Hackney AGM 2013

Hackney AGM 2013
AGM 2013
23/05/2013
Diane Abbott MP - the Labour Party
Working hard for the people of
Hackney North and Stoke Newington
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Hackney AGM 2013
AGM 2013
DIANE ABBOTT MP, HACKNEY NORTH AND STOKE
NEWINGTON
Standing up for Hackney
This Government’s record is one of economic failure and it’s hard-working people in Hackney, who
do the right thing who are footing the bill. With prices rising faster than wages, the economy
flatlining and one million young people out of work, the Tory-led Government’s priority this April
was to cut taxes by an average of £100,000 for 13,000 people earning over £1 million. Policies
like this aren’t going to help hard-working families in Hackney trying to make ends meet.
The perfect opportunity for David Cameron and Nick Clegg to demonstrate which lessons have
been learnt came on Wednesday when the Queen opened Parliament and delivered a speech
outlining the Government’s priorities for the year ahead.
This was a chance to rebuild our economy and get people back into work but instead it offered no
change and no hope. Energy bills, water bills, paying the mortgage, the cost of getting to work –
these are the issues that are worrying families in Hackney but the Government has absolutely
nothing to say about it. In its deafening silence the Government demonstrated how utterly out of
touch it is with the real needs of people in Hackney.
The inescapable truth is that this government is targeting the most deprived areas of England,
including Hackney, for the deepest cuts in benefits, tax credits and council services, while
protecting affluent parts of the country.
The list of 10 local authority areas hardest hit by the cuts includes seven out of the eight most
disadvantaged parts of the country, according to the Government's own deprivation index.
Hackney ranks in the list.
Hackney deserves better than this Tory government. I know my constituents are feeling really
squeezed. The Tories are really beginning to show their true colours, zeroing in on areas like
Hackney and hitting people hard.
And to top it all, the fire station in Kingsland Road, Haggerston has now officially been named as
one of 12 stations across the capital earmarked for closure, under plans by London Fire Brigade
to save £28.2million over the next two years. Hackney Police Station is also pinpointed for closure,
as part of the Met’s bid to make half a billion pounds worth of savings by 2016.
Communities facing the biggest hit to local government are losing most from cuts to their tax
credits and benefits, yet instead of helping working families the Tories are giving millionaires a
tax cut. That tells you everything you need to know about this Government's priorities.
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Year at a glance
This year, I have…
 taken on around 2,000 new cases, an increase of 300 compared to last year. This
makes a total of existing cases of 13,765 on our database.
 spoken in 27 debates in the last year.
 asked 253 written parliamentary questions in the last year — well above average
amongst MPs.
 voted in 67.65% of votes in this Parliament.
 And answered thousands and thousands of letters from people in Hackney about
the issues that matter to them.
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Recent Constituency event highlights
It’s been a very busy year of constituency events, visits and campaigns in Hackney. Here is a
selection of some of the highlights from the year…
At Clapton Salvation Army
Friday 15 June – Visit to Homerton Sexual Health Clinic
Saturday 23 June – Hackney Weekend
Thursday 28 June – Summer Reception of ‘Friends of Hackney Community Law Centre’
Friday 29 June – Visit to Ickburgh School
Wednesday 11 July – Meeting about Sainsburies’ Stoke Newington plans
Thursday 12 July – Hackney Community Law Centre debate about social welfare law
Sat 2 August – Itfar dinner with Hackney Turkish community
Saturday 18 August – Honouring our Local Heroes’ local Olympic event
Thursday 6 September – The presentation of the new school minibus – our Lady’s Convent High
School
Friday 7 September – Visit to St Mungo’s North London Women’s Hostel – Stoke Newington
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Saturday 13 September – Agudas Isreal housing association 31st anniversary AGM
Thursday 20 September – Visit to Clapton Corps Salvation Army
Saturday 22 September – Unveiling of commemorative plaque to Harold Pinter, Clapton
Wednesday 26 September – Northwold Primary School
Wednesday 26 September – Hackney Fairtrade Steering Group – Council chamber
Thursday 11 October – Black History Month – Mossbourne Year 12 Assembly
Thursday 11 October – Visit to Hackney’s A4e Work Programme
Monday 15 October – Visit to Cardinal Pole school
Wednesday 31 October – Hackney Pensioners Convention visit to the House of Commons
Thursday 1 November – CSV Young Hackney Volunteers Celebration Event
Friday 9 November – Youth Work Week, Hackney Youth Centre
Tuesday 13 November – Jack Petchey Achievement Award Ceremony
Sunday 18 November – a celebration of the restored Clissold House
Wednesday 28 November – anti-gun an knife crime imitative St john of Hackney
Friday 25 January – Holocaust Memorial Day – Hackney Town Hall
Friday 25 January – Visit to Hackney Community College
Saturday 26 January – IntoUniversity Hackney Downs
Thursday 7 February – Dalston Ward Meeting, Rhodes Estate Hall
Friday 8 February – Visit to Free2Learn in Hackney
Sunday 3 March – Hackney North, Ethnic Minority Forum
Tuesday 12 March – Public meeting on benefits cuts with Mayor Jules Pipe
Thursday 21 March – Kurdish new year celebration – Hackney town hall
Friday 26 April – Google campus with Jack Petchey school
Friday 17 May – Meeting with Re. Brian Robinson, Senior Pastor of the New Testament Church of
God
Friday 17 May – Sutton House, Homerton High Street
Friday 17 May – Hackney Picturehouse, Mare Street
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Hackney casework
Immigration and housing has continued to dominate the constituency caseload. There has been a
slight increase in the number of housing and welfare benefits casework. In the case of housing we
are mainly being approached by constituents living in unsuitable, overcrowded accommodation
who are seeking a transfer or Council tenants chasing up longstanding repair requests they’ve
made to Hackney Homes. The rise in the number of welfare benefit cases, including Housing
Benefit, can be attributed to the high unemployment rate in Hackney as well as the Government’s
welfare reform agenda. Since I took up my Shadow Public Health position there has also been a
slight increase in the number of people contacting her with complaints about health issues. Finally in
the last year there has been a rise in the number of local businesses contacting us for help because
they struggling to keep up with their business rate payments.
Campaigning on the Woodberry Downs Estate
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Still fighting for our NHS
As part of Labour’s health team, I am continuing the fight against this government’s attack on our
NHS, on healthcare staff, and on patients. The growing A&E crisis started on David Cameron’s
watch and it’s not good enough to blame the crisis on something that happened 10 years ago.
In 2009, 98% of people were seen within the 4-hour A&E target. Now A&E departments are
under intense pressure and struggling in a way not seen since the bad old days of the mid-1990s.
Almost 5,000 nursing posts have been cut since May 2010, over £1bn has been cut from social
care budgets and the introduction of the 111 helpline has been shambolic. This is why more
people are coming to A&E.
The Government must take responsibility for this crisis and urgently get a grip.
The Tory-led Government’s massive cuts to nursing are putting patients’ lives at risk as figures show
that major A&E units across London are struggling and have consistently missed their waiting times
targets over the last six months.
Staffing shortages across the NHS have left A&E departments over-stretched and under severe
pressure, with reports of ambulances queuing outside and patients left on trolleys for hours on end.
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Building Labour’s family-led public
health revolution
At Cardinal Pole School in Hackney – October 2012
Public health policy has got to be radical, it’s got to be rooted in what works, and it’s got to put
Britain’s families at the forefront. A number of issues need to be confronted head-on – the country’s
obesity crisis, an out of control binge-drinking culture, an approach to sexual health that is outdated by
society’s attitude to sex, and the way mental health in this country has been marginalised.
In November last year, I officially launched the Labour Party’s Policy Review of Public Health in
Birmingham. As part of this, I am travelling to every region in England to continue the conversation. So
far, I have visited Manchester, Newcastle, Plymouth, Norwich, and Leeds, and I am continuing visits
across the country. The purpose of these events is to ask Local Authorities and party members to
address certain questions, explore fresh ideas and share best practice.
The approach I am building for Labour on public health is not about banning things, but rather about
empowering communities, strengthening families to do the right thing, and helping to provide the civic
space that Britain needs. My priority is making sure Labour Party members lead this discussion.
But I also want to make sure the best and the brightest ideas from around the world are heard. We
have set up an advisory committee on Public Health policy, and are doing work on international public
health policy.
Over the last couple of months, I have visited Copenhagen, Brussels and Helsinki to meet with health
spokespeople and policy experts.
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My speeches
The response to some of my speeches this year has been phenomenal, and gratefully received my
office. In particular, in January, I spoke at the Fabian Women’s Network, where I gave a speech
on the ‘pornification’ of British culture and society, where I made the case for Statutory Personal,
Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education and Sex and Relationships Education (SRE), and
making it easier for parents to block adult and age-restricted material across all media.
We also received a lot of correspondence about my speech in the House of Commons during the
tributes to Baroness Thatcher. I wanted to make sure that those people who opposed Margaret
Thatcher were given a voice - whether they are people who felt that the poll tax had been
imposed on them wrongly, young people who were caught up in the difficult relationships between
police and communities in our inner cities, people who were dismayed by her unwillingness to
impose economic sanctions on South Africa and by her insistence on calling the African National
Congress a terrorist organisation, and also those people caught up in the miners’ strike.
Most recently, we have been inundated with correspondence about a speech I gave to Demos. In
my speech, I argued that argued that rapid economic and social change has affected male
identity, and created a number of largely unspoken problems. I made the case for the ways in
which families, the bond between father and children, and expectations around young men must
be strengthened.
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Here is the text of my speech in January to the Fabian Women’s Network:
The sexualisation of women and girls in British society and culture: putting
families back in control
Introduction
I am delighted to be speaking here this evening at this Fabian Women‟s Network event. Thank you
Ivana and everyone at the Fabian Women‟s Network, and also to Cath Elliot and Unison.
I‟m particularly pleased to be here on the birthday of Beatrice Potter Webb – who was one of our
most important twentieth century feminists, and a key founder of the Fabian Society.
The sexualisation of women and girls
My speech this evening is about the sexualisation of women and children in British society and
culture.
I make this speech as a card-carrying feminist.
I‟m someone who has gone on the marches, worn the t-shirts and has the dungarees hanging in the
back of her wardrobe to prove it.
As President Obama indicated in his inauguration address yesterday, feminism is one of the great
movements of the last century that has helped liberate millions of women around the world.
Sexuality is becoming increasingly pornified and commodified
So what is the problem? I think sexuality is becoming increasingly pornified and commodified.
I think a number of recent events – including the Jimmy Savile revelations, the recent political debate
around abortion, and the PIP breast implant scandal – have revealed a darker side of British culture, in
which the sexualisation of women and young girls is entrenched, and yet women who fall victims to
problems within this culture are often seen as the problem - cast-aside, silenced and delegitimised.
We see penalties paid by those who do not conform to our hypersexualised culture, and we see
penalties for those who fall victim.
I want to highlight what I believe is the rise of a „secret garden, strip-tease culture‟ in British schools
and society, which has been put beyond the control of British families by fast-developing technology,
and an increasingly pornified British culture
I am not saying sex is sordid and shameful. And I do not believe that is the view of the British public.
I do not believe that there was some rose-tinted past on matters of sexuality. Sometimes adults forget
what they were like when they were young. Adolescents have always been fascinated by sex and
young people have always sought to go out dressed in as little as possible or in clothes that expressly
accentuated their sexual characteristics –think of mediaeval codpieces or a Victorian bustle.
There’s something wrong with society...
I reject the notion of “Broken Britain” but...
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
There‟s something wrong with a society as a whole when children say they have no-one to
turn to for advice because their parents – outwitted by technology, and struggling to juggle work and
home life – don't really know what's going on.

There‟s something wrong with a society when many young girls of all classes are pressurised
into exposing themselves online, and are then humiliated.

There‟s something wrong with a society when most children say their sex education is out-oftouch, irrelevant and too little too late. And where boys end up turning to hardcore online
pornography to teach them what they think they need to know.

There‟s something wrong with a society that normalises children of every background
„sexting‟ in schools.

There‟s something wrong with a society that sells t-shirts for little girls emblazoned with
"future porn star", and when padded bras, thongs and high heeled shoes are marketed and sold to
children. And when little girl‟s pencil cases come with a Playboy Bunny logo.

And there is something wrong with a society where we spend more on plastic surgery than
any other country in Europe as a direct result of female (and increasingly male) dissatisfaction with
their body driven by a popular culture where sexuality is commodified. It is no co-incidence that one
of the growth areas for plastic surgery is young girls wanting to make their vagina and its lips “neater”
because pornographic images lead them to believe that they are not “normal” down there.

There something wrong with a society that has gangs of disenfranchised young men who use
rape and sexual assault as the weapon of choice.
This is not about prudishness or hankering after some rose-tinted picture of childhood. What I‟m
here to say is that we need to work towards creating a society in which young people and adults can
navigate their sexualities without risk of shame, harassment or violence.
A generation under stress
A 2008 study by Girlguiding UK and the Mental Health Foundation found that premature
sexualisation and pressure to grow up too quickly are two "key influences" in the anxiety felt by girls.
According to Dr. Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation, "Girls and
young women are being forced to grow up at an unnatural pace in a society that we, as adults, have
created and it's damaging their emotional well-being. We are creating a generation under stress."
This pressure on children to grow up takes two different but related forms: the pressure to take part in
a pornified culture at a very early age; and the commercial pressure to consume the vast range of
goods and services that are available to children and young people of all ages.
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Our civic space
Sexualised imagery in advertising and on billboards has become the wallpaper of our lives.
Our civic space has become defined by it – the looming sexualised advertising; the music videos that
blare out at us; the fashionable online bullying; the hypermasculinised music lyrics, and the sexualised
figures of women in films that are now commonplace. We‟re seeing an alien, warped view of sex
normalised into our culture, engrained by the invisible hand of the market.
And at the same time, cosmetic surgery is increasingly normalised. Last year in the UK, almost 9,500
women underwent breast augmentation surgery.
Turbo-charged by technology
We‟ve seeing an extraordinary growth of new technology, which is accelerating these issues at warp
speed.
Findings from Beatbullying reveal that 28% of 11-to-16-year-olds have been deliberately targeted,
threatened or humiliated by an individual or group through the use of mobile phones or the internet.
According to Cindy Gallop, an advertising consultant, the average age kids view hardcore porn has
dropped from 11 to eight. A recent YouGov survey found that 27 per cent of boys are accessing
pornography every week.
And there are series of modern issues that schools and families must confront – such as the rise of
„sexting‟ and „slut-shaming‟ in schools. Mobile phones allow young people easy access to all kinds
of online content, regardless of whether or not it is appropriate.
Mobile phones are also being used for so-called „sexting‟ – the sending, often unsolicited, of sexually
explicit messages.
And yet, at the same time, fewer than one rape victim in 30 can expect to see her or his attacker
brought to justice. Plus nearly one in five of all women in England and Wales report that they have
been the victim of a sexual offence since the age of 16.
A prison, not a liberation
Let me be clear – this isn‟t about moral decay; it‟s about the problems with myths of women's
unconditional sexual availability and object status, and the undermining of rights to sexual autonomy,
physical safety and economic and social equality.
These are right that have been fought for, and must continue to be re-won. On this day in 1973 - 22nd
January – the birthday of Beatrice Potter Webb as I mentioned at the start, the US Supreme Court
recognised women‟s rights to reproductive autonomy.
This pornified culture tells girls in particular that they are only valued as a sex object. It tells girls that
the most important quality they need is 'sexiness', and not cleverness, sportiness, application or
ambition. It encourages a culture in which children are viewed as sexually available. It silences
voices, and attacks autonomy.
The issue is bigger than Page 3, prostitution or lap dancing clubs. It‟s bigger than that. These are
symptoms, not causes.
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For so long, it‟s been argued that overt, public displays of sexuality are an enlightened liberation. But
I believe that for many, the pressure of conforming to hypersexualisation and its pitfalls is a prison.
And the permanence of social media and technology can be a life sentence.
Parents and teachers have a duty to ensure that children develop a healthy view of sexuality, distinct
from this porn version that is swamping and infiltrating British life. Because it‟s a very specific form
of sexuality that‟s being imposed, on children and adults: a porn version. This is what kids are dealing
with on a daily basis.
Young people are accessing far harder pornographic images than 10 or 15 years ago. We have to ask,
does that influence what they themselves put out on the internet?
Too many young girls are absorbing from the popular culture around them that they only have value
as sex objects. A survey by girl guiding showed that the second most popular career idea for girls
aged 7 to 21 is to be a beautician. We must make sure that ambition is never blinkered.
And the messages being sent to our boys are just as limiting and restrictive: be macho, be strong,
don‟t show your emotions.
Sexting, slut-shaming and the rise of the ‘strip-tease culture’ in British schools
I want to talk about what‟s happening in our schools. Because I think that many teachers and parents
are struggling to cope. Whereas parents are not likely to allow their children to watch an 18 film, they
are powerless when it comes to this culture, accelerated by phones, and the internet.
I think one of the symptoms of the culture that has grown is that young girls and women are subject to
"slut shaming" and sexual bullying in schools. The truth is that slut-shaming shames us all.
There seems to be a blurred distinction between sexting and bulling. New technologies, but an ageold double standard, by which sexually active boys are to be admired and „rated‟, while sexually
active girls are denigrated and despised as „sluts‟.
Girls feel coerced into sharing pictures. Boyfriends normalise it – it‟s the whole 'If you really love
me‟ argument. And it‟s often basic sexism, with girls being seen as boys‟ property. Let me pay tribute
to people like Dr Jessica Ringrose who have done extensive research on this issue.
I fear we‟re seeing the rise of a „strip-tease‟ culture in British schools, and British culture, with the
British family unit left marginalised. It‟s hyper-sexualized British culture in which women are
objectified, objectify one another, and are encouraged to objectify themselves; where homophobic
bullying is normalised; and young boys‟ world view is shaped by hardcore American pornography
and other dark corners of the internet
For many young boys and girls, it‟s a world without warmth or respect.
Quantitative research on sexting has found rates as wide as 15% to 40% among young people. Many
teenagers do not even use the term „sexting‟ indicating a gap between adult discourse and young
people‟s experiences.
Heading in the wrong direction
One of the first acts of the Tory-led Government was to close down the highly successful Healthy
Schools programme. Spending cuts to local authorities have in some places meant that there is no one
to make sure young people‟s sexual health is a priority and to enable the NHS and council services,
particularly schools, to work closely together. The Government announced a review of Personal,
Social, Health and Economics (PSHE) education more than a year ago. But it appears to be sitting on
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the results of the review. Perhaps they think that, if they close their eyes to these issues, the problems
will just go way! They won‟t.
This is a Government that has created chaos by an unnecessary mega-reorganisation of the NHS and
of our public health system. Until we get back a Government that cares, it will largely be up to Local
Authorities to try and carry on the task of empowering young people and families.
And the Department of Health‟s sexual health policy document has been delayed 19 months and
counting...
The remedies – a national conversation between parents and their children
Let‟s turn to remedies...
Remedies will take place in the context of the family. And it is families I want to empower in this
debate.
But...

For too long the left have allowed the right to dominate that dialogue around the family. I
think that we should take it back

As somebody of immigrant of background I care passionately about the family. First
generation immigrants often believe passionately in the family - whether they are Jamaican, Nigerian,
Jewish, Irish, Bangledeshi, or Vietnamese. For many first generation immigrants, it is all they have.

For me, family isn‟t code for a heterosexual family with 2.2 children. Families come in all
shapes and sizes.

And let me be clear - I don‟t think feminism has undermined the family. On the contrary, it is
the pressures of the market and the deindustrialisation of many communities that have shattered
community and family ties.
Do we really have to just accept things as they are? As parents we're told - often by our own kids that we've just got to live with it - that the world has changed. But I don‟t think we should simply
throw our hands up and accept the world – and the all-consuming market - as it is. We need to talk
about how we put families, and not the lowest common denominator of the market, back in control.
We‟ve got to build a society based on open-minded family values, and not „anything-goes‟ market
values.
To those parents who spend sleepless nights worrying about what‟s going on at their children‟s
school, what their children are going through, and what the future holds for them - I understand your
concerns.
To those people who say that we too often shame and belittle the girls and women in this country, as
they come to terms with their own sexuality - I stand behind you.
To those of you who say we must speak up for the family – I will.
Changing the wallpaper’ of children’s lives – more Jessica Ennis, less Paris Hilton
So what would I do to clear some space in this culture for open-minded British family values to shine
through? Well, it‟s definitely not teaching girls ludicrous abstinence schemes. But we must change
the wallpaper of children‟s lives.
We need a sex education revolution in ordinary British schools. We need to look at Statutory
Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education and Sex and Relationships Education
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(SRE). Sex education, must focus on preparing young people to form healthy, respectful, emotionally
fulfilling relationships, and also deal with issues of self-esteem.
Schools should encourage girls to value their bodies in terms of their physical ability. We need more
Jessica Ennis, less Paris Hilton.
We need to look at how gender equality issues could be more central on the educational agenda, and
throughout the curriculum.
Parents should be given information and support to educate their children about the issues – families,
not markets, should be put at the forefront. Parents are a powerful force in shaping their children‟s
attitudes to gender and sexuality and have a vital role to play in supporting their children to cope with
and contextualise sexualised images and messages.
We must make it easier for parents to block adult and age-restricted material across all media. We
also need to help our young people use new technology and media safely.
Internet users should have to make an active choice over whether they allow adult content or not.
We must look at „child friendly‟ computers and mobile phones where adult content is filtered out by
default.
But perhaps most of all, we need to start a national conversation between parents and their children
about sex, pornography and technology.
Before I answer questions, I‟d like to thank some of the people who have done such important work in
this area. Thank to Ivana Bartoletti and the Fabian Women‟s Network and Unison. Thank you to Kat
Banyard and Emma Burnell. I also want to pay tribute to those who have done important work and
research like Dr Jessica Ringrose, Linda Papadopoulos, and organisations like BeatBulling and
NSPCC, and also Fiona Mactaggart MP.
Conclusion
These are just some of the areas we must explore as we shine a light on this world, and find our voice.
We cannot shield kids from the modern world. But we must let open-minded family values shine
through in our society.
These are big issues that speak to people's sense of wellbeing and emotional resilience. That‟s why I
think we must put families at the heart of the debate on public health.
Thank you all for listening.
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Here is the text of my speech in the House of Commons in the lead up to the vote on the equal
marriage bill for England and Wales, following its third reading:
I simply wanted to say what a momentous piece of legislation this is. Some things we do in
the House of Commons do not affect ordinary people at all; some things we do in the House
of Commons are best ignored; but this Bill will make a lot of people‟s lives much better. I
have supported this cause all my political life, long before it was fashionable on the Labour
Benches, and I never thought I would live to see the day when the Bill would approach its
Third Reading.
Members have talked about their constituents. I remind the House that I represent some
people who are troubled by the Bill. Some of them come from countries where
homosexuality is illegal. Some of them come from countries where homosexuality is
punishable by death. I have had to say to them, “I respect your views, but I have stood for
human rights all my life and I stand for human rights on this issue too.”
We could not let this debate pass without mentioning all the ordinary people, all the grassroots campaigners, who made it possible for us to reach this point. I think not just of people
involved in their local or national campaign, but of the ordinary people who have showed
kindness and decency and who accepted a child when that child was not expecting
acceptance. They all played their part. We could not have this debate without mentioning
Peter Tatchell, not always the easiest of comrades, but someone who has devoted his life to
human rights. We could not have this debate without mentioning Ken Livingstone, who was
the first local authority leader to bring in civil partnerships and show the wider political world
that we could have civil partnerships without the end of the world as we knew it. And of
course there is Tony Blair, who brought in civil partnerships in the last Parliament.
Some people listening to this debate will be thinking, “This is all very well, but there is war
in Syria, climate change and a huge economic crisis, so why does this matter?” Let me tell
the House why it matters. When this legislation finally goes through, there will be
adolescents going to bed that night who are struggling with their sexuality and who, knowing
that the law has gone through, will think as they go to sleep, “Maybe it‟s not so bad. Maybe
my life isn‟t ruined. Maybe I can find some acceptance. Maybe I can come out to my friends,
and maybe even to my mother and father.” If this debate and this legislation makes the lives
of so many hundreds of thousands of young people just a little better, we will have done great
work in the House tonight.
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The relaunch of Black Women Mean
Business
Chuka Umunna MP attending my February relaunch of Black Women Mean Business
Black Women Mean Business, an initiative I founded, was re-launched in February 2013. We are
continuing to provide a forum for black women’s entrepreneurship, allowing them to access useful
information and training; hear presentations from successful business people and professionals;
and get the practical advice and support they need for their business or profession.
The event brought together over 200 influential members of the community, Members of the House
of Lords and House of Commons, current and aspiring black business women and professionals, as
well as past supporters and contributors to BWMB both past and present.
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The London Schools and the Black Child
initiative
This year, we hosted another successful London Schools and the Black Child Academic Achievement
Awards, which was held at the House of Commons on 10th October 2012. All of this year’s
candidates were excellent and there were some really worthy winners.
This year’s special guests included: Sir Trevor McDonald, British Olympic silver-medallist Christine
Ohuruogu and Olympic heptathlete Louise Hazel, soul singer Ruby Turner, former England and
Spurs footballer Ledley King, BBC News presenter Clive Myrie, poet and playwright Lemn Sissay
MBE, Brit soul newcomer Josh Osho, broadcaster Dotun Adebayo MBE, and television & radio
presenter Sarah Jane Crawford. As in previous years, the event was supported by global
financial services firm UBS.
One pupil who won an award was Haydn Kankam. Haydn won in the A-level category. He
achieved an incredible 13 A*s at GCSE level and has since gone on to achieve 4 A*s at A-level
this year. Haydn is now at Cambridge reading medicine.
After the summer of celebrating British athletes at the Olympics, I was really pleased that we had
this chance to celebrate some of the high achieving youngsters at schools. Many of the youngsters
were great examples of local youngsters who are working hard, setting a good example and
making a different to the local community.
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Contact details
For general enquiries or diary appointments, please contact Priya
Prabha on:
Tel: 0207 219 4426
Email: priya.prabha@parliament.uk
For media enquiries, please contact Gabe Trodd on:
Tel: 020 7219 4426
Email: gabe.trodd@parliament.uk
For Hackney casework enquiries or if you would like to invite
Diane to an event, please contact George Chalkias on:
Tel: 020 7219 4330
Email: chalkiasg@parliament.uk
Or you can write to:
Diane Abbott MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
www.dianeabbott.org.uk
As always if you would like to know more about the work I do in
Parliament or would like to get in touch with me, please visit me at
www.dianeabbott.org.uk and for those of you on Twitter, follow me
@hackneyabbott
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