Gramsci
Well-Known Member
I took notes. But have not written them up yet. A few comments.
Agree with Gniewosz and Single Aspect that Cllr Marcia Cameron did not do well. She was defensive and irritable. I looked to see if she has post in the ruling group. She is not in Cabinet but is:
What can I say. Maybe she just had a bad day?
The only thing I disagree with in Andreas piece is this:
Really did not get the feeling in the audience that race or gender was an issue.
I did notice that the speakers from Cressingham Gardens did show diversity in action. A real wide section of people live on that estate. And they support each other. Despite the rather unpleasant insinuations from Cllr Cameron of splits on the estate re regeneration. The leaseholders and Council tenants said several times at the meeting that they were all residents together.
I did notice that Cllr Bennett did not come to Marcia aid in the debate. He somehow did not get the flack that she did. He had a good grasp of facts and figures. He managed to deal with the attacks from the Green party member on the panel.
My take on this is that I have seen how residents can be ground down. This happened on the Guiness Trust estate in Brixton. As one of the academics Paul Watts said these regen schemes go on for years and take a toll on people.
Paul Watts from Birbeck was very good. It was the two academics on the panel who both put the human needs first. Who see it from what Lambeth call the "customers" point of view. Residents are not "customers" ffs.
Secondly Cllr Cameron. She is low level Cllr. Not full Cabinet member. The way the Labour Group operates is top down. Back bench Cllrs like her are under pressure. You would have thought they would have more freedom of manoeuvre. In public they do not. If they want to stay selected for a seat or have chance of promotion.
She did say that putting forward that estate for regen was her idea. I do not think it would have been. Officers have been looking at estates to "regenerate". Cressingham Gardens is one where they think they could build more housing than there is now. Her task would have been to get the residents on board with the idea of "regeneration".
Bennett is one of those really irritating New Labour types who look incredibly young. Probably because they are. A slick operator. Went to Cambridge and works for ex Lambeth Council leader Steve Reed MP. A bit like the last Cabinet member for housing. Whose name escapes me. He went to US.
There is a political class. Comprising of Oxford/ Cambridge graduates who went straight from the ivory towers into a political career. Someone has just lent me Owen Jones new book "The Establishment" which covers this. ( "Chavs the demonisation of the working class" by him is a must read). They just irritate me.
I heard Ken Livingstone talking about democracy recently. He said back in his day at Lambeth a lot of the Cllrs were ordinary people. He said they might not have had degrees or much in the way of qualifications but they were good Cllrs.
One of the academics said that the whole political class had let London down on the housing issue. I think part of the problem is that know politics is now a career option (Oxford or Cambridge degree helps). Its part of the establishment.
Bennett incensed me with his attack on Short Life housing. He was replying to question from someone from Lambeth United who are S/L group. With Marcia agreeing with him. Using the house with a tree in it again. Implying we were all low lives. The Council are really going to town on that one. It was on his twitter next day
I was not going to speak at the meeting as I wanted to her what Cressingham Gardens had to say. But I was not having that from him. Nor am I in Lambeth United . Do not lose my temper that often. But insisted I get right to reply. Fair play to the chair Dave Hill that he let me speak. I was pretty angry.
Told him that I had donated the Coop archives and my stuff on Short Life housing to Lambeth archives. That there was a history of "Short Life" bringing back into use buildings that would otherwise have been left empty to rot. Which was an honourable history. On one of there flagship (Cooperative Council) schemes they had evicted a community and left the building empty. The academics had said breaking up existing communities damages peoples well being. That it had bad affect on me. That I found his comments on S/L an insult.
He did not have an answer to that. Seemed to go down well with the audience.
Probably easier for me to say what I think now the Coop is gone. I do not have to bear in mind that I am representing other people.
Reminds me that I need to get in touch with Lambeth Archives to see if the stuff we donated is catalogued yet. So can be for public view.
Agree with Gniewosz and Single Aspect that Cllr Marcia Cameron did not do well. She was defensive and irritable. I looked to see if she has post in the ruling group. She is not in Cabinet but is:
What can I say. Maybe she just had a bad day?The only thing I disagree with in Andreas piece is this:
Really did not get the feeling in the audience that race or gender was an issue.
I did notice that the speakers from Cressingham Gardens did show diversity in action. A real wide section of people live on that estate. And they support each other. Despite the rather unpleasant insinuations from Cllr Cameron of splits on the estate re regeneration. The leaseholders and Council tenants said several times at the meeting that they were all residents together.
I did notice that Cllr Bennett did not come to Marcia aid in the debate. He somehow did not get the flack that she did. He had a good grasp of facts and figures. He managed to deal with the attacks from the Green party member on the panel.
My take on this is that I have seen how residents can be ground down. This happened on the Guiness Trust estate in Brixton. As one of the academics Paul Watts said these regen schemes go on for years and take a toll on people.
Paul Watts from Birbeck was very good. It was the two academics on the panel who both put the human needs first. Who see it from what Lambeth call the "customers"
point of view. Residents are not "customers" ffs.Secondly Cllr Cameron. She is low level Cllr. Not full Cabinet member. The way the Labour Group operates is top down. Back bench Cllrs like her are under pressure. You would have thought they would have more freedom of manoeuvre. In public they do not. If they want to stay selected for a seat or have chance of promotion.
She did say that putting forward that estate for regen was her idea. I do not think it would have been. Officers have been looking at estates to "regenerate". Cressingham Gardens is one where they think they could build more housing than there is now. Her task would have been to get the residents on board with the idea of "regeneration".
Bennett is one of those really irritating New Labour types who look incredibly young. Probably because they are. A slick operator. Went to Cambridge and works for ex Lambeth Council leader Steve Reed MP. A bit like the last Cabinet member for housing. Whose name escapes me. He went to US.
There is a political class. Comprising of Oxford/ Cambridge graduates who went straight from the ivory towers into a political career. Someone has just lent me Owen Jones new book "The Establishment" which covers this. ( "Chavs the demonisation of the working class" by him is a must read). They just irritate me.
I heard Ken Livingstone talking about democracy recently. He said back in his day at Lambeth a lot of the Cllrs were ordinary people. He said they might not have had degrees or much in the way of qualifications but they were good Cllrs.
One of the academics said that the whole political class had let London down on the housing issue. I think part of the problem is that know politics is now a career option (Oxford or Cambridge degree helps). Its part of the establishment.
Bennett incensed me with his attack on Short Life housing. He was replying to question from someone from Lambeth United who are S/L group. With Marcia agreeing with him. Using the house with a tree in it again. Implying we were all low lives. The Council are really going to town on that one. It was on his twitter next day
I was not going to speak at the meeting as I wanted to her what Cressingham Gardens had to say. But I was not having that from him. Nor am I in Lambeth United . Do not lose my temper that often. But insisted I get right to reply. Fair play to the chair Dave Hill that he let me speak. I was pretty angry.
Told him that I had donated the Coop archives and my stuff on Short Life housing to Lambeth archives. That there was a history of "Short Life" bringing back into use buildings that would otherwise have been left empty to rot. Which was an honourable history. On one of there flagship (Cooperative Council
) schemes they had evicted a community and left the building empty. The academics had said breaking up existing communities damages peoples well being. That it had bad affect on me. That I found his comments on S/L an insult.He did not have an answer to that. Seemed to go down well with the audience.
Probably easier for me to say what I think now the Coop is gone. I do not have to bear in mind that I am representing other people.
Reminds me that I need to get in touch with Lambeth Archives to see if the stuff we donated is catalogued yet. So can be for public view.
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