Nothing British about the BNP

We’re in the run up to Remembrance Sunday and no doubt the BNP will try and associate themselves further with the sacrifices of our troops – millions of whom died deafeating nazis like Griffin. 
I know that some people have been put off contributing to the Royal British Legion’s poppy campaign because a BNP supporter made [...]

Parking in the Draytons

We did some door knocking in the Draytons area of West Ealing tonight to get a better idea of the strength of feeling on implementing a controlled parking zone (CPZ) in the area.  We’ve been lobbied quite hard by e-mail and at our ward forum meetings for a CPZ but what is the view of the [...]

Equitable Life fiasco drags on

I attended a meeting of the Equitable Members Action Group (EMAG ) yesterday at the Drayton Court Hotel in West Ealing.  Some of you will be aware of the outrageous way that Equitable Life policy holders have been treated over the last ten years.  I won’t go into the ins and outs of all the stages [...]

Lift plans for Greenford station axed

Bad news about Greenford station. In a letter to Ealing Council last week, Richard Parry, Managing Director of London Underground, said TfL would have to defer indefinitely the project to install lifts in Greenford Station for financial reasons, despite having already started the building work.
I know that TfL have a real funding shortage at the [...]

Tetra Paks to hit green boxes

Ealing’s Conservative Council has announced the latest extension to the kerbside recycling collection scheme – Tetra Paks can be included in the green box from 7th December.  Currently there are facilities to drop off these drink and food cartons at Ealing Town Hall and a few other sites, but this will make it much more [...]

Hobbayne Public Meeting goes smoothly

I spent one evening last week at a public meeting to discuss the possible expansion of Hobbayne Primary School.  The need for places in the Ealing and Hanwell area is still growing so we’ve been talking to a number of schools about expansion. 
The current round of public meetings have had a much different atmosphere compared [...]

Mrs Gibb the Vigilante

My bike was nicked on Thursday night. Admittedly I hadn’t locked it, but it was on my porch, right next to the front door of our corner house overlooked on two sides.  The front room curtains weren’t even drawn but that didn’t stop some little oik waltzing up my garden path and taking my bike!
It [...]

Parenting Conference is a success

I helped open our second parenting conference at West London Academy in Northolt on Saturday. The event seemed to go well and was launched well by some young people from Apple in Acton who did an impressive dance routine.  The event was aimed at parents with children in the 10-16 age range (so very relevant to [...]

Manchester was a success

I was in Manchester last week for the Conservative Party conference. It was the best conference I’ve been to for a number of years. There was a great atmosphere; it wasn’t Kinnock at Sheffield triumphalism and complacency but a genuine excitement about the opportunity we have and the hard campaign that lays ahead. 
We had a [...]

Turkeys do vote for Christmas

Post Office workers have voted to go on strike. Businesses in the run up to Christmas will now be desperately putting plans into place to find alternative routes to get their products to customers. Businesses will make an even greater push to go paperless – electronic invoices etc. Will this business go back to the [...]