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Lib Dem launch is a bit rich at £50 a throw
• With your letters pages hotting up with the impending
council elections, I was very interested to hear about the Liberal
Democrats launching their campaign in an exclusive modern art
gallery in Camden Town.
What I was surprised to hear about was the exclusivity of
the invitations. Their own website, which I assume is meant
to show their agenda if they were in charge of Camden, states
that individual tickets to the campaign launch were £50
a head.
I was rather shocked at this figure and am sure that readers
of this paper will share this view.
The Lib Dems have historically been strong in parts of Camden
such as Hampstead – not the areas with large parts of council
housing.
So presumably the fact that they all own homes that are worth
hundreds of thousands of pounds means that £50 is a flash
in the pan for them.
To put this in context however – the Lib Dems have stated
both nationally and locally that the national minimum wage is
“dangerous”.
So in other words they are happy to throw £50 a way on
a jolly evening sipping champagne – but don’t support
a living wage for people on low incomes. For a political party
that is giving very little away about its policy agenda for
Camden – their actions in terms of backing those that can
afford to squander such large amounts of money seems rather
telling.
Becky Purcell
Frederick Street, WC1
• When Rachel Zatz, Green Party prospective candidate,
rang prior to the King’s Cross planning meeting to ask
me to include her party’s views with regard to sustainability
and a station for Maiden Lane in representations to the hearing
and since Cantelowes Labour Branch intended to make those observations
anyway, I agreed to do so, and duly did.
So Rachel’s letter (March 23) to the CNJ bemoaning progress
was a surprise. After all Labour were the only political party
in Cantelowes Ward, working together with residents’ groups,
to make specific deputations in front of the developers regarding
a Maiden Lane Station and pedestrian and cyclist access to the
King’s Cross development from Agar Grove via Camley Street.
We succeeded and the developers will now fund the road. The
developer’s £30,000 payment for the station feasibility
study is welcome; we are making headway, and need to pull together
to get trains to stop once more at Maiden Lane Station.
Cllr Dermot Greene (Lab)
Herbert Street, NW5
• Those familiar with the campaigning genius of the
Lib Dems will have expressed even deeper admiration this week
at their new masterstroke: rounding up kids on council estates
to do their dirty work for them.
How are the unsuspecting innocents to be enticed? Forget
tedious concerns about child protection, simply dole out badges
and toffees. This brilliant new tactic is outlined in the Lib
Dems official local election guide for candidates, as reported
by the BBC.
The document states: “You go into the middle of a council
estate with your leaflets and you shout at all the local kids
you can see and see if ‘any of you lot want to help deliver
all these leaflets?’.
“Then proceed Pied Piper-like round the estate doling out
badges and toffees and leaflets, the last at least to be pushed
through doors by the shouting, squealing and quarrelsome horde.”
Interesting that the Lib Dems only follow this policy for those
“squealing and quarrelsome” types that live on council
estates. Perhaps campaign budgets don’t stretch far enough
to entice the children of Hampstead and Primrose Hill to join
the yellow bandwagon.
Phil Jones
Hawley Road, NW1
• I read your article (Labour Has Failed You, says New
Lib Dem leader Ming, April 6) and felt it was wrong to state
that the four tower blocks in the Chalcott Estate were among
Camden’s worst-kept estates.
I lived in Burnham for two years until last year and did not
experience any of the problems listed in your article. My windows
never leaked and only two or three times in those two years
were both the lifts out of order and the problem was dealt with
quickly.
The lifts and entrance were kept clean by the efficient and
hardworking caretaker, the light above my front door was always
changed the morning after it blew and he was regularly seen
removing addicts from the car park.
I feel it is unfair to make it seem as though the blocks are
neglected.
Name and address supplied
• Syed Hoque needs to get his facts right (Judge Labour
on its record here, not Iraq, April 6). He claims that no Lib
Dem councillor supported Cllr Nash Ali in his bid to become
Mayor.
Not true. The minutes of the meeting on May 14 2003 clearly
state that I seconded, on behalf of the Liberal Democrat Group,
the motion to appoint Nash to the mayoralty.
Perhaps he would like to send a letter of apology to the paper
on this point?
He is right to say my party opposed the latest legislation on
religious hatred because we believed the law as proposed was
unworkable and could endanger free speech.
But as he supports a party which rides roughshod over civil
liberties, such as supporting extending detention without trial;
an ID card scheme meaning the government will hold over 45 pieces
of information about everyone on a national database; as well
as engaging in illegal wars, it is not surprising that he perhaps
takes this view.
Cllr JOHN BRYANT
Liberal Democrat
West Hampstead ward
Belsize Road, NW6
• Susie Mann isn’t the only person to complain
about the Lib Dem’s negative
propaganda (Letters, April 6).
In Haverstock ward, I’ve had to reassure several voters
following a leaflet from the Lib Dems claiming that the local
Safer Neighbourhood Police Team is under threat.
Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Haverstock
and Gospel Oak was one of the first areas in London to have
such a local police team, dedicated to working with the community.
Labour believed it was an important priority for the area and
we campaigned hard to make sure it came to Haverstock.
In contrast, the Lib Dems didn’t lift a finger to ensure
the area benefited from a Safer Neighbourhood Team. So they
are in no position to spread false rumours about local policing
now.
Mike Katz
Labour candidate,
Haverstock ward
Camden Road, NW1
• It is rather surprising that Kevin Knight was unimpressed
by Ed Fordham moving to Camden (CNJ, April 6). During his Lib
Dem General Election campaign, Ed said he was committed to Camden
and would move to the borough, if elected. He has now gone further
than he promised.
Compare this with Labour’s Camden MP, Glenda Jackson.
She too promised to move to the borough, if elected. However,
she has made sure that she lives on the opposite side of London
– Labour promises are for breaking.
It is generally accepted that the Labour Party has sunk itself
into a swamp of half-truths and outright lies and that this
is one of the principle reasons for the party’s unpopularity
throughout the country.
The Camden Labour Party is very closely associated with those
people responsible for this cynical policy and has tried hard
to reproduce it locally. In May, they will undoubtedly receive
their reward for this from resentful residents.
Unfortunately, the Conservative Party seems to have convinced
itself that the way back to power is to use the same techniques
as the Labour Party.
With David Cameron so obviously intent on becoming Tony Blair
Mark II, is it not reassuring that there is one party in the
Camden local elections that does live up to its promises?
Alan Templeton
Lib Dem candidate for Frognal and Fitzjohns Ward
Honeybourne Road, NW6
• As Labour candidate (and sitting Councillor) for Bloomsbury
ward in Camden, I was astonished to learn that two out of my
three Green Party opponents not only live out of Camden Borough,
but are simultaneously standing for the councils where they
do live!
Shahrar Ali is standing for Queens Park, London Borough
of Brent (where he has also in the last two years stood for
Parliament, a Brent Council by-election, the European Parliament
in Strasbourg, and the Greater London Assembly – the last
two also simultaneously). George Graham is also standing for
Herne Hill Ward in Lambeth, and is a Lambeth resident.
I presume their candidacies for Bloomsbury qualify on either
working somewhere in Camden or owning property here, and therefore
are technically legal. But given the Greens claimed commitment
to local communities, it seems odd to have two such distant
residents, and with their involvement where they live.
Peter Brayshaw
Labour, Bloomsbury ward
Camden Rd, NW1
• What a joy it is to read the New Journal’s letters
pages at the moment – with a high number of comedy letters
from Liberal Democrat writers writing on a range of issues from
the state of special delivery mail to the colour of belly-button
fluff.
One such writer, Rex Warwick (Letters, April 7) writes a
list of Labour’s failings on a national basis – suggesting
that I overlooked them in a letter I sent to this paper recently.
He clearly cannot face the fact that my letter was pointing
out the failings of his party on a local basis. These failings
include selecting a candidate for Hampstead Town ward who lives
in Bow – launching their election campaign in an estate
in Swiss Cottage where residents say “they have never stepped
foot in before today.”
Credit where credit is due – the Camden Tories are at least
trying to state how they would do things differently than Labour.
I disagree with what they are saying, and will therefore probably
vote Labour again on May 4.
I don’t think that Labour are flawless nationally by any
means. But the Camden Liberal Democrats are proving themselves
to be masters of saying not much at all, but very loudly.
Alain Davidson
Mayford, NW1
• Your Comment (Are the voters in a punishing mood?
April 6) mentions a double whammy facing Labour in Camden (low
turnout and calamitous political climate), but there’s
the potential for another in this election.
The word on the street seems clear enough – Labour
are finished in Highgate, at least for sometime. They lost the
support of over 300 voters in 2002 and more this time are voting
Green because they have had enough of Labour locally or want
to give Tony Blair a bloody nose, or both.
The latter happens to be the purpose of the London Strategic
Voter website: www.strategicvoter.
org.uk. It is recommending that disillusioned former Labour
voters, along with Lib Dem and Respect supporters, vote for
second-placed Greens here and in Kentish Town.
Voters in Highgate are likely to deliver their own double-whammy,
as electing Greens in Highgate will also kill off Tory hopes
of a revival in Camden.
Adrian Oliver
Chair, Camden Green Party and Highgate ward candidate
Lissenden Gardens, NW5
• I was delighted this weekend to see children taking
the initiative and skateboarding on the water feature without
water at Swiss Cottage. With the water feature now not going
live until July, kids will get used to playing on it.
This illustrates what a wasted opportunity the water feature
represents, quite apart from its £500,000 overspend.
Since the fountain apparently cannot operate when the wind speed
is high, why doesn’t the council make the best of the situation
and alternate the way the feature is used, perhaps leaving it
“dry” for skateboarding in winter, and running the
fountain in summer when we benefit most from the cooling water.
Still, not as useful as another football pitch for young people
of course.
My other concern is the cost of renting the new (smaller) football
pitch.
Why has the hourly concessionary cost more than doubled from
£16 to £44 with the result that the Winchester Project,
for example, is hard-pressed to buy all the hours it really
needs for local children? The council needs to review this urgently.
Cllr Andrew Marshall (Con)
Town Hall
Judd Street
WC1
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