Camden New Journal
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Letters to the Editor
 
Judge Labour on its record here, not Iraq

• The introduction of ward-level community-police consultation via Safer Neighbourhood Panels should have been something to welcome unreservedly.
It is a great shame that their creation has been at the expense of the larger sector meetings with police, which had existed for around 12 years. With the demise of the sector groups, the community can only discuss issues of concern with the police at ward-level via the panels or at borough-level via the Camden Community Policy Consultative Group (CCPCG).
Why should the local groups in my ward, Frognal and Fitzjohns, not be allowed to share concerns with, say, their counterparts in Hampstead Town ward and gain feedback from Camden’s police? Criminals don’t respect the often-arbitrary ward boundaries, and it is surely helpful if the ward-based safer neighbourhood teams are speaking to their colleagues in neighbouring wards!
As part of our manifesto for the local elections, the Conservatives are promising the creation of five local area committees.
These area committees will bring together the local councillors and local groups, with senior council officer and police representation. These bodies would play a key role in improving Camden’s consultation on local issues including planning, licensing and community health, and also on community safety.
I strongly believe that these local area committees will fill the gap left by the demise of the police sector groups, and will be able to take the good work these groups carried out on local safety issues into areas such as planning, licensing and community health as well.
Cllr Andrew Mennear
Conservative
Town Hall, WC1


• Your article on the launch of Camden Labour Party’s local election campaign didn’t paint a full picture of what actually happened on the night.
We were delighted that the keynote speaker on the evening was Hazel Blears MP, the Government Minister for policing, who made a passionate speech on the work that Labour has done in Camden to make the community safer.
The introduction of excellent schemes, such as the Families in Focus in King’s Cross, was discussed and the positive impact that has had helping vulnerable families.
She also discussed our innovative use of anti-social behaviour orders – including achieving the first order against a multinational company for flyposting. This one Asbo has saved the council £250,000 per year in reduced street cleaning costs alone.
I wish your article had focused on the positive message that Hazel Blears gave at this meeting about making communities such as King’s Cross safer for the residents that live here. That is why I am proud to be standing as a Labour Party candidate to represent this area.
Abdul Hai
Labour Party Candidate
King’s Cross Ward


• NEW Labour elite at Westminster have passed the ID card law without consideration for the real damage it will cause to our historic and hard-earned personal liberties from the state over the centuries, exemplified by the Magna Carta in 1215.
Arrogance of power is finally getting the better of them. This will cost billions but do they care? It will certainly be over budget and ironically it will not benefit anyone or any organisation conducting their affairs any better or efficiently. The potential for fraud and criminality, just like cigarettes smuggling, will shoot up.
It will not reduce or deter terrorists as some apologists have claimed.
I have written to Frank Dobson MP in the past asking him to oppose this crazy, expensive, illiberal law but he supported it with qualification.
Champagne drinking New Labour in Camden go on and on endlessly increasing our council tax year-on-year, keep on remorselessly hitting poor car drivers with ridiculously high penalties for minor infringements with no right to reply, carry out improvements to council owned properties but hit the poor leaseholders who choose to invest in their own homes and not move to the suburbs with astronomical bills.
Decent, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens of Camden should not pay for this conceit anymore and in May they should send them a strong signal. Enough is enough. Its time for a change. The people deserve no less.
Abdul Salam
Camden Street, NW1


• I read with interest the letters from ‘British Muslim’ readers on the voting intentions of ‘Bangladeshi’, ‘Somali’ and ‘other Muslims’ in Camden election on May 4 (Muslims are able to think for themselves, March 30).
It is the majority view that ‘British Muslims’ irrespective of their country of origin are affected by what is happening in Iraq and Palestine. It seems strange to me that they are neither affected by the issues of the country of their origin viz.
‘Bangladesh’ or ‘Somalia’ or ‘other Muslim’ countries nor by the local issues of Camden where they have come to live.
I have been a member of the Labour Party over the last quarter century.
Naturally I vote for the Labour Party but regretfully I shall abstain this time owing to over 40 per cent increases in heating charges and 7.3 per cent increases in rent. The rent increases is nearly three times over the inflation rate.
I live in a flat, area less than 700 sq. feet, with my wife. The heating area is less than 500 sq. feet but the heating charges have been increased from £8.78 to £12.29 per week. Annually I have to pay £670.80 heating charges for such a place. It may not matter much to those tenants who are on benefits but it matters a great deal to fork out such high increases from hard earned money. If all those who have been directly hit by such large increases in the heating charges and rent as in our tower block (Mary Green) and abstain like me and my wife, the Labour Party will have a big problem on May 4.
For all inhabitants in Camden, local issues are more important than Iraq or Palestine. Voting pattern based on religious solidarity on issues outside the UK will harm the cohesion of the local community if not the country.
Regretfully our Party is appeasing the Muslims on the issues in Iraq and Palestine.
Sunil Kumar Pal
Abbey Road, NW8


• The letters page of this paper often seem to focus on the negative things about Camden, rather than recognising what a wonderful area we live in.
I would personally like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Pat Callaghan and Jake Sumner for all their hard work over the last four years as our local councillors. Diligent and caring to their core – they have been the there all the time for residents on issues.
I am personally deeply unhappy with the Labour Party nationally – but recognise that the elections on May 4th are for local councillors.
I will be supporting Pat and Jake on the basis that they are the best campaigners for our area – and therefore deserve our on going support for their miraculous hard work.
Melanie Croft
Camden Street
NW1


• I AM glad my letter, which you kindly printed in your issue of March 23, excited so much comment, even if some, from Labour Party quarters, was unnecessarily abusive (Muslims are able to think for themselves, March 30). It shows the CNJ really is a paper read and appreciated across the communities.
Like former mayor Nasim Ali, I have lived in this country for many years. Long enough, in fact, to date my distrust of Labour back to 1947 when the late John Stonehouse MP, a former Labour Government minister, absconded with some £1.25 million raised from the Bangladeshi community for the liberation struggle and for flood relief.
Recent revelations about the financial affairs of Labour minister Tessa Jowell’s husband David Mills, and about Tony Blair’s dealings with Asian benefactors Dr Chai Patel and Sir Gulam Noon over peerages for loans, have done nothing to convince me Labour has become more trustworthy since.
I note that in the past week new figures have been published about the sharp increase in the use of stop and search powers by the police. As I suggested in my previous letter the figures show they have been used disproportionately against blacks and Asians.
I saw also that in last week’s paper Camden Council leader Raj Chada is quoted (page 6) as “distancing himself” from the war in Iraq saying: “I was vehemently opposed to the war in Iraq. I publicly came out against the war in the New Journal.”
And what good did that do Mr Chada? Did it save the life of one innocent civilian, or spare a single detainee from torture?
Of course not. Mr Chada leads a Labour council which is refused money by the Labour Government even to bring council homes up to decent standards. This week schoolchildren in Jakarta have been more effective at putting Tony Blair on the spot than Mr Chada has ever been! Mr Chada and Mr Ali may not like being called stooges, but it is as stooges that their own Labour Government treats them.
When politicians do wrong things the only way to stop them is to vote them out. That is why I ask my fellow Muslims nor to be tricked or misled in to voting Labour again. There is, I am glad to say, a decent and vigorous alternative with the Liberal Democrats.
O Faruque Ansari
Athlone Street, NW5


• Your fascinating report of the talk given by ex-LA gangster Abu Jaffa shows how important strong role models are for our young people (Gang life has no glory, former Crip tells kids, March 30).
As Mr Jaffa said, our streets are a far cry from parts of LA, but young people in areas like Gospel Oak and Kentish Town need to be supported and reminded that there are alternatives to a life of drugs and crime.
Credit for this work must go to groups like the Kentish Town Community Organisation, which do an excellent job mentoring young people and giving them alternatives to hanging around streets and estates at night.
But some credit should also go to Labour-run Camden Council, which gives more money to community groups and the voluntary sector than any other borough in London, money which many such groups rely on. Meanwhile, in Islington, the Lib Dems have made swathing cuts to nearly 120 community and voluntary projects since 2001.
For people deciding how to vote in the coming local elections, this will be an important factor in their decision.
Mike Katz
Haverstock Labour Party
c/o 8 Camden Road, NW1

• For more years than I care to remember I have read in your letters page endless moans and groans about Camden’s Labour council. The usual stuff, closing down public services, financial mismanagement of public funds, high council tax, draconian traffic wardens etc, etc.
Well just to remind people on May 4 there is something every registered voter can do about it. It’s fairly simple. You go down to your local polling station and vote for another party that isn’t Labour.
Name and address supplied
q Your Lib Dem correspondent Mr Ansari is sadly misguided if he thinks Labour has abandoned our Muslim communities or if he thinks the Lib Dems would offer any credible alternative (Letters, March 23).
As a local Bangladeshi, hoping to be a Labour candidate in Haverstock ward, I want him to explain why Lib Dem MPs voted against Labour’s new law protecting Muslims against religious hatred. The Government was right to want this law extended to offer to Muslims the same protection and equality in the eyes of the law given to Jews and Sikhs and Christians.
What hypocrisy to blame Labour for the fact that BNP bigots walk free from court, whilst his party opposed the law which can tackle these hatemongers.
Nothing demonstrates so clearly the the lip service the Lib Dems pay to Muslims – nothing except the fact that no Lib Dem councillor supported Cllr Nash Ali in his bid to be Camden’s first Bangladeshi mayor.
In practical terms, Labour gives Muslims in Camden real support.
Camden awarded a new school meals contract, spending an extra £390,000 a year. This won’t just provide healthier meals, it will ensure that we can better cater for the needs of Muslim children.
In May, Muslims will vote for Labour, a party which has shown long-term support for them, not the Lib Dems who flirt with them as the elections conveniently roll around.
Syed Hoque
Haverstock Labour Party
Maitland Park Villas
NW3


Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, Camden New Journal, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Tuesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for reasons of space.
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