Barnet Tory Cabinet member promises to put Wales first

I kid you not. Daniel Thomas, represented the Tories in Islwyn in Wales for the general election. He made no mention of being a Barnet Councillor and promised to put the people of Islwyn first. He also promised to not claim a second home allowance. Whilst he clearly cared about saving his Welsh friends money, he had no such qualms about the people of Barnet, leading the fight for a huge allowance raise for the Barnet Tories. Read this


http://www.caerphillyobserver.co.uk/news/3382/islwyn-tories-select-blackwood-man-as-election-candidate/

As far as I'm concerned, the Welsh are welcome to this two faced git

A lesson for Brian Coleman

Brian Coleman took great pleasure in being the returning officer for the General Election results in Barnet. It may or may not surprise you to hear that there were reports of late voting papers, queues at polling stations and other problems. I have already requested a meeting with Barnet Council to discuss the appalling conditions for the staff counting votes. They were accomodated in large marquees which were freezing cold, with no adequate heating. Staff were dressed for office conditions and some were frozen solid. It seems churlish for us candidates to moan, given that we could adjourn to the council offices for hot drinks and to thaw out, but it wasn't a pleasant experience.
It is normal for candidates to thank the returning officer for doing a good job. What should happen when such a fiasco ensues. In Sheffield there were also problems. The BBC reports that the returning officer has given up his £20,000 fee as a result of issues with the vote. I wonder if Councillor Coleman received a fee as returning officer? If he did, I wonder if he has any intention of following the honourable example of the his Sheffield counterpart? I await an announcement.

Barnet Council Election Fiasco : Hendon Constituency Latest

Regular readers of this blog will know that I'm not a fan of either the Tory or the Labour candidate from the  2010 general election for Hendon. Outgoing MP Andrew Dismore is on record as saying that he felt that problems with voting arrangements had resulted in voters who wished to vote for him and who turned up at polling stations being unable to do so. The margin of Matthew Offords victory was 105 votes. This means that if a net difference of 106 Andrew Dismore voters were unable to vote, due to bad organisation, he has a very good point.

I spoke to Mr Dismore on the phone this morning to try and ascertain whether he honestly felt that the problems stopped a net total of 106 more of his voters from casting their vote. Mr Dismore gave me an example of voters at one polling station being told at approx 9.30am that the polling forms hadn't arrived and they should go home. Now I voted at Hartley Hall polling station in Mill Hill. This was at 8am. I sat and chatted to our teller for approx 1/2 an hour, leaving at approx 8.30. All forms had arrived on time and we had counted 120 voters by the time I left. I took the telling slips to our HQ on departure. This station wasn't particularly busy at this time (compared to queues I saw later at other stations). By my estimates, we were getting 80 voters an hour. If the station Mr Dismore mentions had a similar level of voters, that means 200 would have passed through by 9.30. The council election results would indicate a 3:1 split of voters.That is a net total of 133. Enough to swing the vote? Now clearly some may have come back later, however we don't know how many. We also don't know what time the ballot papers arrived.

Now quite clearly all of this is purely anecdotal from an interested party. I have no interest in which of the two guys win, but I have a massive interest in making sure any vote in the London Borough of Barnet is fair. I am extremely disturbed by what I've been told happened. I wish to verify this for myself as I intend to produce a full and detailed report. I am asking a massive favour from all Barnet Eye readers. I can only get to the bottom of this if you help me. Please could any Barnet Eye reader who had any problem voting email me. Please detail what time (approx) you voted and where the polling station was. I don't need to know who you voted for (but if you feel it is relevant please tell me). I will merely collate the statistical evidence. I may reproduce the outline details here on this blog (without mentioning your name) of any reported incidents.  I will under no circumstances divulge your name elsewhere. If you specifically ask for it, I will pass your details on to Andrew Dismore, if you feel your experience could help his case.

This is not a political crusade and I'm not taking sides. I just want to make sure that we fix the problems for future.

CLICK HERE TO EMAIL ME DETAILS OF ANY PROBLEMS CASTING YOUR VOTE

Death by poison

When I started writing this blog, I made a decision to avoid national issues unless they were unavoidable. The issue of who Nick Clegg goes to bed with is unavoidable. I personally hope Nick Clegg does a full deal with the Conservative Party. PR, reform of the tax system, reform of education, Vince Cable as Chancellor and Nick Clegg as foreign secretary. Now this will all take two years. I would also like to see it be a part of the deal that Parliament will run for a fixed term of two years and David Cameron will under no circumstances call an election before or after two years.

This may surprise anyone who knows my political views, but there are good reasons for this.Most importantly, the economy is F*****D. From what I've seen only Vince Cable has the authority and intellect as chancellor to sort t out. I trust Vince Cable not to indulge in ill thought out slash and burn Tory economics. A Lib/Lab/everyone else deal will just have too many vested interests and the Nationalists will ensure a carve up which will bankrupt us all. London will foot the bill for scotland, wales and Northern Ireland to be spared the knife. However much I hate the Tories, that is not fair and will kill the UK. Why Clegg as foreign secretary. Quite simply because the Lib Dems have called the big issues better than the other parties, most notably Iraq. It will keep him out of the way and let Cameron actually be Prime Minister. Having said that I think two years is quite enough of such an arrangement. If they are all working to a fixed timetable, they won't be tempted to pick petty squabbles and call a crunch election the first time the polls look appealing.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a prospect I like. The thought that I spent five months campaigning for this kills me, but the Lib Dems have lost their political virginity and they now have a very nasty STD. Ultimately though, if this deal is done, there is one massive benefit. In their desperation to grab power by any means, the Tories will have taken poison. Any change to the voting system will make it harder for them to have an outright majority. This will make the possibility of a hard right Thatcherite Conservative Government a virtual impossibility. A centre right Coalition is a price worth paying of that. As to the performance of this Government. If Vince Cable saves the economy, we all win and the Lib Dems will get credit from the electorate. If he fails, then Cameron is Prime Minister and will be rightly punished.

One thing no one has mentioned at all. What happened the last time we had a Conservative Prime Minister in Coalition with Liberal cabinet colleagues? They saved the country. What happened next - a Labour Landslide victory. To quote Karl Marx "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce".

Should the Mill Hill Council Election and the Hendon Parliamentary Election be rerun?

Do we live in a banana republic in Barnet? I had an extraordinary conversation with a local Conservative activist today. What never ceases to amaze me is that some of the most honest people in Barnet politics seem to be a small band of Conservative activists who still support the Tories, but who are disgusted with the local party. Before anyone asks, the person isn't Dan Hope or David Miller. He asked me if I would be supporting Andrew Dismore in his legal challenge to the result (should he decide to lodge one).

I immediately said "No, I have no dispute with the result. None of the discrepancies would have affected my result, so it would purely be sour grapes and being a bad loser".

He then said the following "That really isn't the point. The point is that law was broken and even if it made no difference to the result, the election should be restaged. If we ignore the law when we hold elections we are no better than a banana republic".

Now there are very good practical reasons why I think it would be a waste of time rerunning the election. Firstly the cost. It wouldn't be cheap. The taxpayer would have to pay it and for what?
Secondly given the margin in the Council Election, it really wouldn't have affected the result. As to the General Election result. I suppose conceivably, it might. The margin was 105. We don't have any estimates of how many people were affected as we hadn't asked our tellers to actually count any people affected. Mr Dismore had no tellers at the polling stations so his evidence would surely be more anecdotal. Thirdly, just suppose the election was rerun and Andrew Dismore won. In the big scheme of things would it really affect that much? Labour would still have a huge number of seats less than the Conservatives. Things have changed since May 6th, so it wouldn't necessarily be any fairer on the voters.

Having said that, my Conservative friend made one point which I can't think of a logical way of refuting. The election was without question botched. Things happened at certain polling stations which, if proven,  are without question illegal (I am not going to discuss what they are here). The only way Barnet Council and the people involved will ever get them right in future is to be taught a harsh lesson.

As I said, I don't think that a rerun is the way forward, but a full proper, transparent enquiry must be held. The results must be published. If it transpires that these were minor problems, they had no effect whatsover on the result and no laws were broken, then that is the end of the matter.

If the problems were administrative blunders and could be shown to be caused by a completely unexpected and unpredictably high number of voters, and by poor training resulting in people not understanding election law and not enforcing it, then if the result was not affected in a provable manner, then we need to learn the lessons for next time. End of story.

But what if it can be shown that there was a darker side to all of this. What if there was deliberate "problems" in wards which could affect the result in anticipation of a tight result? In this case, even if as it turned out, the council result wasn't affected, can it be allowed to stand? What is the point having laws if they are not followed? Now I don't actually believe this was what happened, but just suppose and investigation shows it was? That is a completely different ball game and it would trouble me. As an affected party with an axe to grind, I don't think it would be right or proper for me to comment as I have a clear interest. I would be happy to abide by whatever decision a truly independent panel of experts decided, end of story.

So to answer the question in the title - Should the Mill Hill Council Election and the Hendon Parliamentary Election be rerun? No I don't personally think they should. If a full investigation finds they should be restaged, then so be it. What we do need to do is to investigate the whole fiasco properly and fully publish the results. I have written to Nick Walkley -CEO of Barnet - requesting a meeting to discuss this and I will explain in detail my concerns. I am seeking to ensure that such things never happen again in the London Borough of Barnet. I hope all politicians on all sides agree that a proper investigation is the way forward, with full disclosure of the findings. Lets learn the lessons of Thursday and transform Barnet into a model council for others to look up to.

A message for Andrew Dismore and Matthew Offord

As the job of MP for Hendon passed from Andrew Dismore to Matthew Offord. I suppose it's a bit rich for a failed council candidate such as me to offer anyone any advice, but it is genuine and well meant.

Dear Andrew Dismore,
I have read with abject horror your comments about the election. I was at the count and heard your speech. I am quite frankly appalled. I am one of the thousands of people who worked for your election in 1997 and voted for you in all the elections which you won. I am sorry to say that the reason you lost on Thursday was because you let us all down. I acknoweldge and appreciate your hard work in the constituency and had it not been for this I would have been a far more vitriolic and constant critic. Your loss on Thursday was down to one thing. You. It was because of your ridiculous attitude to expenses. You may or may not recall that we met in 2002 when I was still a Labour member. You may recall that I advised you then to stop abusing the expenses system. I told you this as a concerned friend . My advice then - "stop it or it will come back to haunt you". I am sorry to say it has.

This is for two reasons. You have turned off many voters who otherwise would have been more than happy to vote for you. Secondly your actions have severely demotivated activist (and former activists such as myself). Had it not been for this, I would have remained a member of the Labour Party and campaigned through this blog on your behalf. You would have won handsomely. As it is, your actions forced me to re-evaluate my political allegiance. Having broken the bond with Labour, but not wishing to see a Tory victory, I am more than happy to be a Lib Dem. You have disgraced yourself. If you had stood up and apologised for the expenses scandal when you lost and behaved with grace and dignity, I would have probably felt sorry for you and guilty for not voting Labour in a general election for the first time. As it was, I felt your behaviour has completely vindicated my decision.

Thank you for your hard work on behalf of the ordinary people of Hendon. I wish you luck in future with your career and hope that in the fullness of time, when you have reflected on what happens, you realise that it is nobodies fault but your own. Please learn from this and stop looking like a bad loser. It is hard to take, believe me I know. Take it on the chin.

Regards

Roger Tichborne

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

Dear Matthew Offord,

Firstly congratulations on winning Hendon. As you know, I have been one of your harshest critics. You now have the chance to prove me wrong. I urge you to not take the people of Hendon for granted and to work as hard for them as Andrew Dismore has. Given your majority, you have one of the tightest marginal seats in the country and will be under severe pressure to hold it. Once Gordon Brown goes and David Cameron calls a snap election, you will be under severe pressure to keep it. The best way to do this is hard work for the people you represent.

One bit of advice I can offer you for free. If and when you eventually lose an election, take a look at how Mr Dismore has behaved. This will be how he is remembered - as a bad loser. Whenever that day comes, behave with dignity and grace. I genuinely hope you do a good job until that day comes.

regards

Roger Tichborne

Great Britain will join the euro within five years - update

I wrote this blog in July last year - I didn't realise I was a mystic meg in disguise :-


http://barneteye.blogspot.com/2009/07/great-britain-will-join-euro-within-5.html

Fellow Barnet blogger "Don't call me Dave" left this comment in response :-

Blimey Rog, I thought you'd stopped smoking that wacky backy?

2 July 2009 22:39

The first three predictions I made in this blog were as follows (and bear in mind this was nearly a year ago when David Cameron looked unassailable).

January 2010 - Britian starts a borrowing lead recovery from recession, Labour poll ratings improve, but not enough

May 2010 - General election - Tories form a minority government propped up by Unionists

June 2010 - Brown resign's, Mandelson anoints Gordon Brown's replacement. Tories pass vicious austerity budget.

 Sound a bit familiar. Still think I'm on the Wacky Baccy Dave?

The Prime Minister is in Burnt Oak

For a pleb, I'm rather lucky. I've met two Prime Ministers out on the campaign trail!

Only one was actually Prime Minister, my meeting with Lady Thatcher in 1974 (documented elsewhere in this blog) walking home from School occurred when she was merely MP for Finchley.

The other meeting occurred in 1979. James Callaghan was Prime Minister and he was on the campaign trail. I was pondering this visit and how times have changed. At the time, Hendon North was a safe Tory seat, with John Gorst as MP (would Brown bother with a safe Tory seat today). There are many parallels between 1979 and today. Callaghan and Brown were both not elected, they took over from people who had won three elections each (Wilson and Blair). They had both been involved in Labour governments which had huge fiscal crises (IMF Bailout and the Credit Crunch). They had both been viewed as good chancellors by the nation. They both were accident prone  (Callaghan "Crisis, what crisis?". Brown - Bigotgate).

Having said that, there are differences. Callaghan was generally liked in the country. He wasn't seen as the problem. Most people preferred Callaghan to Thatcher personally at the time. He was a warm character, often called "Sunny Jim". They were just sick of the Labour government. The Liberals were seen as a minor irrelevence. They were expecting to get a dozen or so MP's and their only real hope of power was to hold the balance of power and force the introduction of PR, propping up a minority government. Today the Lib Dems are poised to get the largest number of seats since the second world war. Whilst Thatcher was a hard right Tory with a clear agenda and presented a clear change from Callaghans government, nobody really seems to know what David Cameron stands for (least of all himself).

Anyway, I was in the sixth form common room at Orange Hill Senior High School when someone said "Jim Callaghan is visiting the Labour hall in Burnt Oak to make a speech at midday". Myself, Boz Boorer, Phil Bloomberg and a few others immediately trudged off down. It's fair to say that some of us were more motivated by a desire to get on telly than any deeply held political views. As it turned out, the Prime Minister turned up an hour late. He was given a raptuous ovation for five minutes, then said "thanks for your support. I can tell you that we are going to win" and then left again. Outside a line of dignitaries was formed to shake hands, but we all pushed in front. The Prime Minister said as he shook hands "Thanks for all your hard work". I replied "my pleasure". We were given a roll of Labour stickers, which we went out and plastered the common room with. Phil Bloomberg then suggested we go out canvassing. We made our way up to the Stonegrove Estate and the first door Phil knocked on, when asked if he was voting Labour, replied "No mate, I'm National Front". At this Phil punched him in the face. A year or so later I was in a pub in Dean Street, The Sound and Vision, that had a video jukebox - probably the first in the country. They had "John, I'm only dancing" by the Polecats on - the band in which Phil Bloomberg played bass. As they were mates, I played the track. One of my mates, who was in a hard core, very political punk band said "Why are you playing this. I can't stand this sort of music". I relayed the Phil Bloomberg canvassing story and he said "Sorry mate, I stand corrected".

Times change.  I'm pleased to say that I've not resorted to such measures in my campaign for the Lib Dems.

A Change is Gonna Come

This is dedicated to all of the mad people of all parties who have spent the last few weeks trudging the streets of Great Britain doing their bit for democracy. Enjoy your Saturday night. I know I will



If I was the Leader of the Lib Dems, this is the song I'd have picked for a campaign theme tune. Listen and enjoy (whoever you support). Have a great evening

Nick Clegg spotted in Mill Hill and the dangers of canvassing

 Gordon Brown is in the news because he took exception to something a voter said out on the campaign trail.

You hear all sorts of views, all sorts of opinions and all sorts of comments. Sometimes you may have talked to someone and thought you've made a great impression and only find out later that you got the complete wrong end of the stick. Let me give you an example of one such event in Mill Hill.

One Lady who I spoke to yesterday told me she was highly impressed with the local Lib Dem campaign in Mill Hill. I was rather pleased having worked hard on it for the last six months. Then she delivered the knockout blow. "I was so impressed with you getting Nick Clegg down to the Mill Hill Broadway on Saturday". I was rather puzzled. "Nick Clegg in the Broadway?". She replied "Yes you know, when you had your stall. He was walking up and down handing out spoof Conservative leaflets".

Suddenly the truth dawned. She'd met Matthew Offord, the local Conservative candidate for Parliament, who had also been doing the rounds. Now I had a dilemma. What should I say. She carried on "I told him he did very well in the debate and he said thank you very much". I realised Matthew must have thought she was talking about the candidates debate at the local Shul. I thought I'd try and break the news gently "Do you know who the local Conservative candidate is?" I asked. "Oh yes, he knocked on my door. He's that chap who looks like Jimmy Edwards. I wouldn't give him the time of day". I asked her if she'd be voting for us. She replied "yes, I've already posted my vote. I always do".

At that I decided that I'd leave it there. I wonder how many other people met Matthew Offord and thought he was Nick Clegg handing out spoof Conservative leaflets? I suppose that given his enormous popularity, if I was Matthew I would take it as a compliment.

Mill Hill Lib Dem helps Tory Election Campaign

I have a confession to make. I've helped our local Conservative candidate, Matthew Offord with his campaign to be an MP. Now I didn't know I was helping him, but had I known, I would have still helped him. Does this shock you, knowing my views on Matthew?

Let me explain. I just got a Matthew Offord leaflet through the door. It is a two page newspaper style leaflet. On the back is a picture of a group of pensioners under the title "Labour cuts freedom pass". If you look carefully at the picture, there is a Lady at the back of a certain age, holding up her pass. She is a neighbour of mine. She lives on her own and I've known her for years. On many occasions we've helped her out in small ways. I don't mind, it's what a community does for each other.

About six weeks ago, she came down to see me. She was having trouble filling in her application for her freedom pass. I duly helped her complete the form and then walked around to the post office and posted the envelope. That was the end of the matter I thought. The next time I saw this pass was this morning on the Matthew Offord magazine. Had I known what she'd do, would I have given her the bird and told her to go away? No of course I wouldn't. So what if it helps Matthew Offord with his campaign. We are all entitled  to our views.

We are a tolerant society and I celebrate the fact that I get on with all sorts of people with all sorts of political views. It is sad that some politicians live in such an insular bubble that they can't see beyond their own narrow interests

Mandelson attacks Nick Clegg

I've just heard Peter Mandelson attacking Nick Clegg for being arrogant and that he has "no right to play kingmaker before a vote has been cast"

Have you got that - Peter Mandelson doesn't like Nick Clegg (please tell all your friends)

How can he have the impertenence to play kingmaker when everyone knows that's Peter Mandelsons job.

I am sure that being slagged off by Peter Mandelson will finish Nick Clegg off completely - Ha Ha Ha !!!!

David Cameron - an urban spaceman in a policy vacuum

It's Sunday night, and I've had a hard days canvassing. This clip is dedicated to the Leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron.


Here's the Lyrics


Urban Spaceman - The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band

I'm the urban spaceman baby, I've got speed
I've got everything I need
I'm the urban spaceman baby, I can fly
I'm a supersonic guy

I don't need pleasure
I don't feel pain
If you were to knock me down
I'd just get up again
I'm the urban spaceman babe and
I'm making out
I'm all about

I wake up every morning
with a smile upon my face
My natural exuberance
spills out all over the place
I'm the urban spaceman
I'm intelligent and clean
Know what I mean?

I'm the urban spaceman, as a lover second to none
It's a lot of fun

I never let my friends down
I've never made a boob
I'm a glossy magazine
an advert in the tube
I'm the urban spaceman babe, but here comes the twist
I don't exist

-------------------------------------
remind you of someone ???????????

Barnet Blogs update :- Buggles featuring Han Dope

As ever the Barnet Eye is keen to keep its readers up to date with the world of the Barnet Blogosphere

Probably the most notable recent addition is The Barnet Bugle. This is the work of former Barnet Conservative Councillor Dan Hope (or Han Dope as us dyslexics like to call him). Dan is an  interesting character, one of the many true blue Tories who have, shall we say, not been massively impressed with the local Tory council. Of all of the Barnet Tories I have jousted electronically for longer with Mr Hope than any of them. He understands electronic media better than any of the rest of the Barnet Tories (with the exception of Don't Call Me Dave). When he first cropped up on my radar, I coined the term "Bonkers Dan Hope" as I felt he had some rather odd views on issues such as road humps. As the local Tories became more entrenched in power and disaster followed disaster, I came to realise that Dan is actually one of the least bonkers of the Barnet Conservatives. The Barnet Bugle is running a local election diary and if you want to follow the election, it is a great place to look. I doubt that Dan really wants my endorsement, but I'd be lying if I said that the Bugle isn't one of the first blogs I check every day.

Another interesting blog, especially for those of my readers interested in Jewish issues and Israel is the blog written by Richard Millett, a former Mill Hill Conservative Candidate. This is notable as Mr Millett is not afraid to criticise the Barnet Tory Council or even David Cameron for his comments about East Jerusalem.

The Hendon Times is also running an election blog for the candidates. The Conservative challenger for Hendon, Matthew Offord has posted a few entries as has Matthew Harris, the Lib Dem. I am intrigued by Matthew Offords postings. He repeatedly tells anecdotes about what people have said to him in Mill Hill. Now I've spoken to thousands of people in Mill Hill on the campaign trail. It seems that they must tell Matthew completely different things to what they tell me. Is it possible that the people of Mill Hill are trying to cheer Matthew up? I don't know, but it is rather intriguing? The most interesting thing though is that there is no blog from Andrew Dismore, the Labour candidate (or any of the others). Wasn't he asked or couldn't he be bothered? Either way it's pretty disturbing.

Leadership debate part II

So we had the second installment of the Leadership debate. As regular readers will know, I always play five a side football on a Thursday night (may have a night off in two weeks though), so I missed it. Afterwards we adjourned to the Three Hammers pub. It was clear to me as I started supping my shandy (it was my turn to drive, so no hard stuff), that whilst politicos are in an orgasmic blather about the issue, the rest of society takes a different view. Last weeks debate was a new experience and people were fascinated. Last night many people watched maybe 20 minutes of it then got bored,once it appeared that all of the intensive coaching Cameron and Brown have had in the last week hadn't transformed them into Superman. I suspect that 90 minutes is far too long for most people.

What conclusions can we glean from the second debate :-

* If you do your homework properly, you do better
* It's all still to play for

When I got home, I watched some of the debate and some of the analysis. I don't think that the two debates have added a single vote to the Tories or Labour. If you watched both debates and hadn't made your mind up, there really is only one winner. Ultimately that's all that matters.

Who's Sorry Now

If I were Richard Desmond, I'd back the Lib Dems

The Daily Express used to be the newspaper with the largest circulation in Great Britain. It used to sell four million copies a day. Today it sells just over half a million. Why? Because it has lost touch. Earlier this week Leo McInstry wrote a whole page of comment explaining why the Lib Dems are a bad idea. Now whilst he's entitled to his view, if I was his boss, proprietor Mr Richard Desmond, maybe I'd take a different view. There's no shortage of papers spouting right wing nonsense, most of whom do it far better than the Daily Express and to a far wider audience. I wonder if Mr Desmond has considered how many people vote Lib Dem, either in Council or general elections. There are many millions. None of these have a newspaper which supports their views. There is a whole mass market which is being ignored. There's a chance (increasing every day) that the Lib Dems will play a massive role in the new parliament. It is a copper bottomed, once in a generation opportunity. If I was the owner of a national newspaper and I wanted to catch the public imagination, what better way to become the story and set the agenda. What better way to show that you have reconnected?

There was an interview in the Guardian on Monday with David Yelland, former editor of The Sun. This details how the national papers ignore the Lib Dems. Given the millions of supporters, I just can't believe that it would be bad business for a tabloid to give these voters the choice of a paper which reflects their views.

Rail Franchise renewals

David Cameron implores us to "Join the Government, Help us run the country, help us make the decisions". Sadly neither Mr Cameron or his local representative in Hendon seems to be in the slightest bit interested in sorting out the biggest cock up of the last Conservative government. This bemuses me. I would have thought that a cast iron promise to sort out the Rail operating companies fleecing us for huge profits and providing a Dismal service would have delivered huge rewards.

How on earth they have failed to tap into the huge groundswell of resentment that has built up, with facebook groups, No 10 petitions etc is beyond me. Whilst they talk about the ability to sack Head teachers (all of whom in Barnet seem to do a rather good job in difficult circumstances), sack your local coppers (who also do a good job), not a  dickeybird about sacking train companies who fleece us and have only managed to meet their required service level once in the last 7 months.

There are an army of disgruntled people out there.  One such person is Joyce Zannoni who was so disgruntled that she sent an freedom of information request to the Department of Transport asking as to whether it was true that a certain rail company had their franchise renewed (by a team of Civil Servants). She posted the response to a Facebook set up to complain about a certain companies service.

Here is there response (with Joyce's address redacted for obvious reasons. Joyce first published this on the relevant website for the train company).

As you can see this franchise was extended in Feb 2009 until 2014. No discussion, no consultation, no opportunity for commuters to pass an opinion on whether they should have been allowed to continue.

This company has been granted a virtual monopoly. Surely the views of it's customers should have been taken into account. Surely, like failing MPs they should be taken into account of it stops performing? I have a simple suggestion. If a company fails to meet it's agreed service levels for a period of more than three months, then the company will be forced to conduct a consultation of its customers. If a majority want the franchise to be stripped, then they will lose it.

At the end of the franchise or prior to renewal, another consultation will be performed. If the perception of the passengers is that the rail company has failed, they will lose the franchise and be banned from bidding for other franchises for two years. I ran this suggestion by a senior rail manager in December "That wouldn't work. We'd spend all our time having to pander to customers whims". An the problem with that is? In my opinion pandering to the customers is far better than pandering to the bank accounts of the directors and the shareholders of the company. We'd then get a bit of customer focus.

Why did you get married?

What is the most stupid, crass and wasteful tax proposal you've heard recently? Which one do you think is the biggest and most pointless waste of money? There is only one which really gets me spitting blood. Let me tell you why. Normally I leave this sort of thing alone, but when something is plain stupid, you just have to say.

Last week I celebrated my 15th wedding anniversary. Over the 15 years we've had some difficult times, most notably losing my mother and both of my wifes parents in the space of 18 months. It is hard to say whether this brought us closer together as we were pretty close together to start with. Why did I marry her? Because it was clear to both of us that we much preferred being together than apart (we tried that as well before we got hitched). The Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has come up with the idea of an "incentive" for people to get/stay married. He's going to give them a cash bung via the tax system.

Now excuse me for asking, but isn't there meant to be a crisis in public finances. Isn't there meant to be a squeeze on the cash the Government have to spolsh around? There are many levels which make this proposed "incentive" a bad idea. The biggest one is that it will have no effect whatsoever on whether people who really like each other get or stay married. It might mean that people who have split up, stay officially married until they meet new partners, to make a few quid. It's not inconceivable that a few people who don't even know each other and have no intention of having a relationship get married to get their hands on the cash. What will it acheive? Will it stimulate the economy? Unlikely. Will it create New jobs? Unlikely. Where will it come from?  A tax on banks. Aren't these all skint and desperately trying to rebuild their balances sheets? Aren't most of them owned by the taxcpayer, so the dividends go to the treasury anyway.  Will George Osborne wake up one morning to find that all he's done with his bank tax is deprive himself of dividends?

There are plenty of other things he could have done, if he really though that taxing banks was the best way to stimulate the economy. Here's a few suggestions, feel free to let me know which ones you think might have been a better option.

a) Repaid some of the National debt, reducing the amount of interest we'll have to pay in future.
b) Electrified or built a new rail line, generating jobs, improving infrastructure and making our nation greener.
c) Built some new prisons so we could lock up more criminals and reduce all of our insurance bills and let us sleep sounder at night.
d) Given small businesses employing less than five people a tax break if they took on extra staff.
e) Built offshore wind farms to produce cheap sustainable electricity and lessen our dependence on erratic foreign supplies.
f) Given a tax break to people buyimng electric cars, to improve the economy and develop jobs within a green industry.
g) Built new council houses to help deal with the crisis of housing in our country
i) Reduce the Tax on home grown wine to stimulate the local industry

Now I've just picked a random list of proposals from various parties and candidates which I've seen over the last few weeks. I support some but not all of these proposals. Please let me know if there is anyone out there who thinks that George Osbornes proposal is better for us than any of these and why. This marriage tax bung is stupid and wasteful and just shows that George Osborne isn't up to the job (By the way, on my wedding anniversary I saw Ken Clarke being interviewed on BBC News Channel after our nice meal out, seems from his comments he's with me on this one and thinks Osborne is wrong). If you are planning to vote Tory as you think they know how to run the economy properly, think again. Whilst many Tories are posting web stories saying "Vince Cable isn't quite as marvellous as you may think" none of them have actually managed to say they have the slightest belief that George Osborne know better than Vince Cable. The reason? because they'd look like idiots before the world if they did.