Train crash at Cassiobury Park

The Barnet Eye was quite disturbed to read about a train crash at Cassiobury Park, where the miniture railway, popular with children, had  a derailment and several children were stuck under carriage. We hope everyone was OK. This is a very popular place for local families and we hope that the operateors take whatever action is necessary to ensure future safe operation.

Picture courtesy of the Evening Standard

Mill Hill Music Festival 2015 Programme - Lineup announced

The programme for the 11th Mill Hill Music Festival is available below. The Festival will run between the 12th and 20th June. For more information about the festival click here.

If you would like to purchase tickets – information on how to do so and online purchases can be made in our box office area.

Friday  12 Jun 

The Hendon Band of the Salvation Army

 
Time: 7.30pm

Hartley Hall, Flower Lane, Mill Hill, NW7 2JA [Map] 

We are delighted to open this year’s festival at the recently rebuilt Hartley Hall and are equally excited to once again play host to this wonderful 40+ piece brass ensemble. The Hendon Salvation Army Band was formed in 1882 with the purpose of assisting with worship and to hold ‘open air’ services in the area to attract new worshippers in the district. The band now travels extensively in the United Kingdom and has been able to play further afield in Europe, Canada and America - playing at the famous Hollywood Rose Bowl. Renowned for their high quality music The Hendon Band of Salvation Army, under the leadership of Dr Stephen Cobb, will be playing from their large repertoire of brass, contemporary, swing and classical pieces.

https://www.facebook.com/hendonsaband


Tickets: £8 (+£1 online admin fee per ticket). Light refreshment available.

Friday 12 Jun 

Later @ The Adam & Eve with JJ and The Ukettes

Time: from 8.30pm

The Adam & Eve Pub, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, NW7 1RL [Map]

From 8.30pm. Local Mill Hill band JJ and The Ukettes will be playing at Adam & Eve on our opening night. This superb quartet are made up of Jason on acoustic guitar and three ukulele players made up of Jules, Lucy and Claire. With a genuine love of music and playing together they bring a unique sound to any gathering. They play an eclectic mix of great tunes - from Blondie to The Who via The Everly Brothers - always with their distinctive ukulele sound. With the recent resurgence of the popularity of the ukulele - now featuring in many major artists’ repertoires - this little instrument in the hands of tonight’s band makes a big impression. Come down and enjoy a glass of your favourite tipple and some great food whilst listening to this fantastic group.

http://www.jjandtheukettes.co.uk/


Food served. BBQ weather permitting. Free entry.

Saturday 13 Jun 

Film Music Gala - BBC Elstree Concert Band

Time: 7.30pm

Hartley Hall, Flower Lane, Mill Hill, NW7 2JA [Map] 

The BBC Elstree Concert Band will treat us to a feast of movie favourites from the silver screen such as John Williams’s thrilling Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark themes. With the band’s grass roots originating from the world-famous Elstree Studios, film scores are a regular feature of all their performances, including music from movies that were actually made at Elstree. Formed in 1984, the 40+ piece band has a repertoire of light classics, show music and contemporary wind band arrangements. Their performances have been broadcast both nationally and internationally through the BBC World Service. They have given concerts in aid of The Voice of the Listener Trust, North London Hospice and several other charitable organisations and further afield in France and Germany. This thrilling concert is not one to be missed.

http://bbcecb.weebly.com/


Tickets: £10 (+£1 online admin fee per ticket). Cash Bar.

Sunday  14 June

The Ron Russell Band

Time: from 12.30pm to 3.00pm
The Rising Sun Pub,  Mill Hill, 137 Marsh Lane, Mill Hill, NW7 4EY [Map]
Struttin’ With Some Barbecue - The lovely setting of the Rising Sun pub provides us with special afternoon of jazz. Bassist Ron leads this six-piece group of jazz legends, Digby Fairweather (cornet), Roy Williams (trombone), Tim Huskisson (clarinet), Jim Douglas (guitar) and Stan Bourke (drums). Ron’s band will delight lovers of Dixieland and mainstream jazz. Dancing is permitted! For food - book early to avoid disappointment (please call the Rising Sun directly on 020 8959 1357).


Food served. BBQ weather permitting. Free entry.

Sunday 14 June

A Night at the Raj

Time: from 8pm (please book with restaurant)

Day of the Raj, 123 The Broadway, Mill Hill, NW7 3TG [Map] 

From 7pm. Perhaps you fancy something a little different tonight? The Day of the Raj will be hosting an exclusive evening of bhangra style music. A selection of delicious Indian dishes will be specially prepared for this event served up with some fantastic live Indian music. To book your table and get further information on the evening please contact the Day of the Raj directly on 020 8906 3477 or 0208 906 3363.


Tickets: Check with restaurant on 020 8906 3477.

Monday 15 June

Klezmer Night with Shir

Time: 7.30pm

Mill Hill United Synagogue, Station Road, Mill Hill, NW7 2JU [Map]

We are grateful to be using Mill Hill United Synagogue for this performance. Shir is the complete Jewish music band - klezmer, Israeli, Yiddish, Ladino, Sephardi and simcha music - all played with a spontaneous energy, emotion and love for the rich and diverse repertoire they represent. The band has established itself as one of the leading Jewish music bands in the UK, performing concerts and charity events around the country as well as music festivals in Europe. The award winning band recently celebrated 16 years of playing music together, with Maurice Chernick on clarinet and vocals, Ivor Goldberg on guitar, mandolin, bouzouki and vocals, Piotr Jordan on violin and viola, Steve Rose on bass, piano and melodica and Ronen Kozokaro on percussion.

http://www.shirmusic.co.uk/


Tickets: £12 (+£1 online admin fee per ticket). Cash Bar.

Tuesday16  June

Opera Night - Rossini's The Barber of Seville

Time: 7.30pm

Hartley Hall, Flower Lane, Mill Hill, NW7 2JA [Map] 

OperaUpClose presented a sell-out performance of La bohème at our last festival. This year we are delighted to welcome them back to perform their version of The Barber of Seville. Rossini’s classic comedy has been transported to Jane Austen’s England, a world of rich, eligible bachelors, feisty heroines and snobbish relations familiar from much-loved BBC costume dramas. Obsequious Doctor Bartleby has designs on his ward Rosina, but she is far more interested in the attentions of a handsome stranger (actually a womanising Count in disguise). The whole affair is stage-managed by Figaro, the barber who knows everyone’s business and can fix your hair and love life with ease. A talented and classically trained cast, directed by Robin Norton-Hale, bring this vibrant new English version of this always popular opera to life. Accompanied by a virtuoso piano score, this is a captivating piece of operatic escapism. The production ran for a two week totally sold out run in London in January 2015.

Plucky and purposeful... a farcical romp. - The Guardian
Real comic swagger - The Metro
Hilarious - The Stage
 http://www.operaupclose.com/

photos by Christopher Tribble

Tickets: £18 (+£1 online admin fee per ticket). Cash Bar.

Wednesday 17 June

Classical - The Hermitage Quartet with soprano Carola Darwin

Time: 7.30pm

St Paul's Church, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, NW7 1QU [MAP]

The Hermitage Quartet started meeting in 1989 at the home of their cellist, a Mill Hill resident. Since then, the quartet has given regular concerts in music clubs and churches and has also toured around Europe. David Bogle leads the quartet, Michael Jenner plays second violin, Michael Blee plays viola and Elizabeth Nevrkla plays cello. Tonight they are joined by distinguished English soprano Carola Darwin. Carola was trained at Royal Northern College of Music, and went on to gain a PhD in Music from the University of Sheffield. They will be playing a selection of pieces from Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky including Mozart’s sublime, Exsulate, Jubilate.

Tickets: £8 with a glass of wine or soft drink included.

Wednesday 17 June

Jazz - Anita Wardell @ Mill Hill Jazz Club

Time: 8.30pm

Mill Hill Golf Club, 100 Barnet Way, Mill Hill, NW7 3AL [Map]

From 8.30pm. We are very proud to present this evening’s performance in association with Mill Hill Jazz Club by bringing you the breathtaking voice of Anita Wardell. Anita is noted for her mesmerizing and captivating vocal improvisations and vocalese lyrics to instrumental solos, using her voice as her instrument, displaying precision and agility, mixed with heartfelt emotion. She received the prestigious BBC Jazz Award for Best of Jazz category in 2006 and in 2013 she won the Best Vocalist category. Anita will be joined by Barry Green on piano, Dario De-Leche on double Bass and John Scott on drums.

Anita Wardell is a singer who takes no prisoners. The Australian vocalist is an uncompromising exponent of bebop... Clive Davis, The Times

http://www.anitawardell.com/


Tickets: £12 Jazz Club Members (£14 Non-Members) on the door only. Cash bar. Seating limited.

Thursday 18 June

100 Years of Jazz in 99 Minutes

 

Time: 7.30pm

Hartley Hall, Flower Lane, Mill Hill, NW7 2JA [Map] 

The Jazz Repertory Company has been selling out this wonderful tour de force up and down the country. This evening’s performance encompasses the history of jazz from its beginnings in the blues and ragtime through to the present day. The six multi-instrumental jazz virtuosi create a highly entertaining journey through the decades taking in everything from New Orleans to bebop, swing to Latin, hot to cool, from Chicago and New York to around the world, with an A-Z of jazz’s biggest names: Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller and Joe Zawinul to just name a few. The music is interspersed with fascinating stories from the music’s history as well as the inimitable humour of the band’s musical director Pete Long. The band is comprised of Richard Pite on drums, sousaphone and bass, Georgina Jackson (pictured above) on vocals and trumpet, Pete Long on reeds, Enrico Tomasso on vocals, trumpet, and trombone, Dave Chamberlain on basses and guitars and Nick Dawson on vocals, piano and clarinet.


It is, quite simply, one of the most daring and brilliantly executed evenings of jazz entertainment doing the rounds today. - Jazz Journal
In Pete Long, reeds player, raconteur, bandleader and all-round wit, we have a genuine home-grown treasure... In another life, he might easily have been a vaudeville entertainer... - Clive Davis, The Times
http://www.jazzrep.co.uk/#!100-years-of-jazz-in-99-minutes/c15v8


Tickets: £15 (+£1 online admin fee per ticket). Cash Bar.

Friday 19 June

Rock and Roll night - Born in the USA

Time: Doors Open: 7.30pm

Mill Hill Golf Club, 100 Barnet Way, Mill Hill, NW7 3AL [Map]
The Boss UK are described as Europe’s premier tribute to Bruce Springsteen. All of the Boss’s best-loved hits in a sweat-drenched, two hour show with all of the passion, intensity and realism of the man himself. The party explodes from the blistering opening of Born in the USA and there’s hardly a let up until the audience themselves are exhausted from dancing and singing along. The band have to include a few of the slower ballads like I’m on Fire and My Hometown to allow you to catch your breath and the show ends up being one huge party sing-along. Come and join us for what is sure to be another evening of great music and dancing.

It’s rock, it’s party, it’s dance, it’s loud and its entertainment at it’s very best - The Evening Standard
What a party - Undoubted the next best Boss - The Independent

http://www.springsteentribute.co.uk/


Tickets: £10 (+£1 online admin fee per ticket) (£12 on the door). Over 18s only. Cash Bar. Food Available.

Saturday 20 June

 

Party Night with Joe Angel & the Pamodzi Band

Time: from 8.30pm

The Three Hammers Pub, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, NW7 4EA [Map]

This year our party night will be at the Three Hammers for an evening of great rocking reggae with Joe Angel & The Pamodzi Band. The band have built a big following on the London reggae scene with their big roots reggae sound. With Joe’s soulful lead vocals and self penned lyrics, two backing vocalists, three guitars, and double keyboards we are in for another night or great music. With support from Misdemeanour playing hits of the 60s and 70s, come and join us on our final night for a great party.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pamodzi-Dwellers/245198502257696

Free Entry. Over 18s only. Cash Bar.

How do general elections affect your family?

Today is my 20th wedding anniversary. My life has changed beyond recognition over the last 20 years. as I pondered the events of the last 20 years, I satrted to think about the effects of various government policies in that period. 

So here's a question for you. When you vote do you actually consider how party policies have affected your family in the real world? We often think that it doesn't make any difference, but is this true? Lets analyse some of the major events in the last 20 years and see how government policies have affected my family and my household.

Back in 1995, the mortgage rate was 6.75%. John Major was the Prime Minister and the Tory party were racked with divisions regarding Europe. The single currency was still five years away. The Tories were peddling the lie that if Tony Blair got elected, the UK would join the scheme and the UK would simply be a region of the EU with no power and no currency. The picture (left) depicts one of the Tory election posters of the day. There are many things Tony Blair will be remembered for, but sitting on Helmut Kohl's knee is unlikely to be one of them.  In short the premise was a lie. In 1995 the country was still recovering from the disatser of the Tory economic policies of the late 1980's and  early 1990's, when interest rates hit 15%. For those of us who had mortgages then, this put a huge hole in our household budget. Of course our household budget in April 1995 was completely different to today, as we didn't have children.

In October 1995 this changed. My eldest daughter was born in Edgware General hospitals maternity unit. For many of us in Mill Hill, Burnt Oak and Edgware, this reminds us of one of the biggest impacts of government policy on our community. The Tories had marked Edgware General for closure. Wheras my mother and my mother in law were able to hop on a 251 bus to see their new grandchild, by 1997 when my second daughter was born, maternity care had moved to Barnet General. Have you ever tried to get from Mill Hill to Barnet General by public transport? It is a nightmare. My Mum, who at the time was very independent and loved travelling on buses, was enraged by the experience.

Shortly after my daughter was born, John Major was gone and Tony Blair swept to power

It isn't just maternity care that moved. A&E moved to Barnet as well. Even worse has been the fact that Barnet General has never been able to cope with the number of people it has to treat. Any trips to A&E are always a nightmare, with a wait of 4 hours being fairly normal, often with someone in a state of distress.

In May 2000 my son was born. He was born at Edgware, not in the Maternity unit, but in the midwife lead birthing unit. This was one of the first tangible examples of the improved emphasis that Labour put on the NHS. Labour was also committed to improving the NHS offering, redeveloping Edgware Community hospital. In September 2000, my eldest daughter started school at St Vincents RC school on the Ridgeway in Mill Hill. At the time the school was run down and dilapidated. The playground had a dangerous slope and it was only the stirling efforts of the staff that kept the schools reputation as an excellent primary.

Due to the huge commitment of the Labour government, a year later the school was fully rebuilt, with new classrooms, better facilities and a wider curriculum as new IT suites were opened. My second daughter started just in time to have a term in the old school building, the last ones who would see the old environment.

At the end of the year 2000, my mum had a major stroke. She was transformed from being a strong and independent woman, to being a housebound, infirm old lady, under the care of the geriatric unit at Barnet General. Sadly, it seems to me that geriatric care is the area where both parties are failing us. The elderly are the people who built the country, their taxes have educated us. Their salaries fed us as children. Sadly the NHS just doesn't care. When my mother had her stroke, she couldn't walk or talk. She was bedbound and unable to do anything. Sadly this meant that sometimes she was left unattended in her own excrement for hours. Our family visited every day and due to the complaints and attention, her quality of care improved, but my heart bled for the poor old dears with no family to care for them. My biggest bugbar with the NHS is that there was minimal effort put into rehabilitation. I believe that if my mother had had more intensive physiotherapy and speech therapy, her recovery would have been quicker and the care costs would have been far cheaper. It would also have been better for her.

By 2000, interest rates were down to 6% and the economy was booming. It is funny to look at some of the headlines of the day, where Gordon Brown was commended by all for his prudence and tight fiscal policies.

For much of the early Noughties, times were good. Interest rates came down. The childrens primary education progressed well.  The regular visits to Barnet General for issues with my Mum were always a pain in the bum, but she was old school and never complained. She always said "Labour have saved my life with the NHS, if this was America I'd have run out of money and be dead". Her view was that hopsitals should be stark and austere, as they were not holiday camps. Her view was that if they were too nice they'd fill up with lazy malingerers. Her view was that if you were genuinely ill, you'd put up with it.

In 2007, there was a huge blow to my mums self esteem and independence. Barnet Council outsourced their meals on wheels service to Sodexho. My mum had built up a good relationship with the old delivery service. The food was tasty and nutritious and the staff caring and friendly. Most important for her, the service was delivered on time. Sadly this all changed with Sodexho. On the first day, the food didn't arrive at all. On the second day it arrived cold at 5pm (she's been used to getting it at noon on the dot). It soon became clear that the Sodexho had screwed up. They had deliver rounds with 40 people on to be delivered in 3 hours. This was simply untenable. Some old ladies were taking 3 minutes to answer the door, blowing the timings out of the water. My mother realised that her independence was an illusion and became depressed. In 2008, she suffered another stroke and passed away.

This was also the time when the international banking crisis hit. Interest rates plummitted to 2% and all of a sudden the talk was about austerity. However the policies of the Labour government of Gordon Brown meant that for small business owners like myself, things were actually not too bad. VAT was cut from 17.5 to 15%, putting money in our pockets. With lower interest rates, the household bills were lower. Inflation stayed low.

In 2010, the coalition took power. Wheras the Labour government had tried to keep the economy rolling, the Tories had a different view. VAT was hiked up to 20%. This immediately hit our business in the pocket. Prices to customers were forced up and all of a sudden we saw a huge drop in studio bookings.  A new rating list came in and energy prices rocketed. over the last five years of the coalition, we've been hit by one policy after another from the local and national Tories. Small businesses in Barnet have been massively clobbered. I simply cannot understand why so many owners still vote Tory. It is an odd quirk that we've always made far more money under Labour. I wonder how many business owners actually look at what they make before deciding on who to vote for.

As the coalition shuffles towards the dustbin of history, the bottom line is this. We pay higher rates, higher energy charges, more VAT and have more regulations than ever. We are hit by huge stealth taxes for servies such as rubbish collection.  In short the Coalition has been a nightmare for us.Only this year has our turnover risen above the levels we were seeing before the coalition, as people are seeing money in their wallets, however I believe that the current economic boom is simply a result of the Tories pumping money into the economy before the election. I am truly worried about what they will do if they get elected again.

And getting back to the personal and family life. This September, 20 years  after me and the Missus tied the knot and had the first of our children, we are again facing a major change. Both of our daughters will be leaving home and going to University in the Autumn. Sadly for our daughters, they are planning this in the period of the coalition government. Now I never went to Uni, I was too thick, but my wife studied Russian at Manchester University in the 1980's.She got a full grant and left Uni completely debt free. Sadly for my beautiful daughters they'll have debts of tens of thousands of pounds as a result of student loans. Both have worked extremely hard to get their A Levels. How are they rewarded? With a  scheme whereby they will have to pay a fortune simply to get an education.

Now this makes me sick. In the modern world economic climate, the only advantage the UK has over its neighbours is the quality of our workforce. Student loans are a tax on education. The Tories tell us that cutting taxes for billionaires is great for the economy as it "stimulates growth". Well how can they possibly claim that what is good for billionaires wallets is bad for students wallets? How on earth can they claim that tax is good for students and bad for billionaires? The sad truth is that the greedy billionaires who control the printed media and thick rich celebrities, who don't give a monkey about anything or anyone apart from their own hedonistic lifestyle, pump money into the Tories to perpetuate these awful policies.

Perhaps the thing which scares me the most are idiots like Russell Brand, who claim that "voting doesn't matter". I sometimes wonder if Brand is a fifth columnist for the dark forces of greed. If voting and elections didn't matter, do you seriously think that billionaires wouldn't bankroll the Tory party?

The Tweets of the week in the London Borough of Barnet - 06/04/2015

Here it is again, our favourite regular feature. And without further ado....


1. 50 years ago this week, a band on their way to world domination stopped off in Hendon....

The Who ‏@TheWho 23h23 hours ago

#50YearsofTheWho 5 April 1965 and The Who played tonight at the Lakeside R&B Scene, the Old Welsh Harp pub, Hendon, north London.

2. Truly shocking Burnt Oak story from North London News

North London News ‏@NrthLondonNews Mar 31

A doctor was forced to perform open heart surgery on the roadside after simmering gang war erupted in a Burnt Oak... http://fb.me/1SvsGlNcu

3. Seems like the residents of Edgware are a racy lot, if this rather tragic story is to be believed!

London News ‏@DaiIyLONDON Apr 2 City of London, London

Man who died at swingers party named as Edmund Echukwu from Edgware http://j.mp/1DBHvXH  #London

 


4. Fancy a spliff in Edgware? Well make sure Sgt Chris Whelan isn't around the corner as it will cost you!

Sgt Chris Whelan ‏@MPSEdgwareSgt Mar 28

Edgware SNT officers caught two males smoking cannabis on Buckingham Road - 2 x cannabis warnings given

 

5. Seems like Koos Couvee is none to impressed with Barnet Council attempts for social cleansing in the Borough

Koos Couvée ‏@KoosCouvee 22h22 hours ago

Barnet Council has actually put out a leaflet encouraging social housing tenants to move out of London #Classy

6. Alan Schneiderman is not impressed with the lack of holiday spirit in Barnets parking wardens

Alan Schneiderman ‏@alan_s01 18h18 hours ago

Don't forget - it may be Easter Sunday but Barnet still issuing tickets!

7. Seems like Max the Jack Russell hasn't persuaded Robin Sones to jump into the big Tory bed!

Robin Sones ‏@RMSones Apr 1

Tory campaign in #Hendon goes to the dogs Polygamy @Offord4Hendon sure to lose his seat to @andrewdismore #LabourGain



 

8. Rather bizarrely, the Tory candidate for Finchley & Golders Green is celebrating the rise of the SNP in Scotland? Perhaps Mr Freer belongs to the wrong party and lives in the wrong country?

Mike Freer ‏@Freer4FGG Mar 28

Election calculus suggest Labour to lose 28 seats in Scotland. Labour meltdown

 9. Shopfrontelegy are rather taken with the Totteridge Brasserie?

ShopfrontElegy ‏@ShopfrontElegy Apr 2

Totteridge Brasserie http://wp.me/p3dasi-2hn

 10. The Doldrums head to Mill Hill to record their new single

The Doldrums ‏@DoldrumsThe Apr 4

On our way to @MillHillMusicCo for 8hrs of recording now. All prep done last night...





That's all folks - enjoy the bank holiday

Kentucky Fried Freer - The chicken flavoured candidate

I was alerted to the fact that Conservative candidate for Finchley and Golders Green Mike Freer  has been dodging election hustings meetings by this tweet.

Gez Sagar ‏@brilliantname Apr 3

Letter in Ham&High says @Freer4FGG was a no show at Mencap hustings. Didn't come to Finchley Society either. #Zipped

This is extremely  disrespectful. It can mean only one thing. Is Mike Freer not proud of his voting record and his performance as an MP? What has he stood up for during his term in office? Surely he believes he has a body of work to demonstrate what a great MP he has been? Surely he believes his hard work over the last five years gives him a strong mandate to continue? Freer has been the MP for five years, his actions are on public record.

Mike Freer's voting record

Sadly as you can see from the infographic, Mike has done little for hard working families and ordinary voters. His main focus has been to protect millionaires and big busienss. His actions are a tacit admission that his Labour opponent Sarah Sackman is a far better candidate and Freer knowns his record is poor.



Anyone who has seen Sarah Sackman in action, as I did at the FSB business hustings will recognise that she is an excellent candidate. It is quite clear tha Freer has also drawn this conclusion and so has chickened out. It is always far easier to look good when there is no one to debate with and no one to mention the more embarrassing aspects of your record (such as support for the Gaddafy family).

My memory is drawn to a business breakfast back in 2009, when Mike Freer was leader of the council. He invited Tom Nathan, CEO of Brent Cross to address us. Mr Nathan was excellent. He said "My philisophy is to keep my friends close and my enemies closer". Freer replied that he preferred to not engage with his opponents, whilst staring sternly at me. It seems Mike has never enjoyed public scrutiny.

Finchely and Golders Green is a marginal seat, being a Labour seat until 2010. Freer benefitted in 2010 from the retirement of Rudy Vis, the popular Labour MP. He also had the massive bonus of being opposed by Labours Alison Moore who was a very unimpressive candidate and has been a disaster as leader of the Labour group in the council. This time he has a decent candidate and he's scared to death.

Back in 2010, Freer even banned filming of hustings, as  he didn't want anyone to see if he screwed up. This tweet from pro Tory Barnet Bugle exposed his behaviour

Barnet Bugle ‏@barnetbugle 11 Apr 2010

@ma499 What happened to the video of the Finchley Mosque hustings? Did Mike Freer ban recording? He did at #hamandhigh one. #fgg #ge2010

 The question the Barnet Eye asks the people of Finchley and Golders Green is quite simple. Do they really want to vote for a man who is so scared of engaging in debate or even letting people share recordings of it? Do you really want to vote for a chicken?

Hendon Conservatives Campaign Launch Special

Yes, election fever has hit the Bunns Lane office of local Tory MP Matthew Offord. Since his election in 2010, Matthew has lead a whole string of exciting campaigns including

* Human rights for dogs
* Opposition to same sex marriage
* Bought fish and Chips in 2013

Sadly for Mill Hill Residents, he hasn't delivered on his promise of a cheese shop for Mill Hill. Unlike many MP's Mr Offord does not however believe charity begins at home, or at least thats what his homeless brother has to say. Mr Offord has raised his profile in the party since he first became an MP (Daviod Cameron famously mistook him for the soup waiter).

Anyway, if you want to keep up with Matthew's exciting and action packed agenda, we urge you to follow him on Facebook.

It is full of exciting info and video clips like this one of Laurel & Hardy Matthew and Boris

Had a cracking morning in Hendon to mark the launch of the Conservative campaign in London along with local candidate...
Posted by Boris Johnson on Wednesday, 1 April 2015

Enjoy!

Lynton Crosby leading the Tories off the edge of the cliff

I was speaking to an economist who works for a large financial organisation in the pub during the week. I happened to ask him what he thought would be the best possible outcome for the UK in the forthcoming election. His response was interesting. He said that as a human being with a family, an outright Labour victory would be the only outcome that would be likely to benefit him and the vast majority of citizens of the UK, but in terms of the UK economy and the economic health of the country, undoubtedly the best outcome would be exactly the same outcome as the last election - ie  a strong coalition between the Tories and the Lib Dems.

I asked him to explain and he said it was quite simple. In economic terms, even though the economy is likely to do less well under Labour, the vast majority of people benefit more. The big losers are those at the very top, who have been the beneficiaries of the current economic boom. They have seen a massive increase in wealth as share dividends, exective salaries and bonus and executive pay has mushroomed. In the UK the top 25% own 90% of the wealth and these have been the main beneficiaries of the economic improvement.

As for the economy, he said that only a Tory/Lib Dem coalition would offer the continuity necessary for business to flourish and grow. My friend observed that both a Tory/LibDem coalition and a Labour victory would not result in a UK withdrawal from the EU. If the UK moves towards a referendum or outright withdrawal this would cause massive uncertainty amongst foreign investors and there is no way this won't have a huge economic downside. Whatever view you may have of the EU, the Scottish referendum showed exactly what business thinks of such splits. The EU would be a far more devastaing issue for foreign investors and it is plain dishonest to pretend otherwise.

So basically from a Labour perspective, their campaign message is simple. They need to get the message out to ordinary people that if they want to have more money in their wallet, they simply need to vote Labour. For the Tories there is a conundrum. Firstly, half of the party hates the EU so their biggest selling point, economic stability through continued EU membership is not something they can afford to boast about. The second problem they have is that they cannot boast too much about their record in power as this makes the case for coalition government and despite the relative success of the coalition, they cannot claim the success. Even more difficult is that the few coalition policies which have really affected people in the middle in a positive way are Lib Dem initiatives, such as raising the tax thresholds. The Tory headline policies such as cutting the top rate of tax for millionaires is not exactly a major vote winner with the middle classes.

The biggest problem the Tories have got is the fact that they have employed Lynton Crosby as their chief campaign strategist. Crosby is a hard nosed Australian who believes that you win elections by destroying the credibility of your opponents. He is a specialist in attack dog politics and negative campaigning. Sadly for the Tories, this simply doesn't work for the Tories in UK General Election campaigns. Whilst it worked worked well for Boris, who is a sharp operator and genuinely witty, in his Mayoral campaign against Ken Livingstone, it fails miserably when you have someone like Cameron in charge.

The problem for Crosby is that Cameron is simply incapable of being nasty without looking like an arrogant upper class toff, who thinks he knows it all and is ordering his butler around. Crosby is so mired in politics that he has managed to turn perhaps his biggest asset into a liability. What Crosby has missed is that Cameron is actually a nice bloke, who isn't good at doing nasty. The Tories followed the Crosby method for the first election and it failed miserably (although without him being him in charge). To fail to score an outright majority with the economy in meltdown and Gordon Brown running Labour was a spectacular own goal. Now Crosby looks set to repeat the feat.

 It should be simple. Ed Miliband is seen by many as lacking what it takes to do the job. Cameron has presided over a full term in which the economy has picked up and is now showing record breaking growth.With Cameron still perceived in the country at large as a decent bloke, the Tories should be well ahead in the polls. The problem they have is that Crosby has decided that rather than say "campaign on your record, say you've served your apprenticeship with the Lib Dems, show some vision and give people a positive reason to vote Tory for a better future", he has said "We can only win if  we spend the campaign attacking Ed Milliband". Crosby's plan spectacularly backfired when Cameron forced the sole leadership debate to feature all seven mainland UK party leaders. Now every leader has claimed they won, but the opinion polls tell a different story. The biggest winner was the SNP in terms of the debate, but the true winner was Ed Miliband. Because the Tories campaign is based on the fact that he is unelectable and useless, the fact that he was seen as no better or worse than Cameron has effectively spiked Cameron and Crosby's guns. The biggest failure of Cameron, which no one has picked up, is that Cameron has a problem with women voters. For Cameron to insist that there were three women on the panel, who all did better than him, simply highlighted the problem. Following the debate, all of the women I spoke to commented on how badly this reflected on Cameron.

Crosby has turned Cameron into a vacuous, policy free leader, who's sole claim to the job is that he thinks he'll do a better job than Miliband. As Crosby and Cameron move in those circles, they think that lining up rich businessmen to endorse Cameron will sway the millions of families who have had a massive budget squeeze ever since Cameron got the job. Even hard right commentators such as Peter Hitchens, who writes for the Daily Mail have been forced to admit that David Cameron is a fake


Hitchens speaks for many on the right of the Tory party, who hate Cameron. Like the Labour left with Blair, they sit on their hands gnashing their teeth, but knowing that this is the only way they can ever get their hands on the levers of power.

Perhaps the funniest thing is that Crosby has missed the bleeding obvious. The truth in the UK is that the country is basically inclined to vote for 'nice' centre right smoothies such as Blair and Cameron. Labour under Blair recognised this and stormed to three massive victories. The Tories under Cameron have taken the opposite view, choosing to mask all of their candidates best qualities and making him play to his own biggest failings.

What is interesting is to cast your mind back to Blair and how new Labour used to operate. They were far more nasty than the Tories have ever been, but they made damn sure that it wasn't Blair who was sticking the knife in. "Tone" was always seen to be nice, decent and reasonable. Crosby managed the Tory campaign against Blair in 2005. Blair demolished it, even though his shine had long since worn off, mired in the post Iraq sleaze.  Tony Blair realised that when it comes to mudslinging, it is better to let someone else do it for you. Sad

The truth is that Lynton Crosby is a back seat driver who is sending Cameron and the Tories off a cliff.  Whilst many Tory backbenchers recognise this, the elite group at the top aren't listening.I simply wonder when the penny will drop with the Tories and they'll sack Crosby. As someone who doesn't want to see another Tory government, I for one hope that the realisation will come after, not before the general election. Sadly for Cameron, I think he'll be packing his bags in May and wishing that he'd followed his own instincts, told a better story and sacked crosby when he had the chance.

Good Friday Reflection

On Good Friday, it is a tradition at the Barnet Eye to write something a little reflective and hopefully thought provoking and a little left field of what we normally write. Recently, I've been working on a new album with Allen Ashley, Fil Ross and Big Gray Ramsey and I was listening to some of the early mixes this morning. Music caan be a very powerful and evocative medium. The new album comprises of a selection of songs written in 1985, reworked into a more contemporary style and some more recent material. Most of the compositions are co-written, I write the music (mostly), Allen & I co write lyrics (ome exclusively Als, some exclusively mine tho) and Fil and Gray assist with the arrangements etc. Listening to them as a single entity is really quite enlightening. I realise just how much I've changed in some ways, but also, perhaps more surprisingly, I've stayed very much the same.

The lyrics I wrote in 1985 were largely written when I was going trhough a period of massive emotional turmoil. The ones more recently written are written from a more mature perspective and perhaps with a bit more black humour thrown in. It got me thinking about how we as individuals change through our lives. When I wrote the early songs I was unsure of myself, to a cetrain extent lacking in confidence. I was starting out in my career and I was definately very emotionally immature. What I see in the songs was a desire to change and a cry for help and emotional support. In that sense I feel that I am unrecognisable from the person I was then. I am much calmer and stronger. There are also however the songs themed on more political issues and themes of injustice. I find that if anything my views are even more entrenched than they were in 1985.

As I reflected this change, my thoughts turned to Good Friday and the historical context. I find the story of Good Friday to be intriguing. The accounts of what happened are really quite enlightening about the nature of how human society has changed and developed. If we take the events at face value as recollected and consider them from a human and political viewpoint, rather than a religious one, there are many lessons to be learned. If we look at the context of the place and time, we see a strongly religious country, under an oppressiven, ruthless and alien foreign dictatorship. There appears to be three competing power bases. The forces of Roman occupation (represented by Pontius Pilate), the collaborative civilian monarchy represented by King Herod and the religious elite. It seems that these three were in an uneasy alliance of convenience. Clearly none of these parties really had much respect for each other, but were forced to work together.

It appears that there is a very delicate balance and all parties are primarily interested in simply maintaining their own power. When a challenge (in the form of Jesus) emerged, it is clear that the primary consideration of all concerned is how to ensure that any threat to their power and the status quo is maintained. The religious authorities simply want to get rid of Jesus. He is a threat and cleary has little time for them or their ways. To me it appears that Herod initially sees Jesus as someone who may be a potential ally and may bolster his power. When he realises that Jesus isn't interested in playing ball, he realises that the easiest thing is simply to let the religious authorities get on with it. Pilate  is clearly not in the least interested in Jewish religious disputes. When he realises that releasing Jesus, which is his preferred option will cause a riot, he simply washes his hands of the matter.

Have things changed? Well in the West, thankfully religious organisations are largely excluded than political power. For me this is a very good thing. It seems to me that wherever religious authorities are involved in the running of the state, you get very bad government. Sadly in many places, this is not the case. The rise of ISIS is just one example of how bad things can become when political and religious powers are mixed.

What interested me this morning was the consideration that Jesus was 33 when he was executed by the state. That was the age at which my first child was born. I think for many of us, the birth of our first child is perhaps the biggest life changing experience we have. It is the moment when all of a sudden, we have responsibility. As I contemplated this, I considered that fatherhood was not an experience Jesus experienced. If you believe in the divinity of Jesus, it seems that he was excluded from this most human of experience. For me, the experience has changed me and I hope made me a better and less selfish person. I guess if you believe in the divinity of Jesus, you believe he was pretty much perfect, then he didn't really need any improvement. For me though, it is clear that parenthood was a very pivotal part of making me what I am.

Another thing which interests me about the Gospels is the insight it gives us into society at the time. We tend to have an incorrect view of some of the key events. For example, we associate Samaratans with goodness, due to the parable. In fact, they were highly despised foreigners in Palastine at the time. The reason Jesus used the example was presumably to challenge prejudice. It was also noted that he would socialise with Tax Collectors and Prostitutes. This was clearly a no no for the morality of the time. I suppose it is interesting that we no longer see people who work for the Inland revenue as social pariah's but the status of Prostitutes has not improved. Perhaps it is ironic that despite Jesus being pretty clear on the fact he saw them as no worse than anyone else, the churches to this day take a completely different view.

Then there is the message of non violence. This is perhaps the greatest legacy he left. For me it is the most important lessson. Back when I was 23, I didn't get the fact that non violence was perhaps the toughest path of all. Life experience has taught me that.  Perhaps our greatest song from the 1985 era was one called action shock. It is all about a soldier face to face with an enemy, who has the choice of kill or be killed. I would still chose life over death if I possibly could. That path is just too tough to embrace.  I do however think that can only be a last resort.

The one conclusion that I think is inescapable about the fate of Jesus on Good Friday 2,000 years ago is that when it comes down to it, having radical ideas is a very dangerous business. The likes of Martin Luther King have paid the price for this. More recently we had the massacre at the offices of Charlie Hebdo.

So that really is the point I am trying to make. As individuals we grow and as a society we grow. Martin Luther King shows us that as a society we have really not moved that far. It is the responsibility of each one of us to ensure that society moves on and progresses. Whether you are a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, an athiest or any other demonination, surely you recognise that executing a man just for posing a threat to the elite is the sign of a bad society. No one has the right to murder someone else for their beliefs, however offensive we may find them. If we can't solve these issues by civilised debate, we clearly have nothing to offer. Arguements cannot be won simply by brutality. The ultimate lesson from what happened 2,000 years ago was that the state execution was a futile act. All acts of violence, either personal or state sponsored ultimately solve nothing. Only dialog and rational behaviour solve problems and allow us to move on. Perhaps that is the most importaant less I've learned since I originally wrote those songs. I sincerely hope that whatever you believe, you agree with that sentiment. I hope you have a fullfilling holiday period.

Sad example of Tory infighting that will lose them a seat

Today should have been a day of triumph for local Conservative MP Matthew Offord. Mayor of London Boris Johnson visted Mill Hill to sprinkle some stardust on Matthew. A whole army of tame tweeters, bussed in for the occasion, went to work. But sadly, local Tory activists were excluded from the party - Despite our little tiffs with the Barnet Bugel. we do recognise Dan Hope as the only hard working Tory activist in Barnet. That he was deliberately excluded from a major Tory event defies belief. What more can we say.

UKIP take shock lead in Hendon Constituency opinion poll

The Barnet Eye was awoken early this morning by a frenzied call from a polling company we've been working for as a consultant, regarding the general election in North West London. Bucking the general trend in London and to the complete surprise of the technical analyists at the company, UKIP have opened up a narrow 1% lead over Labour in the Hendon Constituency seat. Based on this poll, Hendon is currently the only seat in London where UKIP are polling at anything like levels which would see them return an MP. The company were desperate to understand the reasons on the ground for this sudden surge to UKIP.

According to their recent polling figures, of those who have said they will vote, the polling figures in Hendon are as follows:-

34% -	UKIP
33% -	Labour
19% -	Conservative
9% -	Green
5% -	Lib Dem

As you can see this is a huge turnaround from the 2010 result, where UKIP scored a mere 2.1%

2010 Result:

Conservative: 19635 (42.3%)
Labour: 19529 (42.1%)
Lib Dem: 5734 (12.4%)
Green: 518 (1.1%)
UKIP: 958 (2.1%)
MAJORITY: 106 (0.2%)


As ever with such sudden swings in a specific locality, the pollsters are keen to know what factors could have caused such a massive swing. It is clear that there are two major news issues in the constituency that have massively damaged the Conservative core vote.

 The first of these is the decision by the local Tory Council to force Belmont Childrens Farm to shut, due to planning law violations. The owner of the farm, Mr Andrew Reid has launched a massive campaign to force the councils hand and produced a video stating that he had joined UKIP as a direct result of the threatened closure. This campaign has spectacularly mushroomed, following the story being shown on TV news. Whilst I personally had not anticipated such an effect, Mr Reid has built up a huge army of local supporters for his zoo in the charitable and business sectors.These are working tirelessly to keep the farm open and they see the election of a UKIP MP as their trump card.

Perhaps an even more bizarre story seems to have hit a major chord locally with the local UKIP candidate Jeremy Zeid calling for Israel to abduct Barack Obama. It seems that this call has gone down extremely well in Hendon, where there are large numbers of people from all sides of the community who have a strong interest in the middle east. Many blame Obama and his regime for the mess. Oddly,whilst many of these factions are diametrically opposed, they are united by a dislike of Mr Obama and his policies, furthermore they seem to have appreciated the plain speaking of Mr Zeid. As you can see from this infographic, the populace of Hendon has changed massively over the last few years

Current Hendon Demographics

 These factors combined with a general view that the Conservative candidate Matthew Offord is very second rate, has opened up a huge opportunity for UKIP.

Rather unfortunately for UKIP, the ensuing scandal around Mr Zeid's comments have resulted in him having to quit as candidate, which one presumes may undermine all of his hard work over the last few weeks. The poll was taken after the story of Mr Zeids comments were made public, but before his resignation was announces.

With their candidate gone, to be replaced by Raymond Samash, one can only speculate on how long this bounce will last. One suspects that changing your candidate more regularly than your underpants is not a winning strategy, and the bounce  is unlikely to last much beyond lunchtime today.

The other thing which is likely to disturb Labours Andrew Dismore is how the Greens seem to have hoovered up all of the LibDem vote and gobbled a sizeable chunk of Dismores support as well. What is clear from the poll is that a vote for the Greens is a vote to keep Matthew Offord in power. How the UKIP vote will carve up now they don't have a local candidate (the new bloke lives in Northampton) and their campaign is in meltdown is not clear, but what is clear is that Hendon will be a very interesting place to be on polling night. It all goes to show that there is nowt so strange as folks!