Wednesday, July 13, 2005
On Saturday 9th I was one of the main speakers at the Wandsworth Community Empowerment Network. WCEN builds links and processes with communities and community groups and supports Neighbourhood Forums in Tooting and Balham, Battersea and Roehampton. These are open meetings that residents can attend. The WCEN is setting up relationships with the Police, Health Service and Council so residents can advise on local service issues and become more involved. This was a very exciting meeting, and I am looking forward to being involved in this area more in the future. There is a problem in Wandsworth as funds intended for neighbourhood renewal are channelled through the Council rather than going to initiatives that promote different and innovative ways of involving the local community.
I spoke about the Government’s vision for citizen engagement - social inclusion, strengthening responsibilities and fostering mutual respect in the community. This is a vitally important area, especially in light of the attacks on 7/7 – people need to have a sense of power and say over their local neighbourhood in order to feel involved and engaged as citizens.
Before the election, the Government passed the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act which gives people enhanced powers to clean up their local areas. It encourages partnership with Local Authorities, local communities and businesses to tackle anti social behaviour and litter, and is part of the Government’s ‘Cleaner, Safer, Greener’ agenda. Watch out for more information about this soon in Tooting!
I had great fun attending a Labour Party BBQ on Sunday 10th with my kids who had enormous fun playing in the tree house in Fleur's (the host) back garden.
On Monday 11th, the Prime Minister made a statement about the attacks on London. I was able to put to the PM a question. You can read this here.
I was quite excited about events on Tuesday morning. As a keen sportsperson, it is not uncommon to question just how good the professionals really are. We all dream of being professional sportspeople and of thinking we could "take them on". Well, as a new member of the Parliamentary Football team I was looking forward to giving recently retired footballers a good pasting. The match was for a worthy cause - organised by Show Racism the Red Card and the Professional Footballers Association to celebrate the launch of a video featuring football legends showing their support for tackling racism.
Unfortunately, the professionals were just that. For the first ten minutes it was nil nil but after that we took a bit of a spanking. Actually, I think we did rather well only losing 5-1! Click here for a picture of me playing at the match.
As a result of the discovery that the London bombers were British born and raised, the 4 Muslims MP's (all of whom are Labour) asked for a meeting with the PM, which he duly agreed to. The details of the meeting have been widely reported already. I wrote a piece for the Guardian, which you might be interested in reading.
Revd. Hugh Grear, from the Holy Trinity Upper Tooting Church has organised a statement of solidarity, from Christians in Balham, Tooting and Streatham to the Muslim community, expressing concern about anti-Islamic sentiments and misconceived reprisals against local law abiding Muslims in Tooting. This was reported in the Wandsworth Borough News.
I spoke about the Government’s vision for citizen engagement - social inclusion, strengthening responsibilities and fostering mutual respect in the community. This is a vitally important area, especially in light of the attacks on 7/7 – people need to have a sense of power and say over their local neighbourhood in order to feel involved and engaged as citizens.
Before the election, the Government passed the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act which gives people enhanced powers to clean up their local areas. It encourages partnership with Local Authorities, local communities and businesses to tackle anti social behaviour and litter, and is part of the Government’s ‘Cleaner, Safer, Greener’ agenda. Watch out for more information about this soon in Tooting!
I had great fun attending a Labour Party BBQ on Sunday 10th with my kids who had enormous fun playing in the tree house in Fleur's (the host) back garden.
On Monday 11th, the Prime Minister made a statement about the attacks on London. I was able to put to the PM a question. You can read this here.
I was quite excited about events on Tuesday morning. As a keen sportsperson, it is not uncommon to question just how good the professionals really are. We all dream of being professional sportspeople and of thinking we could "take them on". Well, as a new member of the Parliamentary Football team I was looking forward to giving recently retired footballers a good pasting. The match was for a worthy cause - organised by Show Racism the Red Card and the Professional Footballers Association to celebrate the launch of a video featuring football legends showing their support for tackling racism.
Unfortunately, the professionals were just that. For the first ten minutes it was nil nil but after that we took a bit of a spanking. Actually, I think we did rather well only losing 5-1! Click here for a picture of me playing at the match.
As a result of the discovery that the London bombers were British born and raised, the 4 Muslims MP's (all of whom are Labour) asked for a meeting with the PM, which he duly agreed to. The details of the meeting have been widely reported already. I wrote a piece for the Guardian, which you might be interested in reading.
Revd. Hugh Grear, from the Holy Trinity Upper Tooting Church has organised a statement of solidarity, from Christians in Balham, Tooting and Streatham to the Muslim community, expressing concern about anti-Islamic sentiments and misconceived reprisals against local law abiding Muslims in Tooting. This was reported in the Wandsworth Borough News.
Sadiq
