Those in Harrow who believe in social justice and truth are not short of actions in confronting oppressive and divisive situations.
Very recently Harrow council condemned Harrow East MP Bob Blackman (Con) for hosting an Indian extremist at an event in the Parliament which was most probably helped by his equally divisive assistant, a Tory candidate for the Queensbury ward.
Now while Mr Blackman has calculated his votes and is silent, Harrow West MP Gareth Thomas (Lab) has spoken out on the conflicts caused by aggressive and divisive Middle East politics.
“I believe we all have a shared duty to look towards the future and to the next generation of young people growing up in Israel and Palestine today” says Mr Thomas, and is concerned that at present, that generation knows nothing but division and violence.
He remains concerned by announcements this year of new settlement units in the West Bank which he points out “are illegal and further undermine the prospect of a two-state solution to this conflict”.
“I also continue to be concerned at the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the terrible suffering that many Palestinian people are experiencing” he said.
Regarding the protection of children in Israeli military detention, he believes “the Government must go further in encouraging Israel to do far more to implement the recommendations that have been made on this issue as soon as possible”.
He assures his commitment for pressing for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East based on a two-state solution – a secure Israel alongside a viable state of Palestine.
“Both sides must avoid actions that would make peace harder to achieve. That must mean an end to the blockade, occupation and settlement construction, and an end to terror attacks” he said.
He believes it is essential that the Government continues to support dialogue and fully backs all initiatives aimed at keeping the two-state solution alive.
“This is particularly important given the US President’s reckless decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital” he said.

In a copy and paste type rat report, Harrow councillor Hall, who is now a London assembly member by chance, has compiled rat complaints received by London boroughs, and makes a political point that the capital’s rodent (mice, rats and squirrels) population is on the rise, bad for the city reputation.
The report asks Mayor of London (Sadiq Khan) to build on the work of the previous administration (Boris Johnson) and set a new target of creating more Business Improvement Districts in London boroughs by 2020 to help cleanliness.
The report mischievously refers to an equally mischievous Telegraph article that implies that the rodents were beginning to cause an embarrassing reputational issue for the city which has resulted in the drop of tourist visits and tourism revenue.
Councillor Hall who stepped down as the leader of the opposition Tory group after causing years of unnecessary bitterness and disruptions at the Harrow civic centre, looks all set to repeat such a behaviour at the City Hall.
‘The Mayor of London and local authorities across the capital have a responsibility to ensure the prevalence of rats and mice in the city does not get out of control’ she said.
In hitting Harrow, Cllr Hall’s report refers to a rat rich Harrow video:  ‘the reputational damage done to the borough could have been avoided with a more proactive approach to street cleanliness’ she said.
Through freedom of information requests, breakdown of rat complaints in the past five years in the London boroughs shows highest number of complaints in Tower Hamlets (30,000), lowest in  Merton (546) with Harrow being in the thirteenth place (5,887).
Harrow council has been working hard to address the rate problem.
“We’re doing what we can – including using our enforcement powers – to encourage traders and businesses to dispose of waste properly” said the leader of the council Cllr Sachin Shah.
“We have a baiting programme in hotspots, including more rat-traps and we’re replacing old bins with rat-proof ones” he informed.

As a result of Harrow council being a member of the West London Economic Prosperity Board, Harrow has benefitted significantly.
This can only be good considering that Harrow does not usually gain much by grouping with neighbouring boroughs for national or regional resources because of its relatively affluent profile.
The West London Economic Prosperity Board is a Joint Committee of the London Boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Harrow and Hounslow to discharge jointly certain of their functions with the intention of promoting economic prosperity in West London.
The board will also play a leading role in discussions and negotiations with the Mayor and the government about devolving powers and functions related to economic growth to West London.
West London has a number of potential constraints to its economic growth – such as increasingly unaffordable housing, a wide variation of economic outcomes between different groups of residents and weak productivity growth.
Harrow council leader and chief executive have effectively represented Harrow at the board, and a council spokesperson highlights some of the following gains for Harrow:
Funding for skills and employment programmes like the Skills Escalator (totals up to £200k), which provides support for those with low incomes to gain better paid employment.
Funding for mental health and employment – mental health and employment trailblazer allocation to Harrow is £224,000.
The Adult Education Budget will be devolved from central government to the GLA and then to the sub-regions. Harrow is best positioned to benefit from this devolution.
Furthermore, the tendered Inward Investment programme will provide opportunities to benefit from work that Harrow cannot fund itself.
The inward investment strategy is to help attract investors and international/multi-national businesses to West London and establish West London as an internationally credible inward investment location and support for local West London businesses that want to expand their operations or engage with trade opportunities abroad.

Harrow council meeting on 30 November 2017 noted that the Harrow East MP, Bob Blackman, has recently hosted an event at the UK Parliament where the keynote speaker was Mr Tapan Ghosh, who has written articles that are regarded by many in the Harrow community (and elsewhere) as anti-Muslim.
The council rightly resolved that:
‘To instruct the Chief Executive to write to Bob Blackman MP, condemning the visit of Tapan Ghosh and reaffirming that Harrow is one of the most diverse places in the UK, where hate speech is not tolerated;
To instruct the Chief Executive to write to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, calling on him to condemn the visit of Tapan Ghosh and to discourage hate speech in public institutions (such as the UK Parliament).’
The Times reported  that Harrow East MP Bob Blackman hosted in parliament an anti-Muslim extremist who has called for the UN to control the birth rate of Muslims, praised the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Burma, and said Muslims should be forced to leave their religion if they come to a western country.
Bob Blackman, a Conservative member of the communities and local government committee, hosted Tapan Ghosh, an Indian Hindu-nationalist, in the Commons during an event called “Tolerating the Intolerant”.
Mr Blackman’s ongoing divisive politics, playing on sectarian issues, has been consistently condemned

Paul Walker (photo) is the new corporate director community, responsible for housing, environment and culture as well as commissioning and commercial services.
Mr Walker has joined Harrow from North West England – previously having been chief executive at Copeland borough council among other roles.
Describing his experience in Harrow so far, Mr Walker told the Harrow Monitoring Group, “In these first few weeks I’ve had such a warm welcome from all the Harrow people I’ve met – and they’ve been kind in taking the time to help me better understand this place”.
“What strikes me every time is the commitment people have for Harrow and the Council. It’s an exciting time and I’m enjoying it” Mr Walker said.
Mr Walker is seeing himself the front line services the council delivers to the local community – be it parks, libraries, highways, the refuse service or the commercialisation work.
His open invitation to residents is “If you see me out and about, please do stop and say hello and let me know your views”.
It can only be good that such an experienced and dedicated senior manager has joined Harrow council which has some serious environmental and crime issues.
Although the fly-tipping in Harrow is not as high as in some other London boroughs, like Newham, it is a matter of real concern and more so in the parts of the borough which have short-term private rented accommodation or unlicensed houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).
The other concerning matter is the serious crimes in Harrow, including fatal knife crimes, more in certain parts of the borough, which reflects badly on the effectiveness of the authorities concerned.

While Ealing and Hillingdon do, the Harrow clinical commissioning group does not provide an opportunity for Harrow pharmacists to broaden their scope in the community through minor ailment scheme.
The aim of the Minor Ailment Service (MAS) is to support the provision of direct pharmaceutical care on the NHS by community pharmacists to members of the public for some common illness.
The pharmacist are able to assess patient’s medical needs, give advice, suggest medicines if appropriate, and refer the patient to a GP if necessary – medicines as part of a minor ailment scheme are on the NHS.
Access to MAS at chemists is much easier, and could avoid chasing GP appointment and long queues  at the walk-in centres.
Commenting on the Brent and Harrow MAS situation, Michael Levitan, chief executive of the Middlesex Group of Local Pharmaceutical Committees, posed a question “why there is no service commissioned to divert patients needing reassurance, advice and simple remedies (particularly for children) away from GP surgeries, Urgent Care Centres and A&E departments, even though these outlets are overwhelmed at times by ever-increasing demand?”
“The average cost of a transaction under a MAS is a fraction of the cost of a patient turning up elsewhere” Mr Levitan pointed out.
In Harrow, like elsewhere, the Harrow CCG has the commissioning responsibilities but with a difference that the walk-in centres and some GP practices seem to be more represented at the Harrow CCG level  and are commissioned for the sort of MAS that the pharmacies could provide – also read about the conflict of interest  [1], [2].
Not only the Harrow CCG but Harrow council also seems to be favouring the walk-in centres – for example, very recently Harrow council being a part of the West London Economic Prosperity Board, has requested £ 300,000.00 for Harrow Belmont Health Centre through the West London Bid.
We glen serious concerns from the local pharmacists that far from having the opportunity to broaden their scope in the community, there are instances of taking away some of the services they provided, ‘a systematic process to phase out independent and small pharmacies’.
Next time someone knocks on the door for votes, please ask them to support local   pharmacies!

Although the fly-tipping in Harrow is not as high as in some other London boroughs, like Newham, it is a matter of real concern and more so in the parts of the borough which have short-term private rented accommodation or unlicensed houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).
“It’s a shame to see fly-tipping happening more than ever in Harrow – as well as making the place look terrible, it encourages rats and crime” says the opposition leader councillor Paul Osborn.
A council manager pointed out  that they don’t get the “big fly tips as used to occur, but much more ad hoc bags, including  side waste as bins are full (for example for bins around flats or because HMOs have more people than they should and not have enough bins in place).”
Much 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 and 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.
“The Council need to listen to residents and respond quickly. We need Harrow to be a clean place that is safe for everyone to live and work in” says Cllr Paul Osborn.
Councils have been given new powers to fine people up to £400 for ‘smaller’ offences but need evidence (such as CCTV recording) that the person actually ‘dumped’ the item in the location.
Harrow council investigates fly tips amongst other aspects of anti-social behaviour, using  range of powers including cautions, prosecutions and fixed penalty notices but they seem to rely more on trying to catch offenders in the act.
There are more effective means to detect fly-tipping and enforce against it.  For example, in South Derbyshire surveillance works appear to have been an effective deterrent. They adopted the use of inconspicuous, highly mobile surveillance cameras to help with fly-tipping enforcement work – as a result they have recently caught a number of waste offenders.
“Enforcing against fly-tipping should pay for itself when managed properly” said Cllr Paul Osborn.
Another way to discourage the fly tips is the well publicised use of the DNA found on litter to create a photo-fit picture of the alleged culprits which may not identify specific individuals but narrow down the search and will be enough to make people think twice about littering.
Whether it is cutting-edge DNA profiling or covert surveillance, online naming and shaming or conscience-pricking children’s artwork, residents look at the council to find more and effective ways to stop dumping and littering.

It is difficult to keep pace with the falling leaves at this time of the year.
We know that fallen leaves were collected from this street (photo) in Greenhill ward very recently but in days dried leaves started piling up, giving rise to the resident concerns that the piles pose fire hazard.
We reported this to the council. Within 20 minutes the leaves were collected and we received the following complimentary photo  – great response from the council team.
Well done! 

The number of children living in poverty will soar to a record 5.2 million over the next five years as government welfare cuts bite deepest on households with young families, research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies predicts.
Well controlled child poverty rate under Labour, according to the IFS, is now set to increase by seven percentage points to 37% over the next five years.
The IFS said freezing benefits, the introduction of universal credit and less generous tax credits would mean a surge in child poverty and that the steepest increases would be in the most deprived parts of the country.
What happens in macro, does happen in micro, and Harrow situation is equally concerning – also see our related article ‘Two kingdoms’ situation in Harrow!
Although child poverty has never been high on the agenda in Harrow since the Act came into force in 2010, the reality is that child poverty levels in Harrow are 19% before housing costs (BHC) and rise to 29% after housing costs (AHC) and vary according to the profile of the wards in the borough, highlights the  Harrow council’s Strategy And Action Plan 2017 – 2020.
The child poverty is bigger in some of the more deprived areas, for example Roxbourne 28% BHC and 42% AHC, and is more noticed in new arrivals and those with large families, low skills and health problems.
The unemployment rate in the borough  varies, according to the action plan: above London levels in Wealdstone and Marlborough.
Low wages is another issue that impacts child poverty. Wages paid in Harrow (£489) in 2014 were below the national average of £523.30 and considerably lower than London’s average of £660.50.

Unceremonious ending of  Priti Patel’s cabinet position was quick and welcomed but of course not by some of her supporters who politicise that her sack could damage Israel and British relationships!
Harrow East MP Bob Blackman raised a question at the Commons: ‘is there not a need to clarify the position for ministers visiting particular countries whether the foreign office or department for international development is informed?’
In other words, trying to defend international development secretary Priti Patel for the ambiguities in disclosing her recent secret activities in Israel, as if she didn’t know who to tell because of the lack of clarity about who to inform to!
In view of the political mess that discredited Ms Patel has created, she can’t be directly supported, not even by her close associates like Mr Blackman.
Harrow-born Ms Patel is no stranger to Harrow Conservatives and shows remarkable political similarities with the divisive MP Mr Blackman.
Having calculated their support, both were in the forefront of welcoming right-wing Modi to the UK. Both work for political gain by working closely with the Conservatives Friends of Israel as well as with the Conservative Friends of India.
Mr Blackman, closely campaigned with Ms Patel to leave EU for being ‘extremely positive about the prospects of our nation forging closer partnerships with countries like India, Israel’. Ms Patel probably played significant part in achieving such relationships, given her pertinent position and that she has too often used the department to prop up her personal networks and leadership ambitions.
Priti Patel MP resigned (really sacked) from her job over her secret meetings in Israel, breaking the ministerial code,  undermining British foreign policy and damaging the integrity of British international development policy.  She suggested that money should be given to support ongoing ‘humanitarian operations’ by the Israeli army in the occupied Golan Heights.
Well reported evidence indicates that Ms Patel meetings were not ad hoc. At 13 out of a total of 14 meetings with Israeli officials, she was accompanied by Lord Polak, a lobbyist and a leading member of Conservative Friends of Israel.
Ms Patel’s close associate Mr Blackman is also an officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel.
Mr Blackman would no doubt miss Ms Patel position of influence in developing his vote bank – his  majority was slashed from 4,757 in 2015 to 1,757 in 2017.