Category Archives: News

Urgent Care for £100 min!

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urgent care advertised in a flyer at a price!

While Labour call for the failing Urgent Care Centre (UCC) at St Mary’s Hospital to be brought back into direct NHS control after the recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated it inadequately run by the private healthcare firm Vocare Limited, we have another developed.  

Local private hospital like the Wellington in St John’s Wood offering the services of their UCC with flyers dropped at local homes for a minimum of initial consultation fee of £100. Please see photo of the flyer above. It states “Our UCC provides immediate care with no appointment needed for injuries and illnesses that are urgent but not life threatening, such as: …..” 

So not only are some hell bent to privatise our emergency health services even when there are not up to the mark but they also face the competition of private hospitals charging a minimum of £100. It sounds very much like a two tier health service, with those with insurance cover and disposal income having both options while the NHS fall back is asked to privatise these very services.

This is the brave new world of our emergency health services in London.  

Forgotten Tollgate House

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Works all around Tollgate House going up

With all the talk of regeneration or not on the Ebury Bridge Estate and Church St in the City of Westminster, spare a thought for the residents of Tollgate House in the regeneration of their Estate by the Council.

At this very moment, its residents feel stranded in the middle of a building site where their air and light easement that they normally enjoy is being blocked by the works happening right under their nose. The building works have come out of the ground on all three sides of Tollgate House, to the front and back of them as well as their side, casting a shadow over them. This apart from the usual noise and air pollution that comes from a building site.  This is no doubt causing great stress to many residents in Tollgate House, trying to go about their daily lives.

Living on a building site from your front door!

Getting into Tollgate House is no fun at all!

 

One has to wonder how this proposal ever got the go ahead without highlighting what it would mean to the remaining residents in Tollgate House during the building works? It certainly appears to have been a major oversight by the council and the developers of the regeneration, Noma. They should be compensated at least by being put up in alternative accommodation during the building works by the developers in the hotel opposite. If not at least, not having to pay service charges during the whole period of the works for the stress and strain of living in a building site. So while Noma sell sophisticated living on their website, it has not taken on board the poor conditions many are having to endure while their development comes up around them for residents of Tollgate House. 

It adds further prove that these regeneration proposals on old council estates in London should have a ballot of residents, before they are handed over to the developers. Then the developers and council would have to satisfy the residents of all their concerns and make undertakings that reassure the residents at least during the works themselves. So there are clearly lessons to be learnt for further regeneration proposals in City of Westminster, particularly for residents who could find themselves living in the middle of a building site.

Living in a Building site on your doorstep

Chinese electric vehicles push already on our shores.

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Chinese electric vehicles ready for export.

Not only is China making a big push for electric cars ( FT Big Read – Electric Cars – 13th October ) domestically as one plank of Beijing’s plan to transform China into a high tech industrial power which is target driven through its next 5 year plan but the Chinese are also assisting in sorting out bottlenecks in electric vehicle supply aboard.
A few cases in London illustrate the point well with the first double deck electric bus on our streets provided by BYD and also electric black cabs provided by Geely following a £ 300 m investment in a West Midlands plant. Showing well how Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are helping to plug the gaps in our public transport infrastructure provision. So the Chinese know how of electric vehicles is already being exported and will no doubt make a contribution in reducing air pollution from our streets as well when we start buying their vehicles. 

CAN TRUMP HIMSELF DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE MAN & HIS OFFICE?

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We may be mature enough to distinguish between the man and the present office he holds ( Editorial of the 11th of October in Evening Standard ) but l am not sure Donald Trump himself is able too.

His bigoted warmongering since in office at the beginning of the year is evidence enough. As it is not just his Muslim travel ban proposal; “build the wall” rhetoric aimed at the Latino community particularly the Mexicans and his verbal attacks against black NFL players for “taking the knee” which highlights his bigotry best but his flirting with white supremacists that illustrates it best.

On the war front it is even more clearer with his nuclear brinksmanship in North Korea; issuing vague threats of military action in Venezuela; u-turning on his policy of not increasing US troop numbers in Afghanistan and finally his threat to undo the Iranian nuclear deal which makes him a warmonger. All this while being the commando-in-chief of the largest military force the world has ever seen!

The man is completely self-absorbed and totally unconcerned about what he is doing to the reputation of office of the Presidency of the US.  It is not so much America First but himself first.

Ugly buildings in City of Westminster?

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The Xtra Diary in Westminster Extra recently highlighted the scooping of the national award for ugliest building by the Nova Building, SW1 in the City of Westminster. It is even more embarrassing for the borough as it advertises the building in its new HQ along the Strand in the reception area.  It must also be embarrassing for Land Securities who both own the Nova Building in Victoria and the new premises of Westminster City Council on the Strand. 

This is not the only ugly building the borough has permitted to be built. The one that most annoy’s me is Burne House, NW1 owned by BT which casts a shadow over Bell Street. There are plenty of others to mention including those going up like Brunel House and its impact on skyline of Warwick Avenue and of course the Pole and Cube proposals for the Post Office site on London St, Paddington.  
Maybe we should have a competition to find the ugliest building in the City of Westminster?  I am sure we will have plenty of entries from residents. 

Back to the future with utilities

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In light of your recent excellent coverage in the Big Read on Thames Water: the murky structure of a utility company  l find your editorial on Corbyn’s misguided bid to turn the clock back (12th of May) out of line with your tone of your reporting of private utilities like Thames Water who’s fines over river sewage were dwarfed by £ 1billion plus payment to owners. 
Most of the private utilities are monopolies by their very nature and making them private has not bode well for the customers of water, energy and transport. You say quite clearly “….. privatisation was designed to bring greater efficiency into the management of utilities. But in the case of Thames Water, it has become an experiment in complex financial engineering.” And add ex-OFWAT Head Regulator, Sir Ian Byatt saying  “The public interest is so easily forgotten and consumers are paying more for their water bills because of it.”
Indeed many of those bidding and taking a stake in our utilities are state owned monopolies from aboard, so incredibly the profits go to public utilities aboard. Its not something the market consensus since Thatcher has much to say about? In the case of Thames Water its China & Abu Dhabi and we have a similar pattern in the rail industry. 
Moreover with the Tories advocating also for the energy company prices to be capped in a not too dissimilar manner to what Ed Milliband had proposed in GE2015, if anything the thinking has shifted greatly on how to manage the future of these private utilities. 
So there may well be a case of “back to the future” with private utilities in our economy more so than your editorial will let on. 

“We are all Rohingya’s” now

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Myanmar Generals are only good for attacking their own  civilians.

The plight of the Rohinya’s will rightly get a lot of attention on the floor of the UN General Assembly this week at the United Nations this week. 
The ethnic cleansing is such that over 400,000 Rohingya’s have walked into neighbouring Bangladesh and it is probably already hosting half a million Rohinya’s in the densely packed country from previous occasions when they have had to flee. The last major occasion was when Burmese army attacked them in their villages in 1991/92 and the two countries almost went to war on the matter. 
We also need to remind the Buddhist hate preachers of Myanmar, Buddhism and Hinduism spread to Arakan from ancient Bengal and that the Arakan and south eastern part of Bengal ( now Chittagong Division in Bangladesh) were often ruled by the same dynasties. So clearly using “Bengalis” as a derogatory remark is a denial of their religious origins.  
More over for those of us who are Bengali, we have become Rohingya’s now in the eye’s of the authorities in Myanmar particularly their military. Like most Asian military establishments, they give themselves medals for beating up their own civilians then actually defending the territory integrity of their countries. One useful thing the General Assembly could do for the Rohinya’s is to bad arms exports to the Myanmar military establishment, taking the means of this destruction away from them on their ethnic cleansing operations.  While most of the world is aiming fire at Suu Kyi, lets not forget who is actually doing the burning down and killing of Myanmar’s civilians.  
Lets also learn not to see all Buddhists in the rosy imagination that Hollywood gives the faith. These Buddhist hate preachers not only exist in Myanmar but also in Sri Lanka. Just ask any Muslims from Sri Lanka about their activities as l found out yesterday with their demonstration outside the Myanmar Embassy in London.  Such rosy imagery just does not hold if you ask Rohingya’s and Sri Lanka’s Muslims under attack by their hate preachers in South Asia. Hollywood’s output needs to better reflect this reality.  

What’s the ugliest building in Westminster?

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Nova Building, Victoria, SW1

As the Nova Building, Victoria, SW1 scoops the national award for ugliest building in the UK for 2017, what is your ugliest building in City of Westminster for you? 

For myself it has to be Burne House, Bell Street, NW1 owned by BT behind the Edgware Rd (Bakerloo line) tube station. It is easily the ugliest building in my neighbourhood. Please see below. 

Burne House, Bell Street, NW1

If you have a building you think is ugly, do tell me ( with a photo ) and lets compile the top 10 ugliest buildings in Westminster.

Aung San Suu Kyi – following footsteps of her father

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We hear endless reports that  “The Terrified Rohingya flee their Burmese tormentors…” now.  So desperate is the plight of the Rohingya’s they are fleeing to a country that is a third under water as a results of floods in South Asia, Bangladesh. No one knowingly moves towards floods but such is their plight. 
Bangladesh probably already has half a millions Rohinya’s in its densely packed country from previous occasions when they have had to flee. The last major occasion was when Burmese army attacked them in their villages in 1991/92 and the two countries almost went to war on the matter. 
This has unfortunately been a long running saga dating back to at least 1947 when Aung San denied the Rohingya’s citizenship at the formation of the Burmese state while other ethnic groups were recognised in the Union of Burma. What is for sure is that Suu Kyi is following in the footsteps of her father ( Aung San ) in her total disregard of the Rohinya ‘s plight and circumstances. It clearly needs a regional solution with UN assistance and back up and Suu Kyi is clearly her father’s daughter in such matters.   
We also need to remind the Buddhist hate preachers of Myammar, Buddhism and Hinduism spread to Arakan from ancient Bengal and that the Arakan and south eastern part of Bengal ( now Chittagong Division in Bangladesh) were often ruled by the same dynasties. So clearly using “Bengalis” as a derogatory remark is a denial of their religious origins.  
So the short answer to why won’t Aung San Suu Kyi do anything for the Rohinya’s? She is simply her fathers daughter in this respect! 

Garden Bridge – A bridge to far for London?

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A full investigation is required to find out why so much public money was wasted and make sure it never happens again but while the Garden Bridge is dead in the water, the need for bridges in East London is set to continue.

Assymetry of London Bridges across the Thames in Greater London

Let us be quite clear London needs more bridges. You just have to look at the movement of cars from South East London into Central London via Blackwall or Rotherhithe tunnel and you can appreciate it. Just as critically it is also needed to stem the isolation of places like Thamesmead, a town created within London by the GLC.

But any new bridge in London needs to be East of Tower Bridge linking East London with South-East London but certainly not in Central or in West London where you can be going on & off the bridges by car and you lose any sense of which side of London you are actually on!

Indeed at the end of Ken Livingstone time at City Hall, we had a proposed Thames Gateway Bridge linking Beckton in East London with the remote area of Thamesmead and putting them on the map for the first time. But this half a billion project immediately died a death with Boris Johnson new administration even though it had all the approvals to let the contract and would have been operational in 2013.

Little was heard of bridge proposals in the rest of Boris Johnson time till the Garden Bridge came up towards the end of his second term at City Hall. With a concerted media campaign and influential backers like the Chancellor of Exchequer of the day Gideon ( George ) Osborne it suddenly drew a lot of attention not dissimilar to other projects like the Emirate cable cars and Arcelormittal Orbit slide which caught the eye of the Mayor. Illustrating well again Boris Johnson as Mayor of London complete incompetence to strategically look at London while pursuing media generated hyped projects at huge expense to the public purse.

Not only did they want tens of millions subsidy for the construction of the Garden Bridge but they also tried to get the running costs of the bridge subsided by public purse and Westminster council did well to put a stop to it, as owners of the landing at the Temple.

The Garden Bridge ultimately was completely in the wrong place, essentially a tourist attraction and was not adding to the transport infrastructure of London, so it did not warrant any public monies. So quite how Transport for London (TfL) signed up to it, is beyond me and they do need to explain themselves. Along with their senior staff, we should also add all the construction consultants from firms like Arup who appear to have been paid handsomely for professional services which has not produced anything at all for the public realm.

How a pair of Bullingdon Club boys wasted tens of million pounds public money for their pet projects the Garden Bridge is beyond many while in public office needs through investigating as well. Also, l dare say Joanna Lumley role in it all needs looking into as well. She appears to cast a spell on politicians particularly those who she’s had on sitting on her knees! It all adds to the feel that some can get away with murder or at least spending our money without accounting for themselves. Heads must roll but I doubt it will with them.

So while an investigative inquiry is imperative, let us not allow the final legacy of the Garden Bridge to be the death of any other bridge proposals across the Thames, as we will no doubt need them. Oddly enough TfL at the end of Boris’s time returned to bridge proposals in East London.

A version of this blog has also been published in Westminster Extra this week.