Brexit and moving London forward

When I look at the comments here, it is Christmas clear to me that Brexit happened because most people are clueless about what it means exonmically to have free access to the nulber one market in the world which represented half of our exports. And'how long this will take to change. I don't think asking the population is a good way to go about it because this isn't a very technical issue only experts and highly educated people can grasp. Of course we could listen to the experts but somehow this country "has had enough of experts". Well here we are.m in this mess now. The best way to go forward is to negotiate free access which will come with freedom of movement. Limited freedom of movement will come with limited access, which will hit us hard. When it comes to london, financial passporting is in the balance. I think your best bet is to activley lobby for freedom of movement for Europeans. Or you ll lose a ¼ to a ½ of the city. Emmanuel Macron and many MEPS and heads of state or governments have been racheter clear about this so far. And it was expected. Let's cut to the chase and stop being in denial
And let's try to fix this.

Whether or not I voted for Sadiq Khan is neither here nor there, the fact is I had a vote and on the ballot paper the name 'Sadiq Khan' was there for me to choose or not, however in all the years that the UK has been in the EU I've never seen any of the Euro MP's on a ballot paper.
I've never seen the name 'Donald Tusk' on any ballot sheet and really don't recall voting for any of those in the UK who stood for election.
The faceless people who infest the Brussels building and still haven't had their expenditure audited and signed off for the last 50 years and this makes me wonder as to what is going on there and why can't they sign off the accounts ?
Any business that refused to sign off its' accounts would have the taxman taking them to court and the people that were running this business being either imprisoned or fined or both and yet this hasn't happened in Brussels, I wonder why ?
An unaccountable and unelected parliament is the way that dictators such as Adolf Hitler, Franco, Robert Mugabe and many others ran and, in some cases, still run their countries, my father fought against Franco and Hitler because he believed in the right of People to live in democratic freedom or to put it simply, 1 person, 1 vote.
I do not wish to live in a dictatorial super state with an unelected head, an unelected commission and unelected commissioners, all of who decide how I should live day to day.

I was bitterly disappointed with the result; in London I feel it is vital that we emphasise the value of our mixed heritage (both historic and more recent) I worry that the result will be seen as endorsing all sorts of racism and reaction.
On a less eu related area I really think that County Hall should consider a vigorous campaign to reverse the right to buy scheme. This has been the predominant underminer of social housing over the last thirty odd years and while it remains in place I can't see much point in encouraging councils to build homes which will just be bought out of the community as soon as humanly possible. Addressing the London housing problem(obviously in other ways too) just might begin to change the mindset of the disadvantaged brexiters.

It is important that all the country moves forward not just one part of it. London may currently create much of the wealth for the country, but perhaps now is the time to put efforts into increasing earnings outside London. Aim for a balanced London economy where the extremes of wealth & poverty are reduced. Improve quality of life. There is no point in having a city so expensive that the people needed to provide council services, police, hospitals etc cannot afford to live & work there. Even less point in making it even more expensive.
Build some prefab housing to house those currently necessary for London at affordable prices but discourage new businesses which will rely on people commuting long distances. Aim to provide a good work life balance for Londoners. Let people have time and incentive to provide some of those things which are better provided by family or volunteers rather than spending their time commuting.
Now is a chance to move forward with new industry throughout the country making things for the world rather than having to buy goods where the EU standards they are made to is for the benefits of industry rather than consumers. It would be good to make wealth for the country by innovating and making things rather than taking money for moving money around.

Refer two comments above:
Well said, Rosemary! The EU referendum was much better than a general election because it was nationwide, each and every vote counted, the result was unambiguous with a clear win with over a million vote lead, and most of all, the turnout was much higher than in any local or general election.
Kronen. Yes indeed, Mayor lied! The election promise was clearly stated as "No increase in fares until 2020!". Don't get much plainer, does it? A clear and definate statement! Oh, but hold on. A few days after he wins, he says the costs of certain travel cards WILL increase because he has no control over those type of fare rises!
But I don't feel democracy died many years ago. I think that history reveals that we have never really had it at all in this country!

If there were lies (by either side) and the lies come to light before the triggering of Artical 50 (which they have) then the result should NOT count whatsoever and Article 50 should NOT be triggered. you buy something from a store and it's not as advertised you would take it back and quite rightly so, This you cannot take back, if you feel like you were cheated by falsehoods they have illegally got your vote on such an important issue, but alas nobody is listening to these people, the Tory party just want out and say it was democratic, Well if lies are involve the democracy goes right out of the window

Just a few polite corrections and comments on Rosemary Pettitt posting above.

Being born into, and living until my teenage years in the most deplorable private renting under Rachman in the East End of the 50's and 60's, I can speak with authorization and experience on "degredation of property". A four room house, split into two flats, two up two down, for two seperate families with kids, a shared outside toilet and a tin bath brought in from the garden for a bathroom etc. Then, as now, this wasn't because of rent capping, but sheer greed on the part of Landlords! This was only cured by compulsory purchase (rightfully for next to nothing) by local councils who demolished them and replaced them with new builds of mass social housing which lead to elimination of slums with a giant improvement on society as a whole.

As for the woman you know who rented in a smart area when on benefits, this does smack of "know you're place and move out into and among your own kind!". WHY is she on benefits? Maybe disabilities, mental health issues, necessary family help in the area?? You don't know no more than I. If the H.A. was unpoliced, then why did she have to move into lower price? We must agree that it wasn't out of choice! So that makes the statement that it is unpoliced total nonsense!

How is social housing financed by those paying market price? In some areas, 80% of private properties are bought and owned by foreign nationals, not to live in, but left empty as pure investments! This, when my own council has only 7,000 properties and 15,000 on the waiting list for a roof over their head! Still, you are "private" so what do you care about the homeless or the low paid? You're all right, Jack!

Totally wrong about council and housing assoc not being assessed! Haven't you heard of something called "The Bedroom Tax"? £40 per week deduction per room from your allowance? You quote people you know, and so will I.
1) A 87 year old pensioner who will not be given the second room her health demands for her oxygen cylinders and other paraphanalia that keeps her alive. So she has spent the last 3 months in hospital, bed blocking, simply because no suitable accomadation available for her!
2) Another 66 year old pensioner, again denied the second room needed for her dialysis equipment that keeps her alive (if you can call laying there all day having your blood changed living!) because they won't bother with a kidney doner at her age!
If I sound bitter and resentful of the injustice of those examples, maybe it is because I am!

You speak of those, like yourself, who have supposedly "worked for" and now own your home as if you are something special, and it is something that everybody could and should do! Or do you own it yet? Are you one of those idiots who state indignantly "No, I'm in no debt whatsoever! I only have my £400,000 mortgage."

As for being someone "special" in having a mortgage, I too once had a large four bedroom house, circle driveway, an Italian sports car each for me and the wife, conservatory and all the trimmings. I think I can safely say I too "worked for it" after 9 years in the parachute regiment, including a 21 month tour, plus eleven further "emergency" short tours in Northern Island in IRA bandit country, followed by TWO battles across the Falklands, i.e. at Goose Green and Wireless Ridge! Leaving in disgust after the Falklands, I then went through 15 promotions from carriage cleaner to Depot Manager on the railways for 32 years! I feel that qualifies me as "working for it". However, at the age of 58, my wife decided to divorce me, getting 90% of the home I alone had worked and paid for, plus everything else I had, while at the same time, getting compulsoraly redundant from my Railway career. This left me homeless at age 59.

By the way, when was private housing last assessed for council tax? In 1992, that's when! If they did that now, long overdue, could you afford the 500% rise that would match the £400,000 house prices you are now so proud of? God help you if they went back to the rateable system, before poll tax. The average rates in London would be about £40,000 to £50,000 P.A. How would you afford that, may I ask?

So don't get too complacent, Rosemary, of being "Private" and having your own home. You never know when it will be taken away from you and you will then literally beg for social housing and benefits to live, and to not be cast onto the streets with the other thousands of homeless in London! Can you guarentee you will not suffer a stroke, or become so disabled where you will need to sell you home to pay that money to a greedy landlord at over £3000 per week for the constant 24 hour care you will then need? You will soon find the house that you "own" will soon dwindle to owning nothing should you live long enough in the care home. No, you cannot guarantee that will not happen, the same as any other home owner cannot guarantee it won't happen to them!

So be careful before you judge, lest yee be judged! For Judgement Day may come sooner than expected.

Answer to Christine & Talk London Team

My 3 top priorities are:

1) Housing. Please, please, please fight for the right to cap rents in London. With the new Government law on Housing Allowance Caps, many vulnarable people including pensioners in care homes, will be kicked out onto the street and become homeless. This is because the difference between housing allowance and the cost of rent in the real world in London is so great that ordinary people simply do not have the income to make up the financial gap.
Secondly, London is desperate for new social housing. I do not want to hear about 50,000 new homes being built with a PERCENTAGE being "affordable" which means an income of at least £30,000 p.a. What good is that to people beneath that salary??

2) Health: Due to the overcrowding in London, we must have more funding for our NHS across the board. Totally unacceptable that it is 4 weeks to see a G.P., cannot find any dentist that will take on NHS patients (too busy earning thousands pumping Botox into rich faces), with emergency A&E being kept in ambulances for 3 hours because the hospitals need to "tick the boxes" that no patient waited in the A&E dept for more than 4 hours! That's immoral, hypocritical and a downright lie!

3) Please face the reality of so called "community policing"! Please tell the truth, that PCSO's are NOT police officers, and have only as much power as a civilian! Less power than a traffic warden in fact, because they cannot even issue a parking ticket! They are not authorized to take a crime report, a witness report, make an arrest, - or anything else you would expect from a police officer. They merely do (for a handsome salary) what society should, would and could be doing for itself, i.e. reporting anything that may need police attention! Couple of weeks training in First aid and Health and Safety DOES NOT equate to six months of residential police training at Hendon, burning the midnight oil in order to pass the police exams. Yet they dress them up in identical and full police uniforms to fool the public that we have "Bobbies on the beat"! PCSO's were a con trick by Tony Blair that should be recognized, admitted and disbanded. For 2 PCSO salaries, we could employ another one fully trained and qualified response officer, which London truly needs! When cuts in police are mentioned, please acknowledge this difference between Community service officers and police officers!

What a bunch of frightened pussys the generations of under 50's are!
Going back to the original questions:
1) London is part of Great Britain, which voted out of the EU. So suck it up and accept we are leaving, and the sooner the better! Stop talking bull with Independence for London. What next, Canvey Island to form its own government?
2) Being in EU didn't mean just access to single market. Started that way, but became a political ideal of a Unified Europe, with Germany calling the shots. Wake up and get real! 28 different nations would never agree on the bleeding colour chairs they sit on! We are (or will be, if and when it happens) a free and independant Nation and Sovereignty where we can and will determine our own future in the world!! W'll do our own trade deals, as and when!
3) Key issues etc. Bloody simple stupid! We have to change the dog eat dog world of Thatcherism by returning politically to the real values of a Socialist Party according to Kier Hardie, which is needed today as much as it was in the 19th century. This is the biggest challenge, as getting into power is far more important to most Labour MP's than principles, values, integrity, honesty, fairness and equality for which the Party was needed to be formed for in the first place.