Soapbox snippets: weekly round-up from the Hackney campaign trail

By Hackney Citizen | Friday 17 April 2015 at 11:51
Ballot_Boxes_creative_commons_Anthony_Karanja

Campaigning for the General Election on 7 May is in full swing

Find out what the General Election candidates for Hackney North and Hackney South have been up to in their attempts to secure your vote.

Hackney North & Stoke Newington

Diane Abbott (Labour) took some time out from the campaign trail to take a little trip down memory lane when she tweeted this video from the 1987 election campaign. A good way of reminding her followers just how long she has held her seat for.

Simon de Deney (Liberal Democrat), the ‘poet-politician’, has released his latest party political broadcast. In his latest to-camera piece he swaps Maya Angelou and Ridley Road Market for a new muse: William Blake and the River Lea. He begins: “I wondered through each Hackney Street, where the reservoirs Green Lanes cross/ And mark in every face I meet, marks of longing, marks of loss.”

Amy Gray (Conservative) has been busy door-knocking, hoping to persuade residents to go blue. This week she also gave an insight into her music taste when she tweeted: 

Heather Finlay (Green Party) met Mary Laver in Dalston who was travelling from Westminster to Chingford in her wheelchair to deliver a ‘Reinstate the ILF (Independent Living Fund)’ birthday card to Iain Duncan-Smith. Finlay also signed up to the CAMRA manifesto to support local pubs and brewers and made the ‘Frack Free promise’ as part of the joint Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth campaign.

Keith Fraser (UKIP) made the ITV news as he campaigned in Stoke Newington. Fraser said he was “well received” by the Turkish and Kurdish communities.

Jonathan Silberman (Communist League) The Communist League campaign joined a protest in Islington over the death in December of Islington teenager Henry Hicks who died when he crashed his scooter during a police chase. Today, Silberman is attending a meeting on “Stop-and-Search, Police Brutality and the working class fight for political space”. Silberman also joined a picket line of drivers from Hackney Passenger Services on Thursday.

Jon Homan (Animal Welfare Party) is also running in Hackney North and Stoke Newington.

Hackney South and Shoreditch

Meg Hillier (Labour)  has visited supported living schemes in the borough, one of her campaign focuses is the pressure facing the NHS. Hillier has also met parents at school gates to talk about Labour’s offer of childcare. Meg has also been lending her voice to campaigns in other constituencies across London. Here she is in Croydon Central:

Ben Mathis (Liberal Democrat) went to the Lib Dem manifesto launch where the decor was according to him was “a bit like a Kylie concert”. He continued the tradition of the (rather close-up) selfie with this offering:

Jack Tinley (Conservative) has paid a visit to St Mungo’s and slept the night on the streets of Hoxton to raise awareness of the homelessness problem. Despite his purple sleeping bag, his companion is not a UKIP candidate, but a supportive friend. Tinley described the sleepout as a “humbling experience”.

jack_tinley_sleepout_hoxton_460

Jack Tinley and friend sleeping on Hoxton’s streets.

Charlotte George (Green Party) attended WorldByte’s ‘Question Dine’ – a citizen TV event produced for and by young people. George also was at the Green Party manifesto launch at the Arcola Theatre in Dalston. The Green candidate has clocked up so many miles on her door-to-door canvassing that her feet have blistered:

Brian Debus (TUSC) sent this tweet saying he does not accept that workers should have to “tighten their belts” while the bosses get richer:

Gordon Shrigley (Project for an unidentified political object) signed environmental activist and fashion designer Katharine Hamnett’s MyMP pledge, a scheme which promises that if elected MPs will consult with three constituents before voting in parliament. Shrigley was also interviewed by The Conversation in an interview titled: ‘Meet the artist running for election with absolutely no policies’ . He also gave a “Talk to the Voters’ event at IMT Gallery.

Russell Higgs (Independent) has this week spent a day at an Occupy Democracy meeting at SOAS university. He also has been tending to the trees on the Pembury Estate and today will embark on a litter picking patrol along the canal. Higgs said he has spent much time conversing with people on the streets and in local cafés on subjects such as compassion, transhumanism and alternatives to violence.

Taiwo Adewuyi (Christian People’s Alliance) kicked off his campaign in Hackney early this week by “emphasising the importance of compassion, truth and life”. He continues to work with and support the work of Teen Challenge London which supports the poor and marginalised in Hackney.

Taiwo Adewuyi

Taiwo Adewuyi

Paul Birch (Cannabis is Safer than Alcohol) Brand new political party Cannabis is Safer than Alcohol (CISTA) only launched in 2015. The party is pushing for the reform of drug laws and believes it can cut the deficit by legalising marijuana. In Ireland, the party is fielding enough candidates to qualify for a five-minute TV slot. Watch the party political broadcast here.

Chair of the CISTA is Paul Birch, who is also the party’s parliamentary candidate for Hackney South and Shoreditch. As the co-founder of early social networking site Bebo, the tech entrepreneur is probably no stranger to Shoreditch’s Silicon Roundabout.

Bill Rogers (Workers’ Revolutionary Party) and Angus Small (UKIP) are also running in Hackney South

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