Camden New Journal
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Letters to the Editor
 
Lib Dem launch is a bit rich at £50 a throw

• With your letters pages hotting up with the impending council elections, I was very interested to hear about the Liberal Democrats launching their campaign in an exclusive modern art gallery in Camden Town.
What I was surprised to hear about was the exclusivity of the invitations. Their own website, which I assume is meant to show their agenda if they were in charge of Camden, states that individual tickets to the campaign launch were £50 a head.
I was rather shocked at this figure and am sure that readers of this paper will share this view.
The Lib Dems have historically been strong in parts of Camden such as Hampstead – not the areas with large parts of council housing.
So presumably the fact that they all own homes that are worth hundreds of thousands of pounds means that £50 is a flash in the pan for them.
To put this in context however – the Lib Dems have stated both nationally and locally that the national minimum wage is “dangerous”.
So in other words they are happy to throw £50 a way on a jolly evening sipping champagne – but don’t support a living wage for people on low incomes. For a political party that is giving very little away about its policy agenda for Camden – their actions in terms of backing those that can afford to squander such large amounts of money seems rather telling.
Becky Purcell
Frederick Street, WC1


• When Rachel Zatz, Green Party prospective candidate, rang prior to the King’s Cross planning meeting to ask me to include her party’s views with regard to sustainability and a station for Maiden Lane in representations to the hearing and since Cantelowes Labour Branch intended to make those observations anyway, I agreed to do so, and duly did.
So Rachel’s letter (March 23) to the CNJ bemoaning progress was a surprise. After all Labour were the only political party in Cantelowes Ward, working together with residents’ groups, to make specific deputations in front of the developers regarding a Maiden Lane Station and pedestrian and cyclist access to the King’s Cross development from Agar Grove via Camley Street.
We succeeded and the developers will now fund the road. The developer’s £30,000 payment for the station feasibility study is welcome; we are making headway, and need to pull together to get trains to stop once more at Maiden Lane Station.
Cllr Dermot Greene (Lab)
Herbert Street, NW5


• Those familiar with the campaigning genius of the Lib Dems will have expressed even deeper admiration this week at their new masterstroke: rounding up kids on council estates to do their dirty work for them.
How are the unsuspecting innocents to be enticed? Forget tedious concerns about child protection, simply dole out badges and toffees. This brilliant new tactic is outlined in the Lib Dems official local election guide for candidates, as reported by the BBC.
The document states: “You go into the middle of a council estate with your leaflets and you shout at all the local kids you can see and see if ‘any of you lot want to help deliver all these leaflets?’.
“Then proceed Pied Piper-like round the estate doling out badges and toffees and leaflets, the last at least to be pushed through doors by the shouting, squealing and quarrelsome horde.”
Interesting that the Lib Dems only follow this policy for those “squealing and quarrelsome” types that live on council estates. Perhaps campaign budgets don’t stretch far enough to entice the children of Hampstead and Primrose Hill to join the yellow bandwagon.
Phil Jones
Hawley Road, NW1


• I read your article (Labour Has Failed You, says New Lib Dem leader Ming, April 6) and felt it was wrong to state that the four tower blocks in the Chalcott Estate were among Camden’s worst-kept estates.
I lived in Burnham for two years until last year and did not experience any of the problems listed in your article. My windows never leaked and only two or three times in those two years were both the lifts out of order and the problem was dealt with quickly.
The lifts and entrance were kept clean by the efficient and hardworking caretaker, the light above my front door was always changed the morning after it blew and he was regularly seen removing addicts from the car park.
I feel it is unfair to make it seem as though the blocks are neglected.
Name and address supplied

• Syed Hoque needs to get his facts right (Judge Labour on its record here, not Iraq, April 6). He claims that no Lib Dem councillor supported Cllr Nash Ali in his bid to become Mayor.
Not true. The minutes of the meeting on May 14 2003 clearly state that I seconded, on behalf of the Liberal Democrat Group, the motion to appoint Nash to the mayoralty.
Perhaps he would like to send a letter of apology to the paper on this point?
He is right to say my party opposed the latest legislation on religious hatred because we believed the law as proposed was unworkable and could endanger free speech.
But as he supports a party which rides roughshod over civil liberties, such as supporting extending detention without trial; an ID card scheme meaning the government will hold over 45 pieces of information about everyone on a national database; as well as engaging in illegal wars, it is not surprising that he perhaps takes this view.
Cllr JOHN BRYANT
Liberal Democrat
West Hampstead ward
Belsize Road, NW6

• Susie Mann isn’t the only person to complain about the Lib Dem’s negative
propaganda (Letters, April 6).
In Haverstock ward, I’ve had to reassure several voters following a leaflet from the Lib Dems claiming that the local Safer Neighbourhood Police Team is under threat.
Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Haverstock and Gospel Oak was one of the first areas in London to have such a local police team, dedicated to working with the community. Labour believed it was an important priority for the area and we campaigned hard to make sure it came to Haverstock.
In contrast, the Lib Dems didn’t lift a finger to ensure the area benefited from a Safer Neighbourhood Team. So they are in no position to spread false rumours about local policing now.
Mike Katz
Labour candidate,
Haverstock ward
Camden Road, NW1

• It is rather surprising that Kevin Knight was unimpressed by Ed Fordham moving to Camden (CNJ, April 6). During his Lib Dem General Election campaign, Ed said he was committed to Camden and would move to the borough, if elected. He has now gone further than he promised.
Compare this with Labour’s Camden MP, Glenda Jackson. She too promised to move to the borough, if elected. However, she has made sure that she lives on the opposite side of London – Labour promises are for breaking.
It is generally accepted that the Labour Party has sunk itself into a swamp of half-truths and outright lies and that this is one of the principle reasons for the party’s unpopularity throughout the country.
The Camden Labour Party is very closely associated with those people responsible for this cynical policy and has tried hard to reproduce it locally. In May, they will undoubtedly receive their reward for this from resentful residents.
Unfortunately, the Conservative Party seems to have convinced itself that the way back to power is to use the same techniques as the Labour Party.
With David Cameron so obviously intent on becoming Tony Blair Mark II, is it not reassuring that there is one party in the Camden local elections that does live up to its promises?
Alan Templeton
Lib Dem candidate for Frognal and Fitzjohns Ward
Honeybourne Road, NW6

• As Labour candidate (and sitting Councillor) for Bloomsbury ward in Camden, I was astonished to learn that two out of my three Green Party opponents not only live out of Camden Borough, but are simultaneously standing for the councils where they do live!
Shahrar Ali is standing for Queens Park, London Borough of Brent (where he has also in the last two years stood for Parliament, a Brent Council by-election, the European Parliament in Strasbourg, and the Greater London Assembly – the last two also simultaneously). George Graham is also standing for Herne Hill Ward in Lambeth, and is a Lambeth resident.
I presume their candidacies for Bloomsbury qualify on either working somewhere in Camden or owning property here, and therefore are technically legal. But given the Greens claimed commitment to local communities, it seems odd to have two such distant residents, and with their involvement where they live.
Peter Brayshaw
Labour, Bloomsbury ward
Camden Rd, NW1

• What a joy it is to read the New Journal’s letters pages at the moment – with a high number of comedy letters from Liberal Democrat writers writing on a range of issues from the state of special delivery mail to the colour of belly-button fluff.
One such writer, Rex Warwick (Letters, April 7) writes a list of Labour’s failings on a national basis – suggesting that I overlooked them in a letter I sent to this paper recently.
He clearly cannot face the fact that my letter was pointing out the failings of his party on a local basis. These failings include selecting a candidate for Hampstead Town ward who lives in Bow – launching their election campaign in an estate in Swiss Cottage where residents say “they have never stepped foot in before today.”
Credit where credit is due – the Camden Tories are at least trying to state how they would do things differently than Labour. I disagree with what they are saying, and will therefore probably vote Labour again on May 4.
I don’t think that Labour are flawless nationally by any means. But the Camden Liberal Democrats are proving themselves to be masters of saying not much at all, but very loudly.
Alain Davidson
Mayford, NW1

• Your Comment (Are the voters in a punishing mood? April 6) mentions a double whammy facing Labour in Camden (low turnout and calamitous political climate), but there’s the potential for another in this election.
The word on the street seems clear enough – Labour are finished in Highgate, at least for sometime. They lost the support of over 300 voters in 2002 and more this time are voting Green because they have had enough of Labour locally or want to give Tony Blair a bloody nose, or both.
The latter happens to be the purpose of the London Strategic Voter website: www.strategicvoter.
org.uk. It is recommending that disillusioned former Labour voters, along with Lib Dem and Respect supporters, vote for second-placed Greens here and in Kentish Town.
Voters in Highgate are likely to deliver their own double-whammy, as electing Greens in Highgate will also kill off Tory hopes of a revival in Camden.
Adrian Oliver
Chair, Camden Green Party and Highgate ward candidate
Lissenden Gardens, NW5

• I was delighted this weekend to see children taking the initiative and skateboarding on the water feature without water at Swiss Cottage. With the water feature now not going live until July, kids will get used to playing on it.
This illustrates what a wasted opportunity the water feature represents, quite apart from its £500,000 overspend.
Since the fountain apparently cannot operate when the wind speed is high, why doesn’t the council make the best of the situation and alternate the way the feature is used, perhaps leaving it “dry” for skateboarding in winter, and running the fountain in summer when we benefit most from the cooling water.
Still, not as useful as another football pitch for young people of course.
My other concern is the cost of renting the new (smaller) football pitch.
Why has the hourly concessionary cost more than doubled from £16 to £44 with the result that the Winchester Project, for example, is hard-pressed to buy all the hours it really needs for local children? The council needs to review this urgently.
Cllr Andrew Marshall (Con)
Town Hall
Judd Street
WC1

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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