Has austerity worked for the London Borough of Barnet

Remember this?

There may not be a general election before the 31st October, but there will almost certainly be one before the end of the year. When you mark the 'X' in the box, you really need to consider many factors. We've had over 9 years of Conservative lead government, they have a record to be judged against. My interest in politics has always primarily been from a local perspective. I've been asked a couple of times whether I've ever considered becoming an MP.  I can think of few things I'd less rather do. I don't know if we are just blessed in the Borough of Barnet with particularly rubbish MP's but the total detatchment of them appals me. Our local MP in Mill Hill is Matthew Offord. He has a bog standard website. His lack of engagement is demonstrated by the Articles tab on this site.  It is now mid September, an election looms, but his last entry was in May, on of only two published this year. You may say "MP's are busy". He's just come back from a long, paid, holiday and he's got another break of five weeks coming up. His news page simply seems to contain a list of stunts and a bunch of initiatives unrelated to his constitiuency. 

I've not seen Mr Offord since he turned on the Menorah lights in Mill Hill Broadway, in December last year. He is like the invisible man, except when there is a general election. As we are having an election and as him and his government have a record, every voter should consider what they have achieved in our locality. Back in 2010, David Cameron came to power and ushered in the age of austerity. I disagreed with many on the left. I recognised the need for austerity. Public finances were in a mess, following the global meltdown of financial markets. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either lying or doesn't understand public finances. Cameron announced that we are all in it together. A period of serious slashing of public services followed. Cameron announced "we're all in it together". But the question was were we? Who really paid for austerity? From a Barnet perspective has the way the Conservatives implemented austerity policies worked for ordinary people. Lets consider the evidience. What areas of public finances were slashed.

1. Police budgets. There are 20,000 less police than there were when David Cameron walked into no 10. Not only that, tens of thousands of lower paid support staff were cut, leaving highly trained and highly paid police officers having to do menial tasks such as photocopying and filing of data. So how has this worked out? Mill Hill has become one of the most burgled towns in the UK. Only yesterday there was a report of a broad daylight mugging in Mill Hill Broadway of an elderly gent.  Last year Matthew Offord held a public meeting in Mill Hill to discuss local fears following a murder in the Broadway. He dragged in the local police chief and they tried to persuade us that "Mill Hill is relatively safe". Sadly for Mr Offord, he was bombarded with people telling how they had been the victims of violent robberies. A serving police officer explained from the floor how Mr Offords government had decimated staff morale. It is clear that austerity hasn't worked for Barnet in terms of public safety.

2. Council budgets. Barnet Council has had huge amounts of cash taken away from it by central government. When you see potholes in roads, missed rubbish collections, broken street furniture and general urban decay, this is the cost of austerity. What you may not see is the cuts to social care. The little old ladies who only get 15 minutes a day with a carer. You don't see the strains on mental health care. You may find that you are far more likely to interact with a council contractor, but this is usually because they are issuing you with a parking ticket. If you have to use a council car park, you most certainly will have felt the cost of austerity.

3. NHS cuts. If, like me, you have had cause to visit A&E in the last year, you will know that it takes rather a long time to get seen in Barnet General hospital. My wife broke her arm and dislocated her shoulder on a dog walk in October. We went to A&E at 11pm. By 1am, she'd had an X-ray that confirmed the break. She was sent home, in agony, with pain killers as no one who could interpret the X-Ray would be around until 9am. When they saw the damage she was called in and immediately operated on. That is the real face of austerity in Barnet.

4. High Streets. Matthew Offord famously said that he'd make Mill Hill Broadway vibrant again. He said it would become the type of high street where "people would come to open independent cheese shops". Sadly in the last year, we've seen more business closures than ever, more empty shops and more boarded up shop fronts. After none years, we still have no cheese shop. We've lost our butcher, we've lost Woolworths, we've lost most of our banks. We've even lost our Chinese acupuncture centre.  Mill Hill Broadway is hanging on, but under austerity we now see people begging by cashpoints, as litter blows past. It is really quite depressing. It is the face of austerity.

5. Air quality. Everyone knows that the air quality in many parts of the Borough of Barnet is appalling. What has Matthew Offord, Mike Freer and Theresa Villiers done about it? Nothing. They oppose the Mayor of London's low emission zone. A scrappage scheme to encourage a shift to electric cars would boost the motor trade and the economy, but as Barnet Council is only installing 50 charging points, many are wary of being left high and dry. Austerity and cuts ensure the air we breath is polluted. That is criminal, especially for our children.

6. School budgets. I am the chair of a charity that raises funds for one of our best local schools. I am at the coalface of understanding just how badly our schools are suffering. Curriculum are being cut and budgets can't be balanced. Sadly I can't share the contents of some of the emails I've been sent this week, but the situation is almost apocalyptic for many good schools. Schools have no choice but to make pupils suffer from a poorer education. Anyone who thinks that cutting education is the way to build a prosperous nation is quite frankly insane. But that is what the Conservsative governments austerity policies are doing. That is what is happening in the Borough of Barnet.

7. Transport. Do you ever take the tube or use the Thameslink services in Mill Hill? TFL is controlled by the Mayor of London, which gives the government a fig leaf. Sadiq Khan has not covered himself in glory and has proven most ineffectual, but the root cause is the fact that central government has no transport policy. Rather than have an overall vision to increase the UK's prosperity by investing in an integrated transport plan, the Conservatives pit everything against everything else. Schemes effectively have to bid and prove that they meet narrow criteria. There is no overall planning.  Austerity has ensured that the government have put small schemes that will make a huge difference on the back burner, whilst promoting mega schemes that they hope will make them look good. Ultimately, these schemes are then pruned back. A typical example is Thameslink. A huge investment was made in upgrading the railway, but they didn't bother to make step free access part of the scheme. So whilst we now have far more trains than ever from Mill Hill on Thameslink, if you are in a wheelchair, you can't use them. Don't be fooled, this paring down of schemes is all part of austerity. 

The evidence is all around to be seen. Austerity has failed in Barnet. When the election comes, Matthew Offord, Mike Freer and Theresa Villiers will be keen to sweep all of this under the carpet. Don't let them get away with it. This will be the most rabid election in history. Please try and be civil and stick to the issues that really matter to us all. The issues that will still be here in five years, when the dust from Brexit has long settled.

Environment Monday - How my Uncle George's tomatoes could save the planet

If you've read our environment Monday column before, you can skip this paragraph. It just explains what it is all about. So you want to save the planet, combat climate change, leave a legacy for your children that you can be proud of but you just don't know where to start? I started the Environment Monday series of blogs to try and spread a few practical ideas, things that are practical and work. I'd love your ideas, guest blogs and help. The old adage of think global, act local has been my mantra for decades. If we all start with ourselves, look at our lifestyles, look at the small changes we can make in our carbon footprint, on our own we will make a miniscule difference, but if we do it and it works, maybe our friends will sit up take, notice and over time (which is precious), together we can start to make a big difference. Each week, we will explore a different theme, a different way that we can all make a difference.

So you may wonder who my Uncle George was? If he was still alive, he'd be a 100 years old. Before the second world war, he trained as a bricklayer, a not unusual trade for the eldest son of an Irish immigrant. He then joined the army and spent the war in the services. When he returned, with his brother Jimmy, he set up a building company called Fanning Builders, based first in Bunns Lane Works, then on the site of what is now the Mill Hill Broadway Station car park. Like many of his generation, he was a very bright man, but had left school at 14, so his main education was in the school of life. He was a successful businessman. At some point, he split from Jimmy and ran a building supplies company. When the station car park was built, he moved to Grahame Park way, selling out to Lawsons and retiring,  eventually moving to Dorset, before dying an early death from cancer, which we believe was associated with his exposure to asbestos (Jimmy met the same fate).

But that isn't what I wanted to talk about today. I wanted to talk about his tomatoes. I believe that these may well show the way to how we can all work to combat the environmental crisis we face. When I was about 8, I spent some time at Uncle George's house. My mother was ill with cancer, and I was being passed around all of the relatives. Of all of them, I had found George the least approachable and most aloof. When he visited my parents, he would not bother to chat with the kids. His brother Jimmy was the opposite, he'd always have a chat. George was interested in the issues of the real world. He'd raised his daughters and had little interest in anyone elses children. His wife, Kathleen was my Godmother and she was always kind and friendly, but George was simply aloof. When I heard I was staying with them, I was less than thrilled. I imagined George would simply banish me to my room, to sit in silence.

When I turned up, Kathleen showed me to my bed and then suggested that I go out in the garden, as George was tending his tomatoes. As I went out, I was terrified. He wasn't approachable and he had a fiercely sarcastic wit, which anyone familiar with Irish culture and the building industry would recognise. I went out to find George, pruning and a preening his tomatoes. I wasn't particularly interested in gardening and I wasn't keen on tomatoes. I'd rather have been kicking a ball around his lawn, but I made my way over and said "They look like nice tomatoes Uncle George". He proceeded to explain to me all of the varieties, all of the tastes, all of the tricks of growing tomatoes. My mum would buy tomato plants and grow them, to save cash. For George it was a totally different matter. It was a passion. He explained that every tomato in his garden had been grown from a seed. Each one selected because the tomato was delicious. Each year, he'd save the seeds from the most delicious of the crop, so next years would be even more delicious. He explained that to get the best tomatoes you had to feed them plants. To do this, he would make his own compost. He explained that all of the potato peelings, old cabbage leaves, carrot tops would decompose into the finest nutrients. Worms and insects would break these down and it would become the best tomato food possible. He explained why he was growing them in particular spots and he explained how important it was to ensure that whole garden was in balance. Plants were planted to attract bees, natural treatments were used to deter slugs and snails. It was perhaps the most fascinating half hour of my life. At the end, George selected a few different types. He brought them in and for each, a little salt and pepper was applied and I tasted them. They were glorious. I've never tasted such delights since.

I became fascinated. Every day I'd join George and each day learn more. I then realised that there were far too many in the garden for George to eat. I asked him what he'd do with them. He replied that he'd give all of the family a bag and then he'd take several bags around to the Parish Priest. The Priest would take a bag and then distribute the rest to elderly and needy families in the parish. George explained that tomatoes were a great source of vitamin C and had many other essential minerals and vitamins in. I said to him that I'd never realised he did this. He replied "I don't like to make a song and dance of it, I enjoy growing them and I hope other people enjoy eating them".

Sadly, I never developed George's passion for them, but I do try!

This years tomatoes pic.twitter.com/halwrnWRST

— Roger Tichborne/RogT #CTID 🏴‍☠️🇬🇧 (@Barneteye) September 9, 2019

But I was reminded of it yesterday, when a neighbour gave me some tomatoes he'd grown. They were delicious, far more tasty than the bland efforts sold in supermarkets. I thought back to what George was doing and it struck me that what he was doing was actually something that could make a real difference.

George changed the way I thought about tomatoes. Before that, I wasn't keen. His passion had made me appreciate them. His tours around the garden showed me how important the symbiotic relationship between all of the plants was. His compost heap showed me the importance of soil nutrition. His gifts to the poor parishioners demonstrated how small acts in a community, at no cost or effort can make a positive difference. A bag of tomatoes may not be much, but just suppose for a second, we all took a leaf out of Georges book. Look around you. When we talk about Greenhouse gasses, their is only one thing that keeps them in check. That is plants. Anything that is green is photosynthesising carbon dioxide and addressing global warming. George's tomato plants were taking CO2 from the atmosphere and turning it into the most delicious treats. There was no packaging, no plastic, no pesticides. Organic and environmentally friendly.

We seem hell bent on turning London in to a concrete jungle. The new Pentavia development does not even allow for windows that open, so you couldn't even grow your tomatoes in a window box. That cannot be right. I credit George with making me interested in the environment. He was not a sentimentalist. He was a wealthy business man who enjoyed the finer things in life. But he was also a man who understood that the planet needed to be cherished. He was a man who understood that if you don't have bees in your garden, your tomatoes will not flourish.

If we want to save the planet, we need to have more 'Uncle George's', who understand this and who educate us. It had never occurred to me before that you could grow tomatoes from the seeds in the ones on your plate. It never occurred to me that if you want the best tomatoes, you select the best seeds. It never occurred to me that all of those potato peelings and carrot tops could nourish them.

There is an old saying in the environmental movement "Think global, act local". It is true and growing your tomatoes, giving the spare ones to your neighbours is actually quite a revolutionary act. Every one you share is a measure of CO2 that is not being spewed into the atmosphere moving a tasteless tomato from Spain to be wrapped in plastic.

Sadly, you'll never meet my Uncle George or taste his delicious tomatoes. But maybe, just maybe, you will get something from a seed he planted. Maybe it will inspire you to just save a few seeds next time you taste a good tomato. Maybe you'll grown them and share the produce they give you. Such things are the way we will, as a community, save ourselves from a climate crisis. We don't need one big solution, we need a billion small ones.

Why the rush for a general election before 31st October would be irresponsible

Statesmen do the right thing for the country. It is very hard to judge any decision at the time, but when the history books are written, things that at the time seemed massively important and things that seemed trivial, turn out to be absolutely key. In 25 years time, whether the UK leaves the UK on 31st of October of the 25th December will seem totally trivial. What will seem hugely important is the shape of the ultimate settlement with Europe.

The Conservative party, already leading a minority administration chose a leader who is hell bent on leaving the EU in the shortest possible timescale. Today he tables another attempt to call a general election on the 15th of October. This is highly irresponsible. No one can possibly know the outcome of such an election. Whatever you may think of Jeremy Corbyn he is quite right to resist this. My only disagreement with his strategy, and if he is chicken, it is for this not for his refusal, is that he should state that given the risks of another hung parliament, it may not actually be possible to put a working administration together before the exit deadline.

Boris is being disingenuous and dishonest. If the EU grant us and extension until January 2020 and he really has his heart set on a no deal Brexit, he cculd announce that he's going to the country on November the first, with an extension and if he wins an outright majority, he will pull us out on November the 2nd, unilaterally. If he wins a majority, he'd have the mandate. If he really has the courage of his convictions, then that surely would be his course of action. He could do a deal with Nigel Farage, who would have no choice but to support Boris and then we'd all know exactly where we stood.

My view is that there will be no majority for Corbyn or Boris after the next election. I think it is unlikely that the Labour party will lose or gain many seats. If Corbyn won there in 2017, he will win again. I do however think that the SNP will gain seats from the Tories and that the Lib Dems will do the same. I also fully expect a non aggression pact between the Greens and the Lib Dems to give the greens a larger presence.

This means that whatever the shape of the new Parliament, it will take weeks, if not months to work out a deal to govern the country. The SNP are likely to demand a high price for a coalition or supply deal. Will the Lib Dems enter a full blown coalition, in light of what happened to them last time or will they simply have an informal deal? What about the Greens? Just suppose they have the balance of power, what demands will they make?

What about if Parliament looks like it did after the last election. What if Boris recruits a whole bunch of true believers to replace the likes of Ken Clarke and Nick Soames, but they still need the DUP to pass votes, and then only just? Will the few remaining remainers left scupper him? The issue is that if all of these shenanigans go on as we are crashing out on a no deal basis, we will have a weak govenrment, with a monumental task. Boris wants a no deal so he can do a free trade deal with Trump. This prospect disappears when Jeremy Corbyn gets the keys to No 10.

Boris claims that he has been undermined in his negotiations with the EU by Parliament. Nothing would undermine a Corbyn government more than a Rainbow coalition. Boris wants short election campaign because he wants minimal scrutiny of his policies and plans. He has been challenged numerous times to disclose what he's actually tried to negotiate with the EU. He simply says that if he tells anyone what he wants, he will be undermined.  I've negotiated hundreds of deals. Telling the other side what you want is the first stage. The tactics are quite simple. You ask for the world, and ask for it at the least cost. Then you go through the detail and agree on a mutually beneficial compromise. Quite often, I've been surprised that the other side actually agree to what I thought were impossible demands. They have seen the logic in our proposal to an extent that surprised me. But this comes about because we have a clear proposal and we talk through the detail. 

Boris is not stupid, despite what seems to be happening. I believe he has made a massive miscalculation. He has backed himself into a corner and left no wriggle room. Having done this, he has sought to blame everybody else. As I mentioned, I have a customer who is a member of team Boris. I saw him briefly at the weekend. Whereas normally they are  happy to chat, they simply said "I really can't talk about what's going on" and we discussed football.  I do understand that and given the state of what is happening, I draw no conclusions. What I did notice is that the previously chipper demeanour has substantially diminished.

If you read history books, the one thing that is clear is that when things collapse, they collapse very quickly.  Parliamentary democracy has served Great Britain well for a very long time. What disturbs me more than anything are those calling for it to end. I really do not understand what those who want an unelected Prime Minister with no majority want. If they want to see the end of Parliament and some other sort of system of government, they should say so. All of this "Parlaiment is defying the will of the people" talk is not only dangerous, but it is dishonest. MP's were elected in 2017. You may not like their actions, but they are doing what our constitution requires. If you think that a man elected only by the members of the Conservative party, has more legitimacy, I suggest that you do not really understand what democracy means.

What we need is for someone to produce a blueprint to fix not only the Brexit mess, but the broken state of our politics. Sadly, neither Boris or Jezza seem to me to have the answers to any of this. The one thing that is clear is that we don't want to be leaving the EU without a stable government in place.

The Saturday List #231 - Ten off piste gems in Mill Hill

Many locals make the mistake thinking that Mill Hill is all about Mill Hill Broadway. Whilst The Broadway is the largest shopping parade in Mill Hill, there is so much more.

Where is the best place to buy meat, fish, vegetables, fireworks, suits, plumbing supplies, guitars, fine bone china? In my humble opinion, not on the Broadway!

 Let us take you on a little tour of the 'Off Piste Gems' of our locality, the places that you may not know about, but you really should.



1. Holders Hill Parade.
Many locals who live 'up the hill' sniffily dismiss Mill Hill East as the poor cousin of the The village, but it has an excellent shopping parade. It features an excellent fishmongers - Elias Fish, a brilliant butchers - Highland organics, a high class greengrocers, a great little cafe, a kosher food shop, a pottery shop, a pretty useful Marks and Spencers convenience store, a pretty good Costcutters convenience store and even a launderette. Just around the corner, up the hill is a large Waitrose. If you are having a barbeque, the fishmongers and the butchers are well worth a visit.

2. Apex Corner Parade.
Need a light fitting or a suit. Apex Corner has a great light fitting supplier called Lightplan and a huge suit outlet called Eurosuits. It has a good pharmacy (they used to deliver my mum's meds for her when she was still alive). There is a small post office (usually less busy than the Broadway), a fireworks shop and great little cafe called Buzby's, as well as a pretty good plumbing supply store. It also has my son's favourite restaurant in Mill Hill - KFC. Here's a little known fact about KFC that may amuse you. They boast that their chicken has eleven herbs and spices. Check out the only Twitter accounts KFC follow!

@RobertElms @BBCRadioLondon Notes and Queries - The Seals of Apex Corner, Mill Hill - heres the seals and some hints as to where pic.twitter.com/8ZqQz9AwSI

— Roger Tichborne/RogT #CTID 🏴‍☠️🇬🇧 (@Barneteye) August 15, 2018

3. The Green Man Parade.
I have to be honest here. I've no idea what this part of Mill Hill is officially called these days. Us old timers call it "The Green Man", but the Green Man pub disappeared in 1983. On the bus stop it is called "Harvester", but I refused to call it that. I once suggested that Barnet Council should call it Hale Corner, but no one really went for that either. I think it would be great for Hale Ward to have a proper focus. For those of us who work odd hours, this has one of the true gems. The Mill Hill Kebab house is open later than anywhere else in Mill Hill. The number of times it has rescued me when I've returned hungry from gigs is countless. It also boasts two pubs, The Railway Tavern and The Harvester, which is also a restaurant. The Ahmed Tandoori is a decent takeaway, I've often nipped in for a take out after an evening in the Railway. It boasts the legendary Tony & Vince barbers, who cut the hair of legends such as QPR footballer Kevin Gallen. It has a good Chinese medicine and acupuncture centre, and a two great fish and chip shops, with The King Neptune and Booba's. There is a Chinese restaurant that I've yet to try and a new Coop convenience store is about to open. There is also Wings Chinese takeaway and a cafe, although I've not been in since George passed away. I think that if you like takeaway food and beer, The Green man is the epicentre of Mill Hill! (Please note that technically only the Railway Tavern at the Green Man is Mill Hill. All of the other shops are HA8 postcodes, but I decided to bestow honoury Mill Hill status on them).

4. Salcombe Gardens Parade.
Salcombe Gardens hosts another great fish and chip shop. Officially know as Frydays, locals call it Nicks. There is also a convenience store and a Martins newsagent. I suspect most locals know it for the Mill Hill East Church, where most Mill Hill parents at some point have dropped children for dance and ballet. Nicks has some big fans (in every sense of the word!) locally.

Have to say best fish and chips on the planet is 'Fry Days' formerly Nicks Fish Bar in Salcome Gardens!

— Mill Hill Rugby Club (@MillHillRFC) November 25, 2017

5. Daws Lane Parade.
This is home to perhaps my favourite independent store in Mill Hill. Boucherie Gerard is based here. Gerard is proper butcher and a real character. I buy my sausages and bacon their, as well as supplies for barbies and Sunday roasts. I cannot praise him highly enough. My doggies love him, as he supplies their marrow bone treats. Further up the hill is a soft furnishing company, a travel agent and a small convenience store. In the days of Mill Hill Swimming pool, this would have queues a quarter of a mile long for lollies on sunny summer days and was called Lodges. Now it is called Hamish.

The Friday cookery tip. If you like fish, buy a jar of this from Gerard’s Boucherie in Daws Lane, and put a spoon of it on the fish before baking. Ideally chop up a few black olives as well. Also works on baked aubergine pic.twitter.com/Fb09fbixNj

— Roger Tichborne/RogT #CTID 🏴‍☠️🇬🇧 (@Barneteye) November 23, 2018

6. Powerleague.
Powerleague on Pursley Road is by my calculations the most visited site in Mill Hill. It's 14 pitches are in almost constant use for five and six a side football. It has a small bar and is a central figure in the life of our community. I've written before of my love of this business here. I'll declare an interest. After they saw it, they gave our team a free round of beers as a thank you. Unexpected, but most welcome.

Thanks Roger for taking the time to craft this. We always value our loyal customers! #Powerleague #MillHill https://t.co/XO7n9O0MxU

— Powerleague (@powerleagueUK) July 19, 2019

7. Copthall Swimming Pool.
When my Daughter was the National Swimming champion, I'd visit the pool on an almost daily basis, collecting and dropping her off for lessons (actually Clare did most of that!). The swimming club is an elite organisation, with amazing coaches. It has recently been redeveloped, we really should have a look at the just opened pools. To my mind, it was a criminal act to not build a diving pool. It is great that Mill Hill has the best pool in the Borough though!

8. Finchley Nurseries.
Based in Burtonhole Lane, this family owned business recently celebrated it's 90th year. Still owned by the Colman family, it is an institution. They  hold regular concerts with The Barnet Band and have an amazing tearoom. I recommend a walk around the Totteridge valley to work up a thirst, then a tea and slice of lemon drizzle cake. There is also an amazing aquatic centre on site, who sell all manner of coldwater and tropical fish.

The Friday cookery tip. If you like fish, buy a jar of this from Gerard’s Boucherie in Daws Lane, and put a spoon of it on the fish before baking. Ideally chop up a few black olives as well. Also works on baked aubergine pic.twitter.com/Fb09fbixNj

— Roger Tichborne/RogT #CTID 🏴‍☠️🇬🇧 (@Barneteye) November 23, 2018

9. Flower Lane Trading Estate.
This is a gem that has passed many in Mill Hill by. They assume that it is simply warehouses, but there is a great little MOT testing station called Hurricane Motors. There is also the amazing China Presentations.  This is the best place in London to get fine bone china, such as Wedgewood, Royal Doulton as well as crystal glass etc. It is open to the public. Check them out for your Xmas presents.

The elegant Italian crystal collection, RCR Fluente has just arrived at China Presentations. If you're looking for some luxury and sparkle, this is the collection for you! Made in Tuscany, each set of glasses comes gift-boxed.... https://t.co/aeoCdE02Rf

— China Presentations (@chinapres) March 6, 2019

10. Mill Hill Music Complex.
I'll declare an interest here. This is my business. We sell guitars, drumkits and musical accessories as well as running music recording and rehearsal facilities. We are based in Bunns Lane Works. I've run the studios since 1979, our family have run businesses on the site since 1948 and my brother runs Bunns Lane Welding, if you have a broken lawnmower or allot wheel. As I am useless at any such thing, I had to make my way in music. There is also a crash repairer, a gym and another welder on site. I'm a big believer in small businesses. The great thing about the 'Off Broadway' businesses is that they are nearly all run by local people. They provide jobs and services for local people. Please have a look at a few of the ones I've listed.

From derelict caretakers cottage to one of the most beloved rehearsal spaces in the UK. Happy 40th Birthday @MillHillMusicCo! #SaveLondonMusic #KeepMusicLive pic.twitter.com/4a8PkVLy2F

— Tutti.space (@tutti_space) February 14, 2019

This summer has been amazing for us, our best ever! Over 2,000 artist a week visiting Mill Hill and passing through our doors, inc Rita Ora, Louise Redknapp and Skin thanks to @madaboutthvoice our amazing vocal coach, making Mill Hill the hub of the London music scene pic.twitter.com/BSybVXCumB

— MillHillMusicComplex (@MillHillMusicCo) August 29, 2019

Surely Boris of all people should know that you can't walk away from divorce negotiations

Boris is stating that the law banning 'No Deal' has wrecked his Brexit negotiating strategy. He insists that he has to be able to walk away from the table if  they don't give him what he wants. But it is not a table he can walk away from. This is not a transaction to buy a house, with another, better house down the road, it is a divorce. Anyone who has ever been through a divorce knows damn well that you can't simply say "Well I'm walking away from the table".  Given the complicated private life of Boris, you'd think this would have occurred to him by now. I wonder what his lawyer would have said to him if he'd said "If she doesn't give me the etchings, the Ferrari and the Mansion in Berkshire, tell her it's no deal". Surely Boris knows that in all divorces, the lawyer is the only person who wins. I wonder if Boris has thought whether the Dominic Cummings strategy of alienating many of your friends and supporters will help the Conservatives in the long run.

The current impasse in Parliament about whether we should leave Parliament without a deal fascinates me. The Tory Party has virtually imploded over the matter, but what fascinates me more than anything is that everyone, leavers, remainers and those on the fence know damn well that the concept of ''No Deal' is an illusion and a lie. You may ask how I can make such a preposterous claim? Well think about some of the arguments that the ERG and hard leavers are putting about. How about the one about tariffs damaging trade? They say "German car makers won't let that happen". Or the need for us to get visa's to go to France or Spain "They won't want to lose the tourist income". Or the ending of information sharing between European and UK police authorities to deal with terrorism and crime "Of course that will continue".  Whatever you may or may not think of the EU, even the most hardline leave supporters recognise that these will need to continue. They can only continue if some sort of deal is done. Maybe this will take the form of a thousand small deals, but at some point all of these issues will be tied up and resolved. What will happen in the meantime? Well clearly it would be suicidal to cease co-operation on terrorism and nuclear safety etc, so a temporary deal will have to be bodged together in a hurry. As to the German car makers and the arrangements for cancer drugs, these will presumably be given a reasonable amount of priority. Given that the Conservative Party have virtually abolished the Royal Navy, whether or not a deal on fishing rights in UK waters is put together may be a bit irrelevant. Even if we banned French fishermen, we don't have the ships to stop them. Will we need a visa to visit France? Who knows, common sense says that some sort of deal will be done. Will UK companies still be able to sell products in UK markets, will UK pensioners be booted out of their homes in Spain and France? Will UK bands be able to tour in Europe without red tape making tax arrangements making it impractical?

There will be thousands of smaller issues, things which affect small groups of people. Most of these, people won't realise until they actually try and do something which is affected. I fully expect that all of these things will eventually be resolved. The bank of England say that this will result in a 5% reduction in GDP. This means that we will be worse off if we have not negotiated a proper deal. But whatever happens, there will have to be all manner of temporary deals in place.

What this means is that the term 'No Deal' is technically incorrect. What the phrase should be is whether we go for a managed of a chaotic exit from the EU. Why don't we use these terms? Presumably because Boris and the ERG realise that arguing for chaos does not sound good. The thing I cannot get my head around is why the ERG and the hard Brexiteers are in such a rush. We've been in the EU for decades. No one is banged up in jail because we are members, no one is starving to death because we are members and no one is constrained from going about their daily business because we are members. Surely the aim of Brexiteers should be to prove that the UK is better off out of the EU and the best way to do that is to have as seamless an exit as possible.

If Brexiteers believe that the best way forward for the UK is a free trade deal with the USA and us trading with the EU on WTO/GATT24 rules, then they should be able to find qualified, respected economists who can put the case together. Has this been done? There should be a detailed study that analyses the different sectors of the economy and lays out the pro's and cons for each.

For many Brexiteers, it is not about the economy. For them, it is about sovereignty and independence. They believe that the EU has meant that we are no longer a self governing nation. They object to us being subjected to Europe wide legislation. I've asked many for specific examples of where EU law has resulted in injustice. The usually cited cases are vague notions that the European Court of Human rights has meant that rapists, murderers and serial killers roam the streets and have tellies in their jail cells. This is nonsense. The UK Parliament makes our laws and our judiciary set the sentences. The human rights laws in Brussels that are so objected to were largely drafted along the lines of UK law. Whether we leave or stay, we will still have these laws and the UK will not suddenly adopt the US ways of executing people or locking them up for ever for nicking three bags of sweeties from Smiths. When the UK has lost cases in the EU court of human rights, it has been because the law has been incorrectly applied. The judges who sit on the ECHR panel are the best qualified judges in Europe and they apply the law as it is written. If you think that UK judges will apply the law in a different way, then you probably don't understand the way the law works. Of course we could tear up all human rights laws. The upside of that might well be that rapists and serial killers lose the tellies in their cells, but the downside is that any government that has to take no account of human rights can behave in a very dangerous manner. I personally would rather see us be protected by laws that ensure a government can't victimise me. Of course, as a blogger that disagrees with the Government, I am probably more exposed than many. I don't expect a knock on the door at 3am any time soon, but having travelled around the USSR, Eastern Europe and China in the 1980's and 1990's I know exactly what being in a police state feels like and it really isn't pleasant.

Anyone looking at the state of the UK government at the moment surely would surely find it hard to make a case that we are doing a good job of running our own affairs. We are currently leaving the EU on 31st October and we still don't know what the Prime Minister wants a deal to look like. His chief adviser, Dominic Cummings is not elected and not even a member of the Conservative Party. He has sacked 21 long standing MP's many of whom have dedicated their lives to the Conservative Party. He has forced the Prime Ministers brother to conclude that he can't stand as an MP. He's forced the Conservatives chief whip in the Lords to resign. He's lost the Conservative Party their majority. His whole strategy is based on forcing a snap election that he believes Boris will romp on a wave of Brexit fervour. He's calculated that the UK electorate fear a Jeremy Corbyn government. That would be an interesting theory if Theresa May hadn't tried the theory out and lost her majority. There is a theory that Boris will do a deal with the Brexit Party. This hoovered up the UKIP vote, but that was less than 2% of the electorate in 2017.  Any seat that elected a Labour MP in 2017 is just as likely to do so today. I don't see Corbyn getting a majority, but I do see the Lib Dems taking swathes of Tory seats. The loss of Ruth Davidson in Scotland as Tory Leader is likely to lead to a loss of seats there. My prediction is for a hung parliament with a coalition of 2-3 parties required to form a government. I suspect that the next PM may be neither Corbyn nor Boris. I had supposed that the remain element of the Tories may join some sort of government of National Unity, but Boris has purged them.

The main argument of Brexiteers that it is the will of the people to leave the UK is perhaps as illusory as every other claim. We are constantly reminded that 17.4 million people voted for Leave. The population of the UK was over 63 million in 2011, when the last census was taken. That means that 27.6% of the population voted for Brexit. Now some were too young, some did not qualify to vote because they were not UK nationals and some couldn't make their mind up. Since the referendum 2016, millions of young people who couldn't vote have come onto the electoral register. When we talk about democratic rights, what about them? They will have to live with the fallout for this for far longer than the strongly leave supporting older generation. When the UK joined the EEC in the 1970's the UK was known as the 'sick man of Europe'. The country was regularly in the grip of 'balance of payments crises' We made regular trips to the EMF to get bailouts to keep the country afloat. Our percentage of world trade was falling year by year. Whatever you may think of the EU, since the EEC became the EU, Thatcher signed the Single European act and Major signed the Maastricht treaty, the UK has done rather well. The right wing press was crowing about the Bank of England downgrading the damage that a 'No Deal' Brexit would do. It will only knock five percent off our GDP rather than the previous estimate of eight percent.  As I mentioned, I don't accept the definition of 'No Deal'. I prefer the term chaotic exit. If you delve deeper, you will find that the Bank of England have simply said that is the most likely scenario, not the worst case. The bank, by nature is a very deeply conservative (small c) organisation. What does this mean? No government in history has ever previously proposed a policy which it's own central bank says will damage the economy so severely.

As I stated at the start of this blog, Boris doesn't seem to realise that he's negotiating a divorce. The only person I know who tried a 'No Deal' divorce was the ex husband of a work colleague. He announced that if his soon to be ex wife did not accept his demands (to come back and accept his boorish behaviour), he'd kill himself. He ended up alienating all of his friends, upsetting his children and being sectioned as he was at risk to himself. I saw him a few years later. He was very sheepish and spent half an hour boring me about how sorry he was that he'd acted like an arse. I wonder if, in a few years, when the dust has settled and Boris is back on HIGNFY we will see a similar act of contrition?

Am I the only person who has noticed that 1977 is back upon us, this time as farce

Do you ever receive a severe jolt, that makes you realise that history is repeating itself, the only question is whether this is as farce or tragedy. Let me explain.

This morning, I was doing what I always do when I feel down. I put "The Ramones Leave Home" on the turntable. For me it is the most inspirational album of all time. The album was released on the 10th January 1977 to almost no reaction. It made the Billboard chart briefly at 145 and did slightly better in the UK reaching number 45. Much as I'd like to write a whole blog about how marvellous the album is and why you should have it in your collection, that will have to wait.

What really struck me, on reflection, was just how much like 1977 the year 2019 is starting to become. Do you remember 1977? I do. I was 14 when the album was released. I was not particularly interested in Politics, but it was a hot topic in my household. Dad was an arch Tory and Mum was a Socialist. Dad believed that the Tories were pragmatic and good for business in the real world. Mum believed in social justice and fairness. Dad was a big supporter of Ted Heath, who he felt was a man who understood the world. He was pro European, although also strongly patriotic. He told me that structures like the EU were necessary to prevent wars. He also explained that when blocks came together, wars stopped, whereas when they fell apart, war was an inevitable consequence. He thought nationalism was the greatest curse. We didn't go to Spain, as he loathed Franco's fascist regime. When we went to France, he'd find out which cafe's owners had been part of the resistance, and we'd drink there. If they were owned by collaborators, he'd avoid them like the plague. These things were important to my father. Although I took my political leanings from my mum, I took my views of nationalism from him. As I watched the USSR dissolve and areas like Chechnya dissolved into civil war and we saw terrible ethnic cleansing and war in the former Yugoslavia dissolve into civil war, ethnic cleansing and war, I realised what my father was talking about.

But in 1977, the Soviet Union was a stable, powerful block. James Callaghan had become the Prime Minister when Harold Wilson stood down in 1976. Callaghan was propped up by the Liberal Party (forerunners of the Lib Dems) as he was running a minority government. Margaret Thatcher was the maverick leader of the Tories. The economy was in crisis, the country was in turmoil. In 1977 few took Thatcher seriously. She was most definitely not seen as a safe pair of hands. The view of many was that she was a very risky, hard right figure, who would bring economic turmoil and division to the nation. My parents were in a strange position. They actually knew her quite well, as she was involved in many charities that my parents were also involved in. As she was Finchley MP, she was active in the community and my parents attended many functions. Thatcher actually tried to persuade my mother to stand as a Labour candidate, stating that she was far more competent than many of the male MP's she knew. My father was not overly keen on Thatcher. He was a charmer and a ladies man, and the fact that Thatcher was not overly keen on his flannel did not go down particularly well with him. He changed his view of her when she was PM and quite liked her, but always stated that she was a cold fish. He got on very well with her husband, Dennis, who he thought good company and who he felt rather sorry for. Once my mother criticised Dennis for being drunk at a function. My father stated that he'd be drunk if he was married to Thatcher. My fathers main worry about Thatcher was that she was, in his opinion, someone who didn't get business. His view was that if business was successfull, the UK would be successful. He'd always state that without successful businesses, it would be impossible for Labour to pay for its policies. In 1977 however, he felt neither party were particularly trustworthy. He probably felt that James Callaghan was marginally better as a PM, as at least he was a man of experience. I suspect that his views may have been coloured by a degree of sexism. Whatever you may think of Maggie, she proved that women could manage high office ( I do wonder what he'd have made of Theresa May?).

So where are we now? The parallels are quite surreal. The nation is in crisis. The leader of the opposition is a maverick, who many, even in hos own party, don't trust. Like Thatcher, he wants to shake up the status quo. Like 1977, the government is propped up by a difficult alliance, that disintegrated. Like 1977, the Prime Minister is unelected. Interestingly, it also seems that Callaghan should have called an election as soon as possible and was damaged beyond repair by delaying until after the winter of discontent. In 1977, the problem for Labour was the Unions. In 2019 it is Europe. David Cameron created a seemingly impossible situation by calling the referendum in the way he did. In 1977, the issue of Union power was seen as equally problematic for our country by many. Ted Heath had called a snap election to show "who runs the country" and lost. In some ways, this is very similar to Theresa May's disastrous decision.

It seems to me that we are heading for another winter of discontent. I suspect that politically this could go on for at least a couple of years. I really don't think that Boris can win a majority if he holds an election. He has botched his strategy. The idea was that yesterday was a big day, when his spending review would kick start the election campaign. Sadly for him, it was completely overshadowed by the votes to stop no deal and to stop an election. Boris is trying the Cameron 'chicken' tactic on Jeremy Corbyn. This is a very silly tactic, as everyone knows why Corbyn has not fallen into the trap laid by Dominic Cummings as part of his cunning plan. Furthermore, Boris has alienated some very senior colleagues. Even his own brother has quit, making it plain that he doesn't think his own brother isn't up to the job. In 1977 the name for the UK was 'The sick man of Europe'. I've no idea what they are calling us now, but I doubt too many would disagree right now.

There are other strange similarities. Who were the top football teams in the country in 1977? Liverpool and Manchester City. Liverpool won the league by a single point, in a strange reverse of this years final table. And as for music. What was the single that spent most weeks at no 1 in this, perhaps most pivotal of years. It wasn't the Sex Pistols, it wasn't the Stranglers. Actually it was Brighouse and Rastrick Brass band with Floral Dance. I'm not sure if "I Don't Care" by Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber is quite in the same league, but that at the mo is the single that has topped the charts longest so far this year.

Interestingly, with all the talk of 'Fake News', the whole conspiracy theory concept was launched in the UK as the result of a scheduling cock up by Anglia Television. They scheduled a spoof 'end of days' documentary called Alternative 3 for broadcast on April 1st. Strangely, they didn't complete it in time and it was broadcast on 20th June. Most people missed the references to 1st April in the credits. The basic premise was that scientists had determined that the Earth's surface would be unable to support life for much longer, due to pollution leading to catastrophic climate change. Physicist "Dr Carl Gerstein" claimed to have proposed in 1957 that there were three alternatives to this problem. The first alternative was the drastic reduction of the human population on Earth. The second alternative was the construction of vast underground shelters to house government officials and a cross section of the population until the climate had stabilised, a solution reminiscent of the finale of Dr Strangelove. The third alternative, the so-called "Alternative 3," was to populate Mars via a way station on the Moon.

Those of us concerned about a climate catastrophe can but wonder. I can remember at the time that I fell for the hoax, as did all of my family. When it was revealed as a hoax, we all claimed we knew all along. Perhaps it is time for us all to Swallow our pride and face up to the fact that sometimes life imitates art. If we'd actually started to consider the issues in 1977, maybe we wouldn't be facing a climate crisis and we wouldn't need Extinction Rebellion protests.

I'm sure you didn't expect to get away without a blast of the Ramones today. Enjoy

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Some thoughts on yesterdays events in Parliament and the tactics of Boris Johnson

I am sure that you are just as sick of the whole #Brexit issue as I am. I could not let yesterdays events pass without comment. I'm 57 and the events were truly unprecedented. Whilst it seems that every day brings a new turn, each more unbelievable and illogical than the last, the events yesterday really took the biscuit. Whilst everyone has been concentrating on the issues around #Brexit, the really important events were to do with the way Boris yesterday reshaped the Conservative party. The Conservative party has never been a narrow, hard right, ideolically based single issue gathering. It has been a broad church of many views, bound together by pragmatism and a desire to promote good government and sound economic policies. I've never agreed with those policies, but I've always understood the logic of what they are trying to achieve. The Conservatives were at their most successful when they were not acting as a narrow, right wing rump. Under Churchill and Macmillan in the 1950's and 60's, Great Britain was rebuilt after the war. MacMillan announced 'You've never had it so good' and no one argued.

The concept of One Nation Conservatism served us well. It culminated in the swinging '60's with London seeming to become the centre of the world. The Beatles recorded Abbey Road and a simple British Zebra crossing became a global icon. Harold Wilson's Labour Government came to power in  1964, but there was a consensus as to what British values were. Social housing, universal healthcare and social security. The era of this consensus lasted through the Heath years, but his defeat to Wilson in 1974 spelled the end of this consensus. Margaret Thatcher, cut from a different Tory cloth came to power. She despised the old ways of the One Nation Tories. She was a monetarist and ideologically motivated. To many on the right, she became a messianic figure, but in truth she was a pragmatist. She sought a refund from the EU not a referendum on membership. She signed the single European act and it was her concept of a free trade area that became the customs union. She knew it was good for business. Whilst she was  a union basher and no respecter of society or community, she valued Great Britain as a single entity. She ultimately became a victim of her own ideology. Her poll tax changes did for her. Major who succeeded her was a decent man, but not up to the job. Tony Blair sent the Tories into a near terminal state of shock that took them ten years to recover from. The answer was David Cameron, a sort of Blair light, one nation Tory, who was always more comfortable with his Lib Dem coalition partners than the hard right of his own party. This arrangement fixed the finances of the nation, but not the chasm in the Tory party. His botched referendum, which gave the people a vote but not a clear pathway to a Brexit was a disaster. The May years were perhaps the embodiment of poor government. The Tories realised that they needed something radical and elected Boris. The idea was that he'd unite the party, sort the Brexit mess out and then call a snap election.

What they didn't realise was that Boris would bring in Dominic Cummins, a political strategist who hates all of the structures of British government. His solution to anyone opposing his bonkers ideas was to sack them, be it Sajid Javid's adviser or senior Tory grandees. As a result of this strategy, the last of the old school Tory Grandees were booted out of the party. Boris has redrawn the Tory party as a hard right, single issue party. All of the service of Ken Clark and Phillip Hammond has counted for nothing. As a strategist he is a buffoon. There has been much talk of Ken Clark becoming a caretaker PM. The one objection that Corbyn had was that Clark was a Tory. As he's now been booted out, this removes Corbyn's objections and would also allow all to appear statesman like.

Boris has lit a fire under his own party. Many decent Tories are in despair. They know Boris is untrustworthy. By behaving in such an underhand manner, he's also shown to Nigel Farage that any proposed 'non aggression pact' is fraught with danger. Farage knows that if Boris gets a majority, he's just as likely to shaft him, as he shafted his former Tory Colleagues. It is a well known fact that Boris does not want a hard Brexit. He wants May's deal, without the backstop. The posturing is a clumsy way to persuade the EU he's serious. It has backfired spectacularly.

Like everyone else, I've no idea how Brexit will pan out. What I do know is that when the Brexit dust settles, Boris will find that a lot of competent, natural Conservatives have been alienated. Both Hammond and Clark were good chancellors, prudent and wise. By making enemies of such people, he has done something no sane general ever does. He has created dangerous enemies from former allies. Enemies who know how things work. That is a very stupid thing to do.

Why Brexiteers should be asking for a delay to the EU Exit day

I am completely bemused by the pressure to force the UK to leave the UK on the 31 October. Whatever happens on this day, it is vital that the UK gets the best possible outcome. Having sat on our hands for the whole of the summer there is now an indecent haste to quit, with Boris claiming that he will strike a deal or he will impose a no deal Brexit on the UK. The truth is that this is a lie. There is no such thing as a 'no deal Brexit'. The idea that all co-operation on everything with the EU stops at midnight on the 31st is a complete nonsense. The EU won't let that happen and we won't. Much as it may seem appealing to imagine the UK pulling up it's anchors and sailing across the ocean, there are just too many ties in all manner of things, that some sort of 'working arrangements'' will have to be made for. It is clear to me that the EU is far better prepared for this than Team Boris. This is not a criticism of Boris, he's only been PM for five minutes, and although I blame him for many things, the criminal neglect of preparations by his predecessor is not one of them. it is not betraying the referendum to want to get the best possible arrangements if and when we leave, it is common sense. The trouble is that Team Boris will go in to discuss these arrangements with a bunch of professional EU officials who have been working on nothing else since the referendum result was announced. On every detail of every change, they will have lengthy lists of questions for their UK counterparts, demands, clarifications. They know their 'red line', but it is simply not credible to expect the crew from team Boris to expect the same.

If Boris completely botches the Brexit process and the UK takes an economic hit, it won't be long before we are back, cap in hand, asking the EU to be let back in. If you think our negotiating position is bad now, consider what situation we'll be in if we have to re-apply? So my question to all staunch Brexiteers, you've waited a very long time to get to the point where we leave. Surely you want the new processes to work? On the day after the Referendum, I expected the UK government to set up a Royal Commission to work out what Brexit meant and what we wanted from the new arrangements. The May government didn't do this. It was clear to me that her strategy was to win and election and have the numbers in Parliament to enact whatever scheme she had cooked up. When she lost her majority, her fox was shot. Back in June, briefed by a Boris adviser, I published a blog stating what he would do. I've just watched his speech from outside the steps of Parliament. It is all going exactly as I said. The populist giveaway pledges to soften us up (not a budget but and an Autumn spending round). Sajid Javid will announce this on Wednesday. Boris's hitman fired the chancellors top adviser when she told him the numbers didn't add up. Having removed the Chancellors cojones, the statement will be made. Boris knows he can promise anything he likes, because if he wins the election, he can tear it all up.

From a Leave perspective, if I were a Brexiteer, I'd be terrified if Boris got a big majority. Until he realised it could deliver him the office of Prime Minister, Boris was not in the slightest interested in a No deal Brexit. If he get's the majority he hankers for, there is not the slightest chance he'll deliver it.

But will Boris win an election? Theresa May found out to her cost that the electorate do not thank politicians for unwanted elections. Most voters think that MP's should have sorted something out. As the economics of the Boris giveaway are in La La land, his charges that Jeremy Corbyn would let public finances run out of control might sound rather hollow. Ordinary people might take the view that faced with two visions that will damage the economy, they'd rather take the Corbyn vision that will at least put some money in their pockets and wipe away their kids student loan debts etc. I think the Lib Dems will do very well. Whoever gets in, I believe that a large number of people in the country would like some sort of brake on the excess of left or right. Whatever you may think of the Coalition, it was clearly better and more competent than what has followed. My view is that the a Boris snap election will see him unravel. His tactic for the Tory leadership contest of keeping his head down will not work with the great British electorate. Whislt Brexit is important for many, when it comes down to it, schools, the NHS, Police numbers, road and rail policies are likely to play out in a general election. Boris won't make Theresa May's 'Strong and Stable' mistakes, but he has a fundamentally more divided party than May had. He's sought t marginalise many of his brightest colleagues and the Tories are a nasty bunch when shafted.

So I see three possible likely outcomes.

1, A Boris majority, where he is able to shaft the Brexiteers and negotiate his own slightly amended 'May Deal', which is what the Tories big business backers want.

2. A Tory implosion with a Corbyn government and heaven only knows what Brexit policy. It is unlike to be a hard Brexit.

3. An almighty mess with even more fragmentation and a rainbow coalition lurching from crisis to crisis, with Brexit sort of abandoned and sort of put on the back burner.

If I were a Brexiteer, I really don't think any of those options would appeal to me very much. I think a delay and an orderly withdrawal with a whole bunch of side deals would seem far more palatable. The one point that seems unresolveable is the Irish border. Until  anyone proposes something that works, in reality Brexit is doomed. I am not altogether sure Boris gets that just yet. But he will. That is why we need a delay. I am amazed at the fact that some English Tories are even talking about giving Northern Ireland to the Republic to solve the problem. Two hundred years ago, those so called patriots would be off to the Tower for proposing such treachery. Whilst I am sympathetic to republican views, given my family history, that would be a complete betrayal of everything the Tory party stands for. Don't forget it is "The Conservative and Unionist Party". If they will sell out their friends in the North of Ireland like that, God help the rest of us.

Environment Monday - Want to save the planet but don't know where to start? We can help!

So you want to save the planet, combat climate change, leave a legacy for your children that you can be proud of but you just don't know where to start? I started the Environment Monday series of blogs to try and spread a few practical ideas, things that are practical and work. I'd love your ideas, guest blogs and help. The old adage of think global, act local has been my mantra for decades. If we all start with ourselves, look at our lifestyles, look at the small changes we can make in our carbon footprint, on our own we will make a miniscule difference, but if we do it and it works, maybe our friends will sit up take, notice and over time (which is precious), together we can start to make a big difference. Each week, we will explore a different theme, a different way that we can all make a difference. 

Today, we look at Food. The production, packaging and transport of food is perhaps the greatest cause of climate change. Until we recognise that fact and realise that it is in our power to change things, realistically things will continue on the downward spiral. But it is possible to change the way we do things. It is not only not impossible, it can save you money and improve the quality of your life.

Lets start by considering our relationship with food.  Only oxygen and water are more important for human beings. We are omnivores, we can eat almost anything and we will survive. But, for most of us, food is far more than a chore, it is a joy and a pleasure. You only have to walk down the high street to see how important it is to us. But we Brits have a very odd relationship with our diet.  The fad diet market is a billion pound industry. All of these diets are designed to undo the damage that we do to ourselves in our normal diet. How many of us Yo-Yo? We lead busy lives. Our working schedules mean that it is almost impossible to eat healthy. Therefore we want the magic bullet diet.

 The problem is that you have to make the 7.07am train for work, so you grab a bowl of cereal before you go, and a coffee from Costa on the way to the train to wake you up. A busy, stressful morning, eats into afternoon, lunch break runs late, you have to dash out to Tesco's (other supermarkets are available), grab a sandwich, a chocolate bar, a bag of crisps and a sugary drink, and scuttle back to the office to eat it over the next conference call. We get home, the train is delayed, so we nip into Marks and Spencers and buy a ready meal we can plonk in the microwave, as we are far too shattered to think about our diet. Maybe we buy a bottle of wine to wash it all down. You sit in front of the telly, fall asleep, wake up at midnight and make your way to bed. You want to eat well, you want to do your bit, but it just isn't practical is it? I've been there, done that. My weight was always 13st 2lbs until I turned 33. By the time I was 55, it was 17st 6 lbs, despite my best efforts. This hadn't been helped by treatment for cancer, that had curtailed my gym activities and caused me to become mildly depressed. I coped with this by eating and drinking too much. A very stressful period at work didn't help, I had made a couple of bad decisions that meant I was in a difficult place work wise.

My intention was to go to the gym, eat healthily and do all of the other things that we should do, but it was impossible. Weekends and time off was simply used to sleep and recharge batteries. In the summer of 2017, I didn't go away with the family, as everything was too hectic. All I did was eat pre-packaged food and drink. From a health perspective it was awful. From a responsible citizen of planet Earth perspective it was highly irresponsible, but I was so wrapped up in my daily life that I'd lost sight of what was important. One of the downsides of being a prolific blogger, is that you can always justify your own stupid behaviour as you are 'fighting a just battle'. But the truth is, I wasn't. I look back at some of the blogs, I was writing at the time and I could see the lack of energy and perspective in them.

As someone living with cancer, I have an added reason to take care of myself. In September, a step onto the scales scared me to death. A peek in the mirror confirmed the bad news. I'd let myself go. I decided to start jogging, but I found that the extra weight was causing my knees to hurt. I realised that before I could start jogging I needed to get my weight down to around 16 stone. I was still playing football, but in a rather static manner. I thought long and hard. How do you eat healthy, when you are only getting 20 minutes to dash to an outlet for a snack? How do you eat healthy when you get in and you are too drained to prepare fresh food and make healthy food? When you are stressed, how do you cope, without the friendly bottle of wine?

With the family away, I realised that there was not a simple answer, but a holistic view needed to be taken. So where to start? I had got into a really bad habit of sitting up till 2am writing and researching blogs. A bit of honesty showed that this wasn't making the blogs any better or more interesting. I sat down and made a few basic rules.

1. No blogging after 9pm (unless I was writing up a council meeting etc).

2. Go to bed by 11.30pm unless at a gig.

3. Have three days a week off alcohol, regardless of whether I felt I couldn't cope without it. 

4. Go 'Semi vegan' for three days a week.

5. Get up half an hour earlier than I need, so I wasn't in a rush.

6. Don't eat after 8pm (except when out or with friends).

You may wonder what a 'Semi vegan' diet means. I don't have any great desire to become a vegan, but I recognise that a vegan diet is probably the best thing an individual can do for the planet, especially if you eat organic. So a semi vegan diet is an aspiration to be vegan, but with a practical approach, so that if you can't achieve it due to unavailability of what you need, you take the best alternative. I have avoided dairy since 2011, so that isn't as hard as it sounds for me. By getting up 30 minutes earlier, it meant I could prepare fresh food to take with me, rather than do the dash to Tescos. The semi vegan diet forced me to think about the food, to plan a bit better and to make sure we had the right food in the house to support it. 

By buying loose fruit and vegetables, the household bills plummeted, the amount of packaging decreased, the wheelie bin had half as much in it as it had previously. In Mill Hill, we are lucky, there is an excellent Turkish grocer at the bottom of the road. They do great fresh vegetables. I found that these also tasted better than microwaved gloop. So you may ask, what would the daily menu look like on a semi vegan day?

Breakfast

Quaker oats with fresh fruit, prepared with water.

Green tea with Pomegranate juice

Lunch.

Tomato, Olive and avocado salad with wholemeal bread (from Wenzels in a paper bag)

Black tea 

Dinner.

Puy Lentil bake with Shitake mushrooms, Aubergine, onion, garlic, chilli, turmeric and mango chutney.

Water with fresh lemon/lime juice

Total cost - approx £4.50 

With all of this, the quaker oats come in a recyclable cardboard box as do the puy lentils. The olives come in a glass jar, which is recyclable. The tea comes in a recyclable cardboard box (I try and avoid ones with a plastic wrapping).

I try and buy in season, locally produced fruit. It tends to taste better and the transport costs are less.

Compare this with what I was eating before

Breakfast

Bacon on toast

Black tea with Pomegranite

Lunch.

Tesco's chicken wrap

Bag of crisps

Black tea

Dinner

Microwave meal from M&S

Bag of salted cashew nuts

Half bottle of wine

Total cost - approx £15

The bacon came in a plastic container, the bread came in a plastic bag.

The chicken wrap came in a plastic/cardboard wrapper and a plastic bag

The crisps/nuts came in a non recyclable bag

The Microwave meal came in a plastic tub

The wine came in a  recyclable bottle

The annual cost of the Semi Vegan meal for the 3 days a week for the year would be £703, wheras the regular 'lunch on the run' menu was £2346 - saving me £1642. 

Now I'd like to tell a tale of how much healthier I am now. My weight dropped to 15st 9 lbs by June 2018. Sadly, since then, I've been a bit lazy. As always happens, the Summer, especially August with my birthday and hoilidays, it has shot up to 16st 10lbs. September is going to be an austere month, with a target of back under 16 stone by the end.

The point I'm making is that not only do I have another £1642 in my household budget, with little hardship, I've generated less CO2 as well. I've produced far less waste to go into Landfill and my liver is far happier. The big question I suppose is "what about the other 4 days a week". Well that is a work in progress. I have to admit that I like having a drink. I love having a steak and I love my fish and chips or curry on Friday. But I'd do that anyway. 

The truth is that if the whole country did the same as I'm doing, we'd massively decrease the carbon footprint of the UK. I've switched to eating organic where possible. If I eat meat or fish, I want it to be produced ethically. The savings from the three days can partially fund the more expensive, better quality foods on the other four. The bacon sandwich is now a treat on a weekend. 

So the message I am trying to get across is that if you want to start making a difference, look at your lifestyle. It is hard to make the changes required for your diet and eating habits, without making the changes in other areas to facilitate it. If you start the day with a mad dash for the train, you are behind already. If you are getting up slightly too late, then ultimately you are probably going to bed too late! Now clearly it's not the role of bloggers to set your bedtime, just to start a conversation that makes us  think. The changes I've made work for me. They may or may not work for you. The purpose of these blogs is simply to start a conversation, even if it's only in your head with yourself. 

The Tweets of The Week in the London Borough of Barnet - 01/09/2019

Can I let you in on a little secret, some weeks putting this together is a chore and other times, it is a real joy. This week is one of the times when it is a real joy. This could almost be "The Tweets of the Year", so high is the quality. There are all manner of reasons why people 'do social media'. For me, it is generally because I enjoy being able to find and share interesting information. That is when Twitter is at its best. My advice to anyone who wants to grow their follower base is quite simple. Tweet and retweet interesting stuff that you personally enjoy. I realised long ago that it is rather pointless following banal, dull accounts. There are enough rather good ones out there, as todays selection hopefully demonstrates.


1. We start with a brilliant Tweet, the first in a fascinating chain of tweets, from NW London Time Machine. This account only started in April, but has grown to nearly 500 followers with high quality, interesting tweets.

Right! Here we go....First screen grab - this is Burnt Oak Broadway pic.twitter.com/KRPSFDf1ge

— NW London TimeMachine (@time_nw) September 1, 2019

2. The above chain was started by a Tweeter new to me. Here is an example of another fine tweet from him

No. Sainsbury’s is built where all the old factories were. EMI/ pickwick. Schweppes was to the right hand side of the silkstream and is where Toyota is today. Even your photo shows the silkstream to the left of the factory. pic.twitter.com/T9Hcu4j885

— Ryan (@Ryan_LHR_27L) September 1, 2019

3. This is a really great tweet from our local Rugby Club

Calling all local bloggers/community peoples! Please support! Joey & Bath running the marathon!@InsideMillHill @MillHillBNW7 @Barneteye @NorthLondonHour @GPOneStopShop @NCRA_NW9 @MHLitterPickers @CommUNITYBarnet @Young_Barnet @BarnetTogether @InsideEdgware pic.twitter.com/qhVMhAEI4o

— Mill Hill Rugby Club (@MillHillRFC) August 26, 2019

4. I've always been a fan of Barnet Rebels tweeting and this week is no exception

An upturned wheelbarrow makes a fine table for supper during the evening shift at the allotment.
Sky's clearing & the wildlife have their treats too... @NAllotment @AllotmentYear @LDNWormsNGarden @FinchleyNursery @FinchleyHort @LondonSnowWatch @BrokenBarnet @__Revel @LLPasture pic.twitter.com/PEGVQLsbYk

— Donald Lyven (@barnet_rebel) August 29, 2019

5. This caught my eye. Loneliness is a modern curse

Wonderful initiative from Cricklewood charity @ashford_place https://t.co/IqknYvMulQ

— Cllr Anne Clarke (@anne_clarke) August 29, 2019

6. I owe my life to amazing people like Rob Cohen. If I knew him I'd buy him a pint to pint to say thanks. As it is, he'll just have to make do with a listing in the Tweets of The Week

My least favourite place going in. But most proud place leaving! (@ Edgware Blood Donor Centre - @givebloodnhs) https://t.co/iCg4UZF4yL

— Rob Cohen (@RobCoh) September 1, 2019

7. One of our fave pubs is making the headlines again

Delighted to see our very own Pat 'Have Mercy,' in The Happy List 2019!
The Independent's nominations for their annual celebration of people whose kindness, bravery and dedication make the UK a better place. @ChandosArmsPub pic.twitter.com/zspnEpyaow

— The Chandos Arms (@ChandosArmsPub) August 28, 2019

8. This sounds fascinating, will deffo try and get along

Interested in learning more about your local Colindale area and the origins of the local RAF base? Join a FREE walking tour this September! pic.twitter.com/xuL5HLoSP8

— GP One Stop Shop (@GPOneStopShop) August 30, 2019

9. Fancy a bit of Jazz this week in Mill Hill?

Martin Speake & Alyson Cawley Quintet-4/9-Martin Speake has developed a personal musical voice that expresses a deep understanding of the history & language of jazz.Alyson Cawley has played lead tenor saxophone with NYJO and toured Europe w/ acid-jazz outfit the Herbaliser.Plz RT

— Mill Hill Jazz Club (@millhilljazz) August 31, 2019

10. Great to hear about a local success story

This summer has been amazing for us, our best ever! Over 2,000 artist a week visiting Mill Hill and passing through our doors, inc Rita Ora, Louise Redknapp and Skin thanks to @madaboutthvoice our amazing vocal coach, making Mill Hill the hub of the London music scene pic.twitter.com/BSybVXCumB

— MillHillMusicComplex (@MillHillMusicCo) August 29, 2019