Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Haringey is taking "one of the biggest gambles ever to be made by local government"
See an article in the Guardian about Haringey's plans to "stuff family homes, school buildings, its biggest library and much more into a giant private fund worth £2bn".
See the tag below for other posts about this issue.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/03/britain-power...
Thanks to Michelle for flagging this up.
Below is Matt Frei's report from Channel 4 News today which summarises the issue and includes Claire Kober's comments on it.
Tags for Forum Posts: haringey development vehicle, hdv
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Zena Brabazon on
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Hi James
The Council has in house lawyers and an Internal Audit team. However, some £1.6m has been allocated and is being spent on external law firms and business consultants. These include Pinsent Mason, Turnberry, GVA Bilfinger and some private independent consultants. We have been told that we simply don't have in house expertise for development for example, for council housing. Its all a bit self-fulfilling and it is hard not to be cynical.
Zena Brabazon
Cllr, Harringay Ward
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Permalink Reply by Colinloves on
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Cant someone explain to me, why our council is not left wing?
What is the make-up of the Labour party in Haringey? Are they not Pro-Corbyn? What is the split % between the Corbyn types and the Blair types?
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Permalink Reply by Chris Setz on
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Political leanings are measured as to what degree holders support the various factions but it's a huge matter of opinion and nobody is either correct or incorrect in stating that they are one thing or the other. It's possible to be, for instance, a Champagne Socialist. Or a Red Tory, Blue Labour etc etc.
Anyhoo there's no fixed definition of left wing anyway in my opinion. Originally I think it meant 'those who sit to the left of the (French) King'. The left reacts to the right, so sometimes people point out that what is considered right wing today would have been seen as left-wing in the past (qf USA politics). Also people tend to change allegiance as they develop. Who'd have believed the Tories would ever have gone all left-wing and supported Equal Marriage?
Some people say that you'll always have liberals (in the middle). It's as if all three were side-by-side on a rollercoaster ride - however deviant from the straight and narrow we all veer, we keep the same relative position to one another.
So the Council is as left-wing as the Labour Party and there's been a big change in the apparent left-wingness of Labour with a return to conscience-based policies. So I'd say that our Council is quite a modern left-wing one but reeling from the abrupt volte-face the party went through as JC attained power. In other words, the Leader and some of the Cabinet are a lot more Blairite than they ought to be, but doubtless, they've seen the way the winds has so clearly blown so will do a swift costume change asap if needed. JC was a Harringay Cllr for ten years (till 1983 or so) and laid down roots here that still flower. Some of our Cllrs have quite 'extreme' left-wing views I suppose, but I'm glad of that.
The Council as a whole is as left-wing as this nasty right-wing Central government allows them to be. Trouble is, right-wing governments have it in for Left-Wing councils so it's a delicate balance. Ken Livingstone did as much as he could to stick two fingers up to Thatcher and some say she abolished the entire GLC to get rid of him and his pesky rising unemployment figures all Parliament could see across the river. So wise not to confront those in power with your ideology.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Can you please rephrase your question Colinloves. What's actually puzzling you? Were you expecting the rightwing Tories-Lite who control the Labour Group running the Council to suddenly turn into socialists?
Or perhaps you thought (and hope?) that having hundreds of new members automatically changes the balance of power on the Council? If so you are out of luck. At least until May the KoberTories will hang on as long as possible. Are you a Labour Party member? Perhaps in a Hornsey, Wood Green Constituency which has not yet had its AGM in an attempt to hold back the Corbyn tide?
There are now over 2000 Labour members in Tottenham Constituency and a majority may be pro-Corbyn. But I don't actually know. I can say fairly confidently that they are not supporters of the nasty right-wing KoberTories and their Tory policies. In broad terms they're probably democratic socialists.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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500 of them in Harringay!
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Does the Harringay Branch of the Labour Party fairly represent the views of those 500, do you think John? Alan (above) implies not.
If it's true that views are not fairly represented, does it matter how many of them there are?
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I implied no such thing, Chris. I was looking for some points where you and I might agree.
I was astonished that so many people joined the Labour Party to support a genuine democratic socialist leader and a real Labour Manifesto. If the majority of Tottenham members were secretly right-wing KoberTories then it's really strange that they didn't turn up in strength at the AGMs. to elect right-wing branch officers and delegates to the Party's General Committee.
Your statement that "The Council as a whole is as left-wing as this nasty right-wing Central government allows them to be" , is I'm sorry to have to tell you, a fantasy. The Leader and her cabinet have run the place as a bunch of ideological market-market-market-privatising-right-wingers for several years. Aditya Chakrabortty's recent article was accurate.
My aim in commenting was trying to find out a bit more behind the questions posed by Colinloves, so I can try to provide a helpful answer.
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Not helpful to assert your view as true and mine as fantasy, Alan! You hurling your traditional insults at these people weakens your argument.
What happened to allow what you denigratingly call 'Tory-Lite' Cllrs power that will not simply be repeated ad infinutum?
Despite your disapproval, they consistently win the approval of the only opinion-holders that matter - the electorate. They've been in post for ages and I can see the current Leader and Cabinet continuing in post for decades.
In any event, what's to stop a replacement Leader and Cabinet acting as this lot do?
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The difference between us Chris, is that I am and have been a local Labour Party member for over thirty years. I was a branch secretary for many years and Tottenham Constituency Secretary for two years and a councillor for sixteen years. My wife is a councllor.
I don't claim to have a monopoly of truth but I try to base my descriptions on a modicum of fact and experience.Your judgement of local Labour politics appears to be based on no evidence whatever that I can discern.
Enjoy!
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So the Council Leader and Cabinet veered right on your watch? What's to stop it always happening?
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They didn't "veer right", Chris". Claire Kober is a right winger. A member of a right-wing faction (a Party-within-the-Party) called Progress. It has a website, a magazine, publications, its own conferences.
Claire Kober and her friends run a privatising regime. She hired as her Chief Executive the former CE of Barnet one of the most right-wing Tory councils in London. He brought in his own staff; former Haringey staff were got rid of.
Kober as "Leader" in the dysfunctional Leader/Cabinet system is clever at using and abusing her power. Carrots and sticks.
It's far easier to manipulate political parties when they are empty shells. Have a look at "Ruling The Void" by Peter Mair. (There's stuff online if you don't want to read the book.)
Across Haringey, branch Labour Parties are no longer empty little clubs where the same people meet to reselect the same people. But now the right-wing no longer has the low numbers it has also become much harder for it to manipulate meetings and rig votes. Remember what happened in St Ann's?
What's to stop this happening again? Oh, you already know the answer Chris! Continued real involvement of more people. People with curiosity and willingness to listen to one another and good new idea - and old - ideas. To learn from experiment .... etc.I think you know. But for reasons I don't understand you prefer to not to believe that right-wingers and right-wing politics in Haringey are the nasty party.
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Alan, I wish you'd accept that just because you don't like others, it doesn't mean they're wrong. What you seem to have done is provide a means for the few non-Labour people here to amplify your dislike of your comrades and attract even more right-wingers to chime in. The net effect on this site is much more unwarranted nastiness by people you don't want on your side.
Some already right-wing HoLites seem to read your insults and name calling and readily agree, sometimes citing your dislike to prop up their anti-left bias. The site becomes a place where people can more easily besmirch others partly because of you, especially in the way you make deeply personal accusations and attacks on the integrity of Cllrs who, lest we forget, deserve our gratitude and more for having the courage to stand up and be counted.
Please take it from me, Alan, that your posts would be a lot more effective if you'd cut out the crap. By all means make copious and detailed criticism of those you oppose, but please, do it using reason and not thinly-disguised disgust.
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