The exciting life of a councillor

Not quite a typical week, even more meetings than usual, but as an example... Monday to Thursday this week I've had:

- an Audit Committee meeting
- a Governors meeting
- a budget scrutiny meeting
- Muswell Hill & Highgate Area Assembly
- scrutiny training

Add to that the usual casework, from planning applications to refuse collection and anything inbetween, it's been a busy week so far.

But, after work tomorrow I'm off to Wales for a nice, relaxing weekend.

Well, will have my council phone and email with me and have a speech to write for Council on Monday night...

Local campaigner selected by Highgate & Archway Lib Dems

Rachel Allison last night won the selection contest to be the Lib Dem candidate for the Highgate by-election.

I met Rachel at our campaign HQ at the weekend and I'm looking forward to having her as a colleague on the council group.

Rachel has excellent credentials as the local Lib Dem candidate to represent Highgate & Archway. She has lived in Haringey for over 20 years and in Highgate itself for the last twelve years. Her children attend St Michael's primary and she has recently become a governor at Blanche Neville School.

One of her big passions is the environment - she has an allotment on Shepherds Hill, drives a hybrid car and is a member of Friends of the Earth and the Organic Association. It's a really exciting selection for us.

This contrasts with the only other candidate I have heard of so far - the Tories have selected someone who has lost the last five Haringey elections he has stood in, including twice being rejected by voters in the very same Highgate ward he's trying for again!

With friends like these...

Just when Tory MP Derek Conway might have been hoping for all the fuss to die down, up pops fellow Tory MP Roger Gale - describing Conway's trouble as "a witch hunt" and wading in with the gem:

"The fact of the matter is Derek did not keep time sheets, as I don't for my staff. When there's work to do, they do it, when there isn't, they don't."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolpda/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_7214000/7214573.stm?

Nice to know that Roger Gale sees no problem with paying staff to do no work, can see why he's supporting Derek Conway.

Having worked in an MP's office (no, not for anyone I was related to), the idea of there ever being a time when there *wasn't* work that needed doing seems incredible to me.

Although people seem to think MPs are off trousering massive staff allowances, the fact is that if you use that allowance fully to employ staff, the number of staff you can get will still struggle to carry out all the work needed.

So how these two Tories can afford to waste their staffing allowance on people doing 'nothing' is beyond me.

There is always lots of misinformation about MPs' allowances - and, don't get me wrong, there should be no problem at all in MPs fairly employing family members, as is the case in all walks of life - but unfortunately this case does, for once, give the taxpayer something to be very reasonably angry about.

Action needed on Jacksons Lane

My colleagues Cllr Neil Williams and Lynne Featherstone MP have been busy again campaigning for the Jacksons Lane arts centre, which is in Neil's Highgate ward.

The Highgate Lib Dem councillor and Lynne this week met with the Arts Council England.

The centre is a highly valued community resource and Neil and Lynne handed over a petition to the Arts Council showing the strength of feeling locally. They were given an assurance that the many signatures collected by the Lib Dems would be taken into account.

You can see the long record of action from local MP Lynne Featherstone and the Highgate Lib Dem councillors by searching for 'jacksons' on Lynne's website and looking through the news stories that come up.

Government's ID card plans starting to unravel

Didn't manage to blog this yesterday as have a bit of manflu and feeling sorry for myself. But there was news that Labour's attempts to force us all to have identity cards are on the ropes.


The arguments against ID cards are well-known - essentially, the wrong answer to the wrong problem. The next general election will now give everyone a chance to put the final nail in the ID card coffin, by rejecting candidates standing on a manifesto to give us all a barcode.


Please sign the petition against ID cards - you can do it online by clicking here.

Gordon Brown in good idea shock

With a 'radical overhaul' of organ donation on the way, I'm happy to see that Gordon Brown is apparently backing the idea of presumed consent when it comes to organ donation.


It could be a difficult one to call for a liberal. Presuming consent with an opt-out register (rather than an opt-in one, as at present) could be seen to be an infringement of civil liberties and unnecessary control from the state.


But it doesn't seem a difficult one to me. When you're dead, you don't need your organs any more - but nonetheless people who feel otherwise, for religious or other reasons, will still have the opportunity to opt out.


Anyway, I read this good blog post the other day which puts the case very well. I particularly liked this line which sums it up nicely for me:

...the argument regarding 'presumption' is lost on me also. The way things
work at present, we are presumed to want our organs to rot when we die. This is
simply a pragmatic switching of presumptions.

You can read the rest of the post this quote is from here.

The picture tells the story

Don't need to say much about last night's match really - this photo of the Spurs lads celebrating the 5-1 win says it all.

It's the team running across after the match, just before they dived onto the pitch. Just an unbelievable atmosphere and Jenas, Lennon, King, Dawson - well, just about everyone - simply brilliant.

It was the second 5-1 win in a League Cup semi-final I've been to, after beating our other London rivals Chelsea by the same scoreline a few years back. That time we went on to play (and lose to) Blackburn in the final. Hopefully we'll get a different result against either Everton or Chelsea on February 24th.

Bags of sheep

I mentioned yesterday that Monday's Full Council saw Labour failing to support a move to reduce the number of plastic bags across Haringey.

My colleagues Cllr Bob Hare (Highgate councillor and Lib Dem sustainability spokesperson) and Cllr Lyn Weber (Crouch End) proposed a motion which built on the success of work done by residents and independent traders in Crouch End.

We were proposing that the Council lead the way in promoting schemes like Crouch End's 'Bag for Life', with the aim of making Haringey plastic bag free by 2010.

Haringey Labour claimed that the the idea was "unnecessary and unworkable" - despite the success so far in Crouch End! Finger on the pulse of our community, as always...

The motion we proposed was not party political, but recognised the success of the Crouch End scheme and looked to build on it - it's very disappointing that Labour opted to play party politics and vote it down. Despite some supportive noises in some of the speeches on the Labour side, not a single Labour councillor voted to try and make progress NOW in cutting Haringey's plastic bag use, going for a 'wait and see what happens' approach.

They also claimed that only big business would benefit from reducing carrier bag use... and there we were, thinking that reducing waste and pollution might be of benefit to everyone.

Every cup counts

Full Council last night and a few interesting things - not least Labour's failure to support an apolitical motion to reduce the use of carrier bags in Haringey. But I'll blog more about that in the next day or two.

That's because I'm just on my way to White Hart Lane for a pretty important match... and while I'm hoping that it won't be going to extra-time, it'll still be late enouugh when I get back home and with luck I'll be tired out by all the excitement.

That and the fact that I have a Fortismere Governors meeting at 8am tomorrow, so need to get some decent shuteye.

Flying start

Busy day. Following Justin's resignation from the Council, Highgate by-election campaigning started in earnest today.

That meant an early start to go over to our Campaign HQ, which already has a real buzz about it. By-elections always generate a lot of enthusiasm - even if the tasks aren't always the most scintillating, it's great to get everyone together and it really helps the time fly by.

Took time off from the campaign to go over to White Hart Lane, where Spurs put in an outstanding first half. Only one goal to show for it though and we had to survive a fairly poor performance in the second half - and a truly abysmal performance from referee Lee Mason - before Robbie Keane sealed it with his 100th Spurs goal.

Why was Jermaine Defoe captain today? No idea. He's a great player, albeit not quite at the top his game at the moment. But it's hard to think of any Spurs player worse suited to the job of captain. Anyway, as I've said before, Michael Dawson should be our captain.

After the game it was back to HQ, then I got home an hour ago and am just about to watch Match of the Day.

Tomorrow will be an early start to go delivering in Highgate - I'm happy to, to make sure we elect a Lib Dem to carry on Justin's good work. I worked particularly closely with him on the CCTV scrutiny review that I chaired - he was a very active member of the panel and a pleasure to work with.

A busy six or so weeks ahead!

Thanks for all your hard work, Justin

Just a quick 'newsflash' while I'm on my lunchbreak. Sadly one of my council colleagues has had to resign from the Council today.

Justin has been a great colleague in Highgate ward and it's a loss to the whole Council that he has to step down, due to work and family commitments.

I know he'll be keeping in touch even when he does make his move out of Highgate, and I'm sure he'll be keeping a keen interest in the many campaigns he's been involved with too.

Of course, that means we have a by-election coming up in Highgate, so a good campaign ahead now to elect a new Lib Dem colleague to our council group.

Our press statement issued today:

Highgate Liberal Democrat councillor steps down

Highgate Lib Dem councillor Justin Portess has announced that he is stepping down from Haringey Council, with immediate effect. In a letter to the Council's Chief Executive, Justin has written that he and his wife had made the decision as they are expecting their first child and will be moving out of the Highgate area shortly.

In his letter, Justin Portess writes:

"It is with great regret that I write to inform you of my resignation as a Highgate Ward Councillor, with immediate effect.

"My wife and I are expecting our first child in the Spring and we have taken the decision to move out of Haringey in February. This major change of circumstances, coupled with increased and changing work commitments, means I feel I may be unable to give the role of Highgate Councillor the time that it deserves in the coming period.

"I would like to take this opportunity to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed being a Councillor in Highgate. It has been a privilege to serve such a vibrant and articulate community, working on the many issues that are raised with us as Liberal Democrat councillors for the area."

Lib Dem Leader and fellow Highgate Councillor, Neil Williams, comments:

"I'm extremely sorry to lose Justin from the Council and as ward colleague. He has been a fantastic colleague in Highgate, and I have hugely enjoyed working with him on Highgate issues, not least, most recently, over the future of Jackson's Lane. He will be very much missed by the whole of the Lib Dem Group, and we all wish Justin and his family well."

All that you can do is watch them play

A quick final post from my holiday. Just arrived at Singapore from Melbourne, have a five hour wait here before flying on to Tokyo via Bangkok. And if you're thinking that route doesn't sound like the most direct, it isn't. Don't ask.

Had a great few days in Melbourne. Did a few touristy things like visiting the Immigration Museum and Old Melbourne Gaol and went south to Leongatha for a couple of days to catch up with my old housemates from when I lived in Wood Green, Tim & Vicky.

They had a beautiful baby girl, Eleanor, in the summer (well, the British summer) and it was the first time I'd seen them since they were in the UK to get married two and a half years ago. Was good to see Tim's parents and brother again too, and had a good swim in the sea at Inverloch.

Also caught up with other Aussie friends who used to live in London, Nathan and Jacinta, saw their new son Alex and their 3 year old Patrick, who was only a couple of months when I last saw him. Patrick seems to be one of the coolest 3 year olds around - when a CD went on the hifi, he asked for it to be replaced with Blur and then sang along to their songs. Including the full chorus of There's No Other Way. Awesome.

With the temperatures getting past 41 degrees while we were there, took advantage of an open-air performance of Romeo & Juliet at the Botannical Gardens (first time I've watched Shakespeare and been distracted by possums jumping around in the trees) as well as the open-air cinema one night.

It's a shame not to be able to catch up with my old colleague Mark while I'm here in Singapore, as I'm stuck in transit. But with free internet and more shops and cafes than most towns in New Zealand, there are worse airports to be stuck in.

New Year's Day bush bash

Happy New Year to everyone.

Haven't had much computer time over the last week or so, meaning that by the time I'd dealt with emails from families and friends and incoming casework, blogging time has been squeezed out completely.

But I have just updated with some photos of my Nelson Lakes tramp. I would now be doing the same for the tramp we did in Arthur's Pass over New Year - but unfortunately my phone went a bit haywire and reset itself... deleting all my photos, texts, documents, contact details, etc etc. I haven't worked out yet if this feels strangely liberating or just very annoying. Probably just the latter.

Anyway, over New Year we went to Arthur's Pass and did a bit more tramping. On New Year's Eve we walked through to Hunts Creek Hut - the smallest of the huts I've stayed in, with just four bunks. There was no one else there anyway - and even more than usual it really felt like we were a long way from anyone or anywhere. There had only been four other people staying in that hut in the whole of December.

On New Year's Day we had a massive bush bash from that hut up to Kelly Range and then to Carroll Hut for the night. Probably took us about 8 hours in total and left us with plenty of scratches and bruises, but all good stuff. That left us with a very short 'out' on the 2nd, back into Christchurch by lunchtime.

That was pretty much the end of our tramping for now. Stayed in Sumner again last night, now back in the centre of Christchurch until Saturday.

Blue Lake

We did a 5 day tramp from 23rd to 27th December, in Nelson Lakes, which was awesome.

Thought you might like to see some photos from where I spent December 25th - at Blue Lake. The top two photos are actually at the lake, the third is a not very good one of the river on the way up.

The route we took for the tramp covered part of the Travers-Sabine Circuit and the original plan had been to make it up to Blue Lake Hut on the 24th - but it was raining so much that day (to be fair, about the only rain I've seen in the last couple of weeks) that we stopped short at West Sabine Hut. It had still been a pretty long day of walking.

It worked out well anyway - as you can see from the pictures, the weather was great on the 25th. We went up to Blue Lake as a day walk (6 or 7 hours return), i.e. without our packs, so it was a really pleasant day.

Then we had another night at West Sabine before a fairly long day on the 26th right through to Speargrass Hut for the night, leaving us a short walk out on the 27th.

The bottom photo is of that last hut, which has been fairly recently upgraded but is a good example of the sorts of places we stay on our walks. And that's actually me sitting just outside taking my boots off, not that you can really make me out.

Between finishing that walk and starting the one for New Year, we had nights in Nelson, Havelock, Kaikoura and Sumner. In the last we met up with my former colleague Janine who is back home in NZ for a wedding and ate at a great restaurant. Even if - or maybe because - it was called Indian Sumner.