And now for something completely the same! Normal blogging services resumed

 For the last nine days, this blog has been my personal Mill Hill Music Festival Diary. There are three reasons I do this. The first is I think it might be interesting to a few of you! The second is that it is useful to record what I was up to, as it makes planning for the next festival easier. The third reason is that it stops me getting distracted if I say "Right the blog is the festival diary". If ever you've wondered why I devote so much time to my blog, it's because I actually enjoy doing it and I think it is good for my mental health. It's not that I have mental health issues to any great extent ( we all have challenges sometimes) and I think it keeps me in a good frame of mind. When the blog started, a high proportion of the content was about the politics of the London Borough of Barnet. These days, I don't spend much time at all on this. The reason? The previous Tory administration was rubbish. The current Labour one would is almost as bad. If Reform got in, things would be terrible and my friends in the Lib Dems don't seem particularly motivated to score in what could be an open goal. I am not a politician, I am a musician and politics has been a distraction, one which has taken a lot of time. I am proud of much of what the blogs of Barnet achieved but I can only really get involved with things that warrant my time. Opposing One Barnet was one such thing, but I've no bandwidth for the day to day things that people constantly badger me to get involved in. This doesn't mean tomorrow won't see see a political blog, but there wil be less of them than there were ten years ago. 

Barnet has a lot of great people, who worked tirelessly to keep the forces of stupidity at bay. I feel a debt to all of them to continue to offer support when asked. I just can't lead and spend my life digging through papers as I once did. Ten years ago, we had a Tory government and a Tory Council. Now we have a Labour Government and a Labour Council and I can't really see any difference. As such, I have to ask myself if it is worth devoting thousands of hours a week to just moaning about something where there is not much prospect of anything useful happening. 

That doesn't mean there will be less blogging, in fact there may be a bit more, but mostly on subjects that interest me and excite me now. Anyway, how was your week. I had a wonderful week at the Mill Hill Music Festival. I now have a busy week of watching gigs other people have organised and getting ready for The False Dots next show!

Blogging - What a load of rubbish! Getting it wrong!

Every so often, I write a blog, usually spending ages on it, then I realise it is as dull as dishwater and if someone else had written it, I'd think "How could anyone write such drivel". I know some of my readers (Hi Brian Coleman), think all of my blogs are drivel, but I get nice feedback on enough of them to think most must be OK. I don't actually mind when people tell me I've written a load of old cobblers because they disagree with me. I have strong views and share them freely, so that is part of the job, but occasionally people pull me for simply writing a duff blog and on occasion I have to agree.

Generally, the blogs I wrote about Barnet Council didn't fall into the complete drivel category. The reason was simple, I'd see something that no sane person would think was OK and lay the facts out. A reader may disagree with my analysis, but I cannot recall a single occasion where I was called out for having written simething stupid about Barnet Council. When I write about more subjective things, it is easier to waffle and talk complete nonsense, if  not careful. On a few occasions, readers have taken such exception that they've written and complained. The best example was when a reader, Andrew Evans, who was an atheist, took exception to my views about Richard Dawkins. My response was simple. Write a guest blog as a response and I'll share it. Andrew did and I was really pleased with his response. I thought it was a pretty intelligent exchange of views and the world is a better place when we do share our opinions in a civilised way. 

Although I am sure Andrew would categorise the blog he responded to as not one of my best, I thought it was actually pretty good. I tend to like provoking such a response, so it has to be classified as OK. The blog I wrote yesterday and didn't publish was not OK. I suspect that if Andrew had seen it and responded, he'd have conclusively given me a verbal kicking. I try and write blogs that people who hold diametrically opposed views will find interesting and challenging. Sometimes this is easy. Some of the blogs I wrote during the Brexit referendum campaign, I thought were very good and even staunch Brexiteers conceded I may have a point. One recently told me that he was dismayed to realise that I'd been right about the effects on Eastern Europe. But one thing I've learned is it is always the unexpected consequences that are most interesting, when the dust settles. A good example is that now Trump is in the White House, Brexit does have an upside no one, especially those in the Leave camp predicted. Having said that, I suspect that the early promise of a better deal for Britain is a pipedream, as all Trump really wants is a better deal for America. What really worries me is that Trump can kick us harder than Europe, because they are bigger. We will just have to see how that will play out and I genuinely think that Mystic Meg has as much chance of predicting Trumps next action as any other commentator. 

The one thing I know for certain is that if Mystic Meg could accurately predict Trumps next action, she'd be a rich lady as she'd be able to make a fortune shorting the latest stock market sector Trump has shafted. But for poor, humble, ill informed bloggers like me, Trump presents a real dilemma. The problem is that there is almost nothing interesting to say about him. He's Mr Marmite, those that love him and think he's a genius are convinced, those that think the opposite equally so. I suspect that Trumps saving grace is that no one knows what he will do next, so everyone is terrified of upsetting him. I think that the recent, outrageous missile attacks on Ukraine are Putin seeing how far he can push his luck. Unlike Trump, I think Putin is wholly predictable. The problem for every country with the exception of perhaps the USA and China is that we can do very little. What we do know is that Putin wants to decouple the USA from NATO. He wants this for one simple reason, if he acheives this, he can push Europe around. Whatever you may or may not think of Trump, Putin or any other world leader, in twenty years time, neither are likely to be around. Putin will be 92 and Trump 98. But I suspect that the legacy of their respective reigns will still be casting a shadow.

Personally, my assumption is that by 2045, the USA and Russia will no longer be the powers of note. I believe that this will be the century of China and India. Both have populations that dwarf the USA and China and both are growing far faster. Trumps policies seem to me to be aimed at putting the genie back in the bottle. I suspect that all he's doing is forcing these countries to open up new markets, that the US cannot dominate. It seems to me that the leaders of China are planning for the next 20 years, whilst I am not convinced Trump really knows what he will do tomorrow. China know that in less than four years, there will be a new President of the USA. Whatever happens, the direction will change. It may well change another three or four times over the next 20 years. China's economic policy is very likely to adapt, but remain focussed on what the ruling elite in China think is important.

Of course, there is always the unexpected. Few predicted the dissolution of the USSR and it is always possible that the central control of China may go the same way, but unlike the USSR, China is prosperous. People tend to rebel when the economy doesn't work for them and they feel there is nothing to lose. China is robust, I believe it will easily withstand the seismic shock of Trumponomics. It seems likely to me that Trumps policies will hit global growth and we will all suffer to some degree, but markets adapt quickly. Unless you buy into the conspiracy theory that Trump is simply generating a bear market so his mates can make a fortune shortings stocks (which I don't), the turmoil will die down fairly quickly. The trading models that do not respond well to unforseen shocks, will start to price in a 'Trump Announcement factor' and market swings will be less pronounced. The ride may still be bumpy, but it will be potholes rather than off the edge of the cliff.

But all of this is purely my best guess. I may be spouting a complete load of rubbish. Getting it wrong is a way of life for bloggers. When Boris won in 2019, I woke up in the certain knowledge that the Tories would run the country for a decade and Labour were in permanent decline. It appeared Nigel Farage was riding off into the sunset, telling all who would listen that "It was Nige who won it for Boris". We all know how that went.

Anyway, at the start of the year, I made a few predictions in my new years blog, here's the ones we can pass judgement on. I didn't do to bad, did I?

Politics

Donald Trump will not end the Ukraine war on day one of his presidency as promised.

Nigel Farage will continue to be the bloke most invited onto #BBCQT whilst claiming that the 'mainstream media' gives him a hard time.

The Weather

Winter will be cold and miserable and at the end of it, we'll be told it's the hottest winter on record.

So there you go! Bloggers do occasionally get something right, even in the most challenging of circumstances!

Sadly, it's time for this blog to start putting the boot into Barnet Council again

 If you look at the desktop version of this blog, you will notice the blog archive history, that tells you how many blogs I've posted every year since the start. 

Blog Archive

• ►  2024 (190)

• ►  2023 (275)

• ►  2022 (336)

• ►  2021 (321)

• ►  2020 (314)

• ►  2019 (325)

• ►  2018 (379)

• ►  2017 (396)

• ►  2016 (429)

• ►  2015 (407)

• ►  2014 (447)

• ►  2013 (487)

• ►  2012 (784)

• ►  2011 (782)

• ►  2010 (764)

• ►  2009 (697)

• ►  2008 (88)

The peak year was 2012, with a record 784, more than two a day. In November that year, I posted 78 blogs. I had a look at what I posted and it seemed the council were doing so many band things that I have no idea how I had time for anything. Closing Friern Barnet Library, outsourcing the council to Capita, Brian Coleman assaulted Helen Michael and ended up before the beak, getting slung out of the Tory party, after intervention from Central Office. I helped make two documentary films about what was going on. We saved Friern Barnet Library, reversed the policy on Pay and Display and many other small things that year. Sadly, although we won the argument comprehensively about Capita, and were proved 100% right, we learned that when you deal with idiots, you can't get them to change their mind.

The following year, the number of blogs dropped by nearly 300. There were two reasons. The first was that Brian Coleman was ostracised from Barnet politics. There was less to write about. The second was that Richard Cornelius took over as leader of The Barnet Tories and much as I disagreed with him, I liked him as a person and, to a degree, the vehemence I fel abated. Cornelius was a decent person handed a shit sndwich by Coleman, Freer and co. The tone of my blogs became more forensic and less sarcastic.

When Labour won in 2022, I decided to take a sabatical from spending hours reviewing Council papers and writing blogs about their incompetence. I felt Labour deserved a chance to get their house in order. Well, two and a  bit years have passed. Like Richard Cornelius, I personally like Barry Rawlings, Labour Leader. He had an impossible task, taking over a hollowed out council that was completely disfunctional. But two years is long enough to start making a mark. There are quite a few areas that Barnet Council are massively failing and Barnet have had long enough to do something. 

I don't want to spoil the surprise, except to say that normal Barnet blogging services are resuming and I have several rather critical blogs in the pipeline. As the Tories are too useless to properly hold Labour to account, I am resuming the thankless task of giving the council a kicking. It won't be two blogs a day, maybe one or two a week. But Labour have had an easy ride for two years. 

In the meantime, here is some lovely music from my band, The False Dots, to entertain you, celebrating the wonderful ambience of the Borough!

The joys of writing a blog!

Whilst buying some gherkins in Marks and Spencers yesterday, I bumped into an avid reader of this blog. When I first started writing it, I was surprised by how many Conservatives read it. I've lost count of the times one has picked me up on something I've written. Yesterday's encounter was a but different. I know the chap quite well, after many a chat over the local whelks and sticky buns. The first encounters, a decade and a half ago, were almost hostile, in a very polite way. Back then, we had a Labour government and a Conservative council. In 2010, the National government changed and we had a coalition. As the sheer incompetence of the local Tories became clear, the conversations became more friendly. You really can't seek to justify the unjustifiable. As the Johnson government imploded and the local Tories got booted out, I noticed he'd dodge me altogether. Recently, he's stopped avoiding me, and started asking me why I am not moaning about the Labour council in the way I moaned about the Tories "What about the Potholes", "why aren't the grass verges being mowed". My response "Same reason as when the Tories were in charge, the Tories ruined the council finances". Anyway, yesterday was our first chat since the Tories got booted out. His greeting "I suppose you'll give up blogging now your work is done!". I asked if he really thought I wrote a blog purely to get Labour, a party I don't support, elected? He was a bit surprised. He'd read my blogs on the subject and said "you seemed pretty happy with the result". I replied "I was happy when Palace beat Man Utd 4-0, but it was no reason to stop supporting Man City, besides which, most of my blogs are not about politics these days". Of course, over the last few weeks, I've written more political blogs than I have done for a long time. The reason was that I felt I had something to say. It is entirely possible that, as the result in Hendon was by a margin of 15, my blogs swung it away from the Tories. I sincerely hope so. The local Tory candidate has shown himself to be a charmless, bad loser, failing to congratulate the winner and whinging about postal votes. Doesn't he see the irony of the fact that his party has run the Post Office into the ground and now it's helped kick him out of Parliament.

In truth, I can't get excited about Keir Starmer. As with Palace beating United, I was an avid Palace fan until the ref blew the whistle, but then it was done and Palace returned to being just another team I don't support. In Barnet, the local Labour party are always friendly when they want someone to bash the local Tories, for electoral gain. As soon as they get in, they all seem to snub and ignore me as best they can. They are quite friendly when they actually bump into me, but that's about it. No real effort to communicate or assist with anything local. To be quite honest, that suits me fine. I am not someone who writes a blog to ingratiate myself with anyone. I am far less interested in party Politics than most readers would think. I am very interested in injustice and hypocrites in positions of power. Whlst I still write a blog, I reserve the right to give any party or local politician a going over on this blog when they let us down. Now Labour have been in power for two years in Barnet, there are a number of issues which have started to fester and which will see some very sharp blogs written in the next few weeks. 

It is fair to say that a couple of Labour councillors have really disappointed me. These are ones that I worked with on some issues before the Labour landslide in Barnet in 2022. Quiet phone calls and sharing of information. That all stopped as soon as they got their feet under the door. I think a few local Labour councillors thought I'd rejoin the party or at least become a vocal supporter of their regime when they got in. Once they realised that I am fiercely independent, they decided to cut all contact as best they could. It is a real shame, as if they'd taken constructive criticism on board, maybe they'd have avoided some of the stupid mistakes that I can see them making. But hey ho. That's life.

Over the past couple of years, I've taken the decision to blog less about local politics and more about what amuses and interests me. This has resulted in two things. The first is less people are reading the blog. The second is that I am much happier. I enjoy blogging. It lets me look at all manner of things. It gives me a reason to do reasearch into subjects that fascinate me. It gives me a chance to plug local music and to explore the area. What is not to like? I've no political ambitions. I have never really had them. If I had, I'd have joined a party that guaranteed me a seat and I'd have played the game. The campaigns I ran for the Lib Dems locally in Mill Hill were fascinating, but I was always massively frustrated by the sheer lack of creativity that you are forced to operate under. The main theme in our campaign was bashing the opponents, rather than proposing good things for Mill Hill. More frustrating was that they bashed us back, and told massive porkies, something we never indulged in. What was hilarious was being told I was naive, by people who lived in echo chambers. I've always had friends and acquaintences across the political spectrum. I chat to them and am happy to hear challenging views.Sadly most party loyalists cannot do that. I've come to realise that even when people have repugnant views, there is, somewhere a rational basis for them forming that opinion. If someone has always read The Sun or The Daily Mail and they are enraged by what they read, that is perfectly rational. They are conditioned to not trust alternative sources of information. Is that really a bad reflection on them. If your primary sources of information are really controlled by the Rothermeres and the Murdoch's, you will have a very different view of the world to a Guardian reader. Both will believe they are right and both will have years or decades of digesting very slanted coverage to support these views.

I started writing the Barnet Eye as I believed the Borough of Barnet needed a source of independent analysis of the council and it's decisions. I still believe this is true, but as no one pays me for doing it, I cannot spend my life researching blogs about very demoralising behaviour by Barnet's political types. Now I pick and choose my subjects carefully and intersperse them with other stuff I like. For me, writing this blog has been all manner of things, a chore, a distraction, a labour of love and an inspiration. When I was diagnosed with Prostate cancer in 2011, it helped me get my head around the issue and organise my thoughts in a positive way. When I talk about my dyslexia, it has helped me come to terms and understand a shadow over my life. Writing about Barnet Council has given me a great insight into the use and misure of power and a deep cynicism towards politics. But best of all, writing about music has fully opened my eyes to the beauty of human existence. I really didn't appreciate that before. We often ask why we are here. I think the answer is to make beautiful things in the face of adversity. Just imagine if the Egyptians had not built the pyramids, Michael Angelo had not painted the Cistene Chapel, Wren had not designed St Pauls, Beethhoven had not witten the 1812 overture, Shakespeare has not written Romeo and Juliette and the Rolling Stones had not written Satisfaction. In many ways life would probably be exactly the same, but the world would be a poorer place. I've no idea where this blog fits into all of that, but the fact that over four million views have taken place, makes me hopeful I've added something. 

Little things like this comment on the blog today make it all worth while

Unknown commented on "The Saturday List #226 - 10 long gone Mill Hill companies of note - A guest list by Richard Wilkinson"

2 hours ago

Hi, I’m currently building a revell 1/32 scale supermarine spitfire, which I bought from H.A. Blunt in Mill Hill. It still has the price tag on at 15 shillings and 6 pence on the box it came Hi, I’m currently building a revell 1/32 scale supermarine spitfire, which I bought from H.A. Blunt in Mill Hill. It still has the price tag on at 15 shillings and 6 pence on the box it came in. Think it was purchased in 69/70 pre decimalisation. I used to frequent this model shop as a young boy and buy mainly ww2 aircraft as they were my favourite and still are. Im enjoying building this as now I’m retired, I have more time on my hands and feels like a new hobby again. I’ve kept this model untouched in my various lofts over the years and now at last I’ve got round to building it over 50 years later. Fond memories of HA Blunt and sons in mill hill. I do this for the love of it. If you enjoy it, please give my band a listen on Spotify and maybe even a like

This government may well end my blogging career!

The insspiration for starting to write blogs about politics, for me, was that I thought that the Tories running Barnet Council were useless, but the vast majority of people were unaware of this. Furthermore, I realised that there was no proper press coverage exposing just how bad they were. I spent a decade scrutinising council papers, doing my best to alert people to the mistakes the council were planning to make, trying to rustle up support locally to oppose the stupid policies that anyone who bothered to look, knew would cost Barnet residents a small fortune. Despite this blog clocking up nearly 4 million hits, not enough people listened to the warnings. The Tories won the Council elections in 2010, 2014 and 2018 and introduced the devastating scheme that became known as One Barnet. When they were finally booted out in 2022, they left a devastated and demoralised council that was struggling to provide basic services. There period in charge had been so bad that OFSTED made them bring in Essex Council to sort out their educational services. 

Labour won a landslide in 2022, but took over a council in such chaos that even the most competent of administrations would have struggled, and no one would ever accuse Barnet Labour of being particulary competent. I have found it rather difficult to write blogs condemning Labours ineptitdue, as I realise that they have been bequeathed a shit sandwich and I don't envy them. Some of the things they are doing are really stupid, such as bidding for the 'London Borough of Culture' when the Borough doesn't even have an established music venue and the local music festivals, such as the East Barnet Festival are struggling to survive. My view is that they'd have been better off giving the festival money, than the expensive consultants engaged to make the bid. Compared to the mistakes of the last Tory administration, it is small beer. Some of the things they tried to do, such as ending after school respite care for the parents of heavily disabled children at Mapledown Special School were plain inhuman. To the extent that it was blocked by a revolt by formerly loyal Tory Councillors (all of whom were deselected). 

I keep an eye on Barnet Council, but I don't have the time or inclination to snipe at small stupidities. I am sure that sooner or later, the Tories will find a blogger to do that for them. As for National government, I've not really blogged too much about them. Not so much because I have no opinions, but because there was coverage and it was far better than I could offer. I broke this rule as chaos enveloped the Government as Boris Johnson rose to power. The reason for this was a I had a source at the heart of his government (a source that has now run dry). The source was not sympathetic to my viewpoint, but it suited them to get information in the public domain. It also suited me to highlight the splits in the Tories. 

I assumed that Boris Johnson was an abberation, an outlier, a bumbling populist maverick, who the Tories chose to get their electoral fortunes back on track after the shambles that was Theresa May's reign. When Boris was elected in 2019, I thought that he was lucky to have been elected at a time when the economy was generally sound. I doubted that Boris could bugger it up too much. I also assumed that the Labour party was done for a generation. The Corbyn era had destroyed it's credibility in the country. As Boris had a massive majority, I thought he'd give us a couple of years of bonkers Tory ideolgical policies, then a couple of years of retrenchment, to strengthen the Tories electoral position, in time for an election last year that he'd romp home in. The pandemic put paid to that. 

Within a year, it was clear that Boris was toast. What came next shcoked even me. The Liz Truss debacle. To see a hard right Tory skewered by the free markets she espoused would have been hilarious, if it hadn't cost me a fortune in higher taxes and interest rates. When Rishi Sunak replaced her, I assumed we'd get a sensible, pragmatic and rather boring leader, who would get the countries finances back on track.  Last week, we found that the UK is yet again in recession. The man I thought would be a competent, if undynamic, manager turned out to simply be a man out of his depth. It is now clear that he appeared to be a good chancellor because Boris was his boss. His chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who does at least have an air of competence, has been doing his best to face off the Liz Truss faction of the Tory party, seeking tax cuts the country can't afford. Hunt reminds me of the adage "In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king". 

Then there is Sir Keir Starmer. Anyone who doesn't recognise the achievement of making Labour appear electable does not understand politics. Starmer has made a whole career of saying nothing and having no opinions. He's been leader for nearly four years and I have no idea who he really is. He seems to have taken the Tony Blair playbook and removed the messianic zeal that Blair brought to the table. What will Starmer be like, if he makes it to be Prime Minister. At one point, I would have said "He can't be any worse than  what went before", but I thought that after Blair, Brown, Cameron, May, Johnson and Truss and in their own way, each has been a downgrade. 

The problem as a blogger is that justs pouting negative opinions is perhaps the least interesting thing that it is possible to read. Someone recently asked why I am 'not covering politics anymore'. If you look at this year, this is not entirely true. This year, I've posted four politics related blogs, four more than the rest of the Barnet bloggers have written about politics etc (Mr Mustard has kept up his output of parking related blogs). But I've never blogged for the sake of it. The things I write about are things I find interesting and that others may as well. This blog has given me an extraordinary platform, the thousands of hits I get are a privilege that I appreciate. I don't take the people who read it for granted, but I also feel a responsibility to write blogs that have something to say that you won't read anywhere else. The things that interest me currently are music, the environment, Football (especially grassroots football), Barnet transport issues and the silly things that make life liveable. I find it almost impossible to find anything interesting to write about local or national politics. The biggest problem with this government is that you can write a blog and a week later, it is completely out of date as they've lurched into another crisis. 

I must add one thing about Barnet politics. Prior to the election, several Barnet Labour Councillors were very friendly with me and we'd have nice chats occasionally. They don't want to know now. One recently got themself into a spot of bother, having made some rather unwise comments on Twitter. Two years ago, I'd have spoken up for them, when the inevitable nasty comments came from the likes of disgraced Tory Brian Coleman. Having realised that they viewed me as a 'useful idiot' when Labour were seeking power in Barnet and now they are in they have no use of me, I was not in the least inclined to chip in and say "Hang on, this is a bit out of order coming from someone convicted of assault". It seems to me that Labour think that they've got the Hendon and Finchley Parliamentary seats sown up and so want to keep 'loose cannon bloggers' at arms length. I am quite happy to leave them to it, as it means I can get on with stuff I enjoy. I am not sure whether Rishi and Barnet Labour have effectively cured me of my urge to blog about politics, but writing about other things is far more fun.

------

Talking of which, my band, The False Dots are doing a gig on Sat 23rd March at the Beehive in Bow. Check out our trailer for it! Tickets: bit.ly/42qVHCN

A clarification - Why I do not engage with Mrs Angry AKA Theresa Musgrove & The Broken Barnet Blog

Most of the time, I enjoy blogging. Very occasionally, I find it sickening. Today is one such time. Yesterday, when I posted a blog celebrating fifteen years of this blog and a little potted history, I was feeling very happy and nostaligic. Then I started getting messages drawing my attentiont to a tweet by Mrs Angry AKA Theresa Musgrove. This is what it says.

As well as this, she left a comment on the blog which I felt was highly inaccurate, offensive and possibly slanderous. I did not publish it, as I would in effect be slandering myself in the process. In my blog yesterday about the 15 years of blogging, I did not mention Ms Musgrove. I would not presume to tell her what to publish, but clearly she decided that she has a right to tell me what I can and can't publish. Normally, I would let this go, but the truth of the matter is she is being completely dishonest. She is 100% aware of why I do not engage with her and why I have not for several years. She has tweeted jibes in my direction previously, which I have ignored. It is clear that this will not stop.

Ms Musgrove blocked me in December 2019, following a spat on Twitter, where she claimed that the Lib Dems were supporting the Tories in Mill Hill. She tweeted that I was 'harrassing her' and suggested that I wouldn't stop. I don't really wish to comment more, however, I will share the following email exchange from March 2020, which I think makes 100% clear why I have not enagegd with her and why what she is tweeting and posting is, in my opinion dishonest and highly misleading. 

I've redacted the names of certain individuals and emails for privacy. I suggest reading from the bottom up for the italics, to read in sequence. 

Theresa Musgrove 

To: ROGER TICHBORNE

 22/03/20 12:27

 WHAT??????? I know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING whatsoever about this and I feel physically sick reading what you have just said. Please ignore the bollox about no contact - I am happy to state in writing that I have not made any complaint, do not consider a disagreement about political matters to be a police matter, and am happy to have contact with you. Please tell me the name of the officer at Colindale - I want to get to the bottom of this. How could someone else make a complaint about me being 'harrassed', without me being contacted for my views, or notified? None of this makes sense. I feel at the point of explosion, to discover ******** is capable of doing something like this - assuming it was him. Just this morning I have told him where to get off, and published an edited version of a tweet about ******* ******, one of two I spotted last week and which were reported. I have kept screenshots. I am literally shaking with fury. 

On Sun, Mar 22, 2020 at 12:09 PM ROGER TICHBORNE wrote: 

Dear Theresa I hope you and the family keep well/survive etc. Following on from your tweet claiming that I was harassing you, I received a telephone call from an Officer at Colindale, advising me that a complaint had been made that I was subjecting you to a campaign of harassment, siting that tweet as evidence. My assumption was that the complaint was made by **** ******* in retaliation for a complaint I had made about him, ********* ****** also has made a similar complaint against him. The police stated that by posting that tweet, you were asking for me to formally cease all contact and any further contact would be reportable and a criminal offence. I was advised in the strongest terms possible that if I had any further contact with you on social media, by email, through third parties or in person that I was liable to a harassment order and arrest. Strictly speaking I should not be responding to this email. I am notifying you as a courtesy, as it appears that you may well have been unaware of this issue. Please do not contact me again, as I have no wish to have any further dealings with the Police on this matter. Regards Rog 

On Sunday, 22 March 2020, 10:55:37 GMT, Theresa Musgrove wrote:

I have unblocked you on twitter as it seems rather pointless to be childish at this awful time. Last night I had to warned ***** ********** about ******** as he left a comment about her daughter, who is a very pretty young dancer without work, and I could just see what he was up to - if you have seen that '******** ************' video on Youtube you will know why. But I see he is also setting himself up as some sort of 'official' point of information. I've tweeted at him to pack it in but of course he is relishing this chance to manipulate. I hope you and your family are well and coping with the current crisis. I'm on full Monty lockdown due to health issues for the foreseeable future, but happy enough at home so far.

For completeness, here is the tweet referred to. 

I wish Ms Musgrove no harm. I have no idea who made the complaint or why. I've learned that speculating is unwise. The scenario I suggested as an assumption above was to give her an honourable way out, if she'd done something rash in an agitated moment and was regretful, although it would not surprise me if that was what happened either given the individual in question, however my assumption was that if she genuinely had not made the report and was upset, she would clear the matter up with the Police, explain that it was malicious and get them to contact me stating that the matter was closed. 

If it was me, I would have been on the phone to the police immediately and gotten written confirmation, which I'd have posted through her door.  This has, to date not happened. Instead, I get tweets directed at me, claiming I am being "uncomradely" for blocking her (when as she admits in the above email), she blocked me and abusive comments posted on my blog.  This does not seem to me to be the actions of someone who genuinely was 'physically sick' when they 'found out' about this complaint.

It is unfortunate. I am not asking anyone to take sides.  She s a perfectly good blogger and played a big role in the Barnet blogging scene. You may feel her comments are justified and valid. That is your perogative, but I have no wish at all to engage with this person. All I really want to do is to ignore her and for her to do the same. I spoke to one of my legal advisors before posting this. In the circumstances, it is reasonable for me to clarify this, in light of these comments. I am sick of people asking me as to why I am being so beastly to her. Whatever you think of what I've said, now you know why. 

This will be the end of the matter as far as I am concerned. 

What makes a local blog worth reading?

I got a message this morning on Twitter this morning from one of my regular readers, to congratulate me on the Tweets of the Week I published yesterday. They told me that it was the best selection for many a moon. I have to admit I was surprised to see this and quite flattered. It was a rather good week for Tweets from our local tweeters. Some weeks I have to hunt far and wide to find ten tweets locally that I think will interest my legion of readers, other weeks, the challenge is what to leave out. I like a nice mix of  informative tweets, people doing good things locally and a bit of local history. Probably 50% of the people I follow on Twitter, I've found researching the Tweets of the week. I also periodically get messages thanking me for 'finding new interesting twitter accounts'. It has been quite a week for it. 

On Friday night I had a couple of beers at the Mill Hill Services club. At least ten people stopped me to discuss the blog about the appalling state of Hendon Cemetery. I posted the blog on Thursday and it is already the most read blog on this site of 2021. People are truly appalled at the neglect. Councillors from Labour, the Conservatives and The Lib Dems have contacted me privately to say it is unacceptable. I have also been assurred that the situation is being resolved within the next ten days. On top of that something truly unprecedented in Barnet politics happened. Peter Zinkin, a senior member of the Barnet Conservatives (many say he is the man who really runs the council) responded to a tweet I posted, admitting that I was 'mainly right' about it being unacceptable.

I suspect you are mainly right about this. Work is in hand to improve matters and we have diverted significant effort in creating the new cemetery extension but we should have done better.

— Peter Zinkin (@pzinkin) July 31, 2021

This has never happened in all of the time I've been writing a blog. I must say I'm heartened by a grown up response to a real issue. When I started writing this blog, I had hoped that the administration would respond in such a sensible manner when genuine issues were raised. Although many Conservative councillors have regualrly contacted me privately, this has always been on the strict understanding that this was not raised publicly. Sadly in local politics, no one likes admitting they've got it wrong, even when it is glaringly obvious. I am not sure whether our local Conservatives are turning over a new leaf in grown up politics, where we sensibly discuss matters, or the cemetery scandal is just so awful that they have to hold their hands up. I hope it is the former. If in two weeks, the cemetery is looking spick amd span again and I get a thank you for raising it from the bosses, maybe we will know. Having said that, I don't really want thanks, I just want Barnet to be the best it can be (that is thanks enough) and I want some acknowledgement that the problems I've raised are recognised as real issues. Peter Zinkin's response is a good sign that perhaps, at long last, the adminstration wants to use social media to properly engage and fix things. 

I also had several people compliment me on the blog I wrote about Amy that I posted last week. I felt quite reticent about writing it. I've trod very warily about speaking on the subject, we always felt protective of Amy. I don't really like the cottage industry that has sprung up about Amy stories. I've been contacted a few times by people who want stories, want to film documentaries at the studios and want juicy snippets of dirt about her. One documentary maker came down and wanted to shoot footage in Studio 7. When I informed them that Amy always used studio 9, they said "Yes but that won't look as good in the film". I told them that I wasn't prepared to participate if they didn't get it right. I will only tell the truth about Amy and there's no dirt to dish, just stories of a talented artist who I am proud to be associated with. I've never written a blog to do anything other than tell the truth as best I can. With Amy I have a fairly unique insight into her early days as an artist, as we were her second home as she developed her act. We see a lot of artists come through and when you see someone special, you soon realise. Part of our job is discretion. Spilling the beans on customers is not part of our job as a studio. However, when you continually hear people misrepresent someone who is not around to defend themselves, at some point you have to put the record straight. Amy, the artist was a genius and she was always professional at our establishment. What she did behind closed doors was her business. 

This got me to thinking about what makes a good local blog. It is something that informs about your locality. It is something that signposts good things and raises awareness of things that need to be addressed. In the Borough of Barnet, we have been blessed with some excellent bloggers. Sadly most of these seem to have run out of steam and rarely post. I get that it is a huge effort to continually document the woes of our neighbourhood. Most of these blogs are fairly single issue and it is easy to get fed up and demoralised writing the same old stuff. There are also a examples of what I personally consider pretty second rate and shoddy blogging. These don't particularly bother me as we live in a free country and no one is forced to read them. I've always taken the view that you have to work very hard to build an audience and if these blogs are as bad as I suspect, then no one will bother to read them (despite some of their wild claims). If people do read them, then they are probably not as bad as I thought and good luck to them. This blog got over 40,000 views in the last month. I take that as vindication that I am doing something right. Every one of those views was someone making a positive decision to read it. I am, as ever, humbled by such a huge readership. My view has always been that if I find something interesting, then other people will as well. When I started blogging, I read a few articles on how to write a successful blog. There were three things that stuck in my mind.

1. Write abbout subjects that you know something about or have something interesting to say. If you have a unique insight or a specialist knowledge, this will be of interest to other people with similar interests and gain you an audience. 

2. Write honestly. People soon see through people who posture and are frauds.

3. Post regularly. If you post in manic bursts then post nothing for months, people will stop looking and lose interest.

The one rule I didn't follow was to try and stay 'on topic'. I try and cover a wide range of matters. This is because a wide range of subjects interest me. I'm sure that some readers skip over a whole swathe of the blogs I write, but every so often, I get someone who emails to tell me how much they enjoy some very off the wall subjects. So in answer what makes a local blog worth reading is the fact that the reader finds it interesting. We can only know that for definite if people still read it after a period of time. The one thing that I think this blog has done uniquely well in Barnet is to start conversations. Often others have more to say, a better insight, more value to add, but it is us who gets the ball rolling. That is usually enough.

As I've now been blogging for 13 years, I guess I must be doing something right. 

How to write a popular and entertaining blog

Much to my amazement, the Barnet Eye blog has had well over a million hits since we started. That is more hits than the number of people who will watch Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur this weekend. By any measure that means that this is a popular blog. If  you had asked me how many hits I would have been happy to have seen after five years, I'd have optimistically said "Maybe 100,000". So how has this phenomenal success been achieved?

There are several aspects to the answer, but it can be summed up with "find themes you care passionately about and work extremely hard". This blog has several themes which we regularly cover. The main ones are

Barnet Council Politics
Barnet and the locality
Cancer
Dyslexia
Music
Humour

These are pretty much in order of precedence.  Had I known how successful the blog would be, I would probably used the Wordpress platform, rather than blogspot, as it is easier to sort things within headings. There is nothing I would like more than to have the various headings and themes easily accessible in their own sections. This would make it far easier for people who have a specific interest to find articles they are interested in. I put keywords in to allow searches, but for many people unfamiliar with Blogspot, this is not an easy way to find anything. So the first piece of advice I would give is to think about the themes you wish to develop and if they are diverse, make sure people can easily find the related blogs.

The next piece of advice I would give is to use the sidebar effectively. Put interesting information in it and use the facility to display other similar blogs. Sharing mutual links is a good way to build a readership. Contact other blog authors and inform them that you have linked to them, suggest they do the same thing.

The next piece of advice is to be innovative. Don't simply do what everyone else seems to be doing. Think what you would like to see on a blog. Think of what you think other people are not covering.

If possible use pictures, these help. Build up a library. I neglect this, but my stats show that blogs with pictures get more pageviews. Videos can be equally effective, but edit them so that you get the point across.

There are a few classic fails to avoid. When I first started the Barnet Eye, people complained that the blog was hard to read, with a black background and white writing. I thought it looked cool, but if people can't read it what is the point. Another mistake some people make is to have music on their blog, which plays when the blog opens. Many people read blogs at work. If they are having a sly peek and the 1812 overture starts blaring out, they won't be back.

Thus far, all of the hints have been about "technicalities". The main secret is to make people regularly return to the blog, tell their friends about it and to build a profile. This is done by content. It is hard work. When I started blogging, I made a personal commitment to spend 30 minutes every day writing the blog. In truth, I have failed miserably, spending 3-4 hours a day writing. I also have a policy of encouraging guest bloggers. These bring a different perspective to the blog and expertise outside of my own personal experience. They also bring new readers to the blog as their friends and acquaintances. All of these things help to build a readership.

One rule I have is to never insult the intelligence of my readers. If I make a claim, I put a link to back it up. If I am expressing and opinion, I say "this is my opinion" - I don not claim it as a fact. In mu view, the biggest mistake a blogger can make is to present their opinion as a fact. I believe in presenting the evidence and allowing the reader to make up their own mind. Try and present facts in an interesting and informative manner.

I also run themes. I run a Friday joke (unless I haven't heard or seen one worth repeating). I often do a Saturday List. For series of blogs, such as my series on Cancer and dyslexia, I put a preamble paragraph so that people can understand the full context. These also have a tag, so people can find them. At some point I need to "tidy up" all of the labels on the blog. People sometimes don't understand the function of tags in Blogger. Some bloggers use them as a way of making a witty comment. In fact these are simply your index. If you mention a specific topic or person, tag it. That way it is easier to find related posts. Many people don't realise that if you click the tag, you get all related posts. It is worth mentioning this so people unfamiliar with blogger can find related stories by searching on labels or by simply clicking on them.

One last thing. It is worth periodically reviewing your format, as I have done. I hope that you find it more readable and easier to find your way around. If you don't like it, please let me know.

A statement : The Barnet Eye and Barnet Council

On the 8th November 2011, I was told that I have prostate cancer. In the intervening weeks, I have done a huge amount of soul searching and taken a long hard look at my life and the things I spend my time doing. Writing a blog about Barnet Council takes an inordinate amount of time and creates a massive amount of stress in my life. There are many things I could do which would bring me far more pleasure and many subjects I feel I could write about, where possibly I could make far more difference to peoples lives. Barnet currently has four other bloggers who are more than capable of doing what I set out to do on my own in 2008. That is to cover the activities of the council in a way that the local press seems to not be interested in doing. I've spent a fair amount of time researching the issues, causes and treatment of cancer and I feel that there may be people who would benefit if I shared this knowledge. I also feel it is important to make the case for dyslexics and to try and dispel many of the misunderstandings and myths associated with the condition. Then there are all of the other issues I enjoy, local history, interesting things to do in Barnet, and non council related issues affecting Barnet residents such as the Thameslink service. I felt the time had come to move on. I also felt that the way forward for this blog was through more guest blogs, using the readership I've built up to give a platform for other local campaigners and activists such as Linda Edwards and Julia Hines. Their work deserves the widest possible audience.

I have one thing to say to anyone at Barnet Council who may be reading this. Thank you (in a Cee Lo Green sort of way). Your actions have made me realise that I've been getting lazy, complacent and have managed to shove my head up my own arse in relation to Barnet. Barnet Council needs as many active bloggers as possible at the moment, digging as deeply as they possibly can. Whilst in a perfect world,  I would love to do all of the things I stated above, I don't live in a perfect world. I live under the jurisdiction of Barnet Council. What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger. I rather suspect that when I do the round up of 2012, I will see this whole sorry saga as a huge own goal by Barnet. In other words, any major change of emphasis of this blog will just have to wait (although the guest bloggers are more welcome than ever).

There are many things I would like to say today, but it is very necessary to keep my powder dry. I can just advise one thing. Nothing I write on this blog, in relation to Barnet Council is done lightly. I have a large and informal circle of people who have advised, helped and steered me in the right direction from day 1. They are from the right, left and centre of political spectrum. They encompass a whole range of skills, talents and professions. When this blog is attacked, they are also attacked. What is heartening is that this is the message they have been at pains to make sure I understand and appreciate.

A few people have told me they are worried about me, especially following a few comments on the cancer blogs I've written recently. Please don't be. I couldn't feel fitter or more healthy than I do right now. I just perhaps share my darker thoughts a bit too much with you. Let me explain why.

In 1985, I co wrote a song. The chorus went like this

if you don't try,

if you don't try,

if you don't try,

You might as well be dead.

I have sung this song to myself ever since, whenever I've needed to motivate myself, be it to run for a bus, to drag myself out in the rain to a meeting, to get out of bed and go to work, when I've felt like dying (and I mean this mostly in relation to hangovers). It has seen me through good times and bad and helped me meet many challenges. I may be wrong, I may be deluded, but I truly wonder what certain people sing to themselves for motivation? 

On Saturday morning I had an MRI at Barnet General. I'd been stressing on it all week. On Sunday morning, I had to take a washing machine to the flat of a friend who is suffering from a far more serious cancer than I have. I have been dreading seeing him. He is one of my best friends, but I was scared to see a window into my own future. Wheras I'll probably die of something else, he's been given a prognosis of 6-12 months. He's 45 years old. When I saw him, it was great. He has the right attitude to life. It isn't money, possessions or power which matter and make us happy. It is knowing we have people who love us. Nothing else matters at all, but you only find out when you are stripped to the bare bones of your existence.

That is why I'm truly afraid of nothing apart from seeing the people I love suffer.
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Many apologies for the self indulgent tone of the second section of this post. I just really don't want anyone who cares about me to worry. If I wasn't feeling strong, I wouldn't write any of this

Has Guido lost his Mojo?????

Was just having a peek at the Guido Fawkes Blog. In amongst all the ads for Pizza's and betfair, I started reading, but got distracted by an advert on the radio for Stannah chair lifts or something. It suddenly hit me that maybe it's becoming rather formulaic, corporate and dull? It's rather like Punk rock, when it became successful, it became part of the establishment. I rather like blogs when they are edgy  & saying something a bit different. Bet's on how long before he's writing the Telegraph diary -Heh, Heh, Heh.

I always quite liked the blog (don't agree with it, but found it funny) as I have some sort of affinity with Guy Fawkes as one of my ancestors - Chidiok Tichborne - was part of the Babington Plot and got Hung drawn and quartered for his trouble - us Tichbornes have got a long history of being troublemakers.

I just hope I give up before I lose my Mojo (and I'm sure many Barnet Councillors will hope that is some time soon) !!!!

Captain Useless - sinking to the bottom of the sea

For those readers new to the blog, Captain Useless is the Barnet Eye's nickname for Matthew Offord, Conservative candidate for Hendon and former deputy leader of Barnet Council. We've been calling him Captain Useless here since one of our mutual friends told me that he was a keen sailor. He's been given a blog about sailing on the Hendon Times and I've had many a merry hour lampooning it for it's vital role as a cure for insomnia.

Well, this blog always prides itself on it's honesty. Just because I don't agree with someone, doesn't mean that I won't dish out the praise where the praise is due. I've got to say that his latest entry is actually rather good. As I read through it, I started to feel rather gutted as there was absolutely nothing worthy of scorn in it. In fact it was interesting and informative. Now not everyone is interested in swimming the channel, sailing and diving, but if you are, then it's worth a read. Doesn't mean I'll be voting for him, but I have to grudgingly admit that when the good captain gets on with the job in hand and sticks to the topic, rather than using it to spout nonsense about local politics, he actually writes quite a good blog.

Well done Matthew, mind you, I'll take all the credit as you've taken my constructive criticisms to heart <| :^)

Brian Coleman boasts about sponging on his blog !

You really should read this blog in the News Statesman by Brian Coleman.

Here are a few choice extracts for your perusal

"Rather like the Methodist Church (which it seems these days stands for not much that John Wesley would recognise) and unlike my Octogenarian Mother I have long since abandoned my teetotalism and enjoy good champagne when someone else is paying and a glass of port or two after your average City Corporation Dinner."

"I vividly recall going on an official trip to Cyprus when one Labour MP had to be physically helped off the plane by a colleague when he arrived at Larnaca as he was too drunk to stand and on a previous trip one corpulent now former Scottish Labour MP who failed to attend any of the official meetings but somehow managed all the dinners!"

"Gordon Brown has promised to the relief of local councillors across the Country to review the liberalisation of the licensing laws. Perhaps he should bring his Scottish Presbyterian views to the attention of some of those closer to home."

Indeed !

When you've read that blog, read this one - The Brian Coleman Free dinner register update

Actions speak louder than words.

Are blogs fair?

I've looked at hundreds, if not thousands of blogs Some are great, some are horrible, some are interesting & some aren't. We've a few people who've become household names through blogging, such as Guido & Iain Dale. We've also had Salman Pax in Iraq. A couple of comments came up at the weekend regards my blog this weekend. I thought I'd ask the question, are blogs fair.

As I see it, for a blog to have any impact, it has to be either a) Interesting or b) funny. If it's just full of random rantings which are blatently untrue, then people are not stupid, they just won't come back. People don't say "I've found this great blog full of made up rumours". Take for example my special on Captain Useless aka "Matthew Offord". All of the comments are either quotes from his website or facts in the public domain which can found on the council website. I'm sure Matthew doesn't think "great" when he reads it, but he'll get far worse if he ever does well in his chosen career, so he'd better get used to it. I think my blog is fair comment.

So in answer to the question. Are blogs fair? Not always, but if they are clearly not fair, they will have no readers and therefore no influence