Councillor Sophia James was the first black woman elected to public office in Reading. She is a wonderful advocate for social justice, a campaigner and friend. She is also a consistent campaigner and always ready to lead the charge to stand up against prejudice and racism. Some of that passion …
Three very different events over the course of 24 hours. Don’t have a photo of the fun day yet (will put up when I do) but photo of meeting Rachel Reeves and being at Reading pride are below. Will blog about the meeting with Rachel later next week.
It was great to be back out and about on the doorstep in Whitley with a team of 8, made up of Reading Labour members along with Victoria Groulef and Tim Starkey, the Labour candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner. I picked up some good local casework and it was …
So a big night all round in Reading. I take my hat off to the senior Conservative councillor who predicted correctly to me the way 15 out of the 16 seats would go last week (he got Tilehurst wrong). I certainly wasn’t expecting all of these results. I was expecting …
Great visit by Ed Miliband yesterday, I don’t have time for a full post but thought I’d put up a few photos of my morning yesterday. The afternoon and evening were spent on casework and an Audit and Governance committee:
As a backer of the campaign for better support for rape victims in the Reading area who could do with a haircut this looks like a great idea! I’m planning to ring up with a bid, don’t want competition but advertising it for a good cause… Also I’ve just heard …
<!–[if !mso]>st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } <![endif]–> Some very interesting candidates. For example you may spot that both the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have former candidates running against their candidates as independents. STATEMENT OF PERSONS NOMINATED AND NOTICE OF POLL Reading Election of a Borough Councillor The following is a statement of the …
Now that the headlines have moved on I suspect that “Westminster” will not be thinking about the NHS so much. But it’s now that the major impact of the NHS bill is going to start. So what can we do to save the NHS in our own local areas? Then …
My colleague John Ennis has his own blog, but I wanted to give his message on forced academisation a further push on my own site as we do have slight different readerships (Reading FC fans probably find his blog more interesting for a start). “Mr Gove started by saying that all …
Earlier this week I met with those behind the campaign to have a one stop shop for women, men and children who have experienced sexual violence. I’ve been in contact with the campaigners for a while and have already signed their online petition . The Centres are called Sexual Abuse Referral Centres and …
A consultation which ends almost 2 weeks after the changes come into effect, creating massive uncertainty for a fledgeling industry and not just moving the goal posts but taking the ball away for community environmental projects for the sake of the profits of the big 6 energy companies. Insert your …
Although I’m officially ‘on a break’ from social media until after the elections to focus on campaigning a couple of people have actually asked me could I do a post about how I think the local election campaign is going. Well go on, since you twisted my arm! So what …
Summary: March – a month of frustration with Conservatives and Libdems and hope for a new council. For the rest of April and until after the May elections I will be taking a break from blogging to focus on campaigning and on keeping up with council work as well. I …
I will be marching in London. Those marching will have many different particular issues they want to hihglight. For me the biggest single issue I have is the assault on the NHS. Yes the cuts are way too far and too fast and put our economic growth at risk – …
<!–[if !mso]> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } <![endif]–> I joined canvass teams in Katesgrove and Church ward this weekend – it was great to support our excellent candidates Matt Rodda and Paul Woodward. I also went out in Whitley delivering the latest Whitley news and chatting to people – lots of people in …
We won’t be walking away from this campaign and will be looking for ways to support the schools, WEC and the associated charity, ASPIRE2. I’ve just send this email out:“Dear All, As a signer of the petition to Save Whitley Excellence Cluster I wanted to email you to pass on …
I don’t have anything nice to say about the top local story. So I’m not going to say it. John things well. In the meantime the Government’s plans for our forests are in disarray, it turns out that the Conservatives have doubled the proportion of their money coming from the …
Who will be 100? (We have hundreds off-line too) UPDATE: It was Mr Adegoke Keshinro. Thank you for your support!
Petition now over 350, attended dinner with Ed Milliband at the Penta Hotel (great speech!) and protest march today against the NHS reorganisation, tax dodging gazillionaires and the cuts to the council’s income. It was good to march with other trade unionists (there were far more from Unison there than …
We have really started to get going with our campaign to save the Whitley Excellence Cluster’s work. Paul and Kelly, our Church ward and Whitley ward candidates along with other activists were with me today to ask residents to sign our petition. We had a really good response on the …
I’ve spoken in the press about this already – I find it shocking that the coalition is so blasé about ending the good work of Whitley Excellence Cluster. I hoped that Cllr Ralph, the lead councillor for Education would be able to commit to at least looking at a way …
My colleague and comrade Jim Hanley has decided to retire from the council in May following his qualification as a social worker. I’ll be sorry to see him step back from front line politics and I know that many people in Whitley, and indeed across Reading, have reason to thank …
An anecdote: I was told by a teacher the other day that he was having to explain to his class the reasons why free swimming for under 16s had bee n removed. He’d tried to be balanced and explain about the deficit, but the class weren’t buying it. “So why …
Today is the last chance to sign wateraid’s petition asking Cameron to make it a priority for our development funds to fund decent ‘sanitation’. A euphemism for toilets that don’t spread disease. This isn’t a left/right issue – it’s possibly the most basic need and rarely discussed: doesn’t make as …
As the local press has spotted I’ve put a motion in to the council calling on the Royal Mail to reconsider it’s decision to phase our most bike deliveries. As a cyclist myself I know that cycling can be the most efficient, cheap and environmentally friendly way to get about …
Someone once said ‘Football’s not a matter of life and death, it’s much more important than that”. Well frankly after yesterday I hope that no-one seriously feels that way. Something maybe more important than football, and party politics, is the promises made and not made by G8 leaders on maternal …
Long post but I want to keep Whitley residents informed about what I’m doing as a councillor rather than disappearing into a black hole. Started with finishing off even more paperwork over the weekend! I am actually going to get back out and about this weekend hopefully… There was also …
I’ve been elected as Whitley ward councillor. Some very varied results across the country. Locally of course I’m really disappointed by the General election result but surprised and pleased by the Reading borough council elections. Net impact is Labour are still on 19, Conservatives have lost a seat while the …
No great shock then. However with the local elections in Reading being on 6th May this is really good news for everyone, with the possible exception of the returning officer and count staff. It will mean that there will be higher turnout as people will have 2 elections to vote …
Haven’t posted in the last week or so not because I’ve nothing to say but because I am too busy! It’s all good stuff, whether following up individual concerns, meeting with a housing association to raise common concerns, working (got to pay the bills!), helping out at a schools event, …
It’s now over six months since I started helping and working with Whitley’s local councillors. Its been a privilege to get more involved in the community. For example I’ve helped with a petition to get a safer route to school in front of the Northumberland Avenue/Whitley Wood Road shops, …
Have been to a couple of events about domestic violence in the last week. Last Thursday went to a candlelit vigil on the high-street that aimed to emphasise the problem, which got a good response, although the wind had a negative impact on the candlelit part of the vigil! On …
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been helping a resident from The Maying collect signetures for a petition that we are submitting to the council cabinet on Monday. The wording of the petition is: “We the undersigned are very concerned about safety in the shops area around the corner …
I don’t normally post about going out and about talking to people on their doorsteps but to me that’s the only way you can know enough to be a good local representative. It’s also something that I enjoy! As a sample I thought I would list what I’ve done this …
The University of Reading is cutting the funding it currently provides to support four Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) that cover the University area.This will affect permanent residents as well as students In particular it could set back progress that the PCSOs, local community and students have managed to achieve, …
http://www.whiteribbonalliance.org/flash/player-viral.swf I’ve signed up to this. I recently became an aunty for the second time and it brings home to me how helpless a child is if their Mum dies in child birth, not to mention how terrible it is for the woman… Anyone who cares about women’s rights should …
Well I think that counts as a success! More people than I expected, media coverage (including speaking live on BBC Berkshire – to the delight of a colleague who heard me on her way home). Below is the press release: Reading delivers wake up call to world leaders! Reading residents …
There are plans for a ‘climate wake up‘ call around the world on Monday and I thought it would be good for Reading to have it’s own version so I’ve set up a flash mob event for 5.10pm in Reading town centre with the aim of getting into the local …
it in Went for a great bike ride yesterday superbly organised and raising money for an excellent cause – the Reading Women’s centre. Cycled with my friend Anneliese Dodds who is the parliamentary candidate for Reading East. I persuaded her to take a Saturday off the campaign trail – although …
