Clapton Pond Blog

Andrew Boff To Run For Hackney Mayor

Dalston's very own 51 year-old, bicycle-riding libertarian Conservative will once again be Hackney Tories' challenger to Jules Pipe. He's sent out a press release containing his main pledges. He says he'd been a "zero cost mayor". I quote:

Hackney needs all the talents

“Hackney Council has been a one party state for too long. I will approach members of ALL non-racist parties to serve as Cabinet members.”

No more Tower Blocks

“Hackney, like Richmond, will not permit any new skyscrapers or Tower Blocks. Tower Blocks belong in Hackney's past, not its future.”

Hackney for families

“All publicly funded housing will be low rise family homes, preferably with gardens, to alleviate the severe problem of overcrowding in our estates.”

Trust the parents

“The Learning Trust has been a failure. Headteachers working with Governing bodies will be given more freedom to deliver from the dead hand of the Learning Trust Bureaucrats.”

Cut the cost of the cabinet to £0.

“The Mayor and his cabinet pay themselves £335,000 a year. The role of cabinet member should be a voluntary one. The honour of public service as a cabinet member should be reward enough. My cabinet will cost £0 in salaries. I will not take a salary and the members of the cabinet will be appointed only if they agree not to take the salary.In 2012 there will be a referendum to decide if Hackney residents want to continue to have an executive Mayor.”

Local control needs local funds

“Each ward will be allocated a £50,000 'Local Fund' which will be spent on local projects by the local Councillors sitting in open session. This will be increased throughout the lifetime of the next administration. Councillors need more power over decisions in their wards.”

Right the injustice of the property sales

“I will right the profound injustice of the small shopkeepers who Hackney cheated out of their properties, including Spirit of Broadway market, during the property sales programme of the early 90's.”

End the neglect of our youth

“Knife crime and the death of Young people in Hackney is directly attributable to the lack of investment in young people in Hackney. I will ensure more support for regular activities for young people by scrapping the £1 million being spent on the Council's free newspaper, Hackney Today.”

End the estates Levy

“Residents on Hackney's Housing Estates have increasingly had to pay twice for street lighting, twice for cleaning, twice for refuse collection. I will make sure that process is halted and reversed.”

So there we have it. In 2006 Hackney's political complexion remained stubbornly unchanged, in sharp contrast to the big swings in some nearby boroughs. I wonder how Andrew will do this time around.

Daily Mail Comes To Stoke Newington

At Stokey Talk, my Guardian colleague Matt Wells writes:

There’s a new website for N16, and eagle-eyed surfers will note something of a similarity with a Dalston neighbour. That’s because they are from the same stable: the Daily Mail group has extended its hyperlocal network to Stoke Newington. 

The initiative is is part of Associated Northcliffe Digital’s strategy to develop a network of local sites, managed centrally and given the same, cloned design template. Each site has a “community publisher” – Rosie Watts is the woman in the hotseat in stokenewingtonpeople – but receives technical and commercial support from Associated Northcliffe Digital group HQ. There are now 62 sites around England – including Dalston and Finsbury Park in our area.

It means there’s a plethora of different websites in Stoke Newington: but this is clearly the best-resourced so far, and the first with a commercial focus.

An interesting new development in our diffuse but energetic online local media scene. For Matt's thoughts on the newcomer read on. 

Francesca Panetta Everywhere

From The Guardian: 

Francesca Panetta, the senior audio producer with Guardian News & Media's multimedia team, has won two awards at the inaugural Radio Production Awards. Panetta, who produces guardian.co.uk's Politics Weekly and Hay Festival podcasts, was the only nominee to take home two prizes, picking up the best online producer and creative awards. The judges said: "The winner's work takes ordinary noises and events and makes them into a soundscape which is strange and far from everyday, making us listen more intently: the aim of all good radio. The range of work represented in this entry suggests that the winner will avoid repetition or formula."

She also produces the Hackney Podcast. Here's what the Hackney Citizen said:

Hackney resident Francesca Panetta has won two highly prestigious Radio Production Awards for her local online audio programme, the Hackney Podcast.

Now recognised as being among the best of British radio talent, the presenter and producer of the Hackney Podcast was named the best online producer and took the creative award at last Thursday’s event, organised by the principal body in the industry, the Radio Academy.

“I’m delighted to have won these two awards – it’s not just recognition for Hackney, but a real boost for innovative online journalists everywhere,” Francesca said.

I know her, actually. Quite well, you know. Oh yes, I'm practically her friend. Why, I was talking to her only the other day about...(reflected glory grab ends here).

Diane Abbott Everywhere

Lately, I keep bumping into my MP. On Saturday morning I spotted her walking up Lower Clapton Road on Saturday morning from the top deck of the 106 I was riding in the opposite direction. Recently she contributed a comment to a piece I wrote for the Guardian about Ken Livingstone and the recent Progressive London conference, encouraging Ken to think imaginatively about refreshing and broadening his appeal in time for the 2012 London Mayoral election. I thought her remarks important and considered them at length at my London blog. In advance of that we had a quick telephone chat in which she assured me that when she told the Independent that she "wouldn't mind being London Mayor," it was just a throwaway in response to a question about whether she would care to be Prime Minister and not a coded message. And now I see that she's answered a bunch of interesting and penetrating questions put to her by Blood and Property. Well worth a read. 

Pages Book Group

A date for its first meeting has yet to be fixed, but it will be towards the end of this month. Here's Eleanor's recent email:  

Do you want to join the brand new Pages of Hackney Book Group? This has been widely requested by many of you and is finally going to happen...

The Book Group will be run by Sophie Mayer. Sophie is a writer -- but only as extension of being a reader! As  Books Editor for DIVA, a Commissioning Editor for Chroma and a contributor to magazines including Artesian (a particular favourite of mine, stocked by Pages), Hand + Star and Horizon Review, she is always eager to encounter new writing and return to old favourites.

The group will meet once a month with the first meeting in the last week of February - date to be confirmed with members. The group is always welcome to meet in the shop or may decide together on any alternative venues in the future. Books chosen for the group will be available at a 10% discount for members.

Do get back to me if you are interested in joining.

Contact details are here.

East London Lines: Online News

Now this is neat:

EastLondonLines is an independent news website produced by students and staff of Goldsmiths, University of London. It will be the virtual shadow of the new East London Line, connecting communities in virtual space, just as the new line connects them in physical space. For the first time the residents of Croydon can easily access the bars of Shoreditch, and a single Mum in Hackney can reasonably contemplate a job in Crystal Palace. Goldsmiths college lies in the centre of the line and students on our world-class journalism courses will be keeping you informed about your newly connected world.

So they've got news from Croydon, Tower Hamlets, Lewisham and here in Hackney. It's written and presented to a high standard and - something I especially like about it - it brings the benefits of the east London Line itself alive in your head.   

Hackney Empire: Young Stars Of Anna Fiorentini

The Empire didn't quite "go dark" after the panto season closed. On Sunday evening the young stars of the fabulous Anna Fiorentini Theatre and Stage School will be putting on their annual variety show, a guaranteed extravaganza of drama, dance, music comedy and generally dazzling youthful energy. My family and I have been to the last two, and were so impressed that my youngest daughter auditioned and was eventually accepted into the school. This year, then, has a special significance for me as my seven year-old will be making her Empire debut.

The Fiorentini team is enormously dedicated and highly professional, as we might expect given the experience of some of the tutors who've worked with, among others, Tina Turner, Craig David and Mariah Carey. A couple of Fiorentini kids have parts in EastEnders and another in Agent Cody Banks 2. But the wonder of the school is that it embraces and brings out the best in 150 assorted children from little ones like my daughter to teenagers. Tickets range from £9-£17. The show starts at 7.00. Watch out for the one who faints in the broccoli scene.  

Cricketers Pub Loses Licence

When a pub or club is closed because it's become associated with crime or any form of antisocial behaviour, I always feel a little glum. Does shutting down such places change the behaviour of the patrons who gave it its bad reputation or simply move them and the problems they cause for others somewhere else? I'm afraid I think it's bound to be the latter. I felt just the same way when the Palace Pavilion was unplugged a while back, and that was despite gathering a petition against it and giving testimony in court. 

That said, I won't be alone in being thankful that The Cricketers is losing its licence. You didn't have to walk past it too often in recent years, especially in the warmer months, to form a firmly bad impression of the place. It's easy to imagine that many people have taken lengthy detours to avoid it at certain times of day and night, and that cannot be OK. 

All told, then, I'm glad that on 19 January the Council's licensing sub-committee has revoked the pub's licence with immediate effect. A letter sent to Councillor Rathbone (kindly forwarded to me by the Clapton Pond Neighbourhood Action Group) says that the police and the Council's pollution team provided evidence of "frequent" breaches of licensing conditions and "public nuisance" being caused. 

The danger of tolerating that kind of stuff is that it suggests no one objects - or is prepared to make known that they object - to their becoming fixed features of the neighbourhood. Closing down venues where it flourishes at least demonstrates that that is not the case.