A Fascinating & Unique Role Model on the Empowerment of Women

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, co-chairman of the Conservative Party, visited Reading last week.  She spoke at a women's meeting organised by Cllr Shahid Younis.

Sayeeda is a fascinating and unique role model, not just for women, but for anyone and everyone.  Born in Yorkshire to a mill worker who had immigrated to England, she has an impressive CV culminating in becoming the first female Muslim parliamentary candidate for the Conservatives in the 2005 General Election and then in 2010 becoming the first female Muslim Cabinet member.

We heard about some of the challenges Sayeeda has faced, most recently how she juggles her family life (husband & 5 children) with her extremely busy work life. 

Talking about the start of her career, like many Asian female graduates, she chose law.  She started out as a prosecutor, going on to set up her own private practice with a partner and being a defence lawyer. 

9/11 was a life-defining moment for her.  Since that disaster she feels she is seen as a Muslim rather than anything else.

After her speech she took questions.  Several were about specific cultural difficulties Asian women face in Britain.  However it didn't take long before everybody acknowledged that many challenges are common to women whatever their heritage, eg the perception by many older people that women should stay at home to bring up the children and look after the husband; or that a woman's career is secondary to that of their husband.

After a personal chat about the tremendous support her husband is; about her extended family; and the juggling act of trying to achieve a happy work/life balance; she admitted that it isn't easy to get it right.

Everybody agreed with her that all mothers feel guilty - that's part and parcel of our lot. She told us her belief that one of a mother's most important jobs is to bring up our sons to respect and treat women equally. We shouldn't leave this task just to men.  We should instill it in our sons ourselves starting as soon as they are born. Sayeeda joked that if our own households are based on equality then when our sons get married their wives won't have to retrain them!

At the end Sayeeda challenged everybody 'to help yourself - if you won't, why should anyone else?  Help someone else - because no one else will; work out your action plan, where you want to get to in life... and go for it'.

Meeting Sayeeda was thoroughly enjoyable and highly stimulating.  No wonder she has got to where she is today

Mugabe's Racist Land Reform

Yesterday BBC Radio 4 had an interesting programme in Crossing Continents which will be available on iPlayer until 1st January.

Reporter Martin Plaut looks at the consequences of Robert Mugabe's highly controversial land reform programme which was started in 2000.  The Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University has been studying the progress of new farmers and it is interesting to hear from both black and white Zimbabweans.

Commercial farmers were Zimbabwe's biggest employers - Zimbabwe used to be called the "bread basket of Africa".  However evidence like the displacement of workers by the new settlers; much agricultural land lying dormant and unfarmed; and the fact that Zimbabwe has had to import food every single year for the last 11 years when in the previous 100 years Zimbabwe only had to do so twice; clearly demonstrates the failure of Mugabe's land reforms.

I've written about Zimbabwe before and can't rate highly enough Ben Freeth's (a cousin of mine) book, Mugabe & the White African. 

Kidmore Road Today - Two Birds with One Stone

RBC's tree gang with me, Oxfordshire countryside behind

Much of my time is spent in front of a computer or in meetings, so it was great to get out this morning to help plant a Sweet Chestnut where last season's evergreen Holm Oak hadn't taken.

Three Kidmore Road residents were pleased when we told them what we were doing, however another complained the Council should not waste its time over trees but instead sort out things like potholes. 

I asked him if he knew of any potholes nearby - he took me over to one.  Had he reported it, I asked.  He said there was no point as the Council never fixes them.  So I reported the pothole.

It is unrealistic to expect the Council to fix a pothole it is unaware of existing.  If you see one, please either get in touch with your local councillor or alternatively go to www.fixmystreet.com and log it to the Council yourself.

This Sweet Chestnut is the third tree I've helped plant in Kidmore Road.  As many residents know from joining the Tree Warden scheme set up by our administration last year, being involved in tree planting, caring for the town's trees and watching them grow, is thoroughly rewarding.

You can learn more about the Tree Warden scheme here

Police Launch New Number

Today the Police launched the new non-emergency number "101" to replace the old, longer number 0845 8 505 505.

I had cause to use it at lunchtime to report a vehicle jump a red light that forced another pedestrian and me to run out of the way.

As I was ringing from my mobile, the automatic router put me through to a Police operator to ask my location.  My call was transferred to the local area Thames Valley Police.  My call was answered quickly and I passed on the incident's details.  A couple of minutes later a reference number was texted to me.

The Policewoman was optimistic the driver might be caught as I'd notified the Police within 2 minutes and there's a camera monitoring traffic at Caversham Bridge.  I was only able to give a partial number plate, but that still can be used.

Do dial "101" to report non-emergencies like mine.  It is worth it as the Police use reported incidents to plan how to target their time & resources.

Temporary Traffic Lights

The Council has just been informed that Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) are preparing to conduct some urgent works to restore electricity supplies to a number of properties off Church Road, Caversham.

The fault has been located in the carriageway very close to the junction with St Anne's Road and will require 3-way portable traffic signals to be erected.

 

SSE will be working to restore the services and the running carriageway as quickly as they can, and RBC has stated that the signals must be manually controlled between the beginning of the morning, and the end of the evening peak periods to avoid conflict with the permanent signals at the Church Street junction.

The timing of this extra set of temporary traffic lights is unfortunate as there is another 3-way set at the bottom of Priest Hill at the Hemdean Road junction.  Last night motorists suffered chaos when the Priest Hill lights stuck on red.  I and others reported this to RBC security, who in turn got the contractors out promptly to fix the problem.

Update - Thursday 10th November

Scottish & Southern Energy located and repaired 2 faults with their electricity cable from yesterday afternoon, restoring supplies to those affected.  They have managed the site with manually-controlled 2-way portable traffic signals, and are reinstating their excavations presently.

It is anticipated that the site should be cleared before this afternoon's peak traffic period.

Changes to Bus Route 22 - Update

Further to Reading Buses' temporary change to Number 22's route last month, tomorrow outbound (from town) buses will revert to turning left from Oakley into Kidmore Road, along to The Mount and Albert Road.  More details are here

James Freeman, CEO of Reading Buses, has pledged to keep the Number 22 under close review.  He has agreed in principle to a public meeting early next year.

To help ensure buses run on time a further tweaking will happen from 12 December.  Early morning outbound journeys (before 10 am) will turn up Priest Hill to help ensure smooth running to schedule inbound journeys for commuters, workers and school children.  This will shave off approximately 4 minutes without impacting travellers as the vast majority of early morning bus users are inbound only.

Dog Walkers Be Warned! Assault near Chazey Heath Golf Course

According to GetReading, a 15 year old girl was sexually assaulted in woods near to Chazey Heath golf course yesterday lunchtime. 

She was walking her dog in the woodland near the A4074 when reportedly two men grabbed her.  At 12.30 Police were called.

If you go walking in the local area please consider going with a friend for the moment.  Spread the word.

If you were in the area and saw any parked vehicles or two men please phone the 24 hour Thames Valley Police enquiry line on 0845 8 505 505.