Regent's Park &
Kensington North
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Karen Buck MP Regent's Park & Kensington North |
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Archive of Press Articles Karen writes regular columns for various local papers. Below is an archive of most of them since January 2003: 
Back the Bid!December 2004 Strictly speaking, my earliest memories of the Olympics are of the fact that the combination of atmospherics and course construction in Mexico 1986 was enough to kill half the horses competing in the 3-day event competition. But setting that aside, and despite being of a resolutely unsporty disposition myself, I retain a romantic view of what the Olympics represent. I believe that a successful British bid to host the Games would do more for the promotion of sport in this country than any ten other initiatives, however well-funded and intentioned. A higher profile for sports- widely defined, and involving much more than the watching of Premiership football on the television- will, in turn, encourage wider participation, with all the opportunities this offers for improving health and improving social cohesion. More... A Step in the Right Direction Housing Today - December 2004 Even a humble back-bench MP such as myself finds themselves returning to the office at the conclusion of the Parliamentary proceedings of a Bill, after the passage of a few months, and is startled to discover that it has become virtually impossible to open the door and wholly impossible to find anywhere to place their feet. Somehow, unnoticed during the frenzied months of debates and committee proceedings, the notes and the briefings pour in; choking in-box and deleted items alike and consuming dark Scandinavian forests’ worth of paper. Shelves and floors are swept clear so stacks labelled ‘Tenancy Deposit’ and ‘Definition of Multiple Occupation’ can build up, ready for snatching at speed en-route between a constituency surgery and a committee session. Only the fortunate few can draw on the services of a researcher, so a great many MPs must patch and edit their own speeches out of the tsunami of material available to us- tempered in most cases with a hefty dose of personal and constituency experience. A pleasant and cleansing ritual is to slip quietly into the five-and-nine seats in the House of Lords for what we call prorogation- the formal end of the Parliamentary year- when the Queen’s approval of the all the bills completed during the year is confirmed in Norman French- and then back to the office to pitchfork last year’s briefings into recycling bags. More... 
It's not about town vs countryNovember 2004 A powerful mythology has been promoted about the relationship between rural-life and fox-hunting, which will no doubt become even more familiar over the coming months. In this version, Parliament’s recent decision to ban hunting with hounds represents the culmination of a vendetta of townies against the country, of urban collectivists against the free-born men and women of the countryside, holding aloft the torch of liberty. The central issue- of animal cruelty- has been buried beneath layers of imagery, appealing to that instinctive human desire to cherish a long-gone or even an imagined way of life- one buried deep in our folk memory. Mix another ingredient into the cocktail- the so-called ‘nanny state’, controlling or seeking to control every aspect of our behaviour and eroding our freedoms, (as if the need to respond to the public health challenge posed by obesity and binge-drinking was somehow on the same spectrum as the right to kill animals for pleasure), and the whole brew becomes pretty powerful. The myths need to be deconstructed, the cocktail watered down, before a lot of people wake up with a nasty hangover. More... 
Tackling the problems with fireworksNovember 2004 Apparently, the phenomenon by which we experience time going faster as we get older can be explained- it is a simple trick of memory. Events experienced for the first time leave a stronger impression than those which have been repeated, and as a higher proportion of early experiences occur in childhood and youth, the memory stores bolder images of them. Since the everyday life of most adults involves a high degree of repetition, these paler images merge and are compressed, creating an illusion that less time has passed than actually has. So it is that US Presidential elections happen twice yearly, Christmas now appears to come round every four months, and annual events such my party’s fund-raising bazaar seem to have been relocated to Punxsutawny, Pennsylviania (the setting, for non-aficionados, for the film classic, ‘Groundhog Day’). More... Let us see both sides of the coin Housing Today - October 2004 My capacity for brutal reality is as limited as the next person's. Confronted with suffering, grief and misery, I want to believe that this must be the exception rather than the rule, that in some way other people's ability to cope must be greater than mine- their pain thresholds higher or their expectations lower. I, like most people, quite happily take refuge in the pleasant fantasy world of entertainment, screening out the deluge of bad news with something light and unchallenging. And there is nothing wrong with a spot of escapism. The concept of 'burnout' is pretty well established and charities are very aware of the dangers of ‘compassion fatigue’. Yet surely an equivalent danger lies in an unwillingness to confront the realities of life for a substantial minority of us here in the UK (and a clear majority if one takes a more global perspective). More... Living Poetry in the City October 2004 Most great cities make a feature of water, and London is blessed by a fine river and a canal system which, although (or perhaps I should say, because) it is rather tucked away from sight, is a haven in the midst of urban frenzy. Our riverfront has, to my mind, improved immeasurably in recent years, so that even in the very heart of town there are splendid vistas, both ancient and modern. The Grand Union may not be so mighty, but around every corner there is a jewel of a view, sometimes enhanced by the surprising contrasts of the backdrop. So we might not be surprised by the towpath in the context of Regent’s Park, but can be struck by an image of the smoke rising from the boats moored in the shadow of Lisson Green estate on a winter morning- an example, to my mind at least, of how the city can be living poetry. The basin at the heart of Little Venice is glorious at all times. I have seen people gasp with delight when, as strangers to the area, they have come across it just yards from the Westway and the Edgware Road. Stroll, or better still, sail along the stretch between the Basin and Sainsburys, alongside the magnificence of the church of Mary Magdelene, and along as far as Kensal Green, and a whole new image of London opens up. The canal is one of the few living, breathing, inner city means by which to measure the change of the seasons. More... Rising to the challenge for Pensioners October 2004 Latest figures show that 6051 pensioners in my constituency- in north Kensington and the north of Westminster- are now claiming the government’s Pension Credit, with an average payment of £68 a week on top of their basic state pension entitlement (and in addition, of course, to the £200 Winter Fuel Allowance and the £100 contribution towards Council Tax and free TV licences for the over-70s). What this means is that a great many pensioners are seeing the benefit from a government policy designed to make sure older people do not live in poverty. This policy has delivered most to those who were the poorest and those who had not been able to build up a full basic state pension because, for one reason or another, they had not made sufficient contributions- mostly women. More... Children our No.1 priority September 2004 Call me romantic, but I believe (and I have experienced) excellent child care provision playing a vital role in changing the lives of families and helping to transform neighbourhoods. I am, of course, spoiled. At the end of my own road stand two fantastic nurseries: Dorothy Gardner and Mary Paterson, and in my constituency we are also blessed to have Maxilla- the prototype children’s centre under the Westway motorway in North Kensington, the Portman in Church Street, and many others. I have been personally fortunate enough to have seen my child cared for by an outstanding childminder who in my son’s first year (though never thereafter) had access to a childminder drop-in; then a few hours a week at a Pre-School Play-Group, then a top-quality nursery school, and although, naturally enough, other parents may not want what I had, I am pretty convinced that the range, the choice and the quality should be widely available and affordable, offering options for working and non-working parents and linked in to wider neighbourhood regeneration priorities in deprived areas. More... Our Youngsters need Open Spaces September 2004 As a child, I may not have had much money, but I had access to space. Growing up in the country meant space to roam- across fields and woods. Play was improvised and expansive, stretching the body but, perhaps above all, stimulating the imagination. City children have never had the luxury of space. All but the very richest have been hemmed in by concrete, and even our wonderful London parks (and I think London's parks are amongst the best in the world) are a controlled and managed environment compared to the open countryside Yet thoughtfully constructed play provision can overcome many of these disadvantages, and can stretch children in different and sometimes better ways still. Certainly, city children must learn to negotiate with larger and more diverse groups of other children than is usually the case in rural areas, and cities have their own beauty and magic. Yet play provision receives so little attention in public policy terms that it is depressing. We pay plenty of attention to schools, rightly enough, we have begun to restore youth services to a central role; made considerable advances in the early year's agenda and are having serious debates about sports provision on the back of the Olympics and Olympic bid on the one hand, and the child obesity scares on the other. Yet play services in themselves are only slowly coming out of the shadows. More... 
Fighting for our post officesSeptember 2004 Public opinion has been described by leading opinion pollster Bob Worcester as being a little like a 600lb gorilla. Most of the time it sits quietly in the corner eating and is notoriously difficult to rouse, but, once stirred, you tend to wish you were somewhere else. Unflattering though the portrait may be (and remember they weren't my words!), it contains some truth. So pity the poor Post Office, which has prodded the gorilla of local opinion into a rage I have rarely encountered previously with the proposal to close a number of local offices, including Clifton Road, Park Road and Notting Hill. The number of letters I have received on this subject, and the size of the petitions being collected, reflect a strength of view I have rarely encountered on any local issue. More... July 2004 A Century of Local History July 2004 Safer neighbourhoods, better schools and hospitals... What else? June 2004 Beating Domestic Violence June 2004 Getting it right for London May 2004 Mad about cars May 2004 Housing Benefit - Where does it go wrong? April 2004 Back to School Day April 2004 (Housing Today) Home Truths on Housing March 2004 Fair Deal for Pensioners March 2004 World Quality Health Service, Locally March 2004 (Housing Today) 21st Century Localism March 2004 Lottery win for good causes February 2004 Hutton, Kelly and the future of the BBC / Alternative article January 2004 Best Wishes for the New Year December 2003 Funding for Schools in Westminster December 2003 What's Important November 2003 (Housing Today) Connecting Through Conversation November 2003 Too Good To Close November 2003 Fireworks - Spectacle or Stressful? November 2003 The Question of Taxation October 2003 (Housing Today) Housing Associations - serving a purpose? October 2003 (Times) Democracy Week - Are you involved? October 2003 (Housing Today) The permenancy of temporary accommodation October 2003 To have ID cards not not to have them? That is the question. September 2003 (NWL) St Mary's - Simply the Best September 2003 (LNG) Oh How Times Have Changed August 2003 (NWL) Make sure you're getting the assistance you deserve July 2003 (LNG) Trade Justice July 2003 (Housing Today) Seriously tackling the issue of serious overcrowding June 2003 (The Guardian) Party Faithful July 2003 (NWL) Celebrating giving a Sure Start for the next generation July 2003 (LNG) When we think of Health... do we think of Mental Health? July 2003 (NWL) Those who run the world June 2003 (LNG) Is Chocolate the Answer? May 2003 (WARF Residents Voice) Together we are beating Crime May 2003 (NWL Newspapers) The Passing of a Great Campaigner April 2003 (Wood & Vale) Westminster's priorities and the impact on education April 2003 (LNG) How far have we moved on in a decade? Housing Today Article March 2003 (Housing Today) The Price of Consumer Choice in Council Housing March 2003 (LNG) The 24-hour War April 2003 (NWL Newspapers) The Impact on the Globe of this War March 2003 (LNG) The Congestion Charge February 2003 (Housing Today) The Impact of the "Right to Buy" February 2003 (NWL Newspapers) The "easy" Road of a Refugee January 2003 (NWL Newspapers) Childcare in Westminster January 2003 (LNG) Happy New Year |
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