THERE could be no better time than the present for politicians to set their differences aside, banish all thoughts of vying for personal advantage, and work together for the good of the people they collectively represent. It may be asking a lot of them to

THERE could be no better time than the present for politicians to set their differences aside, banish all thoughts of vying for personal advantage, and work together for the good of the people they collectively represent.

It may be asking a lot of them to do so. It isn't in their nature to work together, unless they are forced to by circumstances beyond their control, but work together they must.

Yet there are worrying signs that individual parties are trying to take ownership of matters that adversely affect the whole community, and which can only be properly fought by the whole community acting together - including our elected representatives.

There are many issues in the west of Haringey that require a consolidated rather than confrontational approach from our politicians, none more so than the threat to local post offices.

Surely this is a classic issue on which the politicians can unite for the greater good. Post offices play an important role in community life and their closure would have a damaging impact on other small businesses in their vicinity as well as on the most vulnerable members of society.

Thankfully, people who really care about their communities have already shown that they will not stand idly by and merely spectate at the piecemeal destruction of the things that help to bind their communities together. Amid all this, the last thing we need is opportunist politicians turning these important local issues into political footballs.

The serious parking problem in the Crouch Hill area is another issue that can only be made worse by political feuding.

It should be remembered that no-one is blameless in allowing a farcical situation to occur whereby entire streets in Haringey have been turned into free car parks for motorists from another borough escaping their new CPZs.

Both Haringey's Labour-run administration and the area's local Lib Dem representatives were caught on the hop when Islington introduced its CPZs, with inevitable consequences. Having allowed the situation to develop, the politicians on both sides should concede their failings, move to the next stage and share responsibility for sorting out the mess.

It won't help for anyone on either side to try to use the parking shambles as a vote-building exercise.

Again, it is ordinary residents of all political persuasions and none who are suffering and they don't want to be caught up in the middle of a pointless political dogfight.