North London Press Round-Up

Vice report on the resistance to evictions in West Hendon;

“Over the past month or so [protesters have] spent four days blocking the entrance to the site, with varying degrees of success. The first time they protested, they successfully stopped any trucks getting into the site for the whole day, effectively stopping construction. But the second time they tried this, the police quickly arrived, dispersed the protest and arrested two people. Residents say that a workman told them that it costs the developer, Barratt Homes, £30,000 every day they manage to halt trucks from getting in and out of the site.”

Enfield council are moving towards building their first council houses in 30 years;

The land, which has now been cleared, is being prepared for a mix of one, two, three and four-bedroom homes, all within three miles of the town centre.

Councillor Ahmet Oykener, Enfield Council’s cabinet member for housing and estate regeneration, said: “This approach is helping us to deal with an urgent need for quality housing for local people. The appointment of Kier Property as our chosen development partner to complete the small housing sites project ensures that we produce good council-owned property for the families that need it.”

The Ham and High reports that teachers have backed strike action to defend their rep Julie Davies;

Teachers have voted to walk out on strike in two Haringey secondary schools after the half-term break in protest at the treatment of one of their union reps and a fall-out with headteachers.

Patrick Butler in the Guardian talks about how the untold story of Baby P is the anatomy of an establishment cover-up;

“So, seven years on, what have we learned? For all the grandstanding about how such tragedies must never happen again, the film estimates that more than 260 children have since died at hands of a parent or carer since Peter’s death. The response of the child protection system, fearful of the “next Baby P” was to adopt a no-risk approach. It has led to a huge rise in the number of children being taken from their families into care. Arguably the social work profession is increasingly fragile, demoralised and insecure. Recruiting and retaining social workers is difficult, despite some lucrative incentives. Children’s services departments struggle to cope with demand – we might call it the Baby P effect, or even the David Cameron effect – at a time when local authority budgets have been cut by a third. The government’s response appears to be to suggest that councils outsource child protection.”

The Multi Cultural Politic reflects on this Saturday’s march against deaths in police custody;

“In light of the British state’s continued violation of the bodies, rights and memories of the abused, the 300 who gathered in defiance is minimal. Yet I remain hopeful because I sensed the mood of rehearsed defeat give way to an atmosphere of restored determination and passion. Though I have felt this before, 2012’s march also left me with a sense of hope that was not fulfilled. This year easily could be a repeat of 2012. Some have admirably vowed on social media to honour Ajibola Lewis’ call dramatically increase our number, I want to reflect on how this could be achieved.”

Haringey Solidarity report on their ongoing campaign against workfare in the North London Hospice shops;

We had some lengthy chats with people working inside the shop – mainly those lucky enough to be paid – and were surprised and saddened to hear the view that the people on CWP had a “choice”, that they were not forced to work there.

This “choice” is not a choice at all – it’s the choice between working at the shop, or facing having your benefits stopped, leading to possible destitution or starvation.  Hardly a choice at all.