Brent Cross - They don't give a toss

Have a look at this picture, mocked up by the architects to demonstrate just how lovely the new Brent Cross is. Look really carefully at the "riverside scene". What do you see? Can you see the toddlers playing by the River Brent. Can you see that there is drop of a couple of feet into the river? Are they really promoting picnics in such dangerous spots? The use of perspective in the picture intrigues me. By clever angles a river which is 25ft wide appears the same size as a huge block of flats six stories high. The backside of a young mum is larger than the top three stories of the tower at the back of the picture. There is another view of this idylic development. Try this

In this picture, you can see just how big the blocks are. Nope they are not the same size as a young mum's Bum. They dwarf the London Bus in the bottom right hand corner. The Leader of Barnet Council proudly boasted that the Brent Cross Development would give the Borough an exciting new Town Centre. What sort of a Town will it be? It will be one with the largest road junction in London, an eleven lane highway, clogged with traffic dividing it in half. It is bounded by the Brent Cross flyover to the East, and the M1/Staples Corner flyover to the West. As to being a safe environment to raise children, well I'd guess that there wouldn't be anywhere in London with more cars spouting out pollution than this. Is there a larger conglomeration of roads anywhere? Of course the planners of this feel that this already polluted air quality is not polluted enough and are planning an incinerator. It is no secret that there are all sorts of cancer hotspots in the vicinity of such installations. Where is the "green space" for children to play? Down by the ungarded banks of the River Brent where there is no fencing to prevent them falling in? A river prone to flash flooding. There is also the railway passing by to the East. I guess if the kids get bored with the river, they could play on the tracks, maybe a nice game of chicken in front of the Freight Trains carrying nuclear waste to Sellafield, which rumble through.

At  a hurriedly convened meeting of the Hendon planning committee last week, the plans for this monstrosity received approval. For some strange reason, the whole process was suddenly speeded up just as the holiday season started.

I attended  the Hendon & District residents Forum where Barnet Council Official, Martin Cowie informed us that the meeting was only discussing the extension of the time limits, as a legal requirement, which seemed reasonable enough. This week the Times tells us that the extension will give stakeholders a chance to give extra input- They said "These controls will ensure Barnet Council and the other stakeholders and in particular TfL will continue to have real control and input into how the Brent Cross Cricklewood regeneration is taken forward - and that public transport, infrastructure and community investment keeps pace with development." So who thinks this is a good idea? Well it seems that the chair of the planning committee does. Her name Wendy Prentice.


Wendy Prentice thinks that children who grow up in an extremely polluted environment, with no green spaces to play, bounded by dangerous roads, railways and rivers will grow up into happy, healthy children. So what sort of a road does Ms Prentice live in.  Well I googled her road and looked at the streetview? What does Ms Greenspan see when she walks down her road? Well she sees something like this :-

Make no mistake, if you live in the London Borough of Barnet, you are a stakeholder. How many people of the board of TFL live in Barnet. It is telling that the most important stakeholder mentioned in the Times article is TFL, who are responsible for the roads which run through it. Their remit is not the well being of the children of Barnet. If like me you think that this whole scheme is scandalous and we are building a future slum city, with huge urban problems, which will blight Barnet forever, please don't sit on your hands. Send an email to Ms Prentice, who is the councillor responsible for the decision and tell her that you think Barnet should put the wellbeing of children before the profits of developers and that you think multi story tower blocks, roads, dangerous rivers, railway sidings and gas incinerators are no environment to raise your family - cllr.w.prentice@barnet.gov.uk|

Allowancegate : They are all at it now !!!!

What happens in an organisation when the people at the top are discredited, there is a captive market for the revenue and the people who make the decisions have no principles whatsoever. Something like this maybe?

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/8316297.Acting_deputy_chief_executive_paid_more_than___15k_a_month/

It seems that Mr Andrew Travers, an acting deputy chief executive of Barnet Council is receiving £15,000 a month through a shell company. A statement from Barnet Council said: 

“The use of staff on a contractual basis gives the council flexibility when planning for the future. This specific contract was put in place after a rigorous recruitment process failed to find a suitable candidate. When filling posts in this way, the council makes sure that contracts stay within the existing budget for the post."

His job? Mr Travers has been leading on recruiting new financial directors to the council, with three jobs worth nearly £200,000 between them. From what I can see, Barnet Council is having a "trough Fest" at the top, whilst the people delivering care on the front line are being chopped mercilessly. One thing is clear. If Mr Travers had been a permanent employee, it would cost us just as much, as it's within existing budgets for the post.

Earlier this week, I detailed how only people with "Critical Care Needs" are receiving Council care and "reviewing managers" are scrutinising all budgets.

Are they scrutinising the salaries of these executives. Mr AT Ravers is receiving £180,000 per annum - I wonder how many incontinent bums you can wipe for that. I wonder how many baths for the bedridden you can buy. I wonder how many meals on wheels you can provide. I wonder how many home visits for vulnerable children you can buy.

In a Council where the Leaders have just voted themselves a big rise, because they are worth it, is it any wonder that when Mr Travers says he's worth it as well they all agree. I'm rather interested why Mr Travers doesn't want to be a permanent employee of Barnet Council. Maybe it's because by using a shell company, he pays less tax, earning even more money. Maybe it's because he doesn't think a job at Barnet Council will be an interesting and fulfilling career. Or maybe it's simpler, maybe he just doesn't want "Executive at Barnet Council" on his CV. To be quite honest, who can blame him? Could it be that the reason Barnet Council can't attract a permanent employee for the role, despite a salary most of us can only dream of, is because it really is a basket case Council which is the kiss of death on your CV if you want a long term career. How much would you have to earn to make it worth working for the likes of Brian Coleman?

Sir John Gorst - RIP

It's Gorst of Course

The first election I can remember was the 1974 General Election. Mill Hill was then in the constituency of Hendon North. It had been a Tory stronghold for a long, long time. My house was split between my Mum who always voted either Labour or Liberal, depending on who she thought was most likely to beat the Tories and my Dad who was a lifelong Tory. I sided with my mum on this one. Her arguments were more persuasive. She associated Labour with the NHS which had recently saved her life when she developed cancer. She associated Tories with exploitation, suppression of the working man and inequality. My Dad was a businessman and felt that Labour was the party of the Unions, which were ruining the country and the Conservatives were the party of stability and security. My road, Millway was awash with blue posters, proclaiming "It's Gorst of Course" (at later elections I'd take great delight at pulling up the staked garden posters - of course I've long since grown out of such behaviour).

With regards to politics, there was only one thing on which they agreed. This was that Sir John Gorst was a decent man and a fine MP for his constituents. Sir John Gorst was the MP and he had helped several people we knew. My Father used to give reasonable amounts of cash to the Tories. He would often point people with issues with bureaucracy at Gorst and tell them with "He will sort it out". He invariably did, apart from one case, which I still remember. Our next door neighbour was an Asian guy and he was being deported. He told my father that a great injustice had been done to him and his family. There was a "mix up" and he was being persecuted. My father told him to get in touch with Gorst and say he was a personal friend. He assurred him Gorst would sort it out. A couple of weeks later may father saw the neighbour, who informed him Gorst was useless and a racist. My father was quite shocked. He called John Gorst and asked why. Gorst asked if my father was aware of the details of the case. My father said he was. Gorst then asked if he was aware that my neighbour was an illegal immigrant, who had been prosecuted for mistreating a maid of the family who was living the life of a virtual slave and suffering appalling abuse. Gorst said he would have helped the man if he had been genuine, but it was open and shut case and the guy was a scumbag. My father was suitably embarrassed.

The next time I had dealings with Sir John Gorst was at a rally in Montrose Park to protest against the closure of Edgware General Hospital in 1996. Sir John had broken ranks with the Tory Government and was defying a three line whip, to do the right thing by his constituents. He spoke at the rally with conviction and passion. He was by far the best public speaker. His oration was far superior to his then Labour challenger Andrew Dismore. I was quite amazed by just how good he was. I respected his morals and principles and although I was extremely pleased to see Andrew Dismore elected, I was sorry to see a genuinely decent man lose heavily, on an issue where he was on the right side.

Gorst paid the price for the closure of Edgware General Hospital by the then Tory Government, despite being a vocal opponent of the scheme. It strikes me that in politics, there really is no justice at all. I wonder what Sir John made of the current crop of Barnet politicians. I wonder what his views of the Allowancegate scandal were? Whilst there were many policies with which I disagreed with Sir John Gorst, I can honestly say that this blog would not cover politics if all of the current crop of Barnet politicians had the morals, courage and principles of Sir John Gorst.

The Daily Telegraph writes a fine obituary. I hadn't realised just how independently minded he was and for that I salute him.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/7927026/Sir-John-Gorst.html

Allowancegate : You villify yourself, mate

A quick public response to the Barnet Tory Councillor who privately emailed me to say that I was "unfair" vilifying "hard working councillors" who are doing their best. If you vote yourself or your bosses a big payrise, at the same time as telling public sector workers we all have to suffer cuts, and then refuse to justify this when asked, quite frankly you deserve a bit of vilification. In fact, I'd say your actions vilify yourself. My message to you "Diddums, you poor little puppy. Grow a backbone and stand up for the people who voted for you".

This report in the Barnet Press says it all
http://www.edgware-today.co.uk/tn/News.cfm?id=28098&headline=New%20Tories%20keep%20tight-lipped%20about%20allowance%20decision

Allowancegate : We name the guilty MEN of Barnet

As promised, we are looking more closely at the press coverage of the Allowancegate Scandal in this weeks Barnet Press newspaper. At the last Council election in May, the people of Barnet Elected 11 new Tory Councillors. Rather strangely for a party in the year 2010, all of these Councillors were male (can't the Tories replace high Calibre women who've left such as Fiona Bulmer and Jane Ellison). They all shared one other feature. None of them possess a backbone. Apart from the Salingers, who publicly disassociated themselves from the rise, all of the Tory Councillors share some guilt for this awful decision, but these 11 hold a special share of the blame.Why? because there are eleven of them with no baggage. Of all the councillors, this group should be most in touch with the man in the street (although as not a single girlie amongst them, clearly not the women of Barnet). They should be at the stage of learning the ropes, getting their feet under the desk.

So why did they vote for the rise? Well we'll never know because the lilley livered chickens won't tell us.As the press reports, they were all unavailable for comment. That says it all. You may say that these guys couldn't have changed anything. Well that is untrue. If they had have voted with the opposition, the motion would have fallen.

Their names are there, along with their pictures - the Guilty men. They veer from the risible Graham Old "Kate Salinger is my hero, but I'm too cowardly to actually back her" to the conniving Barry Evangeli "Well if she's going to make a stand, I'll 'ave 'er job". My special favourite at the moment is Daniel "Imber" Seal. Apparently good old "Imber" was asked about it recently. His response "If we didn't give people like Lynne Hillan a decent wage, they'd leave and get  a better job somewhere else".

Well my Dear Imber, pray tell. Where is this better job. She's been at the council for how many years on far less money???? Has she left for a better job ???? We all know about the last better job she had. She was the managing Director of Ashurst Direct Marketing Ltd. My Dearest Imber, do you know what happened next? Well Ashurst Direct Marketing Ltd went bust owing it's creditors a small fortune. So my Dearest "Imber", here's an offer. Why don't you write a guest blog explaining what Talent Councillor Lynne Hillan brings to the Council to justify her allowance. Tell us why, if you ran a company (as I do) you'd employ Hillan. As ever guest blog rules apply. No editing and no comment on the blog from me. Prove to the people of Barnet that you are not quite as dumb  (literally) as you make out.

My thanks to the Barnet Press for their valuable role in the war against these spongers. Thanks to their article, everyone in the Borough now knows who these lackies are, what they look like and just how completely gutless they really are.

Allowancegate latest : grim reading for Barnet Tory Party

The Barnet Tory Party are conducting something akin to the charge of the light brigade, but with all of the honour and courage removed. This weeks BARNET PRESS is starting to plop down onto peoples doorsteps and if you thought last weeks copy made bad reading for the Tories, check what they are saying today  - Here's the online version -

http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/launch.aspx?referral=other&pnum=&refresh=F0a23X1gr4T1&EID=9d4d6537-ad1c-4af9-8156-58268b8878bc&skip=

I will be reproducing a few of the choice moments over the next few days, but the here's the Highlights :-

Page 4  - 3/4 page article on Hillan -"She lives on another planet"
Page 5 - 1/2 page story about the gutless new intake  -Evangeli, Shooter, Old, Khatri et all. The cowards refused to comment
Page 8 - Editorial & Letters -  another scathing editorial and a hatful of letters.

We await the Times tomorrow.

The opposition parties have spotted an opportunity. The Labour party have realised that this is THE ISSUE in Barnet. They have online links to all sorts of petitions - Check Here


http://www.labourforbarnet.co.uk/

The Lib Dems have also devoted their website to fighting this issue - Click Here


http://www.barnetlibdems.org.uk/

Rather sadly, there is only one major party in Barnet which doesn't seem to mind (or at least have been a bit slow off the mark, if we are being charitable) - Barnet Green Party have so far said nothing. Come on guys, this is a cross community campaign. Either you are against the rise or you're not. According to your website 20,000 people in Barnet voted for you, so please at the very minimum let us know where you stand on this.

http://www.barnetgreenparty.co.uk/

I would be amazed if the vast majority of voters of all Parties didn't object to this rise. I'd love to see a Tories against the rise campaign. We can stop this if we all pull together. This blog is doing it's bit. The local papers are doing there bit (in a way I've not seen for years) and the main opposition parties are doing there bit. Let's keep those letters rolling in and those petitions going. Please can all of the major parties update their websites, email their members and keep the pressure up.

Sooner or later the penny has to drop with the backbench Tory councillors- doesn't it?

Allowancegate : Barnet is Cutting Social Care to pay for Hillans pay rise

Late last night I received an email from a staunch Barnet Tory. This was from someone who's family have been involved with the Tory party in Barnet for years, hosted fundraising events, helping out at elections, the sort of stuff which makes the party work.

My correspondent was livid. They have a friend who is a social worker.The friend was telling them that they had received instructions from Barnet Council, their employer. The jist of these is that Barnet Council are now going to only fund backup services where it is critical. They are looking to reduce contact hours with clients, to the bare minimum legally permitted.

I have a few names to remind Barnet Council of Baby P, Victoria Columbie ..... All of these children died as a result of failures of social services. Whenever cost cutting collides with social care, the result is that people die. Vulnerable people. Children. The elderly. The sick. The infirm. Care packages are put together by medical professionals. When these are cut by officials with titles such as "reviewing officers" it is patently clear that the actual needs of vulnerable people are being neglected.

If a home visit is deemed necessary three times a day, if a reviewing officer cuts this and then the well being of the person is effected in a detrimental manner, Barnet Council is guilty of negligence. I urge the friends, relatives, neighbours of anyone who is receives social care from Barnet Council to ask for a written justification for any changes to the social welfare package. Agree to nothing until this has happened, threaten legal action if need be. If the changes result in accident, injury, stress related illness or death, then sue Barnet Council for negligence. I would also urge anyone who has a relative who is affected by cuts to contact BARNET UNISON. They will be most happy to help as well.

You know what makes me sick about this. Lynne Hillan used to be in charge of the Social Services portfolio at Barnet Council. She was there when they outsourced the Meals on Wheels contract to Sodexho, resulting in many elderly people, including my own mum, not getting their meals. She knows first hand what the effects of these changes are. She doesn't care at all.

What does she care about at Barnet Council. Well she cares quite a lot about increasing her allowances. She used the party whip to ensure that, not only were these protected, but they were massively increased. She's happy to vote herself a massive pay rise, whilst cutting care to the most desperately needy in Barnet.

I've been fighting these cuts as best I can from my blog. We've done well to make this a big issue locally. I can't do this on my own. I'm imploring all of you to really start fighting back. Keep sending the letters to the local paper, contact your councillors. If you work for Barnet join a Union. If you get your care cut, threaten legal action. If you are a blogger, write a blog today saying it's unacceptable. If you are a retired blogger, like Status Quo have one more reunion tour. I am imploring any workers of Barnet Council who have received letters telling them to cut services to the people of Barnet. If they contain no personal detail , then Scan them. Email them to me. I won't put any details that can identify you, but I will fight your corner. I've already seen a couple and they make me sick - CLICK HERE TO EMAIL ME. Please do not send any that contain specific information about individuals, only ones which detail non specific changes to the system. If the letters contain specific details, which are private and you want me to know, just send me a potted summary in an email. Together we can make a change.

When will we see the Al-Quada & Taliban files on Wikileaks?

There is a most interesting article on the Guardian Comment is Free website by Gerry Adams -


http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/02/wikileaks-british-lies-afghanistan-ireland

Mr Adams discusses how Wikileaks revelations about Afghanistan, show the British army perfected it's anti terrorist techniques on the streets of Belfast. War is truly a terrible thing and I've no doubt whatsoever that the British Army became more effective at dealing with terrorism as a result of it's involvement with Ulster.

What Mr Adams doesn't tell us is when we'll see the papers describing the IRA's modus opperandi on Wikileaks. I'd be interested to see the records of Al-Quada and Taliban as well. The problem with wikileaks is that we only see half the picture. In South Africa there was a truth and reconciliation commission, where all sides told the truth and the whole story was opened up to public examination. As I read Mr Adams article, I thought to myself that maybe this would have been appropriate in Northern Ireland.  There's an old saying that it takes two to tango. Sadly Mr Adams article is fish without chips. I rather think Wikileaks Afghan papers are a bit like this as well. Do we see the whole picture? It's just that without knowing what the other side are up to, we really don't know as much as we think we do.

Allowancegate : Lynne Hillan - The leader that doesn't listen

Council Leader Lynne Hillan has a blog called "Leader Listens". The solitary entry was made nearly six months ago and Hillan made this promise to the people of Barnet.

There will be no new posts to this blog until after the election. The only exception will be my expenses which I will post monthly.

The sad truth is that despite this promise, she hasn't. She's been too busy looking at ways of increasing her own income (when she's not been on holiday). Has she something to hide? Who knows. What we can say is that she made the voters of Barnet a promise and she broke it. Under the previous Leader, Mike Freer, he went out and about the Borough, meeting residents. He even set up a stall in Sainsburys in Golders Green one fine saturday morning. Well here's an invite to Lynne Hillan.  Come and do a Leader Listens roadshow in Mill Hill and invite the general public. See what they have to say about your huge allowance rise.

Allowancegate : The Cancer at the Heart of Barnet Council that just won't go away

I sometimes wonder just how stupid the current Leaders of the Barnet Tories are. When will they realise that every time anything happens at Barnet Council, the Allowancegate Scandal, where they voted themselves huge rises, whilst telling everyone else that there would be cuts, will be rammed right back down their throats. I receive new emails every day from all sorts of people. All of the graphics I've been posting have been sent to me by various anonymous artists. The number of hits on the blog goes higher every day (and we got a fair few before this broke). So as I write this, I thought I'd have a look at the Hendon Times, for todays batch of stories

First off, we have Lib Dem Leader, Jack Cohen berating them for their cowardice, in dodging public forums, where they would see just how popular these rises are :-

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/8308943.Lib_Dem_leader_accuses_Conservatives_of__cowardice__in_the_face_of_public_criticism/

Then we have a story where the Conservative Minister of State for Local Government, Eric Pickles says what happens is dreadful and the Former Tory Council Leader says they are a laughing stock

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/8308726.Council_is__a_laughing_stock__councillor_told_after_meeting_with_secretary_of_state/

Then there's the news that Council workers might go on strike, because they object to redundancies and an overtime pay freeze when Council bosses have just awarded themselves a pay hike.

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/8307541.Strike_threat_after_council_overtime_pay_freeze_announced/?ref=mr

So you have Ex Tory Council Leaders opposing it, the Leader of the Tories Coalition partners, the Lib Dems opposing it, the people who work for the Council opposing it, even the Tory Minister for local Government opposing it. If you have such a cancer, there really is only one way to deal with it. Chop it out, before it kills you.

Here's an interesting thought for our Tory Councillors. In four years time, there will be another election. If the Coalition is deeply unpopular, the electorate will seek to punish you. Only your record will stand between you and opposition. If however the Coalition is a stunning success, many Tories will be able to register a protest vote by switching to the Lib Dems in wards such as Mill Hill and High Barnet and who knows where else. At previous elections, the Tories mobilised the large Jewish vote against the Lib Dems on the back of Jenny Tonges comments. After David Camerons recent statements, I suspect that trick won't work again (especially from what a few local Jewish friends had to say). During the course of the election, I chatted to many people on the doorsteps of Mill Hill who voted Conservative. It seems to me that every time I walk down the Broadway someone stops me and tells me they won't make the same mistake again. The articles in the local papers have had a huge effect. In the Ivory towers at North London Business Park, Lynne Hillan and Co think it will be long forgotten. The great and good of Mill Hill tell me a slightly different story. They are disgusted. They recognise the whining and the excuses for what it is. Over the last week, the one mantra that has been repeated to me time and again is this "This is not the sort of behaviour we expect from Conservative Councillors" from little old ladies in Mill Hill Broadway.

Let me tell you of one rather comical incident. There is a little old lady who lives up the road. When she got the local paper last week, she was so incensed that she marched down the road, to say she'd would have voted for me if she'd known about this (she's a lifelong Tory). Having spent ten minutes on the doorstep telling me of her upset, she marched back. Five minutes later, she was back. She'd been so upset that she'd forgotten her keys and locked herself out. Luckily for her,  being a Lib Dem, my housebreaking skills are second to none and we soon had her back in.