-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr Tichbourne,
Thank you for your email, I note your initiative. I welcome your offer to
support as a volunteer and would like to clarify, the constitution allows
members to question those making a public comment, however prohibits this for
those asking public questions, hence no intentional differential treatment.
With respect to your offer of working in partnership, your comments during the
meeting on Monday, whilst officers were attempting to respond to elected
members' questions, in conjunction with your ad hominem statements below, lead
me to conclude that this would be unlikely to be a productive arrangement;
instead I would be happy to endorse you to use those relationships to which you
refer to encourage those who may be interested in volunteering to do so, and am
happy to attend such meetings as my diary would allow, where this might prove
productive and where you were unable to attend for any reason. I am not in the
habit of responding to ad hominem statements and thus respect your right to
your own approach to public conduct as you see fit without commenting further.
Regards,
Reuben Thompstone
Councillor for Golders Green
Lead Member for Children
London Borough of Barnet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am not surprised by Councillor Thompstones response. I have responded to Mr Thompstone. Here is my reply
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Councillor Thompstone,
Many thanks for your reply. I much appreciate the time you have
spent composing your response and the efforts you have made responding to the
points I raised. As you may be aware, I write a blog called the Barnet Eye,
which is read by several tens of thousands of people in the London Borough of
Barnet. Clearly, I am keen to keep the people of Barnet as up to date as
possible with important developments in our community and also how Barnet
Council spend the council tax raised from the wallets of hard working families.
Whilst I appreciate the magnificent effort your response, it seems that you
have omitted to address a couple of points which are fairly fundamental. I am
sure this is merely an oversight due to the excitement generated by the Rugby
world cup and the great success of the team from your native homeland. Many
congratulations on them and their performance, a stark contrast to England.
Anyway, if you could be so kind as to address the key points, I
am sure myself and the people of Barnet would be most reassured. To ensure that
there is no misunderstanding, please can you respond to the following
questions.
1)
I asked if you would be prepared to forego the £15,000 allowance
which you receive for chairing the committee responsible for deciding the
future of Library policy. I suggested that this would set a good example and would
help encourage other people in the Borough to volunteer. I suggested that there
are other ways that this money could be spent that would provide more benefit
to the people of Barnet than simply going into your wallet. Please can you
confirm that you have checked the budget of your department and you are 100%
sure that paying you an allowance of £15,000 for chairing a committee which
meets a dozen or so times a year for a couple of hours, is the best way of
spending taxpayers cash? I note other committee members do not get such an
allowance. Since the Cabinet system in Barnet was abolished, surely the related
cabinet responsibility allowance is no long justified (that was the pretext for
the huge allowance hike in 2010)? If you are having trouble managing your
finances without this bung from the Barnet Taxpayer, can I suggest that you
speak to this organisation http://www.stepchange.org/Howwecanhelpyou.aspx
2)
You state that you would only appear at events to promote
volunteering in Barnet under the condition that I did not attend. I would like
to point out that I have worked with many of your Conservative colleagues,
promoting all manner of good causes. I have helped raised large sums of cash
for mayoral appeals from colleagues including Tony Finn, Lisa Rutter, Brian
Schama and Hugh Rayner. I have promoted football schemes at the request of Hugh
Rayner. Lisa Rutter launched a charity project based at my business in her
capacity as Mayor of Barnet. None has ever had an issue appearing with me when
this is part of the process of doing good things in Barnet. I have even helped
your colleague John Hart promote his book. I am surprised that you completely
dismissed my offer out of hand, without bothering to discuss ways that any
initiative could be made to work. The Conservative Party promotes the concept
of a big society. Do you think that your public rejection of an offer to assist
you, in such a bad mannered way, will really help encourage volunteering in
Barnet?
3)
I asked if you were aware that being a Librarian is a profession
and that it requires a qualification. Furthermore, I asked whether you
recognised that for a library to serve its primary purpose, you needed a
librarian. You declined to answer this question. Would you care to now?
4)
There is a suspicion that your administration has no interest at
all in actually seeing volunteering in well run Libraries. There is a suspicion
that the whole scheme is designed to fail, so the council can shut down
libraries completely and sell them off for a capital receipt. It is 100% clear
to anyone who reads my original open letter and your response that you have
zero interest in exploring in any way, shape or form my offer. You have no interest
in engaging in dialog to try and develop a strategy with active members of the community.
It is also clear that you are not the slightest bit interested in engaging with
anyone who is prepared to give up their time to help in local libraries, unless
it is on the terms you dictate to them, with no discussion at all. Do you
believe that behaving in such a manner is the way to engage with members of the
community who have contributed so much to yoyur household budget?
I have lived in the London Borough of Barnet all of my life. One
of my first memories is going to Mill Hill Library with my mother to get “Thomas
The Tank Engine” books, which she would read to me at bed time. My favourite
was the story of Henry the Green Engine. I would strongly recommend this book
to you. I see parallels with yourself and there is a strong message embedded,
as you may expect from a vicar who was also an author. When I was a teenager,
studying O levels and A levels, I spent many hours studying and revising in
Mill Hill Library. I found that this was an environment free from distraction.
I ascribe what academic success I had at school to this time. When my mother
was in her final years, with failing eyesight and housebound, I would take her
once a week to Mill Hill Library. She would return three large print books
collect three more. She would ask the librarian for recommendations. The Librarians
knew her well and would invariably pick out good choices.
I suspect that local Barnet libraries have not played such a key
role in your life, hence your stilted view of their importance in the life and
culture of Barnet. I note that you seem to have an issue with the fact that
some Barnet residents have an emotional attachment to Barnets library service.
You do not seem to have the emotional intelligence to recognise that for many
of us, this is not just a matter of a few numbers on a Barnet Council accounts
spreadsheet. Over the years, especially when the Conservatives were in
opposition, I saw many examples of appalling behaviour both inside and outside
the Council chamber, when things got heated. Life experience has taught me that
this is a good thing. It shows people care. It seems to me from your comments,
you really only want to engage with people who don’t care or are emotionally
stunted. I trust you are not appalled by the behaviour of Tory MP’s at PMQ’s? Do
you really want to live in a society run by Daleks?
Finally, can I give you some career advice. In my experience,
the best committee chairmen recognise that the Public have every right to
attend council meetings and when serious matters are being discussed will feel
inclined to make their feelings known. Good committee chairmen deal with this
with wit, humour and when necessary compassion. I sincerely hope that you start
developing into such a chairman of your committee. Maybe you could have a chat
with Tony Finn, who in my experience has no trouble getting the balance right.
I look forward to your response. Hopefully this time we will actually
have some answers.
Regards
Roger Tichborne
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I await Councillor Thompstones reply. It must also be noted that Mrs Angry sent a response to the rather hapless Councillor Thompstone. I'm a dyslexic, so I personally would never make such comments, but clearly Mrs Angry is not exactly chuffed that someone who is clearly semi literate is in charge of education in Barnet.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Councillor Thompstone
Thank you for including me in your response.
Unfortunately, I could not understand it, as it is expressed in
such impenetrable language, and seemingly without any reference to the rules of
grammar.
I suggest that - in the course of your next session as a
volunteer shelf-filler in a public library - you borrow a copy of 'Eats,
Shoots and Leaves', or similar helpful guide to written English.
If you cannot find anything on this subject, do ask a librarian to
help you. You'll probably be able to track one down, in the queue at
the local job centre.
With very best wishes,
Theresa Musgrove
pp Mrs Angry
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wonder how long it will take the Leader of the Council and his deputy, who are both cc'd on all of this to twig that it appears that they don't really have someone who is up to the job.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Updated 15:00
Councillor Thompstone responded to my email above as follows:-
Dear Mr Tichbourne,
Many thanks for your email, I note you appear to have presumed answers to your
own questions and continue to engage in ad hominem statements. That is your
prerogative however my response on the latter point remains the same and that
for the former clearly requires no further response.
Regards,
Reuben Thompstone
Councillor for Golders Green
Lead Member for Children
London Borough of Barnet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To which I simply replied
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Councillor Thompstone,
Many thanks for your
enlightening response. As far as I can tell, the only question you have
answered is one which I didn’t actually ask. That question is “Does Councillor
Reuben Thompstone have the good manners, wit, compassion, morality,
intellectual capabilities and leadership skills to hold such an important
portfolio in Barnet Council”. This discourse offered you the perfect
opportunity to demonstrate all of these key characteristics. Your responses
speak volumes. The only positive thing to come out of our exchange is that the
people of Barnet now have some insight into your personality.
Regards
Roger Tichborne
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Updated 15:20
I will leave the last word to Mrs Angry. She clearly has his measure and sums it all up rather nicely!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Cllr Thompstone
In your responses to Roger Tichborne - (please note the
correct spelling) - you seem strangely reluctant to answer the most
important question: why do you think libraries should be run by volunteers,
when you refuse to perform your roles as councillor and chair in a similarly
voluntary capacity?
In this age of austerity, when all of us are asked to tighten our
belts, should you, as an elected representative and proud Conservative, not set
a good example and forego the generous amount of money given to you from the
public purse?
My other question is this: you think that the role of a
professional librarian can be replaced by unqualified volunteers.
I believe that you are a teacher: if I offer to take your post, in
your school, on a permanent, voluntary basis, will you agree to step
aside?
I'm not qualified, of course, but that hardly matters, does it? I
can probably wing my way through a few lessons, armed with a copy of
'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Science', and a fire extinguisher.
And yes, you will lose your livelihood as a result, and you and
your family face a future of unemployment, uncertainty and
hardship - but think of the budget savings that will ensue!
Yours sincerely,
Theresa Musgrove
