The Harrow Law Centre was shortlisted for the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards under the category Legal Aid Firm/Not-for-Profit Agency.
“Fifteen years ago, when I had the idea to set up a charity law centre in Harrow, I would never have dreamed we would be shortlisted in the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards which took place on Friday” said the local socio-political activist and the founder Pamela Fitzpatrick.
“Harrow Law Centre has helped thousands of Harrow residents across issues including housing, education, welfare benefits, immigration and crime. Legal support is financially out of reach for most people, and I’m so glad that we could be there for local residents when they’ve most needed our help” she added.
“Thank you to all our wonderful staff and everyone who has supported us over the years”.

The awards are organised by Legal Aid Practitioners Group, on a non-profit basis, as an unashamed celebration of the work of lawyers on the social justice frontline. It is the close links to the profession’s grassroots that make these awards so special, and unlike any other legal awards.
“The Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards are unique and distinct because the lawyers we celebrate are unlike any others across the entire legal profession. Legal aid tends to attract those who are not just exceptional lawyers but exceptionally courageous and compassionate human beings” say the organisers.

Abbas Merali’s recent long-worded glossy leaflet highlights his ‘campaign to restore pride back into Harrow’ but is not convincing.
His proclamation seems to be somewhat puzzling, as neither the Harrow council Conservative administration nor the Harrow East Tory MP have indicated that Harrow has lost its pride and needs restoration.
In any case, if Harrow has failed to retain its socio-cultural and environment pride, why Mr Merali and not the existing decision-maker Harrow Conservatives are ‘restoring’ Harrow pride?
Very fresh in the memory is a similar catching phrase by the illusive Tory London mayor candidate, also a Harrow councillor, to ‘deliver the change London needs’ which was badly rejected by the voters.
Mr Merali claims ‘standing up for our community’ and is saying whatever it takes to please places of worship and some in his community but his six points descriptors in the public leaflet, seemingly taken from a Tory vetted political phrases bank, say nothing about this community’s concerns or the poverty in Harrow or the people hit by the government socio-economic policies:
[according to the Census 2021: 31% of children in the borough lived in households with an income of less than 60% the UK median after housing costs have been subtracted in 2021/22, and, in Harrow, 19.6% of residents were estimated to be earning below the Living Wage in 2023]
On the other hand, it can only be good that at least one Harrow parliamentary candidate, Pamela Fitzpatrick, independent candidate for Harrow West, demands to increase the minimum wage to at least £15/hour – to abolish work capability assessments, the two-child limit and benefit cap – and restore the national council tax benefit scheme.
What Ms Fitzpatrick demands makes good sense in view of the Labour and Tories playing with the financial plight of the families like Tory claims and Labour disputes that Labour will cost working families £2,094 more in taxes.
Because of all this, difficult to confront those who say: ‘we are tired of the Tories but now feel can’t trust Labour’.

Soon after the prime minister Sunak announced 4th July general election, Pamela Fitzpatrick independent parliamentary candidate for Harrow West, was quick to issue the following video statement:
I live and I work in Harrow. I was also a councillor here in Harrow West for eight years, but it’s particularly through my work at a legal centre which I set up 15 years ago, a charity which gives free legal advice to local people, that I see the real issues that are impacting on people.
Whether that’s housing, whether it’s the education issues for their children, it’s poverty, problems with benefits and disability benefits or immigration issues.
And what I’ve seen over the last quarter of a century is that whoever’s been in government, things haven’t got better.
We’ve been failed by our politicians and I think people are moving away from the kind of two-party system, they’ve recognised that it’s not acting in the interest of the community.
We have tower blocks being put up all across Harrow, and these tower blocks would be fine if it dealt with our housing crisis, but it doesn’t.
What we found is that these properties, big ugly tower blocks, are too expensive for most ordinary people to live in.
I have watched with horror what’s unfolding in Gaza and that impacts on so many local people because Harrow is such a diverse area.
I have joined the local protests, I have joined the national protests and I have seen the people coming together of all nationalities, of all religions, peacefully protesting and demanding an end to the violence.
Pamela Fitzpatrick ended her statement with an appeal: “If you want somebody who’s going to try to create a society based on the needs of the community rather than the greed of a few, please join my campaign”.

“I’m fighting for a society based on need, not greed” said Pamela Fitzpatrick at the launch of her canvassing session for Harrow West.
Ms Fitzpatrick, a long-time socialist, well known community activist and a Harrow councillor (until 2022), is standing as an independent parliamentary candidate for Harrow West at the general election.
“I’m standing because the established parties have let ordinary people down”, said Ms Fitzpatrick and added “Labour and the Conservatives have become identical, both offering policies that will only benefit the rich”.
“As Starmer keeps telling us, he has changed the Labour Party. It is now unrecognisable as the Labour Party. Instead, it has changed to a party that cares little for democracy, is a safe home for Tories and one which supports war crimes” she has said.
Ms Fitzpatrick is likely to appeal the voters feed-up with Con-Lab converging politics.
She demands genuinely affordable housing, fully funded local services, green industrial revolution and justice for Palestine.
In a separate move, George Galloway who has established a branch of his Workers Party in Harrow East, has said that in Harrow West they will support Ms Fitzpatrick instead.

Anyone who knows Susan Hall, a Harrow councillor and non-elected London Assembly member, would find it difficult to disagree with councillor Susan Hall’s long-term associate Barry Macleod-Cullinane’s defection.
By now Sadiq Khan is seen as a victim of the nasty campaign, based on scaremongering and lies, because who he is.
Mr Macleod-Cullinane’s disassociation with Cllr Hall, the Conservative London mayor candidate, tends to explain why hardly any of her fellow Conservative councillors have been in slight at her Harrow campaigns, even when the Conservative Party chairman attended.
Looks that the Harrow council Conservative administration do not want to spoil their hard-earned good public image by associating with Cllr Hall whose political failures are fresh in the voters minds (Conservatives lost the Harrow council in 2010 and again in 2014 because of Cllr Hall’s political immaturity but regained the council in 2022 under Cllr Paul Osborn leadership, a well-educated, balanced and non-confrontational politician).
Also read ULEZ play

Pamela Fitzpatrick, a committed activist for social and economic justice, peace, and human rights in Harrow and beyond, is standing as an independent parliamentary candidate for Harrow West.
“I will always stand up for the people of Harrow West” says Ms Fitzpatrick, a member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and a director of the Peace and Justice Project.
As an independent representative not needing to tow any political party line, Ms Fitzpatrick would be like a powerful magnet for the voters disillusioned by the Labour and Tory converging politics under the inadequate and incapable leadership that has failed to be on the same page as public on many local, national and international concerning matters.
Pamela Fitzpatrick was a long-standing member of the Labour Party, Labour councillor in Harrow for eight years and was the Unite backed Labour parliamentary candidate in Harrow East in 2019.
She has worked in the voluntary sector for over 30 years, set up a legal advice centre in Harrow in 2010 and has been an active trade union member for 40 years.
Reflecting on why Harrow West needs change, Ms Fitzpatrick said:
“I am deeply rooted to the community in Harrow West. I have lived, worked and raised my family here, as a result understand exactly the issues and pressures that confront this community – this is the agenda for my candidacy rather than representing the interests of a mainstream party as a ‘whipped’ MP”.
“Harrow West needs a candidate that is going to stand up and address our community’s acute housing crisis. I am committed and determined to fight for more affordable homes and challenge the surge in luxury developments that do not meet our community’s needs. Everyone deserves a safe, affordable place to call home”.
“It’s clear to all who know Harrow West that reversing the devastating cuts to our local services is desperately needed. I am dedicated to ensuring our schools, healthcare, and support services receive the funding they need. Our community deserves access to quality public services that support everyone’s well-being”.
Ms Fitzpatrick also said: “I pledge to foster an inclusive community, addressing the impacts of international conflicts and promoting solidarity”.

Having heard local concerns, the Harrow Monitoring Group has reported a recent leaflet from the Tory London Mayor candidate Susan Hall, also a Harrow councillor, to the appropriate bodies.
Received through the letter box, the A5 leaflet has the eye grabbing words “DRIVING CHARGE NOTICE”, “DO NOT IGNORE” “WARNING” in large font against a yellow background, giving the false and misleading impression at first glance that it is an official notice from an authority.
Being very careful drivers, some residents, many not skilled in scanning QR code, were in utter shock. It was only when they read small wording at the bottom of the back page, that they discovered it was an unpleasant scaremongering campaign leaflet sent on behalf of Susan Hall.
They rightly feel this a disgraceful tactic to get support and an unacceptable behaviour.
The leaflet gives a sense that it is deliberately designed to shock and worry people by falsely making them initially believe it is a driving warning notice. This seems to be the reason that the only indication that it is a Tory party leaflet, appears in small wording at the bottom of the back page.
In any case, Hall does not come across as a competent candidate in the mind of the masses, apparently including some from her own party.
Therefore, this needs to be investigated and the appropriate action taken by the Conservative Party and the UK Electoral Commission.
Also read this

After launching his re-election campaign today (18 March), London mayor Sadiq Khan said: “Today – in my first major pledge of the Mayoral election campaign – I’ve committed to delivering at least 40,000 new council homes in London by the end of the decade”.
Mr Khan branded it the “greatest council homebuilding drive in a generation” and promised to deliver 40,000 new council homes for the capital between 2018 and 2030, building on his previous target of starting 20,000 which he met last year.
In his speech, the Labour leader Starmer, who joined Sadiq Khan re-election campaign, said  “On May 2nd the choice is clear: chaos and division with the Tories, or unity and hope with Labour.”
The mayor’s Housing pledge was appreciated by the Harrow West MP Gareth Thomas, who said on X: “This could have a significant impact on homelessness and the cost of living crisis in Harrow and across London. It will bring hope for a better future for many of the most hard-pressed families in our city. Bravo Sadiq Khan”.
The mayor, who has been subjected to all kinds of racism, also defended his record on tackling air pollution, on transport including keeping down fares this year, and on his free school meals programme for primary school pupils.

In meeting their statutory duty, the Harrow council has worked out the draft Serious Violence Strategy report that is before the forthcoming cabinet meeting.
The council will receive £79,000 over three years for discharging the Serious Violence Strategy and delivering the priorities within it, including to reduce Serious Violent Crime with young people below the age of 25 and to tackle Violence against Women and Girls.
In informing the crime and population profiles in Harrow, the report points out that “Serious Violence is not distributed evenly across the population and significant inequalities exist. Certain groups and geographical areas within Harrow are at higher risk of exposure to and involvement in Serious Violence”.
But the portfolio-holder’s forward seems to be less specific about the differential impact of the crime on the groups of people in Harrow: “Violence can impact any resident at any time. We need to act at the earliest stage to prevent acts of serious violence”.
[Preventing crime without addressing the cause and not knowing who, where and why has limitations, and is usually ineffective!]
For example, the report identifies that “The ethnic profile of survivors recorded by the Met Police shows that Harrow’s white population were impacted most by domestic abuse”.
In generating the violence specific data, the report relies on the incidents reported to the authorities while there is national evidence that some crimes like domestic abuse, including to women and girls, and more so in some communities, are under-reported.
Consequently, the report is less specific about encouraging more and better reporting by and provisions for different communities [most of the working partners that the report mentions could be less attractive, for example, to the Asian community (at least 45%) who might need the community rather than conventional approach for preventing and tackling the crime].
The strategy, by a diversity-rich council, needs to identify measures to access the groups of people who are more likely to suffer in silence.
Furthermore, as the success criteria of the strategy is based on monitoring the violence incidents reported to the authorities, the success of the strategy need to include gauging improvement in under-reporting, using the ethnic minority reporting data.
Interesting that the council has a ‘multi-agency’ approach in preventing and tackling serious violence and other crime safety measures through pockets of initiatives with pockets of funding, which requires robust central coordination for the effectiveness.
[The Serious Violence Panel, Safer Harrow etc with several established partnerships that interrelate with the priorities of the Serious Violence Strategy].
Odd that the ‘hate crime’ is not serious enough to be included in the strategy – what an omission!
[Hate crimes in Harrow* March 23 to Jan 24: 427, including racist and religious crime 396, Anti-Semitic 42, Islamophobic 30, homophobic 29]
*here