Liverpool dispatch resilient West Ham (0-2)

West Ham 0-2 Liverpool

 

Liverpool ran out comfortable winners of this hard fought game, after spirited resistance from West Ham.

The balance between the sides was reflected in shots on target, with Liverpool having five to West Ham's four - the key difference being that the visitors took two of their chances.

The home team passed up a chance to go one up on the quarter hour, when Manuel Lanzini put his effort just wide from an Arthur Masuaka cross.

On the half hour Roberto Firmino's pass into the box was picked up by Divock Origi, who in turning was adjudged to have been fouled by Issa Diop.

Mohamed Saleh duly converted the penalty.

Lanzini scuffed another chance at the start of the second half. 

West Ham were then caught in a classic Liverpool counter attack, Virgil van Dijk heading a West Ham corner clear, for Jordan Henderson to set Saleh free. His exquisite outside of the boot pass found Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who finished with ease.

Declan Rice was then twice denied by Alisson, who turned his shot aside, then acrobatically pushed a header round the post.

Inbetween, Saleh hit the post from the edge of the area.

West Ham manager David Moyes was pleased at the opportunities his team made in the second half. "There were lots of positive things tonight. We stood up to good challenges and the effort of the midfield boys was excellent,"said Moyes.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp wished his team could have done better on the night. "It was difficult tonight to get a rhythmn and keep a rhythmn," said Klopp. 

Fascinating insight provided by Leo McKinstry into the relationship between Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill

Attlee and Churchill – Allies in war, adversaries in peace

By Leo McKinstry

Published by Atlantic Books                                 Price - £25

 This fascinating study of Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill focuses on how their lives became intertwined almost from the very beginning, leading to a great combination during the Second World War and separate but still in many ways parallel lives thereafter.

Author Leo McKinstry has certainly done his homework to the level of finding that the two men had the same governess at different times. Ms Hutchinson eventually leaving, or being dismissed by the young Winston, from employment in the Churchills household. She then went onto Putney to work for the Attlees.

Moving forward to 1911, Churchill has one of his periodic rushes of blood to the head when as Home Secretary he goes down to personally supervise a siege in Sydney Street in East London. At the same time Attlee is working at the charitable organisation, where his experiences see him move from his early conservatism to socialism, he wanders by as the Sydney Street drama is reaching a climax. And so the linkages continue: Churchill being forced out of the World War I government, after the failure of his Dardanelles campaign, culminating in the Gallipoli disaster. Attlee fought at Gallipoli.

The two men then cross swords in Parliament over the inter-war years. What McKinstry expertly brings out is how the two men came to perfectly compliment each other. Churchill the brash maverick, who could be brilliant or reckless. Attlee the organised administrator, in charge and gaining influence through his quiet efficiency and good anagement of situations.

The coverage of the two men’s relationship immediately before World War II and during makes for a fascinating insight. It shows the vital role Attlee and the Labour Party played in first refusing to serve in coalition with Conservative Prime Minister Nevillle Chamberlain, then taking major roles in the government itself. Too often over recent years the key role that Attlee and the Labour Party played in the war effort has been virtually airbrushed out, replaced at best with a minor support role at worst removed altogether as the great leader Churchill beat the Nazis single handed. McKinstry nicely illustrates how the two men came to compliment each other, creating a perfect team.

Attlee continued to push hard during the war for the implementation of social reforms, along the lines of the recommendations made in the Beveridge Report of 1942. Churchill was more resistant, which when it came to the 1945 election, cost him dearly.

McKinstry singles out two things done by Churchill that helped Attlee. First, giving him more and more responsibility, including being deputy Prime Minister in the Coalition. Second, the pursuit of a total war strategy against Germany, which meant that social and economic life in Britain was brought under almost total state control. The basis of a command socialist based economy was thereby normalised by 1945.

The leadership of both men came under attack. In Churchill’s case, when the war appeared to be going badly, the likes of Stafford Cripps were pressuring for change. He was only saved by the victory at El Allemain, which saw the tide turn. Attlee was under pressure pre, during and after the 1945 election, primarily from Herbert Morrison, who thought he should be leader and Prime Minister. Even a year or two into the Labour administration of 1945, Attlee was being questioned by Cripps and Morrison over his leadership.

However, he always survived and triumphed in the end. The dislike of Morrison was lifelong, with Attlee staying on as leader after the 1955 election defeat to the Tories in the main to stop Morrison becoming leader of the Labour Party.

Churchill and Attlee had a close bond, without ever really being friends. The niceties of congratulations on birthdays and the like continued over the years. But the battles were fierce between the two men over the years of the Attlee administration – Churchill really staying on as Tory leader just to win back office.

McKinstry dismisses the idea that Churchill was dismissive of his Labour counterpart, quoting a story of a Sir John Rogers, Conservative MP for Sevenoaks, referring to “silly old Attlee” whilst visiting Churchill’s country residence Chartwell. The response from Churchill was cutting: “Mr Attlee was Deputy Prime Minister during the war and played a great part in winning the war. Mr Attlee is a great patriot. Don’t you dare call him silly old Attlee at Chartwell or you won’t be invited again.”

The bond between the two men extended to Attlee being a pallbearer at Churchill’s funeral.

McKinstry opens up a truly fascinating period of recent British history with this excellent book. It is one of a number of recent works that have begun to bring to prominence the role of Attlee and Labour in the war and the achievement of the post war government – a period often grossly misrepresented in the populist arena. Attlee and Churchiil are shown to be two towering figures of the 20^th century, who at time of war came together to build an unstoppable team, then became adversaries in peace. It must be hoped that the work of bringing the truth of this period to light can continue to the point where the popular consciousness of what really happened over those years might at last be truly pricked.    

- published - Morning Star - 23/1/2020 
 

West Ham dumped out of the FA Cup by 10-man West Brom

West Ham 0-1 West Brom

 

West Ham reached a new low with this abject performance against a below strength West Bromich Albion.
The happiest man in the London Stadium was former West Ham and now West Brom manager Slaven Bilic. He saw his side - with eight changes, including bringing in veterans Gareth Barry and Charlie Austin - thoroughly outplay a virtually full strength West Ham team. This , despite being reduced to 10 men for the final 20 minutes, when Serni Ajayi was sent off.

The home team began in lack lustre style, taking 40 minutes to get their first shot on target.
It took West Brom just eight minutes to take the lead, the ball rebounding off the West Ham defence to Conor Townsend who drove home from the left hand corner of the penalty area.

They should have doubled the lead 30 minutes later, when a cross found Austin alone six yards out but the striker headed over.

West Ham's first effort saw a Declan Rice shot from 20 yards skid wide of the post.

Darren Randolph pulled off a smart save shortly after the restart.

The home team only really woke up about 15 minutes from the end when the penny dropped that they were going out of the cup.

The best effort falling to Mark Noble in the 92nd minute when the ball fell to him in the penalty area but the skipper blasted over.

West Ham manager David Moyes admitted he was hoping to get through without needing to over deploy Noble, Michail Antonio and Angelo Ogbonna, who all came on at half time. "I would have made five substitutions if I could," said Moyes, who said he'd wanted to give the supporters a cup run.

The returning manager explained that he was finding the same problems as when he took over previously from Bilic in 2017. "We must find something that will give inspiration."

Bilic was pleased with the maturity of his teams performance. "We played the system we usually play, "said Bilic, who insisted getting out of the Championship had to remain the priority.

On the plight of West Ham, he insisted that the crowd are crucial. "The players need to do it but the crowd have to help. Now is the time, "said Bilic.

The main concerns for the fans now will be the visit of Liverpool to the London Stadium on Wednesday and whether West Brom will replace them in the Premier League next season.

Stop creating so much waste

The litter picks around Wanstead continue to take place  on the third Saturday of each month.

A group of dedicated locals come together to spend an hour or so cleaning up areas around the centre of Wanstead – including Christchurch and George Green.

It is always an interesting experience, doing something positive for the environment but also seeing just how human beings continue to dirty the places in which they live. Does any other creature behave in quite such a self-destructive way toward its own home? 

There is a strange couldn’t care less attitude from so many people, who throw rubbish out of the windows of passing cars or drop their fast food containers on the way home.

The recent flooding of the Roding brought another shoal of rubbish to Wanstead, with bottles, bags and all sorts washing up along the river banks and in the adjoining lakes. Again the volunteer litter pickers went out to clear much of this debris.

Redbridge Council has been taking decisive action to address this sea of rubbish over recent years. More money has been put into cleansing, the volunteer litter picks and clean ups have spread across the borough.

The council are also rolling out wheelie bins in a number of pilot areas including Wanstead. The bins are intended to ensure that litter is not strewn around the area, with the present black bags often vulnerable to being ripped open by animals, encouraging rats and other vermin to the area.

It is hoped the new service will see more recycling as well. The present level of 24% puts the borough amongst the lowest recyclers in the country.

However, what the new strategy really underlines is the need to not create so much waste in the first place.

There has been a push over recent years to recycle as much as possible – rightly so. However, the challenge is to not create this waste in the beginning. The world is being choked with plastic, it simply cannot take anymore, yet we keep pumping it out.

The goal now is to create less waste of all kinds – the environment simply cannot cope.

There have been other positive developments to cut waste. The initiative of the high street bakers Ingles to cut out plastic is a most welcome development. A number of businesses in the Wanstead area have really made efforts to cut plastic.

It is a shame that the same cannot be said of the supermarkets. There are some efforts being made but to date these remain tokenistic offerings. There is still far too much packaging – especially plastic. Looking around supermarkets it is difficult to understand why, for instance, all the milk products cannot be put in cardboard recyclable containers or glass bottles. However, most milk products remain in plastic containers.

So much could be done by the supermarkets if they took the crisis seriously, rather than simply addressing things on the level of corporate image.

So there is much to be done at many levels to address the waste culture in which we live. The council must continue to progress in its provision of recycling and other services. Shops, both big and small, need to stop producing the waste. And individuals need to stop creating the waste, as well as making their voices heard with shops and the council as to what they want to see to really clean up our environment and the land on which we all live.

published in Wanstead & Woodford Guardian - 23 & 25/1/2020

West Ham have made mistakes over the past 10 years but the problems pre-date the era of David Sullivan and Gold's ownership

A few hundred supporters came out to protest, before West Ham’s recent home game against Everton, about how the club was being run.

The protest coincided with the 10-year anniversary of David Sullivan and David Gold taking over as owners of West Ham United.

Many fans see the evidence of the riches of the club (and its owners) growing off the pitch, whilst the playing side has not progressed at a similar rate. The fact that the club now sits 19^th in the Premiership table, the exact same position it did when Gold and Sullivan took over in 2010 tends to back up that analysis.

Some 60,000 fans coming through the gate every week. The club sit 18^th place in the Deloitte Football Money League’s top 20 richest clubs in the world. But on the pitch it seems to be same old same old. Some view the re-signing of manager David Moyes, after letting him go 18 months ago, as a further retrograde step.

Much of the criticism of the owners is unfair. They came in at a difficult time for the club, which was then slipping toward administration. They effectively bailed it out. Then oversaw the ambitious move to the Olympic Stadium – a move some fans like, some less so.

They put money behind the managers. Sullivan has pointed out how they have spent 210.4 million net since moving to the London Stadium in 2016.  Part of the problem may have been some of the managers employed and sacked.

The owners have always been very keen on the great traditions of West Ham, keen to laud heroes of yesteryear at any opportunity – big adherents of the West Ham way. Yet one of their early moves upon taking over was to get rid of manager, Gianfranco Zola, the last manager to actually try to do things the West Ham way.

Zola was an excellent coach, always keen to bring young players through and give them their chance. Less at home maybe in the wheeler dealing of the transfer market but at that time the owners were happy to do that aspect of the job themselves. Zola’s record over a couple of seasons at the club was pretty good and with new financial backing promised much.

The first big mistake was getting rid of Zola and bringing in Avram Grant. Grant managed to take, what was a pretty good squad, with the likes of Scott Parker, Mark Noble and Thomas Hitzlesperger amongst the ranks, into the Championship. In his defence, the quite public efforts to replace him for much of the season, probably wasn’t the best way of motivating the team.

After Grant, came four seasons of relative stability under Sam Allardyce. He brought the club back to the Premiership at the first attempt, then stabilised things. However, come the end of the 2014/15, owners and manager had had enough of each other. A new manager was needed with the move to the Olympic Stadium pending – someone to take the club to the next level.

The new man was Slaven Bilic. A fans favourite as a player, Bilic immediately seemed to hit gold, signing the mercurial Frenchman Dimitri Payet together with the likes of Angelo Ogbonna, Michail Antonio and Manuel Lanzini. It also looked like Bilic would give youth its chance giving Rees Oxford a debut at 16.

Bilic’s first season – the last at the old Upton Park ground – was a great success. Payet thrilling fans with his brilliance, as the club really did play the West Ham way. The team finished 7^th and was unlucky not to finish higher. It could also have gone further than the quarter finals of the FA Cup – unfortunately losing to Manchester United after drawing the first tie at Old Trafford.

Unfortunately, in true West Ham tradition the dreams began to fade and die, when the club moved to the Olympic Stadium the following season.  The club signed a number of foreign players, who, with the exception of Arthur Masuaka, proved to be very low quality. The team crashed out of the Europa League in the qualifying stages.

A stuttering season followed, ending in mid-table mediocrity. The following season things improved little. Marko Arnautovic, Javier Hernandez and Pablo Zabaleta came in. Bilic was replaced in November by David Moyes, who got the best out of Arnautovic and saw the club to safety.

Moyes was then dropped in favour of bringing in former Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini. He was allowed to splash the cash, bringing in nine new players. The fans liked his attacking, creative way of playing the game. The addition of Felipe Anderson, revived memories of Payet, with the flicks and creative genius. Pellegrini though also gave youth its chance, making Declan Rice a mainstay of the team and giving chances to the likes of Grady Diangana.

The owners had also taken very much a back seat by this stage, following protests at the game against Burnley in 2018. Pellegrini was the face of West Ham.

The first season went well, aside of a sorry start that saw the first four games lost. The team finished a credible 9^th. All were hopeful for the new season with a marquee signing in £45 million Sebastian Haller and the promising Pablo Fornals (£22 million). However, after a good early start, that saw the club as high as fourth, the wheels seemed to come off.

Confidence drained from the team, following the 0-4 defeat in the Carabao Cup against Oxford. Outstanding goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski then also got injured, heralding the arrival of Pellegrini favourite Roberto, who turned out to be a disaster. Roberto’s performances, no doubt contributed to the lack of confidence that spread through the team.

In the end, as the Premiership trap door, edged ever closer, the owners sacked Pellegrini. Re-enter Moyes, who again is showing signs of stabilising things. Many believe Moyes appointment should have been made permanent at the end of the 2017/18 season but the owners wanted to go for a bigger name. That did not work, so now Moyes must be given the chance to stabilise the club.

So there have been ups and downs during the 10 years since the Sullivan and Gold took over. On the upside the club is bigger, particularly off the pitch. The team has kept Premiership status for all but one season. On the down side, the club has not achieved its potential. The London Stadium needs a top six football team, not one struggling at the wrong end of the table or even outside the top strata.

Whilst there have been mistakes, which the present owners have openly admitted, I believe there is something that goes much deeper at West Ham. There has been a record of underachievement and over expectation going back many decades. Back in the halcyon days of 1966, when Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters were part of the England World Cup winning side, West Ham under achieved.

A team with such high class talent, should have been challenging for and winning the League. In reality, the team struggled at the other end of the table during the late 1960s and early 1970s. John Lyall took over from Ron Greenwood as manager in 1974. West Ham then won the FA Cup and reached the European Cup Winners Cup Final in 1976. Another team of outstanding talent, the last all English team to win the FA Cup. But the owners of that time failed to invest in the manager and the team. By 1978, West Ham were in the Second Division. Lyall then created another team that won the 1980 FA Cup and came back to the First Division in 1981.  Ups and downs followed. The biggest up being the outstanding team of 1985/6, which almost won the league, with the likes of Tony Cottee and Frank McAvennie. Again, though the owners did not invest in the team and within a couple of seasons they were relegated. And so it went on. The Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Jermaine Defoe and Glen Johnson generation, who went on to win hundreds of international caps between them did more for the club’s bank balance than on the field.

There is something at the heart of West Ham that is not quite right. The fans really do believe that West Ham won the World Cup in 1966 and have set everything against that standard since. Yet the reality is, the club has not won anything for 40 years. The team continues to underperform. Players continue to arrive at the club, look like world beaters, then relapse into mediocrity.

Moving forward, it must be hoped that David Moyes and his staff can deal with some of these problems. The team on the field needs to come to match the growth of the club off  – and that means top six finishes and winning something. The owners seem to have learnt lessons over the years and continue to do so but the failure to achieve at West Ham goes way back beyond 2010 – and will take a long time to really overcome.

Media should hang its head in shame at media coverage of general election

 

Media coverage of the recent general election has been biased in favour of the Conservatives and against Labour to an alarming degree.

The press, with the exceptions of the Mirror, Guardian, Independent and Morning Star has been uniformly hostile to Labour. More worrying in this election has been the outright hostility of broadcast media, with public service standard bearer, the BBC, at the forefront of the offensive.

Many would argue that most of the print media would be hostile, given they are owned by Conservative supporting Brexiteers, however, more is expected of the licence fee funded BBC.

Perhaps the scale of the Conservative success with the media can measured by the very simple fact that this was a party that went into an election with one message – “Get Brexit done.” The great irony being that this was a objective that the same party had singularly failed to do for the preceding three years.

The Conservatives operated a scare story approach throughout much of the campaign, which amounted to throwing as much paint at the wall in the hope that some would stick. Early on this happened with both Labour’s spending plans and immigration.

The inflated claims about Labour’s spending plans costing trillions were initially arrived at by adding together any policy that had come up at a conference with cost implications. This was prior to publication of the manifesto. The claim was rebuffed by Labour but the overall narrative that Labour can’t be trusted with the economy was reinforced.

The first chapter in this story began under David Cameron, who pushed the claim that the 2008 financial crisis was the fault of Labour, not the banks.

This narrative that Labour cannot be trusted with your money came back again and again. Labour’s manifesto was carefully costed – something that was regularly dismissed by journalists. Meanwhile, the Conservatives claim to cut taxes and put more into public services – a contradiction that does not stand up to any scrutiny – went virtually unchallenged.

Perhaps, the most glaring examples of media bias came in terms of the coverage of Boris Johnson. His media handlers kept him clear of anything that could cause trouble, such as the Andrew Neil interview. This was much touted not least by Neil himself.

At one point the supine BBC, said they would not let Johnson onto the Andrew Marr show unless he did the Neil interview. Then there was the London Bridge terrorist incident, which persuaded the BBC’s chiefs to relent. Johnson then took the opportunity to use the incident to attack Labour, blaming its policies in 2010 for the early release of the attacker.  Marr blustered but made little impact.

Another example of BBC bias was the changing of a recording which showed a Question Time audience laughing when Johnson was asked about telling the truth, to one where there was polite applause.

The list goes on. The reason this happened is no doubt bound up with the nature of the media and those who control news avenues. There is the fact that many particular in positions of control are public school and Oxbridge educated. But there is also a general brainwashing that feeds into this. There seems to have been a line running that the worst possible thing that could result from the election was a Jeremy Corbyn led Labour government. A line that everything had to be done to stop such an eventuality, even supporting Johnson. Better a Tory administration led by Johnson than a Labour government seeking to put the country on lines already prevalent in many advanced European countries.

The special negative media treatment of Jeremy Corbyn over the past four years clearly resonated on door steps throughout the land. The assault on Corbyn from the day he was elected in 2015 has been relentless. It is amazing that he has survived such personal vilification. He has variously been called a spy, an IRA sympathiser, anti-semetic and someone who does not watch Queen’s broadcast to the nation on Christmas Day.

Criticism from within the party has not helped. The negative comments of shadow health spokesperson John Ashworth about Corbyn, recorded by a Conservative friend, and released three days before the election, were damaging. Once again, these received top billing across media outlets.

The vilification of Corbyn has helped create a bunker mentality among those involved in the Labour communications operation. It has been reactive rather than pro-active in making the case for a Labour government. There could have been far more emphasis put on the support from many economists for Labour’s economic plan. The media frame that referred every element of economic policy to the think tank the Institute of Public Policy Research for approval or disapproval should have been challenged – there are many other bodies with very different views.

Labour should not have been so much on the back foot as the Conservatives deliberately attacked every element of their policies often as a tactic to deflect from the inadequacy of their own offering.

Social media is another battleground in the media war, where Labour needs to concentrate more effort. It can be constraining but does also provide often unploughed avenues to reach new voters.

That said, it will always be difficult for Labour leaders and the party to win the media battle. Every Labour leader experiences varying levels of vilification, though in Corbyn’s case it certainly reached new heights. Tony Blair was the leader, who managed to best cope with the onslaught.

The 2019 general election should go down as one when the media should hang its head in shame. It played a major role in the election of a man, Boris Johnson, who hides in a fridge to avoid scrutiny. The vilification of Jeremy Corbyn for the four and a half years that he has led the party was probably the major contribution in this shameful effort. Moving forward it must not be allowed to happen again. The very essence of a free press now hangs by a thread in this country, with most media outlets seemingly signed up as parrots of Tory lines

Ed Echlin - shining the light toward a more sustainable way of living

Ed Echlin was an outstanding eco-warrior, who sadly died recently.

A few years ago, I used to regularly visit Ed and his wife Barbara at their home in Bexhill, Sussex.

I had met Ed and Barbara at conferences before that, focused on environmental and justice and peace issues.

Ed and Barbara were real environmental activists, both walking the walk and talking the talk.

Their house in Bexhill, had photovoltaic and solar panels generating energy for many years.

Much of the delicious food served was grown in the garden – potatoes, beans, cherries, carrots and apples to name but a few. Ed was particularly proud of his apple trees, getting different varieties scattered out around the garden.

What they did not grow was obtained from local producers around the area.

Both Ed and Barbara vowed to not fly many years ago. They were often asked to speak at conferences overseas but would not go if a flight was involved – get someone local was the response.

Previously, Ed had been a Jesuit priest, before leaving the priesthood in 1974, when he married Barbara.

A visiting Scholar at Sarum College and Honorary Fellow at Leeds University, Ed wrote passionately about theological and ecological matters over the years, often bringing the two subjects together. He wrote six books including the Cosmic Circle and Jesus and Ecology.

Ed was always very concerned about the implications of population growth on the eco-system of the planet – not always a popular view amongst Catholic theologians.

Ed and Barbara were active at local and national level on all matters environmental.

They used to hold an annual event at their house called the Academic Inn, when people from all around the East Sussex area, interested in community development, would come along to listen and take part in the debate. I did one such session back in 2011 about the difficulties of getting environmental issues over in the media.   

They were also involved in the Newman Society, based in nearby Eastbourne, which addressed similar contemporaneous issues.

Ed Echlin will be a great loss to the world. He was similar in some ways to Michael Brownlee, who was mentioned here a while back, who also sadly died recently. Both men recognised the climate disaster that is upon us and the need to act. Ed and Michael really recognised the power of one and lived out that belief on a daily basis.

Moving forward, these actions of witness need to be continued by the present and future generations. We can all make a difference. Grow your own if you can, buy locally produced and organic foods, insulate your house and use sustainable energy sources, avoid plastic, recycle wherever possible, don’t dump waste around the place and use sustainable forms of transport wherever possible. We can all do our bit to save the world, filling the shoes of those who have gone before, shining the light toward a more sustainable way of living.

RIP Ed

The world is in climate crisis - from Australia's fires to flooding in the UK - the time to act is now

The New Year has opened with plenty of reminders of the climate crisis that has engulfed the world over recent years.

In Australia, there have been the horrendous fires, burning out of control, costing lives.  Floods in other parts of the world. News that the polar ice caps are melting more quickly than predicted.

Locally, on a minor scale, we have had a preview of what is coming with the overflow of the River Roding around the Wanstead area. This was thankfully only a short lived crisis, absorbed by the surrounding natural infrastructure but it showed briefly the devastation that can be caused without preventative measures being taken.

The world in an environmental crisis but still it would seem many people, including politicians, remain in some state of collective  denial.

The attitude of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison provides an excellent example, defending the policy of mining coal - whilst the ravages of climate change engulf his country.

Swedish teenager Greta Thurnberg has been a fantastic advocate for seriously addressing the climate crisis. She has accused world leaders of destroying her future and forcing her and others to spend time protesting to try to get the policies changed.

Thurnberg wants to go back to school but cannot because the politicians it seems wilfully refuse to hear her message. The platforms are being provided for her to address decision makers but they are not really listening.

Some tell her to return to school, she wants to but what will she return for? What will be the future if the environment is destroyed?

Despite the dire warnings of climate catastrophe over recent years, including the International Panel on Climate Change’s recent warning that there were 12 years to really take the measures needed to keep warming below 1.5 degrees, the world continues to warm.

Emissions have increased since the Paris climate agreement of 2015. The world is heading toward well over 3 degrees warming, rather than staying below 1.5 degrees.

The world is already seeing the human and financial costs of failing to address climate change. The disasters, the migrations of refugees driven from their homelands and the costs of trying to stop the onrushing crisis.

Back in 2006, Sir Nicholas Stern wrote a report for the British government saying that it was not too late to act but failure to do so would cost the world much more dearly in the long term. His words were ignored, now we are beginning to see the consequences.

So moving into the New Year, everyone needs to up the effort to get politicians and decision makers to act seriously on the climate crisis. Policy needs to shift and there must be financial backing for the changes required. In too many instances environmental issues are still regarded as important but back burner issues that will be dealt with when the money is available – as Sir Nicholas pointed out we don’t have that luxury – there needs to be action and it needs to be now.

The Labour Party should be coming together not tearing itself apart

We hear a lot of acrimony being poured onto Jeremy Corbyn and the Left by the right of the Labour party.

Perhaps a little introspection and reflection on their own part, regarding the election defeat, would not go amiss.

If certain individuals had not spent so much time undermining the leader, since he was elected in 2015, who knows Labour might have won the 2017 election?

This ongoing exercise in self destruction has frustrated many party members, desperate for a Labour government.

If  the right faction also intend to continue undermining from within, if the leader is not to their particular tastes, then Labour will lose the next election as well.

The election defeat should be a cause for reflection from all parts of the party - not just the Left. We need to unite in opposition, not tear ourselves apart.

 

 

published in Independent - 27/12/2019

Low emission neighbourhoods - challenging the way we live

-->

Standing on Cambridge Park Road in Wanstead at rush hour time brings a sense of deja vue. The road fills up with traffic belching out pollution.

Some 30 years ago, you could endure the same experience. Then the government decided to build the M11 Link Road, which goes under George Green, then emerges in a cut up to the Green Man.

There was a great deal of opposition to the road, with the protesters arguing that it would bring more cars and pollution to the area. Hey presto, today they have been proved right. Come rush hour, the Link Road below carries traffic and above Cambridge Park is moving toward the maximum capacity of three decades ago.

The story of the M11 Link Road in some ways highlights a contradiction at the centre of modern life. Most people want to live in an environmentally sustainable way but they also want to keep their cars.

In Wanstead, there is a burgeoning environmental movement making some significant strides in addressing issues like pollution, climate change and biodiversity. But at the same time, many seem to have an almost umbilical attachment to their cars.

The car is a very helpful thing to have, especially if someone has young children to ferry around. But it is also a polluter, helping to create much of the pollution that hits those same children particularly hard.

Wanstead is a green area, with its parks, trees and open areas, we are very lucky to live here. Yet taking another view, we could be said to be living on a traffic island, locked in by large, ever busier roads, between the Green Man, Redbridge and Charlie Browns roundabouts.

Modern transport systems face many obstacles in seeking to improve ways of getting around whilst also ensuring that the planet on which everyone depends for life is not destroyed in the process.

There are moves afoot to address some of the problems of pollution and traffic congestion. Redbridge Council is encouraging electric cars, with charging points being put in across the borough.

The Low Emissions Neighbourhood (LEN) scheme is being introduced - based on the London Mayor’s target of getting 80% of journeys to be by foot, cycle of public transport by 2041.

The LEN for Wanstead goes out to consultation with the public from January. It is aimed at making life better for those three types of travel.  The objectives include improving air quality, creating safe areas around schools, reducing rat runs, encouraging cycling and walking, providing a wider range of transport options, improving station access, encouraging safe speeds, creating safe junctions and generally improving the urban environment.

In addition to this scheme, there is the Ultra Low Emission Zone being brought to the area by the London Mayor in 2021. This will also help to make the air cleaner.

There is ofcourse still much to do. The plans of London City Airport to expand its operations is not something conducive to a cleaner greener environment. Redbridge, together with a number of other councils, has expressed its opposition to the plans.

People also need to take personal responsibility for their actions. Drive and fly less, think about the environment and people around us.

In Wanstead, we are lucky to have a community that really is concerned about the environment and keen to engage with change. That change is on the way, so make sure you are part of it by getting involved in things like the LED consultation.

There is also the great work of local groups like Cleaner Green Wanstead, Wanstead Climate Action, Friends of Wanstead Park and the Wren Group – all are keen to welcome new supporters.  

Together we can make Wanstead a cleaner, greener place

Published in Wanstead & Woodford Guardian - 2/1/2019

David Moyes has dream start, as West Ham trounce Bournemouth 4-0

West Ham 4-0 Bournemouth

New West Ham manager David Moyes made a dream return to the London stadium, kicking off with a rout of Bournemouth.

The result must have left many wondering why he wasn't given the job in the first place, instead of being passed over for Manuel Pellegrini 18 months ago.

This though, lest we forget, was Pellegrini's team, though now playing with an urgency and desire that has been missing for many months.

Foremost among the re-energised Hammers was skipper Mark Noble, seemingly covering every blade of grass and scoring two goals in the process.

Noble's first goal came when he picked up a neatly placed pass on the edge of the area from Robert Snodgrass. The captain drove the ball home, with the help of a deflection.

Just before the half hour, Snodgrass set Ryan Fredericks away down the right to cross for Sebastian Haller to acrobatically turn in the air and fire home.

Noble then got his second being hauled down in the area as he set off on a mazy run. He duly converted the penalty.

Not far behind Noble in the man of the match contest was Declan Rice, back to his dominating best, snuffing out threats and setting off attacks. 

One such move saw a Rice crossfield pass set Felipe Anderson away. He outpaced the defender and drove the ball under the keeper.

This was never going to be Bournemouth''s afternoon. When Dominic Solanke did get his head on a cross, the ball hit the post and bounced back into the hands of West Ham keeper Lukasz Fabianski.

The only other momemt of note was when a red. card awarded for an Aaron Cresswell, tackle was rescinded and reduced to a yellow, after a VAR intervention.

Manager Moyes credited the attitude the players showed for getting the result. "A lot of them played really well - Mark Noble was incredible today," said Moyes, who indicated he would be seeking safety further up the table before deploying all the creative players. 

Moyes told how he had asked Anderson if he was a Brazilian, as they score goals.

Key though for the new manager is to stop the team conceding goals. "We worked on defensive shape and making sure when we lost possession that we were in the right place, " said Moyes, who set as another goal the turning of the London Stadium into a fortress, where teams don't want to come.

Bournemouth manager, Eddie Howe, blamed the injury run his team have endured for the loss. "We have players playing who are not 100 per cent fit," said Howe who hopes to get some of the injured players back soon.