Community Cock-ups
Featured
We noted the change in the name of the Mayor’s favoured faith body, Newham Muslim Forum, noting that it was now to be known as Faith Space London.
This seemed a little unusual to us, given the particular support of some individuals connected to the Newham People’s Alliance Facebook page with the NMF, we submitted an FOI to understand the connection that this new organisation had with the council.
We reported on the hissing directed at a Jewish councillor when he got up to speak at council. The hissing came from the public gallery. It is not unknown for members of the public to express their disapproval of their elected councillors by means of gestures, heckling and rude noises.
We reported some years ago, that a small number of younger Tablighi Jamaat activists, had won favour with Mayor Fiaz for the way in which they had orchestrated the social media campaign in the race to get her selected as the mayoral candidate.
By our count, roughly 80-100 people turned up for the Galloway event. In the end, it seemed a bit of an anti-climax. It was not at the (Afro-Caribbean) Community Centre. Apparently, the booking was suddenly cancelled on the day of the event. He knows who was behind the decision, “the mayor was behind it”.
We have been challenged!
We were asked point blank, “did we want to see the Galloway event cancelled?” We’d be delighted to see him bugger off to one of the more repressive regimes that he seems to favour. But pending that, we would NOT like to see his talk cancelled.
Twitter has been buzzing with the news of Galloway’s impending appearance along the Barking Road.
It does seem that not everyone is quite as keen as the event organisers to see him back in Newham. Several have asked why Newham Council is allowing their venue to be used by someone they accuse of being antisemitic.
The conflict in Gaza has brought back a nationally well known, though not necessarily well-loved, face to Newham. The Newham Independent Group are advertising an event in Newham with George Galloway.
We understand that residents of Beckton, that’s the same Beckton where Cllr Asser is a councillor, wrote to the Deputy Mayor. The Beckton Environmental Action Team, has sent numerous emails to Cllr Asser reporting the public drinking by contractors and littering.
Robert the Tank Engine is 90 years old. He was built in Bristol in 1933. Having been retired from service first in the mines and later with a heritage railway company, he was purchased by the LDDC and went on display, first in North Woolwich, near to the ferry. Latterly he was moved to a spot near the entrance to Stratford Station.
It would be too much to find that Lutfer Rahman’s party in Tower Hamlets has broken electoral law again, even before he was elected.
Reports have reached us that some voters in Tower Hamlets were “treated” to gifts of food.
You don’t have to like his politics to know that Mehmood Mirza has been the most consistent and energetic campaigner against fly-tipping and rubbish in the borough for the last four years.
Campaigners have not given up on the City Farm. They have recently delivered copies of the open letter to all councillors demanding a reprieve of the farm.
As the signatures on the petition climb ever closer to 50,000, we wait to see if this will be the next U-Turn from Mayor Fiaz. Will she meet with the protest organisers?
Nearly 40,000 people have signed the petition to save the City Farm and they are on course to reach 50,000 signatures.
As Newham Council conducted their meeting on 21st September 2021 a protest organised by Newham People Power was held outside.
We’ve recently become aware of a new group of residents. Clearly, they feel that they have been let down by the current mayor.
As readers will know the threats to Newham City Farm have increased. The council have now agreed to shut the 44 year old farm permanently.
It seems that residents on social media have uncovered the secret way in which Newham Council are saving money. They have stopped working!
In an extraordinary turn of events, some 30 councillors have filed a Letter of Appeal with Mayor Fiaz about the implementation of her new parking charges.
Newham Council seems to have a soft spot for ‘squatters ‘ and ‘artists’ . So much so that they are providing free space and accommodation in some of the borough’s most attractive historical buildings.
The intrinsic Corbynism of the Fiaz regime is shown in the ideological drive to bring services back in-house, regardless of cost or quality. The responsibility for parks’ maintenance was brought back in-house in early 2020. It has not been a raging success.
Having managed to alienate most of the drivers in the borough, Newham Council is set to put the squeeze on car owners even more.
Cllr Ali fails to persuade residents of the benefits of bridge closure on Browning Road.
One of the central promises that took Ms Fiaz on to the elevated heights of the mayoralty, was the promise to introduce a ‘fair parking’ scheme. As a political slogan it was great.