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Anne Gray asked me to forward this to the list on her behalf. Pete ************************* > From: anne.gray <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: LEPU and workfare; reply to P. Treanor > Date: 24 January 2001 20:21 > > I feel considerably insulted by Paul Treanor's about the LEPU seminar on > employment zones. Perhaps he should become better informed about who's > writing what and for whom in the UK debates about social security and > workfare, before posting comments like this to a public list. > > First of all, Martin Jones, whose name appears on the programme, is well > known as a critic of workfare type policies. See for example his work in > Regional Studies, in publications of the Unemployment Unit, in Critical > Social Policy and Environment and Planning. > > As for me, also billed as a speaker as well as the chair of the event, I > thought I had been writing and publishing in that same vein for at least > five years. Mr. Treanor is obviously not a reader of Capital and Class or > of Local Economy. As he says, he is not familiar with the politics of > specific academic institutions in > Britain. If he had been, he might have noticed various conference papers I > have given in the last two years. One, to the European Sociological > Association conference in Amsterdam in 1999 (on the general theme of > workfare compared to slavery), might even have crossed Mr. Treanor's path > nearer to home. > > I am familiar with the web site of the Haringey Solidarity Group. And > indeed much of my recent research material comes from working with > unemployed people's centres. The EU project on which I'm working is > intended to research the claimant's viewpoint on social protection and > `welfare to work' systems. > > Yes, it is regrettable that our system of fees for seminars keeps out the > unemployed. It is derived from the university's financial systems over > which I have no control. > > Not being a member of the Critical Geography list, I am asking Pete North > to post this on my behalf, because I think I deserve a right of reply > Note from Pete: Actually Anne is being too polite. LEPU do cross subsidise community groups and individuals who have stories to tell on our seminars from the institutional players. I often have activists speaking and contributing from the floor at my seminars........... _________________________________________ Peter North Local Economy Policy Unit South Bank University, London Tel: 020 7815-7706 E-Mail: [log in to unmask] Website: http://www.sbu.ac.uk/~lepu/