2008/10/27 martin_mullaney <mullaney3@...>:
> Barnard, as has been pointed out. If the men and women were
> segregated, why couldn't they have been segregated along the length of
> the room, so women had the option of sitting at the front. Making the
> women sit at the back, behind the men does not look good.
>
> Also, what about women who didn't want to be segregated or wear a head
> dress. Was there an area set aside for them? From the photos, this was
> clearly not the case.
>
> Remember, this was a political meeting open to all. It was not a
> mosque meeting, where we would be more culturally sensitive.
>

Martin if this had been any other meeting you could not have said a thing
it is only because its a Respect meeting that you are saying  a word

I have seen the same thing happen at many other meetings and would
no doubt happen at LibDem meetings if a large number of of women
from the Asian Community attended

There is no evidence that the meeting was segregated other the by
the choose of the women

No doubt the organisers will make sure that it does not happen again that
a photograph would give that impression I have seen several other photos
of that meeting showing women and men mixing happly

Don't forget there was female on the platform and speaking and
taking part in the meeting

You Martin are just political mud throwing

I'm not a supporter of either Martin, or the LibDems. The cut and thrust
of debate is one thing, but this is getting close to the on-line
equivalent of a brawl. For the record, as stated earlier, I am not a
LibDem supporter. Neither am I a supporter of Respect. To be honest I
wouldn't vote Respect if they were the only ones on the ballot paper  I
would turn up to spoil my paper to make explicit my feelings.

If things are as you say then it is time that Councillor Yaqoob got a
bit more political savvy and gave Martin as good as he gives in
meetings.

Having said that our councillors have a job to do. I live on ever
decreasing hope that that is what they do.
--- In balsallheathonline@..., "Barnard Hobbit"
<barnardhobbit@...> wrote:
>
> 2008/10/27 donovanandy and09@...
> >
> > Don't know about any one else, but I'm p**ed off with this slanging
> > match. As my mother would say. Ones as bad as the others. They all
need
> > their heads banging together.
> >
>
> So I guess you are saying that its all right for Mullaney to come on
onto
> the Balsall Heath Online say what he likes about the local councillor
and
> no one should say a word in return
>
> Mullaney does not post anything on this forum other than attacks on
> Salma Yaqoob the last time he posted anything here was last November
> and that was about the Respect Party
>
> So donovanandy are you a Mullaney and Libdem fan ?
>

--- In balsallheathonline@..., "Barnard Hobbit"
<barnardhobbit@...> wrote:
>
> 2008/10/27 martin_mullaney <mullaney3@...>:
> > Barnard, as has been pointed out. If the men and women were
> > segregated, why couldn't they have been segregated along the
length of
> > the room, so women had the option of sitting at the front. Making
the
> > women sit at the back, behind the men does not look good.
> >
> > Also, what about women who didn't want to be segregated or wear a
head
> > dress. Was there an area set aside for them? From the photos, this
was
> > clearly not the case.
> >
> > Remember, this was a political meeting open to all. It was not a
> > mosque meeting, where we would be more culturally sensitive.
> >
>
> Martin if this had been any other meeting you could not have said a
thing
> it is only because its a Respect meeting that you are saying  a word
>
> I have seen the same thing happen at many other meetings and would
> no doubt happen at LibDem meetings if a large number of of women
> from the Asian Community attended

I haven't been to a inner city Lib Dem meeting where the women have
been segregated. If you have evidence to the contrary, please supply
it.

--- In balsallheathonline@..., "donovanandy" <and09@...>
wrote:
>
> I'm not a supporter of either Martin, or the LibDems. The cut and
thrust
> of debate is one thing, but this is getting close to the on-line
> equivalent of a brawl. For the record, as stated earlier, I am not a
> LibDem supporter. Neither am I a supporter of Respect. To be honest
I
> wouldn't vote Respect if they were the only ones on the ballot paper
I
> would turn up to spoil my paper to make explicit my feelings.
>
> If things are as you say then it is time that Councillor Yaqoob got
a
> bit more political savvy and gave Martin as good as he gives in
> meetings.

Councillor Yaqoob is more than able to give statements through the
media or even through Barnard. Indeed, she is on the front page of
this months Balsall Heathen about the Friends Institute. The Balsall
Heathen didn't mention that both Cllr Cox and myself were at that
protest in support. At this protest I had Cllr Salma Yaqoob's right
hand man Ger Francis shouting repeatedly in my ear "You Lib Dems are
closing the Friends Institute! You Lib Dems are closing the Friends
Institute!". I then had to do move away from him, to do an interview
for the Balsall Heathen, since I found his behaviour physically
threatening.

As I said before, political debates are not pretty - have a look at
Prime Ministers Question Time. I haven't made any abusive remarks
about anyone on this messageboard, I have merely pointed out some
falsehoods made by Cllr Yaqoob.

Cllr Yaqoob has had ample opportunity to produce evidence to the
contary on my allegations, but has not.

All I'm asking for a drop in the abuse. This response is more like it
and raises the question of who is complaining Barnard or Cllr Yaqoob?
All I ask is that if Barnard is acting as a spokesman that he declares
the fact. If not acting as such, fine.

--- In balsallheathonline@..., "martin_mullaney"
<mullaney3@...> wrote:
>
> --- In balsallheathonline@..., "donovanandy" and09@
> wrote:
> >
> > I'm not a supporter of either Martin, or the LibDems. The cut and
> thrust
> > of debate is one thing, but this is getting close to the on-line
> > equivalent of a brawl. For the record, as stated earlier, I am not a
> > LibDem supporter. Neither am I a supporter of Respect. To be honest
> I
> > wouldn't vote Respect if they were the only ones on the ballot paper
> I
> > would turn up to spoil my paper to make explicit my feelings.
> >
> > If things are as you say then it is time that Councillor Yaqoob got
> a
> > bit more political savvy and gave Martin as good as he gives in
> > meetings.
>
> Councillor Yaqoob is more than able to give statements through the
> media or even through Barnard. Indeed, she is on the front page of
> this months Balsall Heathen about the Friends Institute. The Balsall
> Heathen didn't mention that both Cllr Cox and myself were at that
> protest in support. At this protest I had Cllr Salma Yaqoob's right
> hand man Ger Francis shouting repeatedly in my ear "You Lib Dems are
> closing the Friends Institute! You Lib Dems are closing the Friends
> Institute!". I then had to do move away from him, to do an interview
> for the Balsall Heathen, since I found his behaviour physically
> threatening.
>
> As I said before, political debates are not pretty - have a look at
> Prime Ministers Question Time. I haven't made any abusive remarks
> about anyone on this messageboard, I have merely pointed out some
> falsehoods made by Cllr Yaqoob.
>
> Cllr Yaqoob has had ample opportunity to produce evidence to the
> contary on my allegations, but has not.
>

Can I suggest that to ensure that this list isn't completely clogged
up with messages relating the the ongoing issue with Martin and Salma
(I've been away from my desk for seven hours and there are 21 messages
on this topic!), and to keep the list as a constructive, friendly
addition to all the positive and interesting work happening in Balsall
Heath, that posts on the issue stop and that anyone wanting to read
about or contribute to the ongoing discussion head over to the Forums
on The Stirrer website where the topic is covered in more detail?

This means that posters don't need to repeat themselves by posting on
both forums and anyone who is interested has the option of getting
involved in the wider debate elsewhere.  This list is really a
noticeboard for friendly chat, events and useful information.  It's
not a political forum and personally I would rather it wasn't used as
such as we're missing a huge opportunity to effectively inform local
residents about some great stuff.  Other online forums are so much
more geared to political debate and discussion.

If new issues directly relating to the Institute arise then please
feel free to post.

Rachel

--- In balsallheathonline@..., Rachel Gillies -
Community Film Maker <rachel@...> wrote:
>
> Can I suggest that to ensure that this list isn't completely clogged
> up with messages relating the the ongoing issue with Martin and
Salma
>
> Rachel
>
If the messageboard is going to reject local politics, could I suggest
that no references good or bad are made about the Sparkbrook Ward
Councillors. Barnard, does have a habit of posting false information
from the Sparkbrook Ward Councillors.

It's not rejecting politics, but if we're getting 21 repetitive e-
mails a day between a few individuals concerning the same topic and
not really providing any new news we need to find a way to balance
that with the need for an informative, friendly place to discuss and
promote what is happening in our neighbourhood.  At the moment there
are requests for more of the latter.

I think that all members need to be a bit more measured in trying to
achieve this, regardless of political affiliation.  Please think about
the readership before posting.

As a suggestion, if these kind of debates arise maybe a way forward
would be to start a thread on The Stirrer and post a link to the group
so we can follow it.  That way there will be a much more broader city-
wide debate and BHO members can get involved as well.

Rachel

--- In balsallheathonline@..., Rachel Gillies
<rachel@...> wrote:
>
> It's not rejecting politics, but if we're getting 21 repetitive e-
> mails a day between a few individuals concerning the same topic and
> not really providing any new news we need to find a way to balance
> that with the need for an informative, friendly place to discuss and
> promote what is happening in our neighbourhood.  At the moment there
> are requests for more of the latter.
>
> I think that all members need to be a bit more measured in trying to
> achieve this, regardless of political affiliation.  Please think
about
> the readership before posting.
>
> As a suggestion, if these kind of debates arise maybe a way forward
> would be to start a thread on The Stirrer and post a link to the
group
> so we can follow it.  That way there will be a much more broader
city-
> wide debate and BHO members can get involved as well.
>
> Rachel
>
Rachel, why is there a need for you to interfere?

This debate has burnt itself out. Andy Donovan's timely interjection
has calmed things down. Your interference now, is simply starting the
argument again.

Both the moseley egroup and The Stirrer allow debates to continue -
99.9% of debates burn themselves out. The editor of the Stirrer will
intervene if it starts getting libellous.

Now if BalsallHeathOnline was an active group and these arguments
between Barnard and myself were somehow interfering in other peoples
debates, then fair enough. Instead BalsallHeathOnline is pretty much
dead - 5 messages a month - and whenever someone starts a debate,
there's a sudden clammer to kill the debate.

If you don't want a messageboard, be honest and close this one down.
To all intents and purposes it is already dead.

--- In balsallheathonline@..., Rachel Gillies
<rachel@...> wrote:
>
> 'Rachel, why is there a need for you to interfere?'
>
> For the simple reason that I moderate a list where several people
are
> expressing disquiet about some of the content.
>
I just wonder if the people complaining have got their membership set
to receive messages by individual e-mail.

This was something that both the moseley and moseley_free egroups went
through, where the people complaining about the content and had their
membership set to 'individual e-mails' Once they set their membership
to 'read from website', it meant they could choose what they wanted to
read. Complaints about content, dropped

This has already been highlighted in 'The Heathen'. Not everybody gets
a copy so I thought that I'd also raise it via this group.

There is a meeting on Nov 3rd at 6.30pm (18.30) in the Church Centre
on the corner of Mary St. and Edward Rd. Many of the service providers
will be there to discuss local problems. So if there is a problem you
want to raise...

Hippocrite that I am I may not be there. I have work committments.

--- In balsallheathonline@..., "martin_mullaney" <mullaney3@...>
wrote:

> In my case, I now moderated, because I was the target of abusive
> messages. .......so I am now being moderated for being the victim. How
> does one square that logic?

Hi,

Could you tell us when and where you allege this occurred Martin?

A simple link to the message would suffice.

Thanks.

Alex

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the balsallheathonline
group.

   File        : /#Gigs and Events#/WOMENS_SAFETY_DAY_INVITE.pdf
   Uploaded by : rach_film <rachel@...>
   Description : Including Women AGM 2008

You can access this file at the URL:
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/balsallheathonline/files/%23Gigs%20and%20Events\
%23/WOMENS_SAFETY_DAY_INVITE.pdf

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/help/uk/groups/files

Regards,

rach_film <rachel@...>

Update on the Library as I understand that the structural survey has found

problems with the roof and parts of the ceiling could fall on visitor's heads.

Hall Green Constituency does not have the money for the repairs

Whether BCC can find the money from central funds is unknown ?

The BCC website has changed in the last few days from saying

it will reopened in the Spring 2009 to closed indefinitely

See old BCC webpage last week  http://tinyurl.com/5slfb3

See current BCC webpage http://tinyurl.com/6gagle

I did suggest to a senior Hall Green Officer that the library could

be moved temporarily to the ground floor of the Friends' which

ironically used to be a library while repairs were carried out at the library

This idea I hear maybe taken forward and should help to secure the

future of the Friends building – but what about the long term future?

So why all the secrecy and lack of information is it not about time

that the council came clean and tell the public what is going on ?   

Well suggested. It will be interesting to see the reaction of BCC to
this.

I'm afraid that we're seeing the downside of devolution.  Pass
responsiblity down and walk away. Personally speaking I view libraries
etc as a core function which should be funded centrally. Let's hope that
the constituency councillors can bring pressure to bear for funding such
emergency repairs. After all the problem has been brought on by lack of
central spending over the years.
--- In balsallheathonline@..., "Barnard Hobbit"
<barnardhobbit@...> wrote:
>
>
> Update on the Library as I understand that the structural survey has
> found
>
> problems with the roof and parts of the ceiling could fall on
> visitor's heads.
>
> Hall Green Constituency does not have the money for the repairs
>
> Whether BCC can find the money from central funds is unknown ?
>
> The BCC website has changed in the last few days from saying
>
>
> it will reopened in the Spring 2009 to closed indefinitely
>
> See old BCC webpage last week  http://tinyurl.com/5slfb3
> <http://tinyurl.com/5slfb3>
>
> See current BCC webpage http://tinyurl.com/6gagle
> <http://tinyurl.com/6gagle>
>
> I did suggest to a senior Hall Green Officer that the library could
>
> be moved temporarily to the ground floor of the Friends' which
>
>
> ironically used to be a library while repairs were carried out at the
> library
>
> This idea I hear maybe taken forward and should help to secure the
>
>
> future of the Friends building – but what about the long term
> future?
>
> So why all the secrecy and lack of information is it not about time
>
>
> that the council came clean and tell the public what is going on ?
>

Let's not forget the problems with the Library Roof and Ceiling other than

by the age of the building was caused by lead being stolen from its roof due

to lack of foresight by Birmingham City Council in not protecting the building

from this not unexpected crime growth area and add to this to the lack of any

annual inspection and any maintenance program of the building

I have had it confirmed from another reliable source that the Hall Green

Constituency is considering moving the Balsall Heath Library to the Friends'

Institute while I did mention to a senior Hall Green Officer a week before

the library was closed for the structural survey I don't think I can claim

credit or otherwise for the decision

Before we get carried away with this being the ideal solution they are

others and moving the library to the Friends Institute has many problems

What about the effect on the current users and activates that have taken

place at the Friends for years namely musical and theatrical rehearsals

that create noise does not easily fit in with a library situation ?

What about the lost of space for the buildings traditional use and the

cancellation or curtailment of those activists?

While I could seethe use of building as a library for a temporary period

with limited opening hours(Mornings and Saturdays) I do not think that

it should ever become permanent  

What I think most local people would wish is that the library stays where

it is and the Friends' carry on being the Friends'     

This library the smallest in Birmingham is well used and I can not stress

enough how important this library is to the people of Balsall Heath

especially the children who queue up outside waiting to get in   

Having slept on the problem overnight I have come up with possibly better

solution about a temporary library while work is carried out to repair of

the current building are completed

Just like schools would do in a similar situation hire a Portakabin that

could be erected and used as a temporary library and I can think of

three or more locations all very near the present library two being

direct opposite the current library this could be easily be done within

a month if the council had the will

The library was part of the regeneration plans of the baths proposed

two years ago would have closed for two years as part of that plan

This matter is likely to be top of the agenda at the Sparkbrook Ward

Committee meeting this coming Wednesday at Clifton Old School@ 6:30 pm

where Hall Green Constituency Officers will be asked to come up with

some answers

Please try and be there we all want to know 

How long the Library is is likely to be closed?

How much are the repairs and where is the money coming from?

This not an ideal time to action the regeneration plans ?

Public Meeting'

"""Gaza and Ramallah, not 50 miles but worlds apart "

Friday 28th November

7pm

Council House, Victoria Square


Speakers

The Right Honourable

Clair Short MP

Clare was on the third boat trip to Gaza and will talk about her
experiences there.

*Muammer and Raida*

Two Palestinians visiting Birmingham from Ramallah

Hosted By

Birmingham/Ramallah Twinning Initiative (BRTI), Midlands Palestinian
Community Association (MPCA)

West Midlands Palestine Solidarity Campaign

All Welcome

*_Birmingham Ramallah _*

*_Twinning Initiative (BRTI)_*

As part of the grassroots initiative to twin Birmingham with Ramallah on
the West Bank of Occupied Palestine, two Palestinians from Ramallah will
visit Birmingham from the 24^th to the 28th of November.

They are members of our sister twinning committee in Ramallah. One works
in the media and the other is a teacher. During their stay they hope to
meet organisations and groups that would be interested in finding out
more about the daily situation in Palestine and how grass roots links
may be developed between the people of our two cities.

If you would like one of them to speak to your organisation/community
group etc please contact us.

We are also holding the following public events.


   Workshop


   *Education Under Occupation*

Raida, a teacher from Ramallah will introduce the workshop. Raida will
explain the current situation for both teachers and pupils in Palestine
followed by a discussion of how we can link schools and pupils.

Monday 24th November – 5.30pm

Venue to be confirmed – Please ring Caroline on 07855645199

*Falafel Evening*


   *Thursday 27th November*


   * *


   *Including updates from Palestinian visitors from Ramallah, Poetry
   reading and great falafel.*


   * *

7pm onwards

Weoley Hill Church Hall, Green Meadow Road, Selly Oak

* *

* *

To find out more about BRTI twinning please see
*www.birminghamramallah.org <http://www.birminghamramallah.org/> *for
information on the* *National Twinning network please see
www.twinningwithpalestine.net <http://www.twinningwithpalestine.net/>

To contact us please call Caroline Johnson BRTI Secretary) 07855645199
or email us at birminghamramallah@...
<mailto:birminghamramallah@...>
Caroline Johnson
07855 645199

When the library first closed, I spoke to one of the builders who was
standing in the entrance at the time. He said that the problem was
with cracks in the pillars and nothing to do with the roof or
ceiling. Someone had mentioned the story about lead stolen from the
roof so I brought it up and he said that had nothing to do with it
and didn't think there was any missing. He didn't think they'd be
finished in 3 weeks, he seemed to think 5 was optimistic.
Of course, it could be thathe didn't know any more than I did but
that's what I heard.


  --- In balsallheathonline@..., "Barnard Hobbit"
<barnardhobbit@...> wrote:
>
>
> Let's not forget the problems with the Library Roof and Ceiling
> other than
>
> by the age of the building was caused by lead being stolen from its
roof
> due
>
> to lack of foresight by Birmingham City Council in not protecting
the
> building
>
> from this not unexpected crime growth area and add to this to the
lack
> of any
>
> annual inspection and any maintenance program of the building
>
> I have had it confirmed from another reliable source that the Hall
Green
>
>