Posts

Councillor Saima Mahmud’s surreptitious Town Hall award ceremonies: a further update

April 5, 2017 Cllr. Saima Mahmud, Uncategorized, Waltham Forest Labour Party

Regular readers of this blog will remember that last year’s Mayor, Cllr. Saima Mahmud, hosted surreptitious award ceremonies, organised by two private citizens, in the Mayor’s Parlour; and that the beneficiaries of these events included several controversial figures. The most unpleasant without doubt was the Pakistani Senator Sirajul Haq, a man known, amongst other things, for ranting about the Jews and opposing legislation on domestic violence – in other words espousing views which are not only abhorrent in themselves, but also (important in this context) diametrically opposed to LBWF community cohesion policies. Now the Guido Faulkes blog reveals that this is not the only link between Labo... »

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Save Our Buses and Mini-Holland

April 5, 2017 Mini Holland

As this blog has observed before, many of those who vociferously debate Mini-Holland in Waltham Forest remain unconvincing, largely because of their unfortunate habit of confusing anecdote and assertion with properly grounded research. However, there are exceptions, and one that stands out is the organisation Save Our Buses (SOB). SOB was formed in 1990, and has been campaigning pretty much ever since, along the way becoming an authoritative voice in the borough. What makes it stand out is the forensic nature of its approach, and the clarity of its briefings. Inevitably, over the past couple of years, SOB has turned its attention to the impact of Mini-Holland, and its conclusions are fairly ... »

Waltham Forest Labour begins the selection process for the next council elections…and Momentum bottles it

March 15, 2017 Momentum, the Labour Party in Waltham Forest

The closing date for applications to stand for Labour at the next council election has just passed, and fevered rumours are circulating about who has, and has not, put themselves forward. I understand that three sitting councillors have called it a day – Peter Barnett (most famous for his late night Facebook spat with Cllr. Dhedi), Angie Bean, and one time big-shot Johar Khan (who appears still to be suspended – what on earth did he do that it has taken so long to clear up?). Meanwhile, the Momentum push has spectacularly fizzled out. Private caucus followed private caucus, but despite ever more desperate calls to arms, the great bulk of the comrades declined to stand, and in the end, ... »

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LBWF and Community Ward Forums: a further blow to local democracy

March 13, 2017 Cllr. Chris Robbins, The Conservatives in Waltham Forest, the Labour Party in Waltham Forest

I have written previously about LBWF’s gradual strangulation of Community Ward Forums, and it would appear that this unfortunate trend is now reaching its logical end point, with, perhaps unexpectedly,  Conservative hands on the wind pipe. A motion presented by Conservative Councillors Siggers and James to the Council meeting in December 2016 sounded the death knell. It argued that though Community Ward Forums had been ‘very successful’ in providing support to ‘many community groups’, they had been ‘far less successful’ in reaching and engaging with ‘hard to reach groups’, whose needs well might be greater. Indeed, as the motion put it, ‘[a]ll too often’ Community Ward Forums were ‘attended ... »

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Waltham Forest and Islamist terrorism

March 8, 2017 Cllr. Chris Robbins, Prevent

This week, the Henry Jackson Society’s Hannah Stuart published a report entitled Islamist Terrorism: Analysis of Offences and Attacks in the UK (1998–2015) which contains profiles of all Islamism-inspired terrorism convictions and suicide attacks, ordered chronologically by date of arrest or incident. One finding is of considerable local interest: ‘Across…[1998 to 2015], East London was home to half (50%) of London-based offenders, while the three most common boroughs – Tower Hamlets, Newham and Waltham Forest – contained the offenders’ residence in 38% of all Londoner IROs [Islamism-related offences]’. Responding, LBWF Leader, Chris Robbins, tells the Waltham Forest Guardian: ‘“Waltham Fore... »

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