Stroud Green Focus

andy

You asked why I thought Haringey Council was bad. I replied because of the appalling state of their Children's services. You said I don't know what I'm talking about and should get some evidence. I suggested that the Laming Report was a pretty good evidence, written by people who do know what they're talking about. For some reason this doesn't count. Is it the worst? Maybe. A council that has a Laming Report written about it and is under the sorts of special measures that Haringey is under, will not win Council of the Year. Your name calling does your argument no favours. Your argument, such as you seem have one, is that people shouldn't have views about things, or draw their own conclusions from evidence. This, as arguments go, is a little thin. So thanks for a lovely morning, I think I'm done here.

injoke

let's go back to the start here andy, you said:

"Perhaps, given the shocking state of Haringey Council (is there a worse one in the country),"

i asked you to justify your clear inference that haringey council is the worst in the country and you couldn't. you couldn't provide a cogent definition of better or worse, you couldn't provide a methodology to measure better and worse, you started throwing around terms like "baseline of competence" that you have *still* failed to define. then you present as your "evidence" an inquiry on a different question with a different remit that comes to different conclusions - and give that inquiry's methodology as if it addresses your assertion which it doesn't.

comments like "I'm sorry, you're right. Haringey Council are brilliant. All the dead babies confused me." don't do your argument any good either, but since you can't polish a turd that hardly matters.

when i'm the one passing judgements i can't objectively justify on complex issues that i know next to nothing about you're more than welcome to jump down my throat, until then - consider the possibility that you've been fairly (if perhaps inadvisably) called out for talking out of your arse.

andy

I really don't feel like I've been called out. I feel like I'm being hectored by a not-particularly-good student politician who's not sure what his point is, but is going to stand on his box and shout about it until the other side gives up. *when i'm the one passing judgements i can't objectively justify on complex issues that i know next to nothing about you're more than welcome to jump down my throat* Be sure not to vote then. That's all of the complex issues in a big bucket. Trident, climate change, war, local tax, the NHS. global economics, international development. They're all big and complicated. You'd best not have an opinion on any of them.

injoke

..and now it's name calling - fantastic!

it's great that you can repost my comments then flatly misrepresent them in the very next line. i'm not saying one shouldn't pass judgement on things one knows nothing about, i'm saying that if one does so in public one should expect them to be scrutinised and perhaps even (shock horror) debated! perhaps dumb acquiescence from forum members was what you had in mind when you set this site up. sorry about that.

andy

I don't mind scrutiny, or even name-calling. I just don't think yours is very good. One word from Jeremy Fisher, however, cuts me in half.

injoke

good oh chap. glad you're ok.

David

face counts.

Marquis

Cute.

becky

Who won?

taff bach

Interesting comment about Islington Arts and Media School. With 81% passes A-C at GCSE,57% Science,57% Maths and 53% English, the predjuce against the school is mad. I wish I had sent my kids there. I work there and it gets better year on year. Come for a visit

checkski

And, just for the record, IAMS is an Islington school, not Haringey. So are half the neighbouring primary schools.

checkski

...But I suppose that's pretty obvious from its name. Doh! I only mention it because this thread has been about the alleged failings of Haringey as a council, not Islington.

tosscat

I thought Iams was cat food.

tosscat

I am an Iams cat.

sg_mike

I was a bit nervous about moving over the border from Islington (Regina Road) to Haringey (Scarborough Road) a few years ago. It still doesn't feel "right" being in Haringey, I feel like there ought to be a campaign to join Stroud Green back up into Islington.

As much as I resent going to Wood Green to get parking permits, the people who work in the office there are incredibly friendly and helpful in the face of what I guess is quite a lot of abuse. When I went up there to get parking permits for builders, they took time to explain what each of the type of parking permits were. And then they slipped me a few more sheets for free saying I'd need them for when the builders overran. They were right as well ...

I don't have a lot of time for local councillors, I think a lot of it's a waste of time. What I want is a few people elected who make sure all the people that work for the council are doing a good job and using money properly. I've never worked out why there's party politics involved as the politicians make b*gger all difference to how well things are done.

Ah, this vodka tastes good ...