Back to the Future - Great Britain in a timewarp

As I lie in bed this morning reading The Sunday Times, I cannot help but be struck by the fact that it appears the country has entered some sort of a timewarp and somehow transmogrified itself into a hellish remake of 1981. Those on the left used to howl about Margaret Thatcher, but if you actually look what the Cameron government is doing and proposing, Thatcher would stand out as a Wet in this cabinet. As to what the right wing press are saying about Jeremy Corbyn, this ,makes the treatment given to Michael Foot look positively friendly. The front page of The Times details how army chiefs are claiming they will not cooperate with Corbyn. Since when did the army and the intelligence services have the right to dictate to elected governments?

But it is not only politics. Page 36 of the paper announces "love with robots will be as normal as love with other humans". For some reason this reminded me of the 1980's Classic Blade Runner. Another very 1980's headline on page 39 is "walls are going up all over Europe thanks to Mother Merkels kindness". Many of us thought that with the fall of the Iron Curtain walls in Europe were a thing of the past. Another story with 1980's Echo on page 43 "Republicans prepare to be rattled as Pope awkward flies in". In the 1980's it was Pope John Paul II rattling the Soviet Leadership with his support for Polish Independence. Now his successor is rattling the rich and powerful in the U.S.  with  his message of decency and tolerance.

Page 25 details how there is talk of a flood of defections from Labour to the Lib Dems, reminiscent of the formation of the SDP in the early 1980's. There is even a story on page 29 "RAF squadrons will double to face Isis and Russian threat". Page 43 tells us the travails of a maverick republican Presidential candidate, seen as lacking in credibility and gravitas, but loved by the ordinary Joes who actually vote. The echoes of Reagans campaign can't be ignored.

There was a point around 2000 when it seemed as if the 1980's were a different planet. Blair had vanquished the left, the old Pope was seen as a sad anachronistic figure and even Blade Runner and its world of human like robots was viewed as a rather weird and wonderful period piece. The walls had come down, Europe was marching ever closer to full political union and the SDP seemed like a sad vanity project by MPs who made a lousy call. Russia was viewed warmly as a friendly nation. Clinton was president and even the U.S. seemingly had moved on from the 80's. New Labour was getting on famously with the military bosses and Blair was plotting all manner of military adventures.

How strange that fifteen years later, we find ourselves back in the world of 1982, where a couple of changed words in any of the newspaper headlines would make them fit right into the time. Of course those words you'd change are also part of the story. Isis didn't exist, Pope John Paul II was revered by Republicans, and the walls in Europe are to keep people out, not in. The robots in Blade Runner were killer androids, not sexbots designed to satisfy the lustful desire of  those incapable of forming relationships with other human beings. It is perhaps ironic that we perceive robots as a threat to humanity because they may turn against us, if they become sentient. The sad truth is that the real threat is we may simply loose interest in procreating, because robots give us a more satisfying sex life. Maybe Darwinian evolution will do for us in that way. Of course, sadly half the world will go to sleep tonight worrying about whether they'll eat tomorrow. For them the world of sexbots is a different dimension almost. Therein lies the reality of the world we live in. The UK is part of a very small and priveliged bubble. For the vast majority of citizens, the challenge today is the same as the challenge in 1982. Not like our complex stresses, for them the worry is whether their family will eat.

Barnet Eye news round up

There has been so much going on this week. I thought it was time to have a full roundup of all the news etc.

The False Dots live at The Midland Hotel

Lets start with tonight. There is a monumental event happening in London that has been widely anticipated for ages. Yep, The False Dots (my band in case you didn't know) are playing at the Midland Hotel in Hendon, by Hendon rail station. The gig starts at 8pm. There are two other bands on with us, admission is free and we'd love you to join us. The gig is one in a series we are organising to promote the Save London Music campaign, which is raising awareness of issues facing music venues and creative industries in London. We will be onstage at 9.15pm.

Anyway, getting the really important news out of the way, we've seen the first two major appearances of the new Labour leadership team. First up we had Jeremy Corbyn on PMQ's. I made a point of watching the whole thing live. The press gallery was packed with hacks working for news organisations working for foreign billionaires, sharpening their pencils for the expected massacre of Corbyn by Cameron, who has had ten years practice at this game. How disappointed they were. Rather than resembling a rabid dog on heat, Corbyn simply appeared, attired like everyones favourite  genial Geography teacher, and gave the Commons a lesson in being reasonable. Whilst Camerons fans have been bragging that "it was easy", for the country at large it was quite nice for once to see someone mentioning us in a sensible way in the Commons. Given that Corbyns first task is to persuade the millions who have only ever heard of him as mad lefty nutter in the right wing press, it was a case of job done. There have been snide criticisms that it was "all too civilised" and Cameron got an easy ride. I suspect anyone saying that has rather missed the point. Corbyns leadership is clearly not going to be about loudmouthed grandstanding. I suspect that we will all be better for that.

Then last night we had John McDonnell, the new Shadow Chancellor, on BBC Question Time. If Corbyn was relatively unknown nationally, then McDonnell was the invisible man. I must confess however that I do know John McDonnell. He was the MP who screened the film I produced "A Tale of Two Barnets" at the House of Commons. At the time he was a backbencher. I was immediately struck by the fact that John got it. After the screening John spoke to many of the people who appeared in the film at length. We discussed the situation in Barnet and John was truly appalled at just how out of touch the Council appeared to be. A council that had upset everyone from the disabled, to local traders and residents who had CPZ parking permits, all simply for extreme ideological gain, clearly is a dysfunctional council. At the time of the screening, I hadn't quite realised that a big part of the problem in Barnet was the Blairite Labour opposition, who weren't interested in opposing the Council. There has been lots of talk that Labour can't win with a Corbyn/McDonnell style program. My experience in Barnet has taught me that this is wrong. In 2012, Tory Brian Coleman was booted out of the GLA and replaced by Andrew Dismore, because the community came together against someone who was clearly out of touch. People who had never voted Labour before (or since) realised that there was an opportunity to make a difference. If Corbyn and McDonnell can capture the public imagination and persuade the 17 million who have given up on voting to get involved, a few pundits may be proven very wrong. Anyway, how would John do on QT? I suspect that John hasn't had much media training or even exposure to the media. I was a bit fearful that John, who I know cares passionately about the causes he supports, may get a rough ride. The panel was potentially a minefield. There was a twit from the Telegraph called Tim (TTT), Liz Truss, a Tory minister for Food and Rural affairs (do the landed gentry really need a minister to organise their nocturnal activities?), Alex Salmond from the SNP and Sandi Toksvig. TTT spent the whole evening looking at McDonnell as if someone had left a turd on the table. He spoke down to McDonnell and tried to cut across him every time he opened his mouth. Sadly for TTT, he simply made himself look like a posh, bad mannered twit. Liz Truss, who is a bit more media savvy also rather inexplicably unravelled. It seemed that John McDonnell was going to be skewered for comments he made in 2003 about the IRA. John simply admitted he was wrong and apologised, explaining he had made a bad misjudgement in his efforts to bring the IRA to the negotaiting table and putting guns away. Basically Truss and TTT had the rug pulled from under them. Alex Salmond inexplicably also adopted the rabbit in headlights stance. He didn't know whether to attack McDonnell or agree with him. Salmond is a wily bruiser and he knows that McDonnell and Corbyn are the biggest threat to his long term project of destroying Labour in Scotland. The SNP won by labelling Labour in Scotland as red Tories. McDonnell and Corbyn clearly aren't so his Ace has been trumped. Sandi Toksvig was, as ever, simply a great advert for the human race. John McDonnell seemed amazingly assurred. I suspect that all manner of Tory strategists are tearing up their plans and scratching their heads. I get the feeling that they simply expected Corbyn and McDonnell to implode this week. It is clear that won't happen. The public reaction to Corbyn and McDonnell is telling a very different story to the one the Tories seemed to assume would unfold. Of course it is early days

Mind you the press hasn't given up on the campaign of war and smears. The Telegraph yesterday revealed that Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn had an affair in the 1970's (when they were both single). Even more shocking, Corbyn took Abbott on holiday on the back of his motorbike! I have no idea what the Telegraph expects its elderly readers to think, but it strikes me that it makes Corbyn sound rather Rock and Roll, hurtling around Germany with a leather clad Abbott on the back. In my experience, if you want to portray someone as a loony, showing that they knew how to have a laugh and take risks in their youth is not the way. I wonder if The Mail would have been so interested if Abbott was white. Is there is a whiff of racism in this story and the way the Mail is covering it? 

Whilst the right wing press are trying to kid us that we face Armageddon in five years if Labour win, there is actually a far more worrying threat. In the States, Donald Trump is leading the race to become President. To me, the concept of Trump in the White House is perhaps the scariest thought imaginable. There was a live debate between Republican Presidential candidates. Trump showed just how repulsive he is. He insulted Jeb Bush by saying he was soft on immigrants because he was married to a Mexican. I'm not exactly a fan of the Jeb Bush, but that was out of order. Trump refused to apologise for this slight. He also refused to apologise for comments about the looks of fellow candidate Carly Fiorina about her looks.

It makes me wonder just what sort of a person we want as a Leader these days. Do we want loudmouths like Trump? Do we want people who have had the airbrushed blandness of a Cameron or a Blair? Do we want someone who has principles and rough edges like Corbyn? It seems that if you are going to take the job, you need to expect your affairs from 40 years ago to be raked over, you need to expect every sentence you've ever uttered to potentially be used against you, regardless of context and audience. You have to expect every appointment you make to be examined under a microscope to see if there is a hidden agenda. You can expect your wife, girlfriend, significant other, childred, mother, granny (delete as appropriate) to find out all manner of detail about you that is likely to cause grief and upset. Maybe The Sun is right. Maybe Jeremy Corbyn is a Loony, but not for the reasons they have stated. I think anyone who is prepared to put up with that crap is plain bonkers. I feel the same about David Cameron. His wife Samantha volunteers with the same charity as I do. When this was revealed, Cameron got all manner of negative comments. Why on earth would someone want to expose their loved ones to this. Then there is the security risk. I have no doubt that Corbyn has suddenly found himself on all manner of hit list from various terror organisations. For them he is just a scalp. One assumes that Scotland Yard will do the job, but lets not pretend that there is no risk. My view is that whether its Cameron or Corbyn, I want to judge the man by how well he did his job, not who he had on the back of his motorbike in 1973.

The bottom line with all of this is that I ultimately believe that the British are a very fair minded people. If they form the view that Corbyn is a decent chap who is trying to do a good job and getting a lot of unfair stick, they will give him a chance. No one expected John Major to win in 1992. The press ridiculed him for his soapbox politics and the fact he was dull. He confounded the critics because people thought he was authentic. I am of the opinion that Ed Miliband didn't loose because he was left wing, he lost because people didn't trust him. They thought he was a bit dodgy, not least for shafting his far more popular and capable brother. If the British public decide Corbyn is honest, decent and down to earth, then David Cameron could have real problems.

Homophobic abuse of Brian Coleman is totally out of order

Yesterday there was a spat at City Hall between Mayor Boris Johnson and the the London cabbies. Boris described them as Luddites at Mayors Questions. A large number of cabbies were in attendance and the resulting furore lead to suspension of the session.

As is his want, disgraced ex Tory henchman of Boris, Brian Coleman waded into the row on Twitter, posting a series of highly inflammatory Tweets. This was met by an absolute torrent of rebukes from members of the cab trade. As Coleman is a convicted criminal, having pleaded guilty to assault by beating of Finchley cafe owner Helen Michael, there is no love lost between him and the cabbies. Most see him as an ignorant boorish thug and a bully. This was made clear in the vast majority of responses. Sadly a small minority of the responses were homophobic and highly offensive. 

Homophobia is never ok. Like beating up women, it cannot ever be justified. Much as I dislike Coleman, I cannot stand by and let such matters pass. I happen to believe that one of the reasons Colman is so revolting a person is a reaction to years of bullying in his youth. Every homophobic taunt simply pours petrol on his feelings of victim hood and is not only an insult to Brian but to every member of the LBGT community. If anyone excuses homophobia against Coleman,they are in effect opening up the whole community for abuse, bullying and worse. 

Those who left the comments have in effec destroyed the justified case for rebuking Colemans boorish behaviour.

It may seem odd to some that a strident critic of Coleman such as myself should seek to defend him, but we can't have different standards for friends and enemies. Homophobia is never ok.

Why Corbyns question time was a roaring success

It is reported that at the end of yesterdays Prime Ministers question time, it is reported that David Cameron turned to George Osborne and said "That was easy". Given that Cameron has been doing this for ten years, he probably thought it was. What perhaps he didn't realise was that Jeremy Corbyn wasn't playing the same game.The vast majority of the general public are not interested in politics or politicians and don't know who Corbyn is. These are the people who make or break leaders. All they've heard about Corbyn from the right wing press, owned by billionaires, is that he's a left wing nut case. Corbyns first job is to persuade ordinary people that he is an ordinary bloke, who cares about improving the quality of their lives. In this respect, you can only judge his performance as a resounding success. Political commentators have berated him for not having acid follow up questions or witty digs. But this misses the point. What Cameron failed to do was answer the questions. That won't have gone unnoticed. For Corbyn, the challenge is to get people to believe he'll represent them and make their lives better. If you judge his display yesterday against this criteria, he did the job. It was hilarious to see right wing tweeters deconstructing his performance and saying that because he didn't sing the anthem everybody hates him. I suspect that if they continue to miss the point they are doomed.

My disappointment at the Ewan McGregor documentary "Bomber Boys"

Last night I watched a documentary called "Bomber Boys" featuring Ewan McGregor and his ex RAF pilot brother Colin. The documentary had two strands, the first the story of Colin learning to fly a Lancaster and the second, was a potted history of Bomber command. The first strand, the story of Colin, who flew Tornado jets for the RAF, getting to grips with a vintage four engine bomber was fascinating. The second strand, the potted history of the bomber campaign was a complete travesty. Anyone watching the film would think that the Lancaster was the only bomber that mattered and that its pilots and crews were the only ones who made a difference. This is complete baloney and shows the complete lack of research that the program makers had undertaken.

My father was a member of bomber command. He flew twin engine Wellingtons for 40 squadron. Whilst there were 7,000 odd Lancasters produced, the Wellington was far and away the most numerous bomber with over 11,000 produced. It was used in operational missions during every year of the war. The first bombing raid of the war on 18th December 1939 was flown by Wellingtons and the last operational bombing raid of the war by Wellingtons was flown by 40 squadron in 1945. Of all the operations undertaken by Bomber command to disrupt the German war industry effort, the one deemed most successful was the mining of the Danube, which was undertaken by Wellingtons based in Italy. This reduced the flow of freight on the river, the main artery for central european freight to a trickle, restricting supplies of oil etc to the Reich. In some ways, perhaps the most important campaign of all for bomber command was to destroy the flotilla of barges that Hitler was assembling in 1940 to launch operation Sealion, the planned invasion of Great Britain. The total success of this campaign was one of the main reasons Hitler decided that a quick campaign against mainland Britain was not practical. I have never understood why no one ever mentions either of these efforts, which were highly successful. It should also be noted that Wellingtons were in production for the duration of the war. Despite being withdrawn from UK based bombing missions against Germany, they were used across the campaign, in Costal Command, Italy, Africa, India and the Far East. In many ways the operational history was far more intersting than the Heavies, which dominated the European campaign.

 Whilst it was clear that the heavies such as the Lancasters and the other (also rather oddly ignored) Stirlings and Halifaxes made a massive contribution, I find the airbrushing of the contribution of everything apart from the Lancasters to be verging on offensive to crews of other types of aircraft. In many ways, the efforts of the crews flying obsolete aircraft, night after night was truly staggering. To have their contribution ignored is scandalous. I have an old box of pictures from my fathers collection, including pictures of his bombing of Spetzia harbour. You can see the bombs landing on Axis warships in the harbour and bullets being fired up at him. My father flew 40 operational missions from the UK, North Africa and Italy in 1943 and 1944, before being shot down. As he passed away in 1987, he never saw the RAF memorial and never received a campaign medal. As I watched the documentary, I wondered how he would have felt about the efforts of him and his crew being airbrushed out of the history of Bomber command. One of the things which most irked my father was that whenever he told anyone he flew bombers, the first question was always "Lancasters?". He said he felt great sympathy for Hurricane fighter pilots, who similarly lived in the shadow of Spitfire pilots.

I once asked my father whether he'd have liked to have flown in a Lancaster squadron. He said that his squadron were happy to be given the missions they were allocated to. His squadron flew in support of Montgomeries campaign in North Africa, bombed military installations in Italy and oil fields in Romania. He said that when he scored a direct hit on an Oil processing plant in Romania with a 4,000 bomb, he felt he'd made a massive contribution to the war effort, with the flames being visible for over 100 miles. Although his squadron did bomb Cologne, he said he didn't like the concept of bombing civilian centres, that were the mainstay of the Uk based campaign. He did however have huge respect for Athur Harris, who he said was a brilliant leader. His view of the area bombing was that the UK was involved in a fight to the death with the Nazi's and as such, the UK had to use every means possible to defeat the Hitler. He said that the campaign undertaken by Harris was the only one which could materially affect Germany at the time. It tied up a huge part of the German war machine, that would otherwise have been deployed in the front line. If all of the 1 million people involved in air defence and the 88mm Anti Aircraft guns had been deployed against the Russians or the Western Allies, the war may well have gone on for another year.

It is truly scandalous that, as McGregor stated, Churchill never thanked bomber command or awarded the crews a campaign medal. It is sad that a long documentary, that was in many ways an excellent program, chose to neglect a mention for the majority of bomber command crews, who flew aircraft other than Lancasters. It spoiled what would otherwise have been an excellent program. I just hope that one day we get a program which does justice to Bomber command and the whole campaign.

Brian Coleman admits to being admirer of anti semitic Fascist Dictator

Over the years, Brian Coleman has received massive support from members of the local Jewish community in his political career. They have long seen Coleman as a friend and someone who was an unswerving ally and someone who could be relied upon to oppose anti semitism in all its various guises.  I do therefore wonder just how they will feel about Coleman issuing the following tweet.

Brian Coleman ‏@BrianColeman251 8h8 hours ago

@RossSHouston I have always been rather a Franco admirer !

Brian Coleman ‏@BrianColeman251 Sep 13

@RichardJMurphy There wasn't much wrong with Franco except his attempts to bully Gibraltar

Franco & Hitler in 1940

For those who are unaware, General Franco was a Fascist dictator who ruled Spain from 1939 to 1975. Franco was a big ally of the German NAZI regime. He received material assistance from Adolf Hitler in the Spanish civil war, with the German airforce bombing the left wing opponents of Franco. Franco organised 18,000 Spaniards to fight alongside German forces in WWII and even compiled lists of  Jewish Spaniards in 1941 for the Nazi authorities. His government described Jewish people as "that infamous race". Franco hated Jews, in the 1937 ceasefire document in the Spanish Civil war Franco stated 'the conspiracy masterminded by Jews and carried out by Freemasons'.  In his 1939 victory speech Franco said the following 

“While music is heard and our flag is raised there are wandering throughout the world the damned such as the eternal Jew, whom nobody wants because they are a Communist horde.”

 It is interesting to see how right wing commentators have sought to portray Jeremy Corbyn as an anti semite for his association with various unsavoury parties. Will they apply the same rigour to Coleman? Of course, there are many apologists for Franco who point out that despite having an alliance with Hitler, he never formally joined the war as a member of the Axis and did allow the passage of Jewish refugees through Spain. It is clear to all historians that this was due to the fact that he never was convinced that Hitler would win, and post 1941 recognised that they were bound to lose. That does not excuse the fact that he was clearly an anti semite and a fellow traveller of Hitler. For Coleman to express admiration for such a figure is truly astonishing.

#SaveLondonMusic - Please join us on Friday at 8pm at the Mildand Hotel in Hendon

Are you doing anything on Friday evening? If not, why not come down to The Midland Hotel, next to Hendon Rail Station for an evening of great music. We are running a campaign called #SaveLondonMusic to promote Live Music in London and raise awareness of the issues facing venues, studios and other spaces for creative people. Creative industries contribute £8 Million per hour to the UK economy. We lead the world in music and creative art and design, yet the government gives no protection to key sites associated with such industries. Small venues, where talent is honed are being lost at an alarming rate. Hundreds of pubs and clubs in London have been lost. Key reasons are

* Developers forcing out established and successful venues and studios to develop and transform into luxury flats.
* Noise complaints from new tenants forcing closure or massive costs on established venues
* Zero support from council planning departments for studios and other creative spaces
* Zero financial support and investment for industries that promote creativity from Councils and government

Surely the we should be nurturing such an important part of our economic and social heritage?

If you want to find out more, come down, enjoy some great music and have a chat. This is just one of a series of events we are promoting.

My band, The False Dots, featuring well known poet, author and singer Allen Ashely will be playing, also featured are Hamptons an up and coming London band who are building a  solid following and are destined for great things and Misdemeanour, a great 60's & 70's covers band.

It should be a good night!

Barnets Blairite Labour bigwigs fail the people of Barnet on Libraries.

Rog T addressing the Childrens March for Libraries (Pic Don Lyven)

An earthquake has hit British politics. An earthquake that has destroyed New Labour and the legacy of Tony Blair. In what was either the biggest shock ever or the most foregone conclusion in history (depending on when you were putting your money on the contest at Ladbrokes), Jeremy Corbyn has become leader of the Labour party. I was on the Childrens march for Libraries when the news broke. A few of the local Labour party looked disconsolate. Most are fairly hard core Blairites. I have seen more smiles at funerals than the local Labour bigwigs. Locally the party backed Yvette Cooper, who got 17% of the popular vote. I suspect that this is an accurate reflection as to how in touch with local party members they really are. I was slightly disappointed that more Labour councillors weren't marching. None bothered to make a speech in support of the campaign. Given that there were hundreds of people on the march, all of whom are looking for leadership from the Labour group and are looking for some idea of the group strategy in relation to the Tory library proposals. I can write blogs and I can walk on marches, but I have no power in the council chamber. I don't get to see top secret "blue paper" briefings on the subject (except when naughty councillors pop them through the letterbox in unmarked envelopes).

The Conservative group have a strategy and policy towards libraries. Presumably the local Labour group do. Presumably they know whether they support or oppose the Tories proposals. Presumably if they oppose the proposals, they should be telling the hundreds of people who were on the march why and how they will fight it. The Conservatives have a majority of one on the Council. Labour only need to persuade one Tory that the proposals are a bad idea and the policy will fall. Plenty of Tory Councillors seats could become vulnerable if their local libraries are closed down. It is a golden opportunity for Labour. To do this, they should have stood up on the podium and spelled this out. They should have demanded that people lobby their Tory Councillors. They should be leading the fight, but they won't. Why not? Was it because they were too shellshocked by the huge mandate given to Corbyn? Who could possibly say, but it is clear to all and sundry that they are not in the least bit interested in putting themself at the heart of the fight to defend our community.

John Burgess Leading the March

Contrast that with local Unison convenor John Burgess, who is currently standing for the post of General Secretary of Unison. John walked at the front of the march from start to finish and addressed the crowd passionately. We need people like John who can stand up for our community. If the Barnet Blairites, who are clearly happy to take the allowances, but are not prepared to stand up and be counted do not step up to the plate in short order, then surely the reselection committes should give some thought to finding a few councillors who actually reflect the views of the people in the party and the wider community. This lack of empathy with the ordinary man in the street has gone on for far too long.

Save Barnets Libraries Childrens March

What a fantastic day, I am elated and exhausted. They say the sun shines on the righteous and the sun certainly shone on the hundreds of people who turned up for the Save Barnet Libraries Childrens March. I took a few video clips on my iPhone just to give a taste of what a wonderful day it was. The highlight was the fabulous Durham Miners marching band, who turned up at Chuch End library to lead the last leg


The March started at 10.15 at East Finchley Library. It soon became clear that a huge number of people had turned up. Here is a clip I took as the march was leaving. At one stage it was over half a mile long and as we went we gathered more people.



A large number of people joined when the march arrived at Church End. This was the scene which greeted us. A decked out double decker bus.



As a long time supporter of the Save Barnet Library campaign, I was absolutely chuffed at such a large turnout. I bumped into many friends, old and new on the march. One was a friend I used to work with and hadn't seen for 30 years. Since I last saw him, he's gained a lovely wife and daughter and they are stalwarts of the Save Finchley Library campaign. I also had a good old chinwag with Mrs Angry, the Queen of Barnet blogging. I expect that we shall soon have one of her marvellous takes on the day.

At Church End Library we had an empassioned speech by the Leader of the Durham Miners. He spoke of how imprtant communities are, how libraries are a key element and how the whole notion of community is under attack. He also spoke about his pride in taking part in a march in Margaret Thatchers old constituency. For the miners, the wounds of the decimation of the the whole fabric of colliery towns by Thatcher is clearly still raw. I was invited to say a few words, I just said I was so proud of the hundreds of children who marched, one group carried the banner for the whole march. I said that it was criminal and an act of theft to steal their future. Another speaker gave us some facts and figures detailing how young people who attend libraries are twice as literate as those who don't on average. Why would a civilised nation choose to throw such a public asset away?

I am at a loss as to why the Conservative council regime are so set against libraries. They are a tiny item in the Boroughs budget. Not only that, but the Tories lost their GLA Rep Brian Coleman in part due to their previous war on libraries. They lost four councillors in wards affected by the Friern Barnet library fiasco. This nearly lost them the council.

As we marched, literally hundreds of cars passing honked horns. People asked for leaflets and waved. Unbelievably, I noticed that local Tories had started to dishonestly tweet that the march was poorly attended and the organisers were disappointed.

 

Brian Coleman ‏@BrianColeman251 4h4 hours ago

Reports of thin turnout for #savebarnetlibraries organisers said to be "disappointed "

It is a sure sign that you know you've won the argument, when those you disagree with start lying. The organisers of the march were elated. Do these pictures look like a "badly attended march"?

Dishonest or what? Don't believe me, then just have a look at the tweets everyone left and the lovely pictures and comments

https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=Barnet%20Libraries&src=typd

It was brilliant. I was there and I am so proud to be associated with this campaign.

The Friday Joke - 10/9/2015 - Will I live until I'm 80?

This week I had to see my GP. I had some tests recently and so I asked her will I live to see 80? 

She said I was doing fairly well all things considered. A little concerned about that comment,'She asked, 'Do you smoke tobacco, or regularly get drunk' ''No, I only have the occasional drink' I replied. And I'm not doing drugs either!'Then she asked, 'Do you eat rib-eye steaks and barbecued ribs?''I said, 'No red meat is to be avoided' ''Do you spend a lot of time in the sun, like playing golf, boating, sailing, hiking, or bicycling?' 'No, I don't,' I said. She asked, 'Do you gamble, drive fast cars, or have a lot of sex with different women? ''No,' I said.  She looked at me and said, 'Then, why do you even give a shit?'

Have a lovely Friday