Tag: Social Housing

A MIXED BAG

Some social housing related links, pointers to some stuff on http://www.londontu.be and a couple of extra pictures.

INTRODUCTION

This post has two main strands, pointing you in the direction of items on my website, www.londontu.be and also sharing links to some excellent articles on social housing in the wake of Cameron’s announcement regarding “sink estates” this weekend.

SOCIAL HOUSING ARTICLES

The social housing situation in West Norfolk, where I have lived since December 2005, is such that I was unable to find social housing for myself, and was only ultimately able to move into a place of my own by renting privately. Thus, my first concern with the Cameron plan as announced is that we have not been told what effect it will have on the overall availability of social housing (though we can all guess, given the Tory record on this issue, and Mr Cameron’s steadfast refusal to give a straight answer when questioned). The second and more serious concern is the laughable inadequacy of the £140 million figure quoted by Cameron if the intention was actually to improve the situation, rather than opening up another front in the Tories ongoing war on social housing. A housing estate a stone’s throw from my own flat in King’s Lynn has recently seen a redevelopment project stutter to a halt because £10 million proved insufficient for the purpose. More detail on the Hillington Square project is available on their official website.

That is enough of me on social housing, now for some links:

SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM WWW.LONDONTU.BE

The Natural History Museum at South Kensington has a new exhibition coming up which is featured in this youtube clip, which I pressed on to my own website earlier today.

Also, nicely combining public transport and responsible shopping practices, here is a post about my latest London Underground themed purchase.

Finally, I have made use of the fact that the Dafabet Masters, one of Snooker’s triple crown (along with the UK and World championships), is now under way at Alexandra Palace by putting up an appropriate post.

Alexandra Palace

This picture came via google: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-rVSI8L_R9pw/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/iOf_mQ2ABr8/s0-c-k-no-ns/photo.jpg

A COUPLE OF PHOTOS TO FINISH

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A Patum Peperium lid with a classic picture.
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A Caspian Gull (?) in central King’s Lynn.

 

Marxism 2015 5: The Middle Part of Saturday

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest installment in my series of posts on Marxism 2015, the five-day politcal festival in central London organized by the Socialist Workers Party. Previous posts in the series can be viewed here.

RODDY SLORACH ON DISABILITY

In my last post I gave an account of the first meeting I attended on Saturday, in Nunn Hall. My second meeting was in the same venue, and the title was “Has There Always Been Disabaility?”

Two books on display at the front of the room.
Two books on display at the front of the room.
Speaker Roddy and chair Gabby before the meeting.
Speaker Roddy and chair Gabby before the meeting.

After this meeting, it was time for lunch, and I attended the Norwich SWP picnic (London food prices being well beyond my reach!).

WHERE WILL WE LIVE?

After lunch, my first port of call was the Drama Studio for a meeting on housing…

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Speaker and chair before the meeting.
Speaker and chair before the meeting.

The speaker’s main focus was on the US, which he had recently visited, and where the housing situation is worse than in this country because there is even less social housing available. The meeting was structured around a slide presentation. I have experienced a large number of such presentations but only a very few good presentations – of which this was one. I will settle for displaying those of the slides I was able to capture…

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Yes - even the USA genuinely radical cnadidates can get elected (she did).
Yes – even the USA genuinely radical candidates can get elected (she did).

A lively discussion followed. Having had an English born speaker talk at length about the USA we had a contribution from the floor from an American born Londoner talking about England…

Emma, who chaired the opening rally contributing to the floor at the meeting on housing (she is the American born Londoner referred to in the body text)
Emma, who chaired the opening rally contributing to the floor at the meeting on housing (she is the American born Londoner referred to in the body text)

HOW SHOULD SOCIALISTS VOTE IN THE EU REFERENDUM?

This meeting took place in Galleon room A in the Royal National Hotel (the suite which can be one, two or three rooms according to choice was divided into three, with rooms A and C being used for meetings and room B for entry and exit to prevent the two meetings from impinging on each other).

This was one of the most interesting meetings I attended. The debate on the EU referendum as currently framed is between two groups of right wing b**t**ds, one of whom want to stay in and the other whom want to leave for entirely nationalistic reasons. The task for socialists is to change to the terms of the debate by building a left wing campaign for a vote to leave the EU, offering no support to the racists of UKIP. A vote to stay in will leave an even bigger, even smugger smile on the face of David Cameron. A vote in favour of the EU would also be a vote in favour of what is being done to Greece and a vote in favour of desperate people being left to drown in the Mediterrenean.

To finish this post, my second of an eventual three about the Saturday, here are some more pictures…

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Francesca, chair for this meeting, introduces main speaker Paul McGarr
Francesca, chair for this meeting, introduces main speaker Paul McGarr
Paul McGarr during his opening speech.
Paul McGarr during his opening speech.
Speaker slips were used for this meeting, in spite of which the discussion at one point resembled a Hackney branch meeting, so many speakers from that area contributing.
Speaker slips were used for this meeting, in spite of which the discussion at one point resembled a Hackney branch meeting, so many speakers from that area contributing.