Mary Reid

One of my sons is quite miffed that he and his wife have not featured in my blog so far - so here they are, dancing at their wedding.

Duncan manages a band called Small Town Mentality. They are just about to launch their debut album - so they'll be pleased for a plug.

Duncan also sings, mainly his own songs, with his own band The Vapour Trails, and you can catch them from time to time at The Bedford in Balham.

Delighted to see that the legendary Sir Peter Hall, has signed up to Lib Dem This Time.

Brian Eno was inspired to set up this site - in his words:

A few weeks ago The Independent on Sunday published some interesting poll results. The pollsters asked two questions: "Will you vote Liberal Democrat at the next election?" and "Would you vote Liberal Democrat if you thought they could win?"

About 20% of people said 'Yes' to the first question, which is about what you'd expect, but a very surprising 38% said 'Yes' to the second. This, then, is the riddle: what happens when all the potential Liberal Democrat voters actually vote Liberal Democrat? The answer is: CHANGE.

He's already attracted quite a list of people who are prepared to vote Lib Dem this time, from Germaine Greer to Anita Roddick and Richard Dawkins.

In Kingston, Peter Hall astonished us all by taking on our new theatre, Rose of Kingston, of which he said "This is the acting space and auditorium that I have been dreaming of for all my professional life." (see pic above)

I'm one of the trustees of the theatre, and we're still trying to raise the capital to fit it out and open it later in the year. If we succeed it will be the most exciting new theatre in the country. Thanks to people like him it could also be the most exciting election as well.

More about the game we played at the launch of the Local e-Democracy National Project.

At its premiere in London recently, a team of schoolchildren took on experienced local politicians and administrators. As usual at these events, the oldies got a thrashing. "Much more complicated than real politics," said Mary Reid, a councillor from Kingston upon Thames, as she contemplated her collapsing (virtual) popularity and mounting budget deficit.
From The Guardian last Thursday.

I attended the Good Friday service this morning at Chessington Methodist Church. Good representation of the local churches, including St Catherine of Sienna, St Mary's Chessington, the Community Church and my own church, St Paul's, Hook (pictured here). I usually join the march after the service, which follows the cross through Chessington North and Hook parades to St Paul's, but my mother is recovering from a hip operation so we just watched this year.

(What has happened to St Catherine's website? - they used to have a really good one)

South of the Borough Neighbourhood meeting this evening at 7.30pm in Southborough School. On the agenda:

* Proposed 20mph speed limit in Tolworth Broadway
* Parking improvments in Selby Close, Shere Close, Willcocks Close, Chessington Court Estate
* Recruitment of a Neighbourhood handyperson
* Street naming, Barwell Court
* Budget monitoring

Everyone welcome to attend and participate in the discussions.

Last night a major accident happened just a few hundred yards from my home.

I was driving back from the Guildhall and missed the massive explosion and huge flames as a lorry hit the bridge over the A3, and cars piled up. But as I got near home I was alerted by the fire engines and helicopter overhead. Neighbours were walking down the road towards the scene of the accident, and I soon joined them.

When there is a major accident the press sometimes criticise the 'ghouls' who turn out to watch. But we were not going to watch - and we could see nothing except the emergency vehicles. What we needed was information and reassurance. I met one young boy who had been woken by the blast and was very frightened. Several people had immediately thought it was terrorist action. The truth was horrendous, but it was better knowing than not knowing.

As you drive down the A3 through south west London and under Hook Junction, the urban landscape suddenly changes into a rural one. The next bridge, running between Hook and Claygate, is where it happened. The engineers are examining the bridge today for structural damage. I haven't ventured out yet, but the BBC reported that this stretch of the A3 will be closed all day, and there are long queues on the M25. A fellow councillor phoned to say that the A243 has been almost at a standstill since 6.45am.

Update at 11.30am
The northbound carriageway of the A3 has now been opened. Southbound will stay shut for the rest of the day, at least. Clayton Road will be shut over the bridge for the foreseeable future.

So the Conservatives have decided to be upfront with their racism. Their advert in Sunday newspapers today attacks travellers. The Tories want to change the Human Rights Act - think about it!- to crack down on supposed violations of planning laws by gypsies and other travellers.

I enjoy chatting with the residents that I represent in my ward. I can listen to and accept all kinds of views but I do find it very difficult to handle bigotry. Yesterday I was out knocking on doors, and a resident told me that he wouldn't be voting for the Conservatives this time. And the reason - which he explained quite pithily - was because Michael Howard is Jewish. I was shocked into silence.

I find that kind of thinking totally abhorrent. But I suppose if a party explicitly encourages racism then it has to realise that it may be used against them as well.

The composer Peter Maxwell Davies was 70 last year, and so 47 choirs got together to commission a work from him called The Kestrel Road. Last night saw me singing this challenging piece in a concert with Kingston Choral Society. It is a setting of some poems, including Windfall below, by the late George Mackay Brown. Both composer and poet celebrate the wild beauty of their home, Orkney.

Windfall
No red orchards here; the sea
Throbbing; cold root
To salt incessant blossoming
Burdens the net
With grey and with white and with blue fruit.

At every rehearsal and throughout the performance my mind was full of images of those magical ancient islands. This picture was taken on a holiday there a few years ago.



I try not to miss the weekly choir practices, and come away every time feeling physically and emotionally recharged. This week I chaired three meetings (including the launch of the National Project), spoke at two events, attended six others, did two press conferences, and fitted that around ward work. Then I had to find time for my day job - editing a series of A Level books and updating websites. Music keeps it all in balance; this week I had two rehearsals plus a performance so today tunes are running through my head and I'm ready for anything.

........ I've always wanted to say that, and got my chance yesterday evening when we launched the Local e-Democracy National Project in the Wellcome Wing of the Science Museum. (See Stephen Hilton's pics of the event.)

Julian Bowrey, Local e-Government manager from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, kicked off the speeches by explaining how he wants e-democracy to fit into the wider agenda of reviving local democracy. The ODPM is heavily promoting neighbourhoods - something we pioneered in Kingston 11 years ago.

Julian and I then played a computer game rather publicly against some young people - and we lost of course. The e-dem games are aimed at 9-14 year olds, but I think anyone can enjoy them. You can play them online.

Just as we are struggling to join up all our services to young people, Minnesota is forcing them apart.

Spotted this courtesy of Scott Neal who visited us in Kingston recently.

I've lived in Hook for over 30 years, and the rebuilding of the Library and Community Centre is one of the most exciting projects we have had in the area in all that time. It will be a landmark building which will house a new library and learning centre, a cafe and loos (meeting a long-time need), a creche, a small meeting hall, advice suite for CAB and other providers, and a recording studio.

This is how Hook Library and Community Centre looked in January.


And this is what the site looked like today.


I'll post more photos as it develops.

You can view the plans and drawings on the Kingston Council website:
Ground floor plan
First floor plan
Artist's impression

Unfortunately, a leaflet has been distributed by another political party in Hook which gives wrong information. It claims, for example, that the magnificent trees in front of the building will be axed - and of course they won't be touched. It also claims that it is impossible to fit all the new facilities onto the site, even though the plans clearly show what can be accommodated.

I went over to see the refurbished central library in Sutton this week, and came away inspired. The furnishings and layout, especially in the children's section were stunning - and just showed how imaginative designs are no more expensive than boring ones. Wish I'd taken my camera to show you.

We set the Council Tax at 4.9% at Budget Council last night. You have to add Mayor Ken's tax to that as well.

See my FAQs on Council Tax, which explains how the figures are arrived at.

The Conservative opposition wanted to impose a cut amounting to nearly 4% in non-teaching staff across the Council. It doesn't sound like much, but since schools manage their own budgets and we are told how much to give them, non-teaching staff could not be cut there. They also wanted to protect frontline staff, presumably social workers, educational psychologists, family workers, drug action workers, youth workers, care staff, educational welfare officers etc. So the cut would be at least 10% - probably much more - of the remaining staff. That's quite a large cut in staff and would have meant many redundancies.

It's interesting the way that people talk about the 'bureaucrats' in town halls, giving the impression that they are doing useless tasks. In fact, employees at the Council provide services that we all use and they support the most vulnerable residents. For example, planners who deal with planning applications; housing and council tax benefit officers who ensure that those on low income get rebates; grants officers (supporting the voluntary sector); officers who manage the contracts for refuse collection and street sweeping; election officers; environmental health; trading standards; school admissions (and they have saved the day this week); committee secretaries; legal staff; cleaners; etc etc

Fame at last as a blogger! The Surrey Comet has an article today on this blogging pilot, and the visit of Scott Neal and Griff Wigley from Minnesota.


The picture shows (back, L to R) Scott Neal (City Manager of Eden Prairie), Bruce McDonald (Chief Executive of Kingston), Roy Taylor (Director of Community Services, Kingston) and (seated) me with Griff Wigley (blogging coach)