Book bargain is no con

I wasn't tempted, but new Conservative councillor Alan Dobbie might want to pick up this book bargain I spotted on Saturday.

It's for sale in Alan's own patch, in one of the pound shops in the High Road, Wood Green (Poundland, I think). It seems there's still work to be done to tempt the voters in Wood Green.

Labour councillor Dobbie defects to Tories

It’s been a whacky old week in Haringey politics. I’m only now getting fully up to speed with it, as I’ve been moving house.

Labour councillor Alan Dobbie has defected to the Tories. Alan is a mid-ranking and very long-serving councillor who has held quite a lot of posts in the Council, including Mayor (twice), and Labour chief whip only a couple of years ago. Though he’s not been ‘Cabinet’ material (and in the current crop of Haringey Labour councillors, we’re talking IKEA self-assembly, rather than Chippendale, here), Alan is something of a player.

At first I was surprised, as the move looks extrordinarily dotty, but if you look at Alan’s blog, there has been a sprinkling of complementary references of the ‘you-know-where-you-are-with-the-Tories’ kind. It's easy to see why he didn't try to switch to the Lib Dems, as he's certainly no Liberal. In political terms, I’d say Alan has a reactionary and paternalistic view of the world that would make him equally at home in either Labour or the Tories. I can recall him speaking up strongly in the council chamber - in favour of the invasion of Iraq, and more recently, the introduction of ID cards.

However, I quite like Alan, he’s cheerful and friendly, and was one of the very few Labour mayors that could chair a council meeting. I hope he'll support Lib Dem proposals in the council chamber.

He's a Noel Park councillor, the ward that covers the heart of Wood Green. There’s no prospect of a Tory recovery here (see bar chart). Noel Park is a crucial Liberal Democrat/Labour marginal, and last time out, the Tories scored less than ten per cent of the vote.

Time of their lives film

Highgate resident Hetty Bower (101), who lives at the Mary Fielding Guild on North Hill, is due to star, along with other residents, in a Film about their lives on BBC4, 13^th July At 9pm.

I mentioned Hetty in an earlier post, but more on the film can be found here.

Charles Adje and the register of councillors' interests

Labour’s Charles Adje has now placed his declaration of interests on the boroughs’ on-line system. Until now, the former council leader hadn't done so. The register can be viewed here.

During the height of the controversy surrounding the publication of a Standards Board report into activities around the sale of the Welbourne Centre site in Tottenham, I went to look at his entry at the council offices.

Apart from his membership of the Rosicrucian Order (which I think is some sort of freemasonry outfit) nothing leaped to my attention. But the newly published register has some entries for some companies of which he is a director. One them is called Empowerment (NW) Ltd. I've no idea what NW stands for - but not 'Neil Williams'.

On another note, having been removed from the council cabinet in April, Charles has re-emerged as a member of the Scrutiny committee, Haringey’s top ’watchdog’ body.

Having Charles scrutinise any of the recent fiascos in which he played a part would not be a good idea. It’s like sacking Dracula as director of the blood bank, and sending him straight out onto the wards disguised as a nurse.

In their wisdom, most Labour councillors don't seem bothered.

Where were you when the Iron Curtain was torn?

As it's the 20th anniversary of the first hole in the iron curtain, I've been thinking about what I was doing at the time.

I was working in Italy for the food giant, Parmalat. This was several years before the company famously imploded due to massive accounting irregularities. I was only doing a bit of market research, honest.

I had just graduated, and spent the summer with other stagieres from all over Europe. We were out of touch with political developments in our home countries. We must have discussed lots of issues, but I can only recall two. One was the collapse of Princess Anne's first marriage, which seemed to have solid transcontinental news appeal, and other other was the opening of the Hungarian border, and the crisis it was causing in East Germany.

The West Germans in our group were very sceptical that the events would have any lasting impact, as the entire East German leadership was hard line. The upcoming junior Ministers, who might conceivably take over, were all hard line too.

By the time I moved to London later that year virtually every east European dictatorship had collapsed, with Romania the last to go by Christmas. Princess Anne's marriage went the same way.

Pic: me with colleagues at the office in Collechio, Parma.

Have your say over directly elected Mayor

Haringey is pressing on with efforts to whip up a frenzy of apathy among local residents, via a dubious consultation on whether or not the borough should have a directly elected mayor.

The Council is being forced to do this by the Government, but the process has been promoted with a whimper, and in the Council’s on-line survey, which you can complete here, they ask around 17 questions, only one of which is about whether or not you’d like this change.

A constituent has written to us with the following confession:

The online survey is not validated in any way at all - I have now completed it twice, once in my own name and once as "Bill", a 50 year Old Kurdish transsexual whose email address is x@x.x. I have no idea whether neither or both submissions have been accepted. I suggest you disregard Bill's contribution.

I’m hearing the response rates have been very low so far. If you don’t want Bill to carry the day, you have until 10th July to respond.

Labour cabinet member resigns - in Haringey

Labour cabinet member Matt Cooke has resigned, it emerged on Wednesday, as he’s to become a Special Adviser in ‘Dah Biz’ – the new mega-government department for Business, Innovation & Skills under Peter Mandelson (DBIS).

As he was only in the job a few weeks, I’d hesitate to say Matt was irreplaceable. Yet it must be true, as I'm told there’s unlikely to be a new Cabinet Member for Regeneration. This is good in one sense - Lib Dem Leader Robert Gorrie has been arguing that there are far too many councillors in the Labour Cabinet, and it needs slimming down. I'm not sure this should have been the first post to go.

Highgate's 'Fair in the Square'

Some pictures of today's marvellous 'Fair in the Square' in Highgate, which was better than ever, I thought.

Lynne Featherstone was judging the dog show - centre pic is the winner of the dog and owner 'lookey-likey' category. Bottom right is the runner up, though rumour has it that victory may have been squandered with a recent shearing of that labradoodle.

The chickens (top centre) were a new one on me. 'Chicken roulette' is a lottery in which you have to guess in which square the chicken will next do a poo. I was number eight, but I still don't know if I won, as the chickens were holding on gamely when I was there.

Huge thanks are due to the Fair Committee, who organise the whole day in Pond Square with the support of the Highgate Society.

Tory post-election Euro-spin in Haringey

My colleague Mark Pack over at Lib Dem Voice has his favourite piece of post election spin – from the Tory candidate for Hornsey & Wood Green, who described the Euro election result as disappointing for the Lib Dems. The Tory vote fell, as they slipped into fourth place.

Richard is a recent arrival whose pronouncements show signs of being helpful - from a Liberal Democrat perspective, that is. He blogs here.

The verdict of yesterday’s local newspapers on the European elections in Haringey was very different, needless to say:

"The battle for the control of Haringey is now closer than ever, with the borough's Liberal Democrats closing the gap on Labour to just 2,500 votes in the European elections. The result on Sunday has given an extra boost to the Lib-Dems…"

Hornsey Journal

"… the worst election result suffered by the Haringey Labour party, with a 4.5 per cent swing to the Liberal Democrats"

Ham & High

Haringey Euro-election - great result and Tories pushed into 4th

I'm just back from Haringey's Euro election count at the Ally Pally. We did very well - vote up around four points, and not far behind Labour, who must have had their worst vote share in history in Haringey. The Tories were pushed into fourth by the greens. BNP and UKIP, making no headway here.

Results: Lab 14,093; Lib Dem 11,550; Greens 8,528; Cons 7,396; UKIP 2,164

The mother of all potholes in N6

I encountered this preposterous pothole in Kenwood Road N6, today. I could have got my arm in further, but thought I might never see it again.

Extending the Highgate station CPZ - Haringey consults

Haringey is consulting on an extension to the Highgate station controlled parking zone (CPZ) into the Kenwood area. If you live in any of the streets affected, you should receive a consultation form through the door, but it's on the council's website here.

Some streets immediately to the west of the current zone have experienced parking misery since the scheme was extended a couple of years ago. Here's our recent press release on the issue.

Highgate residents to have their say on parking controls – Liberal Democrats welcome consultation.

Highgate’s Liberal Democrat councillors have welcomed long awaited moves to consult local residents on an extension of parking controls in the area – but have asked Haringey Council to ensure that residents’ views are heeded on the details of the scheme.

The Council is about to consult on the extension of the Highgate station controlled parking zone (CPZ) into the Kenwood area. Liberal Democrats say that residents in streets such as Denewood Road and Stormont Road, have endured parking misery since the introduction of controls in the adjacent parks of Highgate, and say that action is long overdue.

Liberal Democrat councillor Neil Williams says that following recent parking problems in Crouch End, the consultation needs to make absolutely clear the impact of displacement parking on the streets concerned, if the CPZ gets the go-ahead. However, areas should not be included if that is still their wish.

The Liberal Democrats also want the private roads, View Road, and part of Denewood Road, to be kept fully informed on how the plans are unfolding.

Highgate Liberal Democrat councillor Neil Williams comments: “Putting these plans before local residents is long overdue. Highgate residents in Stormont Road and Denewood Road in particular, have been experiencing parking misery in the past year. It’s important that as many people as possible respond to the consultation, so the Council can get the exact details right for local residents.”

Lynne Featherstone MP, adds: “We do not want a repeat of the parking chaos we have seen in Crouch End. We need a consultation that listens to local residents views.” 

Streets to be consulted are: Bishopswood Road, Denewood Road (Between Broadlands Road and Stormont Road), Gaskell Road, Hampstead Lane (Between the eastern arm of Bishopswood Road and Compton Avenue), Kenwood Road, Sheldon Avenue, Storey Road, Stormont Road, Yeatman Road.