As some light relief on election day – here’s an extract from Sonia Purnell’s excellent biography, Just Boris. The 4th June 1983 edition of the Etonian newspaper The Chronicle carried an interview with the then leader of the Greater London Council, Ken Livingstone. Ken didn’t hold back on what he thought about Eton and Etonians:
I think your school system should be integrated into the state system, because I don’t think you should have the right [through] what your parents can buy [to] a privileged start over the rest of society. I look at the people who have emerged from Eton and Harrow, Oxford and Cambridge and I think you’re a load of bloody wallies.
One student decided this couldn’t be allowed to pass unremarked. In the same issue, a 16-year old Boris Johnson responded:
I tell you this. The Civilised World can ignore, must ignore entirely these idiots who tell us that by their very existence the public schools demolish all hopes most cherished for the Comprehensive System. Clearly, this is twaddle, utter bunkum, balderdash, tommyrot, piffle and fiddlesticks of the most insidious kind. So strain every nerve, parents of Britain, to send your son to this educational establishment (forget this socialist gibberish about the destruction of the State System). Exercise your freedom of choice because in this way, you will imbue your son with the most important thing, a sense of his own importance.
This time tomorrow, failing any unfortunate accidents or natural disasters, I’ll have voted. Twice in fact: a friend’s out of town for work, so I’ll be proxy voting for her too. I’ll be voting Ken first, Jenny second. at no point have I even considered voting for Boris.
I love voting. By a happy accident, I’ve lived somewhere there’s been an election every year since I was 18 and voted in the 2005 general election. I’ve always woken early on polling day, taken my card to the school, church hall or scout hut that’s been commandeered for the day, and purposefully put my cross or numbers next to my preferred candidate. The stiff ceremony of those five minutes never dulls: knowing that the mark you make with the pencil provided is your physical mark on our democracy is uniquely pleasurable. Then there’s the slight anti-climax you feel once you’ve posted your slip into the ballot box, tempered by wondering how those walking in as you leave will vote.
I love the election campaigns too. Yes, they’re exhausting and by election day, you’ve heard every party member spout the same sound bites until they’re hoarse. But it is exciting. No more so than when you see candidates visibly rattled by their gaffes and stories the press have unearthed. That’s democratic power, right there.
It was only when I was cycling home this evening, thinking about the Chartists mural in my hometown (it’s still there, though they’re destroying it, criminally) that I paused to think that however much I hate this government, however disenfranchised I feel by the fact we elect MPs by the unrepresentative First Past the Post system, I can still vote. I’m a woman, I don’t own property and I’m working class, though have now done quite a bit of vaulting in the social mobility stakes. I can vote, when women and men in some parts of the world still can’t. So do get out and vote tomorrow. Because every time we vote, it feels like we’re moving forward.
“What is more important than anything else in a library is the fact that it exists” – Archibald Macleish
Wandsworth Council, as part of the cuts falling from the Comprehensive Spending Review, are considering closing York Gardens Library. York Gardens Library is in the most deprived ward in Wandsworth: Latchmere. I live less than a mile away, in the least deprived ward in Wandsworth: Northcote. With this in mind, I had a look at the council’s equality impact assessment.
Battersea, Battersea Park and Northcote libraries are included since they are the three nearest libraries and the council argue that if York Gardens closes, people will simply travel to their nearest library instead. Wandsworth council’s own equality impact assessment highlights that York Gardens has three times as many black users than the borough average, and 7.5 times as many as nearby Northcote library. This is the case all the more for children and young people. The equality impact assessment states:
“Usage of the Library reflects the character of the surrounding population, where people of non British white ethnicity, mixed ethnicity, Asian and Black African and Caribbean ethnicity accounted for 51% of the population in 2001. These groups make more use of the Library than white British people. The use of the Library by Black African and Caribbean people is particularly noticeable.”
I don’t even have to make an argument here. The council’s data speaks for itself. The same applies to women, and those with disabilities (especially learning disabilities):
More women use the library than the borough average, and four times as many users have a learning disability than the borough average – eight times as many as in my ward.
Aside from demographic statistics, the most convincing, and heartbreaking argument to save York Gardens comes from the survey of why people use the library. Apologies for the deluge of bulletpoints, but this is all vital:
“York Gardens library is particularly important to children compared to other libraries. Children and Young People using this library are also appreciably older than those using other libraries – 50% are in the 11 – 15 yr age group compared to the borough figure of 19%. The comparable figure for Northcote library is 11%.
45% of children visiting York Gardens library came with friends or on their own compared to a borough average of 18%, reflecting the neighbourhood character of the library that it is accessible from local housing without crossing any major roads and the older age profile using this library. Using the alternative libraries would involve journeys along and across busy main roads.
40% of children come to use a computer compared to a borough average of 19%. [Northcote Library10%] and of those 48% use them specifically for homework compared to 22% in the borough at large. [Northcote Library 7%].
49% of children and young people come to do homework compared to a borough average of 17% [Northcote Library 8%]
35% borrow books for homework (borough average 15%) and 41% because ‘I want to get better at reading’ (borough average 30%) [Northcote Library 6% and 20%]
49% of those who use the library to do their homework do so because it provides somewhere quiet to work [Northcote Library 10%]. Other answers to this question reinforce the importance of the library as a resource for studying.
59% of children and young people considered the library had helped them to do better at school [Northcote Library 15%] – the highest response of any library in the borough.”
So to summarise, York Gardens library is used heavily by teenagers, especially black teenagers, who use it for schoolwork, to feel better about themselves by reading, and to use computers. They often go with friends, highlighting the importance of the library to the community and the nearby Kambala estate. Closing York Gardens would mean the children and young people who use it would have to travel further, across busy main roads, to areas of the borough they are unfamiliar with, instead of doing homework with their friends in the evening. Were Northcote library to close, I honestly think the impact on the children nearby would be minimal. Were Northcote chosen, however, the very vocal, savvy affluent residents would secure maximum coverage for such a closure. Northcote residents needn’t worry, though. Wandsworth Council spent £13m on building them a free school only last month. Closing York Gardens will save the council a mere £219,000. If they do so, they will have to provide an outreach service, taking the savings down to £127,000. This would cause council tax to rise by less than a pound a year. Even that is irrelevant, however: Eric Pickles slammed Wandsworth council recently for hoarding £105m in reserves. The council are victimising the poorest in the borough, to make ideological cuts, simply because they think Latchmere residents won’t put up a fight.
The best argument not to close York Gardens however, is the residents, in their own words.
If you can, join us tomorrow(Saturday 5th February), at 1pm for a Read-in to protest against the proposed closure.
If you live Between the Commons you’ve probably been struggling to sleep of late. Abject terror at the paws of urban foxes. The heinous theft of BMW tyres. The perennial fear that your darling child will get into a state school that, whilst being classed as outstanding by Ofsted, is second place in the Nappy Valley league tables.
You can rest easy, however. Wandsworth Council are fighting tirelessly to keep you safe from baby-chomping urban foxes with a front page missive on avoiding the perils of creatures no bigger than a cat. But they’ve secured a victory that deserves more praise than I can bestow alone. Perhaps I should throw one of the street parties they’ve spent so much money attempting to convince us to hold.
Battersea foxes. Immigrant foxes, probably.
Wandsworth Council have saved you, and those you hold dear, from a fate worse than urban foxes. You have been rescued from the horror of water pistols. A planned mass water fight in Battersea was deemed to pose so serious a breach of the peace that Wandsworth Council issued threats via the national and local media, their own website and on the Facebook group organising the event. Attendees were informed they faced a £200 fine and would be met by the park police service, the metropolitan Police and their friendly dogs. When nothing surmised, the council praised themselves for their “no-nonsense”, “zero-tolerance” approach, and stated that they would be monitoring social networking sites for organised events in Wandsworth over the summer months.
It’s unclear which events they will intervene in, and what they are attempting to prevent. Nearby Clapham Common hosts far larger festivals (the recent Ben & Jerry’s Weekender, for example) with great regularity. The Brighton to London Cycle Ride had its staggered starting points in Wandsworth. There are often large events in Wandsworth, because there are ample open spaces, and its both far enough away from the centre to avoid overcrowding, but close enough to Chelsea to stop people enquiring whether they need to bring a passport. I’d rather have people travelling to Wandsworth and enjoying the open spaces than Wandsworth Council expending energy, and money, on heavily policing a water fight. Battersea Park’s next to Battersea Power Station: it’s a gorgeous building, and one in dire need of public recognition to save it from dereliction. Surely park police could keep a casual eye on large groups to ensure situations don’t escalate, rather than asking to search people on the way into the park? And the number of people who turned up to Battersea Park with a water pistol in the end? Zero. That’s not a triumph, that’s a waste of energy, Wandsworth BC.
The Wandsworth division of the Metropolitan Police have been thoroughly castigated by the IPCC in the past week, over repeated failings that led to an estimated 80-100 women in the Balham & Tooting area being stalked, attacked and sexually assaulted.
Kirk Reid targeted women around Balham and Tooting tube stations, and despite similarities between the 27 incidents Reid was convicted for, and many others he is suspected to have committed, Wandsworth Police failed to draw together the patterns forming in these incidents to realise they were dealing with a repeat offender, operating within a very specific geographic area.
Will Wandsworth Police learn from their mistakes? Maybe. An email from the Safer Neighbourhoods team within the Met dropped into my inbox on Monday morning, the morning the IPCC’s findings were published:
Subject: Information to Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinators
Dear All Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinators,
I am not sure if you are all aware, but we have recently had a small number of incidents, where mobile phones, handbags and MP3 players are being stolen from lone females walking home from Clapham South tube.
This is usually late at night, post 2300hrs and when they have been on their mobile phones or their MP3 players. The male suspect is targeting women for these items.
We are putting out a message, that if people need to use their phones, then do it within the confines of the Station and not to use them or listen to their MP3′s whilst walking home. When walking home late at night, try to stay to well lit roads and not to use short cuts.
The suspect is described as a Black male, approx F508 – F510. Please could you disseminate to people, to be vigilant in reporting any suspicious behaviour or activities to police via the 999 system.
So it looks as though crimes similar to Reid’s are being taken more seriously, with the effort being made to alert women to a speight of incidents with certain hallmarks. But the email was sent only to those who had subscribed to the Neighbourhood Watch scheme, so will have a very limited reach. And since Clapham South is a far more affluent area than Balham or Tooting, did crimes in that area resonate more the police than incidents further down the Northern Line?
These most recent incidents don’t appear to have been reported elsewhere: the Wandsworth Guardian prefer to lead with a story on two men being arrested on suspicion of stealing a bin.
