Rachel joined Town Centre Manager, Nigel Condor, Police and Neighbourhood Wardens for a day of action on Armley Town Street, where problems of littering, illegal trading and street drinking were tackled.

"It was excellent to see the police and wardens taking action to make Armley a safer and more enjoyable place for people to live, work and shop, and to see the support they got from the community".

Link: http://www.progressonline.org.uk/columns/column.asp?c=241

I will leave it to psephologists to find historical parallels for Labour’s poll performance on June 4th, but with our share of the vote down to 15% in the European elections, it’s clear that we’ll need to look far back into the annals of history. With a year at most to turn things around a plan to re-connect with voters and win again is needed.

There is no tide of enthusiasm for a Cameron/Osborne government, but if we continue looking inwards and not to the hopes, fears and disappointments of voters, then the Tories will win by default. Infighting and our seeming difficulty in setting out a compelling vision is a disservice to the families and communities that Labour was set up 109 years ago to serve.

read more www.progressonline.org.uk

Link: http://www.progressonline.org.uk/columns/column.asp?c=239

Our government rightly led the way at the G20 Summit in London in calling for reform of our beleaguered financial framework. We now need to work closely with our European colleagues in turning these ambitions into something more concrete, before the worst of the financial crisis is forgotten.

One interesting idea is the role of the mutual or co-operative model of providing financial services. It is clear that structures and values are important for the way banks do business. And some of the new ways of doing business are embedded in the way building societies, credit unions and ethical investment funds do business – the USP of the mutual model is based on values and structures, particularly shared ownership.

read more on www.progressonline.org.uk