Rog T is "no Simon Hoggart"

For those of you who wish to know what a complete w*nker I am, why not pop over to failed Lib Dem Matthew F Harris blog and see what he's written.


http://matthewfharris.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/roger-tichborne-and-personal-attacks.html

There is only one thing Matthew says which I think warrants a comment.

"It's sort of like Living Next Door To Alice - "Now Roger is gone, but I'm still here", etc, an analogy that ought to appeal to Roger, as he is something of a frustrated rocker. Indeed, I recall him telling a local newspaper that he would rather have a Number One record than be a Member of Parliament, at least one of those ambitions being one in which he is even further from achieving his goal than I am, which is saying something quite considerable."

I've played in a rock and roll band for thirty three years. I have stood as a candidate for a political party once, in 2010. I've never had any ambition to be an MP. I stood in Mill Hill, because the Lib Dems asked me to, not the other way around. At the interview, I suggested that I wouldn't be a very good councillor. Jack Cohen asked if I thought I'd do a worse job than some of the incumbents. That was the point at which I decided to go for it. There is nothing I'd like less than to be an MP.

As to having a number one. My preferred musical style is Punk Rock. My two favourite bands are The Vibrators and The Heartbreakers. Neither had a top ten hit, let alone a number one. Whilst a number one would be lovely, for me it was never a reason to play music. My proudest achievement is setting up my studios, which have launched a whole string of successful artists on their way, most notably Amy Winehouse and Kate Nash. Along the way my band has played hundreds of gigs over the years, many for charities, raising tens of thousands of pounds, primarily for MacMillan Cancer and the Teenage Cancer Trust. I hope we've also given people a good night out in the process. As far as I'm aware, Matthew Harris has never listened to my band, never attended a gig and is not even aware of the ethos behind our music. I am proud of my acheivements in music and if Matthew Harris had a clue he'd recognise these, rather than belittle them.

What infuriates me most about Matthew is the fact that all of his attacks, be it on myself or Mrs Angry are full of sly and bitchy innuendo's which when challenged, he claims "oh no, that's not what I meant". I expected an attack on my political views, but to use my love of music and my involvement in the industry to attack me was something I really didn't see coming. I wouldn't attack Matthew Harris for the success or otherwise in his day job and the fact he does that to me shows what sort of person he is.

As to the rest of his comments. I actually find it quite hilarious. Matthew clearly thinks I'm a complete idiot, know nothing about anything and am completely out of touch. I suppose in a funny sort of way he's completely correct, because if I only ever did anything because it was "the most sensible thing to do" I would have followed the advice of the careers teacher at Finchley Catholic High School and spent my life collecting dustbins for Barnet Council or whoever they sold  the contract to. Matthew states that my greatest strength is to "show enormous confidence in situations I know nothing about". I would suggest that Matthew reflect on this statement whilst checking out http://www.millhillmusiccomplex.co.uk/  as if you are going to attack someone on the basis of their job at least make sure you know what you are talking about.

Interestingly, Matthew Harris has attracted one admirer on Twitter. You can tell the quality of a man by the company they keep

Cllr Robert Rams ‏@CllrRobertRams

I think @MatthewFHarris is the most sensible Lib Dem I have ever come across! http://matthewfharris.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/roger-tichborne-and-personal-attacks.html?m=1

Failed Lib Dem Candidate attacks Barnet Bloggers

I was truly astonished to see a very nasty and sly attack on Barnet Bloggers by the Lib Dem candidate for Hendon, Matthew Harris, in the Jewish Chronicle - http://www.thejc.com/blogs/matthewharris/pro-palestinian-tory-and-local-jewish-community .

Matthew Harris said "I have never wasted much time blogging about Barnet Council. I have wasted lots of time blogging about other things, but rarely about that. There is a band of bloggers who spend all their time blogging about the Council as if it was Parliament and they were Private Eye...One such is Mrs Angry (I know, I know). "

 Harris then continues with a long attack on Mrs Angry. Of course Matthew Harris is entitled to his view. I would point out that Harris came a very distant third in the Hendon constituency election. I worked with Matthew Harris on his campaign as I was at the time standing as a Lib Dem candidate in the Mill Hill  Council ward. Whilst the Lib Dem Council candidates in Mill Hill lost, they polled the highest ever number of votes for the ward for Lib Dems. This was based on sheer hard work and attention to local issues. Whilst I've held my counsel about Matthew's suitability as a candidate, as he's chosen to take a sly dig at my blog, I think the time has come to put the record straight.

I am no longer a member of the Liberal Democrat Party. I felt that I couldn't remain a member given the policies of the coalition government, which I could not possibly support. Having said that I believe that the local Lib Dem politicians and activists are head and shoulders above the other parties in Barnet, both in the council chamber and on the streets. I suspect that Lib Dem Leader Jack Cohen is the only opposition councillor that the Tories truly fear (apart from possibly Labours Kath McGuirk, who I am sure is a descendent of Queen Boudicca). The former Lib Dem Councillors Wayne Casey and Jeremy Davies in Mill Hill and Duncan MacDonald in High Barnet were exemplary councillors and Barnet Council is a far worse place for their passing. The activists who helped me canvass were also fantastic and one of the reasons I have not been more strident in my views on the Lib Dem party is out of respect for these people. I genuinely believe that on a local level, the Lib Dems have a lot to offer in Barnet.

The one fly in the ointment was Mr Matthew Harris. Matthew always struck me as having a very disdainful attitude towards local people, local issues and local campaigns. I used to joke with other Lib Dem activists that Matthew was preparing for a career in the House of Lords. He let slip on a few occasions his contempt for the "Barnet Blogs". I took him to task for this on one occasion and he replied that he was only interested in "real politics" (whatever that may be). Whilst it was clear to me that the only hope of success for the Lib Dems in Barnet was to be seen to be fervently localist in their campaigning, Matthew was not in the least bit interested in stooping to these levels. His attitude to people on the doorstep was a nightmare. He was extremely patronising and he had an awful tendency to lecture people on their own doorsteps. During the course of the campaign dozens of local people privately told me that they thought he was a complete idiot.  A common refrain was to ask whether we'd put him up to ensure people voted for Andrew Dismore, to keep Matthew Offord out.

Perhaps the biggest problem for the Lib Dems in Mill Hill was trying to deal with the strident views of Pro Palestinian Jenny Tonge, a Lib Dem peer. Many Jewish voters told me that they could not possibly vote Lib Dem with her in the party. As I was new to the party, I was at first completely taken aback by the vehemence of this feeling. As Matthew Harris is Jewish and a Member of the Lib Dem friends of Israel, I was under the impression that he should have been able to easily diffuse the issue. Sadly every utterence he made seemed to inflame the problem. At one point during the campaign, he even threatened to stand down, because Tonge had made some pronouncement he disagreed with. Can you imagine Mike Freer saying that, because of Matthew Offords remarks about Gay marriage? In short he was a loose cannon and we had no idea what he would do next. Whilst the rest of us worked as a team, Matthew had his own agenda. After the first TV debate, when Nick Clegg put in a brilliant performance (remember that), Matthew decided that the Hendon seat may actually be winnable. Whilst the strategy had been for him to bolster the council candidates in High Barnet and Mill Hill to help the party build a viable organisation, where there was a realistic chance of winning Council seats, Matthew started demanding that we give him greater visibility. In short, he threw a spanner in the works.

In his comments, Matthew Harris shows clear disdain for the blogs of Barnet. It is a measure of how out of touch he is that he fails to acknowledge the role the blogs have played in changing the face of Barnet politics. I believe that the blogs were the defining factor in the defeat of Brian Coleman in the GLA elections. Whilst many people and organisations played a part, the blogs tied all of these strand together. Harris also fails to acknowledge the scandals that the blogs have uncovered and the money we've saved Barnet. Perhaps he should google "METPRO SCANDAL".

Matthew Harris is an example of the worst kind of politician. He has no interest in the small issues that he can change. He has no interest in day to day campaigning. He only comes out at election time. Worst of all, he is pompous and completely up himself. His criticisms of Mrs Angry, I believe are born as much out of jealousy for her profile as any deep seated disagreement with her. In fact his criticism is nonsensical. He contends that Mrs Angry is wrong to suppose that Tory Jewish voters should be wary of a candidate with pro Palestinian views. Harris suggests that Palestinian supporters would be happy to vote for him, even though he supports Israel and it's various military interventions. These are clearly the blatherings of a deluded fool. That is like suggesting that I as a Roman Catholic should support Ian Paisley because he is a good constituency MP (which I believe he is), despite his years of Anti Catholic bile. Sorry Matthew, but the real world doesn't work like that.

If Matthew Harris worked one tenth as hard as Mrs Angry has over the last two years on local issues and connecting with local people, then he may actually be taken seriously as a politician.

Happy Christmas - Thameslink Victory for Mill Hill Commuters

This blog has won a huge victory for the commuters of Mill Hil. First Capital Connect are offering 5 days free travel to all holders of season tickets of 1 month or longer.

The full story of the First Capital Connect  compensation is reported in the Mill Hill and Edgware Times here. This blog has been relentlessly campaigning for decent compensation for Thameslink customers since the start of disruption. It seems that First Capital connect have finally realised that it's good for a business to look after it's customers.We've had more hits on this theme than any other issue since the blog started.

If you have a season ticket, make sure you claim your five free days travel. A big well done to the Liberal Democrat Candidate for Hendon, Matthew Harris, who arranged a meeting with First Capital Connect earlier in the week and put across the concerns of commuters to senior managers. It is good to see that some if our politicians are pulling their fingers out to represent the people.

Captain Useless Update : Miss Whiplash makes my day !

All the best people in Mill Hill shop in Marks and Spencers. Mind you, so do all of the worst people. Having lived here all of my life, I know all sorts of people who earn their money in a whole manner of ways. I bumped into one of the more colourful characters I know in M&S last Thursday. I call her Miss Whiplash and much of our banter involves discussions about luncheon vouchers (all rather light hearted, I must add). Now we've known each other for years and she is one of my best sources of info at Barnet Council, for reasons I couldn't possibly disclose here.

Anyway we had a brief conversation as I procured a couple of rather tasty plums at the fruit and veg counter. "You've rather upset a few people recently darling" she said. "Oh, what have I done now" I asked. "You know, you really are a very naughty boy (laughs)" she said. Then she said something which rather surprised me "You've been very quiet on the Matthew (Offord) front of late. Have you been told to tone it down?" she enquired. "Erm no, He's just not really been doing anything of late" I responded. She then said "Yes, he's getting rather a reputation for not doing anything". I suggested that she advised him to pull his finger out, as his opponenent, Andrew Dismore is nothing if not a workaholic at campaigning, if he really wants to win the Hendon seat. Anyway, she then shared a few further indescretions (all completely unrepeatable here) and toddled off on her way, in her six inch stiletto's.

I hadn't really truly understood the true power of Miss Whiplash in the Tory party. It seems that one quiet word from her and they all jump. I checked the Barnet Council website and it seems that Matthew Offord has been told off and he's leapt into action. Whilst his Labour adversary, Andrew Dismore has been speaking in the Commons about the burning issue for Mill Hill Commuters - The Thameslink Dispute, and his Lib Dem opponent has gone one step further and arranged a meeting with the First Capital Connect Directors,  Matthew Offord has identified an issue even more important to the hard pressed commuters of Mill Hill. Yes, he's worried that the financial rigors of the credit crunch will force us hard pressed parents to abandon our children to unsafe and dangerous toys. Poor Matthew must have nightmares of us all saying "Sorry Johnny, we couldn't afford a safe and age appropriate toy for you, so here's a box of matches and some paper, go and burn down auntie Madges shed".

Anyway here's his advice from his latest press release -

Councillor Matthew Offord, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Community Safety, said: “Toys are usually at the top of most children’s Christmas lists, so it is particularly important this time of year to think carefully when buying gifts whether the toy is age appropriate and safe. Remove all packaging once the toys have been unwrapped and keep a careful eye to make sure little ones are playing with the right toys. By keeping toy safety at the top of your list you should be providing your children a safe and fun Christmas to remember.”

I'm sure Miss Whiplash will be most impressed to see that "old Nanny Offord" is giving us sensible advice and making sure that we look after our little darlings. There's nothing us parents like more than a nice patronising press release from our favourite Councillor, telling us things which are blindingly obvious.
(Picture at top : The Future Shape of Barnets Road Safety)

Farce Crapital Conmerchants - No end to the Thameslink misery, so it's time for action

Hard pressed commuters in Mill Hill are sick of Farce Crapital Conmerchants. We buy our season tickets and all we expect in return is the service that is in the timetable. They are very good at apologies and excuses, but this just isn't good enough. They say "please claim compensation" - again this isn't good enough. First Group makes huge profits, the Managing Director, Muir Lockhead gets the best part of a million quid in "compensation" for running this failed company. The system for claiming compensation is deliberately difficult to use. Why? because this discourages people from claiming. The previous company running the service had a better scheme. You got a discount on your next season ticket if they failed to meet the required service level. What happened? First Group changed this to maximise profits, to make it as hard to use as possible.

I wrote to our MP, Andrew Dismore to see if he could do anything, as the government runs the franchises. You may have noticed press reports that National Express were stripped of their East Anglia franchise for "upsetting the Government". It seems that upsetting the Government is more serious than upsetting the people who pay for the service. Mr Dismore sent me a nice letter back. Unfortunately, he's not really done anything at all other than this. It contains THIS LINK TO HIS WEBSITE with a reply from FCC.  In it, FCC say they've done all they can. This is rubbish. They could have settled the dispute, then employed more drivers so that the Union can't pull this stunt again.

The reason they don't is because they are making more money than ever. By cramming us into trains like cattle and not paying overtime, they make even more money. The Answer is simple. For every day since the dispute started, they refund season ticket holders the percentage of services not running. So if they fail to run 50% of services, season ticket holders get a refund of equivalent to 50% one days travel. Of course they will squeal that this is impossible. I'm sure that if the Government told them "do it or lose the franchise" they'd soon change their mind.

I bumped into the Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate for Hendon, Matthew Harris earlier. I told him what I thought about the whole business and he agreed. He is urgently working on a plan of action TO REALLY HOLD FCC TO ACCOUNT, which he'll be emailing to me in the next couple of days. He has a track record of extracting U-Turns from the Government with well planned and popular campaigns, such as this one to reverse the cuts to TA Army training. When I hear the details of Matthews plan of action, I will post it here and I urge all commuters, regardless of their party allegiance to take part, it's about service, not politics. In these times when politicians seem happy to hide in their central London flats and cop huge allowances, we really should support the few who are prepared to actually do something. I sincerely hope that the candidates from the other parties also join in Matthews campaign, to form a united Mill Hill front against FCC. He's doing the hard work getting the campaign together, it would be nice to see a message of support for the campaign to post here from our MP, Andrew Dismore and the Tory challenger Matthew Offord. The campaign is called

NO WAY TO RUN A RAILWAY

Anyone wishing to take part can email me BY CLICKING HERE. We plan to start by doing a survey of commuters in approx 2 weeks time (got to write it and get it printed), so we can get the views of commuters. Anyone who could help giving these out, please get in touch. We want to give a copy to ALL MILL HILL commuters travelling in the rush hour.

A Lib Dem Party Political Broadcast by Eric Pickles - Conservative MP

What on Earth is going on? I regularly check out many blogs and on my travels I came across one with this Youtube clip. It was made by the Conservative Party and features their campaign planner, MP Eric Pickles, making an impassioned plea for the Lib Dems.



The sad thing is that Mr Pickles doesn't even realise he's doing it. Forward the clip to 1.00 and listen to his description of how the electoral system works in the UK. At the last election, the Tories got 35.7% of the popular vote and 194 seats. Labour got LESS - 35.5% and got 286 seats.

Mr Pickles then goes on to explain that to get a majority, the Tories need to have a double digit lead over the Labour party. I hadn't realised that the Labour party had a 60 seat majority despite polling less votes than the Conservatives. However you look at it, a fairer system of voting would have meant that we didn't have a Blair/Brown government. The Tories have long stated that the "first past the post" system is "better". Does that mean that they think that a Gordon Brown majority would have been better?

I'm not an expert on voting reform, but until I saw Mr Pickles video, I'd never realised how unfair the system actually was. The only party who believe in reform of the voting system are the Lib Dems. Has it occurred to Mr Pickles that he's just made the best advert ever for the Lib Dems? Given the troughing which Tory MP's and their duck houses have been up to, is drawing attention to the fact that the whole system is dodgy a bright move? Yesterday, I detailed how the Lib dem candidate for Hendon, Mr Matthew Harris, may like to remind his Tory and Labour rivals of how they've cocked up Thameslink, the preferred method of commuting for many Hendon residents. I'd suggest that Mr Harris may also like to show any Tories he bumps into, Mr Pickles video, and explains to them that Mr Pickles thinks that a system that gave Blair/Brown a huge majority despite getting less votes than the Tories, is the way to run the country in the year 2010.

There's something in the air in Barnet - an opportunity for the Lib Dems

Something rather strange happened today. I got a massive spike in the number of hits on my blog. The strange thing is, I don't understand why. Normally if I get a day where it's much busier it's because someone has linked to a story, there is a big news story and I've come up in google searches or someone's emailed their mates and said "look at this great blog" or words to that effect.

I thought it was possibly something to do with Andrew Dismore being in the news for his flipping of flat expenses, but strangely more people found the blog today searching for Vanessa Gearson than Dismore. I don't think that this is in any way a vindication of Dismores expenses, I just think people are so sick of him they can't be bothered looking. For my part, I wrote a letter to the Edgware & Mill Hill Times as a Labour Member six years ago telling him that he'd come unstuck. He wrote a letter back to the Times saying that if I was a Labour Party member, he'd never heard of me. He's done a fair bit as a constituency MP so I have fairly mixed views on him, but ultimately, if you carry on like this, it is bound to end in tears. I just wished he'd listened when I told him.

A careful analysis of the searches showed that there are two things people were looking for. Blogs on First Capital Connect and it's rubbish service and the disarray of the Future Shape project. Lots of people were emailing their friends and lots of people connected to Barnet Council were dropping by.

As to First Capital Connect. Tonight they were giving out "emergency timetables" with excuses for the disruption on. The new one is "it takes a year to train up drivers and we've lots of new trains". Here's the question. How long ago did they order the new trains? I suspect that it takes a bit longer than a year for a company to order a brand new fleet of trains. I could understand 5% of the trains not running but 50%? The advice from First Capital Connect? Use the Great Northern Route. It takes me 30 minutes in rush hour to get to Blackfriars on their train. It would take me nearly as long to drive to new Barnet, the nearest GN station. These people really don't know what they were doing.

The Lib Dem candidate for Hendon is Matthew Harris. Unlike Andrew Dismore, no Lib Dem MP's in London have claimed a second home allowance. Labour has had 12 years to sort out these awful train operators and haven't. If I were him, I'd stop by Mill Hill Station and Hendon and speak to a few commuters. They might just listen. If I were Matthew Harris, what would I tell the hard pressed commuters. I'd tell them that in 12 years, the service has got immeasurably worse. I'd tell them that John Prescott said when Labour took power "If we haven't sorted this mess out in 5 years we've failed" when asked about the rail privatisation. And once I'd told them about Labours record, I'd turn to the Tory Party. The local candidate is Matthew Offord. He is one of the architects of the Future Shape program, which is spectacularly unravelling as we speak. Matthew Offord spoke up for warden cuts at cabinet. He smugly told all of the public gallery that he knew better and that wardens weren't needed by many people in sheltered housing. A rather well to do octogenarian turned to me and used language that would make a docker blush at that. She then apologised to me profusely. But most of all, if I were Matthew Harris I'd tell them that rail privatisation was a Tory invention. The whole system was their last big policy initiative. All of the suffering is down to them. Someone asked me on the train who is more to blame, the Tories for bringing it in or Labour for not getting rid of it?

The sad truth is that they both are. I've not got a clue what the Lib Dems plans are with relation to Thameslink, but THEY CANNOT DO A WORSE JOB THAN THE TORIES OR LABOUR.

I wrote to Andrew Dismore about the awful FCC service. I printed his response on the BLOG.

Here is a highlight from his reply :-

Station refurbishment

Though this is not uppermost in passengers’ minds at present, I was pleased to see on my visit to Mill Hill, the following improvements over the last year:

· platforms resurfaced;

· new information screens;

· new lighting;

· new shelters;

· new platform name signs;

· removal of the graffiti on the platform canopy.

I added no comment as I was livid. How can the man be so out of touch? I read the paper today to find out the reason. He has a nice comfy flat in Notting Hill Gate. He doesn't have to suffer the crap service. How long does it take to get from Notting Hill Gate to Westminster? TFL says this

• Departing:  Monday  23  November  2009 at: 20:29
• From:  Notting Hill Gate
• To:  Westminster
• Restrictions:

Route	Depart	Arrive	Duration	Interchanges	View
1	20:26	20:44	00:18

How's about from Westminster to Mill Hill, near where his other flat is?

Journey Summary

• Departing:  Monday  23  November  2009 at: 20:31
• From:  Westminster
• To:  Mill Hill Broadway
• Restrictions:

Route	Depart	Arrive	Duration	Interchanges	View
1	20:20	20:57	00:37		View

Problems are currently reported on this route

I'm sorry but anyone who thinks they should get a £65,000 subsidy to save themselves less than 20 minutes on their journey really has lost touch with reality. I suspect that if a few more MP's used the service, that little message in red under the journey may appear slightly less often.

So what am I saying here. I honestly don't believe that anyone who is aware of the track record of Matthew Offord at Barnet Council or Andrew Dismore in his expenses shenanigans could vote for either of these two. If I was Matthew Harris, the Lib Dem candidate, I'd tell everyone in the Borough my story. I really hope Matthew Harris does and I hope that EVERY SINGLE disaffected voter in Barnet listens to him, because that other party of protest, that I'm not going to name, will be a big beneficiary if the disgruntled Tories and Labourites stay at home. If you are tempted to stay at home for the next elections, think again. I'm not endorsing anyone here, but with two such tainted candidates, I suspect that for many people in Barnet, there really is only one choice at the moment.