Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Jezza Gets Stuck in to Finsbury Park Concert Fracas
Jez writes to Jo....
......Jo writes to Jez.....
Both letters attached.
Tags for Forum Posts: finsbury park, finsbury park events
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JezCorbtoJoEj.pdf, 812 KB -
JoEjtoJexCorb25.07.18.pdf, 1.1 MB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by DTW on
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Constituent writes to MP. MP staff member writes letter that seems broadly interested in the points raised to person who has to make the decision. The person who makes the decision has an officer write a standard response.
Nothing changes but MP is seen to be engaged and taking action. Standard practice
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Move along, now. Nothing new to see here?
A plausible theory. Though little evidence.
Do the typos suggest staff members are responsible?
Easy to pass the buck. But shouldn't Jeremy and Joe read letters sent in their name?
The theory also ignores the fact that Jeremy Corbyn has a longstanding and genuine involvement with issues concerning the park.
Let me point out too that this theory hasn't spotted the disparity between who is copied into the two letters. Corbyn's to the MPs and Islington ward councillors. While it appears that Joe Ejiofor's letter is copied to nobody. Not even the "cabinet member" for Parks, Kirsten Hearn.
Move along now? Same old same old?
Perhaps not. The political debate about the partial privatisation of public parks can't be brushed aside by delegating politics to office staff. A fortress/stockade like the one erected in Finsbury Park may one day need to be erected in Bruce Castle Park to protect the profits - and customers - of Spurs and NFL.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Some evidence from me then Alan.
When I worked for a local authority I used to write responses to letters from the two constituency MPs to the leader of the council if they fell in my work area, as did my colleagues. Depending on the importance or sensitivity of the issue may have been looked over by the leader before going out but most were just pp’d on their behalf
Of course the leader’s PA would pull some out if they felt the leader might want to deal with them personally but given the number of letters they got every day it would have been impossible for them to personally deal with every single one. The process is probably the same for MPs who’s post bag is even bigger than a council leader.
Having said that though, that he seems to be asking to meet might suggest that he has at least had personal sight of the letter. Well, I think that’s what he says at the end, or maybe he asking for Joe to meet with the other players. It’s not that clear.
The response from Joe reads like an officer response with a personal bit added at the end.
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That's very interesting, Michael. And a bit depressing.
When decades ago I worked for solicitors, my bosses would read letters, before signing them.
Admittedly it was in the days of giving dictation to secretaries. Sometimes a boss would alter letters and send them back to be retyped. On one occasion the senior partner made several longhand additions to a detailed letter I'd worked on very carefully. He wrote in the margins using a rather beautiful fountain pen. (Remember those?) He told me there was nothing wrong with my letter. He wanted to demonstrate to an important client that "the matter was receiving his personal attention".What you wrote seems entirely understandable for routine business. But letters from MPs? I'd have thought that replies drafted by senior staff would at least have required reading by the person signing.
And I would have assumed that a letter from the Leader of the Labour Party which copies in three other MPs and three councillors might be given some personal attention by the Leader of a council who is also a big cheese in Nonentitum Momentum. After all, Jeremy Corbyn wasn't writing a routine query about potholes on Green Lanes.
Michael, I'll need to give more thought to the wider issue you raise. But if councillors and "cabinet members" are just post boxes why waste money on them?
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With a decent PA the important stuff gets under the nose of the recipient. I remember one particularly active ward councillor I worked with sending almost 1500 enquiries in one year. We would also routinely get a couple of thousand from the two MPs, Frank Dobson and Geoffrey Finsberg (who were also writing in equal or greater numbers to the Police, NHS, government departments etc., on behalf of constituents) Multiply that by something enormous if you’re leader of the opposition - it’s just not physically possible to deal with more than a tiny fraction of stuff personally.
Frankly, as far as priorities go for the person who leads the opposition to her majesty’s government, and with all the other palaver going on in the country, events in Finsbury Park have got to come pretty far down the list.
Finally, councillors were certainly not just post boxes in my experience. A letter with their name on landing on my desk certainly made me sit up and pay attention.
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Usually, Michael, I tend to agree with your informed, reasoned and balanced views.
But not this time. Events in Finsbury Park should be high on the list of local MPs and councillors. Strong representations have been made by councillors/cabinet members in Hackney and Islington. A licensing Review is pending. The whole issue will not go away.
Haringey's Leader should have heard the rumbling. At minimum he should have had the courtesy to copy-in the other people who had been cc'd. And forethought to copy-in his own ward councillors and the cabinet councillor for Parks.
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