Whatever happened to the local papers?

Bill Montgomery - A local press giant

In the London Borough of Barnet, there are three main local papers. There is the Times Series, The Press and The Ham and High. By clicking on these links, you can see a digital copy of the paper edition (although the Times group seems to have given up on putting all but the Barnet edition on the website since last December). At one point all of these papers have won awards for the highest quality of local journalism. For many years, Bill Montgomery used to write an award winning column on the Times, where he'd report on the shenanigans at the meetings of Barnet Council.

I originally started blogging on the Times group, before the Barnet Eye existed. I used Bill's style and column as an inspiration. I believed that the local papers in the Borough of Barnet were neglecting the goings on at the Town Hall. The public agreed with me. To my amazement, my blogs were constantly in the "most read articles" list on the website. This was an online, realtime list of the stories receiving the most hits. As my blogs were not complimentary to Barnet Council, this attracted the ire of the Conservative Councillors running the council and they pressured the editor of the Times, Phil Crowther, to get rid of my services. Rather incredibly, the pretext they used was that I had written an inflammatory blog, detailing how Barnet Council had uploaded a youtube of a BNP sympathiser spouting anti semitic bile onto the Council website as the reason. Amazingly, the council objected to my requests that such an obnoxious piece could be given a slot on the Council website and demanding its removal.

As a result, two things happened. Firstly I set up the Barnet Eye and the Barnet blogging scene was well and truly established (although to be fair, David Miller, AKA Don't Call Me Dave, had set up his own right of centre blog in response to my column, and Dan Hope had also made various efforts to cover Barnet Politics, prior to this). The other Barnet Bloggers soon followed suit, Vicki Morris was first, and Mr Reasonable, Mrs Angry and Mr Mustard soon followed, and the Barnet Bloggers became the voice of the people of Barnet. Whilst that was the good thing, the bad thing was that it seemed to mark the end of the local papers attempt to cover Barnet Politics properly. A new low occurred last week for Barnet's old fashioned press. On Tuesday, there was a meeting of the committee responsible for childrens services at Barnet Town Hall. The committee was reviewing the most serious scandal in Barnet in living memory. OFSTED have issued a report that the councils childrens services were not fit for purpose. The council were debating this. The Barnet bloggers issued a joint statement last Monday to ensure that the issue was given a serious response. However not one of the three papers carried a report in the paper version. These go to hundreds of thousands of local households. The local Conservatives crow that local residents have given them a good rating in a recent survey. I believe that the local press have been complicit in ignoring the failures of the council and not covering council meetings properly. The argument is that "people are not interested in local politics". This is nonsense. I proved this when I had a blog on the Times website and I've proved it again, with the enormous number of hits I receive on this blog, as have the other Barnet bloggers.

Time and time again, we've had huge scoops. Some of the individual blogs on this site have gone viral and had tens of thousands of direct hits. I don't make any particular efforts to publicise the blog, other than to tweet them when I post them. Anyone who looks at the blog does so because they are interested. Over two million hits says  that there is a huge interest. I believe that if the local papers carried proper local news, they'd get more readers and sell more advertising, but there is nothing worth reading in them, whilst huge stories are ignored.  I was disgusted to read on the Barnet Times paper edition on Page 11 a virtual reprint of the press release about high satisfaction in last weeks edition, whilst no mention at all was made of the torrid meeting on Tuesday, where the council had to own up that they have failed vulnerable children. At the end of the cut and paste article it says "what do you think, call our reporter Jenny Desborough". Let me tell you what I think. I think Jenny Desborough should do what local reporters such as Bill Montgomery did. Get down the town hall, get out and  about, read the Barnet Blogs, as we have the stories before anyone else. Work with us and make the local papers of Barnet win awards again. Once again, I will repeat my offer. I'll happily write a guest column or regular blog for any of the local papers that are interested. I won't charge a penny for it. It's not as if I haven't proven two million times that people are interested in what I have to say!

Dyslexia vs Ignorance - an unequal battle

For those of you who have read my dyslexia blogs before, you may wish to skip this paragraph as it is just the background. If you haven't read my dyslexia blogs before, here is a little preamble and introduction, so you know who I am and what I do and why I write this stuff. For those of you who know the story, skip to the end of the paragraph for todays installment. Let me give you a bit of Background so you know who I am and what I do. I was born in 1962. I didn't start talking until I was 4 years old (at all, not a single word). My parents thought I was deaf. My reading age at eleven was 5. When I was fifteen I started a rock and roll band called the False Dots, the band is still going strong. When I was 16 I started a business called Mill Hill Music Complex (although then it was simply called the studio), a rehearsal studio, as we had nowhere to rehearse. The business has grown into a very successful enterprise, one of Londons biggest and most well respected independent studios. We now have 16 studios and a music shop and also have a photography/video studio and a dance studio. I also have done IT work, mostly on a freelance basis since 1983. In 2012 I also moved into film production, producing two highly acclaimed documentary films, both of which had screenings at the House of Commons. When I was 31, a friend suggested I had a dyslexia test. To my surprise I was told I was moderately dyslexic. This made me interested in the subject. To my amazement, what I have learned over the years is that my lack of educational aptitude, my feelings of anger and injustice and the core of my personality have been formed by the fact I cannot read words in a linear fashion.

Not for the first time and not for the last time in my life, I find myself staring down the barrel of the gun of ignorance of dyslexia. When I was a child at school in the 1960's, dyslexia was called by another name. It was called stupidity. I have recounted all manner of humiliations and privations as a result of not being able to read words or sentences in a linear fashion. As I hit my mid teens, I developed a coping mechanism, which enabled me to progress from having a reading age of a 7 year old at age 12, to pasing 9 O levels and 3 A levels aged 18. The journey took me though two secondary schools and a whole host of new and exciting ways to be belittled. I only came out of the closet as a dyslexic to the world a couple of years ago through this blog. I always felt that I had to hide my dyslexia and try and convince the world I was tough and hard. I felt that to admit any weakness was the first step on the road to ridicule and damnation. Deep down inside me, there is a fear that all the things I have achieved will be stripped away, people will sing "He's a thicko" when I walk into the room and my wife, my children, my job, my music and all of my other achievements will disappear in a puff of smoke when people realise that I am a moron. Better therefore to pretend I'm a genius and hope no one notices. I sometimes have a dream (or is it a nightmare) where I log onto my blog and the 1,211,000 hits have gone and no one has read it ever. It has all been a delusion. In my dream I turn on the telly to see all the other Barnet bloggers on the Jonathan Ross show talking about Barnet and I realise my life as a blogger was simply a sad escape from my lonely world on my own in my bedroom. In my dream I am wracked with self doubt and self loathing. Then I wake up and I am usually disorientated to be in the real world, a world far nicer than the fantasy world my mind plunges me into. 

But here I am, in this world, with my family, my business and my blog with its 1,200,000 hits. I often wonder why on earth so many people have bothered to read it? It is truly staggering for a dyslexic to comprehend such an achievement. It is the sheer scale of this that feeds my self doubt and makes me doubt myself and sometimes my sanity even more. Why do people read the Barnet Eye? It is not particularly well written. Shakespear and Tolstoy would have no competition from me. It covers subjects which are largely mundane such as Barnet Council. Why? I continually ask. The answer can only be because this blog, however badly, fills a huge gap in the local media. In short, I believe that the the success of the Barnet Eye (and the other blogs) is a direct result of the failure of the local press to properly cover the issues of living in Barnet in 2014. A journalist on the Barnet Times tweeted last week about the number of hits they get on their website, but for a well established local paper, that is delivered to every home in Barnet, I felt it was actually a very poor show. Whilst the Barnet Eye gets maybe 1/10th or 1/20th the number of hits, I am a bloke on my own spending half an hour a day blogging. The Barnet Times has a team of paid full time journalists. It also has properties for sale & all manner of other things. There is a huge readership of their coverage of football and people will always go to them with stories. On their website they have the top twenty stories in order of number of hits

MOST READ

1. Pupils dig up 500-year-old cannonball in school allotment
2. Meeting over school location
3. Davids 'did only good' for Barnet
4. Dentist awarded for going 'above and beyond'
5. Hollywood stars descend on Barnet to film new movie
6. Andrew Flintoff to launch cricket academy in Barnet
7. Man jailed for preparing to sell £41,000 of drugs
8. 'Cheeky and curious' baby wins modelling contract
9. Labour Councillor Ansuya Sodha defects to Conservatives
10. Man sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering lover and hiding body in suitcase
11. Developer ordered to tear down 'Swiss Chalet of High Barnet'
12. Northern Line suspensions as new signalling system installed
13. Student therapists providing vital help to people with learning disabilities
14. Plans to open new primary school revealed
15. Student's work to be played by Prince William and Kate's wedding organist
16. Barnet swimmers await England fate
17. CCTV images released after bank card theft
18. Cats Protection opens new charity shop
19. Ashton: I don’t see how it can work any better
20. Police cordon outside Artsdepot related to alleged sexual assault

It is interesting that only the 9th most read story is what we could define as abut politics. Schools, football, Crime and celebrity stories are clearly far more popular with the readership. I've always had a lot of time for the Barnet Times. In the early 1980's in the days of Kevin Black and Clarence Mitchell, they were always highly supportive of my band. Under the editorship of Phil Crowther, I got into blogging writing a blog on the Times website. Interestingly enough, had I published this list any time between May and October 2008, when my blog on the Times was running, you'd see at least two or three of my blogs featuring prominently most days in the top twenty. For a while, people started looking at the website specifically to see my blog. Having access to the Times  group website, I could see how many blog hits my posts were getting and it was impressive. Not impressive enough to persuade Mr Crowther to retain the blog when the local Conservatives started to turn up the heat, but impressive enough. Sadly, for reasons I cannot comprehend, no other blogger on the site, with the exception of the late and sadly missed Dennis Signy had the same impact as this dyslexic numpty.

Fast forward from 2008 and Phil Crowther to today. The News editor is Mr Martin Buhagiar. Now Mr Buhagiar is a fine chap and he has no qualms about publishing stories that upset the local Conservative bigwigs. He proudly posted this tweet to show that a couple of weeks ago his paper bravely took the Tories to task over a faulty sprinkler system

Chris is pro Tory? @Barneteye @TimesChewit1987 I take it you didn't read this story then: http://t.co/XoTwue35Sc
— Martin Buhagiar (@TimesIndyEditor) January 23, 2014

Now I have to admit I have a big problem with Mr Buhagiar. It isn't with his editorship of the Times, he works for a commercial organisation and they pay him, not me. I don't have to read his website or his paper, so nothing he writes really matters to me. No the problem with Martin is with his name. Nope, not Martin. Martin is a very nice name. I really like the name Martin as it is my middle name. Being a Roman Catholic, I was named after St Martin De Porres. There are only two things I know about St Martin De Porres, one is that he is black and the other is that he's the patron St of Lepers - A true saint giving his life for the most hated and feared of minorities, those with leprosy. I always think anyone with the name Martin must be blessed for this reason. When I was a kid my parents bought me a relic of St Martin, a small fragment of his bone and a statue. Sadly both have disappeared. No my problem with Martin is his surname. You see to a dyslexic such as myself, it is not only unreadable but unspellable. There are certain words that are pretty impossible for my brain to process, so it reorganises the letters in a way which seems more sensible to its own logic and rules. Therefore Martin Buhagiar becomes Martin Buhgaria. Now I know this is wrong, but it is how I read it and how I spell it. Now as my own name is unspellable for many non dyslexics, I can sympathise with how annoying Martin may find his name being misspelled. Unlike the lazy sods who are just too lazy to listen to my name, I have an excuse. I've always found words with lots of a's, i's and r's in especially hard. I've recounted several times how I once got the cane at St Vincents for spelling Train wrong, so what chance do I have with Buhagiar? Strangely enough, I didn't realise I was spelling it incorrectly until Martin posted a tweet ridiculing my spelling prowess.

Martin Buhgaria...? @Barneteye was that a typo or intentional to make your Uncle Bulgaria joke work?
— Martin Buhagiar (@TimesIndyEditor) January 27, 2014

Now when I first saw this, I couldn't even figure out what he was on about. So I forensically examined his name and thought "Sh*t I've misspelled it". Now my first reaction was to simply apologise. I didn't do it deliberately and so that would be the natural response. Then I thought "he must be aware I'm dyslexic and he's taking the piss out of me". Why do I say this? Because the first line of my profile on the Barnet Eye website says "Dyslexic punk rock guitarist, studio owner and author Barnet Eye blog. " Martin is a journalist and so it is his job to check his facts, get things right and know what he's talking about.  I am sure he's aware of the existence of me and this blog and what we blog about, after all the Times has knicked many of our stories. Then I thought "what right has he got to take the piss out of me, simply for having a disability which has caused me so much grief". He clearly has never struggled with English as he's risen to the post of News editor on a local paper. I wondered if he ever suffered the humiliations of having to insult yourself in front of the whole class when you were five years old, under the tutilage of a malicious teacher. I wondered if he was one of the kids who would join in the humiliation and call the names? As I sat there with ever rising anger towards him, I suddenly realised that I am no longer five years old and in a class where the teacher was organising the other children to bully me, because my brain is slightly different. Nope, I am 51 years old and I can look after myself. I don't need to feel belittled and humiliated by such a crass comment designed purely to wind me up over a well publicised disability. 

So I thought that rather than have a go at Martin on Twitter I'd sit down later and write a calm and rational blog explaining to Martin why it is not OK to ridicule anyone about their defects and problems. Now clearly Martin thinks that because I'd ribbed him about his name (mistakenly) sounding like a famous womble, he can have a go at me for being dyslexic. Well of course he can, I can't stop him if he so chooses and after I got over the initial shock at the crassness of the comment I thought "So what". But I really thought I should try and at least explain why he should think twice before lampooning people for their problems, disabilities and issues. Now before everyone in Barnet I've ever upsets thinks "We can wind him up about this, it's his achillies heel", think again. Of all the wind ups you could possibly pull, this is the one I have had most practice with and am least likely to get annoyed about. The reason Martin's comment irritated me was simply because he made it from his official work Twitter account and to be quite honest, I expect a little more from the editor of the local paper in his official capacity. So Martin, I'm not going to ask for an apology, though I will give one for misspelling  your name. I am simply going to ask you that you treat dyslexia as you would blindness, deafness or any  learning difficulty. By all means lampoon things I say that are stupid, incorrect or irrational. I just ask that you give some consideration to the fact that dyslexia is a form of learning difficulty and I for one do not believe learning difficulties are suitable subjects for belittling people. My life has been a battle between dyslexia and ignorance, my own and other peoples. All I ask of the editor of our local paper is that when he is acting as the editor, he shows a little self control.I hope that is not too much to expect.

I speak to many dyslexics who read this blog, especially the articles on dyslexia and it appalls me to report that the general feeling is that a large number of people steadfastly refuse to even accept that the condition known as dyslexia exists. The more I research the subject and the more I come to terms with my own condition, the more I realise that many people will suffer huge mental pain, indignity and suffering, until such time as people wake up to the fact that dyslexia ruins some peoples lives. I committed to write this blog whenever I came across any example in my life where I felt dyslexia was being used against an individual, be it me or anyone else. I am not going to take it and I really don't see why anyone else should.

Where was the Barnet Times at the Barnet Spring rally

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I would have thought that the fact that nearly 1,000 people and an open top double decker bus travelled from Finchley Central to Friern Barnet library in a blizzard may have warranted a mention on the Barnet Times website yesterday. Presumably hundreds, if not thousands of people along the route would have seen the unprecedented procession and wondered what it was all about. We hear that the local press is in decline. I had thousands of hits on the blog as people looked for info about the demo. People are genuinely interested.

So what were the staff at the Barnet Times up to? The Times posted a story today promoting a job fair organised by Finchley MP Mike Freer. I have no problem with this and I applaud Mike for doing something useful. It does however seem that at the moment the Barnet Times is far more inclined to post stories which are supportive of the local Conservatives than they are of the opposition to the regime.

One of the Times reporters even took time out to publish, almost word for word, an edited down press release from Barnet Council about changes to benefit arrangements when they could have been out in the cold with us at the March. If nothing else it shows that someone was in the office with time on their hands.

Compare the meerkats -

The original
http://www.barnet.gov.uk/news/article/260/dont_ignore_your_post_council_urges

 The Barnet Times story
http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/10308921.Council_tax_benefits_change_will_affect_14_000_people_in_Barnet/

I do understand that yesterday was a bit cold ( I should know I got frozen), but the Times should get out of their comfy office and do the job. Is it too much to ask? If people see things going on in the locality and find that the papers are not covering it, they will stop looking. I think local press is important. That is why I urge their staff to get out of their comfy, warm offices, get their notepads out and start covering local news properly.

Shoddy journalism at the Barnet Times is a complete disgrace

I was disgusted to read the following article in the Barnet/Hendon Times by Chris Hewitt

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/10240686.Legal_challenge__will_cost_taxpayers____2_2million_/

Mr Hewitt's article is perhaps the most biased and one sided piece of journalism I have seen from any of our local papers. A casual reader of the article would conclude that Maria Nash is simply a serial protestor and trouble maker. Mr Hewitt writes

Maria Nash, a protestor and member of the Barnet Alliance for Public Services, instructed lawyers to request a judicial review into the decision on the grounds the public were not properly consulted.

What Mr Hewitt fails to mention about Maria Nash is the fact that she is severely disabled, is confined to wheelchair and is completely reliant on Barnet Council for all of the services which allow her to live independently. Mr Hewitt has not bothered to speak to Maria or to even properly read the details of the legal challenge she is bringing against Barnet Council.

As Mr Hewitt can't be bothered to properly report what Maria is challenging, the Barnet Eye will. This is what Maria is challenging the council on.

1.         Breach of the Council's duty to consult Barnet residents, businesses and community organisations about its plans, the result of which is that it has spent millions of pounds – the Agilisys contract alone has cost over £4m and is likely to rise to £6m – on professional consultants helping it to run the procurement process, but has not once asked local people for their views.

2.         Breach of councillors' duty to the residents in their area, to make sure that their decisions represent the best available value for public money. In order to be sure that they are getting best value out of this or any other contract the Council must compare the costs, benefits and risks of outsourcing with the costs, benefits and risks of retaining services in house but reforming the way they are provided to optimise value. Despite having been urged to do this, and despite the fact that it has been done by other local authorities, like Edinburgh, Barnet has refused to do it.

3.         Breach of the public sector equality duty: the Council must take issues of equality into account when making important decisions which affect people’s lives, like making radical changes in the way Council services are run.  The “equalities impact assessment” done in the One Barnet case was a pure paper exercise, which took no account of the views of people who would be affected by the changes.

4.         Breach of public procurement law, which requires that this contract be awarded to the company submitting the “most economically advantageous tender from the point of view of the public body”, i.e. the provider that gives the “best value for money” , taking into account the council’s responsibilities. Lack of consultation with local people, lack of consideration of equalities and lack of an in-house services comparator means the council cannot state that Capita gives the best value for money.  Such a breach of the public procurement rules leads to cases like West Coast Main Line.

5.         Breach of councillors’ duty to make up their own minds: Individual councillors must by law make up their own minds how to vote after informing themselves on the issues.  They are not allowed blindly to follow the party line.  Councillors have been starved of information and have not had the opportunity to understand the highly complex proposals for the contract, so they cannot legally vote to do anything other than defer a decision so that they can inform themselves and come to a proper view. 

Mr Hewitt also accepts verbatim the Councils figures regarding savings. There is no mention of the fact that the Council claim they have not even completed the contract, so none of these savings can be tested or verified. There is no mention of the fact that Public Sector outsourcing contracts have a history of going bad and costing the taxpayer millions of pounds. There is no mention of the fact that Barnet Council have a history of mismanagement of procurement, wasting millions.

Mr Hewitt also does not mention that to receive legal aid, Maria Nash had to prove that their was a legal justification for the case she was bringing. Legal aid is not granted in such cases for frivalous challenges.

All we get is a one sided and extremely biased report, which does no justice to a very brave decision by a frail, disabled old lady to stand up for her rights. Mr Hewitt should issue an apology to Maria immedately for his biased and unfair reporting of her challenge and not carrying a response from the Barnet Alliance for Public Services or Maria. This article cannot be defended as being fair and unbiased. No doubt Mr Hewitt will claim he simply reported "facts" but as these have solely been provided by the council and there is no balance the article cannot be defended as being anything other than unfair. At the very least he should have accurately reported Marias status and why she is bringing the challenge, along with all of the grounds for the case, not just the Consultation issue.

Barnet Council spends huge amounts of money on advertising with local papers. One hopes that this plays no part in the editorial decisions of the newspaper. Surely we should expect higher standards from our local papers? In general the local press have been very fair and decent in reporting of stories concerning One Barnet. We sincerely hope this article was an abberation and an off day. We expect to see the problems rectified ASAP with Maria and BAPS being given the opportunity to respond.

Time for Councillor Robert Rams to wake up and smell the coffee

There is a rather odd report on the Barnet Times website

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/topstories/10142531.Council__disappointed__by_squatters__plans_to_appeal/

According to the report "Libraries portfolio holder Councillor Robert Rams said he was “disappointed” in the group’s decision to appeal given the council’s “generosity” in agreeing to hold talks."

Sadly, the reporter Chris Hewitt, who attended the full court hearing, didn't report that this offer was one of the considerations made by Judge Pearl in the "balancing act" when she made the possession order. I do wonder if the Council had stated they would enforce the order immediately, whether she would have granted the order?

What especially irritates me about this report is the continual referral to the campaign to keep the library open as squatters. Judge Pearl acknowledged that the occupation was a legitimate protest. This is quite different to an illegal squat. As Chris Hewitt was at the court for the entire proceedings, he will know this.

As I read the report, I mused about the circumstances of the closure of my blog on the Barnet Times website. The then editor Phil Crowther mentioned on several occasions that the Council had threatened to take their advertising spend elsewhere. He made it quite clear to me that such considerations were important in local newspapers. Of course I'm sure the Times these days displays complete editorial independence and would tell Councillors Rams and Cornelius where to get off should such pressure be brought again.

By the way, for readers not familiar with the story. At the time, Councillor Robert Rams was Brian Colemans press officer at the GLA (before Coleman got booted out). He reportedly told other Conservative Councillors, when my blog was shut down at the Barnet Times website that he'd "ended my blogging career". That went well didn't it Robert. At the time I was far and away the most popular blogger on the Barnet Times getting 100-200 hits a day. I now get ten times that on the Barnet Eye. 

Robert Rams really ought to wake up and smell the coffee. If he thinks that the people of Barnet will have forgotten what he's done in 15 months time, he is happily deluded.

Exclusive : Barnet Eye announces plans to take over the Times Group Newspapers in Barnet

Press Release : Monday 2nd April - 9am

Irish Racehorse owner and social entrepreneur Aibreán Amadán today announced that he has formed a partnership with Roger Tichborne, to launch a new news media corporation, Barneteye Universal Media Ltd. The new company will be based at the new development at Frogmore House, Mill Hill and will comprise of all Barnet Eye website media, Mill Hill Music Complex studios and The Mill Hill Space Company Ltd - a recently formed office services company. 


Barneteye Universal Meidia Ltd also announced it's intention to procure the rights to the Times Series Group of Papers operating in the Barnet Area. Mr Amadán said "I have been highly impressed with the way that the Barnet Eye blog has grown from nothing to develop a committed readership and following. Whilst local press and media have been in a state of terminal decline, it is clear that the online market is experiencing explosive growth. We believe that electronic publishing is the way forward and we believe that this should be managed with a phased migration away from paper based news products".  Mr Amadán also announced an intention to invest heavily in the local Library service. He added "We believe that local libraries should be developed as technology hubs for local councils. We believe that the current plans to run down libaries is a criminal waste of resources. We intend to refresh and revitalise the libraries of Barnet, with new technology to enhance and rebuild the service".


Mr Amadán stated that every person over the age of 85 should receive a free Kindle or other similar technology with free downloads. This would cut millions of pounds worth of overheads from the councils library service, freeing up space and resources for more fit for purpose developments in keeping with the 21 century. Mr Amadán explained that as many elderly people see the library as a meeting place and social hub, it is important to develop this aspect of the service. 


Mr Amadán was also named as the secret backer behind the film "A Tale of Two Barnets". He explained "Roger Ticborne explained the project to me at Kempton Park last year over a pint of Guinness. I was truly excited by the concept of  a community film and have invested heavily in the project to ensure the success of the film. I also became interested in Mr Tichborne's ideas of developing a truly community based news media outlet, written for the people and by the people. An online newspaper where everyone in the community is a journalist and the most popular stories are the ones which make the front page. We are developing a truly revolutionary news portal, which will be democratic and inclusive. Unlike the existing paper news, every community, Irish, Jewish, Greek, Hindu, Moslem can have it's own local news section and will be able to generate revenue for their own communities by placed advertising. A traditional newspaper can't have street level news, but we can and it will be 100% up to date. We will utilise local twitter feeds and subscriptions to ensure that you see news in your neighbourhood as it happens." 


As to the role of the existing paper based Times product, Mr Amadán explained "The role of the traditional newspaper in this, is to use it's distribution network to ensure that everyone is made aware of the Barnet Eye website and associated services. We envisage doing many joint promotions with local High Streets and using vouchers and coupons to reinvigorate Barnets High Streets. We are also planning to work with the council to pioneer "parking charge suspensions on key days and times of the week, in association with the promotions. We believe that this will show a true commitment to the High Street in Barnet."


Mr Roger Tichborne, editor of the Barnet Eye stated "I have known Mr Amadán for many years. We are lucky that he has chosen to work with us in Barnet to rebuild our community. These are truly exciting times to live in the London Borough of Barnet". Mr Tichborne added "I have been working to build a successful blog for the last four years. With the vision and backing of Mr Amadán, we can build a truly world class news outlet here in Barnet. One which we can all be proud of. It is interesting because Mr Amadáns name, Aibreán Amadán, in Gaelic means Maker of Change and that is what we are going to see in Barnet as our plans develop.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes to News Editors.


1. This publication is embargoed until 9am on Monday 2nd April.


2. Mr Aibreán Amadán is a resident of County Kildare and his role in the organisation is purely one of backer and mentor. 


3. Barnet Unoversal Media Ltd is in the process of being incorporated. 


4. Mr Aibreán Amadán will be staging a press conference at 3pm on Tuesday 3rd April at Frogmore House, Bunns Lane Works, Mill Hill, London, NW7 2AJ.


5. Mr Aibreán Amadánis keen to stress that there will be no redundancies within Times Group newspapers for a minimum of 3 years following successful completion of the takeover. Mr Aibreán Amadán hopes that all staff can be transitioned to the new online delivery channel.


6. Mr Aibreán Amadánwill be contacting Barnet Council on Wednesday 4th April to discuss his plans for a large investment in the Barnet Library network, subject to suspension of plans to close Friern Barnet Library.

The Barnet Times censor my comment about First Capital Connect

How very odd. I left a comment on the Hendon Times website about this story where First Capital Connect were defending their performance


http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/4859766.Train_firm_defends_franchise_after_government_threat/?ref=mr#commentsList

Guess what? It's gone. I didn't save the text, but as I recall I simply suggested that the Times should do a story where they talked to commuters about the problem and also highlighted the No 10 Petition to get the Government to strip First of the Thameslink Franchise. As I recall, there were no swear words etc.

I rather hope that someone from the Times will explain to me why the comment was dropped. I must confess that I'm mystified as to why they should. Anyway if you haven't signed the petition and you are unhappy with First Capital Connect, I suggest you do. There is a link in the sidebar. We are 67 signatures short of 4,000 with over 1,000 signatures in a week. Let's hope that even if the Times are censoring us, the message gets through loud and clear to Trasnport Secretary Lord Adonis.

Where is the big story at the Barnet Tory Bugle?

The bad weather has been a massive story in Barnet. The council is running out of grit and now only 60 roads are being gritted. Key roads such as Cricklewood Broadway are no longer on the list of those deemed "priority". I note that even roads such as Hartley Avenue, where the fire and ambulance stations are and where there is a large doctors surgery are being neglected.

How could the situation get to such an appalling state? The answer to this is simple. Because there is no firm management and no sensible planning to sort it out. You see the Leader of the Council, Lynne Hillan and her Deputy Andrew Harper have been on holiday all week. All major organisations have a degree of contingency planning and if the chief is on holiday, the Deputy steps up. In Barnet, it seems that they just don't care. As a result we've had a fiasco. Within hours of Mayor Brian Coleman telling BBC London that Barnet had plenty of grit, novice roads supermo, Daniel Thomas was telling the Ham & High that Barnet was running out of grit.

In most normal organisations, when things go wrong a "crisis management centre" is set up. Everything goes through this. All decisions are made and all information is collated. The Coleman/Thomas contradiction couldn't happen because all key players would know the situation. The fact that Coleman made such a fool of himself is proof that Barnet just is not managing the situation.

Which brings us to the key point. With such awful management, how come our local papers haven't been exposing the fiasco. Surely they should be pointing out that Lynne Hillan hasn't even been in the job a month and she's completely cocked up her first major crisis. Her Deputy, Andrew Harper is just as bad, why didn't he step up to the table? I actually feel a bit sorry for Mayor Brian Coleman. He knows that the new leadership has completely blown it. He knows that any claims of credibility Hillan might have had as a leader have gone, by swanning off and allowing her deputy to do the same. That is just plain bad management, as Coleman has told anyone who will listen.

Why have we seen nothing in the Barnet Times about the lack of leadership? Why have they not highlighted the management drift? What possible reason can there be for ignoring such a fundamental lack of crisis management in the Borough. Lets look at what the Council does. Schools have shut, bins haven't been collected, roads haven't been gritted, potholes have appeared, social services have operated a skeleton service. I could go on. Last year I called the Barnet Times the Barnet Tory Bugle for its tame coverage of the Tory cock ups in Barnet. It seems to me that this title is still more than justified.

Picture at top : Lynne Hillan and Andrew Harper enjoying their holiday (only joking - it seems that action is something these two are incapable of)

Planet Earth to the Barnet Tory Bugle (sorry the Barnet Times)

There is a rumour in the Barnet Blogosphere that the Barnet Times is changing its name (well there is now I've started it). It is changing its name to "The Barnet Whores Drawers". The reason? Stories go up and down so regularly on its website that us poor bloggers can't keep up. What usually happens is this. A senior Barnet Tory does something stupid. One of the journalistic team faithfully writes up the story. The story duly appears on the website. The bloggers of Barnet  (through years of bitter experience) see the story and save it, and start working on their blogs. The senior members of Barnet Council get their google alert  (The taxpayer pays for a google alerts service so all of the egomaniacs get a ping every time their name appears in a web story). The senior Torys read the story and scream in true Kenneth Williams Carry on Style "Infamy, Infamy, They've all got it in for me!". They then ring up Rachel Sharp, editor of the Barnet Times and tell her "Listen Lovely, your job is to write stories about how marvellous Barnets Tories are, if you don't rewrite it immediately and punish your naughty underling, dire consequences will occur" (or words to that effect). The editor then calls in the poor naughty whippersnapper and dispenses a B*ll*cking and instructions to "make it nicer about our friends" (or words to that effect). The story disappears and another one reemerges, suitably and Stalinisticly rewritten.

Where Mike Freer was reported that he considered Nick Walkleys comments "cack handed and clumsy", the story suddenly becomes "Mike Freer has done a marvellous job and Nick Walkley thinks he's great" (or words to that effect). You'll be pleased to note that the naughty journalists finally seem to have got the message. All traces of independence and objectiveness have now been erased. This can be demonstrated in the latest story about the Leadership race for Barnet - http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/4765621.More_cabinet_members_speak_on_council_leadership_race/. This was written by Sarah Cosgrove, who was one of the chief residents of the Barnet Times naughty corner last week. I suppose poor old Sarah didn't want to spend Xmas down at the on the Bad Girl step, so she had to toe the line. The story is full of sickening quotes from brown-nosing lickspittles such as Councillor Andrew Harper about Mike Freers disasterous reign (do they really believe this tripe or do they just think we're stupid).

“In my view Mike has been a terrific leader of the council. He has been inspirational and visionary, also enabling.I personally particularly appreciate the way that he's encouraged and supported me and enabled me to do my job and he displays the same qualities with others.”

Try this one from Councillor Daniel Thomas

“In my time working with him I've always been impressed at how knowledgeable he was, and of his grasp of the facts, knowledge of Barnet and all the issues our residents faced.”

 How anyone could let these crass comments pass without at least asking a few questions? I'd have asked Harper this "When you say he supported you and enabled you to do your job, do you mean by offering huge allowances?" As to Thomas, I'd have said "When you talk about Freers knowledge of the issues Residents face, do you mean the ones he created by not doing his job properly,d espite his £3,000 responsibility allowance, such as the Icelandic Bank fiasco or the Aerodrome Road cock up". Of course, if I was Sarah Cosgrove and I had to pay my bills, I may be a bit more circumspect. I daresay she knows that there isn't much point writing a story if it will be immediately pulled. I've not spoken to her about this, but having had similar treatment when I wrote a blog there, I understand her problem. I was told that all mention of Mike Freer was off limits. They pulled my blog because "They were worried about what I might write in the future"

Well I have a message for Rachel Sharp who is now the editor of the paper. The sole function of a proper local paper is to tell the truth as best you can and inform your readers as best you can. Over the years, I've spoken to all of the journalists who work for you and I think they are a good team. I run a business and I support my staff through thick and thin when they do their job. That way I get the best out of them. I believe that one of the reasons that Barnets Tories have been so incredibly useless is because the local press has "gone easy" on them. I am fully aware of how Barnet Council uses its advertising budget as a tool. I'd suggest you remind them that Alison Moore and Jack Cohen would find this rather interesting.

As for Barnets Tories. Let me explain to you what your attempts to use Stalinist media manipulation have actually done. You lent on the Times to pull my blogs. As a direct result (read his first blog), David Miller (aka Don't Call Me Dave) who used to be a local Tory bigwig, started his Not The Barnet Times Blog. That has done you more damage than anything. When you finally got your wish and got my blog dropped, I set up the Barnet Eye. When I had access to Martini (The Times management system) I could see how many hits I used to get on my blog. I now get ten times as many. Given that the blog is about Barnet, I suspect that most of these people are local voters. I believe that David gets a similar number. Stalinism doesn't work in Barnet.

Update  **** As I was writing this blog, yet another Freerite justification appeared on The Times website, this time for his palace coup, less than a week after the last Council elections.  Here's  a choice quote from the article. .

AS his time as leader of Barnet Council comes to an end, Councillor Mike Freer admits the way he took on the post was “necessary” to nullify discontent in the party.

I don't suppose that the wider electorate that voted for Salinger really mattered. Here's a choice quote from Mike Freer, it rather reminded my of Stalins justification of the purges of 1930

"At the time the group had been through a period of turbulence, a lot of members were unhappy. And the way these things are dealt with are never comfortable but sometimes they are necessary."

Is a bloke who talks like this, manipulates the press like this, really a suitable candidate as a Tory MP? I'm always wary of people who think the needs of a small cabal of party members is more important than the wider electorate. Rather interesting to see the Times paying it's staff overtime to big up Freer.

Lynne Hillan - An explanation is required

Lynne Hillan is the architect and chief advocate of the Sheltered Housing warden policy, which is currently suspended due to a judicial review, triggered by a court action instigated by 78 year old David Young. Mr Young is having to spend his life savings to defend a service which he signed up for and Barnet Council has decided to change without regard to the terms it agreed with Mr Young. They did a consultation exercise and over 80% of the residents voted against the proposal. Hundreds of other elderly, vulnerable people are being put at risk by this policy. Barnet has the highest proportion of elderly Jewish people in the country, living in sheltered accomodation. These people, many of whom had terrible experiences and lost whole families to the Nazi's, are being put at risk of anti-semitic attacks, by removal of onsite wardens. A promenant Jewish ex-Barnet Tory recently talked on his blog about the rise of anti-semitism in Barnet. Having said that, it's not just Jewish residents who are being put at risk. We all know of all sorts of crimes committed by the scum of the earth, against the elderly. Sadly the papers are full of stories of conmen, rapists and murderers targeting the elderly. Whilst no one would claim that a warden can prevent all of these, it is clear that having a warden on site is a massive deterrent to such undesirable characters.

Under the new scheme, mischieviously being sold as an imnprovement, the numbers of wardens will be cut by three quarters. The on-site wardens will be replaced by roving wardens. As these will have to travel the borough by car, this means that half their time on the job will be spent driving. At the cabinet meeting where this policy was passed, I asked if a "risk assessment" had been performed. The answer was yes. I asked how large this report was. Mike Freer replied "Um, half a page". This was actually a smaller assessment than the one for my boys football team playing at the park.

For all these reasons, Lynne Hillan, who is the cabinet member responsible for the change, surely deserves to have her personal and professional judgement heavily scrutinised. Don't Call Me Dave uncovered a major scandal concerning Lynne Hillan, at the time all of these decisions were being discussed. As this was such an important issue, which showed just how flawed Lynne Hillans judgement was, he contacted the Barnet Times. They planned to run the story, until Mike Freer personally intervened. Mike Freer ran the Barnet Times and said this "I ask you, as a personal favour to me, not to run this story".  He went on to explain that Hillan was suffering from a life threatening illness and that such a story could have a terrible effect on her health and wellbeing. The Times, being a caring and responsible paper, pulled the rug on the story. Don't call me Dave was also asked to not run with the story. Again, being a caring and responsible guy, he dropped his plans. I don't know the details of the story, but I was also contacted and asked to lay off Hillan, which I did.

As it has become clear that Hillan is planning to take over from Mike Freer, a friend at Barnet Council has confirmed this, it occurred to me that if she's healthy enough to run the council, she's healthy enough to have her judgement held to account. Yesterday, Ex Barnet Tory Councillor Richard Weider, left the following comment on my blog :-

---------------------------------------------------------

Roger I disagree with your critism of Lynne, and am not completely against the policy on Sheltered Housing. However, to my former Conservative colleagues I urge someone else to stand for leader against Lynne. This is not necessarily because I don't want her to win. Rather, it is because I don't want you to suffer a similar disaster to Labour under the failed Prime Minister that is Gordon Brown. To become leader you need to show that you have the skills to persuade others, and that is best done through a leadership election. So I please urge someone to stand so that a proper debate can take place and the best leader can emerge, that can take the party forward to Conservative principles and for the residents.

23 October 2009 10:58

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whilst there are many things I disagree with Richard Weider about, I thought he was spot on with his comments about Lynne Hillan.I thought that the fact that he chose to criticise Hillan publicly on my blog was rather interesting. I happened to be calling the Barnet Times yesterday and mentioned this comment. They were rather shocked. It seems that no one had told them that Hillan was planning to take over. They had been under the impression she was still at deaths door and that they had to lay off her. I suggested that their policy should be reviewed as a matter of urgency.

The sad truth is that for nearly six months, the local press has not been giving the Sheltered Housing issue the full scrutiny it deserves, as "a personal favour to Mike Freer". I in no way criticise the Times for behaving in a humane fashion. Lynne Hillan is well enough to want to take over running of the Council, she's well enough to organise strike busting measures for Barnet Council and boast about it in the Barnet Times.

I think she's well enough to be held to account for her terrible policies towards the Boroughs elderly and have her judgement held to account. Oh and I think Mike Freer owes the people of Barnet an explanation for his behaviour. If he felt that Hillan was too ill to be on the end of bad press coverage, then he should have advised complete rest, not schemed with her to enable her coronation as "Queen of Barnet".

The Barnet Times ruined my holiday

I'm a Manchester City FC fan. I wanted to be in the one place in the world where I could be sure everyone felt like I did about the Champions League final. We've been in Barcelona since Monday (more on that later). We had a great time or at least we did until Thursday. Around lunchtime, my phone started going non stop, texts started appearing. A friend said "have you seen the front page of the local paper?". No, of course I hadn't. I'd been up drinking champaign till 3 am, watching cars hurtle past the hotel, horns blazing.

Seems that I was on the front of the local paper. Sooner or later I will discuss what it all refers to, but just between you and me dear reader, I'm livid. Tom Johnson, the reporter, is on holiday today, but I will be speaking to him next week. I know I'm probably not flavour of the month at the Times, for calling them the Barnet Tory Bugle, whilst referring to their coverage of the Sheltered Wardens campaign (until 2 weeks ago, when it became much better), but surely they have heard of the basic concept of good manners.

You see, I hadn't got a clue that my name would be plastered all over their little paper. They printed a whole front page, casting me as a central character, without even having the decency to give me a bell, check the accuracy, ask if the detail were correct, or even ask my opinion of the story. I used to write a blog for them, so it's not as if they didn't know the number - Tom has called me on occasion before, for background to stories. They specifically state that they spoke to the two other main protagonists in the story, who declined to comment. I wouldn't have had anything to say, but a heads up that the phone would have been ringing would have been nice. As it was, I had to leg it back to the beach, find an internet cafe, look at their website, take loads of calls, answer loads of texts, all of which cost me a small fortune.

I've no idea whether you can make a PCC complaint when a paper sticks you on the front page without telling you, having not even bothered to call you to check the facts with you. I've been warming to the Times of late, but I regard their behaviour in this matter as harrassment.

If the editor Charlie Strong or Tom Johnson, who wrote the report care to ring to explain why my views on a story about me were irrelevent, then assuming there is a good reason, I'll put it down to journalistic zeal. Charlie, Tom - the ball is in your court.

Leader Listens? Bovvered, Does Mike Look Bovvered ?

The Taxpayer pays for Mike Freer's Leader Listens blog. He used to have a nice free blog at the Hendon Times, but oh no that wasn't good enough. He wanted one that us, the taxpayer paid for? Why? so he could stop oiks like me, you know the bloke who pays for it, from commenting.

Now I pointed out that as it's a public resource, he really shouldn't do this. Was Mike Bovvered. Did he look Bovvered. And how well does he look after his nice shiny blog? How many updates this month? Is he Bovvered?

Now Mike and his mates are probably sneering at this blog. Typical old fart trying to look trendy, that Rog T. There he goes using Catherine Tate and her Bovvered sketch. So last year. So 2008. Doesn't he know that idea is past it's sell by date? Ha Ha Ha.

Yup Mike, my point entirely. There is one councillor in Barnet who has caught the mood of 20o9. His name is Geoff Cooke, he's a Labour Councillor. If I was a Barnet Tory, I'd be looking carefully at what he's been saying. If I was the Barnet Times this would be my lead Story this week. "Barnet Politician catches Publix Mood" they haven't been able to write that for a while.

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

The Barnet BNP Bugle?

This is the 352'nd blog I've posted on Blogspot. In a different world, it may well have been the 1st. I originally had a blog on the Barnet Times website. They asked me to be a community blogger. When I started, the plan was to write about music mostly with a few sidelines about local issues. It didn't work out like that. As I scoured for inspiration, I found that there were far more local issues that required covering than music stories. All sorts of people would track me down & tip me off. I felt duty bound to cover these issues & take up their fight. During the course of the blog I rattled the cages of the local Tory ruling elite many times. They were not happy. In my final blog, I drew attention to a Youtube clip, posted by Barnet Council, which featured some inflammatory & anti semitic comments. The elite went mad. Pressure was brought to bear on the then editor and I was sacked as a blogger. The reason? The then editor of the Times felt that the tone of my coverage was "over the top". He felt that I may one day get a press complaint. He said that he didn't object to the blog, just the title "Barnet Council uses taxpayers money to put Nazi propoganda on YouTube". The council soon removed the clip, vindicating my stance.

In a parallel universe, just suppose I'd stayed there? I was quite happy blogging for the Times. Today I would have resigned. Why you may ask? Well the owners of the Times are Newsquest group. Today I read this story in the Tory Troll blog. Newsquest are taking money from the BNP to place adverts at the top of the page in the Stourbridge News, one of their local papers (recognise the familiar layout).

What in effect this means is that bosses of the group are having their pockets lined by an organisation which said on National TV that no black person is British. Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP told Andrew Neil that even Johnson Beharry VC, one of the bravest people alive today on this Island CANNOT consider himself British.

There is another serious point to be made here. When dealing with organisations such as the BNP in a country with free speech, we have difficult dilemmas. Should they be allowed to advertise on a local paper? I view their politics rather like I view cigarettes. The are toxic, so you can't advertise them. I'd allow them access to debates where their views can be challenged, but I'd not let them peddle their dangerous wares unopposed. They sell the lie that they are patriotic, but British values are ones of freedom, tolerance and honesty. The BNP oppose all of these.

I don't want my writings to appear under a BNP masthead or ever be associated with them. That is why I would have resigned. Rather strangely, this blog is the opposite of the one I thought I would be writing today. As you will have read in the Barnet Eye over the weekend, the Barnet Times has dropped it's pro-Tory policy. There was further evidence of this today, with the publication of two letters supporting the Campaign to stop warden cuts. I was going to say well done to the Times. I'm sorry to say that, given who is paying the wages there, I can't.

I am not saying Rebecca, Elizabeth or Tom or any of the rest of our crew locally are BNP supporters, far from it, they are probably unaware of these adverts at the moment. I must say that if I was a journalist on the group, I'd go on strike until the adverts stopped. I am sure that they are all in the NUJ and would get supported. I know that even journalists have to pay the rent, so it's not easy, but sometimes you have to do wth right thing.

I personally would never ever knowingly allow the BNP to be promoted by my efforts.

A victory for the Barnet Eye, A victory for us all !!!!

Yesterday I detailed how, following pressure from The Barnet Eye, the Barnet Times had dropped it's pro Tory stance and decided to return to a more campaigning form of journalism. As I rather suspected, this approach has gone down very well with the visitors to the Times website.

One of their campaigning stories is currently no 1 on their list of most viewed stories (see screen shot left).


A big well done to Rebecca Lowe for a great story. My old motto seems to be true "Give them the story and they will come". I am pleased to be able to once again recommend the Times as a great read.

Lets hope for more of the same !!!!!

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)

Where's the beef at the Barnet Tory Bugle

Those regular readers of this blog will have read previous posts on the sad demise of the once great local paper, the Edgware & Mill Hill Times and it's stablemates. This fine group of papers has morphed from a great and independent paper, into a mouthpiece for the Barnet Conservative regime running the Town hall. It looks to me as if there is a hotline from the Barnet Tories to the editor, with a seemingly endless stream of "helpful" stories. Rather oddly, stories which may damage them don't seem to surface, or if they do the disappear just as rapidly. Take for example the news that the Tories want to privatise Hendon Cemetary. Does this see the light of day? Well it does if you read VickiM or the Barnet Council Watch blog. Given that it's stuffed full of my nearest & dearest, I feel rather strongly about it. We all remember the Westminster Cemetary scandal. Strangely, no sign of this story on the Bugle's News website.

What do we have? Well there is the story of how Damian McBride could be slung out of the Finchley Labour party for starting rumours about Tories. Clearly this story is highly damaging to Labour and rightly so. There is one tiny problem. I thought journalists were meant to do a bit of digging for their story. I thought they were meant to get a little bit of balance. It seems that these days at the Times, they can't be bothered beyond a quick call to Andrew Dismore. The thing is that if they had bothered to look, they've got a McBride scandal on their doorstep. McBride was sacked as an advisor for thinking of starting a website full of slurs & nasty rumours. Have any of the journalists at the Times looked at what is going on locally? David Miller runs the Barnet council watch website. He is a Conservative, his mother is a Conservative peer. David and his mother have been subject to a coordinated campaign of smears, innuendo & lies, purely because he is in dispute with a faction of the local party.

It is clear to anyone who could be bothered to investigate, what is going on & who is behind the scheme. At it's very mildest, this cyberbullying & intimidation takes the form of planted questions at Council meetings which portray Mr Miller as an obsessive and a waster of public money. This practice has been deemed to have breached Mr Miller's rights, but has there been a public apology to Mr Miller?

I'm all for the McBride's of this world getting booted out of their local parties. The Tories have a great opportunity locally to show Labour how it's done. I'm sure that if the Edgware Times could be bothered to ring Mr Miller, he'd give them all the ammunition they need for a great scoop.

Testicles for Dinner

Fancy a nice tasty treat for dinner tonight?

How about this yummy snack.

Alex Mackay from Great Food Live
has this recipe on his UKTV WEB PAGE


Ingredients
1kg beef or lamb testicles
50ml white wine vinegar
seasoned Flour, for dusting
2 Eggs, beaten
100g fresh breadcrumbs
2 tbsp vegetable oil
40g unsalted Butter
1 small bunch flat leaf Parsley, leaves picked from stalks

For the vegetables:
1 large Onions, peeled and finely sliced
3 cloves Garlic, finely sliced
1 large red peppers, seeds removed, sliced
1 large yellow peppers, seeds removed, sliced
3 tbsp extra virgin Olive oil
100 ml water, salt and black pepper


Method
1. With a sharp knife, split the tough skin-like muscle that surrounds each testicle and transfer to a large saucepan.

2. Cover with water and vinegar. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes, until tender. Drain and rinse under cold water until cool. Slice each testicle into 1cm thick ovals and set aside.

3. While the testicles are cooking, tip the sliced onion, garlic and peppers into a large pan. Add the extra virgin olive oil and water. Cover and cook over a high heat for about 10 minutes, until soft. Season well and set aside.
4. Toss the sliced testicles in the flour, followed by the beaten egg and finally the breadcrumbs. Heat a large pan with the vegetable oil and fry, in a single layer, for 3-4 minutes until golden. Add the butter, let it sizzle for a minute and stir in the parsley.

5. Season the testicles and serve with the stewed peppers.

I was thinking of having a dinner party for the editorial team at the Barnet Times group of newspapers. Given the papers policy towards Barnet Council and the Conservatives at the helm, I can think of no more appropriate dish.

My advice to the team - get yourself some Cojones.

Stalinism at the Barnet Tory Bugle

The Edgware and Mill Hill Times. My local paper. I used to look forward to it popping through the door on a Thursday. In the 70's & 80's, back when Dennis Signy was the editor, it used to be a great local paper. It used to win awards. Being a muso, I especially liked the local music scene coverage. There was a column called, among other things, "Pop Round the Corner". I can still name the writers. Kevin Black - a gregarious Scot who used to write great reviews of my band, The False Dots (without ever turning up). Then there was Joy Bentley. I suspect she didn't much like the False Dots, but she still wrote nice things. Then there was the superstar - Clarence Mitchell. He went on to ITN and was last heard of working as PR consultant for Madeleine McCann's parents. Clarence actually used to turn up. He was also a very nice bloke.

There was also a guy called Bill Montgomery, who was the Barnet Council reporter. He would attend the most boring of meetings and find something to make it seem interesting. He'd make & break the careers of up and coming politicos with a well placed wry observation.

Fast forward to 2009. The paper has morphed into the Barnet Tory Bugle. I detailed this in a blog recently. Whilst the paper is happy to run overtly racist and anti Irish articles and letters, hagiographic peans to promenant local Barnet Cabinet members and verbatim Barnet press releases, it doesn't put letters from opponents of policies such as sheltered housing warden cuts on it's website. Strangely the Barnet Press is full of such letters.

For those of you with an interest in 20th Century history, you will recall that in Stalinist Russia, once someone fell foul of the regime, they became a non person. Artists would carefully airbrush every trace of them out of pictures. References in books would be removed. In short they would cease to exist. Well it seems that following my criticism of the Bugle, they've airbrushed me out. As you may recall, I used to write a blog for the Times, until their in house psychic deemed that at some point in the future, I may get them into trouble. My services were dispensed with, but the blogs remained. I put a link at the side here, so that if anyone was interested they could have a look. For my audacity to criticise them, they've zapped me, if you click the link, you'll see I've gone. Now you may think that this is just a tidy up, but Mike Freer's blog, which ended around the same time is still there. I'll tell you a funny story about Freer stopping his blog. He announced it at a council meeting. I mentioned this in a blog and a reporter from the Times emailed me to prove the allegation. I immediately emailed back with a link to the written answers, posted a week before on Barnets website. I've spoken to David Miller, author of Barnet Council Watch about the Times on a number of occasions and he says they are always moaning that he beats them to stories. I've also noticed that many stories are nicked, with no ackowledgement from the Tory Troll website.

I don't know if you've noticed how thin the Times has got recently. I suspect that this is due to advertisers deserting it. The Press meantime seems to get fatter by the week. I suspect that this is due to the more balanced coverage. I find it rather sad, to see the paper deteriorate by the week. One final twist of the knife from the Times to me. I typed my name "Tichborne" into the Times search engine, to see if any of my 61 blogs had escaped the cull. I found 3. The top one was

The Tragedy of Lady Thatcher - a personal view

This details my sympathy for the Thatcher family on a personal level, coping with their mums dementure.

The second was

The Big Match - Councillor Brian Gordon meets his nemesis !!!!!

Detailing how a local Tory Councillor had done an OK job chairing the Hendon Residents association meeting.

The Third was

Great Expectations (the male view) Part 2 - What's in a name?

Detailing my experiences naming my kids.

In short, anyone looking for my blogs would probably conclude I was a Tory childcare expert. Oh well, catch them while you can, I'm sure they'll be gone soon.

Well how does it feel to be Stalin'd??? In the words of the Rolling Stones

Who reads yesterdays papers, who wants yesterdays news
Who reads yesterdays papers, no one in the world.

I've no pretentions to be Shakespeare or Dickens, I find it rather funny.