Labour Party theme song 'Let's Go With Labour' 1964

Love it - Hat tip @LondonNurse2015

"The Labour Party's 'new theme song' entitled 'Let's Go With Labour' released ahead of the 1964 general election. The 45 rpm disc says the lyrics are by Dave Carey from an idea by Bessie Braddock".

"Heroism and Terror on the 4.34 from Barking"

 

What an incredible story about Joseph (Julius to his family) Stephen, a super brave public service worker who was murdered in West Ham station while challenging a IRA terrorist. Hat tip Newham Voices

Newham Council Bi Monthly Street Count - Wednesday 26th May 2022

 

Picture of volunteers, Councillors and Council outreach staff before the latest bi monthly count of people sleeping "rough" in Newham.

We met at Newham Dockside building at 11pm. We had a briefing on the purpose of the count and how to make sure that we treat everyone with respect and dignity, while being aware of our personal safety.

After the briefing we split into our teams and talked about how we would visit all our allocated sites and made sure we had the right instructions, directions, keys, touches etc.

There were 5 "count" teams and also staff left in Newham Dockside to make hourly safety check calls and deal with any issues that may come up. We had to start the "count" at midnight and be back to Newham Dockside at 3AM at the latest.

My team was led by Ali who is a Newham outreach worker. We also had Martina, who is a civil servant with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who have been supporting our bi monthly counts and myself.

Our first stop was at a Council tower block where there had been reports of people sleeping "rough" nearby . I had been here before but had never seen anyone. This time to our surprise, we were asked to come into the block and speak to 3 young men, who were sleeping in a disused store room inside the block. They wanted help and assistance. They were very polite, wearing dressing gowns and gave us their names and telephone numbers in order for outreach workers to contact them.

We then walked through some parks but did not see anyone (but were challenged by a Police patrol as we were unlocking a gate to get in).

There was one scene we came across, which was to me rather upsetting. 3 men were fast asleep on a pavement wrapped together outside a building next to a busy main road sharing one blanket. While it was not as cold and wet as the last count in March (where I saw no-one sleeping on the streets) I could not imagine myself sleeping at this site. I hope the early morning outreach workers (who start at 5am) and will be tasked to speak to them, will be able to help them find more suitable accommodation.

We finished relatively early and went back to Dockside to report our findings.

Let's march to demand better! TUC Demo 18 June 22

 

On Saturday, 18 June, hundreds of thousands of people will be taking to the streets and marching, and I hope you'll be there with us, John. We will be marching together for a real pay rise, decent sick pay, and an increase in universal credit.  We will be marching together to insist that the government finally listens to working people.  We will be marching together to demand better.  So whether this is your first time taking to the streets or you've been to marches before, you're needed on 18 June.

Schedule 10:30 – Gather at Portland Place, London (or come directly to the rally in Parliament Square) 12:00 – March departs 13:00 – Rally starts in Parliament Square, London

Find out more https://www.unison.org.uk/events/tuc-national-demonstration/

At Newham London formal Council AGM at the Old Town Hall, Stratford

 

Great AGM. First "in person" for 3 years?  A short adjournment due to a lively protest. Reception before and after in Town Hall courtyard. Followed by a couple of drinks in King Eddies. 

UNISON SGE elections - Online ballot ends 5pm tomorrow - Wednesday 25 May (Vote to save our Union from Sexist Bullies & Ultra Left Extremism!)

 

Ballot closes tomorrow 25 May at 5pm for online votes (UNISON members also had the choice of a postal vote which I suspect is now too late so they should search their emails for online ballot papers from CES)

This morning a UNISON member rang me for advice on who to vote for in the London Local Government seat and I recommended Sonya but also see below for other recommendations. 

Check out OneUNISON website for further details of your "cost of living" UNISON champions. 

London Local Government:               Sonya Howard.

East Midlands Local Government:    Jess and Richard

West Midlands Local Government:    Ash

Yorkshire & Humberside:                  Ken & Helen

Eastern Local Government:               Neil, Angie & Sue

South East Local Government:          Sarah

Northern Community:                        Malcolm & Clare

London Health:                                  Julie and Anette

East Midlands Health:                        Lynn & Roz

Northern Health:                                Maria, Paul & Tanya

North West Health:                            Wendy & Liz

Cymru Wales Health:                        Sharon & Sarah

South West Health:                            Alison & Shawn

Yorkshire & Humberside Health:      Katie, Philippa & Dave

Please share and ring friends and colleagues (not using unison branch resources or information of course) and remind them to vote before 5pm tomorrow!!!

I was elected unopposed for the Greater London Community General SGE seat.

Farthing Common, Postling & Tolsford Hill Walk

 

Check out a view from my seat. A fantastic 5.5 mile circular Pathfinder walk in Kent, North Downs. For a "Green Walk" is was quite demanding with lots of ups and downs. The views were wonderful. No good public transport links apparent I am afraid. 

This was during my "recovery" weekend after the local Council elections on May 5. 

I will post more pictures on Facebook and link. 

Support the Kirklees 15 - Believe Women (& Men) who report bullying and harassment & give them Justice

Donate here for the Kirklees 15

"On behalf of the Kirklees 15, we are fundraising to help us build awareness of our campaign for justice in our Union, Unison. We are made up of Unison members and branch employed staff past and present.

Our Complaints of bullying and harassment against the Branch Secretary of Kirklees Unison were made 2.5 years ago, the Union dragged their feet in investigating our complaints, but the investigating officer did recommend the case moved to a hearing. The NEC of Unison have met on March 15th, 2022, and summarily dismissed all our complaints without any basis or reason why.

This is in our opinion a dreadful abuse of power and corruption, totally ignoring everyone of us who have actually suffered horrendous sexism and misogyny over a number of years. The Hearings must be carried out, and we are appealing to all Unison members to support our cause.

The Funds will be used to help support our colleagues attending Local and National Delegate Conference, in accommodation and travel fees, for leaflets and materials to be produced to put our case. Also, funds for any future legal case".

"What does the Queen’s Speech mean for housing?"

 

"Despite presenting a large volume of legislation, overall the policy proposals in the Queen’s Speech will do very little to address the underlying causes of our country’s housing crisis.  Labour Housing Group has long argued for systemic change in the supply of genuinely affordable housing (the planning system and housing finance), reform of the benefits system, and regulation of the private rented sector and is campaigning for housing to be set in legislation as a human right. 

The legislation proposed in the Queen’s Speech will not address the challenge of a desperate shortage of genuinely affordable homes, the poor quality and energy inefficiency of all housing stock or the growing problems of homelessness and temporary accommodation.  The legislative programme does not bring forward ideas for the failing social security system which is leaving families having to choose between heating and eating.  I have set out the outline of what is expected in each of the Bills and then highlighted what’s missing.

The Renters Reform Bill is expected to abolish ‘no-fault’ evictions by removing Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988.  We have heard this before and we must hold this Government to their promise to now deliver this.  The Bill also proposes to reform possession grounds for landlords – it is not clear what these will be or how the Bill will tackle the issues with administration of evictions.

The proposal for a legally binding Decent Homes Standard in the Private Rented Sector is certainly welcome but currently lacks detail for how this will be enforced, how the enforcement will be funded and how the works to ensure the Decent Homes Standard will be administered or paid for. Similarly, the introduction of a new Ombudsman for private landlords to resolve disputes could be a positive step forward but experience from the Housing Ombudsman, under-resourced and under-powered and struggling to keep up with the flow of escalated complaints from social landlords, suggests that unless this is properly funded this will create more uncertainty for renters.

The Social Housing Regulation Bill attempts to give more focus on consumer standards. With plans to enable the Regulator to intervene with landlords who are performing poorly on consumer issues there is hope for the many residents who struggle to secure a decent level of repair service from their landlord.  This is a u-turn from the Coalition Government’s abolition  of the Tenants Services Authority in 2010.  The impact of this Bill will only really be felt by tenants once the new powers and functions come through the Social Housing Regulator. Labour Housing Group will work with Labour MPs to make the case that the Social Housing Regulator is properly funded to deliver this expanded role. 

Enabling the Regulator to inspect landlords is encouraging – the tenants that I represent who receive a poor repairs service would welcome the chance to call for an inspection and to see the outcome of that inspection. This Bill still has gaps.  There is no stated role for Local Authorities or Local Councillors who are often the first to hear about the impact of poor consumer standards.

It is also silent on the role of local authorities with housing association disposals – local authorities have a responsibility to assess housing needs for their local areas and planning powers to secure affordable homes but there is no requirement for housing associations or the Social Housing Regulator to consult local authorities on the impact of disposals. Finally, this Bill is a missed opportunity to invest in tenant engagement including a requirement for tenants to be on Housing Association Boards or to have a say on local management decisions.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill promises mostly administrative changes to monitoring levelling up, alongside tinkering at the edges of the planning system. Anyone committed to seeing more affordable homes built will despair at the lack of ambition from this Bill. The idea of organising votes on a street by street basis to determine planning applications will just bring in unnecessary bureaucracy to an under-resourced planning system.

The focus should have been on supporting clear policies which prioritise affordable homes and high-quality design standards.  We await the detail on how the Bill will support local authorities to bring empty premises back into use and support the high street – currently local authorities have broad powers to support regeneration and so it’s difficult to see what more will be added which would have a meaningful impact.

It is positive that the Energy Security Bill proposes to appoint Ofgem as the new regulator for heat networks. I represent residents in new build homes who have no control over their energy prices and no powers to demand transparency over costs or choice of provider.  The appointment should go further and provide clear local involvement for consumers so that they have a say in their energy provider. There is a huge gap in making plans to insulate and retrofit existing homes so that they are more energy efficient.  Only a street by street, block by block programme, with sustained investment from national Government will secure the reduction in energy use that is needed to get to Net Zero.

It’s clear what’s missing from this legislative programme.  The Government has failed to address the issue of short term lets, which is eroding the availability of affordable homes across the country, particularly in London and areas with a growing tourist economy.  The Government’s failure to really grasp this issue and tackle the impact on housing supply and on communities lets down both homeless families and those hoping to join the housing ladder. 

It is unsustainable for short term lets platforms to continue operating in central London without further regulation.  There is a gap where there should be a long term commitment to investment in genuinely affordable council and social housing.  This should be delivered through Government co-ordination of major new housing schemes alongside a sustained funding stream.

Going forward, Labour Housing Group will work with the Labour front bench and Labour MPs to make the case for the strongest possible action within these Bills to address the housing crisis.

Rachel Blake

Rachel is a Labour and Co-operative Party Councillor in Bow East and is Vice-Chair of the Labour Housing Group.

"It is an honour to be elected to serve you" - West Ham ward thank you leaflets May 2022

Tomorrow we will start delivering these "thank you" leaflets to West Ham Ward  residents after the recent local election. 

It is a definite honour to be elected to serve our residents - and in the next 4 years we need to earn this trust.