Newham for Change - Public Zoom Meeting Tuesday 9 March 6-7pm. All welcome!

 

Campaign for a committee structure

Please join us for a public online meeting on Zoom about the campaign on Tuesday 9 March from 7-8pm. All welcome – we will be discussing the campaign and the advantages of the committee structure. Register here!

On 6 May 2021 Newham Council will hold a referendum on how the Council should be run. Every Newham voter will get a vote on whether the Council should be run by a Directly Elected Mayor (the system we have now) or by a system of committees made up of elected councillors.

See full details of the referendum published on Newham Council’s website.

We are campaigning for a change to a Committee structure in the council.

This means the council will be run by committees made up of elected councillors – usually a committee for each of the different areas, like Housing, Education, Social services, Health, Planning and Crime.

The committee system is:

OPEN – there is more opportunity for citizens, experts and communities to have their say and influence decisions

REPRESENTATIVE – all council members have input into decisions, not just the Mayor and Cabinet

CO-OPERATIVE – councillors have to work together to make decisions

ACCOUNTABLE – every councillor takes a role in making policy and seeing decisions enacted

https://newhamforchange.org/

https://twitter.com/ForNewham

https://www.facebook.com/newhamvotingforchange

The Bare Necessities of Life...

A member of my UNISON branch has contacted me about a new food co-operative, he is helping to set up in a foyer in Borough, South London.

Due to harsh benefit sanctions many of the young people who live in the foyer are dependent on local food banks and donations from nearby Borough Market to survive.

The Co-op has received a £500 "start up" grant from Southwark Council to buy such bare necessities’ as food, cleaning products, shampoo etc. at a low price which we can then be sold and money reinvested in stock so that there will be a continuous and sustainable business.

The project is being led by residents who will be involved in all aspects of the co-operative. Who will gain skills around running a business which they can then use when applying for jobs.

They have a website https://thebarenecessitiesgateway.wordpress.com and twitter account @the_necessities and would appreciate any help, support and publicity.

There is a big launch on Wednesday 17 June which I will miss since it clashes with UNISON NDC conference.

I think this is a fantastic initiative and wish it well.

Of course why the 5th richest country in the world allows vulnerable young people to go hungry in the first place is another issue.

Nelson ILP Clarion House Centenary Celebrations 1912 - 2012

"The Clarion House was built to be a non-profit making co-operative with any excess money to be used in spreading the word of socialism.

This was no accident, no coincidence. It was planned in the hope that others would take it as a model of how society as a whole ought to be organised.

Visitors could come and witness how people - lots of people - were prepared to devote their lives to the Clarion movement for no personal gain, other than the knowledge that they would leave the world a better place than when they entered it.

The Clarion is a vision of the future, a vision of a socialist society, a commonwealth, based on co-operation and fellowship, not conflict and material greed...." (click to see more - hat-tip Captain Swing)