Boris Johnson and Brian Coleman

You may be surprised. Pinch yourself. I have come to praise Brian Coleman, not to bury him. Don't get me wrong, can't stand the man. I will not forgive or forget the fact that he assaulted my friend Helen Michael and lied through his teeth about it to the Police, the truth only emerging following the release of CCTV footage. But if you look at the bigger picture, he tried to do the nation a service last May, when it became clear that Boris Johnson was likely to win the leadership of the Conservative Party. Brian wrote a blog, from the perspective of someone who worked closely with Boris for a number of years. Brian made it crystal clear that Boris was not fit for the job of Prime Minister. 

His blog highlighted many of Boris's key character flaws. Firstly that he is an appalling judge of character. The appointment and retention of Dominc Cummings is perhaps the best example of this. Brian siad

Boris was a poor judge of character . I lost count of the many so called "Deputy Mayors" and Senior Aides who passed through City Hall in my four years :Nick Boles (Head of Transition)  lasted a month , Ray Taylor (totally bonkers) lasted three months ,Tim Parker (on another Planet )  and of course Ian Clement (fiddled his expenses ) spring to mind . Then there were people with no experience of Local Government Munira Mirza (did not like being called "Dear" ) Isabel Dedring, Transport (hated and ignored by TfL Officers) Kulveer Ranger (who once cried on my shoulder because he had lost his Secretary ), Matthew Pencharz ( a nice boy but well out of his depth) . Pam Chesters , a good choice as health advisor but totally undermined by Boris when he ordered her to reinstate Mars Bars in the City Hall canteen.

These inexperienced advisors are no doubt partly, along with Boris ego , the reason for so many failed and pointless Capital projects . Boris Island , the East London Cable Car , the Garden Bridge ..

Brian also warned us that Boris was likely to be a disaster at #PMQ's, something which has become a major problem for the PM since Sir Keir Starmer became leader of the opposition. Boris is getting absolutely murdered every single week and this is doing no good for the nerves and mood of the Conservative MP's. More of a problem is that the nation is starting to think our PM is simply not up to the job. Here's what Brian said, his words are rather prophetic.

His performance at the monthly Mayor's question time at City Hall was dreadful in the early days and to the frustration of Assembly colleagues ( including Kit Malthouse) did not really improve .

Another major problem is that Boris makes things up on the hoof. That is fine when you are campaigning, but when you are dealing with a global pandemic, it simply causes chaos that has resulted in major loss of life. The failure to read briefs and properly prepare for meetings and speeches is unforgiveable. Again Brian highlighted this

Boris just simply never read the briefs or prepared for his speeches . At one Lord Mayor of London's London Governance Dinner he could be seen scribbling notes on the napkin during the meat course.

A successful Prime Minister has to have a degree of empathy with the people they govern. If there is a major disaster, they have to be able to reach out the victims and make them feel that the government cares. Despite nearly dying of Covid, Boris appears to not have the slightest bit of empathy or compassion for the families that have lost loved ones as a result of his policy blunders. Again Brian flagged this up, detailing his complte lack of compassion for the victims of the 7/7 bombing.

At a briefing meeting held in Boris' Office in 2011 during the Inquests into the deaths of the victims of the 7/7 bombings I was telling Boris how the Fire Authority was having to spend a sizable sum on lawyers (as were the Met , TfL and everybody else involved ) not least because Mrs Justice Hallett was cutting up rough as Coroner when he suddenly said " I blame Tony Blair for all this , he started it with the Marchioness (Inquest) " Guto Harri, who was Boris' Head of Communications and at the time absolutely devoted to Boris , said " Oh Boris they are really for the families (of the victims) benefit " To which Boris replied "Fuck the families , Fuck the families !"  . I was having none of this and snapped at Boris  " You didn't have to write eight letters of condolence to families of your constituents or attend the funeral of 31 year old Lee Baisden ( a Fire Authority employee) who had been blown to pieces at Aldgate and comfort his poor widowed Mother " .

There is also Boris's relationship with the truth. Boris simply thinks he can get away with anything, the rules don't apply to him.  After the event described above, Brian notes the following

 After this meeting the ever loyal Guto Harri rang me up and said "it never happened Brian , it never happened" . Sorry Guto it did and I have witnesses .

Brian also gave us an insight into how Boris copes with difficult situations. This quote is quite illuminating

At the Annual Lord Mayor's Banquet one year he told me the " only way to get through events like this Brian is drink all the alcohol on offer !"

If we weren't in the middle of a global pandemic and if we weren't about to leave the EU perhaps none of this would matter quite so much. I suspect that if we lived in a perfect world, where we didn't face threats such as Putin poisoning our citizens with nerve agents, with IS terrorists wanting to murder us all, with China seeking to economically dominate the global economy, with rogue regimes such as North Korea acquiring nuclear weapons, it may be jolly good fun to have such a man leading the country to entertain us. The truth is that we are in a global crisis and when we need allies, we have a Prime Minister who is totally unfit to be in charge. A man who has shown he has no regard for international law. I am quite bemused for his contempt for the EU Withdrawall Treaty.  It was Boris's government that negotiated it and signed it, if it is a danger to the UK, then surely it is his fault for signing it. Any problems are entirely the fault of the Prime Minister.

You may not trust my opinion of Boris, given that I've never been a fan, but Brian Coleman worked with him for years and is a staunch Conservative.

 

.

The Saturday List #279 - My top ten holidays

 This week we took some time out to go to The South Downs with our two dogs and three children. We found a lovely dog friendly hotel called the Hampshire Hog in Clanfield. At 79 for a double room, with breakfast thrown in, that was excellent and sited on the edge of the Queen Elizabeth park, there were amazing walks. We also got an amazing day on the beach at the lovely West Wittering beach, which is in my humble opinion, the best beach in the South East of England. 

It got me thinking about my top ten holidays. I'm not an Ibiza party person. Generally I like cities and I like  being around people, so my list won't be full of tips for beaches, etc.

1. Australia in 2007 and 2018. 

My Dad was an Aussie. Strangely I had no desire to go there. This was mostly because being a music nut, there didn't seem to be much to attract me. In 2007, we decided to take the kids. We did a tour of the East Coast. We stayed on Dunk Island, an amazing place devastated by a Hurricane since. We visited family in Cairns, went to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. In late 2017, we were at a charity dinner and drunkenly bid with friends for a two week stay at a luxury apartment in Hamilton Island. We won that for £850, which was about a third of the normal price and went with friends, also visiting Sydney and Melbourne. I have to say that there is nothing quite like snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef. We visited Australia's pub of the year in Melbourne and had an amazing time. We saw the Opera house and chilled in St Kilda's, listening to a good fun Irish band. It is a good place to hang out and if you ever can afford it, check it out. I am glad we spent the quality time with the children there. 

2. USA 2008.

In 2008, we visited Los Angeles  and San Francisco with the kids. A huge cloud was thrown over the holiday as my Mum died unexpectedly on the second day. I was preparing to fly back, but my sisters called to say that they'd arranged the funeral for after we returned, and that Mum would want us to enjoy ourselves. I took that literally. We saw The Steve Miller Band and Joe Cocker in Concorde. We ate Japanese in San Fran. We did the Six Flags theme park, which the kids loved. We chilled on Laguna beach. It was great. I even went to mass and the Parish Priest offered prayers for my mum and said some kind words. The whole community gave me their condolences. It was uplifting to know that there are nice people everywhere.

3. 1987 Scotland.

I'd only been seeing Clare for a year and a half and we decided to take a holiday away together. Sadly for Clare, she found that I wasn't a beach person. I had a yearning to go to Scotland. Neither of us could drive, so we got a Scotrail ticket. This gave us a weeks rail travel on any train in Scotland. It was great. We visited the Edinburgh festival. We visited John O'Groats, Loch Lomond, Loch Ness and The Isle of Skye. It was great. Taking the train was a great way to relax. Every train was late every day. It was part of the fun. If you've never been to the festival, I thoroughly recommend it.

4. 1989 Eurorail.

Deciding that the Scotrail trip was fun, we decided to get more ambitious and did a Eurorail ticket for a couple of weeks. We went to Strasbourg, Vienna, Budapest, Thessalonica, Istanbul, Munich and Amsterdam. For me, one of the best moments was finding that The Potato five, a Ska band I follow, were playing in Amsterdam. I have to say, of all the places, I loved Istanbul. The Turks were really friendly and we found a great little bar, that served beers and what are best described as Tapas. We were there for four days and went in every day. On the last day, we said our goodbyes and they didn't charge us. It is a great way to see Europe. 

5. USA 1992.

In 1992, I had split up with Clare for a while. I decided to spend some time hanging out on the East Coast of the USA. I mentioned this to my best friend Chris and his wife Elaine and they decided to tag along, We flew to New York and did a road trip around New York state, Pennsylvania and Washington. Upstate New York was amazing. We went in October, so the sights of the leaves in colour in the Catskills and Adirondacks was amazing. We sampled some of the great microbreweries. We did the New York areas. Chinatown, The Italian sector, etc. The Museums in Washington. After 2 weeks Chris and Elaine left. I spent a couple of weeks extra.  I managed to blag tickets to the CMJ awards and ended up on a table with Trish Yearwood, who won the award for best country artist. I took a full part in the party that followed. Trish was lovely, reminded me of my big sister Val. It was during the Election campaign and one hotel we'd booked happened to have a George Bush Rally there. We took one look and turned around, finding another place which was more to our liking!

6. France  1994.

In 1994, I'd got back together with Clare. As she was bored of listening to tales of the marvellous holiday I'd had with Chris and Elaine, the decision was made to make some memories with them together. I had a VW camper van, so we decided to do a tour of France. I had the van fully serviced before I left as a precaution, but it broke down in Paris on the first day. It turned out there was an oil pump problem, so we could only do 50 miles at a hop. Nevertheless, we managed to get to Paris, Fontainebleau, La Rochelle, The Loire valley, La Puy, and stayed at a couple of small country Gites in the middle of nowhere. I eventually found  a VW dealer who fixed the van. We had some amazing meals and many of the towns were having small festivals. It was a really great couple of weeks. France is a really good place for a road tour. One of the things will stay with me forever is the visit to Orador-sur-La-Glane. I am not really one for visiting the sites of atrocities, but the bloke who was fixing our van was nearby, so we went. It brought home to me why fanatics must be resisted.

7. Thailand 2017.

We took the kids to Thailand in 2017. It was a great family holiday. The food was great, the people were lovely and there was a lovely beach and town. We did a few amazing guided walks. We were advised to find a nice taxi driver and hire him for the day to show us around. We did that and it was the best way. 

8. China 1990. 

Back in 1990, there were some really cheap package deals to China following the Tiananmen Square massacre. I saw it as a great chance to see somewhere that I may never see otherwise. We booked a package with Voyages Jules Verne, who were excellent. It was a two centre holiday at Beijing and Xian. In terms of seeing stuff, it was the best holiday ever. The Terracota army was amazing. The reason it isn't no 1 is because the whole visit was tightly controlled and although we met lots of people, who were friendly, we were very much kept at arms length. 

9. USSR 1989.

Clare did a degree in Russian Studies, and studied at a college in Minsk for three months. We decided to visit her friends. We booked a holiday to Moscow, Leningrad and Minsk. The USSR was fascinating and is well worth a visit. Leningrad (Now St Petersberg) was especially interesting from a sightseeing perspective. However what intrigued me were the people. A mate took me to Vilnius on the train. This was highly illegal for a foreigner from the UK, so I pretended to be a drunk Belarussian peasant. I did this well enough to fool the KGB who I shared a train carriage with. It is amazing what an effective disguise a can of beer can be! In Vilnius I met independence activists, who told me the USSR was about to crumble and that Lithuania would soon be in the EU. I was sceptical. They were right.

10. Lourdes, France.

Perhaps Lourdes should be no 1. It is the place I've been most. When I was a kid, my Dad would take me on Pilgrimage every year. My mum would go to Spain with my sisters, but my Dad hated Franco and wouldn't support a Fascist regime. He told me that when he was being shot down over Rumania in 1944 on a bombing raid, he prayed to The Virgin Mary that if he survived, he'd live a good life, so going to Lourdes was a part of this. Although he was religious, he also loved a party, so he'd pray in the morning, have lunch and a few glasses of wine, a sleep and then hit the bars. I think that's why I love pubs so much. He'd tour the bars, get into conversations with strangers. He'd give me a shandy (a glass of Lemonade with a tot of his beer). It was bliss. This stopped in 1974. In 2001, I went back with HCPT as a helper with a group of people with disabilities. It was a very different experience, but I loved it. My Mum had a stroke in 2000, so it was great to be able to take her. After she passed in 2008, I took my cousin Tessie, who is my age but has Downs syndrome. The best thing is being part of a group, away from the stresses of every day life. I'd thoroughly recommend it. 

Councillor Brian Gordon - RIP

 I was saddened but not surprised to learn of the passing of Councillor Brian Gordon, a long serving member of the Council, who represented bith Hale and Edgware wards. I was not surprised, as I was informed by a friendly Barnet Conservative councillor a while back that he was seriously ill and may not be long of this world. As a blogger who can be quite critical of councillors, I do appreciate such heads ups. It should never be part of blogging to upset families of people who are ill. 

For me, Councillor Brian Gordon was a favourite of mine. Not because I agreed with just about anything he said, but because he was the chair of the first council meeting I ever attended, and when I wrote the blog, he emailed me to say how much he enjoyed the blog, but suggested I could be more respectful to Councillor John Hart, as he was knocking on in years and I surely wouldn't want to feel responsible if my blogging caused him to croak. Interestingly, a couple of years later I was having a drink with John and I recounted that story. His response was "The cheeky so and so, I can assure you I'll outlive that b@gger". So it transpires. I have long thought John Hart is really a Jedi Knight, trying his hardest not to succumb completely to the dark side (and not always succeeding). 

Councillor Gordon was always acerbically polite to me in council, on a couple of occasions when I saw him in a social setting, he was far more friendly, not completely averse to passing a tasty nugget of information which may be helpful to a blog where he had an axe to grind on a particular subject. Like most of the Barnet Councillors, he knew that he could trust me not to dob him in for such things. Councillor Gordon was set to become Mayor, but the Covid19 crisis and the grim reaper intervened.  I had only recently learned that we were both alumni of Orange Hill School, he was a fair bit older, but I suspect that may have been one reason for his friendly non business demeanour. There have been many sad reminiscences on the Ex OHS facebook page. I wish I'd twigged this earlier!

I thought I'd share my first ever blog to feature Councillor Gordon, the one that prompted his comments.This was published in the Barnet Times , back when everyone read it! It is interesting to recall how different things used to be in Barnet Council, before they completely removed real public engagement - The original is here. 

A confession. I suffer from tourettes syndrome. It doesn't affect me all of the time, so you won't catch me doing Fr Jack (of Father Ted fame) impersonations during mass. It only affects me when I go to meetings to discuss local issues, stuffed full of local politicians. As they drag on I always get overcome with the need to yell obscenities at them, as they spout ever more ridiculous answers to perfectly reasonable questions.

On Thursday, I decided to take myself down to Copthall School for the Hendon Residents forum meeting. These sessions give local residents an opportunity to raise issues with the council. Questions are submitted in advance and then each point is supposed to be debated. The chairman for the session was Hale Councillor Brian Gordon and Vice chair was Mill Hill Councillor John Hart. Confirming my suspicion that Barnet Council couldn't organise a booze up in a brewery, from the very first question one thing became apparent. The acoustics of the room were so awful that hardly a word was audible. As a sound engineer I advised St Vincents school on a similar problem a couple of years ago. These things are quite easy to rectify. When booking any hall for any sort of event, my first question is always - what are the acoustics like and is it fit for purpose. It seems that is beyond the power of our local authority. I actually think it is disgraceful that the school have to use such a substandard facility, when a small investment could completely fix the problem.

Anyway enough of that. The first three item were about the CPZ in Burnt Oak. Labour Councillor Charlie O-Macauley made some fine points (well I assume he did, couldn't actually hear him but Brian Gordon seemed to agree).

The fourth item was regarding the poor condition of the toilets in Hendon Park. It was raised by Jason Ezekiel who runs the cafe in the park. Now Mr Ezekiel looked to me like a perfectly normal person as did the lady accompanying him. As he was standing behind me I could actually hear him, which helped. He read a rather disturbing letter which the council had sent him. In response to his question to the council complaining about the bad state of the toilets, the council stated that "The toilets were not designed for use by the staff of the cafe". What on earth does this mean? Now without wanting to appear like a sexual pervert, I snuck a quick look at Mr Ezekiel's posterior and that of his companion. They certainly looked perfectly normal to me. I wondered what possible criteria he uses to employ staff that requires different toilet facilities to the rest of the population of Hendon. If anyone at the council could tell me I'd love to know. I cannot believe that 2 or three people working in a cafe would overload the system, so what on earth does the council's comment mean? It seems all Mr Ezekiel wants is for the council to use a special floor paint so the toilets are easy to clean and don't stink to high heaven. If the council think that the rest of Hendon love the pong of urine when they use the convenience, they are sadly mistaken.

Next up were three questions from our good friend, David Miller, of www.barnetcouncilwatch.org.uk fame. As he wasn't here there was a swift debate during which a lady accused me of making things up when I said that the council was spending £28,000 a year storing unwanted laptop PC's. Anyway Hale councillor Hugh Rayner has promised to investigate this for me. I'll keep you posted.

Next up was Mr Richman with 8 different questions, mostly regarding the facilities for sport and cycling in Barnet. It seems that like me Mr Richman suffers from Tourettes in the company of council officers. Councillor Gordon had to tell him off for using bad language. Now Mr Richman is wasted at residents meetings, he really should be on the stage. He stood up and took the trouble to act out the problems faced by cyclists at traffic lights in Edgware. At one stage he was warned for getting too close to council officers by Councillor Gordon as part of his demonstration. Given that no one could hear a word he said, the demo managed to get his point over (to me at least). After about 35 minutes he finally managed to secure a commitment from Ian Caunce, the highways officer present that someone might do something (about what I really couldn't tell you).

By this time, Burnt Oak Councillor Lynda MacFadyen had given up. In a Michael Heseltine-esque fit of pique she flounced out announcing "I can't hear a thing it's pointless being here". At the end of the points raised by Mr Richman, I asked a question regarding a non response from Barnet Council on a planning issue. Councillor Gordon said "And who are you?" I replied "My name is Roger Tichborne". He suddenly looked a bit less composed "Oh I know who you are" he responded. Clearly realising that the meeting was likely to be more public than he had initially thought, he seemed to decide to relax his usual cut 'em off when they waffle policy. Now Myk Tucker a supporter of "No overdevelopment in Edgware" informed me that Councillor Gordon always likes to wrap up meetings early. This strategy seemed to go out of the window.

Next up Sonya Lejeune. She is concerned about the work at Burnt Oak library. To every concern she raised, Councillor Gordon responded "Well surely you should wait till it's open before you say that". I suppose once it's open she'll be told, why didn't you raise this before the work is done. I don't know, I hope Councillor Gordon is right and it will be marvellous.

And on, by this time it was 7.45pm (meeting started at 6.30). We were only up to question 17 out of 38. Councillor Gordon was starting to look worried. Not only might he not be home for cocoa at 8.30pm, he may not be home for Rosh Hashana. Up stepped Mrs Cohen. Her question was 2 1/2 pages long and had points a through to i. Now I have to confess that yet again I couldn't hear what she was on about. Not only that, but the 2 1/2 pages of notes only give the faintest clue. It seems she's unhappy with some aspect of the council's policy regarding a neighbour carrying on business at a private address. That is only a small part of the story though. It seems that the 2 1/2 page question she submitted was edited by the council. It seems much of the juicy detail was removed from the notes we got. Mrs Cohen was unhappy. After approx 20 minutes of her giving us the full text of her question, she noticed that Councillor Gordon was chatting away to Ian Caunce and completely ignoring her. Was she prepared to stand for this, no she wasn't she gave him a piece of her mind in no uncertain terms. Councillor Gordon responded that he'd listened to every word she'd said. Now either he possesses the hearing abilities of Superman or he's telling porkies, as she was completely inaudible apart from the odd "disgraceful" or "unacceptable". Anyway thoroughly chastised by his nemesis he tried to maintain focus. As to Councillor John Hart, for the entire meeting he had not uttered a word. As Mrs Cohen made sure we were all aware of her grievance I became fascinated with his demeanour. I suspect that the good councillor is not actually a human after all. He has the aura of a Jedi Knight. He sits there stoically saying nothing, but seemingly fighting an ever more desperate battle to not cross to the dark side. He clearly realises that he could simply snuff Mrs Cohen out using "the force" but then he'd no longer be a good guy. If Mrs Cohen disappears and a black caped knight in a welding helmet strides through to the next council meeting we know that the dark side won. On Mrs Cohen ploughed. At some point she realised that Leslie Feldman, the planning officer wasn't paying attention either. In she went, verbal daggers swinging. Councillor Gordon tried to defend the honour of Ms Feldman, but was dispatched with a swift comment along the lines of "I've already dealt with you, little man, be quiet". On she went. It was clear that council officers had ignored her. It was clear she was unhappy. At this point, she noticed that the third council officer (sorry, didn't catch his name) was also not paying attention. "Look at me when I'm speaking to you" she bellowed. Councilor Gordon said "This is not the forum to raise this". Mrs Cohen yelled back "I am a resident, this is the residents forum, you have to listen to me. It's not your forum". Councillor Gordon slunk back.

Much as I was enjoying all of this, I had to play football at 8.30pm up the road at the Powerleague pitches, so at 8.25 I departed. There were 21 more questions to go. I hope that the council officials get there act together and sort out Mrs Cohen's issues. I'm sure Councillor Gordon does as well (if he's not still sitting there listening).

Councillor Brian Gordon RIP

The British Government and the rule of law

 This week something happened that I never believed I would see in my lifetime. A democratically elected British government announced in Parliament that it was going to break international law and flout legally binding international agreements. Lets start by stating that this is nothing to do with Brexit, much as how the government may try and present it. It is about our credibility and international standing in the world. There are many risks, and the one bulwark defence we have is the law. We see the Russian government poisoning political opponents. We see the Chinese government flouting the Hong Kong agreement. We see all manner of tinpot dictators flouting the law around the world. The UK and our allies do follow the rule of law, this gives us strength of purpose and unity. After the second world war, the Nuremburg trials were held under British law, with the blessing of Stalin and Roosevelt, because they recognised that it would ensure that people took the verdicts seriously and would recognise that they were legally properly constituted. When you consider how many citizens of the USSR died and how strong the calls for revenge were, it is a demonstration of how highly the British respect for law was considered.

Eighty years ago today, the Battle of Britain was raging over our skies. Britain had declared war on Germany because Germany had broken international treaties. They had demonstrated that they were untrustworthy. I was lucky that I have the perspective of my Father, who was a WW2 bomber pilot. He was inspired to enlist for pilot training by the antics of the British airmen bravely resisting such tyranny. When you enlist in the RAF you are not just trained to fly a plane. You are taught that you are upholding the law. You are taught that by following the Geneva convention, you save British lives. An enemy is far more likely to surrender and lay down their arms if they know they will be treated fairly and according to the law, rather than taken behind the bike sheds and shot. As Germany collapsed, there was a rush of Wehrmacht troops flocking to surrender to the British, as they knew we'd not ship them off to camps and starve them. It is the basis of our state. Last night, even the Speaker of the House in the USA was criticising the UK, this is a level of the depths we've sunk to. 

These lessons were drummed into me. The Government of Boris Johnson has shown that it is prepared to flout the law. The Dominic Cummings incident was an indicator. The announcement this week is a seismic step change. If Parliament stands by and lets this pass, we are as nothing. Parliament needs to stand up and assert its authority. They need to make it clear that the UK follows the law. The argument that UK sovereignty trumps international treaties is the sort of argument that a dictator uses and is not worthy of us. The government has made a complete hash of Brexit. The way out of this is not to destroy our credibility in the eyes of the world. 

Environment Monday - Should Extinction Rebellion be classified as dangerous criminals?

 There has been chatter in the media that XR will be reclassified in the UK as a criminal organisation.

Whilst XR have caused major disruption during protests, there is a fundamental question we need to answer. Do we still believe in the right of assembly and  peaceful protest. The case that the commentators who support the ban have been making is that the civil disobedience has involved breaking various laws and lead to mass arrest. Drawing the line between what is a criminal activity and what is acceptable civil disobedience is always a very difficult thing to define in legal terms. Organisations such as the IRA and the UDA have a valid (you may not agree with their aims, but they are valid aims) political agenda, however their means clearly crossed into the criminal realm. Setting off bombs and shooting people can never be justified as civil disobedience, although it is sensibly set aside past atrocities in peace agreements, otherwise no peace would ever be agreed. 

XR is a peaceful organisation. There has undoubtedly been damage to property caused by protestors in their efforts to raise the profile of the aims of the organisation. Whilst XR would claim that the damage is done to property associated with environmental damage, which they believe is a more serious crime, there is no basis in UK law for such a quid pro quo. 

It probably won't surprise readers of this blog to learn my sympathies lie with the aims of XR. By any measure, the current consumerist behaviour of our society is unsustainable and we are causing huge damage to the ecosystems of the world. Whilst I believe that it is 100% correct to oppose this, I don't think XR has always campaigned in a manner that is really conductive to achieving their aims. I am no fan of the British press, but I felt very uncomfortable seeing the empty news stands on Saturday. The problem with such actions is that it sets a very unfortunate precedent. If political groups start targetting news organisations, I fear if this is successful, there will be an escalation and the journalists we rely on to put the work in, to uncover the big stories, will find themselves at risk. I do not believe that XR will pose a threat, but there are other, far less benign groups, that would see the XR actions as a signpost.

With laws and policing, there is always a fine line and the difficult truth is that no state will ever get it right all of the time. I think the UK generally gets it right most of the time and probably more of the time than most other nations. From what I see, the Police are chronically underfunded, which is why they often don't do their jobs as well as they should. Since the turn of the century, the criminal justice system has been massively undermined by successive governments. Withdrawal of legal aid makes it impossible for ordinary citizens to effectively get justice. You may not like it when the state funds cases brought by bad people, but this keeps the system honest and ultimately gives us trust in the system. If XR is criminalised and well meaning protestors find themselves in court, without access to adequate legal advice, that would be a recipe for disaster, as we will soon find ourselves inundated with tales of injustice. In my younger years, I saw several riots first hand. One thing I soon learned is that in riot situations, the Police tend to arrest those that it is easiest to arrest. I can remember one dust up at an Anti Nazi League / Rock Against Racism rally, where protest confronted the hard right. There were several groups who were what we would say were "well tooled up". The police left them well alone, but I have vivid memories of them arresting one poor chap who had just been beaten senseless. The one thing I learned in such circumstances, was never let yourself become isolated on the periphery of the main group. There is safety in numbers. The XR protests are slightly different,  as I don't see any attempt to resist the police ( I will qualify this as there are always a criminal fringe who attend protests in the hope of benefitting from a bit of chaos and looting, but these are nothing to do with the organisation). 

So in answer to my question "Should Extinction Rebellion be classified as dangerous criminals?", there are two answers I could give. The first is quite categorically no. In the UK we allow free speech, assembly and protest. We also tolerate non violent civil disobedience. It may sometimes inconvenience you, but ultimately it is what keeps our society honest and safe. To proscribe an organisation that is clearly non violent as a criminal gang would be a very authoritarian and repressive step.

The second answer is slightly more nuanced. I do believe that it is right to arrest people who are clearly breaking the law. Sensible policing during protest should mean that the police use their discretion and their powers wisely, but if protestors clearly transgress and are putting other people or themselves at clear risk, then the Police must do their job. We should also ensure that those arrested have proper legal representation, so that not only is justice done, but we can be sure its done. 

The Tweets of the week in the London Borough of Barnet - 6th September 2020

 Winter is here, and it's going on two years, as Joey Ramone said. But what are the tweeters of the Borough of Barnet up to? You will be pleased to know that this week that all of the tweets are current. We have great historical tweeters, who have done a sterling job during lockdown keeping us all amused, but we made the decision to do a week of current tweets.

1. Good to see the Young Barnet foundation doing great work with our local guides.

Outdoors ✅ social distancing ✅ having fun ✅

We had a fantastic night stand up paddleboarding at the Phoenix Canoe Club curtesy of the fantastic @Young_Barnet Foundation. We will definitely be back! @Guiding_LaSER @GirlguidingMdxE pic.twitter.com/Uxmlbi8xvi

— 7th Edgware Guides & Rangers (@7thEdgware) September 5, 2020

2. As I spend a lot of time walking the Totteridge Valley I always enjoy Samuels excellent tweets, chronicling the local  wildlife. 

The last few days in the Totteridge Valley have been interesting. There are still plenty of Spotted Flycatchers around and the Hobby are now enjoying the warmer weather catching Dragonflies such as this Migrant Hawker. A Mute Swan was a first since April 2019 #londonbirds pic.twitter.com/1cUKYlJdGe

— Samuel Levy (@FinchleyBirder) September 1, 2020

3. We all need to get behind our local foodbanks. The country is in crisis and many need help

Good to have so many volunteers for our first training session as we get ready for next week. With @BOOSTChildsHill @sarahcreates @anne_clarke @AllSaintsChHill @StPetersNW2 @NW2_RA @ccf_cricklewood with thanks for support from @SembleUK @argentrelated and the #BXSCommunityFund pic.twitter.com/kZ9opQJxY2

— Child's Hill Food Bank (@ChildsHillFood1) September 5, 2020

4. It is great to see live music returning to the Borough of Barnet

Mon 21st Sept. @ColindaleFolk reopens with Odette Michell @odettemichell at @ChandosArmsPub. https://t.co/GeMGsIARKw Free entry, good food, friendly pub. The floor spots start at 8:30pm. pic.twitter.com/K21L53a3rW

— Colindale Folk Club (@ColindaleFolk) September 4, 2020

5. And it's great to see grassroots football and grassroots fans back in the Borough

@nonleagueflags
A few flags for you. @hadleyfc
v @woodfordtownfc pic.twitter.com/0BfRzgpvlr

— Rob Manaley (@RobManaley) September 5, 2020

6. And it is great to see Church choirs coming back, and a lovely shot of the church

This place is aglow tonight: first rehearsal with a small (& smaller than usual) choir since March. Hearing them sing “Locus Iste” was spine-tingling. #StaySafe #SingSafe mindful of ventilation, distancing & volume @Hendon_Parish pic.twitter.com/I1dQKjQEr9

— Dr Julie Gittoes ☩ (@JulieGittoes) September 1, 2020

7. Our amazing local litter pickers are back in the groove! Why not help out?

Good to join @MHLitterPickers at Mill Hill Park again this morning!
Passed by a rather littered area on the way back and felt inspired to do something about it! Let’s keep the park clean. Let’s do it together! https://t.co/CpfD66bDLF pic.twitter.com/B2KecRSfY0

— Friends of Heybourne Park (@Heybournepark) September 5, 2020

8. Lovely picture of Mill Hill and surrounding district here

A fabulous vertical panorama from the Mill Hill, London view point taken by @eladkleiner #Millhill @BarnetCouncil @Barneteye @BBCBreakfast @MetroUK #beautiful pic.twitter.com/PR4QMAhe6Q

— Inside Mill Hill (@InsideMillHill) August 31, 2020

9. Our favourite Rugby club are having a quiz night, please support them

* QUIZ NIGHT @MillHillRFC *

Saturday 12th September
Teams of 6 @ £10per head

Contact us to book!
All Welcome!
🟫🟨🟫🟨🟫 pic.twitter.com/CHpxAIhJzC

— Mill Hill Rugby Club (@MillHillRFC) August 31, 2020

 10. And Music grade exams are back!

You can now book in for your face to face Rockschool graded music exam at @MillHillMusicCo for this winter! https://t.co/XU0rpLfSz5

— RSL Awards (@RSLAwards) September 4, 2020

That's all folks!

.

The Saturday List #278 - Mill Hill's most interesting and useful web sites listed

 

I thought it would be useful to catalogue the most interesting and useful websites in Mill Hill. There's a surprisingly long list of local websites. 

The Mill Hill Historical Society 

https://millhill-hs.org.uk/ - A great trove of information about Mill Hill and the surrounding area. Well worth a look.

The Mill Hill Preservation Society

http://www.mhps.org.uk/ - Another great site with much historical information and walks around the area. 

The Mill Hill Broadway website - Richard Wilkinson's listing site detailing the Broadway and the services around Mill Hill. A very useful reference site

https://millhillbroadway.org/

Local Community

Mill Hill Hub and Library

Local History

Mill Hill Historical Society - Great archive of local knowledge

Mill Hill Preservation Society - Historical photo Archive

Mill Hill Preservation Society - Local walks

Britain from Above - Ariel Mill Hill Photos

Francis Frith - Old Mill Hill Photos

Mill Hill Mempics - Old Mill Photo Album

Mill Hill's Disused Railway Line - Photo album

Freight on the London Underground - Mill Hill's freight tube line

Blogs 

A Better Mill Hill - Local News Letter and Features written by Mill Hill Lib Dems

Local Mill Hill Facebook Groups

Inside Mill Hill - Open Facebook Group - Free ads on Thursdays

Mill Hill Families - Closed Facebook Group -  charges for ads

Mill Hill For Kids - Childrens Activities Facebook Group

Mill Hill Litter Pickers - Facebook Group for local litter pickers

You're Probably From NW7 if... - Local Social Page

Local Music

Mill Hill Music Festival - Local Music Festival

Mill Hill Jazz Club - Live Jazz every Weds at Mill Hill Golf club

Mill Hill Musical Theatre Company - Bi Annual Musical Theatre Productions

Local Sports

Mill Hill Rugby Club - Our local Rugby club

Mill Hill Village Cricket Club - Our Local Cricket club

Mill Hill Village Football Club - Our local Football Club

Mill Hill Bowling Club - Our local Bowls Club

St Kiernans GFC - Our local Gaelic Football Club

Barnet Copthall Swimming Club -Our local Elite Swimming Club

Powerleague Mill Hill - Local Five a Side pitches

Barnet Shaftesbury Harriers - Elite Athletic club

New Stars Lacrosse - Lacrosse club

Boxr Gym - Boxing and Fitness training

Local Faith

Sacred Heart RC Church  - Local church website

Mill Hill Shul - Local Synagogue

St Michaels Church - Local CofE Church

Trinity Church - United Reformed Church

Local Help

Local Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings

Age UK Barnet

Millway Medical Practice

National Fish and Chips Day - Mill Hill's favourite chippy!

 At the Barnet Eye we love our food. One of our favourite treats is a nice portion of Fish and Chips. In association with the Inside Mill Hill facebook page, we ran an unofficial poll of Mill Hill's favourite fish and chip shop. We invited locals to cast their votes and they did this in their hundreds. 

The poll is still running, so it is not to late to have your say, but there is a very clear leader at the moment. It is the King Neptune in the Green Man. 

As you can see, a fair number of people added their own favourites, and we also got a plethora of comments in favour of local's favourites. I've used all of the top three and I think they are all excellent. 

The King Neptune has been around for a very long time and has been consistently good over this time, so deserve their place at the top of the tree, although having Booba's around the corner keeps them on their toes. In recent years, I've used Cannons in Mill Hill Broadway, which I quite like and is the most convenient. It is currently undergoing refurbishment and I hope it returns soon. When my children used to swim for Copthall, we'd use Nicks in Salcombe Gardens, now known as Frydays. 

Maybe we should organise a Fish and Chips night, when Covid is behind us, get samples from all of them and do a blind tasting! Maybe a quiz to raise money for Colindale Foodbank? One thing is clear, the locals of Mill Hill love their fish and chips.

There's still time to cast your vote, so head over to the Inside Mill Hill Facebook page it has been great to learn of some other great chippies in the locality from the comments and it is lovely that people are so passionate about it. 

The Friday Joke - 4 September 2020

Summer isover, the heatwave is finally done. The first weekend of autumn is upon us. But don't despair, there's still the Friday joke and we think its a cracker

 

Is it time to start my own vegetarian cookery channel on Youtube?

View this post on Instagram

Yum, fresh from the garden

A post shared by Roger Tichborne (@rogtex) on Oct 2, 2019 at 4:33am PDT

 I've been toying with an idea for several years now. Let me start by saying that I am a committed carnivore and I will not be giving up eating meat any time soon. I was a non meat eater between 1984 and 2000 and it really didn't agree with me, giving me some health issues due to vitamin deficiency, which was a tad ironic, given that I'd stopped eating meat for health reasons. However, I do believe that in the UK and the West in general, we are eating far too much meat for both the good of ourselves and the good of the planet. 

I made a compromise. I eat a semi vegan diet for 3/4 days a week and have fish a couple of days and meat a couple of days. When I eat fish and meat, I eat good quality organically produced products whenever possible. I find that buy getting great quality produce it tastes better and it is made more affordable by having 3-4 days a week where I don't eat it. 

The big issue I have with much vegetarian and vegan cooking is that it is bland and tasteless. In most pubs and average restaurants, the dreaded veggie option is truly awful. It is bland slop, which only someone with a serious covid infection would say was edible, where their sense of taste and smell had been completely annihilated. In my veggie years, I got truly sick of the "vegetable lasagne". My massive love of curries came from that period, because at least Indian food does vegetarian food well. I have always enjoyed a good vegetarian Thali, preferably that has an onion bhaji, a veg samosa, some dal, perhaps a brinjal (aubergene) bhaji and some rice, chutneys and poppadoms

It opened my eyes and made me realise that vegetarian food did not have to be dull and bland. Similarly, middle eastern food has some cracking recipes. I used to work in Leman St, and I was delighted to find that they did a special falafel roll in Lemans Sandwich shop. To this day, I'd rate it up there with a bacon sarnie as the best café food. 

To this day, I enjoy simple pasta's and usually will have a Penne Arrabiata as a default choice when eating in Italian restaurants. It is simple, filling and very tasty. It is easy to make, with fresh tomatoes, chillies, some fresh basil and some olive oil. Most of the recipes suggest using tinned tomatoes, but personally I much prefer using fresh plum tomatoes. Mill Hill residents will know there is a brilliant shop in the Broadway that sells amazing fresh veg, so all of these things are easy to source.

When I was growing up, my Mum was a decent cook, but like many of her generation, she was not great on cooking vegetables. Most would be boiled to death and bathed in salt. I thought veg such as aubergenes, courgettes and cabbage were disgusting. When I first gave up meat, I started to experiment. Indian restaurants seemed to prepare such vegetables in a different manner, so it inspired me to try different preparations. I found that grilling, baking, frying and barbequing such veg, especially if they were appropriately seasoned, made things I'd not been able to stomach, actually taste quite delicious. 

Then there were the vegetables I'd always liked. Lets start with the most popular veg dish on the planet. The chip. Who doesn't love chips? When people say they don't like vegetables, somehow they forget about chips. It got me thinking. Why are chips so delicious? By accident and by being a tightwad and a slob, I discovered that if you keep your leftover chips and fry them up the next day, they taste even better. These days, that is called "triple cooked chips". When I thought about it, I realised that chips are great but with good quality salt and Sarsons malt vinegar, they are devine. So  if the chip, the pinnacle of vegetarian cooking can be improved, surely anything can be? 

It soon occurred to me that if a potato can be improved by deep frying, then it is worth trying the same approach with other vegetables. One of my favourite Chinese restaurants is The Good Earth in Mill Hill. They have an extensive vegetarian menu, and such things as aubergene and courgettes are deep fried in a tempura batter, making them highly tasty. A few experiments at home soon revealed that batter can really improve a lot of such things.

Then there was the issue of the barbecue. As someone of Aussie heritage, this was a big challenge in my veggie years. The advent of the Linda McCartney range of veggie sausages and burgers was a godsend, but in truth these never quite cut the mustard with me. I felt that the need to be all things to all men meant they really didn't quite hit the heights they could. I started to experiment, and found that I could make my own, with a bit of added spice and more discernable chunks of what I like (things such as Shitake mushrooms) and the results started to be very good. I found that lentils could also make a good base for a burger, especially when combined with chillies. Mix in a few finely chopped mushrooms, spices and peppers and you could get something very good indeed. 

During my non meat eating years, I did eat dairy. I found that Parmesan cheese was a magic ingredient. I came up with all manner of recipies that involved cutting Aubergenes into burger sized slices, frying them, baking them, topping with parmesan and then finishing them on the barbecue. This transformed something I'd always associated with inedible ratatouille (one of the horrors of  my youth), into a really good barbecue option.

Another veggie staple I'd always struggled with was tofu. I found that this could work really well in burgers, if you got the good quality smoked variety and mixed it with mushrooms, spices and chillies. 

The question committed carnivores will always ask is "is it as tasty as meat?". To me, that is the wrong question. Firstly, although I love a good steak, if I ate it every day, I'd get bored with it. I think many of these dishes are the equal of the meat alternative, especially when cheap ingredients are used. Many a sausage smells far better on the barbie than it tastes. It occurred to me that it would be a great challenge to prepare a vegetarian barbecue for my carnivore friends and get an honest answer as to how it compared. My personal view is that the way forward is not to try and make vegetarian food have the taste and texture of the meat equivalent (as Greggs have done so well with the veggie sausage roll, which probably tastes better and less greasy than the meat version). It is to make dishes that stand up in their own right and that a carnivore may choose to have for two or three days a week, by way of a change. For me, I have concluded that I am healthier and enjoy my food far more by having a good balance of diet. I think the challenge of all of us is to eat tasty food in a healthy and sustainable manner. It is undeniable that the meat industry has played a major role in climate change and putting pressure on the environment. The challenge is for us all to make changes, this won't be a sudden, overnight change, but if we can find a halfway house, that would make a massive difference. I've found that by using fresh ingredients (many grown in my back garden), not boiling the life out of vegetables and playing around a bit, food can be tasty, healthy and fun. If I can share some of these ideas and give people a decent meal idea or two, it has to be worth trying doesn't it. Whether I'll find the viewers G-Spot in the way Fanny Craddock, Gordon Ramsey andMarco Pierre White do, I don't know, but it will be fun trying. What could possibly go wrong!

View this post on Instagram

They’re tasty!

A post shared by Roger Tichborne (@rogtex) on Aug 7, 2020 at 11:13am PDT