Shane Collins, Green Party Parlimentary Candidate for Dulwich and West
Norwood presented Rev Al Sharpton with a Brixton pound at the Operation
Black Vote 'Register to Vote' meeting Thursday 21st Jan at Friends
Meeting House in Euston.
Shane said 'The Rev Sharpton comes from Harlem, the spiritual home of
Marcus Garvey and his message of keeping economic power in the community
is more relevant than ever today with the corporate takeover of much of
our lives. This message has been taken up by Transition Town as
exemplified by the Brixton Pound which i was proud to present to the Rev
Sharpton'.
'Voter registration amongst the black community is around only 45% in
younger age groups, similar to the black youth unemployment rate. There
is a connection. Black and green people have the power to change the
results in the local and general elections but only if registered and
voting.
'So remember Rosa Parks, honour Nelson Mandela, take heart from President
Obama and register to vote by contacting your Town Hall or
www.electoralcommission.org.uk. Remember racists register and racists
vote.' For elections on 6th May the deadline to register is 20th April.
Quote from Rev Sharpton speech
“How you define yourself is how you confine yourself. You have all this
technology, Facebook, Twitter, Blackberry’s. And you can’t get ten black
Britons to go and vote?
“At a time when we can elect Presidents, there is no excuse for us to be
sitting down and not doing anything, and avoid recognising that it’s a
new time.”
A blog with news and comment from Lambeth Green Party. For the main Lambeth Green Party site visit lambeth.greenparty.org.uk
Friday, 22 January 2010
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Your survey responses - tackling crime in Lambeth
I've been reading the 60-second surveys that have been flooding in. Great that people in Herne Hill Ward have been prepared to engage with this way of feeding back concerns.
I've passed on a collection of the ones on anti-social behaviour to Tom Cornish who is the Sergeant heading up the local Safer Neighbourhood Team. On the strength of observations from residents in Poets Corner, the evidence for some bike thefts associated with drug-dealing has come to light.
I'm what's called a Winger. Sadly this says nothing for my fancy foot work. I sit at Camberwell Magistrates Court as a Justice of the Peace in a Bench of three (1 Chair & 2 Wingers). I am due to sit in the 'virtual court'. Prisoners already serving sentences sit in a room in the prison and can converse via satellite link-up with the Bench and their barrister in court. The plus is that prisoners don't 'lose their place' in a prison by being booked out, prison transport isn't needed and it saves on court time.
The Lambeth & Southwark court at Camberwell Green is reasonably well-balanced in terms of ethnicity, age and gender - though we do have rather a lot of women. A 22-year-old has joined us. We greatly miss Ted Lewis, former Co-op trade Unionist, Communist & greyhound racer.
Being a Magistrate is fascinating. I happened to join after being in the police service but it's not about understanding actual laws, to begin with, but to understand how to arrive at a fair decision. The recent discussion about being allowed to use force against a burglary has been interesting. I am pleased there has been no change in the law.
It's surprising how little is understood about the criminal justice system. I invite anyone to pop into a court and observe for themselves. It might inspire them to want to become a Magistrate themselves.
I've passed on a collection of the ones on anti-social behaviour to Tom Cornish who is the Sergeant heading up the local Safer Neighbourhood Team. On the strength of observations from residents in Poets Corner, the evidence for some bike thefts associated with drug-dealing has come to light.
I'm what's called a Winger. Sadly this says nothing for my fancy foot work. I sit at Camberwell Magistrates Court as a Justice of the Peace in a Bench of three (1 Chair & 2 Wingers). I am due to sit in the 'virtual court'. Prisoners already serving sentences sit in a room in the prison and can converse via satellite link-up with the Bench and their barrister in court. The plus is that prisoners don't 'lose their place' in a prison by being booked out, prison transport isn't needed and it saves on court time.
The Lambeth & Southwark court at Camberwell Green is reasonably well-balanced in terms of ethnicity, age and gender - though we do have rather a lot of women. A 22-year-old has joined us. We greatly miss Ted Lewis, former Co-op trade Unionist, Communist & greyhound racer.
Being a Magistrate is fascinating. I happened to join after being in the police service but it's not about understanding actual laws, to begin with, but to understand how to arrive at a fair decision. The recent discussion about being allowed to use force against a burglary has been interesting. I am pleased there has been no change in the law.
It's surprising how little is understood about the criminal justice system. I invite anyone to pop into a court and observe for themselves. It might inspire them to want to become a Magistrate themselves.
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
Greens ahead in Brighton
Who says that a Green vote is a wasted vote? News just in from Brighton shows that Caroline Lucas is on course to make history and become the first Green MP. With a tired New Labour regime and a Tory party champing at the bit to carry out 'Thatcherism Mark II' the only progressive alternative vote is for the Greens in Brighton.
Caroline Lucas, Green Party leader, only candidate able to keep the Conservatives out in Brighton Pavilion constituency
- UK’s first Green MP now a serious prospect - ICM constituency poll
Greens take a 10 point lead over Labour and an 8 point lead over the Conservatives in their target constituency of Brighton Pavilion - ICM Research telephone opinion poll.
Headline results
1. The Greens have the greatest support with 35% of the constituency’s voters followed by the Conservatives on 27%, Labour on 25% and LibDems on 11%.
2. Almost two thirds (63%) of Labour and Lib Dem voters in the sample said that they would be likely to switch their vote to the Greens if that party was best placed to stop a Conservative win. 37% said they were very likely and 26% said they were quite likely to switch their vote in that situation.
Read the full story here.
Sunday, 13 December 2009
Greens push for more park land
The Green Party is pushing for extra green space to make up for the land being lost by the changes to the junction at the bottom of Brockwell Park.
Following a motion proposed by Councillor Becca Thackray, the council is looking into the possibility of buying the Vicarage Garden on Dulwich Road, land which could easily be annexed to the park.
It's certainly not a done deal by any stretch of the imagination, but the fact that the Council has committed to showing an interest is a great step.
We've already heard lots of creative ideas for how the garden could be used if it does become part of the park, e.g. as a community allotment or a nature reserve. Let us know you what you think.
Following a motion proposed by Councillor Becca Thackray, the council is looking into the possibility of buying the Vicarage Garden on Dulwich Road, land which could easily be annexed to the park.
It's certainly not a done deal by any stretch of the imagination, but the fact that the Council has committed to showing an interest is a great step.
We've already heard lots of creative ideas for how the garden could be used if it does become part of the park, e.g. as a community allotment or a nature reserve. Let us know you what you think.
More hot air from Lambeth Labour
Lambeth Council needs to clean up its act to meet its own environment targets.
It’s almost two years since the Council agreed a plan to reduce its energy consumption but we’ve seen very little action so far.
Herne Hill's Green Party councillor, Becca Thackray, was part of the all-party Climate Change Commission that produced 45 urgent recommendations in 2007. Two years on and some of these recommendations still haven’t even been touched.
Progress on domestic insulation has been desperately slow, there’s still no council-run recycling for businesses and the inefficient Town Hall heating system is stuck in the dark ages.
At a time when thousands of people are losing their jobs, it is unforgivable that the Labour are failing to invest seriously in energy efficiency and launch a clean energy revolution that could provide hundreds of thousands of new jobs.
It’s almost two years since the Council agreed a plan to reduce its energy consumption but we’ve seen very little action so far.
Herne Hill's Green Party councillor, Becca Thackray, was part of the all-party Climate Change Commission that produced 45 urgent recommendations in 2007. Two years on and some of these recommendations still haven’t even been touched.
Progress on domestic insulation has been desperately slow, there’s still no council-run recycling for businesses and the inefficient Town Hall heating system is stuck in the dark ages.
At a time when thousands of people are losing their jobs, it is unforgivable that the Labour are failing to invest seriously in energy efficiency and launch a clean energy revolution that could provide hundreds of thousands of new jobs.
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Tesco and Streatham's ice rink and leisure centre
Suddenly the room seemed warmer. A strange dark presence breathed and whispered into the room. And there they were. Two members of Tesco's senior management team in the flesh, blinking eerily into the light....
Yes this was the public meeting of the Tesco's "We've Already Got Planning Permission So Don't Try And Stop Us Store" proposals for Streatham: to build a new Tesco's shop and redevelop the leisure centre, ice rink and swimming pool, and build affordable housing to boot. Too good to be true? Actually yes. The plan itself has been on the cards for almost seven years and although Tesco's were given permission to build years ago, um, they haven't quite got round to it yet.
Not that we're particuarly fond of Tesco's but we are stuck in a no win situation.Tesco's already own the land. Years of zero investment have left the leisure centre and ice rink are on their knees. So this was the night where reps from Lambeth Green Party and about 50 other concerned residents and interested parties gathered in Streatham Business Centre to find out where the plans were at and what was going on. In short, not much. Not for the next 8 weeks anyway when we were promised faithfully by Lambeth Council and Tesco's that a new proposal was being 'looked at'.
Despite many questions from people about whether Tesco's were going to keep the ice rink open, and actually when is this all going to happen, to cut 2 hours and 15 minutes short a newmeeting is promised for just before Christmas.
Think Tesco's and the Council will sell us out? Mmm our jury is out too. In 8 weeks we'll see.
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
Put people ahead of GDP when managing swine flu
The Green Party is calling for Labour to put people ahead of GDP in their plans for managing swine flu.
Joseph Healy, the Green Party's parliamentary candidate for Vauxhall, and the deputy chair of the London Ambulance Service Patients Forum, said:
"In a meeting with the flu planners for London -- which the London Ambulance Service Patients Forum had over two years ago -- we were told that large scale public events would not be closed down because of the economic impact. The chair of the Forum, Malcolm Alexander, and I are due to meet Dr Simon Tanner, the Regional Director of Public Health for London, later today (the 28th of July), when I will be raising more of these issues."
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