I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back

How Puny The Olympic 2012 'Legacy' Looks

Going on the basis that politicians usually exaggerate, and that the reality is eventually somewhat different from rosy predictions, take a look at the text of the leaflet the London Mayor has delivered to homes in Hackney this week.

Point 7 of Boris Johnson's leaflet is headed "Ensuring a true Olympic legacy - 11,000 new homes and 10,000 new jobs". That is underwhelming - Hackney has 27,000 households on its council waiting list alone - 11,000 new homes, across 32 London boroughs with similar housing pressures? That is barely a drop in the ocean.
No further details are given on the 10,ooo new jobs - are they full-time, part-time, fixed term for the duration of the games itself, or for the wider period of the Olympic building project? How many have gone to local residents in east London, or to Londoners more generally?

I reproduce the rest of Boris' text in full:

"Boris johnson is ensuring we all benefit from the Olympic Games.

Boris has delivered the Games infrastructure on time and budget. A saving of £10 million was made on the building of the Olympic Stadium and he has ensured that existing facilities are upgraded and used wherever possible. Hackney will benefit from the lasting legacy of the Games as 12 organisations have received funding to offer free coaching and Boris has funded seven sports participation programmes".

So far, so modest. That really is it. Perhaps to make sure we do actually think there is some benefit to the whole 2012 shebang the leaflet then adds:

"Thanks to Boris, Londoners will benefit from the jobs created by a £5.2 billion economic boost from the Games."

A few points arise:

1. Boris seems to take all the credit for 'delivering' the Games. Clearly the hatred between the British Olympic Association and London Organising Commitee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) has created a gap for one man to heroically organise the entire event.

2. If £10 million has been saved on building the stadium, what has that money been spent on? Where has it gone?

3. Which existing facilities have been upgraded? As a Hackney resident I should presumeably be able to name several - none spring to mind.

4. 12 organisations are getting free coaching out of this. Not much of a return from the biggest sporting event in the world coming here is it?

5. Boris has funded seven sports participation programmes. Again no details, but isn't that the sort of thing Mayor's are supposed to do anyway?

6. What and where is the £5.2 billion economic boost from the Games?All the economic news I seem to hear concerns a double dip recession.

All this is not to single out Boris Johnson as any worse than Ken Livingstone would have been (he isn't it) but to raise the single question:

If the projected gains from the Olympics are so modest now, how modest are the actual gains likely to be after the event?

 

Hackney Not United: Hackney Hustings Descends Into Chaos

I spent this evening at the Hackney Unites hustings for the London North East GLA constituency at the Arcola Theatre in Dalston.

Hackney Unites is a local pressure group which has grown out of the Hope Not Hate initiative, formed by the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight. Following a split in Searchlight in 2011, Hope Not Hate has continued as a separate body, and now finances Hackney Unites newspaper, which is currently being distributed across the borough.

The hustings came with a very fixed format. Firstly we had speeches from Hackney Unites Chair John Page, then Hackney Unites employee Andrea. After the starters came the main course. The politicians  selected to attend the hustings followed the format that has dominated media coverage in London – Labour, Lib Dem, Conservative and Green. Not invited, despite outpolling the Greens both nationally and in London were the UK Independence Party, nor were the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition selected for the top table. Both deserved a hearing.

Those who made it were the incumbent – Labour’s Jeanette Arnold, the Tory’s Naomi Newstead, the Lib Dems Farooq Quereshi and Green Caroline Allen. Those attending were invited to submit written questions, which were handed to Hackney Unites Jane Holgate, which were then shuffled into an order based around a preliminary discussion of the subjects the audience felt important. Questions were read out, and each politician given one minute to answer.

This format soon brought problems. Hustings means different things to different people, and what we most certainly did not have here was a debate. Politicians give politicians answers, and without the chance for the audience to come back on what was stated, events soon became stilted. For example Conservative Naomi Newstead claimed to be opposed to tuition fees – a somewhat unusual position for a Conservative politician, and certainly not one that appears in her election literature. This was the first time I had seen Labour’s Jeanette Arnold (perhaps best described as a poor man’s Diane Abbott) more impressive on a personal level were Lib Dem Farooq Quereshi and Green Caroline Allen. Interestingly Ms Allen rarely missed an opportunity to speak of Green MP Caroline Lucas, whilst barely mentioning the Green’s fluffy Mayoral candidate Jenny Jones.

As the meeting wore on, frustrations grew at the lack of real debate. One man who wanted to make a verbal contribution was repeatedly told by Chairman John Page to write it down, when it would have been far easier in such a small meeting to let him speak (at its peak I counted 47 present, including the candidates) It is also the case that not everyone is as confident at writing political views as they are at speaking them, and London North East – as with any constituency – will include people who may not be able to read and write as well as others.  Eventually after several calls for order from John Page, and a description of developments as “disgusting” the guy was allowed to ask his question “Why is it we never see you again when you get elected?”

This provoked a rambling answer from Ms Arnold that seemed to centre on how rarely she misses important events in the Greater London Assembly – which was not of course the question posed. Things got difficult when the Conservative candidate justified cuts, leading to anger in the audience, and calls from John Page for the audience to show some respect. Tactically, this was a big mistake – people have very little respect for the three main parties now – respect has to be earned, and the one thing the British political class has not done in recent years is earn our respect.

Sitting in the audience was ‘Hackney heroine’  Pauline Pearce, who came to fame arguing with anti-social elements during the August 2011 riots in Hackney. Pauline is standing for the Lib Dems this month, and clearly had come along expecting a debate, and to be able to cross-examine the candidates. When told to ‘show some respect’ by John Page, she announced she would leave – at which point the meeting boiled over. A dozen walked out – including nearly all the black people in the audience – and those remaining seated were treated to the bizarre spectacle of the tiny Jane Holgate trying to shepherd towards the door a black guy who must have been a good 15 or 16 stones. Pauline Pearce’s closing words were “You’re staunch Labourites”, whilst John Page accused the big guy of attending the meeting to disrupt it. With all that said, the door was closed behind those who had walked out.

The rest of the meeting was a bit of an anti-climax, although even here Hackney Unites inflexibility remained. With formal questions finished at 8.45pm, the meeting could have been thrown open to the floor – assuming the room had been booked until 9pm. Instead, the event closed, more with a whimper than a bang. The bang of course, had happened already.  

So what to make of it all? Well debate needs to happen. This was an example of how an attempt to structure a meeting in a particular way, with only particular candidates, can blow up badly in the faces of those with a particular agenda. It does not have to be like this………..

For the record the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition have a public meeting in Hackney on Tuesday 1 May at 7pm at the CLR James Library in Dalston. The campaign website of the UK Independence Party, whose Mayoral candidate  is Lawrence Webb, can be viewed here.

A Thank You To The Hackney Gazette

It is not often I am surprised by anything that happens in Hackney.

I was delighted though to see the editorial in the 15 March issue of the Hackney Gazette not only mention this blog, but to use the article I wrote on gentrification in Hackney on 2 March, as the basis of their own  editorial.

Gentrification (or if you prefer development) is a process over which Hackney residents appear to have little or no control, and which almost seems to slide along without any real political debate. In many parts of the borough, it is community development without the community. It happens to us, not with or for us. And seeing a newspaper with the circulation of the Gazette talking about these issues is a small, but important step.

More please.

Customer Service Hackney Homes Style

Unknown to me, at the end of this week I was in rent arrears, to the tune of £41 - less than half a weeks rent.

A phone call or a letter from Hackney Homes would have nudged me into settling the arrears. Instead it has apparently provoked a "Saturday Visit: Rent Arrears Audit" from Hackney Homes. I write apparently because no one knocked at my door - a letter was simply slipped through my letterbox by an anonymous person who signs themselves Credit Control team. Better still an "urgent appointment" has been made for Monday to discuss my arrears - a meeting so urgent again there is no name given as to who I am supposed to see. Let no one be in doubt though that Hackney Homes is in charge of such meetings "You will need to bring proof of identity and proof of address".

I do hope Hackney Homes are not paying Mr or Ms Credit Control Team double time for this Saturday 'service'.  I have lived in Hackney for nearly twenty years now, and there has always been consistency from Hackney Council, and its agents like Hackney Homes - they expect far higher standards from their tenants and service users than they ever deliver themselves.

 

Kingsland Basin: Surrounded On Three Sides

I took the picture below at Kingsland Basin, just off the A10 Kingsland Road, recently.

It shows the area for canal boats run by the Canals In Hackney Users Group (CHUG) What is also noticeable when you are there is that the boats are now boxed in on three sides by new build developments, such as Kingsland Wharves.  I could work for two whole lifetimes and not be able to afford a family property in one of these developments, but then again they are not aimed at the likes of me.

The effect of these changes is already noticeable on nearby Downham Road, where the Duke of York is gone. The local (mostly) black faces in that pub have been replaced in the new bar and 'kitchen' by white twenty somethings.

In the long term I fear for Hackney, and what this area will be like in twenty or thirty years time. My guess is that it will be mostly populated by the wealthy, city workers plus young artists and musicians, broken up by pockets of those so helpless (or hopeless) even Hackney Council will not be able to wriggle out of supporting them. And in between that - there will be no one.

East London Advertiser: The Poor Pay More Than The Rich?

The East London Advertiser is now re-named the Docklands and East London Advertiser. It is the dominant local newspaper in Tower Hamlets, but also sells well in Hackney and Newham.

Many years ago George Orwell outlined how the poor pay more for goods than the rich. The wealthier you are, the easier it is to buy in bulk, and therefore to buy more cheaply. Two loafs of bread are often cheaper, in real terms, than one. A modern variant of this is where the wealthy pay less for the same item than others - for example the student discounts given at take aways and clothes shops to usually middle class students living in many inner city areas.

Another example exists in east London. Buy the Docklands and East London Advertiser in Hackney, Newham or Tower Hamlets at your local newsagent, and you will be charged 60 pence. Go to Canary Wharf, and amble down any of the shopping malls - and the East London Advertiser is free.

Clearly those working in Canary Wharf are considered more valuable customers than those living in the heart of east London?

A Happy New Year From Hackney Homes

On Saturday morning a charming new year missive from Hackney Homes landed on my doormat.

Dated 27 December 2011 (letters from them always take a long time to arrive, I think they must incubate on Mare Street) it announces an average rent increase from April of 7.08%. I am sure there are some Hackney residents who will recieve a 7% pay increase this year, but they will all live in new builds in the borough, not social housing. Indeed for the security work I do, basic rates of pay have remained the same since 2008.

Hackney Council loves to blame everyone but itself for large rent increases, telling us rent needs to change 'to achieve the government formula' by 2015/6. Just to illustrate this is nonsense, consider the increase in service costs Hackney has also implemented - an eye watering 6.1% for block cleaning, estate cleaning, communal lighting and concierge services. There are not many certainities in life, but one is that Hackney's concierges will not be getting a 6% pay increase - the Council is simply milking its residents again.

All of this is of course accompanied by a school dinners approach to services - you get what you are given. Under the Decent Homes programme I got a new front door. I did not ask for a new front door, I did not need a new front door, and there was nothing wrong with my old front door - but it was changed anyway. A government standard needs to be met, and someone I have never met decried that was one of the ways of doing it. If only the money spent on a front door had actually been spent on insulation in my kitchen, my flat might be warmer, and fuel bills lower. Still, why ask tenants what they need doing? We only pay the rent!

There are not many certainities in life - but one is that 2012 will see a lot more of this type of nonsense.

Olympic Pork Pies

The first in what promises to be a lengthy series exposing lies, disinformation and spin from the organisers of London 2012.

From a direct mail sent to ticket holders today:

"Please do not drive to the Games as there will be no spectator parking at or near venues."

Except of course for those who are allowed to park at Olympic venues - corporate big-wigs, celebrities, the police, everyone allowed to drive in special lanes for the duration of the Games etc etc In fact if there is no spectator parking at or near venues - why do we need certain lanes restricted to Olympic use only?

A Return To Dilettantism

Bloggers are dilettantes.

There have been no posts on here for the past couple of weeks as I have worked 15 out of the last 16 days, usually doing a 12 hour shift. Eating, sleeping and playing with the kids have seemed more appropriate uses of the spare time I have had than waxing lyrical on the Euro, the US budget deficit or the English riots of 2011. Now my shifts from hell are finished, and I am back to being a dilettante, I have four brief things to say on the riots.

I have tried to match the enthusiasm of Ian Bone for recent events. I have always regarded Ian as the best polemical writer of his generation, but suspect there is a significant gap on this issue between his perception and reality on the ground. In the seventeen years I have lived in Hackney there have been several disturbances that have seen both police and/or Hackney Town Hall targetted by an angry public. The Hackney riot seemed to balance a desire for some confrontation with the police (no where was there the straight up, sustained flighting with the cops we saw nationally in 1981 or 1985) with the desire to steal fashionable items. Where the later was not possible, small businesses were attacked. What sort of uprising leaves the local power - Hackney Council - untouched, but Footlocker ransacked?

Twitter and Blackberry have copped the 'blame' in certain circles for enabling the past weeks violence. I have to confess I do not even know how to use the Blackberry Messaging on my phone, perhaps reinforcing the view that I am of the generation that was too young for 1981 and 1985, and too old for 2011. More seriously, to see the 'democrats' that were all in favour of social media when it was supposedly challenging the autocrats of the Middle East, now calling for restrictions upon it in the UK, tells us all we need to know about their personal commitment to democratic values. Cameron would soon turn into Mubarak if he were genuinely threatened.

Twitter though is a tool we should be prepared to criticise. On Monday 8 August it was tweeted that the London Fields area of Hackney was to be avoided, as a gang of black kids was mugging people for their bikes. This included a request to retweet this information. When I cycled between Broadway Market and London Fields not long after 8.30pm that night I saw a few kids hanging about, but nothing to suggest the area was scene to sustained anti-social crime. Despite this the tweet was still being re-tweeted the following afternoon, when it was far from valid information. Twitter may be a method of spreading valuable, up to the minute news - but it can just as easily be used to spread information that is stale or even inaccurate.

Finally when is a group of mono-cultural men protecting their small businesses with weapons progressive, and when is it reactionary? From the type of guff I have read on Twitter and the Internet over the past few days, we should all be terrified by white men guarding against looters in Eltham and Enfield, but encouraged by the sight of Turkish, Sikh and Muslim men guarding against looters in Hackney, Southall and Birmingham.

How Hackney Police Receive Protest?

The charming quote below comes the Safer Neighbourhoods Spring 2011 newsletter from the Metropolitan Police's De Beauvoir Team.

"This ward has a factory that receives and distributes fur products. This factory is continually targeted by anti-fur protestors. We have researched and located many of the protestors and will be targeting them when they are next on the ward. The protestors are very vocal and disturb many local residents with their protest."

I can't say they have ever disturbed me, although the rather sinister picture of the officers on the front page of the De Beauvoir Team Newsletter (see pdf on the link above) and the language used about protestors does.

Radical Hackney? Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday

This week Hackney Council tenants received letters informing them of the rent increase we will face in the new financial year - an average of 6.1%, with an additional 5.1% in service charges.

It is obvious that whilst the knife is being wielded at the national level by the coalition, at local level it will all too often be Labour that is twisting that knife. Such increases look particularly stark when all around Hackney we see both new housing developments for the wealthy and the changes that are deemed necessary to give the borough a bit of spit and polish before the 2012 Olympics. So much for the trickle down theory of economics, that we all gain from such developments.......

The Council's budget for the next 12 months will be discussed at Hackney Town Hall at 7pm on Wednesday 2 March, with lively counter-demonstrations likely. Have such protests worked in the past? Well yes, sometimes - the campaign against the Poll Tax is perhaps the classic example. A fascinating insight into Hackney's radical history comes courtsey of The Radical History of Hackney blog, where several fascinating pamphlets and pdf's have already been uploaded, with more to follow.

Back to the future?

Fundamental: Wrath of the Black Man

Great music, awful politics!

I saw Fundamental play at Chats Palace in Homerton way back in 1994, and thought they were the future of British Hip-Hop. It never quite happened I suppose, but this, along with the b-side Sister India, was easily their best track. 

 

Orwell Prize For Blogging 2011

As no one else would nominate me, I have put this blog forward in the competition for the 2011 Orwell Prize. 

Last year Ray Hulm's The Bad Old Days Will End made the shortlist, the only Anarchist blog I think ever to do so. If you run a blog, you have until January 19th to throw your hat in the ring. Below are the ten articles I submitted in support of my candidacy: 

Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam

The Ex-Cops Standing For The BNP

Would You Invite Your MP To Your Wedding?

Love Football, Love England, Love Debt

Derelict Hackney

John Sankey: A Belated Tribute

CLR James: Not Wanted In The New Hackney?

On Meeting Audley Harrison

Bringing Good From The Mole Man

Five Days As A Free Man

Happy Christmas From Hackney Council

Amongst my Christmas Cards yesterday morning - a letter informing me of a rent increase for 2011/12 of 6.1%.

Happy Christmas to you as well! There are not many certainties in life, but one is that whilst Hackney Council's tenants are to experience a rent increase of 6.1%, few if any of those tenants will receive a pay increase of anything like that.

Times are getting harder. 

They Thought They'd Never Be Caught

Is this the best piece of political graffiti of the year? 

From Curtain Road, Shoreditch: 

Making Good From Hackney's Mole Man?

The current issue of Fortean Times has a small obituary of Hackney's William Lyttle, better known as the Mole Man. 

The Mole Man's large, crumbling property at the corner of Stamford Road and Mortimer Road, N1 is still the scene of various attempts to prop it up, as decades of burrowing underneath his large house caused serious structural damage. Somewhat sadly Mr Lyttle died on an un-named council estate in June, where Hackney Council had re-housed him for safety reasons, due to the damage his excavations had done to the public highway, including a pavement collapse in 2001. Those of us who like to see evidence that the human spirit is not easily broken will be delighted to note that Mr Lyttle appears to have been busy knocking down walls in his flat - without Council permission - right up until his death. 

More seriously, Fortean Times reminds us that the estimated value of the mole man's old house is some £1 million, once it is made safe. Given the space the house covers, it is not inconceivable that 6-8 flats could be built on the land. It is to be hoped that such financial temptations do not go to Hackney Council's head. As the need for social housing increases, and council stock comes under ever greater pressure, the progressive solution would appear obvious. The council should build flats on the site of the Mole Man's home, name it William Lyttle House, and get its money back by taking rent from its new tenants. 

It is so simple - it will never happen, will it? 

And The Most Stressful Place In Hackney Is............?

For me it was always Argos, in Dalston, on a Saturday afternoon. Living hell. 

Tesco in Morning Lane ran it pretty close this afternoon. 

CLR James It Is

If only everything in this life was so easy.

I have just received an email from the Black and Ethnic Minority Arts Network informing me that Hackney Council has agreed in principle to keeping the name CLR James for Dalston's library. The email reads:

Dear friend

Following a short meeting between representatives of BEMA and Members and officers of Hackney Council, an in principle agreement has been reached that the name of the new facility will carry the name of CLR James Library as per our campaign demand. A formal statement will follow shortly. Many thanks to the thousands who have supported our successful campaign online and in other ways.

Bema will be playing an ongoing role in the development of a permanent CLR James exhibition at the new library as well as the establishment of an annual event commemorating his life and work.

Ngoma Bishop & Andrea Enisuoh   
Campaign co-ordinators

I have to say normally I am lukewarm about 1980s style groups like BEMA, but on this issue at least they appear to have scored a goal. Well done.

CLR James: Not Wanted In The New Hackney

Hackney Council appear determined to sweep away any signs of the old Hackney in time for the 2012 Olympics.

It really is a case of one step forward, two steps back in Dalston. Yes we get a new station, Dalston Junction, but the price is hundreds of towering flats that few if any local residents can afford to move into. Dalston gets a new library, replacing what is a rather dated facility - but its longstanding name, the CLR James Library, is to be ditched.

This is shameful. James was one of the greatest thinkers of his generation, in both the Caribbean and later the UK. Good enough at cricket to play in the Lancashire league with his friend Learie Constantine, James' Beyond A Boundary, is considered one of the finest books on our summer sport ever written. It is however for his activism, and his writing on race, history and Marxism for which he is best known. The Black Jacobins, on the Haitian slave revolt, is a timeless piece of writing, that has influenced activists in groups as diverse as the African National Congress through to contemporary Anarchists.

Hackney Council honoured CLR James by naming a library after him. To remove that honour, is a way of saying that CLR James does not count anymore. And of course CLR James does not count - certainly not to the people who run Hackney Council.
Others feel differently. His work, and his life, stand the test of time. You can sign the petition to keep the library's name here. I urge you to do so.

Hackney Citizen Turns To The Credit Union's Collapse

Over at the Hackney Citizen, Anatoliy Kurmanaev has turned to the unanswered questions over the collapse of the Hackney Credit Union.

His article, complete with Hackney Council handwashing, can be read here.

Financial Services Compensation Scheme Begins Paying Out Credit Union Members

This week I have received a very polite letter from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, plus a cheque, refunding the money I had deposited with Hackney Credit Union. 

Unlike the final correspondence from the Credit Union, it is dated and signed, and offers clear advice on what to do if I am unhappy with any part of their service. 

Despite some brief media coverage, exactly what happened at the Credit Union, and who is to blame, still appears unclear to those who had deposited money with it, and those who hoped to use its borrowing facilities in the future, at a time when many banks are reluctant to lend anything to residents in areas such as Hackney. 

Do we not deserve a clear explanation? 

Half A Story In The Evening Standard!

The eagle eyed amongst you may have spotted my letter in yesterday's Evening Standard, although given its brevity it would have been easy to miss.

Here's what the Standard published:

Third behind Russia and France in the European Athletics Championships: what hope have we of reaching fourth in the world at the Olympics?

Here's the rather longer original:

As things stand, London 2012 could be a towering success, or it could be a titanic, Fabio Capello style flop. And that applies equally to performance on the track - and off it.

 

The target for Team GB is to come fourth in the medals table. Taking into account performances of other nations, that means we would finish behind only the Olympic giants of USA, Russia and China. Yet at the European Athletics Championships, the UK finished behind both Russia and France, and failed to register in the throwing events. Indeed the general air of goodwill surrounding UK athletics has ensured that little or no media focus has been placed on both our weakness in this field, and several drugs cases that indicate a wider malaise.

 

Away from the track, the buzzword for 2012 is legacy. For those of us living in Hackney, there is an excitement at the prospect of world class sport being held on our doorstep, but a suspicion that we will be left behind, or left out, as parts of the borough are developed. Take a walk down Eastway, E9, just a few yards from the Olympic site, and derelict properties provide a strange contrast to the expensive redevelopments occurring elsewhere.

 

London 2012 could yet be great, both at the stadiums and for the host boroughs. But it could just as easily be a flop.

 

Paul Stott, Hackney.

Derelict Hackney

The pictures below are of 77 Eastway, Hackney E9. If you were to stand on the western edge of the multi-storey car park that is currently being constructed at the Olympic site, you would just about be able to see this:

You can even peek into what was once the living room and see this:

For those driving into Hackney from the A12, Eastway is one of the first streets you see, having viewed the emerging Olympic stadium site only moments earlier. 

77 Eastway has been derelict for as long as I can remember. It could of course be someone's home - perhaps for one of the many local families who wait to be housed in the area, and cannot afford the exorbitant mortgages the private sector inflicts. As Hackney changes by the day in the run to the 2012 Olympics, 77 Eastway serves as a reminder that some things don't change - at all.    

Hackney Credit Union Suspended

This morning I received an (undated and unsigned) letter from the Hackney Credit Union, announcing that the Financial Services Authority has instructed HCU to stop all transactions with immediate effect. 

"This means that the credit union is closed, and members cannot take any money out of their accounts and we cannot accept money in either, from today."

No further information is given as to the nature of the problem, and a quick google and search of the FSA site leaves me equally uninformed. At the time of writing the Hackney Credit Union site does not even appear to have been updated to reflect the content of the letter posted out. 

Does anyone have any further information? 

In happier times, the Mayor of Hackney, Jules Pipe, opens Hackney Credit Union.  

Diane Abbott: "I've Got Nothing New To Say"

It all falls apart for Diane Abbott, as Brillo Pad asks her a couple of tough questions:

On schooling, race, her expense claims, defence, her candidacy - she is unable to justify or articulate her positions. 

Reaching Out In Hackney?

An interesting insight into how local government increasingly empowers religious organisations and institutions in Hackney. 

On Friday I had three photocopied sheets of paper put through my letter box from Hackney Homes. These advised me I could attend a housing outreach surgery at Suleymaniye Mosque on Kingsland Road. Two hour surgeries are held on the last Friday of each month. 

Why anyone on my estate would wish to use this service is hard to see. Firstly the Mosque is further away than the Neighbourhood Office, indeed you would have to walk considerably further, in the opposite direction, to reach it. Secondly an outreach surgery will not have access to the full range of staff and services that the Neighbourhood Office does, or the free telephone line to report repairs. 

So what is the point? Well, in management speak such actions 'tick a box' and allow Hackney Homes to state that they are positively engaging with the community. For the mosque, which is also known as the UK Turkish Islamic Cultural Centre, it raises their profile, puts them in the Council's good books and gives them an elevated status over secular institutions in the same community. To quote from the mosques summary on the Hackney Council website:

"The centre aims to relieve distress, sickness and poverty amongst the Muslim community and aims for the advancement of Islam."

Should Councils be reinforcing the prominence of religious institutions in their communities? Many will say not. The problems that can occur when one institution is chosen, and countless others are not, should be obvious to all. Secondly I am all for relieving sickness, distress and poverty amongst everyone, but fail to see how the advancement of Islam does this. Indeed a glance at those societies where Islam is the dominant form of governance suggests greater sickness, distress and poverty than here in the West. And that is without even going into the position of women in those societies. 
Should Hackney Homes be working with an organisation that seeks the 'advancement of Islam'? It is certainly ironic that the Turkish state was predicated on the belief that progress and advancement could only come from reducing the role of religion in government, yet here in the UK the opposite process now seems to be actively encouraged! 

As for myself, the last time I heard from Hackney Homes was at the end of May, when they wrote to me with regards to a housing issue I raised. They aimed to send me a proper reply by 3rd June. Over three weeks later, I'm still waiting. Perhaps they could try some outreach in my direction one Friday? 

Diane Abbott, 'Socialist' Unity and Private Schooling

There is a truly dreadful article in support of Diane Abbott's decision to send her son to a private school on Socialist Unity. 

Having lectured others including Tony Blair on the issue in the past, and complained of racism when it came to the education of black boys in London, Abbott was widely seen as hypocrite when she sent her son to a private school, despite predictable attempts to play the race card in her own defence. 

That the Socialist Unity blog should make excuses for Ms Abbott is perhaps consistent with the identity politics that have dominated that blog for some years. Put simply, Abbott's many faults are to be ignored as she is the only black and female candidate for Labour leadership. 

The editor of Socialist Unity, Andy Newman, has the habit of deleting my posts on his blog, citing potential libel. This has happened to posts I have made pointing out that Searchlight editor Nick Lowles once smuggled a hidden camera into a Yorkshire Anti-Fascist Action meeting, with the footage then appearing in a hostile World In Action documentary. The second instance was when I pointed out that one of the financiers of the Respect Party, Dr Mohammed Nassem of Birmingham Central Mosque, has distributed anti-semitic DVD's about the 7/7 attacks around the mosque. 

Of these two incidents the first is pretty easy to prove - only one person at the AFA meeting went on to subsequently work on a series of documentaries with - World In Action. Nick Lowles. I am expecting the issue will be covered in some detail in the forthcoming book on Anti-Fascist Action by members of the Red Action group. As for the second, it was aired on the BBC's conspiracy files series. Dr Naseem did not sue them. Newman's actions are more about censoring critical political opinions that he cannot answer, especially when they expose the weakness of his own political circles. Just in case he deletes my comment from the thread on Abbott linked to above, here it is:

Andy Newman: “Well what is your explanation for the preference among many better off BAME parents for private schools?”

Paul Stott: That middle and upper class people from ethnic minorities are very similar to middle and upper class white people. They use their wealth to cement their advantages and to the exclusion of those without their privileges. It’s called class society Andy, and before you drowned in the liberalism of identity politics, you were still able to recognise it.

Be A Good Girl And Stand Diane

Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbott has enough nominations, and is now part of the Labour leadership race.

What is most fascinating about this, is some of the people over the past few days who talked of nominating her so she would get on the ballot. David Lammy, David Milliband, Stephen Twigg and Harriet Harman are just four of those to do so.

Does anyone believe for a moment any of those four New Labour high fliers want Diane Abbott to lead the Labour Party? That any would vote for her? Or that any would even wish to see her in a serious Cabinet position in a future Labour government? Of course not.

There can only be two reasons why such individuals would wish to nominate Abbott. Firstly because they believe she can contribute to or help create a particular debate within the Party over the next few weeks. Given the last thing you associate with New Labour is debate, this is surely unlikely. The second, is tokenism. They did not want a list that was entirely made up of white male Oxbridge graduates, so Ms Abbott is there purely as a token figure.

The post Brown, post Blair Labour party, on this showing, will be remarkably similar to its earlier incantations. Lacking in principle and belief, but forever ready to put forward style over substance, with occassional trips into identity politics whenever its radical credentials are questioned. Perhaps the only surprise is that some people actually still expect anything better...........

From Dalston To Crystal Palace

Apologies for the lack of posts recently. I have had a few late shifts at work, which coupled with a lack of home internet access has rather reduced my output. That, plus having my side stitched at the news of Diane Abbott standing for Labour leadership.

Congratulations are in order to Transport for London for giving free travel yesterday to those travelling between Dalston and Crystal Palace or West Croydon. Free allzones travelcards were handed out, and the journey from Dalston south attracted a mixture of the curious, day trippers and transport enthuisasts weighed down with cameras. Railway journeys have a tendency to show you the back of buildings and areas as they are not usually seen, so seeing Kingsland Road, Haggerston and Hoxton from above was worth the journey time alone. South of the river things become noticeably greener, but many of the stations older and decripid.

Crystal Palace station was a rather sad end to our trip. It is a true Victorian station, and whilst that brings character, it also brings score upon score of steps, with no modern travel information at all. After an afternoon browsing around the shops and walking in the park, who should I spot at Crystal Palace station returning north but former Mayor Ken Livingstone. Like the rest of us, Ken was desperately trying to find out which platform the next service left from, and ended up taking part in a dash from platform 5 to platform 3 as one of the new London Overground trains came in. I resisted the temptation to say to Ken that the station needs some TV style information monitors - when re-elected he would only go out and give the money to the local mosque and pay them to do it! 

More seriously, the London Overground will change people's lives in Hackney. It is a great development. A shame it took so long.

An Interview With Matt Selwood - Green Candidate For Hackney North and Stoke Newington

Matt is standing against Labour's Diane Abbot. 

Should you vote for him? Here's why Matt thinks so: 

1.     Firstly Matt – would you like to introduce yourself?

Hi there. My name is Matt Sellwood - I'm originally from London, was a city councillor for the Green Party in Oxford from 2004-8, and now I live in Hackney.  I'm the Green Party's Parliamentary Candidate for Hackney North & Stoke Newington, and also a council candidate for Clissold ward. My background is in campaigning, particularly around climate change and anti-war activism. 

2.     We have had Green councilors for some time now, and a Green member of the London Assembly. What difference would a Green MP really make?

The most important function of a Green MP would be to enable and empower local communities to organise themselves, to encourage grassroots campaigning and solidarity, and to protect social movements from the worst impacts of public sector cuts and state repression. Greens recognise that social change comes about because of the organisation of large masses of people - both at work and in their communities - but that the national legislative framework has a big impact on how easy that is to do. As a Green MP, I'd aim to argue for radical politics in the Commons, and help ordinary Hackney residents organise outside it too.

I went to the Green Party’s England & Wales conference in Swansea in 2007, and left rather disillusioned. I met lots of smartly dressed 30 and 40 somethings,  university backgrounds, who had all worked in the public sector or for ‘good causes’ for some years, and were uniformly urban and middle class. It was a very narrow  social base - I could just as easily have been at a meeting of Hackney Labour Party or perhaps any of the other national parties. In what way now, are the Greens ‘different’?

I think it is fair to say that we still have some way to go in broadening our membership base - there are still lots of university educated, middle class people who work for NGOs. Like, umm, me. :) However, the key difference in the Green Party is that power isn't held exclusively by that social base, and that anyone can get involved in the democracy of the party - either through changing policy, or starting to organise in their own locality. As a result, there are now a number of areas in which the social base of the Green Party is anything but 'muesli belt'.

I'd also say, of course, that while any party claiming to represent working people, ethnic minority communities and so on must also have a membership made up of those communities, we do have excellent policies on housing, trade union rights, economic equality and so on. That marks us out from Hackney Labour, certainly!

Where the Greens have done well in recent years it has tended to be in some of the University towns or cities with large ‘alternative’ communities – Brighton, and Norwich are two examples. In Hackney, you are bigger in Stoke Newington that you are in, say, Hackney Wick. What is the Greens core vote?

I think the Green core vote varies somewhat depending on where in the country one measures it - and how 'core' we are talking. There's no denying that there's a very solid 3-4% of the national vote that is identified with more 'alternative' communities, and which tends to vote Green. However, if this was the extent of the Green vote then it would be very difficult for us to win elections anywhere outside a few very specific towns and cities. It certainly wouldn't have been possible for us to get 23% of the vote in Hackney last year in the European elections, for example - and it wouldn't be possible to win elections in Stoke Newington without support outside of these voters, either.
So as well as that core support which has been with the Greens for years, we are now increasingly gaining support from disaffected Labour voters, particularly from council estates which have been ignored and neglected for a significant period of time by all the establishment parties. Morris Blitz Court in Stoke Newington is one good example, but there are many others - certainly not 'alternative' communities, but rather people who want a party that believes in social justice and actually listens to people.

 What message do the Greens have to working class voters, who have been largely ignored by New Labour for the past decade?

Our policies are significantly to the left of the establishment parties. They include a living wage of £8.10 an hour, a maximum national wage, £4 billion of investment in new council housing, free insulation schemes to abolish fuel poverty, and massive investment in youth schemes and community centres. Crucially, they also reject cuts to the public sector and lay a big emphasis on opening up space for communities to organise themselves. Basically, if you want politicians who are speaking up for ordinary communities, then you're looking for the Greens nowadays.

 One of the things I used to admire about the Greens, that I felt made sense, was the basic income scheme. Do you stand for that today?

Yes, the Citizen's Income is still our policy, and I certainly support it whole-heartedly.

Given the depth of the financial crisis, how will the Greens deal with the budget deficit?

We are the only party talking about a serious increase in redistributive taxation, rather than massive cuts in the public sector. We would end some programmes, but they would be New Labour disasters such as the occupation of Afghanistan, new aircraft carriers, ID cards and our nuclear weapons.
The bulk of our money would come from a long overdue rebalancing of the tax system to make the wealthy pay their fair share - for example, abolishing the upper limit on NI contributions and introducing new, higher rates of income tax. Cutting the public sector would not only be morally wrong, it would also be fiscally disastrous, putting hundreds of thousands out of work and raising the real risk of a 'double dip' recession.

You are standing against Diane Abbot, who has been Hackney’s MP for over 20 years. Does she bat for the people of Hackney?

Not anymore, which I think is sad. I suspect that when she was first elected she might well have done, but over 20 years as an MP seems to have changed that. She now earns large amounts of money in a second job as a political commentator, and seems more interested in talking up Gordon Brown and invoking the bogeyman of the Tories than admitting what an abject failure this Labour Government has been. I think Hackney needs an MP (and a Council) who is independent from this corrupt lot of timeserving right-wingers, rather than one who votes for Brown to lead the country.

Green Party GLA member Darren Johnson has spoken out against those who would drag the Green party down the route of 9/11 ‘truth’ theories. Do you stand behind him on this issue?

Yes, although I don't think it is a particularly big issue in the Green Party, to be honest. There was an attempt a couple of years ago to pass a motion on this - which, as a democratic party, we heard out - it was defeated. I haven't really heard anything about it since within the Party.

If the Greens believe in decentralization, why is party leader Caroline Lucas MEP, standing in the most winnable parliamentary seat? She already has two jobs!

Because she is our best candidate. If she is elected as an MP she will step down as an MEP, and the party membership will decide if she remains as Party leader - as part of our democratic system, we have leadership and deputy leadership elections every two years.

OK imagine I’m just about to slam the door on you. You have your foot wedging it open – and have 20 seconds to tell this blogs readers why they should vote for you in Hackney North. 

There is no case for tactical voting in Hackney North - for better or worse, Diane Abbott is going to win the seat in 2010. So, you are free to vote for the candidate whose policies are closest to your own, and whose record you believe in. I am a socialist who stands for redistributive taxation, trade union rights, opposition to public sector cuts, and withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
A vote for me will help build a credible, radical alternative to Hackney Labour, rather than ceding the field to the establishment parties who have an appalling record of betraying and using our communities. Electoral politics isn't the be-all-end-all, but it is important, and you can use your vote to help build an alternative to politics as usual.

Matt - Thanks for your time and trouble! 

 Hackney Greens debate whether to storm the Labour HQ now, or on May 6th. 

A Tribute To Malcolm McLaren

One of Stoke Newington's gifts to the world!

Most of the obituaries will no doubt focus on the Sex Pistols, but the important thing to me about McLaren (apart from his hilarously pompous interviews) was that he really made you think with the images and ideas he presented.

Malcolm McLaren was a great chameleon and perhaps a bit of a magpie, but as the video shows below, he was someone who was actually most comfortable in the background, letting others take centre stage. We are poorer without him.

 

 

Communal Voting

Last weeks Jewish Chronicle had an interesting piece by Geoffrey Alderman "Hacking Off Hackney Voters" about the political activities of members of the Charedi Jewish community in the borough. 

The article had been stimulated in part by an interview Hackney Mayor Jules Pipe gave to the local Blood and Property website last month. Alderman quotes approvingly Pipe's definition of communalism "as people voting for candidates from their own community for that reason alone and not on merit". 

Alderman then finishes his article with the warning "Jewish communalism is a major trigger of anti-Jewish prejudice. It may look clever but its victories, purchased at a high price, are invariably short-lived." 

Looking across from Hackney to Tower Hamlets, and the influence the Islamic Forum of Europe in that borough, I suspect precisely the same point can be made. Any 'victories' that come in that borough for the IFE will come at a high price for wider community relations.

A Boxing Robbery

How else can you describe Hackney's Ian Napa losing the British Bantamweight title to Doncaster's Jamie McDonnell?

I gave the fight to Napa by at least four rounds, as did the Sky commentators, and it seems most in the audience. Whilst virtually every sport now makes some use of technology, football and boxing stubbornly refuse to do so. How frustrating it must be for Napa to see that he landed far more clean punches - to head and body - yet two judges managed to ignore the statistics and side with the aggression of McDonell? 

Napa had the classier shots, and more of them. He was rarely troubled. He was robbed and the board needs to order a prompt re-match. 

So, Farewell Then

As the snow thaws, or at least begins to, it is timely to recap on its effects. 

Firstly the snow showed England and Wales at its worst. (Scotland is at its worst during any English sporting success, and Northern Ireland at its worst during the week of the 12th, so I exempt those two corners of the British Isles from my analysis).  

The safety first tendency now runs the mindset of much of the country. As Arsene Wenger put it, it matters less that 60,000 people attend a football match, than one person attends and falls over. And sues. Still, at least Arsenal managed to play football on Saturday - the streets around Upton Park were virtually clear of snow on Sunday, yet West Ham's match with Wolves had already been postponed. Pathetic. 

Secondly, such a wussy approach reaffirms generational differences. Those brought up in the safety first culture, who have never known anything else, will not only reproduce it but instinctively reach out for, and make excuses. A big wet blanket threatens to suffocate us. This year in London social events have been cancelled in case people can't get back home easily, work meetings postponed. A whole generation of young people have now been introduced to such behaviour as normal - and worse will use 'the great freeze of 2009-10' as their own reference point in the future. 

How do we break this cycle? 

 Beats me! 

On the plus side, anyone who had scheduled a good drinking session after work (or at places more important than work) in 2010, will have had an excellent opportunity to see just who is who.  Faint hearts will have been elsewhere. Perhaps a few lessons will have been learned............

Its Been A Long Time.........

But test trains are running on the East London line. 

This morning I spotted a brand new London Overground train heading east out of what will be Haggerston station.  At last, some progress beckons in Hackney that will benefit all, rather than the privileged minority. 

Forward the East London line! 

A Bureaucratic Start To The New Year

Was I the only person buggered about on New Years Eve by transport and police restrictions?

Leaving Hackney at 10pm, it should be perfectly possible to get to Waterloo by 11.55pm, where I wished to view the new year fire works. But not when London Transport stop the 243 bus a mile from its destination, and the Metropolitan Police close roads to prevent you crossing the river - or even getting close to doing so. This was all justified by an army of London Transport staff brought in for the night, their florescent jackets fluttering in the breeze. 

It is interesting to see the extent to which public order policing, perfected against demonstrators, is entering the general policing of London. Last night London's streets were divided into sections (often by use of metal screens closing off routes people wished to take) with officers following groups 'of interest'. CCTV and police helicopters watched over us, whilst everyone was left frustrated that they could see where they wanted to go, but were prevented from doing so. For the streets not worthy of the Met's attention, private security guards were employed to shiver in blue jackets and guard crash barriers with gusto. 

And of course, all this is for our own good. Welcome to 2010, which so far looks very similar to 2009. 

Hackney In The Snow

Every Hackney blog will no doubt contain seasonal snow scenes today, and here is my contribution. 

Firstly De Beauvoir Square in the snow, then secondly the back of St Peters church. 

 

 

All I Want For Christmas Is...........

A t shirt of the Besiktas fan club Carsi.........

The t shirt is currently in the window of the tailoring and alterations shop on Whitmore Road, N1. 

Oh No It Isn't.........

The Council's propaganda sheet, Hackney Today, has put a brave face on the problems at the Hackney Empire. It comments:

"The historic theatre is set to reduce programming after getting into financial difficulties. Following a package of extra support from the Arts Council and Hackney Council, however, and the appointment of an interim Chief Executive, shows are due to restart in early summer, with full programming returning from the 2010 panto onwards. In the meantime, vital maintenance to the Empire will be carried out, alongside a business restructure of staffing, marketing and programming."

Given the Empire only reopened in 2004, after a £15 million refit, the "vital maintenance" line is a surprise. What pressing problems can have developed in just five years? 

The Empire's website actually gives a much more robust account than the Council, putting an actual figure of £1.5 million to the debt, and admitting that the place would have closed but for the above intervention. The explanation given for this failure is that the Empire's business model is simply not viable.

I have long had my suspicions of the whole move to redevelop the Empire, perhaps because my hackles were raised by so many people, with little or no connection to the borough, coming together to campaign on the issue. The whole thing rather smacked of lots of well meaning, middle class people bringing their definition of culture to the masses, without bothering to think if the masses were actually interested or not. (And yes I do know the Empire puts on a Christmas panto, and the odd mainstream Black act, but lets not kid ourselves about its overall orientation) And, when it all goes belly up, it is not Sir Ralph Fiennes, Dame Judi Dench or Griff Rhys Jones but the masses who pay for it, as the Arts Council and Hackney Council intervene. 

Message to Jules Pipe: If its a choice between having their estate cleaned or subsidising a play, Hackney residents will go for the estate cleaning every time. You can get away with this type of move once, but not twice............... 

Low Standards

It is noticeable how the new free to all Evening Standard is at one level identical to the old Evening Standard.

I always found the Standard to be very suburban, much more of a commuters newspaper than a Londoner's paper. Witness in the past the numbers reading it on the way out of Waterloo and Victoria, compared to the numbers buying it in Hackney or Harlesden.

Since the Standard went free, it is actually quite tricky to get hold of it in my part of Hackney. Unless you travel to a tube station, you will miss out. Interesting then to pop into the London School of Economics yesterday and find a newstand for complimentary copies of the Standard.

Nothing similar exists, to my knowledge, at any building in Hackney. Don't we count?

The Olympic Way

The Olympics is already pressing the buttons of London's drivers. 

What should be a relatively speedy couple of miles along the A12 past the fast developing Olympic site is now a nightmare. For no apparent reason, the usual 40 and then 50 miles per hour speed limit has been reduced to 30. There is no work on the A12 itself, and no lanes are closed (although a very important pile of cones is placed in a lay by on both the west and eastbound sections).

So - are the speed restrictions in place to encourage us to gawp at the one sign of progress as regards the Olympics? Or is that the the speed cameras are needed so every driver snapped can contribute a juicy fine to the government, which can in turn use the money to fund this white elephant? 

Guilty And Proud Of It: Book Reading

Janine Booth gives a presentation about her new book: Guilty and Proud of it! Poplar's rebel councillors and guardians 1919-25. 

Wednesday 4 November, 7pm Venue: Pages of Hackney bookshop, 70 Lower Clapton Road, Sponsored by Hackney TUC. Free entry. 

Refreshments provided. The book will be on sale at this event at the reduced price of £10 (RRP £12.95) Which is cheaper than Amazon!  Please email eleanor@pagesofhackney.co.uk to book your seat. 

In the aftermath of the First World War, thirty Labour councillors went to prison rather than accepting an unfair funding system. With unemployment rising in 1921, Poplar Borough Council could not help provide relief drawing only on the limited wealth of one poor London borough. Poplar councillors, including future Labour leader George Lansbury, demanded that rates from richer areas should help. 

So Poplar refused to pay over rates to the London County Council, and thus began the Poplar Revolt. In contrast, Hackney Council - led by Herbert Morrison - refused to confront the law and insisted on remaining 'respectable'. This book tells the story of the support mobilised by Poplar Council, beginning when newly-enfranchised working-class voters elected Labour to run the Council in 1919. For the next two years, it improved life for Poplar residents, coming into ever-increasing conflict with the central authorities and the local government funding system. 

The crisis came in 1921, when Poplar Council refused to levy a portion of its rates. Poplar's fight took its Councillors to prison in September 1921. After six weeks, the courts released them from prison and the government changed the law to redistribute funding from richer to poorer boroughs: they had won!
With local councils today once again preparing to cut services and/or increase rents and charges, this book - and this event - tells a story that is very relevant and inspiring today. 

The author is the former President of Hackney TUC, and Secretary of RMT's London Transport Regional Council.

Progress - Hackney Style

Where once Whitmore Road had a small bakers and a paper shop, now it has new flats. 

Here they stand. 

 

Hackney Heckler Hits The Streets

Congratulations to the Hackney Solidarity Network, who have published issue 1 of their freesheet the Hackney Heckler!

Any political train spotters amongst you will have noticed that the term Hackney Heckler has certainly been used before, but one look through this newsletter and it is clear that the ghost of newsletters past will be nodding approval at the ideas expressed here.

What's inside? Well there is an examination of the decline and denial of the Woodberry Down estate, local trades union issues on the trains, a re-evaluation of how to stop the BNP, more on Sam Hallam and best of all the top ten musical tunes about Hackney.

Now, who is going to give me a download of 'Night Bus To Dalston' by Bad Manners?

Debating The Olympics

I really hope I'm wrong about this.

Radio 5 hosts a debate at 6.15pm today on the Olympics, and whether or not London 2012 will benefit the whole country.
I have no idea who will be in the audience for the discussion, but Presenter Peter Allen (not the most robust on interviewers) is joined by Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the 2012 Organising Committee, and two former Olympians in Katharine Merry and Stephen Parry. How likely is a critical message to emerge from that line-up?

There is of course another way of approaching this debate - to what extent will London 2012 actually benefit the host boroughs, including Hackney?

There is much to be said for the Olympics. Exposure to world class sport, job opportunities, possible future amenities and a chance to show the positive side of east London is to be welcomed. Gentrification, loss of existing amenities, debt and the side-lining of local communties are of course the (likely?) flip-side. I am not sure Peter Allen and his research team have the wit to appreciate the latter points - but I am willing to be proved wrong.

More on Radio 5 and the Olympic Debate here.

Guilty.........and Proud Of It

The east end of London certainly does not lack for radical history, nor for people with the commitment and desire to chronicle that history.

Hackney's Janine Booth has given us a new analysis of the struggle of Poplar Labour Council in the period following the First World War. Whilst most politicians like to style themselves as working to improve the lot of their constituents, George Lansbury and others sought to improve the lives of some of the poorest people in London, and came up against the full weight of the authorities in doing so. A reminder of a rather different Labour Party to the one we have come to know and hate.

Janine has been kind enough to supply me with a review copy of 'Guilty and Proud of It: Poplar's Rebel Councillors and Guardians 1919-1925', and a full review will appear here in due course. In the meantime, why not look the book up yourself?

If I Fell Into A Bucket Of Tits......

I would come out sucking my thumb. 

How about this for luck:

1030 - Spend £54 on new tyres and new inner tubes for my bike, plus sorting out a rubbing back wheel.

1345 - Cycle over a bottle in Hoxton, bursting a new inner tube. Locking my bike at Old Street station, I have to buy a travel card to get to work on time. 

0030 - After a nine and a half hour shift, return to Old Street to find my bike has been stolen. 

I have had my bike for nearly six years, it was one of the best Christmas presents I have ever had, and can't help feeling that a part of my life has gone. Bastards!

Hackney's Urban Foxes

Normally if you see a ginger figure staggering about on Pitfield Street at 0230, its someone in search of a kebab after a night's beer.

Last night, or rather this morning, it was an excellent urban fox, who seemed very pleased with himself. Sadly I have no photograph evidence, so you'll just have to take my word for it. If anyone spots me hanging around outside the student halls of residence in Hoxton with a camera, I'm looking for urban foxes. Honest. 

Save The Swan - Rally At Hackney Town Hall Tonight - 6.30pm

One of the saddest changes in Hackney over the past decade has been the loss of so many pubs.

Hackney was for many years characterised by a succession of large, busy and integrated public houses where you could guarantee to have a lively drink, and usually a game of pool and the chance to watch the football in good company. 

I've chronicled the decline of some of these pubs in the series 'Hackneys Lost Pubs'. Perhaps the biggest loss (and currently boarded up) is the Swan in Stamford Hill. Attempts are being made to change its designated use, so it can be converted into a synagogue. 

Today sees a demonstration at Hackney Town Hall, against this proposed change, as part of a Campaign for Real Ale deputation. Get down there and make your views heard. 

On The Uniqueness of Hackney

I was asked on Tuesday evening what was so special about Hackney, and the following words emerged.

"Hackney is the only place where crack cocaine was so popular, an entire musical genre - drum and bass - had to be invented to cater for public demand. Nowhere can match that"

Can anywhere?