2013 - Time for another Haringey spin cycle

28 February 2013. Council propaganda posters on the hoardings in High Road, Tottenham, around the block of buildings which was burned out during the Tottenham Riot of August 2011.

To be strictly accurate, slightly altered versions of the old posters appeared.

I photographed the original posters in October 2012. They advertised Haringey Council's partly untrue and mostly misleading '12 in 2012' pledges.

The new batch of posters in February 2013 had printed boxes added in the style of an old-fashioned rubber stamp. This one claimed that in 2012 the promised "pop-up activities" were DELIVERED.

As we'll see, this was yet more half-truth and spin by Haringey Council.

"Raft of Improvements"

The poster in the photo was where the Post Office door used to be. With the rest of the block, it was set on fire during the riot in Tottenham on the night of 6 / 7 August 2011. A few days afterwards, the whole block was demolished.

The pledges were originally "unveiled" - the word Haringey Council spin-machine used - in March 2012 on Haringey Council's website. Presented as a response to the Tottenham riot, they were described as:
'a 12 in 12' action plan to bring a raft of improvements to Tottenham over the coming year".

On its Council website Haringey claimed that:

"At least 12 key pledges will be delivered during 2012 as the council strives to secure a successful long-term future for the area."
"Twelve in 2012 underpins our long-term commitment to making Tottenham better than ever before with improved public spaces and shops, new jobs and community activities."
"We know from the residents, traders and stakeholders we’ve spoken to since the riots that they want to see comprehensive regeneration and lasting improvements in Tottenham."
(Source: Haringey Council Website Thursday 8 March 2012.)

A Politician's Fallacy, PR and Pledges

For me, these so-called pledges rub salt in the wounds inflicted by the riot. Let me explain why.

In 1988 a BBC TV comedy series called "Yes, Prime Minister" introduced us to The Politician's Fallacy.. This is false logic which goes something like this.
Step 1. There is a problem so we must do something.
Step 2. Here is something
Step 3. Therefore this is what we must do.

After the riot and looting in August 2011 the "immediate something" was sensible, practical and straightforward. Haringey Council staff, other public and voluntary agencies, commercial companies, and many many volunteers all rose to the occasion. Some people magnificently so.

An outstanding example was the work in the Community Assistance Centre, set up almost immediately after the riot, in part of Tottenham Green Leisure Centre. In the following weeks, more essential work was done. For example, the practical tasks of repairing and reinstating the damage. Transport for London, working with Haringey Council repaired the damaged roadway in High Road Tottenham. The burnt-out Bruce Grove Post Office was relocated with the help of Post Office Counters; and Business in the Community. As were some other businesses.

Council staff, together with the office of David Lammy MP and many others, gave help to traders - for example in pursuing insurance claims. Other agencies (including Business in the Community) gave valuable assistance with this.

12 in 2012 for Tottenham Regeneration

In contrast to the immediate short-term action, as the months passed the drive petered out. To me at least, it was clear that the leadership of Haringey Council was totally clueless in both understanding and tackling the longer term causes of the riot. Nor, it seems did other bodies involved propose any substantial, helpful new ideas.

But the Politicians' Fallacy requires that something had to be done in the medium and long term. Or, at least, something had to be seen to be done.

In March 2012, this was the context for the launch of these so-called "pledges" — 12 in 2012 for Tottenham Regeneration. These did include a couple of small positive projects. But the list was mainly a retread of several old schemes - some already well underway. Most had little or nothing to do with the riot. Nor are they a response to it.

Some of the twelve pledges are not "delivered" by Haringey Council but by other organisations - including commercial companies. Other pledges are vague and empty. Though one - about the Bruce Grove Youth Centre - was clear enough to be checked. As a result it was the subject of angry and evidenced challenges to its accuracy. Our Council was not telling the whole truth.

The overall list was justified on the specious ground that it was what people wanted.
"We know from the residents, traders and stakeholders we’ve
spoken to since the riots that they want to see comprehensive
regeneration and lasting improvements in Tottenham."

This conclusion is laughable. In fact it's a variation of the Politician's Fallacy.

• Haringey Council leadership claims its Plan will regenerate Tottenham.
• People in Tottenham want regeneration and improvements.
• The Council pretends that Tottenham residents have been consulted and endorse its Plan.

Would residents be clamouring for degeneration and for things to get worse? But of course, people can and do disagree strongly on what constitutes a "lasting improvement" and "regeneration".

______________________________________________

Links (Back button returns to this page.)

§ Were pop-up activities delivered? Click here to read more. (Back button returns to this page.)
§ On 1 August 2012 the 12 in 2012 pledges were followed by A Plan For Tottenham. Instead of a rigorous assessment of the particular strengths and weaknesses of its proposals, it was yet another list. Mostly of strategies which had failed before. And were an even more inept response to the riot. Lacking substance, it was expensively printed on glossy paper with coloured photos and white text reversed-out on black. Over-designed feel-good wallpaper..
§ There are many Tottenham examples of profound disagreement on what is and isn't "improvement" and "regeneration". One is the long-running opposition to the Wards Corner development by Grainger.
§ Naomi Klein's book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism looks at how commercial interests can take advantage of crises to offer their services as the "solution" and to privatise or otherwise take over publicly owned assets.
§ Until May 2014, I was an elected councillor in Haringey, representing Tottenham Hale ward. This is the location of these posters in High Road Tottenham; and a short walk from my home.
In what passes for democracy in Haringey, neither I nor, as far as I know, other councillors representing local wards were consulted about the "pledges". Nor was I consulted on the subsequent "Plan for Tottenham". The first I heard about this pointless document was when a local resident phoned me when she saw the photo-op being staged on the site of the demolished CarpetRight store. Cllr Claire Kober and Cllr Alan Strickland held up copies of the Plan. As one of my neighbours said, for all the use it proved, they may as well have launched it as a paper aeroplane.
§ Photo by Laurence Cumming of the former Bruce Grove Post office on the morning after the riot.
§ Link to the article on Wikipedia The Politician's Syllogism.
§ YouTube link for the "politicians' logic" sequence on the BBC TV program Yes Prime Minister.
§ Google Street View of where I took this photo. [Broken link fixed 4 December 2018]

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Taken in: United Kingdom / England / London / Haringey (show map)

Taken on: February 28, 2013

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Sets appears in: • 12 for 2012. Pledges or PR?

Groups appears in: • British Politics • Global Photojournalism; Protest, Culture, and News

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