Royal Mail Sell Off

How far are the tax paying public being ripped off by the privatisation of the Royal mail?

When the sale of the publicly owned royal Mail was being discussed and debated most of the debate centred on the delivery service and it being kept as a unified service and one price structure for the whole country.  

 Of course this suited the Tories whilst all the discussion and media reporting focused on this no-one was questioning what is going to happen to all of the buildings and land included in the sell(rip)off.  These publicly owned assets were ignored in the debate and not one member of the Government was ever questioned on this. By sleight of hand this privatisation bill was rushed through parliament with very little debating time in parliament. Of course the Liberal democrats are not an innocent party in this “Crime of the Century”.

The venture capitalists must be laughing all the way as they count their shares and bank their millions of pound bonuses at the tax payer’s expense.

The Mount Pleasant Post Office, one of the largest in Europe, is being redeveloped for a new £100 million housing development. The original plans under the public ownership of the Royal Mail the aim was to have 50% social housing and the planning and development was being overseen by the London Borough of Islington and Camden. Now it has been privatised the developers want to cut the social housing to 12%. The Guardian

Normally planning permission is overseen and granted by the local authority, in this case due to the overlapping of the boundaries at Mount Pleasant it would have been the London Boroughs of Islington and Camden. The private developers did not like this or the amount of social housing they would have to build thus cutting their profit margin. So they decided to refer it to our very own Mayor of London, Boris Johnson to call it in and for our democratically elected Mayor to decide on what proportion of social housing there will be. Camden New Journal

 In an unprecedented move Mayor Johnson decided to call it in and he will now personally decide on the future of the development although it will be under the disguise of the Greater London Authority which dear Boris controls.  A mayoral decision is will be announced this summer. Summer Light

The winner is Boris the Great Dictator

 and of course his cronies in the City,

The Loser is Local Democracy

 and the people of London who cannot afford high rents.

 “Calling It In” means that the Boris Johnson himself will act as the Planning Authority and not the local councils of Islington and Camden. Our esteemed leader alone will now make the decision as to the future of the Royal Mail Group, (RGM), development and how much social housing there will be. 

Is this not undermining the local authority(ies) and local democracy? This precedent will allow any developer who does not agree with a local council decision to apply to the Mayor to bypass the will of the local people and a democratically elected council. Mount Pleasant Forum

When it comes to money and profit the big City Slickers and developers do not care about the needs of the local people but only the profit margin. What chance does democracy and the common person have when big business and the Dark Forces of the City of London have a very good friend in the Mayor of London, your friend and mine “Boris the Great Oaf”?

Knowing Boris our leader of a democratic Greater London Authority he will come up with some random number of social housing and claim he has achieved a great victory for the people of Islington and Camden who need social housing. Never to mention the fact that it is far lower than what was originally planned.     

McTaggart

Autumn Online comes to a close!

It's been a very busy couple of months running 'Autumn Online' which aimed to build the confidence of 30-50 people, who have experienced homelessness and/or addiction, with using the web.

Watching each other’s first video blogs at Bondway Service

Watching each other’s first video blogs at Bondway Service

Equipped with laptops and cameras, the On Road team spent two days in each service helping residents with basic online skills, blog writing and video blogging. 

The hope was that participants would enjoy the experience of creating online content and feel more confidence to use the web as a result, whether by keeping in touch with people by email or by accessing information that can help them, like news and support websites and public services online.

On Road  held drop-in workshops in 5 different Single Homeless Project services across London; Arlington Road hostel, 165 Project in King's Cross, the Dennis Handfield House, Highbury New Park hostel and Bondway advice and support service.

Participants learned how to set up email addresses and access public service websites like the Post Office, NHS and Direct.gov. They gained confidence in typing, using the mouse, searching for information and getting online. Working in small teams, they were shown how to use simple flip cameras, interview each other and edit short videos which were then uploaded onto Youtube. You can watch some here.

Many people were interested in writing for Unheard Holler (the blog On Road helped clients to set up back in September 2011) and there has certainly been some rich content up there! People have shared their personal experiences and journeys, contributed poetry, drawings, music and videos. There has been a lot of thought and time put into posts about raves and republicanism, medication and movie reviews, detoxing and democracy, careers and creativity - not to mention gardening! And there's more to come…

Check out the photos from all the workshops on Facebook.  If you're a client and want to get involved with the blog speak to your SHP service manager. If you want to learn more about the project contact Alana (alana@onroadmedia.org.uk).