Labour councillor claims Paddick turned Brixton into drugs supermarket which fuelled gang warfare

[Brixton Hatter]

Letter in the Evening Standard today from Councillor Florence Nosegbe. Can't find a link. (Will scan it later if I can bothered!)

A load of smeary old bollocks just before the mayoral election. (Not that Brian stands a chance of winning.)

 

[editor]

Yeah, because there was no drugs at all in Brixton before Paddick took charge.



http://snipelondon.com/scoop/ken-s-lambeth-allies-pop-into-the-drugs-supermarket-to-attack-paddick

 

[editor]

'Tis a good article in that link:

Putting aside the issue of whether or not Brixton was a drug-free paradise before Commander Paddick’s reign, whichheavily influenced the Labour governmentof the time, it’s an interesting choice of language from Cllr Nosegbe.
Spin back two years, and her colleagues in the Lambeth Labour party were out in nearby Herne Hill trying to fend off a determined challenge from the local Green Party, which had a councillor in the area at the time..

Bearing a photo of then-cabinet minister Tessa Jowell, a letter to localsclaimed…
“Lambeth Green party policies include… pressing for the legalisation of drugs including skunk cannabis and class A drugs in Herne Hill – a measure which would risk turning our area into South London’s main drugs supermarket.”

No such policy appeared in the local Green manifesto, though. As local (at the time) blogger Jason Cobb noted, it was simply a smear.

With all that in mind, I wonder what Florence Nosegbe and her Lambeth Labour colleagues would make of these comments from one wild mayoral candidate – the one she’s presumably backing?

“You are not going to have major banks in the City relocate to Frankfurt because young men want to go out on the pull and do a load of cocaine and they can’t really do that easily in Frankfurt.
“So you need to have a dynamic city. Our only real rival is New York.”
Ken Livingstone’s “drugs supermarket”? Coming to a Labour Party leaflet near you. If you’re in Lambeth, that is.

 

[Orang Utan]

i saw a police notice today outside wh smith about zero tolerance towards drugs and the dispersal zone. it certainly contradicts paddick's ideas. police attitudes are very different now, it seems.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Surprising, Flo was quite level headed ime.

 

[co-op]

'Tis a good article in that link:

It is a good link but tbf the Green Party does support legalisation. It's just that the idea that this would "make" Lambeth a drugs supermarket is daft, because it already is. There's nothing you can't buy on the street in Lambeth. The pity is that this kind of moronic drugs schtick can still be rolled out to squash meaningful debate and it's very typical of Lambeth Labour Party who are more Daily Mail than the Daily Mail.

A key problem is that since most Lambeth Labour Party councillors live in million pound houses in nice tory streets or gated communities etc, they are completely ignorant on a personal level of just how corrosive it is to have dealing and using going on right outside your house every day so they are free to use it as a cycnical little election tool. Basically what I'm trying to say is that they are a bunch of wankers.

 

[London_Calling]

Paddick's a plank of wood, politically speaking. Jesus.

Zero smarts.

 

[Orang Utan]

aye, when he ran for mayor, he didn't come across as very bright.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

He never seems to look very happy about being the Lib Dem mayoral candidate in any pictures, or on his posters. Cheer up Brian! Might never happen!

 

[urbanspaceman]

As I remember it, the result of Brian's policy was that the police completely gave up on disrupting any type of drug dealing. The rank and file interpreted Paddick's directive as a carte blanche to save lots more police time - presumably in the canteen, as there was precious little police presence on the streets during that period.

But the thing that really riled me, (enough to join the Conservative Party), was the tacit and unexamined racism in Blunkett's decision to carry out his Experiment in Brixton. I'm from South Yorkshire, and know enough about Blunkett's own pretty rough constituency (Sheffield Brightside) to say that it would have represented an equally good candidate for the Experiment. But of all the towns in the UK, Blunkett chose Brixton. What was in his mind ? What made the people of Brixton suitable to inflict his experiment on ? I did write to him at the time, suggesting he try the Experiment in Brightside or Sedgefiled (sadly no reply).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/...ow-me-its-another-crackpot-Blunkett-plan.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2120116.stm

 

[maldwyn]

Has he been photoshopped to look as if he's about to get hit by that police vehicle?

 

[Winot]

If only it was a drugs supermarket - might get consistency of quality, bulk discounts, etc. You could even have a "6 drugs or fewer" dealer for those in a hurry.

 

[Orang Utan]

As I remember it, the result of Brian's policy was that the police completely gave up on disrupting any type of drug dealing. The rank and file interpreted Paddick's directive as a carte blanche to save lots more police time - presumably in the canteen, as there was precious little police presence on the streets during that period.

But the thing that really riled me, (enough to join the Conservative Party), was the tacit and unexamined racism in Blunkett's decision to carry out his Experiment in Brixton. I'm from South Yorkshire, and know enough about Blunkett's own pretty rough constituency (Sheffield Brightside) to say that it would have represented an equally good candidate for the Experiment. But of all the towns in the UK, Blunkett chose Brixton. What was in his mind ? What made the people of Brixton suitable to inflict his experiment on ? I did write to him at the time, suggesting he try the Experiment in Brightside or Sedgefiled (sadly no reply).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/...ow-me-its-another-crackpot-Blunkett-plan.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2120116.stm

please explain what's racist about effectively decriminalising cannabis in brixton and what blunkett had to do with it. thanks!

 

[se5]

Letter in the Evening Standard today from Councillor Florence Nosegbe. Can't find a link. (Will scan it later if I can bothered!)

A load of smeary old bollocks just before the mayoral election. (Not that Brian stands a chance of winning.)

This smear your opponents by writing an apparently reasonable letter in 'neutral' media is straight from the campaigning handbook - Florence is standing as a London Assembly candidate on the Labour list (according to this http://labourlist.org/2011/07/labour-announces-london-assembly-candidates/ she is 5th on the list so stands virtually zero chance of being elected)

 

[marty21]

It is all true, Paddick got that first squirrel hooked on crack, and all the rest followed from that

 

[FridgeMagnet]

You have to wonder why anyone would bother smearing Paddick though.

 

[London_Calling]

I'd imagine some our local representatives got carried away watching the political strand of The Wire, and now can't help but wank off ineptly in public.

 

[marty21]

You have to wonder why anyone would bother smearing Paddick though.

seems pointless, can't remember what sort of vote he got last time, 15%? likely to be reduced this year as voters will be punishing the libdem candidate for clegg and the coalition antics

 

[Kid_Eternity]

You have to wonder why anyone would bother smearing Paddick though.

It's true, it's not like he's a threat or has a campaign worth worrying about...

 

[Tricky Skills]

As well as standing for the London Assembly, Florence is also standing for the Labour NEC. Busy girl. She was also responsible for overseeing the fine Country Show.

No coincidence that she has just been demoted from the Lambeth cabinet.

 

[Laughing Toad]

As well as standing for the London Assembly, Florence is also standing for the Labour NEC. Busy girl. She was also responsible for overseeing the fine Country Show.

No coincidence that she has just been demoted from the Lambeth cabinet.

She was also responsible for the Lambeth libraries, which Tim Coates described as being the worst in the country.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Surprising, Flo was quite level headed ime.

She's on good terms with many of the churches in her ward, so perhaps she's manouvering for the churchgoer vote?

Stranger things have happened.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

 

[Kid_Eternity]

She's on good terms with many of the churches in her ward, so perhaps she's manouvering for the churchgoer vote?

Stranger things have happened.

Ah you may have a point there...

 

[Tolpuddle]

Fear not, in the Lambeth cabinet reshuffle she now has special responsibility for gangs, someone copied, pasted & sent me the annoucement from the Lambeth intranet, it said she was now a 'gangs tsar', which , if you run the two words together seems to be a little unfortunate to me!! Nice one Lambeth.

 

[tendril]

If only it was a drugs supermarket - might get consistency of quality, bulk discounts, etc. You could even have a "6 drugs or fewer" dealer for those in a hurry.

Loss leaders

An ounce of finest Afghan Resin? On special offer this week at the knock down price of £25

 

[Rushy]

Fear not, in the Lambeth cabinet reshuffle she now has special responsibility for gangs, someone copied, pasted & sent me the annoucement from the Lambeth intranet, it said she was now a 'gangs tsar', which , if you run the two words together seems to be a little unfortunate to me!! Nice one Lambeth.

"Gang tsar". Brilliant.

 

[MAD-T-REX]

You have to wonder why anyone would bother smearing Paddick though.

The race between Boris and Ken is going to be close, so convincing undecided voters that they shouldn't vote for Paddick is important for Labour.

 

[co-op]

The race between Boris and Ken is going to be close, so convincing undecided voters that they shouldn't vote for Paddick is important for Labour.

Paddick will be knocked out in the first round of voting so he's an irrelevance in this race. It'll be KL and BJ in the second round regardless of what smears Labour throw at Paddick.

 

[Gramsci]

Letter in the Evening Standard today from Councillor Florence Nosegbe. Can't find a link. (Will scan it later if I can bothered!)

A load of smeary old bollocks just before the mayoral election. (Not that Brian stands a chance of winning.)

ES had interview with Paddick. On Policing he was level headed. What he was actually saying was that Operation Trident should concentrate on its original remit of taking seriously murder in the Black community and not being sidelined into dealing with gangs.

It was obvious he knows about policing from interview. In fact from reading it I would suggest the winning candidate could use his skills and knowledge.

Are Gangs the real problem? Im not so sure. And I live in central Brixton. There are problems of ASB and dealing. But I dont necessarily think its highly organised gangs doing it. Rather its more loose groups of individuals. Who might work together or not. And who might try to dominate certain sections of a street. They tend to be older .Without going into any more detail.

When I think of gangs I think of very young people. We have seen recently stabbings that possibly are gang related but a bit more analysis of who and what gangs are is in order I think.



The article that Cllr Florence is taking issue with is here

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/...us-on-gang-violence-says-paddick-7562363.html

The bit that Cllr Florence takes issue with is this:

. He says that the current Met commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe is mistaken in his concentration on gang crime in London, and accuses him of giving in to Conservative politics.
“I think he’s bowed to political pressure over gangs,” says Paddick. “Putting 1,000 officers into Trident, diluting Trident’s original mission dealing with murders into gangs, more broadly exaggerates the problem with gangs in London.
“It’s overdone. You will have to ask the Commissioner but I don’t think he will be devastated if a different politician were to tell him that he wanted the emphasis somewhere else.”
If Paddick were Mayor he would ask the Met to shift resources to “core policing services... neighbourhood policing and response policing.” He also believes stop-and-search tactics “continue to unfairly target young black men.” He claims that public satisfaction in the Met is very low. “We need to transform the police if we are not going to have to end up policing by force.”