An investigation report (today) by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) uncovers bullying and discrimination within the Metropolitan Police Service ranks, including incidents of racism, misogyny and harassment.
The IOPC is led by director general Michael Lockwood who was chief executive of London borough of Harrow. His deputy Tom Whiting is from Harrow and was interim chief executive at the Harrow council. Both officers exercised fairness in focusing on the socio-cultural/religious life of the most diverse Harrow borough and served it effectively.
At the IOPC, both are committed to ensure that the police disciplinary and complaints system is as effective and as clear as possible, which is needed to build public confidence in the accountability process.
The IOPC report recommendations include addressing underlying cultural issues by preventing environments that could lead to unprofessional and inappropriate behaviour and go unchallenged. It further includes recommendations for the Met to publicly commit to being an anti-racist organisation with a zero-tolerance policy towards sexism, misogyny, bullying and harassment.
During its investigations, the IOPC reviewed thousands of messages exchanged by officers, including many that were highly sexualised, discriminatory or referred to violence. These were generally described as banter by officers in their defence.

A teenager was rushed to hospital after being stabbed in High Street, Wealdstone on January 29, it has been reported. Enquiries continue.
“Labour are obsessed with moving the Civic Centre to Wealdstone where there have been 930 violent crimes since May 2018” Harrow Council Conservatives had alerted about the crime rate in the area previously.
In October 2021 alone, there have been 161 crimes in Wealdstone, including 43 violence and sexual offences. In November last year a man with a knife assaulted a person at Harrow & Wealdstone station, and in December two boys and young man were stabbed in Wealdstone.
Wealdstone ward, 75% BAME population, is one of the most deprived wards in Harrow – with overcrowding, unemployment, crime and the fear of crime being major concerns – many say it is now a ‘no-go area’ in the evenings.
But the council’s portfolio holder for tackling crimes and community cohesion, quick to play victimhood when questioned, has been dismissive about the concerning crime rate in Wealdstone, claiming that Harrow is a low crime-rate borough (December cabinet meeting).
If the violent crime in Wealdstone is taken seriously, the Harrow council should declare zero tolerance to the crime irrespective of who are involved and without a second thought about losing some votes.

As the Covid-19 cases in Harrow are the fourth-highest rate in London,  London North West University Healthcare explain their January Covid-19 care situations, including an effective front door model that alleviates urgent care and A&E pressures at Northwick Park Hospital:
Around 22% of the Trust’s general beds are occupied with patients receiving care related to COVID-19 (around 200 patients). 80% of genotyped COVID patients are Omicron patients.
Critical Care has expanded to 36 beds across two sites. Around 35% of these beds are occupied by patients receiving care related to COVID-19.
The majority of patients in hospital with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.
Absence rates in their workforce have increased to 7%, they would usually be 4%. Safety huddles help move staff between wards and service areas to maintain safety and support the staff.
In addition to parts of their Critical Care and other higher dependency areas, they have now converted 8 ward areas to ‘Red’ areas, meaning they specifically cater for cases of COVID-19 in their hospitals. This also reduces the risk of hospital acquired infections.
A review of NPH (normal pressure hydrocephalus) incidental findings of COVID-19 showed that around 45% of COVID patients attended hospital for other care needs – they attended hospital with COVID rather than for COVID care specifically. This is reflective of high community infection rates.
Support for their staff is paramount at this time. They have good supplies of PPE, Lateral Flow Tests, Booster and flu jabs.
Whilst Nursing Home outbreaks remain a concern, they are well-supported by partners in their Integrated Care System, to facilitate discharge and ongoing care.

Covid positives in Harrow have substantially increased with vaccination take up lower than nationally (source), despite Harrow council’s repeated reminders.
As of 29 December 2021, 649 people are tested positive daily for the Coronavirus in Harrow, and 4,127 in the last 7 days (up by 31.9%).
To that date, total 47,493 people are tested positive, with 773 deaths with COVID-19 on the death certificate.
While the Harrow council claims success in vaccination, 71.5%  had the first dose (89.9% national), 65.1% had the second dose (82.3% N) and 45%  had the booster (57% N).
Where can one get vaccinated in Harrow brings rather limited information compared with the neighbouring boroughs like Brent, an ongoing Harrow council weakness in general communication and community cohesion/interaction – many residents now feel that the council is hiding behind Covid and don’t respond to the public concerns, emails/telephones etc.
With such low level of confidence in the work of the council, no surprise that the council messages for the Covid preventive measures, including vaccination, are not getting through or not taken seriously, resulting in unrestricted socio-cultural mixing and gatherings, including at the confined indoors spaces, happily supported by the politicians in the council election year,

“Labour are obsessed with moving the Civic Centre to Wealdstone where there have been 930 violent crimes since May 2018. There will be minimal parking, meaning that residents and staff will have to park several streets away during the dark winter months” say Harrow Council Conservatives.
“Labour’s poor management has left residents cleaning their own streets in South Harrow and a ‘mattress mountain’ in Wealdstone High Street” they added.
In October 2021 alone, there have been 161 crimes in Wealdstone, including 43 Violence and sexual offences. In November this year a man with a knife assaulted a person at Harrow & Wealdstone station, and in December two boys and young man were stabbed in Wealdstone.
Wealdstone ward, 75% BAME population, is one of the most deprived wards in Harrow – with overcrowding, unemployment, crime and the fear of crime being major concerns.
But the council’s portfolio holder for tackling crimes and community cohesion, quick to play victimhood when questioned, has been dismissive about the concerning crime rate in Wealdstone, claiming that Harrow is a low crime-rate borough (last cabinet meeting).
Harrow Council is all set to carry out a 10-year project that seeks to deliver 1,500 new homes across three sites in the borough, with plans to move out of its current civic building in Station Road to a site in Peel Road, Wealdstone.
The Labour administration insists that the civic centre move will not cost the taxpayer a penny and will only benefit the borough.

Harrow Labour councillor Pamela Fitzpatrick has been excluded from the party for an old interview with the newspaper Socialist Appeal which has now been blacklisted by the Labour Party.
“Huge thanks to the socialist campaign group for their public support. All Labour councillors should have the strength of character to speak out about such obvious unfairness. Solidarity is what the Labour Party was formed from” said Cllr Fitzpatrick.
A bit naïve to expect support from some who might be a part of the problem, and not even honouring that Cllr Fitzpatrick has an outstanding appeal against her expulsion.
Many pose a question: can a party with such ‘dodgy’ practices be trusted to practise respect, fairness and justice if in government?

A public question for the council meeting on 25 November asked the council to “eliminate the use of vulnerable, untrained road users within its business”.
The question to the councillor responsible for community cohesion, crime & enforcement, who appears more active in out of borough politics, asked to “ensure the Council and its contractors use only those employees who have passed the relevant DVSA test for the class of Motor Vehicle they are operating.”
“I note that Harrow Council’s Civil Enforcement Wardens are using Mopeds with L (Learner) plates. These provisional road users have not completed the most basic of DVSA tests to demonstrate they have the ability to ride safely on the Borough’s roads” pointed out the resident.
[moped is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles]
“The use of Provisionally licenced road users for commercial purposes shows a lack of concern for the employee and other road users.”
“The council have a legal responsibility towards the Training, Health & Safety and Welfare of their employees, and it seems that in this case their safety & welfare is potentially being compromised by use of inexperienced riders for its commercial activities.”
“Whereas the use of provisional riders is common practice for certain businesses, the Council should be a leading light and demonstrating best practice by eliminating the use of provisional licence holders and ensuring that all road users employed by the Council and its contractors employ only those suitably qualified to drive on the borough’s road without L plates.”
This must be a good reminder for the council to show leadership and take public road safety seriously, rigorously monitoring the performance of those responsible for it.
It would be professionally sound to ensure that the elected councillors are suitable for the responsibility given to them at the cost of the taxpayer’s money and don’t use their position for any attention-seeking/ career-building activities.

Many Labour Party members have been expressing concerns about the nature and quality of the present Labour leadership that seems to be following the Blair model of governance in many ways, including systematic exclusion of the dedicated party activists/socialists!
What is happening at the national level apparently reflects in the ethos and practices of the local constituency Labour parties, with the latest victim being Harrow councillor Pamela Fitzpatrick (photo) who has been expelled from the Labour Party and has now issued a public statement (extracts below):
“I received yesterday afternoon a letter from the Labour Party expelling me as a member of the party.  My offence, that I spoke to Socialist Appeal in May 2020 about why I had applied for the role as General Secretary of the Labour Party. Labour proscribed Socialist Appeal this summer and has retrospectively applied the rule.
As some will know I have been subjected to a sustained campaign of harassment since 2016.  Those responsible are a small group of men holding positions in the party, some elected. Many people in the local party are very aware of who is responsible. I have complained of this harassment multiple times.  Many members locally have witnessed it. Very little has been done to hold those responsible to account.
I am disappointed that so many in Harrow Labour have failed to speak up. Sadly, career aspirations so often get in the way of principles.
I so wish my case was an isolated incident. That was has happened is somehow unique to Harrow.  But sadly, I have come to understand that it is not. So many women have told me their stories. Of how similar abuse has impacted on both their physical and mental health.  Many have resigned from the roles, some have left the party.
The common thread to all those who are  abused in this way? We are socialists. Altruism appears to be so alien, a concept to some in our party.  So frightened are the establishment of socialism that it appears they will stop at nothing.”
Councillor Fitzpatrick has  been a Labour councillor since 2014.  She secured an increased majority in 2018. She has held the position of Chair or Vice Chair of the Harrow Labour Group. She was selected as a Parliamentary Candidate in 2017 (looks some vindictive local Labour members have not been able to live with this!!). Cllr Fitzpatrick was very recently elected to Labour’s National Women’s Committee with a majority of over 100,000.
Tweets supporting Fitzpatrick are rapidly pouring, including the following by Aghileh Djafari-Marbini who herself suffered harassment during the Brent and Harrow London assembly member’s selection:
“Top brass should hang their heads in shame. No wonder they struggle so hard with the word socialist they are all antithesis to all socialists and socialism. The red flag will fly in Harrow despite these people”.

While the  government and local politicians mark their interest in public health by asking to have Covid booster jab, they fail to ensure that the booster data are effectively and properly linked to the vaccination records held at the national or GP level.
As a policy matter, booster data are not included in NHS COVID Pass with the implications as highlighted below.
(Marilyn Ashton is a councillor and deputy leader of  the Harrow council Conservatives.)

At the local level, many Harrow GPs have not received the booster data for their patients, vaccinated months ago. Their workload has increased due to the calls from the worried patients who can’t access their booster data and have been told by most unhelpful NHS 119 to contact the GP or the centre that administered the vaccine.
The Harrow Monitoring Group understands that some Harrow GPs have contacted the Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group (HCCG) and the Healthwatch Harrow about the missing booster data and implications but feel ‘banging the head against a brick wall’!
We also understand that most of the data not yet linked to the Harrow GPs is specific to the Byron Hall which the Harrow council had declared as Harrow’s mass vaccination centre.
The two sections at the Byron Hall centre, managed by HCCG doctors (clinical directors), look after patients for vaccination from the GP surgeries on their respective lists and seem to have different ethos.
One that looks after surgeries in the posh parts of the borough, is apparently well managed and organised, keeps the patients well-informed and has processed the electronic booster data more successfully.
On the other hand, the collaborative network, opened on certain days, seemingly has not linked the booster data to the GPs surgeries on its list (no information available to contact this network).
No doubt the pandemic has created additional pressure on the public services but hiding behind it and  running down services by inefficient authorities and agencies, is totally unacceptable.

Perhaps those in the Labour group responsible for promoting community cohesion in Harrow need to sharply focus on the reported inclusion/exclusion practice by Blairite Labours, like apparently in the Harrow East Constituency Labour Party (CLP).

*It has been reported that the meeting consisted of 16 people, including a London assembly member and his mentor, the Harrow West CLP chair.
‘The Labour right is rotten with Islamophobia, as highlighted by the Labour Muslim Network report on the topic. Keir Starmer and David Evans promised to implement its recommendations in full, but appear to have done nothing and are taking no action against most right-wing Islamophobes in the party’ reported at the SKWAWKBOX.

 

What happens in macro, happens in micro!