By-Election looms, a Violent Crime Strategy, City Hall visit and Hibs win again!

On the wider politician front Peter "Mandy" Mandelson is back and clearly the Press love it as the man they love to hate is back in the front line.

I was surprised by the decision but peter is a good organiser and motivator and will be very helpful to Gordon Brown and to the Labour Government is keeping us on track up to the next Election.

Talking about Elections we have the Rotherhithe By-Election on Thursday and I will be up there on the day. I hope that loyal Simon Hughes voters there will think twice now that the Lib Dems and Tories have been become an indistinguishable lump both at local and now national levels and think about the consequences of having the Tories running the Town Hall, City Hall and No. 10! A truly frightening thought for anyone!! Kath Whittam is a great candidate and would be a great Councillor representing Rotherhithe so good luck to her!
I met Lib Dem Exec Member for Community Safety, Paul Kyriacou on Wednesday at his request to talk about a cross party approach to violent crime. I have a lot of time for Paul and he suggested a Summit before Christmas to come up with some clear objectives. Strangely enough we came up with the same idea at our Southwark Labour Party Conference last month where I Chaired a workshop on Community Safety. I have to say I was a bit surprised when he suggested that this would lead to the development of a violent Crime Strategy for Southwark, something we have repeatedly called for at Council Assembly(4 times!) and which has been rejected by the Lib Dems and Tories!

We will of course support a cross party position on violent crime as it is too important or party politics to get in the way off but I think can justifying point out that this should have started 2 years ago as we suggested!

Some recent good news on the Community Safety front with 55 new Police Officers for the Borough and £700K extra money given to Southwark from the Government. If we can work cross party on this then hopefully we can ensure that these extra resources are used to their best effect!

Some good news on the Camberwell regeneration front with money from English Heritage being agreed over the next 3 years with match funding (could mean £200K each year!) to improve the shop frontages and the overall appearance of the Town centre. Also significant money from TfL to spend in the Town Centre and a £400K bid to the Mayor of London to improve Camberwell Green. If this all comes through we could make significant improvements in Camberwell over the next 3 years, this alongside the potential redevelopment of Camberwell Leisure Centre, further development plans for Butterfly Walk and the Community Council's continuing CGS Projects there is a lot to be positive about. It also comes during a major Scrutiny looking at Camberwell Regeneration so I feel very positive about the future of Camberwell and that all of our efforts over the past 15 years may be starting to pay off!

On Thursday Val Shawcross hosted a Camberwell Community event in City Hall which was extremely successful and we must make it a regular event! I even spotted Boris on his bike leaving City Hall at 7.30pm! I was impressed that he was working late but he had just "sacked" Sir Ian Blair so probably had quiet a busy day! It was a crass politically motivated decision and is a clear indication of what we can expect from Boris and his "Tory Boy" gang who are now terrorising everyone at City Hall!!

Great result for Hibs yesterday with Derek "Riordinho" Riordan scoring twice to beat Aberdeen 1-2 at Pittodrie! He is still not fully match fit but really showing his quality and he may be the best Hibs buy for some years! It was also a brilliant performance from Yves Ma-Kalamby who made 4 outstanding saves to keep us in the match so things are picking up at Easter Road and we are now up to 4th place in the SLP! Next Week it is Scotland against Norway at Hampden in a vital World Cup Qualifier, we need a win!

Finally I am up in Edinburgh and mum is recovering well after getting out of Hospital on Wednesday. Many thanks for the best wishes and I will be back in harness on Wednesday!

Time on the Wyndham and Comber Estate, Freshers Fair and Hibs lose to Rangers

I spent a fair bit of time on the Wyndham and Comber Estate in the Ward this week. Starting with a Fun Day on Saturday to open the new Basketball court and to consult on the CGS Project to change the frontage of the Tenants Hall.
On the Monday I went on an early morning Estate Walkabout with Harriet on the Estate and afterwards met local residents to discuss their concerns locally and nationally!
Last night I attended the Wyndham and Comber T&RA AGM so they cant say that they only see me at election time!!!

This model of an Estate walkabout with a meeting afterwards is a really positive initiative that we plan to repeat across all of the Estates in Camberwell Green hopefully with Harriet as she is a very positive asset for us!

Good news on the home front with mum likely to get out of hospital on Friday so I shall be going up for the weekend to help dad out when she gets home. I am relieved that she is geting better!

The New Academic Year at London Met is underway and I was manning the Freshers Fair Stand as usual this week at City with the second one tomorrow at North.
I really enjoy meeting the new students although a bit tiring on the knees after being on my feet all day!
Hibs lost 0-3 to a very good Rangers team at home on Saturday and I watched it on Setanta. The score flattered Rangers and Hibs midfield and attack played well for most of the game but our defence still looks vulnerable and at times we looked very slow and flat!! Still not a bad performance but we play Celtic next!

I was at home yesterday watching the Gordon Brown Speech live at the Labour Party Conference, the first time I have done that for some years.
I was very impressed with him and I know "I would say that would not I" but I thought that it was very genuine and sincere and very clearly setting out to the membership and the Country why he is the best man for the job!
I was pleased that he attacked the Tories and our key message is really to go out and give people the stark alternative, right wing Tories (or Lib Dems for that matter!) or continue to support us through the tough times ahead to come out the other end stronger!
Comparing his speech to the whining nonsense of Nick "Cameron Lite" Clegg is not even worth talking about and I do hope that Cameron will now come under closer scrutiny as the press now see him as a possible PM, then we may see a different press and public reaction!
All in all the right speech at the right time! Forget all the conspiracies and get on with running the Country!
The timing of Ruth Kelly's announcement is strange to say the least and suggests that there are still some malcontents in the Party who care more about their own interests that that of the wider Party and Country. I do hope they are held to account by their Constituencies!! Now is the time to shut up!!!

I have been doing a fair bit of deputising this week and attended the Southwark Alliance Meeting on Monday which had a seminar on "Worklessness". I found it a really useful and positive day with some of the key players in the Southwark sitting around a table talking about some of the key issues facing local people!
A really worthwhile enterprise!

On a personal level my mum is in hospital with pneumonia and my dad and sister are going in to see her every day but I will probably go up to help dad out when she gets home. These are the times when you really do feel far from home and a biot useless!!

Hibs beat a very good Hamilton team 0-1 on Saturday but it was really Derek Riordan's return and fantastic winning goal that stole the headlines.
He was only on the pitch for a minute an scored with a brilliant placed shot in the corner with his first touch of the ball!! All good news and also a good defensive performance. Rangers are next with Celtic and Hearts around the corner! To be honest Hibs are now settling down and do look good so maybe my pessimism at the start of the season may be a bit excessive!