Another Islington connection for Kate Middelton!
I blogged before about her mother’s forebears on Popham Street.
Now the Telegraph reports that another ancestor, on her father’s side, was in Holloway prison.
Not to be confused with Royal Holloway…
Archive for March, 2009
Regent’s Canal
Earlier today I was delivering leaflets and chatting to old friends in a rather chilly Barnsbury.
Now the spring sunshine is out again just as I’m back in the office, filtering my EARS (don’t ask).
But there’s a wonderful touch of online Spring with this blogpost from Urban Legends about the Regent’s Canal.
And if you want to experience the real thing, there’s a Towpath Tidy along the canalside this weekend, organised by British Waterways.
Pitta and politics
On Wednesday night I was heading up the Holloway Road on the world’s slowest bus (thank you blue car parked in the bus lane) for our Pizza Pitta and Politics evening.
Each month Islington Lib Dems have a Pizza & Politics event where we discuss politics and, er, eat pizza. This month’s was a bit different – a Pitta & Politics evening, joint with the (Holloway-based) Dialogue Society, with yours truly in the chair. Our topic was how you tackle violent extremism in a liberal society.
I still remember where I was on 9/11 and 7/7 and the sense of panic, horror and anger as the news came in. Islington is a highly diverse borough, and we lost more of our citizens and workers in the 7/7 attacks than any other individual borough, so these issues affect our area deeply.
I was incredibly proud of the reaction of ordinary Londoners and the emergency services to the attacks. But I’m not proud of everything our Government has done since, from appearing to endorse torture flights to undermining the same rights that the terrorists want to destroy.
Tackling extremism is something on which the Dialogue Society, formed by 2nd generation British-Turkish Muslims, has done a lot of work. It was an unexpectedly topical topic, because among all the revelations about MPs expenses (how many homes do you need to be in the Home Office?), Jacqui Smith has just launched the second round of Contest, the Government’s anti-extremism strategy.
Dialogue’s concern is that in attacking the minority of extremists head-on only serves to polarise them more, by casting them as ‘the other’. Young people like to join groups that are supportive yet seem subversive: most are harmless, some are not. Bigging them up only glamourises them. And at the same time it gives negative images of Islam to the rest of us, which make a bad situation worse. Dialogue prefer to promote the positive tenets of mainstream Islam – peace and justice – both to Muslims and to non-Muslims, achieving what they call ‘de-radicalisation by default’. Instead of talking up extremism, you starve it.
We certainly did not starve – fantastic Turkish food, and food for thought from our speakers; Dialogue director Ozcan Keles, Meral Ece OBE and leading MEP candidate, and international academic Jonathan Fryer. Meral reminded us that challenging extremism is everyone’s responsibility and that only a tiny handful of Muslims are extremists. Yet it’s the 20 demonstraters in Luton who make the headlines, not the peaceful majority. Instead of the 4 Ps of the Government strategy, Jonathan proposed an Ode: outreach, dialogue and engagement. We even had Simon Hughes on a video link from Westminster.
We were enthused by how much of an agenda liberal Muslims and Liberal Democrats have in common, from defending free speech to encouraging democratic engagement – and challenging the stereotype that we’re both full of men with beards.
Next steps include mentoring future council candidates (provoking puns about Young Turks) and future events with the Dialogue Society, with the help of the Liberal Democrat Friends of Turkey.
Fawcett March meeting
We had the March meeting of the North London Fawcett Group last night.
I arrived in a rush from a day working in Chesham, looking for the venue, a community centre in Ossulton Street NW1. On the way from Euston, I passed two sites that reflect Fawcett’s interests; the former home of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson women’s hospital – and ‘Secrets’, a lap-dancing club. Not my destination.
Nor, it turned out, was the first community centre on Ossulton Street. The Somers Town community centre was hosting a pensioners’ choir, which looked fun, but not what I was after. Back across the street, and there was our meeting in the Ossulton estate hall. Intriguingly it had a pile of skipping ropes in one corner, but we resisted temptation.
We’re lobbying the Mayor of London to fulfil his pledge to provide more Rape Crisis Centres for London. And we also talked about marking the 250th birthday of Mary Woolstonecraft (aka Mary the mother of feminism) who is buried in nearby St Pancras churchyard.
Details will be on the group’s website in due course.
Fuel poverty campaign in the Gazette
The Islington Gazette has published my letter on the Fuel Poverty Bill – and Emily Thornberry’s shocking failure to vote.
Let there be (energy-efficient) light
Good news from Monday’s church council meeting.
Our church has adopted eco-congregation status and as part of this we got an energy audit done. Traditional church buildings are a nightmare to heat in an environmentally conscious way. In fact, they are a nightmare to heat full stop. High ceilings, big windows, and sometimes only used for a few hours a week. Our energy audit came up with lots of proposals: from lagging the roof space to replacing all the lights, converting the heating and installing solar panels.
And now Islington Council’s climate change fund has awarded us a grant towards the cost of the solar panels and the new lights, and advice on getting help with the rest. So often people have good ideas for going green, but just don’t have the capital to hand to make that investment. Islington’s climate change fund is a fantastic initiative and I hope other local groups will be encouraged to apply as well.
Several people on the church council are among those who gave up our £20 direct debit discount in order to boost the Climate Change fund. So we’re delighted by this kind of recycling!
Thank you for sharing
NHS cervical cancer screening is one of those rights I’m keen women should have, less keen to exercise myself.
But when my latest reminder arrived, I phoned within minutes and had my checkup within the week. Why? Well partly because of Jade Goody. Her openness about her terminal illness showed better than any public health campaign that cervical cancer is real and can kill if you don’t get checked regularly.
Choosing to share information about your health can help others: but sharing people’s health information without their permission can do the opposite. A new report from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust has found that women are not seeking help for post-natal depression from their GPs, because they are afraid the information will be shared with social services and they will be labelled bad mothers.
Talking of labelling, I’m now apparently a terrorist suspect because as a non-meat eater, I order vegetarian meals when I fly. (Vegetarian not vegan: I had one particularly grim airline breakfast of a rice cracker and some nauseating soya milk, while Richard tucked into egg, bacon and yoghurt next to me). Doubly-suspicious if you are born abroad, which makes Joanna Lumley public enemy number 1.
If you agree with me that this is barmy, there’s a Facebook group you can join here.
McNulty put to shame
I’d not realised quite what a heroic figure my cousin Simon is.
When we were all children, as the oldest and cleverest cousin, he was the one who made us all laugh with his commentary on slide shows of holiday photos (we’re talking family gatherings 70s style) and patiently let smaller relatives chase him about.
Our grandfather was from Finsbury and our grandmother from Holloway, but they later moved out to the Harrow area, and now Simon lives in Harrow too.
He works in Westminster, like local MP Tony McNulty. Unlike Mr McNulty, he commutes in and out every day. Like Mr McNulty, Simon has parents who also live in the Harrow area. But, unlike Mr McNulty, Simon claims no public money for their home.
Mr McNulty’s office insists that he has done nothing wrong. I hadn’t realised that the daily journey from central London to Harrow was so long and traumatic that it entitled MPs to a second homes allowance. But what moves me even more than Simon’s heroism is his modesty. When asked about his extraordinary journey, he simply says that thousands do the same every day.
Tribune picks up our crossings campaign
Good coverage in the Islington Tribune for our crossings campaign.
Some roads already have the green man on for barely 5 seconds, which is bad enough, without Boris threatening to reduce it further.
Thornberry’s indifference helps kill Fuel Poverty Bill
If your MP could help pass a Bill in Parliament which could save lives, help the poorest people in Britain, help in the fight against climate change, and what’s more create jobs in a recession, don’t you think that would be worthwhile?
I do, and that’s why I backed the Fuel Poverty Bill introduced by Liberal Democrat MP David Heath.
With the spring weather we may forget the tragedy that 20,000 people needlessly die from the cold each year, and many more become ill. Fuel prices have more than doubled over the last five years. Many homes are poorly insulated so that energy is wasted.
The Fuel Poverty Bill would end fuel poverty by 2016 by bringing all homes up to standard and cutting fuel bills for the poorest families. It would mean fewer people face illness or death from cold and damp. It would help to reduce the wastage of energy which contributes to climate change. And it would produce work for thousands of people when we desperately need it.
The Bill has been backed by many major charities, including Help the Aged and Friends of the Earth. I want to thank all the Islington residents who signed my petition supporting the Bill. I would have voted for the Bill, and I congratulate MPs from all parties who did so.
Sadly I have to report that despite their hard work, the Bill will not go forward, because it just missed getting the 100 votes needed.
I am totally disgusted with Emily Thornberry, the Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, who once again did not bother to vote.
This comes after she failed to vote on Heathrow or on knife crime, she voted in favour of Post Office closures, against tax cuts, and against more money for social housing in Islington.
It is a disgraceful record.
