Barnet Eye Weekly Roundup - The dark arts hit Barnet !!!!

There is something in the air. Vickim broke the news that Brian Coleman has appointed a spin doctor. I wondered how on earth you could put a positive spin on Brian (the Buffet Slayer) Coleman. Well now we know. I suppose it was bleeding obvious really  - slur the other bloke. Seems like Brian Colonman has gone on the attack on the expenses issue. Now I wouldn't have chosen this as a battleground if I was Brian Colemans spin doctor, but hey what do I know about such things. Interestingly the case for Brian Coleman seems to be that he's hard working, a mate of Ken Livingstone and a staunch supporter of the plan to shut Wyevale Garden Centre and replace it with Etz Chaim Jewish Free school. I wonder if Brian will still be as thrilled in June 2012. Still, I guess at least he'll have more time to write articles slagging off the British Olympic team. It will be interesting to see how this spat develops. At least Coleman has served early notice as to how he plans to conduct his campaign.

Mr Reasonable published a blog which deserves a far wider audience, detailing the subject of how a £2.5 million IT project has cost 10 times the original budget. Yup, £25 million for a system which still doesn't work properly.  Mr Mustard published a blog exposing the myth (Brian Coleman again) that Barnet has similar parking charges to other Boroughs. This is a story which the local press really should have picked up on. I wonder what Brians spin Doctor has to say about this (all Dismores fault no doubt)?

Our favourite councillor Little Bobby Sheepsjacksie Robert Ramsbottom had a simply fascinating post about Barnet Council infographics. Bobby has sophoric powers unique in the whole Universe. One supposes that Bobby thinks that people actually enjoy this drivel. Sadly he refuses to publish any comments I leave? What a poor little twatlet he is.

Finally in our roundup, we have the Broken Barnet blog, written by Finchley's favourite fishwife.
Mrs Angry details how Boris has sent her son a letter. Boris says :-

Ever since my 18th I have enjoyed my life as an adult citizen of the best big city on earth, and I hope you will too. I look forward to the vital role you will play in making London even greater.


Now if I was Mrs Angry, I'd be livid. We all know what sort of shenanigans Boris was up to, when he enjoyed life as an 18 year old member of "The Bullingdon Club" at Oxford University. Wikipedia notes that Boris and his chums got up to all manner of "fun" at the expense of the lower orders :-

Andrew Gimson, biographer of Boris Johnson, reported about the club in the 1980s: "I don't think an evening would have ended without a restaurant being trashed and being paid for in full, very often in cash. [...] A night in the cells would be regarded as being par for a Buller man and so would debagging anyone who really attracted the irritation of the Buller men."

Charming.

As to the "respectable press".  The Barnet Press and associated papers are on strike. See the video in the sidebar for more details. This blog was started as I felt local issues were being neglected. As the strike is over journalisitic quality, I clearly fully support it. The most popular story details how staff at the Royal Free will not be getting bank holiday pay for working the Royal Wedding. It seems that we can spend billions of pounds of public money, giving one of the richest couples in the country a day to remember, but we can't afford to pay the people who run our vital services properly to keep their country running.

And onto the twits. Matthew Offord tells us he was having a great time partying in Burnt Oak. Of course Mike Freer MP and Theresa Villiers MP are far too haughty to visit Burnt Oak, or even to twitter.

Anyway, I'm off to plant a few flowers on my Mum & Dad's graves, then to settle down for an afternoon of football, beer and fine food.