Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Local Labour selection meetings
By the end of this evening our local Labour party will have selected who will represent us after the local body elections next year. I hear that it has been complete change in St Anns with Councillor Canver stepping down and Councillors Brabazon and Brown deselected. Will this be the end of the bollards in the gardens?
Any bets on whether or not they'll have a quorum at the Harringay ward selection meeting?
Tags for Forum Posts: election2014, labour
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris Setz on
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>>Technology is a tool
I think this type of thinking is part of the problem. You assume that, whatever is decided, it is disconnected from the tool used to bring it about. You don't decide to go into town and then choose a method of transport - you decide to go into town partly because you know the tools (trains, buses) exist to make it easy. If they didn't you'd think twice about, say, walking five miles.
Tools have always strongly influenced what is done - a thorough knowledge of capability is an integral part of problem-solving. Understanding of the power of these tools is what is missing from people that simply don't 'get' this.
If you knew what was easily possible it would change what you decide to do. Because you don't, you risk wasting your effort and worse, you ignore the potential to bring about better things.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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I suspect Chris, that you may be exactly wrong.
You may have missed my comment from a few weeks back. Zena and I were asked by someone for directions from Tottenham to London Bridge. He had an hour to get to his next part-time job before midnight. We set out the options: bus, tube, overground. (No car). He decided to take the bus - it was cheaper and he could get some sleep.
In the seventies I listened to similar ideas as yours: About off-set litho, screen-printing, video, community radio, community newspapers etc. etc. New tools; a brave new political world. I knew many enormously creative people doing many of these things.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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I (sort of) feel the difference can be made at local level. I know that my votes for the candidates for Tottenham Green will sooner or later have an effect on my house, street, neighbourhood, ward, borough, as the candidates do have differences in politics. Seems different from that 4-yearly national bunfight. The main problem is that apart from incumbents where I can check out their previous, I knew nothing about the beliefs of the other six people on my list - some of them had sat in that same church hall with me many times, others I'd never heard of, but the brief time given to read their applications didn't tell me how much I would trust them to do what I'd want.
They should just make me Queen of the World and let me sort it all out.
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I think it's risky to meet a potential candidate and, impressed by them, decide to vote them in.
The 'presence' a person has is regarded as a vital attribute in politics, but will the winning candidates meet enough people in the ward for that to matter? I don't think so.
I guess that the Councillor who gets on best with the Councillors running the party in power in Haringey has the most chance of getting things for their ward.
The problem to me is that the local Councillor doesn't represent the views of the ward, so what they do is actually aimed at those in power in the Council and secondly those who vote in local elections if they want to keep their jobs.
If it could be established that most people who vote in Harringay are voting for the national party, not the local candidate, that'd be worth knowing.
I think you should select a local Councillor on the basis that you believe that they will represent the views of the activists that go along to their party meetings, not the views of an imaginary public.
The candidates most attractive to me are those likely to shore up the local branch infrastructure, knowing that most of the locals will far outlive the Councillors brief stint in the limelight. I think Councillors should help activists really get the local party involved in local life, help grow local organisations by acting as a sort of cross-society information and support exchange - in other words, help the community lead itself, not try to lead it.
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Fair point. I've deleted this comment.
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To Pamish, commenting on this post (above), as this website cannot handle more than 8 levels of discussion:
You wrote:
"...observing the process of candidate selection from slightly inside the party has been fascinating and horrifying in equal parts. Is there no way this process can be exposed to those outside the party?"
I agree - it is depressing to see a broken process imposed anonymously. I think the only way is open-ness - the parties don't seem to realise that.
We could complain but the result will be 'yes, we'll feed that back' - just shows how deep the malaise. We can stop responding to donation requests. They're wasting our hard-earned donations creating bad processes that do the party harm. Trouble is they'll try and squash any branch that does that to justify their centralised power.
Our strength is that we outnumber those creating these not-fit-for-purpose systems. What we can do is press for a national discussion forum where branches can state their reaction to the process and, through that, get them to consult us. Models of governance do evolve and the prize is a grand one - more engagement.
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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What on earth's happened to my friend, John McMullan? I haven't seen him for the past four pages.
But if John can stir the pot, or drop a solitary stone in this stagnant pond . . . . .
Why not abolish these bickering, internecine parties and let the Faith Groups run the show?
At least they'll each know when their own High Days & Holy Days fall. (A medal, though, to Goldberg for reminding his Muswell Hill leader that they have much to atone for near the Stamford Hill borders.)
But don't think you can just turn up and vote or get selected. Your attendance has been writ in the Book of Life. The Elect already stand before the Throne of the Lamb. No Gadarene swine need enter.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Oh dear - LibDem conference ends with Clegg selling his masterplan for coalition govt with the LibDems at the heart of it - and look how utterly scathing the voters are (see top 20 comments) 'Put us back in government in 2015, Nick Clegg says' (BBC) Wipe out! So where does the protest vote go now - into the bin? Anyone up for Ed or Dave!! Politics today - shambles.
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People keep asking me about the selection of St Ann's ward candidates for next May's borough election. I suggest the best person to ask is probably Peter Morton the "Head of Press" at the National Labour Party who was selected as one of the Labour candidates.
I've never met Peter but I'm told he's a nice bloke, very hardworking and personable. I haven't got his email but on twitter he is @pjmmor.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor. My partner is Zena Brabazon who was deselected at St Ann's ward branch meeting by a majority of those attending and claiming to be eligible to vote under the Labour Party's rules.)
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Sent to me this evening, some background information from the Daily Telegraph in July about events in our neighbouring borough of Enfield.
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