Cabbages and Kings

LINk London Meeting

2012-03-15T20:15:00.000Z

With the future of patient and public involvement in the Health and Social Care Bill in a state of chassis - possible privatisation of public and patient involvement etc, this meeting next Wednesday of London's LINk is vitally important. LINks will be abolished soon but will be followed by what? The new Healthwatch system as envisaged in the Bill seems doomed. An important meeting for anyone involved in health and social care.

LINk LONDON

Wednesday, March 21^st from 5.30pm to 7.30pm

Committee Room 4, Lower Ground Floor, City Hall, Greater London Authority,

The Queen's Walk, London SE1 2AA

http://www.london.gov.uk/city-hall/visitor-information/location-map

Agenda –

Time	Agenda Item
5.30	Welcome
5.35	The Bill–outcomes, consequences and letters to David Cameron and from Earl Howe
5.45	Developing Healthwatch in London – priorities and challenges Ian Winter, (Deputy Regional Director, Social Care Leadership and Partnerships, London Region)
	See note from Lynda Tarpey - below
6.10	HealthWatch Advisory Group and Programme Board – Nick, Jeremy, Nim, Malcolm
6.30	The LGA/DH Healthwatch Implementation Programme (attached)
6.40	Patient-led inspections – briefing paper (attached)
6.50	Gus Wilson - Stakeholder Manager - NHS Information Revolution Project for London – My Health London
7.20	Agreement on dates of future
	AOB

Very special thanks to Gus Wilson for organising the room at the GLA

Gus Wilson - Stakeholder Manager - NHS Information Revolution Project for London, Greater London Authority

020 7983 4120
07824 694 944

Establishing Patient-Led Hospital Inspections

Briefing Paper for Steering Group

15 March 2012

Summary

1. On 6 January 2012, the Prime Minister announced the introduction of a new patient-led inspection regime in hospitals providing NHS funded care. The announcement was made alongside a wider commitment to improved patient care.

2. These inspections will replace the existing Patient Environment Action Team (PEAT) programme and will cover the same specific areas, namely privacy and dignity, food and cleanliness. The outcomes will be reported publicly to help drive up standards of care. A key feature will be the involvement of patients at all stages – system development, carrying out inspections and validating results.

3. David Nicholson has asked the National Quality Board (NQB) to advise on the work – in particular its alignment with the rest of the new NHS. The NQB scrutinised early plans at its meeting on 27 February, and made a number of helpful comments. In particular, they wish the project team to:

Be as ambitious as possible
Strive to give real meaning to the term “patient-led”
Make the inspection scope wide, preferably including small hospitals of fewer than ten beds (not previously included in the PEAT process)
Ensure that all hospitals comply with the inspection regime

4. A Steering Group has been established as a sub-group of the NQB, to help embed these principles within the project. The Steering Group will guide the development of the new patient-led inspections process, providing advice to the teams responsible for its delivery. The Chief Nursing Officer will Chair this group until the appointment of the NHS Commissioning Board (NHSCB) Chief Nurse, who will take this forward. Draft Steering Group Terms of Reference (for agreement at first meeting) are below:

To ensure that the patient voice is integral to the new system
To provide advice on PLI project alignment within the wider system
To provide advice and guidance to the PLI Delivery Group as required
To promote and facilitate stakeholder communications, where appropriate
To advise on the new patient-led inspection system scope and coverage

5. A project office has been established within the Department of Health’s Gateway Review, Estates and Facilities Directorate (GREFD) based in Leeds, with Dr Liz Jones as Project Director.

6. A fuller description of the project and its aims are at Annex A. This includes some specific questions that we would like the Steering Group to address.

Liz Jones

Project Director
Annex A

Patient-led inspections of the hospital environment

1. On 6 January 2012 the Prime Minister announced the introduction of a new patient-led inspection regime, covering privacy and dignity, food, and cleanliness in hospitals. The results of these inspections (which will replace the current Patient Environment Action Team (PEAT) inspections from April 2013) will be reported publicly, to help drive up standards of care. The key feature will be the involvement of patients or their representatives at all stages, including development of the system, the inspection process and validation of inspections.

2. This annex:

provides a summary of latest thinking about how the new patient-led inspections process might work (informed by the NQB’s initial feedback)
identifies early decisions which require the Steering Group’s attention/advice

Background

3. The current PEAT process was designed in 2000 and overhauled in 2004. It has contributed to the marked improvement in cleanliness across the NHS (in 2000, almost one-third of hospitals were judged to be “poor” or “unsatisfactory”, whilst today only a handful each year fall into these categories). It has also tracked improvements in food quality and in delivering high standards of privacy and dignity. It is entirely separate from inspections carried out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), but is drawn on by them when creating their risk profiles.

4. PEAT was established 12 years ago in a very different NHS. It has served a useful purpose, but we now need an inspection regime that is aligned to the new service, and in particular to the commitment to reflect patients’ expectations. The existing system does not adequately recognise the increasing plurality of healthcare provision, and nor does it reflect the needs of new organisations such as the NHSCB. Whilst PEAT has always taken account of patient views (around 80% of inspection teams include a patient representative), such involvement has been varied and in some cases minimal. The new system needs to have patient opinions at its heart, and must ensure that their voice is heard. The PEAT scoring system also needs refreshing to allow exceptional performance to be recognised.

Public commitment - a new system of patient-led inspections

5. The DH will put in place a new system of patient-led inspections by April 2013, to give patients a strong voice in the assessment of privacy and dignity, food and cleanliness in hospitals offering NHS-funded care.

6. The spending challenge facing the NHS means that the new system must be broadly cost-neutral once in place and must not represent a significantly greater overall burden than at present. To achieve this, we plan to retain key features of the PEAT process (for example inspection frequency, publication of figures by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), web-based reporting and the avoidance of creating new “inspector” posts). As now, the system will apply to hospitals only. However, the scoring system will be different from PEAT, which will mean it is not possible to compare scores between the two systems.

7. Further, the data that the assessments generate must:

Meet the needs of patients, so that they can understand what standards they might reasonably expect in relation to the hospital environment, and judge their own local hospital in that light

Meet the information needs of a wide range of stakeholders involved in maintaining and improving quality, including the NHSCB, CQC and DH
Be aligned to (but not duplicate) other inspection and monitoring regimes

A strong system of governance and accountability

8. The project’s governance structure (which models central Government best practice) is shown in Annex B. Responsibility for delivery lies jointly with the Chair of the Steering Group and ‘senior responsible officer’, (Chris Beasley) and Pete Sellars (Deputy Director of GREFD) as head of the Division that will host the project.

9. The Steering Group will meet quarterly, whilst the DH Delivery Group will meet monthly and its individual workstream groups will meet as required.

Early advice and direction needed

Patient engagement

10. The key feature of the new inspections is that they will be patient-led. But “patient-led” can mean many things. The NQB are keen to see that the term has real relevance, and the Steering Group’s take on this is important.

11. At the very least, “patient-led” has been taken to mean involvement in designing the system and carrying out inspections alongside other team members. Over 80% of current PEAT inspections already involve a patient, but it is important that the new system has full involvement – and that this is more than tokenism. Patients must genuinely lead the process and have their voices heard at the end of it.

12. However, we do not envisage that patients should have to shoulder the burden of planning or organising visits, nor of submitting reports to the HSCIC (they may well be involved in formulating the response). Nor do we expect that patients will be the only members of the inspection team; hospital staff, including nurses, will continue to be heavily involved. Contrary to some reports in the press, this regime does not provide patients with the right to “enter and view” premises – once established, such powers will be exercised through Local HealthWatch.

13. A variety of mechanisms are planned to select patients for involvement in the inspections process, both centrally and locally. For instance, DH will use national focus groups or seminars to help develop the system, but individual hospitals will recruit patients locally to take part in inspections. The details will be confirmed following stakeholder engagement, but we expect that Local HealthWatch will always be offered the opportunity to engage in inspections. Where they decline to do so, organisations will be expected to use other approaches to deliver genuine patient engagement.

14. Because patient involvement at a very early stage is so fundamental, we have already started our engagement work in respect of the design phase. We are engaging a specialist communications professional (part-time) to develop our stakeholder strategy, and are also making use of existing engagement groups.

15. Our activities include:

Identifying stakeholders to support our engagement work, and who may wish to provide input to the project. Individual groups may be involved in different ways – either directly or indirectly. We welcome suggestions from the Steering Group for other organisations we should include. Any organisation or individual who wishes to be involved will be welcomed
Extending an existing patient engagement project to look specifically at hospital inspections
Using existing mechanisms such as DH’s “Strategic Partners” group, and the NHS Institute’s patient reference groups
Undertaking an extensive literature review to tap into patient views from related work (eg information gleaned during DH projects to reduce HCAIs, and eliminate mixed-sex accommodation, and from NHS Institute work)

SG1

· What other mechanisms might we use to make sure that the patient voice is pre-eminent at the design stage? (We will seek advice about patient involvement in development, testing and implementation at the appropriate time)

The inspection process

16. When first introduced, PEAT inspections were carried out by independent assessors and were unannounced[1]. Since 2004, they have been self-assessments, and take place within a pre-announced three-month period. This has kept costs down, and a reversion to independent, unannounced inspections would be prohibitively expensive – especially in terms of assuring patient representation. Nonetheless, we could explore the feasibility of shortening the notice time.

SG2

· How might we increase the elements of independence and short notice, within the financial constraints we face?

Scope of the inspection

17. The Prime Minister has confirmed that the new system should cover at least the same broad areas as the current regime. These are the environment (including cleanliness), food (but not extending to nutritional care), and privacy and dignity.

18. PEAT includes a small number of questions that are essentially clinical (eg questions about nutritional screening), but the main focus is on facilities and the environment. In the past, there has been pressure to increase the number of clinical questions, especially where facilities management and care overlap. This is particularly the case with the links between food quality and nutritional care.

19. This has meant PEAT can generate information that would otherwise be unavailable and this has been especially helpful to CQC in allowing them to generate Quality Risk Profiles. However, it has also distorted the original purpose of PEAT (to assess the non-clinical hospital environment). There is an opportunity now to decide the scope of the new patient-led inspections process. It could continue to cover clinical content, although any significant increase in clinical questions would run counter to our commitment to cost-neutrality. Alternatively, it could be restricted to non-clinical topics only, but this may threaten alignment with CQC’s (and others’) needs.

SG3

· Should the new inspections include a similar small number of clinical questions as now?

The scoring mechanism

20. PEAT assessments use a five-point scale – unacceptable, poor, satisfactory, good and excellent. To emphasise the new focus on patient views (and thus distinguish these inspections from PEAT) a new scoring system needs to be developed. Feedback from the NHS indicates a preference for a three-point scale – “clear pass”, “fail”, and “needs attention”, whilst the NQB has asked that we include a mechanism that allows a small number of hospitals to be recognised as outstanding. We will be seeking patient views as part of our early engagement.

SG4

· How might the new system recognise outstanding performance?

· How might we categorise hospitals which, although meeting minimum standards, are in need of improvement?

· How might we categorise hospitals which are not reaching their full potential, even though they may be good in comparison with others (“coasting” hospitals)?

· Might there be hospitals that cannot achieve excellence because of issues of design or configuration (eg no 5* hotel is without a lift)?

Compliance

21. The PEAT process is voluntary, but has extremely high compliance (all NHS hospitals of 10 beds or more participated last year, including all foundation trusts) and an increasing number of independent sector hospitals also take part (over 120 last year). Other data collections (eg breaches of mixed-sex accommodation guidelines) require every hospital providing NHS-funded care to report, and this review would offer an opportunity to follow that same principle. Mandating the data collection would not increase the cost to the NHS (as coverage is already universal), but independent providers wishing to take up NHS work might need to introduce inspection in order to comply with contracts.

22. Mandating patient-led inspections could only be carried out via the contracting process, and would therefore need to be included in the NHSCB’s instructions to commissioners. An alternative would be to maintain the current voluntary approach.

SG5

· How might we ensure that all hospitals participate in the new inspections?

Next Steps

23. Early stakeholder engagement should be completed by summer, allowing time to develop the technical specification and pilot the proposed model by autumn 2012. This will give us time to make any amendments before the new system becomes operational in April 2013.

24. Because the current PEAT inspections fall within the ambit of Official Statistics, any change must be subject to public consultation. This is expected to take place at around the same time as the pilots. This consultation relates entirely to the new collection’s status within official statistics guidelines – the more fundamental issue of whether the collection meets the needs of patients and the service will be addressed much earlier by extensive stakeholder engagement.

Conclusions

25. Action is already under way to engage patients in the development of new hospital inspections. We seek the input of the Steering Group to ensure that the patient voice is heard properly, and that the inspection regime delivers useful information.

Dr Liz Jones

Head of Patient Environment

Annex B

Governance Structure

[1] Note – “unannounced” means that less than 48 hours’ notice is given of the visit. This is so that relevant staff can be available to meet the assessors.

Close of LGBT History Month event at TUC on Wednesday

2012-02-27T11:49:00.000Z

Had hoped to go to this but will be away on holiday from Wednesday for a week. QUAC were also invited to send a speaker.

SERTUC LGBT NETWORK

Colleagues,

This Wednesday is our LGBT History Month event – starts at 3 pm – TUC Congress House, there will be an afternoon of discussion on LGBTQ grassroots activism - a Retrospective session with speakers who were involved during GLF and involved with ACT-Up London; Countdown on Spanner and Queerruption. In Now & Forward session there will be a forum with contributors from various LGBT and Queer organisations .

Following the afternoon there will be an evening reception with performances and Peter Purton – TUC LGBT Policy Officer who was involved in various LGBT campaigns in the past will be our keynote speaker.

Please see attached flyer and we hope very much you will be able to join us on Wednesday.

Thierry Schaffauser (GMB)

SERTUC LGBT Network Secretary

t: 07889461369

e: sexworkeractivist@googlemail.com

Green Party Resignation

2012-02-25T13:03:00.000Z

I joined the Green Party ten years ago, never having been a member of any political party in my life. I was 45 years old but had been a political and social campaigner all of my life in a range of human rights, social justice and environmental campaigns since I was 17. They ranged from LGBT rights in Ireland, when being gay was illegal, to the peace and anti-nuclear movements as well as defending social housing and others. I had never trusted the Labour Party as a non-radical political movement too wedded to the tenets of the past, such as bureaucracy and their colonialist policies in Northern Ireland and elsewhere. I also did not associate with the far Left sects, with whom I worked in joint campaigns during the Anti Poll Tax movement.

I found the Green Party, although it had pockets of reaction -open, transparent and democratic, and one of the only parties prepared to take on board the importance of ecology , which social movements across Europe were also calling for. I had also found people like Petra Kelly in the German Greens inspirational.

I served on the national Executive as International Coordinator and 4 years representing London on the party’s Regional Council. I have also been Treasurer of the party’s Trade Union Group and the party’s representative to the Stop the War Coalition.

Five and a half years ago, together with a small group of party members, I founded Green Left. Our principles were to ensure that the party remained a radical party of the Left, and above all a party led by its members and not by the leaders and hierarchy found in other parties. To ensure this I had included in the ‘Headcorn Declaration’ an assurance that one of our aims was a “bottom up rather than a top down party”. We also saw that there was a large political space in England to the Left of Labour and wanted to open up to others on the Left to ensure dialogue and joint campaigning on anti-capitalist and social justice issues, as well as on the environment.

As a historian, I could see that when the austerity measures and cuts began in the UK and across Europe, it was going to be a repeat of the crushing economic policies of the 30s – this time with an ideological imperative to crush the welfare state and all the gains of the post-war settlement, returning us to pre-war conditions, which would suit global capital. I immediately became involved in the newly formed anti-cuts organisation, Coalition of Resistance, being on the initial Steering Committee – Green Left was one of the first organisations to be involved.

One year ago in Cardiff at the Green Party conference there was a motion to fight the cuts (which was strongly supported) and became Green Party policy. But there was also an amendment put by Green Left calling for an anti-cuts, illegal budget to be set by Greens when in power, in order to mobilise resistance and to refuse the ‘dented shield’ policy of New Labour. At this point the Greens did not yet control Brighton Council. Virtually every councillor on the Right of the party was mobilised to defeat the amendment and it fell by only 3 votes. From this stage on, the writing was on the wall and many of us on the Left realised that the party was prepared to talk the talk but not to walk the walk.

Ironically the disastrous election results of the Irish Greens in the general election there were coming through at the same time and many speakers at the conference denounced their sell out of Green policies and cuts and bailout policies which they had implemented in government over 3 years. I had been very involved in opposing the policies of the Irish Greens and had written an article in 2009 entitled ‘The Rise and Fall of the IrishGreens’ which predicted their demise and attacked their abandonment of their principles. Many of my friends had left the Irish Green Party in protest and there were many in the party who criticised them.

Now one year later the new Green administration have not only put forward a cuts budget but have voted for an even worse one from Labour, implementing another £3.5 million cuts for the people of Brighton. This from a party which stood in Brighton opposing the cuts. It is a momentous betrayal of their radical base and of many activists in the party who are involved in local anti-cuts movements. It is not sufficient to have policies opposing cuts if Green administrations then introduce them. This is what brings politics and politicians (rightly) into disrepute.

After the disastrous election last year which left the Irish Greens without one seat in the parliament and bankrupted the party, the new Chair, Roderic O’Gorman, said of the party and of its 3 year role in government: “We became part of the consensus and our voters punished us for it.” The party is now detested in Ireland. How ironic that one year after this election and two days after the Brighton budget, which has put paid to the radical credentials of the Greens, one of the guests at the party conference in Liverpool is Eamon Ryan, the leader of the Irish Greens, who as Energy Minister in the previous government sold out the Shell to Sea campaign in the West of Ireland to Shell Oil

The radical speeches of Caroline Lucas are not enough, she it was who called for “a different sort of politics” at the Occupy Camp on the steps of St Paul’s. As Athens blazes and Europe is in turmoil, many of us, angry and disillusioned with capitalism and business as usual, looked to the Greens for hope. It is now clear that those hopes were misplaced.

It is for all of these reasons that I can no longer remain a member of the Green Party. I salute all of those radical and progressive people who remain in the party, and they will always remain friends and allies. But the party is taking a wrong fork in the road and following the advice of spin doctors and careerists. It is in grave danger of becoming just another ‘grey party’ and part of the setup which has led us to the state we are now in.

Beefcake - Gay men and the body beautiful

2012-02-20T18:26:00.000Z

During LGBT History Month an interesting talk at UCL on the beautiful body of LGBT culture. At a time when most LGBT mags only contain pictures of such types it is necessary to analyse it. Many speakers see it as a reaction to AIDS, which is interesting. I found Johann Andersson's contribution particularly interesting.

Iran will not start the war

2012-02-17T11:55:00.000Z

A report from US intelligence confirms that any war with the US will not be started by Iran. We are now moving into a very dangerous period with many analysts predicting a war with Iran, probably started by Israel, by the summer. I have just written an article about this for the Green Left magazine 'The Watermelon'. The gear up for war has started. My article is below:

Marching to the drums of war – again!

Weapons of mass destruction (nuclear) only five minutes to midnight, if we don’t attack soon it will be too late, a mad dictator – does it sound familiar? Yes, that is because it is. Change Iran for Iraq and it is almost a carbon copy of the lead up to the Iraq war. All the signs are there that war is imminent. And this time Israel will take a leading role. Israel is champing at the bit to attack Iran – probably by means of heavy bombing – and the safe money is on an attack by the summer. As even Michael Portillo pointed out recently, the attack is likely to be launched before the US election in November, as the Zionist lobby in the US will ensure that calls for war drown out any other voices. Already Republican candidates are stating that Iran is the number one foreign policy issue. Indeed, the January issue of a leading US foreign policy magazine contained an article with the title “Why we must attack Iran now.”

The warships are already in the Straits of Hormuz and the military planners, both in the US and Israel are already at work, with the UK bringing up the rear. Articles abound in the press about how the Iranians might attack US warships in the Gulf, and the impact on the world’s oil supplies, 20% of which flow through the Straits of Hormuz.

What shape will this war take? It will be quite different from Iraq and will be predominantly an air war. However, it will spark a regional war as there can be no doubt that Iran will retaliate against any attack, with missile strikes against both Israel and the US allies in the Gulf. Europe could also be dragged in, with the Star Wars missile defence bases in Romania and elsewhere. The EU is already supporting sanctions against Iran, led by the US, which like Iraq before, are having an effect on the civilian population, with food supplies etc affected. Iran’s allies in the region will also retaliate, spreading the war to Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq. Some US intelligence analysts believe it could trigger World War III.

The anti-war movement must do everything possible to prevent another disastrous war happening in the region, which will not only take huge amounts of resources but lead to the deaths of thousands. This could be the spark, which like Sarajevo 100 years ago, ignites a world war.

Dr Joseph Healy

Former member of Stop the War Coalition Steering Committee

London Ambulance Service Patients Forum Meeting tonight - papers

2012-02-13T13:33:00.000Z

http://www.patientsforumlas.net/meeting-documents.html

Today's Patients' Forum - LAS

Conference Room 3 & 4, NHS North West London, 15 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5 JD

Statement of resistance from the Greek people

2012-02-13T10:29:00.000Z

Yesterday Athens burned and the Greek people rose up against what has been described by some as an equivalent to the Versailles Treaty for Greece. In London Greeks gathered to issues a statement in support of those demonstrating in Athens The statement is here They speak not only for Greece but for all of Europe.

Why Healthwatch England must be independent

2012-02-10T09:47:00.000Z

Important statement from National Association of LINks Members, whose Co-Chair, Malcolm Alexander, is also the Vice Chair of the London Ambulance Service Patients Forum. Calls for a genuinely independent patient and public involvement voice in the NHS.

www.nalm2010.org.uk

Briefing Note on Healthwatch – Report Stage

1) Healthwatch England must be independent

Healthwatch England (HWE) must be independent of government and the CQC, and accountable to the public through Local Healthwatch (LHW). Elections from Local Healthwatch to HWE are essential to achieve genuine accountability to the community. The Government’s proposed model for HWE will create a weak, obscure committee of the CQC that will have little power and influence and less credibility. A committee of the CQC which is internally accountable will not have the independence, power and authority to represent the public to the CQC, NHS Commissioning Board, Monitor and the Secretary of State. The DH Consultation on the accountability of Healthwatch

England

is welcome1,2 but a commitment to independence and democratic accountability would be consistent with the values espoused by the Secretary of State, Andrew Lansley in his Bromley by Bow speech on the central role on the patient in decision making in the NHS3

Public confidence is critical if HW is to be a body of substance and influence. The public will expect that HWE will ensure that the chronic problems that affect health and social care services leading to the disasters at Mid Staffs4 and many care homes will be substantially reduced. Creating a national body unable to freely, effectively and independently raise the banner for safe and effective services in health and social care would be a waste of public money. HWEs independence will only be valued and respected if the members of HWE are elected from LHW - evidence of effective, well regarded statutory committees is lacking except in the case of some parliamentary and local government committees whose members are elected. Most statutory committees remain obscure and unknown to the public.

2) Working with and monitoring the CQC

HWE will have a duty to raise issues of public concern with the CQC and ensure that the CQC takes action in a way consistent with the needs of the public. To do this, it must work closely with the CQC nationally and locally (through LHW) but it cannot be a creature of the CQC. It must hold the CQC to account – but can it do this as a committee of the CQC? Establishing HWE as a body that is at best a mild irritant and at worst a public relations arm of the CQC, which sees LHW mainly as a source of information, and which boosts the CQC image without serving the public interest will be of no value and will fail to meet the demands for greater public accountability of health and social care that are certain to be a major demand of the Mid Staff Inquiry.5

Creating HWE as a fully independent body will not undermine the quality of the relationship between HWE and the CQC. HWE must be in a strong position to challenge and influence the regulators; Monitor and the CQC. As Baroness Cumberlege says; ‘there are enormous advantages in having a very close relationship with the Care Quality Commission in terms of information sharing at a national and local level’ and ‘HWE could put enormous pressure on the Care Quality Commission’. Power and influence will be derived from the independence of HWE, back room functions can be provided through an agency agreement with the CQC or other appropriate bodies.

3) HWE supporting the development of Local Healthwatch

The public needs HWE not only to represent them to other statutory public bodies and to influence national policy on health and social care, but also to support and enable the effective transition and evolution of LINks into LHW.

Genuine public involvement in health and social care has been neglected by government for many years. HWE has the potential to perform a critical role in the creation and building of powerful local HealthWatch organisations and campaign on major issues of public concern. The government’s plans for HWE and LHW will substantially weaken public involvement in health and social care by undermining their independence and will consequently be disempowering and poor value for money.

HWE must have a major role in the effective transition from LINks to LHW and in their continuing development, especially during their first two critical years, when monitoring and activities to achieve service improvements are likely to be at their most problematic. The experience of Patients Forum and LINks was that many did not become fully functional for their first two years, and because of the laissez-faire approach of the government toward public involvement, some LINks are still not functioning well almost four years after being established.

4) Setting standards for LHW

HWE must not only set standards but must be able to support development, measure progress against standards and provide training and learning resources for LHW members and staff.

5) HWE must carry out research

HWE needs to be able to carry out research with LHW and other bodies, to identify what is happening locally in the NHS and social care. Data needs to be collected from service users via LHW to assess the quality of care through comparative studies. Data will also be required from the NHS and local government to produce policy reports on ways in which health and social care and patient safety can be improved, to make formal recommendations to secure these improvements and to have sufficient high quality data from this research to inform commissioning through the NHS Commissioning Board and to influence the activities of Monitor.

6) HWE’s duty to secure improvement in care

HWE must have a duty to secure improvements in services on behalf of the public. We must avoid a repeat of the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health (CPPIH), which merely watched and created frustration, whilst Patient Forums struggled to become effective local advocates for the public. CPPIH failed because it did not have the confidence of Patients Forums, the public or the government. Such a situation can only be prevented by ensuring that HWE is accountable to LHW, by ensuring that LHW and HWE are seen as being part of the same organisation, that information and reports are shared in both directions and that LHWs are consulted by the Secretary of State if major problems are identified with HWE. We all want LHW and HWE to succeed.

7) Local Healthwatch (LHW)

Local Healthwatch is intended to carry out five main “activities”: influencing commissioning, monitoring services, involving the public, signposting people to services and providing the independent advocacy service (ICAS). It is essential that LHWs do not pick and choose which of these “activities” they wish to carry out; the “activities” should be designated as functions to ensure that LHW carry out each of the five areas of work.

8) LHW and advocacy

It is essential that the advocacy (ICAS) work includes social care in addition to healthcare. People with complaints should not be expected to go to one advocate for their social care complaint and a second advocate for health care complaints. That would be absurd. Advocacy must be provided to meet the level of local need and to ensure that advocacy support during the investigation of a complaint, especially for complex complaints, is available throughout the process of investigation.

9) LHW and commissioning through CCGs

It is essential that CCGs have a duty to consult LHW about their commissioning plans. It does not make sense for LHW to have a duty to influence commissioning, if the commissioners do not have a reciprocal duty to consult LHW. The views of local people, patients and users of social care services are the resources and evidence that LHW brings to the commissioning table. As Lord Whitty put it: ‘local HealthWatch should hold the clinical commissioning group to account for incorporating the evidence that the local HealthWatch has produced at the very start of the commissioning period’. The proposal for LHW to formally advise the NHSCB of adequacy of local CCG consultation on commissioning plans is very appropriate.

10) Independence for LHW

Independence for LHW will not be secured by co-locating them with the local authority they are intended to monitor and influence. Unless we have strong, independent LHW, they will be no more than window dressing or part of the local public relations machinery.

“the fact that the local authority holds the purse strings remains a risk to the independence of local HealthWatch. There is therefore a strong case for local HealthWatch organisations not to be funded by the local authority. The argument that the importance of localism requires accountability is not as strong as the need to have effective, independent local services”. Lord Low

11) The statutory framework for LHW

The current plans by Ministers to remove the statutory status from LHW; leaving them only with statutory activities will weaken LHW still further. It is irrational to spend 60 millions on a new system of statutory public involvement and then to cut out its teeth so that it becomes ineffective.

12) Funding of LHW

There is a simple solution to the problem of independence and funding for LHW. The funding of LHW can be located with the NHS Commissioning Board (NHSCB) as a ‘commissioning function’. HWE can ensure, through its powers in relation to the NHSCB, that the commissioning function is carried out appropriately and adequately, money would go direct to the LHW whose activities in relation to finances would be subject to regular audit. This would enable LHW effectively to monitor local authority social care services, influence local authority commissioning, participate in the HWBB and carry out all of its duties in relation to the NHS without any hint of conflicts of interest. Community Health Councils were statutory bodies, the model was stable, conflict rare and the reason was that ‘pay and rations’ were handled by a distant regional health body to reduce any possible conflicts of interest.

13) Ring Fencing

The location of funding for LINks with local authorities has been a disaster for many LINks whose budgets have been massively cut.6 Many LINks have also been subject to a confusing contracting process, which has been the cause of considerable conflict. The location of the LHW commissioning function with the NHSCB would resolves for the government the problem of attempting to find some means of ring-fencing funding – they would just need to transfer the budget to the NHSCB. It is clear that without either locating the funding with the NHSCB or ring-fencing of LHW budgets, that many LHW will be doomed to failure, and in many parts of the country will be little more that a shadow of a LHW – all website, no action.

14) Elections to LHW

LINks and Patients’ Forum suffered from sometimes having a fairly random membership and from being unrepresentative of some parts of the community. It would be easy to solve the problem of membership for LHW by requiring them to have an elected local membership. The process is simple, cheap and effective. Representative from user and carer groups, parent and toddler groups, people with long-term conditions, from schools and colleges, voluntary and community sectors and other relevant bodies could easily be elected to sit on the statutory LHW. This also provides an opportunity to ensure that LHW is reflective of local communities in terms of for example; gender, disability and ethnicity.

15) Monitoring services for children

The legislation for LINks excludes from their purview the monitoring of social care services provided for children. This is irrational and means that LINks’ members can monitor care provided by the NHS to children, but cannot monitor the quality of care provided in social care settings. LHW must be able to monitor the whole spectrum of care and HWE must be able to raise major issues about child care with national bodies that have responsibility for policy and strategy in relation to the care of children. As Baroness Massey put it:

“To ensure that HealthWatch England's functions are clear and explicit in relation to children as well as to others and that its functions in providing advice to the Secretary of State, the NHS Commissioning Board and monitoring authorities on the views of patients and members of the public refer to the views of children, who are patients and members of the public”.

16) An authorization process for LINks and LHW?

It is good news that Ministers have agreed to provide money for LHW Pathfinders and that Action Learning Sets should soon be active. When HWE opens its doors it should be able to provide immediate support for LINks to go though a process that secures an effective transition into a statutory body corporate. An authorization process similar to the one provided for CCGs would be appropriate to enable a successful transition for the majority of LINks.

17) Indemnity for members of LHW

The issue of indemnity for those running the ICAS service is dealt with in the Bill, but not the needs of active members of LHW. Governments have failed to deal with this issue since the abolition of CHCs (whose members were indemnified by the government). There are two principle risks; a) suffering or causing harm during a monitoring visit to a care provider, and b) legal action taken by a provider, as a result of an adverse report on the care provider. Reports on private providers of care are most likely to result in threats of legal action. A LHW may wish to highlight in the local press its findings following a visit to a care provider, if there is a risk of harm to patients or users. It may wish to state that repeated reports and recommendations have been ignored by the care provider or commissioner, or in the case of recalcitrant provider (e.g. Mid Staffs). The LHW may wish to run a campaign to improve care locally (remember the success of Casualty Watch7). In all of these case members of the LHW require indemnity against legal action that might be taken against them and legal resources to enable them to take action if they have been harmed. Currently, such cover is not provided by the government to LINks and where cover exists it is through a local insurance policy at a level that can be afforded by the local host. The current situation is not consistent with the needs of members of statutory bodies monitoring health and social care services consequent upon an Act of Parliament.

1, Consultation on the regulations for Healthwatch England Membership

http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/01/healthwatch-member/

2 Healthwatch

England

Narrative

http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/01/healthwatch-member/

3 Andrew Lansley, 8 June 2010: Secretary of State for Health's speech - 'My ambition for patient-centered care'

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/MediaCentre/Speeches/DH_116643

4 Cure the NHS - http://www.curethenhs.co.uk/site/content_home.php

5 The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry – Witness Statement of Kay Sheldon.

http://www.midstaffspublicinquiry.com/sites/default/files/evidence/Kay_Sheldon_-_witness_statement_and_exhibits.pdf

6 Evolution or Abolition – a NALM Report.

http://www.nalm2010.org.uk/uploads/6/6/0/6/6606397/evolution_or_abolition.pdf

7 ACHCEW: Casualty Watch. http://tinyurl.com/7wf8jm5

1, Consultation on the regulations for Healthwatch England Membership

http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/01/healthwatch-member/

2 Healthwatch

England

Narrative

http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/01/healthwatch-member/

3 Andrew Lansley, 8 June 2010: Secretary of State for Health's speech - 'My ambition for patient-centered care'

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/MediaCentre/Speeches/DH_116643

4 Cure the NHS - http://www.curethenhs.co.uk/site/content_home.php

5 The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry – Witness Statement of Kay Sheldon.

http://www.midstaffspublicinquiry.com/sites/default/files/evidence/Kay_Sheldon_-_witness_statement_and_exhibits.pdf

6 Evolution or Abolition – a NALM Report.

http://www.nalm2010.org.uk/uploads/6/6/0/6/6606397/evolution_or_abolition.pdf

7 ACHCEW: Casualty Watch. http://tinyurl.com/7wf8jm5

'Bless 'em all' - A Hymn to Atos Medical Services

2012-01-31T08:53:00.000Z

Sent to me by my friend and former Green Party Disability Spokesperson, Alan Wheatley. It is one person's account of their experience with Atos Medical Services, the company given the contract to assess disabled people who are on Incapacity Benefit.

My experience of obtaining justice as summed up by new lyrics to a well known song.

        Chorus:

               Bless 'em all.  Bless 'em all.

               The DWP and Atos and all.

               Bless the Atos nurse who lied through her teeth.

               Bless the Atos doctor who libeled this beast.

        Verse 1:

               And I find it so hard to understand.

               Medical ethics dismissed by a wave of the hand.

               The NMC, GMC, CQC et al are asked,

               "outside our remit", we are not with this tasked.

        Repeat Chorus:

        Verse 2:

               To the Secretary of State do we go.

               Pleading that the DWP and Atos are the foe.

               "No audit necessary", replies with a jeer.

               "No duty of care" are due to patients here.

        Repeat Chorus:

        Verse 3:

               The denied; suicides, sick, disabled and cold.

               Are left in their homes, so abused they mould.

               Confused and bewildered, called scroungers and malingerers.

               And others are here the real fraudsters and swindlers.

        Repeat Chorus:

        Verse 4:

               And as each claimant dies and returns to earth.

               Executive pay increases trigger faint distant mirth.

               And as each claimant dies and returns to earth.

               Targets met trigger faint distant mirth.

               ------- And all together now one final time

               Bless 'em all.  Bless 'em all.

               The DWP and Atos and all.

               Bless the Atos nurse who lied through her teeth.

               Bless the Atos doctor who libeled this beast.

               Bless Local Councils, never heard of Welfare Rights.

               Bless Borough and County, evading Welfare Rights.

               Bless 'em all.  Bless 'em all.

               The DWP and Atos and all.

A few councils still provide for free a "Welfare Rights Advisor" to advise you.

Return to the Future? - Krugman tells it like it is

2012-01-30T14:53:00.000Z

Paul Krugman's excellent article in the New York Times tells it like it is. As a historian, I am continually astounded by how policy makers from issues as varied as military intervention in Afghanistan to economic policies, continue to ignore the lessons of history. I suppose it must be that with most politicians having come through the portal of political and economic studies they have no real understanding or knowledge of history. But history cannot be buried and like some horror flick, will continue to rear its head, when it is supposed to be dead. The level of ignorance and the costs of it on ordinary workers is truly astonishing. Time to send the political and economic dunces currently running global policy back to the corner and the sooner the better.

Queer Question Time - Launch of LGBT History Month

2012-01-27T11:22:00.000Z

Will be there giving out leaflets for Queers against the Cuts. Queer fightback must continue!

1 February 2012 - 6:00pm - 9:30pm

Location

The Banqueting Hall, Glaziers Hall

9 Montague Close

London SE1 9DD

QUEER QUESTION TIME
Launch of LGBT HISTORY MONTH 2012

SURAN DICKSON, CEO of Diversity Role Models, helps to launch LGBT History Month 2011 in Southwark with Queer Question Time at the fabulous Glaziers Hall by the river Thames on Wednesday 1 February 2011.

SUE SANDERS (Co-Chair of LGBT History Month UK and Schools Out) and Councillor ABDUL MOHAMED (Cabinet Member for Equalities and Community Engagement) will be opening the evening at 7pm followed by a performance from the PINK SINGERS, London’s LGBT community choir.

This will be followed by Queer Question Time at 7.30pm. Suran will chair an hour long public debate that promises to be 'convivial but edgy', with a formidable panel of 5 local, national, and international LGBT icons and commentators, including BOB BALLARD (Radio and TV sports broadcaster), CLAIRE HARVEY (GB Sitting Volleyball Women’s Team & Head of Corporate Responsibility, FSA), DAVE MERCHANT (Chair of Marlin Swimming, the trans swimming group), PETER TATCHELL (human rights campaigner) and KELLY SIMMONS (Head of National Game, The FA).

Doors open at 6pm and refreshments will be served. Admission is FREE but advance booking is strongly advised as places are limited. To book your place contact Helen Laker on 020 7525 0848 or Helen.Laker@southwark.gov.uk
This is the eighth year that LGBT History Month has been marked across the UK. It is an annual celebration of the lives and achievements of the LGBT community, with a special theme this year of "tackling homophobia and transphobia in the world of sport". Queer Question Time will cover this topic as well as the Olympics and the Cultural Olympiad and the broader issues facing the LGBT community.
Submit your questions before the night to askqqt@gmail.com
Doors 6 - 9.30pm, Music from the Pink Singers 7pm, Debate 7.30pm
Entrance FREE. Advance booking advised. Contact Helen Laker at Southwark Council on 0207 525 0848 or Helen.Laker@southwark.gov.uk
FREE REFRESHMENTS
PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS TO askqqt@gmail.com
Get involved on facebook and join the group QQT
FACEBOOK GROUP: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=169053002441&ref=ts

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=169053002441&ref=ts

Contact Details

Mike Kear

mike@mikekear.com

07753930678

An appeal for the rescue of the peoples of Europe

2012-01-26T18:15:00.000Z

A call to the peoples of Europe to rise up and overthrow the money masters.

Let's try and stop yet another war!

2012-01-23T16:57:00.000Z

I will be demonstrating on Saturday at this important protest which is crucial with another war involving this country rapidly approaching.

STOP THE WAR COALITION

Newsletter No.1231

21 January 2012

1) PROTEST NEXT SATURDAY 28 JAN, 2PM - HANDS OFF IRAN & SYRIA

2) FRANCE SUSPENDS OPERATIONS IN AFGHANISTAN

3) STOP THE WAR NATIONAL CONFERENCE

4) GREAT START TO 2012 NO MORE WAR APPEAL

**************

1) PROTEST NEXT SATURDAY 28 JAN, 2PM - HANDS OFF IRAN & SYRIA

The first major protest against an attack on Iran and Syria is scheduled for next Saturday, January 28, outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London.

The prospect of a new war in the Middle East is growing. As well as tightening sanctions, covert operations, assassinations and cyber attacks on Iran there is clear evidence of hostile US troop movements in to the region. The right in the US is pushing hard for intervention and these kind of provocations could spark war at any time. Meanwhile calls for intervention in Syria are getting louder and, as Jonathan Steele reported in the Guardian this week, there is a NATO backed military build up on Syria's borders too.

We need to start mobilising the anti-war majority now to swing the argument away from war. We are asking our supporters to do everything possible to publicise this protest and organise other protests and meetings locally.

Invite friends on Facebook - http://on.fb.me/yR9Q3i Tweet to spread the word - http://twitter.com/#!/STWuk

For more information or to help organise in youyr area please phone the office on 0207 801 2768.

**************

2) FRANCE SUSPENDS OPERATIONS IN AFGHANISTAN

On Friday four French soldiers were shot dead by a member of the Afghan army.
Contrary to claims that the situation in Afghanistan is stabilising, the incident highlights the growing violence in the country.

Like similar incidents where Afghan soldiers have turned ther guns on their trainers, this one also highlights the deep flaws in the US-NATO strategy of training up the Afghan army in the hope of leaving behind a pliant and effective client regime.

France has effectively suspended operations in Afghanistan in response, and sent a probe to consider whether accelerating withdrawal of troops. This is good news amid a grim situation. Cessation of military operations and withdrawal of foreign troops is the only way to stem the bloodshed. We have to continue building pressure for withdrawal and hope the French actions will send a message to the US and UK governments.

See http://stopwar.org.uk/ for articles on the development.

Stop the War is encouraging activists and groups to get on the streets with petitions, vigils etc to mark the death of the 400th British soldier in Afghanistan, if and when that tragic figure is reached. The current total is 395.

**************

3) STOP THE WAR NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Saturday March 3rd, 10am - 5pm

University of London Union

Malet Street, London WC1

The conference will be a chance to discuss recent developments in the War on Terror and plan the movement's response. Speakers introducing the discussion include Tony Benn, Abbas Edalat, Lindsey German, George Galloway, Mitra Qayoom, Joe Glenton and Jeremy Corbyn MP. All Stop the War members can attend.

Those who joined before January 1st this year have voting rights. Stop the War groups and affiliates are entitled to delegates. You can join Stop the War on the door. Please contact us to book your place. Entry is £5/ £4 concessions.

**************

4) GREAT START TO 2012 NO MORE WAR APPEAL

In the first week we have raised an impressive £3,500 for our new year's appeal to fund the campaign against the threat of a new war in the middle east.

We need £10,000 urgently to respond to the danger of new interventions against Iran and Syria. If you haven't given already please donate by going to http://bit.ly/x9RBne . Or call 0207 801 2768. Or send a cheque payable to ;; 'Stop the War Coalition' to: Stop the War, 231, Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 1EH.

Green Left Statement on the cuts being implemented by the Green Council in Brighton & Hove

2012-01-20T10:34:00.000Z

The statement below from Green Left concerning the cuts being proposed by the Green Party led council in Brighton and Hove was issued today, following a decision reached at the Green Left general meeting last weekend.

Green Left welcomes the “Message to Unite” from the national leadership of the Green Party, which calls on Britain’s largest trade union, and the trade union movement as a whole, to back the Green Party’s programme to transform economy and society through a Green New Deal. We have always argued that the Green Party can be both radical and successful if it is seen to fight for the interests of ordinary people, and those of future generations, against the greed of deregulated financial capitalism and self seeking politicians who are in awe of it.

It is therefore particularly disturbing to learn that Green Party councillors in Brighton and Hove intend to proceed with budget plans that will cut millions of £'s from local services. The Green Party has an opportunity to put itself at the forefront of opposition to public spending cuts. Austerity measures will do nothing to lift the economy out of recession but threaten the very fabric of society. The first Green led council should be drawing up a budget which not only defends existing service provision but which also reverses the cuts made by previous councils, and begins to develop the high quality public services which are required. If their proposals are voted down by an unprincipled alliance of Labour and Conservatives ,and they are driven from office, then they can go into opposition with their heads held high, and lead a fight both inside and outside the council chamber.

Occupy LSX succeeded in bringing radical ideas into the news and into everyday conversation. Concerned with the current economic crisis they have been changing the debate. They now face eviction from their camp outside St Paul's Cathedral. Elected Greens and members have been actively engaged with their debates and actions. Green Left believe that the Green Party of England and Wales can play a significant role by proposing our alternative economic analysis and plans for a programme of recovery. We can effectively work to help build a mass movement against austerity measures. We have the policies. We have the philosophical basis to attract many supporters who are rejecting the traditional political parties.

We have one Green MP. The work that we do at a local level is crucial. The actions of Brighton and Hove Greens will affect not only the local communities, but all members of the party and our supporters and potential supporters. If Brighton and Hove Green councillors take a stand against cuts they would offer an example to everyone.

Green Left believe that Brighton and Hove councillors can show that an alternative is possible. However carefully considered the proposed cuts may be for this year or next, these follow years of previous cuts and are in addition to wage freezes, redundancies and benefit cuts. Their effects will be devastating, especially on the poorest and most disadvantaged, who as ever will be the hardest hit. Why not take advantage of our electoral success and use this opportunity to build support for an alternative economic plan , and an ecologically and socially just future ?

Green councillors in Brighton must ask themselves now how "we will fight them all the way" as promised during the election. These are desperate times with darker days ahead. Brighton and Hove Greens have the opportunity to spearhead the political battle for a progressive and radical alternative.

Irish Cultural Centre Hammersmith secures half a million pounds funding from Irish government

2012-01-18T18:53:00.000Z

And another Irish related news story:

Irish Cultural Centre Hammersmith secures £550K funding

Wednesday, Jan 18, 2012

The Board of Trustees has just announced that the Irish Government has granted £550K to the Centre to assist in securing the purchase of the freehold of the building and in recognition of the significant work carried out by the Centre to promote Irish culture in London.

In a statement this afternoon the Board of Trustees highlighted:

"We wish to publicly express our sincere gratitude to the Irish government for assisting us secure a permanent home in London that is dedicated to Irish culture, our country’s greatest resource.

The Board of Irish Cultural Centre is currently in the advanced stages of negotiations with both Hammersmith and Fulham Council and the widely respected Shepherd’s Bush Housing Association (SBHA) whereby the Irish Cultural Centre would be able to purchase the freehold of the premises and provide a lease to SBHA.

Subject to planning permission being granted, the proposed strategy is to demolish the existing structure and erect a new building incorporating a well-designed Centre with greater revenue-generation capacity and with residential accommodation to be located on the upper floors. It is anticipated that this project would take circa 18 months to complete. During this period the Centre’s services will continue to be delivered locally."

Further credit is also given to the MPs who have shown their continued support over the course of the campaign - in particular those that signed an early day motion in 2011 urging the Government to support the local Irish community in its efforts to secure the long-term future of the Irish Cultural Centre.

MP	Date	Constituency	Party	Type
Andy Slaughter	17/01/2011	Hammersmith	Labour	Proposed
Jeremy Corbyn	17/01/2011	Islington North	Labour	Seconded
Kelvin Hopkins	17/01/2011	Luton North	Labour	Seconded
Sheila Gilmore	17/01/2011	Edinburgh East	Labour	Seconded
Siobhain McDonagh	17/01/2011	Mitcham & Morden	Labour	Seconded
John McDonnell	17/01/2011	Hayes & Harlington	Labour	Seconded
Kerry McCarthy	17/01/2011	Bristol East	Labour	Signed
Linda Riordan	17/01/2011	Halifax	Labour	Signed
Kate Green	17/01/2011	Stretford and Urmston	Labour	Signed
Lisa Nandy	17/01/2011	Wigan	Labour	Signed
Chuka Umunna	17/01/2011	Streatham	Labour	Signed
Valerie Vaz	17/01/2011	Walsall South	Labour	Signed
Keith Vaz	17/01/2011	Leicester East	Labour	Signed
Stephen Twigg	17/01/2011	Liverpool, West Derby	Labour	Signed
Barry Gardiner	17/01/2011	Brent North	Labour	Signed
Mike Gapes	17/01/2011	Ilford South	Labour	Signed
Frank Dobson	17/01/2011	Holborn & St Pancras	Labour	Signed
John Cryer	17/01/2011	Leyton and Wanstead	Labour	Signed
Karen Buck	17/01/2011	Westminster North	Labour	Signed
David Lammy	17/01/2011	Tottenham	Labour	Signed
Alan Keen	17/01/2011	Feltham & Heston	Labour	Signed
Hywel Francis	18/01/2011	Aberavon	Labour	Signed
Mark Durkan	18/01/2011	Foyle	SDLP	Signed
Martin Caton	18/01/2011	Gower	Labour	Signed
Alan Meale	18/01/2011	Mansfield	Labour	Signed
Dennis Skinner	18/01/2011	Bolsover	Labour	Signed
Ian Lavery	19/01/2011	Wansbeck	Labour	Signed
Paul Flynn	19/01/2011	Newport West	Labour	Signed
Jim Dobbin	19/01/2011	Heywood & Middleton	Labour	Signed
Tony Lloyd	19/01/2011	Manchester Central	Labour	Signed
Chris Ruane	19/01/2011	Vale of Clwyd	Labour	Signed
John Robertson	19/01/2011	Glasgow North West	Labour	Signed
Daniel Rogerson	20/01/2011	North Cornwall	Liberal Democrat	Signed
Alasdair McDonnell	20/01/2011	Belfast South	SDLP	Signed
Margaret Ritchie	20/01/2011	South Down	SDLP	Signed
Elfyn Llwyd	25/01/2011	Meirionnydd Nant Conwy	Plaid Cymru	Signed
Marsha Singh	27/01/2011	Bradford West	Labour	Signed
James McGovern	03/02/2011	Dundee West	Labour	Signed
David Crausby	10/02/2011	Bolton North East	Labour	Signed
Paul Murphy	15/02/2011	Torfaen	Labour	Signed

No to Anglo Debt

2012-01-18T18:30:00.000Z

A new campaign launched in Ireland against paying back massive debts to the zombie Anglo-Irish Bank. Ireland, with its long history of the Land League and the invention of the tactic of boycott should be well able to get this campaign off the ground.

Meanwhile Occupy London have lost their case in the High Court - not altogether unexpected. We must now be ready to defend them when the forces of the City and high finance come to evict them later this month. All hands to the barricades!

Moving film about migrants trying to reach UK - Welcome

2012-01-16T14:24:00.000Z

I watched a moving and amazing French film at the weekend called 'Welcome', which when you see the film, you realise the title is meant ironically. It deals with both the thriving racism and xenophobia in Sarkozy's France, and the director, in the interviews, draws sharp parallels between the laws affecting migrants in France and the role which France played, both the Vichy regime and elsewhere, in the deportation of France's Jewish population from 1940 onwards.

The film is set in Calais, where the director spent a lot of time researching the real lives of those migrants desperate to reach the UK. It tells the story of a young Kurdish boy hoping to reach London and the woman he loves who is a migrant there with her family. Hunted by both the racist French police, acting under the orders of the authorities who want not just refugees but also those who assist them criminalised, and those French who show all of the characteristics of those who supported Vichy and the 'Final Solution'.

The film caused an uproar in France and led to debates and a special screening in the French National Assembly, where a proposal to alter the immigration law was voted through by the Socialist Party, so that those, like the characters in the film, who assist migrants, will not be criminalised unless it is done for financial gain. The film was a huge success in France but is relatively unknown here. Dealing as it does with those many thousands who risk their lives to cross the Channel and reach the UK, it is high time that it is more widely seen in the UK and that the issues behind it are more fully addressed away from the soundbites of the Daily Mail and Migration Watch.

Europe's last dictatorship - Belarus

2012-01-16T10:19:00.000Z

Revealing interview with Director of Office for a Democratic Belarus - interesting comment about historical perspective, one shared by me as a historian. Human rights and democracy activists there are currently beaten up and imprisoned by regime's thugs.

Circus but no bread

2012-01-13T12:13:00.001Z

How can anyone in London (or the UK) be sad this year? The caring, sharing ConDem government has a year of thrills and spills ahead for all. The rave reviews are out already - conservative historians like David Starkey are orgasmic about the return of the royal barge to the Thames, a la George I and Handel's 'Music for the Royal Fireworks'. The same Starkey who loudly proclaims the historic wisdom of sweeping London's poor and low paid out of the central areas, as they only ever lived there as servants in the past, and returning these leafy areas to their natural owners - the rich. Expect paeans of praise to the Jubillee with TV royal commentators trying to outdo each other on the splendour of the pageantry and which minor royal wore which stunning fashion creation.

This week, in the Evening Standard, Cameron, fresh from holding a cabinet meeting in an Olympic venue, berated all of those negative folk who have not yet developed Olympic fever - the so called nay sayers. For Cameron, Boris etc, the Olympics are a wonderful opportunity for London and a chance for the city to display its best to the world. The truth is that it is a hucksters and spivs gravy train. With food distribution monopolised by Mc Donalds - currently building the biggest fast food takeaway in the world here - and imported Mercs for VIPs to drive around in, a wrap around one of the principal stadia sponsored by Union Carbide (responsible for not compensating thousands of victims of industrial accident in Bhopal) the whole thing is an abomination. It is a corporate feast, where the Tories and their friends will dine off the people of London and the UK and the much talked of legacy will be negligible.

But more importantly, both of these events fulfill the role of bread and circuses in the ancient Roman Empire - by distracting and amusing the masses, while the Caesars and senators get on with the business of fighting wars and ruling the Empire. Boris, as a classicist, will understand this well. But at least the Romans also offered the plebs bread. This lot are busily demolishing the welfare state, killing off the public sector and driving millions into unemployment and poverty. This will be a year of circuses without the bread. And the City and the government will carve up the profits, while the multitude are transported by dancing acrobats and splendid parades. As the Latin puts it: "fallaces sunt rerum species" or "appearances can be deceptive".

One in the eye for the government on Welfare Reform Act

2012-01-12T09:02:00.000Z

Good news below from Carer Watch, who are doing an excellent job as part of the campaign against the nefarious Welfare Reform Bill.

Hi there

The government was defeated three times in a row in the Lords last night on its proposals to save money by limiting the benefits paid to sick and disabled people who claim ESA.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jan/11/lords-welfare-bill-defeat-for-government

The three main parties have until now maintained a solid wall of silence acting together on welfare reform to cut and limit benefits to disabled people. Now – at long last it is sensational to see the first crack in this wall of silence.

Lord Patel made a compelling case. It was great to hear him spelling out so clearly that people placed in the WRAG group of ESA who are being threatened with these sanctions and time limits are all people who have been assessed under the new tests as people who are not fit to be required to work. So why are these people being time limited and treated as if they are fit to work? As Lord Freud made very clear in the debate – the limits are being put on their benefits only to save money.

The deficit cannot be reduced on the backs of people who are assessed as not fit to work – some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the community.

More votes including one on DLA are coming up in the next few weeks. It is even more important now to get the details of Pat’s Petition out to people to give them a chance to register their support for campaigners where the government can see and them. Please let people know what is happening and how they can sign Pat’s Petition.

Sign Pat's Petition at -

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/20968

More details about the petition and the supporters are at -

http://carerwatch.com/reform/

See Pat's Petition on FaceBook

http://www.facebook.com/patsepetition

and on Twitter at

http://www.twitter.com/PatsPetition

Frances.

Public Involvement work by the London Ambulance Service across the capital

2012-01-11T09:10:00.000Z

At a busy meeting in City Hall on Monday night, Ruth Lewis the Public and Patient Involvement Coordinator, presented a very revealing report about the public outreach work by the LAS across London over the last few months and plans for the next few. I am presenting Ruth's report in full here. The Deputy Mayor of London, Richard Barnes, also spoke about the challenges to London during this year, with both the Olympics and Queens Diamond Jubilee being held here and the challenges for London's emergency services, not least the LAS. But I will blog about that later in the week.

LAS Patients’ Forum Update / Jan 2012

At the end of December 2011:

· We have 894 Patient & Public Involvement and public education visits/events listed on our 2011 database, of which we attended 708.

· Of these we did 84 knife crime talks and 134 Basic Life Support/Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation sessions.

· 29 Junior Citizen Schemes – Teaching various safety messages to 10 & 11year olds.

· 21 Learning Disability events.

· 5 Safe Drive Stay Alive – Aimed at 16yrs-18yrs about driving safely and wearing a seatbelt.

· Certificates were sent to 45 staff that have done over 25 hours of public education work, mainly in their own time. Five members of staff received a gift of a pens set for doing over 100hrs.

Some examples of events from the last 3 months:

· 12^th October - Our public education work was the topic for the Services third an Evening with us event for Foundation Trust members. Around 50 people attended and heard about our work on knife crime and the dangers faced by young drivers. The presentations were delivered by members of our team and two of our community involvement officers.

· 17^th & 18^th October - Jewish Community Fair. This involved setting up an information stall and showing members of the public around our ambulance. Feedback included: “The staff engaged with hundreds of parents and children all day long. The LAS team were absolutely wonderful. Keep up the good work!”

· 19^th October - West Ealing Deaf Group. Paramedic Richard Webb-Stevens and Programme Manager Grenville Gifford attended West Ealing deaf group and spoke to 13 members. Grenville produced some fantastic slides about our service and our role which Richard signed to the group in BSL for nearly 2 hours. Richard also signed about when to call and how to call via emergencySMS (texting). The members of the group all registered their mobiles with emergencySMS after the presentation.

· 19^th October - Nicholson Court Elderly Persons Talk. A talk to a group of pensioners about our Service and help that is available to them locally. From this the attendees requested advice on purchasing a defibrillator and having the relevant training.

· 21^st October – Stonewall recruitment fair.

· 26th October – “Big Do”. Team Leader Jacqui Ault and Emergency Medical Technician Yvonne Chambers attended The BIG Do, an event in Hackney for people with Learning Disabilities by people with Learning Disabilities.

Some of the main themes for the day were home safety, health, employment, recreation and leisure. There was a key note address from the council, as well as other presentations and workshops, plus lots of information on services in Hackney. A nurse was doing health checks and there was advice on Individual Budgets. Last but not least, the highlight was a live show at the end by 'Access All Areas'.

Yvonne said “This was a really good day for both the visiting public and us. There were about 200 visitors, most of whom had either learning or physical disabilities. Information was given to them from a number of agencies about the help available to them, how to keep themselves safe and how to access information which would be useful to them.”

“We provided information regarding appropriate care pathways which they can access and also gave out simplified information sheets telling what to do in case of an emergency and when to call 999.”

· 17^th November – Queen Elizabeth Boys School visit. A talk to a group of year 12 students undertaking an Engineering Education Scheme project, relating to the health and safety of workers on building sites. As part of their project, they felt it would be good to find out how the Ambulance Service treats workers who have fallen ill or have been seriously injured.

· 21^st November – Barnet Epilepsy Action group talk. A talk about the Service. Feedback given included: “Many thanks for a wonderful talk to our group on Monday evening. It really covered a wide range of relevant information - both theoretical and practical - and was geared at precisely the right level for the group. I have talked to many people in the group since the talk and they all agree that it was an excellent talk. Many thanks for all the work you did for the talk and the wonderful presentation.”

· 7^th December – Drink Drive Campaign at the Civic Centre in Bromley. A talk to 50-60 attendees to raise awareness of responsible drinking over the Christmas period.

· 12^th December – Prison Me No Way at Brampton Manor School in Newham. A 40-50 minute session, teaching 180 15yr olds what to do in an emergency and how to put someone in the recovery position.

Initiatives for the coming year:

· Islington/Camden Community Event (March/April) date to be confirmed. A chance for local communities to find out more about the Service and engage with our staff. Previously we have done health checks and hope to do this again.

· John Wright is now the Public Education Officer who focuses on knife crime. He would like to expand his work regarding the consequences of knife crime in the following areas.

1. Hoping to expand the anti-knife crime workshops across London into more Pupil Referral Units, Schools and Colleges.

2. In partnership with Westminster Youth Services, we would like to deliver a weapons workshop into primary schools.

3. Would like to become more involved with vulnerable youth groups, such as ‘young people leaving care’.

4. Work more closely with our Safeguarding colleagues to monitor whether young people involved in youth violence are being highlighted as vulnerable.

New Report shows opposition to Coalition's Benefits reforms kept hidden by government

2012-01-09T13:04:00.000Z

In a press realease issued this morning, a new report indicates that there has been considerably more opposition to the government's benefits reforms (currently being discussed in the Lords) than thought previously. The report which is a forensically researched examination of the government's proposed changest to Disaiblity Living Allowance is hard hitting and direct, and demonstrates the huge holes in the government's arguments. It is hoped, that armed with this new information, crossbench peers and some Lib Dems in the Lords will now begin to resist Lord Freud's and the government's proposals on DLA reforms. The report was entirely funded, researched and written by disabled activists and gives the lie to the a lot of the spin released by the government.

London Ambulance Service Patients Forum Tonight

2012-01-09T09:44:00.000Z

For the second month in succession, the LAS Patients Forum, which I chair, will be meeting in City Hall to discuss the roles of London's emergency services in the event of a major incident. This stems from the recommendations of the Coroner's Report on the Inquest into the 7/7 bombings.

London Ambulance Service Patients Forum

‘Roles and responsibilities of the London emergency services during a Major Incident’ – Richard Barnes, Deputy Mayor of London.

Monday January 9^th 2012

5.30-7.30pm

City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, SE1 2AA

Forum’s Officers:

CHAIR: Dr Joseph Healy j-j@freezone.co.uk or PatientsForumLAS@aol.com

VICE CHAIR: Sister Josephine Udie Sisterjossi@hotmail.com

VICE CHAIR: Lynn Strother director.glf@pop3.poptel.org.uk

VICE CHAIR: Malcolm Alexander PatientsForumLAS@aol.com

BSL signers will be available. Refreshments also available

Nearest Tube: London Bridge/Tower Hill British Rail: London Bridge
Buses: 42, 47, 78, 381, RV1

And a happy 2012

2012-01-03T09:09:00.000Z

Not much time to blog over the festive period as I was busy having a personal life, seeing friends, contacting family and seeing a friend who had come over from Ireland for the holiday. I did manage to go on a great one day trip to Ely to see the wonderful mediaeval cathedral which I saw for the first time and to visit the historic town, as well as stopping off in Cambridge for a pint or two on the way back to London.

Some of my time over the festive season was spent on considering the past year and what lies ahead in the new one. For a start, with the continuing cuts and austerity, I am not sure if I will have a job after April, as my voluntary sector organisation is at the mercy of the decisions of Lambeth Council, and prior to the Xmas holidays they had not told us what their intentions were for the financial year ahead. The battle against the cuts has been a central issue for me during 2011 and will be in 2012 and I will be continuing to play an active role in the Coalition of Resistance. This also presents me with difficult decisions regarding my political involvement and orientation during this year and I will make an announcement about that soon, following a great deal of soul searching over the New Year period.

I also will be continuing my role as Chair of the London Ambulance Service Patients Forum and we have a meeting next Monday, January 9th, in City Hall to be addresseed by the Deputy Mayor of London on the issue of the London Resilience Plan and how London's emergency services will work together in the event of an emergency - this was included in the coroner's report recommendations from the 2005 bombing inquest. It is also the year in which the London Ambulance Service hopes to become a Foundation Trust and we will have an update on that at the meeting. Clearly this will also have an impact on the Patients Forum.

It is said that everyone has a good novel in them and I did have a go at playwriting in the 80s but have been diverted by various other activities, mainly political and public since. But I have decided to pick up the pen again this year and have a play in mind about my good friends, the Irish Green Party, whose fate I followed closely over the last few years, acting as one of the Cassandras, as they beached their ship on the rocks.

I also had a call just before New Year's Eve that an older friend of mine, who is 75, had been hospitalised and went to visit him. He had been in great pain with his back and was subsequently sent home last Sunday but it has brought home to me again the lack of funding for elderly social care, which is an issue reported in today's news. With an increasing older population, me being among them, this crisis will become more and more important. And finally, this reminds me that in March I will reach the venerable age of 55 and noted in a documentary on my hero Charles Dickens on BBC last night, that he was dead by 58. So time and tide wait for no man and there remains much to be done. I will be writing more about Dickens in this his bicentary year.

Why employment initiatives for people with disabilities don't work

2011-12-21T09:11:00.000Z

Have not blogged for about a week, due to work, plus festive dinners and party season and one or two political activities, as well as chairing a meeting of the London Ambulance Service Patients Forum last week - more of that anon.

As some of you know, my day job is working with a disability organisation in Lambeth and here is an interesting article about why employment initiatives for people with disabilities do not work. With so many people being forced through the mincer at present by Atos Medical Services and others by this uncaring government, it should be compulsory Xmas reading for Ian Duncan Smith and other disciples of "the workhouse school" among Tory MPs and their fellow travellers. True disciples of the Parish Guardians who feature in Oliver Twist and other Dickens novels.

Labour councillor in Barking and Dagenham refuses to vote for cuts

2011-12-13T09:07:00.000Z

The courageous stand of this councillor needs to be acknowledged and honoured. It is not easy to stand against the tide, even less so to stand against one's own party. There are few enough Labour councillors who have had the courage of their convictions. I wait with interest to see what the Green councillors in Brighton will vote for in February's budget.

Dear Sir,

When Barking and Dagenham residents voted for Margaret Hodge MP in the May 2010 election to defeat Nick Griffin and the fascist British National Party, they also elected 51 local councillors under the Labour Party flag.

But while Margaret Hodge is campaigning to open the new Barking Hospital and to keep King George Hospital and the Broadway Theatre open for local people, the council is chopping £20 million off the budget, sacking local workers and outsourcing municipal services. This is in effect exporting Barking and Dagenham jobs to other parts of the country.

The excuse for all this is that the council tax has been frozen for local people. So in practice, schoolkids, the unemployed, the elderly and the infirm get worse services for the same price.

The council is dominated by a leadership clique who have been carrying out the same bureaucratic routine for too long. This clique is much too fond of a quick fix to solve immediate problems. But they should be considering the welfare of the people that elected them in one of the most deprived boroughs in the country.

In this borough, we did not vote for the Conservative-Liberal democrat coalition and their banker friends. We voted for the Labour Party. So why cannot these councillors behave like socialists rather than Tories?

I first joined the Labour Party in 1962, but I cannot support the actions of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Labour Group, and I am therefore resigning the Labour Group whip.

George Barratt,

Councillor, Mayesbrook Ward

________________________________________

Pictures from November 30th demo

2011-12-12T15:06:00.000Z

Last Friday I went to the Coalition of Resistance Steering Committee to discuss next steps for the anti-cuts movement following the national strike on November 30th. There was a lot of discussion about Nov 30th and how successful it was mediawise for COR. Here are some pictures from the day, including one of me at the COR stall, several COR and Green Party activists and Nick Robinson of the BBC!

Merry Xmas from George Osborne

2011-12-09T13:35:00.002Z

Stop the War Coalition Book Launch and Meeting on Secret Evidence

2011-12-09T12:44:00.000Z

A busy week again this week. Apart from my day job (yes I do have to earn my crust) I was at the Lambeth Green Party meeting on Wednesday night, where I met again our inspirational and hard working London Assembly candidate, Jonathan Bartley. I also met some other new Lambeth party members whom I had not met before, including one who shares my interest in theatre and writing and is a professional theatre director.

Last night I went to the Steering Committee meeting of the Coalition of Resistance,where we reviewed COR's involvement in the November 30th demonstrations and we all agreed that both in terms of media coverage and mobilisation, COR had done really well - even forming the backdrop to Jeremy Paxman's report on the strike that night on Newsnight. We discussed next steps and prepartions for new anti-cuts activities in 2012. We also discussed the European dimension and the rain of fire and brimstone raining down on the peoples of Europe from their neo-liberal governments and technocrats.

Tonight I will be attending the book launch at Housman's bookshop of 'Stop the War. A graphic history' as a member of the national Steering Committee of Stop the War. I am growing increasingly worried about the prospect of war against Iran and the need for the anti-war movement has never been greater.

Finally, some details here of an event at which Jean Lambert, the Green MEP for London, is speaking:

Coalition Against Secret Evidence and The Cordoba Foundation present

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

TEN YEARS OF SECRET EVIDENCE AND HIDDEN SUFFERING

Come and learn more about this secret history and hidden suffering over

the past ten years… the secret evidence, unfortunately, remains just that!

Monday 19 December 2011 • 6pm – 9pm • London Muslim Centre

46 Whitechapel Road London E1 1JX. Nearest tube: Aldgate East / Whitechapel

Speakers include:

GARETH PEIRCE - British human rights lawyer.

JEAN LAMBERT - MEP (Green Party)

ANAS ALTIKRITI - CEO, The Cordoba Foundation

BRUCE KENT - Vice President Pax Christi.

ASIM QURESHI - Executive Director, Cage Prisoners.

Ten years ago, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, the British government passed laws allowing them to detain and imprison foreign “terrorism suspects” without charge or trial. By December 2001, almost a dozen Muslim men, mainly from Algeria, had been detained and later became known, with others, as the “Belmarsh detainees”. They were held without trial or charge for over three years until the courts ruled this system illegal in 2004. The men were released but things did not get better for them or their families… control orders were introduced in 2005 and others were subject to harsh bail restrictions after being threatened with deportation to their countries of origin – Algeria, Jordan and Libya. Tagged, with restrictions on their freedom, all without having any idea of the reason why, this has been the life of at least 18 individuals and families over the past decade, with no end in sight… 10 years of not knowing the accusations, of coming up against a wall of silence and secret evidence by the Home Office in court, not knowing if they will be deported to countries that will torture, of abuse, misuse and being ignored by the wider community. At the same time, the British government is seeking to replace the control order regime with new Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (T-PIMs), to broaden the number of countries so-called terrorism suspects can be deported to without knowing the reason why and to harshen its anti-terrorism laws.

Enquiries:

reveal@coalitionagainstsecretevidence.com

info@thecordobafoundation.com

http://www.coalitionagainstsecretevidence.com/

www.thecordobafoundation.com

Supported by:

Campaign Against Criminalising Communities

Cage Prisoners

Islamic Forum of Europe

Newham Monitoring Project

Federation of Students Islamic Societies

Peace & Justice in East London

ALL WELCOME

London Ambulance Service - New Report by London Assembly's Health & Public Services Committee

2011-12-05T13:25:00.000Z

The London Assembly's Health and Public Services Committee will be releasing a new scrutiny report into the London Ambulance Service later this week. This will be the theme of the next London Ambulance Service Patients Forum meeting next Monday, December 12th, in City Hall. The report will be presented by Victoria Borwick AM, Chair of the London Assembly's Health and Public Services Committee and Peter Bradely, Chief Executive of the London Ambulance Service, will also be present to answer questions. The meeting is open to the public.

London Ambulance Service Patients Forum Meeting

Monday 12th December at 5.30pm

City Hall, Queens Walk, London SE1

'The London Ambulance Service Today' a report by the London Assembly's Health and Public Services Committee presented by its Chair, Victoria Borwick AM.

BSL Interpreters available.

Nearest Tube: London Bridge/Tower Hill

Nearest Rail Station: London Bridge/Tower Hil DLR

Forum’s Officers:

CHAIR: Dr Joseph Healy j-j@freezone.co.uk or PatientsForumLAS@aol.com

VICE CHAIR: Sister Josephine Udie Sisterjossi@hotmail.com

VICE CHAIR: Lynn Strother director.glf@pop3.poptel.org.uk

VICE CHAIR: Malcolm Alexander PatientsForumLAS@aol.com

Ireland - the lost generation

2011-12-05T09:26:00.000Z

As the Irish Taoiseach delivers the first public address by a Taoiseach for 31 years on the eve of another savage budget, figures show that Irish emigration has exceeded anything seen since the 19th century. And this is mainly the young leaving.

A young Irish bricklayer now living in Australia has composed a bitter song about how he and his generation have been forced to leave by the actions of a corrupt political class – mainly the last Fianna Fail/Green government – who will be hated for a generation. Irish songs of emigration in the 19th century blamed the landlords and the British government, now they blame the banks and the corrupt Irish politician
Plus ca change. And this is the economic blueprint which Osborne praised several years ago and we are now rapidly heading down the same path. I left Ireland in the 80s during another ecnomic crash so I can sense what many of these young people are feeling. But I did not leave for economic reasons alone. However, being forced to leave your country, family and friends because of political corruption and incompetence is a bitter pill to swallow.

And with Xmas coming, many of these Irish families will be feeling keenly the loss of their young people.

'Castor and Pollux' - an opera for World Aids Day

2011-12-02T10:17:00.000Z

Last night, wearing a red ribbon for World Aids Day, as many others in the audience were also, I attended a performance of Rameau's opera 'Castor and Pollux' at the English National Opera. The opera is seldom performed in the UK but is considered one of the jewels of the French baroque opera. It has ravishingly beautiful melodies and some very beautiful dances, which is typical of Rameau's work, but also of the French operatic style as a whole.

Based on Greek mythology of the two brothers, one mortal and the other immortal, it deals with death and loss and indeed with loss of love also. The programme notes stated that there are numerous references in the opera to departure and farewells. This is indeed true and there is a deep sense of melancholia throughout the work. I think it was a very suitable work for World Aids Day - a day when I remember many I knew who died as a result of AIDS, or who still live physically or psychologically damaged by its effects.

The aria 'Tristes apprets, pales flambeaux' is probably the most beautiful in the opera and is funeral song deeply infused with that sense of darkness and despair which accompanies the death of a loved one. It is one of Rameau's most beautiful songs. I include it here. At this dark time of the year, this dark music reminds us that many continue to die from this terrible illness and that the world must continue to ensure that all people receive treatment, as well as remembering the many whom we have lost to it.

Supporting the national strike against cuts today in London

2011-11-30T09:51:00.000Z

Having spent Monday at the Coalition of Resistance office calling up volunteers to help distribute placards today at the SERTUC (South East Region TUC) rally at Lincoln's Inn Fields in central London, I will be down there today distributing those same placards. The Green Party is affiliated to COR and several prominent Greens, including me, are on COR's national steering committee. The rally is timed for 12 noon and then there will be a march down to Embankment. I will also be marching with 'Queers Against the Cuts' the LGBT group, which is campaigning against the cuts agenda. The Green Party Trade Union Group will also have a stall positioned beside COR's and we will be working together.

I went to the very well attended 'Eurozone in Meltdown' meeting on Monday night, organised by COR, where we heard some very good speakers, including the Assistant General Secretary of the NUT, and speakers from both Italy and Greece, giving accounts of what is really happening there on the ground. One of the contributions from the floor was from a woman teacher in Camden, who described how the children in her class spontaneously started producing banners and materials for today's demonstration because they recognise that those marching today to protect our public services and against cuts are also marching for their future. As Kevin Courtney, the NUT Asst General Secretary, said at the meeting: "They wonder why there is so much youth unemployment, yet they are calling on older workers to work for many more years."

The news yesterday from Osborne's Autumn Statement is effectively that the Tories and their Lib Dem allies have declared class war on all those working in the public sector, pensioners and the unemployed. The statement that there will be years of cuts and austerity ahead, with no sign of real government intervention to create jobs or build a green economy means, in effect, as many journalists have stated, a lost decade. Some even speculate that it could mean two lost decades. The real impact of this on the lives of those plunged into poverty and unemployment is incalculable. And as Will Hutton said last night on BBC News, this could be worse that the 30s.

I am not on strike today, as I work in the voluntary sector, where we do not even get a pension of any kind, but this strike is far wider than protecting public sector pensions - important enough as that is - but is also the struggle to protect public services against the cuts. That is the reason why I have taken a day off work to march alongside all of those who are fighting for the real "big society". As Thoreau said: "Justice is sweet and musical; but injustice is harsh and discordant." And harsh and discordant sounds are what we are hearing from this government of the bankers, by the bnakers and for the bankers.

Eurozone in Meltdown meeting on Monday - Rally in support of the national pensions strike and against cuts on Wednesday

2011-11-25T17:59:00.000Z

I will be attending this meeting on Monday and also assisting COR on Wednesday at the SE Region of the TUC rally in support of the national strike and against cuts. Later I will be marching with 'Queers Against the Cuts' and the Green Party Trade Union Group

Eurozone in Meltdown rally with Tony Benn

As crisis spreads through the Eurozone at a rate that no one could have imagined, the ruling financial elite offers nothing but further austerity measures. The need for a Europe-wide mass movement in defense of democracy and social welfare has never been so important.
Join us at this meeting just two days ahead of the biggest strike and day of action in Britain for decades.

Eurozone in Meltdown

No Cuts - No Privatisation

With:

Tony Benn

John McDonnell MP

Ntina Tzouvala (Synaspismos youth, Greece)

Kevin Courtney (Deputy General Secretary, NUT)

Arianna Tassinari (Co-President, SOAS Students Union)

James Meadway (senior economist, New Economics Foundation)

Kate Hudson (Coalition of Resistance)

Lee Jasper (BARAC)

Monday 28 November, 6:30pm

University of London Union, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HY

Click here to download printable flyer

Invite your friends on Facebook

N30 Central London demo

Alongside the hundreds of local events happening across the country on November 30th, SERTUC has called a Central London demonstration. Coalition of Resistance is asking for as many volunteers on the day as possible to help with distributing materials on the demo.

The demonstration assembles at 12pm, Lincolns Inn Fields. We are asking volunteers to arrive at 10:30am. If you can help please email coalitionofresistance@mail.com or phone Sam on 07872 481769.

University of London Union have called a student feeder march leaving from Malet Street at 12pm. We are asking volunteers to get to Malet Street at 10am. If you can help please let us know.

Leaflets for the demonstration can be picked up from Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX. There are a number of stalls and leafletting sessions being organised this weekend accross London. If you can set one up in your area please get in touch.

Ten Years of Stop the War Coalition and the rising costs of War

2011-11-23T00:50:00.000Z

Tonight, together with several other members of Green Left and the Green Party, I will be attending the 10th anniversary dinner of Stop the War Coalition. The dinner is not just to mark a decade of activism but also to fundraise for the campaigning work of the UK's leading anti-war organisation. It is appalling to think that the UK, along with the US and others, has been involved in a decade of wars. The situation is beginning to resemble the plot of 1984 where Eurasia is in a state of permanent war with Oceania. And at a time when the costs of wars continue to rise while our leaders tell us that there is no funding for anything else.

The links between the anti-cuts movement and the anti-war movement are obvious, and are made abundantly clear in this video appearance by David Swanson, noted US anti-war activist, who draws the clear links between Occupation Wall Street and the anti-war movement. These are the two campaigns to which I am politically dedicated at present as the fate of humanity and of the planet depend on the outcome of both of these titanic struggles agains the military industrial complex, aided and abetted by its corporate sponsors, and paid for, both in blood and cash, by all of us.

The argument against homophobia

2011-11-21T16:35:00.000Z

Publishing his video, he fights against homophobia

More about: vidéo, homophobie

Share:

A young Argentinean gay’s personal engagement is published on a video on YouTube: It is a long argumentation against homophobia translated in 17 languages.

At the age of 19 he made the experience of young gay student who came from Buenos Aires to Europe. Today Nicolás is 28 years old, is a Spanish teacher and at the same time studies Linguistics in Vienna, where he has been living for five years now. During that time he started to think about homophobia and its origins.

Gay-friendly rhetoric

Nicolás tells us «I visited a lecture about history of Judaism and the professor, a catholic theologian, explained that that you cannot develop any kind of relation between religion and violence. This made me very furious. I immediately argued that there are many violent passages in the Bible and spoke about the way this book treats homosexuals. We continued discussing the topic on e-mail and I think I succeeded in changing his mind a bit!». This debate turned into a talk for the seminar. «I even mentioned sad anecdotes of my adolescence», the young Argentinean remembers.

Step by step Nicolás developed a taste for the art of rhetoric. He wrote a text and sent it to German, Austrians and Swiss theologians. And one of his friends, a student of communication sciences, suggested spreading his message even more. That’s how this video came to life. It is already translated into 17 languages, and soon will be available in even more languages. «I think this can help many people» he says. In any case it is an original way to share a speech of defense against homophobes of any kind.

Watch the video:

Two days to save LGBT rights in Russia

2011-11-21T13:14:00.000Z

In 48 hours, political leaders in Russia will vote on a law that makes speaking out as a gay, lesbian or trans person ILLEGAL. Because Russia is a large and powerful nation, the international community has stayed silent. If thousands of us raise our voices, they will be forced to speak out and stop this horrific law:

Dear Joseph,

We've been talking all weekend with our friend Sasha - a teacher and mom in Russia - and what we're hearing is horrifying. On Wednesday, political leaders in St. Petersburg are voting on a new law that will make it illegal to speak in public about being gay, lesbian or transgender.

Sasha and a broad coalition in Russia are doing everything they can to stop the bill. Yesterday, they organized one of the biggest demonstrations ever in support of equality - but still the international community is not paying attention. They need support from around the world - and they need it fast.

www.allout.org/russia_silenced

Because Russia is powerful, most world leaders have stayed silent. But if we raise our voices now, we'll shine an international spotlight on the issue that will be impossible to ignore.

Will you take 2 minutes to add your voice to our urgent call? We'll deliver the petition to Russian embassies around the world and push the issue to the top of the international agenda:

www.allout.org/russia_silenced

If the law passes this week in St. Petersburg, it could quickly lead to a crushing of freedoms throughout all of Russia. Moscow, the largest city in the country, already said they were looking into passing the same law - paving the way for officials to make it national. Our friends in Russia believe that stopping the bill in St. Petersburg can derail the plan to take this law nationwide. Many around the world have been reluctant to criticize the ruling party led by President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin, but their party appointed both the mayors of Moscow and St. Petersburg and they've gone on record in support of the proposed laws.

Russia is already a dangerous place to be out and open as an lesbian, gay, bi or trans (LGBT) person. Courageous pride marchers were brutally attacked and detained by Moscow police last summer - for the simple act of holding their heads up high in public. If this bill passes, even the small victories that the LGBT movement in Russia has won will be wiped out - and pride marches, cultural festivals, and even the distribution of leaflets in the streets will be considered illegal.

Moments like this highlight exactly why we launched All Out just under a year ago: to stand with our friends around the world when they’re under attack, and to keep opportunistic governments from playing politics with fundamental rights. Please sign this urgent call, share it with your friends, and stand in solidarity with our brave friends in Russia - Coming Out, Side by Side LGBT Film Festival, and the Russian LGBT-Network - who are refusing to be silenced:

www.allout.org/russia_silenced

All the best and All Out,

Andre, Emmy, Erika, Flavia, Guillaume, Jeremy, Joseph, Nita, Oli, Tile, Wesley and the rest of the team at All Out

SOURCES:

Russian lawmakers back fines for gay 'propaganda'

www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iN30TwwunCPBtqr3Pnt0fxHgrRaQ?docId=CNG.4a103f4c12c31f010418ccb1595560e0.371

Russian's protest: detained by police

www.thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2011/11/17/371135/russians-protest-st-petersburgs-anti-gay-propaganda-law-with-lunch-plates-are-detained-by-police/

Tolerance, not gay bans

www.themoscownews.com/editorial/20111117/189213196.html

Russia's war against rainbows

www.latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/18/russias-war-against-rainbows/

Russia’s gays under attack as MPs back fines for ‘gay promotion’

en.ria.ru/analysis/20111118/168818571.html

All Out is bringing people together in every corner of the planet and of every identity - lesbian, gay, straight, transgender and all that’s between and beyond - to build a world in which everyone can live freely and be embraced for who they are.

Our mailing address is:

Purpose Foundation

224 Centre St

New York, NY 10013

Copyright © 2011 AllOut.org, All rights reserved.

Leafleting in Soho for November 30th

2011-11-19T14:16:00.000Z

I am off this evening to leaflet the LGBT venues and meeting places in Soho with 'Queers Against the Cuts' and South East Region of the TUC LGBT Group to encourage members of the LGBT community to come out and support the strike and rally on November 30th being called by the TUC and many of the anti-cuts groups. LGBT organisations are being decimated by the cuts and, despite a great deal of propaganda and spin about the pink pound, many LGBT people are also vulnerable to these savage cuts, particularly young people and disabled people along with those working in the public and voluntary sectors - not to mention the many young homeless and unemployed LGBT Londoners.

The struggle on November 30th is a struggle for all of those marginalised and attacked by this government and its supporters in the right wing press. The struggle for one is the struggle for all.

Appeal Court judge slams "murky dealings" in Southwark

2011-11-19T11:22:00.000Z

I have had not had a chance to post this as I have been busy with a myriad of things but here is a press release that was issued by my friend Raymond Stevenson at the end of last month, following his unsuccessful attempt to have his case against Southwark Council heard by the Court of Appeal. Raymond was the proprietor of the cutting edge nightclub 'Imperial Gardens' in Camberwell. I posted about this some months ago following the failure of his appeal against Southwark Council in the High Court last year - which I attended as an observer. Raymond was also a campaigner for the rights of BMER people and particularly for small black and minority owned businesses in Southwark. I supported him in his campaign in Southwark some years ago and in the 2006 local elections in Southwark, he gave me his endorsement as someone who supported the anti-racism campaign when I stood as a candidate in Camberwell Green ward, where I live.

Raymond's story is in this week's issue of 'Private Eye' magazine in the appropriately named 'rotten boroughs' section and he and his business partner Lucilla Hilton, continue to run a successful recording studio and agency for up and coming young black talent in Camberwell. Raymond was effectively shafted by both Labour and Lib Dem administrations in Southwark, and the behaviour of some council officers was deeply suspicious. It is clear that there are still many questions to be answered and the Appeal Court judge is clearly sympathetic to his case. I wish him luck with his brave and tenacious campaign for justice stretching over nearly a decade now, where many others would have given up.

PRESS RELEASE

Dated: 31.10.11

Appeal judge slams council’s ‘murky dealings’

Southwark Council ‘s “exceptionally murky dealings” have been slated by an appeal court judge.

Lord Justice Thomas was giving judgment in a case brought by the former owners of the Imperial Gardens nightclub in Camberwell, Raymond Stevenson and Lucia Hinton. It followed their high court action seeking damages for misfeasance by the council, following alleged corruption by a former planning manager.

Lord Thomas said it “involves what can only be described – and I use these words deliberately – exceptionally murky dealings in the London Borough of Southwark. I am satisfied this is a case where there would have been very, very strong evidence of mal-administration. The question is: does what happened amount to misfeasance?
“The murkiness arises from the conduct of Mr [Mark] Dennett [former area planning manager].” Outlining the background, where a planning application by Fairview Home s for a residential development was within three metres of the nightclub, Lord Thomas said he thought it was obvious that it would be incompatible.

He also said it was quite clear that no steps were taken to involve the claimants in the planning application, believing that “one of the obvious possible explanations is ... corruption”.

However, referring to the way the high court case was conducted, Lord Justice Thomas said that despite the council’s “distinct murkiness” the claimants “have to show that the action of Mr Dennett in not putting the file before the committee was deliberate misfeasance. The judge found against them on that and the allegation of corruption is disavowed.”

His lordship said he could not allow the appeal because of the findings made by the high court judge. However, he made the decision “with considerable reluctance, and underlining the fact that there appears to be a very strong case of mal-administration against the London Borough of Southwark”.
Appeals must be based on points of law, and not a re-examination of facts already decided by the trial judge. However, there was no mention on the £500,000 offer made by former council leader Nick Stanton, despite two council representatives confirming that it was made in their presence. Only Stanton said it had not occurred.

Raymond Stevenson commented following the judgment (full copy attached) that Lord Thomas’s views about Southwark were damning. “In particular, it shows the weakness of the decision by the local government ombudsman in accepting the council’s arguments that the flats would have been given permission had all the information been available. Lord Justice Thomas refuted that assertion.”

Stevenson believes that “numerous council officers attempted to mask their behavior in a deliberate and dishonest way”. He also compared his case with Southwark’s recent decision not to approve an application for flats to be built 60 metres from the Ministry of Sound nightclub at Elephant & Castle.

“Even though we believe the MOS outcome is correct, what is clearly of concern is that black businesses are not afforded the same protection. Who are we to suggest that Southwark Council only considers businesses relevant if they are run by white corporations with deep pockets?”

He also recalled that Lord Herman Ouseley’s inquiry in 2005 highlighted discriminative treatment by the council in regard to Imperial Gardens. “We have always believed that part of the council’s motivation for treating us this way was due to its consistent discrimination against black businesses in the borough.”

Stevenson also referred to his company’s huge success in producing the anti-gun crime film Don’t Trigger for the Home Office, and in developing the talent of singer Jessie J. He believes that had Imperial Gardens continued as a talent factory, many more young people could have found fame and fortune.

For further information: 0207 701 9950/ 07956101387

Patients Forum for the London Ambulance Service - Equality Delivery Systems for the NHS in London

2011-11-11T11:43:00.000Z

I missed last month's meeting of the London Ambulance Service Patients Forum as I was on holiday in the US and it was on the subject of Healthwatch, the new bodies being set up to replace LINKs (Local Involvement Networks) which are the principal bodies for public and patient involvement in the NHS. This month we are looking at the issue of equalities - an issue which has been close to the Forum for a very long time - and which regular readers of this blog will know has caused some friction in the past with the London Ambulance Service. The Forum continues to push hard for an improvement in the represention of BME workers in the LAS, particularly among front line staff - paramedics etc. The main presentation at Monday night's meeting will be by Mary Clarke, one of the people leading the equalities team in the NHS in London. This is a public meeting and I will be chairing it.

Mary Clarke CBE, Associate Chief Nurse and Lead for Equalities NHS London

Equality Delivery Systems for NHS London - Goals and Outcomes

Monday, November 14th 5.30pm to 7.30pm

London Ambulance Service HQ Conference Room

220 Waterloo Road, London SE1

Refresments available

BSL Signers will be available

Nearest Tube: Waterloo Nearest Rail: Waterloo East

Feed the World without destroying the planet - Socialist Resistance/Green Left Seminar

2011-11-09T08:45:00.000Z

Feed the world without destroying the planet

Saturday 12 November, University of London Union, Malet Street

Seminar organised by Socialist Resistance and Green Left

Agenda

10.30 Registration

11.00-1.30 Introductory plenary with Graciela Romero (War on Want), Rehad Desai (South African Climate activist), Pierre Rousset (NPA, European and Asian Socialist Forums)

Maria Pampilo (Conzarrd, Philippines) Room 3E

1.30-2.30 Lunch

2.30-4.00 Workshops

Land Rights not Land Grabs Deepak Rughani (Biofuelwatch), Pierre Rousset Room 3E

Women and Food Sovereignty Maria Pampilo, Terry Conway (Socialist Resistance) Room 2A

Agribusiness and the supermarkets Derek Wall (Green Left) Room 2B

Climate Change and Food Sovereignty Room 2B Rehad Desai , Jamie Moloney (Socialist Resistance) Room 2C

4.00 Final Plenary Derek Wall, Terry Conway, Maria Pampilo Room 2E

You have the prisons and the newspapers - Eisler Song

2011-11-07T13:45:00.000Z

The wonderful Nina Hagen sings the lyrics of Brecht and the music of Hans Eisler. A song for our times. The lyrics state that the poweful have prisons, press, police etc but what good will it do them in the end? An ode for all those protesting for justice against power and wealth.

Euro Chaos and the Crisis of Capitalism

2011-11-07T13:08:00.000Z

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=7544

After witnessing the failed G20 Summit in Cannes and the barefaced way in which Merkel and Sarkozy bullied the Greek Prime Minister in submission,when he had the temerity to suggest that the Greek people might have the democratic wish to vote on a package which will saddle them with debt for decades to come - here is the economist Leo Panitch on the historical and economic significance of what is happening in the Eurozone and in the EU.

Pannitch's views are sobering enough but are reinforced by a report that the Far Right is growing across Europe. Dangerous and challenging times for the Left and the progressive movement in Europe.

Letter in Friday's Guardian about the BBC's treatment of welfare issues

2011-10-31T13:45:00.000Z

We are outraged that the BBC is joining the propaganda war aimed at destroying the welfare state, Britain's most civilised and civilising legacy (Last night's TV, G2, 28 October). In the 1940s, after years of depression and slaughter, working-class people who had sacrificed so much felt entitled to a life without the constant threat of war and poverty. Family allowance, income support, unemployment and housing benefits, disability benefits, a state pension, the NHS and free education have assumed that everyone contributed and deserved to be looked after "from the cradle to the grave".

Entitlement fostered not only dignity and respect, but decent wages and working conditions for those in work. Since 1979, Thatcher's love for the free market and her hatred for "the culture of entitlement" has determined social policy. We are now all expected to chase nonexistent jobs or work for our benefits, ie £1.63 an hour; sick and disabled people are found "fit for work" even despite terminal illnesses; older people have had their pensions postponed because living "too long" is a crisis; the vital work of mothers and other carers is disregarded and dismissed. The minimum wage is bypassed and we all stand to lose. Why should corporations pay a living wage if they can get claimants and prisoners to work without one?

We are expected to compete with Chinese workers, 600,000 of whom drop dead from overwork every year. Is that what we should aspire to? The Chinese, like the rest of us, are demanding better wages and working conditions – and the welfare state is part of that. Haven't they noticed people are getting together internationally to raise everyone's standards, not to lower them? The fight is on for the society Thatcher said did not exist.

Selma James Global Women's Strike

John McDonnell, MP

Mark Serwotka General secretary, PCS

Bob Crow General secretary, RMT

Nina López Legal Action for Women

Kim Sparrow Single Mothers' Self-Defence

Claire Glasman WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities)

Marie Lynam Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group

Prof Peter Beresford Chair, Shaping Our Lives

Noel Lynch Chair, London Green Party

Dave Skull Mad Pride

Johnny Void Benefit Claimants Fightback

Sam Weinstein Member of Utility Workers Union of America

Alan Wheatley Green Party Trade Union Group

Joanna Long Boycott Workfare

Anne-Marie O'Reilly London Coalition Against Poverty

Major Irish comedian comes out on TV

2011-10-31T13:05:00.000Z

Oliver Callan, satirist and impersonator, facing charges of homophobia, comes out on Irish national television and does a wonderful impression of the Irish presidential candidate, Senator David Norris. Congrats to Oliver for coming out publicly and it shows the way that LGBT issues can now be addressed openly in modern Ireland.

I Am Not Moving - An Occupy Walll St Remix

2011-10-24T13:23:00.000+01:00

Here YouTube filmmaker Corey Ogilvie combines news footage of Obama Administration officials praising the Arab Spring uprisings (in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt) with citizen-shot video of police in New York City brutally attacking Occupy Wall Street demonstrators. The juxtaposition provides an instant, powerful and striking indictment of the deep hypocrisy in the words of both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the President of the United States. Obama Administration officials might try taking their own advice once in a while.

The Irish Post rises again

2011-10-24T11:53:00.000+01:00

Just when it seemed that the Irish Post, the long time newspaper for the Irish community living in England, Wales and Scotland was down and out, news has arrived that it has been given a new lease of life. The owner of Loot magazine has stepped in and saved it. Recognition must be given to the efforts of the campaigning journalist Paul Donovan, who writes for the Post, as well as a number of MPs and others who raised an Early Day Motion on the issue and also established a campaign group. My fellow Green and candidate for the London Assembly, Noel Lynch, also played a role in the campaign.

The return of The Post will be welcomed by the Irish community in Britaiin, which still remains one of the largest ethnic minority groups in Britain, and particularly in London.

London Ambulance Service Patients Forum News

2011-09-23T11:50:00.000+01:00

Last week, hot off the train from the Green Party conference in Sheffield, I arrived at the monthly public meeting of the LAS Patients Forum in the London Ambulance Service HQ in Waterloo. We had a very interesting presentation from Jason Killens of the LAS on how the LAS has responded to the recommendations of the 7/7 Inquest on the London bombings. We also had a presentation from Steve West of the Association of Chief Executives of Ambulance Services on proposals to change the prioritisation of calls to ambulance services. We are responding to this as a Forum.

At the AGM which followed the meeting I was re-elected Chair of the Forum for another year, so am now entering my second year as Chair of the Forum. This month is a very busy time for the Forum with the AGM of the London Ambulance Service in Guy's Hospital next Tuesday afternoon and also another meeting of the LAS Trust Board on the same morning. Unfortunately I am going to miss both as I am going away on holiday from next Monday for 3 weeks and will be out of the country.

On the subject of the LAS Trust Board, there was good news at last month's Board meeting that the Trust has a new Non-Executive Director, Murziline Parchment, who is a well known black lawyer and activist who used to work for Ken Livingstone's administration and is now also an adviser to Lutfur Rahman, the Mayor of Tower Hamlets. The Patients Forum has welcomed Ms Parchment's appointment and is very happy to see a representative of London's black and minority ethnic community on the Board of the LAS. The Forum hopes to meet Ms Parchment at some stage in the near future.

The AGM of the LAS is a public meeting and is always interesting to find out what the LAS has been doing over the last year - always an interesting account for probably the world's largest ambulance service.

Here is the agenda for the AGM and I hope that turnout is good - many Forum members will be there. I am also going to miss next month's Patients Forum meeting on October 10th which will be on the subject of mental health - a very important issue in London for the ambulance service.

LONDON AMBULANCE SERVICE NHS TRUST

THE FIFTEENTH ANNUAL PUBLIC MEETING OF THE

TRUST

2.00pm on Tuesday, 27th September 2011 Robens Suite, 29th Floor, Guys Tower, Guys Hospital,
London SE1 9RT

AGENDA

1. Apologies for absence.

2. Minutes of the Annual Public Meeting held on 28th

September 2010

3. Welcome from Richard Hunt CBE, Chairman of the

London Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

4. The 2010/11 Annual Report will be presented by

Peter Bradley, Chief Executive of the London

Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

5. Presentation of the 2010/11 Annual Accounts by

Michael Dinan, Director of Finance of the London

Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

6. Presentation of the 2010/11 Quality Account by

Steve Lennox, Director of Health Promotion & Quality

of the London Ambulance Service.

7. Questions from members of the public.

The meeting will formally close at 3.30 pm

Executive Office

Headquarters

220 Waterloo Road

London

SE1 8SD

September 2011

We are writing to invite you to our Annual Public Meeting at 2.00pm on Tuesday, 27th September 2011, in the Robens Suite, 29th Floor, Guys Tower, Guys Hospital, London SE1 9RT.

At the Annual Public meeting, members of the Trust Board will provide an overview of the year and present the accounts and there will be an opportunity for those attending to ask questions of, and share their views with, the Trust Board. The 2010/11 Annual Report is available at:

http://www.londonambulance.nhs.uk/about_us/publications.aspx ..

Light refreshments (tea, coffee and biscuits) will be served from 1.30pm and the Annual Public Meeting will commence at 2.00pm and is expected to finish by 3.30pm. A map is attached for your convenience. The nearest British Rail and underground station is London Bridge.

We do hope you will be able to join us.

Yours sincerely

Richard Hunt

Chairman

Demonstrating for Palestine last night outside Downing Street

2011-09-22T12:26:00.000+01:00

http://www.demotix.com/news/839669/pro-palestinian-demonstration-outside-downing-street

Photos from last night's demo in support of the recogntion of Palestine outside Downing St. Several Greens, including Shahrar Ali, Peter Tatchell and I were present and the meeting was addressed by, among others, the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, Jeremy Corbyn MP, and representatives of UNITE and UNISON.

The orthodox Jews who were with us were the recipients of some real abuse from those attending the nearby pro-Israel demo but stood their ground. The meeting was also told that the Labour Party had now voted to recognise the state of Palestine.

The vote in the UN is tomorrow.

A new era opens in the Middle East - Palestine rises from the ashes.

2011-09-20T21:20:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow night I will be demonstrating outside Downing Street along with Stop the War Coalition for the recognition of the state of Palestine. This is long overdue and whatever happens at the UN, as the excellent Robert Fisk points out in this article, everything is changed in the Middle East. Israel, by it intransigence and continuing setttlement policy, has lost the support of much of the world. The stock of the Palestinians by contrast is rising. Long live a free and independent Palestine!

The costs of the Afghan War ten years on

2011-09-16T09:45:00.000+01:00

I was staffing the Stop the War Coalition stall at the Green Party conference last Saturday but there were no motions or fringes at this conference about the wars which Britain is currently involved in, unlike the spring conference in Cardiff. However, as this brilliant film points out, it is essential to view these costs in the light of the massive cuts being experienced by some of the most vulnerable people in the UK and the destruction of the public services and growing unemployment.

I hope that as many people as possible will turn out to protest against this war and call for its end on October 8th in London.

'They Shall Not Pass' - A poem against Fascism and the EDL

2011-09-05T10:38:00.000+01:00

I was unable to go to the anti-Fascist demo on Saturday when the EDL threatened to try and march through Tower Hamlets. Friends of mine were there and stated that the EDL turnout was quite low and that they were heavily outnumbered by anti-Fascists. All of this brings back memories of the the battle for Cable Street in the 30s and the defeat of Moseley's Blackshirts by the people of the East End, many of whom were Jewish.

The poet Michael Rosen read his poem about this at the rally on Saturday and it is a poweful piece drawing the parallels with the rise of Fascism then and now and the spirit of resistance to it.

The death of the Irish Post

2011-09-02T11:28:00.000+01:00

One of the main papers of the Irish in Britain, the Irish Post, has recently closed down. This article by Paul O’Donovan is appearing in today’s Press Gazette. I agree with the importance of the points raised. I published articles in the paper about the need to vote against the BNP when I was a European election candidate in 2009 and also more recently on other issues when I was a general election candidate in Vauxhall.

Can the Irish Post be saved?

It is almost 18 months to the day since the great and the good of the Irish community sat down for a celebratory meal to mark the 40th anniversary of the Irish Post. Now,Thomas Crosbie Holdings, the owners of the Irish Post, have announced that it will cease trading, with the loss of 12 jobs. So what went wrong?

The Irish Post was founded in 1970 by journalist Breandan MacLua and accountant Tony Beatty. It was the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland which had by then extended to Britain. Irish living in England, Scotland and Wales felt part of a suspect community, every time a bomb went off in Britain eyes seemed to turn to those people of Irish descent, staffing the hospitals, working in the schools and building the roads. The British establishment media ran government propaganda about the Troubles, two feuding tribes with the army trying to keep the peace between them. The Irish community needed a voice.

It was the Irish Post that came to provide that voice under the stewardship of Brendan MacLua and later editor Donal Mooney. The staff worked hard to bring out a high quality product that gave the Irish a voice. It told the truth of what was going on in the north of Ireland and campaigned relentlessly on injustices such as the Birmingham Six, Judy Ward and the Guildford Four. Later it played a significant role in bringing to wider attention cases like those of John Mathews, who would otherwise have become the new miscarriage of justice victims. The paper also covered other aspects of the community, the cultural side with events like Irish dance,the language, poetry and sport. There were other needs like those of the elderly, the homeless and prisoners. The Irish were strong in the trade union and labour movements - this was reflected in the paper. The Irish Post worked, it performed a public service and turned a healthy profit.

The paper continued to prosper. Somewhat ironically it was the ending of the Troubles that spelled some problems. The Troubles meant that events in the north of Ireland dominated much of the national news agenda over 30 years.

They transported what was otherwise, for the British media, a regional backwater to become the dominant national news story. As peace took hold, news from the north subsided to regional status as far as the national media were concerned. It also provided less of a focus for the Irish Post.

The paper adjusted covering much news from the Republic, as well as focusing on more peaceful matters in Britain. The paper continued to campaign, covering the deaths of Irish prisoners in Brixton prison and surprisingly for some the abuse of British soldiers in barracks. The deaths at Deepcut and other barracks featured early in the pages of the paper.

The readership, though ageing, remained loyal. Executives at the paper looked to draw in the new generation of younger Irish emigrants coming to work in Britain. This was a difficult ground for the Irish Post to crack, it did not seem a natural buy for this computer literate generation.

A big break came with Ken Livingstone's election as Mayor of London.

Livingstone had always been loyal to the Irish community, playing his own part in the past at exposing injustices. So when elected, he introduced the St Patrick's Day parade in London. The Irish Post under new editor Norah Casey became a key player, gaining much needed public profile. The event has grown and the Irish Post prospered from the association.

The ownership of the paper has changed hands twice, first being bought by Jefferson Smurfitt and then by Thomas Crosbie Holdings for £1.3 million in 2003. Sadly, sales have been on the decline, going from around 30,000 a decade ago to around 17,000 today.

The paper though has continued to serve the community, providing a cohesion and space for its issues. The paper championed the Federation of Irish Societies (FIS) campaign to get the Irish to register for the census earlier this year. A couple of years ago the paper gave much coverage to the dangers to the Irish of proposals effecting British citizenship. The paper has provided one of the few fair voices on the plight of Irish travellers and prisoners.

There have been problems. There has been a tendency at time to duplicate the role of papers like the Irish Times and Independent, producing Irish news for the Irish in Britain. Why would they buy the Post to get what was available elsewhere, the niche always has to be the affairs of the Irish in Britain and how they relate to the mother country.

The steady hand of a McLua or Mooney has clearly been seen lacking in coverage of issues like the Catholic Church and the relationship with the British Crown. There seems to be something of an identity crisis at the paper regarding these issues, but then that maybe true of the Irish generally so in a sense again the paper is only reflecting its constituency.

What is certain is that there should be a future for the newspaper. There would be some restructuring required, moving out of the expensive rented accommodation in Hammersmith to a more humble abode. Maybe some sharing of other functions with similar players in the field. There will also need to be a recognition of who the readership are and what the paper is for. The readership is ageing but surely the money of a 65 year old is just as good as that of the 25 year old?

A group led by the Federation of Irish Societies and made up of Irish Post management and staff members and supporters in the wider Irish community is now seeking to save the paper. “The Federation of Irish Societies will do all we can to defend our community interest in the Irish Post; contributing to drawing up a realistic rescue plan and seek potential backers from the business community. In this, we will work with and seek support from the Irish Embassy, members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Irish in Britain and politicians throughout the Irish Diaspora,” said Jennie McShannon, chief executive of the Irish Post.

The loss of the Irish Post would represent a sad day. The Irish make up the second largest ethnic minority group in the UK today, and as the past teaches they need a voice for their issues. Let’s hope that the ongoing effort to save this once great institution prove successful so that that voice is not lost forever.

* For more information see www.irishinbritain.org

The Trial of Andrew Lansley

2011-09-01T09:49:00.000+01:00

An important demonstration coming up on Wednesday next to defend the NHS and stop the wholesale privatisatio of one of the UK's most loved public services. "24 hours to save the NHS" - remember that slogan in the 1997 election which brought New Labour and Blair to power. The process of piecemeal privatisation continued under Labour and now the Tories intend to deliver the coup de grace. Recent legal opinion from 38 degrees shows that there will be no impediment to wholesale privatisation under the terms of this Bill. I will be there and hope many others will be too. The protest is being badged as 'The trial of Andrew Lansley'.

Wednesday 7thSeptember

Action to mark the Third Reading of the Health & Social Care Bill.

6.30 pm Demonstration assembling at St Thomas’ Hospital; Called by UNITE the Union, KONP, Health Workers Network, Right to Work

9.30 pm Torchlight vigil for the NHS at Houses of Parliament (More information at the ‘Join the vigil for the NHS’ website.) Called by UNISON and the TUC.

Green Party Trade Union Group Fundraising Quiz this Wednesday

2011-08-27T15:44:00.000+01:00

FUNDRAISING QUIZ:

GPTU Group are hosting a fundraising quiz on this coming Wednesday, August 31st. 7.30pm at Development House, Leonard Street (next to Old Street Tube) Admission £5 (£3 benefits etc). Expect a great night with fascinating, unusual and amusing questions. It is also the birthday of a prominent GPTU activist, so expect several toasts:-) By-the-way, you have to bring your own drink (there is an off-license by the tube - exit 4)

Ring quizmaster, Noel Lynch, for further details 07961 44 1722.

US hypocrisy over Libya and the role of NATO in Libya

2011-08-25T09:18:00.000+01:00

Have not blogged for a week, having been in Dublin and busy seeing family and friends there, plus being very busy at work on my return. However, like everyone else I have been following events in Libya closely since the weekend. As the Green Party's representative on Stop the War Coalition, I stand by the statement which the Coalition released on Libya a few days ago.

I also totally agree with the excellent Seamus Milne's article in the Guardian yesterday re the significance of the NATO involvement in Libya.

And today comes some fascinating news from the ever reliable Wikileaks around the shenanigans of the warmongering Senator Mc Cain and his links with the Libyan regime. I am sure that the spooks from CIA and MI5 will be busily shredding any incriminating documents found in the Gaddafi compounds.

Off to Dublin!

2011-08-17T20:06:00.000+01:00

I am tryng to get unfinished business completed in the middle of also working this week as I am off to Dublin tomorrow for a few days. I wrote a short article today for 'The Watermelon' the newsletter of Green Left which will be available at the Green Party conference in Sheffield next month. I also completed some fliers for the next meeting of the London Ambulance Service Patients Forum which will meet on September 12th and will be discussing how the London Ambulance Service has responded to the recommendations of the 7/7 bombing inquest.

I also met Chris Levick from the Small Parties Unit of the Westminster Fund for Democracy on Monday to discuss progressing the Moldova project which we kicked off with our visit to Moldova in late June. We are now looking for several Green Party councillors to travel to Moldova over the next few months to meet elected Green councillors there. And I also attended the London Federation of Green Parties meeting on Monday night where I was re-elected as the party's delegate to the Stop the War Coalition and thanked for my efforts there over the last two years.

I am off to Dublin for a few days to visit my brothers and see some of my good friends there. It is the city of my birth and where I spent most of the first 25 years of my life and I always enjoying returning there. I am going to go and visit a small museum in Dublin Castle which I have not yet managed to get to - the Irish Police Museum, which recounts the history of both the first police force in the world, the RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) formed in 1822 as a paramilitary police force to control the restive Irish and the police force of the new independent Ireland, formed in 1922, where my grand uncle was one of the first commanders.

I am also hoping to go to a theatrical performance in the Irish Writers Centre based around the wit of Dublin writers from Shaw to Beckett. The spirit and wit of Dublin is always infectious and " the gift of the gab"as the Irish call it, is never in short supply.

For a feel of the city's spirit here are 'The Dubliners' with a classic Dublin ballad 'Finnegan's Wake'. Looking forward to sampling the Guinness and the craic!

ATOS Medical Services - A Dickensian Tale

2011-08-15T15:02:00.000+01:00

The news that ATOS Medical Services doctors are threatened with being struck off by the General Medical Council should surprise nobody. Disabled people and disability organisations have for some time being warning about this organisation and the draconian powers, not to mention the vast amounts of money, which it has been handed by this government over the lives of disabled people. It would be interesting to find out if it is a donor to the Conservative party.

It is already carrying out appalling tests on all those people living on Incapacity Benefit and there have been lurid headlines in the tabloids trumpeting the fact that their tests have found a large percentage of those being put throught the process ineligible. Terms such as "workshy" and "scroungers" have been bandied about with callous and wanton abandon. The next group of people to be handed over to the tender mercies of this piratical outfit are those on Disability Living Allowance - they will be handed over to ATOS in 2013, after which we can expect thousands more disabled people to be thrown into penury and more headlines screaming about "benefit cheats" etc.

Truly it is worth reflecting in this the year of the bicentenary of the birth of that great writer and humanist, Charles Dickens, that the same turgid and loathsome views which he used his pen and all his wit to protest against, are still abroad and nowhere more than in the minds of members of the current government such as Ian Duncan Smith. What would the great scribe have thought of those intellectual descendants of Mr Bumble and Uriah Heep? The poor must be made to suffer and the indigent and disabled should go to their beds at night feeling crushed and in a constant state of fear and hysteria about their future. Such is the world being planned for us by these sanctimonious politicians and their Blue Labour counterparts. Was there ever a more obnoxious and festering hypocrite as James Purnell the architect of the Welfare Reform Bill who now masquerades as a social reformer. Many of these characters have truly Victorian attributes and Dickens would have seen through them in a flash.

As Mr Bumble, the Parish Beadle says in Oliver Twist:

""Out-of-door relief, properly managed,-- properly managed, ma’am,-- is the porochial safe-guard. The great principle of out-of-door relief is to give the paupers exactly what they don’t want, and then they get tired of coming."

A quote which would fit snugly with the attitudes of Messrs Duncan Smith and Osborne regarding the poor and disabled in this country.

A profoundly moving play - 'The Beauty Queen of Leenane'

2011-08-12T11:25:00.000+01:00

I firmly believe that those involved in politics or in any attempt to change society should always have a connection to culture. In my case I have tried my hand at poetry and gave several public poetry readings in my younger days. I also tried writing plays and had a one act play performed at a theatre in London. Being a Dubliner I also have always had a strong connection with literature and the theatre. Dublin is after all the city of Joyce, Shaw, Wilde and Beckett as well as a host of other writers.

I had wanted for some time to see the Irish writer Martin Mc Donagh's play 'The Beauty Queen of Leenane' which is currently running at the Young Vic theatre in London. Last year I tried for tickets but all performances were booked out. The play has already toured Broadway, London and, of course, the main theatres in Ireland such as the Abbey (Ireland's national theatre) in Dublin. Everywhere it has received rave reviews and I was really desperate to see it. As luck would have it the charity I work for received some free tickets for carers and a trip to the Young Vic was organised. At the last minute some tickets were left free and I was able to go and see the play, which I did on Wednesday.

It was appropriate that the carers group went to see the play for the play deals essentially with the role of a carer and her mother. The daughter (who is the beauty queen) and her mother live in a remote rural area of Connemara on the west coast of Ireland. I would imagine that the play is set in the 1980s for it seems an Ireland which predates the Celtic Tiger years. The mother who claims to be ill and unable to look after herself is scheming, selfish and manipulative and is one of the most unsympathetic characters imaginable. The daughter who is already 40 sees herself trapped forever alone with her mother with no emotional life outside of this smothering relationship. Suddenly a means of escape appears in the person of neighbour's son who is working on the building sites in London but comes back to the village on holiday. The play revolves around the mother's attempt to smash the relationship and to ensure that the daughter will remain with her until her death.

But the play also deals with issues common to many Irish writers and which still impinge deeply on the consciousness and memory of Irish people. These include emigration and social isolation in the new country, images of Britain and America, the grinding loneliness and isolation in rural areas and the innate conservatism, along with expectations on daughters especially to care for elderly parents, as well as mental illness which often results from such conditions. All of these are dealt with in both a profoundly moving as well as a somtimes comical manner and there are some great one liners and ripostes in the play. Not for nothing has this been described as one of the best contemporary Irish plays. The ending is both shocking and heart rending and I would recommend anyone who can, particularly anyone with an interest in Ireland, to go and see it.

I include here a trailer for the play from a production at the Lyceum Theater in Edinburgh. The Young Vic production has a different cast and the mother is played by the fantastic actress, Rosaleen Linehan.

Riots, Recession, Resistance - Public Meeting on Thursday night

2011-08-09T17:16:00.000+01:00

Riots, Recession, Resistance

Public meeting

7pm, Thursday 11 August,

University of London Union,

Malet Street, WC1E 7HY

Speakers include:

John McDonnell MP, Lee Jasper Black Activists Rising Against Cuts, Symeon Brown Youth Worker in Tottenham and SOAS Black Students Officer 2009, Andrew Murray Unite the union, Clare Solomon Springtime: The New Student Rebellion, Zita Holbourne Black Activists Rising Against Cuts, Viv Ahmun Black Men in the Community, Josie Fraser mother of Demetre Fraser death in custody, Merlin Emmanuel nephew of Smiley Culture, Aaron Kiely NUS BLack Students Committee

Riots spread in a matter of hours across the country for the third night in a row. This, although sparked by the death of Mark Duggan by police, has been building up for many months. Brutal austerity measures, spending cuts to every public service, rising unemployment, attacks on education, police tactics on demonstrations and the increased use of stop and search has meant that anger towards this government has heated up to boiling point.

It's no surprise events have played out like they have. The government cannot continue with their spending cuts and expect people to sit back and take it. In fact even Nick Clegg predicted riots if Cameron's planned spending cuts took place! Click here to watch video.

Coalition of Resistance along with Black Activists Rising Against the Cuts have organised a public meeting to discuss the connection between recession and the riots and what we can do about it.

Please spread the word about this important meeting. Click here for the Facebook event.

Statement on riots from London Ambulance Service Patients Forum

2011-08-09T08:59:00.000+01:00

I have sent the following statement this morning to the London Ambulance Service on behalf of the London Ambulance Service Patients Forum. There are many reasons for what is happening in London and these need to be analysed but presently the lives of people and their homes are being put at risk and the situation needs to be brought under control urgently.

Statement from London Ambulance Service Patients Forum

Please convey our support as the Patients Forum to all LAS staff who have put their lives and safety at risk last night and over the last few nights to try and serve members of the public in London. The reports of LAS staff being threatened are particularly concerning. I would be grateful if you could give them the Forum’s support and appreciation for their hard work for all of London’s communities.

Best regards

Dr Joseph Healy

Patients Forum Chair