Well clearly I'm not as clever as you Sam, and not as familiar with the way that Labour operates in my part of the world, so in my stupidity I just carry on assuming - in the absence of any evidence to the contrary and all things remaining the same - that they will still be doing things next week in the same way that they do them this week and that they did them last week.I note you have confidence that Councillor Curran is committed to improving citizen engagement. This in spite of Church Street, the Pit Park saga, the harassment of residents trying to raise money from rugby parking, Brent Lea rec, the abolition of the borough's tenants' federation, the shameful abuse of a special relationship with local police to try to bully a 65-year-old resident activist - have I missed anything? These are the things my lack of confidence in him is based upon. What is the basis of the faith that you have in him?Residents in Isleworth have a proud history of self-organisation. We held Council seats for 12 years, we removed them from office for four. Yes, you can say with justification that they learned nothing from the experience and you can rightly point out that the machine finally managed to overwhelm the residents (with a little help from their friends, eh Sam?), but a calling card has been left and for as long as they carry on treating local people in the way that they do they will always be looking over their shoulders.Ideas ultimately can only be beaten by better ideas, they cannot be suppressed indefinitely by brute force and bullshit.Of course your situation is different from ours, because unlike us you have at least the crumbs from the table in the form of your little protectorate in W4, which you are happy with in exchange for your deference. Fair play to you for that, I make no criticism of you for the path you have chosen to walk. But we in Isleworth are made of sterner stuff.
Phil Andrews ● 3486d