The Friday Roundup - 2/3/2012 - Salacious stories, lazy Tories and Jackanory

The Barnet Eye weekly Roundup

Welcome, one and all, to the Barnet Eye Friday roundup. There are two good news stories about Barnet in the Hendon/Barnet Times online edition today.

The first is the calling in of the decision to close Friern Barnet Library. This means that local Tory Councillors have recognised the worth of the library and the loss of amenity to local residents if it shuts. There is plenty of mileage left in this story, but at least it shows the council is starting to listen to residents. The Hendon Times covers the story here :-


http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/topstories/9565503.Campaigners__thrilled__library_closure_referred_back_to_Cabinet/

The second story is that Award winning film director, Ken Loach, has given a resounding thumbs up to A Tale of Two Barnets, the documentary film made by US Director Charles Honderick about Barnet.

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/9564591.Barnet_film_given_thumbs_up_by_Loach/

You can check out the film website here - http://ataleoftwobarnets.yolasite.com/ - You can see a rough cut of the Ken Loach interview on the Gallery page here - http://ataleoftwobarnets.yolasite.com/gallery-and-trailers.php - well worth a look.

And on to the Press group of newspapers. Their big story is the fact that Councillor Brian Coleman is YET AGAIN up before the standards committee. Yet again he has failed to treat people with respect and yet again he's been sending people insulting emails. This despite the Standards committee ordering him to have training, which he has not done, to learn how to write polite emails to taxpayers.

http://www.edgware-today.co.uk/news.cfm?id=7859&headline=Standards%20committee%20set%20to%20rule%20on%20councillor%E2%80%99s%20conduct

Perhaps the saddest story is that of Ryoji Ogi, 35, from Finchley, who was convicted of using a shoe camera to film up schoolgirls skirts. I took particular interest in this story, because a friend of mine apprehended a pervert doing this on a local bus last year. The person in question was filming girls of primary school age. I personally would like to see Mr Ogi get the harshest sentence possible for his crime. It is clearly pre-meditated and I believe it is a violation of innocent youngsters for the sickest form of personal sexual gratification. The longer Mr Ogi is kept away from vulnerable younsgters, the better.


http://www.edgware-today.co.uk/News.cfm?id=7798&headline=Shoe%20camera%20pervert%20guilty%20of%20filming%20up%20skirts

So on to the blogs of Barnet.

Broken Barnet has found yet another dodgy arrangement, a year after the Metpro Scandal and the assurance from Barnet council audit department that there were no other such contracts.

http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/2012/03/friday-joke-one-year-after-metpro.html

Mr Reasonable talks about the One Barnet project and the "preferred bidders" for it, BT and Capita Symonds. He notes the high quality of debate on items of huge financial importance.

http://reasonablenewbarnet.blogspot.com/2012/02/hello-bt-and-capita-what-barnet-expects.html

Citizen Barnet is also delighted with the news about Friern Barnet library. She reproduces in full the the letter of thanks from the Friern Library Campaign. This pays tribute to everybody's favourite Conservative Councillor, Kate Salinger. Kate is universally respected on all sides for her honesty and integrity and her willingness to engage with local people and groups, such as the library group. We need more councillors like her on all sides (Mrs Angry even pays tribute to her in the film A Tale of Two Barnets). Kate's integrity and high esteem has been recognised with her appointment as Deputy Mayor. Mill Hill Councillor, Brian Schama has got the job of Mayor. Brian beat me to the job of Councillor in the Mill Hill Council election, two years ago. He's a top bloke and I'm pleased at his selection. He's one of the good guys.

Labour Councillors, Barry Rawlings and Pauline Coakley-Webb are also mentioned.

http://citizenbarnet.blogspot.com/2012/03/real-lifeline-thrown-to-friern-barnet.html

I was also going to list the latest exciting story from the Barnet Bugle, Ex Councillor Daniel Hope's pro Barnet Tory blog, but lazy old Dan hasn't bothered to post anything since Theresa Villiers fell off her bike on January the 26th. Mind you, compared to Councillor Robert Rams, he's a workaholic - Sheepsjacksie hasn't posted to his blog since December the 22nd - http://robertrams.wordpress.com/ sadly, Councillor Ramsbottom would never make Jackanory with the standard of his prose and appreciation for the English Language - If you are interested in the Barnet Tory point of view, I'd suggest you follow Daniel on Twitter. His tweets are absolutely fascinating, here is this weeks finest example :-

https://twitter.com/#!/barnetbugle/statuses/175290871753871360

KFC in Muswell is no more! Don't rejoice just yet... it's now become "Kennedy Chicken".

Retweeted by The Barnet Bugle Ltd

And finally from our roundup, the best of the week. Mr Mustard exposes a Barnet Council secret paper. Sadly, the paper reveals nothing at all. As to why it's secret, I've no idea whatsoever, apart from the fact that Barnet Council has an overbearing secrey culture, which is to the detriment of a well run organisation.

http://lbbspending.blogspot.com/2012/03/why-was-this-dpr-top-secret.html

Before I sign off, here is a call to arms for everyone in Barnet with a story to tell.  As someone who has seen first hand the power of guest bloggers, I can give testament to the value of telling your story. I subscribe to "Metropolitan Lines" the Guardians online newsletter for London. This arrives every Friday. They are asking for Londoners to contribute their stories. Metropolitan Lines is edited by Dave Hill, who has been a staunch supporter of this blog. - Here is what the Guardian want.

Coming up: special announcement
From Monday for two weeks the Guardian will be inviting its readers to participate in a unique crowdsourcing project about London and its forthcoming mayoral election. Each day at Comment is free and my London blog I'll be inviting you to contribute policy ideas to our very own Manifesto for a Model Mayor, which will be published in e-book form by the end of the month. 

An article telling you more about this exciting exercise in Guardian open journalism will appear on Sunday morning at 11.00. The aim is to paint a picture of a dream mayoral candidate and the policies to bring his or her vision for the capital to life. What sort of London do want a mayor to help build? Get thinking now. We need your help!

You can sign up for Metropolitan Lines here - http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/signup/2009/may/08/london?CMP=twt_gu

Sometime today ?

Sometime today or if traffic slows down (we've had 400+ hits already at 12:16) tomorrow, the little blog hit counter in the top right hand corner of this blog will hit 400,000. For me, this is a stunning achievement. As a dyslexic who couldn't read properly until I was 12 years old, having so many people read what I have to say is mindblowing. In actual fact the number is somewhat higher, as Blogger stats started in May 2009 and I'd been running the blog for eight months then. As it is the only number we have, then I guess we'll have to make do.

I can't take all of the credit, in fact I take very little. There are the guest bloggers, the "sources" within Barnet Council, the Councillors (of all sides) who take the time to have little chats and tell me where to look for the things I need to know, the people who tell their friends about the blog, the other bloggers who have linked to me. A special thanks to Dave Hill at the Guardian for making me one of his first listed London bloggers. It has given me a veneer of respectability I really don't deserve.

What has the blog achieved? It is quite hard to say. We've not managed to make too much of a dent in the madness of the One Barnet project, despite the foolishness being their for all to see. We have however managed to scupper the Councils plans to turn libraries into branches of Starbucks. We have, mostly through our guest bloggers, given the disabled of Barnet a voice which cannot and now is not being ignored. We have had many small victories. I believe we even changed the outcome of the Conservative Leadership Election, in backing Richard Cornelius. Whilst I think Richard has been far from perfect, he is a decent man and I suspect he is a far better choice than Andrew Harper who was seen as the favourite at the time.

But mostly I just wanted to say thank you and I hope that there has been something in this blog that you have enjoyed (if that is the right word). Here's to the next 400,000 !

Congratulations to Mr Reasonable

Congratulations to fellow Barnet blogger Mr Reasonable. He has received the highest accolade available to London Bloggers and been selected by Dave Hill at the Guardian as a Top London Blog. It is a well deserved accolade for some really good work. Barnet is hugely over represented in this list, which shows what a great blogging community we have (or what a crap Council, take your peak).

The full list of Dave's Top bloggers is here :-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/davehillblog/blogosphere

And my list of top Barnet Bloggers is in the sidebar (+ a few others I like)

National Coverage of Barnet Council Stupidity

Unlike a lot of bloggers, I'm not really too bothered about personal accolades for this blog, nice though they are. I didn't even bother putting a stats counter on the blog for the first six months of it's existence as I thought that this was pretty irrelevant to the message. Having said that, they are fascinating and regular readers will know that occasionally I write blogs about the things which interest me that I find. The whole purpose of this blog is to promote interest in what is happening in Barnet. That's why there is a link to all the blogs I know about in Barnet.

I see blogging as an integral part of the local scene. I always  try and promote new blogs and respect anyone who does the same. One of the blogs in the sidebar is to Finchlinks. The bloke who runs this blog hates my guts, because I had the audacity to criticise him and won't return the compliment, but hey ho so what. He's doing his bit. I am pleased to announce a new blog in Barnet - Mr Mustard - Don't know who he is but he's a welcome addition to the community.

Anyway, I thought it worth mentioning (not least due to the deluge of emails & texts on the subject) that the Guardian have posted a blog about Barnet Council and it's stupidity on their Comment is Free section - http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/11/democracy-bloggers-tweeters-councils - Dave Hill who wrote the article mentions me a few times which is nice. I think Dave is spot on with his analysis. I have noted (with a little despair if truth is told) that a few Barnet bloggers have taken exception to his choice of blogs to feature on his blogroll. I've not spoken to Dave about who he chooses or why but, as he's a friend of this blog, there are a few points I have to make.

1. Dave has 33 listed blogs on his blogroll. There are 2 from Barnet - Me and DCMD which are probably the best established right and left leaning blogs in Barnet (most certainly were when Dave picked us). As there are 33 London Boroughs, Barnet as a Borough is 50% overrepresented. Even more so when you consider that blogs such as London Reconnections, Mayorwatch, London Shopfronts and London Cyclist are not Borough specific Hyperlocal blogs. Some such as Londonist are written by multiple people and cover a multitude of subjects.

2. Dave has been criticised for not having enough blogs written by girls in Barnet. As Barnet blogs are clearly overrepresented already this seems a bit unfair on Dave. He has some excellent blogs with female authors, notably London Shopfronts  Stanmore politics and the Bird in the Bush. I've not been through all the blogs but these are one's I've checked out in the past.

I guess that Dave has a thankless task picking blogs. I'd personally put all of the Barnet blogs in my list (as you can see).I think we all have a part to play. Some blogs have all sorts of things listing their "blog rankings". I know from my stats, this blog does extremely well as a hyperlocal blog. The fact we get tens of thousands of hits a month and it seemingly increases every month is enough for me. I'd hate people to read my blog because it was "highly ranked". Many people find it via Dave Hills link. I hope they like it and I hope they visit the other blogs in the sidebar. That is enough accolades for me.

The real issue is the fact that national news providers such as the Guardian recognise that the stupidity of Barnet Council is a big story. The fact my name appears is actually totally irrelevant.

Rog T on the Londonist !

And now for something completely different. I was recently asked by Londons top online listings magazine, The Londonist to contribute a guest article. The only brief was to do something of interest on a cross London level. Anyway, I doubt they expected what I came up with CLICK HERE TO SEE. When I was first asked by the Hendon Times to do a blog, this was the sort of stuff I really wanted to do. Sadly the ineptitude and stupidity of our local Conservative Council got in the way. When the local Tories finally succeeded in persuading the Times to stop the blog ( for exposing the council for putting Nazi propoganda on their Youtube site), I set up the Barnet Eye and all thoughts of a generally entertaining blog about life in Barnet and London went out of the window. It is great to receive some recognition from the wider media world. Dave Hill at the Guardian has long been a friend and a supporter of this blog, having chosen us as one of his very first Top London Blogs - http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/15/barnet-eye-london-blog - Every blog I write gets linked to the Guardian.

When I started writing blogs, I seriously doubted that anyone would want to listen to the rantings of a left leaning, dyslexic Punk rock guitarist. On Sunday, I took to the Podium at the Arts Depot and addressed a crowd of 500 or so local residents who cared enough about the council to give up a few precious hours of their Sunday afternoon. Having spoken after people such as Tariq Ali, Frances O'Grady and Yvonne Hossacks, I wondered for a moment if the audience thought "Who is this thick, big mouthed C**T" or similar things. Having been a performer all of my life, I know when I have the audience and I realised they were with me. I'm nowhere near as educated or clever as Tariq Ali and I've made nothing like the contribution of Yvonne Hossacks or Frances O'Grady, so why should anyone be interested in what I have to say?

As I looked out at the audience, I realised that there is a very simple reason. What I say in this blog and what I said on the rally needs saying. Afterwards people thanked me for "everything I've done". I feel like a fraud, I don't think I've done anything except speak my mind. How can that be commendable? All I really want is for everyone else to do the same thing and bombard our local Council with their views. I really want to write blogs about football, three legged dogs and Ashtanga Yoga, but I'll write about Barnet until there is no longer a need.

As to there being a need, here's a joke which a local promenant local Tory told someone I know whilst canvassing :-

My Friend : What are you going to do if you get elected?
Tory : The first thing I'm going to do is set up an advice centre for Asylum Seekers
My Friend : Really ??? What sort of advice will you give them
Tory : I'll tell them to go home

Ho Ho F*****g Ho. They are funny guys these local Tories.

Have a good evening, I'm off to see Wire at the Scala in Kings Cross.

Guest Blog : Spotlight on Homelessness in London by Hildagarde

Rules are made to be broken. Generally guest blogs get no alteration / editorial comment on the Barnet Eye, but I am going to make an exception this time. The reason? Because the issue is too important. This blog is written by a good friend of the Barnet Eye who wishes to remain anonymous. I am also posting a link to a charity link for another good friend of the Barnet Eye, one who is also getting up of his backside to do someting for the homeless. This friend is the Dave Hill from the Guardian, who features the Barnet Eye as a Top London Blog. Maybe you are reading this blog as a result of the Guardian link. Anyway please read this blog and if it inspires you, sponsor Dave in his marathon run, proceeds of which are being donated to Shelter.

Here's Dave's Link

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=DaveHillGuardian

Many people in Mill Hill also support The Passage, a homeless charity in Victoria. This is one of the Parish Charities for the Sacred heart Church in Mill Hill Broadway. It is dedicated to helping the hard core homeless in London.

http://www.passage.org.uk/


And here's Hildagardes guest blog, unaltered and unedited (not her real name). This explains what the problems are like and why councils are failing vulnerable people

Guest blog by Hildagarde,

Problems facing homeless people             

 This Christmas as in previous years I have volunteered at a homeless shelter for women. There are a number of things wrong with this, firstly there are apparently no homeless women in London – so if that is the case how is it that every year we are full. This is in part down to the way that the count for the homeless is done. When they count, if there are less than 10 homeless people in any particular area, that figure does not have to be recorded. Only if the number of homeless exceeds 10 in an area is that number recorded. Also when they do the count they stick to main roads and areas – homeless women are vulnerable and therefore tend to avoid busy areas and stay in the shadows – the areas that the authorities do not or will not go – so it is therefore not surprising that the statistics relating to the homeless are wrong and the there are not enough services being offered for them.

So, regardless of the lack of services and the chronic under recording of homeless numbers, when they finally get to see a housing officer they are treated badly. This year one of the women staying at the hostel where I worked is in a wheelchair as she was diagnosed with having MS last August. She went to the housing people in Essex – they said they would provide her with emergency temporary housing. When she arrived at the designated address, the room was on the first floor, the bathroom and toilet were on the second floor – there was no lift, chair lift or any electronic means of travel between the floors in the building. After trying to live there for a number of days she went back to the housing office and explained that this was not suitable accommodation for someone in a wheelchair and that she couldn’t go back. The council then turned round and said that as she had deliberately made herself homeless they were not required to re-house her. Surely a little bit of joined up thinking wouldn’t have gone amiss here. Anyone could see that this lady was in a wheelchair. Even if there were no ground floor rooms available at the time, could an able bodied person not be moved to facilitate a disabled woman who was homeless? The council appear to do the bare minimum to abide by the law!!

On another occasion a woman and her 77 year old mother, again homeless and staying in the shelter where I was working, were subject to appalling treatment. The housing officer of the charity had arranged an appointment for them to see the housing officer in Bedfordshire. They were given train tickets to Bedford and duly attended at the appointed time only to be told by the housing officer that she didn’t think they were eligible to be housed. The housing advice person from the charity was contacted – she in turn then explained to the housing officer in Bedford that they were entitled. Reluctantly they were given emergency accommodation for one night and told to return the next day when the Bedford housing officer would see if she thought they were eligible. The next day they returned – a few more calls were made and they were finally given a place to stay. These are homeless people, most of whom live hand to mouth, and they were given an unfurnished one bedroom flat which was damp with the wall paper peeling off the wall – but they were just glad to have a roof over their heads. The charity I worked for did arrange a loan for them for some furniture as they had none but can you really say that giving someone a flat with no furniture and expecting a 77 year old woman to sleep on the floor is what this society considers to be fair treatment of the elderly? They were not told how long they would have the flat for so were unable to make any firm plans to get their lives back on track. There is however a happy ending to this story. Thanks to friends they have they have now moved to a nicer part of town, paying less rent than the council wanted them to pay and the daughter has secured a permanent job. But none of this was as a result of help they have received through the local authority– this is through private individuals helping and stepping in where the council failed. To a large extent the charity was the prime mover in giving this lady  back enough self confidence to get a job and in her own words treated her like a normal human being!!

But regardless of this happy ending – how can other people expect to get their life back together if they are not given any indication of how long they would might hold on to the accommodation? What happens when the temporary period expires? There is too much uncertainty around getting people off the street and giving them the time and space to get their lives back together. How can anyone plan for the future if they don’t know how long they will be living in a place?

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The Barnet Eye is always pleased to publish guest blogs. These can be submitted using my email address in the sidebar. They are published unedited/unaltered and without comment (usually).

Official Launch of Rant-A-Vision - Incendiary rantings of a deranged lunatic? (or not)

This morning we are pleased to announce a brand new service. We are launching Rant-A-Vision. Got something on your chest, which you want to have a rant about. Record it, stick it on you tube and then let me know and I'll post a blog on it here. To launch the service, I start with a rant from myself about Tuition Fees. I believe they should be scrapped completely and funded from Income tax. Here's why :-


Dave Hill of the Guardian called me "Incendiary". Brian Coleman called me "a deranged ranting lunatic". What do you think? Anyway hope you enjoy it

Welcome additions to the blogs of Barnet

As regular readers of this blog will know, we keep a keen eye on what is going on in other blogs. Sadly Don't Call Me Dave, Barnets most sensible Tory has put away the keyboard and has given up blogging. Several conspiracy theorists have contacted me to ask whether he's been nobbled by the local Tories in the run up to the election. Appealing though this theory is, sadly it isn't true. He took his blogging very seriously and found it was interfering with his studies as he was trying to build a new career. David felt that if he couldn't do the job properly, he shouldn't do it at all. Anyway having cleared that up, lets have a look at a few new blogs.

http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.com/ - Written by Mrs Angry.  A tale of awful neighbours and ASBO's. Not party political but very pissed off.


http://davidkallin.wordpress.com/ - Otherwise known as chopped liver - This is the diary of David Kallin who is a Hendon resident awaiting a liver transplant. It is a compulsive read, if a bit harrowing and upsetting.


http://www.times-series.co.uk/blogs/mohamed_zain_dada/ - A blog by 17 year old Mohamed Zain Dada. He's a young guy with something to say about the world.

Finally, not a Barnet blog at all, but if you like your blogs to make you feel itchy and shout yuk, you should check this out :-

http://www.rentokil.com/blog/ Now generally I don't promote corporate blogs because they are like watching paint drying, but this one is actually quite entertaining at times. The comments are the best bit. I should declare an interest here. I own a grands worth of Rentokil shares (which is how I knew about the blog). I hope my little plug of their blog leads to an instant quadrupling of their shareprice!

Anyway, enjoy. If any of you are writing blogs out there in Barnet please feel free to contact me for a plug. Finally on the general subject of London bloggers, Dave Hill of the Guardian has now got  a regular slot on BBC London to discuss blogs  - read more here -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/davehillblog/2010/mar/29/london-bbc-guardian-top-london-bloggers

Again I should declare an interest, being nominated as one of Dave Hills Guardian Top London Bloggers.

How to become a famous blogger

Hat tip to Roger Owen Green, one of the band of Rogers who blog. Dunno if it counts as famous, but Dave Hill at the Guardian seems to like some of my blogs. (Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.)

Recognition indeed !!!!!

Just a quick note to say that Dave Hill at the Guardian has added the blog to his role call of top London Bloggers. If any of the readers of this blog, old or new, want to come down and say hello, I'm doing a gig with my band, The False Dots, at the Market Bar, Lock 17, Camden Town (above Jongleuers) tonight. It's free entry and we're on at 10pm (there's a host of other bands on as well). You can listen to a few of the songs to learn the words etc at our myspace - http://www.myspace.com/falsedots - If you want to say "Hi", I'm the tall guitarist who's not Portuguese !

Thanks Dave - Dave's other top bloggers are here

Gather your Gorms - It's time to bash Boris

Dave Hill at the Guardian criticises Labour for it's gormless Boris Bashing. Quite rightly Dave says that Labours ridiculous policy of trying to turn people off Boris by calling him a toff or a racist is completely counter productive. Here at the Barnet Eye, we like to think we've got a cupboard full of gorms. We are quite happy to bash Boris, but we limit our Boris bashing to bashing him for breaking his promises and not living up to his expectations.

Boris promised to be a "mayor for the suburbs". He said Ken had neglected areas such as Barnet and he didn't understand the needs of the people who live here. So how has our Barnet friendly Mayor worked out? For a Mayor who claims to be in touch with the suburbs, he clearly doesn't understand that his core constituency are commuters. What has Boris done for the commuters of Barnet? What has he had to say about the First Capital Connect Thameslink fiasco? Given how Boris ejected Sir Ian Blair from the Met Police Commisioners job even though it wasn't within his remit, I wonder why he has done nothing. Had Boris thundered " I will do everything in my power to sack this useless company" when the "emergency timetable" was implemented, I'm sure that the minds of FCC would have focussed rather sharply.

As to the tube service. How many Barnet Commuters were affected by TFL's lacklustre attitude to running a service in the snow. We always get the mantra that it's not economically viable to prepare for bad weather, but according to figures bandied about on the radio and TV, yesterdays disruption to London cost billions. How hard can it be to keep tube lines running when bad weather has long been forecast?

I predicted that the downfall of Boris would be due to his lack of attention to detail and his lack of management experience. It seems to me that this is proving to be the case. Time after time his poor judgement on senior appointments has shown him to be unsuitable for the top job. The Veronica Wadley affair is only the latest in a series of awful judgements by the Mayor.

Another example is some of the bizarre decisions by TFL, of which Boris is the Boss. Abolishing the River Thames from the Tube Map was one. Closer to home in Mill Hill, the decision to reroute the 186 bus away from the Watford Way between Mill Hill Circus and Aerodrome Road is another prime example of lack of attention to detail. This has inconvenienced many local pensioners who used to use the bus to go shopping at Brent Cross. It has also significantly increased the journey time for people North of Mill Hill Circus. Originally a new bus was promised to serve Grahame Park, but a bit of Boris penny pinching put paid to this.

So has Boris been a better Mayor for Barnet than Ken? Not if you use Thameslink. Not if you use the Northern Line, not if you use the 186 Bus in Mill Hill, not if you have to buy a ticket to travel on buses and tubes. The abolition of the Western congestion charge zone will have miniscule positive effects for the voters of Barnet as few people here enter the area regularly. They will however have to pick up the cost of it's removal, in fare and tax increases.

Like many Londoners, I don't care what school Boris went to. All I want from my Mayor is attention to detail and a good job done. Boris has done neither.

How does Barnet's favourate Oik Celebrate ?

I feel honoured. Dave Hill at the Guardian called me an Oik today !!!! OK, well he didn't actually call me an Oik, he said that he thinks that Brian Coleman thinks that I'm an Oik. I've always wanted to be called an Oik by the Guardian, it's sort of a badge of honour for an ageing punk rocker such as myself. As to being thought of as an Oik by Brian Coleman? I've absolutely no idea if it's true or not, it's probably just a nasty rumour, but one of his Tory buddies once told me that "when you were getting drunk and listening to the Sex Pistols, Brian Coleman was singing in the choir at his local church and helping old ladies across the street" or words to that effect. I took it as a great compliment and I'm sure it was meant as such.

It seems that the local Tories are obsessed with the idea that I don't like old Ladies. I've no idea where they got this idea from. In fact, the recent conversations I've had with the various old Ladies I know in Mill Hill, seems to suggest that they actually quite like me. At least three saw me at mass and said "I saw you on the news, your Mum would have loved that". Strangely they all added "Mind you she'd have made you wear a suit, have a shave and take those silly sunglasses off" (or words to that effect). Given the hours I've put in campaigning for the retention of Sheltered Housing Wardens, I think my record of caring for Old Ladies stands up rather well compared to our local Tories.

Anyway, a few people have said that, having taken a few potshots at Brian Coleman for his champagne celebration to celebrate losing his standards case, it is most unfair of me, because I didn't give any details of how I celebrated. Did I have any champagne? Did I hire a swanky restaurant for all my supporters? Actually I did what I do every Thursday evening. It was my good mate, big Paul's turn to drive (yup his name is Paul and he's big). He picked me up at 8:30 and we went and played 5-a-side football for an hour. Then we went to the Three Hammers pub and I drank three pints of Guinness with the rest of the boys I play footie with. At 11:30pm I went home and my wife said "Oh, I thought you may be a bit later because you'd be celebrating". I responded "Celebrate? We lost 7-5?" I'm a rotten loser, you know.

It sort of reminded me of a commercial for lager a few years ago, where a team wins the FA cup, but the picture of the dressing room is one of misery as they have to drink Champagne. They then cut to the losers dressing room where they are all having a great time because, as they lost they can drink beer.

Anyway, have a great Friday night and happy Jewish New Year to you all. I'm off out for a Curry.

Great Train Journeys of the World

I read with interest Dave Hills blog this week about going on a nostalgic tube journey on an old Red tube train. Generally I don't do nostalgia, but reading Dave Hill's article reminded me of all sorts of long buried memories. One of my greatest regrets as a father is that I can't take my children on the greatest train ride of them all. When I was a little kid, the biggest treat was when my mum used to take us home on the "big train" from St Pancras to Mill Hill Broadway.

In the 60's & 70's this journey was usually on a clanky old diesel railbus. These were bright blue with a yellow front. I'd drag my mum to the very front of the train. If you were lucky, the driver would not put the blinds down and you could see the oncoming tracks. The highlight was the stretch between Kentish Town and West Hampstead. On this stretch you go through the Belsize tunnel. We'd always play the game of "who can see the end of the tunnel first". The tunnel is over a mile long and the journey through would seem to take about 10 minutes, with the end emerging through a misty haze after about 8 minutes. On one rather spooky journey, the lights were off all of the way, so it was like a scary fairground ride. I always imagined that zombies and monsters inhabited the tunnel, why I really don't know. Another bit of the journey which I used to like was the section between Hendon and Mill Hill, just before Aerodrome road. Here the line branches off, goes under a rail flyover and has a steep bank to one side that for a few weeks a year is covered in the most glorious wild flowers. In the early days of my life in the 60's, you would emerge from this to see Hendon RAF base on your right, with all manner of the latest military planes. To a young boy, this truly was the worlds greatest train ride. These days you get a glimpse of the RAF Museum at Hendon and then a lovely view of Grahame Park estate.

I vividly remember one day, when we arrived at St Pancras and my mum excitedly announced that she had a special treat. Rather than the rickety old diesel railcar, we were going on a "proper train" with an engine & carriages. It was an express, first stop Mill Hill. It was one of the old style rail carriages with compartments. The carriages then were maroon and the engine was green. The seats had a sort of tartan pattern. I imagined that the train had specially been brought down from Scotland to ferry us to Mill Hill. I asked my mum why it was first stop Mill Hill. She said "because we live there". After that I always thought British Rail was a rather marvellous and caring organisation.

These days, when I take the Thameslink, I don't have the same magical feeling. Whilst I'm rather pleased to seethe train come, it really isn't the same. Is it just because I'm a world weary adult? Having said that, I did make a magical rail journey a few years ago. I was in Stratford and my sister had just had her youngest son and was in the Royal Free. I took the North London Line from Stratford to Hampstead Heath. It was a sunny/cloudy winters afternoon and the sun was just setting. There is a section of the North London line which is raised above street level and I was treated to the most magnificent views of London bathed in the most glourious evening sun. I didn't have my camera, but I've vowed to repeat the journey one day and record it for posterity. How I'd arrange the weather, I don't know. As a lover of craggy urban scene's that is, to my mind one of the worlds greatest train journeys.

One thing which I thought was quite interesting was the lack of pictures of the smelly old diesel railbuses at St Pancras when I was looking for a picture. I guess that people don't hold them in the same affection that I do. I suppose they don't fit in with modern image of Eurostars and champagne bars, which seems to have taken over the St Pancras experience. Personally, I think I preferred it when you could get a pint of real ale in the Shires pub as you waited for you train home.

Dave Hill: Boris Johnsons best PR man?

Dave Hill regularly highlights the failings of the Boris Johnson regime in his Guardian blog. His latest blog details how Boris arrived pissed at a reception for Pride. A member of team Boris has left a comment (the first one) which says about Dave

you're his best PR by a mile Dave, just thought you should know

If that is the case, why is the taxpayer paying one of Boris mates £127,000 a year to do the job, and if Dave's doing a better job, how rubbish must Guito Harri be?

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