Archive for December, 2006
2006 has been a really significant year for me and for Waltham Forest Labour. In May, you elected me your local councillor for Leyton – a position not held by Labour for over 12 years. I still can’t quite believe that I’ve been elected for almost eight months now, representing the ward I was born in, that I love and that I still live in.
It is a great honour to serve Leyton residents in the town hall – but more importantly, in the ward. I am really looking forward to continuing to work as your Leyton ward councillor in 2007, for the next three and a bit years, and beyond.
I know that many people are disillusioned with Labour. There have been many national issues that have lost us friends and votes. However, I still maintain that the best councillor is a Labour councillor, the best MP is a Labour MP and the best government is absolutely 100% a Labour government.
For all its faults, Labour is the only party that’s truly committed to social justice and making better the lives of people who live in deprived wards like mine. Those of you who’ve come to see me at my surgeries have told me how much difference the New Deal, Educational Maintenance Allowance, London’s free bus and tube travel for under 18s, the Working Families Tax credit, the Winter Fuel Allowance, the Minimum Wage, Sure Start and Children’s Centres have made to you and your friends that live in Leyton ward.
You have also told me how much you’ve welcomed Waltham Forest Labour’s push for weekly recycling, our excellent street wardens, our fight to rid our borough of illegal DVD sellers and our ongoing campaign to save Whipps Cross Hospital.
We have so many challenges to tackle in Leyton but since May, due to the full presence of Team Labour at all levels of the ward, Leyton ward now has hope.
So thank you for a brilliant, brilliant year as your new Labour councillor for Leyton ward.
I will be around in Leyton, over the Christmas break, for those of you who need me.
To the rest of you, I wish you and your families a Happy Christmas and a Brilliant New Year.
I look forward to seeing you in 2007.
Lots of hugs and best wishes,
Miranda
xxx
December 22nd, 2006
A delegation of Waltham Forest’s Labour councillors travelled up to Westminister at the end of last week to deliver our ‘I Love Whipps cross’ postcard petition to Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Health. We would like to thank the 1500 local people who filled out a postcard and supported the campaign.
As previous visitors to this website will know, over the last few weeks myself and colleagues from the local Labour party have been busy collecting signatures on special ‘I Love Whipps Cross’ postcards, at special street stalls and events organised all over the borough, calling for Whipps Cross hospital to remain a district general hospital.
On Thursday morning, local Labour party members and councillors were joined by local MPs Neil Gerrard (pictured above far right) and Harry Cohen (pictured centre left) as we set off on our journey from the hospital, to deliver a festive Santa’s sack filled with the postcards to Richmond House, home to the Department of Health.
Up at Richmond House, Waltham Forest Councillor, Cllr Afzal Akram (above far right), Cllr Geraldine Reardon, Cllr Adam Gladstone, Cllr Faiz Yunis (second from right) and I were joined by Jennette Arnold, Labour London Assembly Member for Waltham Forest and Chair of the London Health Commission (pictured above next to me on the left) as we handed the postcards in.
Waltham Forest Councillors are urging the Health Secretary to keep Whipps Cross as a district general hospital. We are calling on her to improve and modernise Whipps Cross’ services for local residents in this deprived East London area.
Even though we have now handed the postcards in, the campaign doesn’t stop here!
Myself and my fellow local Labour councillors will be playing a full role in the next set of consultation meetings starting up again in the New Year.
To keep up to date with all the latest news from Waltham Forest Labour’s ‘I Love Whipps Cross’ campaign please go to: www.ilovewhippscross.co.uk
December 18th, 2006
I went to my first Christmas party on Friday, at the GV Media Headquarters, home to the Voice Newspaper, which reports on issues of importance and interest to Britain’s African, Caribbean and Black British communities.
I’ve been reading the Voice since I was little so it was really great to visit its headquarters and have a snoop around the newsroom.
The highlight of my visit was hanging out with Dominic Bascombe (pictured with me above) – the best journalist in the world! 
In the past, the Black press has been been criticised for over featuring pages of celebrity news and sports gossip, with very little focus on politics or current affairs. Dominic, who is the Chief Political Correspondent of the Voice, is a visible symbol that those days are over.
Dominic is a joy to speak to. He’s always interested in writing stories about UK political issues and gives a real voice to UK Black politicians – local, regional and national – who are do not have “old boy network” connections into the “Westminster Village” and therefore would not have the chance to share their views with a wider audience otherwise.
Myself and other Black Labour party members are always lobbying the leadership of the Labour party to cultivate newspapers like the Voice in the same way they do the Independent and the Guardian, because in many marginal parliamentary seats all over the country the Black vote will decide whether it is Labour or the Tories who return the next MP at the next General Election.
Offering superb journalists like Dominic more interviews like this excellent recent interview with Gordon Brown would go some way to reassuring Black Labour party members and our communities that the Labour party is not taking our traditionally rock solid support for granted.
To read the Voice Newspaper, go to www.voice-online.co.uk
December 18th, 2006
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