Southend community wellbeing & vegan festival @ project 49

What's Happening To Me?

WHTM? is described as an advice pilot for Southend children and young people being taken into care, created by people with direct experience of foster care.

I was honoured to have been invited to the launch event, and delighted to be able to support the initiative.

It was a chance to network, catch up with some acquaintances, and watch the short videos that had been produced as part of this project. It was also a chance to learn.

Fostering and being taken into care touches the lives of many across Southend-on-Sea, including my own.

http://bladeeducation.wixsite.com/whtm

Death of the urban wood dream?

For many years now I have been thinking on the subject of urban woods. I cannot put a date as to when this began, but it is at least seven years. I wrote Wanted: more trees, less tarmac in March 2011.

My initial attempts to get some traction with this locally were met with some derision. Whilst I did not receive a cachinnatious response there were many who questioned my sanity. Nonetheless I persisted.

Eventually my persuasion paid off as my wish for an urban wood made it into the local Labour manifesto. It also appeared, to these eyes anyway, that I was getting a more receptive ear in council meetings. I was certainly raising the subject whenever I could, and my thoughts on this subject were becoming well known.

Eventually my idea for a portable solution seemed to have been put into practise along the London Road.

Fast-forward to the present, and imagine my disappointment when I found out that an urban wood is no longer local Labour Party policy – it has just been dropped from the local manifesto.

For many of us in the broad Labour movement the environment is an important issue.

Being dropped is not an end as far as I am concerned. I shall still campaign for an urban wood in the Borough of Southend-on-Sea.

Someone is not happy with how A&E operates

A hospital visit yesterday, and a drink in the cafe afterwards. This is what was left on every table.

I cannot be sure who distributed it, but “Former A&E Patients who ar sadly not with us anymore” may be a clue – although (of course) dead people cannot write and print leaflets.

Clearly someone, or some people, are unhappy with the way the hospital is being run nowadays. However, this is an odd leaflet, and this is a strange complaint. Statistics have been collected for years, and computers are an essential aid. I cannot imagine healthcare without either.

Oh dear! Southend Tory Candidate only prepared to support grammar schools (and no other)

So, it’s official, Southend’s Tories are only interested in the borough’s grammar schools. Quite what the many other schools in the borough will think about this is not known, and is likely unprintable in many instances anyway.

Conservative leaflets in Southend are often poor, but ‘dire’ is the only way to describe what I have seen recently.

Alan Dear’s “Future Priorities” are woolly to say the least, although he is quite explicit in his fondness for the four grammar schools and his failure to equally endorse the borough’s other schools. His ward, Belfairs, includes one of the ignored schools (more if you include junior schools).

My views on segregated education are well-known and oft stated, but this does not stop me supporting all schools of all types. I want every child to have a good education, clearly something that Mr Dear does not agree with.

As to his future priorities – what of his current priorities? It is a rather curious strap-line to say the least.

Although I have not seen an announcement, this leaflet does confirm that Cllr Mo Butler will not be seeking a second term. Whether she was de-selected, or just got fed up with being in the chamber with the bigots in her party, is not known to me.

Handbags at dawn

Cllr Moyies volte face last year into a Conservative member gave him a problem; he could not defend his West Shoebury seat as the Conservatives already had a candidate. Moyies had to look elsewhere, and his eye fell upon Thorpe ward.

Thorpe was once a Tory stronghold, until complacency created enough rot for the Independents to sneak in. Now the Independents are firmly ensconced, seemingly immovable. However, Moyies believes (or at least pretends he believes) that he can win. He faces chicken-run Martin Terry, whose love affair with the ward began (coincidentally) with the realisation that he was about to lose in Westborough.

The local press now enjoys the sight of a war of words between Cllrs Moyies and Terry. Much of the exchanges centre around the various political affiliations each has had. Both are as bad as each other, with elastic principles regularly on display. Moyies and Terry have in their respective ways chosen flags of convenience so as to maintain presence in the Council chamber. Both have swapped teams and political identities. In Moyies case this is a switch from UKIP through the short-lived Southend Independence Group (SIG), to his current home in the Conservative Party. For Martin Terry, it is a case of maintaining the pretence that the Independent Group is not a party, whilst acting just like a party; and assuming a number of labels on the ballot paper whilst maintaining the charade.

The SIG not only was short-lived, its three members are all near certainties to lose their seats in May. If this is the case, and Cllr Terry holds his seat I guess the last laugh will belong to him. In the meantime be prepared for more faux outrage and hypocrisy from both camps in the run-up to May 3^rd.

FRANK

Described as 'friendly, confidential drug advice', this looks a useful resource :-

www.talktofrank.com