsibility". Its role is not to apportion responsibility and mete out individual blame but to learn lessons for the future. We cannot ask for heads on a plate while simultaneously asking why it is hard to recruit care professionals or able local councillors.
"Society has moved on from the patrician concept of public service where the "chap at the top" does the decent thing and falls on his sword. Democratic bodies are complex beasts and many individuals will have their fingerprints on a particular outcome. All agencies involved share responsibility and the action, inaction or decisions of groups will have contributed to this collective failure. Serious misconduct or negligence by individuals must be dealt with using the appropriate processes.
"Willmore dredges up the ghosts of his impotent political past (he was a Haringey councillor up until 1994), but insists on giving them power into the political present. Nearly every protagonist in his article has long since departed Haringey. Labour politicians are frustrated at the weaknesses of many public services, but the key is to seek improvement without damaging either staff morale or what has already improved. New democratic structures in local government, with their emphasis on multi-agency collaboration, scrutiny committees and stronger cabinets, mean that accountability and better outcomes for service users will become a reality."
Cllr Takki Sulaiman
Cabinet member for social services, Haringey Council
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Wasn't Takki on Panorama last night out in Tower Hamlets? He was also a councillor for Harringay Ward, not just Haringey.
His point about it being difficult to recruit able local councillors ashes in the mouths of two people who begged Seema Chandwani to stand in Harringay only to have her denied the opportunity by Claire Kober's old University buddy Luke 'The Nuke' Akehurst. I hope he felt sheepish when she was elected as the Tottenham Constituency Secretary a few weeks later.
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I suspect what may have stung Mr Sulaiman was Ian Willmore's comment in the Guardian article that: "... local people deserve better than the mediocrities thrown up by the present system".
Sadly many of the mediocrities have hung onto their seats (and Special Allowances) ever since. Or in some cases been replaced by worse. Long gone are the days when a Haringey Assistant Chief Executive told a conference that councillors were second-rate and "scraped from the barrel". As a scrapee myself, I thought "second-rate" was an overgenerous assessment at the time. It certainly is now in some cases.
But when it appears that a process is dysfunctional and "unfit for purpose", a question I ask is: Dysfunctions for whose benefit?
In other words, when highly competent people or potential high achievers are excluded in preference to the time-servers, know-nothings, and dim obedient lackeys, whose interest is being served? Certainly not that of Haringey residents.
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Permalink Reply by Lydia R on
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"In other words, when highly competent people or potential high achievers are excluded in preference to the time-servers, know-nothings, and dim obedient lackeys, whose interest is being served? "
Cui bono? --the central elite, which maintains its control using a sort of feudal structure of, as you admit, compliantly second-rate Councillors sustained by residents conditioned to vote Labour by reflex (or, in some cases, feeling obliged to vote Labour under some sort of duress).
There is very little true democracy in this borough because the Labour group have been in power so long they regard it as their right, not their privilege. I am hoping to be given the opportunity to remind this elite that voters can choose someone else.They will only start to watch their step when the ground starts to get uneven underfoot.
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Permalink Reply by Thomas Hawkins on
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Alan, What is the answer? Non political Councillors? You have an in depth knowledge of the system as it stands and some very interesting incites. Its seems to be a monopoly in more ways than one.
Tom
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In New Zealand local politics is not the domain of the national political parties. Whilst you may think that this is a good thing, what tends to happen is that the only people with the resources to stand are local businessmen. They're not really about high wages...
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I have said in another part of this forum that local politics should be party-free.
The problem is that the system is so constructed that you need the backing of parties in order to get the message across. Candidates are allowed to spend only a very limited amount and that is for very good reasons. However, Parties can call on an army of volunteers to deliver leaflets, which independents cannot.
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Incites or Insights. Thomas?
But before looking for the answer let's start with framing the problem. And let's recognise the reality of what we have, Not the "Narrative" i.e. pack of lies.
And also where we are looking. In the old joke the drunk man is looking for his keys under the street light. Not where he dropped them by the front door. Because there's no light by the front door. (But there would be light if he rang the doorbell and there was someone there to let him in. But then the funny story becomes a sad story. And nobody will smile at the punchline,)
If we look for the answers in the Civic Centre, City Hall, or even Cannes we're unlikely to find them.
Are we framing the question as looking for democracy in a dying, hollowed-out Party system? Which has become not much more than a set of election machines. Groups of the party faithful ID-ing voters #dumbodoorstep. Then snapping group selfies. And later tweeting the photos to one another's echo chambers. Whistling in the dark to keep up their spirits.
So should we exchange one empty party shell for another? A shell game of find the Leader? I'm sure you've glanced at the con-men taking the punters money for Find the Lady in Oxford Street. But everyone knows its a con and they still play. They still watch!
There is no Council Chamber where there are real decisions and policy debates. There are no longer any "corridors of power" where political people share ideas and perceptions and solve problems. A few individuals are climbing up this rotten rickety structure hoping it's a political ladder to something better.
One or two are sitting on the painted horses on the carousel with the music playing. While Boris Johnson and the Corporate girls and boys are looking on. With smiles and deep condescension.
"Ah, don't they look sweet. Now, quickly and carefully - while they're enjoying the ride - take their money and their land and their parks and their housing estates."
So where should we look instead? I really liked your "incites". Reminds me of a book I'm reading called Provocations for Development by Robert Chambers. He writes far better verse than me. Here is part of a verse on the chapter called: Immersions: something is happening." For his "capital city" read our River Park House, the Civic Centre and City Hall and Arup's yacht in Cannes.
"We poverty experts sit pretty
Snug and stuck in the capital city
For we know what is right
As we meet talk and write
And bestow on the poor plans and pity.
But the experts aren't us but the poor
It is they and not us know the score
We must learn from them, hear
What they say loud and clear
So their voices can count more and more
Oh poverty experts get real
Your condition is far from ideal
Beat the capital curse
Get out and immerse
Don’t just think. Open up. Learn to feel
Yes immersions can threaten, it's true
You don't know what will happen to you
But relax let it flow
Let relationships grow
Be surprised how the insights are new."
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What a sweet little fellow Takki was, to be sure.
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I repeat--I was simply talking about Jesus' priorities.
Your last (in which you told me you'd made a joke--thanks for the heads-up, I'm still searching for it) is the second one in two consecutive postings in which you employ the phrase "baby murders" in only tangential response to my comments about use of the expression "Jesus wept".
I also notice you seem to have a predeliction for splashing "Godwin's law" about like a man with an unruly high-pressure hose.
With all due respect, Mr. K, you should try to train yourself out of this habit. A witticism or pointed stab, like toilet paper (however soft fluffy and cute it may be) should be used only once.
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Permalink Reply by Albert Ross on
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I'll thank you to keep my pressure hose, unruly or otherwise, out of it thank you! And again - the reference to baby murders is yours not mine. It's what you cite as your reason for getting back into politics and also your nuclear option you use to try and silence people disagreeing with you. After all, who could not be against that or indeed Hitler (you get the joke yet?)
Oh and 'Splashing about Godwin's law'? - How do you 'splash about' a law, perhaps you mean bandy? Oh dear ive stooped to your level.
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