The Leader of the Council's online diary
Tuesday 19 December 2006
Healthier schools meals has been a national issue ever since TV chef Jamie Oliver launched his campaign against ‘turkey twizzlers’ and the like a few years ago. All the evidence shows that children who eat healthily are not just fitter but do better in their lessons than children who eat junk food.
This week, I joined the children at Glenbrook Primary School in Clapham for their Christmas lunch. Apart from the traditional turkey, we had plenty of fresh vegetables and a choice of fresh fruit for pudding.
Children from the school have a big say in planning their own lunch menus. They told the head teacher they wanted to eat more fruit and vegetables, but they haven’t ruled out old favourites like chips entirely – they just have them less often as part of a more balanced approach to eating.
After lunch, I had a chat with students from the school council. They told me they like sports and computers, and they particularly enjoy using the school’s well stocked library.
It was a pleasure to meet a group of such well mannered, happy children. I’m glad our schools in Lambeth are taking healthy eating seriously. Kids starting out in life deserve the best we can give them.
Tuesday 12 December 2006
On Monday I visited Lambeth's Archive Department at the Minet Library on Knatchbull Road. The archives are extraordinary - they hold records from Lambeth Council and its predecessor organisations going back as far as the early 1500s. People use the archives to research their family history or to find out more about the history of their home or the area they live in. It's a fascinating place, and you really could spend days in there.
The library itself has a wonderful series of local history books, and they publish their own books and pamphlets on local history. If you go into the Minet Library or any of Lambeth's other libraries you can buy postcards of images from the archive's huge bank of pictures. It's fascinating to see how the area you live in looked a hundred years ago or during the war.
The people who staff the archive are deeply committed to their work, and they clearly do an outstanding job.
If you'd like to have a look at some of the wonderful pictures of Lambeth in years gone by, take a look at the Lambeth Landmark website. I know you'll be as fascinated as I was by what you find.
Please email Steve Reed at sreed@lambeth.gov.uk if you have comments or feedback.
Wednesday 29 November 2006
On Friday I was interviewed by Ann Widdecombe MP. She's making a programme about anti-social behaviour for ITV's 'Tonight with Trevor McDonald'. I don't always agree with Ann, but I admire her because she speaks her mind. Like me, she's interested in what can be done to make housing estates safer for the people who live on them. Making Lambeth safer is now the council's top priority, so I was very keen to talk with Ann about how other areas are tackling the problem.
Ann spent a couple of days on the Myatts Field North estate in Brixton. While she was there, some young hooligans launched fireworks at her. This has been a problem across Lambeth this year, and we're talking to Ken Livingstone about trying to get a London-wide ban on the public sale of fireworks. With out-of-control kids launching them at people from scaffolding tubing, the time's come to say enough is enough in my view.
Ann also shares my interest in the 'zero tolerance' techniques pioneered in New York. Anything that makes an area look or feel neglected must be sorted out immediately - things like broken windows, graffiti, or dumped rubbish. Evidence shows this has a direct impact on cutting anti-social behaviour.
Then swift action is taken to evict nuisance neighbours fast, or to identify and remove those few mindless thugs who make life a misery for the decent, law-abiding majority. But it's not all about retribution. The council has a duty to provide more positive things for young people to do. This has an impact on anti-social behaviour because it stops young people hanging about on the streets, but it also gives them positive interests in things like sport or music that can prove very beneficial to them.
Lambeth's taking action on all these fronts. We're investing in cleaner streets and estates, better and faster repairs, and more things for young people to do. We'll evict nuisance neighbours faster, we'll name and shame convicted drug users and dealers, and we'll provide more support for the police to issue anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs).
All of this will help. But it's going to take a lot of hard work by the council, the police and the community - all working together - to really make a difference. The will is there, and I'm convinced we can create the safer Lambeth we all want to see.
Monday 27 November 2006
I'm very lucky that being Leader of the Council means I meet so many wonderful people working hard for all sorts of organisations in our borough.
This week in Streatham I met the energetic older people who run daytime activities at the Woodlawns Centre in Leigham Court Road. There was a special event for Asian elders while I was visiting, so I was garlanded before being treated to tea and cakes. The organisers are setting up a new suite of computers for the older people who use the centre. 'Silver surfers' are the fastest growing group on the internet. I'm glad to see Lambeth's older people are taking the opportunity to get online too.
Later the same day, I met some truly amazing young people. They're part of the young carers group that meets in Wellfield Road in Streatham. Aged from just five-years-old and upwards, these extraordinary young people are responsible for adults, often a parent, who is unable to cope on their own. As well as having to look after a grown-up, many of the young people also care for their own younger brothers and sisters. This is an incredible burden of responsibility to put on such young shoulders. This after-school club gives them a chance to play and spend time with other youngsters in similar situations. They all seem to take their extraordinary responsibilities in their stride. It was good to see them enjoying themselves reading with adults, making glittery Christmas cards and using paints.
These young people really deserve the chance for a bit of fun.
Lambeth funds all sorts of organisations that really do make a difference for the people they serve. It was a privilege to meet some of our most impressive older and younger people all in the same day.
Wednesday 8 November 2006
Brixton mosque on Gresham Road has been in the news over recent years. Because terrorists like 'shoe bomber' Richard Reid and 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui once worshipped there, the media have unfairly portrayed it as a hotbed of extremism. That was never true, and the mosque is keen to shake off that undeserved reputation.
Together with external partners and community leaders, I was invited to the mosque by its chairman, Abdul Haqq Baker. I'd last been to the mosque in July last year after the London bombings. After those terrible events, a number of local civil and religious leaders came together on the steps of the mosque to reconfirm our commitment to a multifaith community determined to remain strong and united in the face of terrorism.
This week, Abdul Haqq outlined the mosque's plans for a new project designed to rescue young Muslims at risk of falling into a life of crime. They want to provide a range of sporting, cultural and training opportunities that will give young people positive things to do. Where young Muslims are at particular risk of falling into a life of crime or are being seduced by extremists, they will intervene and explain to them the true, peaceful nature of Islam. By identifying those at risk and intervening early, the project will steer young people back onto a path that will give them a positive future rather than let them drift towards prison.
I'd like to congratulate Abdul Haqq and his colleagues at Brixton mosque for the work they're doing. Young people need positive things to do, they need strong role models to steer them in the right direction. The mosque's people have shown they want to work with the council and the wider community to help give young people a better future. It's a great initiative, and it deserves our support.