Three cheers for glorious Great Britain

 Ever fancied moving abroad? Fed up with #Brexit Britain? I must confess to me the idea was becoming more appealing with every Boris cock up. I love France, the cuisine, the lifestyle and the people. The pace of life suits me and when governments fail the French do not sit passively by. They accept that the EU is deeply flawed, but unlike us don’t flounce out. They simply ignore the rules they don’t like and make it work for France. 

But… The picture above is taken of my view for the last 3 hours. I’ve had to accompany an elderly friend to A&E in a French hospital following a fall. The process is very different to the U.K. He arrived in a hospital. I was told to wait in a loading bay. I was not allowed to accompany him. I filled in a form and he was whisked away. I’ve no idea what is happening and no idea how long to wait. 

It makes me realise that for all its legion of faults, when it comes down to it, if you have such a situation in a foreign land, it can be very difficult. Casualty at Barnet General may be bad, but not being told anything about anything and being shrugged away is worse

Beware of the Omblongous pie (and the other tell tale signs of PTSD in the family)

It is a bone of contention in our family, but I firmly believe that my Father suffered from PTSD as a result of his wartime experiences. Not all of my siblings agree. He had a wild temper and could really go off on one when the mood took him. He also had a long period in the 50’s and 60’s where he had a series of serious ailmentsailments. Eventually this was diagnosed as an ulcer, he had surgery and the pain went away. My belief was that this was as much to do with stress as anything else. Occasionally, he'd let the mask slip. My Dad was not one to ever, for one second, want to give anything other than an air of invincibility, but he did give an insight into how he was treated and how it affected him. I recall one day taking him up his breakfast, he'd always have it in bed. Mum would make tea, toast and a bowl of cornflakes and send one of us up with it. It was a great honour to give him his breakfast. He'd also get the Daily Express to keep up with the world events. One morning, he was in a bit of an agitated state. He'd not slept well. I asked him why. He said "I dreamed I was back in the Prisoner of War camp and the guards brought me this wonderful pie to eat. It had thick pastry and looked delicious, but when I took a bite, it was filled with alive worms and they were all laughing at me. They were pointing their guns and saying to eat the Omblongous pie". He then realised that I was a bit upset and made a big joke of it. We got Pie and Chips later and he teased me that he was getting me an Omblongous pie. It became a bit of a joke between us. A few weeks later, he had a similar dream, this time it was a 'Baddius Pie'. 

I thought nothing of it, but after he died, I was having a drink with my mother and she said that he was tormented by terrible nightmares for years, but would rarely discuss them. Shortly before he died, he told me that he felt a terrible sense of guilt about his rear Gunner, F/O John 'Spud'  Murphy. Spud had a premonition that they would get shot down on a bombing raid over Ploesti and he'd die in flames. When their ops were announced, it was a raid on Ploesti. Spud turned white and asked if there was any way they could skip the mission. As it was the last of their tour and they all wanted to get back for leave, my Dad insisted they did the mission. He told Spud "We can't cancel ops every time anyone has a nightmare". Sadly Spuds premonition was correct. My Dad said he always felt guilty. When he was captured and taken PoW he had to identify Spud, which really made him feel awful. 

My feeling was that to some extent he got over it when he retired. He opened up to me on a few occasions and he was brutally honest. He once told me "You've no idea how bad things can be in a war. I've looked at you and your brothers and I really don't think any of you have the make up or backbone to do what I had to do". I was quite hurt by this. He said "You'd never have made it through training. You don't like taking orders and you are always looking for short cuts". He added "It's not a bad thing but that's not what RAF pilots in wartime should do". 

What was interesting was a couple of years after he said that, he helped my band out at the Grahame Park Festival. He had a Estate car and helped us lug the gear down. He was quite fascinated by the logistics of putting on a festival. As was his way he knuckled down and helped sort out some unforeseen power issues. My cousin Jim, who was a Catholic Priest working in Africa was over and he came down and watched the show. Jim was very impressed by the Festival. He said he didn't expect to see anything like that outside of Africa. He had a long chat with the organiser, a lovely old chap from Nigeria, who used to work his socks off. 

A few days later, I went for a beer with my Dad. He said "I've got a confession to make. I never realised how much work went into these gigs you do. It's really impressive." He also complimented me on my skills at keeping a bunch of stoned musicians in line and on point. He told me of how he'd seen Oklahoma on Broadway in 1942 and how it blew his mind. He said that he'd never really appreciated just how great a show it was until he'd seen the work we put into setting up the GP festival. He told me that when he arrived in New York, everyone said it was the most amazing show. However it started with an old lady in a spotlight churning a milk churn. He'd thought to himself "Blimey I could see this down on the farm". Then a voice sung "There's a golden haze on the meadow" and all hell broke loose. He said it was the most amazing show and his time in New York in 1942 was the last time he was truly care free in his life. On arrival in the U.K. the war became real. I never knew that young man without a care in the world.I wish I did

The Saturday List #355 - Ten Great Tracks to see you off on your Journey

 I thought I'd do a list of ten great songs that are holiday related. They are about travel. Here's the playlist, I think they speak for themselves!

The five issues that Liz and Rishi should be talking about

 

No plan, just an empty shell

Am I alone in despairing of the sheer inanity of the level of debate between the two contenders to be our next Prime Minister. If I was a Tory member, I'd be very tempted to write none of the above on my ballot form. I find the concept that around 130,000 people who are members of the Conservative Party get to elect our new Prime Minister, when the rest of us have to wait a couple of years totally anti democratic. We are a Parliamentary democracy (allegedly) and I'd have no problem with Tory MP's electing one of their own to lead as that is how it's suppose to work. But gripes aside, there are huge issues facing us. All we are getting is waffle and U-Turns and that's before they've even started.

So what are the five big issues that they should be talking about

1. An energy security strategy. The main driver for the cost of living crisis is enegry costs. Before Margaret Thatcher, coal, electricity and gas were in public ownership. The UK was self sufficeint and we were not beholden to market fluctations in these commodities. The OPEC oil crisis of the early 1970's made us develop North Sea Oil and that gave us a degree of independence from oil price fluctations. Margaret Thatcher deemed Nationalised industries to be inefficient and provatised them all. She said that the only way to get modern infrastructure was to let the market forces decide. That was her strategy, It has failed. The UK is paying the price, quite literally for this failed ideology. We import coal. We import gas. We have minimal gas storage facilities, meaning that if there are problems with supply we have no backup.  The reason for this is that the private companies do not want to invest, they just want profits. They exist to service the financial requirements of their shareholders. This is the reason why we are all seeing huge hikes in prices. A sensible campaign would address this. Many of our power companies are nationalised. They are owned by foreign governments. This makes us insecure. I find it hard to understand how the same people who want to 'take back sovereignty' are happy to have the real levers of power in the hands of foreign governments. I'd renationalise the lot. That way the profits would stay in the UK.

2. A pollution strategy. The UK is awash with pollution. Our north sea fisheries in the North of England have seen their industry devastated by pollution this year. Our rivers and streams are full of sewage. This is all down to private water companies cutting corners and not investing. We need to have proper enforcement to ensure our streams and rivers are clean and our beaches are safe. We also need a proper strategy to combat air pollution. This should be based around better access to cheaper public transport. 

3. A national infrastructure strategy. We have no strategy, we just have schemes. Our rail strategy is "HS2". I support this, but it should be part of a proper integrated infrastructure strategy, that encompasses road, rail and air. Where there is congestion and bottlenecks, we should look for the best, most sustainable long term solution. I'd like to see more freight on the rails. This would remove lorries and that would mean less congestion. Airports should have easy and accessible rail links and around the clock services. The Ministry of Transport is not fit for purpose and should be replaced with a department for national infrastructure. This would mean that when we lay new roads and rail, we could include power cables, IT fibre etc as part of the plan, rather than doing everything seperately. It would save a fortune.

4. A national IT strategy. Everyone in the UK should have access to high speed broadband. Everyone should have access to IT support and training. This should be a priority. It would give UK PLC a competetive advantage over other nations. 

5. A strategy for managing labour in the UK. One of my bugbears is we always talk about 'immigration'. This is a red herring. What we really should be talking about is making sure we have enough people to manage the economy and that they have the right skills. Our Universities produce students who lack the skills to do the jobs the economy needs. They are lumbered with huge debts and are often unemployable. I know, I run a business. We need a massive rethink. We need to start producing more plumbers, engineers, bricklayers, rail engineers, qualified carers and we need to start paying people properly. This is done by improving productivity. UK productivity is appalling. We need to fix this.

But you won't hear any of this from Rishi or Liz, will you?

Barnet Housing - In Barnet the problem is not lack of licensing schemes, it's lack of enforcement

 Barnet Council are trumpeting a new licensing scheme for HMO's on their website.

It says

Councillor Ross Houston, Chair of the Housing & Growth Committee, said: “It is important that we keep housing in the private rented sector at a high standard. Safety is paramount. Our Officers work diligently to ensure high standards, which will benefit tenants, good landlords and our community. These new measures will also help further reduce anti-social behaviour that can sometimes be associated with HMOs, and that can only be a good thing for everybody.”

‘Additional licensing’, which requires HMOs across the borough to be licenced, was previously introduced in Barnet in 2016 and expired in July 2021. Following a review of the previous scheme and undertaking a public consultation a new scheme will run for a further five years, to begin on Thursday 27 October 2022. To find out the licensing rules and regulations that currently apply to HMOs in the borough and to view the Public Notice visit: www.barnet.gov.uk/hmos. Landlords are strongly encouraged to submit their applications early to avoid the risk of enforcement action.

This is all well and good, but in Barnet the problem is not lack of rules and schemes. It is lack of enforcement. This doesn't just apply to HMO's, it applies to planning permission, environmental control, building control and enforcement and licensing in general. The problem is that enforcement needs real staff, who are prepared to go out and collect evidence. It can't be done by clicking a button on a website and letting 'Computer say yes' which is the current mantra of Barnet Council. Launching enforcement is also costly. However the situation is currently that no one expects rules to be enforced so they ignore them and know they can get away with it. Once you start enforcing, the dodgy practices stop so in the long run things improve and it all becomes cheaper. 

This is all very well and good but until we start to see Barnet Council employing more staff to do real jobs in enforcement, this means absolutely nothing in the real world.

We need proper action to stem the tide of young people taking their own lives

 

What is the worst thing that could happen to you? Two of my very best friends have suffered what I suspect is the worst thing. They have both suffered the loss of a child to suicide. My friends Chris and Elaine lost their lovely daughter Ellie just before lockdown. It was a devastating blow. What troubled me more than anything was that lockdown hit and I simply couldn't be the friend I felt I should be during their darkest period. They live in Yorkshire and unlike Dominic Cummings, I did not feel that a trip up the M1 to 'test my eyesight' was responsible.  I wrote about it on 12th March 2020. Before the dust settled on the blog, we were in lockdown. We had a few phonecalls, but to be honest, I felt this was difficult and awkward, as I had no insight, nothing to say, nothing to add. If we'd been able to see them, have a beer and a chat, maybe I could have at least got to properly empathise, but I felt useless. 

I felt pretty damn awful about the whole thing. I made a personal vow to myself that if ever I was in the situation of having to support a friend again, I'd try and do better. I hoped and prayed that the Good Lord would spare me that burden. Sadly, last January (2021), another tragedy struck. The drummer of my band, on and off since 1985, saw the tragedy of his son taking his own life. For Graham, in some ways it was even worse. He was testing positive for Covid, so couldn't even leave the house to do anything. He was aware that his son was troubled, we'd had long chats about it, but suicide did not seem to be something that was discussed. I don't really think anyone knew the depths to which his son had sunk. What was clear for a long time before was that he needed support and this wasn't there. 

I wrote a blog on the subject at the time. It is a rather painful blog to read. I felt useless again, but I vowed to do something, anything to support Graham. The only thing I really thought I could do was to get him active in the studio again. I wrote some new songs and we started to work on a new album. I shaved my head to show solidarity with Graham and made a short video explaining why. 

It was all I could do. I was very worried about Graham. He's had his own mental health issues. He's been sectioned three times in his life. He is constantly on medication for it. I had no idea if he could cope. I was terrified that something would happen to him. I have always believed that music heals the soul. I'm not sure if this is true, but Graham tells me that playing in the band in the dark days helped get him through. 

I don't think anyone could get through such an event unscathed. Graham has had his ups and downs. Although he doesn't give himself the credit he deserves, apart from being an excellent drummer, he's a very intelligent, insiteful and sensitive soul. I've often felt that the reason Graham and many others have mental health issues is because they actually see the world for what it really is. It can be scary, I think people like me spend their life wrapped up in a fantasy in their own little world, pretending that tbad things aren't really happening. I think perhaps Graham lives a little too much in the real world. 

Anyway, please can I ask for your help. Graham has started a petition to get a massive increase in NHS resources for mental health and suicide prevention. PLEASE CLICK HERE AND SIGN IT. 

Why did Graham start it? Here are his own words.

Because of the shocking catastrophic loss of life due to whatever the wide spectrum of ailments are and that is a really large and complex spectrum ,The n.h.s is in a position to make a difference but it's not deemed a priority, only when it lands in a very common crisis situation and even then people are being failed and are dying unnessescarily having lost a son to suicide because the hospitals wouldn't admit him on the grounds that he didn't present debilitating symptoms of mental illness this is a classic mistake for the n.h.s not following up on cases were people including my son were showed off premises 10 to 20 times he even got 3 months jail for unlawfully holding 2 mental health nurses in a siege he thought it was nothing until a warrant was out for him the T.S.G turned up tasered him after he told em he had a gun then straight to court and 3 months ,not one of these authoritarians could have stopped and said why did this man do all this there is a lot more but I'll be late for work .this is an example of the shocking state of our n.h.s yes OUR it's our money that runs it don't belong to them whoever they are so dig in and speak and step up .what a great organisation CHANGE .ORG IS GOOD DAY

This is a real plea from the heart. It is seared with the pain of having experienced the worst that life can throw at you. Please share this with your friends. Don't think this couldn't happen to you or your loved ones. We are civilised Nation and I passionately believe that the health and happiness of our young people is the most important job of stewardship we have in life. We are failing them. We need to change the way we approach this whole issue.

Most people with Mental Health issues do not attempt to commit suicide, but they still need help. Some government ministers do not even accept that Mental Health issues are an illness. Sadly, many people find out the hard way that they are, and for some are as deadly as cancer or a heart attack.

I'll leave you with a short clip of Graham playing the drums on a new song we we started working on last week. For myself and Graham, music is a ray of sunlight in a punishing world (you can get a sneak preview of the full album we've been working on here soundcloud.com/falsedots/sets/the-false-dots-a-finger-in-the ) - I have untold admiration for the work Graham has put into this music over the last 18 months. I think it shows that you cannot dim human spirit completely. Sadly Graham tells me that mental health services that got him through his first breakdown simply don't exist anymore. Which may or may not be why he's here to make this amazing music and his son won't be. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mill Hill Music Complex (@millhillmusic)

If you are having issues with mental health you may want to contact your local branch of  Mind

https://www.mind.org.uk/about-us/local-minds/

If you are feeling suicidal, please contact Samaritans

https://www.samaritans.org/

One lesson I've learned from the events of the last few years is that I really don't think Young people are aware of how loved they are or that there will be brighter times ahead, if you hang in there.

The tweets of the week in the London Borough of Barnet - 31st July 2022

 How has your weekend been. Mine has been wonderful, we were in Crete for my nephews wedding. It is a lovely place if you want to chill. Here are some highlights of where we visited.

Thats enough of me, what have our Tweeters been up to. I've not looked at Twitter too much si this was a catch up for me as well

1. It only seems right to start with this wonderful Tweet about one of Mill Hill's miost revered residents

26 July 1833, having abolished slave trade in 1807, House of Commons bans slavery itself. When William Wilberforce, who’d spent most of his life crusading against slavery & Mill Hill resident, heard news, he said "Thank God I've lived to witness [this] day." He died 3 days later. pic.twitter.com/bMnKsddrBf

— St Paul’s Finchley (@StPaulsFinchley) July 26, 2022

2. And a shout out for our present generation of local heroes!

A fantastic turnout of volunteers at our get together for coffee and cake at the Finchely Nurseries. A wonderful social morning for our volunteers who make our charity tick. pic.twitter.com/CSaBH6jLwI

— Good Neighbour Scheme for Mill Hill and Burnt Oak (@NeighboursMHBO) July 28, 2022

3. If I'd been around, I'd have deffo been up for this. A great performance by the oldest Football team in the Borough of Barnet

Some blurry snaps from tonight's match are up on my F@cebook page. Search for Doug Kermit. pic.twitter.com/veA9WM9Ham

— doug robinson (@deadlykermit) July 26, 2022

4. Long overdue my first trip of the year to Long Lane Pastures

Well done to all our volunteers & supporters for helping Long Lane Pasture achieve its eleventh consecutive @KeepBritainTidy Green Flag Award! @BarnetCouncil@stephenshouse @alan_s01 @Barnet_FoE @WildLondon @savebutterflies @FofWOS @FinchleySociety @finchleyhs @LondonNPC pic.twitter.com/aDYnnYVZ8b

— Long Lane Pasture (@LLPasture) July 26, 2022

5. What better way to mark the passing of the legend that was Bernard Cribbins with a little bit of a local link. RIP Bernard and thanks for all the fun

Just to finish it off, some of the production was done at Samuelsons Production Village, which was in Cricklewood Lane. pic.twitter.com/M1lKsQJOpJ

— NW London TimeMachine (@time_nw) July 28, 2022

6.I love the way Cricklewood residents are so proud of their Town Centre

Excellent branding and signage have clearly defined and identified Cricklewood on the busy A5 corridor.

Are you following @Cricklewoodldn on Instagram?#branding #signage #highstreet #profile #map @cipcricklewood @NW2_RA pic.twitter.com/S3bIVpCvBU

— Osita Udenson (@UdensonCaldbeck) July 28, 2022

7. Talking of Cricklewood, ever wonder what happened to the loco's that tried to do a runner from Cricklewood Train Depot and landed on the North Circular, they got chopped up for being naughty! Not quite a Thomas the Tank Engine ending!

#ThirtyOnesOnThursday 31202 in early November’88 at Vic Berry Ltd, Leicester. Well, about 60% of it. Infamous for having 31226 on top of it after going through the buffers at Staples Corner , Cricklewood. pic.twitter.com/38rB36C1HA

— Shawn Collier (@LeicRailAle170) July 28, 2022

BTW Here is a video that anyone interested in the train basj might enjoy!

8. Some nice IT history here from the Mill Hill Historical Society. I should mention that the office on Camrose Avenue was previously the head office of BACS who do bank transfers. I used to work their for a while in 1989, back in the days when I had to have a proper job to pay the bills. There was a time when more money passed through BACS than any other company in the world on a daily basis

Argonaut Games, founded at 70 Colindale Avenue and then based at Edgware's Cavendish House developed classic 90s video games like Croc: Legend of the Gobboshttps://t.co/tGEOBvkOFf pic.twitter.com/EMmn4gDPbF

— Mill Hill Hist Soc (@MHHistSoc) July 29, 2022

9. We agree!

Isn't it high time we illuminated St Joseph again at night, as we did for the millennium? A real Mill Hill Landmark pic.twitter.com/y97NiI6dIp

— #MillHillMusicComplex (@MillHillMusicCo) July 28, 2022

10. We started with a hero, why not be one yourself? Support your local foodbank!

Hi everyone - please see and share our most recent shortages list. Stocks are running low across foodbanks in London, though demand remains high. Please consider adding some of these items to your shopping this week - thank you #barnet #foodbank pic.twitter.com/l2JkyJcY5t

— Chipping Barnet Foodbank (@BarnetFoodbank) July 28, 2022

And if you are interested in how Foodbanks work, here's a film we made explaining how the Colindale foodbank works

That's all folks

The Friday Joke and ...... a few thoughts on life

 Once again, I'm endebted to the rather wonderful Robert Wilkinson for this week's joke, which has a nice musical theme.

I went to a fancy-dress party dressed as a harp.

The host asked me, “What are you dressed as?”

I told him, “I’m a harp.”

He said, “But your costume is too small to be a harp.”

I was incredibly offended, and asked him, “Are you calling me a lyre?!”

— Robert Wilkinson (@robertwlk) July 27, 2022

A few thoughts on 'Living in the Modern World'

I don't like to do politics on the Friday joke, but am I the only one who wished that the Tory Leadership contenders had settled this all with a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors? I really look forward to when real news resumes and things start happening in the world again.

As for the train strikes. I think industrial disputes should be solved the way that Pope's are elected. If they locked the management and the Union leaders in the local Church and didn't let them out until both sides had reached agreement it would save us all of this trouble.

And then there is the Euro's. I saw a thing saying it's not Womens football, it's just football. What a marvellous idea. Someone should tell the organisers

This weekend sees the traditional start of the English Football Season with the Charity Shield. As a Manchester City fan, I find the choice of the King Power stadium a tad odd. The match has, over the years lost a bit of it's lustre, but it was still a day out at Wembley. Hard as I try, I really cannot find the same enthusiasm for a trip to Leicester. As Wembley was busy, why not use the Olympic Stadium at Stratford.  Given that Leicester have a far smaller capacity than City or Liverpool, would seem an obvious choice. Or even Old Trafford, it's about time they had two decent teams on the pitch.

And then there are our illustrious Royal Family. I must have lead a sheltered life, I learned a new word today. I'd always wondered why the name Peggy fell out of fashion! My mates mum was called Peggy, I could never work out what it was short for until today. She always said "My Ron, he can't sit still for a second". It all makes sense.

And finally....

Going on holiday? Want some peace and quiet on the plane.

#fridayfunny #fridayjoke pic.twitter.com/lclB33gEkP

— George Warmer (@georgewarmer) July 8, 2022

.

Federation of Small Business calls on Mayor of London to have a ULEZ expansion rethink

    Don't let the ULEZ destroy the London Music Industry

FSB London has written to the Mayor of London, prior to the end of the Ultra-Low Emission Zone Consultation, urging him to rethink the proposal as it will negatively affect too many small and vulnerable businesses.    

  

After the long-running soap opera of Government-TfL week to month bail-outs, FSB London Chair Rowena Howie states in the letter that “FSB lack any confidence that an all-encompassing vehicle scrappage scheme to help small businesses will materialise”.

 

Key Headlines of the Survey

 

• The survey was completed by just under 600 businesses – 77 per cent of those within London
• 84 per cent of businesses responding to the survey oppose the proposal to expand the ULEZ
• Majority of responses from small businesses with 1-5 employees
• 80 per cent of respondents reliant on business based vehicles
• 30 per cent agreed to an Emission-based road pricing system as opposed to the current Congestion Charge, Low Emission Zone (LEZ) and ULEZ
• Of those businesses whose vehicle(s) do not comply – 25 per cent intend to pass charges onto customers, which will create further inflationary pressures; and 18 per cent said they would close their business.
• 19 per cent of small businesses were unaware of the proposed ULEZ expansion in 2023

 

 

 

Many small businesses will have to start making difficult decisions on whether they continue to serve central, inner, and outer London, and FSB London are calling for:

 

• Time to comply by having a similar lead in period to previous Zone extensions. During a cost of doing business crisis, we need London businesses to thrive and with a heavy reliance on service-related businesses, we feel that implementing a ‘no charge’ period until at least 29 August 2024 is a sensible measure.
• An all-encompassing Vehicle Scrappage scheme for small businesses which can be supported by Government, Mayor of London and financial institutions providing low-cost finance.
• A project bank account for any small business paying the charge from August 2023 to August 2025. The funds would be protected in a TfL ULEZ Bank Account, and a business would be able to use the funds towards purchasing a new or second hand-vehicle – subject to an upper limit.  If the fund is unspent then the money will go to TfL.

 

Rowena Howie, FSB London Policy Chair, said:

 

“The expansion of ULEZ will negatively impact thousands of small businesses through a myriad of issues including but not limited to customers choosing not to travel, businesses not being able to provide services in London and employees experiencing increased costs.

 

“To put these additional pressures on small businesses at a time when business has been adversely impacted by COVID-19 restrictions, where uncertainty and planning and reliance on supply chains has been further interrupted by new international trade agreements and where the energy crisis has further pushed up the cost of doing business, will be too much for some businesses to bear.

 

“FSB recognises the climate emergency and the commitment to move to net zero – but the Mayor must support the small business community through a ‘carrot’ and education approach to make greener decisions, discouraging non-essential business private vehicle journeys,  and not to punish essential business journeys at this time of economic crisis.

 

“We need the Mayor to ensure policy promotes a small business friendly Greater London”.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our position.

Roger Tichborne, the editor of the Barnet Eye is a member of the FSB. Roger wirtes.

Whilst we 100% agree with the objective of the Mayor of London in reducing air pollution, we feel that the ULEZ expansion has not been thought through, the timing coming at the end of the pandemic is terrible and it will be highly damaging to the sector of the economy (music and entertainment) that we operate our business in. 

Like many small businesses, our finances, which were extremely healthy at the start of the pandemic are now precarious. Our revenues for Q2 of 2022 are around 70% of the same period in 2019, which in effect means that we are not operating profitably and are just about breaking even. Our business uses a 2008 registered Ford Galaxy Turbo Diesel for deliveries and our main hire equipment subcontractor uses a similar aged diesel van. We purchased these at the time as the government was encouraging us to use diesel as it was seen as a less polluting option. Our vehicles are well maintained and in good condition, but now have lost all resale value. The pandemic has depleted our financial resources. Our intention was to replace the vehicles in 2021, but we are in no position to take on a large financial commitment, especially when we are not 100% sure of the long term viability of our business or the industry it operates in. 

We completely agree that large companies that have big fleets should comply and we are also of the opinion that people driving gas guzzling cars primarily for pleasure should also be discouraged from polluting. For us and many small businesses, we are in no position to take on the commitment of new vehicles. We believe that the Mayor and the government should offer a viable scrappage scheme and an exemption of two years to small businesses, musicians and other people who are not in a position to viably re-equip at the moment.

We are already passing on the costs of ULEZ to charities that hire equipment from us and require delivery. We have used electric bike delivery services for some bookings, however when an engineer is travelling with the equipment this is logistically not feasable, especially when there are time limitations and several drop offs required. 

We support the FSB's suggestions as pragmatic compromise solutions and hope the Mayor Listens. We beleive that it is in no one's interest if a business such as ours can no longer viably operate. We also ask the Mayor to think of the impact on musicians who are not well off and have old vehicles. Some minor modifications to the scheme would make a huge difference. I'd like to see the Mayor set up some sort of scheme where musicians  (and other affected small businesses) had access at a relatively low cost to compliant, subsidised hire/lease vehicles, with minimal paper work and financial guarantees to ensure that the vehicles can be accessed. 

We are not calling for the abandonment of the scheme, which we generally support. We are however calling for it to be a progressive scheme, not just a ploy to hoover up cash for TFL. All schemes can be improved and we believe that offering suggestions to do this is a positive way forward. If the Mayor of London simply ignores the struggle of small business, he is not serving London's best interests

 

A few signs of the stunning lies and hypocrisy of the Barnet Tories

 I'd pretty much decided to lay off political blogging about Barnet, following Labours landslide, but I simply cannot ignore crass hypocrisy. The Barnet Tories have been pumping out complete rubbish at a huge rate of late. Maybe they are hoping for a few by-elections in the hope that Liz Truss will resurrect their election fortunes. I rather hope local voters see through this. I'm all for proper opposition, but this is nothing of the sort. It is just spouting of cobblers.

Here are a few examples. 

ULEZ

Stop Labour’s ULEZ expansion and pay per mile. Sign our petition: https://t.co/THlxXxdG2F

Tell Sadiq Khan what you think via the TfL consultation: https://t.co/EG9QwDTdro… pic.twitter.com/GJ1egZRoa6

— Barnet Conservatives (@BarnetTories) June 29, 2022

Who was it who originally planned the ULEZ extension? None other than Boris Johnson.  This is rather conveniently forgotten by the local Tories, who are simply trying a little bit of populist rabble rousing. 

Climate Change

Two months after declaring a climate emergency, Labour’s leader of @BarnetCouncil refuses to ditch single use plastic at the town hall and go paperless 😲😡🌳 pic.twitter.com/WOqsxIYult

— Barnet Conservatives (@BarnetTories) July 27, 2022

The Barnet Tories know very well that Barnet Labour are organising a public consultation on Climate Change. They did nothing to make Barnet more Eco Friendly. I emailed councillors on numerous occasions and never got a reply on a whole host of issues. They are now grubbing around for any little thing they can find to snipe. The Tories had a massive majority until May and could have passed rules explicitly making the Council Paper Free and banning single use plastic. It is worth mentioning that on the election night, that I attended as a candidate, there were no options for water apart from plastic bottles. Clearly it's only a priority in opposition. 

FGG Tories.

Now this is a strange one indeed. The local Tory MP for Finchley and Golders Green is Mike Freer. Normally Local associations are proud of their MP. Check out their profile (preserved here for posterity). 

Seems the @Finchleytories want nothing to do with their own MP?
Very odd pic.twitter.com/C87GtPgrIA

— Roger Tichborne/Rog T (@Barneteye) July 27, 2022

As for their website, it has the biggest porkie of the lot. There is a recent post that says "Let's stop Labour strikes and build a better railway". Oddly, when I read the article there is not a single mention of Labour apart from the headline. There are many things that are simply not true in the article, but one statement directly affects air quality in Barnet so I will specifically mention that. The article states

That’s why over the next 3 years, we want to spend £35 billion maintaining and growing the network. We want to expand the rail map, with trains returning to places axed from the timetable after the Beeching cuts, with new stations from Northumberland to Devon, with electrification to get rid of slow and dirty diesels.

Now I follow transport as one of my key areas of interest. The Midland Mainline runs through the Borough. Dozens of 'Dirty Diesel' trains hurtle through every day. Why? Because the Conservatives halted the project to electrify the Midland Mainline, requiring retention of 'dirty diesel trains'. Specifically " On 27 July 2017 a further briefing paper was issued and the Midland Main Line had a section of its own.^[18] This document, and the subsequent announcement by the new Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling said the electrification scheme north of Kettering to Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield had been cancelled and that bi-mode trains would be used."

Sadly, there are no bi-mode trains, so even though the electrification was completed as far as Kettering and Corby, trains travelling beyond these destinations run on diesel all of the way. This was nothing to do with Labour or the Unions. This was the Conservatives dropping a key project to improve the UK's infrastructure and lower pollution. It would have seen the end of diesel engines running through Mill Hill to St Pancras. Much as I'd love to ignore all this and enjoy the summer, in truth I find it sickening and I sincerely hope no one is taken in. 

If you think about it logically, the Tories posted a tweet opposing ULEZ and Tweet berating the Labour Council for not being greener. They face both ways on climate change, but when the facts are examined, they don't care. If they did, we'd see electric trains running to Sheffield on the Midland Mainline as we speak.  It seems to me that Grant Shapps is on a mission to be an even worse transport secretary than Chris Grayling (who cancelled the MML upgrade). That would take some doing.

I wrote a track with my Band, the False Dots discussing the state of Britains Railways, with some recent footage of 1960's vintage diesel engines passing through Mill Hill. Says it all really!