Clapton Pond Blog

Bookies

Hello, I'm back, and so is the controversy about betting shops. 

The London Borough of Hackney has applied to the government for stronger powers to control the concentration of betting shops in the borough. There are more than 60 bookmakers in Hackney, which is over three times the local authority average. Hackney has applied under the round of Sustainable Communities Act (SCA) bids which closed on 31 July. Of more than 500 local people responding through Hackney’s consultation e-panel, 64% supported the idea that the Council could get new powers to limit the concentration of betting shops.

Full story from Planning Daily. 

They Love Stoke Newington

Stokey's three Labour Councillors have launched a blog.

Not 4 Obama

Commiserations, Kris.

Ben, Luke & Anthony Browne

In which Mr Locker of Stamford Hill engages intelligently with Cllr Akehurst of Chatham ward.

The Controversial Cllr Luke Akehurst

Immersed in the World of Boris as I so often am these days, I'm still catching up with the stir caused by Councillor Akehurst when he suggested that if Labour wouldn't run against David "Danger" Davis in Haltemprice and Howden there should be a pro-42 day independent candidate instead,

"...preferably a recently retired senior police officer, or a survivor or relative of a victim of a terrorist attack, to run under the following 5 word candidate description: 'Independent - for detaining terrorism suspects'."

What appears to have been almost a passing thought has so far provoked a staggering 172 comments, a great wave of reaction through the blogosphere and front page coverage in the Gazette. I'm amazed: firstly by the Gazette actually sourcing a story to a local blog rather than just stealing it, which is what it usually does (although in this case that would have been difficult); secondly, by the excitement Luke's suggestion has caused. Given that Labour is too pathetic to contest to the seat, I can't see what's so outlandish about his idea.

Not that I agree with the Councillor over the issue at stake, except insofar as we're judging it by the same, pragmatic, criterion. He thinks that the power to detain people for up to 42 days without charge will reduce the threat of terror attacks. I think it will increase it. We agree that there's a balance to be found between liberty and security, but disagree about where it lies.

Diane Abbott's Commons Speech

I'm not our MP Diane Abbott's biggest fan. But she made a fine speech in the Commons yesterday opposing the government's proposal to extent to 42 days the period a terrorism suspect may be detained without charge. It began:

"As has been said throughout this debate, the first duty of parliament is the safety of the realm. It is because I believe that the proposals on 42-day detention will make us less safe, not more safe, that I oppose them. I do not take terrorism lightly.

I am a Londoner and I heard the last major IRA bomb, at Canary Wharf, from my kitchen in east London. Like thousands of Londoners, I waited for the early-morning call that assured me that friends and family on their way to work and school had not been caught up in those bombings. I will not take lectures from ministers about not taking terrorism seriously.

I do not believe, as ministers continue to insist, that there is some trade-off between our liberties and the safety of the realm. What makes us free is what makes us safe, and what makes us safe is what will make us free."

Read the whole thing.

Cllr Akehurst: "Now It all Makes Sense"

He writes:

"A funny thing happened as we drove up the A10 through Stoke Newington today. The Socialist Party (AKA Militant Tendency, AKA the Revolutionary Socialist League) had a street stall outside Stoke Newington Post Office. And manning that street stall was the bloke who we spotted taking pictures of our house just after we moved in, pictures that a couple of hours later appeared on the "spoof Luke" blog...which explains why I had had trouble pinning down the politics of the spoof site: clearly anti-Labour yet also anti-LD, anti-Tory, anti-Green and anti-SWP, but exhibiting a degree of knowledge of internal Labour matters that would only come from someone that had been in the Labour Party at some stage...Now it all makes sense. I've been cloned by the master exponents of political parasitism, the Millies."

The spoof site. The real thing.

Tut, Tut, Hackney Gazette

It's very nice when the Gazette writes stories based things I write in this blog. It would be even nicer if such stories acknowledged this blog as their source. Just basic good manners, don't you think?

Comrades In Arms

Cllr Akehurst goes to a birthday party.

David Cameron, Broadway Market & More "Regeneration Arguments"

Thanks to Hackney Business Today for highlighting the following from a recent speech by the Tory leader:

"What seems entirely missing on the part of the politicians and management consultants who decree these reorganisations from on high is any awareness of the social impact the decisions will have. Paul Kingsnorth, in his powerful new book Real England, tells a story from the heart of urban London that will resonate with many rural people. Broadway Market is a well-known road in Hackney with a lively street market and many small independent stores. It's traditionally been a focal point for the local community. In other words, exactly the sort of place that should be valued and conserved.

Yet when Hackney Council, mired in debt, discovered that it owned the freeholds of many of the shops in Broadway Market it sold them off to developers willing to pay the highest price. The inevitable happened: rents went up; eviction notices were served and the little shops and cafes so valued by the community started to disappear. Many country people will empathise with the citizens of Hackney. They have that same sense that distant and unaccountable decision makers, led by management consultants and accountants, are undermining communities by undermining the institutions that bind them together."

Sounds a bit like Michael Rosen, doesn't he? Which all goes to show how contradictory and confusing these issues can be. And, perhaps, how clever Cameron is. More stuff on the Broadway Market saga from Hari Kunzru here and Patrick Wright here. The market's own website is here.