One of the questions that did not get a hearing at the last council meeting, was one raised by the relatives’ support group for the refuse workers. This group was set up to support workers from Folkstone Road who had complained of bullying and sexual harassment.

After a magnificent victory at council, where no-one spoke against and where Labour members were queuing up to speak for the motion, it transpired that the motion in favour of the plaque was passed. Albeit for placement on the wrong building.

Campaigners for the Newham City Farm attended the council meeting on Tuesday 17th October. They submitted questions, as permitted under the council’s standing orders, to which Cllr James Asser responded in writing. To what must be the chagrin of Cllr Asser, they don’t seem to be giving up.

No less than 11 motions are on the agenda for the council meeting of 17th October. This is great for the Mayor. Councillors can pontificate to their (plural) hearts content without having any effect on what is happening in Newham. Councillors can bask in the belief that they are doing something whilst having no effect on anything.

Not to be left out of the motion jamboree, the Green councillors have tabled a motion on the oppression trans-people suffer at the hands of Newham Council. It is quite possible that councillors will not get to debate this motion.

It seems that two of our councillors have decided that it would be a good idea to re-write a bit of history, just a bit of massaging around the corners. Presumably to curry favour with some of the comrades in the GMB.

It seems that Sam Tarry’s relationship with the constituency of Ilford South is coming to an end. When veteran MP, Mike Gapes left Labour to join the short lived Change UK.

Three of these pictures are from Newham. Can you tell which?

We occasionally visit the Facebook pages of some of the Newham comrades. This week we have taken a look at the pages of the (unofficial) Newham Labour site.

Aided by something of an own goal from Liz Truss and her new chancellor, the Labour Party sprang into a serious lead, putting plenty of space between Labour and the Tories. You might think that that would make Sir Keir quite popular amongst the members. Apparently not.

We are going to posit a radical idea, and one that will be controversial, because it goes against the current trend of Labour and Left thinking where it is axiomatic that the police are racist.

Photo from Newham website; “taking a stand against knife violence”.

Now Greens Call for an End to Knife Violence

A letter from Unite has been circulated to Newham councillors. The author notes that whilst many Newham councillors own multiple residential properties, his members struggle to pay for one.

A North Woolwich resident and car driver recently raised the issue of Newham Council deliberately and persistently applying traffic penalties, even when they know that they are not lawful.

We include his post from Nextdoor below.

Council Tax has gone up by 20%. The bin-men are on strike, again. And Newham launches into a campaign aimed at gay/queer youngsters that is reminiscent of Labour’s 1970’s Looney Left councils.

We have been asked to provide a fuller account of why the current Labour Mayor and Council are in dispute with the refuse workers, and whether there is any conflict inside the Labour Party as to which side is right.

We don’t know how many potential candidates will throw their hats into the ring as candidates for the position of Labour’s candidate in Ilford South. We suspect that there might be as few as two.

Do you remember those far off days when everything seemed so easy; when answers to complex problems seemed to float off the tongue of aspiring politicians. Alas, those days have gone and the mayor has discovered that real problems need real solutions.

All of the photos above were taken prior to the start of the bin workers’ strike. All of them are within 250 metres of one another.

We suspect that there is someone on the top floor in Dockside who is beginning to rue the day she ever started to espouse her support for trade unions.

It's one thing praising unions when you are in opposition. It's quite another when you have to deal with their wage demands.

It seems that Newham Council have taken a new approach to housing the homeless. Here we see their latest initiative centred on Manor Park Neighbourhood Centre.