I was pleased to attend Brent's Holocaust Memorial Ceremony on the 23rd of January.
The inter-faith ceremony, held at the Town Hall, began with a welcome from by the Mayor of Brent, Cllr Harbhajan Singh and included a number of contributions around the theme of 'Untold Stories'. This year's key note speech was by David Cesarani, Professor of history at Royal Holloway, University of London on the theme of 'Stories from the camps: the told, the untold and the untellable'. In addition to Prof Cesarani's moving tribute and discussion of memory, the ceremony included a fascinating talk from Belsen survivor, sculptor Maurice Blik and there were also reflections from Brent's pupils who told us about their visit to Auschwitz concentration camp. Rev Anthony Wolfson from the Wembley United Synagogue led a memorial prayer in Hebrew and English, with beautiful accompaniment from the London Cantorial Singers. and inter-faith music by 'The Berakah Project'. Portraits of Brent's survivors are also on display at the Town Hall.
On 14 January the Fire Brigade Union's London Regional Committee endorsed a deal based on a collective agreement for changes to firefighters' shift pattern.
Some outstanding issues between the Union and LFEPA however remain unresolved. These disputes which relate to the details of the terms of agreement for shift pattern changes could prove to be stumbling block for lifting of the current strike action by firefighters. Unless the strike action is formally lifted by the FBU, the 27 fire engines currently in the possession of private contractor, AssetCo, cannot be moved back to local fire stations.
Since Sunday 2nd January London's commuters have been hit with huge increase in fares demonstrating yet again Mayor Boris Johnson's lack of concern for ordinary working Londoners.
The Mayor is consistent when it comes to fares increases. Three years running he's burdened London's commuters with fare rises unprecedented since the creation of Transport for London (TfL). The rises in bus, underground and over-ground trains were described as "unacceptable" by passenger watchdog for London 'TravelWatch' two years ago and is true for this year too.
Following last year's 20% fare rise, single bus fares have risen by yet another ten pence to £1.30 for a pay-as-you-go journey. A weekly bus pass has gone up from £16.60 to £17.80. Single one zone tube fares including zone 1 now costs an extra ten pence, at £1.90.
Once again, it's bus passengers who are feeling the pinch of these increases. When Boris Johnson became Mayor, it cost 90p for a single pay-as-you-go Oyster bus journey – it now costs £1.30 – that's an increase of 44%. At the same time, we know that Transport for London are reducing bus subsidy and even cutting the miles that our bus services will cover – we are quite simply paying more and getting less. TfL and the Mayor say these latest inflation-busting increases are necessary given budget pressures, but the Mayor has just scrapped the Western extension of the congestion charge zone, which was bringing in £7million a year. Instead some of London's lowest paid workers – who tend to rely on the bus as the most affordable form of transport will be footing the bill instead – and getting a worse service for it!
Rail commuters will also feel the pinch this year, as the Chancellor recently announced rail fare increases of three per cent above inflation. It all adds up to a not very happy new year present from the Mayor to Londoners. The Mayor of London is hitting Londoners hard just as they are being told their services will be cut and jobs will be lost. These are the people the Mayor should be protecting - people who have to use public transport every day. Instead we have a Mayor who defends the bankers and has put bus fares up a massive forty-four per cent since he was elected.
Londoner's misery is compounded by the Mayor's decision to close a large number of ticket offices or drastically reduce opening hours and reduce staffing by at least 800 who are managing these stations. Mayor Johnson's U turn is deplorable as this goes against his own election pledges and makes many of our stations, particularly ones in the Outer London areas, inconvenient and unsafe. For those who use Jubilee and Metropolitan lines know the misery from never ending weekend closures and often faulty trains during weekdays. Whilst London's commuters pay the hugely inflated fares for its poor public transport service the Mayor has also shelved projects to make stations fully accessible for families, older and disabled in our community. Key examples my constituency are Harrow On the Hill station which is a major public transport hub also a prime candidate for regeneration of the town centre and Stanmore station linked with world renown Royal National Orthopedic Hospital and Aspire.
Beauty of living in London, a multicultural – multi-faith world city, is the privilege of being able to celebrate a wide range of festivals and religious days. In this sense autumn period (October to December) is very special to us when great holy days, interwoven with cultural/social events originating from many religions such as Hindu, Jain, Muslim, Jewish and Christian are upon us. This is the period when we have opportunity to remember and respect the great values different faiths offer. Bearing this in mind – I hope all Asian Readers have enjoyable and restful Christmas period and gear up for the many challenges in the coming year. Merry Xmas and warm wishes for a happy and peaceful New Year.
Shame that the Christmas present for students, from the Tory and LibDem government, is £9,000 Tuition fees. Whilst I'm happy to have debate about the merits or demerits of tuition fees – I find the shear treachery and hypocrisy on this issue on the part of the LibDems disgusting. During the general election campaign Nick Clegg signed the NUS Petition against tuition fees, but after becoming Deputy Prime Minister he lent and lead his support to the Tory proposals to levy huge financial burden on aspiring University students. How appropriate Ed Miliband called Nick Clegg a 'crypto Tory'.
Brent Central's LibDem MP Sarah Teather has followed her Leader's route of betrayal. Worth reminding the readers that before the last election she vowed to vote against tuition fees and in her maiden speech in 2003 Ms Teather stated "Top-up and tuition fees are serious issues of concern to my constituents. All the evidence suggests that fear of debt will deter those from lower income families and ethnic minority communities. This is particularly the case for Muslims - a large community in my constituency - where attitudes to debt are very different. Fundamentally, I believe that this is about whether we want to encourage a world class education system, or a class based education system where students choose universities according to their ability to pay, and universities are judged on the level of their fees." The level of hypocrisy of Sarah Teather is staggering. This 'politician of principle' when push came to shove betrayed the students and put her party and her own career before ideals. Brent is one of the most deprived local authorities in the country and we should be actively encouraging our young people to go to university – not put them off by pricing them out. Its clear Sarah Teather cannot be trusted on the issue of both principle and her election pledges.
In the same class is the Tory MP Bob Blackman. During the election campaign, I witnessed at a Hustings at Westminster University Campus in Harrow, Bob Blackman promising to vote against any hike in tuition fees. I am astounded but not surprised that having got elected now - he too has done a complete U-Turn on this issue. You'd think that signing the NUS pledge must prove embarrassing for Bob Blackman. But, his recent comments suggest that he has no shame even after so disgracefully letting students down. It's blatantly obvious that Mr Blackman's pledge was motivated for election success and not driven by ideology.