The grand and cavernous Royal Gallery at Westminster Palace is a far cry from the Mornington Crescent post office where Tony Clarke began his career. Now almost 60 years on, Baron Clarke of Hampstead is a Labour Party life peer. Sinking deep into a leather chair, with the vast fresco depicting the death of Nelson over his shoulder, he says: “I never dreamt that I would end up here.”
Arsenal fanatic Lord Clarke, the son of a chauffeur and a maid, was evacuated from the capital with his siblings at the outbreak of World War Two. But his mother brought them back to Hampstead after she paid a visit to Bedfordshire. “She didn’t like how we were living, so we came back to London when the Blitz was happening,” he says with his soft, but distinctly North London, accent. However, the threat from enemy bombs never stopped him from enjoying himself: “Although we played football between a barrage balloon and a rocket site, Hampstead Heath was a very safe place for children.”
He started work at 14 as a telegraph boy in 1946, after just two years of formal education at a catholic school. He rode around the city on a bicycle delivering telegrams. “I was physically too small to ride a motorbike”, he recalls. It was when he returned to be a postman after a short spell in the army that he got involved in politics. Angry at the management of his Hampstead sorting office and feeling let down by his union, Clarke spoke out and decided to run for a position: “By 1955 I was a trade union official of that branch, and later the whole district of North West London.”
Through various roles in local politics, his involvement in industrial activism snowballed, and he became a full-time official of the Union of Postal Workers in 1979. He was editor of the union’s monthly journal: “That’s a bit of a laugh if you look at my background,” he says, “but we made it work!” In later years he served as Chairman of the Labour Party and in 1998, became a life peer: “The phone rang, and it was Tony Blair asking if I would accept a peerage. Of course I said yes.”
Lord Clarke’s self-effacing account of his journey through politics explains his approach to the issues he values. He campaigns for better conditions and pay for employees in Britain and abroad, once smuggling his way into apartheid South Africa to negotiate a deal for postal workers. Despite taking the Labour whip, Lord Clarke admits he is outspoken on certain issues, and is not afraid of straying from the party line: “The post office has been destroyed by my government. I think it’s appalling.”
His life-long love for Arsenal Football Club has allowed Lord Clarke to stay in touch with his past and keep his feet on the ground: “It’s a great way for me to switch off. I’m with my son and the people around us are all friends. I just love it.” He was once asked by Neil Kinnock (who he stills calls his comrade) to go to Australia for a meeting. He agreed to attend, on one condition: “As long as I get back by three o’clock on Saturday!”
But if it came down to choosing between his red seat in the House of Lords and his red seat at Arsenal, the 76-year-old says: “I couldn’t voluntarily leave this place,” looking around the priceless paintings, “so I think I’d give up the Arsenal because I’m old enough that I can watch it on television.”
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
Monday, 14 January 2008
Holiday cheer for violence victims
By James Edgar, Yorkshire Evening Post
DOMESTIC violence victims from Leeds will be able to enjoy a much-needed holiday break on Yorkshire’s East Coast this spring.
Fifty children and 29 women will spend a week caravanning in the May half-term.
The Leeds Hospital Fund has donated £7,000 towards ensuring the trip, organised by the Leeds Women’s Aid (LWA) charity for sufferers of domestic violence, goes ahead.
Rosie Robinson, director of LWA, said: “The children are just thrilled. It’s a chance for them to spend time with their mums and put the past behind them.”
The charity works with women and children who experience violence, and provides safe places for them to stay.
The holidaymakers live in the organisation’s refuges and safe houses.
Coaches will take the trippers to the coastal holiday park where each family will have their own caravan and entertainment passes.
Ms Robinson said: “It’s thrilling really, because the women and children don’t normally get holidays.
Peaceful “All we want is for the children to enjoy the time that others take for granted. It’s something they think other children do but they don’t.”
She believes a holiday will give the children valuable, peaceful quality time with their mothers and will improve the childrens’ mental health, sense of well-being, self-esteem and confidence.
Youngsters have told her that they would like to go on holiday, and most of all, they want to be “just like other kids.”Leeds Women’s Aid works in the community, runs sessions at ante-natal departments of hospitals and helps protect unborn children.
The charity also operates in schools, raising awareness about domestic violence and healthy family relationships with children and young people.
The total cost of the holiday is £11,500, and the remaining money was raised during Leeds Shopping Week 2007.
Ms Robinson said: “We have hired 29 caravans for a week so it becomes really expensive. But we’re delighted the holiday is going ahead.”
Leeds Women’s Aid would be grateful for any further donations towards the project and others in the future.
The 24-hour helpline is (0113) 246 0401.
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Holiday-cheer-for-violence-victims.3667918.jp
DOMESTIC violence victims from Leeds will be able to enjoy a much-needed holiday break on Yorkshire’s East Coast this spring.
Fifty children and 29 women will spend a week caravanning in the May half-term.
The Leeds Hospital Fund has donated £7,000 towards ensuring the trip, organised by the Leeds Women’s Aid (LWA) charity for sufferers of domestic violence, goes ahead.
Rosie Robinson, director of LWA, said: “The children are just thrilled. It’s a chance for them to spend time with their mums and put the past behind them.”
The charity works with women and children who experience violence, and provides safe places for them to stay.
The holidaymakers live in the organisation’s refuges and safe houses.
Coaches will take the trippers to the coastal holiday park where each family will have their own caravan and entertainment passes.
Ms Robinson said: “It’s thrilling really, because the women and children don’t normally get holidays.
Peaceful “All we want is for the children to enjoy the time that others take for granted. It’s something they think other children do but they don’t.”
She believes a holiday will give the children valuable, peaceful quality time with their mothers and will improve the childrens’ mental health, sense of well-being, self-esteem and confidence.
Youngsters have told her that they would like to go on holiday, and most of all, they want to be “just like other kids.”Leeds Women’s Aid works in the community, runs sessions at ante-natal departments of hospitals and helps protect unborn children.
The charity also operates in schools, raising awareness about domestic violence and healthy family relationships with children and young people.
The total cost of the holiday is £11,500, and the remaining money was raised during Leeds Shopping Week 2007.
Ms Robinson said: “We have hired 29 caravans for a week so it becomes really expensive. But we’re delighted the holiday is going ahead.”
Leeds Women’s Aid would be grateful for any further donations towards the project and others in the future.
The 24-hour helpline is (0113) 246 0401.
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Holiday-cheer-for-violence-victims.3667918.jp
Wednesday, 9 January 2008
Decision on future of Birstall cobbles today
By James Edgar, Yorkshire Evening Post
THE FATE of Birstall’s historic cobbles hangs in the balance today as Kirklees Council meets to decide their future.
Campaigners have fought to save the stone setts from being dug up as part of the regeneration of the market place.
But they recently suffered a setback when they lost their fight to have the stones listed by English Heritage.
Local solicitor Beverley Mottram formed the Birstall Heritage and Conservation group after over 1,000 people signed a petition urging the council to reconsider the plans.
Miss Mottram, who is attending the crucial Cabinet meeting, said: “I expect them just to bulldoze the lot, but if we can get them to reconsider, that would be great.”
The celebrated market place is home to a statue of the 18th-century philosopher and clergyman Joseph Priestley. Born in Birstall, he is credited with identifying oxygen and being a founding father of the United States.
Pressure from the campaigners has forced the council to use the cobbles that are in good condition, about a quarter of them, in the new development. Other new stones would be sourced elsewhere.
If the remaining stones are ripped up but not used in the regeneration project, the conservation group and its supporters want them to be kept in Birstall, rather than being sold on by the council.
According to Miss Mottram, reclaimed stone is in short supply and it has shot up in value in recent years.
The Birstall Heritage and Conservation group proposes that the stones are relocated around the village centre.
The group has recently been granted charitable status, and Miss Mottram presented the council with a copy of the document that established it as a charity, the constitutional trust deed.
She said: “I want them to consider the fact we are now a charity and relocate the stones around the Birstall area.”
The group hopes the council will decide to donate the cobbles, unused kerbstones and unused Yorkshire stone flags to them.
Miss Mottram said: “We would much rather they remained in the market place, of course.”
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/dewsbury-news/Decision-on-future-of-Birstall.3654527.jp
THE FATE of Birstall’s historic cobbles hangs in the balance today as Kirklees Council meets to decide their future.
Campaigners have fought to save the stone setts from being dug up as part of the regeneration of the market place.
But they recently suffered a setback when they lost their fight to have the stones listed by English Heritage.
Local solicitor Beverley Mottram formed the Birstall Heritage and Conservation group after over 1,000 people signed a petition urging the council to reconsider the plans.
Miss Mottram, who is attending the crucial Cabinet meeting, said: “I expect them just to bulldoze the lot, but if we can get them to reconsider, that would be great.”
The celebrated market place is home to a statue of the 18th-century philosopher and clergyman Joseph Priestley. Born in Birstall, he is credited with identifying oxygen and being a founding father of the United States.
Pressure from the campaigners has forced the council to use the cobbles that are in good condition, about a quarter of them, in the new development. Other new stones would be sourced elsewhere.
If the remaining stones are ripped up but not used in the regeneration project, the conservation group and its supporters want them to be kept in Birstall, rather than being sold on by the council.
According to Miss Mottram, reclaimed stone is in short supply and it has shot up in value in recent years.
The Birstall Heritage and Conservation group proposes that the stones are relocated around the village centre.
The group has recently been granted charitable status, and Miss Mottram presented the council with a copy of the document that established it as a charity, the constitutional trust deed.
She said: “I want them to consider the fact we are now a charity and relocate the stones around the Birstall area.”
The group hopes the council will decide to donate the cobbles, unused kerbstones and unused Yorkshire stone flags to them.
Miss Mottram said: “We would much rather they remained in the market place, of course.”
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/dewsbury-news/Decision-on-future-of-Birstall.3654527.jp
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
Kids follow yellow bus road to success
By James Edgar, Yorkshire Evening Post
CHATTERBOX children in West Yorkshire are ready to learn when they arrive at school – after a daily babble on board a yellow bus.
Teachers say the 8,000 pupils that use Metro’s “My bus” scheme are “talked out” by the time they get to lessons.
Other advantages are that the schoolchildren enjoy travelling with their friends, and parents are spared from doing the school run.
Parents are freeing up nearly an hour a week on average and save 30 kilometres a week.
Martin Driver, a spokesperson for Metro, the West Yorkshire Passenger Travel Executive, said: “Teachers are telling us the scheme has improved the punctuality and attendance of the pupils.
“There is training for all kids before they use the service and they gain additional self-confidence by using the bus.”
Former Home Secretary David Blunkett launched the 150th yellow bus when he visited a school in Leeds yesterday.
St Theresa’s Primary is one of over 130 schools signed up to West Yorkshire’s yellow bus scheme, the largest in the UK.
The Labour MP for Sheffield Brightside met parents and students who regularly use the service.
Already the yellow buses have eased congestion in West Yorkshire.
Almost 70 per cent of primary school pupils and 20 per cent of secondary pupils that use the service were previously dropped off by car.
The single-deck buses, which have on-board CCTV and belts on every seat, follow a specially devised route to pick up students along the way.
Some buses are equipped for children with special educational needs.
Trained operators run a back-up system that parents and drivers can contact in the event of any problems.
Mr Driver said: “The scheme has been implemented carefully and methodically with input from both parents and schools.
“The buses take children from as young as four to those taking GCSEs.”
Mr Blunkett is chairman of the national Yellow School Bus Commission, set up by bus operator First, which looks at the possibilities of introducing more yellow school buses across the country.
“My bus” started taking children to and from school in autumn 2004 after Metro won £18.7 million in funding from the Department for Transport.
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Kids-follow-yellow-bus-road.3649873.jp
CHATTERBOX children in West Yorkshire are ready to learn when they arrive at school – after a daily babble on board a yellow bus.
Teachers say the 8,000 pupils that use Metro’s “My bus” scheme are “talked out” by the time they get to lessons.
Other advantages are that the schoolchildren enjoy travelling with their friends, and parents are spared from doing the school run.
Parents are freeing up nearly an hour a week on average and save 30 kilometres a week.
Martin Driver, a spokesperson for Metro, the West Yorkshire Passenger Travel Executive, said: “Teachers are telling us the scheme has improved the punctuality and attendance of the pupils.
“There is training for all kids before they use the service and they gain additional self-confidence by using the bus.”
Former Home Secretary David Blunkett launched the 150th yellow bus when he visited a school in Leeds yesterday.
St Theresa’s Primary is one of over 130 schools signed up to West Yorkshire’s yellow bus scheme, the largest in the UK.
The Labour MP for Sheffield Brightside met parents and students who regularly use the service.
Already the yellow buses have eased congestion in West Yorkshire.
Almost 70 per cent of primary school pupils and 20 per cent of secondary pupils that use the service were previously dropped off by car.
The single-deck buses, which have on-board CCTV and belts on every seat, follow a specially devised route to pick up students along the way.
Some buses are equipped for children with special educational needs.
Trained operators run a back-up system that parents and drivers can contact in the event of any problems.
Mr Driver said: “The scheme has been implemented carefully and methodically with input from both parents and schools.
“The buses take children from as young as four to those taking GCSEs.”
Mr Blunkett is chairman of the national Yellow School Bus Commission, set up by bus operator First, which looks at the possibilities of introducing more yellow school buses across the country.
“My bus” started taking children to and from school in autumn 2004 after Metro won £18.7 million in funding from the Department for Transport.
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Kids-follow-yellow-bus-road.3649873.jp
Thursday, 3 January 2008
'Tenants still want to rent flats in city'
by James Edgar, The Yorkshire Evening Post
A LEADING Leeds city centre property agent has slammed an industry survey that said tenants’ demand for flats has slumped.
The report by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said this was “due to a glut of properties on the market.”
According to the study, surveyors reported demand for flats in the latter part of 2007 slowed down dramatically compared to the first half of the year. It found only one in five of surveyors saw a rise in demand in the third quarter, compared with 37 per cent in the second.
But Jonathan Morgan, managing director of Morgans estate agents, said it was not the case in the city.
He said: “We expect our figures for December to be far better than last year. “We’ve had our best year for rentals in 10 years.”
Mr Morgan said his own quarterly lettings statistics for city centre properties prove substantial and continual growth on the corresponding periods the previous year.
Compared with 2006, the signed tenancy agreements in the first quarter of 2007 saw no change, the second quarter an 11 per cent increase, the third 21 per cent higher and the fourth saw 29 per cent growth, he added.
Mr Morgan said: “This clearly contradicts the RICS figures.”The RICS study also concluded the buy-to-let market has taken a nose-dive.
RICS spokesman Jeremy Leaf said: “A combination of tightening lending criteria and successive interest rate rises has started to hit the buy-to-let market.”
Mr Morgan agreed the statistics reflect anecdotal evidence on a national level, but he said they do not relate to his specialist area of the city centre market.
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/39Tenants-still-want-to-rent.3635260.jp
A LEADING Leeds city centre property agent has slammed an industry survey that said tenants’ demand for flats has slumped.
The report by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said this was “due to a glut of properties on the market.”
According to the study, surveyors reported demand for flats in the latter part of 2007 slowed down dramatically compared to the first half of the year. It found only one in five of surveyors saw a rise in demand in the third quarter, compared with 37 per cent in the second.
But Jonathan Morgan, managing director of Morgans estate agents, said it was not the case in the city.
He said: “We expect our figures for December to be far better than last year. “We’ve had our best year for rentals in 10 years.”
Mr Morgan said his own quarterly lettings statistics for city centre properties prove substantial and continual growth on the corresponding periods the previous year.
Compared with 2006, the signed tenancy agreements in the first quarter of 2007 saw no change, the second quarter an 11 per cent increase, the third 21 per cent higher and the fourth saw 29 per cent growth, he added.
Mr Morgan said: “This clearly contradicts the RICS figures.”The RICS study also concluded the buy-to-let market has taken a nose-dive.
RICS spokesman Jeremy Leaf said: “A combination of tightening lending criteria and successive interest rate rises has started to hit the buy-to-let market.”
Mr Morgan agreed the statistics reflect anecdotal evidence on a national level, but he said they do not relate to his specialist area of the city centre market.
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/39Tenants-still-want-to-rent.3635260.jp
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