UEFA Cup draw: Spurs v Wisla Krakow

This lunchtime's UEFA Cup draw has given Spurs a tie against Wisla Krakow. Not a bad draw - not to say that they won't be difficult to beat.

Standard Liege, who nearly put Liverpool out of the Champions League qualifying stage, now get a crack at Everton instead.

Hopefully, after home and away matches, Tottenham will be heading into the group stages of the UEFA Cup again. Although at the moment it looks like we'll struggle to beat anyone.

I think we could do with another striker as well as Roman Pavlyuchenko...

You couldn't make it up

As I have already blogged, Haringey Labour have refused to rethink their plans to blow £12million on a new Civic Centre.

Despite these plans to move out of the current Civic Centre, new signs have been put up on the councillor parking spaces - just days after they confirmed the building is to become redundant. They might not have cost much in comparison with the £12million to be spent on refurbishing the other building, but seems very unnecessary. Added to that, as you can see from the photo, the signs also have printing errors on them so it seems they will have to be replaced again.

As Cllr Robert Gorrie, Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition, who was the first to spot the error, said:

"If Haringey Labour cannot even organise replacement signs correctly at the old Civic Centre just think of the size of the mistakes they can make spending £12million on a new Civic Centre."

Bootlaces is gone!

Spurs have had a consistent start to the season - two games played, two 1-2 defeats. So far thoroughly depressing, next game is at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

But to make this weekend's match even worse, when we we arrived in Tottenham at about midday to head to the pub we had a bit of a shock. Bootlaces, the pub we used to drink in the most, has closed down (as you can see on from the photo). The first pub I visited in Tottenham was the Coach & Horses - and along with Bootlaces and the Bricklayers that made up the three that were our regular haunts.

It says that the pub closed down at the end of May - we were in there after the last game of the season and didn't know anything about it. But then I'm not the most observant person.

Will have to ask around and find out what happened, as well as what's happening. As you can see from the photo, it's an interesting building in itself.

UPDATE: Bootlaces reopened a couple of games into the season!

The other photo is of the Spurs boys warming up before the match against Sunderland... it was all downhill from there...

A face from the past

When news about the Tory candidate in Watford being charged with a nasty campaign of criminal damage and harrassment against local Lib Dems broke, I thought he looked strangely familiar - but I couldn't work out why.

One of my old university friends reminded me recently - the Tory involved was unfortunately at university in Durham at the same time as me and involved with the Union Society. I think he was even President.

Small world, eh? (Apologies to my friend Kirsty for saying that...)

Labour steamroller on with £12m civic centre plans

Just to update you, Labour refused to take a second look at their costly plans to relocate Haringey's Civic Centre when my Lib Dem colleagues forced the issue to Overview & Scrutiny earlier this week.

My Lib Dem colleague Neil Williams, Leader of the Opposition until earlier this year, covers it well in his (relatively) new blog.

So, no consultation with the public about how Haringey Labour are planning to spend this vast amount of their money. Let's hope they manage the project rather better than their infamous Tech Refresh disaster.

Confidence in the Lib Dem by-election machine

Private Eye has one of my favourite Dumb Britain quiz answers for some time this week, from The Weakest Link:

Anne Robinson: Archie Stirling, who launched the Scottish Voice Party in 2007, is the nephew of Sir David Stirling, who in 1941 founded which elite fighting force?

Contestant: The Liberal Democrats.

Marvellous. Must have been thinking back to the golden by-election days of Brent East, Christchurch, Romsey, Dunfermline West etc etc.

Off the top of my head I can't think of any direct links between the Lib Dems and the SAS... although Paddy Ashdown was in the SBS, of course...

Haringey GCSE results - well done!

With GCSE results out today, there have been some encouraging results across schools in Haringey. Well done to all the students who worked hard to get their results today, in whatever subjects and at whatever grades.

Overall, the full GCSE results for Haringey schools show:

Students getting 5 or more GCSEs at grades A* - C:
(last year's results in brackets)

Alexandra Park 73% (52)
Fortismere 78% (72)
Gladesmore 66% (46)
Greig City Academy 48% (64)
Highgate Wood 54% (55)
Hornsey School for Girls 62% (61)
John Loughborough 59% (32)
Northumberland Park 63% (70)
Park View Academy 58% (59)
St. Thomas More RC 70% (61)
Woodside High 45% (41)
All of Haringey 61% (56)

Students getting 5 or more GCSEs at grades A* - C including English and maths:
(last year's results in brackets)

Alexandra Park 60% (48)
Fortismere 72% (64)
Gladesmore 44% (38)
Greig City Academy 30% (21)
Highgate Wood 47% (47)
Hornsey School for Girls 41% (50)
John Loughborough 39% (19)
Northumberland Park 38% (32)
Park View Academy 30% (30)
St. Thomas More RC 36% (21)
Woodside High 28% (17)
All of Haringey 42% (37)

Of course, these figures are provisional at this stage. But there are promising signs in many areas and schools like Fortismere, where I am a governor, have continued to perform strongly. Well done again to all the students.

Trekstock at the Boogaloo

Last night I went to the Boogaloo in Highgate for Trekstock – a gig in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Had an excellent night. I was there because my old housemate Wade is a massive Starsailor fan and the main attraction was an acoustic set from their singer James Walsh (top photo). I’m not a big Starsailor fan, but the night had the added bonus of being close to home and, of course, for charity.

So I got very excited during the day when I found out that the Holloways were also playing. I’ve seen them live a bunch of times, they are always brilliant - and I also knew they are getting close to releasing a new album, so expected some new tracks (which we got). The bottom photo is of them on the stage, Alfie singing away.

Have to admit that I hadn’t been in the Boogaloo before and it’s really cool. And brilliant to see great bands and singers in such a small venue – essentially it’s a not-too-large pub and we were very close to the stage, every single person in there. There were two other good singers before the Holloways and James Walsh, as well as a stand-up routine from Jason Manford (of ‘8 out of 10 Cats’ fame), who was very funny. Mathew Horne (Catherine Tate, Gavin & Stacey) was also there, doing a bit of DJing between acts.

It was a great night all round, the small venue made it a really special event and the performers were all excellent. And they will have raised a fair amount of cash for the Teenage Cancer Trust too.

On yer bikes

With Britain now sitting very pretty in the Olympic medal table - having even guaranteed we will finish ahead of the People's Republic of Michael Phelps - we have a lot to be grateful to our cyclists for, with an impressive haul of gold medals.

Reading BBC Sport's online commentary on the day's events, there were two suggestions from the public as to why our cycling team have done so well. The first suggests the high price of petrol has forced more people on to bikes (which would be a positive side of rising fuel costs, if it were true). The second tries to give the credit to Norman Tebbit for having told people to get on their bikes to start with...

I'm sure it's all down to hard work though, so well done to the cyclists and all the other athletes (medal winners and runners up).

And if we think that we pile too much expectation and pressure on our athletes then you might just want to have a quick read of how China reacts to failure. And by 'failure' we're talking about only winning a bronze medal!

I could do with the exercise, but...

Been catching up with work and politics since I got back from DC, then my university friend Laura's 30th birthday at the weekend, not had time to blog.

With plenty of leaflets to deliver in my ward, might not get much time to blog for a few days... so on my lunch break at work just thought I'd post this photo of a house I saw when walking through DC - at least I don't have houses in my ward with this many steps! In the heat of DC, even the thought of leafleting down this street made me feel faint.

From one Civic Centre to another

Having just posted on my blog about the proposed move for Haringey's Civic Centre, worth mentioning that I am currently in Washington DC - where the political buildings are on a rather grander scale.

On holiday here for two weeks altogether, we came to visit friends - first, an American friend from university (and her family) for Owen, then a friend of mine who I used to work with in Coventry. All in all, we have managed to get around this little bit of the U.S. reasonably well - Baltimore and Belcamp, all the sightseeing in DC, a day trip to Gettysburg and just spent the weekend in Delaware.

A welcome break from work, especially before the final preparations for party conference work really hot up, but of course Council has continued... no meetings in August anyway, so nothing to miss on that front, but the casework has been continuing. With the vast majority of our casework in Fortis Green coming in on email, it means I don't have to abandon the residents even when away on holiday - of course, there are three of us Lib Dems in Fortis Green to share the work out anyway.

Anyway, I should get back to being on holiday instead of blogging. Off to the Canadian Embassy to see an exhibition on photo-journalism and then later to the tennis at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic. Have also been keeping an eye on the Olympics in the late evenings here... the tennis might not be going so well for us there, but some other good results already - including the first British gold medal, going home to Wales!

I will catch up more on blogging about Haringey politics and our holiday when I get back to the UK, including (hopefully) some much better photos than the attached one which I took on my phone.

Labour wasting money and failing to consult - as usual

My Lib Dem colleagues have 'called-in' the decision by Haringey's Labour Cabinet to relocate the Civic Centre in Wood Green. In a nutshell, this means that there will now be a special meeting of Overview & Scrutiny to decide what should happen - on Tuesday 19 August at 7.30pm (in the current Civic Centre) for those who want to attend.

Do local residents want the Council to spend millions of their money on changing the Civic Centre? I doubt it, but we don't know for sure - because, as usual, Haringey Labour thinks it knows what is best and is not bothering to ask them.

I don't think anyone will be too sad about the Civic Centre coming to the end of its life, but 12 million quid to relocate? Why not move Council meetings around the borough - Hornsey Town Hall, the Bernie Grant Centre, Alexandra Palace, Tottenham Town Hall... there must be lots of options they haven't looked at which could prove cheaper and be a good opportunity to give a wider range of people easier access to their local representatives.

There is also the issue of the people who are currently in Woodside House (the building the Council is planning on spending all that money to refurbish). My Lib Dem colleagues Lynne Featherstone MP and Cllr Robert Gorrie, Leader of the Opposition, are pictured here with people from 'I Can Care' - over 100 protested outside the Civic Centre before the Labour Cabinet made this ill-fated decision.

'I Can Care' is a charity that gives welfare advice and provides computer, yoga and English classes for elderly Asian residents - they would have to leave Woodside House if the plans go ahead. Pictured with Lynne and Robert at the front are their Chairman Mr Raj Doshi and Vice Chair Shilpa Desai.

If you think that 'I Can Care' shouldn't be kicked out of Woodside House, that holding council meetings at different locations throughout the borough would be good or just have better ideas for how to spend 12 million quid of Haringey taxpayers' money, please make suggestions below and do email the Labour Leader of the Council to let him know how you feel.