 |
The Gerrard Chronicles 2006 - The Campaign Trail |
SO NEAR YET SO FAR WITH ISLINGTON COUNCIL |
||
Cllr. Martin Klute, one of our new members for St Peters Ward |
While Labour did badly in the Council elections over much of the country, Islington as is becoming too common, bucked the trend again. The bunch of Neo-Fascists marching under the over-accommodating banner of the Liberal Democrats lost a lot of seats, resulting in a draw, with Labour getting the most votes. However, the Mayor's casting vote keeps them in power & they have grabbed all the offices going. The incoming Labour members have left the Leader, Catherine West (right) in command, as it was her victory. Best of all, the leader & deputy leader of the Lib-Dems, Steve Hitchens & the failed parliamentary candidate, Bridget Fox were ousted from their seats & we now have Labour Councillors in St Peters Ward, which was the Lib-Dem stronghold. |
Boss West. understandably pleased with the result |
 |
Thanks to Ivan Hodgson (left) the Senior Project Manager for Tolent, the builders, Avis has been able to take two groups round the site & we had the ecstatic experience of actually seeing the theatre space in the concrete framework of the building (right). Avis' essay for the local newspaper & newsletters of the Highbury Fields Association & The Islington Society is on this link. She is writing a book about the campaign. |
|
AVIS WORKING ON THE 'TATE'
Apart from working as a volunteer, Avis' continuing correspondence with Sir Nicholas Serota is bearing fruit this year. He has put on a Kandinsky show at Modern & has called in the architects to Tate Britain to make space for more British modern art.
THE FABIANS DINNER
Our guest speaker at the traditional Fabians Xmas Dinner was Margaret Hodge MP for Barking & once, Leader of our Council. She made a massive faux-pas which her oppo later denied to the effect that the Iraq War had been a disaster. (The Editor of the Islington Tribune was there & the national press soon picked it up). She covered many areas in her speech but not the Climate Change problem & waffled when Ken hammered her on the environment in questions.
FIT TO DROP
This is a City of London keep-fit programme really called "Young at Heart" for over-fifties. As usual, Ken at 63 is about the youngest. (It's funny that nobody in the 50-59 range ever joins 'over-fifties' programmes). They have fitted us up with pedometers, as they discovered some crumblies were only doing 3,000 paces per day & 10,000 was the target. We usually beat that comfortably & Ken notched up 45,422 on one of his Alpine days. Avis uses their gym free as well but Ken finds gyms bor-r-r-ring.
Contact: Ken Baldry or Avis Saltsman, 17 Gerrard Road, Islington, London N1 8AY +44(0)020 7359 6294 or e-mail him or her
This page's URL: http://www.art-science.com/Xmas2005/business.html Last revised 1/12/2006 Copyright: Ken Baldry & Avis Saltzmann 2006 All rights reserved but print it off if you want to.