Mary Reid

An odd name - it means 'moving forward' - and it is the title of a very successful project for young people in Kingston.  It is highly targeted so most people have not heard of it. But it is capturing some attention because it features as an apparent cut in the Budget.

Kingston was getting a Safeguarding Grant of £250,000 per year from the Government and that has now come to an end. Admovere costs £98,500 per year and of that £76,500 came from the Safeguarding Grant. So to keep it going in its present form would mean that we would have to find the full amount. Bringing the current project to an end means that the £22,000 is not needed.

So what does it do?  Well, it's a service for several groups of vulnerable young people.

It originally offered a programme for those in their last year of compulsory schooling who were out of school because of exclusion or chronic truancy. This is not needed much now, mainly because we have far fewer young people in those categories, and the council is supporting them much better in their schools.

Admovere also provided a highly praised mentoring scheme, where volunteers became constant friends ready to listen and advise young people who have problems and difficulties. This will continue under the Youth Support Service.

Admovere has also developed some excellent materials for social and life skills training with vulnerable young people and these have now been published as part of a European project, so are available for anyone to use.

Budget Council will be on Wednesday. This is when the budget and council tax rate for the next financial year are agreed.

A draft budget was published in January, and has been widely discussed. Last Tuesday the Leader of the Council, Cllr Derek Osbourne, announced that four potential cuts in the draft will not be implemented.  This means that the funding for youth services, graffiti, heritage and the Educational Welfare fund will not now be cut.  Other proposed changes may be announced on the night.

What we do know is that the amount we will all be paying to the Mayor for London is going up by 13.3%. 

All councils receive a contribution towards their budgets from central government.  Kingston receives £208 per resident - the lowest in London.  In comparison, Kensington and Chelsea gets £474 per resident, and Hammersmith and Fulham is awarded a staggering £607 per resident.  If Kingston residents were funded at the London average then our council tax would, amazingly, be the lowest in London.

Ahead of next week's Budget Council the local Conservatives have been making much of the fact that they want to cut staff numbers.  There are two problems with this.

First, cutting staff numbers means cutting services. But they are not saying which services should be reduced.

Second, they claim that under the Lib Dems staff numbers have increased by 500.  I have no idea where they got this figure from, but here are the actual numbers:

In 2004, there were 3254 full-time equivalent staff.

In 2005, there were 3168 full-time equivalent staff.

That does not look like an increase to me.

What the Lib Dems have done is to look seriously at work/life balance issues for staff.  As a result more are working flexible hours or part-time. So the crude headcount may possibly have gone up, even though the total number of hours for which people are employed have gone down.

OK, so I know my way around eBay (mainly buying software, though I did once sell 4000 breeze blocks), but what is going on here? 

Expires Saturday evening.

This blog got a mention in The Guardian today.  The article included this quote from a Hansard Society publication:

"The problem facing politicians who blog is that they are professionally implicated in the very culture that blogging seeks to transcend. Blogging politicians are always going to be seen as a little bit like those old Communist apparatchiks who had to sit in the front row at rock concerts and pretend to swing to the beat."

Discuss....

The new library and community centre at Hook is taking shape.

Compare it with the old library and hall:

The Council has been issuing regular newsletters about the Hook Project.

Some misleading things have been written about this project, especially in local Tory leaflets.  I will charitably assume that they have misunderstood some of the detail, so to put the record straight:

Modern libraries support research and learning, as well as traditional book borrowing. The Learning and Skills Council has provided nearly £1million for the Hook Project for adult learning, and for a creche to enable people to take advantage of it.  So the suggestion that the adult learning facilities and the creche could be moved to Chessington Community College overlooks why the funding was given in the first place.

The Council has offered the Neighbourhood Police space in the new centre, but their needs have changed as their teams are growing.  It is their choice, sadly, to base themselves elsewhere.

We often hear that young people have nothing to do around here, and that not all of them want traditional youth clubs.  What they do all love is music, and the recording studios and decks elsewhere in the Borough have been very popular. Creating and enjoying music is such a positive use of leisure time, so this imaginative use of the space will have all kinds of benefits. I do find it odd when people moan about the lack of activities for young people and yet try to get rid of them when we provide them!

At one stage a local Tory leaflet claimed that the wonderful trees on the Hook Road were coming down. This was pure scaremongering as the preservation of the trees was never in doubt.

Finally, the extra costs of running the new centre (above the previous costs of the inadequate library and underused hall) will be met through the income from the cafe and other franchises.

It is a shame that the Tories are running down this project.  Perhaps they haven't been talking to enough local residents to know how popular it is.

Now this is a difficult one that challenges the very roots of liberalism. I believe in not restricting the liberty of others unless it results in greater public benefits.

If smokers were purely causing damage to themselves then the case for a ban would be quite weak. Even the offence caused to non-smokers by smoky rooms and smelly clothes would not be enough to justify a ban. 

It is only since the effects of passive smoking have become widely known that the debate has begun in earnest. And the threat to non-smokers' health just tips the balance for me in favour of a general ban. However, it would have been more liberal if venues could have been allowed to provide separate, properly ventilated smoking rooms, with no service (so that serving staff would not be forced to enter).

But I guess that there may be an underlying commercial driver. As smoking has decreased, pubs and other venues may now be anxious to attract non-smokers who may have avoided them in the past.

I've not said much here about the Liberal Democrat leadership election because I'm really aiming my blog at all the people who live locally, and not just party members.

But the Lib Dem blogosphere has carried some fascinating and revealing discussions about the candidates which I have enjoyed reading. I finally sent off my voting paper yesterday after a great deal of thought.  I've changed my mind several times during the last month or so.

Last time round I voted for Simon Hughes.  His political views are closest to mine - a grass roots Liberal who cares deeply about social justice. But he was disappointing in the London Mayor election and does not seem to have the full support of MPs across the spectrum.

Chris Huhne has been the dark horse; little known at first but making a strong impression.  Had he spent the last eight years in Westminster instead of Europe he could well have been the front runner, but I think it is too soon for him to take control.

Which brings me back to my immediate reaction when Charles Kennedy resigned.  Ming Campbell is the candidate who is best placed to unite the party and give strong leadership. He is the only one who is described by the media as a statesman, and perhaps what we need now is some gravitas.

So my preferences were 1. Ming, 2. Chris, 3. Simon.  But the fact that I found it so difficult to come to a decision does imply that I'd be happy enough with any of them.

I explored some wonderful foods in Jamaica that were new to me - ackee and saltfish, sorrel (the fruit, not the herb), Solomon gundy, yam, baked plantain, escoveitched fish, and, of course, jerked chicken and pork.  We ate a lot of fish, especially snapper and tilapia, and all kinds of fruit. 

I found an excellent cookbook over there called Eat Caribbean by Virginia Burke.  Here is one very simple recipe that I can recommend. It's not exactly appropriate for cold February days but just look forward to sipping it on a warm summer evening.

Chilled Cucumber Soup

2 cucumbers, deseeded
500 ml chicken stock
Half an onion, chopped
225 ml natural yogurt
2 slices white bread
2 tablespoons single cream
1-2 teaspoons lime or lemon juice

Just blend everything in a food processor.  Chill in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Top with mint leaves and more yogurt.

You can add half a scotch bonnet pepper, but this is pretty lethal to handle and eat, so maybe add a tiny amount from a jar if you can find it.

Good Bush story here from Kevin Davis.

Don't say I'm partisan in my blog links!

I woke up this morning to the extraordinary news of the Lib Dem victory in Dunfermline.  I intended staying up to see the result come in, but had just returned, rather tired, from meetings in Leeds and Scunthorpe. I took to bed expecting to hear that the Liberal Democrats had closed the gap between us and Labour.

To overturn a Labour majority of 11,500 so soon after the General Election carries a double significance.

On the one hand, disillusionment with the Labour government is still growing.  On the other hand, the change of leadership in the Liberal Democrats has not had the negative impact on the electorate that some pundits have been predicting.

Last night's Question Time showcased all three candidates for the leadership. All came over as credible and thoughtful potential leaders, who respected each other.  Whoever wins, the party will be in good hands.

My favourite photo of Jamaica.....

And just in case you need a closeup.....