Sticking to our goals

A date for your diary is March 25. That's exactly 200 years to the day since the Abolition of Slave Trade Bill was passed through Parliament.
It's the date on which William Wilberforce finally achieved his goal after a long fight against the establishment.The end to the horrific suffering of slaves was a result of his determination to succeed despite strong opposition and fierce backroom politics. He is a great inspiration to us all for sticking to his goals.
Sadly, even in today's world, in the 21st century, we must keep up Wilberforce's work to ensure that modern slavery is abolished in its many guises, such as bonded labour, or the trafficking and exploitation of young girls and women for the sex industry.
I hope the issues will be highlighted through Hull's Wilberforce 2007 programme, which is already well underway with a range of concerts, lectures, (high profile speakers will be guests in our city), exhibitions and festivals. And let's not forget the opening of Wilberforce House which is an absolute must-see.

Another of our goals here at Hull City Council is to make the city a better place to live, work and invest. One of the ways we will do this is by making the council more effective.
Two Government inspections have recently found that the council is making progress in the way it delivers services to the people of Hull. But the inspections also found that there is still plenty of work to do.
On page 12 of this issue, you can read about the inspections and the areas of service for which we've been praised and those where we need to improve.
On a final note, I'd like to issue a rallying call: we want as many people as possible to enter the Hull in Bloom 2007 competition. Hull is the host city for Yorkshire in Bloom this year and it would be great to have some winning entries.
As well as residents' categories, the competition is open to loads of other organisations including schools, private companies, pubs and industrial premises. There's even a best hanging basket category so there's no excuse if you don't have a garden!
There are a lot of reasons to take pride in this magnificent city of ours!

Cllr Carl Minns
Leader, Hull City Council