Barnet Council are selling my dead Grandma !

I really hope I don't bump into my local Tory MP, Matthew Offord tonight. The way I'm feeling about him and his chums right now, I may be tempted to "fix" his other retina, the one the "psychic mug of karma missed" (click this link if you haven't a clue what I'm talking about - http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/8786187.MP_lucky_to_keep_sight_after_freak_mug_accident/ )

You may ask what they've done to get my goat now? Well let you give me a little list of people - My Mum, Dad, Grandmother, Grandfather, Godmother, Best Friend, Dad's Best Friend, Next door Neighbour - What have all of these people got in common? They are all buried in Hendon Cemetary. Barnet were boasting about how much money they make from renting the cemetry out for filming scenes from Eastenders (my Godmothers grave is featured in the picture just behind Barbara Windsors handbag) in their last Barnet First.
Check the full story here - http://www.barnet.gov.uk/007637_barnet_first_magazine%28digital%29.pdf

Barnet Council want to flog off this cemetary. A place of special meaning for many of us. Next to my Dads grave is a beautifully tended grave of an 8 month old baby, who died a couple of months after my Dad. His mum goes nearly every week, to make sure that it's tended. The baby would be 24 now.

Many thousands of people in our area visit the cemetary for quiet periods of reflection. They view the cemetary as Hallowed Ground. The trouble is that to Barnet Tories, nothing is sacred. They see the cemetary as an asset to be milked, by having film crew there disturbing the peace (I used to work in Television so I know how much respect would be given on a tight shoot schedule). As if this wasn't bad enough, now they want to flog the lot as part of their property review.

This has been done before. Westminster council sold various local cemetaries for 5p. They were left untended, plans were put in for housing developments and graves desecrated. The fiasco ended when the council spent a million quid buying them back. What amazes me is that all of our Tory Councillors and MP's think that it is a truly marvellous way to plug the hole in the finances left by their mismanagement.

I had wondered how on earth a mug could fall from a cupboard and detatch MP Matthew Offords retina. As Offord is nearly six foot tall, it seemed to defy the laws of gravity that a cup should fall sideways, rather than down. Having read the proposals to flog off the cemetaries again, I think there may be a logical explanation. A previous resident of his home, now residing in Hendon Cemetary may have chosen to take direct action ! Let's hope for the sake of Robert Ramsbottom, his home wasn't owned by any departed librarians. I'm not a believer in such psychic phenominum, but if Ramsbottom turns up at casualty with a copy of War and Peace embedded firmly in a place where the sun doesn't shine, as a result of a "freak accident", I will abandon my previous scepticism. Now my mum, who as I mentioned is buried in the Cemetary, as a lifelong Catholic always encouraged me to pray to the Patron Saint of whatever cause I was supporting when the going gets rough. The patron Saint of Libraries and philosophers is St Catherine, who was put to death on a burning wheel (hence the term Catherine wheel) and got her head chopped off when the wheel broke - my sister is named after her, due to my mums love of books and reading. When I read the story of St Catherine, I was reminded that this is what happens under repressive regimes where ignorance and brutality are used to combat reason and intellectual argument. Can it be any coincidence that the government are embarked on a policy shutting the masses out of education and Barnet are closing libraries? Could it be that they see a stupid population as one which is easier to manipulate?

On VickiM57's blog today she posted a link to all of the consultations being run by Barnet - http://www.barnet.gov.uk/index/council-democracy/consultations.htm - I am doing the same. Every one of these will result in worse services or more stealth taxes. Vicki talks of consultation fatigue. I am sorry to say that isn't a luxury we can allow ourselves to use as an excuse. I'm going to do everything I can personally do to stop the Sell off of our dead and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that those of us who are still here have decent public services. Please make a start by joining me and signing the petitions in the sidebar.

(many apologies if this particular blog is even more unhinged than normal. I am genuinely very upset by this cemetary proposal for a whole number of reasons).