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60th Anniversary of Pakistan Independence
time created: 20th of August 2007, at 9:50 pm
Last Thursday (16th August) I attended Waltham Forest Mayor Liaquat Ali's dinner in honour of Pakistan's 60th anniversary. Funds raised went to the Mayor's chosen charity Diabetes UK.
Diabetes is a condition in which the amount of sugar in the blood is too high because the body cannot process it properly.
There are currently over 2 million people with diabetes in the UK and many more people have it but don't know so correct diagnosis and access to treament is vital.
This is a particularly important cause for Walthamstow, with its diverse population and levels of social deprivation.
Incidence and prevalence of diabetes is greater in deprived areas with mortality rates higher the lowest socio-economic groups. Moreover people from minority ethnic communities have up to a six times higher than average risk of developing diabetes.
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Policyandguidance/Healthandsocialcaretopics/Diabetes/index.htm
The event, held at the Assembly Hall attracted guests from all across London and beyond. Guests of honour were the High Commissioner and Foreign Office Minister Shahid Malik MP, the UK's first Muslim Minister. There was a good turnout of Labour Councillors, including Geraldine Reardon, Miranda Grell, Faiz Yunis, Richard Sweden, Elizabeth Davies, Afzal Akram, Terry Wheeler and Asim and Saima Mahmud. Also present were Neil Gerrard MP and Assembly Jennette Arnold. Unfortunately Harry Cohen could not be there, due to illness in the family.
Railways back in public ownership
time created: 12th of April 2007, at 10:49 pm
The front page of today's Times suggested that Labour may pilot a scheme in Scotland to bring railways back into public ownership.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article1642806.ece
If this is true it would be fantastic news and immensely popular with the long suffering travelling public. The Tories try to wriggle out of resposnibility for their disastrous rail privatisation by claiming that it was botched. As if the concept of selling off vital public services was OK, it was just the execution that left something to be desired! That is just plain wrong, which is why I have always said rail services should be in public ownership, arguing the case at public meetings and internally in Walthamstow Labour Party.
Keep the NHS Public
time created: 8th of April 2007, at 7:35 pm
Today's Observer front page story was a survey of public perceptions of ten years of the Labour government. One of the particularly worrying pieces were the questions about the NHS with nearly half of respondents saying it has got worse. The NHS has always been one of Labour's areas of traditional strength, (quite rightly so) and this government has without doubt done a great deal to increase investment, recruit and retain staff, slash waiting lists and ensure that patients receive treatment without lengthy waits.
That was recognised at the last election, when the voters did not accept or believe Tory attacks on Labour's record. As the Labour candidate in Colchester at the last general election, voters told me that whilst they still had some concerns, they believed the health service was improving and they trusted Labour to continue to put things right. So what has gone wrong?
In my view Labour's progress in building NHS capacity and improving standards is undermined by Whitehall’s insistence on NHS Trusts and Primary Care Trusts achieving financial balance, regardless of the impact on services. My own local hospital, Whipps Cross, which is highly rated for quality of care, has been forced to cut services because it is running a large deficit. Whilst we all want NHS trusts to run their finances efficiently, central government's insistence that cutting the deficit takes priority over everthing else is deeply damaging. I went to the NHS Together Day of Action rally a few weeks ago at the Friends Meeting House in Euston ,where speakers from Unison, Amicus and the Royal College of Midwives outlined the impact in London on mental health, district nursing, maternity services amongst other things.
Over the last year, the media stories of the NHS 'budget crisis' and the
impact of that on local services, (which is very real most trusts, even
those without deficits, have had to contribute a slice of their
budget) has undermined public confidence.
The Department of Health has an almost ‘Maoist’ addiction to
reform, driven by think tanks, academics and powerful private sector
interests. Policy makers seem to have deliberately avoided
consultation with NHS staff, or with the public who have a strong interest
in these matters.
The latest policy push is for fewer district general hospitals and more large regional specialist centres. In practical terms this means hospitals like Whipps or King Georges in Ilford could be down graded and risk losing accident and emergency services. Yet as Keep Our NHS Public has revealed, the evidence to justify this sort of reconfiguration is just not there. There is no evidence that money will be saved by concentrating services in large regional centres and no evidence that the outcomes for patients will improve.
At the same time, the impact of independent sector treatment centres and pressure on Primary Care Trusts to commission services from the 'independent' sector (ie.private and voluntary sectors) puts service providers against each other. Co-operation and the public good should be the name of the game, not competition for lucrative NHS contracts.
In Waltham Forest and Redbridge there are massive public campaigns to ensure that neither hospital will lose services. In Watham Forest there have been several packed public meetings and in February hundreds of local people marched from the hospital to Walthamstow Town Centre to demonstrate their support for Whipps.
The public consultation on these proposals 'Fit for the Future' will not now take place until the autumn and Waltham Forest Labour Party will continue its 'I Love Whipps Cross' campaign to keep a full range of services, including A&E at the hospital.
A major problem is the lack of democratic accountability in NHS
decision-making, where elected representatives of local communities have no
power to overturn decisions that they and their
constituents oppose.
Independence for the NHS is one of those suddenly fashionable ideas that will not withstand serious scrutiny. Publicly provided healthcare cannot be taken out of the political arena when it spends annually around £75 billion of public money and is a key concern of voters. I would like to see NHS trusts and Primary Care Trusts be properly accountable to democratically elected representatives, with local authority overview and scrutiny committees being given real power to block proposals that are not in the local community's interests.
Solidarity with trade unionists
time created: 4th of April 2007, at 8:05 pm
This lunchtime (4th April) I took part in a demonstration outside the Zimbabwean High Commission organised by the TUC and ACTSA to show solidarity with the Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions. Brothers and sisters from the Movement for Democratic Change lead the demonstration with Zimbabwean protest songs. One of the themes of this event was to support ZCTU calls for a living wage for Zimbabwean workers.
The situation in Zimbabwe is dire, with 80% unemployment, food shortages and rampant inflation. Workers and trade unionists are intimidated and attacked and recently MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was savagely beaten by police. About two weeks ago 370 Zimbabwean women were arrested after attending a political meeting, according to the BBC.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber joined in and trade union activists from the TUC, TGWU, Amicus, GMB, NASUWT and UCU were all represented. Also met Walthamstow colleagues Mike Smith and Sam Gurney, and Gemma Friedman, who was the borough's Labour election organiser in 2002.
Most commentators seem to think Robert Mugabe will eventually be overthrown by his own people, but he shows no signs of going. I would like to see stronger condemnation of his government's actions by world leaders, especially the EU. And practical support for civil society organisations, particularly the ZCTU.
Columbia Memorial
Three weeks ago I was at the "Remember the Dead and Fight for the Living" rally outside the Columbian Embassy, organised by Justice For Columbia. 84 trade unionsists were murdered last year in Columbia and few perpetrators have been brought to justice. Trade union activists are major targets for the Columbian army and right wing paramilitaries.
Demonstrators held up lacards with the names and occupations of all those killed and called for an end to the violence and tand end to the culture of impunity for their murderers.
The rally was led by general secretaries of most of the major British Trade unions, including Tony Woodley (T&G), Derek Simpson (Amicus), Keith Norman (Aslef) Brendan Barber (TUC) and MPs from the Trade Union Group, including Tony Clarke, John Cruddas and Katy Clarke.
