Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Newsnight, 22/04 - freedom of speech
I just watched last night's newsnight. I can't really talk about it because. This is a shame as education aside there were some really interesting points on entryism. This is where a small group take over a larger, more influential group by joining and electing themselves to key positions, taking advantage of disaffected members or low memberships.
Sadly, I'd have to be so careful talking about it, I really can't, upsetting as it was to watch.
Tags for Forum Posts: david moyes, democracy, nut, st ann's labour, stanns, teaching
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Just for the record, I'm a massive Man Utd fan...
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May 10. Yes. I suspect they are actually doing the work of building up a case against me but my lawyer says they are just a bit slow with these things.
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Yes, I've had £1000 donated by very generous Holers but I've ploughed nearly £4000 into my solicitors account on top of that. Anyway, this has to be about David Moyes or we're both in trouble.
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Permalink Reply by Straw Cat on
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No. Costs can be awarded, as they were against the Council in the Ally Pally High Court JR. They don't cover all the real costs, and the danger is losing and having to pay the other side's costs. You can do an arrangement with the other side in advance that neither will seek the others' costs. Lawyers can advise on the risks of these tactics.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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John, there isn't any case against you. Especially not while we are still signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects Freedom of Expression under Article 10.
But I was also puzzled to see that BBC Newsnight invited John David Blake as "balance" to Kevin Courtney of the National Union of Teachers.
I remember John Blake so well in years gone by. Warm summer evenings at a barbeque in a Tottenham back garden. He enthralled the throng by booming out his views on the postwar Labour Government.
But times changed. I heard he'd become Blake version 2.0 A mere branch secretary in St Ann’s ward Labour Party and as such, an obscure minor figure on the political scene. Not only did he turn into a person of no importance, but someone liable to be deeply wounded if anybody so much as wafted a 140 character tweet in his direction.
Well, John-the-boomer is back. And he's on national TV! Viewers saw him in pugnacious mode criticising the National Union of Teachers.
So plainly he can dish it out; hot and strong. But can he also take it? Or will complaints follow to the Police if he finds my words less than honey?
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
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I received a letter (well my solicitor did) from the MPS saying that they were going to do nothing about the HN. Last night I felt compelled to leave the pub because one of the people who issued it against me was there and I have been advised to avoid all contact with them. This is pretty horrible.
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Permalink Reply by Lydia R on
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A few years ago when I was on the executive of the Writers' Guild (which is a union), there was an attempt at entryism by an SWP group. It was an extremely unpleasant time and I came away from committee meetings feeling as if I had been sandbagged. I was probably too naïve and found myself bewildered by the lengths to which those people would go in pursuit of their aims. Maybe it was that experience that made me wary of hardline socialism, now I come to think of it. It's coming back to haunt me now, isn't it?
Lydia Rivlin: Conservative Party candidate, Harringay Ward.
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True, lots of people go to great lengths to pursue their aims. But for the record, the entryism in St Ann's Labour Party branch had nothing whatsoever to do with Socialism or the Socialist Workers Party.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
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"true, lots of people go to great lengths to pursue their aims."
Just in case you misunderstood, I didn't mean physical efforts, I meant the levels of pure nastiness, together with vicious gossip and a lot of half-truths and outright lies being slung about. There was an obvious attitude of the SWP members that their opponents (who included me) were things to be trodden on. There was no genuine debate and no ideas of any use put forward. And of course, I don't believe that what is going on here has anything to do with the SWP -- although it does sound like they have learned from SWP tactics.
Lydia Rivlin: Conservative Party candidate, Harringay Ward.
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If what went on - and is still going on in St Ann's ward - has nothing to do with the SWP then frankly I don't see the point of mentioning them.
In my thirty years plus of involvement in Haringey politics I can recall examples of vicious gossip, half truths and outright lies about individuals. Though to my knowledge not one was spread by a far left organisation. Or needed to copy its tactics.
Demonising or trivialising a party or political viewpoint is a very convenient way to justify ignoring any points of substance its members may be making.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
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Really? Remember this? Done by the Labour Party in 2010 because they didn't like HoL's examination of those that sought to represent us?
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