http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3313712/posts/summaryFri, 07 Jul 2006 13:32:53 +0000http://www.lewisham.org.uk/john/LBL/weblogJohn Paschoud15http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3313712/posts/summary/115214100724900688Wed, 05 Jul 2006 22:53:00 +00002006-07-05T23:10:07.326ZHad a great meeting early this morning - Robert Massey, Lewisham Cabinet Member for Children & Young People came to visit the School Council at Perrymount (about time the School Council got its' own bit of the school website...), who've been bending my ear about places to play (not enough of them) around the school and where they live. They kept him talking for about an hour in the school http://www.lewisham.org.uk/john/LBL/weblog/2006/07/bending-ear.htmlJohn Paschoudhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/3313712/posts/summary/115213870896205221Wed, 05 Jul 2006 22:10:00 +00002006-07-05T22:31:49.023ZWhat I missed last night (because the ALMO board meeting went on a bit) was getting to the Children (etc) Select Committee to hear the item about reorganising Special Needs Education. Perrymount School (where I'm chair of govs) is a mainsteam school, but with quite a few kids who have mobility and medical needs (and a very nice accessible building). Meadowgate (where my wife Jacq is chair of http://www.lewisham.org.uk/john/LBL/weblog/2006/07/i-predict-riot-or-back-to-nineties.htmlJohn Paschoudhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/3313712/posts/summary/115213743042684287Wed, 05 Jul 2006 21:57:00 +00002006-07-05T22:10:30.443ZThe ALMO ('council' housing management) meeting last night held no big surprises - although it (oops - we!) face a tough job getting most of Lewisham's housing services (including repairs) up to the "two star" standard needed to bag the essential government grant. As luck would have it, this morning I got a housing case on the phone (the first one - surprising!) - some poor woman with a http://www.lewisham.org.uk/john/LBL/weblog/2006/07/what-ahbart-moi-drains.htmlJohn Paschoudhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/3313712/posts/summary/115192066336774453Mon, 03 Jul 2006 09:49:00 +00002006-07-03T09:57:43.376ZI've been nominated onto the "ALMO Shadow Board". That sounds a bit sinister until you know it's the Arms Length Management Organisation (for Lewisham social housing), and it has a "shadow board" just until it's fully constituted. Seems like a good way of managing what used to be "council housing" - within the constraints imposed on us by central government (Thatcher's central government http://www.lewisham.org.uk/john/LBL/weblog/2006/07/remember-almo.htmlJohn Paschoudhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/3313712/posts/summary/115183647817345591Sun, 02 Jul 2006 09:59:00 +00002006-07-02T10:34:38.226ZCllr Andrew Milton (I don't know where he gets the time to keep up several blogs) seems to have got in first with news of Lewisham Council's landmark ruling) about links to "potentially political content". Basically it says that the Council (even on web pages about individual councillors, like these two) can't include anything "political" (find long definition for yourself!); even though what http://www.lewisham.org.uk/john/LBL/weblog/2006/07/two-clicks-away-can-be-ok.htmlJohn Paschoudhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/3313712/posts/summary/115101451678457138Thu, 22 Jun 2006 22:04:00 +00002006-06-22T22:27:29.020ZFor the record, here's a Streetmap.co.uk view that includes all of Perry Vale Ward (and surroundings - so don't take it as definitive, and do use the postcode search to check which ward your address is in if you're not sure). It's not GIS; but I'll try blogging casework that's about places (potholes, litter, broken streetlights, and that sort of thing) with a map. Not the addresses of people whohttp://www.lewisham.org.uk/john/LBL/weblog/2006/06/mapping-things-in-perry-vale.htmlJohn Paschoudhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/3313712/posts/summary/115097084877756759Thu, 22 Jun 2006 10:03:00 +00002006-06-22T22:02:55.506Z Alesund harbour Originally uploaded by John Paschoud. I've been in Alesund, Norway (that "A" should have a little circle over it - but don't get me started on how hard Norwegian is!) all this week, at the annual conference of UNINETT (the Norwegian educational networking agency). I'm still managing to keep a virtual presence in Perry Vale and Lewisham, though, and I'm making some progress on http://www.lewisham.org.uk/john/LBL/weblog/2006/06/remote-control_22.htmlJohn Paschoudhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/3313712/posts/summary/115033141588369712Thu, 15 Jun 2006 00:10:00 +00002006-06-15T00:30:15.930ZTonight's first ordinary Full Council meeting (the AGM doesn't really count) was a blast! A well-packed public gallery, who nearly provoked Chair Barrie into chucking them out for rowdiness. A motion (to go around the where-to-put-the-new-school loop over again) from the LibDems, which (quite predictably) all the smaller parties voted for ...and so Labour lost (shock! horror!). Ron (Labour http://www.lewisham.org.uk/john/LBL/weblog/2006/06/proper-politics-breaks-out.htmlJohn Paschoudhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/3313712/posts/summary/115010385115844969Mon, 12 Jun 2006 08:32:00 +00002006-06-12T09:17:31.213ZThis may well be a shameless plug (Interest to declare here, etc, because I'm strongly associated with CFL), but... I got my up-to-date-and-paid-for copy of CFL Caseworker installed (on my desktop PC and my non-council laptop) on Sunday, and started setting up standard letters and similar; and it's genuinely much better than previous versions I've used or tested. The more casework you do (withhttp://www.lewisham.org.uk/john/LBL/weblog/2006/06/casework-software.htmlJohn Paschoudhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/3313712/posts/summary/115003138314606208Sun, 11 Jun 2006 12:54:00 +00002006-06-11T13:09:43.160ZOh dear! I've left it far too long now ...not for lack of things to post, just time to get around to doing it. I'll start by making a list, rather than trying to pile them all into one (yes, I know I should try a wiki instead for more structured stuff...) First meeting with the Head of IT StrategyBeing a Road-Warrior of the e-Government Highways Committee (and I hereby bag that for an http://www.lewisham.org.uk/john/LBL/weblog/2006/06/so-little-time_11.htmlJohn Paschoudhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/3313712/posts/summary/114963541890178901Tue, 06 Jun 2006 22:32:00 +00002006-06-06T23:10:18.966ZSpent today at a library project board meeting in Edinburgh... well, 3 hours of today, and the rest waiting for Easyjet and trains. So (as well as some 'proper' work) I set up a meeting with Simon Berlin (Head of IT) for Thursday to start discussing how the council can start properly resourcing IT for councillors to use effectively. Also spotted confusing words in the draft of our ward surgery http://www.lewisham.org.uk/john/LBL/weblog/2006/06/some-it-requirements.htmlJohn Paschoudhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/3313712/posts/summary/114944414828254446Sun, 04 Jun 2006 17:07:00 +00002006-06-04T18:02:28.343ZWell, I had the short break, but not for those reasons; and it was in the wettest bit of France! The ansaphone at home had picked up one personal case (a secondary school admissions appeal - the season for those is just upon us). The Head of IT Strategy decided to phone my mobile instead... for a looong time (at Euro-roaming rates)... and explain further about the website cock-up... and tell http://www.lewisham.org.uk/john/LBL/weblog/2006/06/back-to-work.htmlJohn Paschoudhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/3313712/posts/summary/114868408446029751Fri, 26 May 2006 22:54:44 +00002006-05-26T22:54:47.350ZSpent all of today in the (differently unreal) world of refined academia, reminding myself that when local politics starts seeming like a career, it's time to take a short break.http://www.lewisham.org.uk/john/LBL/weblog/2006/05/keeping-up-with-my-proper-job.htmlJohn Paschoudhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/3313712/posts/summary/114863036027594404Fri, 26 May 2006 07:45:00 +00002006-05-26T08:10:11.770Z When I spotted the downed website yesterday, I had sat down to add a note about the Community Payback launch I'd just visited. This is a project to get offenders who're sentenced to nn hours of community service to do work (cleaning up graffiti, clearing overgrown or littered paths, etc) that makes places feel safer for residents. One of the reasons I went was an early opportunity to meet some http://www.lewisham.org.uk/john/LBL/weblog/2006/05/come-in-teapot-1.htmlJohn Paschoudhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/3313712/posts/summary/114856067214479772Thu, 25 May 2006 08:04:00 +00002006-05-25T12:37:52.193Z There I am, thinking, "I'm going to be away and miss the first meeting of the Sustainable Development Committee, that I've just been put on as Labour 'lead member' (the Greens and LibDems have the chair and vice-chair). So I'll send a friendly apology to the other members of it, so they don't think I'm not interested." I have a piece of paper with the list of members (5 Labour, 3 LibDems, 1 http://www.lewisham.org.uk/john/LBL/weblog/2006/05/excellence-in-e-government.htmlJohn Paschoud