Lambeth local elections 2010 thread

[netbob]

We've finally had a few leaflets through, all Labour, plus found a Green one spiked on a fence the other day. All uploaded here: http://www.thestraightchoice.org/leaflets.php?n=dulwich_and_west_norwood

(btw, you can now email photographs in from your phone [email protected])

 

[Ms T]

Yep. We're Coldharbour ward and we're part of Dulwich & West Norwood from this election. I'm not sure whether it's the whole ward or not.

We're Coldharbour as well and are moving from Streatham (wtf?) to Dulwich and West Norwood as well. Brixton used to be split into three parliamentary constituencies, which really didn't make sense. I guess now it will be two, which is still not ideal.

 

[Mairead]

Does anyone know of any hustings organised for Dulwich and West Norwood or Coldharbour ward? I feel the need to heckle someone!

 

[Biddlybee]

There's one on 22 April at a church down Half Moon Lane, can't remember it's name.

(bugger, LCC had one yesterday for GLA )

 

[Mairead]

Cheers - I will investigate!

 

[Mairead]

Hustings

Found these - I don't know why but that Lib Dems face annoys me

http://www.jonathanmitchellsblog.com/2010/04/forthcoming-general-election-candidates.html

 

[colacubes]

We're Coldharbour as well and are moving from Streatham (wtf?) to Dulwich and West Norwood as well. Brixton used to be split into three parliamentary constituencies, which really didn't make sense. I guess now it will be two, which is still not ideal.

How the fuck were you Streatham when we were Vauxhall before . Bonkers it is

 

[netbob]

We're Coldharbour as well and are moving from Streatham (wtf?) to Dulwich and West Norwood as well. Brixton used to be split into three parliamentary constituencies, which really didn't make sense. I guess now it will be two, which is still not ideal.

Weird. I thought ward constituency boundaries never crossed?

 

[co-op]

There's one on 22 April at a church down Half Moon Lane, can't remember it's name.

(bugger, LCC had one yesterday for GLA )

The April 22nd one is the Herne Hill Forum one - http://www.hernehillforum.org.uk/forum_public_meeting

There's going to be a presentation on "20's Plenty" the national campaign to reduce urban speed limits first - this will be by Rod King, the national chair of that campaign and I'd really recommend seeing that, he's very good and you'll learn a lot.

There's another LCC hustings - only Lambeth not London - on the 20th April at the Stockwell Community Resource Centre just behind Stockwell tube so you can ask more cycle oriented questions there if you want.

 

[Biddlybee]

There's another LCC hustings - only Lambeth not London - on the 20th April at the Stockwell Community Resource Centre just behind Stockwell tube so you can ask more cycle oriented questions there if you want.

Cheers, I might pop along.

 

[Ms T]

How the fuck were you Streatham when we were Vauxhall before . Bonkers it is

Dunno, but was in Streatham constituency when I lived on Kellett Road as well.

 

[lang rabbie]

We're Coldharbour as well and are moving from Streatham (wtf?) to Dulwich and West Norwood as well. Brixton used to be split into three parliamentary constituencies, which really didn't make sense. I guess now it will be two, which is still not ideal.

Brixton town centre is still split three ways: Brixton Hill and Tulse Hill in Streatham BC; Ferndale in Vauxhall BC and Coldharbour in Dulwich & West Norwood BC.

 

[lang rabbie]

Weird. I thought ward constituency boundaries never crossed?

They won't do from now on. However, the 2005 General Election was fought on old parliamentary constituency boundaries that reflected the pre-2002 council wards because of the delay to implementing the boundary review. The boundaries between the "old" Tulse Hill, Herne Hill and Angell wards were fairly bonkers IIRC.

 

[Gramsci]

And Labour have unveiled their manifesto - see http://www.lambethlabour.com/?p=337

Had a quick look at this. Want i cant take is the almost gleeful way Lambeth Labur bang on about crime. "Zero Tolerance", Police Hit squads (with picture of police battering a door down and saying they give out more ASBOs than any other party.

Also the manifesto takes swipes at LibDems for being "liberal" on the decriminalisation of drugs and prostitution.

On a personal level the Labour Cllrs and members i have met are liberal minded.

I find this Blunkett type view of law and order turns me off the Labour party. I remember Blunkett going on like this. Anyone who disagreed with him was a "Liberati" or "Guardianista". Obviously not representative of the "ordinary decent people" who want punitive law and order.

Ive been reading "The Spirit Level" by Wilkinson and Pickett. A book the Poliical classes are reading to show there "progressive" credentials but largely skating over what it says.

The book a study of how inequality (yep old school sociology) affects societies. The more unequal a society is the more punitive it is.

"In societies with greater inequality (that is USA ,UK for example)..public and policy makers are more willing to...adopt punitive attitudes towards the "criminal elements" of society." Page 155

The criminologist John Irwin says there are unofficial reasons for punitive law and order policies

a) Class control - protect middles class from criminal underclass.
b) Scapegoating- diverting attention from social problems. For example inequalities in wealth.
c) Political Gain- using threat of the "dangerous Class"

(footnote page 154 of the Spirit Level)

 

[Laughing Toad]

"In societies with greater inequality (that is USA ,UK for example)..public and policy makers are more willing to...adopt punitive attitudes towards the "criminal elements" of society." Page 155

Not China though. Until recently it was quite equal, and they're always hanging people.

 

[co-op]

Had a quick look at this. Want i cant take is the almost gleeful way Lambeth Labur bang on about crime. "Zero Tolerance", Police Hit squads (with picture of police battering a door down and saying they give out more ASBOs than any other party.

Also the manifesto takes swipes at LibDems for being "liberal" on the decriminalisation of drugs and prostitution.

On a personal level the Labour Cllrs and members i have met are liberal minded.

I find this Blunkett type view of law and order turns me off the Labour party. I remember Blunkett going on like this. Anyone who disagreed with him was a "Liberati" or "Guardianista". Obviously not representative of the "ordinary decent people" who want punitive law and order.

This.

Lambeth Labour's election literature is like reading a copy of the Daily Mail - they've even ditched the colour red and got into this rather weird purple which - from a few feet away looks blue; I thought the tories had been round when I saw it sticking out of my letter box.

All they are doing is boasting about how little tax they charge and how tough on crime they are - it's a totally tory agenda.

I also agree about the ordinary labour councillors; the ones I've met are alright. But there seems to be a group around the leadership who are basically principle-less and will say whatever they have to if it means they can get re-elected without having to win some arguments and make a case for what they believe in.

 

[Gramsci]

Not China though. Until recently it was quite equal, and they're always hanging people.

The Spirit Level is comparing advanced industrialised countries Europe, USA, Japan etc. China is still a country of great contrasts. How equal China was in reality is open to question as stats from Communist countries were/ are unreliable.

 

[Gramsci]

I've written an overview of the Lambeth local, and national picture for Londonist. Lambeth politics is lively, if not always productive.

Good concise overview.

Is the John Lewis idea only for the election? Most people in Lambeth I have met either have never heard of Lambeth becoming a John Lewis Council or think its just one of those things Politicians come out with at election time. Remember when the Labour Party were into Etzioni and Communitarianism? That all got forgotten about.

Also the Cooperative idea isnt owned by the Labour party. There as u say has been no Known consultation about it. I expect there has been a Commission set up but that will be filled with the kind of people who hang around the Labour party.

The John Lewis Council smacks of something that has come down from high at short notice.

As someone pointed out to me its ironic that Lambeth labour are promoting Cooperative community control when they are getting rid of the last (Short Life) Housing Coops.

I always find the Labour party baffling. When u met them they are more liberal than the average Tory or LibDem. Though I have a high opinion of some of the long standing Tory Cllrs I have dealt with. On the other hand I find that the average Labour party person lives on a different planet to me. Despite the fact I often find im reading the same kind of books/ articles etc.

 

[Gramsci]

This.

Lambeth Labour's election literature is like reading a copy of the Daily Mail - they've even ditched the colour red and got into this rather weird purple

QUOTE]

Exactly. Reminds me I read this interesting article by Martin Kettle about how the main parties now bang on about crime. As he says years age this was not a big election issue.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/14/criminal-justice-arms-race-prisons

"One of the things that has changed since the 1970s is the attention that is paid to crime and punishment by the media and the political parties. It would only be a slight exaggeration to say that no political party campaigned seriously on these issues at all before the 1970s. Work your way through FWS Craig's invaluable compendium of British general election manifestos 1900-1974 and you will find scarcely a reference to criminal justice. For all the attention that politics paid them, Britain's prisons might just as well not have existed at all."

 

[Gramsci]

I've written an overview of the Lambeth local, and national picture for Londonist. Lambeth politics is lively, if not always productive.

I disagree that Ted Knights Labour was loony left.

It was reelected despite its oppositional stance on Poll Tax.

It brought in equal opp etc which now New Labour accept as the norm.

When Ted Knight and the other Cllrs were surcharged they were replaced by Linda Bellos left of centre Labour. The idea that somehow Hard Left Cllrs almost destroyed Lambeth Labour and were saved by Blairites is not correct. There was no straight line from Ted Knight and co to New Labour.

I dont know how New Labour captured Lambeth Labour. But it puts a lot of people off who might be interested in the Labour party.

 

[Tricky Skills]

I dont know how New Labour captured Lambeth Labour. But it puts a lot of people off who might be interested in the Labour party.

Make no mistake: the ultra, ultrua NUuuuuu Labour are now in of the Labour cabinet

It is a political party with ideas, but has zero connection or ideals associated with what many people consider to be the heart and soul of the Labour party.

 

[Tricky Skills]

On reflection, I don't think that the Lambeth Labour pledge of:

"Free swimming for every resident" has been put under scrutiny. This is one hell of an election manifesto pledge, and certainly outstrips "Keep Clapham Swimming" from 2006.

I have the letter from my local Oval / East Hampshire Labour team in front of me. It reads:

"We pledge: free swimming for every resident."

Ignoring the fact that only one pool in the borough remains open, if Labour win on May 6th, then as from May 7th, we all have the right to attend a free swim at Brixton Rec for the next four years.

'aint gonna happen...

 

[co-op]

from my local Oval / East Hampshire Labour team

 

[Tricky Skills]

Ah, but there's more...

Anyone registered to vote in Prince's ward, Larkhall or Ferndale?

Seems like some of your Labour candidates also have bigger political ambitions over in Westminster.

Cheeky buggers.

 

[kyser_soze]

I'm stuck in Lob-dem safe seat hell unless all those indy votes in 06 were folks wandering from Labour...

 

[Brixton Hatter]

Make no mistake: the ultra, ultrua NUuuuuu Labour are now in of the Labour cabinet

you've gotta laugh at the start of that video - are they trying to do a 'Reservoir Dogs' with the Labour cabinet walking through the estate with that music in the background?!

 

[Brixton Hatter]

Going back the OP, I still think there's a chance Labour could lose overall control of the council. I reckon the Lib Dems will pick up the other two seats here in Vassall and possibly others from Labour across the borough. If they end up with 20-25 seats it could be quite tight for Labour....and the possibility of the Lib Dem/Tory council again.

This was the result at the last election:

* Labour - 39 seats
* Liberal Democrats - 17 seats
* Conservatives - 6 seats
* Green - 1 seat.

What's the Lib Dem policy on a hung council in Lambeth - would they hook up with the Tories again?

 

[lang rabbie]

you've gotta laugh at the start of that video - are they trying to do a 'Reservoir Dogs' with the Labour cabinet walking through the estate with that music in the background?!

Having canvassed the Clapham Park estate over the years, sadly there are a significant minority of electors there who would probably respond positively to this if it had been for real:

Thankfully only Guardian readers got to see it!

 

[Jean-Luc]

In theory the list of all the candidates standing has been published here but the file seems to be damaged.

 

[dannysp]

Ah, but there's more...

Anyone registered to vote in Prince's ward, Larkhall or Ferndale?

Seems like some of your Labour candidates also have bigger political ambitions over in Westminster.

Cheeky buggers.

I'm not, but I have been delegated by "the" (the definate article) socialist party to stand as a candidate.
Our candidates are:
Ferndale ward
Dan lambert
John Lee
Jacqueline Shodeke

Larkhill ward
Oliver Bond
Adam Buik
Stanley Parker

Follow our campaign on our election blog.