It was a dream I had, to write to the chancellor. "Oh go away nightmare!" I screamed but it wouldn't. The image of the chancellors face floated before me with the words "God forsaking coalition" and the voice saying "write to him". It's hearing the benefit review hadn't gone through yet just after the new year which spurred me to action....
5th January 2012
Dear Right Honourable [Chancellor of the Exchequer],
Tell me, please, is everyone blind to the country’s housing crisis in this God forsaking coalition?
I am writing to you because I am hoping you are not. I am hoping you can communicate a level of understanding of where our country is amongst your peers.
I have enclosed two pieces of writing I had published last month which I am hoping you will find time to read. One is a viewpoint in the Ham & High; the other a letter in the Camden New Journal. My fear is that they are timeless pieces no matter which Party is in power. I hope I am wrong.
Sir, capping benefits, lowering housing allowances, are not the answer to the catastrophe in front of us. Replacing a focus on refurbishing empty properties and building affordable housing is. Not what’s affordable to you and your cabinet but affordable to me and my fellow country men and women.
Rent should be kept out of the Universal Credit equation the coalition is intent on pushing through. It may all sound great in theory but in practice it will only devastate more lives. Crime is already increasing.
I have never written to a chancellor before. I didn’t think a chancellor could do anything but of course they can; of course you can. Do you care for our country and all the people within it?
Mr [Chancellor], our country needs you.
I hold faith that your influence can help heal the problems that have accumulated over decades in the housing sector.
Watch It’s a Wonderful Life Mr [Chancellor]. It is sadly a timeless film where today people actually are hurling themselves over bridges (Archway Bridge near me).
Don’t be a Potter Government Sir. Not now, not anymore.
I look forward to hearing good news and soon. There is time to review the legislation that sees our country suffering no end. Your country is mine but we are not in it together.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I hope you can see what I’m saying.
Yours sincerely,
Sue de Nim
I wish I'd written:
P.S: Is parenting a job?
P.P.S: Please don't charge me to access my son's maintenance. We're in enough debt as it is.
Missed opportunities ey but let's hope, let's hope that this cabinet aren't all in it together and that one has a flipping conscience and the brain in his head to bring about positive change for the masses not the few.
Showing posts with label Letters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Letters. Show all posts
Monday, 9 January 2012
How the Duke depressed me on Christmas Eve
Oh how chance, I believed, might favour me in the days before Christmas when I heard a grand old Duke (not of Cambridge, he's a young one)patron of a homeless charity (again not the young one who also is) would be present at a carol service.
Here's the letter I handed to him, which he put in his breast pocket and said he'd read later. Which he did, and responded to straight away, which was great as no-one ever does that. However, he wrote there was nothing he could do, no-one he could influence, but "every success" with my lobbying. Oh the rage, I could only see black. So I wrote a response in my Black Notebook but haven't sent it. Should I? I feel my blood boiling again...
(Oh and Google told me how to address him because in truth, I had no idea)
20 December 2011
To Your Grace, the [Grand Old] Duke of [X],
If I have hand delivered you my article, then my prayers have been answered. If this letter and my article in the Ham & High have been passed to you, my prayers have also been answered because I was very nervous of approaching you at the Church of the Immaculate Conception’s carol service reception.
In short, Your Grace, I am asking you to help me help our country.
What the Government is about to do in regards to housing will destroy the lives or indeed life chances of so many people.
As you many know, the coalition wishes to abolish council housing, end life time tenancies, increase social rent to market share, and amongst other things, re-introduce the Right to Buy which got us into this mess in the first place where there is not now enough affordable housing for ordinary men, women and children.
I have appealed to Government ministers many times, to no avail. Articles I have written in the Ham & High and other papers, have gone unnoticed.
You have connections your Grace. Please, on behalf of everybody I mention in the article, see what you can do in order to halt this catastrophe. Or make those with power understand what they are unleashing.
Thankyou Your Grace. It was a coincidence I was at the carol service at all. My local church is elsewhere but on Sunday came to Farm Street to thank God for everything that I’ve got. The music is so stunning, it’s a beautiful service.
I do hope you can help me. I’ll put my details at the bottom of the page should you wish to contact me.
I wish you and your family a very happy Christmas and all the best in 2012.
Yours faithfully,
Sue de Nim
Here's the letter I handed to him, which he put in his breast pocket and said he'd read later. Which he did, and responded to straight away, which was great as no-one ever does that. However, he wrote there was nothing he could do, no-one he could influence, but "every success" with my lobbying. Oh the rage, I could only see black. So I wrote a response in my Black Notebook but haven't sent it. Should I? I feel my blood boiling again...
(Oh and Google told me how to address him because in truth, I had no idea)
20 December 2011
To Your Grace, the [Grand Old] Duke of [X],
If I have hand delivered you my article, then my prayers have been answered. If this letter and my article in the Ham & High have been passed to you, my prayers have also been answered because I was very nervous of approaching you at the Church of the Immaculate Conception’s carol service reception.
In short, Your Grace, I am asking you to help me help our country.
What the Government is about to do in regards to housing will destroy the lives or indeed life chances of so many people.
As you many know, the coalition wishes to abolish council housing, end life time tenancies, increase social rent to market share, and amongst other things, re-introduce the Right to Buy which got us into this mess in the first place where there is not now enough affordable housing for ordinary men, women and children.
I have appealed to Government ministers many times, to no avail. Articles I have written in the Ham & High and other papers, have gone unnoticed.
You have connections your Grace. Please, on behalf of everybody I mention in the article, see what you can do in order to halt this catastrophe. Or make those with power understand what they are unleashing.
Thankyou Your Grace. It was a coincidence I was at the carol service at all. My local church is elsewhere but on Sunday came to Farm Street to thank God for everything that I’ve got. The music is so stunning, it’s a beautiful service.
I do hope you can help me. I’ll put my details at the bottom of the page should you wish to contact me.
I wish you and your family a very happy Christmas and all the best in 2012.
Yours faithfully,
Sue de Nim
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
A surprise full of no surprises - Clegg's camp responds
Yesterday afternoon I finished the day's posting saying regarding my postcard, I hadn't heard from any politicians and most delicately wrote that they were telling me to FUCK OFF.
Imagine my surprise then when I went downstairs and saw an envelope addressed to me with THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER emblazoned on the back!
That has never happened to me before! Not even when I got a reply back from Blair's camp (oh yes, been a long ol' journey my one...) saying my letter to him had been passed to his Deputy Prime Minister of which I never heard so much as a whisper from.
So, to Clegg's letter
Dear Ms de Nim,
I am writing on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister to thank you for your letter of 11 May.
I regret that neither Mr Clegg or this office is able to intervene in or comment on individual cases. I hope you will understand that as the points you raise are a matter for the Department for Communities and Local Government, he has asked me to forward your letter to them so that they are aware of your continued concern.
Thank you, once again, for writing the the Deputy Prime Minister.
Yours sincerely
Squiggle
It's gone to Pickles then! Quite funny given the recent hoo dee haa leaked document that sprang from his office saying 40,000 people would be made homeless with these cuts.
Is it for Pickles to decide if Camden gets the £238 owed to it?
At least the letter doesn't say I'll hear from the DCLG, like Cameron's did and I've still heard nought. I heard back from it when Brown said he'd forwarded my letter there.
Which reminds me of the time I met Clegg:
"I wrote to Brown!" I was saying as part of one long stream.
"Heard back from him did you?" he scoffed interrupting.
"I did actually yes, he told me it was up to the local authortity to help me and the local authority is YOU!"
Cooo, the press liked that....
Well the £238m I'm asking for isn't up to the local authority. It was once but it didn't want to be blackmailed. I'm trying to get it back for it.
The rest of the letter I tell him to do something about housing and well, a libdem person (very low down) said something on the news the other day (that it was up to the people very high up) and well, debates are moving along in a beautiful series of events:
Pickles + Channel 4 Doc supported by Shelter and narrated by Jon Snow
I hope it = more social housing
You know that' s what I want, what I really really want...
(speaking of which, has Posh had her baby yet?)
Imagine my surprise then when I went downstairs and saw an envelope addressed to me with THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER emblazoned on the back!
That has never happened to me before! Not even when I got a reply back from Blair's camp (oh yes, been a long ol' journey my one...) saying my letter to him had been passed to his Deputy Prime Minister of which I never heard so much as a whisper from.
So, to Clegg's letter
Dear Ms de Nim,
I am writing on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister to thank you for your letter of 11 May.
I regret that neither Mr Clegg or this office is able to intervene in or comment on individual cases. I hope you will understand that as the points you raise are a matter for the Department for Communities and Local Government, he has asked me to forward your letter to them so that they are aware of your continued concern.
Thank you, once again, for writing the the Deputy Prime Minister.
Yours sincerely
Squiggle
It's gone to Pickles then! Quite funny given the recent hoo dee haa leaked document that sprang from his office saying 40,000 people would be made homeless with these cuts.
Is it for Pickles to decide if Camden gets the £238 owed to it?
At least the letter doesn't say I'll hear from the DCLG, like Cameron's did and I've still heard nought. I heard back from it when Brown said he'd forwarded my letter there.
Which reminds me of the time I met Clegg:
"I wrote to Brown!" I was saying as part of one long stream.
"Heard back from him did you?" he scoffed interrupting.
"I did actually yes, he told me it was up to the local authortity to help me and the local authority is YOU!"
Cooo, the press liked that....
Well the £238m I'm asking for isn't up to the local authority. It was once but it didn't want to be blackmailed. I'm trying to get it back for it.
The rest of the letter I tell him to do something about housing and well, a libdem person (very low down) said something on the news the other day (that it was up to the people very high up) and well, debates are moving along in a beautiful series of events:
Pickles + Channel 4 Doc supported by Shelter and narrated by Jon Snow
I hope it = more social housing
You know that' s what I want, what I really really want...
(speaking of which, has Posh had her baby yet?)
Friday, 13 May 2011
Friday 13th - Lucky for some?
Was panicking abit this morning. I was thinking of posting my correspondence with politicians here on blogspot and was having difficulty breathing.
Should I do it today? Friday 13th
Unlucky say some
Lucky for some say others...
Should I do it at all?
Kiss of death when I put my plans on here
Will they work? I wonder
Then like you, I find out, they don't.
They might this time though...
Then blogspot is unavailable all day...
Is this a sign?!
Is this a sign I must not post my correspondence?!
Too late
I don't know if doing so will be lucky
or unlucky
All I do know, is while I've been researching online for how many papers wrote up the story of the Tories charging children to enter playgrounds (1)
I read about a British woman who was decapitated by a crazed man who ran into a shop in Tenerife
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/13/woman-beheaded-tenerife-supermarket-spain
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/8513028/British-woman-beheaded-in-front-of-tourists-on-Spanish-holiday-island-Tenerife.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/british-woman-murdered-in-tenerife-2283687.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1386762/British-woman-beheaded-Tenerife-machete.html
It was shocking to read lots of things (revenge attacks for bin Laden killing 80 in Pakistan - "first of many" say Taliban) but it was, it still is...
My thoughts go out to this woman and her family
And you too, that you might be safe
(Yikes, should I change my post title?)
Should I do it today? Friday 13th
Unlucky say some
Lucky for some say others...
Should I do it at all?
Kiss of death when I put my plans on here
Will they work? I wonder
Then like you, I find out, they don't.
They might this time though...
Then blogspot is unavailable all day...
Is this a sign?!
Is this a sign I must not post my correspondence?!
Too late
I don't know if doing so will be lucky
or unlucky
All I do know, is while I've been researching online for how many papers wrote up the story of the Tories charging children to enter playgrounds (1)
I read about a British woman who was decapitated by a crazed man who ran into a shop in Tenerife
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/13/woman-beheaded-tenerife-supermarket-spain
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/8513028/British-woman-beheaded-in-front-of-tourists-on-Spanish-holiday-island-Tenerife.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/british-woman-murdered-in-tenerife-2283687.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1386762/British-woman-beheaded-Tenerife-machete.html
It was shocking to read lots of things (revenge attacks for bin Laden killing 80 in Pakistan - "first of many" say Taliban) but it was, it still is...
My thoughts go out to this woman and her family
And you too, that you might be safe
(Yikes, should I change my post title?)
The lengths I go for you Britain...
11 May 2011
Dear Nick Clegg, (Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Deputy Prime Minister of the Coalition)
So you took a trouncing in the local elections last week. To tell the truth, I didn’t care. Why should I? You and your party didn’t help me and my son.
We were evicted from our temporary accommodation and placed into further temporary accommodation; a two year lease with a £350 weekly rent. My job pays £6 an hour and I’ve just received a £600 quarterly electricity bill. It’s not your life but it is many people’s lives which is why I write to you one last time.
As you know there are five million people currently on the waiting list for a council flat, my family included. This means that come the next general election, there will be five million, if not more, votes up for grabs. I have pointed this out to Ed Miliband, and now I am pointing it out to you.
As I mentioned in the letter I wrote to you a year ago, (enclosed), you were the only politician to mention the need for council flats in the television debates.
Perhaps you are relieved the media ignores this as your Tory partner demolishes what’s left of state housing and subjects millions of people to high rents and recurring evictions so detrimental to health and children’s education and life chances. You mentioned health and education to Andrew Marr but no-one, not even you, mentioned housing, which is so married to these issues. Why not?
I have approached ministers about housing since 2004. A report on the Localism Bill due to land in the House of Commons soon will have devastating outcomes for generations to come if it’s passed.
As your party lies battered following broken promises, I believe you have an opportunity to help our country and gain some votes as you do so. I don’t know why I should want to help you Mr Clegg. Perhaps it’s because I did meet you and I want positive consequences to come from that.
I’m sending you a copy of the postcard I sent the coalition last July asking for withheld funds to be returned to the borough of Camden. I asked Frank Dobson to approach the coalition on my behalf. I asked Ed Miliband to use it to kick-start an opposition to Tory plans and I asked Boris Johnson to meet me, to advise me on how best to approach coalition decision makers myself.
Not one of these politicians has been prepared to help me help the borough they themselves live in. My borough may not be your concern but our country is. People are dying. You can stem the flow.
According to the UK Rich List, the number of billionaires in the country has gone up from 53 to 73. I don’t want to hear there is no money.
I look forward to hearing something. I enclose two articles I wrote that you might want to read.
I want this housing catastrophe to end and I still believe you and your party can begin to end it.
Yours sincerely,
Sue de Nim
Dear Nick Clegg, (Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Deputy Prime Minister of the Coalition)
So you took a trouncing in the local elections last week. To tell the truth, I didn’t care. Why should I? You and your party didn’t help me and my son.
We were evicted from our temporary accommodation and placed into further temporary accommodation; a two year lease with a £350 weekly rent. My job pays £6 an hour and I’ve just received a £600 quarterly electricity bill. It’s not your life but it is many people’s lives which is why I write to you one last time.
As you know there are five million people currently on the waiting list for a council flat, my family included. This means that come the next general election, there will be five million, if not more, votes up for grabs. I have pointed this out to Ed Miliband, and now I am pointing it out to you.
As I mentioned in the letter I wrote to you a year ago, (enclosed), you were the only politician to mention the need for council flats in the television debates.
Perhaps you are relieved the media ignores this as your Tory partner demolishes what’s left of state housing and subjects millions of people to high rents and recurring evictions so detrimental to health and children’s education and life chances. You mentioned health and education to Andrew Marr but no-one, not even you, mentioned housing, which is so married to these issues. Why not?
I have approached ministers about housing since 2004. A report on the Localism Bill due to land in the House of Commons soon will have devastating outcomes for generations to come if it’s passed.
As your party lies battered following broken promises, I believe you have an opportunity to help our country and gain some votes as you do so. I don’t know why I should want to help you Mr Clegg. Perhaps it’s because I did meet you and I want positive consequences to come from that.
I’m sending you a copy of the postcard I sent the coalition last July asking for withheld funds to be returned to the borough of Camden. I asked Frank Dobson to approach the coalition on my behalf. I asked Ed Miliband to use it to kick-start an opposition to Tory plans and I asked Boris Johnson to meet me, to advise me on how best to approach coalition decision makers myself.
Not one of these politicians has been prepared to help me help the borough they themselves live in. My borough may not be your concern but our country is. People are dying. You can stem the flow.
According to the UK Rich List, the number of billionaires in the country has gone up from 53 to 73. I don’t want to hear there is no money.
I look forward to hearing something. I enclose two articles I wrote that you might want to read.
I want this housing catastrophe to end and I still believe you and your party can begin to end it.
Yours sincerely,
Sue de Nim
The lengths I go for you Camden....
February 2011
Dear Boris Johnson,
I cycled to your offices last autumn hoping to catch you but we didn't see one another. It was suggested by staff at reception that I email you.
It's taken me up until now because I was being evicted from my home at the time; I feel more settled now!
I want to ask your help regarding a serious housing issue (I know, terribly boring). I just you need you to hear me out which should take less than five minutes! Five minutes Mr Johnson. I know you care deeply about housing (despite it being terribly boring), and I know you will be interested in what I have to say and what I have to show you.
I can cycle to your offices again, if that's easiest for you. Buy you a coffee in the cafe downstairs.
Otherwise, have bike, will travel!
I can meet you anywhere!
Five minutes Mr Johnson, I promise.
Win win win win win win win!!
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Sue de Nim
March 2011
Dear Sue
Thank you for your email to the Mayor, to which I have been asked to respond.
I am sorry to learn about your difficult housing situation. The Mayor's role in housing is a strategic one. That is, he is responsible for producing the London Housing Strategy and setting the overall aims for the investment to deliver the strategy. As such, it is not appropriate for him to intervene in individual cases.
You may find it useful to seek the advice and assistance of an independent agency, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau.
Thank you for writing to the Mayor and I hope that your housing situation is resolved quickly. > Yours sincerely
Public Liaison Officer
March 2011 (so chuffed to get a response!)
Hi Public Liaison Officer,
Thanks for getting back to me. For once it is not an individual case that I wish to see the Mayor about; it is on behalf ofthe borough in which he lives.
Five minutes is all I ask, all I want, actually all I need.
You can sit in aswell if you like, I'll be coming by myself unless it's an inset day at my son's primary, in which case he'll come along too.
Let me know, it would mean such a great deal, to everyone I think!
Kind regards
Sue de Nim
23 March
Dear Sue
Thank you for your further email to the Greater London Authority. In order to assist you further please could you provide full details of the matter you would like to discuss with the Mayor.
Yours sincerely
Development & Environment
Dear Development and Environment,
Thanks for getting back to me. I'd like to talk to the Mayor about a postcard I sent the coalition asking for money for the borough. This is why it will only take five minutes of his time.
On my postcard, addressed to the coalition,I put my address as C/O Frank Dobson, David and Ed Miliband, and Coalition members who live in the borough. The Mayor is a coalition member. I must ask his help.
I have asked Frank Dobson to read out my postcard in the House of Commons
I have asked the same of Ed Miliband
The mayor could ask David Cameron or Nick Clegg to meet me so I can ask them directly for the money.
Alternatively he could advise me on what I could do with my postcard (I have a copy, postcards by their very nature can get lost - I'm happy to show it to him)
It has not escaped my notice I have received your email on Budget Day! There is so much money, so much, I do not believe otherwise or I would not approach Mr Johnson. The Mayor is a Camden resident. He has nothing to lose by meeting me or helping me.
A beautiful irony of what I am trying to do for the borough, is that if or rather when I get the money for it, I will not see a penny of it. OK, there's nothing beautiful about that irony but there's also nothing beautiful about any of the cuts to housing. The Mayor and I could get the money together! (The editor of the Ham & High, told me if the money comes back, the story will get the front page. Imagine! )
All the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, that's all I am asking! I hope that's the information you were asking for. It's all the information there is!
Kind regards
Sue de Nim
April 2011
Dear Ms de Nim
Thank you for your emails to the Mayor, to which I have been asked to respond.
The Mayor's role in housing is a strategic one. That is, he is responsible for producing the London Housing Strategy and setting the overall aims for the investment to deliver the strategy. As such, it is not appropriate for him to intervene in campaigns related to specific boroughs. However, the Mayor has been making the case to the government about London's need for funding in areas such as housing and transport.
The Mayor is very grateful for your invitation to meet and it is with regret that he must decline on this occasion, as his diary is full with long-standing engagements.
With best wishes for your campaign.
Yours sincerely
Policy Officer
Housing Unit
One-half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it~ Sidney Howard
Never, never, never, never give up.~ Winston Churchill
Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible. ~Doug Larson
Dear Boris Johnson,
I cycled to your offices last autumn hoping to catch you but we didn't see one another. It was suggested by staff at reception that I email you.
It's taken me up until now because I was being evicted from my home at the time; I feel more settled now!
I want to ask your help regarding a serious housing issue (I know, terribly boring). I just you need you to hear me out which should take less than five minutes! Five minutes Mr Johnson. I know you care deeply about housing (despite it being terribly boring), and I know you will be interested in what I have to say and what I have to show you.
I can cycle to your offices again, if that's easiest for you. Buy you a coffee in the cafe downstairs.
Otherwise, have bike, will travel!
I can meet you anywhere!
Five minutes Mr Johnson, I promise.
Win win win win win win win!!
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Sue de Nim
March 2011
Dear Sue
Thank you for your email to the Mayor, to which I have been asked to respond.
I am sorry to learn about your difficult housing situation. The Mayor's role in housing is a strategic one. That is, he is responsible for producing the London Housing Strategy and setting the overall aims for the investment to deliver the strategy. As such, it is not appropriate for him to intervene in individual cases.
You may find it useful to seek the advice and assistance of an independent agency, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau.
Thank you for writing to the Mayor and I hope that your housing situation is resolved quickly. > Yours sincerely
Public Liaison Officer
March 2011 (so chuffed to get a response!)
Hi Public Liaison Officer,
Thanks for getting back to me. For once it is not an individual case that I wish to see the Mayor about; it is on behalf ofthe borough in which he lives.
Five minutes is all I ask, all I want, actually all I need.
You can sit in aswell if you like, I'll be coming by myself unless it's an inset day at my son's primary, in which case he'll come along too.
Let me know, it would mean such a great deal, to everyone I think!
Kind regards
Sue de Nim
23 March
Dear Sue
Thank you for your further email to the Greater London Authority. In order to assist you further please could you provide full details of the matter you would like to discuss with the Mayor.
Yours sincerely
Development & Environment
Dear Development and Environment,
Thanks for getting back to me. I'd like to talk to the Mayor about a postcard I sent the coalition asking for money for the borough. This is why it will only take five minutes of his time.
On my postcard, addressed to the coalition,I put my address as C/O Frank Dobson, David and Ed Miliband, and Coalition members who live in the borough. The Mayor is a coalition member. I must ask his help.
I have asked Frank Dobson to read out my postcard in the House of Commons
I have asked the same of Ed Miliband
The mayor could ask David Cameron or Nick Clegg to meet me so I can ask them directly for the money.
Alternatively he could advise me on what I could do with my postcard (I have a copy, postcards by their very nature can get lost - I'm happy to show it to him)
It has not escaped my notice I have received your email on Budget Day! There is so much money, so much, I do not believe otherwise or I would not approach Mr Johnson. The Mayor is a Camden resident. He has nothing to lose by meeting me or helping me.
A beautiful irony of what I am trying to do for the borough, is that if or rather when I get the money for it, I will not see a penny of it. OK, there's nothing beautiful about that irony but there's also nothing beautiful about any of the cuts to housing. The Mayor and I could get the money together! (The editor of the Ham & High, told me if the money comes back, the story will get the front page. Imagine! )
All the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, that's all I am asking! I hope that's the information you were asking for. It's all the information there is!
Kind regards
Sue de Nim
April 2011
Dear Ms de Nim
Thank you for your emails to the Mayor, to which I have been asked to respond.
The Mayor's role in housing is a strategic one. That is, he is responsible for producing the London Housing Strategy and setting the overall aims for the investment to deliver the strategy. As such, it is not appropriate for him to intervene in campaigns related to specific boroughs. However, the Mayor has been making the case to the government about London's need for funding in areas such as housing and transport.
The Mayor is very grateful for your invitation to meet and it is with regret that he must decline on this occasion, as his diary is full with long-standing engagements.
With best wishes for your campaign.
Yours sincerely
Policy Officer
Housing Unit
One-half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it~ Sidney Howard
Never, never, never, never give up.~ Winston Churchill
Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible. ~Doug Larson
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Paper clips and envelopes
It's a 'coalition' paper clip that binds together the papers I sent Clegg today. Not a Yellow and Blue one that you might imagine I'd use on this, the Coalition's First Birthday. No, it's a Red and Yellow one.
(Coincidence that! That I send the letter on the coalition's first anniversary. I had no idea Monday when I dated the letter I had not written yet!)
The envelope is large A4 sized brown 'Do Not Bend' envelope to keep everything straight and in order. Two letters, two articles, one postcard (all copies bar one of the letters)
"Do you think he'll read it?" asked Mistress Ha Ha as we met outside a local primary school to give out Boot Camp flyers.
"I don't know. He might. It's very political."
"Are you trying to blackmail him?"
"No! I don't know what I'm doing but I know I'm doing something!"
I got a massive head ache after I posted my package with its coalition paperclip inside so I had to lie down.
Do you think they'll have a party tonight? Dave and Nick? Or do you think only one them will?
Do you even care?
(Coincidence that! That I send the letter on the coalition's first anniversary. I had no idea Monday when I dated the letter I had not written yet!)
The envelope is large A4 sized brown 'Do Not Bend' envelope to keep everything straight and in order. Two letters, two articles, one postcard (all copies bar one of the letters)
"Do you think he'll read it?" asked Mistress Ha Ha as we met outside a local primary school to give out Boot Camp flyers.
"I don't know. He might. It's very political."
"Are you trying to blackmail him?"
"No! I don't know what I'm doing but I know I'm doing something!"
I got a massive head ache after I posted my package with its coalition paperclip inside so I had to lie down.
Do you think they'll have a party tonight? Dave and Nick? Or do you think only one them will?
Do you even care?
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Private Rental Scourge
Private Rental Scheme
Private Rental Scam
Private Rental Scourge
Oh many things these past two years I have called the Private Sector and the Government/Council policies to place homeless families there because there's not enough social housing and the alternative is hostel accommodation... well everyone knows that's not suitable apart from the System which says it is. Oh and ignorant people in our society - the sort to comment negatively on articles that I write...
I went to the Housing Benefit office to tell them of my rent increase.
I'd gone to the Citizen's Advice Bureau in order for them to do a 'better off calculation' of my new wage and the woman there told me to clarify my rent as priority.
Housing benefits came into effect on April 1st
There is a discretionary sum of money that has been given to councils (a lib dem contribution to the Tory plan the woman told me) that allows the individual a nine month transitional period before they have to pay the whole shortfall of rent.
How they allocate that money is up to them, the council.
Housing benefit told me that these new rules only apply to private tenants.
Housing Associations operate differently. They have a rent officer who sets the rent and that is accepted as suitable and relevant by the housing benefit office (that must be new as some will no doubt chase the 80% market share they've newly been allowed to set...)
I am very very lucky (kind of) but I have told you this before.
Homeless families who are on the Private Rental Scheme, what is going to happen to them? Will they be allocated a discretionary sum? What happens when that stops?
On the points system, they, not me, get awarded extra points for insecurity should they be evicted but it's my guess an awful lot of them are going to be losing their homes and it is my knowledge that there aren't the council properties/housing association properties to go round.
Housing benefit man actually suggested that I rent somewhere in the private sector and I might be more secure than in my three lease temporary housing association flat.
"Where oh where, could I find somewhere to live near my son's school?" I asked, almost rhetorically. "I won't be able to. The private sector cap is too low."
He shrugged, palms outwards then gently said I could go, there were other people to see; "We're very busy at the moment."
I mustn't think about the future.
My son and I are safe right now
I hope my son and I are safe
I put tomorrow's date on Clegg's letter
I'll send it signed for delivery
at some point during the day
(I'm scared he won't act on it
more than I'm scared of being used as a political pawn
things are that bad, in my view)
Private Rental Scam
Private Rental Scourge
Oh many things these past two years I have called the Private Sector and the Government/Council policies to place homeless families there because there's not enough social housing and the alternative is hostel accommodation... well everyone knows that's not suitable apart from the System which says it is. Oh and ignorant people in our society - the sort to comment negatively on articles that I write...
I went to the Housing Benefit office to tell them of my rent increase.
I'd gone to the Citizen's Advice Bureau in order for them to do a 'better off calculation' of my new wage and the woman there told me to clarify my rent as priority.
Housing benefits came into effect on April 1st
There is a discretionary sum of money that has been given to councils (a lib dem contribution to the Tory plan the woman told me) that allows the individual a nine month transitional period before they have to pay the whole shortfall of rent.
How they allocate that money is up to them, the council.
Housing benefit told me that these new rules only apply to private tenants.
Housing Associations operate differently. They have a rent officer who sets the rent and that is accepted as suitable and relevant by the housing benefit office (that must be new as some will no doubt chase the 80% market share they've newly been allowed to set...)
I am very very lucky (kind of) but I have told you this before.
Homeless families who are on the Private Rental Scheme, what is going to happen to them? Will they be allocated a discretionary sum? What happens when that stops?
On the points system, they, not me, get awarded extra points for insecurity should they be evicted but it's my guess an awful lot of them are going to be losing their homes and it is my knowledge that there aren't the council properties/housing association properties to go round.
Housing benefit man actually suggested that I rent somewhere in the private sector and I might be more secure than in my three lease temporary housing association flat.
"Where oh where, could I find somewhere to live near my son's school?" I asked, almost rhetorically. "I won't be able to. The private sector cap is too low."
He shrugged, palms outwards then gently said I could go, there were other people to see; "We're very busy at the moment."
I mustn't think about the future.
My son and I are safe right now
I hope my son and I are safe
I put tomorrow's date on Clegg's letter
I'll send it signed for delivery
at some point during the day
(I'm scared he won't act on it
more than I'm scared of being used as a political pawn
things are that bad, in my view)
Monday, 9 May 2011
UK has 20 new Billionaires!
According to the UK Rich List 2011, the number of UK billionaires has risen from 53 to 73!
My goodness, you'd never know the country was in crisis would you, with care centres, play centres, libraries, disabled people's mobility allowances oh my god the list is endless, funding for all these things being slashed, in order to pay off a debt because there's no money.
No money.
My arse.
If the Duke of Westminster, for example, was to share the spoils of his £7bn fortune and give every UK adult a million pounds sterling, he'd still have so much left to spread around some Local Authorities.
Indeed, if the top ten were to put their hands in their pockets, we might not have a debt "crisis" at all.....
If Philip Green, the "efficiency tzar".... oh what's the point....
Different worlds, different... but had a dream where I was told to write to Clegg one last time, so I've spent the morning doing that.
Well, for what it's worth, I don't know but I'm still Leader of the I Don't Know Party so it's worth a punt.
My goodness, you'd never know the country was in crisis would you, with care centres, play centres, libraries, disabled people's mobility allowances oh my god the list is endless, funding for all these things being slashed, in order to pay off a debt because there's no money.
No money.
My arse.
If the Duke of Westminster, for example, was to share the spoils of his £7bn fortune and give every UK adult a million pounds sterling, he'd still have so much left to spread around some Local Authorities.
Indeed, if the top ten were to put their hands in their pockets, we might not have a debt "crisis" at all.....
If Philip Green, the "efficiency tzar".... oh what's the point....
Different worlds, different... but had a dream where I was told to write to Clegg one last time, so I've spent the morning doing that.
Well, for what it's worth, I don't know but I'm still Leader of the I Don't Know Party so it's worth a punt.
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
On-air coincidence
Grant Shapps, MP for housing, will be live online at the Guardian answering questions at 3pm today.
Can you believe it?!
I got an email from Defend Council Housing giving me the heads up on it.
A bit of adventure for me! Never joined an online political chat before! And I have a couple of questions for him!!
I shall try to get them in and see if he answers!
(Bollocks Stigs, when exactly should I start my time and labour intensive fish pie? Promised the lad didn't I?! Best stop blogging for the day!)
Can you believe it?!
I got an email from Defend Council Housing giving me the heads up on it.
A bit of adventure for me! Never joined an online political chat before! And I have a couple of questions for him!!
I shall try to get them in and see if he answers!
(Bollocks Stigs, when exactly should I start my time and labour intensive fish pie? Promised the lad didn't I?! Best stop blogging for the day!)
Friday, 18 February 2011
Shot from the heart...
Attic Flat
16 February 2011
Dear Grant Shapps MP,
Downing Street suggested I contact you which I did (letter enclosed) but you never got back to me.
Mr Shapps, if you and your Government press ahead with your housing legislations, you will wreck the lives of millions of people.
For your information, my son and I didn’t get a council flat. There is a drastic shortage, nationally. We were placed, once again, in temporary accommodation, with a shorter two year lease this time and a weekly rent of £350 a week which I can’t afford. I do not have your wealth Mr Shapps. Millions of people do not have your wealth. Must we be penalised therefore and made to suffer?
Help me understand this legislation you are desperate to push through.
Do you wish to drive people out of their communities as my son and I were driven out of ours?
Is it your desire to create ghettos where we, the financially challenged must live, while you, the financially secure, live in protected communities?
Is it your desire that people remain in poverty? Or in debt?
Do you care about people’s health? Children’s education? These things are married to housing, the most basic need of all.
There is no need to make these drastic cuts to this basic human necessity which has already been neglected for decades.
The money is there to invest in housing, which in turn will create jobs. It will enable people such as me, the “unemployed” to afford work without recourse to housing benefit or threat of rent arrears and eviction. Well, one hopes that rents will remain affordable within the social sector.
You and your Government know all this. You can stop and think about what you are doing.
Will you stop and think about what you are doing?
I need to know what you really think of financially challenged people like me, the elderly, the disabled and children.
Please answer me this time and soon, before you make the changes.
Yours sincerely
If First Class is what it used to be, he'd have got this yesterday. If it's not, and I didn't pay the £5 ensured next day delivery, then he'll have got it today.
I've been listening to Jacko's Earth Song on repeat. It's a climate song for sure, but the power of it makes me think of the political climate too.
It's lovely, have a listen:
YAY!!! FINALLY!! TWO YEARS BLOGGING AND I'VE FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO PUT ON A YOUTUBE LINK!
WOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
16 February 2011
Dear Grant Shapps MP,
Downing Street suggested I contact you which I did (letter enclosed) but you never got back to me.
Mr Shapps, if you and your Government press ahead with your housing legislations, you will wreck the lives of millions of people.
For your information, my son and I didn’t get a council flat. There is a drastic shortage, nationally. We were placed, once again, in temporary accommodation, with a shorter two year lease this time and a weekly rent of £350 a week which I can’t afford. I do not have your wealth Mr Shapps. Millions of people do not have your wealth. Must we be penalised therefore and made to suffer?
Help me understand this legislation you are desperate to push through.
Do you wish to drive people out of their communities as my son and I were driven out of ours?
Is it your desire to create ghettos where we, the financially challenged must live, while you, the financially secure, live in protected communities?
Is it your desire that people remain in poverty? Or in debt?
Do you care about people’s health? Children’s education? These things are married to housing, the most basic need of all.
There is no need to make these drastic cuts to this basic human necessity which has already been neglected for decades.
The money is there to invest in housing, which in turn will create jobs. It will enable people such as me, the “unemployed” to afford work without recourse to housing benefit or threat of rent arrears and eviction. Well, one hopes that rents will remain affordable within the social sector.
You and your Government know all this. You can stop and think about what you are doing.
Will you stop and think about what you are doing?
I need to know what you really think of financially challenged people like me, the elderly, the disabled and children.
Please answer me this time and soon, before you make the changes.
Yours sincerely
If First Class is what it used to be, he'd have got this yesterday. If it's not, and I didn't pay the £5 ensured next day delivery, then he'll have got it today.
I've been listening to Jacko's Earth Song on repeat. It's a climate song for sure, but the power of it makes me think of the political climate too.
It's lovely, have a listen:
YAY!!! FINALLY!! TWO YEARS BLOGGING AND I'VE FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO PUT ON A YOUTUBE LINK!
WOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
Doing something with depression, desire and fear
Papier Mache Towers,
19 October 2010
Dear [Minister for Housing],
When you have a moment, I would like to meet you. I received a letter from Downing Street in August, which I have enclosed with this letter, suggesting I contact you. You would, it said, be interested in what I have to say.
To be honest, it has taken me a while to write because my son and I are awaiting eviction from our temporary accommodation. Will your response come when we have moved? Will I ever receive it?
Soon, I do not know how soon, very soon, a bailiff’s order will fall through my letter box. The housing association has written to me instructing me it has made its application to the courts.
The local council will not make us homeless but where will it put us? I imagine the bailiff to be a man, strong with broad shoulders, who, should I resist what the council deems suitable for my child, will pick me up and eject me from our home, throwing out my son and our belongings behind us with ease.
I completed a Masters degree a few years ago and wrote my thesis on homeless families. Their stories fuel my fear.
I’d like to meet you however, not for you to help my child, but to understand the society I live in. Cutting housing benefits, abolishing secure tenancies, I fear the coalition is breaking our country at its very foundations.
I have campaigned on behalf of my child for more than 20 months. Allow me to share with you what I have learnt.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards
Sue de Nim
P.S. The above address is not fixed. You can contact me [by email or by mobile phone]. Wherever my son and I go, these will come with us.
Usually I wait to post my letters on blogspot but today, fuck it. Going out will do me some good, and for the purpose of a stamp, hopefully my small family, and perhaps yours, too.
19 October 2010
Dear [Minister for Housing],
When you have a moment, I would like to meet you. I received a letter from Downing Street in August, which I have enclosed with this letter, suggesting I contact you. You would, it said, be interested in what I have to say.
To be honest, it has taken me a while to write because my son and I are awaiting eviction from our temporary accommodation. Will your response come when we have moved? Will I ever receive it?
Soon, I do not know how soon, very soon, a bailiff’s order will fall through my letter box. The housing association has written to me instructing me it has made its application to the courts.
The local council will not make us homeless but where will it put us? I imagine the bailiff to be a man, strong with broad shoulders, who, should I resist what the council deems suitable for my child, will pick me up and eject me from our home, throwing out my son and our belongings behind us with ease.
I completed a Masters degree a few years ago and wrote my thesis on homeless families. Their stories fuel my fear.
I’d like to meet you however, not for you to help my child, but to understand the society I live in. Cutting housing benefits, abolishing secure tenancies, I fear the coalition is breaking our country at its very foundations.
I have campaigned on behalf of my child for more than 20 months. Allow me to share with you what I have learnt.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards
Sue de Nim
P.S. The above address is not fixed. You can contact me [by email or by mobile phone]. Wherever my son and I go, these will come with us.
Usually I wait to post my letters on blogspot but today, fuck it. Going out will do me some good, and for the purpose of a stamp, hopefully my small family, and perhaps yours, too.
To write or not to write
Handwritten letters, typed letters, emails and texts. I wake up each morning in this limbo wondering what more can I do to safeguard my son's future, to safeguard my own?
Running parallel, what can I do to make policy makers see my society? Do; I have to do something.
Write, write, so motivated to write, then crushed beneath the weight of my own emotions, I ask myself what's the point. No-one hears me.
I have to be bothered. I have to act. To stay on top of my emotions and not fall into that great abyss of fire, where the skin is numb and the soul is so unbearably
sad
I have to do something.
Running parallel, what can I do to make policy makers see my society? Do; I have to do something.
Write, write, so motivated to write, then crushed beneath the weight of my own emotions, I ask myself what's the point. No-one hears me.
I have to be bothered. I have to act. To stay on top of my emotions and not fall into that great abyss of fire, where the skin is numb and the soul is so unbearably
sad
I have to do something.
Friday, 15 October 2010
In for a penny, in for a pound...
Subject: I enjoyed what you had to say on Monday
Dear Reverend,
You saw me last Monday at the housing meeting at the House of Commons. I was standing at the back, stripey top on, raised my hand and said I'd sent a postcard to the coalition. You might remember.
You said what was needed was testimonies, real life testimonies, and brave people to give them. I am not brave. Well, I am not that brave.
If Ed Miliband reads my postcard, I will probably have to explain myself. You heard me, I can't articulate myself verbally that well! Still, if it happens, it happens, I've literally put all that in God's hands.
I wrote to Ed Miliband and said that if he was to read out the copy of the postcard I sent during Prime Minister's Questions, or any other such time, I would sit in the lobby so if the coalition laughs and jeers at him, he can say I'm just outside and they can laugh and jeer at me instead. Highly unpleasant but I sent that postcard and I take responsibility for it.
Should Mr Miliband read my postcard, and informs me to wait in the lobby, will you wait with me?
It's a big ask I know but although I encapsulate the housing problem, it's a national one and I only really know what's going on in my own borough, in my own life. I send you the link to an article I wrote, to give you a clearer picture. I also wrote a piece for the Guardian website.
I'd be happy to meet you if you have time. I'm not asking your help for me, I'm asking your help for everyone else.
Kind regards,
Sue de Nim
Dear Reverend,
You saw me last Monday at the housing meeting at the House of Commons. I was standing at the back, stripey top on, raised my hand and said I'd sent a postcard to the coalition. You might remember.
You said what was needed was testimonies, real life testimonies, and brave people to give them. I am not brave. Well, I am not that brave.
If Ed Miliband reads my postcard, I will probably have to explain myself. You heard me, I can't articulate myself verbally that well! Still, if it happens, it happens, I've literally put all that in God's hands.
I wrote to Ed Miliband and said that if he was to read out the copy of the postcard I sent during Prime Minister's Questions, or any other such time, I would sit in the lobby so if the coalition laughs and jeers at him, he can say I'm just outside and they can laugh and jeer at me instead. Highly unpleasant but I sent that postcard and I take responsibility for it.
Should Mr Miliband read my postcard, and informs me to wait in the lobby, will you wait with me?
It's a big ask I know but although I encapsulate the housing problem, it's a national one and I only really know what's going on in my own borough, in my own life. I send you the link to an article I wrote, to give you a clearer picture. I also wrote a piece for the Guardian website.
I'd be happy to meet you if you have time. I'm not asking your help for me, I'm asking your help for everyone else.
Kind regards,
Sue de Nim
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Letting go of the postcard
Papier Mache Towers
11 October 2010
Dear Ed Miliband,
Please could you read out the copy of the postcard I sent the coalition in July which I have attached to this letter.
If you read it during PMQs I will come and sit the lobby, so if you are laughed and jeered at, you can say that I’m just outside and they can laugh and jeer at me. I accept they might do that but do not condone it.
I asked Frank Dobson for his blessing to send the postcard. I put you and your brother on it because you are connected to the borough. Please accept my apologies for spelling your names wrong.
Mr Miliband, your constituency is elsewhere. Elsewhere in the country a housing catastrophe is unfolding. Labour, your Labour can oppose the coalition’s plan to totally eradicate state social housing. Your Labour can restart the debate.
It needs to Mr Miliband. Five million people are on the waiting list for a council flat. That’s potentially five million votes for your party in 2015.
Labour won Camden’s local election from the Libdem/Tory coalition because of its policy on housing. I truly believe that.
You apologised for Iraq. Thank you Mr Miliband. Your party can oppose coalition housing policy. I know it can. Use my postcard to bring home the debate.
If one of your secretaries could call me so I know when to come to the House of Commons I would be truly grateful.
I want to help you, I want to help my borough – thousands of properties sit empty. Like many millions of people, I want positive change.
Very best of luck Mr Miliband.
Yours sincerely,
Sue de Nim
11 October 2010
Dear Ed Miliband,
Please could you read out the copy of the postcard I sent the coalition in July which I have attached to this letter.
If you read it during PMQs I will come and sit the lobby, so if you are laughed and jeered at, you can say that I’m just outside and they can laugh and jeer at me. I accept they might do that but do not condone it.
I asked Frank Dobson for his blessing to send the postcard. I put you and your brother on it because you are connected to the borough. Please accept my apologies for spelling your names wrong.
Mr Miliband, your constituency is elsewhere. Elsewhere in the country a housing catastrophe is unfolding. Labour, your Labour can oppose the coalition’s plan to totally eradicate state social housing. Your Labour can restart the debate.
It needs to Mr Miliband. Five million people are on the waiting list for a council flat. That’s potentially five million votes for your party in 2015.
Labour won Camden’s local election from the Libdem/Tory coalition because of its policy on housing. I truly believe that.
You apologised for Iraq. Thank you Mr Miliband. Your party can oppose coalition housing policy. I know it can. Use my postcard to bring home the debate.
If one of your secretaries could call me so I know when to come to the House of Commons I would be truly grateful.
I want to help you, I want to help my borough – thousands of properties sit empty. Like many millions of people, I want positive change.
Very best of luck Mr Miliband.
Yours sincerely,
Sue de Nim
Monday, 11 October 2010
Last chance for the postcard?
I have written to the Leader of the Labour party asking him to read out my postcard to the House of Commons because there is a giant great big housing crisis that the coalition are making worse.
Will he do it? Who knows.
What's quite funny this time though, is that I am sending it internally!
Yes! Camden Defend Council Housing are going to lobby parliament today and all and sundry in the borough have been invited. I told them ages ago I'd go.
In the central lobby at the House of Commons there's a Post room. I don't know how much it will cost to send my letter but it won't be a fiver for next day delivery!
It's good to have something else to do when one is dreading (understatement of the day) the meeting with social services on Wednesday.
Can my sending a letter to the Leader of the Labour party for the benefit of my country be construed as emotionally abusing my son? Neglecting my son?
They will look for and expose any weakness. I'm not entirely sure what I've done to deserve that, I only want a secure flat in which to raise and provide for my child.
My postcard is positive. Must hang on to that.
Must hang on.
Will he do it? Who knows.
What's quite funny this time though, is that I am sending it internally!
Yes! Camden Defend Council Housing are going to lobby parliament today and all and sundry in the borough have been invited. I told them ages ago I'd go.
In the central lobby at the House of Commons there's a Post room. I don't know how much it will cost to send my letter but it won't be a fiver for next day delivery!
It's good to have something else to do when one is dreading (understatement of the day) the meeting with social services on Wednesday.
Can my sending a letter to the Leader of the Labour party for the benefit of my country be construed as emotionally abusing my son? Neglecting my son?
They will look for and expose any weakness. I'm not entirely sure what I've done to deserve that, I only want a secure flat in which to raise and provide for my child.
My postcard is positive. Must hang on to that.
Must hang on.
Thursday, 7 October 2010
A postcard from Downing Street!
Ha ha! Quite made my day! (Small things entertain me as you can see)
I thought 'ey up, what's this?' as I spied a white envelope (16 by 11.5 cm/ 6ish by 4.5ish inches), quite firm to touch, with my name typed on the front on my doormat. I turned it over and there on the back, in bold black: 10 Downing Street!
I open it and spy the Downing Street crest. Ooh, is it an invitation?! My name is not on it, nor the date as it happens. This must be the new thing they send to everyone, regardless of problem:
I am writing to acknowledge your recent correspondence.
The Prime Minister appreciates you taking the time to write.
Your correspondence has been forwarded to the relevant Government department so they may reply to you, in detail, on the matters you raise.
Yours faithfully
(A signature scrawl, not typed out beneath)
A postcard! I do so love a postcard! Will my son get one? He wrote too! And when exactly will I get a more detailed reply I wonder? My guess is never because the response to the first letter I wrote back in May, said it had been passed on the Department for Local Government and Community and well, I'm still waiting for that.
Do you think they got my postcard and thought 'what a good idea?'
Do you think they heard I went to lobby the housing MP? I did say then to the people at the Commons reception it was by instruction from the PM's office because it was. A dated letter with my name on it and advice to follow.
Do you think they put those two things together and came up with a totally 'radical' way to deal with correspondance from societal riffraff so they, the PM's office, don't have to personalise anything anymore?
Still, a postcard! I find that quite funny given what I've been posting this morning!
I thought 'ey up, what's this?' as I spied a white envelope (16 by 11.5 cm/ 6ish by 4.5ish inches), quite firm to touch, with my name typed on the front on my doormat. I turned it over and there on the back, in bold black: 10 Downing Street!
I open it and spy the Downing Street crest. Ooh, is it an invitation?! My name is not on it, nor the date as it happens. This must be the new thing they send to everyone, regardless of problem:
I am writing to acknowledge your recent correspondence.
The Prime Minister appreciates you taking the time to write.
Your correspondence has been forwarded to the relevant Government department so they may reply to you, in detail, on the matters you raise.
Yours faithfully
(A signature scrawl, not typed out beneath)
A postcard! I do so love a postcard! Will my son get one? He wrote too! And when exactly will I get a more detailed reply I wonder? My guess is never because the response to the first letter I wrote back in May, said it had been passed on the Department for Local Government and Community and well, I'm still waiting for that.
Do you think they got my postcard and thought 'what a good idea?'
Do you think they heard I went to lobby the housing MP? I did say then to the people at the Commons reception it was by instruction from the PM's office because it was. A dated letter with my name on it and advice to follow.
Do you think they put those two things together and came up with a totally 'radical' way to deal with correspondance from societal riffraff so they, the PM's office, don't have to personalise anything anymore?
Still, a postcard! I find that quite funny given what I've been posting this morning!
Five million votes up for grabs
Apparantly, at the last election, Labour lost four million votes.
Apparantly, last I heard, there are five million people waiting for a council flat in the UK.
That means that whichever party addresses the need for state/social housing could potentially grab five million votes come the next election.
I have the motive to set up my own political party, but sufferin' suffragettes, I Don't Know how to flamin' do it!
Apparantly, last I heard, there are five million people waiting for a council flat in the UK.
That means that whichever party addresses the need for state/social housing could potentially grab five million votes come the next election.
I have the motive to set up my own political party, but sufferin' suffragettes, I Don't Know how to flamin' do it!
Not letting go of the postcard
Email: 7th Oct 2010
Subject: The 'postcard' I told you about; a better idea
Dear [Housing Councillor],
It was great to meet you last Friday at your surgery. I want to thank you again for implicitly understanding what I desire for my son, because no-one else does.
This email however, is about the postcard, not the deep and desperate desire to securely house my child without effecting his education nor the unjust policy of our not being awarded points for insecure housing because we're statutorily homeless.
[Housing Councillor], get Ed Miliband to read out the postcard! The idea came to me as I cycled my son home after talking to you.
Mr Miliband would be perfect! Mr Miliband could say that yes, he lives in the borough but his constituency is elsewhere and elsewhere there is a massive housing crisis that needs to be addressed. The coalition is blindly eradicating state social housing not realising that for millions, it is the platform back to work and off benefits. Capping housing benefits is not the answer. Mr Miliband has already said New Labour made mistakes which this renewed Labour is going to redress. Housing is a fantastic start because it's been ignored for years!
[Housing Councillor], [Council Leader] is a father in my son's playground. I originally asked his blessing to put his name on my postcard. He said yes, (but in the event there were only so many names I could put on that little bit of card) It is also a coincidence that he is Labour.
[Housing Councillor], I'm basically asking you, and Mr Dobson, to use me to access that money.
I am apolitical. I am an ordinary citizen and Mr Miliband could use this fact too. I've written to David Cameron three times. I met Nick Clegg in the offices of the Ham and High (how could he forget that!). All of this so recently too! Mr Miliband would come out of this unscathed because I am asking for the money. I am the one who looks stupid if the borough doesn't get it.
Please ask Mr Dobson to ask Mr Miliband to read out the postcard, or at least the three of you have a discussion about it. It is a small part of a greater problem and housing is so very topical at the moment. And let's be honest, in recent history, no-one has sent a postcard. The very nature of these little cards is they get lost under piles of envelopes and letters. I have a copy of it but I don't want it to be left too late.
What do you reckon [Housing Councillor]?
Kind regards,
Sue de Nim
Subject: The 'postcard' I told you about; a better idea
Dear [Housing Councillor],
It was great to meet you last Friday at your surgery. I want to thank you again for implicitly understanding what I desire for my son, because no-one else does.
This email however, is about the postcard, not the deep and desperate desire to securely house my child without effecting his education nor the unjust policy of our not being awarded points for insecure housing because we're statutorily homeless.
[Housing Councillor], get Ed Miliband to read out the postcard! The idea came to me as I cycled my son home after talking to you.
Mr Miliband would be perfect! Mr Miliband could say that yes, he lives in the borough but his constituency is elsewhere and elsewhere there is a massive housing crisis that needs to be addressed. The coalition is blindly eradicating state social housing not realising that for millions, it is the platform back to work and off benefits. Capping housing benefits is not the answer. Mr Miliband has already said New Labour made mistakes which this renewed Labour is going to redress. Housing is a fantastic start because it's been ignored for years!
[Housing Councillor], [Council Leader] is a father in my son's playground. I originally asked his blessing to put his name on my postcard. He said yes, (but in the event there were only so many names I could put on that little bit of card) It is also a coincidence that he is Labour.
[Housing Councillor], I'm basically asking you, and Mr Dobson, to use me to access that money.
I am apolitical. I am an ordinary citizen and Mr Miliband could use this fact too. I've written to David Cameron three times. I met Nick Clegg in the offices of the Ham and High (how could he forget that!). All of this so recently too! Mr Miliband would come out of this unscathed because I am asking for the money. I am the one who looks stupid if the borough doesn't get it.
Please ask Mr Dobson to ask Mr Miliband to read out the postcard, or at least the three of you have a discussion about it. It is a small part of a greater problem and housing is so very topical at the moment. And let's be honest, in recent history, no-one has sent a postcard. The very nature of these little cards is they get lost under piles of envelopes and letters. I have a copy of it but I don't want it to be left too late.
What do you reckon [Housing Councillor]?
Kind regards,
Sue de Nim
A way forward for Labour?
Papier Mache Tower,
Sos I 2OK
21 September 2010
Dear Frank Dobson,
As you know I came to lobby you last week and left a green card for you to read out my postcard. I send a copy of it with this letter because it’s still my strong desire for you to do so.
I know you have tried to get the money owed to Camden back in the borough and the reason I sent my postcard in the first place and asked for your blessing to do so, is because I want you to succeed.
“If your MP is not satisfied with the answers received, he or she may feel that there is something to be gained by making the matter public and may want to raise the issue in the House of Commons in front of the press and public.” (http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/m01.pdf)
Please read it out for me. When you say to the coalition you wish to read out a postcard they may laugh. Tell them I want a proper discussion about this, it has cost one life already that we know of.
I spoke to Sir Ming Campbell while I was there and read him the postcard. He urged me to speak to you and I doubt will laugh. If one of the Miliband brothers wins the leadership you should have a natural ally because they are both born in the borough and as such should care about it.
I will get nothing for trying to help you Mr Dobson or help Camden. I really don’t think you have anything to lose by doing this for me though you know yourself you have the support of the borough, the Camden New Journal and the Ham and High.
Like I said to Sir Campbell, you have to do something or die when you’re in a situation like mine. My postcard potentially has a very positive outcome.
I wait to hear about it.
Yours sincerely,
Sue de Nim
Sos I 2OK
21 September 2010
Dear Frank Dobson,
As you know I came to lobby you last week and left a green card for you to read out my postcard. I send a copy of it with this letter because it’s still my strong desire for you to do so.
I know you have tried to get the money owed to Camden back in the borough and the reason I sent my postcard in the first place and asked for your blessing to do so, is because I want you to succeed.
“If your MP is not satisfied with the answers received, he or she may feel that there is something to be gained by making the matter public and may want to raise the issue in the House of Commons in front of the press and public.” (http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/m01.pdf)
Please read it out for me. When you say to the coalition you wish to read out a postcard they may laugh. Tell them I want a proper discussion about this, it has cost one life already that we know of.
I spoke to Sir Ming Campbell while I was there and read him the postcard. He urged me to speak to you and I doubt will laugh. If one of the Miliband brothers wins the leadership you should have a natural ally because they are both born in the borough and as such should care about it.
I will get nothing for trying to help you Mr Dobson or help Camden. I really don’t think you have anything to lose by doing this for me though you know yourself you have the support of the borough, the Camden New Journal and the Ham and High.
Like I said to Sir Campbell, you have to do something or die when you’re in a situation like mine. My postcard potentially has a very positive outcome.
I wait to hear about it.
Yours sincerely,
Sue de Nim
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