Is it a conversation?

I've spent today finding out.

In one day this is how far I've gotten and the other things I have been up to.

7am googled rbc homeless strategy. A load of "stuff" pops up all of it suggests it is paid for through combined Borough/3rd sector/HRA will come back to this later need to get the kids off to school. On the walk to school at 8:15 I listened to this ted talk on the subject then stood in the playground like one of those disengaged mothers reading the actual homeless strategy Richard Davies was the lead Councillor responsible for delivery at the time of publication. Considerable consultation went into this document although I get distracted by the graph on page 7 that details market rent and affordable rent against the local housing allowance. Reading isn't really affordable is it? New cuts are coming with universal credit, more people will be homeless in the new year.

In between all this I have done some work, you know the stuff that pays my bills. So I am checking over the paperwork and adding up and my eyes are getting crossed so I decide to go in town and look at stuff the housing pathway have on display in the town centre.

Social housing is the best solution and one that was identified by the council quite some time ago The firm foundations strategy can be found here in it you find references to all kinds of documents. At the time when this was written Debs Edwards was the lead Councillor. Since then we have had Rachel Eden, Richard Davies and now John Ennis. Page 19 on has some good info to get your head around the different terms that people use in planning and strategy for housing.

Two other major problems are faced by the lead Councillors are the forcible reduction in rental income to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and the new Housing and Planning act. The reduction in rent was an idea proposed to George Osbourne by the Policy Exchange and primarily Alex Morton. There is some recollection in my head about him working for the chancellor at some point so this is a jobs for the boys thing. The housing and planning act became a bit of a football that got kicked around the Lords and back. This is the point where I begrudgingly admit their worth. This is the briefing from HoC library that I skimmed on the bus on the way in to town. It was clearly too much to read but if you want to know more hit up our good comrade Micky Leng for a lively debate on the topic. I couldn't sus whether the regulations this winter had been issued yet or not. Perhaps that would be something somebody else could find out. It is at this point that I realize I am being drawn into a quagmire of acts and regulations. A literal minefield that is as far as I can tell now set up to favour those who can afford to buy. No revelation there then.

I get to the display thing they have and it's past lunch time so I grab up all the info I can get and head to pret. The sheer volume of work getting done is staggering, it's not just camp beds and soup, there are support workers with tailored plans to assist with addiction, behavioral and mental health problems, employ-ability, life skills like cooking. Then I find it the absolute corker, a leaflet titled should I give money to beggars?

So now we know, the people who are on the front line are asking us not to encourage cash begging. Last night's discussion is ringing in my head so I leave my latte and stomp back outside to the assembled CIRDIC staff and challenge them. Do they think promoting this leaflet is imposing their values on homeless people?"NO"they say. The nice lady looks weary of this question already. The look on her face makes me feel like an ignorant child about to be schooled. "Feeding drug addiction makes our fellow human beings less able to recover. It prolongs their time on the streets and makes it harder for them to break the destructive cycle they are in. Drug and alcohol addiction make it harder for them to access health and well being services. Enabling a person to destroy their lives is not a 'nice' thing to do to people is it?" I was right, I got schooled.

I went back to my nice warm council flat. It was 2.50pm

Whilst all that is lovely we are also out campaigning on the causes of homelessness, like the bedroom tax campaign. Sign it here please or come out with Whitley ward activists on Saturday. There is some work being done to identify the isolated residents around the town and then of course there is all the work going on to decrease the gaps in inequality and access to services. Better education in a difficult delivery environment. None of these things happen as though by magic, since you asked me to take the chair of RDLP I have seen the absolute best of our party at work, ordinary every day people have put themselves forward to support the people of Reading through voluntary, community and political engagement. Their service to us as a party and a town should be recognized and respected.

I was reminded recently that while we are volunteers we are not amateurs. In order to convince the public then we first have to convince ourselves. That means getting informed. It is not hard, we can all do it, we need to be able to listen as well as talk. Challenge is fine, without it we would be a sorry lot but when faced with facts we must open our minds to the idea that we are not always right.

Delivering the Message.

Wednesday 30th December 2015 was a good day.

It  didn't start well, it turns out that some Tories may have been a bit racist in the 80's and that the government ignored it's own advice on flood defense spending.

Facebook, twitter, the news. It really didn't matter where I looked that morning there seemed to be mysery and duplicitous behaviour all over the place. It started with a retweet from Dianne Abbott. For anyone who is interested she's the shadow minister for international development and a woman I admire but at times just wish she would open her peepers and shut her mouth a little more. Anyway, this was all about how Oliver Letwin had written a very disparaging briefing to Margaret Thatcher blocking money for black youth initiatives after the 1985 riots. He basically said that young black people would only spend it on discos, drugs and Rastafarian craft activities which would of course be a waste of money.

So, that was then, now this condesdcending sod has been put in the cabinet office. Responsible for goverment policy he worked with insurers to form a response to flood crisis and assist those homeowners and businesses on flood plains-which I am sure is very comforting to those who have to board a canoe to take the rubbish out tonight.

It would seem though that Mr Letwin didn't quite follow through on the whole plan, instead he decided that businesses shouldn't be included in Flood re and closed the programme just weeks before storm Desmond wreaked havoc on the north of England. We now have storm Frank's floodwaters too and an eerie feeling of foreboding for the prospects of the chancellor's Northern Powerhouse folly (seriously, how do you deliver that when you let industies like steel fail?).

The absolute last straw came while I was in the kitchen. The TV mumbled THAT line, ....a stronger economy blah blah... It makes my blood boil every time. Bare faced lies, rehearsed and spouted by weak minded clones!

I had to turn over to something that made sense. I put the muppets on. The Muppets have some new characters and one of them started singing about caring and sharing.

Right then with that stupid song stuck in my head I was finally motivated and suitably informed of the day's biggest stories. I grabbed as many of the calendar gifts & ward newsletters as I could stuff in my bag and I delivered them. Before I knew it I was pounding the streets chanting "Caring... and sharing..."

Now I've delivered ward newsletters before but never with such an array of Muppets in my mind. The images of ruined farms, stranded livestock, waterlogged shops and convenience stores. Beachfronts, roads and promenades washed away by angry rivers and seas still played on the TV back at home. Every alert that shook the phone in my pocket to some other description of powerlessness and suffering seemed to make the chant more meaningful. Caring and sharing, caring and sharing, caring and sharing. CARING AND BLOODY SHARING!

I have never been so grateful to live in Redlands.

As I pushed an array of essential information through letterboxes I think I finally understood what Corbyn and McDonnell have been spouting.

It's me! I am angry, but I don't need to shout. All I need to do is take a well formed, useful and fair message to my neighbours house, pop it through the letterbox and let it do it's job.

I took a message and I delivered it. It spoke about promises met for schools, ambitions for westminster, essential information and contacts, local organisations and small businesses, local budget challenges and above all it showed how the Labour party IS different. How we can be more than just fodder for the food bank or zero hours employer. How if we invest now we can save ourselves from mysery later.

I get it, I am an activist!

I'm going to keep on being an activist, this year is all about Tony Jones and making sure he stays right where he is, forming the message, so that I can share it with my neighbours.