To stop and search
Keith Jarrett, President of the National Black Police Association makes a speech today in which he will call for greater use by the police of their powers of stop and search. TMP asked a few people what they thought of the idea.
Michael Eboda, Editor, New Nation
”The facts here speak for themselves. Stop and search does not work, all it does is criminalise and antagonise the wrong people. The way to stop gun and gang crime is by intelligence-led policing. Ironically, before the NBPA President put his foot in it, the police were actually talking about using some of the high-tech surveillance methods to fight gangs that they use to fight terrorism. That is the way forward.”
Cllr Patrick Vernon, Hackney
“As a Councillor in the Queensbridge Ward in Hackney (and having lived in the so called ‘Murder Mile’ area in Clapton), I have witnessed over the last few years the impact of murders and fatal wounding in the borough. I have attended numerous community events, as well as speaking to families who have been the victims of gun and knife crime. There is a clear sense in the black community that the Police are already extensively and perhaps over reached in using stop and search powers. As a former Chair of The Westminster Partnership for Race Equality, this was also a view from the black community in this borough and increasingly with the Muslim community.
We all recognised that Stop and Search is important and is needed as a tool for the Police to be effective in the war against gun crime and terrorism. However, there is a clear difference in strategically targeting known suspects and a carpet blanket approach to black young people who happen to fit in to a racial or religious bench mark profiling system.
Spice Route to Europe? Prospects for an India-EU Free Trade Area
A briefing paper just published by the foreign policy think-tank, Chatham House, assesses the prospects for an India-EU Free Trade Area. Negotiations for the agreement began in June 2007, pursuing a bilateral route against a backdrop of faltering multilateral negotiations. While prospects for an agreement appear good, there are also potential obstacles.
With its rapidly growing economy, India is an increasingly important target for EU exports. However India still has a relatively low share of global trade compared to the EU which is the world’s largest exporter. The EU is India’s largest trading partner and remains an important provider of services and foreign direct investment for India.
In the case of goods, there is little overlap in trade structures or comparative advantage between India and the EU. On services, both sides are anxious to increase their market access across all modes of provision, while neither side is likely to press each other on the sensitive issues of agricultural liberalization.
Gordon Brown must look after the minority voter
TMP columnist, Lola Adesioye, this week reflects on Labour’s relationship with ethnic minority voters.
Ethnic minorities have always consistently and overwhelmingly voted for the Labour party. In the past, Labour’s commitment to equal opportunities, race relations and social justice have been key factors which have influenced minority voting decisions. But Labour, under Gordon Brown, must make some changes if it is to continue to depend on the ethnic minority vote.
The Labour party of today is undisputedly and significantly different from that of yesteryear. Now occupying more of a centre-left political space, the current Labour party has more in common with the Conservatives than ever before. Issues that arose while Blair was in power – such as the decision to invade Iraq, anti-terror legislation and the introduction of university tuition fees – have had a direct negative impact upon ethnic minorities in Britain, leading to discontent and disillusionment. Gordon Brown must ensure that, going forward, Labour policies are relevant and beneficial to ethnic minority voters. He must not take the ethnic minority vote for granted.
It is well documented that minorities, particularly in urban areas in which such groups tend to be highly concentrated, suffer most when it comes to housing, education, and other socio-economic matters. If government policies under Brown continue to oppress those who are already oppressed, voters will turn away from the Labour party. In urban areas the ‘minority’ vote (which can be the majority in some inner cities) is often crucial to the winning of Labour seats and therefore must be looked after.
Gordon Brown’s work lies in serving both minority and national interests. There need not be a dichotomy between the two: traditionally, Labour’s focus has been on policies which benefit all members of British society.
Ofsted Chief: Black Caribbeans disproportionately excluded from schools
Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills, Christine Gilbert, has called for renewed efforts to narrow the gap and improve the care and education of children and young people who have the odds stacked against them. In her annual state of the nation address she said that not enough was being done to raise achievement and aspirations, particularly for children in public care – but that there was evidence that the gap can be narrowed. She also points to the disproportionate number of exclusions amongst Black Caribbean pupils in schools.
Her first annual report for the new Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) finds a broadly positive picture across education, child care and 
adult skills. It highlights that with good provision and support disadvantaged children can make good progress. But the Chief Inspector warned that more needed to be done:
“The gap between the outcomes for those with advantages in life and those with the least is not reducing quickly enough. Only 12% of 16 years olds in public care achieved five or more good GCSEs in 2006 compared with 59% of all 16 years olds. This cannot be right and we need to do more. There is no quick fix but providers should learn from what works”.
The report warns that the relationship between poverty and outcomes for young people is stark. Young people living in the most deprived areas do worst in exams and are less likely to go to university. Schools in deprived areas are more likely to be inadequate than those serving more affluent areas. Children who are eligible for free school meals while in school are still more likely not to be in employment, education or training when they reach adulthood.
The vision thing
There has been a lot of talk about the “vision thing”, in the wake of the election that never was, and what kind of society Gordon Brown should work towards under his premiership. Many of the challenges the government still faces – such as tackling child poverty and dealing with employment and pay gaps in certain sections of society – particularly impact on ethnic minority communities. The Guardian’s Comment Is Free site asked several figures on the centre-left of British politics what vision of the good society they want Gordon Brown to deliver. To read the musings of former Labour spin doctor, Derek Draper, revered Guardian columnist, Polly Toynbee, Compass Chair, Neal Lawson, RMT General Secretary, Bob Crow, TMP editor, Chuka Umunna and others, click here.
TUC: Child poverty is costing £40 billion a year and tax breaks for marriage will do nothing to help
Child poverty is costing £40 billion a year through increased crime, public spending and lost economic productivity, a TUC conference will be told today. Without urgent action the Government will miss its pledge to halve the 3.8 million children currently living in poverty by 2010.
Measures in the Comprehensive Spending Review will, according to the Government’s own figures, lift only an extra 100,000 children above the poverty threshold. They fall far short of the extra £4 billion that experts agree is needed to halve child poverty by 2010, the conference, coinciding with World Poverty Day will hear.
At £40 billion, the cost of inaction on child poverty is ten times the cost of reducing it. The TUC believe the £4 billion needed can easily be paid for by fairer taxation of the super-rich. Introducing a proper residence test for non-doms would raise more than £4 billion.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber (right) said: ‘As the world focuses on the plight of children around the globe, it’s shocking that 3.8 million children in the UK are living in poverty. Child poverty costs £40 billion a year, or £2,500 for every family in the UK. It’s a problem none of us can afford to ignore.
‘But the Government’s commitment to halve child poverty by 2010 must now be in doubt, following the failure to step up spending and a deeply unambitious tax take from the super-rich.
Malloch-Brown visits India
Lord Malloch-Brown (right) arrived today in India on his first official visit to the region since becoming Foreign Office Minister responsible for South Asia. On arrival in Delhi he said:
‘I am delighted to be visiting India and to meeting with Foreign Minister Mukherjee [below].
‘The UK’s relationship with India is one of our most important and strongest. It is underpinned by solid economic and people to people links. Over one million people travel between our two countries each year and we have a total two-way trade of almost £8 billion per year.
‘India is an influential, active and respected voice across many key regional and global issues, and the UK has been at the forefront in recognising India’s prominent position on the world stage and supporting India’s aspirations for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
‘The UK and India are committed to addressing shared global and regional issues. I will be discussing with Foreign Minister Mukherjee how we can work with Nepal to create conditions necessary to hold credible elections, and the importance of keeping up pressure on the Burmese regime to begin dialogue with the democratic opposition.’
We need to increase the numbers of NHS cleaners and pay them a living wage
TMP editor, Chuka Umunna, reflects on the Healthcare Commission’s report on the Maidstone and Tonbridge Wells NHS Trust.
No one could fail to be appalled at the Healthcare Commission’s findings that 1,100 patients contracted C difficile at the Maidstone and Tonbridge Wells NHS Trust’s three hospitals between April 2004 and September 2006. A total of 345 patients with multiple medical problems died and the commission concluded that 90 patients “definitely or probably” died as a result of infection.
Though C difficile is on the rise in our hospitals, to some extent the facts are confined to this particular Trust – there were undoubtedly serious failings in management at a local level. The Trust did not adopt the government’s new hygiene code – introduced in October 2006 – until March of this year. Investigators came across contaminated bedpans, overflowing needles and sharp instruments in bins. They even found that staff stored food in medical refrigerators – you don’t need a government code to tell you that is bad practice.
But there is a bigger issue here which public services union, Unison, has drawn attention to – the decline in hospital cleaning staff. Since the 1980s, when the contracting out of cleaning services started, the number of cleaners has almost halved – from 100,000 to 55,000 in 2003-04. These are staggering statistics when one considers that NHS infrastructure has grown and many new hospitals have been built – one would have expected there to have been an attendant rise in cleaner numbers, not a reduction.
Question Time
Following a tumultuous week in British politics, what with the election that never was, the Pre-Budget Report, the Comprehensive Spending Review and the announcement of the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, TMP editor, Chuka Umunna, will be appearing on BBC One’s Question Time programme chaired by David Dimbleby (above) at 10.35pm this evening. He will be debating the issues with Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Commons, Harriet Harman MP, Conservative Party Chair, Caroline Spelman MP, President of the Liberal Democrats, Simon Hughes MP and former editor of the Sun, Kelvin Mckenzie.
Eye on Obama: Barack talks private equity and energy ahead of London fundraiser
As U.K. Chancellor Alistair Darling announced the end of taper relief, a tax break aimed at entrepreneurs but exploited by private equity houses, Senator Barack Obama has slammed Washington law makers for failing to do the same over in the U.S.
Yesterday he released the following statement on reports that Washington will fail to address the taxation of private equity firms:
“If there was ever a doubt that Washington lobbyists don’t actually represent real Americans, it’s the fact that they stopped leaders of both parties from requiring elite investment firms to pay their fair share of taxes, even as middle-class families struggle to pay theirs. When I’m President, the American people won’t have to spend record amounts on lobbying to get their voice heard in Washington. I will close tax loopholes for big corporations, provide 90% of working Americans with a tax cut, and pass the strongest lobbying reform in history.”
Obama’s statement follows reports that the U.S. Senate will not address the taxation of private equity firms after millions of dollars in industry lobbying.
Obama has also been busily outlining his plans to make America greener. Last week he announced a plan to make the U.S a global leader on energy. Obama pledged to provide real leadership on the issue by challenging conventional thinking and loosening the grip of special interests.
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