Today I had a bit of a Monty Python Life of Brian moment. I was discussing the fate and fortunes of the Conservative Party and my friend, who is shall we say, slightly left leaning said "When it comes down to it, what have the Tories ever done for the ordinary working man in Britain?"
I could resist saying "The Aquaduct", but had to say "well Winston Churchill defeated the Nazi's". To which my friend said "Ok, apart from beating the Nazi's". So I thought and said "Well Ted Heath joined the EEC, which has been winding up most of his party ever since" So my friend said "OK, apart from beating the Nazi's and joining the EEC, what have the Tories ever done for us". So I said "Well Margaret Thatcher, as Education secretary virtually got rid of Grammer schools and then as Prime Minister she signed the Single European act, which allowed lots of hard working Poles and Romanians to come here". To which, my friend, starting to rise to the bait said "Ok apart from beating the Nazis, joining the EEC, abolishing Grammar Schools and signing the Single European act, what did the Tories ever do for us?". So I replied "Thatcher ousted a fairly nasty right wing bunch of Fascist generals in Argentina with the Falklands war, gave Hong Kong back to the Chinese, ending one of our last Imperialist outposts and negotiated the end of the illegal Apartheid Government in Rhodesia" So my friend said "Yes, but what about Londoners". So I reminded him that Horace Cutler created the London Marathon, whilst at the GLC.
So my friend said "look that's all very well, but what about the current bunch of Tories?" So I thought about it for a minute. Then I thought about it for another minute. Then I thought about it for a third minute. Then I thought about it for a fourth minute. Then I wondered "what exactly will David Cameron be remembered for?" And guess what. I came to the conclusion that he probably won't be remembered for anything at all, once the page comes down on his career. Then quite to my surprise, my friend said "you know what? There is one achievement of this current lot, which I think might be remembered fondly by the Left" I thought for another moment "Nope, you've got me". He shot back, beaming all over his face "He's destroyed the Lib Dems!"
So there you go. That's what the Tories have done for us.
Wednesday, 28 May 2014
How the two party system has failed Barnet
Barnet Council is in a mess. Let me give you one small example. Yesterday my wife tried to renew the parking permit for our car. We've been doing this ever since Barnet Council introduced a CPZ in Mill Hill without drama. This time however there is a new regime. Capita have taken over Barnet Council, so it became a nightmare. The telephone operator "couldn't find" our details. They even asked if we were sure we had a permit. Bear in mind my wife had a renewal reminder in her hand whilst making the call. The call took about twenty times longer than it should. As I understand it, the resolution was that a "new permit" had to be set up. All the details needed to be reinput. Now in the scheme of things, this was just a bit inconvenient, but is a sign that the systems are in chaos.
What has this got to do with the two party system failing Barnet? Welll Capitaville as Barnet has become, is a product of the failure of the Barnet Tories to run the Council and Barnet Labour to be an effective opposition. The Tory Party provided no proper scrutiny of the process as a group. Most of the councillors were unaware of the detail. They were simply told by the whips that this was something they had to support. The hard right Leaders had taken an ideological decision and the sheep had to support it. As for Labour, they were useless in their opposition. The abject failure of the Tories was easy to demonstrate, yet they failed at every step to oppose the outsourcing. Barnet Alliance for Public Services organised event after event to oppose the process. Alison Moore, Labour Leader would show up and head marches, but not once was any effective opposition mounted in the Town Hall. Despite revealation after revealation by unions and bloggers about how badly the process was being managed, Barnet Labour didn't get their teeth stuck in at Council. No hard questions, no proper scrutiny. No going public about the lack of information. No commitment to reverse the process. No exposure of the faults in the contract. No warning to the Barnet voters of the danger of the project. Their was no support of the staff who lost their jobs and the the Unions who pay the bills for Labour. Worst of all though, Barnet Labour did not at any point say "We oppose the One Barnet process and think its wrong".
The Labour Party in Barnet needs new leadership now. If this does not happen, this blog will not be supporting any Labour Candidate in any election until they do. We are currently considering our options. Maybe it is time for a new sort of politics in Barnet. One which cares for the people and the Borough.
What has this got to do with the two party system failing Barnet? Welll Capitaville as Barnet has become, is a product of the failure of the Barnet Tories to run the Council and Barnet Labour to be an effective opposition. The Tory Party provided no proper scrutiny of the process as a group. Most of the councillors were unaware of the detail. They were simply told by the whips that this was something they had to support. The hard right Leaders had taken an ideological decision and the sheep had to support it. As for Labour, they were useless in their opposition. The abject failure of the Tories was easy to demonstrate, yet they failed at every step to oppose the outsourcing. Barnet Alliance for Public Services organised event after event to oppose the process. Alison Moore, Labour Leader would show up and head marches, but not once was any effective opposition mounted in the Town Hall. Despite revealation after revealation by unions and bloggers about how badly the process was being managed, Barnet Labour didn't get their teeth stuck in at Council. No hard questions, no proper scrutiny. No going public about the lack of information. No commitment to reverse the process. No exposure of the faults in the contract. No warning to the Barnet voters of the danger of the project. Their was no support of the staff who lost their jobs and the the Unions who pay the bills for Labour. Worst of all though, Barnet Labour did not at any point say "We oppose the One Barnet process and think its wrong".
The Labour Party in Barnet needs new leadership now. If this does not happen, this blog will not be supporting any Labour Candidate in any election until they do. We are currently considering our options. Maybe it is time for a new sort of politics in Barnet. One which cares for the people and the Borough.
Tuesday, 27 May 2014
Some great pictures of Mill Hill
One of my friends posted this link on Facebook to an album of old pictures on Facebook. I think they are wonderful. I thought some of my readers may like a peek.
http://jalbum.net/en/browse/user/album/1504065
I am intrigued by the pictures of the train crash at Mill Hill Broadway. Does anyone know any further details.
http://jalbum.net/en/browse/user/album/1504065
I am intrigued by the pictures of the train crash at Mill Hill Broadway. Does anyone know any further details.
Monday, 26 May 2014
Barnet Labour group meeting - Tues 27th May 2014
I've been informed that there is a meeting of the Labour Group this week to discuss the outcome of the Council Elections. The Conservatives are also having a meeting. This is where the roles and responsibilities of the various Councillors will be discussed and the shape of the administration and shadow administration will be formulated.
I am not going to beat about the bush. The Labour Group needs to take a very long, hard look at itself before this meeting and face up to the fact that they have royally let down the people of Barnet over the last four years. The Leadership of Alison Moore has spurned numerous opportunities to expose the local Tory administration as a bunch of complete incompetents. At the elections last week, they had the opportunity to take the Council, on the back of a London wide swing to Labour. Self indulgence and fantasism got the better of them, along with a perverse need to shaft their historical allies in Barnet politics.
The only way for Labour to move forward is to choose a new Leadership team, who understand that there is more to running a campaign than sticking a few numbers on a glossy leaflet. The Barnet Eye has not seen much value in scrutinising the behaviours of the local Labour Group. We've let too much incompetence go without comment and been guilty of excusing the unexcusable. I could write a fourteen page blog detailing all of the bad decisions, missed opportunities and total arrogance of the Labour regime. If Alison Moore is still in charge after the group meets I will write that blog and it will expose the total ineptitude of her regime. That will be the end of support for Barnet Labour on this blog and they should consider us hostile. If the group take on board their mistakes and appoint a fresh team, the we'll watch and see how the new regime shapes up and hopefully have a constructive role going forward. I have been a stalwart supporter of Andrew Dismore over the last four years. He has done a great job at the GLA. The sad truth for me is that if the party don't learn from what has happened, there is absolutely no way I'll be able to support Andrew going into the election in a years time. I've no idea whether the support of this blog will make any difference to his campaign. In some ways the question is irrelevant if he can run a good campaign. But I will say this, the Barnet Bloggers have been an effective campaigning force for progressive values in Barnet. If the local Labour party want to dump us and dump on us fine, but I hope for all concerned that they see sense and take some advice from critical friends.
Now is the time to refresh the Barnet Party and correct the mistakes of the last four years. It is time for new Leadership in the Council team. Failure to deliver this will demoralise local activists and could cost the local Labour party far more than a few Council seats at the election in 2015.
I was discussing the role of this blog with a pollster who I've been regularly talking to over the last few years. He explained the numbers game. If on average every blog I've written has persuaded one person to change their vote ( approx 1,000 people a day read the blog), then over a year thats 365 votes changed. Over four years that's 1500 ish. If it's two then double that. I've no idea if he's right or wrong, but at the next election, who knows 365 votes might make all the difference to someone. Maybe that figure is far more?
Now I am not some egomaniac or child who thinks that just because I don't like the Leadership style of someone they should go. If everyone who I respect in Progressive Barnet Politics told me I was wrong, I'd say nothing. The point is that everyone outside of the inner circle of the Labour Leadership I've spoken to agrees and they have done so for the last four years. We have collectively allowed ourselves to walk into a train train crash, because we were all too nice or too disorganised to say "hang on, this isn't working" Some of us are not prepared to say that anymore.
Before the election, I was assurred by senior figures in the Local Labour Party that they knew what they were doing and they had a strategy. As the train crash unfolded and it became clear they screwed up, those of us who wanted to see a change of administration were stuck in a mini hell, knowing that if we said anything, we'd only make matters worse. Barnet Labour ran an abysmal campaig and in truth got the result their campaign deserved (if not their supporters and grass roots activists). I am sick of these arrogant, lazy and stupid individuals riding roughshod over everyone else in Barnet. So the choice for the group is clear. Change.
I am not going to beat about the bush. The Labour Group needs to take a very long, hard look at itself before this meeting and face up to the fact that they have royally let down the people of Barnet over the last four years. The Leadership of Alison Moore has spurned numerous opportunities to expose the local Tory administration as a bunch of complete incompetents. At the elections last week, they had the opportunity to take the Council, on the back of a London wide swing to Labour. Self indulgence and fantasism got the better of them, along with a perverse need to shaft their historical allies in Barnet politics.
The only way for Labour to move forward is to choose a new Leadership team, who understand that there is more to running a campaign than sticking a few numbers on a glossy leaflet. The Barnet Eye has not seen much value in scrutinising the behaviours of the local Labour Group. We've let too much incompetence go without comment and been guilty of excusing the unexcusable. I could write a fourteen page blog detailing all of the bad decisions, missed opportunities and total arrogance of the Labour regime. If Alison Moore is still in charge after the group meets I will write that blog and it will expose the total ineptitude of her regime. That will be the end of support for Barnet Labour on this blog and they should consider us hostile. If the group take on board their mistakes and appoint a fresh team, the we'll watch and see how the new regime shapes up and hopefully have a constructive role going forward. I have been a stalwart supporter of Andrew Dismore over the last four years. He has done a great job at the GLA. The sad truth for me is that if the party don't learn from what has happened, there is absolutely no way I'll be able to support Andrew going into the election in a years time. I've no idea whether the support of this blog will make any difference to his campaign. In some ways the question is irrelevant if he can run a good campaign. But I will say this, the Barnet Bloggers have been an effective campaigning force for progressive values in Barnet. If the local Labour party want to dump us and dump on us fine, but I hope for all concerned that they see sense and take some advice from critical friends.
Now is the time to refresh the Barnet Party and correct the mistakes of the last four years. It is time for new Leadership in the Council team. Failure to deliver this will demoralise local activists and could cost the local Labour party far more than a few Council seats at the election in 2015.
I was discussing the role of this blog with a pollster who I've been regularly talking to over the last few years. He explained the numbers game. If on average every blog I've written has persuaded one person to change their vote ( approx 1,000 people a day read the blog), then over a year thats 365 votes changed. Over four years that's 1500 ish. If it's two then double that. I've no idea if he's right or wrong, but at the next election, who knows 365 votes might make all the difference to someone. Maybe that figure is far more?
Now I am not some egomaniac or child who thinks that just because I don't like the Leadership style of someone they should go. If everyone who I respect in Progressive Barnet Politics told me I was wrong, I'd say nothing. The point is that everyone outside of the inner circle of the Labour Leadership I've spoken to agrees and they have done so for the last four years. We have collectively allowed ourselves to walk into a train train crash, because we were all too nice or too disorganised to say "hang on, this isn't working" Some of us are not prepared to say that anymore.
Before the election, I was assurred by senior figures in the Local Labour Party that they knew what they were doing and they had a strategy. As the train crash unfolded and it became clear they screwed up, those of us who wanted to see a change of administration were stuck in a mini hell, knowing that if we said anything, we'd only make matters worse. Barnet Labour ran an abysmal campaig and in truth got the result their campaign deserved (if not their supporters and grass roots activists). I am sick of these arrogant, lazy and stupid individuals riding roughshod over everyone else in Barnet. So the choice for the group is clear. Change.
The 2014 Council Elections - the final word
Tomorrow a new council will be sworn in, there will be 18 new faces and 18 councillors who we won't be seeing again. The new council will be a big departure from the previous setup. One of the reasons that this blog has tempered much of its criticism of Richard Cornelius is due to his support of a change back to the old "committee system". The cabinet has been dispensed with and individual councillors will have far more say in decisions. This also means that they have to take responsibility for those decisions now. They can't say "The Cabinet passed it, we were not party to the decision".
With a much reduced majority, it now only needs one Conservative Councillor to say "No!" to any decision and the decision falls. Wheras there was the sanction of dismissal to the oblivion of opposition, now any councillor dismissed from the Tory group will hold the balance of power. This means that any Conservative with an axe to grind becomes a very dangerous individual for the administration.
It is interesting to note that two of the outgoing cabinet lost their seats. East Barnet Councillors Rams and Mrs Tambourides have created a space at the top table. In the brave new world this means committee chair positions. There is also the rather juicy plum role of chair of the licensing committee, vacated by outgoing Andreas Tambourides. So that means three lots of hefty allowances to be had.
If Richard Cornelius only has three members who want juicy cheques every month, all should be well. If however a few more want noses in troughs, then he will find himself in a sticky situation. There have been persistent rumours that Richard Cornelius would face a leadership challenge after the election, whatever the result. Given the tight margin at the top and the demise of some of the more accomplished weilders of the knife weilders, we think it unlikely. Any round of blood letting could have all sorts of unfortunate side effects. In short the majority of one has changed the game.
One rather interesting appointment will be the chair of the Audit committee. By convention this goes to an opposition member. Lord Palmer was the previous incumbent. In some ways Jack Cohen would make and ideal choice as he is one councillor who officers will not give the run around to. Jack finds himself in a strange situation. He's been "shot by both sides". Despite years of cordial relations between Barnet Labour and Barnet Lib Dems, Labour went tooth and nail to unseat Jack and hos fellow Childs Hill Lib Dems. The net result was the Tories took two seats in the ward. Labours teenage scribblers see this as some odd sort of victory, but for the rest of the progressive part of Barnet, it is a complete catastrophe. We can only speculate what the fallout from that particular own goal will be.
Which brings us to Labour. The election has given Labour a platform to possibly take all three London Borough of Barnet seats at the General Election. The big shock was the collapse of the Tory vote in Chipping Barnet, traditionally "Toryville". There is a theory doing the rounds amongst the Barnet Tories that the Labour party "threw" Hale Ward deliberately. The logic goes that whoever takes over the Council will have some awfully difficult decisions to make and Andrew Dismore did not want an unpopular Council to shaft his general election campaign next year. They believe that the campaigning decisions, such as the Childs Hill push were more about getting the message out for Labour 2015 than anything to do with running the Council.This is perhaps the only sensible explanation that I've heard for the failure to take Hale. The conspiracy theory also says that Labour HQ spiked the stories that were being leaked to the press about certain Hale ward Councillors.
I suppose we'll be able to see whether there is any truth in this when the Labour Group have their meeting on Tuesday. I suppose that if the current leadership remains, we can assume that the view is that whatever job was supposed to have been done, has been done. If there is a big shake up, then we know that they've recognised that there was a massive campaign failure. I guess that we'll have the full story after the meeting on Tuesday.
And on to the "minor" parties. Today we publish a rebuttal of the election coverage of the Greens in the Barnet Eye, by A.M. Poppy, who was local green candidate in High Barnet. As ever, when the emotions are high, we say silly things. Poppy states
Initially when the Lib Dems joined the coalition, I was undecided as to what to do. The country was in a mess and needed stable government. The referendum on the voting system was also something I supported. Then every single one of the Lib Dem MP's broke their pledge to not raise tuiton fees. I resigned as a Lib Dem in disgust. I was considering rejoining Labour, when I got a completely unexpected letter stating that I had been expelled for five years from the Party because I stood as a Lib Dem whilst being a Labour member. This was factually incorrect. I had copies of the email resigning and a response from Andrew Dismore. I sent this back, but was told it didn't matter and that I wasn't welcome. I realised that I didn't really want to be a member of a party and being an independent voice suited me and the blog better. I consider myself to be a "progressive" and I will support any candidate that I consider to be "the best for the people of Barnet".
So am I letting "personal animus" getting in the way with support for Greens. I find it rather strange that Poppy makes this claim. I believe that we are the only blog in Barnet to actually go out of our way and record an interview with her. I stated that she'd make and excellent councillor and that I hoped she'd do well in High Barnet. Does that sound like personal animus? The truth is that despite Poppies rant, the Lib Dems have one councillor and the Greens never got anywhere near gettimg elected anywhere. I believe this election was their best ever chance, especially in High Barnet and yet they didn't even poll 1,000 votes.
I am not upset at the Lib Dems poor showing. The party deserves a kicking for the coalition. I do however believe in the long run, they offer the best chance of a third party taking seats. These seats will be in Childs Hill, Mill Hill and High Barnet. This will not happen until after the end of the coalition. The best hope for the Greens is to get a by-election win in a ward where there is a major Green issue. I'd like to see a carve up. Wards like East Barnet, Hale and Brunswick Park giving Labour a free run. In Mill Hill, Childs Hill and High Barnet, give the Lib Dems a run.
I'd then say the Greens could have the free run of any other ward that comes up. If they find the right local issues and the right candidate and they focus their resources on one or two wards, I believe that long term they will do far better. I am amazed that in rural wards like Totteridge, they haven't done better. Green belt and overdevelopment is a big issue in such places. Poppy also berates me
And that brings us on nicely to UKIP. I don't really know what to say about UKIP in Barnet apart from to comment on the complete cock up of a campaign that they ran. I have spoken to their candidates and they admitted as much.
I suspect that only the Lib Dems really get what being a third party is about at local elections. They have always done well when they've identified hyper local issues and made these into the campaign. Mill Hill was awash with local issues, yet none of the parties bothered to talk to these. I suspect that the Lib Dems lost their focus due to the departure of Wayne Casey who was an excellent local politician. UKIP perhaps could have filled this void, but were simply too shambolic.
We must say a quick word about the smattering of independent candidates. It seems to me that Barnet is not really ready for independent candidates and the independent candidates are certainly not ready for Barnet. To win a seat in Barnet you need to attract somewhere between 1,800 and 3,000 votes. So if you are going to seriously engage, you have to work out how you change the minds of this number of people, many of whom are set in their ways. It seems that the independents think "having a few good ideas" will suffice. The laws of mathematics and probability say otherwise. So if you are planning to stand, you'll probably have to start knocking on doors a year before the election and get around every house 2 or 3 times.
Unless anymore guest blogs show up, this will be it for local election 2014 coverage. Unlike a few other bloggers, I've no interest in writing anything about any of the candidates consigned to room 101 (unless they have a pop). All scores have now been settled.
With a much reduced majority, it now only needs one Conservative Councillor to say "No!" to any decision and the decision falls. Wheras there was the sanction of dismissal to the oblivion of opposition, now any councillor dismissed from the Tory group will hold the balance of power. This means that any Conservative with an axe to grind becomes a very dangerous individual for the administration.
It is interesting to note that two of the outgoing cabinet lost their seats. East Barnet Councillors Rams and Mrs Tambourides have created a space at the top table. In the brave new world this means committee chair positions. There is also the rather juicy plum role of chair of the licensing committee, vacated by outgoing Andreas Tambourides. So that means three lots of hefty allowances to be had.
If Richard Cornelius only has three members who want juicy cheques every month, all should be well. If however a few more want noses in troughs, then he will find himself in a sticky situation. There have been persistent rumours that Richard Cornelius would face a leadership challenge after the election, whatever the result. Given the tight margin at the top and the demise of some of the more accomplished weilders of the knife weilders, we think it unlikely. Any round of blood letting could have all sorts of unfortunate side effects. In short the majority of one has changed the game.
One rather interesting appointment will be the chair of the Audit committee. By convention this goes to an opposition member. Lord Palmer was the previous incumbent. In some ways Jack Cohen would make and ideal choice as he is one councillor who officers will not give the run around to. Jack finds himself in a strange situation. He's been "shot by both sides". Despite years of cordial relations between Barnet Labour and Barnet Lib Dems, Labour went tooth and nail to unseat Jack and hos fellow Childs Hill Lib Dems. The net result was the Tories took two seats in the ward. Labours teenage scribblers see this as some odd sort of victory, but for the rest of the progressive part of Barnet, it is a complete catastrophe. We can only speculate what the fallout from that particular own goal will be.
Which brings us to Labour. The election has given Labour a platform to possibly take all three London Borough of Barnet seats at the General Election. The big shock was the collapse of the Tory vote in Chipping Barnet, traditionally "Toryville". There is a theory doing the rounds amongst the Barnet Tories that the Labour party "threw" Hale Ward deliberately. The logic goes that whoever takes over the Council will have some awfully difficult decisions to make and Andrew Dismore did not want an unpopular Council to shaft his general election campaign next year. They believe that the campaigning decisions, such as the Childs Hill push were more about getting the message out for Labour 2015 than anything to do with running the Council.This is perhaps the only sensible explanation that I've heard for the failure to take Hale. The conspiracy theory also says that Labour HQ spiked the stories that were being leaked to the press about certain Hale ward Councillors.
I suppose we'll be able to see whether there is any truth in this when the Labour Group have their meeting on Tuesday. I suppose that if the current leadership remains, we can assume that the view is that whatever job was supposed to have been done, has been done. If there is a big shake up, then we know that they've recognised that there was a massive campaign failure. I guess that we'll have the full story after the meeting on Tuesday.
And on to the "minor" parties. Today we publish a rebuttal of the election coverage of the Greens in the Barnet Eye, by A.M. Poppy, who was local green candidate in High Barnet. As ever, when the emotions are high, we say silly things. Poppy states
"Don't let that personal animus warp your accuracy. You've stood for the Lib Dems. Does it pain you that we Greens are now firmly established as the third party in Barnet, displacing the LibDems in all the 2012 ballots in Barnet and in all but two of Barnet's wards declared last week? I could more credibly argue that those who get in the way of the Greens are scuppering the progressive cause."Casual readers of this blog, who may not know the full context, will perhaps think that I am some sort of "Lib Dem fifth Columnist", writing blogs to warp the electoral process to benefit the Lib Dems. I suppose I should set the record straight. I had been a member of the Labour party for 22 years until September 2009, when I quit in disgust at the treatment of refugees. At the time the Lib Dems were the only parlaimentary party not engilfed in Xenophobic bile. I also supported their stance on tuition fees. As they had councillors in Mill Hill ward and there was a chance of keeping the Tories out, I joined. I never anticipated the coalition.
Initially when the Lib Dems joined the coalition, I was undecided as to what to do. The country was in a mess and needed stable government. The referendum on the voting system was also something I supported. Then every single one of the Lib Dem MP's broke their pledge to not raise tuiton fees. I resigned as a Lib Dem in disgust. I was considering rejoining Labour, when I got a completely unexpected letter stating that I had been expelled for five years from the Party because I stood as a Lib Dem whilst being a Labour member. This was factually incorrect. I had copies of the email resigning and a response from Andrew Dismore. I sent this back, but was told it didn't matter and that I wasn't welcome. I realised that I didn't really want to be a member of a party and being an independent voice suited me and the blog better. I consider myself to be a "progressive" and I will support any candidate that I consider to be "the best for the people of Barnet".
So am I letting "personal animus" getting in the way with support for Greens. I find it rather strange that Poppy makes this claim. I believe that we are the only blog in Barnet to actually go out of our way and record an interview with her. I stated that she'd make and excellent councillor and that I hoped she'd do well in High Barnet. Does that sound like personal animus? The truth is that despite Poppies rant, the Lib Dems have one councillor and the Greens never got anywhere near gettimg elected anywhere. I believe this election was their best ever chance, especially in High Barnet and yet they didn't even poll 1,000 votes.
I am not upset at the Lib Dems poor showing. The party deserves a kicking for the coalition. I do however believe in the long run, they offer the best chance of a third party taking seats. These seats will be in Childs Hill, Mill Hill and High Barnet. This will not happen until after the end of the coalition. The best hope for the Greens is to get a by-election win in a ward where there is a major Green issue. I'd like to see a carve up. Wards like East Barnet, Hale and Brunswick Park giving Labour a free run. In Mill Hill, Childs Hill and High Barnet, give the Lib Dems a run.
I'd then say the Greens could have the free run of any other ward that comes up. If they find the right local issues and the right candidate and they focus their resources on one or two wards, I believe that long term they will do far better. I am amazed that in rural wards like Totteridge, they haven't done better. Green belt and overdevelopment is a big issue in such places. Poppy also berates me
"I think I find my answer in the post of 18 May where you say: “I don't support the Green manifesto or agenda.” I suspect you never read them, but no matter you're entitled to feel hostile."I find this comment a little insulting. As a blogger I've read all of the local and national agendas. As I thought Poppy would do a good job on the council and is a very decent person, I chose not to forensically dissect just how stupid some of their proposals are. Let me give you just a couple of examples. Checkout this leaflet http://www.barnetgreenparty.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/High-Greens2.pdf - One area that the Greens surely would have high public confidence is protecting the green belt and stopping overdevelopment, yet not a word. They seem obsessed with showing they can come third ahead of the Lib Dems. The leaflet says "The Lib Dems have sold out. No one votes for them now". This is the most silly statement I've ever seen on a leaflet. High Barnet has many voters who quite like the Lib Dems. The job of the Greens was surely to persuade them to "lend a vote". Were the 859 people who voted for Duncan MacDonald in High Barnet nobodies? They also say that Labour know it's not worth wasing their energys in High Barnet. Well actually they finished second. One final word on this leaflet. I was a bit perturbed by the UKIP esque reference to"the 100 or so Polish pickers" in the article about recycling. What has the nationality of the workforce got to do with the efficiency of recylcing? A very poor leaflet indeed. It put my back up when I first read it and it hasn't improved with age. I suspect that what happened at the Mill Hill Residents Association Hustings summed up the sheer ineptitude of the Greens. All of the parties had a local candidate on the panel, discussing local issues. That is, except for the Greens. Therefore the meeting knew they weren't serious.
And that brings us on nicely to UKIP. I don't really know what to say about UKIP in Barnet apart from to comment on the complete cock up of a campaign that they ran. I have spoken to their candidates and they admitted as much.
I suspect that only the Lib Dems really get what being a third party is about at local elections. They have always done well when they've identified hyper local issues and made these into the campaign. Mill Hill was awash with local issues, yet none of the parties bothered to talk to these. I suspect that the Lib Dems lost their focus due to the departure of Wayne Casey who was an excellent local politician. UKIP perhaps could have filled this void, but were simply too shambolic.
We must say a quick word about the smattering of independent candidates. It seems to me that Barnet is not really ready for independent candidates and the independent candidates are certainly not ready for Barnet. To win a seat in Barnet you need to attract somewhere between 1,800 and 3,000 votes. So if you are going to seriously engage, you have to work out how you change the minds of this number of people, many of whom are set in their ways. It seems that the independents think "having a few good ideas" will suffice. The laws of mathematics and probability say otherwise. So if you are planning to stand, you'll probably have to start knocking on doors a year before the election and get around every house 2 or 3 times.
Unless anymore guest blogs show up, this will be it for local election 2014 coverage. Unlike a few other bloggers, I've no interest in writing anything about any of the candidates consigned to room 101 (unless they have a pop). All scores have now been settled.
Guest Blog - The Outrageous Lies of the Barnet Eye blog about the Barnet Green Party - By A.M Poppy - Green Party Candidate
Roger, I enjoy your company,
value your friendship, and appreciate your commentary on Barnet goings-on. I am
hoping you will publish this rebuttal of some of the more outrageous statements
you've recently made about Barnet Greens in your blogposts above.
The prompt was this comment
you made on 23 May: “It is time for the Greens to wake up and smell the coffee.
All they do in Barnet is scupper the chances of other progressive candidates.”*
What?! Who is scuppering
whom around here? In all the wards but one declared last week, the Lib Dems and
UKIP were also there, below Labour and the Tories “scuppering” the chances of
the two big parties. Why are you picking on the Greens? I think I find my
answer in the post of 18 May where you say: “I don't support the Green
manifesto or agenda.” I suspect you never read them, but no matter you're
entitled to feel hostile. Don't let that personal animus warp your accuracy.
You've stood for the Lib
Dems. Does it pain you that we Greens are now firmly established as the third
party in Barnet, displacing the LibDems in all the 2012 ballots in Barnet and
in all but two of Barnet's wards declared last week? I could more credibly argue
that those who get in the way of the Greens are scuppering the progressive
cause.
Ah, that 'progressive' label
– whom does it describe?
The Liberal Democrats who
are working with the Tories to impose stringent austerity on local government,
and whose credibility is blown to smithereens?
Labour who ushered in the
privatisation of the NHS, were intensely relaxed about extreme inequality and
who, in Barnet, voted for a 1% cut in council tax and, I discover reading your
blog: “The Barnet Labour Party could have stopped [One Barnet] in its tracks.
Local Trades Unions and Bloggers had dug up enough evidence to proove(sic) that
the whole scheme was a disaster waiting to happen. Labour did nothing and said
nothing. They never came out and opposed the scheme and never said they'd
reverse it?”
We Greens are at the
forefront of the campaign against the cuts and austerity (leading Green Romayne
Phoenix is Chair of Coalition of Resistance, and with the People's Assembly),
and are deeply democratic. We remain a bottom-up party, and we take no
corporate money so are not beholden to big business and committed to that
pernicious myth – the free market.
That democratic instinct
drives us to offer people the chance to vote for a genuinely progressive party,
rather than let the undemocratic diktat of first-past-the-post disenfranchise
the progressives. Wishing to remove us from the ballot paper, as you suggest in
your blogpost, is the counsel of despair seeking the least worst option. Who
would that be? Ah, in the post of 25 May you tell us: “I think we can safely
say that the Labour Party was shafted by the Greens in Hale.”
I share your profound
disappointment that Barnet's Tories, who as richly as any local administration
deserved to be booted out, are still our majority party. Being a bottom-up
party, we are in a position to conduct discussions and make decisions in the
collective interest. But not once has anyone sought to talk to us.
You wake up Roger, smell
your prejudices, and see who is the leading progressive voice in Barnet this
decade.
Poppy
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Sunday, 25 May 2014
Barnet Council elections - A dig through the results in a bit more detail
One of the things that has always fascinated me is the way some wards split and are shared between the two parties. You'd think that most people would simply decide "I'm voting Conservative/Labour/LibDem" (delete as appropriate) and that would be the end of the matter. We can also understand a split where there is maybe only one green/UKIP/Independent in an area so they get one and the two others are the second preference. In a council election where you get three votes, you would expect some difference, but can you explain these sorts of figures?
As you can see, Brian Gordon, polled nearly 600 more votes than Joan Scannell, the lowest scoring Conservative. You may think "Maybe Mr Gordon has been a long serving councillor in Edgware and has worked his socks off, making lots of friends). This however is not the case. Mr Gordon was a Councillor in Hale previously and scuttled off to Edgware when he heard that Hale was likely to fall. I know Joan Scannell quite well as she's on the Mill Hill Music Festival committee and she's been part of the Tory furniture for years. I suppose it is conceivable that the two Green Candidates split votes with the Tories, but generally Tories don't ever vote green. Could it be that the Edgware Tory Party is a hotbed of sexism and they just don't like female candidates. To be honest, I haven't got a clue why there was such a huge difference in number of votes. It is true that candidates with alphabetically friendly to the ballot form names do better, but I've never seen such a large difference.
Another interesting ward is Mr Gordons old ward in Hale. This split (as it has done in the past).
Interestingly with the Labour vote, that seemed to favour the female candidate. Kitty Lyons was elected whilst her spouse Roger trailed by 150 votes. I think we can safely say that the Labour Party was shafted by the Greens in Hale. The 536 Green votes may well have pushed the other two Labour Candidates past the post. Again the losing Tory was alphateically challenged. He was also not a standing councillor. It doesn't seem unreasonable to assume that both Hugh Rayner and Tom Davey have helped at least a couple of hundred people in the ward over the years, so have a bit of a personal vote. I suppose it is worth considering that as Brian Gordon seemed such a popular chap, he'd probably have topped the Tory Poll in Hale. Had they not won two seats from the Lib Dems in Childs Hill, his chicken run to Edgware may have cost the Tories the council.
Finally we look at Mill Hill ward. This had a full slate of parties and is quite interesting in a number of ways
Between 1994 and 2006 this was a Lib Dem ward. In 2006, John Hart got in for the Tories leaving two Lib Dems. In 2010, it went true blue. This time we had the three main parties + three Greens, UKIP and an independent. From being top of the pile, Jeremy Davies for the Lib Dems fell to eighth behind George Jones of UKIP. George is a well known character and lead protests against Etz Chaim Free School, collecting thousands of signatures. The other two Lib Dems faired even worse, without a personal vote. Unsurprisingly John Hart, who has been a Mill Hill Councillor for years topped the poll. I find it slightly depressing that hard working Sury Khatri, who clearly deserved to get reelected came third out of the Tories. I guess this is mostly down to being alphabetically challenged. I'd hate to think that there was any degree of racism in the voting pattern (and to be fair 200 votes is around the usual last on the balance difference). The sad thing for me is that if you add up what I call the progressive candidates and take the most successful from Greens, Lib Dems and Labour
You get a total of 2480 votes. My guess is that all of these people would rather have seen any of the above elected than John Hart. The sad truth is that until those people on the progressive side of politics get their act together and stop showboating and pretending such losses are victories, we are doomed to a Tory Council.
Adam Langleben, who I get on well with, and who is now a Barnet Labour councillor posted this tweet, which just sums up the head in the sand attitude of Labour locally
| Name of candidate | Description (if any) | Number of votes recorded |
| ABELES Aliza Miriam | Liberal Democrat | 446 |
| ABELES Elias Pinkas | Liberal Democrat | 410 |
| GORDON Brian Colin | Conservative Party Candidate | 2732 (elected) |
| HALE Raymond | Labour Party Candidate | 1140 |
| HART Helena Diane | Conservative Party Candidate | 2369 (elected) |
| JOHNSON Geoffrey | Labour Party Candidate | 1155 |
| JOHNSON Julie | Labour Party Candidate | 1180 |
| MARGOLIS Catherine Alexandra | Green Party | 474 |
| OLLIER Alexander Timothy Matthew | Liberal Democrat | 169 |
| SCANNELL Joan | Conservative Party Candidate | 2182 (elected) |
As you can see, Brian Gordon, polled nearly 600 more votes than Joan Scannell, the lowest scoring Conservative. You may think "Maybe Mr Gordon has been a long serving councillor in Edgware and has worked his socks off, making lots of friends). This however is not the case. Mr Gordon was a Councillor in Hale previously and scuttled off to Edgware when he heard that Hale was likely to fall. I know Joan Scannell quite well as she's on the Mill Hill Music Festival committee and she's been part of the Tory furniture for years. I suppose it is conceivable that the two Green Candidates split votes with the Tories, but generally Tories don't ever vote green. Could it be that the Edgware Tory Party is a hotbed of sexism and they just don't like female candidates. To be honest, I haven't got a clue why there was such a huge difference in number of votes. It is true that candidates with alphabetically friendly to the ballot form names do better, but I've never seen such a large difference.
Another interesting ward is Mr Gordons old ward in Hale. This split (as it has done in the past).
| Name of candidate | Description (if any) | Number of votes recorded |
| CEASAR Nicolas James Alexander | Green Party | 536 |
| CREIGHTON James Malcolm | Liberal Democrat | 297 |
| DAVEY Tom | Conservative Party Candidate | 2178 (elected) |
| GOODMAN Michael Ronald | Liberal Democrat | 335 |
| JACOBS Geoffrey Alan | Liberal Democrat | 243 |
| JEANMAIRE Pierre | Labour Party Candidate | 1994 |
| LYONS Kitty | Labour Party Candidate | 2019 (elected) |
| LYONS Roger | Labour Party Candidate | 1870 |
| RAYNER Hugh Robert | Conservative Party Candidate | 2155 (elected) |
| SIMBERG Elliot Keith | Conservative Party Candidate | 2010 |
Interestingly with the Labour vote, that seemed to favour the female candidate. Kitty Lyons was elected whilst her spouse Roger trailed by 150 votes. I think we can safely say that the Labour Party was shafted by the Greens in Hale. The 536 Green votes may well have pushed the other two Labour Candidates past the post. Again the losing Tory was alphateically challenged. He was also not a standing councillor. It doesn't seem unreasonable to assume that both Hugh Rayner and Tom Davey have helped at least a couple of hundred people in the ward over the years, so have a bit of a personal vote. I suppose it is worth considering that as Brian Gordon seemed such a popular chap, he'd probably have topped the Tory Poll in Hale. Had they not won two seats from the Lib Dems in Childs Hill, his chicken run to Edgware may have cost the Tories the council.
Finally we look at Mill Hill ward. This had a full slate of parties and is quite interesting in a number of ways
| Name of candidate | Description (if any) | Number of votes recorded |
| CLAYTON Rolf | Independent | 371 |
| DAVIES Jeremy Edwin | Liberal Democrat | 721 |
| DUSCHINSKY Val | Conservative Party Candidate | 1936 (elected) |
| FRANCOME Colin | Labour Party Candidate | 1229 |
| HANDLEY Deborah June | Labour Party Candidate | 1264 |
| HART John Robert | Conservative Party Candidate | 2058 (elected) |
| HILL Alasdair | Liberal Democrat | 512 |
| ILOTT Luke Alexander | Green Party | 282 |
| JOHN Sian Bassett | Labour Party Candidate | 1231 |
| JONES George Alfred | UK Independence Party (UKIP) | 731 |
| KHATRI Sury | Conservative Party Candidate | 1864 (elected) |
| LEES Michael John | Liberal Democrat | 470 |
| RUSTIN Barbara | Green Party | 495 |
| WILLIAMS David Gustave | Green Party | 228 |
Between 1994 and 2006 this was a Lib Dem ward. In 2006, John Hart got in for the Tories leaving two Lib Dems. In 2010, it went true blue. This time we had the three main parties + three Greens, UKIP and an independent. From being top of the pile, Jeremy Davies for the Lib Dems fell to eighth behind George Jones of UKIP. George is a well known character and lead protests against Etz Chaim Free School, collecting thousands of signatures. The other two Lib Dems faired even worse, without a personal vote. Unsurprisingly John Hart, who has been a Mill Hill Councillor for years topped the poll. I find it slightly depressing that hard working Sury Khatri, who clearly deserved to get reelected came third out of the Tories. I guess this is mostly down to being alphabetically challenged. I'd hate to think that there was any degree of racism in the voting pattern (and to be fair 200 votes is around the usual last on the balance difference). The sad thing for me is that if you add up what I call the progressive candidates and take the most successful from Greens, Lib Dems and Labour
| HANDLEY Deborah June | Labour Party Candidate | 1264 |
| DAVIES Jeremy Edwin | Liberal Democrat | 721 |
| RUSTIN Barbara | Green Party | 495 |
You get a total of 2480 votes. My guess is that all of these people would rather have seen any of the above elected than John Hart. The sad truth is that until those people on the progressive side of politics get their act together and stop showboating and pretending such losses are victories, we are doomed to a Tory Council.
Adam Langleben, who I get on well with, and who is now a Barnet Labour councillor posted this tweet, which just sums up the head in the sand attitude of Labour locally
Adam Langleben
We also now replace the Lib Dems as official opposition in Mill Hill. We gave the Tories a real scare there.
The truth is that if the Labour Party could have reached an accomodation as they have done in the past with the Lib Dems and the Greens had not further split the vote, we may well have seen the end of the Barnet Tory administration. As far as I am concerned, Labour has nothing at all to boast about and the sooner they wake up to this fact the better. We can all play silly games and brag about how we are now the most successful losers in particular wards, but in my book any loser is a loser.
I know the Lib Dems are nationally seen as a toxic brand by Labour. That will not stop the two parties jumping into bed after the next election if it suits them. It just depresses me that the numpties around here are in denial of this fact.
The Tweets of the Week from the London Borough of Barnet
And what a week it was. The local elections saw some interesting comings and goings in the world of politics. Stepping off the stage we saw the dynamic duo of right wing Barnet politics riding into the sunset. When I started blogging, they were the Batman and Robin of Barnet. I am of course talking about Brian Coleman and Robert Rams. Back in October 2008, when Robert was working at the GLA as Brians press secretary, he managed to persuade the Hendon Times to sack me as an inhouse blogger on their website. Robert announced that he'd "ended my blogging career". This inspired me to start the Barnet Eye blog. Now he's moved out of public office (whilst my blogging career seems to be thriving), I will start the week with my favourite tweet from myself.
1. On the news that it looked like the Tories would lose the previously safe East Barnet seat
@Barneteye Roger, we've had our sad, painful differences - but this is superb and important, as many of your blogs
1. On the news that it looked like the Tories would lose the previously safe East Barnet seat
Rog T
So will @CllrRobertRams need a new twitter handle today? What will happen in East Barnet?
(footnote: Robert Rams New Twitter Handle is @RobertRams1 ) if you want to follow him.
2. The mood in the Tory camp was summed up by this tweet from the Deputy Leader of the Tories, Councillor Dan Thomas
True Blue
A bittersweet victory. Barnet
still in Conservative control but we lost some excellent hardworking
councillors who will be missed.
3. The Leader of the Barnet Lib Dems explains the offside rule in football to Mrs Angry in terms he hopes she'll understand (we are delighted that Jack managed to hang on in Childs Hill)
-
@BrokenBarnet offside is when the asst referee raises their flag, that's all you need to know!
jack cohen
4. Mrs Angry takes great delight in the final act of Brian Coleman's political career in Barnet
Mrs Angry
Watch and enjoy: Brian John Coleman - No Description - the declaration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRSsDaA3uyo&feature=youtu.be …
5. New Labour Councillor Adam Langleben reveals Barnet has made political history for the right reasons for once.
And we believe that new East Barnet councillor @RebeccaChallice became the youngest councillor in England last night. #Barnet
6. Sangeeta Laudus, daughter of reelected Mill Hill Tory Councillor Sury Khatri expresses a sentiment quite widely shared in Mill Hill. Her Dad is well respected.
SangeetaLaudus
Congrats to my dad Sury Khatri for getting re-elected for another 4 years @BarnetCouncil - good to see honesty & hard work are recognised x
7. Former Chipping Barnet Tory Councillor Dan Hope (deselected in ward in 2006 following local infighting) takes great delight in the demise of his nemesis, the Tambourides family in Chipping Barnet
-
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Exclusive: Dramatic Shift Of Power To Labour Over 'Bread And Butter' Local Issues In Chipping Barnet Constituency http://www.barnetbugle.com/journal/2014/5/25/dramatic-shift-of-power-to-labour-over-bread-and-butter-loca.html …
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Barnet Bugle
8. Of course there has been far more going on in Barnet than simply politics. Our local Rugby club, the Saracens were playing in the final of the Heineken cup. Sadly they couldn't take the final step. I think the Barnet Eye needs a Rugby correspondent as I'd like to do match reports and support the local team. I'm not a Rugby fan though, so we have a vacancy !
Saracens Rugby Club
.@Saracens Euro dream comes to end in Cardiff as @RCTofficiel lift #HeinekenCup Full report > http://www.saracens.com/?p=17516 pic.twitter.com/2cK1UBhEmq
9. Chair of Mill Hill Residents Association on one particular council result
Richard Logue
Despite a crude political assassination attempt @redkaff and her colleagues held off and won well in W Finchley http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0UAg9o1zjaw …
10. And finally a word of praise from one of our local rabbi's
Jeffrey Newman
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