A wonderful article on the BBC website this morning stating that Newham Borough Council have asked Stoke on Trent council to “take-on” 500 families on housing benefit. I’m almost at a loss of where to start.

Newham. An area primed to benefit from the development surrounding the Olympic Games in London 2012. The area chosen for the Olympics was sold to the general populous because the bid team for London 2010 stressed that East London was in need of redevelopment. Click here to read a document from the Royal Geographic Society, reprinted from London 2012, detailing exactly what was demonstrated to the IOC, including some pictures of a fence and a burnt out car. How distressing.

In the “Why Stratford” section, there’s some interesting statistics, especially when compared to London in general;

Average wage in Stratford is £28,948.00 vs the average London wage of £37,073.00

Unemployment in Stratford is 7.8% of the population, vs 4.5% of the equivalent population in London.

Population density is again interesting. In Stratford? 68.8/ha – in London? 47.3/ha

(Source: The Royal Geographic Society).

Simply put, Straford is a densely populated, deprived area of the East End of London, lacking in investment and has been quite happily forgotten about for many years. So, how do we solve a problem like being inconvenienced by people who simply just either refuse to move out of London or stop being poor? After all, it’s their fault. Bingo! Let’s sell a dream of a utopian bliss, in the middle of city, helping the poor, increasing the fitness of fat kids everywhere. Jumpers for goalposts. Romantic images of poor East End families, unlocking the doors to their new redeveloped housing, affordable, comfortable and secure. Children running around freely, breathing fresh, clean air.

Perhaps I should leave it there. No? Ok, let’s look at the reality.

First up. The Olympic Park, specifically the Olympic Village for athletes. 2818 apartments in 11 residential plots. Complete with Spacious courtyards, balconies and gardens. Full details can be found from the official website. 

Another document from the main Olympic 2012 website prompts you to read further about what happens to these apartments after the athletes have vacated. Apart from considerable costs involves in transforming these from athlete apartments, they are being readied for “sale on the open market”

I should also point you towards the following document, already advertising the new E20 residential village post games.

http://www.eastvillagelondon.co.uk/default.aspx

Whilst a very brief mention is made of the transformation, including the development of 1,379 “affordable homes” – no documentation about how exactly these homes will be “affordable” is mentioned in any of the other documentation listed on any of the official sites;

“After the Games, the Olympic and Paralympic Village will be a lasting legacy of essential new housing for east London. It will be transformed into 2,800 new homes, including 1,379 affordable homes.”

How much would an average property cost in London, well connected to the City via the tube, and within scratching distance of an airport with excellent links to continental Europe (City Airport). Let’s have a cursory glance at the possibilities;

Here’s one  within view of the new Olympic Stadium. 2 Bedrooms, with balcony, currently on sale for just £349,950.00. So, with average mortgage deals offering 80% LTV at the moment, this will require a deposit of nearly £70,000.00. I would largely suggest that this will be out of the price range of many local families in the area – considering the demographic of the area.

What about rents? The cheapest two bedroom flat I could find in Stratford was £208 PER WEEK. This is a rent of £900PCM on average. So, again I would argue this is out of the means of most residents in the area, who may have lived there all their lives, put up with years of neglect, decline and suffering at the expense of investment in London being diverted elsewhere in the City. But now investment has arrived, the local population are seeming to be somewhat of an inconvenience.

Why is rent of £900 PCM unaffordable? So, let’s just take the average wage for a working person in this area according to the RGS statistics. An average wage of £28,948.00. Assuming this is one person, working, living on their own. So let’s break it down. Assuming it’s a gross figure. Net figure after tax and NI, let’s assume we’re working with around £1770.00 per month net income (source net salary calculator)

£1770.00 per month, less £900.00 for rent. Leaving a net income of around £870.00. We’ve then got to add council tax, fuel bills, transport costs, food costs etc before we can actually exist. Looking unlikely isn’t it? Sadly, it is highly unlikely that our average waged person won’t be able to claim housing benefit due to their salary. But what if they didn’t work and were able to claim housing benefit?

Let’s switch from Statford back over to The London Borough of Newham – the source for my original rant;

The maximum payment would be £400.00 for a 4 bedroom house. A 4 bedroom house. In London. Nice to see our politicians living in the real world. It’s slightly unfair to criticise Newham for attempting Social Cleansing. It’s simply an offshoot of the new policy. The sad decline in council housing (the right to buy scheme is a nice idea in principle – but reduces the actual housing stock for those who need it) has exacerbated the problem.

Just to clarify. A 4 bedroom house in London. Shall we see what the rent might be on the private market? Ok, since you ask nicely… Here’s the cheapest.  Currently on the market for £265.00 per week. That’s in the region of £1150.00 per month. Before bills, taxes etc. I would clarify that as unaffordable for the majority of Newham’s base demographic. Even with the £400.00 allowance, it leaves a deficit of £750.00 per month. This means the choice of getting in to extreme debt in order to live with your family, or simply to move to a more affordable area. So, is this classified as social cleansing? Quite possibly.

Why the changes and limitations for the cap in allowances? Well, in the words of our illustrious coalition government?

“The measures announced will provide a fairer and more sustainable Housing Benefit scheme by taking steps to ensure that people on benefit are not living in accommodation that would be out of the reach of most people in work, creating a fairer system for low-income working families and for the taxpayer. It will avoid the present situation where Housing Benefit recipients are able to live in very expensive properties in areas that most working people supporting themselves would have no prospect of being able to afford.

Housing Benefit expenditure has ballooned in the past 10 years, from £11 billion in 1999/2000 to £20 billion in 2009/10, in cash terms. Within this total, expenditure on working age recipients has increased from £7 billion to over £14 billion. Without reform, total expenditure is forecast to reach £25 billion by 2015/16, a further rise of 24 per cent. This is unsustainable in any economic climate, but the need to tackle the record deficit makes reform even more pressing.

The Government is clear that the overall cost of Housing Benefit must be controlled and constrained. The package of measures being introduced for the Local Housing Allowance in 2011/12, including the removal of the £15 excess planned by the previous administration, will achieve savings of around £1 billion by 2015/16. The other changes to Housing Benefit announced in the June Budget are estimated to save a further £1.1 billion in 2015/16. Overall, this represents a reduction of nine per cent in the total 2015/16 expenditure on Housing Benefit.”

Source – Department of Work & Pensions website.

I particularly like the section… “Housing Benefit expenditure has ballooned in the past 10 years”. So not only is it a sly dig at Labour and their so called excessive expenditure, but it’s also naive at best. It’s not like Labour decided to balloon housing benefit payments, they just realised that housing prices were also increasing at a similar rate and in order to provide the population with a base level of housing and quality of life (simple things like having a secure house to live in with your family – I do like our luxury lifestyle). But let’s not make this political. Or I’m in danger of getting on my high horse and going down the route that Labour simply inherited the extreme deficit of social housing stock from the Conservative Government they replaced. They attempted Social Cleansing in the 1980′s but it was too obvious.

This time, they’ve successfully managed to get it in through the back door and are forcing councils to do the dirty work for them. Like the case of Newham, where they have pleaded with to Stoke on Trent to take 500 families.

So, the solution to our economic problems, the massive inequalities in wealth, the huge London centric bias, long lasting Olympic redevelopment legacy is simply to price the undesirables out of the local market and relocate them to other local authorities in the UK where they might not cause quite such an inconvenience to those who might find such dirty and impoverished people a mere inconvenience to their otherwise perfect existence.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. By all means continue to vote Conservative. By all means continue to vote Liberal Democrat. By all means vote us out of the EU if you’d like – UKIP are telling you that they’re the great evil. Sad really, because many people seem to be falling for it. The Europeans aren’t the danger. Your Government is. Don’t get ill. Don’t lose your job and whatever you do, don’t stand up and complain. This is what you’ve wanted, yes? Let’s just hope it never happens to you, or a member of your family. It’s real, people. And it’s scary.

If your face doesn’t fit. You’re not coming in. The UK for sale. To the highest possible bidder.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure to meet someone I’ve engaged with on the twittersphere for a while now – namely @no1lindamason – we met at the Walsall Beer Festival. I find it odd when you meet people you are used to interacting with in the virtual domain. It’s easy to create a digital persona. Something in which you can hide behind should you need to do so. However, the best way I can describe meeting her, was like meeting an old friend.

Conversation was easy. The humour of the digital domain translated easily in to “real life”. As the conversation (and beer!) flowed along nicely, it suddenly dawned on me that the advent of the digital domain is not something to be feared, or joked about, or misunderstood, it’s simply a new way of breaking down boundaries and interacting with people. Simples, eh?

I got on my usual soapbox of how much I care about, and value, the local digital community in Walsall and the surrounding areas. People who are passionate about their communities (@wv11 and @brownhillsbob to name just two) – local councillors, police officers, activists, political commentators, local bloggers – just normal people, with a passion and a voice they wish to be heard. Some I agree with, some I don’t. As I’m sure many disagree with me. However, the shared vision for our communities, our friendships, our families and our environment cement a common bond. There are many I haven’t name checked – but I hope you know to whom I’ referring.

The digital domain, especially Twitter and even bloggers to some extent, get a bad rap. It’s almost a dirty secret. I make no secret of the fact that my relationship with my special someone, came about through our interactions together on Twitter. It was an environment in which our communication was facilitated by this particular media. This in turn, got me thinking. I have, in the past, felt slightly embarrassed about my blogging, or my interactions on social media. It’s almost “geeky” or “haven’t you got real friends?”… well, I count those with whom I interact with in the digital domain as real friends.

As much as the high street is changing, like the change in consumer spending habits, or how they wish to interact with companies, or retailers, towards a communications environment in which people feel at ease, the traditional way in which friendships are formed and communities changed, and value bought to people’s lives is changing.

I said last night, that I have gone through some dark times. I have survived some of these dark times with the physical friendship of those closest to me. However, I have also been encouraged, supported and made to smile by those I interact with in the digital arena. There shouldn’t be a distinction. There should only be people. A desire to change things for the better. To love. To support. To encourage. The environment in which this happens should not be restricted, or mocked, or written off.

What can sometimes be thought of as a throw away digital comment, can be just the right word that someone needs to hear at that particular moment in time. I can tell it’s true, it happened to me. Equally, some responsibility needs to be practiced. Communities can be ruined by a lack of responsibility. As much they can in the digital arena. Words tweeted can be just as powerful as words spoken.

These are just my musings for the benefit of the few. But to those I engage with and who take the time to engage with me – thank you for all your bring to my life. You don’t know the extent, I’m sure, but you do. You are great examples or society in action. Of concern. Of the right neighbourly attitude.

Thanks for reading. I look forward to our digital paths crossing again in the not too distant future.

First up. Walsall Manor.

Yes, it’s a beautiful new building. Car parking is nice an easy and, in all fairness, a not unreasonable cost for visitors on relatively short stays. The entrance is impressive. A nice Spar shop adorns part of the new foyer, along with a nice graphic displaying a calm and relaxing image. It reminded me somewhat of the entrance to a posh and modern office building. Calm receptionist sat behind a welcoming and calming desk in the middle of the foyer… escalators taking you to where you required to be. Various coffee shops and restaurants serving what I’m sure will be bland and overpriced caffeine based beverages… All very nice.

However, the prime function, I was led to believe, was that of caring for the sick. I should state that I’m very pro NHS and find criticising it a very difficult personal experience. My brother in law is a consultant, my sister has been involved in nursing all of her life. My mother was a ward sister at the old Birmingham General. I’ve been surrounded by doctors and nurses and the NHS for most of my life. I am passionate about it. I am passionate about free and accessible healthcare for all. I don’t think it’s too socialist, or communist, to have this expectation. I believe in a civilised society that it is a right. I am proud that we have it in the UK.

So, back to the Manor. My friend was admitted in agony. I’ve never seen him in so much pain. It was distressing to say the least. But the care he received on the ward was, from a distant visitor’s perspective, really quite remote. Despite his very obvious discomfort, pain relief was reticent at best. Yes, morphine is addictive. But, sometimes Paracetamol just doesn’t cut the mustard. Staff seemed stressed. Aggressive somehow. Almost annoyed that my friend was asking for care. He needed it. As, I would suggest, most people in hospital do. There were plenty of staff. Very few however seemed to be attending to patients, and their requirements for care.

As a concerned friend and visitor, hearing the stories first hand, it was remarkably frustrating. You want to scream! “He’s in pain! Help him – I’ve known him for a good number of years now and I’ve never seen him like this! Help him!!”.

It’s unfair of me to offer a first hand experience of the healthcare he received, but as a visitor and watching on through concerned eyes, it was unbelievably frustrating.

My second experience was that in Northampton General Hospital. Someone else close to me was rushed in to hospital on an emergency basis. After several invasive procedures and a complete lack of information being provided to her, an overnight stay later and she was discharged. Still in significant pain and still without a diagnosis to reassure her as to what had happened to her. “We’ll get you to see a neurologist” was the parting comment. Although no appointment was made, no follow up action points provided to her and no pain relief of prescriptions offered. A mysterious virus perhaps? An admission erring on the side of caution.

No.

24 hours later and I find myself in an ambulance accompanying her back to A&E in very significant pain. Unable to move the top half of her body and other very worrying symptoms. We find ourselves back in to A&E. “it’ll be ok, it’ll be classified as a failed discharge and they’ll admit you” was the casual comment from the (very good) paramedic who attended to us. A what? FAILED DISCHARGE? So, no diagnosis, no follow up action, we can’t figure it out, so off you go.

Ah, you’re still in agony and with very worrying symptoms? Ok. Back you come, I guess we’ll have to try and figure something out then, eh? After many tests later, a significant problem was identified. A leaking lumbar puncture (following on from one of the diagnostic tests performed whilst she was in their care earlier in the week). The lumbar puncture procedure wasn’t explained to her at the time of the procedure – the potential side effects or severity of the procedure wasn’t explained. So to be back in A&E 24 hours later with a leaking lumbar puncture and all the possible severity of the situation was frustrating to put it mildly. The person I care for so much was still is what only can be explained as agony.

The trip back to A&E was almost funny… “knock knock” – and with that, in walked a nurse to take blood pressure and bloods for testing. Half way through, “oh, actually, I’d better check you’re who I think you are…” and she disappeared out again. This was a sign of positivity. Back she came. And so this cycle was repeated several times. Despite her wearing a bracelet with name and personal details on it. Family and friends worried sick about her health and obvious pain.

Again, many familiar themes from my observations at the Manor rang true here. Lot’s of people running around, seemingly doing lots of things. Very few of them patient centric.

This is not a criticism of the nursing care that could be offered. It’s more a criticism of the obvious rigmarole of paperwork and administration required by everyone working in the profession.

Number 10 have recognised the problem. 

But with the forthcoming changes to the NHS, will this really change the problems?

An excellent document from the BMA details “what we know so far” – I’ll trust the BMA over any rhetoric spouted by the Con/Dem coalition. Do I think a “top down” reorganisation of the NHS wasn’t necessary, I’m not so sure, as the paperwork requirements and the “management” culture so prevalent in the NHS currently won’t have happened overnight. However, the current changes coming to the NHS as we know it bare little, if any resemblance to changing the level of healthcare provided to patients for the better. It simply serves at the ability for private companies to work within the framework of the current structure – this will not be for the benefit of patients. This will be for the benefit of the new providers – including stakeholders, shareholders and investors.

In much the same way that we’ve seen proposals for “private policing” being put forward, I fundamentally disagree that private companies, with the business model to which they adhere (return on investment for stakeholders), can offer any benefit to a service based industry.

Dig a little deeper past the soundbite culture being spoon fed from Number 10 and you’ll see that *this* top down re-organisation of the NHS is doing nothing to improve your experience of healthcare within the NHS. It’s doing nothing more than the systematic destruction of something we should be rightly proud of.

This isn’t to say it’s perfect. It isn’t. As my experiences of it have proved to me. But what it has done is fire my flames of frustration that the actual problems within the NHS aren’t being understood or addressed. Patients not paperwork. Dave, I couldn’t agree more. However, what you’re proposing to do bares no relation to the soundbite.

Mind you, when you can afford to pay for the best private healthcare around, why should it bother you?

Free, accessible healthcare for all. Patients. Not paperwork. Free up our nurses to do what they want to do. Care for patients. Remind yourself of what the original mission statement of the NHS actually was;

“It shall be the duty of the Minister of Health … to promote the establishment … of a comprehensive health service designed to secure improvement in the physical and mental health of the people of England and Wales and the prevention diagnosis and treatment of illness and for that purpose to provide or secure the effective provision of services …”

- quoted from the National Health Service Act 1946 and lifted from the Wikipedia entry relating to the same. 

But there’s nothing wrong with making a little profit along the way? Yes, there is. This is the health of nation you were elected to protect with your best efforts and intentions. The NHS isn’t perfect, agreed. But isn’t it time we demanded our politicians held up what they promise? Patients, not paperwork. It’s not rocket science. And it’s a not a move towards profiteering at the expense of a “blind eye” towards patient care.

Don’t let the Government you didn’t elect by majority rule ruin one of the crown jewels of this country. Make your voices heard. Make sure you vote in local council elections 

Reblogged from :

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OK… at last! Here is a track from the forthcoming album “5+2“. It’s a good one for Easter time – track 7, Amazing Love. If you like what you hear, please please please share it via Twitter and Facebook – you’re the promotion team… our only hope to get the word out! Tell your mates about it. Play it in your churches.

Read more… 35 more words

A very good friend of mine set out creating music to fuel his passion for all things related to contemporary Christian worship. The first results of which can be seen and heard in the clip on his blog. I was privileged enough to be asked to play bass on his songs - something I was proud to do. It's great to be able to play and work along side such talented musicians. It's even more of a pleasure to be able to share with you the first results of his musical endeavours. To those of you with no faith at this Easter time, I wish you a restful, relaxing and peaceful break away from the normal stresses and struggles of life. I hope you find it restful and have the opportunity to spend it in the company of family and friends. To those of you with faith and understand this special time of year for Christians, please enjoy the song and it's words. I am proud to have been a part of the musical side of things. To have the experience of creating something new, in the company of talented and valued friends. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy the track.

I seem to recall certain pledges being made in various pre-election manifestos.

The NHS.

Heathrow Runway 3.

Tuition Fees.

VAT increase.

Child Trust Fund.

Rail fare increases.

Being the “greenest Government ever” (Nucular Power Stations, removing of solar power subsidies and the change in legislation making it easier to object to wind farm proposals)

A wonderful, complete list can be found here;

http://www.councilwatchuk.co.uk/index.php/forum/NATIONAL-POLITICS/221-List-of-Condem-broken-promises.html

I have little more to add, other than the fact that people who look good on television debates are;

i) usually twats.

ii) not to be believed.

Bet you’re glad you voted these fuckwits in now, eh? Now that’s the irony. You probably didn’t. But we’ve lost our chance for electoral reform. On behalf of our media, half truths, spin, popularity contests being run in the media rather than actual ability and care for our society (especially those unfortunate enough not to have a trust fund to rely on) – I’d like to suggest we all look a bit deeper than the surface of our soundbite culture.

It’s time to take to the streets people. Don’t get old. Don’t get sick. Stop watching TV and MAKE SURE YOUR VOICE GETS HEARD.

Tweeted by the wonderful @jamesdclarke and popping up on my Twitter feed, a wonderful article by our beloved Express & Star – this time reporting, well, nothing. Linked below for your viewing pleasure…

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2012/03/08/multi-screen-cinema-is-planned-for-walsall/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

“Walsall Council chiefs are in negotiations with a cinema operator about the ambitious multi-million pound plans”.

First of all, let me start by being honest about who I am. I am not a town planner. I have no experience in town planning. I have no experience in any field relating to bringing investment to a town. I have no experience in local planning law, planning procedures, or local politics. It’s also right that I tell you who I am. I am a 35 year old resident of a town, failing it’s residents in a number of key areas, but seem to wish to cover this fact up by releasing absolute nonsense PR spin to our local press in order to cover up a complete lack of action.

Let’s dig in to this “story”;

“The potential site has not been revealed at this stage although a number of  areas have already been earmarked for redevelopment. These include the St  Matthews Quarter and Walsall Waterfront, where a hotel is now under  construction on part of the land.”

The areas of “redevelopment” earmarked in the town are not newsworthy. In fact, they’re blantantly obvious. Whether this line in the article is the fault of the council or just lazy journalism, I’m open to debate on, however St Matthew’s Quarter and the Walsall Waterfront are both quite obvious areas to highlight as redevelopment areas. St Matthew’s has had little, if anything, done to it since the fire that destroyed Shannon’s Mill in 2007. An article on Walsall Council’s website, last updated on the 5th December 2011, has listed plans to “… reinforce Walsall’s ambitious regeneration plans and contribute significantly to its re-emergence as a 21st century retail and leisure destination.”

The comedy of the post on Walsall Council’s website, also highlights that the plans are “…anticipated that the new scheme will have a combination of high quality restaurants and bars and is likely to include a cinema, with a definite appeal to a more mature market which will reflect the town’s increased and broad customer base.”.

Frankly, if I worked for a Council, or indeed a local newspaper wishing to align myself with the powers that be and I wanted to promote the regeneration of a town, which frankly, isn’t happening, then it would be quite easy for me to post something along the lines of (and let’s be straight, considerably more honest);

“you know that shit bit of town? The one destroyed by fire nearly 5 years ago? The bit that’s rotting away and we’re pretending doesn’t exist? Well, we might put a cinema there. Or some shops. Or some bars. Or maybe a Starbucks. Maybe not. But it would be nice if we did, eh? Have a look at this pretty picture to show what it *could* look like. There, don’t you feel better now?”.

The article in the E&S continues to say that “both sites [waterfront and St Matthew's Quarter] are likely to come under consideration”.Well, who’ve thought? The shambles that is the Waterfront development, which is currently a mish mash of frankly ugly looking flats on one side, a construction site for a new hotel and a car park on the other, and the neglected St Matthew’s Quarter. Two, large, frankly derelict areas of the town. Again, meaningless in the context of the story. Errrrm, if I was going to pick a couple of places that people can see that aren’t being used, what would they be? Ah yes, we have two large areas in the town centre currently rotting away. Let’s choose those.

Additionally, to my horror, I read that people are currently having to go through the chore of travelling either to Bentley, or Cineworld in Wednesfield. Both are areas well connected by public transport from the centre of Walsall. Will putting another multi-screen cinema in the centre of Walsall really be the saviour of our failing town centre? I have my doubts.

I’d really like to know if we’ve had, you know, basic stuff, like feasibility studies, market research in to the need for a town centre cinema, research statistics on useage of the current facilities at Bentley and Wednesfield. How about asking the residents of Walsall what we’d actually want? Rather than putting something large, possibly unncessary but seemingly obligatory for “redevelopment” areas?

Call me out of touch, or outdated if you will, but creating a “21st century retail and leisure destination” is going to take more than convincing an “unamed” cinema operator to work with an “unamed” developer to re-develop land in a failing and neglected town centre. Or perhaps this is just me being naive. Or negative as I’m sure many people will think when reading this. Why don’t I support the town I live in, more? Why don’t I get behind these schemes and help promote Walsall?

Walsall is a great place full of great people, let down by a town council and established press who seem happy to reguritate the same old useless “none news” crap whilst doing precisely bugger all. What happens to the existing retail locations in our town centre when this proposed redevelopment takes place? For example, St Matthew’s Quarter becomes the new 21st century retail and leisure destination in the town. Will our economy and infrastructure support the existing retail locations such as Crown Wharf, or the Sadlers Centre? Or will a new, shiny development just encourage retailers in those existing locations to relocate, based on the incentives that developers will offer to fill vacant retail units? Cue same old problems, just moved to a new location.

We have bigger problems in Walsall and PR spin from the E&S and our local authority is doing nothing to solve them.

I am proud of Walsall, which is why I’m so passionate about it’s future and so angry about the hype leading to mediocrity and compromise. Ask the people of this town, we’ll give you the answers that you probably don’t want to hear but in the longer term will work out for the better. Stop trying to be every other generic, failing town int he country and start being creative. Together could we not create a town centre we could all be proud of?

Thanks for reading. At least the Overstrand has gone.

Here’s some articles for background reading;

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-03-02/europe/31115903_1_police-force-private-sector-private-firms

And here’s the Guardian article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/02/police-privatisation-security-firms-crime

Just where do we start here?

Rather than lift from the Guardian Article, here’s another page from the Guardian detailing extracts from the letter sent to potential bidders to run services that can be “legally delegated to the private sector”.

In this document, the following services can be tendered out to private companies; but it’s worth noting that this list is preceded by a note, usually added for the purposes of press officers who would like to get out of answering difficult questions or dodging annoying questions from journalists asking why we’re about to privatise our police force. Sorry, service.

“Bidders should note that not all [of] these activities will necessarily be included in the final scope, and that each Police force will select some activities from these areas where they see the best opportunities for transformation. A revised version of the PAG [Police Activity Glossary] is as follows”

* Assure Service “manage performance, maintain professional standards, assure compliance, manage risk, provide legal services”.

* Bring Offenders To Justice “investigate crimes, detain suspects, non-judicial disposal, develop cases, support prosecution“.

* Deal With Incidents “Respond to incidents, manage scenes of incidents, investigate incidents, manage major incidents, support victims and witnesses“.

* Manage Public Engagement “Patrol neighbourhoods, manage public relations, manage customer relationships, report on performance, manage contact”.

There are several others, but another section in particular concerns me greatly;

* Protect the public “Manage high risk individuals, improve communities, protect vulnerable people, disrupt criminal networks, manage planned operations, protect vulnerable places, manage licensing, manage road safety”.

I have underlined and highlighted in bold those in which I particularly wanted to address in what is a very simple blog post written by a general member of the public. Firstly, and I think it’s important, this is not the redistribution of the work currently being undertaken by one organisation to another, whilst continually being funded in the same manner. This is the privatisation of key work undertaken by our police service to an outside agency working for profit << click on the word for a definition from Wikipedia.

The simple and short response from me about this, is that the the attractive areas of police work will be well financed, supported and well run. The non-attractive areas of police work will be left to, what will remain after this privatisation has taken place, a hugely under-resourced, under-funded, under-staffed police force. Sorry, service.

So, let’s put massive and unprecedented cuts in place in our police force, then “create” jobs in the private sector. Thus eliminating public sector pensions, the public wage bill and so on and so forth. Call my cynical why don’t you. Equally, as these jobs will then be for profit (and sorry, I don’t buy the possible argument that this will be a service based not-for-profit operation), only the areas which can yield the best returns (the most affluent areas), or the easiest results (highest conviction rate) will be targeted. Resources for the long term goal will not be invested, as immediate results will not be visible or realised.

This is the nature of the private sector. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-private sector. I work in the private sector. I understand profit, loss, investment, ROI etc. It’s why I am so anti it in our public services. Unfortunately, we do not live in a country of equals. We do not live in equal communities, equal societies etc. We have areas in which wealth distribution is hugely unfair – none more demonstrably visible than across the WMP region. So, how do the private sector suggest that they operate within these confines? This whole thing smacks of policing for those communities who are able to pay for it. It’s nothing personal, it’s just a simple fact and sadly, the thin end of the wedge.

How can I paraphrase it? Let’s have a go… “we’ve told the electorate that Labour spent too much on the public sector but we don’t want to admit to anyone the real cost of that privilege to which we have all been accustomed. They just overspent. Ah crap, that’s actually how much it costs? Ok, let’s tell everyone that we CAN provide the same service for less money but do it by getting ride of the half of the public sector, complete with the associated pension costs, then re-employing the same people, to do the same job, for less money, less security, lower pensions but without the associated risks to central Government, a Government elected by the people to represent the people”.

Hey presto! We can claim to have reduced the cost burden of the public sector. We can claim to have created vast swathes of private sector growth and job creation. The fact being, the jobs are the same jobs that they ever were, but being paid less. Net result? Less jobs, less money circulating it’s way around the economy and therefore less growth of a meaningful figure.

Meanwhile, we’ve forgotten to do anything about the financial institutions who are really the ones generating the wealth for this country. Or so you’d believe. In fact, they have to, because the myth you’re all falling for about it being Labour and the public sector costing you your ability to go on your all inclusive holiday to the Bahama’s this year, or to buy your new Lexus, is exactly that. A myth. It’s the same jobs, for the same people – for less money. Real money that supports our community, our high street, our local butchers, our travel agents and so on and so forth.

This is before I’ve gone anywhere near the concerns I have about the private sector assuming responsibility for vulnerable people. Vulnerable people aren’t profitable. They aren’t attractive propositions to our communities and to big business. Unless the have the money for care and drug consumption. If they don’t, where’s the value? This is where care without a monitory focus should make you proud of our policing, our NHS and all those who care because it’s the right thing to do, not because it’s profitable.

Britain for sale. No serious offer refused. Let’s take to the streets, people.

Kwesi Amissah 12:54
Dear Friend,

I am DR.KWESI AMISSAH a citizen of GHANA I am a banker by
profession.I got your information on my recent search for an overseas
partner among other names. I write you this proposal in good faith. I
am a devoted man of peace.

I have packaged a financial transaction that will benefit you and I,
as the Regional Manager of the bank it is my duty to send in a
financial report to my Head Office in the capital city Accra at the
end of each business year. On the course of the last year business
report, I discovered that my branch in which I am the manager made a
fixed deposit with my bank in 2006 for
36 calendar months, valued at (6,400,000.00) Six Million Four Hundred
Thousand US Dollars) which my Head Office are not aware of and will
never be aware of. I have placed this funds on what we call escrow
call account with no beneficiary. As an officer of this bank I cannot
be directly connected to this money, so my aim of contacting you is
to assist me receive this money in your bank account and get 50% of
the total funds as commission.

There are practically no risks involved, it will be a bank-to-bank
transfer, and all I need from you is to stand claim as the original
depositor of these funds who made the deposit with my branch so that
my head office can order the transfer to your designated bank Account.

If you accept to work with me I will appreciate it very much. Email me
back so that we can go over the details.
kwesiamissah54@gmail.com [<< don't email this address!!!!]
Thank you in advance and May God bless you and your family.

Best Regards,
DR.Kwesi Amissah

Why not have a click on this link and see if your head doesn’t explode with rage before you’ve finished reading the comments? It’s my challenge of the day.

So, questions need to be asked;

* Has anyone said that Christians can’t get together and pray together before their meeting?

* Has anyone said that saying a prayer in a council chamber, with other Christians, before a meeting, or after a meeting is a strictly illegal process which will result in criminality?

* The rights that many people are saying are being eroded from Christians, also protect Christians. Fair play in the law, civilisation and society has to work both ways. The right to pray, regardless of your particular faith, religion or practice has to also apply to non practising members of society’s right to NOT pray?

Rather sadly it appears, as a particular nuisance to journalists who would have you believe that the PC brigade will be knocking on your front door shortly to steal your children to protect them from your outrageous views, freedom of speech and the freedom to practice religion also applies both ways. As much as there is freedom of religious practice in this country of which I am very protective of, there equally HAS to be freedom to abstain and not be subject to it.

I am, as I have mentioned many times, a practising Christian. I go to Church. I believe in my faith and I try (usually failing dismally) to live it out. However, in the context of my job, it would be wrong for me to start my meetings with a prayer, especially if there were non Christians present, or members of other religions. I am employed to do a specific job – my ability to do that job is based on purely that, my ability. As much as my colleagues and co-workers have been employed on a similar basis. Whether they be atheists, Christians, Muslim, black, white, gay, straight, regardless… they are the best people for the job. Therefore, to inflict my personal belief system in a context where it does not and should not apply, is wrong. No? So, should Clive Bone have been subject to forcefully participating in prayers ahead of Council business? No.

So, we’re eroding traditional Englishness? Oh please.

The Church of England, amongst many other traditionalist Christian traditions in this country have a lot to answer for. We ARE NOT eroding traditionalism. If by traditionalism you mean ritual, then this has nothing to do with Christianity. I suggest you explore Christianity and put your traditionalist ideas are what Englishness actually is by attending an Alpha course, or by reading your history books.

If by attacks on Christianity you are suggesting that the PC brigade are attacking your right to “practice” your religion, they are not. What is being questioned is the forceful participation in traditions and rituals that actually have no baring on an individual’s ability to practice their own religion or faith.

By doing a job, I would not want to be forced to pray to something, or someone, or practice a religious doctrine to which I do not subscribe. This has nothing to do with my ability to practice whatever I wish in the context of my own space, with my own family, and attending one of the many religious institutions (Churches, Synagogues, Mosques etc etc) up and down the country.

This ridiculous journalism by the Daily Mail has nothing to do with Christianity. A real, living, breathing, practising faith grounded in the Bible and exemplified by Jesus Christ. It has everything to do with ignorance, traditionalism, middle England and an outdated, class system that has no place in our modern, advanced, so called educated and informed society.

Freedom of speech and expression. What a pain in the arse, eh?

I am perplexed at the necessity and reasoning as to why a post that stated about the patient to GP ratio in Walsall NHS surgeries needed posting. To quote several aspects of the post;

“Data obtained by The WS5 Blog in collaboration with a leading academic highlights alarming figures for GP practices in Walsall.

The SAI Medical Centre (Walsall Teaching PCT) recorded 3789 in 2011 to ONE GP (a ratio of 3789: 1) despite a decrease in patient numbers in 2009 and 2008 from 4279 and 4272 respectively – since 2008 there has been only one GP registered and a steady decline in patients”.

As correctly identified, the SAI Medical Centre is a single handed practice (Dr K.C. Ray) and the practice website can be found here. The trouble with misleading statistics is that they shout sensationalism and scare mongering. To start with, I live in WS4, and this practice is located within WS2, therefore I have no practical knowledge on this specific practice, so let’s take the information from the website;

The practice has a doctor (as mentioned above, Dr K.C. Ray), it also has 3 nurses (Mrs D Robinson, Mrs Bimla Kaur and Mrs Kanta Chandel). The website specifically lists the nurses responsibilities to be;

“Provide a wide range of specialist services for heart disease, diabetes, cervical smears, dressings, asthma, travel vaccines and men’s health”

Additionally, Jazlyn Yasir, who “assists the practice nurse with routine BP’s, height and weight and also routine blood tests”.

I won’t continue, but there are other members of medical staff based at the centre who deal with all manner of medical issues and common issues. My comment in relation to the sensationalist headline of “3789 [patients] in 2011 to ONE GP (a ratio of 3789: 1)” is complete nonsense without any context whatsoever.

Let’s put some perspective in to this. The amount of patients registered to a particular GP is completely irrelevant, without context. IF the context is that there are complaints from the locality of being unable to see a GP within a reasonable amount of time, then it is fair enough to post something highlighting the issue. There is nothing in WS5′s post to highlight this.

Without being too personal, I look at after the whole of the UK as a Sales Manager. Each of my customers have different requirements, different needs, different levels of servicing and contact. I have a team of representatives to help me maintain contact. I have a system of internal support allowing me to service different customers in different ways. It pains me to make the comparison to a commercial operation as to which I am very familiar with, but the point remains… Shouting about a sensationalist statistic without context is meaningless nonsense, unless it is directly causing a problem for patients who are entitled to it, not being able to obtain the medical care to which they are entitled – this is not something I am in a position to comment about, as I do not have any statistics or information to say whether this is the case.

I am merely pointing out that many registered patients of that practice and that particular GP will have differing requirements. Many will require care that can be ably administered by the Nurses. I refer again to the SAI Medical Centre website;

“The practice operates an appointment system for both the nurse and the doctor, please contact the reception desk for availability by telephoning the appointments line on 0845 113 0611.

“The practice nurse is available for specialist clinics such as Diabetes, Heart Disease, Asthma, COPD, Hypertension, Depression, Immunisations etc. Appointments are sent out to patients who require these services or contacted by telephone.”

Additionally;

“Advanced appointments are available Monday through to Friday mornings that are pre-bookable up to four weeks in advance.  However evening appointments are released on the same day.  To avoid disappointment patients need to be aware that they must either ring or call into the surgery at 9.30am “on the dot” to obtain one of these appointments as they are limited.  All babies 18 months old and under will receive an emergency appointment and be seen on the day regardless.”

So, there is also the stated ambition that all babies of 18 months old and under will receive an emergency appointment and be seen on the day regardless. The text above also states that evening emergency appointments are available and, as is common practice with other surgeries, are available on a first come first served basis on the day of intended appointment only.

The website also contains information about registration of new patients and what is required. Therefore, as far as I can ascertain, the surgery highlighted in the headline of the WS5′s blog post fulfils all of it’s requirements of local NHS doctors surgery. I do not see what relevance, without any context, that the amount of registered patients to the surgery has on it’s ability to perform it’s function. Perhaps I am wrong? Or have I missed something?

As an example of the commonality of the appointment based system, here is the information from the Portland Medical Centre’s website in Aldridge;

As the original post has now been removed from the WS5 site, the original cannot be viewed. However, the WS5 purports itself as being a hyperlocal blog. It’s worth noting that the SAI Medical Centre is in WS2. Whilst I have no objections with observational blogs about Walsall and enjoy reading as many of them as possible, the WS5 Blog describes itself as;

“Independent Hyperlocal Blog for Bescot, Tame Bridge and Yewtree”.

Just to clarify the definition of Hyperlocal? 

Wikipedia (yes yes, I know – the font of all accurate knowledge, but in this case it’s a nice description) states Hyperlocal as;

“…connotes having the character of being oriented around a well defined, community scale area with primary focus being directed towards the concerns of its residents.”

There is very little Hyperlocal content on the WS5 blog. As a previous resident of Bescot, I wanted to read the blog with interest – having lived there for a number of years. It appears that the blog is interested in obtaining the opinions of our police (in the case of the interview with PC Richard Stanley and more recently, Superintendent Keith Fraser), plus repeated requests on his twitter feed for interviews with the great and good of Walsall.

We have several news outlets and “official” voices of the mainstream viewpoint for Walsall in terms of blogs, press releases and the glorious Express & Star. I see little engagement with the community of WS5, within the stated areas of Yew Tree, Bescot and Tame Bridge. This saddens and annoys me as the area is crying out for a publicised voice for the residents of these communities.

This most certainly isn’t aimed as a personal attack, but I have three members of my immediate family who work, or have worked, in the NHS. One as a general practitioner for many years. In addition, I have many friends who work in the NHS, in local doctor’s surgeries and in the at hospitals in Walsall and Birmingham. I read the WS5 post as an attack on the service levels being offered by the NHS in Walsall, without context or any specific complaint or highlighted issue directly relating to the headline of the article.

Dean has always replied to twitter threads and comments and welcome the engagement. But rather than posting unhelpful sensationalist headlines about possible bad service standards about a doctor’s surgery in Walsall, I would prefer to read about either actual issues backed up with factual statistical data posted within context of a specific subject.

Rather than reading about possible service standards slipping in the NHS, I would rather see a local campaign in writing to our elected MP’s about the woeful underfunding in the NHS and also the planned changes. I would like community action to demonstrate the reasons why there might be some unhappiness and potential slippage of service standards in the NHS in Walsall. It’s all a bit too vague.

In some recent good news posted on the WS5 blog, Dean posted about the opening of a new Fruit and Veg shop on the Yew Tree Estate. But the post has nothing about the name, address, opening hours, product offering, reaction from residents… If we are to support our communities, this is vital information. I would love to know about this shop! Rather than highlight how difficult it might be to compete with the major supermarkets, should we not be celebrating the fact that someone is supporting the Yew Tree Estate and it’s community by opening a new community resource for those who may be unable to make it to the large supermarkets in the town centre?

It’s all about perspective and decisions in what you may wish to be. I am a keen supporter of localised community engagement, conversation and support. I don’t claim to be any good at it. I don’t claim that my words or wisdom, either here or on twitter offer any help to anyone, but I do have a problem when sensationalist headlines on a blog promote nothing but idle statistics that have no context or place in a seemingly meaningless piece of writing about patient numbers registered to local GP’s surgeries. Information that is very much in the public domain.

Just my two pence worth, as always.