CNJ COMMENT- Why isn’t Ed banging heads together over services?

Published: 20 January, 2011

COMMENTATORS say Labour made a colossal mistake in failing to challenge Tory arguments on the economy last year while they held a leadership contest.

This gave David Cameron a clear field for months, they say.

But many critics maintain the present leadership still hasn’t got its act together – and that the shadow cabinet is sitting on a policy vacuum.

Probably, this explains  why taunts by David Cameron at PMQ sessions often go unanswered.

That Ed Miliband appears to be facing both ways at the same time comes over in his remarks to this newspaper (see page 2) about possible library closures.

In the most simplistic way, he says that if libraries close in Camden it will be the government’s fault.

Equally, leisure chief Tulip Siddiq also appears to be pointing the finger of blame at Whitehall.

Lack of clear thinking at the top, both nationally and locally, is probably causing confusion lower down the ranks of the party. 

Yes, Whitehall demands a 20 per cent reduction in council expenditure but where and how councils go about it seems to be up to them.

That is why the scale and shape of economies differs among local authorities.

Some Labour authorities  in the capital, for instance, are insisting on more redundancies – voluntary or compulsory – than others;  some appear to be keeping library services intact, others are hacking away at them; some are cutting more front line services than others.

If, as Ed Miliband maintains, libraries had to be protected, why doesn’t he knock Labour heads together and tell them to find ways to protect them? It is simply wrong to accept that services must be damaged come what may.   

Ironically, the nearest library to Ed Miliband’s home may feel the axe.

Goose not cooked yet!

CONGRATULATIONS to Camden’s planners for saving the popular pub the Crown and Goose. Too many well-loved buildings in Camden have been allowed to vanish.  Locals can only hope that the planning inspector will be on their side.

Sadly, an inspector has decided to allow a rebuild with a two-storey basement in Downshire Hill, Hampstead even though  this is likely to damage  neighbouring homes.

Architecturally, early 19th-century Downshire Hill is one of the finest and most elegant streets in Camden. 

What a silly ass the inspector is!