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Category Archives: Andrew Fisher
As Marx (Groucho rather than Karl) once said: ‘Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others!’
ANDREW FISHER looks at what the latest offering from Labour Party leader Keir Starmer might mean for Croydon First it was his “10 Pledges”. Then came “Five Missions”. Today Keir Starmer unveiled “Six First Steps”. Starmer may have eschewed Karl … Continue reading
Posted in 2024 General Election, Andrew Fisher, Croydon Council
Tagged 2024 General Election, Andrew Fisher, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, General Election, General Election 2024, Green New Deal, Keir Starmer, Labour, Rishi Sunak, Sir Keir Starmer, Six First Steps, Starmer's 10 Pledges, Thurrock Council, Tory
7 Comments
The shifts below the waterline that require action from all sides
ANDREW FISHER takes a look behind the numbers from Thursday’s election and finds lessons for Labour as well as the Tories For all the “excitement” of Thursday’s elections, nothing much changed for Croydon. Labour’s Sadiq Khan remains London Mayor, Conservative … Continue reading
Posted in 2024 London elections, Andrew Fisher, Ben Taylor, Chris Philp MP, Croydon East, Croydon South, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Natasha Irons, Neil Garratt, Sadiq Khan, Susan Hall
Tagged 2024 London elections, Andrew Fisher, Chris Philp MP, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon and Sutton, Croydon and Sutton (London Assembly constituency), Croydon East, Croydon South, Labour, Liberal Democrats, London, London Assembly, London Elections, London elections 2024, Mayor, Mayor Sadiq Khan, Neil Garratt, South Norwood, Susan Hall, Tory
8 Comments
May 2’s election day will show how bad things are for Tories
With two weeks to go, ANDREW FISHER focuses in on your three, or four, votes in Croydon. PLUS: how you can make sure you have proper photo ID for election day Every Croydon voter will have at least three votes … Continue reading
Posted in 2024 London elections, Andrew Fisher, Chris Philp MP, Croydon Council, Croydon Greens, Croydon South, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Maddie Henson, Mayor of London, Neil Garratt, Park Hill and Whitgift, Sadiq Khan, Susan Hall, Sutton Council, ULEZ, ULEZ expansion, Woodside, Zoe Garbett
Tagged Andrew Fisher, Anonyvoter, Chris Philp MP, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon South, Green Party, Labour, Liberal Democrats, London, London Assembly, London Mayor, Maddie Henson, Mark Menzies, Mayor Sadiq Khan, Mrs Anonyvoter, Neil Garratt, Park Hill and Whitgift, Sadiq Khan, Sutton Council, Tony Newman, Tory, ULEZ, Woodside, Zoe Garbutt
3 Comments
All you will ever need to know about the 2024 London elections
With the London elections, and two Croydon ward by-elections, just weeks away, our latest episode of the Croydon Insider, our monthly news podcast, discusses what your vote counts for, how the voting system has changed for London Mayor, which parts … Continue reading
Posted in 2024 London elections, Andrew Fisher, Croydon Council, Croydon Insider, Inside Croydon, London Assembly, London-wide issues, Mayor of London, Park Hill and Whitgift, Under The Flyover, Woodside
Tagged 2024 London elections, Andrew Fisher, Brian Finegan, Croydon Insider, London Elections, London elections 2024, Park Hill and Whitgift, Patreon, Podcast, Rev Ruth Chapman, Spotify, Under The Flyover, Woodside
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How myth of shared ownership has made housing crisis worse
Six years ago, one of Inside Croydon’s loyal readers reported on the sheer unaffordability of the shared ownership homes being built in the borough by Brick by Brick. Now, as ANDREW FISHER explains, a parliamentary select committee has published a … Continue reading
Finally Labour members will have a say in Croydon East saga
Columnist ANDREW FISHER looks forward to a rare moment of internal democracy in Croydon Labour this Saturday, as ordinary members in one scandal-hit CLP finally get the chance to choose their parliamentary candidate Being a Labour Party member in Croydon … Continue reading
Posted in 2024 General Election, Andrew Fisher, Croydon Central, Croydon East, Croydon North, Sarah Jones MP, Steve Reed MP, Streatham and Croydon North
Tagged Andrew Fisher, Croydon, Croydon Central, Croydon East, Croydon West, Joel Bodmer, Johnson Situ, Labour, Natasha Irons, Olga Fitzroy, Sarah Jones, Steve Reed OBE, Streatham and Croydon North
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There’s good reason politicians are more unpopular than ever
After a week of two budget debates, one in the House of Commons, one at Croydon Town Hall, ANDREW FISHER reckons it is time that our politicians stopped pretending… British politics are in a dire state, nationally and locally, as … Continue reading
Posted in Andrew Fisher, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry, Stuart King
Tagged #FundCroydonFairly, 15% Council Tax hike, Andrew Fisher, Budget 2024, Conservative, Council budget, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Jason Cummings, Jeremy Hunt, Keir Starmer, Labour, Mayor Jason Perry, Pay More Get Less, Rachel Reeves, Say No To 15%, The Budget, Tory
10 Comments
It’s the same in Croydon and Birmingham: Pay More, Get Less
In this week’s column, ANDREW FISHER, pictured right, looks at the criminalisation of journalism through the treatment of Julian Assange, and he charts the latest undermining of local councils by central Government It could be worse. You could live in … Continue reading
Posted in Andrew Fisher, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Improvement Board, Tony McArdle
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Alexei Navalny, Andrew Fisher, Birmingham City Council, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Department of Levelling Up, DLUHC, Improvement and Assurance Panel, Jeremy Corbyn, Julian Assange, Michael Gove, Nottingham City Council, S114, S114 notice, Section 114, Section 114 Notice, Tony McArdle, Tory, Vladimir Putin
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It’s an F grade for Keegan over nation’s apprenticeship failings
ANDREW FISHER, pictured right, explains how apprenticeships can be a valuable means of recruitment for some employers while offering some pay to trainees, but that the Education Minister’s dabbling with ‘apprentice teachers’ looks like another ‘fail’ by this Government This … Continue reading
Thank you, Mark Serwotka, for decency, principle and service
ANDREW FISHER pays a fond tribute to one of the country’s most admired trades union leaders Yesterday marked the final day in office of Mark Serwotka, who has retired after 23 years at the helm as general secretary of PCS, … Continue reading
Posted in Andrew Fisher
Tagged Andrew Fisher, Croydon, Jeremy Corbyn, Labour, Mark Serwotka, PCS, PCS union
3 Comments
Gove’s extra cash barely touches the sides of Croydon’s debts
Michael Gove’s £600m hand-out to local authorities in England, announced yesterday, won’t go very far, especially if you consider that the Government’s own expert panel reckons Croydon alone needs £540m to wipe out a chunk of its toxic debt. By … Continue reading
Posted in 2024 General Election, Adult Social Care, Andrew Fisher, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Housing, Improvement Board, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice, Tony McArdle
Tagged Andrew Fisher, Conservative, Council Tax, Councils in Crisis, Croydon, Croydon Council, Department for Levelling Up, Department for Levelling UP Housing and Communities, Jason Cummings, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Local Government Association, London, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Gove, Tory
2 Comments
Bailing out the water companies is poor policy – and unpopular
Surveys have found that 69% of the public want the nation’s water companies taken back into public control. So why is it not the policy of Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, asks ANDREW FISHER “In advance of every significant privatisation,” wrote … Continue reading
Perry struggles with numbers to offer us: Pay More, Get Less
Our columnist ANDREW FISHER watched the Croydon Council budget webcast this week, so that you wouldn’t have to… Croydon’s very own answer to Laurel and Hardy took to the airwaves this week, as Conservative Mayor Jason Perry and his finance … Continue reading
Posted in Adult Social Care, Andrew Fisher, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Jane West, Jason Cummings, Mayor Jason Perry
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, 2024 Council Budget, Adult Social Care, Andrew Fisher, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Jane West, Jason Cummings, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Tory
5 Comments
2024 will be a time for honesty and straight-talking in politics
In his regular iC column, TV politics pundit ANDREW FISHER looks at the daunting mess left in the in-tray for any new government next year This year has been a rough one – living standards have fallen again, NHS waiting … Continue reading
Posted in Andrew Fisher
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Andrew Fisher, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Forde Report, John McDonnell MP, Keir Starmer, Labour, Tory
2 Comments
‘Teetering on the edge’: Hunt does nothing for local councils
TV politics pundit ANDREW FISHER, pictured right, assesses the fine detail of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, and amid the tax giveaways for the already wealthy, identifies the glaring gaps in financial provision for the NHS, teachers and local authorities like … Continue reading
Posted in 2024 London elections, Andrew Fisher, Council Tax, Croydon Council
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Andrew Bailey, Andrew Fisher, Autumn Statement, Bank of England, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, HM Treasury, Homelessness, Jeremy Hunt, No-fault evictions, OBR, Office for Budget Responsibility, Section 114, Section 114 Notice, Tory
4 Comments
‘Donkey jackets’, nod-sense and the wisdom of old Harry Patch
As tensions are cranked up and rhetoric becomes ever more belligerent, ANDREW FISHER says that using Remembrance Day as a political weapon is perverse It’s in pretty poor taste to use the memory of the dead to score political points. … Continue reading
Westfield, the incinerator, NHS and Croydon’s Gaza response
Posted in "Hammersfield", Andrew Fisher, Business, Croydon Insider, Donna Fraser, Inside Croydon, Under The Flyover, Waste incinerator, Whitgift Centre
Tagged Andrew Fisher, Annabel Smith, Beddington incinerator, Croydon, Croydon Insider, Donna Fraser, Gaza, London, NHS, Sanjana Idnani, Westfield, Whitgift Centre, Whitgift Foundation
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Labour pledge goes walkabout as Reed drops right-to-roam
After the latest U-turn and Orwellian excuses, ANDREW FISHER suggests that when out canvassing, Labour activists need to encourage the public to vote for them quickly, before the policies change With bigger issues going on at Westminster and around the … Continue reading
Posted in Andrew Fisher, Croydon North, Environment, Steve Reed MP
Tagged Andrew Fisher, BASC, Croydon, Croydon North, Keir Starmer, Labour, Right to Roam, Steve Reed OBE
5 Comments
Starmer’s Labour conference left lots of unanswered questions
A party preparing for government probably wants its annual conference to be dull. But as ANDREW FISHER, pictured right, discovered among the freebie tickets and the oil industry and hunting lobbyists in Liverpool at the Labour Party conference this week, … Continue reading
‘Cynical’ Sunak helps the pro-pollution vandals in crisis denial
A year since Liz Truss trashed the British economy, Rishi Sunak is setting about wrecking the environment, and the nation’s international reputation as well. ANDREW FISHER on the business backlash against the Tory Prime Minister’s ‘meat tax’ and ‘seven bins’ … Continue reading
Posted in Andrew Fisher, Business, Environment
Tagged Andrew Fisher, Climate Crisis, Conservative, Croydon, Ford, John Gummer, Meat Tax, Rishi Sunak, Seven bins, Tory, Zac Goldsmith
9 Comments
It’s a Brum do: fixing local government won’t come cheap
After the latest local authority’s finances crashed and burned, and with Michael Gove twiddling his thumbs doing nothing before the General Election, ANDREW FISHER, pictured right, looks at what needs to be done to fix local government in England Councils … Continue reading
Posted in 2024 General Election, Andrew Fisher, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Mayor Jason Perry
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Andrew Fisher, Andy Burnham, Angela Rayner MP, Birmingham City Council, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Gove, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Nottingham City Council, Thurrock, Tory, Woking
15 Comments
Do the decent thing: podcast’s latest call for Perry to quit
Jason Perry would resign from his £84,000 per year job as Croydon’s executive Mayor if he had any dignity. That’s the view of Andrew Fisher, one of the guests on the latest bumper edition of The Croydon Insider, this website’s … Continue reading
Posted in Andrew Fisher, Croydon Council, Croydon Insider, Inside Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Under The Flyover
Tagged Andrew Fisher, Cheryl Fergus-Ferrell, Conservative, Croydon Council, Donna Fraser, Dr Ross White, Emma Gardiner, Garwood Foundation, Labour, Mayor Jason Perry, South Norwood Community Kitchen, Tory
12 Comments
We are witnessing the long, slow death of local government
‘We are staring into an abyss here, and it’s time we faced up to it’. Those were the words of a Conservative councillor in Croydon – in 2013. Here, ANDREW FISHER, pictured right, says that faced with austerity on a … Continue reading
Posted in Adult Social Care, Andrew Fisher, Children's Services, Council Tax, Croydon Council, Housing, Improvement Board, Katherine Kerswell, Libraries, Mayor Jason Perry, Section 114 notice, SEND
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, Andrew Fisher, CIPFA, Conservative, Council Tax, Croydon, Croydon Council, Department for Levelling Up, DLUHC, Hastings, Lambeth, London Borough of Croydon, Mayor Jason Perry, Michael Gove, Northumberland, Nottingham, S114 notice, Section 114, Section 114 Notice, Slough, Thurrock, Tim Pollard, Tory, unemployment, Woking
21 Comments
Driven to distraction, pro-car Tories are bad for your health
ANDREW FISHER on how the latest manifestation of ‘culture wars’, with attacks on anti-pollution policies and safer roads, smacks of desperation by failing politicians in Westminster and in Croydon The Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election is casting a long shadow … Continue reading
Posted in Andrew Fisher, Boris Johnson, Croydon Council, Environment, Health, London-wide issues, Mayor Jason Perry, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, TfL, Transport, ULEZ, ULEZ expansion
Tagged 15% Council Tax hike, 20mph zones, Andrew Fisher, Boris Johnson, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Council, Keir Starmer, Labour, London, London Borough of Croydon, LTNs, Mayor Jason Perry, Mayor Sadiq Khan, Rishi Sunak, Tory, Transport for London, ULEZ, Ultra Low Emission Zone
19 Comments
