http://www.foi.gov.uk/guidance/exsumm/sec43.htm
Oddly enough Section 43 is also one of my favourite psychedelic tracks by Country Joe and the Fish. Click HERE to see them perform it at the Monteray Pop festival in 1967. How strange is that ????
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Section 43 - FOI requests - vital information
Here's what you really need to know about section 43. If you are making an FOI request and you are getting effed about you really should check this out.
http://www.foi.gov.uk/guidance/exsumm/sec43.htm
Oddly enough Section 43 is also one of my favourite psychedelic tracks by Country Joe and the Fish. Click HERE to see them perform it at the Monteray Pop festival in 1967. How strange is that ????
http://www.foi.gov.uk/guidance/exsumm/sec43.htm
Oddly enough Section 43 is also one of my favourite psychedelic tracks by Country Joe and the Fish. Click HERE to see them perform it at the Monteray Pop festival in 1967. How strange is that ????
Israel, Hamas, Death & Destruction &Gaza,
Anyone who's followed my blogs will know the one thing I despise most is moral cowardice. Mike Freer's latest leader listens blog brought home to me the fact that the effects of events in Gaza have implications here in Barnet, so I feel I have to let the readers of my blog know my views. I suspect a fair few of you won't like what I have to say.
Firstly I'd just like to pass comment on the stance of many of our local politicians. Barnet has a large and rather infuential Jewish population. One of the largest outside of Israel. As such the local politicians, whether of Jewish extraction or not have to take account of the sensibilities. I suspect that many of our professed Christian councillors spend more time in Synogogues than the average semi-secular Jew does. I've received a few emails over the life of my blog alleging all sorts of rubbish about this pratice, but to me it's just politicians grubbing for votes and not disturbing or overly worrying. I don't believe that too many of them really have a deep rooted commitment to Zionism and if they moved to Romford or somewhere with a different demographic make up would probably find a different group to suck up to.
Which brings us to the situation in Gaza. My father was working in Palestine before the creation of the state of Israel. He was present when the "Zionists" were viewed by the British establishment as terrorists and when Menachim Begin was a member of the Stern Gang. Friends of his were killed in the terror campaign. As he had major business interests in the region at the time, when Israel was created he departed. As Arab countries would not allow people with an Israeli stamp to enter, he didn't return until 1966, when he went on a Pilgrimage with the Metropolitan Police to the Holy Land. On returning he was impressed by the progress. Areas of desert had been transformed and Soceity had been modernised. He contrasted this with what happened in Libya when the British evicted the Italians in 1943 and how that had developed, despite huge oil wealth. A year after his visit, there was a war between the Arabs and Israeli's. This was followed by a further war in 1973. Both of these wars were brought about by the stated Arab intention of destroying the state of Israel, created by a United Nations Mandate. By the time of his 1976 visit, many holy places had bullet and shrapnel marks. As a result of these two wars, the Arab nations realised that they couldn't achieve their aims through conventional war.
It is also worth remembering that one of the notorious Palestinian terror groups, Black September took their name from the Jordanian purge of Palestinians, not from any Israeli atrocity. The sad truth is that whilst many Arab nations pay lip service to the Palestinian cause, they've never welcomed the Palestinians or given them any real support other than in the armed struggle. States like Saudi Arabia have huge wealth, but what have they done to help Palestinians in refugee camps?
After the 1973 war, Israel was seen as too powerful a foe for the Arabs to fight head to head. In truth the Israeli army started to get complacent. This reached a head when they invaded southern Lebanon and fought Hizbollah. Hizbollah is a Shia faction backed by Iran. They were ready and waiting for Israel and Israel suffered it's first major military setback.
With the creation of the Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, various Arab and Iranian groups saw an opportunity to repeat this success. Hamas was built up with Arab and Iranian support and became the predominant power in Gaza. This densely populated strip of land houses an urban and impoverished population. Billions of dollars has been poured into it, but rather than raising the living standards of the residents, it's funded a campaign against Israel. Rockets are fired on a daily basis into Israel, not at military targets, but randomly at civilian areas. The aim is to provoke the Israeli military into a response. As Gaza is so tightly packed, any military action will result in civilian deaths. Israel eventually fell for the ploy and we have the current offensive. Huge numbers of civilians are being killed in Gaza and many capitals around the world are seeing anti Israeli protests. The Israeli line is "what would you do if you were under daily attack".
Which brings me to my point. There are not two parties involved in this - Hamas and Israel. There is a third darker aspect. The backers of Hamas who supply rockets and are sitting back, safe in their distant palaces, letting the poor and the dispossessed fight their battles. Israel cannot defeat Hamas, Hamas cannot defeat Israel. All that can happen is the two parties will make each other's lives hell. Every death spawns a new batch of Martyr's. Every Rocket spawns a new batch of reprisals. Whilst all this goes on, the backers of Hamas sit back and happily watch the death toll rise and use their influence and oil wealth to ferment trouble at the UN.
The unpalatable truth is that Hamas and Israel will have to talk to each other and reach an accomodation. Just as Menachim Begin went from terrorist to statesman, so will the leaders of hamas eventually. The Israeli policy of killing the leaders is counter productive as new, unknown and even more hardline leaders emerge. Someone has to break the cycle. It won't be Hamas, so it has to be Israel. The US has a vital role to play as it can not only influence Israel, but to some degree it can also influence the wealty, fat cat backers of Hamas. I'm a pacifist, I don't agree or believe in war as a solution, in all but the most extreme cases. I don't think war will solve the problems of Gaza or Israel. Israel has to cease it's campaign and the UN has to apply pressure to the backers of Hamas. The thing that saddens me most is that every Martyr has been a futile waste of life. Every rocket has been paid for with money that could have improved Gaza. Every Israeli soldier watching his back in Gaza today, could be building a better world.
Violence is not the answer and violence will not work in Gaza. For anyone
Firstly I'd just like to pass comment on the stance of many of our local politicians. Barnet has a large and rather infuential Jewish population. One of the largest outside of Israel. As such the local politicians, whether of Jewish extraction or not have to take account of the sensibilities. I suspect that many of our professed Christian councillors spend more time in Synogogues than the average semi-secular Jew does. I've received a few emails over the life of my blog alleging all sorts of rubbish about this pratice, but to me it's just politicians grubbing for votes and not disturbing or overly worrying. I don't believe that too many of them really have a deep rooted commitment to Zionism and if they moved to Romford or somewhere with a different demographic make up would probably find a different group to suck up to.
Which brings us to the situation in Gaza. My father was working in Palestine before the creation of the state of Israel. He was present when the "Zionists" were viewed by the British establishment as terrorists and when Menachim Begin was a member of the Stern Gang. Friends of his were killed in the terror campaign. As he had major business interests in the region at the time, when Israel was created he departed. As Arab countries would not allow people with an Israeli stamp to enter, he didn't return until 1966, when he went on a Pilgrimage with the Metropolitan Police to the Holy Land. On returning he was impressed by the progress. Areas of desert had been transformed and Soceity had been modernised. He contrasted this with what happened in Libya when the British evicted the Italians in 1943 and how that had developed, despite huge oil wealth. A year after his visit, there was a war between the Arabs and Israeli's. This was followed by a further war in 1973. Both of these wars were brought about by the stated Arab intention of destroying the state of Israel, created by a United Nations Mandate. By the time of his 1976 visit, many holy places had bullet and shrapnel marks. As a result of these two wars, the Arab nations realised that they couldn't achieve their aims through conventional war.
It is also worth remembering that one of the notorious Palestinian terror groups, Black September took their name from the Jordanian purge of Palestinians, not from any Israeli atrocity. The sad truth is that whilst many Arab nations pay lip service to the Palestinian cause, they've never welcomed the Palestinians or given them any real support other than in the armed struggle. States like Saudi Arabia have huge wealth, but what have they done to help Palestinians in refugee camps?
After the 1973 war, Israel was seen as too powerful a foe for the Arabs to fight head to head. In truth the Israeli army started to get complacent. This reached a head when they invaded southern Lebanon and fought Hizbollah. Hizbollah is a Shia faction backed by Iran. They were ready and waiting for Israel and Israel suffered it's first major military setback.
With the creation of the Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, various Arab and Iranian groups saw an opportunity to repeat this success. Hamas was built up with Arab and Iranian support and became the predominant power in Gaza. This densely populated strip of land houses an urban and impoverished population. Billions of dollars has been poured into it, but rather than raising the living standards of the residents, it's funded a campaign against Israel. Rockets are fired on a daily basis into Israel, not at military targets, but randomly at civilian areas. The aim is to provoke the Israeli military into a response. As Gaza is so tightly packed, any military action will result in civilian deaths. Israel eventually fell for the ploy and we have the current offensive. Huge numbers of civilians are being killed in Gaza and many capitals around the world are seeing anti Israeli protests. The Israeli line is "what would you do if you were under daily attack".
Which brings me to my point. There are not two parties involved in this - Hamas and Israel. There is a third darker aspect. The backers of Hamas who supply rockets and are sitting back, safe in their distant palaces, letting the poor and the dispossessed fight their battles. Israel cannot defeat Hamas, Hamas cannot defeat Israel. All that can happen is the two parties will make each other's lives hell. Every death spawns a new batch of Martyr's. Every Rocket spawns a new batch of reprisals. Whilst all this goes on, the backers of Hamas sit back and happily watch the death toll rise and use their influence and oil wealth to ferment trouble at the UN.
The unpalatable truth is that Hamas and Israel will have to talk to each other and reach an accomodation. Just as Menachim Begin went from terrorist to statesman, so will the leaders of hamas eventually. The Israeli policy of killing the leaders is counter productive as new, unknown and even more hardline leaders emerge. Someone has to break the cycle. It won't be Hamas, so it has to be Israel. The US has a vital role to play as it can not only influence Israel, but to some degree it can also influence the wealty, fat cat backers of Hamas. I'm a pacifist, I don't agree or believe in war as a solution, in all but the most extreme cases. I don't think war will solve the problems of Gaza or Israel. Israel has to cease it's campaign and the UN has to apply pressure to the backers of Hamas. The thing that saddens me most is that every Martyr has been a futile waste of life. Every rocket has been paid for with money that could have improved Gaza. Every Israeli soldier watching his back in Gaza today, could be building a better world.
Violence is not the answer and violence will not work in Gaza. For anyone
Saturday, 10 January 2009
What about all the rubbish teachers?
I saw this story on the BBC (Click HERE) and had a wry smile. A group of girls set up a page describing their dislike of a teacher at their school. Had we had Facebook when I was at school, it was just the type of thing I'd done ( I suppose that is probably no surprise to regular readers). Back in the 60's & 70's when I was at school, I suspect that the issue would have been handled rather differently. We still had corporal punishment then. Had I done that at Finchley Catholic High school in 1977, I guess that I' probably been beaten black and blue for my efforts. Would the teacher have been "in Counselling"? then. I suspect they'd have been in the headmasters office to sadistically watch as the canings took place. I remember the first time I was hit at school. I must have been 5 or 6. It was in what we called Infants 1 at St Vincents. I'd misspelt the word Train as Trian. Our teacher wrote TRAIN on the blackboard, called me to the front of the class and asked me to spell it correctly underneath. She handed me the chalk and I wrote in big letters T R I A N. In those days we didn't have dyslexia, so I was just thick and insolent. I got a sharp whack with a metal ruler across the knuckles. For those of you who say corporal punishment doesn't work, I've never spelt Train incorrectly since.
I remember the last time I got the cane as well. That was at Finchley Catholic High School. I was in the 5th year. A 4th year had been kicked in the face by one of my class and had a broken nose. Mr Kelly, the headmaster gathered all of the likely perpetrators together (about 8 of us) and demanded that the attacker reveal themselves. Class 5b were a rather anarchistic mob, so no one said anything. Kelly then said we'd all get 6 of the best. If the perpetrator was identified, he alone would get it. If he owned up, he'd get 6, if someone else grassed he'd get 12. No one said anything. He then dismissed one of our group, as he was disabled, and proceeded to call us in 1 by 1. We all got a good hiding. The funny thing is that it was the disabled guy who'd perpetrated the crime. How did we react? We thought we'd put one over on the system. I don't know what lesson I learned from that incident, other than don't be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Shortly after that, I transferred my allegiance to Orange Hill Senior High School. When I joined, the headmaster, Mr Cully, told me that he'd seen my school record and said it appeared that I was a troublemaker. He asked me why he should admit a troublemaker to his school. I responded that, yes I'd caused trouble from time to time, but I felt that the headmaster had disliked me and not treated me fairly. I explained the background to several incidents and Cully responded that he was prepared to take a chance. He told me that the first sign of misbehaviour would be my last day at the school. 18 blameless months later, I got caught dropping a waterbomb on a 4th year. I was sent to Cully, expecting to be given my marching orders. He said "Look, I can understand that Taylor is annoying, but this really isn't the way to deal with it, is it?". He asked me to promise to deal with things in a more mature way in future. I did. I guess he'd decided that I wasn't really such a troublemaker after all.
One of the most life-changing moments for me happened shortly before I left Orange Hill. Mr Williams, the then deputy head, called me into his office. As usual I expected to be getting the blame for something. He poured me a glass of scotch (I think I was 17 at the time) and said "I would like you to do me a favour". He explained that he was a jazz nut. He loved Charlie Parker and he'd like me to put together a presentation for him showing the development of modern music from Parker to the Pistols. All of a sudden I realised that he actually respected me. I did my very best and it went well. Up until then, the only music I'd had any interest in at all was Punk Rock. As a result of Mr Williams, my tastes broadened immeasurably and I learned to appreciate music which I'd never have listened to.
Reading about the girls and their facebook site lead me to think about my education. I remember spending hours thinking up ways of winding teachers up. I used to bring in fishing line and rig up things so they'd fall over during lessons. I used to order cabs for the headmaster at times when I knew they'd be taking assemblies. I remember dismantling a desk so that it collapsed when a teacher put their books on them. I once broke into the headmasters office at Finchley during a summer holiday to glue his desk drawers shut. The funny thing is, I never, ever did it to a teacher who I respected or who treated me fairly. It was always in response to what I felt was an injustice. When I went to Orange Hill, where I was treated like an adult, I stopped the pranks. Maybe I'd just grown up, but I think there was more to it. We had an extremely poor maths teacher taking us for Maths A Level. At Finchley, I'd probably have tormented them hoping they left. At Orange Hill, I did something completely different. I spoke to the other pupils. They agreed and we felt that it was damaging our prospects of passing the exam. I organised a delegation to see the headmaster and head of mathematics. The head of maths said that "it wasn't our place to decide who was a good teacher". I responded "yes it is, we are the ones who'll be affected if we fail". The headmaster was swayed by our arguments and we got a new teacher. When I left Finchley, I felt the school had not helped me. I realise now that it had, but probably not in the way it should. It made me an extremely belligerent individual, who will fight to the end. Orange Hill then gave me the tools to do that in a successful manner. I'm pleased to say that I've friends who have children at Finchley and it seems that the school has improved immeasurably since my days (I must also say there were good teachers there at the time, John Shuttler, my physics teacher deserves a special mention ).
The point I'm making is that we learn as much from bad schools and bad teachers as we do from good ones. The trouble is the lessons we learn are all negative ones. I suspect that the girls in this case are responding in this way for a reason. Maybe they are responding in the only way they know how to someone who is letting them down? Maybe a more imaginative school headmaster would have dealt with this in a better way, so it didn't end up on the BBC website. Maybe a better head would run a school where this didn't happen in the first place. In my experience, every school has a few bad teachers, a few inspirational teachers and the vast majority are average and do their job. The bad teachers cause immeasurable damage. Schools should have mechanisms for pupils to raise these matters, other than Facebook hate sites. One final point is that in my experience it wasn't the really strict teachers who pupils conspired against. It was either the ones who weren't any good or were grossly unfair who we resented. I never heard a single complaint for a justly delivered punishment. I think that teachers should have a teaching license. If they are no good, they should have their license revoked.
I remember the last time I got the cane as well. That was at Finchley Catholic High School. I was in the 5th year. A 4th year had been kicked in the face by one of my class and had a broken nose. Mr Kelly, the headmaster gathered all of the likely perpetrators together (about 8 of us) and demanded that the attacker reveal themselves. Class 5b were a rather anarchistic mob, so no one said anything. Kelly then said we'd all get 6 of the best. If the perpetrator was identified, he alone would get it. If he owned up, he'd get 6, if someone else grassed he'd get 12. No one said anything. He then dismissed one of our group, as he was disabled, and proceeded to call us in 1 by 1. We all got a good hiding. The funny thing is that it was the disabled guy who'd perpetrated the crime. How did we react? We thought we'd put one over on the system. I don't know what lesson I learned from that incident, other than don't be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Shortly after that, I transferred my allegiance to Orange Hill Senior High School. When I joined, the headmaster, Mr Cully, told me that he'd seen my school record and said it appeared that I was a troublemaker. He asked me why he should admit a troublemaker to his school. I responded that, yes I'd caused trouble from time to time, but I felt that the headmaster had disliked me and not treated me fairly. I explained the background to several incidents and Cully responded that he was prepared to take a chance. He told me that the first sign of misbehaviour would be my last day at the school. 18 blameless months later, I got caught dropping a waterbomb on a 4th year. I was sent to Cully, expecting to be given my marching orders. He said "Look, I can understand that Taylor is annoying, but this really isn't the way to deal with it, is it?". He asked me to promise to deal with things in a more mature way in future. I did. I guess he'd decided that I wasn't really such a troublemaker after all.
One of the most life-changing moments for me happened shortly before I left Orange Hill. Mr Williams, the then deputy head, called me into his office. As usual I expected to be getting the blame for something. He poured me a glass of scotch (I think I was 17 at the time) and said "I would like you to do me a favour". He explained that he was a jazz nut. He loved Charlie Parker and he'd like me to put together a presentation for him showing the development of modern music from Parker to the Pistols. All of a sudden I realised that he actually respected me. I did my very best and it went well. Up until then, the only music I'd had any interest in at all was Punk Rock. As a result of Mr Williams, my tastes broadened immeasurably and I learned to appreciate music which I'd never have listened to.
Reading about the girls and their facebook site lead me to think about my education. I remember spending hours thinking up ways of winding teachers up. I used to bring in fishing line and rig up things so they'd fall over during lessons. I used to order cabs for the headmaster at times when I knew they'd be taking assemblies. I remember dismantling a desk so that it collapsed when a teacher put their books on them. I once broke into the headmasters office at Finchley during a summer holiday to glue his desk drawers shut. The funny thing is, I never, ever did it to a teacher who I respected or who treated me fairly. It was always in response to what I felt was an injustice. When I went to Orange Hill, where I was treated like an adult, I stopped the pranks. Maybe I'd just grown up, but I think there was more to it. We had an extremely poor maths teacher taking us for Maths A Level. At Finchley, I'd probably have tormented them hoping they left. At Orange Hill, I did something completely different. I spoke to the other pupils. They agreed and we felt that it was damaging our prospects of passing the exam. I organised a delegation to see the headmaster and head of mathematics. The head of maths said that "it wasn't our place to decide who was a good teacher". I responded "yes it is, we are the ones who'll be affected if we fail". The headmaster was swayed by our arguments and we got a new teacher. When I left Finchley, I felt the school had not helped me. I realise now that it had, but probably not in the way it should. It made me an extremely belligerent individual, who will fight to the end. Orange Hill then gave me the tools to do that in a successful manner. I'm pleased to say that I've friends who have children at Finchley and it seems that the school has improved immeasurably since my days (I must also say there were good teachers there at the time, John Shuttler, my physics teacher deserves a special mention ).
The point I'm making is that we learn as much from bad schools and bad teachers as we do from good ones. The trouble is the lessons we learn are all negative ones. I suspect that the girls in this case are responding in this way for a reason. Maybe they are responding in the only way they know how to someone who is letting them down? Maybe a more imaginative school headmaster would have dealt with this in a better way, so it didn't end up on the BBC website. Maybe a better head would run a school where this didn't happen in the first place. In my experience, every school has a few bad teachers, a few inspirational teachers and the vast majority are average and do their job. The bad teachers cause immeasurable damage. Schools should have mechanisms for pupils to raise these matters, other than Facebook hate sites. One final point is that in my experience it wasn't the really strict teachers who pupils conspired against. It was either the ones who weren't any good or were grossly unfair who we resented. I never heard a single complaint for a justly delivered punishment. I think that teachers should have a teaching license. If they are no good, they should have their license revoked.
Friday, 9 January 2009
What is Future Shape all about for Barnet
I watched the Future Shape video, produced by Barnet Council and available via YouTube today (Please click HERE to watch this masterpiece - you really should watch it and tell all your friends to as well). Barnet has spent a small fortune on various consultants fees (they won't say how much, but I suspect that a months worth of consultants bills would pay for the Barnet Lollipop ladies they are so keen to axe for the whole year). This team of highly paid genius's seem to have persuaded our beloved council leaders that running a Borough in a London suburb isn't about emptying bins, delivering old people their dinners, making sure kids get a good education. No, if I've listened correctly it is about "slaying giants". What are these giants that Mike Freer and his merry men are off to slay?
Pension Crisis
Personal Debt
Transport Use
Obesity
Climate Change
How will they do this? Well if you read the Future Shape document, they'll set up an SPV (no not one of those things Captain Scarlet used to drive) to outsource service delivery to. This will give the leadership of the council the opportunity to sit around and work out how to get little Johnny to eat his greens.
Are the leaders of Barnet Council the right people to tell us this? Given the transport policy of the previous Barnet head honcho for transport, Brian Coleman, this will mean either hurtling around the Borough collect points on your license or jumping in publicly funded taxi's to 9 course dinners such as the one he described in his Barnet Press Column. It seems that Coleman has solved his Pension crisis and personal debt issues by getting even more tax funded allowances. He's got the transport issues sown up with free cabs, his obesity is coming on pretty well and after all those lovely free rich dinners detailed in his register of hospitality, he's doing pretty well producing methane to change the climate. I must apologise for the diversion, but we all hate a hypocrite don't we (well I certainly do).
Anyway, BTW, now we know what our council leaders think their job should be, lets consider the giants they think they need to get a handle on
COMMUNITY DECLINE
SELFISHNESS
DECLINE IN VALUES
Again lets look at the solution in the Future Shape briefing. Outsource all of the staff to third party contractors. How much will this help the staff's pension crisis or personal debt crisis? Given the pension arrangements and the pay levels of private contractors, it will only help them to have a crisis. How will forcing mothers to spend even less time with their children as they work longer hours to make up the shortfall help address community decline?
What is Mike Freer saying about his council's values when the council throws loyal staff on the scrapheap. As to selfishness, what example do councillors set when they award themselves ever spiralling allowances.
Why on earth are the council discussing obesity and personal debt? This is not within their remit. They should be concentrating on delivering core services as efficently as possible. It may not be sexy but it's their job. If they want to start slaying Giants, then buy a video console. If they want to do a good job of running the Council then start taking an interest in the nuts and bolts. Start delivering quality services. Cut the waste, start saving costs. If council employees are sitting round discussing climate change and personal debt, this is a gross misuse of public funds. If highly paid consultants are saying this is a good idea then sack them.
I ask you this question. What gives the Council better value for money A) The lollipop wardens of the Borough for a year or B) The Consultants advising Mike Freer to indulge in Blue Sky thinking about obesity and selfishness for a month. Here's another question - Which of these two propositions costs more?
This video has confirmed my very worst fears about "Banker of the year" Mike Freer and his regime. I don't know if all our Tory councillors have seen this video, but if you are a Tory Councillor and you have please tell me, What on earth is going on at the Town Hall? The last time I heard such nonsense was at a student party in 1981 when a bunch of geography students decided to sample some herbs grown by a girl in the Botany class.
Pension Crisis
Personal Debt
Transport Use
Obesity
Climate Change
How will they do this? Well if you read the Future Shape document, they'll set up an SPV (no not one of those things Captain Scarlet used to drive) to outsource service delivery to. This will give the leadership of the council the opportunity to sit around and work out how to get little Johnny to eat his greens.
Are the leaders of Barnet Council the right people to tell us this? Given the transport policy of the previous Barnet head honcho for transport, Brian Coleman, this will mean either hurtling around the Borough collect points on your license or jumping in publicly funded taxi's to 9 course dinners such as the one he described in his Barnet Press Column. It seems that Coleman has solved his Pension crisis and personal debt issues by getting even more tax funded allowances. He's got the transport issues sown up with free cabs, his obesity is coming on pretty well and after all those lovely free rich dinners detailed in his register of hospitality, he's doing pretty well producing methane to change the climate. I must apologise for the diversion, but we all hate a hypocrite don't we (well I certainly do).
Anyway, BTW, now we know what our council leaders think their job should be, lets consider the giants they think they need to get a handle on
COMMUNITY DECLINE
SELFISHNESS
DECLINE IN VALUES
Again lets look at the solution in the Future Shape briefing. Outsource all of the staff to third party contractors. How much will this help the staff's pension crisis or personal debt crisis? Given the pension arrangements and the pay levels of private contractors, it will only help them to have a crisis. How will forcing mothers to spend even less time with their children as they work longer hours to make up the shortfall help address community decline?
What is Mike Freer saying about his council's values when the council throws loyal staff on the scrapheap. As to selfishness, what example do councillors set when they award themselves ever spiralling allowances.
Why on earth are the council discussing obesity and personal debt? This is not within their remit. They should be concentrating on delivering core services as efficently as possible. It may not be sexy but it's their job. If they want to start slaying Giants, then buy a video console. If they want to do a good job of running the Council then start taking an interest in the nuts and bolts. Start delivering quality services. Cut the waste, start saving costs. If council employees are sitting round discussing climate change and personal debt, this is a gross misuse of public funds. If highly paid consultants are saying this is a good idea then sack them.
I ask you this question. What gives the Council better value for money A) The lollipop wardens of the Borough for a year or B) The Consultants advising Mike Freer to indulge in Blue Sky thinking about obesity and selfishness for a month. Here's another question - Which of these two propositions costs more?
This video has confirmed my very worst fears about "Banker of the year" Mike Freer and his regime. I don't know if all our Tory councillors have seen this video, but if you are a Tory Councillor and you have please tell me, What on earth is going on at the Town Hall? The last time I heard such nonsense was at a student party in 1981 when a bunch of geography students decided to sample some herbs grown by a girl in the Botany class.
A bizarre announcement from Barnet Council
Running a small business is always a bit of a challenge. In my experience, council bureaucracy never makes it any easier. When we put in for planning permission for our new studios, the planning department made us lower the building by 9 inches, so that the view of the M1 wasn't obscured from Bunns Lane???? When we put in for a rates appeal, it took nearly 3 years to be heard. In the end we got a rebate of thousands of pounds. I asked myself how many businesses would have gone bankrupt for want of that working capital. I asked one of our local conservative councillors whether he could investigate lowering the maximum time for rates appeals in Barnet to 6 months. His response? "I was on the rates appeal panel for years and no one ever wins". Rather a strange statement, given that I've achieved a reduction every time I've had an appeal. I've also successfully advised 5 other companies on how to do it. In light of all of this, I've formed a fairly low opinion of how Barnet deal with small business.
In light of this, I wasn't surprised to read this statement in a Press release on the Barnet Council website from leader Mike Freer.
Leader of the Council, Councillor Mike Freer said:
Well there you have it. If you are a small trader, Barnet are out to get you. OK I'll own up. That isn't what Mike Freer said. He said this before Christmas.
Leader of the Council, Councillor Mike Freer said:
The trouble is that Christmas is now over. On the 4th of January, the charges reverted to the old levels. By making his statement, he has admitted that the current levels discourage shoppers and damage traders. As the "current financial climate" is no better than it was when he made his initial statement, then all he's done is taken the boot off the neck of small traders long enough for them to catch breath. The boot is now back. Parking charges in town centres urgently needs reviewing. Mike Freer has admitted this by making his statement. I know Mike enjoys reading this blog so maybe he'll give it some thought and come back with some sensible long term amendments which consider more than simply maximising the Council's parking revenues. If the Tories want to be taken seriously as the party of business, here's a good place to start with practical measures that will benefit traders and residents alike.
In light of this, I wasn't surprised to read this statement in a Press release on the Barnet Council website from leader Mike Freer.
Leader of the Council, Councillor Mike Freer said:
“It is essential in the current financial climate that the Council does everything within its power to discourage more residents and visitors fom shopping in the local area and we envisage that by increasing the cost of parking as Christmas is over it will decrease the footfall for local traders.”
Well there you have it. If you are a small trader, Barnet are out to get you. OK I'll own up. That isn't what Mike Freer said. He said this before Christmas.
Leader of the Council, Councillor Mike Freer said:
“It is essential in the current financial climate that the Council does everything within its power to encourage more residents and visitors to shop in the local area and we envisage that by reducing the cost of parking as Christmas approaches it will increase the footfall for local traders.”
The trouble is that Christmas is now over. On the 4th of January, the charges reverted to the old levels. By making his statement, he has admitted that the current levels discourage shoppers and damage traders. As the "current financial climate" is no better than it was when he made his initial statement, then all he's done is taken the boot off the neck of small traders long enough for them to catch breath. The boot is now back. Parking charges in town centres urgently needs reviewing. Mike Freer has admitted this by making his statement. I know Mike enjoys reading this blog so maybe he'll give it some thought and come back with some sensible long term amendments which consider more than simply maximising the Council's parking revenues. If the Tories want to be taken seriously as the party of business, here's a good place to start with practical measures that will benefit traders and residents alike.
Thursday, 8 January 2009
Vindicated: Crack open the bubbly and toast Banker of the year Freer
Tonight I'm cracking open the bubbly. As my Mrs T is in Swansea at a swimming gala with Eldest daughter, I'll have to celebrate on my own, but celebrate I will. Why you may ask? It's like when you make up a joke and six months later you hear a stranger you've never met telling it. What's even better is when your idea takes hold despite a concerted effort to knock you down.
What am I going on about? Well I used to write a blog on the Edgware Times website. I wrote about three legged dogs, the music scene in Barnet, the dangers of systemic insecticides in Skunk weed and other local issues. One day I wrote a satirical piece, aiming to highlight how useless Council leader Mike Freer was. In this blog I drew attention to the fact that Lib Dem MP's comments about Gordon Brown going from Stalin to Mr Bean could equally apply to the way Mike Freer ran Barnet council. Rather ironically for someone who claimed to be offended to be called a Stalinist, somebody (I wonder who) made a big fuss and the Times removed the blog. Can you think of any worse way to try and show that you are not a control freak than to demand your critics be censored? Anyway I got a phonecall from the Times and was asked not to criticise Freer anymore as he was "a fellow blogger" and it wasn't the done thing to criticise "fellow bloggers". Now at this point, I drew the conclusion that Freer is a rather thin skinned, humourless character with a rather unpleasant authoritarian streak. Here was the leader of Englands 9th biggest council, getting in a strop because a local punk rock musician decides to lampoon him. Rather odd for a man who has a dream of becoming an MP. What will he do when Vince Cable starts winding him up? Doesn't he realise that there are some rather good wind up merchants at Westminster?
In short it became clear to me that Freer was useless. Trouble is that at the time, no one else really knew. Now I'm not someone to lie down and say "kick me" when I get bullied. The good thing is that there are others in Barnet who feel the same. One such person was an occasional commenter on my blog "Don't Call Me Dave". Unlike me, he's a traditional Tory. He's also a Tory with a sense of decency and fair play. He too had formed the opinion that Freer was pretty useless. Even though he sits at the other end of the political spectrum to myself, he was affronted by the Times censorship of my article. It spurred him into launching his "Barnet Council Watch" blog. He reprinted my "Freer Beanite Stalinist" blog in full. He then started publishing other information about various shenaningans in the council. Whilst you'd get a very different Government if David or myself were Prime Minister, we both agree on a few things. We believe in open, honest government. We believe in accountability. We despise bully boy tactics and we both think Mike Freer is useless.
Mike Freer eventually got his wish and my blog was discontinued by the Edgware Times. I criticised the council once too often and once too harshly. Phil Crowther, then editor of the Times told me that the blog was stopped not for what I had said, but what I may say in the future??? I guess Mike Freer thought that was that for "Rog T". Dream on Mikey. I immediately set up the Barnet Eye. Unlike my Times blog, I was no longer working under any editorial control and could say what I liked about the Council and it's leader. So the attempts at control freakery failed. I'm sure that Mike's response if you asked him whether he was happy with having created the Barnet Eye, he'd say "Nobody could have predicted that Rog T would have set up a blog when the Times sacked him". I'd love to play chess against Mike Freer, he never sees the next move, he's always surprised when things don't go his way. In short he is useless. When I first started my blog, I was a lone voice in the wilderness. Like a snowball rolling down a hill, it seems that others are catching on. What started with one satirical blog has mushroomed. Mike Freer has just been awarded the prestigious "Private Eye Banker of the Year Award". In the citation this is specifically awarded for having "raised cluelessness to an art form". It's like that joke you told six months ago being told on Television as you have your fish and chips. Even better, my old stomping ground, The Time have featured the story in the paper - click HERE
So pencil a note in your diary. Today, 8th January 2009 is a date to remember. It's the day Mike Freer officially became a laughing stock. Has Barnet Council ever had a more embarrassing leader? Has Barnet Council ever had a worse leader? It reminds me of the old song "The King is in the Altogether". It seems to me that only his 32 Conservative Council Colleagues still think he's got a fine suit of armour. I'm not a Tory and I'm loathe to help them, but surely the time has come to say "Thanks Mike, you've done your best, now can we have a proper leader please?".
What am I going on about? Well I used to write a blog on the Edgware Times website. I wrote about three legged dogs, the music scene in Barnet, the dangers of systemic insecticides in Skunk weed and other local issues. One day I wrote a satirical piece, aiming to highlight how useless Council leader Mike Freer was. In this blog I drew attention to the fact that Lib Dem MP's comments about Gordon Brown going from Stalin to Mr Bean could equally apply to the way Mike Freer ran Barnet council. Rather ironically for someone who claimed to be offended to be called a Stalinist, somebody (I wonder who) made a big fuss and the Times removed the blog. Can you think of any worse way to try and show that you are not a control freak than to demand your critics be censored? Anyway I got a phonecall from the Times and was asked not to criticise Freer anymore as he was "a fellow blogger" and it wasn't the done thing to criticise "fellow bloggers". Now at this point, I drew the conclusion that Freer is a rather thin skinned, humourless character with a rather unpleasant authoritarian streak. Here was the leader of Englands 9th biggest council, getting in a strop because a local punk rock musician decides to lampoon him. Rather odd for a man who has a dream of becoming an MP. What will he do when Vince Cable starts winding him up? Doesn't he realise that there are some rather good wind up merchants at Westminster?
In short it became clear to me that Freer was useless. Trouble is that at the time, no one else really knew. Now I'm not someone to lie down and say "kick me" when I get bullied. The good thing is that there are others in Barnet who feel the same. One such person was an occasional commenter on my blog "Don't Call Me Dave". Unlike me, he's a traditional Tory. He's also a Tory with a sense of decency and fair play. He too had formed the opinion that Freer was pretty useless. Even though he sits at the other end of the political spectrum to myself, he was affronted by the Times censorship of my article. It spurred him into launching his "Barnet Council Watch" blog. He reprinted my "Freer Beanite Stalinist" blog in full. He then started publishing other information about various shenaningans in the council. Whilst you'd get a very different Government if David or myself were Prime Minister, we both agree on a few things. We believe in open, honest government. We believe in accountability. We despise bully boy tactics and we both think Mike Freer is useless.
Mike Freer eventually got his wish and my blog was discontinued by the Edgware Times. I criticised the council once too often and once too harshly. Phil Crowther, then editor of the Times told me that the blog was stopped not for what I had said, but what I may say in the future??? I guess Mike Freer thought that was that for "Rog T". Dream on Mikey. I immediately set up the Barnet Eye. Unlike my Times blog, I was no longer working under any editorial control and could say what I liked about the Council and it's leader. So the attempts at control freakery failed. I'm sure that Mike's response if you asked him whether he was happy with having created the Barnet Eye, he'd say "Nobody could have predicted that Rog T would have set up a blog when the Times sacked him". I'd love to play chess against Mike Freer, he never sees the next move, he's always surprised when things don't go his way. In short he is useless. When I first started my blog, I was a lone voice in the wilderness. Like a snowball rolling down a hill, it seems that others are catching on. What started with one satirical blog has mushroomed. Mike Freer has just been awarded the prestigious "Private Eye Banker of the Year Award". In the citation this is specifically awarded for having "raised cluelessness to an art form". It's like that joke you told six months ago being told on Television as you have your fish and chips. Even better, my old stomping ground, The Time have featured the story in the paper - click HERE
So pencil a note in your diary. Today, 8th January 2009 is a date to remember. It's the day Mike Freer officially became a laughing stock. Has Barnet Council ever had a more embarrassing leader? Has Barnet Council ever had a worse leader? It reminds me of the old song "The King is in the Altogether". It seems to me that only his 32 Conservative Council Colleagues still think he's got a fine suit of armour. I'm not a Tory and I'm loathe to help them, but surely the time has come to say "Thanks Mike, you've done your best, now can we have a proper leader please?".
The Completely FA use cup - Boris Johnson 1 - Mike Freer 0
The Conservative controlled GLA spent the £4,998.00 with MANCHESTER (CITY COUNCIL) on Books, Publications & Information. Was this money well spent? I've absolutely no idea. I've also absolutely no idea if the £18,894.00 spent with the BUILDING RESEARCH ESTABLISHMENT on Consultancy Fees was worth it.
The GLA also spent a bit with Anders Elite on consultancy in November, I'll let you tot all of these up.
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,696.39
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,696.39
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,696.39
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,696.39
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,696.39
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,527.90
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,527.90
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,527.90
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,527.90
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,527.90
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy -2,359.34
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,527.90
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,527.90
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,157.11
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 1,685.24
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 1,348.20
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 1,179.68
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 1,179.68
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 1,179.68
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 1,179.68
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 1,011.15
So what on earth am I going on about? As I said, I've no idea whether this was money well spent or flushed down the loo. Well the point is that the GLA publish all of their expenses over a £1000 every month. It's on their website so you, me and anyone else can have a look. These items were from Novembers list. Visit http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/expenditure/index.jsp to have a look. You can select the month of your choice from April.
The page says the following at the top :-
In Barnet we have a rather different way of dealing with council expenses. In his recent Blog, Lib Dem leader Jack Cohen told of how he was forbidden from revealing the cost of consultant's working for Barnet Council (read 2nd last paragraph HERE). Why is it that Boris Johnson and the GLA think publishing this information is a good thing, whilst the People's republic of Barnet threaten people who try and put the information in the public domain? Could it be that for all of his faults, Boris wants a clean, open and honest administration? The Barnet Tories have tried to intimidate the "Blogosition" by naming people who ask for "too many" pieces of information under the Freedom of Information act. Lackies and Cronies from the regime plant questions in Council meetings and leave comments on blogs, stating that "Each request costs the taxpayer £150". Well follow the example of Boris and stop hiding things under the carpet.
The more open a Government, the more successful the economy. That is why the USA is such a financial powerhouse. I can think of no reason for excessive secrecy other than the whiff of corrupt practice? It may just be that it is ingrained, but rather than having "blue sky sessions" to debate obesity, the council would do far better to make complete transparency the first objective of "Future Shape" rather than the nonsense they seem hell bent on imposing. A certain councillor told me that "they couldn't disclose how much consultants were paid, because this could give competitors an unfair advantage". My response was "You mean that they'd charge less?" It hasn't occurred to the numbskulls that this would result in a better deal for you me and all of the other taxpayers. If all of the suppliers were working under the same regime, there would be no advantage whatsoever. It would also mean that if the lowest bid wasn't used, it would soon become apparent.
Leader of Barnet Council, Mike Freer would do well to take a leaf out of Boris Johnson's book. If he did, then maybe I could go back to writing blogs about football and three legged dogs.
The GLA also spent a bit with Anders Elite on consultancy in November, I'll let you tot all of these up.
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,696.39
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,696.39
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,696.39
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,696.39
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,696.39
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,527.90
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,527.90
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,527.90
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,527.90
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,527.90
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy -2,359.34
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,527.90
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,527.90
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 2,157.11
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 1,685.24
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 1,348.20
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 1,179.68
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 1,179.68
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 1,179.68
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 1,179.68
ANDERS ELITE Capital Expenditure - Consultancy 1,011.15
So what on earth am I going on about? As I said, I've no idea whether this was money well spent or flushed down the loo. Well the point is that the GLA publish all of their expenses over a £1000 every month. It's on their website so you, me and anyone else can have a look. These items were from Novembers list. Visit http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/expenditure/index.jsp to have a look. You can select the month of your choice from April.
The page says the following at the top :-
Expenditure over £1,000
The Mayor is committed to providing financial transparency and has instructed that regular reports should be published on all GLA expenditure over £1,000, including VAT.
In Barnet we have a rather different way of dealing with council expenses. In his recent Blog, Lib Dem leader Jack Cohen told of how he was forbidden from revealing the cost of consultant's working for Barnet Council (read 2nd last paragraph HERE). Why is it that Boris Johnson and the GLA think publishing this information is a good thing, whilst the People's republic of Barnet threaten people who try and put the information in the public domain? Could it be that for all of his faults, Boris wants a clean, open and honest administration? The Barnet Tories have tried to intimidate the "Blogosition" by naming people who ask for "too many" pieces of information under the Freedom of Information act. Lackies and Cronies from the regime plant questions in Council meetings and leave comments on blogs, stating that "Each request costs the taxpayer £150". Well follow the example of Boris and stop hiding things under the carpet.
The more open a Government, the more successful the economy. That is why the USA is such a financial powerhouse. I can think of no reason for excessive secrecy other than the whiff of corrupt practice? It may just be that it is ingrained, but rather than having "blue sky sessions" to debate obesity, the council would do far better to make complete transparency the first objective of "Future Shape" rather than the nonsense they seem hell bent on imposing. A certain councillor told me that "they couldn't disclose how much consultants were paid, because this could give competitors an unfair advantage". My response was "You mean that they'd charge less?" It hasn't occurred to the numbskulls that this would result in a better deal for you me and all of the other taxpayers. If all of the suppliers were working under the same regime, there would be no advantage whatsoever. It would also mean that if the lowest bid wasn't used, it would soon become apparent.
Leader of Barnet Council, Mike Freer would do well to take a leaf out of Boris Johnson's book. If he did, then maybe I could go back to writing blogs about football and three legged dogs.
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Barnet Eye News Round up - Coleman's latest balls and God on the bus.
I don't usually use my Wednesday round up for Colemanbashing but as he was giving it large on Radio 2 today, I feel it is only fair to start by administering a sharp kick to the Colemanballs. I asked in a previous blog for anyone at all who liked Brian Coleman and thought he did a good job to leave a comment. I didn't get any comments, but I actually got an email. A rather pleasant lady of Cypriot origin told me that he's a steadfast supporter of Cyprus and the Cypriot community. She said he's always at events and always very supportive. She said that although she wasn't a member of the Tory party, she felt it was only fair to repay him for his support. Fair comment, I thought. If he's putting time into helping out London's Cypriot community, that's a good thing. I did a quick search of his register of members interests (CLICK HERE) and noticed that he's a member of the Conservative Friends of Cyprus. I then thought I'd check his hospitality register and I found this entry for 12 October 2007
On 10 October 2008 he went to "protest" some more
Far be it from me to suggest that Brians interests in Cyprus might be influenced by a nice free holiday every year. I'm sure he finds plenty of time to protest between the free lunches and dinners. Mind you I can't talk. I've sampled free lunches at protests. I remember that Michael Foot once gave me a cheese sandwich at a rally because he said I looked "miserable and hungry".
Another story which caught my eye was the adverts for Athiesm on the side of buses. A couple of people asked me what I thought, as I'm a Roman Catholic ( a rather bad one mind ). Well, it's a free country and if that's how Athiests want to spend their money, that's fine by me. Personally I'd have rather have the seen donations of £150,000 being spent on meals for the homeless and starving in a nice "Gift from the Athiests" bag, but hey that's me. It seems that the justification for the ads is that churches do it. As I say, if I was an athiest, I'd try and do something a bit different than sheepishly following church tactics. As I said, it's their cash so good luck to them. If it makes people think, that's good enough for me.
One last story was the Sharon Shoesmith compensation story. Whilst she must bear some responsibilty, it seems to me that she is becoming the victim of a media frenzy. I doubt she'll get another well paid job any time soon. I presume she has a mortgage to pay based on her salary and if she had a contract she should be paid off according to the contract. Given the level of responsibility people like her have, I don't think large salaries are unjustifed. If people don't perform they lose their job, but the days of the stocks have gone. If she's entitled to the money she should get it. If everyone who makes a mistake at work is to be sacked and given nothing, then that will sooner or later affect us all. I think it is time for the press to leave her alone.
Visit to Cyprus to attend events organised by the Municipality of Morphou to protest against the Turkish invasion and occupation of Cyprus. Flights with Cyprusair to and from Larnaca, 3 nights bed and breakfast at Hilton Park Hotel in Nicosia. 12th October, Dinner at Cyprus sporting Centre Nicosia. 13th October, Formal Dinner at Hilton Park Hotel Nicosia. 14th October - lunch at Annivas Restaurant, Astromeritis, 14 Oct, Dinner at Miloi Restaurant Dhali Village. 15th october Lunch at Evohia Restaurant, Nicosia
On 10 October 2008 he went to "protest" some more
Visit to Cyprus to attend events organised by the Municipality of Morphou to protest against the Turkish invasion and occupation of Cyprus. Flights with Cyprusair to and from Larnaca, 3 nights bed and breakfast at Hilton Park Hotel in Nicosia. Dinner on the 10th October, lunch and dinner on the 11th and 12th October and lunch on the 13th October in Local Restaurants.
Far be it from me to suggest that Brians interests in Cyprus might be influenced by a nice free holiday every year. I'm sure he finds plenty of time to protest between the free lunches and dinners. Mind you I can't talk. I've sampled free lunches at protests. I remember that Michael Foot once gave me a cheese sandwich at a rally because he said I looked "miserable and hungry".
Another story which caught my eye was the adverts for Athiesm on the side of buses. A couple of people asked me what I thought, as I'm a Roman Catholic ( a rather bad one mind ). Well, it's a free country and if that's how Athiests want to spend their money, that's fine by me. Personally I'd have rather have the seen donations of £150,000 being spent on meals for the homeless and starving in a nice "Gift from the Athiests" bag, but hey that's me. It seems that the justification for the ads is that churches do it. As I say, if I was an athiest, I'd try and do something a bit different than sheepishly following church tactics. As I said, it's their cash so good luck to them. If it makes people think, that's good enough for me.
One last story was the Sharon Shoesmith compensation story. Whilst she must bear some responsibilty, it seems to me that she is becoming the victim of a media frenzy. I doubt she'll get another well paid job any time soon. I presume she has a mortgage to pay based on her salary and if she had a contract she should be paid off according to the contract. Given the level of responsibility people like her have, I don't think large salaries are unjustifed. If people don't perform they lose their job, but the days of the stocks have gone. If she's entitled to the money she should get it. If everyone who makes a mistake at work is to be sacked and given nothing, then that will sooner or later affect us all. I think it is time for the press to leave her alone.
Monday, 5 January 2009
Mike Freer and The Economics of the Looney bin
It looks like Barnet Council are planning to raise Council Taxes by 2.81%. It would be higher, but they've decided to plunder the reserves. Those of you who remember the Tories election in Barnet in 2002, will remember the 26% tax hike that followed.
This rise was supposedly to plug a hole left by the outgoing Lib/Lab administration in the reserves. Whilst I disagree with the Tories about many things, I had a grudging admiration for their abandonment of the manifesto commitment to low Council Taxes to fix a big problem with a politically unpopular measure. It seemed to me that the then Leader Victor Lyon was probably quite a sensible if rather unimaginative chap.
Six years and two leaders later, we have Mike Freer. Now Mike has a different view of financial planning. He increased council borrowing by nearly 8 times, because it was supposedly cheap and "everyone" new interest rates would go up. Guess what? His punt failed and they've gone down. This means that the Council will have to find an extra Million a year to plug the hole. He also decided to put £28.6 Million of the borrowed cash in Icelandic banks, because "no one" thought they'd go bust. So we've borrowed cash and now we can't find it. There's a good chance that it's gone forever. We'll have to find £28.6 million from somewhere? Then there's the Aerodrome Road bridge project. Rumours abound that this has overrun by up to £4 million. If these are true, where will the cash come from? The reserves.
So the question is, when all these bills come in, How much will be left in the Reserves? Well the Tories claimed they needed a 26% rise to plug a £10 Million black hole. Neither Mike Freer, I or anyone else at the moment knows how much money we'll get back from Iceland, but if I was planning the finances, I'd be rather cautious. I wouldn't be subsidising the rise in taxes with the now sparse reserves.
Lets put it this way, Victor Lyon increased taxes to protect reserves in prosperous times. Mike Freer is cutting taxes and destroying reserves in times of uncertainty and unexpected financial strains. Who would you trust? Unlike Mike Freer who is hoping to move to Westminster, we'll be lumbered with the cost of his mistakes. We'll be paying with higher taxes and worse services for years. If Mike was a real leader, he'd raise taxes to protect the council finances. I suppose that when all of the cash has gone, he'll say "No one could have foreseen the fact that if you live beyond your means you end up broke".
Mike Freer has voiced the opinion that I'm a "left wing looney" to his friends (and my informants). I'll let you be the judge of who's the one whose idea of economics are criminally insane.
This rise was supposedly to plug a hole left by the outgoing Lib/Lab administration in the reserves. Whilst I disagree with the Tories about many things, I had a grudging admiration for their abandonment of the manifesto commitment to low Council Taxes to fix a big problem with a politically unpopular measure. It seemed to me that the then Leader Victor Lyon was probably quite a sensible if rather unimaginative chap.
Six years and two leaders later, we have Mike Freer. Now Mike has a different view of financial planning. He increased council borrowing by nearly 8 times, because it was supposedly cheap and "everyone" new interest rates would go up. Guess what? His punt failed and they've gone down. This means that the Council will have to find an extra Million a year to plug the hole. He also decided to put £28.6 Million of the borrowed cash in Icelandic banks, because "no one" thought they'd go bust. So we've borrowed cash and now we can't find it. There's a good chance that it's gone forever. We'll have to find £28.6 million from somewhere? Then there's the Aerodrome Road bridge project. Rumours abound that this has overrun by up to £4 million. If these are true, where will the cash come from? The reserves.
So the question is, when all these bills come in, How much will be left in the Reserves? Well the Tories claimed they needed a 26% rise to plug a £10 Million black hole. Neither Mike Freer, I or anyone else at the moment knows how much money we'll get back from Iceland, but if I was planning the finances, I'd be rather cautious. I wouldn't be subsidising the rise in taxes with the now sparse reserves.
Lets put it this way, Victor Lyon increased taxes to protect reserves in prosperous times. Mike Freer is cutting taxes and destroying reserves in times of uncertainty and unexpected financial strains. Who would you trust? Unlike Mike Freer who is hoping to move to Westminster, we'll be lumbered with the cost of his mistakes. We'll be paying with higher taxes and worse services for years. If Mike was a real leader, he'd raise taxes to protect the council finances. I suppose that when all of the cash has gone, he'll say "No one could have foreseen the fact that if you live beyond your means you end up broke".
Mike Freer has voiced the opinion that I'm a "left wing looney" to his friends (and my informants). I'll let you be the judge of who's the one whose idea of economics are criminally insane.
Sunday, 4 January 2009
Captain Useless strikes again !!!!!
In amongst all the gaffes, blunders and cock-ups made by Councillors Freer and Coleman, we sometimes forget that there is another member of this unholy trinity. A man who despite his job at the BBC cannot work out how to use his microphone at cabinet meetings. A man who's idea of a council motion usually starts "I'd like to congratulate myself on how marvellous I am" (or words to that effect - usually as Mike Freer rolls his eyes to the heavens). A man who announced at the Mill Hill Leader Listens session that although the Police had logged 300 traffic offences a day being committed at the junction of Mill Hill Broadway and Goodwyn Avenue it wasn't a priority. A man who when I asked what the council was doing about dogging in broad daylight in front of Children at Scratchwoods open space replied "The government have legalised it so we can't do anything". He's a man so useless that his image gallery includes a picture of him personally overseeing the work at Aerodrome Road. Under his watchful eye, this has come in millions of pounds over budget, but he clearly see's it as a great success. Click HERE to find out how he boasts on his website about how he procured these contractors and what a great scheme he concocted.
Lord help us from his failures :-
Well it seems that Captain Useless - Councillor Matthew Offord to those of you who haven't had the pleasure - has put his foot in it again. He's standing as Conservative Candidate for Hendon. The last Conservative MP for Hendon was Sir John Gorst. He was a man who I had a lot of time for. Of our local MP's he was the only Tory who had the guts to vote against the closure of Edgware General Hospital. I helped organise a rally at Montrose Park and Sir John made far and away the best speech. He was a man I trusted and a man who did what he said he'd do. He lost his seat to Andrew Dismore in the Labour landslide of 1997.
My wife just got a letter through the door, personally addressed, from Captain Useless. He says "For some time now I've had concerns about the level of health services offered to women in Hendon". You and me both Captain. Mine started around 1994 when the Tories first decided that it would be a good idea to run down Edgware General Hospital. Unlike Captain Useless, who stood for Parliament in Nottingham in 2000, I have long term worries. Captain Useless may think that raising health issues in Hendon will be good for the Tories, but most of the voters, like me and unlike him, have long memories. If a good, honest candidate like Gorst can be undone, then surely he should realise that he'd be far better off keeping quiet about health or even better apologising for the mess John Majors government made of healthcare in Barnet. I'm not going to lie about this. I think the Labour government should have reopened Edgware. I think that the queues at Barnet and the MRSA problems are appalling. I've been to see Andrew Dismore and told him in no uncertain terms (no I didn't buy him lunch to get an audience either). By the end of our meeting Mr Dismore was rather visibly shaken (to be honest I felt like physically shaking him at the time). Having said that, it is plain to everyone that Labour has sunk far more into health in Barnet than the Tories ever would have. Lets face it we all know that ultimately the Tories top priority will be cutting taxes and that means worse health care and even more closures.
Any honest Tory candidate in Hendon would start their letter with an apology. Trouble is that they just don't think like that. Captain Useless isn't a local, he's a careerist politico who sees Barnet and Hendon as useful stop off points on his career. He listens but, I've yet to see any evidence of action. In the news section of his website (click HERE for a look)are there a list of personal local campaigns he's run? Nope.
One other thing that I noticed was the address of the Hendon Conservatives Campaign team - 212 Ballards Lane London N3 2 LX. That's right, the Hendon Conservatives live next door in Finchley. I suggest that if you get Offords letter you send it back with a note saying "Apologise for Edgware General". Oh and by the way the bloke who shut Edgware for Barnet PCT was Brian Salinger, who lead the Tories at the last council election. We all know how Offord knifed him in the back, the people of Hendon be warned.
To sum up Offord and his campaign - USELESS
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