Northampton and austerity

Surprised to see David Kennedy in the Guardian discussing austerity in local government. The question going through my mind is whether it is really possible for doing more with less. I believe it is possible to change the way services are delivered to provide something better for a large volume of people with a certain set of needs but event that change costs money in the short term. It is certainly true that local government still doesn't know the actual amount of money that will be delivered or even how much they can generate themselves. However what is really clear is the future is going to be brutal in particular for those who are disadvantaged with multiple needs having to be addressed.

For those of us in the third sector there is even more uncertainty. For a government which talked about the opportunity of "Big Society" what's on offer seems to be considerably less than that. Ken Clarke yesterday suggested that third sector organisations could help offenders find jobs and be paid piecemeal only if an offender found work. In this economic climate certainly not a proposal that would survive the dragons den.

In the meantime, the County Council has released it's third sector commissioning strategy which simply isn't clear enough about what it is they we actually commission. For smaller groups the prospect of a small grants scheme is to be welcomed bringing a more open process to almost the grace and favour approach for doing small scale short pieces of work. Already this year with the demise of Ability Northants, it's no wonder that many in the sector are sceptical about commissioning given that local groups partnering together don't seem to be winning the goods. It seems that there will be a bit or a lot of a cull in the days ahead,

Cruising for a bruising from the low life that complain about me not posting enough, but the need is to stick my head over the parapet.

I am particularly motivated by the news that Inspiration FM go live on thier new community radio station with recently granted license in the coming month.

The Inspiration crew are a vital part of community life in our town and the implementation of the license have been a long time coming and once it get's here I know that there are so many that are going to appreciate it

Hope not Hate campaiging in the sun

It's been a fantastic morning delivering leaflets with more unexpected faces from across the area coming out to help. Thanks so much to anyone who came along. We achieved far more than I expected on today. I'm hoping that this has been the case across the country but especially in Barking.

Philosophy Football have just released a new T-shirt which I think will make anyone look fetching in the Springtime weather. There's even music to go with it. :-)



A13 The Road from Cable Street to Barking

The A13 starts in Whitechapel, just round the corner from Cable Street where Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts were stopped in 1936. Travelling east to the Essex coast it passes by Barking and through Dagenham where the Hope not Hate campaign are seeking to stop Nick Griffin and the BNP in 2010. SPECIAL CAMPAIGN PRICE JUST £14.99. Philosophy Football's A13 shirt will help raise valuable funds for Hope not Hate in Barking, wherever you live it wear in support.

Available from Philosophy Football







After having the local BNP passing judgement on the neck lines of my clothing recently perhaps even they will appreciate it.

Mike Prescod ... The Peoples Man

On Monday Mike Prescod died. Since then we have all been trying to come to terms with it. Mike had an immense influence on the Northamptonshire Voluntary and community Sector and local Northamptonshire politics. His contribution to public life included being the first Black mayor of Wellingborough, being the first Black chair of Northamptonshire Probation Service, but much, much more than that he supported and mentored so many of us into the work and activism that we do now.

My friend Roopa said looking back at the years she spent in the area,

"Mike's presence was there, guiding us, teaching us, watching over us and giving us a kick up the backside if it was ever needed! WE are Mike's legacy. We'll carry on fighting the cause, often with our backs against the wall but always strong together. Mike made sure of that. He WILL rest in peace as he's done his bit and it's time for us to carry on with him always in our hearts."

So what did this man from Barbados have that enabled him to command respect from such a wide variety of people across his adopted town and county? Mike was passionate about people, was straight talking and it was these qualities that won him friends where ever he went. He knew a lot from just immersing himself in the community events and activities in Wellingborough and across the County.

Condolences to Mikes's wife and family. Mike Prescod, Rest in Peace.

For those who would like to attend his funeral, it will be Friday 5th March at 1pm at the United Reformed Church on the High Street in Wellingborough.

New politics for a new year

People have been asking me about life after the Labour Party. Craig asked whether I was in the wilderness ...with the antics of some ex-ministers last week it seems that I’ve left the wilderness for something more fertile.

There seems to be a profusion of political initiatives outside of party politics. The one that seems to be buzzing with the ballot action is power2010 where there seems to be interest across the political spectrum. As ever my passion is the democracy so do go out and vote and try and swing this campaign to a progressive agenda.
With 38 degrees that agenda seems far more left rooted but the campaign issues seem to be selected by a self selected team with little grassroots input.
My favoured campaign is still a local Citizens campaign like this. Anyone want to join in a bit of political groundbreaking with a Northampton Citizens campaign .. get in touch

Truth, Justice, Racial Violence and Belief

Over the last five days I’ve had to give a redundancy notice to a pregnant women and had to hear the ultimate abuse of a Council Worker of twelve years who has been told that they don’t know what will be happening with their job or whether they will be made redundant or redeployed in the next few weeks.

That and writing off my car (again!) Thursday morning only to have another car collide into my courtesy vehicle on Friday makes it officially a danger zone. So in situations like this it is about the fundamentals. Those have to be words like truth and justice and making them more than words.

Work at the moment is hard ... harder than ever ...we always say that it is hard ... but the search for truth and justice seems harder than ever.

So in the context of this turmoil news comes of this. So is it better to feel that there is the potential of people in the then institutionally racist Met being brought to justice for the failure to properly investigate a murder that happened sixteen years ago or is it right to focus on the fact there has been sixteen years with no individual accepting or being apportioned blame.

Perhaps the most important thing is to belive that truth and justice will be brought to the front of our minds regardless of collusion of those who do not value these ideals for the world of today or the future.

So when does it matter what people say?

At Weston Favell School staff, students, community and politicians have spoken and it still doesn’t seem to matter. So when does it matter what people say?
Following consultation from everything from public meetings (one of which only allowed three questions from members of the public) and OFSTED surveys when everyone says that they don’t want this school to be an academy why has it still been voted by a Tory cabinet to be on track to turn into one.
At the end of the day it is all about Northampton. The reason why a Tory cabinet can stumble into this decision is only because there is no heavy representation from Northampton what do Tory;s from rural South Northants or Kettering care about Northampton.
So why should they care? They should care because students at Weston Favell went on strike twice over Wednesday because they cared about their school. They were threatened with exclusion but felt passionately about the millions of public money invested in their school over the past couple of years being handed over lock stock and two smoking barrels to a company which has been deemed by the Government as having no capacity to manage any more schools.
There is now a hastily arranged full council in January to discuss the issue. Politicians panic stations!