Transition Town Finsbury Park

A truly motivating meeting last night under the auspices of 'Transition Town Finsbury Park'. It's amazing how a reasonably-sized group of local people clustered in an echoing church hall on a mid-summer evening can fizz with so many good ideas and so much hard-won experience.

Probably it''s hardly surprising in Finsbury Park that there was a consensus on traffic as the main obstacle to any kind of community-driven environmental improvement. But what was particularly encouraging was the realisation that there was great scope for bringing together 'streets' and 'estates' not only in building sustainable communities but also in supporting the small-scale initiatives that have a lasting impact. Usually there seems to be a great divide between 'streets' and 'estates', politically, culturally and economically. All the more welcome, then, was the emphasis on the potential for pooling often separated assets for the common cause.

One aspect of this is 'garden sharing'. There are some beautiful gardens around Finsbury Park and not just in the privately-owned properties. Quite a few become neglected and overgrown because older residents can no longer cope with their upkeep. Such, I well remember, was the case of a dear Turkish lady living near to Manor House who often used to invite me and the unbelievably caring beat policeman, Robin Redmond, to take our pick of the blackberries. So doesn't it make huge sense for local volunteers willing to lend a hand with simple gardening jobs to help produce some good fresh fruit and vegetables at the same time?

And another thing........... There were so many pensioners out yesterday enjoying the late afternoon sun, yet often in the most uncongenial circumstances: crammed on a crumbling Woodberry Down balcony in a wheel-chair, for example, or occupying a tiny handkerchief-size piece of grass virtually on the street in Queen's Drive. Surely yet another aspect of the scope for 'garden-sharing', given good-will and a modicum of community effort.

So what a let-down this morning to read the dreary details of local councillors in Finsbury Park trying to grab political credit for themselves by climbing on the back of the local community regeneration group, FinFuture. An old, old trick by the Labour Party in Hackney, of course, and it leaves a very nasty taste of deception and dishonesty. But it won't discourage genuine community volunteers, certainly not those who attended yesterday's excellent 'Transition Town' event.

Politicians v The Rest

'Talking Point' by Councillor Ian Sharer, leader of Hackney Council's Liberal Democrat group, in the 'Hackney Gazette', 11 June.


"It’s certainly been an interesting few weeks in British politics. I’ll bet there’s not many residents of Hackney who ever counted a duck house or a manor moat amongst their possessions, let alone knew they were paying for them out of their taxes. Is it any wonder that people feel betrayed, especially in a borough where so many still lack decent accommodation and amenities for themselves and their families?

"There can be no doubt that there is deep and widespread anger in Hackney as elsewhere. It can be seen in so many faces, especially amongst working people on the estates. On election day last week, despite all the predictions of low turn-out, there seemed to be a determined mood amongst voters to vent their feelings at the polling station. It has not been a comfortable time for any representatives of the political parties in Westminster.

"Even so, it is all too evident that many career politicians still “don’t get it”. There is a public mood of resentment that just won’t be mollified by sound-bites and false promises. Am I alone in thinking that pretentious talk of “the need to re-engage with the public” not only misses the point but its patent emptiness and contempt for the public actually provokes disgust with present political practice.

"One aspect of that practice that should be jettisoned forthwith is the black art of the political smear. British politics has always been robust, never more so than in Hackney. If the price of public accountability is sometimes the bruised feelings of a self-important or venal official, that is in a good liberal democratic tradition. However, the calculated smearing of personal character is a very different matter and, as we have witnessed only recently, it seems an embedded feature of the New Labour "project" locally and nationally. Is it any wonder that in this respect ordinary people don’t make fine distinctions between political parties and so all politicians become tarred with the same brush?

"One local politician who always stuck with the conventions of respect and courtesy for political opponents, whatever the heat of the moment, was Hackney’s former Mayor Joe Lobenstein. Love him or loathe him, “Tory Joe” always represented a more embracing, less viciously exclusive order of municipal politics. So it was interesting to read his comments in the ‘Gazette’ a few week back about the emasculated role of councillors in the current set-up of mayor and cabinet. I disagree with his prognostications since I firmly believe that the main role of councillors should be in the community, not in Town Hall committee rooms. Nevertheless, there should be debate and I hope that the present questioning of our political system may promote that debate in Hackney.

"Of course Joe Lobenstein comes of an older generation that suffered and fought in genuine battle for democracy and civil liberty. Amidst all our preoccupations with a dingy and grasping bunch of politicians, it was so good to be reminded of the Hackney D-Day veterans revisiting the Normandy beaches last weekend. Their example of modesty, integrity and courage should inspire us all. "