Barnet Community Campaign Xmas Gig

Just got back from a highly successful Barnet Community Campaign Xmas gig at the Claddagh Ring. These things take a lot of work to put together and the whole event ran really smoothly. We had a few great guest speakers. Paul from the GMB Union on the effects of community, Alex from FCHS on the student campaign, John Burgess from UNISON on the effects of cuts in Barnet. Special praise must be given to Alex. He's 16 years old and spoke with more eloquence and passion than anyone from the Barnet Labour party for a very,very long time. He had no prepared speech, but he made a few excellent points, with passion. The Borough of Barnet is lucky to have him. I hope a few Barnet Tories were watching him on the www.gotseen.com broadcast as I'm sure that if he stays in the area, he's going to become a huge player in local politics. He understands organisation and the need to do things the right way.

And on to the music. We had a couple of great acoustic artists. Nick G kicked off with a set of 5 songs. It's always a hard task, opening a show. Nick did  a fine job - check out his music -http://www.myspace.com/nickgtunes. Next up we had Trevor from Radfax. Trevor is an organiser of the Peace camp and a video chroniclor of note - check out the Radfax Youtube channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/radfax -

The first full band were The Hamptons. A great band, with a bright future - Their song Peace could be a massive hit with the right promotion. Next up, Connie with The False Dots (my band). Connie is just back from touring with Emmanual Jal and she's doing a big gig with him at ULU on Friday, we were very lucky to have her. She's truly awesome. The show was closed by the Alan Warner Band. Al is the guitarist from the Foundations, but tonights set was a selection of his favourite covers. Al is truly brilliant. He's been the godfather of the Barnet music scene for years. I recorded my first demo in his studio in 1979. The Polecats recorded their first single, Rockabilly Guy there. You really won't find a better guitarist anywhere.

We had a great crowd and I am truly proud to be involved with everyone who helped to put it on. A rather bizarre thought crossed my mind as I chatted to Barnet Unison rep, John Burgess. Both he and Barnet CEO Nick Walkley are no nonsense Northerners. They both strike me as very bright guys and both strike me as people who can see through bullshit. What I really don't get is why Nick Walkley just can't see through the fact that so much of the cost justification for One Barnet & Future Shape is complete bollocks.

Nick, if you are reading this, I'm inviting you out for a few beers, with myself. If you can explain to me over a pint why Future Shape is not a crock of shite and that you really believe in it, I'll stop slagging it off in the blog if your logic stacks up. I've seen all sorts of figures and it just doesn't work. I know there have to be cuts, but this isn't the way. This blog has now had 200,000 hits. If I spoke complete bollocks, I'd get none.The people of Barnet trust this blog. If you really have the courage of your convictions, then it's time to have a pow wow and get your views to my readers. Real leadership is not leading the troops over the cliff, sometimes it involves taking stock and changing tack. Now is the time. True leaders are not scared of their own shadow

Brian Coleman's crass attitude to Paedophile Pornogrophy

This clipping is taken from an article in todays Ham and High. The Mayor of Barnet, Brian Coleman was talking about political bloggers. The article was a follow up of the Standards case where he was found guilty of breaching the London Borough of Barnet's code of conduct.

So Brian Coleman believes that people like me, who write blogs about politics should be regulated in the same way as Paedophiles. Let's think this through. What are bloggers? They are members of the public who use a service such as this to share their views on topics of their  choice with the general public. That may be football, music, sport or politics. Now on my blog, I talk about local politics. There's nothing said on my blog that you won't hear in pubs, dining rooms, on the bus or on the tube, as people talk about local politics. We live in a free society where if I want to say "Brian Coleman is doing a lousy job" I can. It's not like China or Nazi Germany where you get imprisoned, beaten up or murdered for criticising "Public figures". All this blog does is say these things to a wider audience. It's called Free Speech. I'd suggest that if Brian Coleman doesn't like it, he's not a very good Tory.

Let's compare this perfectly legal activity which has formed part of our national culture, with Internet Child Porn, as Brian Coleman seems to think they are equally serious issues. Unlike people discussing Barnet Council, people abusing children is illegal. To give you an example of how most parents feel about the issue, let me share a little story with you. 8 years ago my best friend and former business partner was in the death throws of pancreatic cancer. He'd had his leg amputated and was a couple of days away from death.He asked me to visit and said he wanted to discuss an important issue. When I entered the room, I could see he was in agony. I asked if everything was OK. He replied "Rog, I've stopped the morphine as there's something I needed to discuss and I wanted to be completely with it". He went on to explain that he was worried that when he died, his wife and children may be targeted by predatory paedophiles, who befriend single mothers to get to their children. He explained that he wanted me to keep an eye on them and if anything untoward ever happened to notify his brothers, who would deal with it as a family matter. He didn't care about the pain, just his kids.

Brian Coleman states that bloggers should be regulated in the same way as internet child abusers,
for what? for saying "Brian Coleman spends too much public money on taxi's"?

I would never, ever trivialise the issue of child pornography. It as a wicked evil in our society. I cannot believe that a senior Conservative politician such as Brian Coleman can think it is on a par with someone saying "Brian Coleman is a Lousy mayor". Of all the blogs I've written about Brian Coleman, the one he finds the most objectionable, the one he finds most beyond the pale and the one he (Mis)quotes in the Ham & High is this one (CLICK HERE it isn't rude). I consider it to be a rather frivelous and mild bit of political lampoonary, on a par with much of what Simon Hoggart may write in his Guardian Diary. Brian Coleman clearly considers that it is on a par with Child Abuse, based on his comment. He either takes himself far, far too seriously or alternatively he has no concept of how vile the man in the street finds kiddie porn. Either way his statement is in shocking bad taste. Yet again, he shows himself to be completely out of touch with the concerns of the average family in Barnet.

I have this question for Brian Coleman. Does he think that Policemen should be pulled off Child Abuse cases to arrest bloggers for saying he's useless at his job? If he does, then he's worse than we all thought. If he doesn't, then he should issue a public apology for belittling the victims of such a terrible crime.

BBC coverage of Sheltered Housing Warden Campaign

As I write this I'm listening to the BBC London 94.9 radio show with Jo Good and Paul Ross. The main news item is coverage of the Sheltered Housing Warden cuts. They are interviewing "Betty from Edgware", a sheltered housing resident. She is explaining how the wardens help her. Whilst the BBC is as ever scrupulously even handed, they clearly see this as a newsworthy story. I suggest you all tune in for a listen at News Time on the hour & half hour.

The council's line is that it isn't a cut, but a redistribution of services. As Vicki Morris of the Barnet Community Council has demonstrated, this is a lie. There is no corresponding increase in social provision elsewhere.

Vicki has sent this Email to all Conservative Councillors, in an effort to make them see sense.

If they still push this through, then you know what sort of people they all really are.

Dear Councillor,

As you probably know there will be a lobby of the Barnet Cabinet meeting tomorrow evening, to protest at the proposal to cut the budget for sheltered housing wardens. This follows on from two well-supported protests organised by Barnet Community Campaign, which involved elderly sheltered housing residents themselves taking to the streets. Sometimes they protested in spite of great frailty, so determined were they to have their voices heard in public.

You probably know as well that the public consultation showed wide opposition to the proposal from the residents and their relatives and supporters.

We do not feel that the option (option 3) that the Cabinet is being encouraged to choose tomorrow night in any way meets the concerns of the residents; indeed this is acknowledged (page 12, paragraph 11.4.3) in the report to be presented to the Cabinet.

The proposal to retain alarms for all seems to be based on a simple recognition that in order for the scheme to be viable all residents must be signed up to it – it is good that this has been recognised, but this has not been as a function of the consultation process. Still in place is the proposal to cut sheltered housing wardens, and to replace them with a vaguely specified ‘floating support’ service, whose funding itself could be in doubt in the coming period. Promises to extend this service to all elderly residents who need it are similarly vague. And at the same time as the consultation document promises a ‘new specialist support service for sheltered housing tenants’ at a cost of £300,000, it explains that funding for this will be kept under review.

Two of the most offensive ideas advanced during the consultation process were that sheltered housing residents should be prepared to ‘take a hit’ to their funding or else other services for elderly residents in Barnet would be threatened, and that somehow this levelling down of provision represents increased ‘fairness’. The responses given to the question in the consultation “To what extent do you agree or disagree that support services should be provided to anyone who needs the support, whatever type of housing they happen to live in?” show that sheltered housing residents do support increased services for elderly Barnet residents not living in sheltered housing. Many of us would share that ambition. This is not the same as agreeing that the services sheltered housing residents enjoy should be reduced.

Sheltered housing is a proven and popular method of allowing elderly people to continue to live independent lives; perhaps the most chilling aspect of the proposals going to the Cabinet is the idea that our ambition for the services we provide to vulnerable elderly residents increasingly be limited to reacting to emergencies. The warden service helps to prevent dangerous situations occurring in the first place.

The warden service has not outlived its usefulness, albeit councils around the country have seen a way to alleviate their financial difficulties by attacking it. And it is not too late for you to look again at the proposals and think about whether there might not be better places to make savings in the council’s budget. At this 11th hour, we urge you to do that.

Yours sincerely,

Vicki Morris

Barnet Community Campaign

Sheltered Housing Warden Cuts

At a recent Barnet Community Campaign meeting, I met a friends Dad. I hadn't seen him since 1995 and it turns out he now lives in sheltered accomodation. If Barnet Council get there way, he'll lose his warden with the cuts. He lives there because he is not a well man. despite his age & ill health, he had time to put this poster together, because he cares about his friends and neighbours. He is just one of the numerous people who were asked their opinions in a consultation and have been completely ignored.

Like many of the residents he worked all his life, he paid taxes and he did his bit to build our great country. He feels like the council are spitting in his face with this policy. He feels as if he's been betrayed. In short he feels as if he's been robbed. He paid in to the system, never taking anything. Now he's old and vulnerable and he needs it, he's having it taken away.

This policy is wrong. Attend the mass lobby of the Council on the 8th June.

What do the Edgware and Totterdige byelection results tell us

Reading the local press coverage of the Edgware and Totteridge council byelection results, made depressing reading for a Labour supporter such as myself at first glance. Both Tory candidates had much improved majorities on their predecessors. Departing Councillor Richard Weider notes in his blog that Darrel Yawitch is the most popular councillor in the borough ! Whilst Darrel may put this down to the fact that he's a much better looking guy than poor old Richard, I suspect that the performance of David Cameron is probably a more valid explanation. Since the departure of Tony Blair, Prime Ministers Questions have turned into a weekly bear bating session. Whilst even at his lowest, Blair could always be relied on to put in a good performance, Gordon Brown's only conceivable strategy I can discerne is to go for the sympathy vote. Ministers resign, back benchers queue up to stick the knife in. Every Conservative friend I have and I have quite a lot, were in a state of pre-orgasmic delight at the posibilty of voting. I knew that the Tories would get a big vote. Even those who are, shall we say, not too keen on the local Barnet party, felt duty bound to "send Gordon a message".

Darrel Yawitch and Alison Cornelius did very well. I should imagine they could sit back last night and have a glass or two of bubbly and think "job done". From what I've been told, as Tories candidates go, they are both decent and hard working. I doubt that this time next year, after the full elections, they will be back down to the jobcentre, especially as they are in extremely safe wards. They are both safe pairs of hands and I'm sure they will do a good job.

What can we deduce about the Labour vote? As both seats were firmly Tory with no prospect whatsoever of a Labour victory, especially in the current political climate, I fully expected a catastrophic slump in both seats. I had contacted both the Labour and Lib Dem leader on behalf of the Barnet Community Campaign to ask them to stand asside so that we could have put up a single issue "anti sheltered housing warden cut" candidate. Both refused, saying that it was party policy to stand a candidate. I may be wrong, but I honestly believe that such a candidate would have given both Alison and Darrel a run for their money. One thing I know for certain is that there would have been a willing flood of volunteers canvassing. As it is, friends tell me that virtually no leaflets were dropped in Totteridge or Edgware. It was a shamefully missed opportunity. Oh and if you were wondering, I was strongly asked to stand, but being a councillor really isn't my thing.

As the Lab/Lib's wouldn't stand aside, we took the view that their was no prospect of success, therefore it would damage the campaign. If the anti warden cut vote had a three way split, we'd fail and I would not sanction such a monumental effort being totally wasted.

Which takes us on to the Labour and Lib Dem vote. As I said I expected a collapse. As it was they did better in Totteridge than at the last election and about the same in Edgware. The same is true of the Lib Dems. I expected them to be wiped out. Given the state of the party nationally, the fact that the seats were safe and the low level of canvassing, I had no expectation whatsoever of anything other than abject failure. Why did so many turn out for such a hopeless cause? As far as I am concerned, it is because of the hated scheme to scrap wardens. This will never derail a Tory in a safe seat, but I suspect that had either seat been a marginal, we may have seen some rather different results.

In hindsight, I honestly wish that the Barnet Community Campaign had persuaded Vicki Morris to stand as candidate in Edgware. We will never know, but we could have then compared the results of Edgware with Totteridge and really know how well supported we were. As it was there was no real candidate of protest.

A great week in sunny Mill Hill !

Oh joy, the sun is shining, it's a bank holiday, the beer chiller is full, the sausages are in the fridge and the charcoal is in the shed. I can relax. It has been a great week for me. My daughter went back to the top of the national rankings for swimming in her age group for the 1500m freestyle after a great swim last week at the newly reopened Crystal Palace Swimming Centre. All her hard work & sacrifice is paying off. My son is off with the cubs for the cub jam. I've had a couple of great 5 a side kickabouts this week, winning both games. We've discovered a great singer at the studios, who we are currently working with. Played some early mixes to a friend who used to be head of A&R at Sony, who liked what he heard. That will be my holiday in Barbados next year ! Our music shop has just taken it's largest ever single order for equipment this week. It is to equip a local community project which we've helped develop. We've put a lot of time in to ensure they'll have great facilities & a truly groundbreaking mix of uses. Can't say anymore prior to the council's announcement, but we are proud to be involved in such a great local scheme.

It is great when local authorities spend money to improve the lives of young people. When the project is up and running, I'll take a few pictures and tell the full exciting story here. It is great to be able to report good news when councils do the right thing by there young people.

I was also proud to have been invited to attend the inauguration of the new Mayor of Barnet. No, of course I wasn't invited to the ceremony, I was invited to join the protest about cuts to the Sheltered Housing Warden Service, going on outside. Councillor Lynn Hillan and the council are trying to mislead everyone in to believing that this is a redistribution rather than a cut. If you read THIS BLOG by Vicki Morris, you'll realise what a massive porkie this is. A council which can afford civic receptions and relaid flowerbeds for the Mayoral inauguration can afford to look after its old & vulnerable. Maybe we should lobby all of the Mayors receptions, till he gets the message.

It is also great to see that our local papers are again serving the community. Hopefully the days when certain high up politicians at the council could ring up the paper and exert pressure to drop certain stories (or certain bloggers!) have gone. I think that the circulation figures for the Daily Telegraph since they started their crusade to clean up expenses has shown that the public have a taste for proper investigative journalism. If I was the editor of a National Daily paper looking for new talent, I'd be looking for they type of people who break stories, not those who slavishly rehash council press releases. Rebecca Lowe's fine story got some such recognition with a link from The Guardian. Print the stories and the readers will come !

Anyway, the Barnet Eye has taken an editorial decison to celebrate the good news and the great weather this weekend. We are not going to publish any more stories about local politicians or aything else which might ruin your day till Tuesday (unless some massive story breaks). It's all good news & fun from here. Enjoy your weekend

Vicki Morris : The Barnet People's Champion

Barnet Bloggers Bank Holiday Special

Continuing our series on the bloggers of Barnet. This week has been a great week for Vicki Morris aka VickiM57. As well as her blog, Vicki is the driving force behind the Barnet Community Campaign. I have unbounded admiration for Vicki. If she'd been hit by a bus last year, I suspect that the Barnet Tories may just have snuck through the warden cuts unnoticed. With her at the helm, there was no chance. The inauguration of the new Mayor was hijacked by the community campaign. His day in the lights was "spoiled" by a ragtag army of protestors outside, fighting for the elderly and the vulnerable. Two weeks ago Finchley High St, in Mike Freer's ward was brought to a standstill by a March organised by the BCC. Now there is much more to BCC than Vicki. She'll probably have the hump with me for pushing her to the fore, but she deserves it and I doubt that anyone else would disagree.

Vicki is unusual in a few respects. Probably 80% of political blogs are written by Tories and 95% are written by men. This hasn't stopped her blog from getting recognition. This week, the esteemed Dave Hill at the Guardian put a link to its from his London page. Now I'm not a close friend of Vicki. We've met at a few meetings & protests in the last few months. WhatI have noticed is that she is a great organiser and a great worker. Her latest blog details how the local press has fallen into line with the Barnet Community Campaign. A petition with 1,600 signatures was handed in to John Marshall, the outgoing mayor. The campaign has only been going a few months, so this should give you some idea of the effectiveness of Vicki's organisational powers.

The powers that be at Barnet spoke this week about taking on the bloggers. If I was them, the one I would truly be scared of is Vicki, because unlike me she knows what she's doing and she knows how to get results quick. Don't be deceived by her mild manners or her pleasant demeanour. When it comes to campaigning, I'm a bull in a China shop, she's a deadly skilled assassin !

Barnet Tory Bugle Update : Spot the Difference Competition !

There are two stories on the Barnet Tory Bugle Times website

There's this one by Elizabeth Pears

Protesters say no to cutting Barnet warden service

and this one by Elizabeth Pears and Rebecca Lowe

150 march to save on-site wardens


Can you spot the difference? Let me give you a little hint - The one with additions from Rebecca Lowe has a lengthy addition from Lynn Hillan, the Cabinet member responsible for this vicious policy. As one might expect, Hillan claims that the warden cuts are an improvement. She says that they are trying to look after everyone. This is nonsense. This is a cut. This is purely done to save cash. If she believed her own propaganda, she'd not have moved her own mum to a place where wardens are being retained.

As one has come to expect from The Barnet Tory Bugle the piece is used purely as a Barnet Tory Propoganda. There is no interview with Vicki Morris, march organiser. There is not even a mention of the Barnet Community Campaign who organised the march or how to get in touch. There is a bit about Andrew Dismore, but he's not a member of the campaign & just tagged along to show support.

The original article by Elizabeth Pears was OK. It clearly failed the Bugle's Tory bias test, so they had to draft in Rebecca Lowe to make it acceptable the political masters.

Well lets just clarify a few things. The march was organised by the Barnet Community Campaign. Vicki Morris is the organiser and her email if you want more details is as follows. There are plenty more events being lined up (delete the spaces around the @ this is to stop spamscrapers driving Vicki Mad)

wardens@barnettuc.org.uk

The website for the campaign is http://barnetcc.wordpress.com/
Membership is open to any Barnet resident who supports these aims. Contact BCC c/o 10 Fallow Court Avenue, London N12 0EB or email jsilverman @ btinternet.com (remove the spaces)