The front cover of the glossy leaflet shows a hardworking, casually dressed, four person heterosexual family. The photo surmounts a blurb about ‘Labour’s massive cash injection onto the NHS’ and tells the family that no Londoner now has to wait more than 18 weeks for an operation (i.e. 4.5 months), which sounds much shorter than the stated Tory figure of 12 years ago of 6 months. Interesting but nothing about Europe here. Let’s just bash the Tories.

The second page starts well(ish) with a photo of the Labour Euro-candidates, but a visit to Specsavers is needed to read the names. Europe is stated as being necessary to help London get through this ‘downturn’ – nicer word than Recession and obviously an ‘Act of God’ since there’s no indication that Labour might have had a hand in causing it. This fleeting reference to Europe is followed by a resume of public spending proposals which will employ 400,000 people over the next 8 years and keep lots more of them at school. A smiling photo of G Brown follows, with his sound bite about growing (by which he means ‘spending’) our way out of recession – which contrasts nicely with what he affected to believe 12 years ago.

Half the next page is given over to photos of the backs of two female police officers and the fronts of two men in hard hats looking at a drawing. Labour is stated as making the EU work for ‘all Londoners’ – protecting consumers, from expensive, shoddy goods, poor environmental standards and cross border crime. Since when did we need the EU to do that? We’ve had consumer protection since the Middle Ages, locally organised (market charters, Courts of Piepowder etc.) and we’ve had extradition and Interpol and the Customs and Excise long before the EU. They repeat the Lib Dem smear that Tory opposition to European arrest warrants etc. is effectively support for weapons trafficking. A diatribe headed ‘Fair Rules for All’  goes slightly biblical ‘Unlike the Tories we won’t walk by on the other side and do nothing.’ I find sanctimonious twaddle of this kind not so much offensive as contemptible.

Equally contemptible is the allegation that David Cameron wants ‘tax cuts for millionaires’. This is knee jerk Brown. Labour ought to know, but I now think that Brown probably doesn’t, that public spending can’t run on in the way he has let it since 2000 and let it again in the recent Budget or the country will be bankrupt very soon. The British Government will have to address this as a matter of urgency soon – preferably before next Thursday.

The leaflet rounds off by attacking the Lib Dems on crime as being ‘soft’ on it. It takes one to know another!

Believe it or not I am disappointed. I’m one of those old-fashioned types who believes that there’s much more to life than party politics and who likes to be able to respect my political opponents for their sincerity, even if I think they’re just plain wrong at times. Labour can do much better than this – but not with its present leadership. A good long stretch in opposition ought to do the trick!

There are two pieces of literature, a letter from David Cameron (DC) and a glossy leaflet also heavily featuring DC but also all 8 Conservative list members.

The letter from DC is a very meaty read, quite long and in small type. It deals with the expenses scandal and what DC is doing about it. This is not a European issue but the daily drip from the Telegraph, destined apparently to continue until polling day or just beyond interestingly enough, means that, in this election, it is likely to be actually THE issue. It does address European issues in far less frenetic terms than the other parties have done and without introducing extraneous or misleading statements about ‘two horse races’ or whatever. It repeats the pledge about a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and it calls for an immediate General Election for Westminster. This would be the text of a really good DC speech. My concern would be that people might not read it or have difficulty in doing so.

Both letter and leaflet are free of WW2 imagery. The front cover of the leaflet shows DC at a lectern with Union flag and ‘Vote for Change’ slogan behind him. Inside on the first page is a montage of anti-Labour headlines from the press and a poster showing Brown facing both ways on the Referendum issue.

The middle page entirely addresses European issues relating to the Budget, jobs, climate change, defence, the Courts, MEPs’ expenses (when is the Telegraph going to get around to that, I wonder, especially on UKIP? – but I digress). It compares votes on each issue by Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem MEPs, making the Tories the only party so far to do so.

The third inside page is devoted to London, showing pictures of candidates (unnamed) campaigning, probably in last year’s GLA and Mayoral elections. Below is a group photo of all the candidates, with names attached, with Boris Johnson. Numbers indicate their position on the list, headed by the two sitting MEPs, Charles Tannock and local resident Syed Kamall. No. 6 is Graham Postles, a man I have liked and respected since we were both candidates in the West Midlands in 1987. He’d make a very good MEP, but the list system and the antics of some MPs over expenses have made that highly unlikely – this time anyway.

There’s a further letter from DC and a page of candidates campaigning: Syed Kamall in Kingston market next to a piece about pounds and ounces; J P Floru with Zac Goldsmith talking to a shopkeeper alongside a piece about business; Dr. Ian Twigg with NHS staff (one presumes) and an ambulance next to a piece about the working time directive and the NHS; lastly Charles Tannock, Syed and Marina with DC and Boris, getting ‘the best deal for London’.

In all this is a serious piece of work which addresses the  European election  as an event in its own right and doesn’t try to present it as  a referendum on membership (UKIP and the BNP) or a platform for the candidate for the next Westminster election (the Lib Dems). It names all the candidates (unlike the Lib Dems and UKIP who only name one each!) takes the voters seriously and deserves to be taken seriously by them in its turn.

The tone of their reporting is, at it has always been, looking for things to carp about and criticise in a way that was never once done when their darling, Ken Livingstone, held the office.

I recall that even when Livingstone, tired and emotional after a party, asked a Jewish reporter whether he had been a concentration camp guard, and was suspended for a month by the Standards Board for England because of it, the London BBC’s contribution was to express major indignation that this body had dared to sit in judgement on Ken.

On the other hand, when Boris expressed his views on Sir Ian Blair’s leadership of the Met. Police – views which the BBC itself had often voiced – and Blair resigned, suddenly Blair became a heroic victim anf Boris the vilain of the piece.

One of my council colleagues put it like this, and I can’t better his account:

Quote from the final Lib Dem election leaflet -

“Just a few votes will separate Stephen Knight from the unpopular Tory candidate”

That’s 26,928 – but then again Lib-Dems are always hopeless at arithmetic. Like £11m is only a small amount for Kingston taxpayers to fork out for their new theatre.

And as for unpopular? Well obviously not with 76,913 local electors!

Well done Tony (and Boris), and everyone who worked so hard to secure this victory, and rub the smug grins off so many Lib-Dem faces. Doesn’t it make all those deliveries and canvassing in the rain so worthwhile!

Indeed it does!

My City Too Manifesto
London’s teenagers’ manifesto for better spaces in the Capital

View young Londoner’s manifesto for better places in the Capital at: http://www.mycitytoo.org.uk/manifesto.html

In light of the mayoral elections this Thursday, please take a minute to look at the recent My City Too Manifesto for better spaces and places in London.

Young people are our future. But without the chance to influence opinion, they are excluded from debates and decisions about the future of their city. They use the spaces of our city in different ways to adults.

The My City Too manifesto is drawn from a 2 year-long-campaign with the My City Too ambassadors from across London. They have debated and developed their ideas through surveys and polls, building exploration workshops, collaborations with architects and developers and have developed creative resources to express their ideas. More importantly, the campaign findings are intended to aid future development in ensuring that young people are part of the solution rather than being perceived as the problem.

The campaign analyses capital-wide problems and finds solutions that can be applied to London generally. It is about delivering solutions that can influence local, regional and national policy.

The campaign is led by Open House, the architecture education charity – renowned for its groundbreaking work in architecture education. This is the first campaign of its kind. Never before has a pan-London initiative been undertaken to explore what young people want from their built environment, what their ideas are for the future of their city and how they can inspire change.

This manifesto will be actively pursued to ensure that these ideas are embedded into London’s policy for the built environment.

Help us to give London’s young people a voice. Pledge your support for the manifesto by emailing: mycitytoo@openhouse.org.uk

Regards

Victoria Thornton
Founding Director, Open House

297 Euston Road
London NW1 3AQ

www.openhouse.org.uk

Received a piece of Lib Dem ‘Literature’ through the door this morning. It’s really amazing in some ways that they are still rehearsing the worn-out formulas that were so novel (were they?) 30 years ago. You know “It’s a two horse race” with that little old graph showing the Lib Dems close to winning and Labour with no chance. In short, ‘don’t vote for us because we’re any good, but do it to get someone else out’. Tactical voting. Sheer negativity and cynicism. Livingstone is ‘squandering and crony-ridden’ while Johnson is ‘a buffoon’. Negativism again. Paddick ‘has been a senior policeman for over 30 years……’ Most have risen very rapidly through the ranks. He certainly rose rapidly through the ranks of the Lib Dems, whom he joined all of 2 years ago! Everyone is a fool or a crook except the Lib Dems.

Some people, including (I reckon) some of their own members, have swallowed this stuff for over 20 years now. Let us hope that the polls are right and that the voters of London are about to tell them to grow up and get serious because the old, tired formulas just won’t wash any more.

Londoners have 48 hours of travel misery to look forward to next week with the news that yet another Tube strike will be staged in a row over staff transfers and pensions. According to RMT General Secretary Bob Crow, “The RMT executive was left with no choice but to set strike dates”, but this will be little comfort to Londoners, who last time had to endure fights on the street for a place on the bus home, and horrendously congested roads.

This will be the 17th strike in the 8 years Ken Livingstone has been Mayor of London, and Boris Johnson has decided it’s time something decisive was done about the situation.

Boris has a plan to deal once and for all with endless Tube strikes. If elected as London’s Mayor, he will negotiate a no-strike deal with the unions, in return for which he will ensure there is independent binding arbitration to guarantee a fair deal for Tube workers.

To download a special campaign leaflet that is being handed out at stations this afternoon on the Tube strike, please click here.

Save weekly rubbish collections!

Your rubbish will only be collected once every fortnight.

More then 30 years ago the Conservatives introduced recycling in this borough with “bottle banks” at several different locations around the borough. Kingston’s Conservatives encourage all residents to increase the amount of “waste” that is recycled. They oppose any reduction in the basic weekly service of rubbish collection. We believe that the Liberal-Democrats’ scheme to cut the long established weekly rubbish collection tthat our residents have relied on for so long is totally wrong. Experince in other boroughs shows it is quite possible to retain the traditional weekly rubbish collection without adversely affecting the aim of increased recycling.

Tony ARBOUR – For South West London