Fracking can frack right off!

I've received quite a few standard format emails about fracking so I thought I'd post a response here.  The emails all say:

"I’m very concerned about the prospect of fracking - or hydraulic fracturing - in our area.

Fracking has been linked to contamination of water supplies and atmospheric pollution, as well as increased traffic to construction sites. The government has promised lower energy bills if gas and oil from fracking is produced, but even the fracking companies admit this is unlikely to happen.

I would like to know if any companies are planning to carry out fracking in this area and whether any relevant licences have been sold. If so, I would be grateful if you could let me know your position on the matter and what steps I can take to register my objections.

If there are no current plans or licences, I would be grateful if you could keep me informed of any future developments."

My response is:

"Absolutely! I see fracking as environmental vandalism of the worst type. My view is crystal clear: We DO NOT need to burn more hydrocarbons, even if it is safe to get them out of the ground. And it probably isn't. We need to use less energy and use renewables more. I've just commented on a facebook post that starts: "The "Greenest Government Ever" shackles Councillors, requiring that they approve planning applications for fracking 'in the interest of the national economy'. This appalling edict places residents close to fracking operations at risk in the interest of fat-cat profits for the few. The government should wake-up to the methane and chemicals that fracking introduces to the water supply." and added "...not to mention the CO2 it puts into the air. I will NEVER be voting to support fracking. We all need to use less energy and governments need to be investing more in renewables, not taking cheap options that will further wreck the planet."

I have a large solar PV installation on my roof and, since it was installed, have been buying less that half the electricity I used to buy. At home we try to use as little energy as possible and my partner and I both cycle whenever and wherever we can.

I hope that makes my position clear! If you hear anything about local fracking before I do please do let me know and I will object as rigorously as possible."

There is also a response from Oxfordshire County Council which is somewhat reassuring although it's concerning that there might be some parts of Oxfordshire that contain shale gas.

"The British Geological Survey has identified parts of Oxfordshire as having geology that potentially may contain shale gas. Oil and gas exploration and production (including shale gas) are subject to licensing by the Government. There are currently no licences covering Oxfordshire. The Government is planning to launch a new round of onshore licensing in 2014 (14th licence round) and we understand that parts of Oxfordshire may be included.

Oil and gas exploration and production (including shale gas) also require planning permission. The County Council as mineral planning authority is responsible for determining planning applications for oil and gas exploration and production. There are no current applications for oil or gas exploration or production in Oxfordshire and we are not aware of any forthcoming proposals. Any planning application for fracking or any other form of oil or gas exploration or production would be considered by the County Council against relevant national and local planning policy. National planning policy for oil and gas is contained in the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework, March 2012. In addition, the Government recently published ‘Planning practice guidance for onshore oil and gas’, July 2013, which covers shale gas and fracking. This includes guidance on how mineral planning authorities should consider any environmental impacts of planning applications for oil and gas exploration and production."

I will be keeping a close eye on developments on this!

Filipino Community of Oxfordshire 10th annual sports festival

This is the second event I have attended with the Oxfordshire Filipino Community and I received a wonderful warm welcome just as I did the last time.  The day started with a small procession and then we moved into the sports hall at Oxford Brookes for speeches, singing of national anthems, flag-raising, some traditional dancing and singing, and welcoming of all the teams. Every team member was named and all teams got to fly their own banners.  It was good to see some Thames Valley Police PCSOs in the procession with the Uk flag the Union Jack and also hoisting it up a flag pole after I had helped to hoist a Philippines flag.

Today was the 10th annual sports festival of this community and it’s a great joy that for the first time this year the Nepalese community of Oxfordshire joined in for a friendly competition.  It was great to see so many different events happening today in including men’s basketball and volleyball for both men and women.  All these are so important for building camaraderie, community cohesion and sportsmanship among our communities and I could see they were a huge amount of fun for all the people and families present.

Graduation at Kidsunlimited day nursery

This was certainly one of my more unusual engagements!  I was invited to attend the graduation ceremony for all the children leaving the Oxford Business Park Kidsunlimited Day Nursery. I'd never heard of graduation for four year olds before but it was a really lovely ceremony. It started with all the little people singing a some songs to the parents and staff and then I was invited to say a few words and present the leaving certificates with kidsunlimited teddy bears.  I decided that a short speech would be needed for such a young audience so spoke briefly about the importance of giving children a good start in their education and thanked staff and parents for doing that. Then I produced a song for parents to sing with me, to their children and the staff.  It goes like this (to the tune of row, row, row your boat):

Clap, clap, clap your hands,
Graduation’s here.
Now we must say goodbye.
To friends we’ve had this year.

Clap, clap, clap your hands,
We've worked the whole year through
Now we must say goodbye,
To you, and you, and you.

Clap, clap, clap your hands,
Graduation's here.
Now we, all will go,
to primary school next year!

I'm pleased to say parents did a good job of singing along!  I presented the certificates one by one to the children and then we had a lovely cream tea provided by the nursery and I had a good chance to chat with some of the staff and parents about their experience of the nursery and the children.  I think it's great to mark this important change from nursery to primary school in a child's life with this sort of ceremony and really enjoyed it.

(picture provided by the parents of the child in the foreground and used with their permission)

 

Thames Valley Police and Crime Panel

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300"] image tweeted by @biloddy[/caption]

I attended this meeting today because I am the opposition shadow for crime and community safety on the council. Oxford's member on the panel is Cllr Pat Kennedy, the Oxford City Executive Board member with that portfolio.  The panel's job is to hold the Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley to account.  This Commissioner's area covers Oxon, Berks and Bucks so is rather large - it has one member from every principal local authority in the area, giving a membership of:

Councillor Bill Bendyshe-Brown (Wycombe District Council), Councillor Mark Booty (West Oxfordshire District Council), Councillor Noel Brown (Chiltern District Council), Terry Burke (Independent Co-opted Member), Councillor Anita Cranmer (South Buckinghamshire District Council), Councillor Trevor Egleton (Buckinghamshire County Council), Councillor Jesse Grey (Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead), Councillor Bill Jones (Vale of White Horse District Council), Councillor Pat Kennedy (Oxford City Council), Councillor Kieron Mallon (Oxfordshire County Council) (Vice-Chairman), Councillor Iain McCracken (Bracknell Forest Council), Councillor Tony Page (Reading Borough Council), Councillor Barrie Patman (Wokingham Borough Council), Councillor Pam Pearce (Aylesbury Vale District Council), Councillor George Reynolds (Cherwell District Council), Councillor Bill Service (South Oxfordshire District Council), Councillor Mohammed Sharif (Slough Borough Council), Rajinder Sohpal (Independent Co-opted Member), Councillor Cec Tallack (Milton Keynes Council) and Councillor Quentin Webb (West Berkshire Council)

It elected a chair and vice chair today for the year, and we heard the Police and Crime Panel Annual report as well as the annual report from the commissioner himself.  There was a bit of a silly debate about the Commissioner's expenses where the panel decided it was not its remit to decide if the Commissioner should have a driver or not.  There was a report from the Oxford Safer Communities Partnership, which I think does great work in our City an update on issues particularly of importance to Oxford as a City.  There was an update on operation Bullfinch from Chief Constable Sara Thornton and Superintendent Christian Bunt and they also gave an excellent overview of the work Thames Valley Police is doing to develop multi-agency approaches to child sexual exploitation.

At the end of the meeting Cllr Kennedy and I asked about the closure of the custody suite at St. Aldate's police station meaning that all prisoners would now have to be taken to Abingdon.  I felt assured by Supt. Bunt that this was a sensible move as the Oxford facilities are awkward being at the top of the building and rather past their sell-by date.   He said he would circulate a short memo to councillors addressing concerns about the risk of new arrangements meaning police officers might take longer to get back on the streets after an arrest and I was reassured that vulnerable people arrested in Oxford then released from Abingdon would not be just put on the street with no means to get back to Oxford.

You can follow the PCP on twitter as @ThamesValleyPCP and the commissioner as @TV_PCC

 

Oxfordshire County Youth Orchestra Gala Concert

I had the pleasure this evening of attending the Oxfordshire County Youth Orchestra Gala concert. It was a really wonderful evening and I very much enjoyed all the music. An amazing orchestra and some incredibly talented young musicians who showed incredibly skill and control of their instruments. It was my pleasure to take Maurice Dixon, a vice principal at Oxford Spires Academy, with me as my guest as I know he has a keen interest in music.  I think it's really important to get children involved in music as science has show that it really helps brain development and teaches all sorts of important social skills.

There was a reception with the chairman at the start and Maurice and I greatly enjoyed the concert.  The programme included:

R Strauss:  Don Juan
Bruch: Violin Concerto  No. 1 in G minor
John Rutter:  Sprig of Thyme (with Oxon Schools' choirs)
Britten:  Four Sea Interludes

Opening Oxford's branch of Wren Kitchens

[caption id="attachment_933" align="alignright" width="300"] Gavin, Paul, me, Greg[/caption]

Today's trip was what you might call my first commercial civic engagement. I was invited along to open the Oxford branch of Wren Kitchens, which is in Botley Retail Park in the unit that was Comet until the demise of that company last year.

I was welcomed by Paul Russell, the new Store Manager; Gavin Challinor, the Area Manager; and Greg Ashdown the Regional Manager.  I had a walk around the new store and was impressed at the quality of all the kitchens and bedrooms on display and pleased to hear that all the kitchens and bedrooms are sourced and manufactured in the UK, and in the North where job are certainly needed.  This store is, I think, the 37th branch to open in the UK in a bit less than four years.  We discussed how it has brought about 30 jobs to Oxford and how Wren has found it hard to recruit as Oxford has such high employment already.

We took a few pictures, including getting me in an apron posing with Hazel Middleton from Neff who was on hand all day to bake snacks and demonstrate the Neff ovens.  What a fun job!

I was also pleased to receive a cheque from Greg for £100 to go to the Lord Mayor's chosen charities for the year.  That seems reasonable in return for the mayoral visit to the opening.  Having units in a retail park thriving and busy has a very good and positive knock-on effect on footfall and thus other businesses in that park.

Handel's Saul

This evening's civic engagement was a real treat! I attended the performance of the Saul oratorio at the Town Hall, given by Oxford Harmonic Society. It was a wonderful concert with some excellent soloists and a great orchestra. I was impressed at how a choir of so many singers blended so well, sounding so united, and the soloists really did set the whole piece off beautifully. As I'm the chair of the City of Oxford Choir I very much enjoyed meeting, and sharing experiences with, Lindsey Charles, the Chair of Oxford Harmonic Society.

This was also my first civic engagement that I took my partner Gordon to. He was pleased to be able to wear the consort's badge!

Littlemore family fun day

I was welcomed to this event as Deputy Lord Mayor today by Anne Mogridge (Chair of the Littlemore Community Association) and Dorian Hancock (Secretary of the Littlemore Community Association).  I had the honour of opening it with Oxford East's MP, the Rt. Hon Andrew Smith MP. The day kicked off with a marvellous display or dancing from children and a leader from "Messy Jam" doing some amazing dancing. Andrew and I are pictured with the leader.  There was face painting for children and a fire engine was in attendance with some local firefighters who were happily posing for pictures with those at the event.  It was a busy event with lots of stalls and lot of activities throughout the day.

I gave a short speech and reflected on all the work so many regular users of the community centre do.  The include the Playgroup (serving Littlemore for 45 years!), the Children’s Centre, the History Society, the Martial Arts Class, the Church of God of Prophecy, the Job Club, the AgeUK IT Classes and the coffee mornings. This is all made possible by the diligent stewardship of the Littlemore Community Association.    Communities like Littlemore, our county’s third largest parish, depend on dedicated volunteers and it's great to see such community spirit in action.

With a football team; two primaries and one secondary school; a superstore; an hospital; a science park; three churches; two shopping precincts and even its own post office Littlemore certainly is an area deserving of celebration by events like this family fun day.  I had a really good time!

Lowe and Oliver 90th birthday celebrations

This was my first civic engagement with a local business and it was a pleasure to meet many generations of the Lowe family and to hear about how Lowe and Oliver, a large Oxford electrical contractor, has grown and flourished since its founding in 1923.  The party took place at the Ashmolean and there were many guests both from the company and from many years of clients.  I had a really long conversation with Patrick Lowe, the current company chairman.  He is an amazing man, in his 80s and only the second chairman the company has ever had, with his father being the first!

Lowe and Oliver really is a family company in all senses of the word.  I was impressed not only the generations of Lowes present but the by real sense of investment that the company makes in its staff, right from apprenticeship through to retirement.  There are a huge number of staff that have served 40+ years in the company and it's true even today that most apprentices stay with the company once they are trained.  Oxford has myriad listed buildings and many with complex requirements so the company really had bred a huge cohort of incredibly talented craftsmen and they are a real credit to the company and a huge asset to Oxford both in terms of employment and skilled work.  Here's to many more years of success!

Refugee Week Celebration

This event was held at the Methodist Church on Cowley Road and this year had the theme of restoring hope.  I was welcomed by Dr Antony Kingsley, Deputy Director of Refugee Resource and show around some displays of excellent work that is done to support refugees and those seeking that status (asylum seekers) in and around Oxford.  There is an impressive amount of partnership working too.  I admire the huge amount of work that is done in Oxford by and for refugees and those seeking that status from all parts of the world.  This event was celebrating all that 16 years after the first discussions that Amanda Webb-Johnson (The Director of Refugee Resource) started and 14 years after the formal establishment of Refugee Resource.  I’m told the first Oxford Refugee Week celebration was back in 2006, set up by Eden Habtemichael and the Refugee Women’s group initiative so it’s brilliant that so many volunteers are still registering and that the organisation is going from strength to strength!



There is still much to be done in this important work and our community’s response to this particularly vulnerable group of people in our world.  I know that many are struggling with hardship, isolation, neglect and an uncertain future and that’s why events like this one are so important in helping to restore hope for so many in such desperate situations.

Discover Oxford’s hidden heritage during Archaeology Day

There is a treat in store on Sunday 14th July when you are invited to look below the surface of Oxford and see what lies beneath! During Archaeology Day, there’s fun for all ages on offer with a range of demonstrations, hands-on activities and mini-lectures covering a series of fascinating subjects.

Archaeology Day runs from 11am-4pm on Sunday 14th July. All activities are free so there’s no need to book! Why not come along to Oxford Castle and discover the hidden gems?Activities include: Coil pot-making, Medieval tile-making, Pot reconstruction, Tattoos and Finger-weaving. There will also be a demonstration by the Wychwood Warriors Oxford University Re-enactors

Archaeology Day is a joint collaboration between Oxford Preservation Trust and Oxford Castle Unlocked. Both teams have been successfully working in partnership since 2009 to ensure this free annual event has become an interesting and popular event.

What not turn up?  You can contact Lindsay Kell at Oxford Preservation Trust on 01865 242918 or  l.kell@oxfordpreservation.org.uk if you have any queries.

Topping out the Weston Library

I attended the topping-out ceremony at the Weston Library today, which will emerge from the shell of the refurbished New Bodleian to form a wonderful special collections Library late in 2014. I was invited as ward councillor and was I think the only member of the City Council there. There was an excellent speech by the Vice Chancellor or Oxford University, Professor Andrew Hamilton and he and Dr Sarah Thomas, Bodley's Librarian unveiled the commemoration stone to mark the event.

Hamilton spoke about how important it is to keep Universities like Oxford moving forward and developing and he said how important the philanthropy of donors is to such progress. He thanked the City Council, via me, for all it support and work with the University in our City, which I think was pretty gracious given how the whole project was slowed down by the City's refusal to allow a book depository to be built in Osney, thus necessitating its construction in Swindon. 7 million books were moved there from the New Bodleian before the refurbishment to form the Weston Library could start!

I hugely look forward to seeing the finished product, and hopefully the regeneration of the East end of Broad Street including sorting out the awful traffic lights there that don't even have a pedestrian phase!

The City Council wants your views on Oxpens

Oxford City Council is launching a public consultation on a planning document that will help shape the future of Oxpens.

The Oxpens site, between Oxford Railway Station, the Westgate Centre and the River Thames, represents one of the most significant development opportunities in the city centre and has the potential to make a valuable contribution to the life and economy of the local area and Oxford as a whole.

The document, known as the Oxpens Masterplan Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), will help to establish appropriate uses for the Oxpens site, which could include houses and flats, offices, research & development (R&D) space, local amenities, green open space, a hotel and a public square. The development is also expected to bring regeneration benefits for neighbouring residents, such as improved public transport and better vehicle, cycle and pedestrian links to the city and surrounding areas.

Oxford City Council has an adopted Core Strategy and West End Area Action Plan which outline the policies for development at the Oxpens site. The purpose of the SPD is to determine how these policies can be interpreted and implemented, and to set out the Council's aspirations for the site, such as the preferred mix of housing, employment uses, open space and community facilities.

Could you take a few minutes to complete the survey about this, which is open from Monday 17 June until Monday 29 July 2013?  I've turned off comments on this post as they really need to be put in the survey.  Thanks!

 

Abingdon on Thames Civic Service

It was a pleasure to attend the Civic Service in Abingdon on Thames today to welcome and bless Abingdon's new Mayor, Councillor Sam Bowring, a good personal friend and a fellow Lib Dem!  The service was at Abingdon Baptist Church and was conducted by David Fleming, the minister of that church.  There were a lot of chains in attendance, including the ones worn by the Lord Mayor of Kensington and Chelsea and several neighbouring mayors.  We had a short procession into the church and I was pleased to walk with Nicola Blackwood MP, the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon and it was nice that she was supportive of me over the recent attacks I've been suffering from the far left.



The service was positive and inclusive and included a short dialogue between David Fleming and Sam Bowring about her hopes for her year as Lord Mayor of Abingdon.  It was good to hear her asking for prayers that her and her fellow councillors would serve their town to the best of their abilities and with the interests of those they represent always at the top of the agenda.  There was a good sermon about civic service and how Christians are called to serve which I found helpful.  We sang lots of music I'd not heard before, with a rather good band accompanying us.  The service was rounded off with a blessing song from the junior church children complete with actions.

Philippines Independence Day Celebrations

I was invited to attend the celebration of the 115th Philippines independence today at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford, hosted by the Oxfordshire Filipino Community, affectionately known as FilCom.  This organisation was founded 11 years ago in Oxford and this is the 10th annual independence day celebration it has held.  It was also the first time it was held at the Kassam Stadium, which, given the size of the place, I think us a good indication of how successful it is.

The morning started with a parade with some lovely flowers and fine Philippine national dress on display, including lots of very enthusiastic children.  There were brief introductions from lots of the sponsors and then we had a large joint mass, presided over by the Priest of the Church of Corpus Christi in Headington.  I stayed for lunch but sadly was unable to stay for the afternoon cultural show which looked like it would be great fun.

I learned today that there are probably about 3,000 Filipinos in Oxfordshire and about 1,000 of them are members f FilCom.  The Filipino community is hugely inclusive and integrated and engages in many religious, sporting and cultural activities.  The community does a huge amount for the people of Oxfordshire and it is said that if you removed all Filipinos from our County then the NHS would fall apart as so many work in our hospitals, particularly as nurses.

It’s fantastic to see the Filipino community successfully reaching out to so many other communities including Nepalese, Indonesian, Chinese, Malaysian and Vietnamese people. It is a real credit to the causes of celebrating culture, building relationships and advocating equality and diversity right across our county.  This sort of work is incredibly valuable, and never more so than in times of economic difficulty. I know that when times are hard, people can be tempted to blame their problems on others – and that helping people get to know their neighbours and set aside their differences is the best way to avoid this happening.



There were lots of dignitaries there, including Voltaire Onesino D Muricio, the First Secretary and Consul at the Philippine Embassy in London.

A few years ago I was lucky enough to visit the Philippines myself, and I have very fond memories of all I saw in Cebu and Bohol, and all the people I met. I hope that the Filipino community feels as welcome in Oxfordshire as I felt in the Philippines.

Faiths walking together

I took part in the Oxford Council of Faiths friendship walk today and was pleased that the Lord Mayor of Oxford was willing for me to join her as Deputy Lord Mayor in a show of support from the City for events that promote peace and understanding between Oxford's faiths.  Cllr Abbasi, the Sheriff of Oxford, was also there although not in civic bling (can I say civic bling here?). There were probably 300-400 people on the walk and that included large numbers of local faith leaders and members of local congregations including our minister, Carla, and several members from my own church, St. Columba's.

The Friendship Walk has been happening for many years in Oxford and is a fantastic coming together of many of Oxford's faiths and their communities.  It starts at the Synagogue in Richmond Road with prayers and then moves along to St. Giles' Church for more prayers, after which it moves down to Radcliffe Square.  The last leg of the walk is the longest taking the group along the High Street and Cowley Road and up Manzil Way to finish at the Oxford Central Mosque with prayers, singing, speeches and a wonderful meal with the main course provided by folk from the central mosque and desserts from the Oxford Jewish community.   It was great to hear firm and unequivocal condemnation of the killers of the drummer in Woolwich from the Oxford's Muslim leaders.  I'm sure it's no more than anyone in Oxford expected and sure is it certainly shared by all faith communities in our City.

All are welcome on the walk and it includes prayers all said together from those of Jewish, Christian, Hindu and Islamic faiths.  Sikhs were also present as well as those of other faiths and none.

Against the current national backdrop of increasing violence against those of some faiths, particularly Muslims, I think it is incredibly important for Oxford's Civic Office holders to show support for all efforts to promote inter-faith cooperation and understanding and I was certainly proud to be part of yesterday's event.  It is great that we have very little hate in Oxford against any religion and I think it is so important that events like this continue to happen and be well supported so that Oxford may stay like that.  It's a fantastic opportunity to engage with other people that we don't know well and to learn a little about them and their faith and to share in some of our common human experience.  It was great to hear firm and unequivocal condemnation of the killers of the drummer in Woolwich from the Oxford Muslim community and I'm sure it's no more than anyone in Oxford expected and is shared by all faith communities in our City.

Stradivarius

I was delighted to be asked to attend the private view of the Stradivarius Exhibition at the Ashmolean today, deputising for the Lord Mayor again. There were a huge number of people there and the exhibition is really stunning. It's the first ever major exhibition in the UK of Antonio Stradivari's work in the UK and really was an amazing experience.  There must have been over 200 people present.  I was welcomed by Dr Jon Whitely, the curator of this exhibition.

We started with a welcome speech from Professor Christopher Brown CBE, The Director of the Ashmolean and the opening itself was commemorated by some simply stunning violin playing by Tasmin Little OBE. As an internationally renowned and heavily in-demand soloist she played some beauttiful music on one of the Stradivari violins and did a great job of explaining to all present what a joy such instruments are to play.

You can learn lots more about this exhibition online and if you can get to see it before it ends on 11th August then I highly recommend it.

My first official engagement as Deputy Lord Mayor

Today I had my first official engagement as Deputy Lord Mayor.  Protocol says that I only attend engagements in this capacity if the Lord Mayor has been invited and cannot attend.  I learned that today she had five requests to attend events - she's doing 3 and I'm doing 2.

I had the great privilege of attending the AGM of the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre's (NOC) League of Friends (LOF).  To anyone who thought it was just some little old ladies who make tea I have to say you couldn't be more wrong!  The NOC LOF is extremely well organised, is almost 50 years old and does a huge amount of good work including running a café and shop, visiting patients on wards, raising serious amounts of money for the hospital and much more!  I was humbled to meet a lady who has been a member of the NOC LOF for 47 years!

We heard from a member of hospital staff about some the equipment and facilities that have been able be be bought due to the support of the LOF and I was amazed to hear that in the last four years he has been able to spend a total of just over £362,000 from grants given by the LOF.  That's seriously impressive and has enabled new facilities and some therapies not available on the NHS to be funded.

LOF is a steady pillar in the ever changing world of hospitals and healthcare and I know its presence and its services are things that that many patients, relatives and visitors find to be a great comfort.  A LOF volunteer is so much nicer than a vending machine!  I remember myself working on a LOF stall when I was a teenager, with my mother.  We were even allowed to sell cigarettes in those days!

The event was finished off with a fascinating presentation and speech about the Berks/Oxon/Bucks air ambulance.  Did you know that it has been operating since 1999.  Did you know that the helicopter can travel at 150mph and that each call out costs around £2,500 with an average of 3 call-outs per day.  That's an awful lot of money to raise!

League of Friends is always looking for more volunteers and although many are retired there are also younger people involved and there are no age limits .  The Oxford University Hospitals Trust has a web page about Oxford LOF groups where there is detail about YOU can volunteer.  How about it?  It was good to hear the the Oxford Mail has already helped with the drive for more volunteers too.  It's great when the local press gets behind local volunteering initiatives that help so many people both directly and indirectly.

New Dining Hall and Lounge for Jewish students and community at the Chabad House of Oxford

I was invited earlier this week to the Grand Opening ceremony of the New Dining Hall and Lounge for Jewish students and community at the Chabad House of Oxford (on Cowley Road in East Oxford) so I went along.  I was very impressed by what I saw - a house of welcome and resources for Jewish students and community.  Clearly a lot of work has gone on as the dining area and the lounge are now positively sparkling!  There were some good speeches including from the Lord Mayor of Oxford and the President of OUSU and it was good to hear from the families of those who had made the work possible by their kind donations.

I was quite moved by the story from the son of Reb Yitzchok Dovid Tajtelbaum, who had survived the holocaust and done so much to rebuild Jewish communities in so many places.
It's so good that Oxford has proper provision for students and community members of so many faiths and this Chabad House is just another example of that.

It's great to see too  that Rabbi Eli has his own blog.

A reflection on the events of the last week

The events around the war memorial in Oxford on Saturday June 1st and my blog post about it have prompted wide discussion and activity, including a petition asking me to resign, some articles in the local media and many comments both on my blog post and on the blogs and social media pages of political activists from across the spectrum including the EDL.

As I said in my original posting, I think it is important to engage courteously with people we disagree with, and so I asked the poster of the resignation petition, Beth, for a meeting.  She agreed to that and we met last Friday, each taking someone along to ensure we both recalled what had been said correctly.  We had an open and productive discussion, and I thought it would be helpful to reflect some of that here.

Readers of my original post will recall that I originally attended the war memorial, as a ward councillor, because I abhor the views of groups such as the EDL, and did not want them to be able to use the terrible events in Woolwich as a springboard for stirring up racial tension in Oxford or anywhere else, or as a recruitment tool.  Beth accepts this, and agrees that I am neither a racist myself, nor a defender of racists or indeed fascists.  I entirely reject any EDL attempts to claim me as a supporter and utterly revile its members’ actions of hate and its stated anti-Islamic aims.

Beth maintains that the flowers had already been damaged when the group (she says she is not part of Oxford Unite Against Fascism) arrived, and that they were climbing the war memorial on the prompting of a media photographer.  I appreciate that some photographers will cross the limits of common sense and good taste for a picture, and while I think it was unwise for the group to agree to do it, I have no reason to doubt her account.  I did, however, notice one protester attempting to walk away with some of the flowers and did ask her to put them back, which she did.

There is no doubt that the group was discourteous towards people who may or may not have had any association with the EDL (a Help for Heroes T-shirt does not make someone an EDL member) but it probably was not hate.  I am glad, however, that there was no physical violence last weekend from either side – something that is sadly not true of clashes elsewhere between EDL members and others.

Finally, I understand that just as menacing phone calls have been made pursuing me, a member of Oxford Unite Against Fascism has also received threats at work and at home.  This is clearly unacceptable.  I ask that that Thames Valley Police continues to deal with such threats seriously.

In many ways the UK is a society in which people with different views and backgrounds live together peaceably.  That’s particularly the case in Oxford and one of the many reasons I love living here and am proud to serve as a member of Oxford City Council.  But sadly, the existence of groups like the EDL, and the experience of too many people who have suffered violence or discrimination because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or other personal characteristic, reminds us that we still have work to do.  I urge everyone to play their part in defeating hatred this week by reaching out to someone they don’t know well – perhaps a neighbour, perhaps a work colleague – and introducing themselves to each other, much as I did with Beth.  Extremists may try to divide us for their own twisted purposes, but I believe that by building connections, sharing hope and our common humanity we will defeat them together, and build a world in which all people can live free and fulfilling lives together.