Long time readers will know that at this time of the year, the Barnet Eye does a round up of the year. For me, 2011 seems like the longest year in history for a whole host of reasons. Anyway, without further ado, here we go
January
I think I wrote the saddest blog of my Barneteye blogging career. Shannon Powell RIP was dedicated to my daughters friend, Barnet Copthall Girls under 14 swimming champion and cross country runner, Shannon Powell, who tragically died of an undiagnosed heart condition, during the Middlesex Cross country championships. When I wrote this blog, little did I know of the shameful tale of incompetence that stopped Shannon getting to hospital. Guest blog of the month was from Hildegarde on homelessness and her experience at a homeless Christmas shelter. Today she's back for this years shift - Guest Blog : Spotlight on Homelessness in London b.... The big event in Barnet, which I am proud to have had a big hand in putting together was the Rock Against The Cuts rally at the Arts Depot - Barnet Rock Against the Cuts - Media Round up.
We can't let January go without reminding ourselves that this was the month that David Cameron mistook Hendon MP Matthew Offord for a soup waiter - Did the Prime Minister mistake Matthew Offord for ...
February.
This featured one of the most popular and google hit friendly blogs - say no to 0870 - a useful money saving blog, telling you how to avoid premium rate phone rip offs - Say no to 0870 - Don't let these robbers rip you o...
We also saw the plans for Etz Chaim Jewish free school revealed to the people of MilL Hill - Full details of proposed new Jewish School at Wyva...
We had author Mark Billingham come out in support of our very successful "Save Barnets Libraries" campaign - Author Mark Billingham supports the Save Barnets L...
We also saw the shape of things to come, with Brian Coleman's disgraceful behaviour at a Council meeting discussing parking - Brian Coleman Barnet Parking Special : The Peasant...
and finally, just for our entertainment, we had Hendon MP Matthew Offord at it again - Doh - it's Matthew Offord MP again
And the Barnet Eye got a real scoop. The first (and funniest) video of a Barnet Council meeting. Dear old Councillor Hugh Rayner put himself on the map - Barnet Council vs The People - Hugh Rayner - Barne...
March,
We had a great guest blog from Alan Grote about Rupert Murdoch taking over SKY news. When you read this, you'll realise what a long year it's been Guest Blog - Rupert Murdoch gets green light totak....
Yup, sure was a long time ago wasn't it? Perhaps the shortest blog I've ever written was the precursor to the largest number of words ever written by Barnet bloggers. On March 1st, Barnet Council had it's annual meeting. Most of the Barnet bloggers were in the meeting, I didn't get in. I was filming the crowds outside and found that the inn was full. I wasn't too worried, the meeting would be well blogged. I went home and had a beer. I then checked Twitter. All of the Barnet bloggers were in uproar. A security company called Metpro rapid response were behaving like a tinpot fascist juntas secret police. I googled the company and posted this blog - Metpro Rapid Repsonse - Barnet Council Security at the time I thought it was quite funny, nothing more. Just one link to their website and another to a site saying they'd gone bust - no comment or anything. I thought it may cheer the bloggers up when they came home. What emerged was not funny and was the biggest scandal in the history of Barnet Council. One that still rumbles on. What can be said beyond all doubt was that if it wasn't for VickiM, Mrs Angry, Mr Reasonable and Mr Mustard, then this WOULD NEVER COME OUT. It is shameful that the CEO of Barnet, Nick Walkley, has never personally thanked them for this.In fact the only person in any position of authority to even acknowledge this role was Lord Monroe Palmer at the Audit meeting to review the inquiry. It is shameful. The press contacted me during the audit inquiry and asked me "Which blogger first broke the story". The only honest answer is that we all did. The tweets were at the meeting and after all of the bloggers submitted FOI's, dug up facts and chatted to people at the meeting who filled in the gaps. I am proud of us all for what we did.
March also saw the birth of the fifth of Barnets famous five bloggers. Mr Mustard published this blog - Welcome - Economics not politics is my crusade
By the end of the April, Barnet Council had reported him to the ICO because he'd upset them so much !
April -
The Metpro scandal rumbled on. But there were other things going on in the world. The best of these was Manchester City beating Manchester United 1-0 at Wembley. I was there - FA Cup Semi Final - Manchester City 1 - 0 Manchest...
The saddest news was the death of Punk rock Icon - Poly Styrene - The day the world turned dayglo - Poly Styrene RIP... Brian Coleman also got himself a spin doctor - Barnet Eye Exclusive : Brian Colemans PR Guru name... That went well, didn't it? And we had the Calm Down Dear comments from David Cameron - David Cameron Special - Calm Down Dear
and finally VickiM started the Barnet bloggers tradition of the Friday Joke - http://citizenbarnet.blogspot.com/2011/04/friday-joke.html and we immediately copied - The Friday Joke
May -
Osama Bin Laden passed away - Barnet Eye Special - The death of Osama Bin Laden. Lynne Hillan quit as Barnet Leader - Barnet Council - Breaking News - Lynne Hillan quit... The Barnet Eye predicted that Councillor Richard Cornelius would win the leadership election - Barnet Council Leadership Election - The reasons t...
We had a guest blog from John Cox about Pinkham Way - Guest Blog - Domestic Waste in North West London and we had Ryan Giggs being properly appreciated, as only a Manchester City fan can - An appreciation of Ryan Giggs
And I got to meet Sylvia Anderson, co creator of Thunderbirds at the RAF museum in Hendon - Sylvia Anderson at the Hendon RAF Museum
June
A cheery anecdote about Sir Fred Goodwin from a friend at RBS - Sir Fred Goodwin - A story to cheer you up . The Barnet Eye passed the 200,000 hits mark (since the Metpro scandal our hit rate has gone to around 30,000 a month by next June we may hit half a million!) - Barnet Eye Stats special - over 200,000 hits in t... and Richard Cornelius became the Leader of Barnet Council - Congratulations to Richard Cornelius - The new Lea... I explained why Toyah Wilcox owes me a shag Why Toyah Wilcox owes me a shag !
and why I thought Dyslexia was Gods practical joke - Dyslexia - Gods practical joke
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So dear friends, that was the highlights from Jan to June. Stay chewned for the next installment.
Among the serious stuff, we can see Mr Offord showing that 2011 was his Golden Year of Buffoonery.
ReplyDeleteAs Daniel Hope said in his January comment, "Oh dear... I can see 'Manuel Offord' sticking as a nickname!"