I was delighted to attend the West Hampstead Women’s Centre Christmas party during which there was a graduation ceremony for 28 Somali women.

They had all completed the NVQ level 2 and 3 in Health and Social Care in July 2012.

Along with Councillor Awale Olad, I presented certificates to the women and spoke to them about Camden council’s support for the Centre.

Great campaigning session in West Hampstead over the weekend. The main issues raised by constituents were over housing, parking and the NHS.

I recently wrote an article for the Huffington Post about a panel I was asked to speak on. You can read the full article here and feel free to leave comments: To Speak or Not to Speak: Would You Share a Panel With a Hate Preacher?

I really enjoyed answering questions from students at Parliament Hill, Haverstock and Swiss Cottage schools. Most of the questions concentrated on what I did in my role as a councillor and what I want to achieve through my role.

I hope some of them will consider standing for council positions in the future!

I really enjoyed speaking on a panel recently at Birkbeck about why politicians are hated and what can be done to win back people’s trust.

For more information about the event, please see this link : Is politics doomed? Can and should it be defended?

We were lucky to have Hannah Cockroft joining us and speaking about her experience of the Paralympics. She holds the Paralympic and world records for both the 100 metres T34 and 200 metres T34.

Image source: Flickr

She won two gold medals this summer at London’s Paralympic games, and was an inspiration to all athletes across the country.

Camden’s spot on the video is about 1 minute, 52 seconds in.

The commitment of the volunteers was recognised at a thank you event last month in the London Irish Centre. I also used this opportunity to promote other opportunities for volunteering and employment initiatives.

Here are some of the photos:

Dear Editor,

Week after week we see letters attacking our approach to libraries. Unlike other local authorities Camden sought to minimise disruption to library services at a time of unprecedented cuts to our local government budget.

We did this by working with our residents and tapping into our unrivalled community spirit.

By working closely with the volunteers and community groups, Camden has provided support both in officer time and financially, showing that libraries do not have to close in the face of central government cuts.

In his letter last week Alan Templeton provided figures that were wholly incorrect. To be open 10,200 hours a week in 1965 Camden would have needed 60 libraries to have been open 24 hours a day or each of the actual 17 libraries would have had to have been open for 85 hours a day.

Rather than continue to denigrate our approach and the good work of librarians and volunteers it would be good to see them all receive the praise that they truly deserve.

By working in partnership Camden can continue to boast a library service that is fit for the 21st century, and we will continue to support the volunteer-run community libraries in our buildings with rent relief so they do not have to pay to occupy Camden buildings

Councillor Tulip Siddiq
Cabinet Member for Culture and Communities