Nick Tiratsoo's Posts

‘Create the impression that you’re constantly in your constituency without wasting too much of your time by being there’

June 3, 2015 MPs, the Labour Party in Waltham Forest

According to Guido Fawkes, Labour’s Austin Mitchell has just come out with this nugget of advice for Parliamentarians: ‘“Constituents are a grudging lot and the people that turn to you for help are so clueless that they probably don’t vote anyway. It’s appearances that count, not work or surgeries.The days when you’d get away with a monthly visit – still less a yearly visit – are gone. You’ve got ... »

Town Hall asbestos: a closer look at LBWF’s defence strategy

June 2, 2015 Town Hall asbestos

The outcome of LBWF’s appearance at Southwark Crown Court on Friday last has been well reported in the Waltham Forest Guardian, see especially here: http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/wfnews/12979957.Council_asbestos_failings_put_workers_at__serious_risk____Judge/ However, there is one detail which certainly deserves greater attention than it has so far attracted. The case against LBWF was init... »

Town Hall asbestos: Unison’s statement on today’s verdict

May 29, 2015 Town Hall asbestos

PRESS RELEASE UNISON in Waltham Forest Embargo: None Date: 29th May 2015 THE LONDON BOROUGH OF WALTHAM FOREST FINED £66,000 FOR FAILING TO MANAGE ASBESTOS SAFELY AND PUTTING ITS EMPLOYEES HEALTH AT RISK The London Borough of Waltham Forest was fined today at Southwark Crown Court following their pleading guilty to two Charges under the Health and safety at Work Act 1974 section 2(1) and section 3(... »

LBWF and the Town Hall asbestos scandal: new evidence emerges

May 27, 2015 Town Hall asbestos

LBWF is due in Southwark Crown Court on Friday 29 May for sentencing over its conviction for breaking health and safety legislation in relation to asbestos in the Town Hall. In the subsequent fall-out, further questions no doubt will be asked about how LBWF interacted with NPS London Ltd, since in formal terms the latter was a key player in the authority’s Asbestos Policy (for which see the ‘... »

Cllr. Pye: going, going…gone?

May 11, 2015 Cllr. Marie Pye, the Labour Party in Waltham Forest

Word reaches me that Cllr. Pye’s position is becoming ever more tenuous, that she has been stripped of her Scrutiny position, and has one foot on the trap-door. In happier times, Cllr Pye was a member of the ruling troika, and held important Cabinet portfolios. Cllrs Loakes and Robbins dwelt on her every word. Indeed, she was Leytonstone’s very own Cleopatra, hectoring public meetings ... »

Tower Hamlets’ grand finale: ‘four brave Davids beat the lying corrupt Goliath’

April 24, 2015 Lutfur Rahman, Tower Hamlets

The judge’s verdict is here: http://trialbyjeory.com/2015/04/23/tower-hamlets-election-court-judge-richard-mawrey-qcs-full-ruling/ It’s long but worth reading, not just because of the comparisons that inevitably arise with Waltham Forest, but also because there are barbs in all directions, especially concerning the Labour Party’s modi operandi; the way that the ‘left’... »

LBWF and asbestos: how those potentially most affected are treated

April 23, 2015 Town Hall asbestos

A correspondent who worked in the Town hall for a number of years writes as follows: ‘After over a dozen emails and three interventions by my councillor…and after filling in a form (which was more suitable for a manager reporting on an industrial accident in their department) I have now been told the types of asbestos to which I may have been exposed. Talk about jumping through hoops !... »

Tower Hamlets, yet again

April 21, 2015 Lutfur Rahman, Tower Hamlets

Another great story from Ted Jeory: http://trialbyjeory.com/2015/04/19/tower-hamlets-first-hitler-sympathiser-goes-on-dclg-funded-jolly-to-promote-integration-with-some-help-from-the-church/ »

LBWF spinners

April 17, 2015 LBWF spin

A recent Press Gazette story highlights the large number of press officers and other communications staff who are now employed in local government – see here  http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/local-councils-now-employ-least-3400-comms-staff-more-double-total-central-government. Its author, William Turvill, has been kind enough to send me the figures for Waltham Forest. Apparently, there are cur... »

‘Our Olympics’: (3) The Cann Hall – Cathall – Leytonstone – Wanstead 2012 Dispersal Order (DO)

April 14, 2015 2012 Olympics in Waltham Forest: the Dispersal Order

The final piece in this Olympics trilogy is about policing. It’s my experience that the police in Waltham Forest for the most part escape serious scrutiny, and for that reason I’ll be looking at their functioning and performance in some detail over the coming months. To start the ball rolling, here is a piece I wrote in December 2012 about the Dispersal Order that was imposed on South ... »

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