Someone`s Knocking at Door.

Judging by the Letters in the Gazette this week Labour are starting to get the old arrogance back . The mask they have worn so long is beginning to slip and our own wonderful Oriel Clohessy seems to have startled them into letting their fangs show :

This is my reply . Their load of nonsense is below:

Neither Councillor’s Kelly nor O` Sullivan would have supported the creation of the Leaseholders in the first place. To them, Leaseholders are class traitors and their homes were stolen for them , by Margaret Thatcher, from the state. We need hardly dignify anything they have to say on the matter further. Meanwhile councillor Peasnell would like the good old tax payer to dig deep, and buy her a house here, because she “Loves Islington”. I rather fancy Mayfair, Kelly, but if you could stretch to Highgate that would be nice.

On the other hand, how kind of Mr. Kelly to remind us of Labour Councils under Margaret Hodge. We all remember that period with a warm glow of nostalgia do we not? Oddly, Catherine West the Armani clad leader of local Labour, hardly ever refers to these halcyon days. Why would that be?

Back then Islington was a veritable paradise. At this distance it’s hard to know which stories of the “The Socialist Republic of Islington “,are apocryphal, and which were true .These all appeared in the press.

Council funded lesbian self defence classes, non sexist jigsaws and the bust of Lenin in the town hall. An Islington action group for the unemployed collecting money, food, booze, fags, cans and bricks, to send to striking miners. The collection of only £4,000,000 of the £20,000,000 of council tax due in 1990, and the attempt to ban dealings with the Islington Gazette. Child care was, of course, a scandal which is too fresh and distressing to repeat.

The sole SDP Councillor was David Hyams, and he has had much to say. Labour, according to Councillor Hyam, “.left the chairman of social services to negotiate with the unions despite the fact that the unions were led by his brother.” They “ divided up the council into a series of 24 neighbourhood offices that cost a fortune, and cut a deal with the City to fund services we are still paying for” .Is this the “imaginative borrowing”, of which Councillor Kelly is so proud ?

This is why we have had a Liberal Council for so long, because the long shadow of those terrible years still darkens Islington. Now things may well be about to change .The Liberal majority was only one, and at least one of them is having “loyalty issues”. They have been held to ransom by a single Green party extremist and some sort of power sharing is going on. Any by-election could tip us back into the arms of a Labour Party some of whom think the Hodge era was one to be proud of.
Thank you Councillor Kelly for your timely reminder of what a delightful prospect that is for us all.


Councillors Phil Kelly and Mick O` Sullivan have done a team job on Oriel:

LABOUR councillors in the 1980s and '90s knew that we were not spending enough to keep homes in decent order. The level of local spending on housing was determined by the then Conservative Government. Labour in Islington tried some imaginative off-balance sheet borrowing to get extra resources but that was stopped too.The Labour Government has tackled the cumulative effect of Conservative restrictions through the Decent Homes Standard. The current programme of investment in social housing - for which the Lib-Dem Council can take no credit at all - is the result. Oriel Clohessy (Viewpoints, Gazette, October 12) has done some valuable legal research for Islington leaseholders. There seems to be a legal precedent that leaseholders should not be liable for repairs which are required because of past neglect by the freeholder. If I were a council leaseholder, I would put all my effort into pursuing this through the courts. - Councillor Phil Kelly, Labour member for Finsbury Park ward, Town Hall, Upper Street, N1.Oriel Clohessy (Viewpoints, Gazette, October 12) failed to mention that 20 years of neglect of the council's housing stock was thanks to successive Tory governments siphoning off tens of millions of pounds from Islington resident's service charges and rents. This left scant resources for the vital, regular maintenance that should have been carried out. - Councillor Mick O'Sullivan,
Town Hall, Upper Street, N1.

Meanwhile another Kelly thinks she is hard done by

I'm a social worke (What else ...), I grew up in Islington and like many other people my age I want to have a place of my own, but in the current market I don't think I'll ever be able to afford it. That's why affordable housing is so essential.I love Islington, I don't want to leave and I'm glad we are making real changes to ensure that our young people and young workers can go on calling Islington their home. - Councillor Kelly Peasnell, Clerkenwell Ward, Town Hall, Upper Street, N1.

And what of Hodge nowadays . Well I think it may give us a clue to what Labour will have in store for us
“In BarkingCouncillor was strongly criticised for giving the BNP publicity in the local election campaign, which combined with heavy media coverage, and led to the BNP delivering a bouquet of roses to her office to thank her for her contribution to their cause”

There maybe trouble ahead………….lets face the music and COMPLAIN!!!