Boris 2012 - The most stupid political leaflet ever?

I got this leaflet through the door today, from the Mayor of London. Have I ever seen a more ill timed and stupid leaflet? Let me think about that one. What has been the big London story this week? Riots & looting. Guess what Boris says in the leaflet "By working closely with Brian Coleman, we have so far delivered 75 more police officers on your streets and cut crime by almost 13% in Barnet and almost 14% in Camden". On the other side of the leaflet, Boris proudly boasts of "a fall of 20% in robberies". Hmm, I wonder if the figures include last weeks crimes?

Ok Boris, let's just take this really easy. On Monday night, the streets of London were nearly completely out of control. Were there adequate numbers of police? No, of course there weren't, that's why we have Welsh bobbies patrolling the streets of London. That is why tonight, one of my friends couldn't play five a side football, because all of his leave has been cancelled. If Boris thinks that sending a leaflet boasting about his successes preventing crime, in a week when many London landmarks have gone up in flames and many shops have been looted bare, is a good idea, we have to ask whether he is up to the job  (It is great to see that he's chosen to use Brian Coleman as a big vote winner in Barnet - at least everyone knows to blame him for the riots as well).

As I read the leaflet, was I the only person in London who got this who thought "Mate, you should be apologising for losing control of the streets for three nights, not crowing about what a marvellous job you've done". A couple of the guys I play football with are Conservative voters. They told me they'd read the leaflet in total disbelief. Surely Boris has someone on his team with enough savvy to say "This ain't a great leaflet to send out right now".

Anyway, just in case you weren't lucky enough to receive it, here it is. Click on the images for a more readable version.

The only rational explanation I can think of for putting such a stupid leaflet out and sticking Brian Colemans mug next to his, is that he wants to lose the mayoral election, so he can go back to the Commons and take "Dave" Camerons job? If anyone has a better idea what he's up to, please leave a comment

Tender - A Saturday night special

What a week it's been in London (and other cities). Many people have speculated on how such trouble breaks out and what is the route of it. I have my theories about it, but I happen to think a massive part of the problem is the fact many of the people involved are emotionally unable to relate to other people. They don't realise that when they trash shops and burn down houses, it hurts other people. As a musician who tries to keep up to date with what is happening in the wider music scene, I have to wonder just how rap music has affected the emotional intelligence of many of the young people. The themes of rap are centered on misogyny, sexism, homophobia and materialism. I quite like rap, but am truly amazed how little of it has any sort of a message at all beyond "Smack up me bitch, look at me trainers,like, look at me piece, yeah, I'm tha gangsta in th' hood"

Music can be all sorts of things. It reflects society. There is an argument that violent rap lyrics are an outlet for aggression. If nothing else, it does get young people to start thinking creatively. My hope is that as people develop their styles and technique, they also broaden their minds. What is unarguable is that some of the very best rappers such as Tupac met violent deaths, immersed in gang culture and many young people actually want to emulate that. I'm a fan of such punk songs as "Anarchy in the UK" by the Sex Pistols, "Hate and War" by the Clash and "Babylons burning" by the Ruts. These songs can be seen as quite nihilistic. Sid Vicious of the Pistols and Malcolm Owen of the Ruts both died in the most awful of circumstances. Topper Headon, drummer of the Clash was jailed for drug dealing. MI5 tracked many leading punks. Musical subversion really is nothing new. I see much of the nihilism of punk in rap, without the positive aspects of self reliance, self confidence, equality and independence. Punk spawned "rock against racism", the independent music scene, an independent publishing scene, a new breed of film director/producer and a group of highly politicised and intelligent leaders. Perhaps the greatest moment of all of these was Bob Geldolf and live aid, which saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

What we really need to see is young leaders emerging from the communities which have been most troubled. We need mentors to go in and identify them and help them. We need a few bad boys to to start sending out a few positive messages and doing something for their communities.

And just to remind you, edgy bands can produce beautiful music - here's Tender by Blur. I hope you have a peaceful and tender Saturday night

Rog T on Londonist podcast

If you want to hear Rog T talking about the issues of the week on Londonist Out Loud podcast, just click here

http://londonist.com/2011/08/londonist-out-loud-a-podcast-for-london-12-august-2011.php

Riots, planning, and a whole host of other topics are covered. Also featured is the West Hampstead blogger Jonathan Turton. Hosted by N Quentin Woolf.

#LondonRiots #Londontalksbollocks #Barnet #Brentcross

It's always someone else's fault isn't it. It's always someone elses children. It's all the fault of the parents. It's all the fault of society. It's always the fault of the Police for not "getting stuck in". It's always the fault of David Cameron for not coming home from holiday. There's only one person who is totally exhonourated of all blame for the #Londonriots. Can you guess who that is?

Round this neck of the woods there's a pretty cool blog called "Broken Barnet". Strangely enough, Barnet appears to be one of the less broken parts of London right now. Far less Broken than Tottenham or Clapham. I'm just waiting for the first local Tory to say that this is because they've done a marvellous job. Luckily for us, the demographics of our Borough, are such that we are not well set up for rioting. Our biggest shopping centre, Brent Cross is not really close enough to any of the usual hotbeds of rioters that cause such problems elsewhere. The big Council Estates, such as Burnt Oak and Grahame Park are not particularly close to easily robbable shopping centres full of large chains selling designer goods. I heard a couple of likely lads on the 302 bus saying that Burnt Oak had been spared the rampage "because there's nothing worth nicking down there"(I suspect they were only semi joking).

As I heard the conversation, it became pretty apparent that there is a perception that "robbing shops" is OK. That all shopkeepers are rich, so it doesn't matter. There seems to be a perception that if you can nick stuff and get away with it, that is OK. Is this attitude reflective of youth today generally? I happen to believe that it's not. I don't even believe that it is reflective of the majority of the young people who are looting. Sadly, I believe that many young people feel incredible peer pressure to "belong" to the groups that are causing the problems.

Over the last year, I've been involved in a youth project at our studios, where we've got some of the most troubled young people in Barnet (NEET kids, to use the lovely Council term) involved in music making. The 10 week courses has resulted in a massive change in the attitudes of those taking part. just developing some self confidence has massively changed their perspective on life. I happen to believe that EVERY rioter has been failed by the last 30 years worth of political leadership. I am one of those namby pamby doo gooders who believe that nearly all of us are basically good, some of us just never have the chance to show it. I've had my doubts, but the sound school project reinforced this belief.

One of my daughters was telling me that someone she knows has been excluded from school. What for? Smoking Pot in the woods. Has the school done the right thing? Expelling someone for indulging in a form of self harm? I don't think so. Who is a 14 year old, who goes to the woods to smoke pot in school time harmed? As I see it, they've only harmed themselves. They are damaging their education. How has the school responded? By damaging it even more. By stigmatising the young person what have they done? This scenario is repeated all over the country. A results obsessed educational system has thrown such kids to the wolves. Once you have been turfed out, where do you go? What are your prospects? What happens next?

Sadly many young people decide that drugs are the solution to a bad situation. These days kids are given education about the subject, but what exactly are they being told? Take cannabis for example and it's preferred current form - Skunk weed. Why should a 14 year old steer clear of it? It might make you suffer from mental illness? Well most 14 year olds know people who are smoking it who clearly are perfectly sane. As a result they don't believe the literature. For some formerly high achieving pupils, skunk starts a rapid decline in marks, but what do you tell the kid who was low achieving already? When they find they can make decent money dealing to classmates, how do you discourage them? I don't pretend to know the answers, but we'd better start trying to find them, because if we don't the situation will only get worse. One thing is clear to me. The cuts in funding for youth projects is sending all of the wrong messages. The devil makes work for idle hands. Every teenager who can no longer go to whatever scheme they were participating in, is potentially bored, bitter and disaffected. The last thing I'd ever do is condone vandalism and robbery, but we need to support our youth, otherwise the dark voices which seduce them into such activities have free reign.

So who do I blame for the #Londonriots -  I blame the whole f***ing lot of us. Those who do it, because they know it's wrong, no matter what they say, those who have let the situation develop and yes, you and me brother for not doing everything we possibly could to stop elitism in schools, destruction of youth schemes, closure of libraries, marginalisation of those on the edge of society.

And I will leave all you smug Barnet Councillors with this thought. I believe that the reason Brent Cross Shopping Centre wasn't trashed and burnt to the ground on Sunday was because there wasn't a huge number of disaffected people in awful "social housing" living on top of it. Anyone who has seen the plans for the Brent Cross redevelopment, will not need a crystal ball to see what will happen, if we have riots in 10 year time once the rabbit hutch flats have been built next door to it. It is a disaster waiting to happen and if you can't see that after this last week, you ain't fit to hold public office.

Message from Deputy Leader of Barnet Council regarding riots

The Deputy Leader of Barnet Council praised Barnet police this morning for their prompt action overnight.

“Barnet escaped the worst of last night’s violence, in large part due to the very prompt action taken by the borough’s police. But there was still a level of criminality that was completely unacceptable to Barnet’s residents.
“Obviously these are going to be some difficult nights for London. We all need to follow the advice of the police and stay in this evening so they can do their job. In particular I trust that Barnet parents will keep their children with them this evening and make sure they are not out and running the risk of getting caught up in criminality or hampering the police as they deal with potential disturbance.
“Local businesses should follow the Metropolitan Police’s advice, which is available on our website.
“Over the next few days we need to make sure that those who have despoiled London in this way are properly punished and anyone with any information that could lead to prosecution should speak to the police.”
Barry Rawlings, Deputy Leader of Barnet Labour Group, said: “I want to make it clear that members of all sides of the political divide in Barnet will be working together with the police and the community as London copes with this civil disturbance.
“I support the decision of the police to encourage everybody to stay indoors this evening and in particular to make sure that parents have their children with them.

“Barnet is made up of strong communities and its these communities that will pull together to make sure that this level of criminal behaviour is unacceptable to them all.”

This is taken from Barnet Council Website - original message here

http://www.barnet.gov.uk/press_releases.htm?id=2380