A woman was taking her time browsing through everything at a friend's yard sale. 'My husband is going to be very angry I stopped at a yard sale,' she said. 'I'm sure he'll understand when you tell him about all the bargains you found,' her friend replied. "Normally, yes,' she said. 'But he just broke his leg, and he's waiting for me to take him to the hospital to have it set.'
Have a great weekend
Friday, 10 November 2017
Wednesday, 8 November 2017
Barnet - London Borough of Art and Culture
Barnet Council is considering a bid to become the London Borough of Art and Culture in 2021/22. Next Wednesday, this proposal is being debated at the Barnet Children, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee under the chairmanship of Councillor Reuben Thompstone.
To try and pull this proposal together, apparently a workshop was held earlier this year. The report states
I was fascinated to read this news. Whilst most readers of this blog know me for blogging, my main job is running Mill Hill Music Complex, which is North West London's leading independent music hub. We have over 1,000 musicians a week visiting us. We have 18 studios and music recorded at our studios has reached a global worldwide audience estimated at 1.5 billion people. I have suppleied services to Barnet Council and Barnet Homes, as well as community groups such as Community Focus, Mind Barnet and various other local charities and groups.
Our business sponsors the Mill Hill Music Festival and The North Finchley Festival. I am on the organising committee of the Mill Hill Music Festival and the planning group of the North Finchley festival. Despite all of this, I am not one of the 100 individuals and organisations invited.
So you may ask, who are the cultural and artistic organisations who were invited? Well some are listed in the papers
Words fail me. Now I am quite sure some of these groups are worthy in their field, but it seems that the list provided has a complete lack of the organisations which promote art and culture as their primary business. Is there any surprise, given that the chair of this committee is Councillor Reuben Thompstone, who is best known for decimating the Councils library service. I am not alone in despairing at the role of Middlesex University in the Church Farmhouse closure and cannot see how this debacle bodes well for their rile as leaders in the cultural regeneration of Barnet. As for the Council, Many locals will not have forgotten the ridiculous lengths the Council went to in their battle to shut Friern Barnet Library, which ended after a High Court battle. What Brent Cross Shopping centre has to do with Culture in Barnet is a mystery to me. It is a marvellosu shopping centre and brilliant at what it does, but what its core business does is nothing to do with culture.
Here's a short film I made on the day Barnet Council shut Church Farmhouse. This venue was the epitome of local grassroots culture.
I have written as follows to the relevant official to address the committee
---
The London Borough of Barnet has a rich tradition of local festivals, arts and music history. Sadly under the current Conservative administration, this has faced a constant attack. Examples of this have been the closure of Church Farmhouse Museum, the massive downsizing of local libraries, the removal of library provision for young people, the failure to develop a policy of protection of key venues and events, resulting in the closure of many local music and arts venues such as The Torrington, the loss of key festivals such as The Watling Festival and Finchley Carnival (Mill Hill Music Complex was a sponsor of these festivals). Other neighbouring boroughs, such as Camden and Brent have a far more supportive council allowing venues such as The Tricycle Theatre to thrive. Camden has become a world famous music hub, with the Roundhouse as the key venue. Whilst Barnet had the opportunity to thrive, with the development of the Arts Depot, the Council has shown no interest at all in backing this excellent venue. New developments such as that on the Mill Hill Inglis Barracks site have zero cultural provision. The nearest potential music venue, The Railway Engineer pub, which was formerly a popular music venue as part of the Mill Hill Music Festival has been redeveloped.
It seems that, as usual, Barnet is only interested in dealing with large corporate entities. The council papers set out a vision, which as a musician, writer and film producer seem to me to be the antithesis of what a cultural vision should be
(As written by Barnet Council)
Our Vision
Barnet is a fast growing London borough with a rich cultural heritage and history. Ambitious regeneration plans and locally led investment in housing, skills and economic development are seeing new communities develop and prosper. Our vision for the development of arts and culture as the borough grows is for ‘a creative borough with a vibrant, innovative, inclusive and ambitious arts and culture offer that celebrates our heritage and will make Barnet the best place to live, visit, work and do business in’.
To try and pull this proposal together, apparently a workshop was held earlier this year. The report states
"As a first step, a workshop was held in July, co-hosted by the council,Middlesex University and artsdepot. The workshop was held at Middlesex 112 University campus and facilitated by an external, independent facilitator. The three lead organisations compiled an invitation list, based on known contacts and organisations working in the borough. Invitations were sent to over 100 individuals and organisations of which around 40 attended on the day."
I was fascinated to read this news. Whilst most readers of this blog know me for blogging, my main job is running Mill Hill Music Complex, which is North West London's leading independent music hub. We have over 1,000 musicians a week visiting us. We have 18 studios and music recorded at our studios has reached a global worldwide audience estimated at 1.5 billion people. I have suppleied services to Barnet Council and Barnet Homes, as well as community groups such as Community Focus, Mind Barnet and various other local charities and groups.
Our business sponsors the Mill Hill Music Festival and The North Finchley Festival. I am on the organising committee of the Mill Hill Music Festival and the planning group of the North Finchley festival. Despite all of this, I am not one of the 100 individuals and organisations invited.
So you may ask, who are the cultural and artistic organisations who were invited? Well some are listed in the papers
"Arts and Culture is also one of the five themes agreed by the Barnet Partnership, a partnership chaired by the Leader of the Council, comprising of Barnet Clinical Commissioning Group, CommUNITY Barnet, Barnet and Southgate College, Middlesex University, Brent Cross shopping centre, Metropolitan Police, Job Centre Plus, Groundwork London, Federation of Small Businesses, West London Business, Argent Related and Saracens"
Words fail me. Now I am quite sure some of these groups are worthy in their field, but it seems that the list provided has a complete lack of the organisations which promote art and culture as their primary business. Is there any surprise, given that the chair of this committee is Councillor Reuben Thompstone, who is best known for decimating the Councils library service. I am not alone in despairing at the role of Middlesex University in the Church Farmhouse closure and cannot see how this debacle bodes well for their rile as leaders in the cultural regeneration of Barnet. As for the Council, Many locals will not have forgotten the ridiculous lengths the Council went to in their battle to shut Friern Barnet Library, which ended after a High Court battle. What Brent Cross Shopping centre has to do with Culture in Barnet is a mystery to me. It is a marvellosu shopping centre and brilliant at what it does, but what its core business does is nothing to do with culture.
Here's a short film I made on the day Barnet Council shut Church Farmhouse. This venue was the epitome of local grassroots culture.
I have written as follows to the relevant official to address the committee
---
To Salar Rida, Barnet Council
I would like to exercise my constitutional right to address the
Children, Education, Libraries & Safeguarding Committee on Wednesday 15th November, 2017 7.00 pm
As the owner of Mill Hill Music Complex, North West London's leading music hub and a member of the Mill Hill Music Festival Organising committee and the North Finchley Music Festival, producer of two films about Barnet and the author of the leading local blog I would like to address the committee on the subject of the proposed bid to become the London Borough of Culture, as described in the papers.
I am concerned that this proposal is not being lead by local individuals and organisations with any background in local arts and culture
Regards
Roger Tichborne
-----
It seems that, as usual, Barnet is only interested in dealing with large corporate entities. The council papers set out a vision, which as a musician, writer and film producer seem to me to be the antithesis of what a cultural vision should be
(As written by Barnet Council)
Our Vision
Barnet is a fast growing London borough with a rich cultural heritage and history. Ambitious regeneration plans and locally led investment in housing, skills and economic development are seeing new communities develop and prosper. Our vision for the development of arts and culture as the borough grows is for ‘a creative borough with a vibrant, innovative, inclusive and ambitious arts and culture offer that celebrates our heritage and will make Barnet the best place to live, visit, work and do business in’.
The hypocrisy in this is sickening. How can they talk about our "rich cultural heritage" when they closed our beloved Church Farmhouse Museum? What on earth have "ambitious regeneration plans" got to do with a vision for culture and heritage?
Two years ago, I set up the Save London Music Campaign as a direct response to the closure of six music venues in Mill Hill. A couple of weeks ago, I published a list of ten lost entertainment venues in the Borough. There was huge interest and it is now the ninth most popular blog out of more than 5,000 blogs.
I thought I'd have a stab at writing my own vision at writing my own vision for the Art and Culture in Barnet
The Barnet Eye Vision
The London Borough of Barnet is a hugely diverse Borough, with people from across the globe, representing many faiths and traditions living together. We need to work together to provide libraries, cultural spaces, events and festivals to celebrate this diversity. We want a council which celebrates our past, present and work to make the cultural future exciting. We seek to provide an environment where artists of all creeds and colours can thrive and where all new developments are built around people not profit.
Before writing this blog, I also consulted with many other people involved in provision of arts and culture in the Borough. Strangely none were invited and all were quite surprised to hear what was going on. If I believed the London Borough of Barnet was committed to arts and culture, I would sweat blood to ensure that Barnet Council won this coveted title. As it is, it seems to me that it is a highly dishonest bid and I could not support such a scam.
Oh, by the way, my band, The False Dots will be doing a short set of new numbers at The Colindale Folk club on Monday 13th November at The Chandos Arms, around 8.45pm. If you want to see some real grassroots culture, please come along. Here's a little video we made of one of our better tracks.
The band have been performing in local venues since 1979. For some of us, arts and culture is a way of life, not just a nice to have
The band have been performing in local venues since 1979. For some of us, arts and culture is a way of life, not just a nice to have
Andrew Dismore sticks two fingers up to women voters in Barnet and Camden
I was astounded to see this tweet from the Barnet Rotary club
This pictures GLA assembly member Andrew Dismore with disgraced former Tory GLA member Brian Coleman. In the week when the issue of male politicians assaulting women is at it's height, how on earth can Andrew Dismore possibly wish to be associated with a man who has been convicted for assaulting a woman in Fincley High Road
Coleman not only assaulted Helen Michael, he lied to the police about the assault. He only changed his plea to guilty on the day of the court case. The reason Coleman assaulted Helen Michael was due to her campaign against his parking policies when he was in charge of roads in Barnet. Michael, a former Tory, campaigned for Andrew Dismore to replace Coleman in the 2012 GLA elections, putting ABC (Anyone But Coleman) posters in her shop window. Coleman reacted by reporting her to the Police, resulting in Michael being arrested by coppers from SO15, the anti terrorist squad. It seems that Dismore no longer considers Helen Michael to be a "useful idiot" and has decided to assist in Colemans political rehabilitation.
The Barnet Eye notes that Coleman never apologised for the assualt, he's never apologised for lying to the police and wasting their time. He's taunted Ms Michael on Twitter, claiming the whole thing was a set up, as if Ms Michael could be held culpable for him attacking her. This is clearly a case of Andrew Dismore publicly sticking two fingers up to the women of his Barnet and Camden GLA constituency, saying violence against women is OK and forgivable, even if you don't apologise. It is sickening.
Good to have Assembly Member Andrew Dismore visit the Club pic.twitter.com/x1PlYiG0Pd— Rotary Club Barnet (@barnetrotary) November 7, 2017
This pictures GLA assembly member Andrew Dismore with disgraced former Tory GLA member Brian Coleman. In the week when the issue of male politicians assaulting women is at it's height, how on earth can Andrew Dismore possibly wish to be associated with a man who has been convicted for assaulting a woman in Fincley High Road
Coleman not only assaulted Helen Michael, he lied to the police about the assault. He only changed his plea to guilty on the day of the court case. The reason Coleman assaulted Helen Michael was due to her campaign against his parking policies when he was in charge of roads in Barnet. Michael, a former Tory, campaigned for Andrew Dismore to replace Coleman in the 2012 GLA elections, putting ABC (Anyone But Coleman) posters in her shop window. Coleman reacted by reporting her to the Police, resulting in Michael being arrested by coppers from SO15, the anti terrorist squad. It seems that Dismore no longer considers Helen Michael to be a "useful idiot" and has decided to assist in Colemans political rehabilitation.
The Barnet Eye notes that Coleman never apologised for the assualt, he's never apologised for lying to the police and wasting their time. He's taunted Ms Michael on Twitter, claiming the whole thing was a set up, as if Ms Michael could be held culpable for him attacking her. This is clearly a case of Andrew Dismore publicly sticking two fingers up to the women of his Barnet and Camden GLA constituency, saying violence against women is OK and forgivable, even if you don't apologise. It is sickening.
Monday, 6 November 2017
The Barnet Eye Community Awards 2017 - Your Sponsorship and nomintaions are needed!
It gives us the opportunity to say thank you to the people who have made a difference in our community over the last year. Unlike the OSCAR's you don't have to pay for a table to join in the fun, and fun their will be with Live music and a DJ, as well as the dishing ouf of awards. This years awards are at The Chandos Arms in Colindale, from 8pm on Saturday the 9th December.
The categories this year are
Barnet Person of the year
Barnet Charity of the year
Barnet Pub of the Year
Barnet Band/Artist of the Year
Barnet Sports Club of the Year
Barnet Community Event of the Year
Barnet Campaigner of the year
Do you have a nomination for any award? We would also like to see an official sponsor. If you as and individual or company would like to sponsor an award, then you will have the chance to have your name on the best event in Barnet this year.
Any sponsorship money raised will be distributed as follows.
Barnet Person of the Year - To a charity of their choice.
Barnet Charity of the year - To the winning charity.
Barnet Band/Artist of the year - Towards a recording for the the winning artists
Barnet Sports Club of the year - To the winning club
Barnet Community Event of the year - Towards next years event or a charity of the Organisers choice
Barnet Campaigner of the year - To a charity of the their choice.
Please email us using the link in the sidebar if you want to sponsor an event. Your company will be listed on the blog as the sponsor until Janauary 31 2018.
Do you want to nominate someone or an organisation?
+ Please put your nominations as comments at the end of this blog or in an email. If yo nominate someone, you should be prepared to attend the event to present the prize.
Also if you'd like to add a category, let me know.
We've already had some great suggestions.
The way it works is that someone nominates someone and gives a citation as to why. The awards panel will pick the best nomination. For band/artist awards, use the email link in the sidebar and post us videos / clips.
Click here to see last years winners
10 ways your MP can avoid scandal
Are you an MP? I've read all manner of horse$h1t saying that this recent sexual scandal is unfair to MPs, that 'they are only human', etc. It is all complete nonsense. Avoiding the scandals etc is easy. Just in case it seems hard, here are a few basic rules.
1. Don't claim cash for things that are not directly related to doing your job. If you are unsure, don't claim.
2. Don't accept donations from anyone or any organisations that may be perceived as having a vested interest in influencing you. If you are unsure, politely decline.
3. Don't make sexual advances or inappropriately touch people in the working environment.
4. If you are in a position of authority, avoid relationships with people over who you have authority.
5. Treat people with respect and politeness, even if they are rude. If they are angry, it is usually because they have perceive they have been treated unfairly.
6. When you are asked to speak at a function, Google the other speakers. Make sure they are people you are comfortable being associated with.
7. If you have a second job, make sure that you can demonstrate that this does not interfere with your ability to serve your voters. Make sure there is no conflict of interest.
8. Accept that your job makes you a target for all manner of people who may be dangerous. Policemen, soldiers, firemen, nurses etc are all at risk and get paid far less. It is acceptable to take security precautions but not to hide behind them to avoid voters.
9. Moderate your alcoholic intake in public places. It does not improve your judgement.
10. Do not hide behind your staff. The buck stops with you.
I wonder if Matthew Offord, my MP would like to publicly sign up to supporting these ten principles? I would suggest that you ask your MP as well.
1. Don't claim cash for things that are not directly related to doing your job. If you are unsure, don't claim.
2. Don't accept donations from anyone or any organisations that may be perceived as having a vested interest in influencing you. If you are unsure, politely decline.
3. Don't make sexual advances or inappropriately touch people in the working environment.
4. If you are in a position of authority, avoid relationships with people over who you have authority.
5. Treat people with respect and politeness, even if they are rude. If they are angry, it is usually because they have perceive they have been treated unfairly.
6. When you are asked to speak at a function, Google the other speakers. Make sure they are people you are comfortable being associated with.
7. If you have a second job, make sure that you can demonstrate that this does not interfere with your ability to serve your voters. Make sure there is no conflict of interest.
8. Accept that your job makes you a target for all manner of people who may be dangerous. Policemen, soldiers, firemen, nurses etc are all at risk and get paid far less. It is acceptable to take security precautions but not to hide behind them to avoid voters.
9. Moderate your alcoholic intake in public places. It does not improve your judgement.
10. Do not hide behind your staff. The buck stops with you.
I wonder if Matthew Offord, my MP would like to publicly sign up to supporting these ten principles? I would suggest that you ask your MP as well.
Sunday, 5 November 2017
The Tweets of the Week in the London Borough of Barnet - 05/11/2017
It's Sunday, so here's the Tweets of the Week in the London Borough of Barnet! We hope you enjoy this fine selection.
1. What better place to start than with an award!
Many congratulations to @KidWondR, volunteer & former @GrangeBL board member, on her @bbi_uk Best Enterprise Mind Award. #localtalent #N2 pic.twitter.com/wkd4mklaJO— Julia Hines (@JuliaHines) October 31, 2017
2. Regulars know we love a good historical tweet! They don't come much better than this
Such an amazing aerodrome, the old photos are amazing. Now look at it! pic.twitter.com/BK7c0hSOeF— IncludeourStreetsN12 (@IOSNTwelve) November 2, 2017
3. Get your bike protected
#BARNET: Thu 2 Nov | 4-7pm Free #DrBike 🛠🚲 and #BikeMarking 🔐👮 in #Edgware (HA8 7AW)https://t.co/i2D9S012ed with @BarnetCouncil @MPSBarnet pic.twitter.com/yUH0quq6hp— Cycle Marking LDN (@CycleMarkingLDN) October 31, 2017
4. Want to know the history of Burnt Oak Tube Station?
New Post on London's Transport— London's Transport (@LondnsTransport) November 1, 2017
London Underground Stations: Burnt Oakhttps://t.co/pAAS1Wora9 pic.twitter.com/tr2CleDWCk
5.Mill Hill Rigby club are on a roll!
The league as it stands— Mill Hill Rugby Club (@MillHillRFC) November 5, 2017
Mill Hill RFC on top!
Thank you to all who support us!@MillHillBwy @ABetterMillHill @Barneteye pic.twitter.com/1noKDP6fNr
6. Any readers remember the Regal Cinema in Barnet
Photo: Regal Cinema, Barnet (1937) by Howes & Jackman https://t.co/Gj89qVooZJ #barnet #demolished pic.twitter.com/i4zhgZ9Vnn— Modern in Metroland (@mod_in_metro) October 26, 2017
7. Mill Hill Golf club had their bonfire party on Friday. Looked like fun!
Fire lit, people ready, mines and rockets set. 😂 pic.twitter.com/lUeDJtEUtO— Mill Hill Golf Club (@millhillgolf) November 3, 2017
A snippet for you. pic.twitter.com/rnH7SON7L9— Mill Hill Golf Club (@millhillgolf) November 4, 2017
8. The staff at Finchley Central were feeling rather philosophical this week
A thought to ponder on this busy Friday from Finchley Central. #CheckYourPrivilege pic.twitter.com/qPyUXlK9VP— Louise Lockie (@LouiseLockie) November 3, 2017
9. Seems like Virgin Media just don't care!
@virginmedia. And this morning, all at Hale Grove Gardens NW7. I reported this two months ago, and still no change... Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/2u5QrIuGrx— Glyn Burns (@75clouds) November 5, 2017
10. Good to hear that a Mill Hill Institution is thriving!
That's all folks!
Saturday, 4 November 2017
The Saturday List #153 - 10 places in the London Borough of Barnet where you can see interesting wildlife for free!
I've been meaning to do this list for a while. Now I've bent the rules everso slightly, so these are all within reasonable walking distance of a tube/rail station in the Borough! There are two rules for this blog. The places all have to be free to access and all have to be worth a visit! And if you are looking for a list of pet shops etc, they won't be appearing. Enjoy!
1. Golders Hill Park Zoo
Golders Hill Park is home to a free zoo, with a growing collection of rare and exotic birds and mammals such as laughing kookaburras, ring-tailed lemurs and ring-tailed coatis. The zoo plays an important role in the interpretation and education of the habitats and wildlife of Hampstead Heath. It is one of only two free zoos in London registered with BIAZA, the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums. This really is a great place to visit, a short walk from Golders Green tube station. It is in the London Borough of Camden, but I always think of it as in our neck of the wood, so I hope you can forgive this bending of the rules and definitions.
2. Totteridge Ponds
Starting from the east, they are Burnham's Pond, Warren Pond, Long Pond, Ellern Mede Pond and Pink Cottage Pond. They vary in character, but all have interesting wetland flora, and most are valuable for dragonflies, other invertebrates and amphibians. They are also well known as the home of various birds, most notably geese and ducks. The spot is also popular with local anglers, so if you are lucky you may even spot a nice big carp basking in the sun.
The Orange Tree is a short walk away, which makes a great way to end the trip.
3. Darlands Lake Nature reserve
The lake is very shallow, with extensive reed beds, and the reserve also includes woodland. It has a diverse range of breeding birds and eighteen species of mammal have been recorded, including stoat and weasel. It is also of value for grass snakes, amphibians and insects such as dragonflies. It is part of the Totteridge valley and is handily placed between the Adam and Eve pub and The Orange Tree, if you are planning a nice walk.
4. Sheepwash pond
This beautiful old pondis a popular spot for Mums and Dads to show their toddlers the ducks and geese. It is a beautiful old pond. If you are lucky you can spot an Alpaca at the adjacent Belmont Childrens Zoo, although you have to pay to get in there.
If you are Doctor Who, and you can go back to 2004, you could see a family of terrapins that took up residence in the pond.
One little word, please don't feed the ducks as this is very bad for the ponds ecosystem.
5. The Welsh Harp
This is the largest bit of water in the Borough. It is home to various sailing clubs and is also a nature reserve. It is a great place to go for a walk on a sunny autumn afternoon. The reservoir is an important site for breeding waterbirds such as great crested grebe, gadwall, shoveler, common pochard, tufted duck and common tern. At one stage, the reservoir was second only to Rutland Water for the most breeding pairs of great crested grebe in the UK. Other breeding birds include eight species of warbler. In 2008, the first nesting attempt by great cormorant took place as well as the first nesting attempt by grey heron for several years, neither attempt was successful.
The reservoir is also notable for bats, with three species of pipistrelle, noctule, Leisler's bat, serotine and Daubenton's bat all recorded on a single day in September 2007.
6. Monken Hadley Common
This lies within the Monken Hadley Conservation Area, it has a diverse array of interesting wildlife, Butterflies include white-letter and purple hairstreaks, and there are breeding birds such as sparrowhawk and tawny owl. Beech Hill Lake (or Jack's Lake) was formed by damming Pymme's Brook. It is managed for angling and supports common waterfowl and Daubenton's bats use it for feeding, foraging low over the water. Two smaller ponds have a much richer flora and abundant amphibians, which attract grass snakes.
7. Glebelands Nature Reserve
It is the largest surviving fragment of the habitat of the old Finchley Common. The site is mostly wooded with areas of tall scrub and grassland, and there are numerous streams and seasonal small ponds.. There are a large number of breeding birds that visit the site as well as amphibians and small mammals. Glebelands is located at the corner of the North Circular Road and High Road, with access from a path between the High Road and Legion Way, off Summers Lane.
8. Brent Park, Hendon
The park is a narrow wooded strip of land west of the North Circular Road between Brent Street and Bell Lane. It is almost wholly managed for nature conservation apart from a small area of mown grass at the northern end. The River Brent runs along the western edge, and there are three ponds next to the river. These are the remains of a lake built possibly as long as a thousand years ago by the abbots of Westminster as a duck decoy. Tufted ducks, mallards, coots and moorhens still nest on a wooded island on one of the ponds.
9. Big Wood and Little Wood, Hampstead
The wooded area is a great refuge for local birds. Pedunculate oak is the main canopy tree, together with sessile oak, hornbeam and wild cherry. It also contains an unusually large population of wild service trees, while the undergrowth is dominated by bramble and ivy, with many bluebells. Breeding birds include tawny owl, nuthatch and treecreeper. When researching this blog, I was also fascinated to learn that prior to the construction of the Denman Drive North and South in 1912 on the field between Little and Big Woods, the land was used for grazing elephants. Sadly, unless you're Dr Who, that's long gone.
10. My Back Garden!
Well sadly you won't get to see this, unless you're a friend of mine! Then, not only will you get to see it for free, but you'll even get a cup of tea! I've had a lifelong love of nature and wildlife. This started in my back garden. I've seen all manner of wildlife over the years, I've encountered hedgehogs, squirrells, mice, rats, slow worms, dragonflies, frogs, newts, toads (I've got a wildlife pond) mooching around. We get regular visits from a big heron, and other regular visitors are magpies, wood pigeons, blue tits, sparrows, blackbirds, and starlings. As our house backs on to the M1, there is a strip between the road and our garden that runs wild and acts as a refuge for all manner of birds and animals. Sadly I don't have the time to properly investigate these days. Back gardens should be a magnificent resource in Barnet, but we are so obsessed with neatness that we don't have cover for birds, and cash so we build on them.
We are blessed with space and have a mature Copper beech tree and an Oak tree. Both produce a supply of nuts for the squirrels. I like to think of it as organised chaos.
One of my biggest bugbears with planning in Barnet is there is so little access for children to nature in the new plans. To me this is criminal.
For me putting together the Saturday List is always my most joyful blog of the week. I often find places on the web and then visit them. This week has been an exceptionally fruitful week. There is a brilliant wikipedia page that lists all of the local nature reserves. It is great to find out about such places, but I was saddened that given the communal nature of Wikipedia, we haven't put more info on about many of these great places. Anyone can register as an author on Wikipedia, so why not get out to your local site with your camera, take a few pictures and make the page better!
1. Golders Hill Park Zoo
Golders Hill Park is home to a free zoo, with a growing collection of rare and exotic birds and mammals such as laughing kookaburras, ring-tailed lemurs and ring-tailed coatis. The zoo plays an important role in the interpretation and education of the habitats and wildlife of Hampstead Heath. It is one of only two free zoos in London registered with BIAZA, the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums. This really is a great place to visit, a short walk from Golders Green tube station. It is in the London Borough of Camden, but I always think of it as in our neck of the wood, so I hope you can forgive this bending of the rules and definitions.
 |
| Totteridge Long Pond |
Starting from the east, they are Burnham's Pond, Warren Pond, Long Pond, Ellern Mede Pond and Pink Cottage Pond. They vary in character, but all have interesting wetland flora, and most are valuable for dragonflies, other invertebrates and amphibians. They are also well known as the home of various birds, most notably geese and ducks. The spot is also popular with local anglers, so if you are lucky you may even spot a nice big carp basking in the sun.
The Orange Tree is a short walk away, which makes a great way to end the trip.
3. Darlands Lake Nature reserve
The lake is very shallow, with extensive reed beds, and the reserve also includes woodland. It has a diverse range of breeding birds and eighteen species of mammal have been recorded, including stoat and weasel. It is also of value for grass snakes, amphibians and insects such as dragonflies. It is part of the Totteridge valley and is handily placed between the Adam and Eve pub and The Orange Tree, if you are planning a nice walk.
 |
| Sheepwash pond |
This beautiful old pondis a popular spot for Mums and Dads to show their toddlers the ducks and geese. It is a beautiful old pond. If you are lucky you can spot an Alpaca at the adjacent Belmont Childrens Zoo, although you have to pay to get in there.
If you are Doctor Who, and you can go back to 2004, you could see a family of terrapins that took up residence in the pond.
One little word, please don't feed the ducks as this is very bad for the ponds ecosystem.
5. The Welsh Harp
This is the largest bit of water in the Borough. It is home to various sailing clubs and is also a nature reserve. It is a great place to go for a walk on a sunny autumn afternoon. The reservoir is an important site for breeding waterbirds such as great crested grebe, gadwall, shoveler, common pochard, tufted duck and common tern. At one stage, the reservoir was second only to Rutland Water for the most breeding pairs of great crested grebe in the UK. Other breeding birds include eight species of warbler. In 2008, the first nesting attempt by great cormorant took place as well as the first nesting attempt by grey heron for several years, neither attempt was successful.
The reservoir is also notable for bats, with three species of pipistrelle, noctule, Leisler's bat, serotine and Daubenton's bat all recorded on a single day in September 2007.
6. Monken Hadley Common
This lies within the Monken Hadley Conservation Area, it has a diverse array of interesting wildlife, Butterflies include white-letter and purple hairstreaks, and there are breeding birds such as sparrowhawk and tawny owl. Beech Hill Lake (or Jack's Lake) was formed by damming Pymme's Brook. It is managed for angling and supports common waterfowl and Daubenton's bats use it for feeding, foraging low over the water. Two smaller ponds have a much richer flora and abundant amphibians, which attract grass snakes.
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| Glebelands |
It is the largest surviving fragment of the habitat of the old Finchley Common. The site is mostly wooded with areas of tall scrub and grassland, and there are numerous streams and seasonal small ponds.. There are a large number of breeding birds that visit the site as well as amphibians and small mammals. Glebelands is located at the corner of the North Circular Road and High Road, with access from a path between the High Road and Legion Way, off Summers Lane.
8. Brent Park, Hendon
The park is a narrow wooded strip of land west of the North Circular Road between Brent Street and Bell Lane. It is almost wholly managed for nature conservation apart from a small area of mown grass at the northern end. The River Brent runs along the western edge, and there are three ponds next to the river. These are the remains of a lake built possibly as long as a thousand years ago by the abbots of Westminster as a duck decoy. Tufted ducks, mallards, coots and moorhens still nest on a wooded island on one of the ponds.
9. Big Wood and Little Wood, Hampstead
The wooded area is a great refuge for local birds. Pedunculate oak is the main canopy tree, together with sessile oak, hornbeam and wild cherry. It also contains an unusually large population of wild service trees, while the undergrowth is dominated by bramble and ivy, with many bluebells. Breeding birds include tawny owl, nuthatch and treecreeper. When researching this blog, I was also fascinated to learn that prior to the construction of the Denman Drive North and South in 1912 on the field between Little and Big Woods, the land was used for grazing elephants. Sadly, unless you're Dr Who, that's long gone.
10. My Back Garden!
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| My pond |
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| Our oak and copper beach tree |
We are blessed with space and have a mature Copper beech tree and an Oak tree. Both produce a supply of nuts for the squirrels. I like to think of it as organised chaos.
One of my biggest bugbears with planning in Barnet is there is so little access for children to nature in the new plans. To me this is criminal.
For me putting together the Saturday List is always my most joyful blog of the week. I often find places on the web and then visit them. This week has been an exceptionally fruitful week. There is a brilliant wikipedia page that lists all of the local nature reserves. It is great to find out about such places, but I was saddened that given the communal nature of Wikipedia, we haven't put more info on about many of these great places. Anyone can register as an author on Wikipedia, so why not get out to your local site with your camera, take a few pictures and make the page better!
Friday, 3 November 2017
The Friday Joke - The Stalinist Councillor David Longstaff proclamation dissected
Following on from the huge interest in yesterdays blog detailing the appalling behaviour of Councillor David Longstaff in Council, we thought we'd take a look at the full text of his motion declaring Mayor Khan an enemy of the People of Barnet (it's towards the end of the report pack). Our comments are in Red Italics
Full Council: 31st October 2017
Administration Motion: Councillor David Longstaff
Is Mayor Khan an enemy of the people of Barnet?
Council is growing increasingly concerned that Mayor Khan is making life harder for the people of Barnet for the sake of political point-scoring.
It takes an extraordinary amount of Chutzpah to start such a clearly worded piece of political point scoring with such a sentence.
In the last six weeks alone Mayor Khan has made several rulings attacking the borough’s already strained transport infrastructure. Most recently the Aslef union revealed he had scrapped plans laid by his predecessor, Boris Johnson, to add 17 much-needed trains to the Northern line and increase services to 30 an hour. The explosion in demand projected for this vital but overcrowded service will now have to be met by current stock — and borne by residents.
Barnet Council have been the driving force behind the massive developments in the Borough, which have fuelled this demand. The Brent Cross, West Hendon and Inglis Barracks schemes are all ones which the Barnet Tory administration have been desperate to see passed, with no regards to the transport infrastructure. To suddenly put all the blame on the mayor for the creaking infrastructure in the Borough is highly misleading. For the record, we agree that the cancellation of the 17 new trains is a poor decision, but it is 100% clear that by using this sort of megaphone democracy, Barnet Council are actually making it harder to have sensible discussions with the Mayor of Barnet. Our Labour assembly member Andrew Dismore also pointed out "Sadiq stopped the 17pc increase his predecessor was set to impose on top of the 42pc increases Boris Johnson implemented, with Sadiq’s freeze saving the average family 200 pounds a year."
I am sure most Barnet Residents who actually commute would consider saving £200 a year not to be the actions of an "enemy of the people". It is worth comparing and contrasting the response of a sensible, grown up politician such as Dismore, with the playground politics of David Longstaff.
At the beginning of this month he also overruled Barnet’s democratically elected Planning Committee in order to force a deeply unpopular development of 460 flats on the people of Mill Hill. Adding insult to injury, he removed 78 parking spaces from the original plans, meaning residents will have to fight for spaces on neighbouring residential streets.
This is a very dishonestly phrased paragraph. The planning committees of Barnet are not democratically elected. The members are nominated by the respective parties. Voters get no say on who sits on them, it is in the gift of the Tory and Labour leaders. In contrast, the Mayor of London is directly elected, with a cross London mandate and specific planning powers. We may not like the Mayor, but we can elect someone else. I have no say as to who sits on the planning committee to make decisions that affect Mill Hill. I di however vote for a London Mayor. It is rather sad that a committee chair at Barnet Council such as David Longstaff does not understand this.
This is despite visiting the site himself by car rather than brave the Northern line.
This is gross hypocrisy, given that all the Barnet Tory councillors have free parking permits, so they don't have to use public transport at all. I would be very interested to find out how regularly David Longstaff gets the Northern Line from his home in Friern Barnet to council meetings in Hendon?
Before clogging up the borough’s roads and scuppering improvements to its Underground service, however, Mayor Khan decided to make private hire vehicles more expensive and less available for residents of outer London boroughs like Barnet. His decision against renewing Uber’s private hire licence not only risks putting 1,789 Barnet based Uber drivers out of work; it will increase the costs for residents using black cabs.
This shows the complete lack of ability to think things through by Councillor Longstaff. It clearly has not occurred to him that removing 1,789 Uber cabs from the roads of Barnet will mean less not more congestion. He also fails to mention the Night Tube and the Hopper Bus fare which have made public transport cheaper and more accessible for Barnet residents.
Council agrees that any concerns about Uber’s safeguarding procedures must be addressed. However, Council is baffled as to why data revealed under the Freedom of Information Act showed TfL inspectors had given Uber a clean bill of health on no less than 10 occasions in the last four years (the last after an annual compliance audit in April this year) and why Mayor Khan failed to meet with Uber representatives to discuss concerns.
Councillor Longstaff rather conveniently forgets to mention that two senior London Tories, Roger Evans and Victoria Borwick, who sat for many years on the GLA, and presumably know a bit more about the issues than he does, fully support the Mayor's actions - See the tweet below from the former chief of GLA Tories. Who is trying to score cheap political poings here? .
In revoking Uber's licence, Khan's message is that London is closed to innovation and business.
Surely the message Khan is sending out is that businesses must play by the rules. Does Councillor Longstaff not recognise that cabbies are businessmen as well. As for innovation, what are Barnet Council doing to promote it? Where is the championing of High Speed Broadband etc? I don't recall David Longstaff opposing the parking policies of his patron Brian Coleman, which wrecked many small businesses.
Council is also deeply concerned by Mayor Khan’s intervention on the Grahame Park development. In making public an error-riddled letter from GLA planners he ensured the retraction, which Barnet was on the cusp of negotiating, would not happen.
When Longstaff talks about planning the Grahame Park development, he conveniently forgets the recent decision to grant a bookmaker a licence to operate, overturning a previous decision and flying in the face of local opposition. He also doesn't mention the myriad of issues with the Grahame Park development.
The planning application now risks being refused or amended by the Mayor.
If the plan is refused or amended by Khan, this must be on valid grounds. Does Longstaff not realise this? It is not agreed by all that this is a marvellous proposal for all residents. Just because David Longstaff thinks it is the best thing in the history of the London Borough of Barnet, does not mean he's right. Just to demonstrate the hypocritical "double think" of what Longstaff has to say, consider this extract from Barnets own press release about the new council office on the site - "The proposed offices will cater for approximately 1200 staff and parking for approximately 70 cars will be provided on and off-site nearby." having berated Mayor Khan for approving a development with insufficient parking, the council expect 1,200 staff to fit into 70 car parking spaces. Given that most of these jobs are currently based on the other side of the Borough, with no tube lines between there and Grahame Park, it is clear that there is huge under provision and to quote Longstaff's own words about the NIMR site parking issues " residents will have to fight for spaces on neighbouring residential streets" - what is clear is that Longstaff is not in the least bit interested in the existing residents of Grahame Park. Just to make the point, I've added a few images from the council's own documents, illustrating their plans for a new carbuncle to blight the area. I don't know about you, but to me they look like a complete eyesore, and a better looking scheme could have been designed by an Orang Utang with lego bricks. Check this video, what do you think?
Council calls on the Leader of the Council and the Leader of the Opposition to write to the Mayor to address these concerns and request he rectify them for the benefit of the people of Barnet over party political gain.
Having started by criticising the Mayor for political point scoring, the motion finishes with a request for some political point scoring. You really couldn't make it up, could you? And do you want to know the biggest joke of all? Every single one of the 32 Barnet Conservative Councillors voted to adopt this motion. Personally, I'd rather have the Orangutan running the council than the ship of fools collectively known as the Barnet Tories.
Full Council: 31st October 2017
Administration Motion: Councillor David Longstaff
Is Mayor Khan an enemy of the people of Barnet?
Council is growing increasingly concerned that Mayor Khan is making life harder for the people of Barnet for the sake of political point-scoring.
It takes an extraordinary amount of Chutzpah to start such a clearly worded piece of political point scoring with such a sentence.
In the last six weeks alone Mayor Khan has made several rulings attacking the borough’s already strained transport infrastructure. Most recently the Aslef union revealed he had scrapped plans laid by his predecessor, Boris Johnson, to add 17 much-needed trains to the Northern line and increase services to 30 an hour. The explosion in demand projected for this vital but overcrowded service will now have to be met by current stock — and borne by residents.
Barnet Council have been the driving force behind the massive developments in the Borough, which have fuelled this demand. The Brent Cross, West Hendon and Inglis Barracks schemes are all ones which the Barnet Tory administration have been desperate to see passed, with no regards to the transport infrastructure. To suddenly put all the blame on the mayor for the creaking infrastructure in the Borough is highly misleading. For the record, we agree that the cancellation of the 17 new trains is a poor decision, but it is 100% clear that by using this sort of megaphone democracy, Barnet Council are actually making it harder to have sensible discussions with the Mayor of Barnet. Our Labour assembly member Andrew Dismore also pointed out "Sadiq stopped the 17pc increase his predecessor was set to impose on top of the 42pc increases Boris Johnson implemented, with Sadiq’s freeze saving the average family 200 pounds a year."
My response to Northern Line upgrade news https://t.co/AqmuLR6NcS— Andrew Dismore AM (@Andrew_Dismore) October 19, 2017
I am sure most Barnet Residents who actually commute would consider saving £200 a year not to be the actions of an "enemy of the people". It is worth comparing and contrasting the response of a sensible, grown up politician such as Dismore, with the playground politics of David Longstaff.
At the beginning of this month he also overruled Barnet’s democratically elected Planning Committee in order to force a deeply unpopular development of 460 flats on the people of Mill Hill. Adding insult to injury, he removed 78 parking spaces from the original plans, meaning residents will have to fight for spaces on neighbouring residential streets.
This is a very dishonestly phrased paragraph. The planning committees of Barnet are not democratically elected. The members are nominated by the respective parties. Voters get no say on who sits on them, it is in the gift of the Tory and Labour leaders. In contrast, the Mayor of London is directly elected, with a cross London mandate and specific planning powers. We may not like the Mayor, but we can elect someone else. I have no say as to who sits on the planning committee to make decisions that affect Mill Hill. I di however vote for a London Mayor. It is rather sad that a committee chair at Barnet Council such as David Longstaff does not understand this.
This is despite visiting the site himself by car rather than brave the Northern line.
This is gross hypocrisy, given that all the Barnet Tory councillors have free parking permits, so they don't have to use public transport at all. I would be very interested to find out how regularly David Longstaff gets the Northern Line from his home in Friern Barnet to council meetings in Hendon?
Before clogging up the borough’s roads and scuppering improvements to its Underground service, however, Mayor Khan decided to make private hire vehicles more expensive and less available for residents of outer London boroughs like Barnet. His decision against renewing Uber’s private hire licence not only risks putting 1,789 Barnet based Uber drivers out of work; it will increase the costs for residents using black cabs.
This shows the complete lack of ability to think things through by Councillor Longstaff. It clearly has not occurred to him that removing 1,789 Uber cabs from the roads of Barnet will mean less not more congestion. He also fails to mention the Night Tube and the Hopper Bus fare which have made public transport cheaper and more accessible for Barnet residents.
Council agrees that any concerns about Uber’s safeguarding procedures must be addressed. However, Council is baffled as to why data revealed under the Freedom of Information Act showed TfL inspectors had given Uber a clean bill of health on no less than 10 occasions in the last four years (the last after an annual compliance audit in April this year) and why Mayor Khan failed to meet with Uber representatives to discuss concerns.
Councillor Longstaff rather conveniently forgets to mention that two senior London Tories, Roger Evans and Victoria Borwick, who sat for many years on the GLA, and presumably know a bit more about the issues than he does, fully support the Mayor's actions - See the tweet below from the former chief of GLA Tories. Who is trying to score cheap political poings here? .
Well Done Andrew - I can't understand why so many of our Conservative colleagues are hitching their wagons to poisonous Uber.— Roger Evans (@TheSpeakingRog) September 29, 2017
In revoking Uber's licence, Khan's message is that London is closed to innovation and business.
Surely the message Khan is sending out is that businesses must play by the rules. Does Councillor Longstaff not recognise that cabbies are businessmen as well. As for innovation, what are Barnet Council doing to promote it? Where is the championing of High Speed Broadband etc? I don't recall David Longstaff opposing the parking policies of his patron Brian Coleman, which wrecked many small businesses.
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| Council's Colindale Office design |
When Longstaff talks about planning the Grahame Park development, he conveniently forgets the recent decision to grant a bookmaker a licence to operate, overturning a previous decision and flying in the face of local opposition. He also doesn't mention the myriad of issues with the Grahame Park development.
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| Colindale Office mock up |
If the plan is refused or amended by Khan, this must be on valid grounds. Does Longstaff not realise this? It is not agreed by all that this is a marvellous proposal for all residents. Just because David Longstaff thinks it is the best thing in the history of the London Borough of Barnet, does not mean he's right. Just to demonstrate the hypocritical "double think" of what Longstaff has to say, consider this extract from Barnets own press release about the new council office on the site - "The proposed offices will cater for approximately 1200 staff and parking for approximately 70 cars will be provided on and off-site nearby." having berated Mayor Khan for approving a development with insufficient parking, the council expect 1,200 staff to fit into 70 car parking spaces. Given that most of these jobs are currently based on the other side of the Borough, with no tube lines between there and Grahame Park, it is clear that there is huge under provision and to quote Longstaff's own words about the NIMR site parking issues " residents will have to fight for spaces on neighbouring residential streets" - what is clear is that Longstaff is not in the least bit interested in the existing residents of Grahame Park. Just to make the point, I've added a few images from the council's own documents, illustrating their plans for a new carbuncle to blight the area. I don't know about you, but to me they look like a complete eyesore, and a better looking scheme could have been designed by an Orang Utang with lego bricks. Check this video, what do you think?
Council calls on the Leader of the Council and the Leader of the Opposition to write to the Mayor to address these concerns and request he rectify them for the benefit of the people of Barnet over party political gain.
Having started by criticising the Mayor for political point scoring, the motion finishes with a request for some political point scoring. You really couldn't make it up, could you? And do you want to know the biggest joke of all? Every single one of the 32 Barnet Conservative Councillors voted to adopt this motion. Personally, I'd rather have the Orangutan running the council than the ship of fools collectively known as the Barnet Tories.
Thursday, 2 November 2017
Night of shame at the Town Hall as Barnet Tories sink to new depths
Are you familiar with Stalinism? Last week, I went to see "The Death of Stalin", a fiercely ironic portrayal of the last hours of Joseph Stalin and the immediate aftermath of his death. I've long had a keen interest in the USSR and Communism. My wife did Russian Studies at Uni and I extensively travelled around the Soviet Union prior to its collapse. Unlike most who spout forth about the failures of communism, I have actually seen most of the good and bad things of the system at first hand. After my first trip, I realised that it was a house of cards and about to collapse. The truth of the matter is that if you have a system based on lies, fear and bureaucracy you are doomed to failure.
So what has all of this got to do with Barnet Council? Where to start? On Tuesday I saw a bizarre tweet from Hendon Labour councillor Adam Langleben.
The @BarnetTories have learnt nothing from Zac Goldsmiths failed campaign. This is the title of their motion tonight at @BarnetCouncil pic.twitter.com/1eOr5Ex8kD— Adam Langleben (@adamlangleben) October 31, 2017
I couldn't really believe my eyes. "Enemy of the people" is an emotive term. It is one deployed by both Nazi's and Stalin's cronies in show trials of opponents and enemies. One thing I've learned through my travels and studies is that if a regime starts branding anyone an "Enemy of The People", that regime is rotten to the core. Of course it is possible that the Barnet Tories are too ill educated to know the history and connotations of such a charge. Maybe, David Longstaff, a failed Thespian, went to see "Death of Stalin" and thought that it would be hilarious to send up Mayor Khan in such a manner. If he did it is hugely disrespectful to all of those persecuted by tyrants and despots across the world. It is bad enough that this silly man contemplated such a prank, but what followed was even worse. All of his Tory chums joined in the jolly jape and voted to pass the motion.
And why do they consider Mayor Khan an "Enemy of the People". This is where it gets truly bizarre. It was as a result of the Mayor passing a planning application for the National Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill. What did the Tories object to? Well the Mayor made two major changes to the plans. The first was that he upped the social housing content of the site. The second, that he insisted on 800 spaces for parking bicycles. I doubt even Stalin would have someone shot or label them for such a crime. Now, I should go on record to say that I personally do not think what the Mayor has passed is great. I am very familiar with the site. The Mayor has applied a view of planning that is suitable for a development in Islington or Camden Town to a site that is about as rural as it is possible to get with a London Postcode. Whilst cycling is a great way to get around, the geography of the site, atop one of the biggest hills in London, is not conducive to travel. The cycle home from Mill Hill East or Mill Hill Broadway stations, is something that Bradley Wiggens or Chris Frome would relish as part of their training for the Tour de France. The Mayor clearly should have included more car parking spaces and insisted on the developers paying a contribution for a better bus service. The Ridgeway is already gridlocked in the morning as parents drop children at St Vincents, St Pauls and Mill Hill schools. The 240 bus is packed to bursting and wheras people currently get off at the NIMR to go to work, now they will be getting on. I am not entirely convinced that the design of the scheme is particularly appealing. It looks like a bunch of "out of the box" Barrett houses, with zero personality. I am pleased that they are keeping the iconic central building with it's green roof, but it is a real missed opportunity to have a far better scheme.
However, and this is a pretty key point, it is far from the worst planning scheme in the Borough. Every possible criticism of what they Mayor has passed (apart from too many places to park bikes), can be levelled tenfold at just about every other major scheme in The London Borough of Barnet. Anyone familiar with the Brent Cross and West Hendon schemes will know that Barnet are no "friends of the people" with what has been passed. Quite ironically, back in the days when I first started blogging, before the Barnet Eye, I wrote a blog for the Barnet Times. I got into hot water for alleging that the then Tory Leader of Barnet Council and now Finchley MP Mike Freer was a cross between Stalin and Mr Bean, reprising Vince Cables put down of Gordon Brown. The Barnet Times removed the blog, but fellow blogger "Dont Call me Dave" republished it for posterity with a commentary. For those unfamiliar with Don't Call Me Dave, he's a former chair of Chipping Barnet Tories. I wrote to support my claim.
And why do they consider Mayor Khan an "Enemy of the People". This is where it gets truly bizarre. It was as a result of the Mayor passing a planning application for the National Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill. What did the Tories object to? Well the Mayor made two major changes to the plans. The first was that he upped the social housing content of the site. The second, that he insisted on 800 spaces for parking bicycles. I doubt even Stalin would have someone shot or label them for such a crime. Now, I should go on record to say that I personally do not think what the Mayor has passed is great. I am very familiar with the site. The Mayor has applied a view of planning that is suitable for a development in Islington or Camden Town to a site that is about as rural as it is possible to get with a London Postcode. Whilst cycling is a great way to get around, the geography of the site, atop one of the biggest hills in London, is not conducive to travel. The cycle home from Mill Hill East or Mill Hill Broadway stations, is something that Bradley Wiggens or Chris Frome would relish as part of their training for the Tour de France. The Mayor clearly should have included more car parking spaces and insisted on the developers paying a contribution for a better bus service. The Ridgeway is already gridlocked in the morning as parents drop children at St Vincents, St Pauls and Mill Hill schools. The 240 bus is packed to bursting and wheras people currently get off at the NIMR to go to work, now they will be getting on. I am not entirely convinced that the design of the scheme is particularly appealing. It looks like a bunch of "out of the box" Barrett houses, with zero personality. I am pleased that they are keeping the iconic central building with it's green roof, but it is a real missed opportunity to have a far better scheme.
However, and this is a pretty key point, it is far from the worst planning scheme in the Borough. Every possible criticism of what they Mayor has passed (apart from too many places to park bikes), can be levelled tenfold at just about every other major scheme in The London Borough of Barnet. Anyone familiar with the Brent Cross and West Hendon schemes will know that Barnet are no "friends of the people" with what has been passed. Quite ironically, back in the days when I first started blogging, before the Barnet Eye, I wrote a blog for the Barnet Times. I got into hot water for alleging that the then Tory Leader of Barnet Council and now Finchley MP Mike Freer was a cross between Stalin and Mr Bean, reprising Vince Cables put down of Gordon Brown. The Barnet Times removed the blog, but fellow blogger "Dont Call me Dave" republished it for posterity with a commentary. For those unfamiliar with Don't Call Me Dave, he's a former chair of Chipping Barnet Tories. I wrote to support my claim.
Over development of Barnet. There are currently 6,000 families on the waiting list for council houses. This tells me that there is a need for 6,000 new homes in Barnet. How many dwellings does the council plan to build? 80,000. There are massive schemes all over the Borough. Just to list a few - Cricklewood, Colindale Hospital, Mill Hill Barracks. Each one of these schemes threatens important local sites. Cricklewood threatens Hendon FC. Colindale includes plans for a road straight through Montrose Park. The Mill Hill Scheme plans to put a busy road through Sanders Lane Nature reserve. Once these sites are destroyed, that is it, they are gone. Why do we need 80,000 new dwellings in Barnet? Have the people of Barnet been consulted as to whether we want them. These are not homes for local people, complete with nice gardens for children to play in, these are massive rabbit hutches. Anyone who has to drive in rush hour will know that the roads are already full to bursting. The schools are all oversubscribed. What is the purpose, other than to transform a green suburb into the new Elephant and Castle? Schemes like this proliferated in the Soviet Union. Massive blocks of grey flats, lifeless, soulless and soul destroying. Barnet has a unique character and our Council want to destroy it.And later
Deportations. No I'm not joking. It is official council policy to deport inconvenient people out of the Borough. A good friend of mine, a widow with 4 Children, one severely disabled has been on the Barnet Council House waiting list for 7 years, since her husband died. She has been in temporary accommodation. Last year she was told that she was being evicted and that if she wanted a home she'd have to drag the children away from their schools and friends and move to Norfolk.
Excessive squandering of money. As in all Stalinist economies, as there is no proper scrutiny and no transparent decision making, bad decisions are made and no one gets held to account.
It seems ironic, given the long history of all of this in Barnet (the words above were published in July 2008), that Longstaff has the gall to try and blame the Mayor of Barnet. As with all Stalinist regimes, Barnet Council forced the Barnet Times to remove the offending blog from their website. Mike Freer was not one to tolerate dissent from his bonkers schemes. Whilst I consider it to be truly ironic, given all of this, that Longstaff even considered such a silly, playground politics wheeze, what followed was altogether more disturbing. Councillor Arjun Mittra is a Labour councillor from Finchley. I've know Arjun since he was elected. He is one of the nice guys of Barnet Politics. In fact, if I have a criticism of Arjun, it's that he's too nice and too decent. When I see politicians getting up to the sort of shenanigans that the Barnet Tories have, over the years, I want people to call them out and give them what for. Arjun's style is to mildly point out that maybe, just maybe they should consider rephrasing what they've just said. Like many Hindu's raised in the Borough, Arjun fits in. Until Yesterday, I didn't actually know he was a Hindu (it isn't really important to me). He's a well educated bloke and he probably speaks English better than I do. What has this got to do with the price of fish? Well On Tuesday, Councillor Longstaff, not content with behaving like a prize Berk (in the classical meaning of the word) with his motion, happened to make a racist insult in the council chamber against Arjun. Unbelievably, this tweet shows just what he said
There is absolutely no way this can be construed as anything other than a racist slur of a well educated and well respected member of the council. Just in case you don't know Arjun, not only does he speak perfect English, he has a very clear English accent. If you spoke to him on the phone, I can honestly say you'd have no idea of his ethnicity (not that such a slur would be appropriate in any circumstances in the Town Hall). You may think that is pretty appalling. It gets worse.
You may wonder why such a man has got on in Barnet Council. He is not without his admirers
Brian Coleman, the disgraced former Barnet Tory bigwig, who was kicked out in disgrace after assaulting a woman in Finchley High Road is clearly a big fan. Interestingly, Coleman was not always a fan and noted the "lack of support" Longstaff had shown for the Jewish community in his infamous blog
Whilst this whole sorry story is a terrible indictment on the @BarnetTories, I must say that there was one aspect that cheered me greatly. The Mittra family, contrary to what Longstaff thinks, clearly have that greatest of British characteristics. A good sense of humour in the face of adversity. Arjun's sister used the opportunity to post the following tweet.
I sincerely hope that David Longstaff is held to account for his actions. The Barnet Tories should know damn well what being "the nasty party" does for them. Coleman lost a 20,000 GLA majority for his appalling behaviour. I doubt that anyone who is a decent citizen would vote for a man prone to such awful behaviour. There is no place for any of this in the London Borough of Barnet. If David Longstaff is a decent man, then he will issue an unreserved public apology to Arjun. If he doesn't, his Tory Colleagues should take the appropriate action. If they don't I suspect they will pay a heavy price at the ballot box.
Just listening back to the recording of tonight’s Barnet Council meeting. Cllr Longstaff tells @ArjunMittra to “learn English”. A disgrace.— Richard Logue (@logueys) November 1, 2017
There is absolutely no way this can be construed as anything other than a racist slur of a well educated and well respected member of the council. Just in case you don't know Arjun, not only does he speak perfect English, he has a very clear English accent. If you spoke to him on the phone, I can honestly say you'd have no idea of his ethnicity (not that such a slur would be appropriate in any circumstances in the Town Hall). You may think that is pretty appalling. It gets worse.
Now Cllr Longstaff is threatening me with violence.— Cllr Arjun Mittra (@ArjunMittra) October 31, 2017
You may wonder why such a man has got on in Barnet Council. He is not without his admirers
looking forward to celebrating the excellent Mayoralty of @David_Longstaff on Thursday at his Charity Civic Dinner @RAFMUSEUM— Brian Coleman (@BrianColeman251) May 2, 2017
Brian Coleman, the disgraced former Barnet Tory bigwig, who was kicked out in disgrace after assaulting a woman in Finchley High Road is clearly a big fan. Interestingly, Coleman was not always a fan and noted the "lack of support" Longstaff had shown for the Jewish community in his infamous blog
Councillor David Longstaff (High Barnet Ward) former Labour Party member and indeed Parish Councillor , bit part actor . Who can forget his role as a drunken elf in the Christmas edition of Casualty or was it Holby City , I forget.............His personal web site contains a video of his stand up act which is about as funny as his speeches in the Council Chamber . Then there was the episode of my favourite Drama "Lewis" where he played a Friar definitely not a monk !Was a Salinger protege but managed to get appointed to the Cabinet by distancing himself from them . Considered promoted too soon and a lightweight and seems to think that being in charge of "Community Safety" means when the Borough Police Commander says jump you reply how high ? Has no concept of holding the Police to account and did little to attempt to save the two Police Stations being closed in the Borough once he knew that High Barnet in his ward was safe. In charge of the latest misguided attempts at North Finchley regeneration under his leadership the scheme will no doubt go the way of all the rest over the years, which several people think is why Richard Cornelius ( who at heart is a free marketer) put him in charge of it . Upset the Jewish Community big time with a disgraceful anti Eruv performance at the Area Planning Committee that left many fellow Conservatives reeling. Unlikely to get many votes from Barnet Synagogue next yearIt seems that the new, more robust Longstaff has won Coleman over.
Whilst this whole sorry story is a terrible indictment on the @BarnetTories, I must say that there was one aspect that cheered me greatly. The Mittra family, contrary to what Longstaff thinks, clearly have that greatest of British characteristics. A good sense of humour in the face of adversity. Arjun's sister used the opportunity to post the following tweet.
My brother’s English is fine people.— Tanuka Mittra (@tmittra) November 1, 2017
His handwriting on the other hand is questionable...
Ps the only one allowed to pick on him is me!
I sincerely hope that David Longstaff is held to account for his actions. The Barnet Tories should know damn well what being "the nasty party" does for them. Coleman lost a 20,000 GLA majority for his appalling behaviour. I doubt that anyone who is a decent citizen would vote for a man prone to such awful behaviour. There is no place for any of this in the London Borough of Barnet. If David Longstaff is a decent man, then he will issue an unreserved public apology to Arjun. If he doesn't, his Tory Colleagues should take the appropriate action. If they don't I suspect they will pay a heavy price at the ballot box.
Wednesday, 1 November 2017
The Wednesday Poem #32 - The scariest thing
Hey Dad, what's the scariest thing?
See if you can guess son,
There's only one thing that can really scare you.
Is it a Dalek?
No son.
Is it a Dinosaur?
No Son.
Is it a Zombie?
No son.
Is it a Werewolf?
No son.
Is it a Vampire?
No son.
Is it aan Alien?
No son.
Hey Dad, what's the scariest thing?
Look in the mirror son,
There you'll find the only thing that can truly scare you.
Copyright 2017 - Roger Tichborne
This is loosely based on a conversation I had with my Dad when I was about eight years old. He went on to explain that the most horrible things have been done by seemingly ordinary people, with seemingly mundane jobs. As WWII bomber pilot, ex prisoner of war and escapee from a Romanian POW camp, he'd seen some terrible things. Some of his friends had seen far worse. If nothing else, it put me off horror films for life.
See if you can guess son,
There's only one thing that can really scare you.
Is it a Dalek?
No son.
Is it a Dinosaur?
No Son.
Is it a Zombie?
No son.
Is it a Werewolf?
No son.
Is it a Vampire?
No son.
Is it aan Alien?
No son.
Hey Dad, what's the scariest thing?
Look in the mirror son,
There you'll find the only thing that can truly scare you.
Copyright 2017 - Roger Tichborne
This is loosely based on a conversation I had with my Dad when I was about eight years old. He went on to explain that the most horrible things have been done by seemingly ordinary people, with seemingly mundane jobs. As WWII bomber pilot, ex prisoner of war and escapee from a Romanian POW camp, he'd seen some terrible things. Some of his friends had seen far worse. If nothing else, it put me off horror films for life.
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