2011 - the year in blogs - Part two July to December

On we move to the second half of the year.

July.
It was my official blogging birthday -  three years since I started writing a blog on the Hendon Times website - Happy Birthday to Me !!!!! - before that, being stupid and dyslexic, I'd never written much more than a postcard. We saw the end of the Mill Hill Music festival, which this blog had been the festival diary for - Mill Hill Music Festival - Final day . We saw the demise of the News of the World - News of the World - RIP - and we had Brian Coleman attacking unpaid volunteers who run a commiunity festival for being unprofessional. There was a fantastic guest blog from Hildegarde, dispelling the myth that squatting is a lifestyle choice - Guest Blog - Is Squatting really a lifestyle choic... - and we had a tragic murder in Burnt Oak - Burnt Oak Murder - Where is the leadership. The Barnet Eye took issue with the local press for their relative lack of coverage. I believe that I have been 100% vindicated because in terms of blog hits, three of the all time top 10 blogs for hits on this blog were ones concerning this murder. More sad news with the death of Amy Winehouse, who was a much loved customer of my studios - Amy Winehouse RIP .  And then there was the Barnet Eye's biggest exclusive scoop of the year. The appalling state of Barnet Council and its data centres - Barnet Council IT scandal - Your personal data is ....

August.
In August we redesigned the Barnet Eye - Barneteye - site redesign to make it more readable. We had riots in London Town - London Riots - Stating the bleeding obvious , when for a couple of days, we really did have anarchy in the UK. We had a startling blog from Mrs Angry, describing how a local priest terrorised a pensioner and stole his banner at the East Barnet Festival - 'A bomb in the park': Brian Coleman, a dangerous b... I posted one of my favourite blogs of the year, a pictorial detailing a summer walk in Arrandene open space - ARRANDENE WALK - One of Mill Hill's hidden gems. It's great to remind ourselves what a beautiful place parts of Barnet really are and how lucky we are to have them on our doorstep. It also reminds me as to why we need to fight to preserve them. Then there was the SCANDAL I COULDN'T PUBLISH. I got this FOI response from Barnet Council - Trust & FoI responses. It confirmed that Barnet Council had asked the questions I needed answering. It confirmed that people had lied. Sadly because the only way to prove it was to expose the source of the information, I could do nothing more about it. I don't know why I naively believe people would tell the truth, but I did. And finally we caught Brian Coleman trying to sneak through his proposal to abolish Pay and Display - Brian Colemans plan to sneak in abolition of pay a.... He will pay and display for this policy at the GLA elections next year. And finally, we exposed how large companies entertain some of our local politicians and how certain decisions seem to be made in their favour.

September.
The Belmont Childrens Farm appeal against Barnet Council planning enforcement was rejected - Belmont Childrens Farm - Planning appeal decision .... We had a comedic video of Brian Coleman at Hendon Town Hall - BARNETEYE TV - Live from Hendon Town Hall - Comedy.... We had Council workers on strike - Support the Barnet Unison strike, Tuesday 13 Septe.... We had huge banners from the CEO Nick "yerjob" Walkley trying to scare staff into shunning the strike - Photograph of Barnet Council CEO Nick Walkley's M.... We had a great guest blog from Julia Hines on outsourcing - Guest Blog : Greensquare Field – Planning to Outso... .
Barnet FC accused Barnet Council of trying to force it out of the Borough - Barnet FC accuse Barnet Council of failing footbal... and finally we had my favourite Friday joke of the year - The Friday Joke : 9/11/2011

October.
The proudest part of the year - we raised over £500 for Cancer research UK, with my beloved doing the Shine Nighttime London Walking Marathon - Cancer Research UK - Shine London Nigh Time Walkin.... Little did I know at the time how this would become a little bit more of a cause of special interest for me - PSA tests and Prostate biopsy - The blog you don't.... We had Brian Coleman, sponger extraordinaire (the man earns over £114,000 a year, but lives in a flat with a subsidised rent, designed for poor families) telling a single mother who can't afford her rent to live in the real world  - Councillor Brian "live in the real world" Coleman....  We had more news on Chase Farm Hospital closure - more lies and broken promises from the government - Who says we don't need Chase Farm A&E.
The best news was Manchester City absolutely hammering Man U 1-6 at the Theatre of Dreams - Manchester City FC Special - The joy of six. One allows oneself the odd gloat! The worst news was the death of Steve Jobs - Steve Jobs RIP and the BBC's plans to scrap shows such as Robert Elms on 94.9 - Save the Robert Elms show on BBC London 94.9.

November.
The big news for me personally was being told I have prostate cancer on the 8th November - Mr Tichborne, the result of your Prostate Biopsy i.... We had a truly shocking guest blog from Janet Leifer regarding care of the vulnerable in Barnet - Guest Blog by Janet Leifer - Destruction of Disabl.... That was hotly followed by a guest blog from Linda Edwards detailing how shoddily Barnet Council treated her disabled adult daughter - Updated *** Guest Blog - Linda Edwards Family Care.... Interestingly, in the same month that we had two excellent blogs from women in Barnet, we also had proof that sexism is rampant - Sid the Sexist is alive and kicking in Barnet ! where w detailed the trolls that monster women who stick their heads above the parapet. Even more shocking, we seemingly have racism being condoned at Barnet Council - Barnet Council - Where racism is OK if someone an.... We had a very successful residents forum organised by Barnet Alliance for Public Services at the Larches Trust - Barnet Local residents forum 29/11/2011 - Larches ....  Uproar hit Mill Hill as Brian Colemans Pay and display changes hit home - Uproar in Mill Hill and Edgware over removal of Pa... . On a high note, friend of this blog David Yates was named as director of the new Doctor Who film - Congratulations to David Yates.

December.
The month kicked off with us detailing a fantastic night at the Everyman, detailing the John Hodges play Collaborators, being streamed live to the Everyman in Belsize Park - Collaborators - Live streaming at the Everyman in .... We had a superb buest blog from Linda Edwards about Adult Social Care, which has received an enormous and ever growing number of hits -Adult Social Care in Barnet - A guest blog by Lind.... We revealed an FOI response which demonstrated how bloggers have saved the Council a fortune -How much have bloggers saved the London Borough of.... We had the truly awful and shocking details of the Shannon Powell inquest - Shannon Powell Inquest - Lessons that must be lear.... We had an amazing video clip of Tory Councillor John Marshall rounding on Brian Coleman's contempt for his colleagues and demanding action from the Leader - BarnetEye TV - Barnet Tories turn on Councillor Br.... We had the moment when fellow Barnet blogger Mr Reasonable finally cracked - http://reasonablenewbarnet.blogspot.com/2011/12/barnet-council-indecisive-or.html maybe he'll change his blog to "Mr Very Pissed Off". Finally the sad news for December - the Death of Brazilian legend Socrates Socrates - RIP .


Well campers, that's about it for now. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year or whatever greeting is most appropriate to you at this time of year. Here's my favourite blog pick of 2011 - hope you've enjoyed something in this blog this year.

Fast Eddie and Boggy working on the foundations of the new Mill Hill Music Complex Studios