Held my regular monthly surgery at ASDA from 11.00 to 12.00. This was again very successful, with people raising a wide range of issues including housing, youth provision, planning and even a health issue to take up with my PCT responsibilities. Only about half of the people seem to come from East Acton ward, but that’s more than enough to make this comfortably my busiest advice surgery.
All credit to ASDA for allowing me to do this – their only (very reasonable) condition is that I don’t say or give out anything party political. This is easier than people outside the Council might think – it’s a pretty sad individual who can find a lot of party politics in much of the byways of local government (although some do – no names, no pack drill – but we all know who they are).
When I went to their back office to register as a visitor, I was very impressed with the ASDA notices to their staff warning them not to sell alcohol to those underage. This has been a real problem, particularly in some off-licences. The Council have recently been running some ‘mystery customer’ test purchases at both large and small stores to test out whether they follow the law. In contrast to ASDA’s firm stance, at least one major superstore was caught breaking the law and given a warning (I’ll check if I’m allowed to name them on this blog).
Went on (still bikeless) to meet with Conservative Cllr Tony Brown, to discuss and agree a motion on Holocaust Memorial day that we’re putting to the next full Council meeting on 13th December. The fact that Tony and I are happy to work together like this is another example of where this Borough doesn’t let party politics get in the way of sensible partnership.
I was very concerned earlier in the year to see suggestions in some of the press urging that that Holocaust Memorial Day should be downgraded or changed in name. Thankfully, Charles Clarke as Home Secretary issued a very firm statement rejecting any such suggestion. Our Council was one of the first in British local government to organise a commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day, following a motion that I moved with all-party support. Therefore I thought it would be important for the Council to recognise and welcome what Charles Clarke had said, together with other recent developments, and to make a reaffirmation of our commitment to Holocaust Memorial Day and the principles upon which it is based.
The motion which we’ve drafted, and which I will move and Tony will second, reads as follows :
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY
The Council recognises its role as one of the pioneers of local government commemoration of 27th January as Holocaust Memorial Day, and strongly believes in its continuing importance.
We were consequently concerned about suggestions from the media urging a downgrading of the national status of Holocaust Memorial Day, and warmly welcome the statement made by the Home Secretary in a letter to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust that “The Government remains totally committed to the commemoration as an annual national event, and has no plans to seek a change in its name or nature.”
The Council welcomes other recent national and international initiatives to further recognise and increase the role played by Holocaust Memorial Day, including :
* The designation by the United Nations General Assembly of 27th January as an annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust
* The announcement by the Chancellor of funding of £1.5 million to support the Holocaust Educational Trust's ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ course for teachers and sixth form students, which will allow the Trust to facilitate visits to Auschwitz for two students from every school in the UK
* Her Majesty the Queen becoming the Patron of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust
The Council agrees to continue to see Holocaust Memorial Day as an occasion to raise awareness that, whilst the suffering of Jewish people in the Nazi Holocaust is and must remain central to the commemoration of Holocaust, the experiences of the Armenian diaspora and more recently in Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo and Darfur are of crucial importance in understanding and preventing future holocaust. Above all, the Council recognises its moral duty to confront and seek to defeat anti-semitism, racism, xenophobia and all forms of persecution.
The Council resolves to continue to play its role in the commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day, recognising that events in 2006 will be centred on Thursday 26th January given that the 27th falls on the Jewish Sabbath”
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