Dismal West Ham outplayed by resurgent Everton

West Ham 0-2 Everton
This lacklustre display from West Ham effectively ended any lingering hope they had of getting 7th place and qualifying for Europe.
The team selection seemed odd from the off, with Javier Hernandez, whose double strike in the last game rescued the points, left on the bench together with skipper Mark Noble.
The manager it seemed preferred out of sorts Lucas Perez and Pedro Obiang - both substituted at half time.
The game was just four minutes old when Kurt Zouma arrived unchalenged to head home Gylfi Sigurdsson's corner.
Lukasz Fabianski then pulled off a double save from Richarlison.
On the half hour, Everton doubled their lead, when Seamus Coleman got in front of Aaron Cresswell to cross for Bernard to side foot home.
Everton were by far the more fluid side and should have won by more. The closest they came was when Richarlson saw his header from a corner bounce back off the bar.
West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini thought the performance to be "the worst of the season".
"It was very bad, the way we conceded the goals and they could have had more," said Pellegrini.
Everton manager Marco Silva was pleased with his side's fourth clean sheet in five games.
The manager thought it one of Everton's most consistent performances.

Time to make Redbridge a more cycle friendly borough

How does cycling get to the point in Redbridge where it is considered “a normal part of everyday life and the natural choice for shorter journeys.”

This is the target, set by the Department for Transport’s Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, to which we must aspire.

There were 3.27 billion vehicle miles cycled in the UK in 2017, an increase of 3% on the previous year. In terms of total mileage covered, though, that is just 1%.

Two thirds of mileage remains done by car and vans.

Figures from Sport England show that just 35.2% of people in Redbridge either cycle or walk five times a week. This rises to 46.5 for three times and 72.1 for once a week. Some 79.3% cycle or walk once a month (Active Lives survey from Sport England). These stats make the population of Redbridge appear somewhat sedentary.

The national figure for trips to and from school remains disappointingly low at 2%.

Safety is a major issue stopping people cycling, with two thirds of adults saying “it is too dangerous for me to cycle on the roads” (British Social Attitudes Survey).

In London, there have been major moves by local authorities led by Mayor Sadiq Khan to get more people walking and cycling. These forms of travel have to increase if the Mayor’s target of 80% of all journeys being by cycle, foot or public transport by 2030. There has been success, with cycling in London growing by 62% over the past decade.

So, there are positive signs but still much to do - especially in Redbridge. The public transport model that we should be aspiring to must be the mini-hollands type culture seen in Waltham Forest (WF). The aim is to prioritise the pedestrian, cyclist and public transport user. People are encouraged to cycle to transport hubs like train stations, where they can securely park their bikes (in hangars) and continue the journey by public transport. Traffic, of which there is less, is in the main driven from the side roads onto the main arteries. Health benefits are already being seen.

In Redbridge, the cycling network can at best be described as piecemeal. Cycle lanes often expose the cyclist to the full force of the traffic, no doubt playing to the fears that keep people off the roads.

Cycle routes sometimes inexplicably end, leaving the cyclist nowhere to go other than out into the busy road.

There are though plans to make Redbridge more cycle friendly. The £3.3 million provided by Transport for London through its Liveable Neighbourhoods programme offers a real opportunity to get things moving. Details have yet to be worked out but better connections between Wanstead, Ilford and connecting boroughs should result.

The council is keen to get more of the hangar type facilities seen all over WF out in Redbridge. These will ensure people have got somewhere safe to put their bikes.

There is so much that can be done with a little imagination. Redbridge has fantastic parks. Why
not link them, so there can be an easy green cycling route. Maybe we could kick this idea off with a Redbridge Cycle Day, when people come together – including all those cycling councilors – to cycle the route.  

We need imaginative ideas to get more people on their cycles travelling around Redbridge. The enthusiasm must come from the citizens of Redbridge, the council’s challenge is to provide the infrastructure to make cycling a more enjoyable and safer experience.

published - Wanstead & Woodford Guardian - 28/3/2019 - paper
                                                                            30/3/2019 - online

Time to recycle but more important stop creating the waste in the first place

There has been a growing awareness of the need to clear litter and clean up Wanstead.

The councillors have been leading monthly litter picks (on the third Saturday of each month), which have grown in popularity with local residents.

The question, though, that regularly occurs, when picking up the rubbish, is why do so many people drop the stuff in the first place? Do they have no pride or respect for their fellow human beings? What other creature on the earth behaves in such a way?

What the recent programmes, like David Attenborough’s Blue Planet series, illustrate is how human being are choking the planet. The dumping of rubbish, particularly plastics, show the urgent need to get to grips with this crisis. First, human beings need to stop producing this waste, second, serious clearance need to begin of the rubbish already out there clogging up the world.

Redbridge Council’s new Waste and Recycling strategy is set in this preventative culture, seeking to encourage people not to create the waste in the first place. When they do, the emphasis is on recycling and re-use of materials – not just chucking them in the bin or worse.

Some 70,172 of residual (black bag) waste was produced for the year 2017/18. Just 24% of waste was recycled, putting Redbridge amongst the 10 worst performing boroughs in the country. Under the Mayor of London’s guidelines the level of recycling will have to come up to 65% by 2030, so there is a big challenge for Redbridge council and residents.

Food waste has been found to make up 50% of the contents of the residual waste. People need to stop producing this waste. Research by Recycle for London shows food waste costs a family of four £70 a month. Why not just buy (or better still grow) what you eat?

Some 58,800 disposable nappies are sent to landfill in Redbridge each day, why not use washable nappies?

Some 300,000 tonnes of used clothes go into landfill in the UK each year, why not recycle clothes – or buy less?

The new strategy will include the introduction of wheelie bins and taking the waste collection service in-house. However, much of the emphasis of the strategy is on producing less waste.

Single use of items is to be discouraged. The council can use its licencing powers to ensure events do not use single use items but re-usable ones. This practice will also be adopted in council offices and buildings.

This policy can open the way for areas like Wanstead, under its new Environmental Charter, to look for a ban on single plastic use on the high street. Such a move will ofcourse mean working with local businesses to find a way of achieving such a goal. Possibly an environmental audit?

There are many innovative ideas that can be used to cut waste production. It is vital because humankind is destroying the world on which we all live. Cleaning up is important but addressing why we create the mess in the first place is equally so.

published - Wanstead & Woodford Guardian - 21/3/2019 - paper
                                                                             - 23/3/2019 - online

West Ham break Huddersfield hearts with heroic comeback

West Ham 4-3 Huddersfield Town

No one could have expected this roller coaster ride of a match when they arrived at the London Stadium.

Huddersfield as good as relegated, West Ham pursuing an outside chance of Europa League qualification. How wrong you can be?

West Ham took the lead on the quarter hour after Manuel Lanzini was taken down in the penalty area. Mark Noble duly dispatch the resulting penalty.

The visitors took just a couple of minutes to draw level, when Juninho Bacuna came through unmarked to head home the corner from Aaron Mooy.

Huddersfield then took the lead when Chris Lowe put a low cross in for Karlon Grant to sweep home.

Grant then intercepted a miss timed tackle by Issa Diop, cut inside Angelo Ogbonna and rifled his shot beyond Lukasz Fabianski into the corner.
West Ham then made some changes bringing on Javier Hernandez, Sami Nasri and Lucas Perez.

Ogbonna came through to head home a corner, then it was over to Hernandez.

The diminuitive Mexican came in around the back to head home a  Sami Nasri cross from the right.

The great comeback was then completed one minute into injury time as Hernandez twisted to head home Felipe Anderson cross.

West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini thought his side showed great character to come back from three one down. "The most important thing is never to give up," said Pellegrini.

An emotional Huddersfiel boss Jon Siewert told how he had gone over to acknowledge the club's travelling fans. "We should have won it, said Siewert, who confirmed the club will keep fighting for the remaining seven games. "We need to represent the club and those working at the club - they are amazing."

Learning the lessons of the M11 Link Road protest - climate strike and extinction protesters must be heard

The recent programmes about the 25^th anniversary of the protests to stop the M11 Link Road being built through Wanstead brought back memories.

Local people joined with campaigners from outside in an attempt to stop the road. The methodology was peaceful direct action. Wherever there was a perceived obstacle on the route, protesters clung on. There was the tree on George Green, which became home to a number of people. A early morning operation involving hundreds of police and security staff removed the protesters.

The houses along Cambridge Park, opposite Our Lady of Lourdes Church. The area was declared to be Wanstonia and sort separate state status at one point.

Protesters occupied and locked onto the buildings. The police and private security companies virtually closed the area on Ash Wednesday. The vehicles were parked in the church car park, as the operation involving 600 plus police and security guards.

A similar occupation and removal took place further down the route, at Claremont Road in Leytonstone. The 3.5 mile road was finally built at a cost of £250 million, the loss of 350 houses and acres of green space. It was really a blueprint for all that was wrong with transport policy in the UK.

The protesters felt they had lost the battle at Wanstead but won the war. Government subsequently backed off from road building for a while, following the mass protests at Twyford Down, Newbury and Wanstead.

However, virtually everything the protesters argued 25 years ago has come to pass. Pollution levels have increased to the present epidemic levels. The desire to drive everywhere has resulted in us poisoning ourselves and significantly our children. Other forms of transport have been treated in an ever more second class fashion by successive governments.

One memory of the M11 Link protests was of so many children coming out to join. Children from the local schools were there at the forefront of the protest, Notably today, it is again young people leading the battle against climate change and the destruction of the environment. The recent climate strike, saw young people across the land coming out to say enough, there is a climate emergency and the present approach of government is not good enough. There are also many young people active in the climate extinction movement, which sees people taking direct action, in similar vein to their forbears 25 years ago. Locking on and calling to be heard.

Government, businesses, civil society and indeed all of us as individuals must hear this cry. It is no good just kicking these environmental problems into the long grass and hope they will go away. We are attempting in Wanstead to address some of the issues with the emerging environmental charter. However, again people in the community must come forward and take action. Environmental change is not going to happen by just talking about it.

People in this area seem keen to take part in environmental activities. The recently instituted litter picks have grown in popularity. Residents want to recycle more and see more biodiversity in the area. There are many cyclists in Wanstead, keen to use their bikes more. Though on a more negative note, many seem to have a virtually umbilical link to their cars. So the grass roots of a more environmentally sustainable way of living is there, it just needs to now be developed. Time to learn the lessons of the past and  plot a cleaner, greener future.

published - Wanstead and Woodford Guardian - 14/3/2019 - paper
                                                                                      - 16/3/2019 - online

Building the barriers higher and locking up more people will not solve crime

A recent news item referred to how a few years ago, in a rural area, people left their doors unlocked and were in and out of each others houses all the time.

It is a claim often made about life a few decades ago. The story may have become a bit embellished over time, but things were no doubt different.

There are still areas today around the country where people leave things unlocked and can go away and return to their property or possessions.

However, in London and  beyond the fear of crime sees people retreating into their own homes. The old saying that an Englishman’s home is his castle seems ever more true. Houses and flats are fortified with alarm systems and CCTV cameras. Many are insecure in their homes. We do not trust each other.

Matters are made worse by social media, which hypes up the threat of crime. Totally subjective views are posted casting suspicion and blame around. The overall effect is to make people frightened of coming out of their secured front door.

This state of affairs, with distrust, suspicion and fear abounding, is called progress. Progress from the days when doors could be left unlocked and there was a genuine community spirit.

There has always been crime. Today things are not made better by the government’s ludicrous cuts to the police. The move is deliberate, under resourcing and undermining the morale of the service in order to move the country toward more policing being done by unaccountable private security firms.

However, another factor is that never have so many people been so rich. People have more and more stuff to guard with their alarm and camera systems. At the same time there is a growing chasm between the haves and have nots. This state of affairs is a recipe for more crime and disorder.

Greater community involvement will cut crime. The growth of initiatives like safer neighbourhoods and neighbourhood watch have brought people together with a united voice to address crime. Some forms of social media have made these type of groups and others more effective, with applications like WhatsApp enabling people to stay informed about what is going on in the area. So there are positive developments.

However, there also need to be other moves taken at a national level to address crime. Backing and proper resourcing for the police service is a must. Few of us want to be forced back into gated communities, patrolled by private security companies.

An overhaul of the whole way that criminals are dealt with by the criminal justice system is also important. At present the prisons are effectively universities of crime. There are extraordinary levels of illiteracy and innumeracy amongst prisoners. Yet, how much effort goes into rehabilitating prisoners, so they don’t come out to reoffend? Recent statistics suggest not much, with almost half of offenders reoffending within a year of release.

The out of sight out of mind attitude toward criminals really just makes the problem worse in the long term. All but a handful of the prisoners held in the prison system will come out at some point and could be living next door to any of us.

The great polarisation of wealth in this country no doubt also contributes something to crime levels. A more even distribution of wealth would help cut some crime.

Much of crime is based around the drug trade. Some decriminalisation and control of this by the government would no doubt make huge inroads into the problems of crime.

So there is much to be done at local and national levels if we really want to cut crime. Simply building the barriers higher will not resolve the problem. The real answer lies with greater community involvement and a more grown up approach to the issues of crime and punishment.


published in Wanstead & Woodford Guardian - 7/3/2019 - paper
                                                                                   - 9/3/2019 - online