Tory campaign backlash!

Hirani2The voters question the seriousness of the Tory candidate for the Kenton East by-election on 20 April as well as the basis of Tory campaign – party or religion (photo).
Tory candidate Nitesh Hirani, headhunted for increasing Tory share of votes, has no track record of any socio-political interests in Harrow other than a local temple, confirmed by his introductory leaflet.
Moreover, his ‘plan’ in  the leaflet done by the Conservative Campaign Headquarters in central London who have no idea of the local issues, shows some bones that have no chance of having any meat – even if elected, he will only be subsumed in an ineffective opposition Tory group that is not taken seriously.
For example, how he could keep the council tax low when the Tory group has no real understanding of budget making and has failed to present a shadow budget.
The questionable  position of the Tory candidate is well supplemented by Bob Blackman MP (Con), nurtured by the same Harrow East Conservative Association, who continues to play divisive games, this time to influence the outcome of this by-election in Harrow East.
Mr Blackman’s visits to India and Indian high commissioner in London, helped by his assistant who is an Indian-held Kashmir activist, have dramatically increased and he has even colluded with the fake news regarding his activities.
Publicity seeking Mr Blackman claims that he speaks on behalf of “Hindus” – a “majority” of his constituents.
What Mr Blackman says is insulting. Like anyone else, we are far more concerned about British issues like austerity measures, NHS crisis, adverse impact of Brexit and increased far right ideology. He has failed to represent our real concerns” said Jaiya Shah, chairman Harrow Council for Justice, who lives in the Harrow side of Kenton and is a long-standing active member of the community that Mr Blackman claims to represent.
All this does not present a positive picture of Tory politics in Harrow and raises a serious question about their electability.

Condition of Harrow streets now!

Having heard different stories about the condition of some Harrow streets and areas, we wanted to test water and carried out sample check of the street conditions and area appeal, particularly in the wards neglected pre 2010 under Cllr Hall’s environment watch, resulting in shabby outlook.
The photographic evidence (video below) suggests that Harrow council has made impressive progress in uplifting the previously dull and depressing areas.
(Click the play button to play – fullscreen by clicking the fullscreen button – bottom right – last)

 

Overall, Harrow is now clean and tidy – most areas are almost litter-free.
In many cases, road surfaces and pavements have also been renewed, presenting pleasant and calm atmosphere.
Although Harrow environment has improved a lot since 2010, there are challenges like the random fly-tipping and condition of streets in some parts of South Harrow.

Positive rating for another council care home

Care homeHarrow council’s Roxborough Park care home for eight people with autistic spectrum disorder and learning disabilities has been rated “good” by Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The CQC inspects and regulates care and medical services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety.
This care home in the Greenhill ward was inspected by CQC in February this year.
The inspection report published on 27 March 20127 says that the care home staff demonstrated a genuine caring attitude towards people and ensured their dignity and privacy.
Risks to people who used the service were assessed and robust risk management plans ensured a consistent approach from all staff involved in peoples care, the report acknowledges.
The reports informs that the quality of care was reviewed and monitored frequently to ensure that the quality of care was not compromised.
The inspection positively noted that the service did not receive any complaints since last inspection in February 2015.
A Greenhill councillor who has visited the care home is very pleased with the inspection judgement: “on my visit I was really impressed by the caring and thoughtful attitude of the staff.  So I’m delighted with the CQC inspection rating” said Cllr Sue Anderson.

Harrow East MP questioned about employing his wife

In view of the forthcoming new rules restricting MPs from employing spouses or relatives, Stephen Nolan from BBC radio5alive interviewed Harrow East MP Bob Blackman about employing his wife to run his office having never faced an interview.
Mr Blackman badly waffled throughout the interview, including in answering the following questions:

“You have been handed public money and you are a closed shop for that one position?”
“You are saying that there is no one better than your wife in whole country” for the job?
Regarding his wife’s salary between £35-45 thousands, “who decides whether she is worth £35, 000 or £45,000 – her husband?”
Concluding remark: “Public taxes are paying for your wife and husband decides whether she is worth £35,000 or ££45,000?”

NBMr Blackman hopelessly argued that he was advised to employ “whoever you choose” and that they don’t care about equal opportunities.
Regarding employing his ‘staff’, there are also concerns about his controversial assistant who appeared from nowhere and has seemingly overtaken his wife in politics.
On the financial front, media, including the Mirror, reported that Harrow East Tory MP Bob Blackman was ordered to repay more than £1,000 in wrongly-claimed mileage expenses.
All this, along with an ineffective Tory opposition group on the council, does not give a positive picture of Tory politics in Harrow.

Kenton East by-election dirty politics – Harrow East MP must condemn fake news

Following the crushing defeat at the Roxbourne by-election few weeks back, Tories are desperate to show improvement at the Kenton East by-election.
A fake news is circulating in India and brought to Harrow through tweets etc that an early day Commons motion sponsored by the Harrow East MP Bob Blackman (the only signatory) supporting India and condemning Pakistan regarding the Kashmir region, has been debated and passed by the Commons, even creating a visual illusion of a Commons debate  where Theresa May viciously speaking for the motion (no sound)!!
The motion has never been moved, debated or resolved nor this is likely to happen.
bb10Bob Blackman has not issued any correcting statements to Indian press despite that his assistant, an Indian controlled Kashmir activist and a Queensbury ward candidate who claims to have an Indian journalist background, is well connected with the Indian news outlets.
Not only this, but Bob Blackman has been colluding with the fake news based tweets from India, most probably by the friends of his assistant, by retweeting these without any mention that the news has been faked.
The plot
March, 22: Bob Blackman reported his meeting with the Indian high commissioner in London.
March, 23: Bob Blackman signs the early day Commons  motion re ‘annexation of Gilgit-Baltistan by Pakistan’ in a show of support for India, most probably to influence the outcome of the Kenton East by-election.
March, 25: the fake news was pumped to India and was reported as “A motion was passed in the British Parliament condemning Islamabad’s announcement declaring Gilgit-Baltistan as its fifth frontier, saying the region is a legal and constitutional part of Jammu and Kashmir”.
To prove his decency and integrity, Bob Blackman must publically condemn the fake news revolving around him and implicating not only the Commons but also the prime minister.

‘Divisiveness’ and ‘fake news’ hit Harrow East

At the time when serious efforts are being made to enhance national unity, Harrow East Conservative Association nurtured Bob Blackman MP (Con), who has seemingly calculated his votes, continues to play divisive game, this time most probably to influence the outcome of the Kenton East by-election in Harrow East.
He tabled an Early Day Motion (1107) on 23 March 2017, condemning Pakistan about Gilgit-Baltistan as its Fifth Frontier, asserting that the area is part of the Indian controlled Jammu and Kashmir.
Kashmir is a legacy of the British Empire and a long standing divide line between India and Pakistan relationships, needing a harmonious and sensitive approach by the global community to resolve the matter.
The motion signed only by Mr Blackman has not been debated nor it is likely to be discussed as very few EDMs are actually debated or have any legislative effects.
But an Indian electronic media (India Today)* carried a fake news on March 25, 2017 that the British Parliament has declared Gilgit-Baltistan belongs to India and it called the construction of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as illegal.
No surprise about such a mischievous and false news or the resulting  misleading celebratory tweets from India, but what is most concerning is that Mr Blackman has retweeted many of these (example) rather than condemning the false reporting.bb5bb2
Mr Blackman’s visits to India and Indian high commissioner in London have dramatically increased since he found his assistant Lakshmi Kaul who is an Indian-held Kashmir activist with her own agenda*she is no stranger to India Today either.
Previously Mr Blackman has actively sided with the negativities associated with Brexit campaign and the last London Mayor election.
He is also well known to give a sense of stirring up emotions for votes by taking side with international situations like India-Pakistan tension.  No one recalls such underhand practices by any previous Harrow MPs.
Harrow is  proud of its good communal relationships and would like to keep it this way, for example by leaving India and Pakistan situations at the appropriate international level rather than bringing it to Harrow by any political groups and stirring up emotions for political gains.

Pinner Wood School closed!

Pinner woodIn a sudden move, Harrow Council has announced the closure of the school in Latimer Gardens, Pinner for health and safety reasons.
The geotechnical surveys found an unacceptable risk that the ground beneath the school buildings and playgrounds could become unstable and unsafe, due to the condition of very recently discovered chalk mine tunnels below.
During the summer holidays of 2015, a 3 metres wide and 1 metre deep hole unexpectedly opened up in the tarmac of the staff car park.
The Council and school made the area safe and commissioned specialist professionals to analyse the causes of the hole. They determined that the hole was situated on top of an old, disused shaft. The material used historically to backfill that shaft, they concluded, had only been loosely compacted and had subsided – creating a hole.
The school’s 596 children between the ages of 3 and 11 will be relocated to other educational settings in Harrow in time for pupils’ schooling to resume at the start of the Summer Term.
Council  hopes that they will be able to stabilise the ground and return the site to a safe condition but they have warned that “It may, however, be the case that it is not economically feasible to restore the ground and that the school may never reopen in its current form on its current site”.

NHS underfunding biting – Harrow CCG in dire situation – implications for health care

The NHS Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) meeting behind closed doors is considering its Initial Budgets and Financial Plan 2017/18 which presents most concerning picture.
The CCG, which works closely with Harrow Council on health and social care issues, is responsible for planning and buying (commissioning) many of the health services needed by the 239,100 people who live in Harrow.
Key points of the part II report before the CCG governing body are:  an in-year deficit of £21.2m for 17/18; to deliver £17.5m of QIPP (net of the budget review) and that to deliver a recurrent surplus of 1%, a further £21.3m of QIPP will be required in 18/19.
The Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) programme is a large-scale programme developed by the Department of Health to make huge ‘efficiency savings’.
The Harrow CCG is not solvent from inception and has been bailed out each year with support from NW London.
The level of cuts means that residents will have rationed care and London Northwest Hospital trust, which has a big deficit, will also be badly affected.
Payments to practices would be significantly scaled down to stay within the overall savings budget, meaning serious implications for the quality of patient care as GPs would provide services that fit within the limits of the money they get.
They will also be more concerned about meeting their prescribed indicators. For example, the GP practices will need to achieve the antimicrobial prescribing indicators and participate in the wider National Diabetes Audit (some Harrow practices already have concerning Care Quality Commission reports).
Irrespective of the budgetary decision, given the Harrow CCG’s significant role in health care at these challenging times, it requires robust leadership to demonstrate how well the CCG will commission, contract for, implement service changes and come out with the required equalities and clinical impact assessment of the proposed QIPP.
There appear reservations about the present leadership and management of the CCG. Seemingly not entirely happy Chief Operating Officer left last December and now an interim is in place. Previously we have reported shaky confidence in Harrow CCG transparency’ at the governing body level.
They cannot fudge the situation any more!

Council opposition not serious about housing crisis!

Harrow’s opposition Tory group leader Cllr Susan Hall attacks Labour London Mayor for approving plans to build 186 homes, of which 41 per cent will be affordable, in Palmerston Road, Wealdstone, saying that his tower blocks decision was “disrespectful” to people living nearby – Cllr Hall has a shop in the area.
The mayor Sadiq Khan who is prioritising building thousands of new homes a year to address the housing crisis in the capital, has previously expressed concern over a lack of affordable housing in Harrow.
It is very concerning that those playing planning2political point scoring, don’t know or don’t care about the housing needs in Harrow or what the people in temporary accommodations go through.
Such is the dire housing situation in Harrow that 700 households are in temporary accommodation and an additional 700 families on the waiting list for social housing.
There is a substantial gap in supply and demand for truly affordable accommodation in Harrow.
Whilst Harrow is building their own homes for the first time in over a decade, and is also buying homes in and outside borough for temporary accommodation, the demand continues to outweigh the supply. This significantly adds to the plight of the homeless.
For example, when someone turns down temporary accommodation offered, the council’s housing duty under the Homelessness Act 2002 ends without any real second chance, even if a property offered has been repeatedly refused by many, raising a question about its suitability.
The internal reviews mostly reject the reasons for refusing council’s offer, leading to ‘intentional’ homelessness.
The information received from the Harrow council, includes:
Toto

Now arena set for Kenton East!

Kenton East by-election called due to the sad death of Cllr Mitzi Green (Labour) will be held on 20 April 2017.
The Labour and Tory candidates for this marginal ward by-election, as we predicted, are likely to be Nish Patel, chairman Harrow East constituency Labour party and Nitesh Hirani, a temple activist member of the Conservative action team for Kenton East.
Tory share of votes was 35.7% compared with Labour’s 46.6% at the council election in 2014.
C2y7NNAW8AQhxkYKE1Drama has already started as one of the Kenton East Tory action team member Jagadish Vemuri (photos) has seemingly pulled out of the team and the Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) is now playing an active part in the campaign, like telephone canvassing
Although the Harrow East Conservative Association, covering Kenton East ward, is more organised than Cllr Hall influenced Harrow West, the failing factor remains common to both constituencies.
The Tory opposition group has not been taken seriously under Cllr Hall’s leadership, confirmed by the crushing defeat at the recent Roxbourne by-election.
People point out the political immaturity of the group in terms of: the group failed to present a shadow budget at the last Council meeting to enrich the financial decision making which they owed to the residents (read more by clicking here), and Cllr Hall’s childish conduct at the council meetings and social media.
Also, Cllr Hall has not come to terms with the much-needed affordable housing in Harrow and keeps attacking the London Mayor Sadiq Khan who understands the dire housing situation.