The Government and The Post Office last year announced plans to close around 2,500 Post Offices in the UK, of which up to 169 offices in London are shortlisted. All this was announced in October last year. Now the Post Office has begun a six-week consultation on plans for the capital’s post offices… not that they are making a big thing about it on the website… you’ll find it in small text on the right hand side under ‘network changes’… Ken wants to get the consultation period doubled up to twelve. Brent Lib Dems say that if the proposed closures go ahead Brent will be left with just 24 Post Offices, compared with 40 when Labour came to power.

The Lib Dems are campaigning - I presume that means they will be making representations to the consultation panel on behalf of the citizens of Brent - and have an e-petition that Brent residents can complete in support of local Post Offices and against the Govt. & Post Office Ltd’s proposed cuts.

For Cricklewood and Mapesbury people concerned about the loss of Walm Lane Post Office - click and complete the e-petition.

Remember folks, although Dawn Butler (MP Brent South) may ”call for a rethink”, she ‘’support[s] the Government’s approach of allowing Royal Mail the freedom to respond to future commercial challenges and opportunities, and in particular enabling Post Office Limited to determine the future shape of the network within clear Government rules governing criteria for local access” (Opposition Day Jan 10 2007, Public Whip)

Barry Gardiner (MP Brent North) was previously Minister for Competitiveness at the Department of Trade & Industry and met with Post Watch back in 2006 to discuss Post Office closures. He also voted with the Govt for the euphemistic motion cited above.

What we will see over the coming weeks is a flood of photo opportunities in front of Post Offices… All you need to remember is that Dawn and Barry vote with the Govt on ‘national issues’ then campaign against the Govt on ‘local issues’, even when they are the same issue.

News that Ralph Nader has announced plans to run again for the US presidency got me googling like crazy this afternoon…

Just to share with you the “Beastie Boy Ad Rock’s remix of Green Party Presidential candidate Ralph Nader’s blistering critique of the news media and the current state of American politics.” Posted to the Guerrilla News Network (GNN).

Turn it up.

(more…)

With the candidates nominated for the Stonebridge by-election, here’s a little summary of them for you:

• ALADESHE, Funmi The Conservative Party
• COX, Sarah Respect
• ORR, Brian Green Party
• VAN KALWALA, Zaffar The Labour Party
• WILTSHIRE, Sandra Elina Liberal Democrats

Here’s a link to the LibDem FlockTogether page on the Stonebridge local council by-election.

FUD? Check wikipedia…

Received the first campaign materials from Team Yellow Gold and Team Red since the elections for local government in May. Sorry for the blue tint on the scans, I think my scanner is broken.

The BELD are thanking people for voting for them in Mapesbury and give people the contact numbers of their new local councillors. I won’t reprint them here though - surely you can get them from Brent Council (after 6 or 7 clicks) or from the BELD website (well actually you can’t find any info about your local councillors or FOCUS TEAM on the BELD website).

The QP Labour people have been distributing their July newsletter which highlighted the power sharing between the Lib Dems and the Conservatives in the new Council Executive. Vote Lib Dems and Get Tories says the headline with the story claiming that the first thing the LDs did when getting voted in was to join forces with the Tories. That’s not wholey true… the first thing the LDs did was to attempt to forge a power sharing agreement with the three parties, leading to coalition. This being rejected by the second largest vote winners (Team Red), the result is a coalition between the Lib Dems and the Conservatives.
If it wasn’t so heavily couched in political sniping I might have draw greater attention to the news on the rear of the QP Labour flyer that the LD/Tory exec plan to cut the publicity budget of the council. Oh, well, go on then… ‘The Knives Are Out!’ leads the back page. QP Labour are concerned the budget cuts will affect campaigns around areas such as knife carrying. Cut the funding as far as I am concerned….stop publications such as the Brent Magazine with the budget cuts but still continue to fund issue specific campaigns. That’s my 2p worth any way…