(Evening Standard) Londoners are bearing the brunt of benefit cuts with thousands losing more than £5,000-a-year amid growing signs of an exodus from the city centre. More than 7,000 households in the capital are set to see welfare payments reduced by at least £100-a-week by the overall benefit cap of £26,000-a-year. In Brent, 900 households [...]

(Kensal Rise Residents Association) For many years Kensal Rise residents have been trying to get Transport for London (TfL) and Brent Council to address the unacceptable volumes of bus services — 12,821 weekly — operating on Chamberlayne Road, but with little success as both organisations have been reluctant to accept there is indeed a problem [...]

Lib Dem Colin Payne has spent two years in Manila with his wife Jackie Since 2011 he has been at just a handful of meetings at North Devon Council During that period he has been paid £9,139.92 in allowances he also gets a special responsibility allowance of £1,805.87 for sitting on the council’s executive committee [...]

The austerity programmes administered by western governments in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis were, of course, intended as a remedy, a tough but necessary course of treatment to relieve the symptoms of debts and deficits and to cure recession. But if, David Stuckler says, austerity had been run like a clinical trial, [...]

(Guardian) Hundreds of vulnerable homeless people face being turned out on to the streets amid confusion over how local authorities should interpret a legal ruling which could trigger the closure of emergency night shelters. Some shelters which rely on housing benefit payments to fund their operations could be forced to shut after a court ruled that they do not [...]

(Guardian) The HS2 high-speed rail project is facing a shortfall of an estimated £3.3bn which the government has yet to decide how to pay for, a critical report from Whitehall’s independent auditors has concluded. It also remains unclear how the £32bn plan to build a faster link between London, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds would deliver and rebalance [...]

(Telegraph) Cuts to social care and welfare budgets are harming the well-being of those in the poorest families while David Cameron is failing to live up to his pledge to make Britain the “most family-friendly country in Europe”, the British Medical Association said. The BMA accused the government of “not taking children’s interests seriously” and [...]

Guardian – Since October 2012 I have been travelling the country interviewing people at the sharp end of austerity, including the volunteers and staff at community-based voluntary groups. I am documenting the findings in a series of online multimedia reports for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Locality, a national network of community-led organisations. During this project, people from all over the UK [...]

Last Saturday I was voted onto the Brent Executive by my fellow Labour Councillors at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). The AGM refreshes our democracy by allowing all Councillors the chance to contest positions on the Executive (essentially Brent Council’s version of a cabinet) each year. I was elected as Lead Member for Customers and [...]

Harrow Observer – Five new members were voted in to take up a position on Brent’s Executive. Labour councillors Roxanne Mashari, Michael Pavey, James Denselow, Margaret McLennan and Aslam Choudry defeated current Executive members in a vote taken at the group’s AGM on Saturday May 11. Roxanne Mashari replaces James Powney as lead member for [...]

I am running for the Bournemouth Marathon for the Mayhew as the impact of the government’s austerity policy is having an impact on animals as well as humans. SPONSOR ME HERE On a recent visit I was told that the Mayhew has seen a recent spate of kittens being dumped and abandoned Paul Grimes, The [...]

Following 99% of 100 residents responses to the proposed removal and replacement of 23 trees in favour of retaining the existing trees;  the proposal will not go forward. However there will though be at least 2 trees to be removed (linked to access issues and a subsidence claims)