Lammy's gay marriage speech

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by hob on February 8, 2013 at 13:08

Well the hat, the Mexican flag and the frame with ropes hanging off it. 

Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on February 8, 2013 at 14:19

I've no idea. There were all sorts of fascinating things at the Peeblesshire Agricultural Society Peebles Show to give it the official name. The last time we were there, they even gave top prize to King Arthur.

I'm told there's some sort of competing event up the road in Edinburgh. But our friends prefer the Peebles Show.

Permalink Reply by hob on February 8, 2013 at 14:35

Thanks Alan. I love Agricultural Shows. That looks like a very well organised one. Love the pictures. In particular the one with the two calves "chatting", Shepherds' Crooks, The Clydesdale and Tools.

Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on February 8, 2013 at 15:34

Can I apologise and correct my mistake. David Mundell's plastic tables were for business only. NO sandwiches.

The complementary sandwiches I remembered were in fact in another tent at the Peebles Show - a local estate agents: the Borders Property Centre.

Permalink Reply by william spring on February 8, 2013 at 12:08

Lammy gets £176,000 a year thereabouts in legal Parliamentary expenses on account of his heavy case load. This being the siutation you wd think he cd have someone to answer his phone. When I needed to contact him on an urgent matter & the mistreatment of a Ghanaian friend of mine brutally taken off a coach in the middle of the night @ Calais by the UKBA & her visa unlawfully cancelled, no-one got back to me from his office for ten days, & I suspect that was only because Flora Drury of the Tottenham Journal had meanwhile called him up re the same incident. This Ghanaian lady was left by the roadside, although her visa was perfectly valid, & her goods in the hold of the coach were stolen, presumably by UKBA operatives. The reason given for her exclusion from UK was that she didn't have her husband (an EU national resident in Ghana) travelling with her. The appeal was heard January 17th but the result has not been issued, which means if this delay in issuing the result continues she will in any case have to return to Ghana from Holland where she is now. These three factors, 1. my lack of access to David Lammy's office @ that critical time, 2. his failure to forward an urgent letter from me to William Hague re Syria, & 3. this irrelevant speech [comment removed by site admin in line with HOL Terms and Conditions 2k (v) ] convince me that David Lammy isn't fit to remain as the MP for Tottenham wm spring

 

Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on February 8, 2013 at 13:54

Anyone is free to look up the exact figures on the website of IPSA - The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.  David Lammy MP gets the same basic allowance as every other MP. 

Back in the last century I was Tottenham Labour Party Constituency secretary for two years.  I was in regular contact with Bernie Grant MP and Sharon Grant who ran his office. I had my differences with Bernie but I always respected the fact that he spoke out for the causes and principles he believed in.

On casework he, Sharon Grant and the other people in their office worked incredibly hard. So does David Lammy and his office team now.

On immigration cases, as I recall, Bernie was able, as an MP to intervene and hold-up a deportation. My understanding is that that power was later removed.

David Lammy's speech in Parliament supporting Gay Marriage won't necessarily be a vote winner among everyone in Tottenham. If you read the speech you'll see he mentions people who've written to him condemning the legislation. So I am glad we have an MP who stands up and speaks out with passion and eloquence for principles he believes in.

(Incidentally, David Lammy did the same both in Parliament and locally on the Downhills School Campaign at a time when - as we saw from Freedom of Information requests - the Council's "leadership" was actively colluding with Mr Gove's minions.)

Mr Spring, a public website isn't the place to discuss a particular case. But if you wish to get your friend's permission and write to David Lammy's office they can respond directly.

(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)

Permalink Reply by william spring on February 8, 2013 at 16:17

re the £176,000 that is a published figure for I forget which year but maybe 2010 or 2011. I wrote about this in the Tottenham Journal letters. Re individual cases policy is the sum of such cases. Here there are serious policy issues. This was not a deportation but the cancellation of a perfectly valid visa which (together with an earlier one) she had used to enter in & out of the UK several times over the previous 2 years. All her treatment reminded me of ( & I told the Judge this) was the 5th Brigade stopping buses when I was travelling in Matabeland in the 80's, taking someone off & shooting them. The fact this woman survived this dreadful ordeal is no thanks to HMG. I think Home Office Office Minister Mark Harper via his UKBA gestapo surrogates was actually trying to kill her, a measure of the hatred the Conservative Party has for Ghanaians.  Since then the revocation of the visa has been appealed but no answer has come, tho the case was heard January 17th.

Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on February 11, 2013 at 20:26

"Good councillors walk the street a lot" - better they stay in the Civic Centre?
"the people in the west" - same constituency and Lamy got in.
"The poor must vote Labour". Well, given your party's contempt for them is that a surprise?

Permalink Reply by John McMullan on February 12, 2013 at 11:16

Billy, naughty ad-hominem attack. Back in your box please.

Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on February 12, 2013 at 18:29

I have no objections to being placed in a box as I am a supporter of the Labour party but I don't think I've made any personal attacks on you Billy.

BTW. I missread your post (apologies) and thought you were talking about the west of the constituency rather than the borough.

Permalink Reply by David Schmitz on February 12, 2013 at 15:33

To return to what this posting is about, there is not a syllable in David Lammy's speech with which I take the slightest issue.

I agree particularly with the reference that he made to the civil rights movement and I agree with his point that "separate but equal" is a fraud.

From the moment it became apparent that there were gay people who wanted to marry, that there were people for whom civil partnership was not enough, it became our duty as a society to make it happen: for any delay or refusal would have meant saying to them, "no, you are not equal after all."

The progress which minorities are making from pariah status to full acceptance and equality is, at least for me, the greatest human advance in my lifetime. This Bill marks a further milestone. I welcome it with all my heart.

David Schmitz
Liberal Democrat Councillor for Harringay Ward

Permalink Reply by TTTH on February 12, 2013 at 23:32

Thank you David - this post started on a positive note and now (hopefully) ends on one.

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