INTERVIEW: Diane Abbott MP

Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, is a leading figure in the Hackney Schools and the Black Child Campaign. She talks to Laura Crowley about her own school life and why she believes Britain’s education system is failing black children.

“My teachers were surprised I was academic,” Diane admits. “They thought I should have just been good at netball, because all black girls are good at netball. But in fact, I was pretty rubbish at it.”

It is society’s poor expectations of black youths that Diane considers to be so damaging to their education. She acknowledges she was lucky with her education, attending a grammar school, then Cambridge. Only in retrospect has she realised she suffered from prejudice as a child.

Diane believes “institutional racism” means black pupils’ standing amongst their peers changes over the years, becoming most apparent at secondary school level. About 25 per cent of black boys attain good GCSE results, compared with 42 per cent of white boys.

She says gang culture interrelates with educational failure: “While a lot of black women re-direct their lives by going to college in their 20s and 30s, black boys get sucked into the gang culture.”

The Director General of the British Prison Service, once said: "The day you permanently exclude a boy from school, you might as well give them a date and time to turn up at prison," something that Diane believes is definitely true.

Black pupils are three times more likely to be excluded from school than white children. “I don’t see this as directly racist” Diane explains. “It is the end of a damaging process that starts in primary school.”

The changes need to start young, with a continual focus on black achievement. Diane states: “Black role models are thin on the ground in Britain. Black children should see black people in high positions such as MPs, doctors and lawyers.”

Diane is an impressive role model. She was the first black female elected into British parliament, and is proud to represent the multi-ethnic Hackney. “It is important parliament is not made up of middle-class white men” she says. “It should reflect the society it represents.”

The same applies to teachers. Currently, only seven per cent of London’s teachers are black. “The government takes education very seriously” insists Diane, “but there should be targets to encourage black teachers, especially male. The teaching workforce needs to be more culturally literate.”

Diane has both a journalistic and political background, and so is substantially prepped in the art of interview. Still, her aspirations to improve education seem sincere. As a left-wing Labour MP, she was highly criticised when she sent her son to a private school. Diane felt she could not subject her son to the prejudiced education system. Yet she realises other parents cannot afford private schooling and is intent on making a change, campaigning for various schemes to improve education.

Diane thinks the biggest change will arise from the 2012 Olympics. At present, employment prospects for black boys in Hackney are uninspiring, and the poor housing is demoralising. The benefits of regeneration would weave into the education system.

“I am a big fan of the Olympics” she says. “It will vastly improve East London, especially its employment factors. This will have a knock-on effect, making people more positive and giving them more self-esteem.

“British schools do not encourage black children to believe in themselves. Changing this would be a major step forward.”

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Facing Up To Addiction

A recent Mayor of London has shown the capital has 25 per cent more dependent drinkers than the British average. Chris Green went to Haggerston to meet the anonymous alcoholics of Shoreditch who are fighting to get back control of their lives.

A stone’s throw from Hoxton Square, where London’s hippest young things congregate every weekend to drink themselves into oblivion, a social gathering of a very different kind is taking place. Each Thursday night in a hall attached to St Leonard’s Church, recovering alcoholics from all over Hackney assemble to share the most intimate details of their problems with total strangers.

Tonight, I am a privileged observer at the meeting of Hackney’s Alcoholics Anonymous. But my chaperone for the evening, a tall, bald man named Chris, takes one look at my notebook and grimaces.

“The first thing is, you’ll not be allowed to take that in,” he says. “It’s as bad as a camera. People who have only recently found sobriety get very paranoid – they might freak out if they see you taking notes.” He grins, sensing my nervousness. “Don’t worry, they’re a good lot really.”

Chris is a Project Manager at Acorn House, a drop-in centre and temporary lodging for male alcoholics. Since opening in 2002, it has expanded to provide a home for 16 people. They are all required to attend the weekly AA meetings at the church around the corner. Like many of the staff at Acorn House, Chris himself is a recovering alcoholic: he had his last drink ten years ago.

Entering the hall, I am told that on no account should I say that I am a journalist. “If anyone asks,” Chris whispers, “you’re just a visitor, and you’re with me.”

But I am not eyed with suspicion. In fact, several people come up to me, murmuring words of welcome and beaming as they shake my hand.

The hall is wide, with 60 chairs encircling a central table, garish, hand-painted scrolls dangle from the walls, displaying maxims such as “The First Drink Does The Damage” and “Think: Keep It Simple.” Occupying the back wall is a blue banner that proclaims: “Sober In Shoreditch: You Are No Longer Alone.”

The first speaker approaches the microphone: “Hello,” he says, “My name is Ian, and I am an alcoholic.” An exultant shout rings out across the room: “Hi, Ian.” Everybody replies except me.

Sharon, a bubbly thirty-year-old redhead, is introduced. She begins to talk about her struggle to overcome alcoholism, and recalls a chaotic childhood, broken marriage and many cider-fuelled binges.

This week Sharon is celebrating being sober for six years. Within the AA, such an event is known as a ‘birthday’, and is marked by the presentation of a plastic casino chip. I ask Chris about these.

“Well, a lot of people don’t bother with them, but we like to do it here,” he says. “Around this room, there are people who have only been sober for 24 hours, and others who have been sober for 24 years. They all get a different chip – it’s something to aim for.”

The first member to give his reaction to Sharon’s story is Tom, a wizened old Irishman. He says the worst part of his alcoholism was its effect on his children. “When I got home from work,” he recalls, “they would never know if I was going to be violent and abusive or weeping and gentle.” He attended his eldest son’s wedding over Christmas, but is ashamed that he cannot remember him growing up.

Another member is Cameron, a middle-aged Scot, who recalls his drunken excesses in Glasgow in the 1980s. “I was in Thailand on holiday last summer,” he says, “and my wallet was stolen. I was a wee bit angry about it, but then I thought to myself, ten years ago I didn’t even have a wallet.”

And so the stories continue, well into the night. The younger, more nervous members begin to respond, taking the cue from their elders. There is a tale of domestic abuse – both given and received – from a mother who is barely thirty. People from every strata of society are here: a well spoken, executive-looking type in a tweed jacket; a C-list pop star wearing a t-shirt and sneakers. The former talks of the pressure his parents put on him to succeed; the latter his hectic lifestyle.

The evening is finally over, and it has been an exhausting experience. “So, how was your first ever Alcoholics Anonymous meeting?” Chris asks me with a grin. I’m not sure I know. But as I wind my way back towards the tube station, I walk past the trendy Shoreditch bars without so much as a backward glance.

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Are Hackney's markets bad for your health?

Whether you want exotic meat, fresh fish, or hard to find fruit, Hackney is known for its vibrant food markets. But could you be biting off more than you can chew when you shop on the streets? Sarah Bloch exposes the unsavoury side of Hackney’s market food.


Street vendors are an important part of Hackney’s vibrancy. The borough's markets - lines of ramshackle tents and awnings - throw up a bewildering selection of cheap clothes, illicit DVDs and strange-looking fruit and vegetables, meat (above) and fish.

Avoiding big name supermarkets and supporting local traders is an important way of promoting a sense of community, but just how much damage could shopping in markets do to your health?

The most recent Food Standards Agency (FSA) reports into the Ridley Road Market in Dalston reveal just how poor standards of food hygiene can be. Of the 25 stalls selling food produce, 10 were not awarded a single star for food hygiene, branding them ‘unacceptable’. A further eight were granted only one star and a rating of ‘poor’.

The star rating reflects how well the vendor has complied with food hygiene regulations in storing and preparing produce. A shop with no stars demonstrates ‘almost total non-compliance with statutory obligations’, according to the FSA. A quick glance at the statutory obligations, which prohibit dirt, condensation, mould, and cross-contamination of raw and cooked meat shows how serious non-compliance could be.

If you’re already feeling squeamish, look away now. A report into one butcher’s premises found evidence of rodents and an infestation of cockroaches. When a sausage was cut open for inspection, it was full of live maggots.

Steve Edmonsdon, a medical microbiologist, explains that, unpleasant as it sounds, the risks to your health are fairly small as long as you are buying raw meat with the intention of cooking it. “There are less than 10 organisms that would be deadly, and they are very rare,” he says.

“One of the things you must look out for, especially when buying fruit, is Hepatitis A. Perhaps the fruit picker or the stall holder has not washed his hands properly after using the toilet, and this is a virus that can be passed on extremely easily. Other similar viruses are gastroenteritis and the norovirus, which can cause food poisoning. If you’re buying cooked food off a market stall where refrigeration is not adequate then you are putting yourself at risk.

In Ridley Road, it’s not just unscrupulous traders who are potentially endangering shoppers’ health. The council struggle to clear up all the rubbish the market produces each night, leaving mountains of food matter attracting insects, rats and mice. As many of the stalls are little more than shacks, these infestations spread quickly.

To put the impact that rats have on the local environment into perspective, visualise this: the pest control company Rentokil estimate that anything between one-fifth and one-third of the world’s total food output is eaten, spoiled or destroyed by rats and other rodents.

Add to this the fact that rats can carry over thirty different diseases, including the potentially fatal Weil’s disease, typhus, salmonella and bubonic plague, and you’d be forgiven for not wanting an infestation anywhere near your food source.

“The maggots that were found are the offspring of flies, which are direct vectors of whatever they’ve landed on,” says Edmondson. “Therefore if they’ve been on some horrid raw meat, then land on your wonderful cooked meat, there’ll be a direct transfer of bacteria. If you see a lot of flies around, that’s an indication that the stallholder is not doing everything right in terms of hygiene.

“Rats are another sign of poor hygiene, and there is a pretty worrying thing going on if you’ve got rats. At that point it’s become a public hygiene issue.”

The best way to avoid any of the dangers associated with contaminated meat is to take it home and cook it yourself. “When people shoot pheasants, they hang them until they’re horrible,” says Edmondson. “They will really be revoltingly contaminated with maggots and all sorts – it’s known as ‘gamey’ – but when you cook it it’s all just added protein really. At the end of the day the eaters have as much responsibility for their own health as the sellers.”

Market Food The Facts: how should you handle and prepare your purchases?

Don’t eat food that’s been cooked and left around – check it has been adequately cooked, kept hot and kept far away from raw meat.

Store raw meat away from cooked food in your fridge.

Parasitic infections are a rarity in Britain today, but be sure to cook pork particularly well, to kill any tapeworms.

Peel all fruit, or wash it before eating.

Cook meat thoroughly, using a meat thermometer to check that it is cooked through. Chicken should not be at all pink.

Rare beef is fine, but pink burgers are a no-go. Make sure any street food you eat is cooked in front of you.

Wash your hands before and after handling raw meat.

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The Colours Of Columbia Road

Columbia Road Market has sold flowers to Eastenders since 1869, witnessing Shoreditch’s rise from shabby to chic. Jane Fulcher spent her Sunday morning exploring the Hackney institution.

You hear them first. Burly men are shouting each other down with offers of “two baaanches of daffs for a foiiver” and calling everybody “love” and “daaarlin”. Turn the corner and then you see them, with a Marlboro dangling from their mouths dropping ash on the blossoms and dirty aprons brushing the peonies. This is Columbia Road Flower Market.

It sits among the winding lanes surrounded by council estates and washing hung from balconies, a dot of colour on London’s grey map. After passing through drab and littered streets you reach a small terrace of cottage-like houses, and it is as if you have stepped out of the city and into a resort town. Small galleries nestle among gastro pubs, and delicatessens with oak floors sell olives and pesto.

The market is always crowded. Women push through, peeking over armfuls of flowers. They chat about Sunday lunches and gymkhanas, smacking their fashionable shopping bags into the packs of Japanese tourists who carry cherry blossoms and smile at the stallholders.

Children stare, bewildered, at row upon row of orchids, daffodils, and flowers they never knew existed. Bored-looking fathers buy battered prawns for their children from a shop near by and look at the women, who look at the flowers. Art students stop and take pictures of the men with hair in their ears who wrap the delicate blossoms in coloured papers and give them to customers. Young boys, hoods up, play hip-hop on their mobile phones and try to look cool while pushing past good old boys carrying roses.

“I think I’ve seen them on the discovery channel,” says Tom Kittle, a regular of the flower market, pointing to a carnivorous plant with acid-filled cups at the end of its stalks. Buckets are crammed full with tulips of all kinds – pointed, curvy, some almost black. Huge plants with dark green flat leaves sit next to tiny pots of paper-thin pink flowers and bags of sharp, blue thistles. Some flowers have been dropped and trodden into the road. Yellow petals mix with mud and fag ends under people’s feet.

February’s cold and heavy air keeps the smell of the flowers close to the crowd. It smells of summer but with an undercurrent of damp, rotting earth. A smartly dressed Indian woman, radiant in sari silks, walks past and the cloud of her perfume covers the scent of the blooms.
There, among it all, a man pushes his father in a wheelchair. The old man mumbles and groans, his eyes are dark, his head and arm move uncontrollably. His son moves him to a stall selling buckets of bulbs. Here he stops and points vaguely to the flowers, crouched and waiting in woody tubers. As his son helps him choose what blooms he will grow this season, he smiles.

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The Regeneration Game

The Holly Street Estate has undergone a remarkable transformation. During the 1990s it was given a £97 million makeover and in 1998 Tony Blair hailed it as model development. Jeananne Craig visits the estate to see if life has really improved for its residents.

It is Saturday morning and the sun is shining on the Holly Street estate (above). The litter-free pavements sparkle, and light bounces off double-glazed windows.

But the streets are empty and the is silence somewhat uncanny.

Councillor Tom Price is in a quiet room in the estate’s recently refurbished community centre, conducting his regular drop-in surgery for residents. He admits that despite the bright new buildings, the redeveloped Holly Street still has its share of issues.

“This time two years ago there was an infestation of drug dealing going on. There were huge numbers of young people milling around like an occupying army at the junction between Freshfield Avenue and Middleton Road.

“People were turning up in black cabs from the City, looking to buy drugs for a night out; some would come from as far as Brighton. It was open all hours, like having a 24/7 Tesco on your doorstep.”

The problems culminated in the summer of 2005, when some 150 residents attended a meeting at the community centre and demanded that the council and the police took action. What followed was a two-month undercover surveillance project known as Operation Gamma.

The results were impressive: 18 men arrested on 97 different drug-related charges. Between them they are currently spending 67 years in prison. A front-page splash in the Hackney Gazette hailed the operation as a ‘Done Deal’, while the Metropolitan Police website lists Gamma as a success story while boasting a 7.9 per cent fall in general crime on the estate.

According to councillor Price, the improvements are immeasurable: “When I’m knocking on doors now people say ‘It’s made a massive difference, I’m not afraid of walking down to the shop now.’ That’s extraordinary.”

There is data to back this up: a council survey recorded that two years ago 68 per cent of residents wanted to leave the area; that figure is now down to 3 per cent.

“The council are better run than before, the Safer Neighbourhoods Team are doing a great job, and the Registered Social Landlords are taking their responsibilities much more seriously. We have great housing stock here, and good people working locally.

“That said, there is still drug dealing going on and we’re dealing with it,” Price adds. “Yes it’s better since Operation Gamma, yes it’s safer, but yes, there are problems which remain.”

One of these problems is knife crime. In October last year Holly Street resident and father-of-two Stevens Nyembo-Ya-Muteba was stabbed to death on his doorstep after asking a group of youths to keep the noise down. A media flurry ensued, with reports about knife and gun battles, and gang warfare between neighbouring rivals.

Jermaine, 16, lives on Holly Street’s Evergreen Square where Stevens was murdered. “There’s nothing much to do here for young people,” he says. “But we’re stuck because if we go to other areas we’ll get shot or stabbed up.

“There is a youth club with computers and that, but it’s all pretty basic. No one asks us what we want; it’s always adults telling us what to do. That’s how people get into trouble.”

In the aftermath of Operation Gamma, thousands of pounds were ploughed into a youth program to ensure that teenagers who had been acting as go-betweens for the older drug dealers would have a more positive future.

That money will run out soon, however. Shanaz Ali is a youth worker with CityZEN, the group contracted to carry out the youth diversionary project: “Our main funding finishes at the end of this month, and then we have funding for youth community workshops until the end of April. We’re in talks at the moment to secure second year funding; I’d be very upset if we didn’t.

“The young people here have a really strong sense of community, but adults still have a bad perception of them. We need more projects involving both groups.

“Teenagers here have more things to do and better access to the community centre now, there is definitely an improvement there. But on the other hand, with some of them it is still in their mind to get into mischief. There is only so much I can do, I cannot physically stop them from engaging in drugs and violence,” she adds.

Former Conservative councillor for the area Andrew Boff says that that without sufficient funding into youth provisions, the type murder that took place in October will “undoubtedly reoccur”.

“Operation Gamma did what it said on the tin but the frustrating thing is that when they made the initial arrests they didn’t think enough about why it happened in the first place. It hasn’t done a thing to resolve the deeper social problems in the area.

“There are still drugs about; in the bin areas there are needles and the paraphernalia of the sex trade. Drug pushers and pimps are targeting youths successfully, because nobody else is offering young people anything in the area.

“Young people need to be given the chance to engage in their community or these problems will come back,” he says.

Boff proposes an annual £30,000 subsidy from Hackney Council to facilitate activities and to improve on what he calls the “very small” drop-in centre on the estate.

“These young people need to have somewhere they can just hang out, not a formal youth club but a supervised coffee bar. When you look at all the money being spent in Hackney it is an obscenity that more is not channelled in this way.”

Despite her current “funding headache”, Shanaz Ali says she is optimistic about Holly Street’s future: “The estate is still quite infamous, that bad reputation is still there. But other than the murder I think it is safer. I’m hearing less and less of ‘We got stopped by the police’, and ‘He has to go to court’.

“We just need to continue promoting positive images, giving workshops on drugs and alcohol, and having football leagues with other estates. I’m hopeful we can turn things around here and get rid of the stigma for good."

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