There’s been some strange goings on with the good @cllrstevereed’s twitter stream of late – and I’m not talking about just the content, either. I personally haven’t been blocked from reading the micro thoughts of our local council Leader, but a level of screening does appear to be in place.
If I’m logged in under my own @Jason_Cobb account, then I get an empty page of thoughts radiating from the mind of @cllrstevereed. Sign out however, and I get the Full Monty.
Blimey.
But what of the content, Comrade?
The early bird catches the early worm, and it seems that @cllrstevereed had an awful lot on his mind during the early hours of Tuesday morning. Posting shortly after 3:30 am, the following question was posed:
It’s rather decent of @cllrstevereed to engage in some debate with the fine @kevindcraig – they are both members of the same political party, after all. Perhaps taking this conversation behind the closed doors of the local constituency meetings might have been a better idea though.
You may remember how @kevindcraig is the Secretary of the Vauxhall Constituency Labour Party. A Stop Kev campaign was put in place by a squeaky clean (and recently newly elected) Lambeth councillor, to try and remove @kevindcraig from his post earlier in the year.
The thinking was unsettle Kev, unsettle Kate Hoey, the sitting MP for Vauxhall. That leaves a huge gap to fill in local politics, with the added glamour of the national stage in which to strut your stuff as well.
Keep your eye on the prize at all times, Comrade.
The campaign from the right of @LambethLabour failed of course. Lambeth Town Hall may be nothing but a heard of Nu Labour sheep, but the local activists around the wards are actually quite, um, active.
And so with @kevindcraig democratically elected alongside Kate Hoey, it seems strange that further unsettling seems to be taking place online – and at 3:30 in the morning as well.
Oh Lordy.
Dare we mention the D word? @cllrstevereed certainly did to the Secretary of the Vauxhall CLP.
Unity seems to be the buzzword for the Comrades up in Manchester this week. Time to settle old scores and to come together to fight the nasty ConDem cuts collectively.
Meanwhile, back to @cllrstevereed’s early morning online ramblings, and we find:
Calling a fellow party member in the same borough a “Tory sympathiser” isn’t going to do much to heal those huge wounds within @LambethLabour. Come the cold light of day, and @cllrstevereed was asking:
Hoey’s record on voting for gay rights in the House is indeed open to interpretation. But once again, it seems a strange question for the Leader of a local authority to be posing on a (semi) pubic online social media site.
And so the Stop Kev campaign is about to be, um, started once again.
The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to St Peter’s Residence along Meadow Road wasn’t meant to make the headlines. This was an afternoon tea event, tucked away in an otherwise anonymous corner of South London, and hidden away in the official State visit schedule ahead of the Hyde Park hoo ha later in the evening.
The playing down of Mr Pope in my #hyperlocal patch suggested something of a space filler. With a more high profile visit to Wimbledon earlier in the afternoon, and then the huge Hyde Park ticketed event in the evening, cynics (um, the good @SE11_lurker) was spot on in stating that we were hosting a time killing event.
It was almost as if the Vatican had pulled up Google maps, typed in SW19 and W1, and then pinned the Papal tail on my little #hyperlocal patch to pass the time. The location of St Peter’s, SW8 made perfect geographic sense, albeit with some ideological reservations.
Google maps may be great for physical geography, but not so cool on cultural exploration. A short walk down the Harleyford Road, and Mr Pope would have found himself at Vauxhall Cross, the self-centred Gaybourhood of South London.
Whoops.
I personally was rather passive in the whole Papal affair. I’m agnostic but active locally. To stay at home and hoover whilst one of the world’s most influential leaders was passing through my neighbourhood, would have been a waste of an afternoon.
I wandered down Trigon Road shortly before 5pm, quite unsure of what to expect. The road closure signs had been in place all week, but interest in Benny’s afternoon tea break seemed to be limited.
I passed young mother’s carrying shopping bags, kids playing on scooters and even an estate agent trying to temp some tenants into a shoehorn of a flat.
“What’s the neighbourhood like?”
“Oh, you know – apart from Papal visits, nothing special.”
It wasn’t until I reached the Meadow Road junction that I first saw the crowds. Nothing major, but then this was a hyped down #hyperlocal appearance. A rough head count suggested 1,000 max, with a lively crowd of twenty or so protestors, representing the Gaybourhood.
It is rather apt that this hush hush #hyperlocal visit should take place at St Peter’s. Little is known about the Nursing home locally. My only contact with St Peter’s is to pass it on the way to the cricket. The good Sisters within aren’t exactly resting on Test match days, trousering twenty notes a time in pimping out the Good Lord’s car park.
Cripes.
I took up a place in the throng of the two deep crowd, directly opposite the gates to St Peter’s. This was clearly an entry point that I wouldn’t pass the test for. The #hyperlocal online and blogging community was out in force.It seems that I wasn’t alone in putting that Saturday afternoon hoovering on hold.
A sudden rush, and the police convoy speeded past, followed by some very un-Pope-mobile style transport. It was as though Mr Pope was being transported around South London in the back of a rather large hire car.
And that, I thought, was probably that. A quick scroll through my twitter feed, and the good @kennington reported that Kate Hoey was within the sacred walls, being received by the Pope. Keeping in line with the song, the response from Mr Pope of course had to be:
“Who the f***ing hell is Kate Hoey…”
It must have been a laugh-along-a-minute during the short meeting. We were led to believe that Benny was giving a sidesplitting speech to the Sisters all about… death. It’s the way he tells ‘em.
I did consider buggering off back to base and resuming my own private worship of housework. But I stuck it out, and was rewarded with what was a truly unique, magical and simply jaw dropping moment, right on my #hyperlocal doorstep.
A robed up dude emerged from the gates at St Peter’s to deliver a cheeky thumbs up to the crowd. I passed this off as perhaps a sign of the party atmosphere within. Perhaps the water had been turned to wine, and wall-to-wall vomiting had broken out.
But nope – Mr Thumbs Aloft was indicating that one of the most powerful and influential men in the world wanted to have a walkabout, right on my bloody doorstep.
Blimey.
The crowd went crazy, both God Fearers and the guys ‘n girls from the Gaybourhood alike. I was sitting on the fence, quite literally, and simply wanted to take it all in.
Even for an agnostic, it was simply magical. There was a huge surge of emotion in witnessing the power of an old man to inspire my local community. As far as schedule time killers go, this had to be the most remarkable way of filling in a spare half hour in the South London afternoon.
I tried to make sense of this short burst of spirituality, but where to look? Mr Pope’s shoes caught my eye. I may not believe in his right wing nonsense of a message, but he is certainly a snappy dresser.
Sticking with the shoe theme, and it seemed that an Iraqi style shoe throwing protest was about to break out. A singular shoe dropped right in front of me. Turns out it belonged to a poor kid who was simply caught up in all the excitement and emotion.
This is about as rock ‘n roll as my little #hyperlocal patch of South London gets. The appearance of an iconic figure in the late evening SW8 sunshine was inspiring, if not in a religious capacity, then certainly spiritualy.
I have seen the light, I have seen Mr Pope, and yes – I have seen a community celebrating a unique event. The Gaybourhood guys ‘n girls rightly had their grievances, but I simply couldn’t ignore the power that this man has. What a waste for it be channelled into the nonsense of organised religion.
So yeah – for one afternoon only, my #hyperlocal patch of South London became the centre of the universe. I may not believe in creationism, but I am now a confirmed supporter of community cohesion.
The perennial problem for any political organisation is how to talk to the Little People. Tell it Like it is etc, and then let them decide if your message is meaningful or has no merit.
The Lambeth way is to use all types of third sector language twaddle. Stage an Expo; engage with the stakeholders. Watch Mr Mayor look rather uncomfortable as he is obliged to undergo some Thai Chi.
The Vauxhall Expo [urgh!] on Saturday afternoon at Spring Gardens was well intentioned. It was indeed actually rather community spirited. In terms of ticking the @lambeth_council boxes of engagement, consultation and participation, it probably just about worked.
Phew.
Funding is set aside each year for @lambeth_council to take what is essentially old school style Radio 1 Roadshows into the local community. Gurning politicians replace the gurning pop stars. Smiley Miley becomes #lambethcoop consultation.
You can see the logic in this approach. Inviting the locals into Lambeth Town Hall to see what the chuffers our hard working council is coming up with, would lead to a response rate attracting only loners and / or bored bloggers.
Spring Gardens on Saturday afternoon was rather ace. The locality of the splendid Vauxhall City Farm gave the event a wider appeal. The ever-present Dr Bike was accepting patients. Local organisations such as the Kennington, Oval & Vauxhall Forum and the Vauxhall Society were able to showcase their concerns.
In-between all the civic high jinks, and you could take the time to speak to to our wonderful local @LambethLabour councillors, or even take part in the bucket ‘n balls approach to the #lambethcoop consultation.
VOTE LABOUR said the sign being displayed by our Red Flag flying Comrades.
Instead I got the chance to guess the weight of a rather lovely looking home made cake. Let them eat it, I thought, but @SE11 was well humoured, as was the very, very fine @janeinlondon / E Hants.
We spoke about recent local campaigns, and I thanked our Comrades for their continued support in helping to resolve the bonkers 5am licence for Kelly’s boozer. So yeah – the aim of engagement had been achieved, and all over the lure of a home baked cake as well.
@SE11_lurker was, um, lurking. A slight communication mishap, and whaddya know – the ever-diligent blogger had been delayed by scrutinising the finer details of the grand Vauxhall generation model in the nearby church. There’s dedication for you.
But as ever, it was #lambethcoop that got us all, um, co-operating. I stood aside as other local online folk took the great #lambethcoop balls ‘n bucket consultation.
Our host was passionate about the project, and keen to promote the benefits of the @LambethLabour election pledge. Our host was also an apolitical council officer, banding about the language of “savage Tory and LibDem cuts” as part of his apolitical brief.
Whoops.
And then with perfect timing for all of this hot air, a blust of wind blew away #lambethcoop. It wasn’t quite on par with the Three Little Pigs and the straw house, and I certainly wasn’t about to be scapegoated as the Big Bad Wolf.
Consultation complete – engagement ended.
Let’s hope that the power makers within Lambeth Town – be they political or apolitical – are actually listening to the Little People.
A delightful luncheon date (cripes) with, um, @AnnaJCowen on Wednesday, as we both cycled the short distance from our SW8 base over to Brunswick House, the recently opened cafe housed within the Lassco architectural salvage yard.
I’ve been hearing good things about the new cafe set up South side of the river. It is run by Charlie and Frank, the two sons of Charlie Boxer, the joint owner of the Italo delicatessen in Bonnington Square.
What is so unique about Brunswick House is that all of your surrounding are for sale. We took a late morning coffee (double shot latte) outside on a beautifully restored mosaic trestle table. The £280 price tag might appear steep, but I know a very good home somewhere on the North Essex coast that would suit the artefact to perfection.
Vauxhall Cross was but a wrought iron gate away from our dining setting. The random styling of the architectural garden somehow managed to drown out all of the hurly bury of the busses and speeding cars passing through the centre of SW8.
With our coffee providing an extra boost, @AnnaJCowen and I set about the task of window shopping for pastures new. We took a leisurely stroll around Lassco, marvelling at the splendour of the period pieces within.
I could happily spend an entire afternoon there, not to mention an annual salary on some of the items for sale. A definite location to return to over the coming weeks, if not for the extra strong coffee, then certainly for the art deco style mosaic garden table.
#lambethcoop, Porto pastry and an out of context moment with a man I usually see half naked each morning – what could possibly go wrong at the quarterly forum organised by the fine folk of the Stockwell Partnership?
I always find it confusing seeing people out of context. Straight outta, um, Brixton Rec showers, and down the Stockwell Road to the Community Resource Centre; I almost didn’t recognise Swimmer David as he greeted me on the door, fully clothed and without Speedos.
But there was little time for chitter chatter about shampooing the short ‘n curlies. It was straight down to #lambethcoop business (yeah, *business*) with the good @LabourStockwell doing his PR pitch on behalf of @LambethLabour.
Councillor Bigham came well prepped. He outlined the overview of the Co-operative Council plans, stating that the objectives are twofold:
“There is a moral need – councils don’t always know better than citizens about how to run services. Secondly there is a financial need – it could be cost effective for the community to run local authority services
The highest-ranking Co-operative Party MP, Ed Balls, has already dismissed the second point as not being the right reason for @lambeth_council to become a co-operative. The Labour Party leadership contender even went as far as saying:
“Cutting corners is not what a co-operative council is about. Does being a co-operator save money in public services? I’m not sure that it will. I think that it might actually encourage us to spend more money for local people.”
@LabourStockwell then gave examples of how #lambethcoop has been successful during the trial period. He stated the Tenant Managed Organisation of Lambeth Towers at Kennington as a shining example of how #lambethcoop should work. Except a FOI request I made to @lambeth_council earlier this year confirmed:
“Consequently, no savings / losses are incurred as a result of a creation of new TMO.”
The cash saving ethos of #lambethcoop was also justified by @LabourStockwell as a consequence of: “the 20% cuts that are being put in place by the coalition government.”
Nasty, nasty ConDems, but #lambethcoop was part of the @LambethLabour manifesto *before* the Love Me I’m a Liberal Lot sold their soul to the Nasty Party. #lambethcoop was coming, for whatever reason, irrespective of what financial constraints may, or may not, be imposed from Westminster.
I pitched in (get you) with asking about the role of big business within #lambethcoop. The White Paper talks of “interested partners” in a different context to citizens. @LabourStockwell cited the example of Veoila working successfully to help provide a council service.
I cited in return the example of Veoila getting away with not paying staff a London Living Wage, all with the blessing of @LambethLabour as part of this brave new world of co-operation.
The old Lilian Baylis site is apparently another example of how co-operation within the borough is working. I didn’t like to mention how this partnership is currently costing Lambeth Council Tax payers £380,000 a year, and still there is not definite conclusion as to what will be the future of the site.
My fully clothed swimming partner made a great point from the floor. He pointed towards the, um, Stockwell Partnership as a model that #lambethcoop should be looking at to see how genuine citizen involvement can be successfully implemented.
The Stockwell Partnership has spent the past ten years securing investments for the local area, and then consulting with local people about how best to distribute the funds for the benefit of the whole community. Local residents get to sit at the top table and make decisions.
Meanwhile the #lambethcoop Citizen’s Commission still hasn’t appointed any citizens to sit alongside the three high ranking members of the @LambethLabour cabinet.
It was jolly decent of @LabourStockwell to put forward the justification by @LambethLabour for walking away from all local responsibility. Cynical, jaded and in disbelief (me, *not* @LabourStockwell) but still I applaud the information that is finally coming our way.
The exact mechanics of how #lambethcoop will actually work are slowly, slowly trickling down from the top table, with more events planned around the borough to try and pull off the PR trick on behalf of @LambethLabour. But any genuine citizen power is still not part of the deal.
Time for a break. Time for some Porto dancing.
Hurrah!
And so it was straight outta #lambethcoop and best foot forward as some rather ace young Porto kids gave us a brilliant demonstration of how the traditional meets the contemporary, Sunny Stockwell style.
It was hungry work just watching. Which all boded rather well for the table laid out with Porto food, all kindly donated to the Stockwell Partnership Forum from the good folk of the local Porto cafes.
Now that’s what I call co-operation.
A brief break, and then a Q and A followed with Ian Beaver, a planning expert who represents the Stockwell Partnership. Ian outlined some of the major developments that are heading ouryour way over the course of the next few years.
The thirty-three-storey Vauxhall Sky Garden is an interesting case in how developers can backtrack on all original promises, and yet somehow come away with a done deal that suits the commercial agenda, and not that of the local residents.
The original planning application contained fifteen floors of social housing, a bonkers two floor space of an indoor garden, and then fifteen floors of high rent, high class commercial property.
The joined up thinking that ticked all the correct boxes in terms of council corporate talk of inclusiveness, is that the garden would be the common ground. Quite literally.
Never the twain shall meet however. The revised plan, now accepted by @lambeth_council, contains the small detail of pushing the social housing out towards a separate site on Wyvil Road. The implication is that the bonkers indoor garden is out of bounds for social housing residents.
Clever. And quite a con as well.
The fifty-storey Vauxhall Tower was next up for discussion. When complete, this will be the tallest residential tower in all of the country.
Cripes.
Completing the trilogy of Vauxhall high rises is the Octave Tower on Bondway. Having had the wisdom to turn down the original plan, the appeal starts next week at Lambeth Town Hall. It will be interesting to see how close @lambeth_council wants to cuddle up to commercial partners in an attempt to justify this new age of *shhh* co-operation.
You may remember how a squeaky clean (and recently newly elected) Lambeth councillor was given the task to unsettle the left of the party, remove @kevindcraig, replace him with a Nu Labour puppet and then allow the Poster Boy to take on the power of the fragrant Mss Hoey.
Blimey.
But even with the local branches seemingly turning their backs on the Nu Labour project and endorsing @kevindcraig, the Coup d’Vauxhall is still in the balance. No surprises that the Oval branch backed the Poster Boy 11-3, but a bit of an eyebrow raising moment when Bishop’s ward went the way of the left.
The AGM, being held at the Wheatsheaf Community Centre this evening, will see the branch delegates voting on the decision. This should be a formality, but a last ditch attempt by the squeaky clean (and recently newly elected) Lambeth councillor has now come into play.
Shame on the Stockwell branch, who having voted to back @kevindcraig, is now sending the right wing of the party to try and tip the vote. @RichardAngell and Councillor Bigham will be doing the best for their Poster Boy later this evening at the Wheatsheaf.
The outcome is still far too tight to call. The only certainty is that if the right wing puppet Paul Gadsby is put in place as Secretary, Hoey will start to look wobbly, leaving the path open for the Poster Boy come 2015.
And so it looks like the Vauxhall Stop Kev campaign has, um, stopped. You may remember how a coup d’Vauxhall (cripes) developed, with a squeaky clean (and recently newly elected) Lambeth councillor being behind the campaign to oust the man behind Kate Hoey MP.
@kevindcraig’s role as the Secretary of the Constituency Labour Party (CLP) was crucial here. Stop Kev, put in a right wing puppet, and then open the backdoor for the Nu Labour Poster Boy to take control of the constituency, come 2015.
Or at least that was the plan put in place by the squeaky clean (and recently newly elected) Lambeth councillor. It turns out that the local branches have finally found their balls after all.
The Nu Labour Attacks Dogs of War have failed to add the CLP to accompany the control that the right wing of @LambethLabour now has within Lambeth Town Hall. They don’t like it up ‘em here in the north end of the borough.
The Vassal support was to be expected, following the dirty tricks campaign against an incredibly popular local politician from within the ward. What seems to have muzzled the Nu Labour Attacks Dogs of War however is opposition from around the other local branches to putting up the Poster Boy against Hoey.
Larkhall, Stockwell and even Clap’ham Town have all now nominated @kevindcraig to remain as Secretary, a direct kick in the shiny teeth of the squeaky clean (and recently newly elected) Lambeth councillor, now clambering somewhere near the bottom of the South London greasy pole.
The strength of support for the left of centre candidate even came from the most unlikely of sources, with @LambethLabour cabinet member, @cllr_robbins turning his back on the Stop Kev campaign. It was a similar situation over the ward boundary in Clap’ham Town, with Councillors Haselden and O’Malley both coming out in support of the left of centre @kevindcraig.
Stockwell showed some resistance, but still the branch members ignored the political careerists within, trying to prop up the Poster Boy. @richardangell proudly tweeted that he had “been elected Secretary of @LabourStockwell.” Well done that man. He certainly has experience of this role, having had a similar job at the Brixton Hill branch until he was defeated by the fine chap @brixtonalex to become the ward candidate.
With @Morganmc77 also putting some paste on the paintbrushes down in Sunny Stockwell ahead of the campaign for the Poster Boy, it was with some surprise that the Stockwell branch also backed @kevindcraig, and not the right wing puppet Paul Gadsby. Even a strong endorsement from Councillor Bigham failed to swing the Stockwell branch to the right.
So far it is only Ferndale that has been convinced that the Stop Kev campaign has any legs. Even the Nu Labour love in that is Prince’s ward doesn’t have the stomach (or ambition) to take on Hoey, deciding instead not to make any nomination.
The Oval and Bishop’s wards have yet to vote, but the sums simply don’t stack up for the squeaky clean (and recently newly elected) Lambeth councillor who has been trying to line up the Poster Boy for Parliament.
The botched Stop Kev campaign now looks like letting the fragrant Mss Hoey to carry on doing whatever it is that the fragrant Mss Hoey does around these parts for some time to come.
Hoey has a reception at the House of Commons later this week, to thank her supporters within Vauxhall who helped her return to Westminster once again. Invites have been sent out; posters haven’t been put up.
