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 Lydia R on
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Capable of several interpretations. I shall try to take that positively!
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I am not happy with the way ANY government has dealt with the NHS. They have all cocked it up—there was never a golden age. I understand that when it started, people had to make a separate contribution—as is done with private insurance—which was FOR THE NHS ONLY. Some time later, the Government of the day, whatever it was and curses on them for it, decided to merge the separate contribution with the rest of the taxes (for the sake of ‘efficiency’). Of course that laid it open to being raided for other uses and it has been an open purse ever since.
The other problem with the NHS is the setup. In order to get the consultants onside, they were given the status of gods, with a chain of command based on the solicitor-barrister model. There is so much waste in this. I’ll give you an example. I ride horses and am constantly getting minor injuries. A few years ago I had to have my right knee MRI-d. When the radiologist had finished running the machine for me she was ticking off some sheet on the clipboard she was cradling, and tutting. I asked if this meant something horrible was showing up on my scan. No, she said. It was just that the next person hadn’t turned up. What a waste, she continued. Somebody could have used that slot.
While I was sympathetic to what she said, the fact is I had waited 3 months for my appointment and I had set up all sorts of computer reminders because of my terror of forgetting it. Evidently the next patient had forgotten, which is easy enough to do over that period of time.
So I had a brilliant idea. Look, I said. I am here. I am still in a state of hospital semi-nudity. Why don’t you MRI my left leg as well? It might be useful for future reference.
I might as well have taken a swipe at her face with a bedpan. With a look of terror she hugged the clipboard to her chest as if protecting a baby from a ravening monster. I can’t do that! she squeaked. To get another MRI, you would have to go to your doctor, who would refer you to the Consultant!
I believe with MRI machines it doesn’t cost much to run the scan. The costs are in the rental. The cost of a left-leg scan by an otherwise unoccupied machine would have been negligible. Why couldn’t the radiologist use her initiative, then? Because of the set-up. The whole thing needs changing from top to bottom.
However, as a Councillor that would not be within my purview. I was with the Save St Ann’s group for a long time and when the Trust were going to shut down the mental health unit I led a group of protesters straight into the committee room where the unit’s fate would be decided and when told that it was a closed meeting, barged through the security guards and the door and told them they would have to carry me out, and the others following. I am rather small—they could probably have bowled me out—but I think they were frightened of breaking something and they let us stay. It was a small victory but Mario said it did sort of change their tune on the number of beds they were going to provide elsewhere. I was with the SSA for some time until I got fed up of Mario shouting at people. I very well understood he was angry but I couldn’t handle his tactics. I have to say this again as in another posting—aggression may appear to work in the short term but in the end it is counter-productive. Well, unless you’re Genghis Khan, I suppose. I think he probably did all right being aggressive. Not sure I would have liked being in his skin, though.
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I know what you mean about being deflected, but some people are trying to get my measure. Pretty soon I should think all this flurry will fall back to the nitty gritty. I have been working on my opening essay for the leaflet. I can give you that if you want.
Before that, I can tell you something further back about my history. I was brought up in Leeds and was taken out of school when I was 16 and sent to secretarial college. My parents saw no point in educating me beyond that. At work as a typist, I soon realised I would end up sticking my head in the electric typewriter if I carried on like that and I saved enough to see me through for a while and then threw up the job and enrolled at the Park Lane College of Further Education to do A levels. I didn't have time to muck about and got three in a year. I had to sign myself up privately because the head of college told me when I failed, it would bugger up his nice statistics. He had the good grace to smile when I visited him the following September waving three "A"s at him. English. History and (perhaps in an omen of things to come, Politics). I went to Manchester U to do a combined degree of English, Psychology and Arabic and then took a year off to go to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem where I met the man who became my husband. He is a mathematician and was on his way to a job in Stanford. So I finished my degree in one of the most prestigious universities in America--but that was just English and Psychology. They wouldn't let me do the Arabic as well. Then I got a Masters (in English) from the University of California in San Francisco. While there, I had deep experience of the American Way. I didn't think much of it, frankly.
We lived in Stuttgart, and then near Tel Aviv as my husband climbed the greased pole of academia, and then we were back to London where we have lived since 1983.
I got interested in politics when I was in the kitchen reading the paper about the Climbie affair, and I realised that I was actually banging the table in rage at what I was reading.
I shall post the opening bit of my leaflet which gives the rest of the story -- but a bit later. I think this is enough for now.
Oh--I am running in Harringay.
What I have done is: taught English; written a book (a novel which discusses issues surrounding disability and body-image, aimed at teenage girls); wrote comedy for the BBC and newspapers; was very active in the Writers Union--the Writers' Guild--and on several committees to do with children's broadcasting and TV rights), made a speech for them to the TUC on the Racial and Religious Hatred Act which I considered a censor's charter; and brought up a family of three great hairy fellows.
Politically I ran for a couple of local elections and was chosen to run in Hull North as a Parliamentary candidate. That was a blast. My disillusionment with the Conservatives came about when Cameron took office and wanted to revamp the Party's "image". He got a lot of blonde tottie in and decided that the place for the over-50 women was not on the hustings but behind the tea urns and quite a lot of dedicated women were removed from the candidates' list. Some actualy accepted their relegation. I had lived in California in the 70s--the cradle of feminism--I told them to get stuffed. I am running this campaign for Harringay, not for the Conservative Party. What I would like to do is offer some genuine opposition to the Labour Party which has been in power for 50 years and has to show for it only a heap of debt and government bailouts.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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Were you involved with the New Deal for Communities - The Bridge - ten-year project? I seem to recognise your name from there?
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If you keep old records, do you have copies of the New Deal minutes? We have not been able to track down a copy of the minutes of this state organisation, from when they decided to give Grainger £1.5million. No-one knows where those records are. If you don't have paper copies, perhaps you remember the reasoning behind this gift?
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Permalink Reply by Justin Hinchcliffe on
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I certainly know where you can get them from, Pam. They make interesting reading. It still remains a scandal how £50m was p^%&ed away. What's to show for it now? The then Secretary for Local Government and the Communities (Labour) refused to get intervene after residents reported how Labour-appointees were blowing the money (sometimes on themselves) on 'pet projects'. David Lammy also refused to be drawn into it. Hmmm.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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The fair, objective, responsible respecter-of-evidence Council candidate Justin Hinchcliffe didn't stay for long did he?
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Permalink Reply by Cllr Emina Ibrahim on
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I am confused because your title suggests that you have taken a leap and that you "are a Tory now". However you now say that you always were and have been a local candidate twice as well as a parliamentary candidate.
I must hand it to you though, the level chutzpah is a sight to behold!
Emine Ibrahim
Labour Party Candidate (Harringay Ward)
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I am sorry you are confused. I shall go through this again, a bit slower.
I said I joined the Conservatives in 2001 or possibly the very beginning of 2002, I don't exactly remember.
I ran in a few elections, then I binned my card some time in 2005. So -- I was a card carrying Conservative for about 4 years, between 13 and 9 years ago.
Now, let us take an example from another area of life.
If I decided to learn Dutch at night school, would you use the word chutzpah if I said "I'm a student now", because I had once been a schoolgirl?
(Welcome to my page, anyway).
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