Adrian Monck mentions Martin Linton's comments about the Evening Standard on last weekend's Politics Show.
October 2006 Archives
Martin Linton was on the BBC's Politics Show last Sunday talking about London newspapers. He said that the Evening Standard wasn't really a London paper as it was largely read by people who were commuting home to places outside of London. He said
I think more people will read the Evening Standard in Tunbridge Wells than read the paper in Battersea.
The Press Gazette has a report and the programme will be available on the BBC web site until next Sunday's show replaces it.
This is Hertfordshire reports on the government's Civil Aviation Bill which was passed without a suggested clause which would potentially allow more night flights into Heathrow. Martin Linton is quoted as saying that it's not the number of flights that people should be concerned with but, rather, the amount of noise. He said:
I have always pressed for a complete ban on night flights into Heathrow or, failing that, a reduction in the permitted noise levels until everyone can sleep through the night.
This Government is committed to coming down on aircraft noise and the most effective way of doing that is to freeze numbers and reduce noise limits.
To portray this Government concession as a victory in the battle against aircraft noise is nonsense.
All they have done is to remove the power to define limits in terms of noise.
Martin Linton asked the Home Secretary how many caseworkers have been employed by the immigration and nationality directorate to work on asylum applications in each year since 1997. Liam Byrne, answering for the government, said that they did not have the data to answer the question.
Two news stories from the official site. both of which we've already covered here.
Crane safety raised in Commons talks about this discussion and goes to to say that Martin Linton has written to the health and safety minister, Anne McGuire.
Northcote fights back talks about the campaign to help the traders in Northcote Road who are in danger of being evicted due to rent increases.
Note: The links to newstories in the web feeds published by Martin Linton's official site are still broken. The links refer to martinlinton.org.uk, but that server isn't correctly redirecting requests to the new site at martinlinton.squarespace.com. The links I've provided above have been fixed.
The Wimbledon Guardian reports on a ceremony held at the Battersea Arts Centre earlier this month which recognised the work of a number of Wandsworth community groups. Martin Linton was present at the ceremony and was quoted in the article:
Community groups are often more in touch with residents and are the first port of call when they experience problems or hardships.
Only by supporting and empowering groups, many of whom are small and self-help groups, can we begin to build better relationships in neighbourhoods and communities and provide services and support to those most at need.
Read the full story
Martin Linton asked for data about how quickly decisions were reached on asylum applications. Liam Byrne answered for the Government.
Read the full exchange on TheyWorkForYou
The Times picks up on the story that Martin Linton is involved in Peter Hain's campaign to be the next Deputy Prime Minister. They also mention that Linton currently works for Harriet Harman, who is one of Hain's rivals for the job.
Candidates require nominations from 44 MPs. Mr Hain, the favourite, has been meeting MPs and is counting on more than 50 for support. His campaign team is run by Dan Norris, MP, his parliamentary private secretary; Paul Goggins, a Northern Ireland minister; and Martin Linton, the parliamentary private secretary for Mr Hain’s rival Ms Harman. Mr Linton said: “I am not in the role of PPS to support the minister in party terms, but in her ministerial job. She has no problem with it.â€
I've added a new source of information for the postings on this blog. I've set up a Technorati search for "Martin Linton" - so now we'll also see what bloggers are saying about him.
The Wimbledon Guardian has a story about the Battersea Tory party selecting their candidate who will contest the Battersea constituency in the next general election in 2009 or 2010. Jane Ellison is the editor of the John Lewis magazine Source and she is planning to move to Battersea in the near future.
The Wimbledon Guardian carries a story about Martin Linton's campaign to save Northcote Road.
Martin Linton asked the Leader of the House of Commons to find time in for a debate on crane safety following the tragic crane accident in Battersea. Jack Straw said that he would raise the issue with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
Read the full exchange on TheyWorkForYou
Martin Linton asked the Secretary of State for Northern Island about the merits of using ring-fenced funds to target specific policy areas in Northern Ireland. Peter Hain answered for the government.
Read the full discussion on TheyWorkForYou
Following a debate on the Civil Aviation Bill, Martin Linton issued a statement, which you can read on his official web site.
This Is Hertfordshire has a story about a "Question Time" evening that was held to rasie money for the Royal Hospital for Neurodisability in Putney. The evening was hosted by Sir Trevor MacDonald and guests included Martin Linton.
Update: There's also a report on the evening from the following week's paper.
There's a story on the official site about Martin Linton joining the All-Party Group for Small Shops which exists to highlight the problems of the small retailer and to draw attention to their social as well as commercial role. Martin Linton is particularly in Battersea's Northcote Road and he says:
Northcote Road is one of the nicest shopping streets in the country and we all want to keep it so. The question is how? The law gives us very limited opportunities to influence what kind of shops we get in a particular street. I’ll be working with the council to see what we can do with existing planning powers to help the independently-owned shops who are so important to the success of Northcote Road.
Unfortunately landlords are often very short-sighted, pushing up the rents when the street becomes more popular without realising that they may be pushing out the very independently-owned shops that make the street popular in the first place. This is a classic case of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
It would be good if the council had powers to limit the multiples to St John’s Road and keep Northcote Road for independently-owned shops, but the law can’t make those distinctions. I want to see through the All-Party Group if there are ways we can change the law to give councils the tools to help areas like this.
There seems to be something a bit strange going on over at the official web site. Stories from their web feed have been turning up in my RSS reader over the last few days, but whenever I try to follow one of the links I get a "Bad Request" error.
In the hope that it's problem that will get fixed soon, here are the links:
Please leave a comment if you manage to get these links to work.
Update: Aha! I know what's going on. The redirection from martinlinton.org.uk to martinlinton.squarespace.com seems to be broken. You can read the stories if you change the address that you try to access:
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