Just spreading the cheer after the £100m Nottingham City Council cuts announcement …
Elves are exemplars of the Big Society, are they not? Is this the future for City Council workers in 2011?
Month: December 2010
Collective action can stop these cuts – Notts SOS member speaks on The Guardian’s ‘comment is free’
A member of Notts SOS has written the latest article in The Guardian’s The cuts get personal section.
Rosemary Muge guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 December 2010 12.30pm:
Our group in Nottingham has a genuine belief the cuts could be stopped if sufficient protest was amassed locally and nationally …
Read Rosemary’s full article at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/21/resistance-cuts-capitalism
The article concludes:
Our group has a genuine belief that the cuts could be stopped if sufficient protest was amassed locally and nationally. I would like to believe this, and am certainly prepared to act as though I believe it and move towards that end. But sometimes you just have to fight for things even if you don’t think you’ll get them. My own pragmatic and more realistic hope is that during what is to come in the next few years, sufficient noise will be made by groups like ours for people to realise what is going on: that this is a bad and unfair way to run things – and that we are not all in this together.
Capitalism – as it has evolved by the 21st century – has caused this. There could be better ways of controlling and regulating it if only there was a party with the will and the ability to do it, and a people sufficiently engaged and aware to vote them into power.
Want to get involved? Come to the Notts SOS conference on 15th January 2001. Our first meeting of the New Year is on Monday 10 January 2011 at 7.30pm in the ICC/YMCA. See https://nottssos.org.uk/contact/ for venue information and how to contact us.
Collective action can stop these cuts – Notts SOS member speaks on The Guardian’s ‘comment is free’
A member of Notts SOS has written the latest article in The Guardian’s The cuts get personal section.
Rosemary Muge guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 December 2010 12.30pm:
Our group in Nottingham has a genuine belief the cuts could be stopped if sufficient protest was amassed locally and nationally …
Read Rosemary’s full article at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/21/resistance-cuts-capitalism
The article concludes:
Our group has a genuine belief that the cuts could be stopped if sufficient protest was amassed locally and nationally. I would like to believe this, and am certainly prepared to act as though I believe it and move towards that end. But sometimes you just have to fight for things even if you don’t think you’ll get them. My own pragmatic and more realistic hope is that during what is to come in the next few years, sufficient noise will be made by groups like ours for people to realise what is going on: that this is a bad and unfair way to run things – and that we are not all in this together.
Capitalism – as it has evolved by the 21st century – has caused this. There could be better ways of controlling and regulating it if only there was a party with the will and the ability to do it, and a people sufficiently engaged and aware to vote them into power.
Want to get involved? Come to the Notts SOS conference on 15th January 2001. Our first meeting of the New Year is on Monday 10 January 2011 at 7.30pm in the ICC/YMCA. See https://nottssos.org.uk/contact/ for venue information and how to contact us.
Notts Cuts Watch #10 – cuts and anti-cuts news from Nottingham and Notts – last one for 2010
A Yuletide missive from the compiler of Notts Cuts Watch, hopefully to be resumed in 2011:
Even with Christmas only just over the horizon, the cuts have continued over the last week, with the announcement of the funding settlement for local councils hitting Nottingham particularly hard. Even Cuts Watch has been cutback, this week’s edition arriving late and in a slimmed down version. “Normal” service may or may not resume after the holiday period.
Read Cuts Watch #10 (covering December 13th-19th 2010): http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/821
Plus – somethings to amuse…
Introducing a new economic comparator: Pudsey. Ministers say charities can step into the gap caused by cuts to services. So how many Children in Need appeals would it take to fill the gap? False Economy blog. 20/12/2010.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koY6kXhQDQo]
Planning meeting to launch ‘Nottingham Solidarity Network’ – Forest Fields and Hyson Green area – Tuesday 21st December 2010
An initiative has come out of Anarchists Against the Cuts to form a network aimed at fighting cuts and fostering community action in Forest Fields and Hyson Green and hopefully across Nottingham:
The Nottingham Solidarity Network will be forming soon! We are currently a group of community activists in the Forest Fields and Hyson Green area who want to form a network of local groups across the city. The aim of this network would be to support each other and show solidarity with one another. We are committed to local community ownership of our own resources, where people genuinely take back decision making for themselves. We have no party political agenda or time for the authorities.
There will be a meeting to decide how the network will take shape at the Sumac Centre on Tue 21st Dec, 7pm.
Article continues on Notts Indymedia: http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/816
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See also: Nottingham Against Austerity
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Reminder – earlier in day on 21st at 12.30 there will be a protest in the Market Square against City Council care charges:
Criticism of Nottingham City Council over brand exercise for leisure centres while access is being cut
The local NCC Lols blog has revealed that while Nottingham City Council is making cuts to the sports and leisure concessions scheme that will make it harder for people to afford to go, they have decided to spend over £150k over 3 years on ‘branding’ for the leisure centres which is presumably to make them more attractive to users. NCC lols say:
NCC has been trading off this ‘we’re on your side’ nonsense for a while yet they are making sports and leisure facilities
less accessible to those on low incomes (including removing concessions from those on Income Support) while throwing a load of
money on a vanity project.
This is exactly the kind of thing anti-cuts campaigners need to be aware of – there clearly ARE alternatives to cuts and branding seems especially superfluous if the cuts are going to mean we can’t afford to go anyway.
Christmas carols subverted into anti-cuts protests [with ’12 Days of Cripmas’ and ‘tax Vodafone’ videos]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKdKzalMhXc]The 12 Days Of Cripmas is a topical take of a classic carol listing the benefits and services currently being removed from disabled people in Britain. The lyrics were written by a user of the Ouch messageboards, sent to Where’s The Benefit and the track produced and directed by BendyGirl of The Broken Of Britain. We’re all incredibly proud of Imana our 11 yr old singing star who is a child carer for her mum who has Multiple Sclerosis.
A few of reports from the recent 15th December national day of protest about cuts affecting welfare and disabled people are online:
London: Disabled People Against Cuts, “Nativity Play”, Trafalgar Square: http://london.indymedia.org/articles/6720
Glasgow: Citizens United: http://www.indymediascotland.org/node/22619
Oxford: Uninvisible Rally: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/12/470796.html
See also, about a specific cut in Notts County (courtesy of Parish of Nottingham blog, where Vogon commander would appear to be County leader Kay Cutts): http://parishofnottinghamshire.blogspot.com/2010/11/disabled-to-suffer-under-vogon.html
Creative carols were also sung on the 18th Dec anti-tax avoidance demonstrations in Nottingham.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOc2FBY7ZU0&feature=player_embedded]
Look at pictures: in Notts SOS facebook gallery
See also – a comment on Notts Trades Council website about Christmas pop: http://www.nottstuc.org/2010/12/on-seasonal-note.html
Lively protest rally at Notts County Council while cabinet agreed plan to close Gedling school – 15th Dec 2010
On Wednesday 15th December, supporters of the Gedling School held a demonstration outside County Hall to protest plans to close the school. Despite this protest and others, councillors in cabinet decided to go ahead with a “consultation” on the closure of the school. This is an unfortunate development, but it isn’t the end of the story.
Indymedia article with video: Save Gedling School rally at County Hall
Video link: Kids Chanting Outside County Hall
Evening Post article: Council goes ahead with Gedling School closure consultation
About 100 people, including pupils, teachers and residents, demonstrated against the Nottinghamshire County Council plans to start a consultation with the public on closing the school.
Year 11 pupil Sophie Foster, 15, was among 70 students holding banners and chanting ‘save our school.’
She said: “It’s disgusting that the county council are even planning to put Gedling School up for closure.
“The school definitely should not shut – I’ve been there nearly five years and it has been fantastic.”
Terry Chambers, Year 9 progress leader at Gedling school, said: “I’ve been there nearly 31 years and it would be a massive blow to the community not just in academic terms but for the whole of Gedling.”
CAMPAIGN LINKS:
Save Gedling School: http://savegedlingschool.wordpress.com/
Save Gedling School (campaign supporters network): http://savegedlingschool.ning.com/
Save Gedling School Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Our-School-The-Gedling-School/146243182088229
COMBATING THE CUTS: PLANNING FOR ACTION! – 15th Jan 2011 – come to the first Notts SOS conference & get involved! Agenda announced
Come to the first Notts SOS conference COMBATING THE CUTS: PLANNING FOR ACTION! – our major event to kick off anti-cuts action in 2011!
Venue: The Old School, Montpelier Road, Dunkirk, Nottingham, NG7 2JW. [Map, with arrow showing venue on Dunkirk Roundabout]. Buses: Indigo 5 or NCT 13.
Time/Date.: 10:30 am until 4:00 pm on Saturday 15th January 2011
Please fill in form below and email it to nottssos [at] gmail.com to indicate attendence to help us with numbers etc.
Our event is also listed on Facebook – you can indicate attendence there but please email completed form too, please.
Across the UK, groups have sprung up in opposition to the cuts being imposed by the Coalition Government – with students, protesting against the trebling of fees, taking the lead. Locally Notts Save Our Services (Notts SOS) has organised a public meeting, a demonstration attracting more than 1,000 people and a number of smaller actions. Students have rallied at both local universities and occupied the Great Hall at University of Nottingham.
But it is not enough to simply protest against the cuts, even in vast numbers. This is one of the key lessons from the movement against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If we want to win, we need a strategy. Notts SOS have some ideas about what this might involve, but we don’t pretend to have all the answers. It is with this in mind that we are organising the Combating the Cuts event on Saturday, 15th. January 2011.
We hope to bring together as many people as possible to come up with ideas for campaigning around the different lines of attack on our communities and then try and build these into a coherent strategy. For this to work, we need participation to be as wide as possible: activists, service users, public sector workers, trade unionists, the unemployed and others. We need your ideas to carry the fight-back forward.
So get in touch with us to let us know that you will be participating. Also tell people you know about this important event.
Find out further details by emailing nottssos [at] gmail.com or by phoning 0115 837 7937. Disabled access and facilities. Drinks and food will be available. If you need a creche please email rosemarymuge [at] googlemail.com expressing your interest and we may be able to book one.
To help us with numbers please email Notts Save Our Services at: nottssos [at] gmail.com
I am interested in participating in the Combating the Cuts Event and I would like to receive further details:
NAME:
ADDRESS:
PHONE:
EMAIL:
See you there. Together we can do it!
Notts SOS on ITV as massive cuts in local authority budgets are announced
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The start of the Notts SOS meeting on Monday 13th December 2010 formed part of an ITV news report on the more than £60 million Nottingham City Council cuts announced on the same day. Councillor Graham Chapman also attended the meeting where he was vigourously challenged that the City Council should not implement cuts.
Watch Notts SOS on ITV – 13/12/2010, 10.30pm: http://www.itv.com/news/council-cuts-up-close60858/
Also watch: http://www.itv.com/central-east/council-cutbacks69698/
Also read: Warning by Framework Housing Association about effect of cuts on homelessness in Notts on the False Economy blog: http://falseeconomy.org.uk/cuts/item/framework
Two events discussed at the meeting will take place this week: Save Gedling School on Wednesday at 10am will Lobby County Hall. Then on Saturday the third Nottingham tax avoidance demo will start at Vodafone Clumber St. store on Saturday at 1pm. Next week there will be a protest in the Market Square outside the Executive Board meeting on 12.30pm on Tuesday 21 December in Opposition to Nottingham City Council introduction of Day Centre charges and increases.
Special notice is given of the Notts SOS conference that will take place on 15th January. Details to follow.