Watch this space - We have a big Barnet Council/Barnet Homes story coming!

Why do I write a blog about Barnet Council still? For the same reason I always have. Because there are vulnerable people in the Borough of Barnet who are being shat on by the powers that be. I have been informed of a major issue at Barnet Homes with a computer system suipplied by Capita. I will say no more now but I suspect that it affects a large number of residents. I will publish details ASAP, so watch this space.

But there is something I wanted to say, before the story breaks. I had hoped that when Labour took power in 2022, things would improve. To my absolute horror, the opposite seems to have happened. Now I don't completely blame the new Labour administration. They were left a council in crisis. The Tories left Labour in an impossible situation. However, what I didn't expected was the high handed way that Labour would start behaving once they got in power. Councillors who used to regularly communicate with me started to give me the cold shoulder. I write emails and they don't reply. Of course there is no reason that they should treat me any different to anyone else, just because I write a blog which has had over four million views. But I am a tad disappointed if this is how they treat everyone.

Anyway, as I said, this blog does at least allow things that the council want to sweep under the carpet to be aired in public. I am owed a few favours by major media players at the BBC and in the Press, for 'assistance given' in researching stories over the years. That means that there is the opportunity to get important stories a proper airing. You may wonder how I decide what sort of a story is worth 'going big' on.

Well there are some rules of thumb, for me.

1. It must affect people who have no idea how to get the local powers that be to treat them fairly and with respect.

2. It must involve issues where local people, who don't have the knowledge, capabilities or resources to get something done.

3. Those people must be materially impacted in a negative way.

4. There must be a trail of hard evidence, and several verifiable sources.

5. The powers that be must have treated them with disdain.

If a story passes these tests, then it is a runner. Once I have established the facts, I share with the relevant powers that be and give them an opportunity to comment. I will normally allow 24 hours for some sort of response,before publishing what I have to say. Generally, when Richard Cornelius was the Leader, he'd send a polite reply. I'd ask whether this was attributable or not and act accordingly. 

When Dan Thomas took over, this stopped, there would simply not be a response. This has more or less continued, although now under Labour, even the councillors seem to be under a three line whip to ignore me. Now all of this is fine. But what isn't fine. No reason why anyone should email a blogger, but what isn't fine is when ordinary people in Barnet, some of whom are vulnerable are not being served properly by those elected to look after them or paid to ensure that their quality of life is not degraded by porr management.  I have asked the people who 'are important' for a response in this matter. Lets see if they can be bothered to give one or whether they will simply try and brazen it out. I had hoped that the words 'Capita' would disappear from this blog. Seemingly not

The Capitaville Horror Show reaches it's inevitable conclusion

 As the new Barnet Labour administration act to wind up the One Barnet project and the huge Capita outsourcing experiment, I've found it really hard to find anything to say (other than 'I told you so' which isn't exactly exciting or enlightening). If the Barnet Conservatives had bothered to listen to me or voices such as John Dix (Mr Reasonable) or outsourcing expert Professor Dexter Whitfield, then the Council wouldn't be in the mess it is in now. Eight years ago, John Dix said these prophetic words as part of a series of films I made entitled Capita the Movie

I tried to get the financial support to make the film as a proper documentary, but sadly there were no rich benefactors willing to underwrite the costs of properly exposing the mess we were walking into. I pitched it to a couple of well known TV documentary series who told me "It's not good telly until the disaster happens". I get their point, but in some ways I understand based on what happened with the Y2K bug. In that case, the powers that be listened, the bugs were fixed (I know, I worked on it) and the worlds IT systems survived. Because the problem was dealt with in advance and properly managed, the now prevailing wisdom was that it was all a media hyped lie. If Barnet Council had listened to us, there would still be evangelical outsources claiming that Barnet could have saved billions if they'd not listened to 'those silly bloggers'. 

As the horror show unfolded, we saw ever more opaqueness from the Barnet Tories as they sought to obfuscate the mess they made. The evidence was there for all to see, but the powers that be in the council simply refused to admit there was a problem or release any proper accounts that showed the scale of the mess. Now the new administration has committed to undoing the mess. This will not be straightforward. Whole organisations have been dismantled and moved elsewhere Expertise has been lost and the staff who knew what they were doing have long since found new jobs. 

Everyone who has a stake in Barnet has a vested interest in making the new systems work. If they don't it will cost us more money and lead to even worser services, bigger potholes, more litter etc. When the Council were outsourcing, Barnet Unison made many sensible suggestions as to how money could be saved. I hope some of these are revisited and the council positively engage with the Unions. 

It is worth recalling that mass outsourcing did not start under a Tory administration. It was actually a Blairite initiative that set up Barnet Homes which became "The Barnet Group". This organisation is now in dispute with its own workers

#BREAKINGNEWS Barnet Outreach workers 88% turnout and a100% vote for strike actionhttps://t.co/3XhM0ocqaF@unisontheunion @John_Burgess001 @organiserjo @unisonglr @cmcanea @MikeShort8 @tiddymoke @ValerieABossman pic.twitter.com/aqPo9arYbh

— (((barnet_unison))) (@barnet_unison) July 25, 2022

I do hope that when Barnet Labour have sorted out Capita, they have a long, hard look at the structure of "The Barnet Group". I see no evidence that this has delivered what it was supposed to. These Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMO's) are simply overly bureaucratic monsters that seem to generate jobs for managers, accountants, lawyers and pen pushers, without seemingly getting to grip with their main job, in the case of The Barnet Group this is increasing provision of socially and affordable housing. It really is ridiculous that young people cannot afford to live in the Borough of Barnet unless the banks of Mummy and Daddy subsidises them

Barnet Council website is not working - another Capita failure

 IF you need to do anything on the Barnet Council website today, which involves entering a postcode, you will be out of luck. Their website is unable to process postcodes. Needless to say, this means that the switchboard is probably also overloaded. Once again a system run by Capita is not working. 

I suggest that if you are trying to pay a bill, you take a screen shot of this page. If you cannot because they can't take your payment, then this may come in rather useful if they try and impose penalties or take court action. It is beyond me why Barnet Council simply can't admit that their relationship with Capita hasn't worked and has delivered appalling service to the Barnet Council taxpayer. 

Fellow blogger Mr Reasonable has exposed just how expensive this failure has been. I've almost run out of ways to describe how rubbish the whole One Barnet outsourcing project has been. Sadly Capita have not run out of ways to demonstrate that the Barnet Bloggers were right about Capita all along.

At last - Barnet Tories admits that it got the Capita Contract wrong

 Ok, first a confession. I know nasty Barnet bloggers are not meant to say things like this, but I'm starting to like Peter Zinkin, chair of the Barnet Finance, Performance and Contracts committee. I've dealt with quite a few Barnet Tories over the years. Some, such as Mike Freer, Dan Thomas, Brian Coleman, Robert Rams and Reuben Thompstone are aloof, condescending and lack respect for the public. Some are ok, pleasant, treat the public with respect and you can have a chat with them after as normal human beings. I'd include Brian and Kate Salinger, Richard Cornelius, John Hart, Hugh Rayner and Sachin Rajput in this list. It's nothing to do with their personal politics, its just an observation as to how they treat the public in their role as a councillor. I have to add Peter Zinkin to the second list. Unlike John Hart, I've not had a cheeky pint in the Bridge, swapping jokes, but he takes his job seriously and is respectful to the public as committee chair. Myself and John Dix asked questions of the committee and I have to confess, both John and I got straight and candid answers to several questions. 

I asked two questions, on agenda items 7 (Capita Contract) and 8 (Chief Financial Officers report). The way the committee works, is that they provide a written answer and then you get the chance to ask a question on the agenda item. A maximum of two question are permitted and the questions can be no more than 100 words long. At the meeting, you are allowed to ask a follow up question if you are not satisfied. There used to be no limit, with just a 30 minute time limit on the questions. 

I was first up and I thought I'd push my luck a bit. As I detailed in this blog, I was very upset at the late publication of the reports. This meant that it was impossible to properly review them, One report missed the deadline for questions altogether. It is unacceptable. I started by stating that I thought it was unacceptable and that the council should have a mechanism for dealing with questions when reports are late. Strictly speaking, this question was out of order, but Councillor Zinkin not only accepted the observation, but agreed with the Labour group leader Barry Rawlings that this should be raised with the Constitution committee so that a proper mechanism for dealing with this scenario could be introduced. 

I have to admit, I was surprised. It is rare for anything a blogger says in Council to be accepted, but it was most welcome. I realised that I might not have quite as frustrating evening as I expected. Next up, I asked a question about the Capita contract extension. I read the final sentance of the answer out. "As stated in the report, the financial and commercial elements are complex and further work is required to ensure that any recommendations are based on a sound understanding of the cost and budget position." 

I aked  whether the Barnet client side organisation was "too thin". For those unfamiliar with council speak, this means that there are not enough qualified people montoring Capita. Councillor Zinkin shocked me with his answer. He admitted that big mistakes were made in 2014 when the contract was set up and yes, the Council team was too thin to do its job, meaning that Capita had got away with murder (not his words). Of course, now everything was fine and dandy and the fact that the deadline for renewing the contract had been missed was nothing to do with lack of resources and the fact that it wouldn't be done until after the election (something I'd suggested was a time bomb for the incoming adinistration) was purely because they were doing such a good job. Councillor Zinkin suggested that he was surprised I could make the "Time Bomb" accusation and that this was most unfair. I replied that they've known the timescales since the contract was signed and had plenty of time. I am not sure whether the fact that renewal has been pushed until after the election is a happy coincidence or a clever political ploy by The Tories. All I know is that it is very handy for them. It would be nice if Labour state that the delay will give a chance to do a proper review and being services in house if this will save money. I don't expect this to happen. 

We moved on to Item 8, the CFO's report. It gave me a chance to raise the fact that a single question of less than 100 words makes scrutiny impossible. I admitted I'd misunderstood the wording of the report, but pointed out that the late submission meant there was little time to read the report and cross reference with other reports, as Councillor Zinkin suggested. I stated that the report should give details of costs of slippages. Councillor Zinkin suggested that this info was detailed elsewhere. He also made the offer of the opportunity to go through the reports with a Council Officer. I will be contacting Mr Reasonable to see if he would participate. To be honest, his input would be invaluable and would massively improve scrutiny. In all my time attending meetings, this was the first time such an offer has been made and it is hopefully a sign that after a decade of hostility to the public, we are entering a new era. It will be very interesting to see how this progresses, whoever wins.

Next up, we had Mr Reasonable with three questions. He started by informing Councillor Zinkin that he agreed with me. Project slippage had inherent costs. These needed to be accounted for. John works on large infrastructure projects and understands that interest and finance costs need to be monitored if things are slipping, which they clearly are.

He'd done one of his usual insightful blogs on Monday, detailing how Capita were not providing value for money to Barnet residents. His first question, on the Capita report was a simple one. Would the Barnet Tories please stop making claims about savings, when they are unprepared to provide any evidence to back these claims up. I'm not sure whether Councillor Zinkin agreed or just sympathised. I've listened a couple of times and I'm not entirely sure.

The next two questions concerned the Brent Cross West station development. I had a chat with John before the meeting about this. We share a view that it is right and proper that a station is built. We also have no problem that the council is helping to finance it. His problem (and I agree 100%) is that the council is funding it, taking 100% of the risk, but will share the profits (if any ever arrive) with the developers of Brent Cross. This is absolutely bonkers. When the project was conceived, the world was different, people actually used trains to go to their office every day. I suspect that whatever happens, it will be a long time before such things happen and there is a healthy income stream. However, if the UK is to deal with the challenges of climate change, we need to maximise public transport usage. This means projects like this. John was keen to see the risk properly assessed and included in the council's accounts. There was a degree of acknowledgement that this was a good point. We will see if it is actually actions these.

I stayed for the Capita report. Labour asked for disclosure of various figures, so the public could be informed going into the elections. A vote was held and the Tories rejected the proposal on the chair's casting vote. There was also a dispute when a Labour Councillor read an FoI response that named and shamed a council officer. Councillor Zinkin was enraged. He stated that he did not want councillors demonising officers in his committee. Labour Leader Barry Rawlings (who since I last saw him has grown a huge beard and looks like Santa Clause, without a red suite though) stated that as it was an FOI repsonse, it was in the public domain. I often think the Council would be a better place without political parties. Most of the councillors are reasonable human beings. They are forced to put their hands up all of the time to pass motions they disagree with. You can always tell when they are doing this as they refuse to make eye contact. I'm not sure what they really think they are achieving (beyond preservation of jobs and allowances for themselves). I find it frustration. The council would work so much better if it was open and transparent. This happens in the USA where all public contracts are fully published. I don't buy the concept of confidentiality in commercial contracts. I'd like to see it all published. That way competetors would know where they went wrong and try and be more competetive. I understand that many aspects of what the council do (social work, etc) should be private, but there is no excuse for hiding how money is spent. 

I recorded the question time for posterity. If you are interested in these discussions, there are some rather interesting points in there. The Barnet Eye was the first blog to video a Council meeting. Sadly, since the demise of Dan Hope, people don't bother so much. It is a shame, as we really should care. The decisions made in Council affect how much tax you pay, how well your roads are fixed, how your children's schools are run, whether stations are built, how you will be treated in social care if you need it. I could go on. Councillors get paid a minimum of over £10,000 a year to attend these meetings. You pay that, surely you should care what they do?

One interesting thing. As I was leaving, I was approached by the Council officer who was the author of one of the late reports. They explained that the report was ready on time, they take great pride in getting reports produced promptly, but was withheld as it was also relevant to another meeting and was released after this meeting had been held. They were at pains to insist that nothing was untoward. I take that very much at face value, but as the council agreed, in such circumstances, there should be a formal process for delaying the deadline for questions.

Barnet Council deliberately circumventing public scrutiny of key issues - The Proof

Next Tuesday, in a weeks time, there is an important meeting of the Barnet Council Finacial Performance and Contracts committee. One of the key items is the review of the Capita Contract. I logged in today to review the papers and saw this in the order of business.

I was hoping to review the papers for Item 7, review of Capita Contracts and provide my feedback to the council. According to the constitution, this has to be done by Thursday morning - the papers say

"In line with the Constitution’s Public Participation and Engagement Rules, requests to submit public questions must be submitted by 10AM on the third working day before the date of the committee meeting. Therefore, the deadline for this meeting is Thursday 27 January 2022 at 10AM. Requests must be submitted to Salar Rida 020 8359 7113 salar.rida@barnet.gov.uk "

In short, I do not have enough time to exercise my right as a resident and council tax payer to properly scrutinise and provide feedback to the council in regards to this matter, which I have followed on this blog since it's inception. I will be writing to the Council CEO John Hooton to ask that this meeting be postponed and the council discharge their duties to local people properly. I have a full time job, so when the council do not provide papers in good time, it is impossible to properly review them.

I also note that the details of the Chief financial officers report has not been provided and that the Sarancens Loan Review and Brent Cross review are deemed to sensitive for the public to hear. This is how we do democracy in Barnet.

In short, the public are held in contempt. I just hope that in May, when we have an election, we get a council that is not so scared of the public that it won't let them see what they are up to. 

***** Update *****

We have secured an extension to the deadline for comments for this item from the CEO of Barnet Council following our email. Here is Mr Hooton's response

----

Roger,

 

I am aware that these reports are due to be published imminently. We will give flexibility on the deadline for public comments if reports are published late. I have copied Andrew Charlwood on this who will be able to keep in touch with you and ensure that your comments are included in the meeting.

 

Kind regards,

 

John

 

John Hooton
Chief Executive

Why does Barnet Council have such faith in Capita?

Barnet residents have been plagued for years by the poor service delivered by Capita PLC. This blog has, in the last year, detailed badly maintained local cemeteries, failing phone systems, problems with environmental enforcement and planning to name a few rather major issues. When Barnet Council signed the Capita contracts, we were promised better services at lower costs. Fellow Barnet Blogger Mr Reasonable has demonstrated that costs have gone through the roof and Barnet's deal is not good value for the taxpayer.

I speak to Conservative councillors quite regularly. Quite a few are happy to chat, strictly off the record about the problems the council is having. Many have admitted that the Capita deal is not working well, where we disagree is that they have an ideological attachment to the concept of outsourcing, so they simply cannot admit that it's all gone wrong and they should bring it back in house. The best any has managed is to claim 'some aspects are working in a satisfactory manner'. I am not wedded to any ideology, I'm an engineer by trade, so I simply want what works. I recall a joke my Dad used to tell. He said that when he was in the RAF, he joined up with his squadron and as an officer was asked which of three engineers would he like to service the engine on his plane. There was a white engineer, a black engineer and an Indian engineer. He replied "the one who's planes came home last night". His view was that when your life depended on it, you want the best person for the job. 

Does Barnet Council have the best people running its services. Last month, the Barnet Post ran an interesting article on their failures.  There was an interesting quote from the Leader of Barnet Council.

“The extra money that Cllr Mittra is quoting is not an overpayment. It is extra work commissioned by the council in addition to the core contracts we have with them as well as entitlements they receive under the contracts.”

How much are we talking about? The article states that the council had paid Capita £551.81m, which is £217.93m more than the “total contract value” of £333.88m.

Capita stated “Barnet Council is committed, with the support of its service partners, to delivering top-quality services that make the borough a better place to live, work and study for all.”. 

These pictures were taken in Capita run Hendon Cemetery earlier this year. Does this look like what you might call a 'top quality service' I live in Barnet, I've seen no evidence that Capita have made it a better place to 'live, work and study'. Have you? 

When they first engaged Capita, Capita were viewed as a dynamic and profitable company by the City. They were seen as a can do company that delivered innovative solutions. I used to have Capita shares. I was advised that their involvement in the congestion charging project would deliver huge profits (it did). I sold them when they signed the One Barnet contracts. What has happened to the City's view of the company since then?

It seems that having the odd scruple about what I invest in has done me a big favour. Capita have an appalling track record in Barnet, their share price has fallen through the floor. The only people who seemingly still have faith in Capita are the Leader of the Council Daniel Thomas and his merry bunch of Conservative councillors. You will notice on the bottom of the graph a note warning that "Short term performance of less than one year is a pretty unreliable indicator".  As you can see, there is a long term trend.  This is the company that holds the basket that Barnet Council has put all it's eggs in. 

Back in 2018, we launched the Kick Out Capita Campaign (when their share price was falling but nearly three times higher than today). Allen Ashley and I recorded a song with The False Dots and got Rapper Arjay to do a Capita Rap over the middle eight. Have a listen if you've got a minute.

Barnet Council - failing and unable to do even the basics

Barnet Council have been committed to the concept of outsourcing since 2006. Back then, Barnet were well run and one of the best councils in the country. They were highly rated by the audit commission, etc. They boasted of how good they were in 2009, even giving staff an extra day off to celebrate being a four star council. Barnet was judged the best council for education by OFSTED. 

Fast forward 15 years where are we? In 2018 a government inspectors report from OFSTED resulted in Barnet having to get another council in to run childrens services for them.

Today I had to look up something on the Barnet Council website, there were not one but two apologies today from the Council for being useless.

We have a council that can't answer it's phones and can't fix the roads. Luckily for Barnet, the Govt abolished the Audit commission, so there is no body to keep an eye on them.  Strangely enough, these apolgies are not on their twitter feed. 

The phone system is now run by Capita and the roads were being fixed by Kier (the construction company not the Labour Leader). I hate to say "I told you so" but this blog warned of the dangers of mass outsourcing from day one. The Council has got rid of so many staff that it simply cannot effectively manage its contractors. A senior Tory member of the adminstration told me this, he asked that I didn't name him. I'd strongly suggest that if he wants to still be running the council this time next year, he pulls his finger out big time and sorts this mess out. He also confided that he thought it was highly unfair when Barnet Labour claimed that the Barnet Tories don't care about the Borough. I'd suggest that if he wants to show that he does care, he gets to work and fixes the structural problems that have allowed this crazy neglect to get to this state. Over the next six months we will see a lot of councillors campaigning. I suggest that you ask them what they are going to do to get Barnet Council to be able to effectively manage its contractors. Next time you are stuck in a traffic jam in Barnet beacuase of badly managed road worksor need to phone up to sort out a problem with your council tax and can't get through, just remember that this situation has come about because Barnet is not managing their contractors properly. 

A blog you should read about how much we are paying Capita for their services

If you are a citizen of Barnet and you've ever wondered whether Barnet Council are being efficiently run, I would strongly recommend that you read John Dix's Reasonable New Barnet Blog. Mr Dix has put together a very detailed blog detailing the difference between what we were told Barnet would be paying Capita and what we actually are paying. Mr Dix does a blinding job of exposing just how the taxpayers of Barnet are being taken to the cleaners and reminding us of how the Conservative administration of Barnet have done everything possible to hamper anyone from shining a light on what is going on. Please have a look.

Mr Reasonable: Just what we pay Capita - How they billed £555 million to one council 

Mr Dix sums up by saying

To all of this you may say "So What?" My concern is the lack of transparency about so much of the goings on in Barnet, something they have been making even more difficult as the years go by. We are gagged at meetings, and the amount of information they used to produce has been reduced. For example, Barnet used to produce a quarterly, one page summary of the benefits the Capita contract had generated (Benefits Realisation). When I started asking questions about the numbers, Barnet's response was to stop publishing it. I used to analyse the senior council staff salaries from data they published. One day they just stopped publishing it. I never published staff member names even though it was available only ever their title. Now we haven't a clue other than for the top handful of staff. Even worse they removed years of historical salary data that had already been published.  

I do this because someone has to try and hold the council to account!

Reading Mr Dix's blog and final comment, it is great to see ordinary citizens holding the council to account. Why didn't someone think of that sooner!

Update from Barnet Council on my blog "How Capita are running Hendon Cemetery into the ground"

Every so often, a blog gets an absolutely massive response. On the 29th July, I posted the below blog. I cannot recall a similar response, since we launched Friern Barnet People's Library back in April 2012, following the closure by Barnet Council. That brought 400 people out to support us and the end result was that the Library is still there. When I posted the Hendon Cemetery blog, I had people stopping me in M&S, the bar staff and members of the Services club querying it what is going on. I had emails, DM's etc. I wrote to the council. I've been told that if you actually want a sensible response, the best Conservative Councillor to contact is Peter Zinkin. As this is a matter of great importance to me (see below), I contacted Councillor Zinkin.

This is the response I received. I can only commend Councillor Zinkin and the council officers who he worked with on a very thorough response.

This response was comprehensive and displayed a degree of common sense I have not seen too often in replies from members of the administration of Barnet Council. I'm rather hoping that we are seeing a new approach to dealing with the public and local bloggers. An acknowledgement that sensible questions need sensible answers is a big step in the right direction.  

Note from Barnet officers

We have carefully considered the concerns you raise in your blog and we recognise there is justification for these concerns and would wish to apologise to any residents who have been affected on a visit to the Cemetery by the issues which you have raised. The Cemetery service recognises there are a number of actions which need to be taken to improve matters.  

 

Some actions have already been taken and some are planned over the next few months, please be assured that with staffing levels now back to full complement, colleagues are working to address issues and it is expected that the grass cutting and grounds maintenance regime will be complete by week commencing 16th August 2021.

 

In relation to the roadway, there are three main areas which have been prioritised for attention. Whilst the service has undertaken reactive repairs to sections of the route, we have been informed by the gas utility company, Cadent, that the large gas main to the crematorium requires replacing. We believe this may require 5 key excavations around the roadway. Consequently, this has required us to review the repairs programme to ensure that there is minimal disruption to Cemetery operations. The work is currently scheduled to take place during the autumn / winter and advance notice will be communicated to all relevant parties.  

 

In addition, there is a forthcoming project to replace the grounds maintenance sheds. These two projects are likely to impact the road surfaces, which once  both are completed will be assessed to deliver a more permanent repair for affected areas. 

 

The unsightly trench in area D11 (north east of the Chapel) was necessary due to flooding in this area, this has now been backfilled and made good over the weekend of 1st/2ndAugust 2021.

 

The grounds maintenance regime is closely managed to rectify outstanding landscaping problems. Unfortunately during the peak grass growing time a significant proportion of the grounds workforce was lost through illness and the legal requirement to isolate under the Covid legislation. 

 

Additional external resources were identified to support delivery; however due to the specialist nature of the work required and to avoid damage to headstones and memorials, only a limited number of contractors were available. Regretfully timescales were further compounded due to an incident resulting in stolen contractor equipment and the unpredictable weather conditions which has meant that grass has grown at a faster rate than normal.

 

Sadly, due to the impact of Covid-19 the service has supported an a significantly increased number of burials since March 2020, which has altered the existing appearance of the Cemetery. We appreciate the patience and understanding of all users whilst we work to resolve concerns and restore presentation.

 

If you would like to discuss any information further please do not hesitate to contact me. 

A meeting was arranged between myself, Councillor Zinkin and Andy Milne, the manager of the service. Andy works for RE which is the Capita/Barnet Council venture that runs cemeteries. We met last Wednesday. We had a half hour chat about the problems and I was given a guided tour. Councillor Zinkin informed me that he was responsible for building a cemetery, in his role as a senior member of a local charity. He agreed what had happened was unacceptable and the council needed to do better. It is clear to me that if the management of the cemetery was not on the coincil radar before, it was now. The harsh political reality is that Conservative administration may well get a bloody nose at next years council election if this is not sorted ASAP.  This affects residents in at least six wards, so it is in the interests of the Council to get it right. Of course we shouldn't need bloggers to write blogs to get things done, but that is the world we live in. 

So how is it looking?

Firstly, from a purely selfish perspective, the worst of the overgrown grass by my parents grave has been strimmed back.

Other graves have also had the overgrown grass cut back and are looking much better.

Although there are still rather unkempt looking areas. I've been assurred that these will get some TLC.

And my biggest concern was the Potholes. This one was huge and was a danger to elderly people who may not have great eyesight. Nearly all have been repaired. Andy explained that a couple hadn't been due to works being done as detailed above

I discussed ways to improve the cemetery. I suggested a friend of the cemetery group be formed. This would ensure that such a mess never happened again. Councillor Zinkin was not averse to this idea. He asked if I'd be prepared to chair this and I'd be more than happy. A subscription to a friends group could fund minor works, such as restoring some of the older graves by public places, who clearly have no one to mind them. No one likes seeing fallen over stones, next to the chapel etc. They could also possibly help with upkeep of graves of children, where parents are struggling to cope. 

Councillor Zinkin also suggested a plot maintenance charge, as an option, where relatives could at least pay to have the grave tended for a period, maybe 25 years. This is an option in the cemetery he is associated with and seems to work well. 

None of this is perfect. Many locals have noted that Westminster Council doesn't have the same problems, Andy Milne explained that they've had far fewer recent burials and smaller site is easier to manage.

So to summarise, the cemetery is not looking as bad as it did in late July. There are some major works that are holding up some maintenance, but it is no longer completely overgrown. The one bit of news that cheered me up was the suggestion that Capita will no longer be responsible for the administration of the Cemetery  and  the staff will TUPE back to an organisation under direct control of the Council. This is not a done deal, but I get the distinct feeling it is seen as the most pragmatic option. We should never have got to this point, but things are improving. I will be keeping a regular eye on the site. As a blogger and as the son of two amazing people buried in the cemetery, it is the least I can do. 

--------------------------------- Here is the original blog -------------------

Yesterday, I went to visit the graves of my parents and grandparenst at Hendon Cemetery. I am sorry t to say that what I saw broke my heart.  The cemetery is in an appalling state. Large swathes have been let run to rack and ruin. As you can see from this picture a large number of graves are completely overgrown.

Trees and vegetation who's roots knock over gravestones as they grow are popping up everywhere.

As for the state of the road which  you need is used to access graves, especially for elderly visitors seeing loved ones, this is absolutely rutted with deep pot holes that can damage a car suspension and tyres. It has become an obstacle course. 

Some of these are deep and botched repairs have lead to rocks being strewn across the whole carriageway. 

Even areas by the side of the road that should be easy to access are completely overgrown.

And large areas have simply been dug up with unsightly mounds of earth left. This is not a freshly dug grave, it is on one of the small roundabouts.

My Father was a war hero, a WWII Bomber pilot, who had been shot down, held POW and excaped.  He died in 1987. I've been visiting the cemetery for four decades to pay my respects. I can no longer bear to do this. Many of his friends, also war heroes are also buried in the cemetery. My maternal Grandfather who served in the trenches of the first world war is also buried here as is my mother, my grandmother, several uncles and aunts. In February, we buried my beloved cousin Theresa, who is six months younger than me and who died of covid. I had to leave as I was too upset at the sight of this awful neglect.

The cemetery used to be lovingly maintanied and visits brough calm and solace. Now I feel enraged to see how badly Barnet Council are treating our deceased loved ones, people who built the City we live in, fought for our freedom and raised us. There is a reason for this neglect. Barnet Council have contracted the running of the cemetery to Capita several years ago. These diabolical contractors see the cemetery only as a cash cow to make money. How do you make money running a cemetery? Raise charges and don't do any maintenance. The disgusting evidence is there for all to see. This is what happens when you put profits before caring for the community. 

If you care about this neglect, please write to your local councillor and tell them. You can find their details here - https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?bcr=1

My frustration with Barnet Council AKA Capataville reaches boiling point

 I have largely refrained from writing blogs criticising the day to day issues of Barnet Council during the pandemic. I've taken a 'bigger picture' view that Councillors, Council Officers and Capita have enough on their plate without having to collate FoI reports, answer emails etc from irate bloggers, etc. However, as Boris has decided that the pandemic is over, I think I will have to reconsider my position. 

I have been in discussion with the council, local residents and local business owners about a complete lack of enforcement of planning conditions by the Council at a large building site in Mill Hill. Residents have provided the council with reams of photographic evidence of continual issues. Local business owners have requested Council enforcement officers visit their site to see for themselves what is going on. For reasons I cannot quite comprehend, the council seem unwilling to do this, despite repeated complaints over three years.

Today I was copied into several emails, sent to the council, with various pictures and requests to investigate. The issues are mainly concerning breaches of the agreements to control dust and noise. This has been an ongoing issue. I became highly irritated by the high handed and patronising tone of the council in their replies. So much so that I emaied the Local government secretary asking what remedy their was when a Council was not doing its job. I copied the Council into the correspondence for transparency. In response I received a highly sarcastic email, which contained various inflammatory statements, implying I was trying to stop all contentious development rather than simply getting the council to do its job and make sure contractors do the job safely and with consideration for residents. 

I am not anti development. I have made a fair bit of money out of property over the years. People need homes, businesses need premises and when buildings have reached the end of their life, it is only sensible to repurpose, refurbish and rebuild such buildings. All building projetcs cause disruption and are never fun for neighbours. My next door neighbour has just finished such a project. Fences were knocked down and they even damaged our satellite dish. I have friends who have far worse experiences. The council have a duty of care to ensure that if a development has conditions applied to it, to ensure residents are not disturbed, then the developer should be held to account if they break these. Of course there will be the odd problem. So long as the issues are rectified, then you have to be sensible. However, if the rules are flouted for years on end, then the council should come down hard on the developer.  This doesn't mean stopping all development for ever. It means making developers understand that if they sign up to conditions, they stick to them and if they don't there will be financial consequences.

It is clear to me that since Capita have got involved in the council, the concept that the Council works for the people of Barnet is a thing of the past. In one email today I was told there are 'countless worse building sites' which is not exactly reassuring from the bloke who is supposed to be making sure the developers follow the rules. 

It will be interesting to see whether Robert Jenrick, the Local Govt secretary bothers to take an interest. His predecessor, Eric Pickles was a big fan of the Barnet bloggers. Lets hope his successor takes this seriously. 

London Borough of Barnet Capita contract renewal consultation

Last night I attended a focus group to give feedback on the performance of @CapitaPlc in @Barnetcouncil with @Brokenbarnet and @ReasonableNB amongst others.  It is fair to say that our group were what could be described as Capita sceptics. I missed the first 20 odd minutes as I had it problems. When I joined, it was clear that there had been a rather interesting discussion on the whole matter. The focus group was being consulted as the Council's contract with Capitais being reviewed with a view to renewal. From last nights meeting there were three main takeaways for me 

The first of these is that if this scheme had worked, the @BarnetTories  would be crowing about it - click the link and see if you can find a mention. Their silence is deafening. Where are the benefits? Where are the real savings? If you had a flagship policy, which One Barnet and the Capita contract was, after six years, you should have something to shout about. 

The second is that local people have lost all faith in vital Capita Plc run services such as planning and regulation to work for their benefit. Council tax paying residents are the last consideration when developers can make cash and there are fees for the Council/Capita. I have had untold conversations with people who have problems and simply feel ignored.

The third is that the potential for conflicts of interest are there for all to see in the way Barnet is being run. The list of grey areas is seemingly endless. When a private company benefits from fees for planning applications, surely overdeveloment is inevitable? Back in 2011, Dr Julia Hines wrote a guest blog on this subject. It is worth reading. More or less every concern Julia listed, as well as many she didn't, have come to pass. Julia said "

What about the situation where a planning officer is headhunted from Company X by another company who wants to develop in Barnet? Employment terms restricting where someone can work are very narrow and notoriously difficult to enforce."

This very point was raised once again last night, ten years later. We have seen it happen time and time again. Theresa Musgrove mentioned that there is a local planning consultancy that boasts it's employees are all ex Barnet employees. 

What puzzles me is that the public elect the council and the council make these policies. Does anyone seriously believe we've elected a council that is concerned for ordinary Barnet residents. If a developer buys the three homes next door to you, plans a monstrosity that is totally out of character and ignores the existing street scene and style, do you expect them to be refused planning permission. In 2002, I was refused permission for a loft conversion, as this would change the street scene (my house backs on to the M1). Does anyone think the council cares about street scene anymore? Does anyone think that if you object to a monstrous carbuncle anyone will listen anymore? IF you do you are bonkers, because planning is now simply about raising money through fees for the council. It is a lucrative business and Capita get a generous cut of the profits from these fees. What could possibly go wrong.

When I got on the call, I was frustrated. I went off on one, boring the pants of the other poor souls on the call. The reason? I'd recently been up to the Hendon Cemetary, run by Capita, to see the graves of my parents. I was horrified. There will be a seperate blog on this matter soon. As a taster, here is what the recent contract review report said

Further review – 

Cemetery and Crematorium 

2.38 The service has performed well throughout the life of the contract and has clearly benefited from the commercial freedoms of being delivered by a third party. The service has been particularly impacted by the pandemic over the last year, but successfully operated a safe and secure service throughout the periods of peak demand. 

2.39 However, this is not a core service for Capita and is the only cemetery and crematorium they run. Whilst this does not present any immediate issues of concern, the potential for them to add further value to the development of the service over the medium-term may be limited.

The cemetery has gone to rack and ruin. Gravestones have fallen over, area's are overgrown, the whole site looks neglected. I made a short film in 2018, it has got worse. My Dad was a WW2 bomber pilot. I feel like I've failed him whenever I see his final resting place. Is that really how we want our loved ones to be remembered. It doesn't have to be like this. Take a little trip up the road to the Mill Hill Cemetery, run by Westminster Council, on Milespit Hill and compare the difference.  Capita's neglect of Hendon Cemetery sums up their attitude. Unless you think the final resting place of our loved ones is unimportant.

How the Barnet Council One Barnet project with Capita is unravelling and no one can hold the Council to account

Tonight, Barnet Council will start to bring several key services in house, following the failure of the One Barnet program to deliver cost savings and better services. Long time readers will know of the extraordinary efforts I put in to trying to persuade the Council not to outsource swathes of the council to Capita. I made films, videos and wrote over 3 million words on the subject. All cross referenced and fully evidenced.

How did the local Tories react? Back in 2014, the Barnet Conservatives posted a blog on their website, supposedly debunking claims made in a video I produced. Sadly they removed the blog once I exposed it for the shower of **** that it was. 

I posted a blog which effectively debunked all of their claims, exposing them for what they were. It is worth a look.

Barnet Council recently commissioned Grant Thornton (a firm of auditors) to produce a "Market Insights" report. On page four, this report states

“Historically procurement has been ideologically driven and highly political”

 Today the council will debate bringing some services back in house. These are detailed in this chart

It is clear to all that One Barnet has been a failure and has not worked. The savings have not happened and it has caused huge problems for Barnet Council. 

Section 1.5 of the council report states

The council’s approach to the Review aligns with this, in that it is based on a pragmatic, service by service review, with the focus being on “what is the right approach for that service to achieve the overarching priority of ensuring that Barnet residents receive the best possible services that we can afford and at a competitive price. 

This can only mean one thing. That ever since Richard Cornelius signed the contract, we have definetly not been getting the best possible services for Procurement, Regeneration and Regulatory services. Furthermore, despite an expensive review, some services require a further review. It seems to me that Barnet Council and the Tory Councillors running it cannot bring themselves to tell us the truth. With regards to Procurement they say

The Procurement service has generally performed reasonably well throughout the life of the contract, but the recent limited assurance audit report has highlighted the extent to which the council and the service are not fully integrated. 

How can a service be performing well if it has limited assurance and the council and the service are no longer fully integrated? I will leave it to you to decide if the council are being fully open and honest here.

As for Accounts Payable and HR.

These services are now generally performing well and meeting KPIs, despite having suffered from poor performance in the past. The performance of both services has benefited from the in-sourcing of the more strategic elements of HR and Finance in 2019, in that there is a much stronger client/contractor relationship and increased knowledge of the Integra and Core HR systems within the council. 

Basically, the service wasn't working properly until the key parts were insourced. 

Also under review are Estates#

The Report states

Capita regards this as a core competency, where there is scope for them to add value and bring further investment and innovation in some areas.

Sounds great, doesn't it. However they've been running them for years and the report states.

Overall, the Estates function has had a number of problems over many years, which go back to before the CSG contract was put in place. Repeated efforts to resolve this over the years have made some improvements, but the service is not yet consistently performing to the required standard.

In other words, we've paid Capita a shedload of money to sort it out and it still isn't performing consistently well. But hey, ho lets give them more money as they are 'experts in the field'. 

Regulatory Services and regeneration

The council has many enforcement powers and responsibilities, with the various teams providing a street-based presence across the Borough during the working week, in the evenings and at weekends. A wider review of enforcement activity has highlighted that the different services and teams do not always work seamlessly together, which can lead to delays in response times. There is significant potential for greater integration and more of a “one team” approach across enforcement, which would align processes and procedures to improve outcomes for residents and visitors.

As ever, with Barnet Council, the devil is in the detail. The service is returning because it basically isn't working very well. The report continues

Whilst Capita do operate elsewhere in the Regulatory Services and Regeneration sphere, these are primarily people-based services and it is considered that there is limited scope for Capita’s expertise to bring further opportunities for investment and innovation.

You would think they would have figured this out before they gave them the contract all those years ago. If you wondered why things aren't regulated properly in Barnet, now you know.

Highways

Well if you think Barnet Council's roads are in great shape, you clearly don't live in my road. It is another area where the council has been forced to admit that One Barnet and Capita have been a complete failure

Through the work that has taken place to date, it has become clear to both parties that the current contractual arrangements do not provide an optimal solution for this service. In particular, the arrangements for commissioning works that are not included in the core contract are too complicated to satisfy either party. 

You would think that Barnet Council would have done due diligence that Capita would have the expertise to manage complex matters. 

Of course being Barnet, the council are keen absolve themselves of blame for cocking this up. Section 2.2 in the reasons for recommendations states

Members are asked to note that these proposals are intended to secure the most appropriate delivery model for each service going forward, recognising that circumstances have changed since the contracts were first entered into. They do not imply any judgement on the relative value of the services in each category, nor on the staff who deliver them

Apparently the 'circumstances have changed since the contracts were first entered into'. So  delivering Highways has suddenly become massively more complicated, Capita have now become unable to deliver improvements that in theory they are competent in. A strange situation. 

In years gone by, I'd have taken myself up to the Town Hall to listen to the debate and ask public questions, but now you are only allowed to ask one. The Tories have a massive majority on Council. There is no point wasting an evening watching a bunch of nodding dogs. I wrote to the Local Government Secretary to ask him to look at the arrangements in Barnet in 2019. I never got a reply.

 So if you really want to know whether you can trust the Barnet Conservatives, here is the blog from 2014 reproduced in all its glory. In light of the passages from their own report and website above, you may well find these interesting.

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Exposing the porkies of the Barneconservatives.com website - my attention was drawn to this article today. In all the excitement, I'd completely missed it. Anyway here is what they say and here is the truth. As I made the video and the Conservatives are calling me a liar, I suppose I am honour bound to respond

http://www.barnetconservatives.com/blog/2014/5/13/fact-check-how-true-are-claims-in-recent-anti-tory-election.html

Here's what they say, with my comments in red italics

Fact check: How true are claims in recent 'anti-Tory' election video?

Tuesday, May 13, 2014 at 5:33PM

Yesterday twitter was saturated with spam tweets from Barnet's 'anti-Tory' alliance activists promoting the video they clearly hope will encourage people not to vote Conservative on May 22nd. Using hashtags #May22 #VoteABC (Abbreviation of BAPS' 'vote Anyone but Conservative' election slogan they repeatedly and robotically reproduced parts of the lyrics of the Roger Tichborne produced and published 'movie'.

Below is a sample of the twitter storm stirred up by the 'anti-Tory' alliance including BAPS, Barnet TUC, Mr John James Sullivan, Mrs Barbara Jacobson (BAPS' supremo) and Mr Ron Cohen (BAPS' publicity Officer)

(As the video does not contain a non party campaigner election imprint we have been advised not to place a link or promote it on our website by legal advisors)

The movie claims that the Council has lied but how true are the claims made in their election video? Fact check set too tast. Let's go through the lyrics.

Claim one - 00:04 Richard Cornelius, "The man who signed the contract"

Fact check: No, he didn't…

 

This is a blatent lie. Barnet Council released a picture of him signing the contract, which we had some fun with in this blog http://barneteye.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/richard-cornelius-signs-one-barnet.html 

 

Why do they now deny it? This is a whopper (apologies to burger king)

 

 

Claim two - 00:10 'In Barnet Capita have taken control…'

Fact check - The Council is run by Councillors. One venture is pure outsourcing but the second is a joint venture. Many services are still run directly by the Council.

 

This is pure spin by the Barnet Conservatives. Huge swathes of council services and the decisions to how they are run are made by Capita. Even planning is now under the control of Capita. Several Tory councillors have told me that they are disturbed by the removal of democratic control. (2021 Update - I have been completely vindicated by events)

 

Claim three - 00:13 Pictures of a coffin 'Death of Democracy'

Fact check - We're in the middle of a lively election where Labour are keen to win. Why would they bother if there was no point? What is the obsession with coffins, death and death imagery btw?

 

Labour were keen to win because they believed they could do a better job than the Tories. They believed they could make a difference. 

 

Claim four - 01:16 'The contract was hidden'

Fact check - The huge contract was published, with some redactions, by the Council. This was welcomed by the 'anti-Tory' bloggers who regard is as very useful.

 

This again is spin. The contract was only published after it was signed. When the decisions were being made it was well and truly hidden, even councillors were only allowed to see it under strict supervision and for a very limited time. This is completely anti democratic.

 

Claim five - 01.21 The contracts were 'unread by the Council before they chose to sign'

Fact check - On one hand the Council is lambasted for spending so much on lawyers to go through the contracts with a fine tooth comb now the same people accuse them of not reading it. Many Councillors including prominent Labour ones, didn't read the whole legalese document.

 

Again the BarnetConservatives are spinning. We expect our councillors to read important documents before they sign them. They did not read the contract. (2021 Update - Look where this lack of Scrutiny has landed us)

 

 

Claim six - 01:54 OneBarnet 'has lead to widespread discontent'

Fact check - The 'anti-Tory' alliance of Barnet Alliance for Public Services backed by the Trades Unions can scarcely pull together a protest of more than 100 people out of 300,000 in Barnet on this matter. Not even the Labour Party are committed to scrapping OneBarnet or not delivering more outsourcing.

 

This is yet another sad bit of spin by the Barnet Conservatives. Over 500 people in Barnet watched screenings of Barnet - The Billion Pound Gamble. Over 400 attended a march in the snow against the protest on a bitterly cold day in 2013 from Finchley Central to Friern Barnet. There have been many large demonstrations, a fact overlooked by this rather dodgy website.

 

Claim seven - 02:01 'No questions are allowed in Capitaville'

Fact check - Pure doublespeak? BAPS activists and bloggers regularly ask hundreds of public questions at Council meetings and get detailed responses. They then get to ask further supplementary questions taking up 30 minutes at Committee meetings.

 

Again this is spin. The Tory administration specifically banned discussion of One Barnet at local Neighbourhood forum meetings, In a democracy, discussion should not be banned. (2021 Update - Now residents are restricted to one question. This makes it impossible for residents to hold the council accountable in complex matters)

 

Claim eight - 02:27 The disabled are a 'market place commodity' seen as a source of profit

Fact check - Pretty distasteful claim of hard working carers. So where do the millions and millions of pounds spent supporting the vulnerable go?

 

FACT -  Barnet Council set up Your Choice Barnet as a private company to run care for the disabled. I may be a fool but I thought the reason for setting up a company was to make a profit. Your Choice Barnet has no "not for profit" covenants in it. I suppose the Barnetonservatives could claim that it makes a loss, but this is purely down to their incompetence when they set it up.

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And if you want to watch the video that caused this rant, here it is

The last blog I will ever write about Barnet Council and Capita

Solzhenitsyn

Victim of idiocy

Back in January, I announced that I was stepping down from the role as a blogger writing about Barnet Council and all of its many problems. Many people misinterpreted this as saying I would not be writing any more blogs at all, or that I had given up caring about Barnet Council and its problems or that I had sold out (whatever that may mean, although I think the accusation was that I'd taken a large bung to STFU, which is quite ridiculous).

To clarify, I've been writing a book, which has taken up the 2 or so hours a day I used to spend researching stories. Since the  announcement, the stuff I've posted has been stuff I enjoy writing rather than detailed, researched blogs on the Council, which has made up most of my content. The results have been quite interesting. When I was writing about Barnet Council, most blogs got between 1,000-3,000 reads. Ignoring the Council they get between 100-500. That tells me that there is a huge amount of interest in the council and its shenanigans. This is exactly what I expected. If I was writing blogs to get hits, then I would be devastated, but I am more than happy with this. It took me ten years to build the Barneteye brand as a serious political blog. Transforming it into my random topics of interest was clearly never going to be of interest to people who simply want to be kept up to date with the shenanigans at the council. If I was earning enough money from the venture to make it worth while, maybe I'd have continued, but it was always a labour of love and when I stopped loving it, I really couldn't justify the time I was spending ignoring my wife and family.

Yesterday, I was confronted by an angry Mill Hill resident. They suggested that Capita had paid me off to shut up. If anyone knows me, they would know this is quite ridiculous. I'm wealthy and happy enough to be unbribeable. I don't want a bigger house, a flasher car, a string of mistresses in Mayfair flats. I resisted the urge simply to tell said person to simply F@@@ off. I made them a generous offer. I said that if they wanted to blog about Capita on The Barnet Eye, I would make the platform available to them and give them all the help and support I could. At this they said "I've got far too much going on!". I had to bite my lip even harder to refrain from telling them where to go. I said "So am I, so we'll leave it there if thats Ok" and took my leave.

I came home fuming. I have been in a foul mood since. It wasn't helped by possibly breaking my big toe at football last night. When I got up this morning, I really couldn't be bothered to post the usual joke. So over my porridge, I started to think about the situation with Capita and Barnet Council. What do I really feel about the situation? This hasn't changed one iota since I first heard about the Barnet Tories hairbrained scheme to outsource all of the council functions in 2008. The only thing that has changed is that whilst I thought it would be a bad, costly decision that would ultimately collapse in a mess, it has proven far worse than I imagined and the Barnet Tories are far more stubbornly and stupidly trying to pretend it isn't. Last May, in the Council elections, the people of Barnet had an excellent opportunity to throw the Tories out, but sadly the opposition fluffed our lines and they got back with a greater majority than before. As soon as the election was out of the way, the Tories revealed the true extent of the mess. Sadly they bottled it. A sensible group would have got rid of the leader and deputy leader and elected some new ones, without the baggage. But sadly Barnet Tories are not interested in doing the right thing (as a group). They seem to think that managing to con the public, by concealing the scale of the mess until after the election is a jolly wheeze and affirms their cleverness. It doesn't, but like John The Baptist, I simply feel like a voice in the wilderness, waiting for Salome to ask Herod for my head. Wheras John the Baptist was sent by God, I am just a bloke who writes blogs. When it comes down to it. The Barnet bloggers have won the argument but following last May's election, there is no prospect of anything sensible happening for at least another three years. I am lucky, Alexander Solzhenitsyn spent decades in a gulag for opposing communism. I simply have the indignity of being patronised by such intellectual lightweights as Reuben Thompstone and Dan Thomas.

My wife's degree is in Russian Studies. She worked for the Anglo-Soviet Creative Association when she left Uni. They helped produce Sharp and facilitated Michael Palin documentaries made in the USSR. In the 1980's I travelled around the country, visiting places such as Vilnius, in Lithuania, but then part of the USSR, meeting all manner of interesting people. I had to travel, illegally by train, pretending to be a drunken Belarussian peasant. It is amazing how people in authority will ignore you if you look drunk and insane. I was writing a book about the USSR. My thesis was that the whole country was a sham and that it was on the verge of collapse. I beleived that the Soviet Leadership had pulled off the greatest con trick of all time convincing the West that they were a super power. It had been run by a small cabal of not very clever people, who simply refused to face up to the truth that they were running the place into the ground (sound familiar). I also realised tha Gorbachev was actually not cut from that mold. He was an intelligent, decent and wise man. He saw that the USSR needed to face up to what it had become. The rest is history. By the time I'd collected all of my notes, the book was out of date. There was no story.

Now I see the parallels between the USSR under Breshnev, etc and Barnet Council. Stupid men are stupid men, whatever their political persuasion. Maybe I would have found some sort of reason to continue, but I am sorry to say that the Labour Party has made me lose all hope for both Barnet and the UK. My father was a WWII bomber pilot. He'd been a prisoner of war in Rumania and seen the suffering of the people under Axis ledership first hand. He was a fluent German speaker, although he never let on. He told me that he'd heard German's speaking in the camp and overheard SS officers who were responsible for interrogations saying that they knew the war was lost and that they wanted to get their families to the west of Germany so they could be captured by the British rather than the Russians. I asked my father if he felt sorry for them, he responded that he hated the SS as they were murderers and their actions against the Jews was the most sickening crime in the history of humanity. He explained that any potential despot or dictator will always start by picking on Jews. Of all the races on the planet, it is a universal truth that they will attack Jews first. Once you can desensitise people to racism and barbarity through anti-semitism, you can get them to do anything.

What has this got to do with Barnet and Capita? Well it has become clear that the Labour Party has deep problems with anti semitism. Labour are the only realistic alternative as an administration to the Tories. Until Labour sorts its issues with anti semitism out, it is not fit to be in any sort of power, anywhere. The sad truth is that I'd rather have the Weimar Republican incompetence of The Tories in Barnet than a party that is systemically anti semetic. I do not believe a single Barnet Labour Councillor is an anti Semite, but they are all card carrying members of a party that has failed to sort an issue out over three years, that should have been sorted out in five minutes. Every single person in the Labour party, who has posted anything anti semitic, should have been immediately suspended from the party. Labour should have set up a commission independent of the Leadership, made up of sensible people such as Councillor Danny Rich, who could adjudicate and either clear them, if there was a mistake or a misunderstanding or kick them out. You may ask what constitutes a "mistake or misunderstanding" in the issue of something as black and white as anti semitism. I will give two examples. Sometimes people are added to Facebook groups with racist content without their permission. That is clearly no grounds for someone being kicked out. Another example is where you retweet or like something on social media, which is part of a thread that has anti semetic content. Occasionally people start out by saying reasonable things, then post a series of ever more racist comments. Someone who likes the first post and doesn't see the rest of the thread (possibly as it hadn't even been posted) could make a reasonable case.

Labour can sling people out when it wants. I should know, I was expelled in 2010 for a technical infringment of party rules (which I could prove was incorrect as I wasn't even a member at the time).

So in summary, the reason why I will not be writing any more blogs on the subject of Capita and Barnet Council is quite simple. The case that Capita have failed and should be slung out has been incontrovertably made, the incompetents who could change it won't listen and with a bigger majority actually think they are cleverer than ever. The main opposition are a party that is simply beyind the pale. There is no prospect of a change for a minimum of three years and I have other things to do. So I thought I'd do my very best to explain in a rather long and rambling blog, why I simply can't be bothered anymore.