Hackney's political ambassadors?

Yesterday another blogger (Stephen Glenn) noted the busy schedule of Meg Hillier's surgery organiser. In a story titled "Serial applicant heading (or not) for Livingston" he said: "As even my brief research showed this is the fifth seat in recent months she (Adenike Rachel Abimbola-Akindele) has been mentioned as being on the shortlist for."

Back in December she turned up in Thurrock hoping to replace Andrew Mackinlay - from the Thurrock Gazette

In October Blood and Property mentioned Abimbola-Akindele after the North West Evening Mail mentioned her fight for a Labour candidacy in the North West (Barrow):

She told the paper: “I have recruited many members since I became the chairperson of Queensbridge ward in Hackney.

“I also hold the post of the surgeries manager at Meg Hilliers’ (MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch) surgeries assisting the senior caseworker.”

A commentator on Labourhome was not a fan (comments section) and seemed to have done some similar research: "Adenike Rachel Abimbola-Akindele is a serial applicant who is putting her cv for most seats, she does not turn up at selections or go to the area but because she is a woman and BAME is always shortlisted. It’s a shame as it is blocking places for more worthwhile applicants who have worked the area for many weeks before nominations. Also, as can be seen in Barrow, she is being tactically nominated by some branches to ensure that their man (John Woodcock – Gordan’s Spad) faces less competition."

I don't know if these criticisms are fair but similar complaints have been levelled at Nargis Khan, another ambassador for Hackney politics, who is up north somewhere (Wigan) after leaving confusion in Haggerston and being de-selected from Dalston.

Hackney booze chief: Cull off licences, ban super strength

Councillor Alan Laing, Cabinet member for Neighbourhoods, architect of Hackney's alcohol-free zones, wants powers to cut down off licence 'saturation' in local areas and ban the sale of "super strength" drinks in Hackney.

Writing in Progress Cllr Laing said: "What we want from the government, however, is to be able to tackle off licences and how they interact with other alcohol outlets and, as a key way of doing this, to consider the number of outlets in totality within an area. Local authorities should be able to limit their number and declare ‘saturation' in line with their own policy without the excessive restrictions that are currently placed upon them. This is the best way of determining the supply, regardless of type of premises."

He said that he understood concerns that raising the price of alcohol would affect responsible drinkers but he said: "those concerns don't prevent the government demanding that the drinks industry define ‘super strength' products which could then be specifically prohibited from sale by local authorities."

Councillor Laing's position may sound aggressive but the view of the borough's experts is that Hackney has a problem - at least with street drinkers - because it is more tolerant than its neighbours.

In May Hackney's Drug and Alcohol Action Team said: "Street drinking is a problem and it appears that about 30% are coming from outside the borough. This is possibly due to less tolerant attitudes in neighbouring boroughs such as Islington & Camden. Many of these drinkers are housed. There is a need for a clearer message on street drinking in Hackney and a greater take up of ‘wet centre’ places such as that in Finsbury Park."

The same report (Drug and Alcohol Action Team said) said DAAT would "determine whether the £95k spent on Alcohol Review was value for money" - but I couldn't find anything to say whether or not this question had been answered.

Clissold terrapins attack dogs

According to the Independent (Look out abandoned terrapins about): "Of particular concern is the common snapping turtle, a powerful American species, which has a vicious bite and is known for its aggression. One of the creatures was captured in the trawl of Clissold Park in Stoke Newington, which netted 51 critters, while another was suspected of carrying out attacks on several dogs and a Canada goose in east London."

Did Meg Hillier mislead parliament?

That's the allegation being made by a story in Open Democracy called Roll calls, body searches and sex games.

Clare Sambrook of End Child Detention Now, says that Meg Hillier's defence of child detention at Yarl's Wood perpetuated misrepresentations and created new ones:

"When Home Office minister Meg Hillier, stood up in the House on Monday 14 December to defend the detention of children, she repeated one of Wood’s inaccuracies –

"Let me point out that the report in question did not take into account the views of the clinicians who worked with those children and who know them."

– and threw in one all of her own: "There are many pressures on children, and it is not clear that those pressures and problems arise merely from detention."

The evidence is crystal clear. According to the peer-reviewed medical evidence, children experienced "a sudden deterioration in mental health due to the experience of detention rather than any pre-existing problems."

"While the Government misrepresents the evidence, children’s suffering goes on."

At least four children a week who are seeking asylum go missing from the care of local authorities, a BBC investigation has discovered.

Al Sharpton visits Hackney Schools: a good idea?

A press release from Operation Black Vote says Al Sharpton will be visiting schools in Hackney this week.

Sharpton, civil rights activist and politician, is not seen by everyone as a positive or peaceful force.

Some blame him for the deterioration of race relations in the US. In 1991 Sharpton said: "If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house" - that was in the run up to the bloody Crown Heights riots which pitted the black and Jewish communities against each other.

All of this stuff resurfaced last year when right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh wrote a piece in the Wall Street Journal condemning Sharpton. Sharpton threatened to sue Limbaugh but the story is still on the WSJ website.

In its press release OBV director Simon Woolley said that there was no greater figure to awake the “sleeping giant” of the Black vote than Sharpton.

OBV also said Sharpton would hold a reception with Black MPs and church leaders, and visit schools in Hackney and Lewisham: "Sharpton’s trip is aimed at inspiring the UK’s Black communities to get involved in politics and make their voices heard ahead of the forthcoming general election."

No one was in the Operation Black Vote (OBV) offices on Friday to say whether or not Sharpton's Hackney schools visit is still going ahead.

Pagan ritual in Springfield Park

Wassailing in Springfield Park, from Sousveillance (with picture):

"A pre-Christian traditional ceremony held on the old 12th night of 17 January and stemming from an Anglo-Saxon pagan ritual of visiting your apple trees and leaving them libations of cider and cider soaked toast to encourage their fertility next year."

Back in 2002 there were believed to be between 50,000 and 200,000 pagans in the UK - BBC

Pesky pagans at work on horse manes: police investigate and an update on pagan cops

Glamorous, hedonistic... vampires squatting in Hackney?

In case you didn't believe that squatting in Hackney Wick was hedonistic, corrupt, glamorous:
"Only ever leaving the house at night, their lifestyles lie somewhere between True blood and The Young ones."

Hackney child protection cop reveals all

The Guardian/Observer has published an extract from a book by a detective sergeant who worked in Hackney's child protection team until 2006. In the piece titled - How can a child be beaten to death and no one is jailed for murder - he describes the death of 19 month old Tyrell.

"he had been taken off the child protection register six days before he was killed. Social services had seen Tyrell four times in the month before he died..."

Hackney Council also gets unhappy mention for failing to be transparent about its social services:

"After the Tyrell trial, Hackney council issued a statement: "The area child protection committee is concluding its investigation. Recommendations will be implemented by the respective agencies. Appropriate action will be taken as required if individual failings are identified." But the results of their investigation were never made public.It is precisely this sort of reaction that increases the public's antagonism towards social workers."

However the piece is clear that these social workers often have their hands tied and are doing one of the toughest jobs with the least recognition.

Dalston daylight highstreet stabbing

I cycled past a cordoned-off Kingsland Road - north of Dalston Junction - on the way home this evening. I was told it was a stabbing - this gives more detail: http://www.thelondondailynews.com/arrested-dalston-kingsland-road-stabbing-p-3699.html
Apparently it happened at 3pm.

Academeatyourvegoryoucanthaveanypudding

According to the Times Educational Supplement City Academy in Homerton "has adopted some of the strictest and old-fashioned lunch rules".

The story says: "As soon as the meal is served, the deputy head and the other members of staff raise their hands to indicate to the children that they should settle down and sit in silence. After announcements have been made, the children are encouraged to sit quietly for a few seconds, considering those less fortunate than themselves."

Will parents half-jokingly see this as cult-like behaviour?

Hackney academies: too good to be...?

A number of theories have been offered up to explain the success of Hackney in the latest GCSE league tables. The BBC suggests an influx of aspirational immigrants as well as high levels of graduates in the borough.

This year Hackney is the most improved education authority in the country this year which might have something to do with 5 out of 12 secondary schools in the borough being listed as academies.

Unlike other schools these are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act so no one has a right to know how the improved results of academies were achieved.

So what? Well back in 2003 Tower Hamlets held the title of most improved education authority. At its most improved school every pupil had to take a science GNVQ which was the equivalent to 4 a-c GCSEs. As one of the borough's less 'successful' headteachers pointed out - most of those pupils credited with 5 A-C GCSEs had actually only taken one.

Is something similar going on in Hackney? This report (The secrets of Academies' success) by Civitas suggests that it probably is.

In its conclusion the report says: "Whilst the government has expressly asked us to judge Academies on their results, we are being expressly prevented from doing so."

Civitas asked 118 academies to take part in its research, 40 responded, only 16 gave a breakdown of their results.

The most worrying claim made by Civitas is that academies are not acting in the interest of their students when they decide which exams they will be taking but rather to bolster the overall grades of the institution.

The Civitas report says: "To target Academies for potentially using weak vocational qualifications to bolster their results may seem unfair when this is also happening in other maintained – as well as private – schools. This is indeed a legitimate point, however: firstly, in the case of mainstream maintained schools there is no accompanying 'hype' about their rate of improvement. Academies by contrast are extolled as the 'vanguard' of school improvement and educational excellence. Furthermore, the aim, in theory at least, is for Academies to improve rather than diminish the life chances of their deprived targeted cohort."

50% of people in Hackney North have degrees

According to research carried out in October Hackney North and Stoke Newington has the highest density of people with degrees in the country... or something like that according to this BBC story: "Hackney North and Stoke Newington and in Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush, 50% of the population has a degree, making these two constituencies better educated than more affluent areas such as Winchester and Bath."

Nargis Khan - Wigan a la Haggerston?

She was de-selected from Dalston and then controversially re-selected in Haggerston only to stand down - apparently from politics all together.

But now Hackney Councillor Nargis Khan - Cabinet Member for Community Services - has resurfaced in Wigan amidst 'angry scenes' at a Labour Party selection battle.

Six prospective Labour candidates were selected to take part in the contest to replace MP Neil Turner but a popular local candidate was squeezed out. The defeated candidate's supporters blamed a last minute venue change and selective crowd control.

So conspiracy theories abound - as they did in Haggerston. That was where hard left Cllr Barry Buitekant was beaten by New Labour Cllr Khan in what the Conservatives claimed was a New Labour effort to save one of its own. Cllr Khan - who had been de-selected by the Dalston ward she will represent until the election - moved on Haggerston and allegedly benefited from a poor turnout of unsuspecting Buitekant supporters at the selection meeting.

In Wigan six people were selected to take part in the contest including Cllr Nargis Khan.

Wigan Today quoted one Labour Party member: "The meeting was moved from The Deanery High – which obviously has loads of room – to the Unite office, which doesn't.

"Officials decided there was no more room and locked the doors before we were due to start, leaving supporters out in the cold.

"When the result was announced people couldn't believe it. There was booing and people broke into a round of chants for 'McGurrin, McGurrin' before there was a mass walkout. It just wasn't right."

Police collusion claims in court: Seray-Wurie

Dr Adu Aezick Seray-Wurie has claimed in court that his neighbours and the police colluded in order to bring criminal charges against him.

Seray-Wurie was charged with criminal damage in September 2009 after writing on parking signs posted in the gated community where he lives - Gateway Mews in Hackney.

Seray-Wurie pleaded not guilty to the charge despite admitting that he had written on the signs. He claimed that no damage had been done and that as a freeholder on the development he partially owns the signs.

The case, which has already had two preliminary hearings, could take two days to hear when it next comes to court - a provisional date has been set for 3 June 2010.

Initially the District Judge and the prosecution set aside two hours for the hearing but changed this to two days after Seray-Wurie demanded his right to cross examine witnesses.

The prosecution counsel asked why Seray-Wurie wanted to cross-examine witnesses if he did not dispute their evidence - that he had written on the signs - and said that the trial would centre on legal issues surrounding ownership of the property.

The Judge asked: "Do you accept that you wrote on the signs?"

Seray-Wurie: "Yes I wrote on them but they are not signs, they are notices."

The Judge said: "Your defence seems to rely on legal issues, not on a factual dispute."

S-W: "There are factual disputes"

Prosecution: "The defendant has the (witness) statement, is there anything in it which is not accepted?"

S-W. "Many things."

Prosecution: "If he agrees that it is him (who wrote on the signs), what is it in there that is not accepted?"

S-W. "Many things."

Judge: "What things?"

S-W. "These statements have no date on them. There is collusion between the police and these witnesses. I should have an opportunity to cross examine them."

Seray-Wurie also said: "No property was damaged. When this case comes to trial it will be exposed for what it is."

"Gateway mews is private housing and what the prosecution is trying to do is use criminal procedures to solve a civil process." He also said that particular individuals were responsible for the action and claimed that some of it related to a quarrel dating back to 1997.

At the hearing on Friday 8 January Seray-Wurie also called for the trial location to be moved claiming that he would not get a fair hearing at Stratford Magistrates Court. He based this claim on a dispute he had had with a District Judge at Thames Magistrates Court which led to a Judicial Review. This was in relation to an on-going civil case involving Hackney Council.

At the hearing on Friday he told Stratford Magistrates court: "I have reason to believe that I will not be given a fair trial if the case is heard in Thames or Stratford." However the presiding Judge said that although Thames and Stratford were administratively linked, the legal staff were independent and refused the request.

The case was adjourned and a provisional June 3rd date has been set for the trial.

Hackney's religious 'vigilantes' have Conservative support

This story in the Independent describes the Stamford Hill Orthodox Jewish community's private crime fighting force, the Shomrim Rescue Patrol, which has been operating for two years.

Hackney's chief of police - borough commander Steve Bending - is not a fan of the organisation. Nor is his counterpart in Golders Green which has a similar organisation.

However the story quotes Michael Levy, Conservative councillor for the Springfield ward: “The police are understandably nervous because it is a new organisation but they will soon pick it up and realise that the group is a benefit and can help to drive down crime. It is a valuable service and will be able to augment the police service.

“The police encourage neighbourhoods to have a neighbourhood watch service and I cannot see a great deal of difference between that and this, apart from the fact that this is active rather than static. But that is a good thing because it will inevitably provide a great deal of intelligence for the police service.”

With six out of nine Conservative councillors coming from the Orthodox Jewish community it is hard to know which policies come under the umbrella of Conservatism and which are related to the Jewish community. Does Cllr Levy's support mean that the Conservative party supports the establishment of religion-based security forces?

And would this relaxed attitude to religion-based security forces be extended to the Muslim community?

(Can this Wikipedia entry be correct? "Shomrim SHSRP is backed by the local rabbonim and councilors and community police liaisons and volunteers are on call 24hrs." The Independent story quotes Hackney borough commander Steve Bending: "Whilst I have a great amount of respect for the Orthodox Jewish Community within Hackney, I do not support the concept of any community having its own form of patrol service. There is a risk of other communities feeling intimidated by this course of action.")

Hackney Gazette: Death knocks and dream jobs

The Hackney Gazette is looking for a new Chief Reporter.

And...

Earlier this week the Guardian journalist Tim Dowling revealed that working for the Gazette was his dream job. His story on Monday described doing work experience on our local rag:

"Have you ever done a death knock?"
"No," I say, feeling the blood drain from my face. I want to go home already.
Starbrook (editor) has a chat with reporter Victoria Huntley about an incident the previous week when a local man doused himself in petrol and set himself alight in front of his estranged wife and their two kids. He tells her to go out and find the family, and instructs me to go with her. It will be my first death knock...

The Press Gazette noted the coincidence: "Tim Dowling you’re in luck – Hackney Gazette is looking for a chief reporter"

1 in 5 disabled children from Orthodox Jewish community

The Jewish Chronicle reports: "One in five disabled children in Hackney are from the strictly Orthodox community and there is a constant demand for respite care, where the child is cared for temporarily to help out the parents."

"Out of the 141 approved foster families available in the borough, only three are from the Charedi community — just two per cent, despite 29 Charedi children assessed as requiring respite care."

The Mossbourne again cult joke

Yesterday a story in the Guardian quoted Sir Michael Wilshaw, headteacher at Mossbourne, saying: "I have an evangelical zeal to do Christ's work on earth. I want to do the sorts of things Christ asked us to do: doing your best for children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds."

According to the author of the article this, amongst other things, "leads some parents to compare the school, only half-jokingly, to a cult."

This sounds a bit sinister but it looks like this "parents worried by cult" might have originated from Dave Hill's story on Mossbourne in September in which he said: "Sometimes parents joke that Mossbourne is like a cult: a self-contained society with its own weird rules and rituals."

Joke... half joke?

Education flagship, captain needed?

This post appeared on Stroppyblog before Christmas. It publishes a letter, apparently from Diane Abbott, calling for a bright Hackney schoolboy to take up a scholarship at the school she sent her son to. "Dear Friend, I am writing to you about a full fee scholarship for the Sixth Form of City of London Boys School http://www.clsb.org.uk. I have been asked to find applicants for this. City of London Boys School is one of the best boys schools in the UK. It has wonderful facilities and regularly comes near the top of the examination league tables. I can vouch for the school because I sent my own son there!"

The blogger says: "Frankly, I am appalled that a supposedly socialist MP is promoting a fee-paying private school. She would be better off fighting for more funding, places and accountability for Hackney's state schools so that all the borough's boys and girls can benefit, rather than offering one youngster a leg-up into privilege."

And she's not alone. Clearly people still get annoyed if education and Diane Abbott are mentioned in the same breath.

In August 2009, Luke Akehurst's blog was the arena for Diane bashing: "Anonymous said... If Hackney's schools are so terrific these days, why does Dianne Abbott choose to pay £15k a year to send her kid to the City of London. Terrific but not terrific enough for her son."
To which Luke Akehurst replied: "None of the academies were open when her son was 11 - though that doesn't excuse her decision."

So, what does Diane think? Like everyone else she supports successful Mossbourne but in a 2006 NASUWT-sponsored paper (Academy schools: case unproven) she said: "The trouble with the academies is that, popular as they are and supportive as I am of Mossbourne, there is a danger that they take us back to that past. All the research shows that if you introduce an element of selection, working-class children will lose out. If you have a borough like Hackney and have four academies and four wonderful heads there will still be a residue of children and I know what those children will look like... We know what parent power means in London. In practice, it means giving power to small groups of white middle-class parents, or if not to capture by one ethnic group as opposed to another, the best organised. Actually, if you want to empower the breadth of the parent body in inner-city areas you have to look to the local education authority."

Will she be on the invite list if Gordon drops in on Mossbourne?

Five years to clear Hackney housing waiting list

Figures from Shelter say it would take 5.78 years to clear the borough's waiting list. That's pretty good compared to 21.69 years in neighbouring Haringey, 8.38 in Islington, 24.12 in Newham and 10.12 in Tower Hamlets.