The Sunday Reflection #83 - This is not what I signed up for!

 I first started writing the Barnet Eye in October 2008. I didn't expect a lot. I thought that if I was lucky a couple of dozen people would read it. I thought I'd get bored with it after a couple of months and do something else. I thought no one was interested in the rantings of a dyslexic punk rock musician, who was prone to ranting about the shortcomings of Barnet Council, moaning about the absurdity of life and wallowing in the uselessness of my football team of choice (Manchester City, who were a very different beast back then). I was so convinced that no one was interested, I never even bothered to look at the readership stats of the blog. I thought that knowing no one was interested, would make me give up. To me amazement, after six months, curiosity got the better of me. I found that the blog had 60,000 views. More people than watch Man City on a Saturday at the time.

I didn't expect a bunch of other people to be inspired and start blogging about Barnet. I didn't expect National TV, National and Local Radio and the newspapers to start taking an interest. I didn't expect the local government minister, Eric Pickles to compliment the Barnet Bloggers. I didn't expect to get asked to write a chapter of a book published by a well respected publisher, or to write articles for The Guardian. I didn't expect death threats from lunatics, enraged by what I had to say. I didn't expect social media companies to ban me, for reasons they wont tell me (yes x.com, that's you I am talking about), even though they have stated that I've been reinstated. I didn't expect to make friends as a result of the blog. I didn't expect to produce films that would be shown at the Phoenix Cinema, The House Of Commons and The Edinburgh Festival. 

I didn't expect any of this. In January 2008, if someone had asked me what I expected any obituary to say about me (not that I expect one), I'd have said "Roger Tichborne was the founder of Mill Hill Music Complex studios in Mill Hill. He played guitar in an obscure London band called The False Dots and he was married with three children". The whole blog thing was an accident. I am not sure whether it was a lucky one. 

This morning I was at the 8.30 mass, where I normally formulate this blog feature in my head. The gospel today is the one where a couple of the followers of Jesus are walking down the road and a bloke joins them. They chat to him, then have dinner with him. It is only when he breaks the bread that they realise that it is the risen Jesus. I don't really talk much about religion in this feature, but this is one of my favourite Gospels. Not because of the religious significance, but because it is a great example of how the bleeding obvious can be staring us in the face and we are far to wrapped up in our own worries and intrigues to see it. I love the bit where the penny drops as to who their companion is. Jesus immediately disappears. To me it is a subject lesson in the fact that you don't really realise what you've got in life till its too late. 

For reasons I can't quite fathom, the reading made me think about this blog and its effect on my life. Being a 'famous blogger' has changed me. When I read the earliest blogs, I had a fearlessness about my writings. I was charged up with energy to confront injustice and call out people who were not doing their jobs properly. Re reading them, I realise why many people thought I was a bit of a humourless maniac! The local Tories, who ran the council, dismissed me as a humourless  swivel eyed Trotskyite maniac. As such I was easily dismissed. Then, a few of them realised I wasn't. The oddest thing happened. When they realised that I often wrote blogs that were funny and that they were looking ridiculous, they became a lot more worried. When Richard Cornelius became the Leader of the Council, things changed. Like me, Richard had a sense of humour. I did an April Fool blog that really wound him up. He sent me an email. It didn't threaten me, he just said that it was extremely funny, he'd had a good laugh at it, but suggested I removed it, as someone reading it on any other day of the year may not get the joke. Because Richard was polite, good mannered and pleasant, and didn't get riled by me winding him up, I largely stopped poking fun at him. At civic events we'd chat and joke. Often he'd try and figure out who was leaking information from his group of councillors. I suspect that if I'd told him at the time, he'd have been deeply shocked, but if I told him now he wouldn't. I'm not telling anyone though. 

In 2022, when Labour took the council, it was all change. I had expected them to do a lot of really obviously sensible things. They didn't. I expected them to put together a proper arts strategy for Barnet (they asked me to help, then ignored everything I said), they haven't. I expected them start a new era of openness. They haven't. For the first council elections since I started blogging, I have no interest at all in the outcome. The Tories are useless. Labour are useless. Reform are clueless. The Lib Dems are not interested in Barnet. I was asked to stand, but refused, as I am Chairman of the Mill Hill Services Club and felt it would be a conflict of interests.

So what do I want to happen? My preference would be to see a situation where no party or two parties had enough councillors to have control. A Tory/Reform coalition would be a disaster. Labour don't deserve another term. Some sort of coalition where Lib Dems, Greens and local residents would, I believe bring back some sort of focus to local people. Both the Tories and Labour seem more interested in being friends with developers and people simply seeking to cash in on the wealth in Barnet, rather than doing good for the hard pressed residents. I have a personal interest to state. Pete Williams, a green candidate in Mill Hill is a candidate. I've known Pete for years and will be voting for him. I will also be voting for the Lib Dem candidate Charles Wakefield as I am a party member. And my third vote? I really do not want to see Reform get in. I will be voting for Conservative Elliot Simberg. I have known Elliot for a very long time. He is a decent man and has told me that he will never defect to Reform. I have never voted Conservative before, but I am seriously worried that Reform will get in. 

I did not sign up to be a Barnet Blogger to promote a Conservative candidate. However I am not going to lie or seek to curry favour with anyone. I am not going too say Elliot is the best of a bad bunch, because I believe he is a decent man and that would be a lie. We disagree on politics, but I've shared a scotch with him and commend him as a human being and given the choices, that is all I can really say.

And I urge you to think very long and hard about who you vote for. Think about what sort of people you want to run the Borough. Think about what will happen if we have no councillors with any experience. Think about who tactically will give you a regime you can live with. I doubt that many people who read this blog will agree with y choices. But I make the with a clear conscience.