Harry’s Place has further revelations about the Cllr. Khan affair: http://hurryupharry.org/2016/04/18/meet-the-friends-of-corbynista-vicar-steven-saxby/ It certainly does seem strange that a person who apparently feels the imagery pasted below is acceptable now finds himself honoured with a ‘community award’ by councillors, including Madam Mayor, on LBWF property. I’ve poin... »
Word reaches me that earlier in the week Labour councillors were circulated with an e-mail which announced that Cllr. Ahsan Khan, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, had stepped down from the Cabinet, pending an independent investigation by the LBWF Monitoring Officer. What appears to have happened is that Cllr. Khan organised an event in the Town Hall, attended by the Mayor, which was then t... »
An interesting and very concerning report on the Lea Bridge Rd. Mosque has been published at the blog Harry’s Place: http://hurryupharry.org/2016/04/06/the-waltham-forest-islamic-association-conspiracy-theories-antisemitism-and-rejection-of-the-west/ I have written to Martin Esom, LBWF Chief Executive, as follows: ‘Dear Mr. Esom, You no doubt will have seen the recent report on the Lea... »
In a recent post, I warned that LBWF’s Prevent strategy, and the secrecy that surrounds it, invite trouble. As if on cue, up pops the stage army of the Left, guided by the ubiquitous ‘red vicar’, Canon Stephen Saxby, with a meeting tonight aimed squarely at denunciation: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/waltham-forest-against-prevent-tickets-20742107201 The blog Harry’s Place does a public ser... »
Despite LBWF insisting that its Prevent programme should in general remain secret, it has recently divulged to me a nine-page ‘Preventing Extremism Strategic Summary’ for 2015-16, and this makes for interesting (if, as will be seen, ultimately dispiriting) reading. The document begins with some scattered remarks about the challenge to be faced. The current evidence, it states, ‘indicates that the ... »
From Private Eye, no.1407, 11-18 December 2015: »
As a previous post has indicated, there are serious questions to be asked about Waltham Forest’s attempts to confront local Islamist extremists. The record over the past decade has been at best mixed, and includes some embarrassing failures. The fact that LBWF will not discuss its current Prevent programme in any detail only adds to the sense that someone, somewhere is afraid of further revelation... »
On 17th July 2015, I used the Freedom of Information Act (FIA) to ask LBWF: ‘At a recent hearing in City Hall, Martin Esom (LBWF CEO) claimed re the Prevent programme: “We try to identify output measures to see how successful we are or otherwise….Our output measures are things like referrals through to Channel and all sorts of things like that. We have quite a broad range of indi... »
In early June of this year, I asked LBWF under the Freedom of Information Act for a list of its current Prevent contracts, with for each its start and finish dates, the name of the contractor, the value of the contract, and a brief description of what the contract aims to achieve. A few days ago, my request was refused, with LBWF arguing as follows: ‘Waltham Forest Council recognises the public in... »