Friday, 15 January 2010
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Monday, 21 December 2009
Sunday, 20 December 2009
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Sunday, 13 December 2009
christmas is coming
• Sorry I’ve been a bit silent, sometimes it’s a choice between doing things, and writing about doing things, and for the last month I’ve been meeting people, working for Lutonians, and formulating ideas about particular challenges. That’s why the blog has suffered, you could call it being blogged down, (sorry again), here’s a summary of some of the past events.
• Terrific news for one Lutonian. Dave Lee came to see me because he had been driven to despair by the Child Support Agency who were trying to claim £7,000 from him for periods of time when he was unemployed, (he had worked for Vauxhall for 23 years and his children are now almost adult). I went with him to the County Court, where Dave broke down, realizing there was nothing more he could do because the judge more in sorrow than in anger said he had no choice but to allow the CSA to put a charge on Dave’s home. Then the CSA immediately sent a threatening letter saying they would force a sale. Which would have been a complete disaster. I suggested one more possibility. Maybe publicity would force the CSA to re-examine their records. Dave agreed. So we alerted the local media, (front page story in the Luton paper, two features on 3 Counties RAdio), and lo and behold! the CSA took another look and realized they were wrong. So they’ve just written to Dave to say there will be no threat to his home now. He sent me a gorgeous bunch of roses. Thank you Dave.
• I attended a fabulous Hindu service, crowded hall, wonderful music, delicious food, and best of all, families celebrating happily together. A real community, and so welcoming. Really moving and impressive, I was so grateful for the invitation. But they told me they desperately need a hall of their own, they can only hold their services at the moment thanks to the Catholic community renting them their hall. It’s so rare to see such religious and cultural commitment, come on Luton Council, find somewhere for them!
• Many school visits, three or four a week, touring classrooms, meeting staff and children and speaking at assemblies. Two results for me, firstly, I could discover the issues facing schools and families in Luton. Secondly, I could spread the message that ChildLine 0800 1111 is free, confidential, for any child with any problem. I didn’t expect to see such contrasts. In some schools, teachers are struggling valiantly with an appalling lack of resources. (One head teacher pointed out the insanity of insisting that all schools have two family workers, even when some don’t need them, and others need a minimum of six). Even in the schools where it was clear the children are being very successfully educated, head teachers told me it’s difficult to attract teachers to Luton. (I’m still mystified by this perceived stigma, I love Luton!). After weeks of school visits, I am struck yet again by the crucial factor in determining children’s future, which is not glamorous school buildings, not money, but motivated loving parents. It’s when children don’t have those role models that we depend on schools to provide them. It’s so crucial for children, especially the ones growing up in violent unloving backgrounds, if we don’t improve schools and pastoral care, how else can we break the cycle of neglect and abuse?
• A new, very difficult problem brought to me in my “surgery” in the Indoor Market, a story of abuse, and incompetent child protection. Unravelling the reasons and the solution will take time and sensitivity, so as not to hurt the child at the centre. Alas, one mistake has had terrible consequences.
• Age Concern visit, very impressed by the services they offer, a brilliant use of dedicated volunteers running their friendship helpline, and other innovative services, like life-coaching for the newly bereaved, a supply of home helps, and reliable handy-men. Having met the staff I now hope to meet some of the members of their lunch-time group.
• Heartening visit to Hibbert Street Alms Houses, where Mick told me fabulous tale of the local publican who looked after her when she had a hip operation, and clearly deserves a Heart of Gold Award, mind you, so does she for treating her neighbours to a terrific Christmas lunch in the Cross Keys. Christmas is the time for children, but lovely to see old people enjoying themselves, and being so generous with so little. Isn’t that always the way!
• This weekend, acting as the presenter of a carol concert in High Town was the high spot of my Christmas so far. Pasque Harmony (ladies in fabulous blue sparkly dresses) were giving a concert with the Priory Choir from Dunstable (angelic in long red gowns) in aid of the Keech Hospice. The Methodist Church in High Town was full, the congregation sang lustily and tunefully, and nobody minded at all they were missing the semi-finals of Strictly and X Factor. Pasque Harmony presented a cheque for £20,000 to Keech, brilliant! Having opened the new unit at Keech, met their staff and patients and their families, I know how precious and valuable that donation is. Most people, I think, don’t realize that nearly all hospices depend entirely on donations to keep going.
• Tonight I’ll continue with my Luton Christmas, celebrating the Christmas Tree Festival in Caddington, and then accepting a cheque on behalf of Marie Curie from the Vauxhall Recreation Club. A perfect way to prepare for the ordeal of next week’s shopping and card sending, which I must get down to, my kitchen table is strewn with unaddressed envelopes and tinsel wrapping.
• What pizza did Good King Wenceslas order? The usual, deep pan, crisp and even. Just thought you’d like to know.
• Terrific news for one Lutonian. Dave Lee came to see me because he had been driven to despair by the Child Support Agency who were trying to claim £7,000 from him for periods of time when he was unemployed, (he had worked for Vauxhall for 23 years and his children are now almost adult). I went with him to the County Court, where Dave broke down, realizing there was nothing more he could do because the judge more in sorrow than in anger said he had no choice but to allow the CSA to put a charge on Dave’s home. Then the CSA immediately sent a threatening letter saying they would force a sale. Which would have been a complete disaster. I suggested one more possibility. Maybe publicity would force the CSA to re-examine their records. Dave agreed. So we alerted the local media, (front page story in the Luton paper, two features on 3 Counties RAdio), and lo and behold! the CSA took another look and realized they were wrong. So they’ve just written to Dave to say there will be no threat to his home now. He sent me a gorgeous bunch of roses. Thank you Dave.
• I attended a fabulous Hindu service, crowded hall, wonderful music, delicious food, and best of all, families celebrating happily together. A real community, and so welcoming. Really moving and impressive, I was so grateful for the invitation. But they told me they desperately need a hall of their own, they can only hold their services at the moment thanks to the Catholic community renting them their hall. It’s so rare to see such religious and cultural commitment, come on Luton Council, find somewhere for them!
• Many school visits, three or four a week, touring classrooms, meeting staff and children and speaking at assemblies. Two results for me, firstly, I could discover the issues facing schools and families in Luton. Secondly, I could spread the message that ChildLine 0800 1111 is free, confidential, for any child with any problem. I didn’t expect to see such contrasts. In some schools, teachers are struggling valiantly with an appalling lack of resources. (One head teacher pointed out the insanity of insisting that all schools have two family workers, even when some don’t need them, and others need a minimum of six). Even in the schools where it was clear the children are being very successfully educated, head teachers told me it’s difficult to attract teachers to Luton. (I’m still mystified by this perceived stigma, I love Luton!). After weeks of school visits, I am struck yet again by the crucial factor in determining children’s future, which is not glamorous school buildings, not money, but motivated loving parents. It’s when children don’t have those role models that we depend on schools to provide them. It’s so crucial for children, especially the ones growing up in violent unloving backgrounds, if we don’t improve schools and pastoral care, how else can we break the cycle of neglect and abuse?
• A new, very difficult problem brought to me in my “surgery” in the Indoor Market, a story of abuse, and incompetent child protection. Unravelling the reasons and the solution will take time and sensitivity, so as not to hurt the child at the centre. Alas, one mistake has had terrible consequences.
• Age Concern visit, very impressed by the services they offer, a brilliant use of dedicated volunteers running their friendship helpline, and other innovative services, like life-coaching for the newly bereaved, a supply of home helps, and reliable handy-men. Having met the staff I now hope to meet some of the members of their lunch-time group.
• Heartening visit to Hibbert Street Alms Houses, where Mick told me fabulous tale of the local publican who looked after her when she had a hip operation, and clearly deserves a Heart of Gold Award, mind you, so does she for treating her neighbours to a terrific Christmas lunch in the Cross Keys. Christmas is the time for children, but lovely to see old people enjoying themselves, and being so generous with so little. Isn’t that always the way!
• This weekend, acting as the presenter of a carol concert in High Town was the high spot of my Christmas so far. Pasque Harmony (ladies in fabulous blue sparkly dresses) were giving a concert with the Priory Choir from Dunstable (angelic in long red gowns) in aid of the Keech Hospice. The Methodist Church in High Town was full, the congregation sang lustily and tunefully, and nobody minded at all they were missing the semi-finals of Strictly and X Factor. Pasque Harmony presented a cheque for £20,000 to Keech, brilliant! Having opened the new unit at Keech, met their staff and patients and their families, I know how precious and valuable that donation is. Most people, I think, don’t realize that nearly all hospices depend entirely on donations to keep going.
• Tonight I’ll continue with my Luton Christmas, celebrating the Christmas Tree Festival in Caddington, and then accepting a cheque on behalf of Marie Curie from the Vauxhall Recreation Club. A perfect way to prepare for the ordeal of next week’s shopping and card sending, which I must get down to, my kitchen table is strewn with unaddressed envelopes and tinsel wrapping.
• What pizza did Good King Wenceslas order? The usual, deep pan, crisp and even. Just thought you’d like to know.
Sunday, 1 November 2009
A momentous two weeks
A MOMENTOUS TWO WEEKS
Monday October 19th we launched our new advice centre, a snug little office in Units 74/76 in the Indoor Market in Market Hall in the centre of Luton. A very bright way to start a Monday morning, it’s decorated in a vivid but tasteful combination of orange and purple, “Purple for passion, orange for Luton” I told the man with a microphone when he asked why those colours. And it’s how I feel. Passionate about Luton. I find that difficult to explain, but then passion is always hard to pin down. I genuinely love that gallant, underestimated, tough, warm town. Every time I start driving the half hour up the M1 I feel excitement and anticipation. And certainly I felt that when I cut the purple ribbon and opened the doors of my new office.
The walls, ceiling and doors have been beautifully fitted and painted, and the windows fitted by well-wishers who work in the market. It’s cosy because I’ve furnished it with sofa and chairs from my medical student son’s room, (I’ll ask his permission later). The sofa has been well used already. There’s been a steady stream of Lutonians with concerns and problems they want me to know about, and help them with. Difficulties with schools. A dangerous road where a child was almost killed. No parking for residents. Worrying development plans. No jobs for an older worker. What to do about parents with dementia. And a dad being persecuted by the Child Support Agency. ( I know the devastating effect the CSA has achieved in the past, so I went with the dad to the County Court last week, a harrowing experience for him, no matter how much the staff and the judge try to keep it human and friendly.) Some of the issues clearly deserve a wider audience, so I begin to plan with the team ways of alerting the local media.
Several of my visitors tell me quite frankly that they have come to try and discover what I stand for, and if I can really make a difference. The word “trust” comes up over and over again. That is what the MP’s have sacrificed. A treasure beyond price, the basis of our democracy. And yet some MP’s still, in the phrase our papers love, “don’t get it.”
Right on cue a friend rings. “Did you know the anagram of your name, Esther Louise Rantzen, is “Trust, not sleaze, in here”? Obviously destiny was hovering around me at my christening. Luton was calling even then.
Between my surgeries, (I haven’t yet mentioned to my medical student son that I’m holding surgeries, too) I’ve made some significant visits. To Bedfordshire University, to meet the visionary Vice Chancellor Professor Les Ebdon. He has great plans to extend and improve the campus, and we explore the idea of my chairing some debates on general issues of special interest to Lutonians, housing and the green belt, diversity, employment in the future, democracy, and so on. I also ask if I can meet the social work students. I am struck by the vitality of the place, with its coffee bar at the entrance so the students immediately join a community, rather than the straggling anonymity of many traditional university buildings.
Then to the Keech Hospice for local terminally ill adults and children, again, paradoxically, a happy place, filled with dedicated staff who use all their skills to make precious last days as comfortable as possible. I know from my own experience, and from making the tv programme, “How to have a Good Death”, how important those last memories are. I am to open a new development in the hospice, to present a Christmas concert, and this Saturday to attend a special fund-raising concert organized by the Pasque Harmony Choir in the Grove Theatre, Dunstable.
Lunch with Martin Bell, ex independent MP, this week is useful and thought-provoking. I tell him I am thinking of asking for donations to cover the cost of the campaign from anyone who believes that an independent candidate would be a worthwhile investment in the next Parliament, but nothing over £50. He tells me that Obama was mainly funded by small donations. The comparison is intimidating, but reassuring. So I have begun to negotiate with Paypal, to set up a non-profit account, any funds left over to go to ChildLine. Martin says, “You don’t need a policy, you know, because you will not be in government. What you need is a set of principles. Your job will be to ask the difficult questions, to be the grit in the oyster. If we had had a group of independent MP’s in Parliament, we would never have gone to war in Iraq.”
My principles are, of course, to put Luton at the top of my agenda, and to fight Luton’s corner nationally. And when it comes to tough decisions at home or abroad, to apply the principle of informed choice to every issue, (if we had all the information, we would surely not have invaded Iraq), And always to be transparent, honest, and to work as hard as I can for the vulnerable, children, the elderly and disabled people. But as I may have to answer tough questions as well as ask them in the next few months, I begin mentally to practice. Not to be slick and over-political, but just to get my point over in the required 15 seconds, to satisfy the media’s notorious attention deficiency disorder.
On Saturday, the concert in aid of the Keech hospices was inspiring and beautiful. (I envy Dunstable its comfortable theatre, seating 700. Why hasn't Luton got one?) The ladies of Pasque Harmony look good and sound just as good, and they clearly enjoyed teaming up with the magnificent Morriston Orpheus Male Voice Choir, who were as invigorating and Welsh as lava bread, and glamorous in their white tuxedos. I sat next to the Mayor of Luton, very charming, as always, and down the row from Kelvin Hopkins and his wife, the MP for Luton North, one of the outstanding “saints” who didn’t claim a penny for a second home.
After the concert, one elegant lady in the audience said “You do very well on Three Counties Radio, Esther. You certainly know how to handle Stephen.” What good news, and very heartening for the months ahead. Perhaps I have more experience of tough questions than I realized!
Monday October 19th we launched our new advice centre, a snug little office in Units 74/76 in the Indoor Market in Market Hall in the centre of Luton. A very bright way to start a Monday morning, it’s decorated in a vivid but tasteful combination of orange and purple, “Purple for passion, orange for Luton” I told the man with a microphone when he asked why those colours. And it’s how I feel. Passionate about Luton. I find that difficult to explain, but then passion is always hard to pin down. I genuinely love that gallant, underestimated, tough, warm town. Every time I start driving the half hour up the M1 I feel excitement and anticipation. And certainly I felt that when I cut the purple ribbon and opened the doors of my new office.
The walls, ceiling and doors have been beautifully fitted and painted, and the windows fitted by well-wishers who work in the market. It’s cosy because I’ve furnished it with sofa and chairs from my medical student son’s room, (I’ll ask his permission later). The sofa has been well used already. There’s been a steady stream of Lutonians with concerns and problems they want me to know about, and help them with. Difficulties with schools. A dangerous road where a child was almost killed. No parking for residents. Worrying development plans. No jobs for an older worker. What to do about parents with dementia. And a dad being persecuted by the Child Support Agency. ( I know the devastating effect the CSA has achieved in the past, so I went with the dad to the County Court last week, a harrowing experience for him, no matter how much the staff and the judge try to keep it human and friendly.) Some of the issues clearly deserve a wider audience, so I begin to plan with the team ways of alerting the local media.
Several of my visitors tell me quite frankly that they have come to try and discover what I stand for, and if I can really make a difference. The word “trust” comes up over and over again. That is what the MP’s have sacrificed. A treasure beyond price, the basis of our democracy. And yet some MP’s still, in the phrase our papers love, “don’t get it.”
Right on cue a friend rings. “Did you know the anagram of your name, Esther Louise Rantzen, is “Trust, not sleaze, in here”? Obviously destiny was hovering around me at my christening. Luton was calling even then.
Between my surgeries, (I haven’t yet mentioned to my medical student son that I’m holding surgeries, too) I’ve made some significant visits. To Bedfordshire University, to meet the visionary Vice Chancellor Professor Les Ebdon. He has great plans to extend and improve the campus, and we explore the idea of my chairing some debates on general issues of special interest to Lutonians, housing and the green belt, diversity, employment in the future, democracy, and so on. I also ask if I can meet the social work students. I am struck by the vitality of the place, with its coffee bar at the entrance so the students immediately join a community, rather than the straggling anonymity of many traditional university buildings.
Then to the Keech Hospice for local terminally ill adults and children, again, paradoxically, a happy place, filled with dedicated staff who use all their skills to make precious last days as comfortable as possible. I know from my own experience, and from making the tv programme, “How to have a Good Death”, how important those last memories are. I am to open a new development in the hospice, to present a Christmas concert, and this Saturday to attend a special fund-raising concert organized by the Pasque Harmony Choir in the Grove Theatre, Dunstable.
Lunch with Martin Bell, ex independent MP, this week is useful and thought-provoking. I tell him I am thinking of asking for donations to cover the cost of the campaign from anyone who believes that an independent candidate would be a worthwhile investment in the next Parliament, but nothing over £50. He tells me that Obama was mainly funded by small donations. The comparison is intimidating, but reassuring. So I have begun to negotiate with Paypal, to set up a non-profit account, any funds left over to go to ChildLine. Martin says, “You don’t need a policy, you know, because you will not be in government. What you need is a set of principles. Your job will be to ask the difficult questions, to be the grit in the oyster. If we had had a group of independent MP’s in Parliament, we would never have gone to war in Iraq.”
My principles are, of course, to put Luton at the top of my agenda, and to fight Luton’s corner nationally. And when it comes to tough decisions at home or abroad, to apply the principle of informed choice to every issue, (if we had all the information, we would surely not have invaded Iraq), And always to be transparent, honest, and to work as hard as I can for the vulnerable, children, the elderly and disabled people. But as I may have to answer tough questions as well as ask them in the next few months, I begin mentally to practice. Not to be slick and over-political, but just to get my point over in the required 15 seconds, to satisfy the media’s notorious attention deficiency disorder.
On Saturday, the concert in aid of the Keech hospices was inspiring and beautiful. (I envy Dunstable its comfortable theatre, seating 700. Why hasn't Luton got one?) The ladies of Pasque Harmony look good and sound just as good, and they clearly enjoyed teaming up with the magnificent Morriston Orpheus Male Voice Choir, who were as invigorating and Welsh as lava bread, and glamorous in their white tuxedos. I sat next to the Mayor of Luton, very charming, as always, and down the row from Kelvin Hopkins and his wife, the MP for Luton North, one of the outstanding “saints” who didn’t claim a penny for a second home.
After the concert, one elegant lady in the audience said “You do very well on Three Counties Radio, Esther. You certainly know how to handle Stephen.” What good news, and very heartening for the months ahead. Perhaps I have more experience of tough questions than I realized!
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