Hand Made Tales, curated by Carol Tulloch, opened last week, and is described by the library as ‘a timely exhibition focusing on the role domestic crafts play in many women’s experiences.’

The exhibits, drawn largely from the past 100 years, include examples of home-made objects such as clothing and furniture, alongside books and pamphlets, cooking receptacles and gardening instruments.

Displayed together, they pay tribute to the efforts of generations past, as well as hinting at more modern encounters with the domestic arts, and exploring the different meanings that domestic labour can have for those who engage in it.

A number of different cultural traditions are featured, with explanations of the items producing a tapestry of material that functions as an intriguing exploration of social change.

From a grandmother’s handwoven Punjabi dhurrie rug to a tapestry of Psalm 137 sewn by a Jewish immigrant, expressing the desire to remember her faith whilst integrating into the English middle class, the show demonstrates how everyday domestic objects can reflect wider currents of history.

There is much featured in the exhibition that will feel familiar to its viewer as the accoutrements of a home life that persisted for much of the previous century – such as button boxes, sewing machines and much-annotated cookery notebooks.

However, the solemnity and detachment inherent in viewing such objects in a museum context disrupts perceptions of banality, bringing them into a new light of examination and highlighting their cultural importance.

This political renegotiation of the domestic sphere is a specific aim of the exhibition.

According to Tulloch: “Crafts were [traditionally] viewed as the specific trade of the housewife, a beleaguered individual whose domestic creativity was not recognised as being a valuable contribution to society, a position that the feminist movement fought against.”

Rejecting the idea that a renewed contemporary interest in domestic crafts is retrogressive, she added: “This renaissance of domesticity has been criticised by some feminists as being a glamorisation of the historically subordinate housewife – but not all women who practised these crafts saw themselves and their skills as devalued.”

Hand Made Tales is on display until 20 April 2011 at The Women’s Library, 25 Old Castle Street, Aldgate, E1 7NT. Entry is free.

For more information, click here to visit the Women’s Library website.

Labour's Carl Handley won this week's Ladywell by-election

Labour party candidate Carl Handley triumphed in yesterday’s Ladywell council by-election, the Brockley Central blog has reported.

Handley, who has previously served as a councillor for the area between 2002 and 2006, received 1231 votes, according to the blog’s source Sue Luxton.

He saw off competition from Green Party nominee Ute Michel, who received 1041 votes, as well as Liberal Democrat Ingrid Chetram (314 votes), Helen Mercer of Lewisham For People Not Profit (233) and Conservative Ben Appleby (153).

Handley, a a part-time worker for a welfare-rights and independent living charity for the disabled, is a long-term resident of the ward.

Described by his party as ‘a community activist with a wealth of council experience,’ he has also run a local football club for 23 years and served as an award-winning school Chair of Governors.

Upon being nominated to run for election, he said: “I am honoured and delighted to be chosen once again to represent the Labour Party here in Ladywell.”

“In these tough times, there are many battles to be fought on behalf of residents here and I am looking forward to being given this chance.”

Handley replaces departing Labour councillor Tim Shand, who resigned from the post to take up a job at Sonke Gender Justice Network in South Africa.

He will take his place as councillor alongside two fellow Labour representatives, Vincent Davis and Helen Gibson, both of whom were elected in May.

For previous voting figures read our last post.

Candidates for the Ladywell council by-election: Ben Appleby, Ingrid Chetram, Carl Handley, Ute Michel and Helen Mercer

A council by-election is due to take place in Ladywell this Thursday 4 November, with nominees from five parties vying for the chance to replace departing Labour councillor Tim Shand.

Shand, who was elected only months ago, tendered his resignation in September in order to take up a job at Sonke Gender Justice Network in South Africa. He said: “It has been a heart-wrenching decision to stand down but to go and work in some of the poorest communities in the world on big problems like HIV and sexual violence is something that I could not refuse.”

In May’s council election, Shand was one of three Labour councillors elected to the ward. He received 1909 votes. The Green party provided the most serious competition, narrowly missing out on a seat after their most successful candidate, Charlotte Dingle, gained 1845 votes.

On Thursday, candidates representing the Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Labour, Green and Lewisham For People Not Profit parties will stand in a bid to win the vacant borough councillor position.

Representing the Conservative party is Ben Appleby, a management consultant from Hither Green. He is campaigning to keep Crofton Park Library open, and also recently led a rally to call on Mayor Boris Johnson to bring his ‘Boris Bikes’ cycle hire scheme to Lewisham. “It would be a great way to help keep fit and reduce congestion on local roads,” he said. The local Conservative party describes Appleby as ‘an experienced and passionate campaigner, guaranteed to be a strong voice on Lewisham Council.’

Liberal Democrat candidate Ingrid Chetram, a mental health support worker, emphasised her belief in preserving local services in the face of cuts. She has also opposed the library closure, as well as advocating safer streets and more recycling in Lewisham. Acknowledging that ‘there is no magic cure’ to social problems, she maintained: “I will try my hardest to do what is right by my fellow citizens.” “I want to be a guardian of our local values and standards,” she added.

Standing for Labour is Carl Handley, a part-time worker for a welfare-rights and independent living charity for the disabled. Having previously represented Ladywell as a councillor between 2002 and 2006, Handley is described by his party as ‘a community activist with a wealth of council experience.’ “Carl is a champion for children, young people and all of the community,” said Lewisham Labour Group Chair Alan Hall. “He is a tremendous asset for Lewisham.”

Green party nominee Ute Michel is also a previous Ladywell councillor. An NHS worker and former European parliamentary research assistant, Michel has opposed the opening of a new bookmaker’s in the area, as well as campaigning against cuts to social care services. Emphasising her party’s narrow loss in Ladywell’s May election, when they failed to gain a seat by just 65 votes, she said: “I worked hard over four years to help individual residents and the local community, and I would be honoured to serve Ladywell again.”

Campaigning on the local-interest Lewisham For People Not Profit ticket is Helen Mercer, who describes herself as ‘a long-term resident of the ward.’ Emphasising her ‘leading role’ in campaigns including the effort to save Lewisham Bridge School, Mercer has also opposed the closure of local libraries. Describing her party as ‘the new kids on the block,’ she added: “What we have are people who have been involved in campaigns in Lewisham for a long time, people who are close to and understand the concerns and needs of ordinary people.”

Thursday’s winner will take their place on the council alongside sitting Labour representatives Davis and Gibson, who were elected alongside ex-Councillor Shand in May.

PCs Nicola Irvine and Maz Lovegrove with some of the recovered bicycles. Photo: Metropolitan Police

Victims of bicycle theft in Hackney have had cause to celebrate this month after a new police scheme returned 14 stolen bikes to their rightful owners during its first fortnight of operation.

PCs Maz Lovegrove and Nicola Irvine, who make up the new Hackney Cycle Crime Unit, have already conducted two operations to recover a number of high-value stolen cycles.

One beneficiary of the scheme was Yvonne Adenle. Her bicycle, which had cost around £1000 to purchase and transport to the UK, was stolen earlier this year. Ms Adenle described her surprise and happiness after the bike was recovered and returned to her by the police.

“I was amazed and delighted to get my bike back, which had been stolen in a burglary in August 2010,” she said. “I brought it over from Switzerland and I am a Swiss national so it was more than just an object to me.”

“I would urge every bike owner to register their frame number. Had I not done this and put it on the police report, the police could not have traced the bike back to me when it was recovered.”

PC Lovegrove said: “Cycling in Hackney is more popular than ever but unfortunately all too often bikes are seen as a soft target for thieves looking to make money.”

“Our team is focused on cracking down on bike thieves operating in Hackney, reuniting stolen bikes with their owners and working with residents and visitors to help prevent them from becoming victims of bike theft or vandalism.”

“We want people to be able to park up their beloved bicycle in the confidence that it will be there when they return.”

The Cycle Unit return recovered bikes with a combined value of more than £1000 to cyclists Thomas Georgson from Tulse Hill and Leon Lahovich from Snaresbrook. Photo: Metropolitan Police

As well as returning stolen bicycles to their owners, the officers have been actively prompting people to take precautions that could help locate their bikes in case of theft.

Working with local cycle shops, the Unit aims to encourage owners to register their details alongside the frame number of their new bicycle at point of purchase.

“Shops such as London Fields Cycles in Hackney already provide this service which has assisted us in reuniting a number of stolen bikes with their owners,” said PC Lovegrove.

“We are keen for all bike shops to offer this service to their customers as it costs the shops nothing and helps us identify stolen bikes.”

Meanwhile, the bicycles whose owners cannot be traced are donated to local charities.

Rather than go to waste, 68 orphaned bikes have so far been delivered to benevolent organisations including the STA Bikes community project, the City and Hackney Centre for Mental Health’s Therapy and Life Skills Service, and the Pedal Power cycle club for people with disabilities.

Jo Roach, Pedal Power’s Project Manager, said: “Our range of specialised bikes allow people with profound and complex needs to enjoy cycling, with some of our members training for the Special Olympics. Pedal Power cycling club would like to thank Hackney Police for its donation of bikes.”

Owners can register their bicycles for free online at immobilise.com, the UK National Property Register – so that in the event of reported theft, they will appear on the Police National Stolen Equipment Database.

Photo: Sarah DuMay @ flickr

Tower Hamlets has the highest death rate from smoking in London, according to new health statistics published today.

The borough performed worst among its neighbours in a number of metrics included in the Local Tobacco Control Profiles, a set of statistics measuring smoking-related health issues.

The report, produced by statistical monitoring group the London Health Observatory, showed that Tower Hamlets came bottom among the capital’s boroughs in several categories measuring mortality rates related to smoking.

The borough reported 315 deaths from smoking per 100,000 population aged 35+ between 2006 and 2008 – more than double the rate of London’s best-performing borough, Kensington and Chelsea, which had only 127. The Tower Hamlets figures were also far above the national average for England, which was 207.

Deaths from heart disease attributable to smoking among similar population samples showed equally elevated levels in the Tower Hamlets, as did mortality from lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

However, nearby Hackney was found to have the highest proportion of adult smokers in London, at 32% – while Tower Hamlets reported figures of just over 30% – well above England’s 22% average.

One statistic which proved less worrying for Tower Hamlets was that of smoking during pregnancy – an area in which the borough exhibited one of the best performances in the country. Only 4% of women giving birth reported smoking, against a national average of just under 15%.

Dr Bobbie Jacobson, Director of the London Health Observatory, said: “These findings show that smoking remains a stubborn marker of London’s poorest communities.”

“The low reported smoking in pregnancy rates are encouraging, and probably reflect the low overall smoking prevalence in women in some ethnic communities,” she added.

“It is good news that our NHS stop smoking services are targeted to where they are most needed, but the overall findings show that there is still a long way to go across the broader tobacco control front.”

Click here to view a detailed breakdown of the Tobacco Control Profiles statistics by area on the London Heath Observatory website.

Haydar Yaldiz was convicted of permitting his premises to be used for supplying cannabis. Photo: Metropolitan Police

A Hackney record shop owner has been convicted of using his business as a front for dealing cannabis.

Haydar Yaldiz, 28, used his Hackney Music store in Dalston to supply drugs to up to 100 customers a day.

He was convicted last week at Snaresbrook Crown Court of permitting his premises to be used for supplying a controlled Class B drug.

Two of his employees, Adnan Kel, 30, and Hassan Patel, 22, were convicted of conspiracy to supply.

Yaldiz and his accomplices’ activities were revealed after a police raid on the Dalston Lane shop last January – the culmination of a two-month surveillance operation.

Officers investigating the premises discovered only a ‘handful’ of CDs for sale, and what they called ‘an organised commercial enterprise’ for selling cannabis.

During the surveillance period, police also observed suspicious patterns of customer behaviour at the shop.

Adnan Kel and Hassan Patel were convicted of conspiracy to supply. Photo: Metropolitan Police

Over one sample five-hour period, between 60 and 100 individuals were seen to enter the shop, but each spent only around a minute inside.

The prosecution successfully argued that this was insufficient time to browse for and buy music, but enough for customers to buy drugs.

Kel had claimed that people entered the store only briefly because they had mistaken it for a musical instrument shop.

DS Chris Collins of the Hackney Borough Intelligence Unit said: “Hackney Music in Dalston Lane looked like a small high street shop selling music, but it was actually a sophisticated front for dealing cannabis to local users.”

Yaldiz, Kel and Patel have been remanded in custody and will be sentenced on 19 November.

Photo: wwarby @ flickr

Chancellor George Osborne’s Spending Review has unveiled a programme of zealous cuts to many areas of public expenditure, which could bring major change to the East London Line boroughs.

Alterations to housing provisions seem especially likely to affect the lives of those in the boroughs of East and South London.

Yesterday’s statement heralded a rise in rents in the social housing sector. For established council housing tenants, the situation will not change, however, for those just entering social housing, rents will become potentially far more expensive – set at up to 80% of the market rate.

Housing benefit has also been further reduced, with an additional round of cuts planned on top of the earlier announcements of a new cap on the total amount payable.

Larger families in costly inner-London boroughs will be disproportionately targeted by this previous change (see our previous article), and critics have expressed grave concerns that it will lead to poorer inhabitants being forced out of the inner city.

Changes announced in the Spending Review will also affect younger recipients of housing benefit, whose entitlements have been cut. Recipients under the age of 25 currently receive a lower allowance based on the cost of living in a room in shared house, now this limitation will apply for a further 10 years – until the age of 35.

On a more positive note, Osborne  announced a commitment to building 150,000 new affordable homes. However, Campbell Robb, chief executive of the housing charity Shelter, said: “The proposed figure of up to 150,000 affordable homes over four years represents less than a third of what this country urgently requires to bring the housing system from its knees.”

He criticised the government for their; “lack of vision for the nation’s long-term housing needs.”

Welfare, which currently accounts for a third of government spending, was one of the most comprehensively targeted areas in Osborne’s announcements, with a total of £7 billion worth of cuts announced.

As the boroughs along the East London Line are home to relatively high proportions of benefit claimants, the reductions in allowances seem likely to have a significant effect.

Osborne announced that monies paid will be capped in future, with the aim that no out-of-work family should receive more than its average economically-active equivalent.

The previously-touted announcement that child benefit would be withdrawn from families with a higher-rate taxpayer was confirmed, but no additional measures affecting that entitlement were added and money for 16 and 17 year olds will still be paid.

Meanwhile, the news was less worrying for senior citizens, who will retain a raft of perks including free television licences, bus passes, eye tests and medical prescriptions, as well as an extension of the cold weather fuel allowance.

Another of the areas where the picture for the East London Line boroughs looked more positive was that of children’s education.

Today’s announcements featured an increase in money for schools over the next four years, with the budget increasing in real terms and greater autonomy granted to individual institutions to decide on patterns of spending.

For poorer toddlers, the news was also positive, with 15 hours a week of free care and education announced for two-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds.

While Osborne did not discuss proposals for the higher education sector in detail today, he did announce an extra 75,000 placements on apprenticeship schemes that could potentially prove beneficial for boroughs like Hackney where unemployment is high.

The Science research budget is to be protected (a big bonus for Queen Mary’s college near Whitechapel) but further down the line, at New Cross, Goldsmiths is likely to take a hit as the arts are still in line for severe cuts both for teaching and research.  Most of the debate on higher education has been left until next week when Lord Browne’s controversial report on university education and a potential increase is student fees will be discussed.

Natalie Fenton, Deputy Head of the Department of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London, described the potential effects of the Browne report’s recommendations as promoting an “entrenchment of inequality,” in which “higher education institutions who have in the past attracted less privileged students will, in general, suffer the most.”

As universities play an important role in the local economy in boroughs like Lewisham and Tower Hamlets, anxious staff and campaigners will be awaiting the results of next week’s discussions on the topic.

Source: Overseas Development Institute

Ken Livingstone has appeared on the Tower Hamlets mayoral campaign trail this week in support of controversial independent candidate Lutfur Rahman, who was withdrawn from the Labour party candidacy last month.

His support of Rahman – who was deselected as a Labour candidate by the party’s ruling body, following ‘serious allegations’ about his conduct – has caused consternation among political analysts.

As Labour contender for London Mayor, Livingstone is not allowed to participate in campaigning against official Labour candidates for political office.

According to the party’s rules, those violating this principle ‘shall automatically be ineligible to be, or remain, a party member.’

Livingstone’s violation of this rule yesterday is particularly pertinent as eight other local Labour representatives have already been suspended for supporting Rahman’s candidacy rather than that of the party’s nominee Helal Abbas.

Responding to these cases last Thursday, Harriet Harman, deputy leader of Labour, told journalists: “There is nobody else that is a Labour candidate for Tower Hamlets, so basically people can either be supporting Abbas, which is what we want Labour supporters to do, and all of us in the Labour Party are doing.”

“But if they are not supporting Councillor Abbas – if they are supporting somebody else – then they are opposing the Labour Party, and you cannot be against a party and in it.”

Rahman was removed from the Labour nomination in September, despite winning the most votes from Tower Hamlets Borough party members.

His candidacy had already proved controversial during the shortlisting process, and came after he was removed from his position as Labour leader in Tower Hamlets in May.

Labour’s National Executive Committee took the decision to bar him from the mayoral ticket following allegations in The Telegraph on 3rd September that he had been involved in signing up fraudulent ‘paper’ party members in order to win the nomination.

Rahman is also alleged to have links to Islamic fundamentalism – a claim featured in a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary entitled ‘Britain’s Islamic Republic’ earlier this year.

Livingstone has described Labour’s decision to deselect him as ‘a big mistake’ and ‘a moment of madness.’

Journalist Andrew Gilligan, who was involved in the making of the Dispatches film, reacted to Livingstone’s endorsement of Rahman by describing it as ‘an act of political self-harm amazing even by his [Livingstone’s] own standards.’

Livingstone himself has a chequered history with the party, having won the London mayorship as an independent in 2000 after he was not selected as an official Labour candidate. He was readmitted to the party in 2004.

Labour has thus far refused to disclose whether action will be taken against Livingstone.

Less funding for arts and humanities subjects could spell disaster for Goldsmiths, say students Elliot Snook and Caroline Hueglin

University tuition fees seem set to rise dramatically, after Lord Browne’s controversial report on the subject recommended the abolition of the government-sponsored cap that currently keeps them at around £3,000 a year. EastLondonLines spoke to students at Goldsmiths, University of London, to explore their reactions to the new proposals.

With universities playing an important role at the heart of communities, offering cultural enrichment, research, employment, regeneration and business opportunities, the news that the higher education sector faces a drastic shake-up could have potentially far-reaching effects.

As any good college radical will tell you, the personal is political. To Goldsmiths students in the midst of their education at this time of uncertainty, recent developments in education policy have left plenty to be concerned about in the overlap between their own experience and wider society.

For several of the current students we spoke to, the first reaction was one of relief. “It makes me feel fortunate that I didn’t have to pay that much,” admitted Elliot Snook, 24, a second-year Sociology student. Beyond individual circumstance, however, he expressed grave concerns about the potential effects of the Browne report’s recommendations.

“It’s going to drive people from disadvantaged backgrounds away,” he predicted. “Which I thought was the whole point of what they’ve been doing to universities – trying to get 50% of people into higher education.”

A similar reaction came from Media student Sean Anderson, 21, who told us: “I feel instant relief, when I hear things like that, that I won’t have to study any more.”

On a broader level, said Mr Anderson, the idea made him profoundly uncomfortable. “It makes me feel exploited – that basically I might have to pay as much at the university names. And I see that putting most people off as well.”

An important reason for his concern was the pressure higher fees could put on families. “One of the biggest parts of paying tuition fees is not only the loan that you take on, but that financial weight that that can put on the rest of your family – and your parents.”

Hypothetically, if he were a teenager facing the proposed new fee levels, he felt he would find it difficult to accept the financial burden of studying. “I’d definitely feel bad, at fourteen or fifteen, thinking my family might end up paying a lot of money.”

Had Elliot Snook been faced with higher fees, he might well have been seriously deterred from studying altogether. “I think I would have been completely discouraged from going to university,” he confessed, adding: “None of my friends would pay £10,000 a year to go to university. It’s just difficult to imagine.”

Of equal concern to the students we spoke to was the notion, also proposed in Browne’s report, that funding for university places might in future be differentiated on the basis of individual subjects’ supposed economic usefulness.

For students and staff at arts and humanities-oriented institutions like Goldsmiths, the idea that their primary teaching and research subjects may receive short shrift in future government considerations seems particularly worrying.

“It’s difficult to really imagine what’s going to happen,” said Mr Snook, with clear unease. “It’s just going to be the end of universities like Goldsmiths which are more concerned with the arts.”

“It’s the same old thing of people not thinking that artistic subjects are really important. People say, ‘Cut the arts before you cut other things.’ And they might have a point, but we’re a very creative country.”

For Catherine Hueglin, 25, who recently completed an MA in Postcolonial Culture and Public Policy at Goldsmiths, the advent of subject-based tuition fees would be ‘terrible.’ “We need the arts just as much as the sciences,” she said. “We don’t realise it very often. A lot of people really don’t realise how important the arts are to support our lives – as much as doctors, and especially economists!”

However, there are those who view the changes in a slightly more sympathetic light. While Goldsmiths parent Howard Palmer, 52, described his reaction to the proposed fee increases as ‘one of depression’ due to the potential deterrent effects of student debt, he saw the idea of subject-based funding as a necessary move.

“The nation should expect to get back a reasonable return from its investment,” he argued, noting that while ‘[some] good people will be inspired by their arts or humanities education, and will go on to make a big contribution,’ the direct social benefits of arts education are harder to quantify and demonstrate.

Meanwhile, for some Goldsmiths students, these heated debates over increased fees produce a certain incredulity. The university plays host each year to two cohorts of visiting students, primarily from the United States, for whom government funding of university tuition is far from assumed.

To visiting student Meghan Suslak, 20, British university fees seemed miniscule in comparison to the hefty cost of an American education. “I was amazed to hear that the UK used to have free tuition,” she said. “Coming from a country where tuition fees are a lot higher, it seems even the highest that they’re proposing here in pounds for your tuition is still less than what I pay at home.”

“From my perspective it still seems like a good deal. But I think that if I was being affected by the decision, I would definitely be upset about it.”

Photo: Mike Abrahams

For Hackney’s Haredi Jewish population, proposed government benefit cuts for large families could mean trouble. Over 90 per cent of Hackney families affected by the last round of housing benefit cuts were Haredi and in the face of further benefit cuts for larger families, some have predicted a forced migration for the Orthodox community from their inner London community of Stamford Hill.

Diane Abbott, the local MP, described the proposals to EastLondonLines as ‘unfair, unnecessary and ill-thought out,’ while an unnamed Conservative minister, quoted in the Evening Standard yesterday, likened the effect of the proposed cuts to the ‘Highland Clearances’ of the 18th and 19th centuries. Perhaps a more apt term for this community would be an exodus.

The Haredim have fallen foul of the new Government policy, as described by Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt when justifying plans to cap annual benefits at the level of an average working family income. He said: “The number of children that you have is a choice and what we’re saying is that if people are living on benefits then they make choices but they also have to have responsibility for those choices”. The Haredim believe that the choice lies not with them but with a rather higher power.

They are strictly Orthodox Jews who live according to a stringent interpretation of religious law. With gender-segregated private religious schools, a ban on television, and the preservation of Yiddish as a living language, the Haredi community have, over the years, remained determinedly aloof from the secular world. But the novelty of their old-fashioned black clothing belies the fact that this is a living, breathing community, facing a thoroughly modern set of problems.

Haredi families are large. Inspired by an enthusiastic celebration of the value of reproduction, the community’s couples have an average of 5.9 children – far exceeding birth rates among the wider population.

And while numerous offspring may bring their parents joy, the rapid expansion in Haredi numbers has also ushered in a serious problem of residential overcrowding. In addition to this, the demands of strict Haredi observance can also be difficult to balance with full-time employment, meaning that many find themselves working only part-time for low wages.

For financially-burdened Haredi families, these problems are  made particularly acute by a specific set of religious requirements: homes must be in walking distance of a synagogue and other community facilities, and kitchens must be suitable for kosher food preparation.

Now, the already-strained housing situation seems set to worsen, as public spending cuts proposed in response to the recession will see reductions in benefits that have provided support.

In April 2009, a cap was introduced on Local Housing Allowance payments, limiting them to the ’5 bedroom rate’ of £550 a week.

While this previous change affected a relatively small number of households, of those in Hackney whose benefit payments were hit, according to the borough’s council, 94 per cent were Haredi.

Now, a new lower cap on housing benefit is set to come into force next spring, under which the payments received by larger families will be cut further.

From April 2011, Local Housing Allowance for all properties with four or more bedrooms will be capped at the ’4 bedroom rate’ of £400 a week.

This means that current recipients living in costly inner-London boroughs may find themselves unable to cover their rent – and, while Hackney’s Haredi residents are not the only ones to be affected by the race to save public money, the research shows that they have fallen disproportionately foul of previous housing benefit cuts.

The Stamford Hill area is home to an estimated Haredi population of around 20,000 – the largest such community in Europe, exceeded in size only by those in Israel and the United States. The streets throng with men in long, old-fashioned coats and towering hats. Black-clad women with curiously uniform hairstyles walk the pavements with pushchairs, while little girls in long sleeves, and boys with payot and velvet skullcaps tag alongside them.

When approached for their views on the proposed changes, local residents are polite but typically taciturn. However, politicians representing the area have expressed concern about the potential impact on Orthodox Stamford Hill.

Ms Abbot, Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, told EastLondonLines: “The cap on housing benefit will have a huge effect on many residents in Hackney, but it will hit the large number of Orthodox Jewish families living in my constituency particularly hard.”

“Families in the Orthodox Jewish community typically have more than four children, and many of them live in the private rented sector, so the limit on benefit will have a devastating impact,” she said.

“They will see a serious shortfall between the benefits they receive and the rent they have to pay, which may see many Haredi families forced out of their community and into cheaper accommodation further out of London.”

Conservative Councillor Michael Levy told EastLondonLines that it was impossible to know ‘how [the changes] will play out.’

“The landscape is going to change,” he said. But, defending the economic rationale behind the cuts, he added: “We can’t spend what we don’t have.”

Haredi Councillor Bernard Aussenberg (also Conservative) represents Lordship ward, one of the most affected areas. Favouring a more optimistic view, he told EastLondonLines: “Perhaps [the changes] will bring the soaring rents in Stamford Hill down.”

Indeed, this might be one possible outcome. Some of the property that is currently being rented is owned by members of the first wave of Haredi immigration, who may be able to adjust rents – but owners of newer properties will probably not be able to make similar adjustments.

Ms Abbott added: “This Lib Con cap to housing benefit shows a distinct lack of care or concern for people living in inner London, who will be forced to find cheaper, more cramped and unsuitable accommodation, or move away from the areas in which they have lived all their lives.”

The issue of whether the bulk of the Haredi population will continue to call Hackney home in future years was previously raised in 2006, when community organisation the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations expressed interest in buying land to develop homes in Milton Keynes.

But despite the attractions of fresh(er) air and space for families to grow, any community migration would require a critical mass of discontented and dislodged residents.

And, Ms Abbott said, the potential departure of the Haredi community from Hackney would be a tragedy for the area. “They will be forced to move away from the synagogues and schools that the community has built here in Hackney,” she predicted. “This will be a sad loss to the borough.”