WIGAN DIGGERS 9/9/2017

the biggest attempted privatisation of local authority assets in UK history

Gordon Peters of Haringey Green Party and Stop the Haringey Development Vehicle Campaign writes below to mobilise people to support the judicial challenge to Haringey Council and the march on 23 September. This is becoming a London wide issue. It is thought that Camden Council are considering a similar setup. There will be a meeting hosted by Sian Berry in Camden Town Hall to discuss that on Tuesday Aug. 8 at 6.30. Find out more about the Haringey campaign at https://www.facebook.com/2billionpoundgamble/  and http://stophdv.com/.

Please spread this far and wide!

Anne Gray

Gordon Peters says....

  Update on the Stop HDV campaign:

 A Judicial Review of this is being filed in the High Court this week [by 4 August] on the grounds of it not having been consulted on, nor   even having gone to a full Council, on equalities impact not having been adequately considered, and on the risk to public finances not being made transparent or explained. There was a successful crowdfunding campaign which along with local collections and donations has raised  £25,000 towards legal costs. The last update on this is on <www.crowdjustice.org/case/stop-hdv>. The campaign is a broad coalition of forces including both constituency Labour parties, LibDems, Greens, trades unions, community organisations, residents' and leaseholders' associations. Despite this the ‘red Tory’ Labour Cabinet led by Claire Kober, who also is chair of London Councils, are determined to go ahead with the £2 billion transfer of the local authority’s Council estates, land and property including over 500 business units to a partnership with Lendlease. We believe however they cannot sign any contracts while this in legal dispute and a hearing could be any time through the autumn.

September is a critical month in linking this — the biggest attempted privatisation of local authority assets in UK history — with the various similar attempts at social cleansing and depriving ordinary people of their rights to housing across London in favour of corporate developer-led ‘’regeneration’’. We are aware particularly of what Lendlease has done in Southwark, of the Cressingham Gardens campaign in Lambeth, and of new developments in Tower Hamlets, and possibly Camden, and in most cases in Labour-controlled authorities. We wish to mobilise with groups such as the Radical Housing Network, ASH, Defend Council Housing, those demanding justice for Grenfell in K and C, and others to build a fightback across London sufficient to turn the tide against these ‘’regenerations’’ which are attacking the very lives of our communities.

StopHDV is calling a march on Saturday 23 September in Haringey which will have key speakers from elsewhere as well and we want as many as possible from across the capital to join. First details below:

The plan so far is to assemble on Saturday 23rd September at around noon at Tottenham Green (150 yards up the hill from Seven Sisters Tube station), then march from 1pm to assemble around 2.30 - 3  at Finsbury Park.  The route should take us past Seven Sisters up West Green Road along Green Lanes to Finsbury Park. Depending on consent from the authorities, we may have to reverse the route and start at Finsbury Park.

 

Finsbury Park is by two tube stations (Manor House and Finsbury Park.). It is also where Haringey, Hackney and Islington meet and not far from the Camden borders. No local Spurs match that day  (they'll be playing at Wembley) and no Arsenal one either, so no congestion on transport from football crowds.  

 

The start and end points should make it fairly easy for most of London to get to and from. It just needs building across London. Please tell your contacts!

Any comments/suggestions you have would be most welcome. If we all work together we should be able to build a sizeable march that could get publicity in the weekend before Labour Party conference, when a motion on Social Cleansing is being debated.

Notes Green Seniors Friday 21 July .2017

Notes Green Seniors  Friday 21 July .6.00

1.  GS email list address is Greenseniors@lists.greenparty.org.uk".

2.  Notes Green Seniors meeting 3/3/2016: agreed for accuracy.

3.   Matters Arising

a) May meeting postponed due to General election.

b) Nominations still open for post of Green Seniors  Treasurer.

c)  No progress with crowdfunder, might not be with it if the only expense was conference leaflets. Donations invited.

d) Pedestrians Association Aka Living Streetshttps://www.livingstreets.org.uk/ had responded to Maureen refusing to take up dangers to pedestrians from cyclists on pavements.

e) Museum charges now raised to prohibitive levels for many seniors.

f)   Lucas conference working groups: (on Arms Conversion, Localisation, Robotics and Just Transition) continue next meetings 24/7/2017. PM to attend.

g) GPEW Spring Conference, a successful eent combined with world and European Greens, some contacts made.

4.  General election:

a) Rumours of November/December election

b) Ongoing Brexit problems

c)  Disappointing GP performance but actually got 2^nd highest GP total vote.

5.  Gp autumn conference 7/10 october, Harrogate:

a) Stall:PM to book

b) Meeting: PM to book, and facilitate, volunteers to help needed.

c)  Motions: Alan Borgars proposing motion on fire proofing, Peter Allen proposing motion on prioritising NHS campaigning. See GP members’ site

6.  Future activities and events/Aob

a) National Pensioners’ Convention: The Message – quarterly newspaper 20p/free to affiliated groups and other publications available from: http://npcuk.org/publications.

b) National Pensioners’ Convention aims now posted at https://greenseniors.blogspot.co.uk/p/national-pensioners-convention-aims.html

Could be used  as a template for Green Seniors. 

c)  Which MP’s to contact on pensioners issues

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions	David Gauke MP
Secretary of State for Education Minister for Women and Equalities	Justine Greening MP
Secretary of State for Health	Jeremy Hunt MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Health	Jon Ashworth MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions	Debbie Abrahams MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities (2017–present)	Sarah Champion MP 2016–present

Source Wikipedia 21/7/2017

 

d) London Older Peoples Strategies Group www.lopsg.org.uk/

e) Maureen Childs to organise debate of Elders’ issues at Toynbee Hall

f)   Toynbee Hall research into needs of Elders in Tower Hamlets, Maureen Childs has contacted researcher Natasha Munoz and will further contact to ascertain how many Senior Centres have closed in Tower Hamlets.

g) Seniors reported to be entitled to double length GP appointments.

h) GP appointments.being replaced by skype and/or internet in some areas(?)

i)    Sheltered housing: reductions in workers, leading to reduction in residents’ access to facilities.

j)    MC and PM had attended Tower Hamlets and Brent air pollution meetings.

k)  Age Action Alliance  MC

l)    Ransackers, problems in using Uni facilities

7.Date of next meeting: 22/9/2017 6pm meeting at the Green Room 7 Grand Arcade Tally Ho Corner North Finchley 

Living Longer Lives: Blessing or Curse?

Living Longer Lives: Blessing or Curse?

BBC World service podcast at  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p058m10c

Half of all people born in industrialised countries today can expect to live to 100. What implications does that have for individuals and for societies around the world? Owen Bennett Jones and his guests discuss the many issues arising from an ageing society and ask whether one day we could live forever.

Contributors

Dr Anne Karpf - Author of 'How to Age' 

Prof Lynda Gratton - Author of 'The 100 Year Life'

Dr Alexandre Kalache - Co-President of the International Longevity Centre, Brazil 

Also featuring:

Dr Bill Frankland - medical doctor still working at 105

Barts Hospital Workers Strike The cleaners, porters and other SERCO workers at Barts Health, including Whipps Cross Hospital, are involved in an historic dispute. They are striking again this week to improve working conditions and to get a pay rise from £9.70 to £10 an hour. The next round of strike days begins on Tuesday July 11th and runs until Tuesday July 18th at 6am Solidarity demo Unite the Union demonstration Saturday 15 July, 12 noon, the Royal London (Whitechapel) to Mile End hospital Meet on Turner Street, E1 2AD. The branch banner will be on the demonstration, please join us if you can.   Statement from UNITE: We the cleaners, porters, and security who are members of Unite the Union at the St Barts NHS Trust are going on strike to defend our jobs and the integrity of our work. Since December 2016 – ‘soft services’ (catering, cleaning, security and portering) SERCO has been given the privatised contract so we work for the private sector not the NHS. This is a deal that will cost taxpayers £600m and lead to Serco making large profits from our hard work. Since Serco have taken over they have: 1) Planned job cuts at Whipps Cross Hospital. 2) Attempted to abolish tea breaks for hard-pressed workers at the Royal London Hospital. 3) Increased the workload to unsustainable levels affecting workers physical and mental well-being. 4) Continued zero-hours contracts despite a commitment not to. Serco profits from our NHS. Their CEO alone earns almost £2m a year. A cleaner would have to work for almost 100 years to receive this sum. Unite members have called for: 1) A pay rise of a 30p per hour to cover rising costs in London. 2) An end to proposed job cuts. 3) An end of an ever increasing workload that is affecting our health. Serco have refused to listen. We have now been forced into taking industrial action. From the 4th of July we will be on strike. This is a last resort for us and we hope that both Serco and the Barts NHS Trust do the right thing.

The People's Assembly Against Austerity: SATURDAY 1 JULY - NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION

The General Election result was devastating for Theresa May and the Conservatives. She called it to gain a bigger majority in Parliament but failed spectacularly to deliver on that. Now the Conservative Party are in chaos, forced to try to prop up a Government with the deeply conservative and regressive DUP. Even if they can get a Queens Speech through Parliament this arrangement is unsustainable, it won't last for long. 

SATURDAY 1 JULY - NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION
Not One Day More #ToriesOut 

Assemble 12pm, Saturday 1 July 2017 
BBC Broadcasting House
Portland Place, London W1A 1AA
March to Parliament

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK 



The Election result represents a rejection of Tory policies. They no they have no mandate; already the Government has suggested they may have to ease their austerity plans because of huge opposition. We need to make sure the full force of that opposition is felt. If we continue to mobilise in huge numbers we can deepen the crisis for the Conservatives and force big concessions on the NHS, education, housing and jobs. There is already talk of another General Election in the next few months which would likely see the Tories loose further support and be unable to form a Government. 

Protests have sprung up across the country and there are many more planned in the next few days, we're supporting all actions and events against Theresa May's attempt at forming a Government. On Saturday 1 July we want to invite everyone - from campaigns and community groups all over the country, from the trade unions, from political parties, and any individual - to come together in one massive show of strength. We're marching against another 5 years of a Troy Government committed to austerity, cuts and privatisation. And we're marching for a decent health service, education system, housing, jobs and living standards for all. Join us, bring your friends and spread the word. 

For publicity materials please contact office@thepeoplesassembly.org.uk

Transport is being arranged from across the country - full details available soon. If are organising transport please let us know and we will publicise. Keep checking our website for updates. 

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK 

The People's Assembly Against Austerity
http://www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/

The Rio Cinema in Dalston will be showing a film on Grenada called The House on Coco Road on Saturday 24th June at 12.30 in the afternoon. The House on Coco Road A man pays tribute to his mother and reflects on the social turmoil of his childhood, set amidst the Grenada Revolution. More details of the film...

The Green Party has suspended campaigning today after last night's terrorist attack in Manchester.

roysandison via lists.riseup.net	8:54 AM (26 minutes ago)
to greenleftdiscu.

The Green Party has suspended campaigning today after last night's terrorist attack in Manchester.

All national campaigning events, including the billboard launch and Welsh Green Party manifesto launch are cancelled.

In a statement following the attacks, the Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley said:

"Our thoughts are with those affected by this appalling incident in Manchester. For young people to be targeted in this way is utterly atrocious.

"As ever our emergency services have done us proud - and we pay tribute to the police, firefighters and paramadics who stepped up in this time of need.

"Our country will never be divided by terror. The people of Manchester showed last night just how strong the bond of friendship is between the people who live on these islands - and in the coming days and weeks we'll show that we won't let terrorism tear us apart."

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

Keep the free bus pass

Keep the free bus pass

A petition calling on all parties, before polling day, to publicly pledge that, if elected to power, they will retain unchanged the England free bus pass for older and disabled citizens, namely as a universal entitlement free at the point of use, for the lifetime of the new Parliament.
More details...

A nationwide billboard campaign is being launched today across the country accusing Theresa May of being a 'threat' to our public services. The People's Assembly has hired over 40 billboards, mostly in key marginal seats, which display a large picture of Theresa May with the words 'I am a threat, to your local hospital, to your child's education, to your standard of living, to your job security, to your pension, to you peace and security'.



We are launching a crowdfunding drive alongside the billboard campaign so we can organise more advertising in the last week of the election campaign. We want to put up more billboards, adverts and organise actions across the country to expose the truth of Tory policies. We're taking back space that's usually only reserved for the big business and corporations. The more money we raise the bigger impact we can have, but we only have a very short time to make this happen and we've now used up every penny we have! The Tories get massive donations from a few millionaires but we have the strength of our numbers. Please donate!

 

Click here to make a donation to the crowdfunding campaign. 

Sam Fairbairn, National Secretary of the People's Assembly, said "

She is a threat to everything we rely on from cradle to grave. The crisis in the NHS was created by the Conservative government and they're doing nothing to address it. She's snatching free school lunches off infants while her plans to restructure our education system will leave schools without proper funding. University students are being strapped with lifelong debt. Employers are allowed to get away with paying poverty wages on insecure or zero hour contracts and she wants to rob people's houses from them & their family cover the costs of looking after them in old age."

"In one of the most important elections for generations we want to expose the lies behind Theresa May's soundbite rhetoric. We'll do everything we can to make sure Theresa May and her government for the super rich isn't returned to Downing St."

We're also asking everyone to get down to one of the billboards and take a snap and share online with #ToriesOut.

Why not save the image and make it your cover pic on Facebook or Twitter?

FULL LIST OF PLACES HOSTING THE POSTER (so far!)

1. Barking (Rainham Road)
2. Barking (Ilford Lane)
3. Birmingham (Summer Hill Road)
4. Birmingham (Tyburn Road)
5. Birmingham (Lichfield Road)
6. Birmingham (Bordesley Green Road)
7. Birmingham (Lodge Road)
8. Birmingham (Long Acre)
9. Birmingham (Bordesley Green Road)
10. Birmingham (Bordesley Green Road)
11. Bolton (Bury New Road)
12. Brent (Chamberlayne Road)
13. Bristol (Laurence Hill Roundabout)
14. Cardiff (Cowbridge Road West)
15. Cardiff (Cathay's Terrace)
16. Cardiff (Nantgarw Road)
17. Carlisle (Port Road)
18. Coventry (Albany Road)
19. Croydon (London Road)
20. Croydon (Stafford Road)
21. Croydon (Purley Way)
22. Leeds (Bridge Road)
23. Manchester (Grosvenor Street)
24. Manchester (Oldham Road)
25. Manchester (Rochdale Road)
26. Manchester (Hyde Road)
27. Sheffield (Broad Lane)
28. Sheffield (Penistone Road North)
29. Sheffield (Neepsend Lane)
30. Sheffield (Abbey Lane)
31. Wandsworth (Garratt Lane)
32. Wandsworth (Upper Tooting Road)
33. Wandsworth (Putney Bridge Road)
34. Manchester (Bury New Road)
35. Wandsworth (Upper Richmond Road)
36. Wandsworth (St Johns Hill)
37. Birmingham (Summer Hill Road)
38. Wood Green (Turnpike Lane)
39. Birmingham (Icknield Port Road)
40. Leeds (Tong Road)
41. Sheffield (Penistone Road)
42. Southampton (Mountbatten Way)
43. Wandsworth (Swandon Way)
44. Westminster (Harrow Road)

For a full list of exact dates for each billboard you can download the spread sheet here.  

Please help us do more of this!


Click here to make a donation to the crowdfunding campaign. 

The more you can do to help with this initiative the bigger the reach it will have, so please make a donation and get down to one of the sites and help us spread the message online. Let's take back the space and get the #ToriesOut.

Solidarity.

The People's Assembly Against Austerity
http://www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/