Author Archives: Merlene Emerson

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The City and me

By Merlene Emerson | Tue 16th October 2018 - 8:55 am

Last week (9 October) I stood for the first time in the City of London elections in Castle Baynard ward that stretches from Fleet Street to Blackfriars, taking in St Paul’s Cathedral. It was a 3-week whirlwind of a campaign. The by-election was called as one of the Common Councilmen in the ward was elected as an Alderman elsewhere and created a vacancy. There were 8 of us contesting one place.

My fascination with the City started way back when I landed my first real job as an articled clerk in the City firm of Norton Rose and then working as a solicitor involved in securitisation and cross border finance. My renewed interest in the City came about when I tried to get on the board of governors of my sons’ independent school. No parent governors there. It was all in the hands of the Worshipful Company of the Mercers. This then led me to investigate the intriguing world of Livery Companies, only to discover that membership of the Mercers was closed (at least to me).

I persisted in my enquiry and 6 years ago joined a newer and more welcoming livery company, that of the World Traders in the year that Mei Sim Lai OBE DL became Master, the first Master of Chinese heritage in the City’s 800 history! Yes that would be the livery company for me.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged city of london | 20 Comments

Inaugural meeting of the Race Equality Policy Working Group

By Merlene Emerson | Thu 15th February 2018 - 12:45 pm

On 13 February, eve of Valentine’s Day, members of the Race Equality Policy Working Group met for the first time at LDHQ. I mention Valentine’s Day because this is very much a labour of love for those of us who have volunteered to assist the Party in its policy making on this important subject.

The first meeting was also timely for another reason: it follows the issue last week of Lord Alderdice’s report on Race, Ethnic Minorities and the culture of the Liberal Democrats and an email from our leader, Vince Cable MP, calling on each and every member to …

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged BAME, bame equality, bame representation and federal policy committee | 6 Comments

Post-Christmas musings on the R word

By Merlene Emerson | Thu 28th December 2017 - 1:30 pm

The Queen has in her Christmas speech welcomed new members into the royal family in 2018.

Prince Harry will soon have a mother-in-law who is African American and the young couple’s future children will be of mixed race heritage. The society pages lap up the fairy-tale love story and we all cheer ourselves on how liberal we have become as a nation.

Vogue Magazine has a new editor-in-chief, Edward Enninful, and we can’t help but notice the change in the complexion of many of the supermodels that grace the glossy pages. Sir Mo Farrah has not only been knighted but has also …

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Posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged diversity, equality, federal policy committee, party policy and internal matters and race relations | 9 Comments

Populism and the French elections

By Merlene Emerson | Mon 10th April 2017 - 11:39 am

Lord Malcolm Bruce, Marianne Magnin and Dr Sean Hanley

On the evening of 5 April 2017, the Liberal International British Group held our first joint forum with MoDem (Mouvement démocrate), France’s liberal, centrist party.

Given the recent rise in populist parties, the topic for debate was on ‘Populisms in a Post Truth World’.

Chairing the forum was Mathieu Capdevila, President of Northern Europe MoDem who introduced the speakers:

Lord Malcolm Bruce, Member of Parliament for Gordon from 1983 to 2015 and the chairman of the International Development Select Committee from 2005 to 2015
Dr Sean Hanley, Senior Lecturer in Comparative Central and East European Politics, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UCL
Marianne Magnin, Board Chair of the Cornelius Arts Foundation and MoDem’s Parliamentary Candidate for Northern Europe.

Lord Bruce began by asking what constituted “populism”. Citing Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, he said that Brutus spoke in prose, but Marc Anthony spoke in poetry. On BREXIT, there were no good reasons why the EU Referendum should have been taken as ‘binding’ as opposed to only ‘advisory’. However, what we needed to do now was to acknowledge that the electorate had valid reasons for voting against the establishment and to find solutions to manage the economy and the wealth more equitably.

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Posted in News | Tagged Liberal International British Group and Mouvement démocrate | 6 Comments

Rock or Island? Disputes in the South China Sea

By Merlene Emerson | Mon 6th March 2017 - 11:50 am

Whilst researching this subject, I couldn’t help thinking that here were the ingredients ripe for the design of a board game. It could be something of a cross between “Diplomacy” and “Vendée Globe”?

Each player representing a country of choice could set its mission and collaborate with other players to achieve their desired outcomes. Chance cards might include whether, say, an international tribunal has decided in their favour. And tokens could be earned along the way to enable them to reclaim rocks and reefs, build air strips or even patrol the islands with clone submarines?

We are, of course, not speaking of a game but of what is happening in reality, and the countries involved in a potential war game include South East Asian countries (such as Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei) and also greater powers such as China (Taiwan) and the US. At stake are the rights to valuable resources such as oil and gas, fishing rights and the protection of vital sea routes.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged Liberal International British Group | 17 Comments

Romancing the Silk Roads

By Merlene Emerson | Fri 3rd March 2017 - 8:45 am

As someone fascinated by the Central Asian countries, I was delighted when the All Party Parliamentary Group for China (APPCG) organised a talk this week by Peter Frankopan, author of “The Silk Roads – A New History of the World”.

“The Silk Roads are rising again”, said Richard Graham MP, Chair of APPCG at the end of a fulsome introduction of the Oxford University historian. Yet, there are not many other Parliamentarians, let alone the British public, who are in tune with the zeitgeist.

Frankopan was keen to put into historical context the dramatic changes that we are witnessing today with a shift in the world order. The declining influence of western colonial powers, the UK’s vote for BREXIT and the election of Trump, were contrasted against a China growing in confidence and pursuing the “One Belt One Road” initiative, the lynchpin for Xi JinPing’s foreign and economic policies.

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Posted in News | Tagged china | 5 Comments

Implications of the European Union Referendum Bill

By Merlene Emerson | Tue 1st December 2015 - 8:51 am

We have all heard about the European Union Referendum Bill but I suspect most do not realise how close we are to it becoming law. Whether you are a Europhile or Europhobe, you may be interested to know that the Bill will be getting its 3rd reading in the Lords today (1 Dec), after which there will be no more opportunity for the introduction of any new amendments.

I have to confess that I live in a household of Europhiles. My husband spent the early part of his life between aged 2 and 11 living in France, then Netherlands, as his late father was the English Head of the AFCENT International School for families of NATO. My in-laws subsequently retired in France and my step mother-in-law still lives there. She will sadly be barred from voting in the EU Referendum even though it could affect her right to continue to live in France. Brits who have lived abroad for more than 15 years do not currently have the right to vote in any UK elections, let alone in the EU Referendum.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged eu referendum bill | 12 Comments

Vince Cable’s “After the Storm – The World Economy & Britain’s Economic Future”

By Merlene Emerson | Mon 5th October 2015 - 9:00 am

Wider in scope and more ambitious in its reach, “After the Storm” is the acclaimed sequel to “The Storm” published after the financial crisis of 2008. Having spent the last 5 years as Business Secretary within the Coalition Government (2010-2015), Vince has the added clout of first-hand experience introducing economic policies that have steered us out of the storm, not least an industrial strategy.

His professed motivation for penning a sequel were to update readers on the state of Britain’s economy in “a climate of guarded optimism,” and to share his insights, no longer bound by collective responsibility as Secretary of State at the Department of Business Innovation and Science. Whilst the US and UK are expected to record 3% growth this year, Vince’s previous analysis of the underlying weaknesses still apply, such as UK’s over reliance on the banking sector and on the housing market for recovery and growth.

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Posted in Books | Tagged after the storm, featured, the storm and vince cable | 6 Comments

Opinion: Bridging Futures – Young Migrants in London

By Merlene Emerson | Tue 16th June 2015 - 8:18 am

When is a Migrant an Expatriate? When he or she is a Brit abroad, obviously.

Inspired by the twin concepts of emigration and immigration, Prof Caroline Knowles posed this question at the launch of her research and report last week, supported by the Runnymede Trust and Goldsmiths College and hosted by Baroness Hussein-Ece at the House of Lords.

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Posted in Op-eds | 6 Comments

The Chinese are coming!

By Merlene Emerson | Tue 17th June 2014 - 12:20 pm

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang left on Monday this week on a 5 day visit to Britain and Greece. With him, according to the press, is a 200 strong business delegation, expected to sign up some £18 billion worth of deals.

Just over 2 weeks ago, I was part of Business Secretary Dr Vince Cable’s business delegation to China, taking in 5 cities in 6 days. Vince was scheduled to be in Beijing to attend UK-China Joint Economic & Trade Committee (JETC) talks with his opposite number, Mr Gao HuCheng, the Minister of Commerce.

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Posted in News | Tagged china, chinese liberal democrats and vince cable | 12 Comments

Chinese Liberal Democrats publish e-book on twinned cities

By Merlene Emerson | Tue 24th December 2013 - 11:22 am

In today’s globalised world, twin city links with China can be profitable bridges between knowledge economies if approached in a creative way by local Councils, business clusters, educational institutions and research establishments working together. But there are many pitfalls and long-term, multi-layered commitments, leveraging existing core strengths, are required to make them work. This report by the Chinese Liberal Democrats is a useful handbook on how 21st century twin city-led partnerships can bring valuable results in trade, investment, science and education.

Richard Pascoe- Executive Director, Great Britain China Centre

I welcome this interesting report. Twinning links with China, with political leadership

…

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Posted in News | Tagged china, chinese liberal democrats and twinned cities | Leave a comment

Launch of EMLD Achievement Awards

By Merlene Emerson | Fri 13th December 2013 - 1:21 pm

It was an idea hatched on a train journey a few months ago whilst travelling with colleagues to an EMLD executive meeting. At our Annual General Meeting last month the hosting of the “EMLD Achievement Awards” as a way of recognising and rewarding those who have fought for and championed race equality in the UK received the approval and endorsement of our members.

There is currently a Federal Party award, the “Dadabhai Naraoji Award”, given to the local party that is the most successful in its outreach to the BAME communities but it was felt that EMLD as an organisation would …

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Posted in News | Tagged emld | 1 Comment

Opinion: Yin and Yang in China

By Merlene Emerson | Mon 21st October 2013 - 8:58 am

Images of Mayor Boris Johnson and Chancellor George Osborne in China have featured large in the media over the last week. They have been dubbed Yin and Yang: Boris must be Yin, the softer, cuddlier one, the one that makes school girls giggle over references to Harry Potter and his first girl friend, and Osborne, Yang as he tackles tougher subjects, such as going nuclear with China.

In fact critics such as Will Hutton have been less kind and have instead suggested that the duo have sold out and opened the UK to all manner of risks …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged china and tory leadership | 4 Comments

Conference: Emergency Motion – Home Office Immigration Poster Vans and Attitude to Migrant Communities

By Merlene Emerson | Fri 13th September 2013 - 1:03 pm

I was a witness at an Immigration tribunal hearing earlier this year for a friend. Let’s call her Little Red. She came to the UK from China as a masters student and worked for the NHS on graduation. But following a painful divorce she found she no longer had the right to work and live in the UK. Little Red has appealed the Home Office’s decision but is still waiting for an answer. Hers is merely one case in half a million back log of cases currently with the Home Office or in the appeals system.

At a packed meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Migration at the House of Commons on 9th July, I met a Welsh lady who had responded to their enquiry. She recently became a grandmother and her new grandson was only two weeks old at the time. But as her daughter did not earn more than £18,600 per year, she could not sponsor her non-EU spouse under the Family Migration Rules that came in a year ago. It was heart breaking to see a young family torn apart.

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Posted in Conference | Tagged glasgow conference 2013 and immigration | 4 Comments

Opinion: More than a Fly on the Great Wall

By Merlene Emerson | Tue 19th March 2013 - 11:28 am

Last November I blogged here about my trip to China shortly before the Chinese leadership handover at the 18^th Party Congress. On Sunday 17 March that hand over was finally completed with Xi JinPing installed as President and Li Keqiang as Premier of the world’s emerging second super power.

China watchers have been keen to study the background of these two men to predict the future direction of the Chinese Communist Party under their leadership. Their fluency in the English language and easy manner might suggest that they are more westernised hence would be “modernisers” or “reformers”. I believe it is still early days to be using such labels.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged china and chinese liberal democrats | 8 Comments

A postcard from… China: a fly on the Great Wall

By Merlene Emerson | Tue 6th November 2012 - 10:25 am

It was not my first visit to China (in fact my third time climbing the great wall) but certainly the most intense: ten days from 22nd October to 1st November. Along with 26 other Overseas Chinese delegates involved in politics from eight nations in Europe and Africa, I was on a study visit at the invitation of the Chinese Government on the eve of the 18^th Peoples’ Congress.

Amongst our number were an MP from South Africa, an ex-Minister from Mauritius, a special advisor to the Mayor of Cologne, Germany (twinned with Beijing), Councillors from the Netherlands and France, as well as representatives from all 3 major parties in the UK. Other Liberal Democrats included Councillor Sam Li from Lewes, Jerry Cheung from Sheffield and Anna Lo from our sister Alliance party in Northern Ireland.

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Posted in Europe / International, News and Op-eds | Tagged a postcard from and china | 3 Comments

The new Naoroji Award

By Merlene Emerson | Tue 17th July 2012 - 9:36 am

Dadabhai Naoroji

I have written here before about the case for community outreach by our Party and cited amongst other statistics results from the Ethnic Minority British Election Survey (EMBES) which showed in the 2010 elections: 68% of ethnic minorities had voted Labour, 16% Conservatives and only 14% Liberal Democrats.

To encourage local parties to do more to promote support from diverse communities, we have of course implemented various initiatives. These range from the appointment of a National Diversity Advisor for the Party in Issan Ghazni (2007-2010) and permanent staff …

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Posted in News | Tagged black and ethnic minorities, Dadabhai Naoroji and featured | 11 Comments

An historic address

By Merlene Emerson | Tue 26th June 2012 - 11:10 am

“Aung San Suu Kyi – the only woman to have addressed both houses of Parliament apart from the Queen #Burma #WestminsterHall #bbcnews” I had tweeted at 3.44pm on June 21^st.

“@merleneemerson The only woman to do so internationally, the only person from Asia and the only non head of state. She’s a record breaker!!” came a reply within seconds from one @gregjudge.

We weren’t the only ones excited by the recent visit by Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the Opposition in Burma to London. Celebrated in Norway where she finally accepted her Nobel Peace prize 21 years after the event, entertained by …

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Posted in News | Tagged Aung San Suu Kyi and featured | 1 Comment

Opinion: Shedding Light on Community Outreach

By Merlene Emerson | Sun 6th November 2011 - 2:55 pm

A recent British Election Survey commissioned by the Runnymede Trust asked if the Government should make the effort to improve equal opportunities.

The results of those in agreement were roughly as follows: Indians 65%, Pakistani 71%, Black Caribbean 74% and Black African 75% — but in the case of the white majority, only 19% agreed.

This was a huge eye-opener for me. I had previously assumed that most educated and fair-minded members of the public would support an equalities agenda to address the democratic deficit. However, that was clearly not the majority point of view.

The survey also found …

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Posted in Op-eds | 2 Comments

Opinion: 100 years on from the Xinhai Revolution

By Merlene Emerson | Sat 1st October 2011 - 2:25 pm

Today is 1st October, the National Day of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This year is also the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, which in celebrations in July, was marked by a 90 minute speech by the Party’s General Secretary Hu JinTao.

Perhaps more significantly, this year is the 100th anniversary of the XinHai revolution, that had begun with the Wuchang uprising on 10 Oct and led to the abdication of the last Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.

Dr Sun Yat-Sen, hailed by all as the father of democracy in China, had …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged china and Hu JinTao | 1 Comment

Merlene Emerson writes: Reflections on Media Freedom in China

By Merlene Emerson | Sat 4th June 2011 - 1:23 pm

I am writing this on the 22nd anniversary of ‘Six Four’ (the codename for the Tian An Men incident that occurred on 4th of June 1989). Perhaps no better day to reflect on the subject of media censorship in China and to question the role of international broadcasters?

Only yesterday I was with some 200 people at a talk organised by BBC Chinese Service at Chatham House. To my amazement even the English panel speakers such as Dr Kerry Brown (Head of the Asia Programme at Chatham House), Madeline Earp (Research Associate at the Committee to Protect Journalists) and Prof Hugo de Burgh (Director, China Media Centre) all managed to deliver their speeches in Mandarin. Sadly no interpretations were provided at this over-subscribed event.

I attempt here to disseminate some of the content (Chatham House rules have officially been suspended).

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged chatham house, china, chinese liberal democrats and tiananmen square | 4 Comments

Opinion: The road to Leicester and multicultural Britain

By Merlene Emerson | Fri 22nd April 2011 - 5:27 pm

I was one of about 20 on the Team London coach to Leicester last Saturday to help our candidate, Zuffar Haq

The lucky people of Leicester South will have 4 ballot papers to fill on May 5th: to vote for their ward Councillors, elect their Mayor, their MP as well as vote in the referendum on Fairer Votes.

We were briefed to keep our canvassing strictly to the by-election. Fortunately our man, Zuffar was easy to sell at the door step. He is the only candidate of the 3 major parties who is local, born and educated in Leicester.

Moreover …

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Posted in Op-eds and Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged leicester south by-election and zuffer haq | 6 Comments

Merlene Emerson writes… Countdown to the Census

By Merlene Emerson | Tue 22nd February 2011 - 7:14 pm

As at the time of blogging this, there are only 32 days to Census Day on 27 March 2011. On that day every household will be required to complete and return a census survey (on pain of a fine of up to £1000 and a criminal record) with information on every member living at that address including any overnight visitors!

The first census conducted in March 1801 revealed a total population for England and Wales of just under 9 million. By 2001, the population in England and Wales had grown to over 52 million (58 million in the UK). Every ten years the census provides a benchmark. It not only counts the population but tells us about the percentage of young and old, what jobs people do, the type of housing we live in, our ethnicity and religion.

So why is it important that we should have an accurate head count of people living in Britain?

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged census 2011 | 17 Comments

Opinion: In pursuit of excellence

By Merlene Emerson | Sun 26th December 2010 - 12:45 pm

Earlier this month David Lammy MP highlighted the problem of the low number of black students admitted to Oxford and Cambridge Universities and called it the ‘Oxbridge Whitewash’. He wrote in the Guardian (6 Dec):

“Just one British black Caribbean student was admitted to Oxford last year. That is not a misprint: one student. Merton College, Oxford, has not admitted a single black student for five years. At Robinson College, Cambridge, a white applicant is four times more likely to be successful than a black applicant. Last year, 292 black students achieved three A grades at A-level and 475 black

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged admissions, cambridge, david lammy, GEEMA, higher education, oxbridge and oxford | 15 Comments

Opinion: Beware of Tesco towns

By Merlene Emerson | Thu 25th November 2010 - 11:24 am

The Government’s chief design adviser has warned against the danger of supermarket led developments in town centres. Mixed-use developments involving the building of housing, schools and parks linked to supermarkets are often badly conceived and may not thrive in the long term, said the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) in its report published this week.

While developers are keen to sign up a key anchor tenant such as Tesco, Sainsbury or Homebase to lease their retail and commercial spaces, this may not be what residents or local communities want or need. A formula that works for an out-of-town …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged hammersmith and fulham and planning | 13 Comments

Opinion: Let’s put the C back in the FCO (in celebration of Black History Month)

By Merlene Emerson | Tue 19th October 2010 - 2:10 pm

The Commonwealth Games ended last week. This probably means that the Commonwealth will not be mentioned in the media for another 4 years. But surely there should be more to the vestiges of the British empire than mere staging of the Commonwealth Games? What does the Commonwealth actually do in this day and age and is it still relevant?

Representing a quarter of the world’s governments, a third of its population and a fifth of global trade, this network of 54 countries is a diverse community. Yet we share many common traits, not least the use of …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged black history month, commonwealth and foreign and commonwealth office | 12 Comments

Opinion: the future of the Clean Tech Industry is in our hands

By Merlene Emerson | Thu 9th September 2010 - 4:25 pm

“Beijing’s plans for renewable energy could blow a hole in Britain’s eco-industry”, wrote Sunday Times writer Danny Fortson (5/9/10).

I struggled to understand the angle of the story: surely we should be delighted to know that rather than more dirty coal powered plants polluting the atmosphere and choking China’s population, she is now investing in wind power with a vengeance?

By the end of last year, China already had an installed base of 25GW which is a fifth more than all of Europe. And by 2020, her government expects to generate 150 GW from wind turbines or 6 times …

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Posted in Op-eds | 7 Comments

Opinion: Reflections on UK-China relations under the new Lib Con Coalition Government

By Merlene Emerson | Fri 18th June 2010 - 11:20 am

The Coalition Agreement stated under paragraph 15 on Foreign Affairs that, “We will work to establish a new ‘special relationship’ with India and seek closer engagement with China, while standing firm on human rights in all our bilateral relationships.”

Labour commentators have speculated that by making a distinction in UK’s relationship with the two Asian giants, India and China, the Coalition may be seeking to pitch one against the other.

I disagree and believe this careful choice of words was used to encapsulate the different historical links UK has had with these two countries and to point the way forwards.

India …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged china | 6 Comments

Opinion: Tories’ housing plot uncovered?

By Merlene Emerson | Mon 13th July 2009 - 3:45 pm

The Evening Standard published a bold article last Thursday suggesting that Hammersmith & Fulham Council and the Tory leadership were in a plot reminiscent of the days of Dame Shirley Porter (‘Plot to rid council estates of Poor’, 9 July 2009)

Hammersmith & Fulham Council is currently consulting on their Local Development Framework (LDF) Core Strategy Options which repeatedly refers to a need for ‘decent neighbourhoods’. Neighbourhoods that are currently not ‘decent’ have been identified throughout the borough.

It seems to me that if these neighbourhoods contained homes which do not meet national ‘decent homes standards’ then the Council and Hammersmith & Fulham Homes should be working to bring them up to standard. Where the neighbourhoods have residents who are jobless and on benefits, then the Council has a duty to provide training and improved skills. The solution should not be to demolish and decant whole estates.

The Council has, however, shown a preference for the easy fix by proposing the rebuilding of properties primarily for sale. The only assurance they provide existing residents is that the equivalent number of ‘habitable rooms’ (not number of units) for social renting will be preserved, and this over the next 20 years!

There are two conclusions that we can draw from this. First, many local residents will be without a home in Hammersmith & Fulham in years to come and will be likely to have to seek housing outside of the borough. Second, the Tory Council seems to be focussed on changing the demographics of their voters in this marginal constituency.

The present Labour MP Andrew Slaughter has felt suitably threatened and has raised the alarm claiming to have uncovered a trail of evidence showing possible complicity amongst the leadership of Hammersmith & Fulham Council – the Tory leadership as well as the right wing think tank, Localis – on this subject.

So what can we do about this?

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Posted in Local government, London and Op-eds | Tagged andrew slaughter, boris johnson, hammersmith and fulham and housing | 3 Comments

Unlock Democracy with VOTE MATCH

By Merlene Emerson | Thu 14th May 2009 - 8:20 pm

I was at the Vote Match European Election launch held at Apple’s palatial showroom on Regents Street this past Monday, drawn by the special guest appearance of Stephen Fry. Appearing in a tuxedo and bow tie, he did not disappoint as he opened with an apology for the rest of us being under-dressed for the event.

What I hadn’t expected was to discover that the collective consciousness of the 200 or so guests in the audience, on answering the 30 specimen questions by democratic show of hands, managed to produce a Liberal Democrat voter!

Following the success of Vote Match London …

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Posted in Europe / International | Tagged european elections, unlock democracy and votematch | 3 Comments