The Sunday Reflection #76 - Sex and Money - the root of all evil (and all the best stories)

One question that people keep asking me, not that I am an more clued up than anyone else, is why on Earth Sir Keir Starmer was so stupid as to not dismiss out of hand the suggestion that Peter Mandelson become US ambassador, given his record of dodgy financial dealings and his close association with Paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Whilst I cannot really throw any light on such matters, I do recall some advice my Dad gave me, when I was in my early teens. He said "Son, the most important lesson you can ever learn, is that if someone is behaving in a way that you cannot fathom, then there is either sex or money involved". The current scandal has both and in the most unsavoury of ways. 

One of the more interesting things that you learn when you dig into politics is how much richer people seem to become when they hold public office. It also seems to do wonder for their libido's. There are many lessons to learn from the whole sorry Epstein business and most of them are very disturbing. It is clear that you can make a huge amount of money operating a peadophile procurement business for rich and powerful men. It is also clear that when you become a liability to the men who you've been supplying with children, you are disposed of. It is also abundently clear that many of the worlds most powerful men think that money gives them the right to become sex abusers. One of the darkest elements of the whole tawdry affair is that it also shows that no one in power gives a stuff about the victims of rich and powerful sex abusers. 

I am in many ways what we might call quite old fashioned in my views. I have only ever really been interested in sex in a consensual relationship, where both parties like each other. The idea of giving a woman who doesn't like me cash to have sex with me is something I find most unappealing. When I was a teenager, I worked as a painter and decorator. I worked repainting the home that a local Madame used as brothel. I spent about four weeks tarting it up (forgive the pun). I got to know several of the girls who worked there. None did it because they liked the work. None of them had any respect for the punters, except for one guy. He was disabled and in a wheelchair. His brother used tp bring him once a month for a treat. The brother would bring biscuits and chat to the girls over a cup of tea, whilst his brother was being entertained. One of the girls told me that they were the only customers they had any respect for. They would make a special effort for him. The customers were all respectable men, policemen, bankers, GP's and JP's. When you work on a place, you almost become part of the furniture. The lady who ran the place was keen on a safe environment, no pimps, diserespectful customers were chucked out. But ultimately it was all a bit dehumanising and sad. 

When I read about Epstein Island and the likes of Prince Andrew, I can't help but feel sick. Epstein clearly thought he had the perfect setup. He thought his rich and powerful clients would protect him. He was wrong. I suspect that in a few years, there will be a film about the whole sorry mess, rather like the film about the Profumo affair. There are millions of documents being released. The whole thing has already brought down a Prince and an ambassador. It is likely to bring down a Prime Minister and possibly a President. The more I read about Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the more I am convinced that for them, it was all just a rather grubby money making scheme. Epstein ended up knowing too much and having too many names and dates in his little black book. I doubt anyone really believes he committed suicide. The web is full of theories, but I suspect the number of people who had an interest in seeing him gone was a rather long one. Will the truth ever come out? I suspect that it will be like the assassination of JFK. The problem is that there are so many players who it suited to see them gone that the truth will only ever really come out when we are all dead and gone.

The one question I have been pondering is this. How many other Jeffrey Epsteins are there out there. He had a lucrative little set up and presumably there is a vacancy for someone to do that sort of thing for the rich, powerful paedophiles who seem to run the world. The sad truth is that such people are all around us. Just because Epstein is dead, the men who he procured young girls for are still around, still with bulging wallets and sick desires. They will have learned the lessons of Epstein. The lesson I suspect they've learned is to be a lot more careful with the noncemasters they employ. My worry is that all that has happened is that it will be harder to catch them next time.

The sad truth is that  Sex and Money - the root of all evil. It is also at the core of all the best stories. In about 10-15 years, I suspect an "Epstein Island" film will come out and rather like the JFK film, will raise a lot of speculation about the various players. What it won't do is tell us anything about the next Jeffrey Epstein and his clients.  The only thing I can say I am really sure about is that the next Epstein is out there and doing rather well procuruing young girls and selling them to rich men. That is a very sad truth. 

Peter Mandelson and why Sir Keir Starmer should sack himself

 Unlike most people who have an opinion on Peter Mandelson, I've met him. I must add that it was in a business not a leisure setting and it was back in the days when Gordon Brown invited him back into the government, following one of his many sackings. I hadn't been a fan, but I was impressed by his grasp of his brief as business secretary. I was never a Blairite and I hadn't been a fan, but it was fascinating to see him in action. What became 100% clear to me was that he seemed to have a cast iron belief that he was a genius and everyone else in the room was a blithering idiot, who unfortunately had to be humoured. I have long been fascinated by the way people behave, what their body language tells you and the signals they give off. Mandelsons whole manner is "I am in charge here, don't bother arguing, this is the way we will do this". In most people that would be completely insufferable, he had a grasp of detail and the matters at hand that meant no one even wanted to challenge him. He instinctively identified the important people in the room (not me) and turned the charm on. For the rest of us, I am not sure if he even realised we existed and after any of us spoke there was little or no acknowledgement of what we had said, although five minutes later he was repeating this verbatim as if it was all his work. I've met all manner of politicians over the years, including Thatcher, Jim Callaghan, Ed Balls, Ed Milliband, Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, Sor Charles Kennedy to name a few that come to mind. Meeting Mandelson was different. He was the only one who left me questioning whether I actually existed at all. What was interesting was that the other people I went with were either completely over awed by his charm or his brilliance or both. 

I saw something else.  I realised that Mandelson was an incredibly intelligent, shrewd and calculating individual. He saw his role as business secretary primarily as a vehicle to get Gordon Brown re-elected as Prime Minister. He made it 100% clear that every decision he made as business secretary between then and the election would be based on how it would play in key marginals. He was not interested in whether it would be good in the long term for the UK. His view as that Labour getting re-elected was the absolute be all and end all of the matter. I got the impression that if he could bulldozer the bits of marginal constituncies that had Tory voters, he'd happily do it. He wasn't at all interested in what was good for staunch Labour areas or Tory areas. Due to NDA's I never said a word at the time. As what I am saying is not relevant to the business I was doing and is just my personal observations of the man, I think it is safe to recall these impressions.

I left with the view that Mandelson was someone who I would never like or trust, but I completely understood why Brown saw him as a necessary evil. Mandelson correctly identified that Brown had let things drift and the ship needed to be tightened up. To this day, I think that the reason the Tories didn't get a majority in 2010 is because Mandelson had got them focussed on the politics rather than the distractions. I suspect that if Brown had bitten the bullet and brought him back six months earlier, they may even have won. By the time of the election, I'd left the Labour party and when I studied their material in 2010, I saw the imprint of Mandelson all over it. 

I mention this because I think it gives some insight into why Sir Keir Starmer appointed Mandelson as a ambassador to the USA. What was clear to me is that Mandelson was very good at targeting people who he thought mattered and making them feel special. I could see this in the meeting we had. My boss went in being very sceptical of Mandelson and leaving thinking he was a genius. But that was sixteen years ago. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then and any Prime Minister worth his salt would realise that Mandelson should be dealt with using a very long bargepole. I am sure that Mandelson persuaded Starmer that Mandelson and Trump moved in the same circles and they had a good personal relationship. The trouble is that those circles were centered around convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. I simply refuse to believe that Starmer was unaware of this fact. Mandelson's statement that because he was gay, he didn't see any of that sort of behaviour is simply untenable. He is the type of guy who is well briefed about everyone and everything. Sadly, if you know a bunch of rich men, with unsavoury nocturnal habits, that is a very powerful tool to use if you want to climb the greasy pole which is the worlds political scene. 

Sir Keir Starmer has the entire weight of the civil service, MI5, MI6, Special Branch, GCHQ etc at his disposal. The concept that none of these said "Prime Minister, this idea of yours to make Peter Mandelson the US Ambassador is a very brave decision, do you know who he was friends with and that the Democrats are hell bent on ensuring all of the papers are released". Now even if you personally were not bothered that the bloke you wanted as ambassador liked to hang around with very unsavoury people, common sense is that you should say "Well on reflection, it may not be the best idea".

But Sir Keir Starmer didn't say this. He appointed Mandelson and has landed up in a situation that doesn't require Mystic Meg's foresight to see was always going to be a disaster. I can see how some people may be taken in by Mandelson, he knows how to press peoples buttons, but this wasn't about a nice chat at a party. It was about selecting the best person to represent us at the court of the President of our biggest and most powerful ally. Sir Keir Starmer could have selected the best career diplomat at his disposal, one with zero risk and contacts across the board in Washington., who could have ensured that the UK was properly briefed and had dialog with all camps (that is what career diplomats do). But he chose Mandelson, because Mandelson and Trump seemingly moved in the same rather grubby circles. 

What disturbs me most is why Mandelson was seemingly so fascinated with Epstein. I can see why the likes of Trump and the artist formerly known as Prince (Andrew) were. A cursory glance at the pictures tell that story. But Mandelson? Today we learned of claims that Epstein paid Mandelsons partner a huge sum of money. Now Mandelson has claimed it never happened, but in my experience, the reasons that people behave badly are almost always because they want sex, money or both. If you want to know the truth, follow the money. Mandelson claims he wasn't interested in the sex parties as girls isn't his thing. He claims that he didn't receive the money. What was the basis of his friendship with Epstein then. I can't see them swigging beers and talking about Arsenal? 

Which again comes back to Sir Keir Starmer. Did he ever ask Mandelson what was the basis of his relationship with Epstein. Starmer is a barrister and this question is the obvious one. Starmer seems to have gone to ground. I can see exactly the reasons why Starmer appointed Mandelson. What I can't see, for the life of me, is why he ignored all of the reasons he shouldn't. It is called judgement and it is 100% clear that Starmer has no sense of judgement at all. How many times did Mandelson get sacked, yet Starmer still appointed him? How many warnings did Starmer get about his inappropriate friends? 

I have to say that until relatively recently, I thought Starmer was an intelligent bloke, who was having a few problems getting to grips with a very difficult job, in turbulent times. What the Mandelson fiasco has laid bare is that he simply has no sense of judgement at all. If Keir Starmer had any decency at all, he'd call a press conference, apologise to the people of the UK and the USA for appointing Mandelson and then announce that he's sacking himself, because he's realised he lacks the judgement required to do the job. 

If I wake up tomorrow and Hell has frozen over, I will know he's taken my advice. As for whether Mandelson should be in the House of Lords. The further away this man is from the corridors of power, the better for decency and honesty in UK politics. I can recall talking to one of my colleagues about Mandelson after the meeting. They said "Blimey, I wouldn't want to be on the worng side of him". I repled "To be honest, I am not sure I want to be on the right side of him either, I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him".  Sadly for Starmer, he failed to see what was obvious to me in 2009. 

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?

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 !!!!

A Sunday meditation on numbers

The last blog I posted was the 666th. I'm sorry, I'm a Roman Catholic of part Irish descent and I'm just too superstitious to leave that as the last blog for too long, especially when I titled it "Sympathy for the Devil" without realising it's numerical significance. To be completely honest, it rather freaked me out when I noticed, especially since I never normally even bother checking the number of the blogs.
Anyway in deference to this numeric milestone, I thought I'd do a little blog on the significance of numbers to me.

I am probably the most superstitious person you'll ever meet. I get this from my Father, who as a wartime bomber pilot.  He was shot down on his 40th mission. He flew for 40 squadron. The night before he was shot down, his rear Gunner had a dream that they would be given a mission to bomb the Ploesti oil fields in Romania. In the dream, they got shot down and the rear gunner perished. He begged my father to cry off if Ploesti was the chosen target, my father told him not to be so superstitious. It was the last mission on the tour of duty and he wanted to get home. The target was Ploesti, they got shot down and his Rear Gunner F/O Andrew Murphy died. He used to tell us a strange story about how, shortly before the Me109 attacked them and shot them down, one of his best friends, who had been shot down a week before, Jack Schieder, appeared in the seat next to him and said "It's a killer the way these Wimpey's go down". My father was just about to answer when Scheider disappeared and the 109 attacked.

My Dad said that as he was fighting  to get out of the plane before it crashed, he said "Lord, it says in the bible a man lives for three score and ten years". He said he had a great peace then and new he'd survive. As he was a pretty indestructible sort of guy, I never really thought about this, until he died of  a Heart attack unexpectedly in his 70th year. I suppose when you are 26 years old, 70 seems a long way off. I am reminded of Jack Benny. He once said that "everyone say's that no one wants to live till they are 100, but if you ask any of my 99 year old friends, that is a lie".

I have certain numbers I don't like. For some unfathamble reason, I'm none to keen on the number 7. I am rather partial to the number 6 (spelt SEX in Sweden where I lived for a while), but only because I have a childish sense of humour. I always felt that the number 5 was a bit of a fraud. I can remember that when I was a tiny toddler, I thought that when I  became 5 I'd be a "big boy". I got to 5 and felt I'd been robbed, I was still a little kid. I can remember buying the Steve Miller Band album "Number 5". I put it on and the first few songs are great, but it totally loses the plot on side 2.Having said that there is a great song there called "Industrial Military Complex Hex" which contains the rather insightful line. (The song was written in the wake of the police killings of students at the Kent State and Jackson State Universities in 1968).

Ain't too clear to pay my income taxes
'Specially when I know it goes to kill the masses
Love to hear the President make it perfectly clear
How the donkeys and the elephants are police up here

Not being a Yank, for years the line about the the Donkeys and the Elephants intrigued me. I assumed that Steve Miller had just smoked a bit too much POT when he wrote it and is sort of made sense at the Time. When I finally found out that the Donkeys and The Elephants refer to the Democrats and the Republicans, I felt a bit cheated. Having said all of that, when I play football, I always wanted to play Centre Half for Manchester City with the Number 5. Even playing for Old Hendonian's I usually had to play No 3. The Number 5 has always treated me rather like a Harlot treats a punter ! Interestingly enough, Peter Mandelson is an old boy of Hendon School, but he never turned out for the old boys football team when I played for them. I can't imagine what number he'd play. I rather suspect that he'd be a bit of a goal hanger, he doesn't really strike me as Centre Half material.

So what is my favourite number? Since you ask, it's the number 14. Now I never, ever wanted to have the no 14 shirt in football, as traditionally it's a Sub (the worst sub), but it's always been a lucky number for me. Coming back from Sweden, I once had my last ten Krona left. I put it on the number on the Roulette table on 14 and won. I saw the Ramones when I was 14 (see poster left). The first rehearsal of my band, The False Dots, was on the 14th February 1979. There are many things I did for the first time when I was 14, but as my kids read this blog, I'm not going to list them here (especially as my daughter is 14 and I don't really want her getting any ideas about getting lucky any time soon). I was 14 when all of my favourite Punk Bands hit the music scene, I was 14 the last time Manchester City had a trophy in the cabinet.

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed "The Barnet Eye" blog no 667.

Where have all the Tories gone?

I suppose I should be pleased. Whilst the rest of the Country is developing methods of dealing with the recession suitable for 2009, the Barnet Tories have decided to go for a solution based on 1970's Socialist thinking. The Barnet Tory cabinet have put together a paper called "Dealing with the recession in Barnet"


http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/reports/reportdetail.asp?ReportID=8578

So why aren't I jumping up and down and saying, "Wayhay, Mike Freer has seen the light", because if you read the report, that's what you'd expect.

Well, you see, there's just one problem with this report. It's complete b*ll*cks. There are plenty of platitudes in there which sound fantastic, but when you compare them to what the policies and objectives of the council are, you realise that it's a complete whitewash. An attempt to pretend they are doing something and they care. You see, at the moment they are pushing through a scheme called Future Shape. They are trying to dress it up to be something else, but it is really all about cost cutting, job cuts, outsourcing and money saving. A prime example of this stupid scheme is the plan to remove wardens from Sheltered housing schemes. This means that many people who currently live independently with the odd warden visit, will have their warden removed. Without this security they will have to move into homes, often at the Council (ie you and me) expense, with full residential care.
As for the wardens, the council plan to sack them and throw them on the dole, in the middle of a recession. In Mike Freer's report he states that one of the goals is as follows :-

Local Employment Partnerships: The Council are working with JobCentrePlus on local employment partnerships (LEP) where vacancies are advertised through the job centres to maximise employment opportunities with the Council for local unemployed residents.

So lets get this right. You chuck wardens on the dole, then get the job centre to try and find them something else?

Another classic line in the report :-

Continuing to work closely with private sector landlords to ensure that there is adequate supply of housing in the private rented sector (given that theprivate rented sector now provides more homes for homeless people than the council and housing associations sectors combined). To date, there has only been a very small increase in homelessness in the borough.

Let me translate "Because we've been so useless at providing decent, affordable housing, we now have to pay over the top rates to private Landlords on a humungous scale". As to the sentence about a small increase in homelessness. This is Great Britain in 2009. We are one of the worlds richest economies. Any rise in homelessness is abject political failure.

Another classic :-

Signposting/Publicity for recession support - A webpage, ‘Bright Ideas’ (http://www.barnet.gov.uk/bright-ideas.htm), has been set up on the council website to offer businesses and residents practical tips, for example on managing cashflow and advice on debt and borrowing money, and help to mitigate the worst effects of the recession. It is being redesigned to specifically respond to the results of the Citizens Panel survey and focus more sharply on the information that residents have said they would find useful in assisting them to adjust to a fall in income, including advice on saving money, reducing energy consumption and on free activities.

This is rather rich coming from a Council administration which has increased borrowing by 8 times since they took over from the Lib/Lab's in 2002. I was quite interested in how to manage my cashflow better, so I followed the link on the Bright ideas website and it took me here :-

http://www.creditmanagement.org.uk/berrguides.htm

If you click on this link, you'll see that Mike Freer's advice for anyone with cashflow management problems is to ASK PETER MANDLESON !!!!!

So there you have it. If you want to beat the recession and you think Mike Freer is the man to help you, then you'll end up being lectured by Peter Mandleson on how to run your business. Now I'm sure that all of the guides Peter recommends are full of the finest advice that Taxpayers money can buy, but I do wonder - in Barnet, where have all the Tories gone?

A chilling threat from the BNP

One of my favourite hobbies at the moment is being rather horrible to the Tory PPC for Harrow, Dr Rachel Joyce. Rachel writes a blog and being quite an honest and worthy type, she often says things which a compulsive wind up merchant of the left such as myself rather enjoys having a genial poke at. Now I've never met Rachel, although I suspect that if I did I'd probably quite like her as a person, even if I disagree with her politics. I suspect that when she reads my comments, she doesn't think "Oh marvellous, Rog T is winding me up again". What's all this got to do with the BNP you may ask? Well both myself and Rachel are in the political arena, in our own way. She's contesting a marginal seat and it is not beyond the realms of possibility that people may conclude from what I've said that she could lose a few votes. This could be the difference between her being a politician for the next few years or carrying on her old career. How does she deal with it? She responds to my comments in a polite manner. Do I lie awake at night worrying that the Tory party will come round and duff me up? Of course not. The Tory party, for all it's faults are a genuine democratic party. They win arguements by logic and reason.

Which brings us nicely to the BNP. I was looking at the blog run by the deputy Leader Simon Darby. Every so often Mr Darby's friendly mask slips and we get an insight into what the BNP are really like. Mr Darby posted this comment there yesterday about his opponents

Well if these people do want to step into the political arena they shouldn't complain too much if just occasionally they get a taste of their own medicine. They will learn, as others have in the past, that the BNP bites back.

I've been rather horrible over the years to such people as Andrew Dismore, Matthew Offord, Mike Freer, Brian Coleman and Peter Mandleson. The biggest threat any of them have ever issued is Brian Coleman at his Mayoral inauguration. He said he was going to "Take on the bloggers". Did I quake in my boots?

During the Mayoral elections last year, I made some disparaging comments on the Times website about the BNP. The Times was immediately innundated with comments about me and my business, giving the address and telephone number of my company. Although I wasn't personally worried about this little bit of "biting back", I was concerned that my staff may be threatened. In the event, quite the oposite happened. Two people bought guitars as a result and about 10 people I didn't know rang me up to warn me about what was going on. As a result of my conversations with the Times newspaper, they then gave me a blog.

There are two schools of thought about the BNP. Some people think we should ignore them and hope they go away. Some people think we should lift up the stone and shine a light on them, so people know what they are like and how they operate. I believe the latter. That's why I posted the Link to Mr Darby's rantings.

Great Britain will join the Euro within 5 years

That Rog T, he's really lost the plot this time !

That's what you laugh as you read this headline. Well,I may be wrong, but I have good reason to say this.

The reason - the most powerful man in Great Britain wants us to and what he want's he gets. Who is this man? None other than Peter Mandelson. He's not a mug, our Peter. He's a very shrewd operator. He knows exactly how much of a liability Gordon Brown is. He knows that the best Labour could possibly hope for, even if they pull off a miracle, is a small majority. With rampant rebellions, nothing could get done. Great Britain PLC needs some pretty strong medicine. Like chemotherapy, that medicine will hurt nearly as much as the illness. Who better to administer the pain than David Cameron and the Tories. Let them take the blame, so long as they've not got a proper working majority, it really doesn't matter. They'll be out again in a couple of years. Then the time & conditions will be ripe for the event that will write his name amongst the political superstars.

Here's the timeline

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.

September 2010 - Camerons cutbacks start to bite. His poll ratings slump & the economy plunges into recession as the borrowing lead mini boom ends. European economies grow.

Feb 2011 - Tories lose first by-election. Hospital wards close, school rebuilding slows. New Labour leader rides high in polls.

May 2011 - One year in. Osborne resigns amid failing economy. Ken Clarke becomes Chancellor, to "save the day". Boris Johnson distances himself from Cameron, lining himself up for a post Cameron tilt at the leadership. Announces that he's standing down as mayor after term, to concentrate on being an MP.

September 2011 - Mass demonstrations as Tory cuts bite deeper. Nurses & teachers pay frozen, interest rates rise to 8%. The economy stagnates.

Jan 2012 - Mass Tory rebellions over unpopular bills, Cameron struggles to hold his divided party together. Ken Clarke takes unpopular but necessary action to stabilise the economy. Hints that the only lon term solution is the euro.

May 2012 - Ken Livingstone retakes Mayorship, from hapless Tory rival. Boris finds a safe seat. Massive Tory losses in Council election.

September 2012 - Ken Clark, Peter Mandleson & Nick Clegg announce cross party campaign to join Euro. Tories backbenchers go ballistic. Unionists withdraw from government after by-election mauling. Cameron loses no confidence motion.

October 2012 - Labour wins general election. Tories hopelessly split, Labour announce that Great Britain will join the Euro on 31st December 2013 (when everyone is partying & looking the other way).

November 2012 - New Tory leader elected.

March 2013 - Economy recovers. Labour hailed as the saviour of Great Britain, Ken Clarke ponders what a funny old world it is as he gifts a Labour government a second golden legacy.

September 2013 - RBS shares recover to £2.75, LLoyds share to £4.30. Government announces sale to fund huge program of hospital and school building. Labour takes 20% Lead.

Jan 1st 2014 - Peter Mandleson walks down to Boots to buy some tablets for his hangover. The Cashier says that will be 5 euro's your Lordship

My advice to any Tories who want to stay out of the euro - vote for Gordon Brown, you know he'll never make a decision. What about Peter Mandelson? He's not that popular in some sections of the Country, but I suspect he doesn't really care. I've long thought he's more concerned about being a chapter in our great, great, great grandchildrens history textbooks, than making people like us happy. There is really only one event that can write that chapter. I suspect that a large UKIP vote will split the anti EU vote and deliver us all up to the Euro. Quite ironic really. I suspect that is what his Lordship will enjoy most.

The Blair Pope Project

As it's Good Friday I thought I'd look at Tony Blair's proposal that the Pope should get with it and modernise. Good old TB has only been a Roman Catholic for five minutes but he's already telling the Pope how to run the show (some things never change).

Tony's message - dump the old policies, modernise, make the Church punter friendly. Unpopular policies? Ditch them. I don't doubt that soon we'll all be "New Roman Catholics" I've no idea what clause 4 of Canon Law is but I'm sure Tony will soon be asking the Cardinals to ditch it. Now it may surprise you to hear this but I have a mole in TB's private office and he's passed me this transcript of an extraordinary conversation between TB and a secret advisor. I've no idea who the secret advisor is, but they have the codename "Mandy" - I've thus far been able to figure out who this is but any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

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

TB: Hi Mandy, I'm off to Church with Cherie, fancy coming along?

Mandy: Why would I want to do that?

TB: It's great, you get a free sip of wine and when you die you go to Heaven

Mandy: Erm, Tony, I'm afraid to say that the Pope, you know the boss, is a bit of a stick in the mud. He's not really very keen on people who lead alternative lifestyles.

TB: That's terrible. What can we do?

Mandy: Why don't you ring him up and tell him that he'd increase his sunday takings by 10% if he dropped the ban on gays.

TB: That's a marvellous idea, I'll suggest it to the members at the next AGM

Mandy: Erm Tony, the Roman Catholic Church doesn't have an AGM. To get a vote, you need to be a Cardinal.

TB: That's terrible. I know, I'll ring up the Pope and suggest one member one vote. I wonder why he didn't think of that.

Mandy: Look Tony, even if the Pope agreed, the Cardinals wouldn't agree. They are all old men, who've never married, they are set in their ways.

TB: Well you're not married, I'll ring the Pope and tell him to make you a Cardinal. Then you can work on the others. We'll soon sort it out. You'd love Rome and those fantastic outfits.

Mandy: Tony, those outfits are terrible, so 1760's. I wouldn't be seen dead in one.

TB: Good point. Well once you're a Cardinal, you can get Jean Paul Gaultiere in to do a rebranding. I think Priests would look great in nice black polo shirts with, "Team Pope" on.

Mandy: Tony, you really have no idea do you?

TB: That's why I've got you.

Mandy: Look, before you ring up the Pope, let's float the ideas in the press.

TB: That's a fantastic idea, must shoot Cherie is giving me one of those looks.

Cherie: Hurry up twatboy, we're late for mass.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Please note that the above conversation is a dramatic reconstruction of events that may or may not have happened. The Barnet Eye has been unable to verify the authenticity of the transcript, but felt that on this, the holiest day of the year, it may help you reflect on the issues and challenges facing us all in the next year.

Lord Peter Mandelson in custardy

Mandelson proves his green credentials

I guess that it is no surprise to any regular Barnet Eye readers to find out that I'm not a fan of the Peter Mandelson brand of Labour politics. I was completely enraged by his comments in the Observer concerning the privatisation of the Post Office. It prompted me to run the poll at the side of the blog.

Today an anti Heathrow protester got a trifle hot under the collar and gave his Lordship a dousing down with green custard. The media reaction has been rather interesting. Worthies such as John Prescott (himself recipient of eggs, buckets of water, etc) have been screaming "throw her in the slammer". They scream "What if it had been Acid"?

Well the point is that it wasn't. If I was Mandelson, I'd secretly be rather thankful. For the price of some dry cleaning (doubtless covered by some allowance), he'll get a full security review and should Al-Quaida be planning to get him, I'd say their chances of succeeding just diminished considerably.

I think that anyone doing such an action, so long as the recipient of the custard pie, egg, tomato or slime is a public figure, should be told off by a Policeman and sent on their way. If the recipient chooses to react in a Prescottian fashion and punch the perpetrator, I'd also say fair game. It adds to the gaity of the nation. You can be sure that the proprieters of the Daily Mail, Express and Sun are not enraged, whatever their papers say. There will be a big circulation boost tomorrow.

As I said above, I'm not a fan of Peter Mandelson, but I rather admire his response. I'm sure he wasn't happy, but he was quite measured and sensible in not screaming blue murder. He seemed to accept it goes with the territory. I understand he hasn't made a complaint to the Police. It hasn't changed my mind about his suitability for the award we're running though !

2009 Barnet Eye - No1 Hypocrite award

The Barnet Eye Badge of Dishonour

Here are the nominations for this prestigious award. As it's my blog, I've picked the nominees, but YOU can pick the winner via our on line poll.
The rules for nomination are very simple -

1. To qualify, the nominee had to have featured in a blog in Barnet Eye where they have clearly been shown to be a complete hypocrite.
2. There actions must have had the potential to have some direct impact on me living in Mill Hill in the London Borough of Barnet.
3. Their actions must be so repugnant as to make supporters of their own party hold their nose as they vote

And the nominations are (click on their name for the associated story which earned the nomination) :-

Michael Witney Freer (Leader of Barnet Council)












His Lordshit Peter Mandelson (If you've never heard of him you are reading the wrong blog)









Brian Coleman GLA member for Barnet and Camden







Just a quick note about Barnet Eye for any new readers. This blog features all aspects of life, politics and music. Generally if a politician's name turns up here it is because, in my humble opinion, they are up to no good in some way shape or form. The poll is completely anonymous and is purely set up to wind up these rather unpleasant characters. You can only vote once. All the winner of the award will receive is the personal satisfaction of knowing they've upset the most Barnet Eye readers.

If there are any dodgy characters which you feel deserve a nomination for next year, post a link to the appropriate story in the comments. If it affects Barnet either as a local or national story and I feel like it, they too could be on the list for next year.

Oh and please tell your friends about this poll. The more votes we get, the louder the message we send !