Wednesday 31 December 2014

2014 - Blogs of the Year - Our pick from our archive

Firstly I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year.

And now for a little retrospective of the Year! Our fave blogs month by month!



January 2014 - We said farewell to Simon Hoggart, former Diary writer for the Guardian and a big influence on my style of writing.


February 2014 - My dyslexia blogs are the ones I'm proudest of. This blog is where I explain how it all came right for me. Mabe it's too personal for everyone else, but it meant a lot to me.



March 2014 - I rather like my Saturday List series. This list was, I think, the best. The ten strangest things I've seen in the London Borough of Barnet.



April 2014 - In April we saw a victory for the Parents of Mapledown Special needs school, who were facing a budget cut from a very unenlightened Barnet Council. We were proud of our small part in helping them. When the good guys win, it is always great!


May 2014 - In May 2014, there was much local news, not least the Local Council Elections. Sadly Council elections in Barnet are irrelevant as the Council is now run by Capita. We had no vote in the process and we have no influence over how services are provided. So at the Barnet Eye, we made a couple of short films to say what we think is wrong with all of this. Capita the Movie part 1 & 2


June 2014 - One of the most visited blogs of the year was this one, how to prepare for a job interview. I wrote this after some exasperating expereniences at work with some rather poor candidates. It struck me how little preparation some people do, so maybe I should let people know where they are going wrong.

How to prepare for a job interview

July 2014 - Every year I volunteer with HCPT and go with a group of Handicapped people to Lourdes in France. This was my account of the 2014 trip.

HCPT group 560 - A week of making a difference
August 2014 - Can your cat actually speak to you? This was the blpog I probably most enjoyed writing all year.  The funniest thing about this was the reaction in certain quarters. Seems like some people just don't get it, do they?

Can your cat actually speak to you?

 September 2014 - How my daughter nearly died this morning. How my daughter nearly burned the house down. This got a huge number of retweets and made a big impact. Lots of people said that they'd checked their smoke alarms as a result. Who knows, if it saves someone, this could be the most important blog of them all?

How my daughter nearly died this morning - or why ...


October 2014 - Barnet Tories planning the decimation of Barnets Libraries. The saddest blog of the year. I find this whole issue sickening, given that in May the Tories had trumpeted how they'd preserved the library service and used it as a campaign tool. It seems that there is no shame in Politics in our neck of the woods.

Barnet Tories planning decimation of Barnets libra...

 November 2014 - How good is your Barnet Councillor? This was our league table of the good councillors in Barnet Council. What surprised me was the huge response and the lack of disagreement from anyone. A couple of people said their councillor was good and shpould have been on the list, but I expected a torrent of disagreement and got none. Believe me, I usually do.

How good is your councillor? The Barnet Eye League...

 December 2014 - The most hated Pope in 1,000 years? My thoughts on Pope Francis. This blog got an extraordinary response from readers. Strangely the response to what I wrote was extremely positive. When my friends tell me in the pub that they thought a blog was really interesting and it starts a discussion, I always feel quite happy. I think I got this one right

The most hated Pope for a 1,000 years?

Those were my month by month highlights. Oddly though, none of these fine blogs were the most read blog in 2014. The most popular blog by a large country mile, was one with no words and no title! It was this blog, but you don't need to click it as the picture is at the top of this blog, that's all it contains. I just saw the picture on Twitter and thought "That says everyting I want to say today".  Maybe Isabella has a lesson for all of us. I for one am thrilled to bits that her message was the one which was most important to Barnet Eye readers this year. God bless you all (and for those of you who don't believe - what ever the suitable equvalent is). I hope you all have a really great 2015. I hope that you and all of your loved ones stay safe and well and that in 365 days time we are sitting here, writing a summary of what an extraordinarily good year 2015 was.

Isabellas picture :-
http://barneteye.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/blog-post.html


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