The Don't Call Me Dave Xmas Reunion Tour : Here we are and here we are and here we go !

The Status Quo of Barnet Blogging, Don't Call Me Dave (Barnets most sensible Tory) has just announced his Xmas Blog tour. You may recall that he's retired from blogging 16 times this year. I for one am delighted that he has more relapses than Shane MacGowan !

English Language blogs:

The English Vernacular: http://www.verbumsapienti.org.uk/2010/12/english-vernacular.html

Pastiche, Parody, Lampoon: http://www.verbumsapienti.org.uk/2010/12/pastiche-parody-lampoon.html

English: The World’s Language: http://www.verbumsapienti.org.uk/2010/12/english-worlds-language.html

The Stories of English: http://www.verbumsapienti.org.uk/2010/12/stories-of-english.html

Political blogs:

£100 million. The real cost of BT Vital Vision: http://www.notthebarnettimes.co.uk/2010/12/100-million-real-cost-of-bt-vital.html

Can we have the one with the banana? http://www.notthebarnettimes.co.uk/2010/12/can-we-have-one-with-banana.html

MPs know what they are talking about: http://www.notthebarnettimes.co.uk/2010/12/mps-know-what-they-are-talking-about.html

We are all Thatcher’s children: http://www.notthebarnettimes.co.uk/2010/12/we-are-all-thatchers-children.html

FA no better than FIFA: http://www.notthebarnettimes.co.uk/2010/12/fa-no-better-than-fifa.html

War & Peace: http://www.notthebarnettimes.co.uk/2010/12/war-peace.html

We don’t need no education: http://www.notthebarnettimes.co.uk/2010/12/we-dont-need-no-education.html

Barnet Council Greedy Parasite Alert

Not too long ago David Miller was a staunch Tory who was a bigwig in the Chipping Barnet Conserative Party. Then he started to notice that our local Tories were, shall we say, more interested in lining their pockets than looking after the people who elected them. He started a blog, called Not The Barnet Times. Earlier this year, he resigned from the Tory party and decided to hang up his laptop and retire from blogging. He felt that there was nothing more he could add. Well the Greedy Burghas of Barnet have finally pushed him too far and like Status Quo, he's giving it one last go. Although I stand on the other side of the political debate, I admire and respect David. If all Tories were like him, the country would be a better place. Read what he has to say about the Tory Barnet Councillors plan to pay themselves hefty payrises, whilst everyone else tightens their belts - Welcome back David


http://www.notthebarnettimes.co.uk/2010/07/self-serving-money-grabbing-parasites_13.html

Conservative voter in Barnet? Please read this

This is an extract from a comment left by Daniel Hope, a Conservative who was a Barnet Councillor until 2006, on the Hendon Times website yesterday :-

As a Conservative I believe it is essential that there is real opposition and scrutiny of what goes on in the Town Hall.
Despite the huge allowances paid to the Labour Group to fund their 'Shadow' activities they have failed as an opposition and are not taken seriously as a party to run the Council. A couple of blogs that have cost no money to the taxpayer and are run by volunteers have done more to shine a light on the Town Hall shenanigans than anything the Labour Group have done.

The two blogs Mr Hope was referring to was this blog and "Not The Barnet Times" run by David Miller, like Mr Hope, also a Conservative. Mr Miller started his blog because he recognised the fact that the Conservatives running Barnet Council were not implementing Conservative Policies. The key moment that triggered it's inception was when the ruling Tory group started leaning on the Barnet Times to get rid of the blog I used to write for their website. Mr Miller thought that rather than acting like Conservatives, they were behaving more like Stalinists. Although Mr Miller and myself sit on other sides of the political spectrum, we both can see and have highlighted huge waste within Barnet Council. If Mr Miller and like minded Conservatives were running Barnet Council, I have no doubt at all that your Council tax would be lower today, your services would be better and that ridiculous policies such as the cuts to sheltered housing wardens would have never emerged. I would still disagree with much of what they did, but I doubt I'd even write a blog, because there wouldn't be stupid mistakes all of the time and they'd simply be implementing Tory policies, which had been voted for.

The trouble is that David Miller and like minded Conservatives aren't running the show. They have been pushed to the very margins of the Conservative Party in Barnet. It is a matter of public record that senior Barnet Conservatives, one of whom is running for parliament have even publicly insulted David Millers mother in an effort to push him out. Sadly for them, this has just made Mr Miller even more strident in his opposition. In December last year, a new Conservative Leader of Barnet Council took over. Lynne Hillan was the architect of the sheltered housing warden fiasco, which has cost the council tens of thousands of pounds in legal expenses. Lynne Hillan has a track record of failure on her CV. The company she used to run, Ashurst Direct Marketing Ltd went bust in 2006, leaving many creditors out of pocket. I've run a small business for many years. I know what it's like when someone owes you money and goes bust. I know how galling it is when you find out they've set up a new company and carried on as though nothing had happened. My parents ran a small business in Mill Hill repairing cars for 40 years. A dodgy businessman pulled that stunt on my parents in the 1960's and our family nearly went to the wall. I think it was no coincidence that my mum developed cancer and my father developed a stomach ulcer. Of course, the people who pull these stunts don't care. They think they are rather clever.

Mr Hope states that as a Conservative he believes that it is vital that there is real opposition and real scrutiny in Barnet council. With David Cameron running the Conservatives, it is most likely that the general election will result in a high turnout of Conservative voters. What will this mean for Barnet Council? Well it could mean a virtual wipeout of the opposition Lib Dems and Labour. What Mr Hope couldn't bring himself to say (unsurprisingly as he's a loyal Conservative) is that the Barnet Lib Dems have lead the way in both scrutiny and opposition. The debate to scrutinise the Icelandic Investment cock up was called by the Lib Dems. Both Wayne Casey and Monroe Palmer made mincemeat of the former leader of the Council in the debate. The only reason that the truth has emerged at all is through pressure from the Barnet Lib Dem councillors. Anyone who attended the debates will know this to be true. I'm standing for election to Barnet Council in May for the Lib Dems. Whatever your normal allegiance I urge you to consider this. The local Conservatives in Barnet have failed to deliver by every measure. They have shown themselves unable to manage the affairs of Council. Some of the Councillors who run the Barnet Cabinet are getting over £50,000 for doing what in effect is a "spare time job". Other Tory Councillors are getting £3,000 allowances for being chairmen of comittees that meet for less than 1 hour a year.

I urge you to consider these points when you decide how to vote in the Council elections in May.
I agree with Daniel Hope. I believe that proper Opposition and Scrutiny is required for a council to run smoothly. Whilst ideally I'd love to see that opposition and scrutiny coming from Barnet Conservatives to a ruling Lib Dem group, I can guarantee that if the Conservatives are the party in power, it is essential for the Lib Dems to have a strong presence. Barnet Conservatives have taken the Council finances, put their foot on the accelerator and are heading towards the edge of the cliff. There is only one way to stop this waste and incompetence and that is at the ballot box in May. In the long run you'll be doing the decent, sensible Conservatives such as David Miller locally a huge favour, if you send a strong message to the people who've brought financial ruin to the Boroughs finances.

Picture at top : A whelk Stall. To run one of these successfully, you need to spend less money, than you have coming in. Sadly these principles seem to be beyond the current Councillors running Barnet Council. Simples ?????

Barnets Tories just don't get it

Check Barnet Councils Youtube site.  This motley collection of vidoes has cost a £100,000 of taxpayers money. If you add up all of the times these videos have been looked at, it adds up to less than 10,000 hits. Has it changed Barnet? Nope. I said at the time they should have used the £100,000 grant to buy video cameras & equipment for the boroughs schools and encourage creative arts. They'd have got more videos, more interesting videos and more hits. It would have created a whole new generation of filmmakers.

Barnets Tories do have someone in the number who gets the internet & videos. Don't Call Me Dave is a communications genius. His Website has had 20 time the number of hits that Barnet youtube have had. It hasn't cost the taxpayer a penny. Check it out HERE

Lynne Hillan Elected leader of Barnet Council by Tory Group

I'm not going to make any flippant remarks or claim it's good because it increases the chances for the opposition to win. It's a tragic indictment of our system of local government. She is the architect of the Sheltered Housing warden cuts. I don't believe she deserves her 15 minutes of fame. I passionately believe that the people of Barnet deserve better. Fiona Bulmer has a sound record of administrative skills. Her department has delivered. Hillan has landed Barnet in the High Court. This is two fingers from the Tories to the people of Barnet. Andrew Harper is the deputy leader. The jury is out on him, but he seems one of the more sensible Tories in the Barnet cabinet. I just hope he can stop Hillan doing too much damage. A sad night, one which I suspect will cost us all a lot of money.

******************** 03:00 Update ******************************************
Nick Walkley - CEO of Barnet has given an exclusive recorded interview with Barnet Tory bigwig Don't Call Me Dave  giving his reaction to the news that Hillan is his new boss

Nick Walkley Interview
Uploaded by BarnetCouncilWatch. - Watch the latest news videos.

Tribute to the Sheltered Housing Warden Campaign

A musical video explanation of the Campaign to Save Sheltered Hosuing Wardens in Barnet.

Save Our Wardens (The Musical)
Uploaded by BarnetCouncilWatch. - Up-to-the minute news videos.

Many thanks to Don't Call Me Dave at the excellent  Not The Barnet Times Blog for putting the clip together. Also thanks to the Members for writing the Theme tune (I've got the original 45 on clear vinyl and sow their first London Gig at The Marquee club). I trust that if anyone needs reminding why Lynne Hillan really should never even be considered to be the new Leader of Barnet Council.

Who do you trust? Brian Coleman or Don't Call Me Dave

Today Don't Call Me Dave, Barnet's most sensible Tory, has a great blog exposing the secrecy culture eating away at the heart of Barnet Council. Although I'm a swivel eyed Trotskyite and David is a dyed in the wool Tory, we both agree that transparency in government is vital. There is only one reason that in this day and age that a council wouldn't want to record council meetings and let the public have free access to these. That is because they don't want us to know what they are up to. Councils such as Barnet do not plan clandestine operations against foreign powers. They collect our waste, run our schools and arrange for carers to look after our sick and elderly (at least they are supposed to). Little of their business warrents secrecy. The public can attend council meetings (except when councillors decide to chuck them out) but no wider record of this is available.

What would happen if Barnet recorded meetings and made them publicly available. Well one thing I can guarantee is that people like Don't Call Me Dave and myself would regularly draw your attention to what they've said and they wouldn't be able to deny it. Decide for yourself whether that would be a good or bad thing. I consider Barnet to be rather lucky. We've got several blogs which represent all political views. DCMD and Richard Weider are Conservatives, VickiM and myself are left wingers. There is balance. I've read every single blog DCMD has ever written. As a result I know 1,000 times more about the workings of Barnet Council than I did before he started it. Unlike Council Leader Mike Freer's Barnet Pravda.com  blog, it is interesting, informative and readable.

Whilst DCMD and myself disagree about many things political, we both passionately believe in open, honest and clean administration. We both write blogs because we want The London Borough of Barnet to be a better place. We both love the area with a passion and we both want to see our Council be well run.

Today in the Ham & High, Brian Coleman launches an unprecedented attack on bloggers. He calls us a Cancer. Why? Because we've highlighted his shenanigans. He claims we undermine the publics faith in politicians. It doesn't occur to Mayor Coleman that people don't like taxpayer funded excess. If Brian Coleman wants bloggers to write nice things about him, maybe he should stop saying outrageous things, reign in his expenses and start acting as if he was a "public servant".

The reason Great Britain is a successful country which is a mostly fantastic place to live is because we have a free press and people can express their opinions. Brian Coleman himself used European Human rights legislation as his defence for insulting and smearing me. Coleman lost this case because whilst we all have a right to free speech, no one is allowed to make libellous accusations if they are a public servant. I don't know if Brian Coleman suffers from a rare form of Tourettes syndrome, but was he really incapable of telling someone he didn't like them without being abusive and making wholly unsubstantiated allegations.

And therin lies what I perceive the problem to be. Whilst Barnet Council is dominated by  people such as Brian Coleman and Council Leader Freer who descibes his opponents as "nutters" and other more repulsive terms, it is probably quite a prudent move for them to ban recording of meetings. I mean heaven forbid if we could actually hold them to account.

So who do you trust more? Dont Call Me Dave who campaigns for open government and honest policies or Mayor of Barnet, Brian Coleman who fights it tooth and nail and wants even more censorship of the Internet than the Communist government of China has introduced.

David Miller drops a clanger !

I've often stated that I believe "Don't call me Dave" Miller is Barnet's most sensible Tory. I've been forced to suspend this title. He's dropped a major clanger in his latest blog. One that could cost us dear. We all know that Barnet's Tory Councillors read his blog more avidly than they read cabinet reports. Well his latest blog "What a bunch of Kents" details how Kent County Council have voted for even bigger rises to their allowances (as the rest of us struggle through a recession).

Surely David should realise that Barnet Council will see this as a green light to boost their own pay. If they hadn't thought of it before, they certainly will now !

Update : As I've long stated, David Miller is Barnet's most sensible Tory. He also admits when he's wrong. As such, he's removed the offending blog. If only the rest of Barnet's tories were as sensible or as prepared to take action when they get it wrong. To do so is a sign of strength, not weakness.

David Miller : Chipping Barnets very own John The Baptist !

Barnet Bloggers Bank Holiday Special.

David Miller, who writes the "Not the Barnet Times" blog, has been following a very simple agenda since he started his blog last July. It is quite simple. People in public office, be it Councillors or Officials should do their job professionally and with honour. He believes that collection of
taxes should be kept to a minimum, funding what is necessary, not extravagent lifestyles for those in the pay of taxpayers. His criticism of local officials and councillors has upset those in office. Talk has reached the Barnet Eye that certain highly placed people in the Chipping Barnet Conservatives have called for his head (well actually his ejection from the Party) following his strident criticism of the Queen of the Court at Barnet, Lynn Hillan.

The story is like a modern day reworking of the tale of John the Baptist. What did John say about Taxes? "collect no more than you are required to" (Lk. 3.13) Strangely enough this message didn't go down too well with the ruling elite. His criticism of the shenanigans at the court of King Herod lead to his imprisonment. Herodias, Herods wife bore a grudge against John for criticising her. She conspired with her daughter, Salome, and persuaded the King to behead John. How did John describe himself? Was he a prophet or a messiah? No he said he was "a voice in the wilderness".

Did it do them any good? Well if you believe the accounts, the population ascribed the defeat of Herods army in 36 AD to the wrath of God for killing John The Baptist. Now although I'm a good Catholic boy and I'm sure God was none to pleased with Herod, I'd suggest that there might be a more straightforward explanation. You see I think Herod had got so lazy, out of touch and complacent, as witnessed by the accounts of his court, that he let his army get to a state that they were not up to the job. Had Herod listened to John and cut taxes, made his soldiers behave professionally and cleaned up his court, he would still have had a lifestyle far better than his subjects. He would also have been seen as a popular and fair leader. Maybe his army would have done a little bit better.

Which brings us back to Chipping Barnet & David Miller. Whatever anyone may think of David, there is no doubt that he is a Conservative. There is no doubt that his views are in tune with the majority of grassroots activists. There is no doubt that his family is well respected within the wider party. There is also no doubt whatsoever that if the Barnet Tories listened to him, they would be far more popular and not just with ardent Tories. If the policies he advocates were implimented, this blog would have nothing to say most of the time, as the obvious cock ups would disappear. As to the Tory army - the activists who go out canvassing, delivering leaflets etc? Will Davids treatement inspire them? I don't think so.

David may not live in the desert on locusts, he's probably not lead the chaste lifestyle of John, I doubt that too many churches will be named after him, but when it comes to the Barnet Tories & common sense, he certainly is a voice in the wilderness ! One they'd be well advised to take heed of.

Barnet Eye - Tour of the Blogs

I love Blogger and the various blogs on it. I find it fascinating to see what gets people going and what people find to write about. I guess I am a relative newcomer to it as I only got into blogger when the Edgware Times canned my "official Blog". "Don't Call Me Dave" Miller started his NOTTHEBARNETTIMES.BLOGSPOT.COM blog (now Barnet Council Watch) blog in protest at the Times pulling one of my blogs. As a result of that I became aware of the wonderful world of Blogspot. Initially I felt as though I'd been relegated from the Premier League of Blogs top the Ryman League. As time has gone on, I actually realised that Blogger is probably a better forum. More people look at it and you find out all sorts of interesting things. I'm a people person and I'm quite nosy in some ways. I appreciate a sense of humour and a bit of honesty. I think if a blog has these it works. If you "censor" yourself you fail. I religiously check the profile of all commenters on my blogs and have a look at their offerings. I generally check their commenters as well. If I see something which interests me I'll comment (no surprise there to those who know me). Strangely enough, the political persuasion of the author really has no effect on how much I like a blog. Occasionally I'll see something which makes me roar with laughter from a source I'd not have expected (CLICK HERE FOR AN EXAMPLE). Sometimes I see an idea I like which I'll put my own slant on (CLICK HERE FOR AN EXAMPLE). Some blogs just appeal to my sense of the ridiculous (CLICK HERE FOR AN EXAMPLE). Some blogs have a stream of comments that end up a million miles from where the author probably thought they were going (CLICK HERE FOR AN EXAMPLE). Finally there are things you read in blogs, which remind you of yourself (CLICK HERE FOR AN EXAMPLE)

Hope You enjoyed the little tour as much as I enjoyed finding them.