A Tale of Two Barnets - Don't forget to watch ITV Tonight program at 7.30pm

Just a quick reminder that footage from A Tale of Two Barnets will appear in the ITV Tonight program at 7.30pm. The title of the program is how much is your council charging you?

I see that the Leader of the Council, Richard Cornelius has told the Barnet Press that "The questions were quite general and had been taken out of context" in an article today.


http://www.edgware-today.co.uk/News.cfm?id=10613&headline=Filmmakers%20clash%20with%20council%20leader

I have discussed this accusation at length with the director of the film, Charles Honderick. Charles is quite affronted that Richard Cornelius could make such a comment, without seeing the film. Richard Cornelius was provided with the questions in advance. He had a press officer to mind him throughout the interview and Charles turned off the camera when he asked him questions which were not on the list. He was interviewed before most of the film was edited and the most interesting and relevant things he said were used. His interview lasted approx 8 minutes and about a minute of his talking was used.

The subjects Charles chose to use were as follows :-

RC talking about the statue La Deliverance at the start of the film.

RC saying Barnet is a green Borough and a pleasant place to live at the start of the film

RC saying that he hopes commuters with big fat pay checks will spend them in the local High Streets in the section on local high streets.

RC saying that the elderly are the top priority of the council in the section on the elderly

RC talking musing on what he does as leader at the end of the film, in the middle of a photo montage section

RC talking about his aspirations at the end of the film.

Of the six clips used, only two are actually interspersed with other people speaking.

Whilst I personally am completely mysified as to why Richard Cornelius is so upset, after a lengthy discussion with Charles, we decided that the only way to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to see the exact context of his statements is to post the whole, unedited interview. I'll let you draw whatever conclusions you like. I just ask one question. Do you think Councillor Cornelius should have taken up my offer to see a copy before the screening, if he was so worried? He never even responded
I like Richard Cornelius. I don't think he's covered himself in glory by trying to pretend he's been hard done by. Here is the whole interview




And here are the next forthcoming community viewings, where you can decide whether Charles edited the film unfairly (staged by Barnet Alliance for Public Services)


Tuesday 27th March - 7-9 pm,
St. John's Church, Somerset / Mowbray Roads,
New Barnet,
EN5 1R

Wednesday 28 March - 7 pm
Greek Cypriot Community Centre
2 Britannia Road, North Finchley,
London,
N12 9RU  ‎
Tuesday 3rd April - 7:30 pm
Larches House,
1 Rectory Lane,
Edgware,
Middlesex,
HA8 7LF

Wednesday 18^th April from 7pm
The Wilson Room
The House of Commons
London,
SW1A 2TT