Camden New Journal
Publications by New Journal Enterprises
spacer
  Home Archive Competition Jobs Tickets Accommodation Dating Contact us
spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer
spacer
Letters to the Editor
 
Vote for us to end 30 years of misrule

• Now that the election campaign is in full swing, and the letters that once dominated your columns are revealed to have been written by council candidates who masqueraded as local activists, one hopes that things will settle into a more traditional style. No more scares or false alarms please, and spare the hyperbole.
As one of those who is standing down to find other things to do, the time comes to reflect on one’s successes and failures.
Modesty forbids the former, but there is such a lot of “unfinished business”. One thinks of the recurring debates, once dealt with, such as that over the bus stands in South End Green. One will miss, no longer as a councillor, the launch of the superb Cantelowes Gardens or the opening of a new public open space known as Camden Broadway.
One will regret the missed opportunity for local people presented by the still empty St Luke’s church in Kentish Town.
And one will never forget the mind-numbing seven years that it has taken so far to reopen a simple pedestrian and cycle route from Arctic Street to Regis Road as a result of the intransigence and plain stupidity of Network Rail.
One will certainly not miss the volume of paper, and I will soon look forward to seeing my carpet again.
One will remember those ineffective council officers, particularly in housing at junior levels, who fail their tenants and leaseholders.
One will remember those who never answer letters and, even worse, those who smile, patronise and nod but do nothing.
In spite of lapses, Camden is an exciting place, which in a small way I have been proud to represent over 12 years. We are fortunate in our unique resource, our residents, who give their time and goodwill to their local environments or housing estates or to the borough as a whole. There are also exemplary councillors who show their commitment. And, before anyone gets the wrong message, there is a team of talented and hard-working officers across all departments who deliver a very high quality service for us all. Add to this a strong voluntary sector and three excellent local newspapers, and the vibrancy is palpable. The combination, when it works, is magic. Just step across the borough boundary into Islington, Barnet or Westminster where the difference smacks you in the face.
COUNCILLOR GERRY HARRISON (Lab)
Town Hall, WC1


• Amidst all the political knock-about about the Liberal Democrats (A joke party with joke policies, March 30), the truly startling thing about Alain Davidson’s letter is that he appears to be convinced that New Labour offers a shining example of a party consistently holding true to its political beliefs.
That is nothing short of extraordinary. Consider: New Labour gave us the utterly disastrous Iraq War. With the help of Conservative votes it is now setting out to privatise our education system and put into place an anarchic ‘all against all’ within our schools.
It is privatising the probation service. It is rapidly expanding the role of private medicine within the health service.
It is apparently preparing to spend vast sums of public money on restoring the nuclear industry. And it seems hell-bent on spending billions more on replacing the Trident nuclear weapons system.
All this adds up to a ferociously right wing programme by any standards – perhaps the most audacious hi-jacking of a political party in our history.
Meanwhile under New Labour inequality has continued to grow. Under New Labour spouses never seem to talk to each other about taking out (or paying back) eye-watering mortgages. And of course under New Labour we have just had the embarrassing spectacle of our Prime Minister quietly flogging off peerages round the back.
Nor is this political metamorphosis confined to national politics. At local level, too, the stripping away of responsibility for major areas of local government like housing and education and the imposition of the Executive System has clearly done much to destroy local democracy.
(It will be interesting to see what the turn-out proves to be in May.) The spiteful treatment of council house tenants who had the temerity not to vote as they were told over the introduction of Almos is another public scandal.
And even the Chancellor’s welcome increases in investment in the health service has been soured locally by the Government’s continuing obsession with targets and competition, leading dir-ectly to the agonising choices now confronting the Royal Free.
How you square any of this with the values once held by the Party is a problem for its dwindling number of members to sort out. But if New Labour is now about anything except the exercise of political power – and socialism and even social democracy have long become creeds that dare not speak their names – the one certainty is that it no longer has anything whatever to do with the progressive politics with which Labour used to be honourably associated.
Rex Warrick
Priory Road, NW6

• The Lib Dems were a close second behind Labour in the last local elections in Kentish Town in 2002, just 121 votes off electing councillors. And in last year’s General Election, the Lib Dem vote in this area surged to 29 per cent, snapping at Labour’s heels.
In these council elections, voting Lib Dem – in Kentish Town and across Camden – offers the best chance for a generation to end Labour‚s grip on the Town Hall.
The Lib Dems are popular in Kentish Town because we have been side-by-side with residents campaigning to save Kentish Town Baths and the police station.
On a national level, people like our defence of civil liberties, our opposition to the war in Iraq, not to mention scrapping the council tax and our firm stance on environmental issues. It is clear that most people are now unhappy with the way Labour are running things. The Lib Dems in Kentish Town are offering the best alternative – three hard-working, dedicated local candidates ready to continue serving the area after May 4.
Philip Thompson
Kentish Town Lib Dem candidate
Fortess Road, NW5

• I’d like to thank Theo Blackwell for publicising the EMAG website (Letters March 23), which describes the campaigning work I’ve been doing to seek compensation for failed government regulation on behalf of a million Equitable Life sufferers.
I have never been involved in any way with Canary Wharf but I am striving, with the King’s Cross Railways land Group, for a much better deal for locals in the King’s Cross plan.
It did seem to be scraping the barrel for Cllr Blackwell to highlight that I worked on the famous Conservative election campaign in 1979!
That was in a professional capacity – one to which I was pleased to be assigned – with the laudable objective of removing a disastrous Labour regime.
Actually, rather as I’m campaigning today to try to do the same, to kick out after 30 years another burnt out regime – Labour’s in Camden. It’s time for a change!
Paul Braithwaite
Liberal Democrat candidate Cantelowes ward
Bartholomew Villas, NW5

• I recently received a tabloid newspaper which was cunningly disguised to try and look as if it didn’t come from the local Liberal Democrats.
Containing numerous pictures of supposed residents with mock looks of concern, the paper is a real masterpiece in the art of political propaganda.
A particularly highlight is a man with a pudding basin haircut and a woman councillor who has one stock “I’ve just swallowed a wasp” look of exasperation.
It succeeds in taking up four pages to be wholely critical of Labour-run Camden Council – without even suggesting once a positive policy on how the Liberal Democrats would do things differently if they were in charge.
If this is the best they can do in terms of setting the agenda for change in Camden – then they really need to do much better.
I hope that the Liberal Democrats did not pay good money for these leaflets. Until they actually talk about what they would like to do, rather than just throwing their hands about in mock outrage, they will be wasting their time locally.
Susie Mann
Warwick Lodge, Shoot-up Hill, NW2

• I was very sad to learn that Hampstead will be losing two of its excellent councillors in the next few weeks – the Lib Dem Margaret Little and Conservative Brian Cattell. Both have been excellent advocates for our community despite coming from very different political approaches. I wish them well in whatever they decide to do next.
With Hampstead being one of the few remaining village areas of London and many passionate residents willing to talk for their community then it is no surprise that we have historically had such good community councillors representing our interests at the Town Hall.
Moving forward however, I was surprised to learn that in what would appear to be an odd choice the Liberal Democrats have chosen to select a man who lives in far east London as their man to replace Margaret.
This smacks a little of desperation. Indeed, I understand that their former Parliamentary candidate decided to move to from Watford to Hampstead only in September last year.
On the basis that we need a guarantee of strong community activists in our councillors – I would urge people to back Mike Green and the Conservative team in the coming elections on May 4. The Liberal Democrats candidates smack of desperation – not of a passion for NW3.
Kevin Knight
Downshire Hill, NW3

• We oppose all proposals for redundancies and pay cuts at the Royal Free. Management proposes to slash 480 jobs and 100 beds at our local hospital.
Four wards will close including the award winning stroke unit on Berry Ward.
It is likely that a further 70 beds will be lost later in the year. Management is also urging staff to take a pay cut to help clear the £25 million ‘debt’.
The Royal Free is in crisis, as are many other hospitals in the NHS because of the market system (which the three major parties back) which puts profits before health care and which awards the fat cats in the private companies which now operate within the NHS.
We demand that the £25-30-million pound ‘debt’ of the Royal Free and the £182-million ‘debt’ within the NHS in London be written off by the Government, otherwise there will be a meltdown of health care within London. The Royal Free played a key role in treating victims of the 7/7 bombings, we cannot afford a rundown in services and patient care at this hospital.
The Government can find hundreds of millions of pounds for warfare but cannot provide a decent health service. We demand that the NHS is totally publicly funded and that private finance is driven out of our health service.
The health service should be democratically run by health workers, patient groups and the local community, to ensure an efficient and safe service is given to the local community.
John Reid
Branch Secretary
Camden Socialist Party
Lamble Street
NW5

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.
spacer
» A-Z of Theatre
» Local Reviews
» Local Listings
» West End Reviews
» West End Listings
» Theatre Tickets
» Theatre & Hotel Packages













spacer


Theatre Music
Arts & Events Attractions
spacer
 
 


  up