Chemical spill blocks Downs and Cricketfield Roads

Fire crews rescuing someone trapped in a building on Downs Road (which turns into Cricketfield Road) were caught in some kind of chemical spill - possibly asbestos - which contaminated the area and some of the people involved.

There were a few people in alarming looking orange suits decontaminating or being decontaminated. A look at google maps didn't help identify which business or residence would need to store material that could contaminate in this way.

Diane on social services

Diane Abbott's piece in the Guardian on Haringey's former head of social services, Sharon Shoesmith, could prompt questions about Hackney's social services. The department has a good reputation but there are some unknowns.

One example was in a recently published book by a detective sergeant who worked for Hackney police's child protection unit up until 2006. He wondered how a child could have been beaten to death in Hackney in 2003 and no one went to jail.

Also, there doesn't seem to be any news on whether or Hackney's social services were aware of the mother charged with murdering her four-year-old daughter on the Chatsworth Estate?

Then there's the story recently reported in The Voice about a man only being saved from jail because he recorded his conversations with Hackney social services?

Tape conversations with Hackney council or go to jail

A man only escaped being jailed last month because he had recorded conversations with a Hackney council social worker who had accused him of assault, criminal damage and making threats to kill.

According to The Voice a judge threw out allegations made against Hackney resident Lovel Brian Dennis who had been trying to win custody of his brother Kenny.

The voice said: "Hackney Council reportedly offered Dennis an apology and a total of £1,600 compensation, but said in a statement: ‘The Council will be making no comment due to legal reasons."

Remember last year Hackney council attempted to prevent the Hackney Citizen from publishing a recording of a council employee who said there wasn't a Conservative Party mayoral candidate standing in Hackney.

Hackney: unemployment up by 1000 this year

The latest Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) statistics for Hackney showed that there were 288 new claimants in the borough last month. This brings the total number of JSA claimants in Hackney to 10,941.

Hackney has the highest proportion of JSA claimants of all London boroughs at 7.2% ahead of Newham (7%).

Since the start of 2011 the number of jobseekers in Hackney has risen by 1,038 (last month's stats showed a 171 rise in the JSA claimants from February.)

Background

The borough's latest economic factsheet shows that the working population is 58% in managerial, professional, associate professional and technical occupations with just 8.5% employed as cleaners, security wardens, postal workers and couriers, hospitality workers and elementary sales.

Hackney's politicians have voiced a number of views on how dependent Hackney is on public sector jobs and the effect the cuts may have on the borough. The composition of the borough's working population may make it hard to predict what economic scenarios are good or bad for the level of unemployment in the borough.

HACKNEY BOROUGH

JSA CLAIMANT FIGURES:

2011

April 10,941 (7.2%) - (10,941/0.072= 151,958) (+288)

March 10,653 (7.1%) - (10,653/0.071=150,042) (+171)

February: 10,482 (6.9%) - (10,482/0.069=151,913) (+250)

January: 10,232 (6.8%) - (10,232/0.068= 150,470) (+329)

2010

December : 9,903 (6.6%) - (9,903/0.066=150,049) (-92)

November: 9,995 (6.6%) - (9,995/0.066=151,439) (+8)

October: 9,987 (6.6%) - (9,987/0.066=151,318) (+60)
September: 9,927 (6.6%) - (9,927/0.066=150,409) (+136)

August: 9,791 (6.5%) - (9,791/0.065=150,630) (+325)
July: 9,466 (6.3%) - (9466/0.063= 150,253) (+60)
June : 9,406 (6.5%) (9,406/ 0.065 = 144,707) (-210)
May: 9,616 (6.7%) (9,616/.067=143,522) (-47)
April: 9,663 (6.7%) (9,663/.067=144,223) (-183)
March: 9,846 (6.8%) (9,846/0.068=144,794) (- 198)
February: 10,044 (7%) (10,044/0.07=143,485) (+139)
January: 9,905 (6.9%) (9,905/0.069= 143,550) (+162)

2009
December: 9,743 (6.7%) (9,743/0.067=145,417) (-52)
November: 9,795 (6.8%)
October: 9,827 (6.8%)
September: 9,884 (7%)
August 9,826 (6.9%) (+276)
July: 9550 (6.7%) (+242)

June: 9,308 (6.6%) ()
May: 9,377 (6.6%) (+379)

April: 8,998 (6.3%) (+373)

March: 8,625 (6.1%) (+ 471)

February: 8,154 (5.7%) (+ 804)

January: 7,350 (5.2%)

2008

December: 7,245 (5.1%)
November - 7,013 (4.9%)

October - 6,982 (4.9%)

September - 6,942 (4.9%)

August - 6,803 (4.8%)

July - 6,454 (4.6%)

June - 6,440 (4.6%)

HACKNEY NORTH

JSA CLAIMANT COUNT

2011

April - 5,103 (6.6%) - (5,103/0.065=77,318) (+97)

March - 5,006 (6.5%) - (5006/0.065=77,015) (+77)

Feb - 4,929 (6.4%) - (4,929/0.064=77,015) (+ 71)

Jan - 4, 858 (6.3%) - (4,858/0.063= 77,111) (+158)

2010

Dec - 4,700 (6.1%) - (4,700/0.061=77,049) (-94)

Nov - 4,794 (6.2%) - (4,794/0.062=77,323)(-5)

Oct - 4,801 (6.2%) - (4,801/0.062= 77,435)(+29)
Sept - 4,772 (6.2%) - (4,709/0.062=76,967) (+63)

August - 4,709 (6.1%) - (4,709/0.061= 77,197)(+171)

July - 4,572 (5.9%) - (4,572/0.059= 77,491)(+34)

June - 4,538 (6.0%) - (4,538/0.06= 75,633)(-99)

May - 4,637 (6.2%) - (4,637/0.062=74,790)(-90)

April - 4,727 (6.3%) - (4,727/0.063=75,031)(+391)

March - 4,336 (6.2%) - (4,336/0.062=69,935)(-114)

February - 4,450 (6.4%) - (4,450/0.064=69,531)(+48)
January - 4,402 (6.3%) - (4,402/0.063=69,873)

2009

December - 4331 (6.2%)

November - 4386 (6.3%)

October - 4365

September - 4,338

August - 4,331

July - 4206

June - 4,118

May - 4,081

HACKNEY SOUTH

JSA CLAIMANT COUNT

2011

April - 5,810 (8.2%) - (5,810/0.082=70,853) (+181)

March - 5,629 (8%) - (5,629/0.08= 70,362) (+92)

February - 5,537 (7.8%) - (5,537/0.078=70,987) (+178)

January - 5,359 (7.6%) - (5,359/0.076= 70,513) (+172)

2010

Dec - 5,187 (7.3%) - (5,187/0.073= 71,054) (+4)

Nov - 5,183 (7.3%) - (5,183/0.0.73=71,000) (+19)

Oct - 5,164 (7.3%) - (5,164/0.073=70,739)(+24)
Sept - 5,140 (7.3%) - (5,140/0.073=70,410)(+84)

August - 5,056 (7.1%) - (5,056/0.071 = 71,211)(+185)

July - 4,871 (6.9%) - (4,871/0.069= 70,549)(+20)
June - 4,851 (7.0%) - (4,851/0.07= 69,300) (-108)

May - 4,959 (7.2%) - (4,959/0.072=68,875)

April - 4,908 (7.1%) - (4908/0.071=69,126)

March - 5,510 (7.6%) - (5,510/0.076=72,500)

February - 5,594 (7.7%) - (5,594/0.077=72,649)

January - 5503 (7.6%) - (5503/0.076)=72,407)

2009

December - 5,412 (7.5%)

November - 5,409 (7.5%)

October - 5,462

September - 5,546 (7.8%)

August - 5,495

July - 5,344

June - 5,190

May - 5,29

Meg Hillier: "I'm not your love, matey, OK?"

Hackney South MP Meg Hillier seems to have been having interesting run-ins with Tory ministers.

The Express quotes Meg replying: "I'm not your love, matey, OK?" to an as-yet-unknown comment by Energy Minister Greg Barker.

Meanwhile details have emerged about a much older encounter she had with Tory defence minister Andrew Robathan and which she described on a blog by Sky News Sophie Ridge:

"I came back to vote only a short time after giving birth because of the peculiar nature of the job, but I was post natal and breastfeeding at the time.

"So I was gobsmacked to be challenged in this way - it was like stepping back in time. You don't expect that reaction in the modern world. When I told him that I was post natal, he actually demanded to know how many weeks!"

That was back in 2009 while Labour was in power and, after the incident, Meg's whips arranged for her to vote via phone.

AV: not the end of the line in Hackney

Of the 149,606 people eligible to vote in Hackney, 30,969 voted for the Alternative Vote - about 20% of the entire electorate of Hackney. (Hackney Citizen report here said that Hackney had the highest yes vote in Britain and the FT pointed out that Hackney was one of only 10 areas across the whole country that voted in favour of AV. It was also one of only four London Boroughs that came out in support of AV: Lambeth, Hackney, Islington and Camden.)

Unfortunately it is not possible to see how the vote broke down across the borough's two constituencies but more people in Hackney support AV than their individual MPs - Meg Hillier in Hackney South won 23,888 votes in 2010 while Diane Abbott won 25,553.

The support for a change was high but the one Hackney South candidate who focused almost entirely on electoral reform in the last election only won 95 votes.

Denny De La Haye's campaign website 'Get a Vote' outlined his plan to create an online voting system that would allow Hackney voters to direct his votes in parliament.

Meanwhile Meg Hillier, the victorious MP for Hackney South did not support the Yes campaign. The question is whether the issue will die away in Hackney as it is expected to do elsewhere?