While the Labour leader Keir Starmer is busy in playing nationalism, nine black MPs in an open letter have expressed their dismay on the way the party has dealt with anti-black racism within the party.
The reference is to Forde Inquiry, led by Martin Forde QC, that was tasked with looking into an internal report, leaked online last year, on Labour’s handling of racism complaints. Findings of the inquiry have now been delayed indefinitely.
The Forde Inquiry was originally set to conclude in mid-July, but this timescale was described by Forde as “impractical”. It then aimed to deliver the report “by the end of 2020”, which was later changed to “early in 2021”.
The delay in publishing the inquiry report is intriguing given that local elections are expected to be held on 6 May 2021 in English local councils and for thirteen directly elected mayors in England as well as elections in the parliaments and assemblies of Scotland, Wales and London, the last in conjunction with the London mayoral election.
In term of racism, its complaints and their implications, Harrow is likely to reflect the national picture.
‘Following reports the Forde Inquiry has been delayed “indefinitely” the Labour Party has a responsibility to ensure its findings are published as soon as practicable and must consider the perspectives of black and ethnic minority members in its decision’ Kate Osamor MP for Edmonton tweeted.

Highly concerning that Harrow council planning committee, in many ways the public face of decision making, has leadership instability and has no substantial chairman in post at present.
Councillor Keith Ferry, a longstanding member of the planning committee who chaired the committee for years, resigned from his role last year due to a conflict of interest as he is to represent the council on a board associated with the Harrow Strategic Development Partnership.
Most prime building developments, especially the skyscraper around the Harrow Town Centre, have taken place under Cllr Ferry chairmanship.
Then councillor Shah was appointed chairman by the council in December, without realising the possibility of the conflict of interest. His register of interests, most recently signed off in November 2020, disclosed that he works for Curtin and Co, a “specialist consultancy in planning politics and community development”.
Subsequently, and after residents raised concerns about his potential conflict of interest, Cllr Shah recognised that his professional career makes undertaking the chairmanship of the planning committee problematic and resigned as both chairman and member of the planning committee.
Given such a conspicuous instability in the planning committee leadership, the role of opposition planning lead Cllr Marilyn Ashton becomes quite significant. Cllr Ashton has expertise, experience and track record of scrutinising planning recommendations as well as insisting upon well informed planning decisions.
In the public interest, it is expected that Cllr Ashton along with her capable colleague Cllr Baxter on the planning committee would play more pronounced role in protecting the characteristic of the borough, more than observing conventional political group alignment.

Activists campaigning for environmental and social justice in Brent and beyond are concerned that excessive removal of the trackside trees has now left residents without protection from the pollution, light and noise from frequent trains passing, both on the Met line and the Chiltern Railway.
“Residents living next to the Metropolitan and Chiltern lines straddling the boroughs of Harrow and Hillingdon, have witnessed a series of distressing environmental actions carried out by TFL this new year” informs Emma Wallace, Green Party GLA candidate for the Brent and Harrow.
Over the last two weeks, TFL contractors have been arriving daily with chainsaws, strimmer’s and tree chippers and removing huge stretches of trees and vegetation running along the Metropolitan line between Pinner towards Northwood Hills.
“This act of environmental vandalism has meant a biodiverse, green corridor has now been severely reduced, impacting nearby residents’ health and mental well-being, as well as removing habitat for local wildlife” alerts Ms  Wallace.
The activists point out that the local community were not informed by TFL that these works were going to be carried out, consequently have not had an opportunity to raise concerns or ask for a consultation of the works.
They now call on the London Mayor and TFL to immediately stop the excessive removal of habitat from trackside embankments and ensure that biodiversity surveys are carried out before work begins, that local residents are informed and given time to feedback concerns, and that the contractors are trained on effective vegetation management.

Harrow Covid-19 spread has been alarming: 491 deaths and 17,046 total cases (97,329 deaths and 3,617,459 cases nationally).
While the Harrow council is doing what it can to educate about self-isolation by those tested corona positive to avoid spread of the infection, it can’t provide the level of support for the working people in isolation that they need.
Harrow’s reality has to reflect in the national situation where less than 20% of people in England fully self-isolate and stay home when asked to do so, according to documents released from the government’s scientific advisory group for emergencies, as reported by the Guardian.
It is not that working people don’t care and decline self-isolation but because of inadequate government support. There is a desperate need for a furlough scheme that is worthy of the name as well as not cutting Universal Credit, but instead increasing Universal Credit, and increasing statutory sick pay.
What is also lacking is a proper mechanism of support, and proper funding of people in corona isolation.
Speaker after speaker at the Zero Covid Coalition launch Zoom meeting on 24 January articulated that the government’s handling of the pandemic has been nothing short of disastrous. There has been a steadfast refusal to learn from the mistakes of the past or from the successes of other countries.
Jeremy Corbyn at the Zero Covid meeting said: “We’ve seen the best and the worst in our society (in dealing with Covid-19). The worst has been the greed. The worst has been a deception and dishonesty, and the best has been the professionalism in the NHS and in the care in local government”.
“It’s the negligence of government, it’s the delay on decisions, it’s the incompetence, it’s the inefficiency that has cost 1000s and 1000s of lives that need not have died because of corona and  which could have been supported and saved” he said.

Forthcoming Harrow council cabinet meeting (21 January) is likely to agree recommended levels of fines for many environmental crimes, including 100% increase in some that have no levels of the fines currently .
The purpose of the Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) is to reduce environmental crime within the Borough and should be part of a wider enforcement strategy, designed to address all aspects of environmental crime, says the council.
The proposed levels of charges make good sense considering the increased environmental anti-social behaviour in the borough like fly-tipping, the proposed fine for which is to increase from £200 to £400. Similarly, graffiti and fly-posting fines are to increase from £80 to £150.
Recently increased random fly-tipping includes furniture, electrical goods and even children toys left on the pavement outside the house, perhaps because of the lack of understanding that this constitutes fly tipping, an anti-social behaviour which is a criminal offence – good case for effectively educating the potential offenders.
Harrow council street teams and intelligence based actions swiftly clear up fly tips but residents are rightly concerned about fly-tipping and they want more done to combat the problem.
For example, to offer a reward  for information which leads to a successful prosecution in cases of fly tipping as practised by Surrey Heath Borough Council (offering £5000 reward).
The officer report before the cabinet sets out 21 new areas of environmental crimes which are to carry £100 fine each. These include littering from vehicles, depositing builder’s skip on highway without permission, failure to secure lighting or other marking of builder’s skip, failure to secure marking of builder’s skip with name and address  and failure to secure removal of builder’s skip.
The council claims that ‘the scheme is there to seek compliance and to improve the highways and environment, not as a money maker’ though ‘some income will be generated initially from the implementation of the regime’.

Harrow has started its Covid-19 vaccination programme, mainly using Pfizer-BioNTech which needs 2 shots, 21 days apart. The shot is given in the muscle of the upper arm.
The vaccination reduces the chances of suffering from Covid-19 but it takes a few weeks for the body to build up protection from the vaccine. So it is important to follow up the guidance to avoid catching/ spreading the infection.
Following is a typical feedback on having the vaccination.
‘Being a Harrow resident from a vaccination priority group, GP arranged my vaccination at the Hive Stadium, Camrose Ave, Edgware.
The vaccination has been very well organised. The vaccination centre is helpfully sign-posted, outside/inside the Hive. Equally helpful are the volunteers who are at the car park (free car parking token given) and inside the vaccination centre, helpfully guiding through the process of registration, to the vaccination stations and in seeking the follow up appointment for the second shot.
The vaccination desks and the seating are well arranged –  provide comfy and safe environment. The nurse doing the vaccination is cheerful, thoroughly explained the vaccination process and the follow up procedures. The injection itself took only few seconds and was painless. Noticed at least one doctor in attendance.
After the injection and booking next appointment, there is a period of ten minutes to sit and relax before leaving the vaccination centre (two wall clocks have been placed to obverse ten minutes). The experience of vaccination has been smooth and positive.’
In term of improvement, perhaps a feedback form at the centre would be a helpful addition, particularly to occupy the vaccination takers while they stay for ten minutes after the vaccination.
There are few other vaccination centres in Harrow, including Harrow Leisure Centre’s Byron Hall, in Christchurch Avenue, Wealdstone.
In Harrow 14,621 total cases to 12 January and 462 coronavirus-related deaths registered to 1 January.

A survey found that 72% household, the equivalent of 20 million, across the UK fear an increase in their energy usage during the lockdown and that they face an average increase of over £32 per month in energy bills.
Demand is growing that the government must do more to help people cope with rising fuel bills this winter as they stay in more and work from home during the lockdown.
“Staying home in January and February as temperatures drop to below zero means even higher fuel bills. The Government needs to expand the winter fuel payment scheme to all those on a low income to ensure that families do not have to make the difficult choice between eating and heating” asks Cllr Pamela Fitzpatrick (photo), a leading founder of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour Councillors and Harrow East parliamentary candidate in 2019.
Even before the outbreak of Covid-19 hundreds of thousands of people were already struggling with energy bills. What the coronavirus crisis does in addition to increasing energy usage for those at home, is to create an uncertainty and insecurity of income for workers. There is a real risk these higher prices will fall heaviest on those least able to pay.
“The Government mishandling of the COVID 19 crisis means that we find ourselves in no better a situation than at the start of the pandemic. Many people have lost their jobs or on reduced pay and the crisis has vividly exposed the problems ordinary working people face with the combination of insecure low paid work and an inadequate benefit system” Ms Fitzpatrick said.
The survey found that for those working from home, there is growing financial anxiety, as almost half (44%) worry that working from home will lead to unaffordable energy bills.
Would Harrow MPs and the council follow the lead, and ask the government to expand the winter fuel payment scheme to all those on a low income?
Wonder why the ‘selected’ Labour leader Starmer is not pressing government hard to meaningfully deal with the coronavirus and its adverse socio-economic impact on the quality of people lives but then he seems more keen on frequently saying ‘Labour supports the government’!

In GP workload prioritisation, Harrow is in the BMA defined  level 5 (highest) emergency response where all non-essential work stopped to allow general practice to cope with very significant demands relating to COVID-19, acute deterioration in long term conditions and new symptoms indicating potentially serious disease.
The text message from local GP practices on 1^st January confirmed about a reduced range of general practice services in Harrow.
Since then, following is a summary of the feedback from some Harrow GPs:
‘It is true, most of the non urgent and community services have been suspended, this is because hospital staff have been redeployed to cover essential /urgent and Covid-19 units as well as there are a significant number staff members being ill.
Non Covid hospital services are adversely affected, for example, orthopaedic units and orthopaedic theatres are closed for non urgent work like hip replacement.
Hospitals (secondary care) stopped accepting referral from us a while back, anyhow, not only because of the pandemic but as hospital won’t have responsibility if something happens to patients while waiting for treatment. Also they don’t have waiting list any more, except the ones before the pandemic.
We can only refer patient who may have cancer, or very urgent, like chest pain’.
No matter how the NHS England performance is looked at, government approach ‘save money than lives’ to health care becomes obvious, as confirmed that while long-term under resourced NHS just coped  before pandemic but is now crumbling under Covid-19 pressure – lack of staff, equipment (even Oxygen masks), medical aids etc – ‘Imagine the scenes where you have to ration oxygen, have no staff and those that are there are exhausted’, a doctor on social media has summarised.
Harrow has total 11,819 cases to 4 Jan.

Tory appointed London assembly member Susan Hall, a Harrow councillor enjoying full council allowances while participating little in the work of the council, uses her City Hall position to gain publicity.
Her individual  targeting, practised while leading Tory opposition in Harrow, continues; now attacking London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who faced the worst Tory racist campaign in 2016 London mayor election, for taking interest in the wider welfare of Londoners.
During a very recent interview with an online right-wing newspaper, Hall unduly criticised the London Mayor’s handling of the Met Police finances. She also questioned what the ‘personality colour test’ carried out by officers in 2018 achieved for the police officials that took part in the course.
[the personality colour test, widely used in commerce and industry,  asks a series of questions to rate likes and dislikes leading to well recognised personality grading, all to maximise professionalism]
The test was initially carried out as part of a five-day workshop on communication and engagement in view of popular view to early detect and address any heavy-handedness/discriminatory tendencies in the Met.
A spokesman for the London mayor dismissed Hall’s claim of inappropriate use of the police funding for ‘personality colour test’ and said: “This claim is absolute nonsense”.
“A comprehensive training package covering a whole range of areas is being delivered to more than 10,000 officers”.
But of course such a training programme has not seen favourably by the elements that oppose ‘black lives matter’ movement and do not like measures for better policing.
Regarding the police funding management generally, the mayor has not only used the funds very wisely but also provided further City Hall funding to help protect police officer numbers over the next year, though still facing huge financial challenges because the government refuses to refund City Hall and the Met for costs and lost income as a result of the pandemic.
Hall also criticised that “As a Mayor, all he ever does is talks about things he cannot affect like Brexit.”
In responding to her toxicity, a spokesman for the Mayor of London said: “Sadiq makes no apology whatsoever for standing up for London.
“Whether it is defending the capital from the impact of Brexit, holding the Government to account over its mishandling of COVID-19, or killing off the worst Government proposals to hit Londoners in the pocket in return for a TfL funding deal, the Mayor will always put the capital first.”

On the first day of 2021, a text message from GP surgeries informs about a reduced range of general practice services in Harrow: ‘all GPs have been asked to STOP any non-essential work – any routine referrals to the hospital cannot be done at present as hospitals are NOT processing any new referrals. Some essential blood test monitoring may continue’.
This is top level 5 emergency response where all non-essential work stopped to allow general practice to cope with very significant demand relating to COVID-19, acute deterioration in long term conditions and new symptoms indicating potentially serious disease.
But the same BMA COVID-19: toolkit for GPs and GP practices also says: Under the GMS contract, practices have a responsibility to provide services to your registered patients and it is for practices to decide how best to do so. COVID-19 does not in any way negate this requirement.
The level 5 emergency sits well with the Harrow COVID-19 situation – 10,588 total coronavirus cases (to 31 De) – mostly in 0-59 years and 438 coronavirus-related deaths registered to 18 December.
Despite such an alarming COVID-19 situation, Harrow is one of the ten London local authorities that Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has asked to reopen primary schools next week. There has been a wider reaction to his irrational decision, including a letter to him signed by leaders of all of those boroughs.
In a separate move, a Harrow council letter to Harrow primary schools tells:  ‘we have taken decision to advise our schools to move to online learning for most pupils next week’! [UPDATE 8pm: now in a late u-turn education secretary has announced that primary  schools in all London local authorities will not reopen next week]
The government failures in containing and treating coronavirus already have serious implications, including for Harrow.
For example, massive publicity with significant shortcomings and implications: ‘if feeling unwell with just one of the symptoms of Covid, call 119 to get tested, if the test positive, follow the rules and self-isolate for 10 days’ – because ‘there is no medicine or cure for the virus’ without due emphasis that though there is no cure for the coronavirus as such, the damages to the organs caused by the infection can be medically managed. Such an ill information and omission could only be seen as a political decision to keep pressure off the NHS England which has been suffering from the lack of resources!
The prescribed ‘isolation’ with no medical treatment for ten days mostly results in developing shortness of breath or fall in oxygen saturation, damaging lungs and other vital organs. Since main casualties occur in late presenters to the hospital treatment, medical treatment in the first few days rather than after 10 days of the corona symptoms should have been prioritised, but then consideration seems to be ‘save money rather than lives’!