Matthew's Diary

This page will be updated regularly with new articles.

This is Matthew's Diary for 2008, please feel free to browse through the articles.

January 2008

5/1/08

This evening I met up with Boris Johnson in Southgate when he visited the Street Pastor scheme that operates in Enfield.  It was amazing to see just how many teenagers were hanging around the tube station and fast food restaurants on a very cold winter’s evening.  What was dreadful to see was the fact that Southgate Police Station was closed.  The shutters were down and yet both the fast food places next door to the station had had to telephone the police because of youths causing trouble in their restaurants.  Coupled with this, we did not see a single police officer patrolling Chase Side or a single police car drive up or down.  Southgate needs a greater police presence to reassure residents and it most certainly needs its police station.

17/1/08

Tonight I met with Jeremy Hunt MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, to discuss the 2012 London Olympics. The Government has just had to raid another £1.1 billion from the National Lottery but now it seems that any further costs will have to be met by the London Council Tax payer. This can not be right. The Olympics Games are a fantastic opportunity not just for London but for the whole country and so it should not be only Londoners who pay for it. The Government is getting into more and more of a mess over the funding of the 2012 London Olympics and it must find a fairer way of paying for it all.

31/1/08

This evening I attended Enfield Council’s Holocaust Memorial Day event at Kingsmead School.  The poetry readings from the school children were excellent and it was clear that they had done a lot of research on the topic.  It is so important that we continue to remember this awful episode in our history so that it never happens again.

February 2008

8/2/08

This evening I was pleased to be able to go to Broomfield School to celebrate gaining specialist Humanities status.  As a school teacher myself, I know how much work and effort must have gone in.  I congratulate the staff and governors for taking this step which will undoubtedly benefit the pupils at Broomfield.

12/2/08

This afternoon I went on an estate visit at Kettering Road to see for myself how the double-glazing and new balcony installation is going on at Dorset and Keys Houses.  Enfield Council’s Conservative administration is investing £3 million in these tower blocks and when the work is finished they will have been thoroughly modernised.

18/2/08

Today I launched my campaign to save the smaller post offices in Enfield and Haringey that are under threat of closure.  Post Office Ltd has announced that 6 post offices in Enfield and 6 post offices in Haringey are being considered for closure as part of the Labour Government’s plan to shut 2,500 branches nationwide.  For many older people, going to the post office is the only time they go out during the week.  Closing post offices on this massive scale in wrong and I intend to fight it.  Please e-mail me if you support the campaign to save our local post offices – matthew@matthewlaban.co.uk