A tragic week for me

In the last week, I've had three pieces of really upsetting news. Firstly I got a letter from an ex bandmate, who played in my band for many years. He moved out of London a couple of years ago, when I last saw him. I don't wish to go into his problems were, but he sent me a letter detailing his troubles. This upset me greatly, but what was even more upsetting was that he asked if I could lend him £500. As the letter was sent from one of Her Majesties Prisons, it was a really upsetting experience. The day after I received it, I had a dental checkup. My ex's sister works there as a dental nurse and I mentioned it to her. She told me that my imprisoned friend had borrowed a substancial sum from my ex (who was best friends with my friends girlfriend). Sadly this pattern has been repeated with many other friends. The only common element is that the money is never paid back. If I thought that lending him £500 would solve any of his problems, I'd not hesitate, but sadly it will just put off the day till he has to face up and deal with his problems. Friendship is as much about saying no to requests which won't help as to going along with it out of misplaced compassion.

The next bit of news was even more shocking. For many years there was a "Mill Hill crowd" of friends, a few years older than me. One of these was a guy called Jim Meek. Jim worked for Thames TV. He was a great guy, often getting us tickets for various shows. The highlight of these was a rock series called "Meltdown", where he got me tickets for one of my favourite bands, Big Audio Dynamite. Evenings would invariably end in the staff bar at Teddington Lock studio. Jim moved to Chiswick a few years ago and I lost touch with him. Sadly I found out that last year, he'd been out drinking at a canalside pub, had too much and then fallen in the canal and drowned. The only redeeming feature of the tale was that the police said that it would have been a swift demise.

As if that wasn't bad enough, on Monday I got another tragic piece of news. For years I've been friends with a talented black guitarist called Everton.  An inspirational player and a great guy. Last December he started feeling unwell and asked his son to go out and pick him up some indegestion tablets. When his son arrived home, he found him dead on the floor, having suffered a heart attack. Sadly I only just found out the news and missed his funeral.

Forgive me if I'm not my usual jovial self right now. I hope that a spell inside serves as a wakeup call for my stupid friend. I hope that Jim and Everton are at peace and my thoughts are with their families.

Another Barnet Council Hypocrite

There is an interesting new press release on Barnet Councils website - Councillor Daniel Thomas, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, said:

"Encouraging our youngsters to get to and from school using healthy and sustainable forms of transport is a great idea for so many reasons. It teaches the importance of keeping fit and healthy from a younger age while helping to reduce the level of carbon emissions from cars."

Forgive me while I foam at the mouth with rage. One of the Borough of Barnets largest schools is Mill Hill County High School. Many of the children who attend the school live at Poets Corner in Mill Hill. If you look at the map (click on it to enlarge) The school is shown at the top towards the left. Poets Corner is the block of roads towards the bottom right. As you can see, children have to cross Lawrence Street to get to the school. There is no safe crossing on this road.  During the rush hour, when children are crossing, it is a dangerous scrum of traffic, where they cross to access the quickest route via Uphill Road. I've held meetings with Conservative Councillors and the Highways department, but they say "no one has been killed, so it's not a priority". They also said "No children are crossing". Durr, why do you think that is? Because no sane parent would let them. The route is also used by children passing the other way from West of Lawrence Street to Goodwyn School, St Pauls C of E and St Vincents Primary Schools as well as Mill Hill Public. It's all very well for the likes of Councillor Daniel Thomas to urge parents to abandon the car, but they won't spend a penny to make such a move safe.

Now you may be surprised to know that the person who tipped me off about this ridiculous press release wasn't complaining about how the Council can come out with this, when their policies are completely the opposite of what they say. No they were quite rightly drawing attention to the crass hypocricy of a member of Barnet Council claiming they want to get people out of cars, when their own policy is to force the Wardens who look after the elderly of the Borough to have to drive from location to location. As you may know, the High Court declared this policy illegal. Leader of Barnet Council, Lynne Hillan hasn't given up and she's starting the consultation again.

Why is it great for Lynne Hillan to strip sheltered housing residents of their wardens and force them to drive from site to site, but terrible for parents to drive their children to school, when no safe corridor exists. There is a pattern in all of this. Safety - be it that of Children crossing roads, or the elderly in Sheltered housing - it is the least of the Barnet Councils priorities. Car Journeys are great when it is a warden saving the Council money, but awful when it's a normal resident.

First Capital Connect - Another fine mess

You really couldn't make it up if you tried. First Capital Connect have just appointed a new managing director, Neal Lawson. His previous job was to procure new trains for the company. How did he get on with that job? Well First Capital Connect recently bought a new fleet of trains for the Thameslink route. Guess what? They were delivered over a year late and are prone to failure. It has emerged that whilst these trains (class 377) can run for South East Railways for 22,000 miles before they go wrong, the ones First Capital Connect bought go wrong every 6,000 miles. The distance from Bedford to Brighton is 128 miles, therefore these trains break down every 46 journeys. When you consider they may travel the route, 5 or 6 times a day, that means there is only.  a few days between each train failure.

I've done some digging and guess what the most common failure is? The trains have a CCTV system, which allows the driver to see when the passengers are clear of the doors. If this breaks down, the train can only stop at stations where there are station attendants who can tell him when the doors are clear. this means that most stations have to be missed. Now, having spent years commuting, I smelt a rat. The old trains (the 319's) don't have the CCTV camera. All stations have a CCTV system and the driver stops by the monitors and watches these until the doors are clear. Why can't the driver of the new trains, the 377's do this. This is the good bit. They can't because the position of the chair in the drivers cab doesn't line up with the window. As such, the driver would have to stand up and bend his neck. This is deemed a "health and safety" issue, so the drivers are not allowed to do it.

In other words, because First Capital Connect ordered a fleet of trains with the drivers window in the wrong place, thousands of passengers are being inconvenienced on a daily basis. Who is responsible for ordering a fleet of trains that is not fit for purpose (despite being over a year late)? The man who has just been promoted to be the managing director. It is quite clear that to save a few quid on the train design (no doubt boosting First Capital Connects profits), they skimped on the windows, so the new trains can't use the already installed station TV monitors. Yet another reason why they should be stripped of the franchise.

(Picture: A new First Capital Connect 377 train being assembled. Note the lack of a window for the driver to watch the platform CCTV monitors on the side of the cab)

Barnet Council and the dog poo revolution

As some of you who read the blog will know, I'm standing for Barnet Council in the May 6th elections. I'm standing for the Lib Dems in Mill Hill ward and we've been doing our best to find out what really upsets our friends and neighbours, so we can do something about it if we win. It will come as no surprise to anyone that what bugs our friends and neighbours is what bugs us. Take for example all of the potholes currently wreaking havoc with all our cars. Do you know anyone who likes Potholes? Well I do, my brother is a welder and he's making a fortune mending broken alloy wheels. Apart from him though, we are all fed up with them. Of course the Council aren't quite so bothered because they aren't the ones paying for the broken wheels and damaged suspensions.

One thing which comes up time and time again is dog poo. Specifically dog poo in parks and council run open spaces where children play. Talking to people, a major worry is the way professional dog walking services are taking huge numbers of dogs, 10-15 at a time for walks on public land. They are using council ameneties to run their businesses. They are not cleaning up after their dogs and often don't have the packs of dogs under control. I really worry that there is going to be a really awful incident in our open spaces. I have discussed this time and again with local Conservative Councillors and get the same answer "It's not the Councils job to regulate private individuals and companies". Well I think that in this case it should be. That is why I'm going to be calling for Barnet Council to do the following in relation to professional dog walking services.I am in the process of drawing up the details of a "professional dog walker licensing proposal". This will regulate the walking of more than 3 dogs on public land. The key points I've identified :-

* Professional dog walkers should wear an identifiable jacket with a registration number on
* All dogs walked by professional dog walkers should wear an identification tab on their collar
* Professional dog walkers must keep all dogs under control at all times
* The council should have a helpline or email address to report breaches. Services which are regularly reported should lose their license to operate
* All dog walkers should face fines for not cleaning up dogmess
* All professional dog walkers should attend a training course and be certified as a "competent operator

Oh and in case you are wondering, I've got a lovely boxer dog called Tilly (see piccy taken in snow at Arrandene) and I always carry a poo bag when I take her out for walkies. She has a certificate tto say she's passed obedience classes (although anyone who knows the breed will wonder how she managed this).

 At the moment these are draft proposals. I'm really keen to hear from residents, so that we can stand on platform of removing dog poo from our green spaces, rather than be standing in dogpoo in our green spaces. CLICK HERE to email any comments to me you may have on these proposals

Boris Johnson, Barnet Conservatives and violence against women

Nothing is more revolting than the sight of politicians jumping on bandwagons to garner popularity, when they've had ample opportunity to do something and just couldn't be bothered. Before I give you the latest example of a Barnet Conservative jumping a bandwagon, let me just explain to you why I passionately care about this issue.

One of my dearest friends father died when she was 2 years old. Her mother remarried an extremely violent man. My friend immeresed herself in competetive swimming to try and blot out the carnage being inflicted on her mother at home. She did well and as a teenager was selected to represent Team GB in a tournament in Isreal. She was part of the medley team which set the British record for 4 X 100 meters. A young Sharon Davies was also part of the team. On returning a terrible scene awaited. Her mother had been six months pregnant at the time. My friends sister had arrived home to find the stepfather smashing her mums head on the bath. The police and an ambulance were called and the mum went into premature labour giving birth at six months. No police action was taken against the stepfather, although shortly after he was sent to prison on another (unrelated) charge and the mum divorced him. My friend never set foot in a swimming pool for years after that. I was made acutely aware of how the police didn't want to get involved in "domestics". This was just one of many incident that happened over many years. The police were fully aware, but didn't want to know.

Thankfully this was in the early 1980's and things have improved to a degree (but not nearly enough). You are still more likely to get arrested for beating your dog than your wife. There is a campaign to end this violence called the White Ribbon campaign. The opposition parties in Barnet submitted a resolution urging the council to support this campaign. Barnet Councils ruling Conservatives voted this down. I thought that this was disgusting. Now, to add insult to injury, the Hendon Conservatives had posted a story to say that ending violence against women is a priority.

The Hendon Conservatives story contains the following quote (including spelling mistake) :-

To stop this violence, political representatives have a responsibility to take real action and not just take the easy route of publically signing up to campaigns.

 The particular Conservative who made this quote held the Barnet Cabinet brief for Public Safety. In other words, until very recently he was in a position to do something. Did he? What do you think? In the Hendon Conservatives website story, our esteemed former chief of Public Safety is pictured visiting a "rape and sexual abuse support centre". Most laudable you might think? Well he had to go to the other end of London, to Croydon to visit one. If he went any further south, he'd not be in London at all. There is another revealing quote in the piece.

I am actively working to ensure that the pledge by Boris Johnson to open three new rape crisis centres in London happens to ensure that adequate provision exists for the women of Hendon

So there is the saddest fact of the lot. Boris Johnson, the Conservative Mayor, promised three new rape crisis centres. nearly two years into his Mayoralty, his own Conservative backers are having to pressure him into fulfilling his campaign pledges. But it's worse than that isn't it. In the words of the man responsible for Public safety in Barnet, THERE IS NOT ADEQUATE PROVISION OF SERVICES FOR VICTIMS OF RAPE AND SEXUAL ABUSE IN BARNET. This is after nearly eight years of a Conservative administration. The whole thing makes me feel physically sick. It is clear that Boris Johnson, Lynne Hillan and all of the rest of the Conservatives have failed us.

Brian Coleman : The man with two brains !!!!!!

One of my correspondents was at the Mill Hill East planning public forum earlier in the week and sent me an extensive report. The following paragraph of his report caught my eye.

Cllr Coleman then did one of his tour de force speeches and said "I have no confidence in that traffic expert and I have no faith in our Highways dept.  They get every scheme wrong.  We must go to outside consultants who know what they are talking about. Proper Experts. They don’t know what they are doing. They will cause harm for many years to the area."

This seems to confirm a suspicion that I've had for some time. I have reached the conclusion that two separate brains inhabit our esteemed Mayors head. Sadly these two brains fell out many years ago and they don't talk to each other. It seems they take it in turns to be in charge, but then don't tell each other what they have done or said. It seems that the brain which was in charge of the Mayor of Barnets head on Tuesday night, was not the one who was in charge for the period of several years when Councillor Coleman was IN CHARGE OF TRANSPORT AT BARNET.

When Councillor Coleman says that the Highways department have got every scheme wrong, he clearly means Partingdale Lane, which passes next to the new development. This was his baby and he's quite right. The Council wasted a million pounds on legal challenges. Another scheme that he got the Highways department to enact was road hump removal. Residents such as those in Uphill Road Mill Hill are up in arms, now that their sleepy residential roads have become race tracks for boy racers. We all know about the Aerodrome Road scheme, where the council overspent by £11 million on a £12 million budget. Councillor Coleman denounced the suggestions for the Brent Cross Railway scheme as "men playing with trainsets" despite the huge benefit both environmentally and financially to the Borough.

The truth is that when Brian Coleman says that he has no faith in Barnet Councils Highway Department, he is really berating his own performance as roads supremo and the failure of the Conservative Administration to manage the Highways department. The sad truth is that they have no idea how to improve the Boroughs transport. What Councillor Coleman is really saying is this

"We are clueless and we need to get someone who knows what they are doing to tell us how to run the show"

If one of the most senior members of the Conservative administration is saying that after 8 years, the Tories have cocked up EVERY scheme in the borough and they are so clueless that they need to get someone to tell them how to run the show, then it is really time for the electors of Barnet to make the choice for them and kick them out of office. For the Mayor of Barnet to admit being useless three months before the election is truly unprecedented.

Barnet Council : Keeping things above board

I received an email from a rather concerned resident of Mill Hill drawing my attention to this article in the local press about the new Childrens Zoo on the Ridgeway in Mill Hill. The main concern of my correspondant was that such a major change could take place to the Greenbelt, in the conservation are, on a protected view (mentioned in the Barnet UDP). Given that you can't even double glaze your windows without planning permission, which will be denied if the appearance is changed, I was puzzled. I went to Barnet Coucils planning portal to see what conditions were placed on the planning approval for the new facility.

I was rather puzzled to find that there was no mention of the planning approval on the Council website. How could this be? It clearly states the following in the article :-

We've worked extremely closely with the council to make sure it comes up to scratch and we hope we have created a safe and enjoyable environment.

 Now the owner of the site, renowned racing horse owner Mr Andrew Reid, has clearly spent a small fortune on the site. It is rather impressive and a few locals have told me that the capuccinos and the waffles are rather good in his restaurant. Clearly he would not have considered doing any of this without ensuring it was all legal, ship-shape and above board. He would have sought assurances that the Council were happy with the setup prior to making such a huge inverstment. After all he is a promanent member of the local Conservative party, being elected to be the Deputy Chairman of the Hendon Conservative Association.

Which leads me to the question. The politician in charge of the Hendon Area planning Committee is Mill Hill Resident, Conservative Councillor Maureen Braun. One has to ask exactly what advice Councillor Braun has given Mr Reid. Ultimately she would chair any planning decision for such an application. There is also another local Conservative Councillor who belongs to the same association as Andrew Reid and presumably supported his election as Deputy Chairman. This is Councillor John Hart.

Whilst I cannot possibly see how a Childrens farm and zoo containing Wallabies, Owls and Alopacas and a Restaurant, along side a huge car park could appear on such a site without planning permission, especially when the owner is such an esteemed member of the local Conservative party, I am not an expert in planning law.

Mr Reid is a lawyer and as such, clearly will have followed the rulebook to the letter. As such I must assume that he contacted Barnet Council and explained his plans and was told "that will be fine, just go ahead". He clearly states this in his interview, so my question is this. Do Councillor Braun as head of the Planning Committee and Councillor Hart as the local Mill Hill Conservatives have the ability to advise officers that such a development is allowed as "permitted development" and can be done without planning permission? Where did the decision that planning permission was not required originate from? Was it a Council officer?

I've spent a few days checking the planning rules in Barnet and I cannot see how the Council agreed this move. I urge Councillor Braun as head of the Hendon Planning Committee to issue a public statement clarifying how this development could be agreed by the council, when every other resident of the "conservation area" is bound by such tight rules. I'd also like to see a public explanation from Councillor John Hart as to why ordinary residents in Barnet have such stringent regulations applied to them in the Conservation area,  when people who are senior members of the Hendon Conservative Association are not.

I have no doubt that Mr Andrew Reid has gone about his business in his usual dignified and law abiding manner. There is no reason why he shouldn't. I just worry that certain local Conservative Councillors are rather too keen to do their wealthy friends a favour. As both Councillor Braun and Hart are Mill Hill residents, experienced Councillors and experts on planning law, it is inconceivable that they were unaware of all of this. They have much explaining to do. It is vital that Barnet Council are seen to be above board in these matters.

I could have been like Ester Rantzen, but she said I was too handsome !

Last night, I went off to the London Collegiate School in Edgware, for the Radio 4 "Any Questions" show. I had hoped to ask the following question :-

"Does the panel agree that First Capital Connect should be stripped of its franchise for its poor performance"

Sadly for me, they didn't select my question. The panel consisted of Benedict Brogan, deputy editor of the Daily Telegraph, Frances Crook, Director of the Howard League for Penal reform, Brian Paddick, former deputy chief of the Met, and  Esther Rantzen. The audience had a good smattering of students of the school and the setting was impressive, a far better auditorium than any I've done a gig in, during my long illustrious music career (then again Rock and Roll is all about playing toilets).

When I saw the panel, I groaned. I can't stand Esther Rantzen. As regular readers know, I'm one to bear  a grudge and I've had a grudge for many a year against Ms Rantzen. I can't stand her. In my teens (before I was old, fat and going grey), I saw an advert for presenters on a show Ms Rantzen was doing (it might have been Thats Life). Having done a bit of acting and thinking "They do good stuff exposing dodgy washing machine salesmen".  I thought this might be a good job for me, so I applied. Next thing I was given a date for the auditions. Off I went with all of the other hopefuls. I've done many auditions in my life, so I looked at the opposition. Being a bit of an old hand I did the usual of checking out the oppo. I normally wrote them off if they brought mum or dad for support (clearly not up to the job), then you see how they look. Any with a lazy eye, stammer, etc generally could be written off as well (unless that was a specific requirement in the brief). That brought it down to four or five. You listen to their accent. There was one girl who was georgious. Clearly the serious opposition. I thought I'd check her out (purely for professional reasons, Heh Heh). Up I bowled "done much of this sort of stuff?". She replied "Oh yes, I do radio for BBC West Midlands". Yup, serious contender. She was the first in and she was out within seconds. "How did it go?" I asked. She looked a bit upset. "It was awful, I walked in and they told me I wasn't really what they were looking for". "Lunatics I thought". Sadly she declined my kind offer of a quick drink. One of the advantages of the name "Tichborne" is that these things are generally done alphabetically. Most of the oppo are usually rubbish, so you get the chance to really shine. Early contenders are dimmed by this. In they went, out they came. I always took a watch and would time them. That gave me some idea of the oppo, their strengths and what I had to do. It seemed they liked the ones with a bit more character. The front runner had a bit of a plumby voice and a slightly deranged look. Interesting. I can do plumby voice and slightly deranged look if I have to, so I figured I was good to go.

If you are going for a reporter job, you have to show that you are on the ball, and can be interesting. You have to be able to think on your feet and take the lead. I went in "Mr Tichborne, you are the last one, we can all go to the pub when we've done, so what do you have to say for yourself". I quipped back "Well if we are going to the pub, I'll have a pint of best, is it on expenses?". They sniggered. "What makes you want to be a reporter on the show?" Well easy peasy "Well, mainly for the dosh, no seriously, I enjoy meeting people and I think that this sort of show makes a difference and helps people". Yup job done. On to the screentest. Again a breeze. Next up, you wait for the call. A couple of days later, a letter pops through the door "Nice try, but no cigar this time". Now I was mildly surprised. I wasn't cross or upset. These things happen and generally it's just because they want a specific look or someone really great turned up. I'd not done any TV work for 10 years, so maybe I just wasn't as good as I thought. No problem.

A couple of weeks later I was at Dingwalls for a gig. I think it was Paul Carrick, although I may be wrong. I found myself at the bar, next to one of the production team. They recognised me and said "Hey, it's Roger isn't it?". I responded "Yeah, Hi, how's the show going?" We chatted for a while and had a few drinks. As the conversation progressed, I was told "Actually, you did really well. You looked great in front of the camera and were really funny". Thanks I said (the industry is full of this sort of BS). My new found friend continued "the only reason you didn't get it was because you were too young, too good looking and too funny". I was surprised "What? Why?". My friend responded "Well you see, with Esther being the star of the show, we couldn't have anyone stealing her thunder, we needed someone who was a bit stranger looking, a bit more awkward with a bit less confidence".

Now I was shocked. I'd never heard of anyone failing in TV because they were too good (although I've subsequently found out it is a common reason). I formed an instant loathing of Esther Rantzen.

This takes us to last nights show. The nearest I'd got to Esther Rantzen for 30 years. At these shows it's common to have a warm up question to test levels. Who should ask the question, but our very own Mill Hill Conservative Councillor, John Hart. John actually asked the best question of the night, which was a shame because it wasn't broadcast. "Why does the BBC dump female presenters when they reach a certain age". Sadly for John, he'd not picked his audience well. The head of radio 4 responded that he was asking the wrong person, because radio 4 employed plenty of female presenters of a certain age. All I could think of was Esther Rantzen and her policy which was the complete opposite, not giving someone who was young, good looking and male a chance, when they really needed it.

I co-wrote a song with Allen Lucas (now known as author Allen Ashley) in the False Dots called "I wanna be" to commemorate the whole sorry tale, back in 1985. Alan took my orignal words and changed most of them. The only couplet that survived was the line "I wanna be like Esther Rantzen, but they said I was too handsome". I'd never told a soul why I wrote it. I thought it was a bit embarrasing.

Seeing the smug old Moo up on the stage last night, giving it large about everything, I felt the time had come to spill the beans to the world.

Pic (Pic 1 - Esther Rantzen, Pic 2 - Rog Circa 1985 - Too handsome for Esther Rantzen - Judge for yourself)

*** Note & correction *** Got an email from my old friend Allen Ashley, in which he tells me he wrote the couplet. He's not prone to exaggeration, but I'm sure he's got this one wrong, as it was 25 years ago and we both ahd reason to write it, I guess we'll just have to differ, but it's a great line. He was right to point out that the song name was "Shoes and Socks" rather than "I wanna be". I've not played it since 1985, hence the error. One day I'm going to drag Allen into the studio and record a few of the old numbers from that period. They are all great songs and some are really funny. He was always a massive pleasure to work with and quite rightly pointed out in his email that I wasn't really cut out to be a "Thats Life" presenter.

Barnet Eye Roundup - He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!

First up, a trip to Don't Call Me Dave's Not The Barnet Times blog. It seems that he's caught the former Leader of the Tories at Barnet Council "bigging up" his CV. It seems that whilst many Tories had hoped he'd be the messiah, leading them to the promised land of low taxes, to quote Monty Pythons, the Life of Brian "He's not the Messaih, he's a Very Naughty Boy". It's a great clip. Any excuse !

The Guardian has also picked up on this story (3rd story down).

Thameslink Update - The No 10 petition to strip FCC of their petition now stands at 5,477 and is still rising. The Government isn't listening, my MP didn't go to the debate to discuss it, even though his constuency contains two stations. 3,372 messages posted on the I hate FCC website. The people are talking but no one is listening. Various MP's say they are "having meetings with FCC to improve things. This is not what people want. It is just self serving laziness.

The most shameful story this week is Lynne Hillans Barnet Tory Council announcing that they intend to reintroduce the attempts to get rid of Sheltered Housing, after the High Court deemed the previous attempt illegal. What makes me sick is the claim that they want to improve care for every elderly person, but they are sacking 3/4 of the wardens and introducing anew service where a decimated work force has to drive from location to location. You don't have to be a genius to figure out that a dedicated warden gets to know the residents and their needs, wheras a roaming service will be pot luck. On top of that residents will have to use a call centre to get hold of the warden. Lord help us if they need a warden when it snows.

Following reports that Barnet Council Future Shape includes a "superdatabase" so they can snoop on every aspect of our lives, and appoint a "gatekeeper" for our family if we cost the Council too much, I wrote to David Cameron to ask if this is official Tory Policy. As of now, he's not replied. Don't Call me Dave and I have a little bet about what (if anything) the reply will say. I'll keep you posted. I think that David Cameron and the Tories lack the bottle to reply. I won't say what DCMD thinks !

And finally, no day in Mill Hill would be complete without the daily cock up on Thameslink. This from their Journey Check website.

Line problem in the Radlett area.

Train services on all routes are being disrupted due to an operating incident in the Radlett area.
Engineers are working as fast as possible to restore services to normal. Delays of up to 20 minutes can be expected.

Message Received: 11:06:22 05/02/2010

First Capital Connect and the General Election

My advice to any hopeful politicians who are hoping to get elected at either the Council or the General Elections which will soon be upon us. If any of your voters use the First Capital Connect route into London, then they are likely to be extremely unhappy with the service and the terms of the Company franchise. I would suggest that any MP not campaigning stridently against the firm and for the passengers is not up to the job. I got sent this email by Sandy Walkington, a Lib Dem candidate in St Albans. Far be it for me to tell anyone how to do their job or how to campaign, but I think that this leaflet will help Sandy no end in his bid to get elected. I would suggest that all politicians of all parties follow Sandys lead.

In my blog earlier today, I praised and quoted MP's from all sides for their contribution in the debate. Sadly the two Labour and one Conservative MP's in Barnet (my Council) had nothing to contribute on the matter. I'd rather hoped that this was an issue all of our politicians could get behind the people on. I can think of no single issue that would make more people happy on this train route than to sack FCC and get an operator who knows how to run the service. We pay MP's a decent amount of money, so the least they should do is sort out companies that have a monopoly and fail to provide a service.

Note : Yep, I'm biased (I'm standing as a Lib Dem Councillor in the Council elections), but this is the only way that First Capital Connect will sit up and take note. I just happen to think that this is the best leaflet I've seen from a politician on the issue.