Ed Miliband's Success as Labour Leader

Today is traditionally seen as a time to look back on things, and what strikes me most about the past year is the realignment of politics.

The Tories appear to have got themselves in an election losing strategy of eternal austerity.  In doing so they have abandoned all the attempts at niceness, detoxification and so on that David Cameron originally based his leadership on.  Together with what looks like an increasingly dangerous threat from Nigel Farage, if I were a Tory I would be seriously worried by the next General Election.

Incidentally, although it tends to be the Political Right that bandies the term "class war", there is a strong argument that it is the aristocracy that has the strongest sense of class.  If one reads Lawrence Stone's classic The Crisis of the Aristocracy 1558-1641, this is one of his major points.  I recall being particularly struck by a short vignette of a ship wreck in the 1620s in that book where one of the gentleman held off the common crew from the only lifeboat with a drawn sword whilst allowing only his fellow aristocrats aboard.  Such an image might be considered emblematic of Mr Cameron's own approach.

Ed Miliband, in contrast, has had a remarkable year, especially in the second half.  He has managed to position Labour credibly on the economy, and crucially as on the side of ordinary people in terms of cost of living.  Even more remarkably, he managed to make the political weather in the Syria debate.  I cannot recall a parallel of the Leader of the Opposition effectively determining a major foreign policy decision in the way that Labour were able to stop military action in Syria.

More on Hotel Libraries

Some while ago I wrote a brief post on hotel libraries.  It would seem this a growing trend, at least according to the New York Times.

The Looming Debt Crisis

The precariousness of the current recovery is emphasised by the likely effect of a rise in mortgage rates.  I suspect that it could be actually worse than implied.  If large numbers of people found that they could not service their debts at the same time, that would multiply the damage.  A wave of repossessions might cast lots of properties on the market at the same time, driving prices in a sudden lurch downwards, pushing vastly greater numbers of people into negative equity, and scaring people currently disparate to enter the market.  The Help to Buy scheme would only make such a scenario worse, and there is no sign of the government even trying to rebalance housing in this country, which has now become a fundamental part of the malfunction of our economy.

George Osborne seems to me not to have an economic strategy; merely a political strategy for the next election.

Nick Cohen on Food Banks

I can't better Nick Cohen's condemnation of the Tory and Liberal Democrat position on food banks.  Iain Duncan Smith is merely the worst example of a government where lying and hypocrisy are ordinary tools of business, and the poorest are deliberately and cynically targeted.

Economical Misconceptions

Once again Martin Francis appears to be misrepresenting Brent Labour Party, this time on economic policy.  You can see Martin's views here.  Lets not worry about whether the misrepresentation is deliberate or accidental, and just work through them.

Incidentally lets also quickly welcome Martin's still quite faint praise for Wembley Library as a library "for local people". 

First off, Martin is concentrating still on Brent Council activities, which are only part of the economic policy of a party of national government like the Labour Party.  Indeed local authorities play quite a small part.  I actually quite like a lot of the stuff coming from the Heseltine Review about regional development, although more recognition that London is the UK's biggest region would be nice.

Anyway, lets concentrate on what Brent Council can do for the purposes of this post.

Are there any Magic Sectors?
For whatever reason, economic discussions often seem to praise one area of economic activity and denigrate others.  Martin claims Brent Green Party is quite anti-retail.  If so, I think that is as silly as being anti-construction or anti manufacturing as Thatcher was in the 1980s.  There is no magic part of the economy.  There is just a need for an overall balance.

The UK as a whole has a problem that our tradable sector is too small for our imports, and we need to correct that but things like tourism and indeed retail can contribute to our "exports" to some extent albeit they are no adequate substitution for high end manufacturing.

Living Standards
The current government seems wedded to a kind of asset stripping model where wages and other costs are ruthlessly pushed down.  This, aside being pretty miserable for people on low wages, doesn't seem to work.  Someone else will always be able to undercut us.  Whereas cost cutting works for an individual company, it doesn't work for the economy as a whole as all national economies rely primarily on the goods and services we sell to each other.  Cutting the income of one part of the economy cuts the income of others and sets us off on a downward spiral.

Labour's approach is more about modifying the benefits system so that it ceases to subsidise employers who refuse to give their employers a living wage.  This can be done partly through restructuring benefits, but also through promoting the Living Wage, and I would like to see a rise in the Minimum Wage which has been drastically eroded by inflation.  The main way the Council can influence this is through paying its own employees (They all get the London Living Wage and above), building a London Living Wage requirement into its contracts (as happened with the Public Realm contract recently) and encouraging private employers to pay the London Living Wage (as Islington claims some success in).

Training
A second area Councils can influence is education and training.  Brent has achieved a significant turnaround from exam results below the London and National average twenty years ago, to being above the London and National averages now.  We are now routinely examining contracts for opportunities to create apprenticeships, as well as in Brent's directly employed workforce. 

There are also some third sector organisations like LEAP that do interesting work in brokering and supporting people into jobs.  A key part of this kind of work is getting people to travel to opportunities.  Brent has good transport links to the rest of London, but many people from our poorest areas seem reluctant to use them.  We need to work out why that is.  Anecdotally, I have been told of recruitment difficulties by some employers, which seem to be more linked to attitudes than to harder barriers,.  Again, that needs more work.

Given Brent's particular demographics, I think there is scope for the Council helping people further, especially with language skills.  Anecdotally, I have heard that BACES are not always user friendly to complete novices in English and that may need to be addressed.  I think our libraries service are active in this way, as well as in encouraging English literacy for English speakers. 

Encouraging Small Businesses
Nationally, Labour has been prominent in promoting small businesses, which are a major engine of jobs growth, through events like Small Business Saturday.  The Council has also been active in trying to help people start their own businesses, as in the Kensal Green Kitchens Scheme.  I think it is fair to say that this is an area where Labour needs to develop its policies more in line with the outlines in Ed Miliband's Conference Speech.

Placemaking
The Council could do a lot to encourage businesses in areas like Ealing Road or Harlesden Town Centre through improving the Public Realm, as I have often advocated.  There is good research that
improving the quality of the public realm leads to increased turnover by local businesses.  Another key role for the Council would come in planning or supporting a unique selling point for different areas say food in Harlesden, an Asian offer in Ealing Road, the Arts in Kilburn High Road, the new Willesden Centre in Willesden and so on.  It would obviously be useful if national government would expand local authority powers on licensing and son on, as Ed Miliband recently promised on a Kilburn visit.

The Environmental Agenda
Finally, in what has become a rather longer post than I intended, our pressing environmental needs create economic opportunities.  These could come in all kinds of forms: retrofitting old homes, selling environmental advice as the Carbon Trust does (when we held an environmental event for businesses at the old Town Hall the Carbon Trust representative explained that the Carbon Trust had originally been set up to cut business costs, not for environmental purposes at all), creating markets through spreading awareness of environmental needs.

Martin makes a bit of a nod to this sort of thing in his "Green Enterprise Zone" idea, but it is is intriguing how many misconceptions lie behind that.  Firstly, the long term plans for the Wembley area (essentially shaped by the Labour Party) effectively give less emphasis on Wembley as a retail area than in the past.  That is arguably just a recognition of reality, but Martin seems to think we are doing the opposite.  Secondly, Martin seems to have forgotten about Park Royal, which is Europe's biggest Industrial estate with lots of space for all kinds of businesses, including green businesses, and companies like McVities that have really led environmental improvements in their areas.  Developing businesses there, along with ll the difficulties around transport and so on, would still be far easier than trying to overturn almost twenty years of Planning work around Wembley.

Hopefully all this gives some idea of the amount of work already underway through the Council and the Labour Party to develop Brent's economy.  However, boosting the economy in Brent is really something that can only really be done effectively if central government pursues an effective growth policy rather than the current actively damaging one.

Massacre of the Holy Innocents

Today is the Feast of the Massacre of the Holy Innocents, so I thought I would put up a picture.  It is Pieter Brueghal's image of that subject.  Although it is a biblical subject, it is often taken to be a commentary on contemporary atrocities in the Low Countries by the Hapsburg regime.

I am often surprised that people seem to think that comments by analogy are somehow a modern invention. 

Christmas Leftovers

The Guardian has some tips on Christmas leftovers which sounds as if it has been prompted by the Love Food, Hate Waste Campaign.  There is also a short infographic on the potential advantages of a smarter approach to food waste.

A World on Fire

Over Christmas, I have been reading Amanda Foreman's A World on Fire, which is an account of the American Civil War seen through the perspective of Anglo-American relations.  Truly a remarkable achievement, that took her eleven years to write.  If you don't want to buy it, you can borrow it from Brent Libraries. 

Thomas Hardy and the Oxen

I am not sure why, but I have always been moved by this poem by Thomas Hardy, which is at l;east topical this evening:

Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
"Now they are all on their knees,"
An elder said as we sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.

We pictured the meek mild creatures where
They dwelt in their strawy pen,
Nor did it occur to one of us there
To doubt they were kneeling then.

So fair a fancy few would weave
In these years! Yet, I feel,
If someone said on Christmas Eve,
"Come; see the oxen kneel,

"In the lonely barton by yonder coomb
Our childhood used to know,"
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so’

Looking Both Ways on Planning Appeals

One of the curiosities of planning appeals at the moment is that the Planning Inspectors are being more sympathetic to appeals aimed to develop outbuildings at the same time that the Tories in particular have made such an issue of "garden grabbing".  Thus one part of the government seems to encourage intensification of back garden use and another simultaneously discourages it.

Licensing the Rented Sector

Brent Council currently has proposals to license properties rented out in the private sector.  The consultation ends on 28 February.

Should Iain Duncan Smith Deliver the Alternative Christmas Message

In a couple of days, the Queen will be doing her usual broadcast and sticking (I imagine) to her usual themes of the nation working together praising public service and some gentle references to the relevance of the Christian message.  Would it not make for a bracing alternative if Iain Duncan Smith were to broadcast an alternative Christmas message?

He could make it clear that he hates large numbers of British people, smear the working poor as dysfunctional scroungers, finally come clean on his ambition to replace the welfare state with food banks or perhaps nothing at all.  He could throw in some of his famously misleading statistics ( even the Economist questioned his honesty on this, saying "questionable numbers have floated out of Iain Duncan Smith's office into the public debate like raw sewage".  The Queen's broadcast usually has some fairly strong visuals.  Possibly Martin Rowson could be asked to try his hand an animation?  I would suggest that Mr Duncan Smith dress up as The Grinch, but as the Grinch changes his mind that wouldn't really fit Mr Duncan Smith's character.

I understand that the Queen's Christmas broadcast no longer seems to get the attention it used to, perhaps Mr Duncan Smith could perform that traditional Tory function of promoting the monarchy by using a simultaneous alternative broadcast to force people to switch channels?

How Long Can Iain Duncan Smith Last

Iain Duncan Smith appears to have got himself in a confrontation with the Trussell Trust.  Iain Duncan Smith is denying the obvious truth that the explosion in the Trust's food bank usage from about 41,000 in 2010 to about half a million now has nothing to do with the government's "reforms".  His junior minister explicitly welcomes the expansion of food banks, and I find it hard not to believe that the pauperisation of large numbers of people is an actual objective of the Tory government.

Adding to that, ministers have presided over the incompetent implementation of the universal credit, whilst simultaneously undermining their own policy with on the go cuts.  

David Cameron will surely have to remove Iain Duncan Smith.  This is not because Mr Duncan Smith is so obviously cruel, stupid and mendacious.  It is because he has become all too successful in conveying the Tory priorities of tax cuts for the rich and food banks for the poor.  The stark unfairness of the government in punishing the most vulnerable is David Cameron's own policy, but Iain Duncan Smith makes it so obvious that he is surely too much of a political liability to continue.

Activity Around Wembley Civic Centre

It is striking how the Brent Civic Centre is coming into its own as the whole area fills up with activity.  The London Design Outlet is a key part of this, but the area should also soon benefit from the renting of retail space in the Civic Centre, the use of the area outside for events such as markets and the ongoing development of areas such as the former Palace of Industry site.

Following requests tap water is now available in the Melting Pot, and an ATM has been added outside the library entrance.

Of course, this needs to go hand in hand with developments such as better crossing facilities on Fulton Road and improved bus connections, but the naysayers who have decried the Civic Centre for so long have surely been proved wrong.

Economics and Climate Change

In a recent political debate I attended, the case for action on climate change was presented essentially as an economic burden, which is largely the George Osborne take on the subject.  In fact, climate change could create economic opportunities by creating new markets for green energy, and cheaper ways of doing things, as suggested here.

You can also look at it as a pay now, or pay more later problem.  If we don't deal with the problems of climate change now, the cost of dealing with them in future may be far higher.

Next Local Government Settlement

Yesterday various crucial figures for local authority funding were published.  It is too soon to assess what they probably mean, but I will be amazed if there are not various land mines set about to make the life of local authorities even more impossible.

Parliamentary Expenses

Lord Hanningfield is reported to be abusing parliamentary expenses.  He feels he is being persecuted and that he is effectively merely doing his job.  Previously, he was actually convicted of fraud.  In any normal job, a person convicted of fraud would be removed from their position, and would no longer be in a position to fiddle the system.

Austerity Britain

The Guardian has an unremittingly bleak overview of poverty and suffering in Britain caused by the government's inept and ideological approach.  Many of the government's "reforms" have been pushed through without even attempting to work out the impact, which by the way probably makes them unlawful.  The saddest thing is that if government ministers read such articles, I suspect that they simply would not care.

Moberly Sports Centre Application

The application for Moberly Sports Centre has finally been put forward.  If successful, this would mean that both Vale Farm and Moberly would have had substantial investment despite David Cameron's eternal austerity agenda.

UPDATE

The comment below is actually quite wrong.  This is not an exhaustive list, but one could mention the recent £1.7 million investment in Vale Farm Sports Centre, the refurbishment of Kilburn Library, the refurbishment of Ealing Road library, Brent's first completely new library for twenty odd years at Wembley, the rebuild of Willesden Green Library Centre, Brent's first new park for twenty years or so in Chalkhill, the opening of Villiers Road park in Willesden, one of Europe's most environmentally friendly buildings in the Civic Centre, a major redevelopment of Harlesden Town Centre, and a host of new housing in Wembley, South Kilburn and elsewhere.

As well as these physical investments there are a number of service transformations in terms of improved recycling, greater personalisation of adult social services and a range of other services.  Despite a far harder financial situation, the record of achievements in 2010 to 2014 is far greater than under the Tory/Liberal Democrat administration of 2006 to 2010.

Political Priorities and Budgets

Martin Francis is seeking to persuade people there is some magic way for Councils like Brent to avoid setting balanced budgets.  In fact Councils are required to set a balanced budget.  If a Council breaks down (like Anglesey), it can have commissioners put in to pass a budget without any public accountability.

Where Martin and I could agree is that the Tory government's austerity programme is utterly self defeating because it destroys economic growth.  It is also pretty clearly now admitted that it is an ideological project to shrink the state.  One might add that David Cameron and Nick Clegg have both been accused of misleading people in their defence of the cuts programme.  The only solution to this bigger picture would be the election of a government without an ideological commitment to shrink the state, and that can only mean a Labour government.

However, that does not alter the position of a local authority such as Brent which has to carry on delivering services to sometimes vulnerable residents to the best of its ability.  Senior local authority figures have argued that on present trends this will become impossible.  They may be right, but in order to limit the damage as much as possible, we have to be as imaginative as possible.  Simply objecting to any change just won't do.  Instead, we have to identify areas where we should no longer attempt to do things (As Brent did for instance with regard to festival spending), where we can do things more efficiently (as Brent has done in a range of procurements, notably the public realm contract) and where we can do things in a totally different way (as Brent did with the introduction of alternate weekly collections).

That means being hard headed about what the priorities are, which is the essence of political choice.  Martin's "just say no" approach is not even possible to implement, and in any case is a negation of political choice, and in fact a retreat into mindless small minded conservatism.

Britain's only Green Council is itself struggling with these realities in Brighton.  It is noteworthy that the people responsible for making the budget (led by the wonderfully named Mr Kitcat) are trying to get on with it, whilst local Green MP Caroline Lucas is sitting on the sidelines trying to distance herself from her own colleagues.  Incidentally, the Brighton Greens appear to divide themselves into a whole set of different fruits; I wonder where the Brent Greens would fit in the salad?

UPDATE

A response to the two comments below can be found in this post.