onionbagblog

A quick check of the diary reveals that it is four weeks since the award winning @lambeth_council planning department confirmed that demolition work would commence “within two weeks” on the Clap’ham Road / Crewdson Road property without planning permission.

Here is the rather ugly scene from earlier today:

Same old same.

Don’t be fooled by the scaffolding – it’s simply a ruse to confuse the award winning @lambeth_council planning department, put up by Mukesh Andani [still the top search on m'blog, closely followed by 'jason+cobb+libdem' - arf!]

The scaffolding has been in place (sort of) for five months. Not a single builder has worked on the property to remove the top floor that was put in place without planning permission.

Back in August 2009 and Mukesh Andani was given the option (i) of removing the top floor of the flat or (ii) face a six-month jail sentence. The third option of putting up scaffolding and say yah boo sucks to locals residents wasn’t mentioned at the time.

Put frankly, the property is now a bloody eyesore. The scaffolding net has become loose, and the corner of the Clap’ham and Crewdson Road looks rather a sorry state.

Meanwhile, local residents that choose to abide by the law are no better off. I received a letter this morning, notifying me of planning permission applied on the property next door but one to me.

I can sympathise with what the new owners want to do, but I feel that their plans haven’t taken into account the needs the local environment. I’ve objected, but with a view to a possible compromise.

The easy option it seems is to simply go down the Mukesh Andani route, and bypass the award winning @lambeth_council planning department.

Now then, here’s an interesting proposition…

And so I write a hashed considered blog post all about the perceived threat of crime in SW8, and then an hour later, I receive a letter through the door:

Residents of XXXX House, XXXX Road SE8 [it's actually SW8]

Dear Residents

RE: The Bill

I am writing to inform you that The Bill will be filming in the location named above, on Wednesday 17th March 2010 between the hours of 08:30 and 19:30 approximately.

As a result you may notice a little more activity in the nearby area; I would like to offer assurance that the schedule has been planned to ensure you are caused minimal inconvenience and disturbance.

Yours faithfully

David Downing: Unit Manger
For and on behalf of Talkback Thames Television.

Who sanctions such filming? How much do they get paid? Where does the money go?

For an area that is suffering an increase in local crime of late, I find it in extremely poor taste that the mean streets of Sunny Stockwell are going to become the back drop for some TV friendly violence.

Our neighbourhood is still coming to terms with the death of a teenager following a stabbing incident here just over a year ago. For a TV production company to return to this patch and record a crime drama, all in the name of viewing figures, seems slightly incredulous to me.

Have these people no shame or morals? I live in a community, not a TV production set. We have enough of our own problems around here right now, without having to deal with a TV production crew trampling around with their clipboards all day.

It is beyond comical. The Police Dispersal Zone that was introduced into this area to deal with ASB is now going to provide the backdrop for this very same kind of activity.

It’s like crime has been sanctioned in SW8 for one day only. Roll your cameras, do the crime tourism thing and then bugger off back to media land. Not a second thought for the crime that remains around here, once you have the money shot.

Here’s hoping that the failure so far of the PDZ to control Mad Rupert of SW8 continues when the boys from The Bill are walking around my little patch of South London.

Yer man Mad Rupert will introduce them to the demands of front line policing. Welcome to Sunny Stockwell.

Crime is an issue that concerns many around my little patch of South London. Not wanting to sound like Nick Ross, but it’s usually a fear of crime, rather than crime per se, that is often the real threat.

Our friends over at Stand Up For Stockwell have published their response today – a video which looks at the Conservative party’s national policy on crime, rather than addressing the real issues on the ground here in Stockwell.

At least this move is in line with @LambethLabour’s election policy of uploading videos to youtube that criticise others, rather than offering any genuine local solutions.

I’ve managed to have a look at a presentation delivered by the Safer Lambeth Partnership, an organisation that includes the council, police force, probation service, health agencies and other organisations who work together to deliver the Community Safety Strategy.

The data presented was used to assist the Police Tasking and Coordination meeting in the allocation of resources to help reduce crime in Lambeth over a two-week period in February.

It must be emphasised that all data relates to only reported crime. This is often distorted, with bizarre policies such as having to report the disappearance of a wheelie bin as theft.

But hopefully by looking at some of the micro level crime taking place around here right now, it will offer a more positive response to crime in Stockwell than simply posting up a fear of crime video.

The Burglary Performance is steady around my area. The Oval and Larkhall wards both report a rise of one. Stockwell shows a decrease of two, showing that the figures are more or less stable over the previous period. Ferndale and Tulse Hill have been highlighted as priority locations.

The recommendations are for Lambeth Living to identify vulnerable homes. This is an issue that the @LambethLabour #labourdoorstep team have been electioneering with over on the Bolney Meadow estate area of late. I’m still not sure why a party in power has to organise a petition to get security grills placed on council owned stock. I’m not alone, either.

Speaking of door knockers… My personal policy is to never answer the door unless I am expecting someone at my home. This may mean that I don’t get to engage with the good local door knocking politicians; it also means that I am unlikely to be taken in by the many chancers that come door knocking with their tales of endless woe.

As the presentation identifies, door knocking is also used as a tactic to assess if a property is empty or not. I usually get around this concern by playing rather loud music.

It’s incredibly depressing that I can’t feel safe to open my door to strangers. The constant tales of needing bus fare to visit a sick relative, or a girlfriend about to give birth, sadly means that community around here has been reduced to living behind a bolted door.

I feel very uneasy about the deployment of mobile CCTV as a safeguard. I feel equally uneasy about the current fear of crime. It’s a tough balancing act, and one that is hard to equate. Possibly the timely call for a higher policing presence on the streets is a solution?

On a micro local level and it seems that CCTV is being employed to tackle “night time economy issues.” This is a euphemism for binge drinking and drug dealing around Clapham High Street.

The presentation includes details of the new Antisocial Behaviour Reporting Line. This is a brilliant move, especially so around the Police Dispersal Zone in SW8. I hope the phone line has more success in curtailing ASB than my recent efforts in approaching three officers to deal with Mad Rupert of SW8.

Sticking with ASB and I was rather shocked to see that Larkhall suffers from the highest level of substance abuse in the borough. Twenty calls relating to substance misuse were made in the Larkhall ward during the two-week period.

This is a figure higher than areas such as Brixton Hill (17) and Coldharbour (7) where blatant drug dealing is seen as the norm. I wonder why the figure is so high for Larkhall? My only thought is that Larkhall Park becomes something of drug dealing hotspot once the evening falls.

The presentation concludes by stating that the Partnership Action Team will be deployed at the weekend around Clapham. This is once again related to the nighttime economy.

There is nothing new in the presentation to suggest that crime around my little patch of South London is running at a level that I wasn’t previously aware of. It’s not a positive news story, but at least it is being addressed.

It would be useful if our friends @labourstockwell addressed the local issues, rather than point towards the national picture.

I really rather enjoyed a boozy intellectually stimulating Monday night out at The Groucho.

Gosh.

The occasion was for the book launch of the lovely @girlonetrack’s second publication, The Girl With a One Track Mind: Exposed. The narrative picks up from the gross intrusion by The Sunday Times in outing Abby Lee as Zoe Margolis.

Having written about celebrating female sexuality, the fallout led to Zoe losing her job, having to backtrack and address past relationships in the book, as well as being demonised as a promiscuous female.

Thankfully the hypocritical agenda put forward by The Sunday Times wasn’t a lesson in morality that most like-minded people subscribe to. Out of an incredibly stressful period for Zoe and her family, the author has emerged to publish a second book, as well as carving out a successful career as a commentator and advisor on sexual health.

The Groucho on Monday evening was something of a celebration for all that Zoe has been through since The Sunday Times outed her some four years ago. Friends and supporters came along in large numbers.

Zoe’s case is a fantastic case study of how controlling your own online identity is so vital when up against the forces of mainstream media misreporting. The gathering at The Groucho reflected this, with old school bloggers mingling with media personalities who are sympathetic to Zoe’s experience.

Having been advised to “dress smartly’ for the occasion, I was rewarded with the wearing of a cravat scarf by being doorstopped by Heather Brooke.

“You’re wearing a cravat!” was the introductory remark, of which there wasn’t really any answer.

I didn’t recognise Heather, but after bumbling along about what had brought me out to support Zoe, I soon realised that Heather is @newsbrooke, the incredibly talented journo who is responsible for pretty much cleaning up Parliament.

Blimey.

Other great conversations followed with @cathredfern, @JonnyB, @miketd, @sashinka and @gordon. Plus @girlonetrack of course, who I think did rather well in making some crucial points, despite being tired and emotional towards the end of the evening.

There is a woefully twisted irony in Zoe being subjected to yet another gross mistrust of twisted media values, during the very same weekend that her book addressing irresponsible reporting is published. For legal reasons, we were unable to talk about recent events.

I left the Groucho just in time for the last tube home, proudly walking out with my sponsor’s goody bag from Durex. Having a company responsible for promoting safe sex aligning itself with Zoe, speaks volumes about the misguided attack by The Sunday Times.

Back at base and I fumbled around a bit in the Durex bag.

Cripes.

Where on earth does that go?

I have much to learn.

Ah – lookey here – the party political propaganda piece, as put out by those caring, sharing sorts @LambethLabour has been removed by youtube. It seems that a “copyright issue” over an image of Lambeth LibDem leader Ashley Lumsden is the technicallitiy that tripped up the highly offensive offering.

That’s a shame. I would have preferred for the video to have been removed for simply being a bit rubbish. As stated in the previous post, it added absolutely nothing to the political debate in Lambeth as we head towards the local elections.

It only served the purpose of putting across the manifesto that the Labour led administration plans to use – name calling and negative campaigning. The electorate within Lambeth deserve a more constructive form of political campaigning.

The Facebook comments posted by the Nu Labour chums talk of censorship, and further negative campaigning to come. Shame on them. To confuse censorship with vile electioneering is not an easy mistake to make.

Publicly calling the leader of the opposition party “Slumsden” sums up the juvenile nature of some of our local politicians. I wonder if such robust language is used when the campaign teams do their much hyped #labourdoorsetp thing every Saturday afternoon?

The video represented all that is rotten at the core of Lambeth Labour – portioning blame elsewhere for present failures, arrogance and a complete betrayal of the answers that the electorate want to hear right now.

Here is the justification from Lambeth Laboour leader @cllrstevereed in using the video nasty as part of a progressive local election campaign:

The good Councillor once again totally overlooks the positive campaigning that we want to see around here. In the absence of any uplifting message from the #labourdoorsteppers, the electorate will be able to judge for themselves on 6th May.

Another weekend, another @billybragg gig.

Blimey.

After taking on the RBS bankers at Speaker’s Corner, and then offering real redemption for prison inmates, it was Back to Basics with Billy Bragg, and back to the day job for a ULU gig on Saturday night.

Sort of.

The show was in support of raising funds for fighting the BNP at the general election. It’s the kind of gig that Bill has put himself up for throughout the past twenty-five years.

You need funds to fight the forces that want to upset our social cohesion. It also helps to have a one-man band full of charisma to spread the message, and one who has resolutely refused to compromise and allow his principles to be diluted.

I often watch Billy Bragg and come away wishing that our politicians were more like him. But it’s a messy business politics. It’s all about power, posturing and back scratching. Billy Bragg deserves better.

The gig itself was Billy Bragg at his best. There’s nowhere to hide on stage for one man and his guitar. The set mixed up Life’s a Riot with Brewing Up and even some Mermaid Avenue.

The message was anti-fascism, pro-compassion and a belief in community. Politicians have changed policies, and big business has taken control of our society over the past quarter of a century. The solution remains the same. Billy Bragg put it across perfectly on stage at ULU on Saturday night.

In the absence of any political party being brave enough to put forward a genuinely progressive agenda ahead of the election, it’s a sorry state for democracy when we have to rely on a pop star to raise the profiles of the issues that matter.

Billy Bragg’s tireless campaigning against the payment of million pound plus bonuses to the bankers of the nationalised RBS Bank, has forced politicians to debate the issue.

But Saturday night at ULU was all about stopping the BNP in Barking and Dagenham, Bill’s home patch. With the general election nothing but a “wishy washy choice between two parties that are the same,” the real issue in Essex is stopping the fascists.

It is here where BNP thug Nick Griffin is trying to get elected as an MP with a mandate for racism. With the Labour party weak on the ground, now is the time to expose the BNP for all the hatred that it represents.

April 17th is a key day in the constituency. It has been put aside to campaign against the fascists that want to take control of Barking and Dagenham. Put aside serious concerns over Tory funding, Nu Labour’s love affair with big business and the LibDems, well, I’m not entirely sure about anything to do with the LibDems – fighting fascists in the crucial battle at the general election.

As yer man said on Saturday night:

“Wearing badges is not enough, in days like these.”

And so after the working party last weekend in SE24, early Saturday morning and we were ready to roll out for another season of outdoor track cycling at Herne Hill Velo.

Chapeau!

I’ve got big plans for this season: to try and finish it. It’s a hell of a long stretch from the Ides of March, all the way through until the autumnal days of October.

In-between there will no doubt be days when the weather gets the better of us, and with larger plans looming elsewhere come the end of summer, best to make hay ‘n all that.

If you have told the fine folk at VCL three weeks ago that we would be rolling out in rotation on Saturday morning, you would have been suspected of having taken a particularly bad knock to the head without wearing a bicycle helmet.

But woh – where did that cold snap go? Bright blue South London skies awaited my arrival at Herne Hill. The track looked splendid following the spring clean last week.

I really think the new racing schedule is going to work well this season. 9-10 am for the juniors removes the novices from bunching with the kids, as well as keeping the track clear for the intermediates only at 10am.

Ah yes, the intermediates. This is the banding of which I’m supposed to belong in. Technically a veteran, but still hanging on to hopes of Herne Hill glory.

Shortly after 10am, I cleated my ride, and rolled out nervously around the first bank. It was like I had never been away. The first breakaway group got my heart rate up. By the second and I could feel the blood pumping through every vein in my body. This is what it’s all about. It’s got to be better than the weekly supermarket shop on a Saturday morning.

Holding back the novice riders until after the intermediates, also allows VCL to experiment with the schedule. Bumps and Lumps was a new discipline for me, and one which I found rather hairy.

You follow the lead rider in a single string, as a route up and down is weaved all the way around the historic Herne Hill track. The thinking is to improve your awareness and handling abilities. The reality for me was that I almost ended up with a bump and a lump.

Rotation finished the first session of the season – a ride of stamina as the pace picks up with each lap. This was more like it, although I bonked as the pelaton broke away for a sprint finish.

But it’s early days down in SE24. I’ve got seven months in which to refine my track riding skills. There is much work to do.

It’s surprising how smooth the transition from road racing to the track is. You soon remember the small things, such as the idiosyncratic track hand signals, or the need to stick with the pack, else suffer the fate of bonking alone on the banks.

Come midday, and I de-cleated and hit the shakes. From my shoulders down to my fingernails, my arm and hands were in freefall. The cycle back to Sunny Stockwell on the Moulton had a fair share of bumps and lumps along the way.

Same again next Saturday.

Chapea!