One of the Conservatives had the honour of posing the opening question, trying to extract a confession from Lord Coe that the Olympic sponsorship deal with Cadbury was hardly likely to promote a healthy lifestyle. Considering his Tory connections I thought the line of questioning was unusually and necessarily aggressive. However., it was refreshing, in the circumstances, to see that a £2billion slice of the Olympic budget is to be provided by private finance.

My question, which was next in line, concerned the need for an assurance from  LOCOG that all of the Olympic events will be available to view on terrestrial television. With the economic downturn beginning to bite, I had my concerns that certain aspects of the games would be cherry-picked by satellite or pay-per-view channels and lost to vast sections of the public.

You may not know this but  the time I am allocated for questions is strictly limited, which equates to the rather uncomfortable feeling sometimes that you have only being afforded the opportunity to do a fraction of the work you I am obliged to do.Further concerns, especially with Sterling being in such a dismal state at the moment, concerning the “outpricing” of Londoners by foreign visitors therefore could not be as thoroughly explored as I would have wanted.

Having started my day delivering London’s Mothers Against Knives Petitions very early in the morning, by the time I was in another meeting, sharing a room with the Health Minister, it felt as if it was much later in the day. Despite this I was thankful for the opportunity of relaying my concerns about TB in Barking and Dagenham.

Nobody could have escaped the “BNP List” story currently dominating Britain’s media. If anything, from the calls I have been getting, this has actually had the effect of bringing the BNP closer together. As for the public, they are not as stupid as the instigators of this stunt really believe, they know what is going on, why this has been done and why this has been carried out at this particular time.

Swimming

Question No: 2644 / 2008
Richard Barnbrook
Taking into account the Mayor’s much published support of the London Olympics is he aware that even during school holidays some public swimming baths are closed to children until after 4pm? Will the Mayor join me in encouraging pools to become more accessible to our future Olympians?
Answer from the Mayor:
I encourage every pool to offer the widest possible access to children and young people, especially during school holidays. Whilst the member may be able to summon specific examples of individual pools not allowing access to children until after 4pm, I understand that these would be isolated exceptions. Most pools seek to encourage youth participation, particularly during school holidays. The Government has also recently come forward with proposals to introduce free swimming for all those over the age of 60 and under the age of 16. Many London Boroughs have expressed an interest in participating in this scheme. Furthermore, in the Member’s own borough of Barking and Dagenham, London Swimming has recently launched the country’s biggest ever free-swimming project for under 18s.
*
White History

Question No: 2645 / 2008
Richard Barnbrook
Does the Mayor have any objections to the concept of celebrating a White History month in the same manner as the much published and recent Black History Month?
Answer from the Mayor:
I support all celebrations of the many cultures and communities in this magnificently diverse city.
*
Old People
Question No: 2646 / 2008
Richard Barnbrook
In Barking and Dagenham I have received numerous reports of discrimination in housing policy with regards to the borough’s elderly residents. Will the Mayor ensure that pensioners here and across London are not disadvantaged and neglected merely because of their age?
Answer from the Mayor:
I am not aware of any evidence of Barking and Dagenham’s older people being discriminated against in housing policy.
*
St George’s Day
Question No: 2647 / 2008
Richard Barnbrook
The recent RISE festival received £300,000 of funding compared to the proposed £100,000 allocated for next year’s St George’s Day celebrations. Will the Mayor be prepared to make amends for this disparity by joining myself on April 23rd and opening the ceremony in Trafalgar Square?
Answer from the Mayor:
I am not prepared to share a platform with you at this or any other event.
*

Docklands Light Railway Extension

Question No: 2648 / 2008
Richard Barnbrook
Can the Mayor update me on the development of the Docklands Light Railway project and confirm that the current financial crisis has not affected the original plans for its extension onto Barking and Dagenham and through to Havering?
Answer from the Mayor:
As indicated in the TfL Business Plan, funding has yet to be identified to implement the proposed extension through Barking Riverside to Dagenham Dock which would support the proposed plans.
TfL has written to the DCLG and DfT for a commitment for funding. While the channels of communication remain open with Government on the scheme, a restricted amount of work will continue to seek this commitment.

For those of you who have seen the GLA broadcast from yesterday (link in previous blog) you may get an insight as to how it feels to be a Nationalist and achieve the feat of out-liberalising the liberals.

As it was if I had been representing and championing the rights and aspirations of any other ethnic group, I would have been praised, encouraged and congratulated. I wonder how many others in that chamber yesterday understood what was taking place and how ironic it was that they should resort to engaging the traditional weapons from the anti-racist arsenal against me.

In case you are wondering just what kind of heresy took place in the chamber today it started when Mayor Boris was forced to confront the following statistic in the form of my priority question for this month.

London Pupils

Question No: 2649 / 2008

Richard Barnbrook

New figures show that over 60% of pupils in London are from a BAME group (78% in Inner London). With this in mind and considering the GLA’s legal statutory duty to assist all ethnic minority groups in London, can the Mayor tell me what is being done to assist the white, British ethnic minority group in London?

Mayor Boris started well, but then after being furnished with the implications of the shocking statistic above suddenly declared that he was not able to answer the question. As I asked whether or not he was happy with the massive democratic decline in the indigenous white community there was a nervous silence. Further probing regarding funding and support for the white British minority group resulted in much awkwardness until finally chairwoman Jennette Arnold banged down her gavel, trotted out some catch all race legislation and silenced matters.

You can watch the drama unfold, as always, by checking out the GLA’s own video archive facility here, where  after just under an hour and nine minutes things start to become rather interesting.

That’s what I was elected to do, ask awkward questions and not back down in the face of politically-correct opposition. Coming just one day after Armistice Day, as I left the chamber this afternoon I wondered if some of those who we were remembering less than 24 hours ago could just possibly see what had just happened. If they could just perhaps I put a smile on their faces, for I for one haven’t forgotten what they fought and died for and I never will.

You may remember that last week in Westminster there was an attempt to ban British National Party members from involvement in trades unions via amendments to the Employment Bill. Thankfully this pernicious piece of nonsense aimed at keeping Labour’s abusive tentacles around the throat of the union movement fell because of the vindictive and specific way it was aimed at the BNP.

During the debate one or two Conservative MP’s decided to draw the attention of the House to the concept of actually banning far left groups from trades unions in the same way that the bill was levelled against the BNP.In fact there was a specific mention of the communist movement in this country which considering the allegiances of several Labour MP’s seemed to cause a bit of a stir.

You might have thought that an ideology responsible for the murder of an estimated 100 million people in the last century would have had few people prepared to stand up and openly speak in its defense. However these comments attributed to Liberal Democrat Dr Evan Harris would appear to indicate otherwise:

I find it hard to decide whether the Conservatives just pick and choose their human rights. The hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr. Stuart) appeared to compare the BNP’s racist ideology with communism. There is no comparison between the threat to individuals’ welfare, in the workplace or outside, posed by the racist ideology of parties such as the BNP and any such threat from the ideology of communists, however much the hon. Gentleman may disagree with that. That is why although my sympathies, as a member of the British Medical Association, which is as close as I can get to being a member of a trade union in my profession, are entirely with the trade union movement in terms of its perspective, my sympathies and support are also with the Government on the wording of their clause

Like most politicians in this country my weekend was spent paying my respects to my fellow countrymen who have lost their lives in service. Although it wasn’t quite pouring down with rain the dark November skies did provide a suitably sombre backdrop to an occasion I have always found to be very moving.

This year there had been an unofficial ruling that no individual politician should be allowed to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph in Barking Park. In fact only the Mayor of Barking & Dagenham had been afforded the honour of laying a wreath, what a pity that he couldn’t find the time to attend. Instead it was left to the Deputy Mayor to stand in for him despite the fact that he was suffering with an extremely painful back.

Margaret Hodge the multi-millionaire socialist MP was also present, but unlike most of her Labour colleagues she refused to even acknowledge my presence. Moreover, I got the destinct impression that the fact that some of her Party were being quite civil to me, as indeed they should at such an occassion, was somehow causing her an enormous amount of discomfort.

As I sat behind Mrs Hodge during the following service at St Maragaret’s Church, I noticed that she was on her own and that her enthusiasm towards “Jerusalem” and “God Save the Queen” could at best be described as patchy.

After this service I had been invited to the British Legion club in Dagenham East where once again the Mayor was conspicuous by his absence. Jon Cruddas, the Labour MP and property speculator, noted my arrival out of the corner of his eye and soon decided that it would be prudent to retire to one of his one of his residences. That left me to chat with some of the old servicemen who expressed views about the demise of the country that perhaps explained the need for the hasty withdrawal of Mr Cruddas.

You might be interested to know that the GLA held a Rememberance Service in City Hall last Friday which was particularly well attended by Assembly Members of all political organisations.

Conservative James Cleverly does an admirable job as chairman, but you don’t have to take my word for all of this as LBC radio were there and have provided a good quality audio file:

Unfortunately LBC decided to edit my contribution out, strange that, maybe it was because I was applauded.

Further to this I would hazard a guess that kind of questions I am allowed to ask of senior officers are, even in their long experience, somewhat different to the line of questioning that they are accustomed to. So what happens when a BNP politician is locked in a committee room with senior members of the Metropolitan Police and the Fire Service and starts asking questions that in politically correct Britain should never see the light of day?

Thanks to the relative openness here at City Hall a video archive of these encounters is publicly available. As such, via yesterday’s Buget Monitoring Sub Committee meeting, you can view for yourselves as specific figures surrounding the spending on “hate crime” are called for and an explanation for sharp increases in white “stop and search” and similar decreases in black “stop and search” is also demanded.

The outcome is not exactlly politically correct and judging from the hesitancy I do not think those charged with providing the answers enjoyed the experience, but it does make fascinating viewing nevertheless. Real democracy in action is the way I see it, but you can judge from yourselves by clicking here, where the action starts after about 9 mins 40 secs.

In fact it was myself that Buster Mottram, the British tennis star formerly fifteen in world rankings,  originally met with in order to discuss what could be done to halt the slide towards the creation of the Eurofederalist monstrosity. He like myself felt the frustration of the “divide and conquer” scenario that now haunts the anti-EU movement but for his selfless and courageous actions he found himself expelled from UKIP yesterday.

There’s not too much that shocks me any more. A London politician is exposed to all manner of nightmares courtesy of the enforcement of liberal multiculturalism , but the story in the Romford Recorder today really does take some beating, The sorry tale concerns the forced eviction of a 92-year-old woman who incredibly had to endure the process twice in four years. Don’t take my word for it, here’s the relevant piece from the paper itself:

Committee member Cllr Mark Logan (BNP, Gooshays) shocked both fellow councillors and attending residents when he blamed the Conservative administration for the death of an elderly constituent.

Cllr Logan said: “I do not mince my words. A week ago they found her dead; I accuse the administration of murdering one of my constituents.”

In the shocking outburst Cllr Logan claimed the stress of a council-enforced eviction - her second in four years - caused 92-year-old Anne O’Kane to die.

According to Cllr Logan, Ms O’Kane was “crying and begging” not to be moved from her Chippenham Gardens bungalow - part of a group of homes being demolished for future development in the council’s multi-million pound Harold Hill Ambitions Project.

The council argued the bungalows were not fit for habitation, but Cllr Logan deemed them “structurally sound” and slammed the Ambitions project as a cynical means of “wheeling and dealing in public goods”.I find it difficult to believe that such a thing can happen in a so-called civilised society.

Cllr Logan said: “Four years ago the council told her to vacate her house. She thought she would see the rest of her days out in this bungalow, but on the fifth [of September] she was told to vacate again by the council. You went to take this bungalow off this lady.”

He added: “I think it’s disgusting. I have no faith in you.”