2013-06-19T13:54:00-04:00 Jennette Arnold http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=jennette-arnold Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Jennette Arnold Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1680340 2012-07-17T14:22:07-04:00 2012-09-16T05:12:12-04:00

Jennette Arnold http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennette-arnold/
A few weeks ago a number of my constituents asked me to register their strong objections to plans to close the Westbound Platform at Hackney Wick Station, during the London 2012 Summer Olympics. I can assure you that this was not unreasonable, as residents of Hackney Wick Ward and surrounding area have already had their everyday journeys severely disrupted with the re-routing of their local bus. This late intervention by Transport for London also meant that anyone with reduced mobility and dependent on public transport would find it almost impossible to travel during the Games period.

I certainly shared there concern about both the decision and the late notice, especially as residents had asked about this station on numerous occasions, and had been given assurances that the station was part of the Olympics Travel Plan and would therefore stay open.

The answer given to my question by both the Chair of Transport for London, Mayor Boris Johnson and the Transport Commissioner for London Transport was far from satisfactory. I am therefore glad to hear that following todays public meeting about this issue, residents have been told that further discussions are taking place and it looks as if a compromise position is forthcoming. People power at work - lets hope so.

Question and Answer shown below.

Hackney Wick - Olympic Station Westbound Platform Closure

Question number 0043/2012
Meeting date 20/06/2012
Question by Jennette Arnold AM

"My constituents have asked me to register their strong objection to plans to close the Westbound Platform at Hackney Wick Station during Games time. People in Hackney Wick will already have their travel severely disrupted with the rerouting of the 276 bus. The plans to close the platform will make it almost impossible for anybody with poor mobility living in Hackney Wick and dependent on public transport to travel during the Games period. I believe Hackney Council have also registered their objections to these plans with you. In light of the impact that this will have on the lives of local people will you commit to binning these plans?"

Answer by Mayor Boris Johnson (Chair, TfL) and Peter Hendy (Commissioner, TfL)

Forecasting and test events show that during the Olympic Games period many westbound trains via Hackney Wick will be so fully loaded that any passengers wishing to travel west will simply not be able to board.

Consequently, passengers will be encouraged to use an eastbound service and remain on the train at Stratford to travel back west. This will add around 15 minutes to an average journey but will still be quicker than waiting on the westbound platform at Hackney Wick as numerous trains pass with no space to board.

Equally, passengers wishing to travel from Stratford to Hackney Wick will be encouraged to double back via Homerton.

Although there may be certain, limited periods, depending on the time of day and that day's Olympic Park events schedule, when there is some capacity on westbound trains at Hackney Wick, attempting to determine opening hours for the westbound platform is very difficult and would create additional confusion for passengers.

It should be noted that the eastbound platform will be served by an additional 2 trains per hour and that a full frequency service will be maintained until 00.30 each day. Additionally, the closure of the westbound platform will apply only during the Olympic Games and not during the Paralympics.

We have concluded that a relatively simple arrangement focused on the east bound service will offer the most robust solution for Hackney Wick passengers in these unique circumstances.

Jennette Arnold OBE AM
London Assembly Member for North East London - Representing the London Borough's of *Hackney, sIslington and *Waltham Forest.

*Two of the five East London 2012 Olympics Boroughs.

For more information about my work follow me on @jennettearnold
or go to my website at http//www.jennettearnold.com]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1599584 2012-06-15T09:11:18-04:00 2012-08-15T05:12:05-04:00

Jennette Arnold http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennette-arnold/
Here's the letter:

15th June 2012.

Dear Jennette

Yet again, the first email I opened this morning was from a local family living in a flat so overcrowded it is ruining their lives.

Distressingly, they are not alone. They are one family out of 13,000 on our housing waiting list. 3,000 of them suffering in severely overcrowded homes. It's the issue people contact me about more than any other.

It shames us all that in 2012 there are still people living in these conditions in our borough.

I'm proud that our number one priority is building the genuinely affordable family sized homes Islington so desperately needs.

Overcrowding ruins lives. Talent is wasted when young people in the borough fail at school because they have nowhere to do homework. Health is ruined when damp and stress stems from too many people living in a small flat.

There is a housing crisis in Islington and we must tackle it. That's why we're pushing forward with Islington's biggest social home building programme for thirty years and why we're the only London council to reject the Conservative-led government's 'affordable' rents and commit to genuinely social rent.

Better housing is crucial to making Islington a fairer place. We can make a real difference by pressing on with building the affordable homes we so badly need.

I've received too many messages from local people who desperately need a decent home.

I've heard them. I hope I can count on your support too.

Yours

Cllr Catherine West
Leader, Islington Council]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1585989 2012-06-11T19:00:00-04:00 2012-08-11T05:12:07-04:00

Jennette Arnold http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennette-arnold/
I want to pay tribute to the good citizen who brought this lack of action on the part of the Met to the public's attention. Over my years of working with these kinds of crime I have found that it is when the victim, their family or community members come forward that action is taken. This shouldn't be the case, all incidents like this should be dealt with by the police in a robust manner, leaving no stone unturned to find the perpetrator. The Met is already struggling with extremely poor victim confidence levels and these kinds of crucial mistakes do not help. I'm calling on the Met to investigate why notice wasn't given to park users and to make sure that this kind of mistake does not happen again.

Victim satisfaction in London is rated amongst the poorest in the country. According to the latest Met Police figures, 74% of victims were satisfied with the service they received - this places London 43rd out of 43 forces nationally.

After five years of steady decline, over the four years of Boris Johnson's first term as Mayor of London rape has risen by 75% - from 1,904 reported offences in 2007-8 to 3,334 rape offences in 2011-12. Crime statistics are always difficult to analyse and rape statistics even more so, is an increase due to more offences being reported, or is the increase due to more incidents occurring? However, at City Hall's Police and Crime Committee meeting on 2 February this year, the Met's new Commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe, expressed doubt that an increase in reported crimes was due solely to more victims coming forward and reporting the crimes. In other words, the number of incidents is almost certainly on the rise.

As a society we need to confront rape and stamp it out, the perpetrators need to feel the full force of the law and the shockingly low conviction rates need to be dramatically increased. The police have a crucial role to play, they need to treat these issues with the utmost seriousness. The newly created Mayor's Office for Policing & Crime (MOPC) (which is responsible for running the Met) need to lead from the front on this, it is worrying that when a member of the public tried to raise this issue with them the email they sent 'bouced back' because the MOPC's inbox was full. Such a lack of attention to detail is worrying.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.1133307 2011-12-07T05:17:14-05:00 2012-02-06T05:12:02-05:00

Jennette Arnold http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennette-arnold/
Having lived through five police investigations and a pre-trial hearing at the Old Bailey, which collapsed spectacularly early this year, the family was hopeful that a meeting yesterday with Home Secretary Theresa May would finally offer then some comfort. I have been supporting the family for some years and joined the meeting.

At 84 years of age Daniel's mother Isobel was desperately seeking some kind of closure. She has known since the collapsed hearing that she will not now see anyone charged with Daniel's murder. The several police investigations had revealed a scale of police incompetence and alleged corruption that was unheard of; but they never found his killer. All Isobel now wanted was to get to the truth about her son's murder; and to get to it in public using a judicial inquiry.

The Home Secretary listened politely, but was only prepared to offer yet another police investigation. Given the family's experience, this was tantamount to an insult and the Home Secretary, clearly, had been badly advised.

I do hope that she will take a moment to reflect, and change her mind. I hope, having met them, that she will recognise an ordinary family who have faced extraordinary circumstances and that she will work to restore their faith in a system that has failed them entirely. The only way of doing this is for her to set up an independent judicial inquiry; and do it quickly.

Note:

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "It is deeply regrettable that Daniel Morgan's killers have not been brought to justice and we understand the strength of feeling this case has caused. The Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service are currently conducting internal investigations into the case and we expect their findings shortly."]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.1023739 2011-10-21T08:56:17-04:00 2011-12-21T05:12:01-05:00

Jennette Arnold http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennette-arnold/
In March 1987 Daniel Morgan, Isabel's son, was found in a carpark in Sydenham with an axe buried in his head. It was immediately apparent to the Morgan family that the murder investigation which followed was crippled by police corruption.

From that day to this they have lobbied and pleaded with high ranking police officers, politicians of all shades and the media for justice. The Morgan family have been lied to and let down time and again and they describe the experience as nothing short of torture. As a result of their fight the investigation into Daniel's murder has been reopened four times, it has also collapsed four times.

Through these investigations numerous links between the London Police, the News of the World and London's gang-land activity have been uncovered. The crimes that are alleged from phone-tapping to harassing witnesses to drug dealing to murder are so numerous and extensive that we do not know how far the web of corruption spreads. However, one cold fact remains for Isabel. She still does not know who murdered her son. Nobody has ever been brought to justice.

Early last year at the Metropolitan Police Authority, I was successful in getting unanimous support for a motion which stated that a judicial inquiry into the murder of Daniel Morgan was the only realistic way forward for the family. I wrote to the Home Secretary along with the Morgan family urging that a judicial inquiry was the one option left to shed light on the whole complex and murky background of the case.

The Home Secretary replied saying that there is already an internal review being compiled about police corruption arising out of the News of the World phone hacking scandal. She said "Subject to what arises from that review, I would need to give thought to what any inquiry would achieve."

And that is what brought Isabel all the way from Wales yesterday. She wants to speak to the Home Secretary, to make her case face-to-face, to tell her exactly what an inquiry would achieve; light on a web of police corruption that needs more than an internal review, truth about what actually happened to Daniel, and justice for a family who have been campaigning for almost 25 years.

There is no greater testament to the strength of Isabel and the Morgan family that despite the numerous times they have been told 'no' by police detectives and commissioners by officials and politicians they never stop fighting. The Morgan family need Home Secretary to initiate this independent judicial inquiry and so do we. Their fight is our fight. The corruption and sickness within the system that has been unearthed by Daniel's murder needs to exposed and eradicated.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.961518 2011-09-14T03:46:13-04:00 2011-11-13T05:12:02-05:00

Jennette Arnold http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennette-arnold/ Hogan-Howe beat three other candidates, including Tim Godwin currently acting in the role, to the five-year appointment. The other two candidates were Strathclyde Chief Constable Stephen House and ACPO President Sir Hugh Orde.

The position of Commissioner became vacant after Sir Paul Stephenson resigned amid criticism of the Met's handling of the phone hacking case. The appointment makes Hogan-Howe the third Met Commissioner in three years. Shortly coming to office Mayor or London Boris Johnson forced the resignation of Stephenson's predecessor Sir Ian Blair.

Nevertheless, if we are to have a new Commissioner, then he is an excellent appointment. In 2001 I was a member of the interview panel that appointed Bernard Hogan-Howe into the post that brought him into the Metropolitan Police Services as Assistant Commissioner of Human Resources. I believe he has the track record and the personal integrity to lead the service at this time of immense challenge, in terms of public confidence, dealing with the long term issues arising from the recent civil unrest on our streets, and preparing for the major challenge of policing the forthcoming 2012 Olympic Games.

I guess the biggest challenge though, as my Labour colleague Ken Livingstone has stated, is the need to protect frontline police services in the months ahead in the face of the cuts being proposed by Mayor Johnson and the Coalition Government.

]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.957633 2011-09-11T19:00:00-04:00 2011-11-11T05:12:02-05:00

Jennette Arnold http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennette-arnold/
On Wednesday 7th September along with the other 24 London Assembly Members we put aside our usual party political tribal heckling and name calling and unanimously praised the bravery, dedication and hard work of London's emergency services in responding to the riots in London during August.

It was one of our better meetings and after an excellent debate, as Chair of the London Assembly; I put the motion that noted the answers to the questions asked in relation to the Metropolitan Police Authority and the Metropolitan Police Service.

We placed on record our thanks to the Metropolitan Police and the London Fire Brigade for their work in relation to tackling the disturbances in London in August 2011. Our motion quite rightly condemned all unlawful and anti-social behaviour that formed part of the disturbances; and asked the Metropolitan Police Service to take all necessary actions to bring offenders to justice and to review, and be accountable for, its response to the disturbances.

We also called upon the Mayor of London to take all necessary steps to prevent a re-occurrence of such problems in the streets of London and to ensure that, in partnership with all relevant authorities and organisations, effective recovery plans are put in place for all affected communities, taking full account of the reports of the independent Communities and Victims Panel, which will report to the Deputy Prime Minister.

With order restored and so many of the perpetrators of last months disgraceful looting being bought to book I made the point during the debate; that now is the time for the Assembly to focus it's attention on how to address the long-term consequences of the disturbances. Over the coming months we will look to build a careful evidence based response to this unprecedented outbreak of civil disorder and ensure that the London Assembly's work compliments rather than duplicates the efforts of other inquiries into the riots. For more information about my work go to http://www.JennetteArnold.com and for the role and work of London Assembly go to http://legacy.london.gov.uk/assembly/index.jsp ]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.944015 2011-08-31T16:24:54-04:00 2011-10-31T05:12:02-04:00

Jennette Arnold http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennette-arnold/
On August 8 a group of men had smashed the windows of a department store, causing £6,000 worth of damage. A policeman spotted the boy reaching in to take a waste bin, worth £50, and arrested him.

Five days earlier the boy had been given a referral order in respect of an unrelated incident that involved arson, criminal damage and carrying a pointed instrument. He had been cutting the seats of a bus with a Stanley knife, and had tried to set fire to the exposed foam. When the driver would not let him off the bus between stops, the 11-year-old smashed through the exit door, jumping out while the bus was still moving.

Where do we go from here? His behaviour is clearly unacceptable and it is easy enough to say that the adults around him have failed him. But we need an approach going forward that can deal with the boy without abandoning him to the vagaries of the penal system and risk writing him off altogether. ]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.928780 2011-08-16T18:02:07-04:00 2011-10-16T05:12:01-04:00

Jennette Arnold http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennette-arnold/
I was disappointed to hear then, that while doing this good work the Mayor has been indulging in reactionary "quick-fix" arguments in the press, suggesting that Magistrates Courts should be recommending young offenders to Pupil Referral Units (PRUs). I could not agree less with him. PRUs do good work, but it is for headteachers to decide, on the basis of a pupil's record, whether these places would suit them. Courts already have a wide range of options open to them in convicting a young offender - they do not need more. And PRUs are already full to bursting. So unless the Mayor has some source of money for more places in the PRUs or if he has time to write a fresh list of sentencing recommendations for the courts I suggest he keeps his mind on what we actually can do to heal our communities.

It is for this reason I wish he had taken up my offer to come with me to Clarence Rd in Hackney, one of the worst effected areas in the Borough, for a street-reclaiming tea party that had been organised by the rector of Hackney, Fr Rob Wickham and the local community. Apart from a flying visit to leafy Stoke Newington, the Mayor hasn't made it to Hackney yet.

If he had come he would have met Siva Kandiah who has run the Clarence Rd Convenience Store until it was looted and the interior destroyed. Siva's shop is at the heart of Clarence Rd. Its where the neighbours from the nearby estate get their daily shop, its where locals exchange gossip and goings-on. A huge testament to how important Siva and his shop are to the community is the massive fund-raising push his neighbours have started to get his shop back up and running www.helpsiva.com.

He also would have met Pauline Pearce. You've probably seen a video of her posted on YouTube as she told rioters and looters exactly what she thought of them in middle of all the mayhem. Pauline is still up on Clarence Rd speaking to young people about what is going on and hearing the frustrations of young people who were not involved and now feel tarred by the same brush.

He also would have seen a scene of joy as Hackney residents young and old reclaimed their street and celebrated the diverse mix of life that makes up life in this fantastic Borough.

Rather than pronouncing on the state of society in the media it is these people that the Mayor and his party colleagues need to hear from. Before jumping to their reactionary quick fixes they actually need to listen what is going on in these communities from people who are doing the graft and really standing up for their communities.

I left the tea party in Hackney with the words of Siva ringing in my ears: "I believe in Hackney. I believe in this community. I am filled with hope." ]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.926732 2011-08-14T19:00:00-04:00 2011-10-14T05:12:01-04:00

Jennette Arnold http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennette-arnold/
As ever, some will reach for a quick fix - advice from a USA 'super cop' on zero tolerance of gangs; blocking of BBM; re-introduction of compulsory national service; penalising welfare recipients. As political leaders we need to resist soundbite politics and the temptation to go for what is easy, instead of looking for what works. But in addition, we should not reach for answers until we understand the problem - and in my view, we are nowhere near yet to a proper understanding of the problem.

The starting point for me is that there is not a single 'problem'. From what I have witnessed of and been told about the behaviour on our streets, it is possible to see the impact of at least 4 different factors:

• Gang culture

• Lack of jobs, security and hope

• Disaffected youngsters with nothing to do

• Opportunistic criminality by all age groups, so-called 'shopping with violence'

The action needed immediately is to progress the method by which we gather information and deliver a joined-up action plan across all these areas. Whilst police investigations progress into the criminal activity involved and the IPCC continues its work in reviewing the circumstances of the death of Mark Duggan, we will also need to gather information from the wider communities affected by these issues. Ed Milliband's call for a Royal Commission is exactly what we need.
I have heard the cry that people no longer recognise their own city. Perhaps this is now the moment to recognise an uncomfortable truth. These issues have always been present but they have not surfaced in such obvious ways, and not all at the same time. In effect, we have been living in parallel societies, with little contact between them. The costs of dealing with these issues will be high; but the costs of continuing to deny them will be significantly greater, with the loss of more innocent lives and continued major civil unrest on our streets.
]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.924084 2011-08-11T05:38:40-04:00 2011-10-11T05:12:01-04:00

Jennette Arnold http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennette-arnold/
Fast forward 40 years, to London in the summer of 2011. Britain in the 21st century is a million miles from 70's America; but there are still some lessons for us if we choose to look.

The key issue for me is how it has become possible for so many of our young people to live so separately from mainstream society. It's a natural part of growing up to spend time away from our families, with other young people. But we always returned home. Look around at the groups of young people running wild on streets now and its very different. This is not true for everyone but we know for some that their own homes are battlegrounds; and so the children feel safer on the streets.

It's not necessarily about poverty but about lack of love and hope; about parents who have lost what it means to provide role models for the next generation. These parents are the children of Thatcher's Britain, who lived through a period of political leadership that claimed there was 'no such thing as society'; it is no surprise that they find it difficult now to identify with wider social life. They are one of Thatcher's many sad legacies. We need to reclaim them and their children.

How do we do this? There will be no quick wins but we can start by adopting a few principles:
Avoid being judgmental - just because the majority of families make it through, this does not mean that all of the rest are essentially worthless. Lack of education, training, jobs, slim life chances - there is a randomness sometimes to the way things turn out. We should not tolerate rioting but we need to understand that just blaming people in these circumstances is not a solution.

Listen - work with people to understand their own concerns and build those into a larger recovery plan. If we want to establish the family as a basic building block we will need to find out first hand why for some it has not worked; and help people understand how to accept and deal with the broader responsibilities we all have

Model the behaviour we want to see - economic and social justice are for everyone, not just the few and it is important that we demonstrate this consistently across all policy areas. We need to be seen to hold to account the bankers and politicians who have tried to defraud us in the same way that there are now calls for the maximum 10 year penalty for rioting. A poignant moment for me over the last few days was watching CCTV of just one incident. Asyraf Haziq, a young man Malaysian student, was sitting on the pavement clearly injured and distressed. He was helped to his feet by a young boy who then started to lead him to safety. A third boy arrives, sees that the injured boy has a backpack and starts to rummage around in it; he pulls something out and struts off triumphantly with his prize. The injured boy can do nothing. The one helping him seems to pause for a moment, and then himself reaches into the backpack to steal something; his initial humanity now replaced by the stronger force - to be like others.

None of this is about special pleading. We provide a voice for mainstream families, but just achieve it in different ways - through jobs, education and involvement in the political process. They are connected and feel they have a share in what's happening. So let's not exclude the others but try to re-engage. The aim must be to find a sustainable solution together and reunite our divided society.

]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.921821 2011-08-09T03:52:16-04:00 2011-10-08T05:12:02-04:00

Jennette Arnold http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennette-arnold/ I broke my holiday on Monday morning to return to my constituency and have discussions with police and community leaders in the three London Boroughs that I represent (Hackney Islington and Waltham Forest). I raised a number of concerns, witnessed MPS senior staff willing to accept outside help and was inspired by the commitment from all the parties to want to move forward together. Some had seen it all before and thought they would never witness it again; others were shocked to see for the first time scenes more redolent of an urban war zone.

It is easy to assume we have some quick fixes. There has been much criminal activity and the police will, quite rightly, investigate that thoroughly. But there are broader and more complex issues here. My position is this:

Enforce the law -- people I have spoken to do not want any 'no-go' areas for the police in London; criminal behaviour must be dealt with using the full force of the law

Let the IPCC do it's job -- we argued for this body to exist as an alternative to the police service investigating itself. They need time to assemble the facts surrounding the death of Mark Duggan and to make recommendations

Adopt economic policies that support local people -- the recession has left some people facing real hardship and there are concerns about social dislocation. We need policies that will enable investment and growth, rather than a focus on what will be the next area to be cut

As the violence extends for a third night, covering more and more parts of our city, we have moved well beyond the death of Mark Duggan and the peaceful protest led by his family and friends. I have had pleas from at least two separate quarters for the introduction of water cannon; I fear that we may soon start to hear demands for the army to be deployed. Those on the streets will not win -- but they make us pay a very big price for their defeat.]]>