Category: #ToryLondon

#ToryLondon

London hospital drops chemotherapy due to nursing shortage

From The Guardian: One of the biggest NHS trusts is to stop providing chemotherapy at one of its hospitals because it has too few specialist cancer nurses to staff the unit.

The Cedar Centre at King George Hospital in Ilford, east London, will cease provision from 12 November because four of its nurses have quit and two others have gone on maternity leave.

It is thought to be the first time the NHS’s widespread staffing problems have led to a specialist cancer unit no longer being able to offer a vital service such as chemotherapy.

More than 500 patients a year received their cancer treatment there, and in future patients will have to go to Queen’s hospital in nearby Romford instead.

Macmillan Cancer Support said the move was “hugely concerning” and a stark example of the “extreme workforce pressure” at NHS cancer services, which are facing rising demand while recruitment and retention of nurses gets harder.

Macmillan and Cancer Research UK have warned in recent years about the growing difficulties NHS cancer services are having in recruiting and retaining staff, which has led to patients facing delays in diagnostic testing and treatment.

[Read full article on Guardian website…]

Teacher crisis hits London as nearly half quit within five years

From The Guardian: London schools are in the throes of a growing crisis in teacher retention, with figures revealing that more than four out of 10 quit the profession within five years of qualifying.

Schools across England say they are struggling to recruit and retain staff, but the problem is most acute in inner London where just 57% of teachers who qualified in 2012 were still working in the classroom by 2017.

According to new analysis of government figures by Labour MP Matthew Pennycook, of the 35,000 newly qualified teachers (NQTs) who started teaching in the capital since the Conservatives took power in 2010, more than 11,000 have already left.

Retention rates have deteriorated year on year since 2011. More than a quarter of teachers recruited to London schools in 2015 had already left the classroom by November 2017 and over a third of new London teachers now leave within four years.

[Read full article on Guardian website…]

Met Police chief: It would be “naive” to think police cuts haven’t contributed to rise in violent crime

From The Independent: The head of the Metropolitan Police has said it would be “naive” to think cuts to the number of rank-and-file officers had failed to have an impact on the rising levels of violent crime.

[Read article on Independent website…]

Westminster Council deputy leader stands down amid investigation over gifts

From The Guardian: The Tory deputy leader of Westminster council has stepped aside after the Guardian revealed he had received hospitality or gifts 893 times over six years, frequently from property developers seeking planning permission.

Robert Davis, who chaired the Conservative borough’s planning committee for 17 years, said on Wednesday night that he was giving up all of his roles as deputy leader and cabinet member for business, culture and heritage while the authority and an independent QC investigates his conduct.

Davis was entertained by and received gifts from property industry figures at least 150 times since the start of 2015 – a rate of almost once a week. His entertainment was paid for by some of the country’s wealthiest property developers including Gerald Ronson, Sir Stuart Lipton and Sir George Iacobescu, the chief executive of Canary Wharf Group.

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Poster from Hackney Council on government funding cuts

#ToryBritain #ToryCutsToCouncils #Hackney

Posted by Stop The Tories Channel on Thursday, March 8, 2018

London reaches legal air pollution limit just one month into the new year

From The Guardian: Air pollution in London has reached the legal limit for the whole of 2018 less than a month into the year, prompting calls for the government to “get a grip and show they’re serious about protecting health”.

Toxic air has been at illegal levels in the capital and most urban areas in the UK since 2010 and results in around 40,000 early deaths a year.

The date of this year’s reaching of the limit, at Brixton Road in Lambeth, is actually a significant improvement on previous years: for the last decade air pollution has reached illegal levels no later than six days into the year.

The improvement is partly the result of action taken by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who introduced cleaner buses on routes through pollution blackspots and charges to deter dirty vehicles from central London. “But I have one hand tied behind my back due to government policies and inaction,” he told the Guardian.

Clean air plans put forward by ministers have already twice been declared illegal at the high court for failing to cut air pollution in the “shortest time possible”, as EU law requires. The government is now awaiting the verdict in a third case brought by environmental lawyers ClientEarth, after a hearing earlier in January.

[Read full article on Guardian website…]

Former senior Met Police officer blames Theresa May for rising violent crime

Footage from Sky News: Former Met Police senior investigating officer Peter Kirkham tells it like it is about rising crime on Sky News…

The Tories Hate This Interview

This interview will never be shown on TV again___28 Aug 2018 – UPDATEWhen the Police Federation questioned Theresa May's policy of slashing police budgets and scrapping thousands of police jobs she furiously dismissed their expert concerns as "scaremongering" and "crying wolf".Last year's crime stats (England and Wales):Violent crime: ⬆️ up 20% in a single yearRobberies: ⬆️up 29% in a single yearRapes & sex offences: ⬆️ up 23% in a single yearStalking & harassment: ⬆️ Up 36% in a single yearKnife crime: ⬆️ up 21% in a single yearGun crime: ⬆️ up 20% in a single yearCrime in general: ⬆️ up 14% in a single year

Posted by BBC London Calling "Unofficial" on Wednesday, January 3, 2018

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Surge in demand at foodbanks in Universal Credit trial borough as claimants wait 13 weeks for cash

From Southwark News: Demand at foodbanks in the London Borough of Southwark has surged due to waits of up to three months for people starting on Universal Credit to get their first payments, it has been claimed.

More than 4,000 Southwark residents have joined the Universal Credit system since it was introduced at local Job Centres in early 2016. Labour councillor Fiona Colley said claimants have “dropped off a cliff” for periods of twelve to thirteen weeks, forcing them into rent arrears.

Universal Credit (UC) – which groups six types of benefit into one payment – was touted as the Conservative Party’s big hitting welfare reform after they came to power in 2010. Read more

The Grenfell residents still living in hotels: ‘This is no normal life’

From The Guardian: Only two families who escaped Grenfell Tower have moved into permanent new homes, despite a firm commitment from Theresa May two days after the fire that everyone would be rehoused within three weeks. Approximately 150 households are still scattered across London in 36 hotels. The hotel bill (excluding meals) already stands at more than £5m.

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Tory member of London Assembly: Overseas investors buying up blocks of new homes benefits us all

Channel 4 News video: Watch Tory member of the London Assembly for West Central, Tony Devenish, literally claim that new blocks of housing being bought up en masse by overseas billionaire investors benefits us all, and that there’s no alternative.

'New homes are not for Londoners or affordable'

“We are building lots of homes but who are they for? They’re for billionaire investors, they’re not for Londoners.”Author Anna Minton argues that new homes in London are not affordable.

Posted by Channel 4 News on Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Fire station closed by Boris Johnson to be turned into luxury flats by Tory donor

[Meme from Wear Red – Stand Up and Be Counted]

One of 10 fire stations shut by Boris Johnson while he was Mayor of London is to be converted into luxury flats – by a company whose directors include a Tory donor. Belsize fire station was closed in 2014 after 100 years of service to the local community.

Vulcan Property Ltd, which bought the grade II listed building from the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) for £7.8 million, was given planning permission for the flats this week.

Electoral Commission records show one of the company’s three directors, William Richard Woodward-Fisher, made a £2000 donation to a Conservative association in 2005.

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Kensington & Chelsea Council gave richest £100 tax rebate – but cut corners on tower block safety

From the Daily Express: In 2014, Tory-run Kensington and Chelsea Council decided to hand back £100 to residents paying the top rate of council tax in an “overachieving efficiency drive”, while it had also stockpiled reserves of £274 million.

[Read full article on Daily Express website…]

Watch Boris Johnson telling opponent to ‘get stuffed’ when questioned on fire cuts

From The Independent: During his time as Mayor of London, Boris Johnson’s cuts in 2014 led to the closure of 10 fire stations and the loss of 552 firefighter jobs, following on from an 8% reduction in fire staff between 2007 and 2012.

At the time, Labour Assembly leader Andrew Dismore raised the issue of these cuts during a meeting at City Hall.

Boris’s reply was telling him to “get stuffed”.

[Watch video on Independent website…]

North Kensington: Angry community protests during standoff-ish Theresa May visit

Watch video from 5 News of angry community protests, including shouts of ‘coward’ and ‘get out’, as Theresa May departs St Clements church near Grenfell Tower, surrounded by an angry community.

Warning: this clip contains profanities and strong language.

Angry crowd shouts at Theresa May

Shouts of 'coward' and 'get out' as Theresa May departs St Clements church near #GrenfellTower, surrounded by an angry community. A warning this clip contains profanities and strong language.

Posted by Channel 5 News on Friday, June 16, 2017

Cladding for Grenfell Tower was cheaper, more flammable option

From The Guardian: Material used in the cladding that covered Grenfell Tower was the cheaper, more flammable version of the two available options, an investigation of the supply chain has confirmed.

Manufacturers Omnis had been asked [by Tory-run Kensington and Chelsea to supply Reynobond PE cladding, which is £2 cheaper per square metre than the alternative Reynobond FR, which stands for “fire resistant” to the companies that worked on refurbishing Grenfell Tower.

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Tories’ plans will see more than 50,000 lives cut short by air pollution by 2030 in London alone, Greens claim

From The Independent: The lives of more than 50,000 people in London alone will be cut short by air pollution by 2030 because the Government’s latest plan to address the problem is so ineffective, the Green Party has claimed. Ministers have a track record of failure on the issue, having twice been ordered by a judge to come up with stronger proposals to bring air quality to within legally binding EU safety limits.

[Read article on Independent website…]