Tower Hamlets Labour Candidates Named

14 thoughts on “Tower Hamlets Labour Candidates Named”

1. Amazing, though the council voted to change the names of St. Peters and Bethnal Green to Bethnal Green West and Bethnal Green East, they could not be bothered to change those ward names on the doc, philosophical delusion

   1. No, just stupid.

2. Is there a shortage of candidates who aren’t Bengali? 32% of the borough population are Bengali (2011 Census) yet ALL the Aspire candidates are Bengali and by my estimate 34 out of 45 Labour candidates are Bengali, which is 75%.

   Politics in this borough seems only to serve the interests of one community. And before anybody says it, it does matter that the make up of our council reflects the population of this borough.

   I must remain anonymous because I know how toxic this sort of thing becomes, but the pattern seems to be that counsellors seem to care about the interests of their own community most. My local councillor, can barely speak English, and cannot be understood when he is talking. Seriously. He also has virtually no idea about the issues affecting what he would call the “white” community, and even less interest. Other Bengali councillors seem to focus solely on drumming up support from their own community, and although they are quite articulate and have trendy glasses they obviously don’t care a damn about (or instinctively actively oppose) the interests of any community other than their own group.

   And then there is all the theft of money, corruption and total ineptitude. Hundreds of millions are disappearing and nobody can do anything about it.

   Tower Hamlets is totally fucked. Trapped between Aspire and Labour and with the Tories in the dumps what hope do we in the wider community have of any form of representation?

   Time to move to Hampshire. This borough needs to be obliterated, broken up, divided up between its neighbouring boroughs, expunged. Only then would this racially exclusive stranglehold that has poisoned our politics and led to living here feeling like “just about managing” in a failed state finally come to an end.

   If anyone at the Department for Local Government reads this for fun: PLEASE HELP.

   1. An interesting comment! From my work I have worked out that the problem with this borough comes down to these basic facts.
      1. Tower Hamlets Labour has seen the Bangladeshi population as an easy vote bank for many years and only recently have some Bangladeshis started to realise that their community has been used.
      2. The only reason I can write this blog, or Love Wapping before it, is because I am white. Like Ted Jeory was white. Any member of the Bangladeshi community who tried to do they same (and someone must try one day) would be in for a very unpleasant time to say the least. I doubt they would last a month and they could not be blamed.
      3. Yes there are way too many councillors who nobody can understand. Even other Bangladeshis. Nobody should be allowed to be representatives of the people who cannot speak English properly. Period. (Have fun enforcing that one!)
      4. Because TH Labour (who UK Labour pretty much disown) have used the Bangladeshi community to retain their hold on power this has led to a situation where the council is in no way representative of the borough demographic. There are far too many councillors who look after their own and nobody else. This is not representation and certainly not democracy.
      5. Because corruption in the borough has seemed to have got worse at the same time that the Bangladeshi population has grown in influence far too many people make the easy assumption that the corruption is the fault of the Bangladeshis. This is not correct. Of course some elements of Bangladeshi politics have fed into the corruption here but the corruption stems from the Labour Party, plain and simple.
      6. So far I have traced serious corruption back to the turn of the century and I am sure it goes back even further. Too many politicians have considered it easier to go with the corruption to get on and obtain power than get it fixed. As I said in a twitter thread yesterday I do not it this problem is fixable by any politician elected in this borough. They can be as honest at they come but they cannot beat the incredibly complex web of corruption that pervades pretty much everything.
      7. Yes, Tower Hamlets is totally fucked.
      Many thanks for your comments!
      Mark
      PS If my comments upset you just remember that I do not care.

3. Although I am of Indian origin I spent my early and teenage years in Tower Hamlets and still have friends from that time so I am up to speed on what is going on. Asians are an intensely political people and get involved in everything that affects them locally and which might be to their advantage hence the over representation on the council. On top of this is the fact that they come from a relatively small geographical area of Bangladesh and have imported all of the complex political, social and religious elements that govern that area. Tower Hamlets Labour is essentially the ruling Awami League.

   Yet historically the same thing persisted for fifty years when the council was run by a clique of Irish Catholics and Jews and jobs were doled out as were council flats and contracts, no difference to what you are exposing now. I’ll see if this posted as I have tried before without success.

   1. Very good points there Imran, thanks very much!

4. Has Aspire released a full list of candidates?

   1. Yes, I think Cllr Andrew Woods may have tweeted their list, I was going to do it but to be honest couldn’t face it.

5. Talking of Bangladeshis has anyone noticed the contradiction between Apsana Begum’s defense at her trial and her current housing arrangements? Her defense was that she didn’t apply for the flat she is accused of lying to get and it was in fact her husband Ehtisham Huque who had somehow found her application details and forged the whole application. She then was offered the flat she hadn’t applied for and moved in and is still living there! Work that one out.

6. Race, Ethnicity or Skin colour does not mean anything when it comes to politics. What voters look for from their elected representatives is literacy and education (without which you will not be able to represent your constituents properly). Im sorry to say almost 80% of Labours prospective candidates are highly illiterate – many of whom cannot put 3 words of english together in a sentence. It concerns me how these people will serve the residents of TH if elected?

   Seems Biggs is using these individuals as yes men to steer his agenda forward? They are being elected to just nod without any basis to his proposals.

   In comparison (regardless how salty our views towards them are) Aspire have put together a cluster of prominent candidates which include civil servants, solicitors, accountants and people with academic and professional backgrounds. I agree they should have had a more diverse range of candidates but im guessing its easier said than done.

   Lib Dems/ Tories also have some pretty good candidates too compared to Labour.

   1. Thanks Felix, some interesting points here and I agree one of Labour’s problems is that they have a very small and shallow talent pool to recruit from. I think it would be nice if ‘race, ethnicity or skin colour does not mean anything when it comes to politics’ but I think it does.
      The degree of illiteracy is a major problem, it seems many councillors have difficulty speaking or reading the English language.
      I have to admit I laughed out loud when I read your assertion that ‘Aspire have put together a cluster of prominent candidates’ as from the candidate list I have seen they are just the usual bunch of chancers. There might be one or two who wish to serve, but I sure they are in the minority. But then I don’t know that much about the Aspire candidate’s backgrounds, could you provide us with a list of those who are ‘ civil servants, solicitors, accountants and people with academic and professional background’ please? It would help everyone.
      Thanks!
      Mark

   2. 100% agree. You only need to spend 5 minutes with new candidates Rebekah Sultana or Nasma Husein or any number of the men and you’ll see they haven’t a clue about the council, never mind speak and understand English well.

7. You’ve got the facts wrong actually. Really wrong.

8. Specifically which facts?

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