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

Support The Jones Family - Sat 10 May 12 Noon - Stoke Newington Common

My day at the Love Music Hate Racism Carnival last month was not entirely wasted, as I was given a flyer advertising Saturday's "Don't Evict the Jones family" event in Stoke Newington.

Ricky Jones is the residential caretaker at Hackney's William Patten Primary School. Despite holding this post for 10 years, William Patten School and the Learning Trust have suddenly decided they don't need a residential caretaker at all - and will thus evict Ricky, his wife and 3 children.

Saturday's demonstration assembles at Stoke Newington Common, and will walk on to Clissold Park. E mails of protest can also be sent to the school itself - admin@williapatten.hackney.scho.uk

Good luck Ricky!

Another Good Hackney Pub Bites The Dust

So, farewell then to the Old Ship, one of E8's best pubs.

A few weeks back I received an e mail out of the blue from someone called Hasnai Bhagani of Gosh PR. I'm guessing that if you have read this blog before, you will know already the effect on my temper the words "Gosh PR" would stimulate, but the image is clearly fixed in my mind of lots of clever 30 somethings in dark-rimmed glasses drinking Perrier water somewhere in EC2. As Bill Hicks said of people in marketing, there is really just one possible message to such individuals - go kill yourselves.

Sadly, however, they don't.

What is being killed today is a great Hackney boozer, where I spent many a good evening in the mid-90s, and even as recently as the 2004 European Championships. The night when England blew it against France will be etched in my mind for ever!
Legend has it if you stumbled into the Old Ship in the early 70s Angry Brigade members were observed plotting in dark corners whilst police officers furtively hid behind copies of The Sun, hanging on their every word.

From the publicity I received, an event of true horror is being unveiled on Mare Street this evening:

The Old Ship would like to invite you to celebrate its transformation into an ‘Urban Inn’. Sample some of our new, best of British menu and check out the contemporary and comfortable rooms at our launch event. Join us for canapés and drinks, and to find out how we can work together in the future.

I have no idea what an Urban Inn is, but I get the impression the atmosphere will in fact be distinctly shallow, suburban and middle class.

As the saying goes - count me out!

What's In A Name?

Quite a lot actually.

Out and about this morning I noticed that Hackney pub The Sussex Arms, on Culford Road, has now been renamed.... The Scolt Head.

I have no idea what a Scolt is, or what its head looks like. I do however know a stupid name when I see one.

A whole book could be written about the drive to replace traditional pub names with all sorts of nonsense. Given how often politicians claim to be motivated by a desire to protect British heritage, I am amazed the usually law happy House of Commons has never come up with a Bill to stop such name changes - you would be surprised how strongly many people feel about the issue.

It is in fact very simple. For a pub to change its name, it should need the signatures of at least 200 residents within the same postal area. Without it, the old names, which have usually served for generations, should stay.

A Curious Hackney Blog.........

De Beauvoir's three Labour councillors, Rob Chapman, Gulay Icoz and Chris McShane have their own blog.

Imaginatively entitled "What's Happening In De Beauvoir" it naturally serves as a puff piece for how wonderful they, and the Labour Party are.

There is one curious omission however.

It seems to be the only blog I have seen that totally disables comments. After all, being Labour councillors the last thing they want to hear is the views of local people!

Hackney Council Kicks Tenants In The Teeth

Congratulations are in order to Hackney Council, for one of its crassest acts in some years!

In December tenants were 'consulted' on rent increases - with 5%, 10% and 12% being 'offered' to lucky tenants.

This morning I received a letter from Cllr Alan Laing, noting that whilst 62% of tenants responded by requesting only a 5% increase, the Hackney Cabinet had decided upon a 6.7% increase.

Bizarrely Laing refers to this 62% vote as "just over half" - with a grasp of mathematics like that, it is no wonder Hackney is in the mess it is.

When is a consultation not a consultation? When Hackney Council does not get the result it wants!

I wonder how Cllr Laing would feel if he received 62% of the vote in the next Council elections, but found he was not allowed to take his seat, and the vote ignored? The noise would be deafening. However when it comes to Hackney's Council tenants, politicians can be guaranteed to cock a deaf 'un.

How Many Phone Calls Does Hackney Council Tap Each Day?

A thousand phones are tapped every day in Britain.

The Interception of Communications Commissioner has also revealed that 474 Councils are involved in this process, actively tapping phones.

Quite what could be so serious in local government that Jules Pipe OBE needs to listen in is beyond me. Still, if the authorities are daft enough to give local Council's such a power, we should hardly be surprised when they use it..........

2008 Rent Increases - Happy New Year From Hackney Council

A charming little missive landed on my doormat over Christmas.

It was Hackney Council's 'consultation' concerning the 2008 rent increases. This invites tenants to vote on three different 'choices':

An increase of £3.77 per week - (5.30%) - with service reductions, and future higher increases.

An increase of £7.12 per week - (10%) - with services maintained at the same level.

An increase of £8.74 per week - (12.27%) - services improved.

As always in local government, nothing is ever their fault. All the hype over the years that if only everyone paid their rent, if only everyone paid their council tax, if only we got rid of all the squatters, rents would fall. It is now exposed as the lie we always knew it was. Indeed, all the excuses now fade behind the brave new world of housing in England:

"The government wishes to see the same level of rents for similar Council and housing association properties in the same area".

In other words all those working class council tenants have had it good for too long, and now is the time to screw them as hard as possible. Only it is not our fault, it is the governments. Happy New Year by the way!

I live in a tower block. As there are no similar Housing Association properties to my block, does that mean my estate is exempt from the changes? I doubt it. Hackney Council has declared war - on the poorest people in the borough. It is a war they deserve to lose - badly.

Incompetent Hackney

The current issue of Hackney Today has a piece on local blogger and Guardian writer Dave Hill.

All of which reminded me that I had not got round to posting a link on this site to the sort of blog I prefer, and indeed one that is not likely to get a mention in the brave new world of Hackney Today. The Incompetent Hackney blogspot serves to expose the incompetence and dysfunction that is all around us in our home borough.

Check it out!

Who's Still Interested In Us?

Reading the Hackney Gazette this week, I noticed that long term Hackney Tory leader Eric Ollerenshaw is leaving the borough, to stand as an MP in Lancashire.

Whilst I can't say that I ever cared for his politics, Ollerenshaw stands as the only mainstream politician to actually knock on my door and canvass in an election campaign, in the 13 years I have lived in Hackney. Given that takes in the 1997, 2001 and 2005 general elections, plus countless borough and Greater London elections, it illustrates the scale to which working class areas have been abandoned by political parties, Labour especially.

In its place - apart from a huge void - is sometimes a vague ethnic politics. Labour stood a Kurdish speaking woman last time round, who I saw in my block one day. She certainly never knocked on my door, I assume she simply canvassed my Kurdish speaking neighbours. In nearby Haggerston, Labour have held off the Hackney Independent by ensuring they have a Nigerian candidate on their slate, who is used solely to get his fellow countrymen's vote out.

Welcome to London politics 2007.

Only In Hackney

Some fresh newspeak from Hackney Council!

Yesterday I received a letter from them marked 'Advanced Mail'. And what, pray, is advanced mail?

Er, ordinary 22 pence, second class mail, but with the word 'Advanced' on the envelope for no apparent purpose. Another winning idea from Hackney!