Last week the fantastic “Urban Art” fair on Josephine Avenue took place and had its most successful year ever despite the credit crunch, Brixton tube station being closed all weekend and Herne Hill being closed on Sunday. Selected pictures of the event are below.

Locally based artist, Paul Anthony Smith, exhibits his paintings.  More information on his work can be found at www.pasartwork.com.

Enjoying the sun with one of the organisers.  We are standing near Priscilla Watkins work (not pictured), which particularly caught my eye – you can see her work at www.priscillawatkinsart.co.uk.  

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There is considerable alarm about the gun and knife crime on our streets today. It seems that not a day goes by without a media report of a stabbing or shooting incident in London.

Here in Streatham, the shooting of 16 year old James Andre Smartt-Ford at Streatham Ice Rink (outside which I am pictured with a youth worker) on 2 February 2007 was one of the first in a wave of teenage murders to come to national prominence. Months later, on 22 October 2007, there was the shooting of Gary “Curry Cat” Guthrie at the Starlight Room nightclub behind the Ice Rink (the trial of the seven men accused of his murder takes place in January). On 31 March this year a teenager was shot in the face on Tierney Road. This list is by no means exhaustive.

Each and every incident is shocking, all the more so when it results in death. Unfortunately I have not had time to do justice to these issues in a post on this website this week, but I do intend to blog in much greater detail in this regard in the coming months. For the moment, here are some brief thoughts.

Firstly, I think it is important to get these issues in perspective. Yes there is a problem – no one would deny that when faced with the statistics of young people tragically killed over the last 18 months – but it is still a minority engaging in this kind of violence. The Home Office estimates that just 5% of young people are responsible for half of all youth crime, so lets not demonise the majority of them.  Mark Easton, BBC News’ Home Affairs editor (right) did a very good blog this week on our teenagers – “10 reasons to cheer our teenagers” – which is well worth reading.

Secondly, knife and gun crime is not the sole preserve of young people as the murder of Gary Guthrie demonstrates. Guthrie was aged 35 and all those charged with his murder are aged 20 or over. Lets not forget there is knife and gun crime being committed across all age groups which must be addressed.

Thirdly, the government is taking action, not only to crack down hard on those committing these dreadful offences, but also to prevent people getting involved in this kind of activity in the first place as the Youth Crime Action Plan published on Tuesday demonstrates.

Elements of the Youth Crime Action Plan include street based teams of youth workers and ex-gang members to tackle groups of young people involved in crime and disorder, giving the community the opportunity to say what type of work they want young people on community sentences to do undertake and expanding youth centre provision. This builds on measures we have introduced to tackle crime more generally such as Safer Neighbourhood Teams.

There are some great cultural events happening locally this weekend which I want to plug. Urban Art, the bustling art fair showcasing new and exciting work from over ninety UK artists (which I have already written about here), takes place on Josephine Avenue just off Brixton Hill from 10am tomorrow (Saturday).

There is also the annual Lambeth Country Show on Brockwell Park which this year is headlined by one of my favourite artists - Nu Soul legend, Omar. Who can forget Omar’s seminal first album, “There’s nothing like this”, released in 1990. Omar has been a huge influence on the soul music fraternity both here and in the US. Internationally acclaimed artists such as Eryka Badu, D’Angelo and others often cite him as one of their inspirations.

Anyone in doubt of the high esteem in which Omar is held need only look at some of those who collaborated on his latest album, “Sing”: Stevie Wonder, Estelle, Angie Stone and Common. To top it off, he’s a South London boy and is often seen around and about in Streatham. Omar will be appearing on the main stage at the Lambeth Country Show at 6pm on Saturday.

Former South African President and freedom fighter, Nelson Mandela, is 90 years old today. The man needs no introduction whatsoever. In my view he is one of the greatest living men alive today. He provides an example to anyone wanting to get involved in politics, who is keen to make positive change and improve the lives of those in their community.

I remember, as a teenager, going down and standing along Brixton Station Road outside the Recreation Centre to greet Mandela on his historic visit to Brixton on 12 July 1996. The excitement and energy that swirled around his visit was incredible – I have not seen anything like it on the streets of Brixton since! You can watch ITN’s coverage of that 1996 visit here; there is also a New York Times article here.  (For those who don’t know, “Madiba” is Mandela’s clan name by which he is affectionately known by his tribe in South Africa.)

This week is Proud of our Pubs week and I’d like to take the opportunity to celebrate and give thanks to Streatham’s pubs.

Around15 million people socialise in the nation’s pubs every week and most are small businesses, run by tenants, lessees and owners. The industry is also a source of work, employing over 600,000 people in the UK.

Here in the parliamentary constituency of Streatham we have over 40 different drinking venues.  They make an invaluable contribution to the community, providing locally based entertainment and community hubs where people can come together and relax in the busy environment that is London.

Last week, I met with some of Streatham’s landlords to talk about the issues facing their businesses and to find out what they think are the key issues which need to be tackled in the area. I look forward to continuing this dialogue with these important community stakeholders going forward.

I am pictured above with Dave Sisodia, landlord of the Greyhound Pub (opposite Streatham Common), and Raymond Clarke and Paul Crummey of the Five Bells (on Streatham High Road).

I will be appearing on Simon Mayo’s show this afternoon on BBC Radio 5 Live with Liberal Democrat MP, Jo Swinson, former MP and Minister, Chris Leslie and Conservative blogger, Iain Dale. We have all been invited on to discuss who’d want to become a Member of Parliament and why. In short, I believe that politics is the best vehicle through which we can effect positive change in society and I want to help bring about positive change for the people of the Streatham constituency (which covers Streatham, parts of Balham, Brixton, Clapham and Tulse Hill) and put something back into the community I’m from – that is why I am putting myself forward. For more, tune into Simon’s show between 3 and 4pm this afternoon. You can access his part of the BBC website here, where you will also be able to listen to the show after the event.

The fabulous Streatham Festival has started! In its sixth year, the Festival is full of music, comedy, drama, storytelling, film, dance and much more. I’m sure everyone in the area is tremendously grateful to Patricia Sauer, the Chair of the Streatham Festival Association, and her team for putting on this fantastic event.

As Patricia says, “Streatham was once full of great places to enjoy the theatre, music and comedy and was home to many world-class performers.
“The festival helps keep that spirit alive by nurturing new and emerging talent”.

I had the pleasure of being invited to a private showing of local artist, Tim Sutton’s “Bingo Girls” exhibition last night, which features in the Festival and which I thought really captured the spirit of this place – outgoing, eclectic and multicultural. “Bingo Girls” is a portrait exhibition celebrating the Streatham Bingo Hall and the people paying for it’s preservation (ie. the bingo players who frequent the building). I am pictured with one of the wonderful bingo ladies who features in the exhibition next to her picture.

For more info on Bingo Girls click here, and for more info on the Streatham Festival which carries on until next Sunday, click here.

Happy Birthday to the NHS which is 60 years old today. Today the comedian Jo Brand, a former nurse, said:

“I worked in the NHS in the Eighties, and it was a right balls up. And as a former mental health nurse, it’s good to see Labour taking nurses seriously; keep listening or you never know where a thermometer might end up.” Says it all really.

Below you can watch a video of my colleague, the Labour MP for Watford Claire Ward, walking around Watford General Hospital with her baby, explaining what the NHS has done for her family and how Labour has been investing in the NHS since the party founded it 60 years ago.

48 years today, Italian Somaliland gained its independence from Italy and united with British Somaliland to form the Somali Republic, located in the Horn of Africa (the Eastern tip of the continent).

It is estimated that over 70,000 Somalis now live in London, many having fled the troubles in their country of late, and the Somali community is thought to be the oldest African community here.  There is, of course, a growing Somali community in the Streatham parliamentary constituency.

I was very grateful to be invited to take part in the Third Annual Somali Community Conference at Richard Atkins Primary School last night, organised by the Aayatiin Foundation For Relief & Development (headed by Dr Musse Hassan, with whom I am pictured above).

I would like to wish all Somalis living in the Streatham my very best wishes for their Independence Day celebrations today and look forward to working with the community to improve the educational prospects of their children and the employment prospects of Somalis in Streatham, amongst other things (I am pictured right discussing these issues with conference delegates).