Says it all

Wow!

I always love polling days (even if the morning afters can be less fun). Most people around the world don't live in democracies; it's such a hard-won privilege to vote in free and fair elections, let alone to run in them. After four years as a 🌹councillor, I'm bowing out for now... it's been real 😎

Quite interesting analysis of the state on the ground here in Harrow...

"The 20 most common names for candidates in local elections [...] next week are all male bar one. Voters are four times as likely to be able to vote for a David (the most common male name) as they are for a Sarah, the only female name on the list, at number 20." Depressing but not surprising.

I mean, it should just be abolished but OK start

It's quite simple: these people are not interested in holding office in order to actually achieve anything, it's all just one big point-scoring exercise against their enemies. A national government would be exactly the same.

Love this ❤️

Interesting analysis... but no word on who will might seize the jewel in Harrow's crown, Harrow on the Hill?

Not surprised by this - Nathan Smith and Will Jackson have been close friends for years. It's appalling to think of them serving on Harrow Council together.

Genuinely, I think one of the most impactful things I've done in four years as a councillor is getting some more trees planted around the ward. All councillors have budgets for ward improvements, and it's pretty easy to get them spent on planting new trees. Write to your councillor about it today!

Very proud I managed to stop this guy becoming a Conservative councillor four years ago in Harrow-on-the-Hill - he's been an embarrassment to Harrow and a disgrace to the Conservative party ever since.

"the largest act of mass murder of this decade, and of this century so far, was not perpetrated by militaries or militias, but by the world's richest man in Washington D.C.'s Eisenhower Executive Office Building." www.liberalcurrents.com/what-elon-ha...

Fun fact: under-5 mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa have halved since the advent of mass vaccination programmes around the turn of the millenium (no idea how anti-vaxxers would explain that and my sense is they rarely try). And yet there are children here in danger due to parents like this.

Love this! 🌿

Busy weekend - lots of people at ward surgery on Saturday, then a good canvass in Sudbury today getting some signatures for our petition

Yay! ❤️🇪🇺

Jesus. Most councillors don't go a week without sending at least half a dozen emails. What are these people doing with their time?

Great news. Would have made a huge difference to me for the ten years when I was a private renter. Annual rent rises / fear of evictions were such a source of stress for years. And I could have gotten a cat sooner too 🐈‍⬛️

Wonder what services or community groups they'll end up cutting funding to to fund this?

Churchfields was like walking through a painting today 🖼#harrowonthehill #nofilter

Agreed. Even a couple of minutes a day was actively destroying my mood - it's designed to do it now! A couple of posters I miss but would never look at it again

Only 29% would back Brexit now

The cruelty is the point

Nine years on, Brexit is widely seen as a failure. Most Britons would now vote to rejoin. Even Leave voters are turning. Brexit has hurt the economy, businesses, and public finances. The public has moved on. Time for politics to catch up.

Proving me right already labourlist.org/2025/05/2025...

Me too!

He's right

Wrote a piece for LabourList about how Reform might fare actually running councils - and whether it will help or hurt the national Party brand

A great read!

Canvassing yesterday to let residents know about upcoming surgery dates - and some upcoming events on Churchfields with the Harrow Nature Conservation Forum 🌳

Note: Harrow Council's Conservative administration spent £400,000 of taxpayers' money on a failed judicial review of this policy www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/2499000...

Busy, sunny Saturday meeting residents across the ward - great to visit Spire Cafe & see the revamped spire without scaffolding too!

Agree with this. I've had the privilege of seeing UK aid work up close, and I wish more people could see it and understand the impact. Cutting is the wrong thing to do

Great news! All young Europeans should have the opportunity to live and work across Europe. It's been one of the biggest casualties of Brexit. Now to rejoin Erasmus too

Evil

The desertion, or worse defection, of the United States in the global war between democracy and authoritarianism has plunged Europe into crisis. Here are the four things we should do now to ensure the war for democracy isn't lost. blairmail.substack.com/p/winning-th...

What I've always said - the next leader of the Tory Party with a shot at becoming PM (which is not Kemi Badenoch) will have to admit Brexit (not just in execution, but in concept) was a mistake

Sharing the article I wrote about this a while back, considering the debate going on in Parliament today!

We mutter a lot about housing in the UK. BUT IT'S 44% MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THE OECD AVERAGE. www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications...

Happy New Year from the top of Harrow hill, with its view of all the London fireworks 🎆

So foggy on the hill today you can't even see the spire from Churchfields...

Last day before Christmas break- leafleting Lowlands Road with community safety petition / Christmas shift at London Community Kitchen / mulled wine in front of the fire at The Castle. Second (full) year of first term done, one more to go. See you in 2025 - I'm off to spend Christmas by the sea 🌊

Good to meet today with some women thinking of running to be councillors in Harrow in '26. I really hope to see more women from a variety of backgrounds, personal and professional, run for office - if anyone reading this is thinking of it (in Harrow or elsewhere) feel free to DM with any questions

It is a problem!

Couldn't agree more. Erasmus - and the freedom to live and work in Europe more widely - gave me huge opportunities as a young language student, and it's heartbreaking young people today are missing out on this 💔 🇪🇺

👍👍👍

£715 million of public money (so £0.715 billion) on the non-implementation of an abhorrent policy... shameful!

Petrol-powered leaf blowers are bad for: Biodiversity 🌱 Noise pollution 🔊 Carbon emissions 🏭 I raised this at Harrow Council Cabinet last week and was pleased to hear the council is considering replacing them. Please do sign and share this petition if you are in #Harrow to keep up the pressure!