Happy New Year to all Barnet Eye Readers

I hope and pray you all have a fantastic 2009. There are lots of struggles ahead for us all. My New Years resolution for the Barnet Eye are as follows (in no particular order)

1. To expose waste and inefficiency in Barnet Council
2. To ensure that the council rulers know they are being watched and held to account
3. To support everyone else working to make Barnet Council honest and transparent
4. To do whatever I can to make Barnet a better place to live through this blog

I've only run this blog since October, so I don't think I've done too bad so far.

I was up in Scarborough for New Year with some friends. During the course of the trip we visited Whitby. This is the spot Bram Stoker chose for the landing point of dracula in his famous novel. I took to pondering on the legend and what is happening in Barnet with the way the council operates. The ship arrives but the captain, having served his purpose, is lashed dead to the steering wheel. Dracula's minions infiltrate and use hypnotic power to subjugate his adversaries. Destruction is wrought on the weak and innocent. It reminded me of the suggestions to make Britains first Zombie council in the Future Shape documents. Mind you, last time I saw Brian Coleman, he certainly didn't seem like a guy with an aversion to Garlic.

One other place I visited during the holidays was Kew. I was struck by the rather pleasant Town Centre. It raised a question, which I was quite upset by. Where is there a really nice, thriving town centre in the Borough of Barnet? With Woolworths having just departed Mill Hill, I pondered on all of the things we've lost

When I was a youngster Mill Hill had 3 Greengrocers, 2 Fishmongers, 3 Butchers shops, a gas showroom, an electricity showroom, a delicatesant, 3 bakers, a COOP, a garden shop, a Pipe accessories shop, a Toy shop, three Hi-Fi shops, a bike shop. Now I know we have a few "Deli's" but they are primarily cafes. We've still got a butcher and we've got Marks and Spencers, so it's not all bad, but wouldn't it be great if 2009 was the year that our high street's came back life.