Monday, 17 September 2018

Thameslink Chaos - Time for Matthew Offord to review his cunning plan?

Thameslink Chaos Explained (courtesy London Reconnections)
Like many people who live in Mr Matthew Offord MP's constituency of Hendon, I regularly use the Thameslink service from Mill Hill into the city. Over the past few years, the service has been absolutely chaotic. This blog has regularly chronicled the failures, and the privations suffered by commuters. If you are interested in the sheer scale of the abject failure of the service in May when the new timetable was introduced and the reasons for it, there is a comprehensive analysis on the London Reconnections website.  The problems are summed up by this excellent flowchart. The article explains that the whole thing was a disaster from start to finish and  unbelieveably no one seems to have noticed. The article makes it pretty clear that the problems are not only the fault Govia (the train operator), but Network rail and the government.

In years gone by, the Transport secretary, Chris Grayling would have been swiftly sacked for such a cock up, but these days ministers simply do not take responsibility, so the country just ends up with a no blame culture of shoddy delivery from top to bottom. Let me just state that I am not saying this because of Graylings party allegiances. Competence is not a party political issue. I am equally critical of how the Labour Mayor of London is managing the Crossrail project.

The effects of this mismanagement on ridership of Thameslink since Govia have taken over is demonstrated by a huge drop in ridership at Mill Hill.

National Rail annual entry and exit
2012–13Increase 2.040 million[1]
2013–14Increase 2.482 million[1]
2014–15Increase 2.675 million[1]
2015–16Decrease 1.949 million[1]
2016–17Decrease 1.884 million[1]

This was before the new Timetable, so we can only speculate the loss to the economy. Given that the average Londoner earns £22.32 an hour, every day that Thameslink disruption causes an hours lateness to Mill Hill commuters, this costs the economy over £115,000. If we speculate that Mill Hill commuters have lost an hour 44 times this year as a result of the disruption, that is over £5 million pounds of economic impact. That is without considering the sheer hassle that this causes. The cancellation of meetings, the disruption to family plans, the cancelled wedding anniversary meals and birthday celebrations etc, as people wait for trains that never come or too busy to board. As the figures indicate that over 5,000 people a day use Mill Hill Broadway, this is a huge number of locals who are inconvenienced.

What disappoints me more than anything is that our local MP is the chair of the Thameslink group in the House of Commons (according to his website). I would expect such an insider to be tirelessly battling for us and campaigning on our behalf. I had a quick look through his recent Parliamentary activities. The last mention of Thameslink that I could find was on the 4th June, over three months ago. Mr Offord asked the following question and got the listed reply from Grayling

Photo of Matthew OffordMatthew Offord Conservative, HendonThis really is an appalling situation and one that we should have seen coming down the line given the history of the train operating companies. I have emails from my constituents that complain about lack of communication from Govia Thameslink. They say that the refund procedures are lengthy and difficult to navigate and that the timetable implementation has simply not worked. Will the Secretary of State give serious consideration to introducing a short deadline to ensure that GTR in particular brings the service up to an acceptable standard, or finding another train provider that will do so?


  • Link to this speech
  • Photo of Chris Grayling
Chris Grayling The Secretary of State for TransportI am very clear that I expect GTR to deliver an improvement to the current situation as a matter of real urgency. If it does not do so, it will lack the credibility to continue as operator.

This is a pretty poor show. On Mr Offords website, he has a TAB that lists his plan. Item number 2 is one to get a "better deal for rail users". Sadly, as plans go, Mr Offords is far from cunning.  Below is the entire text of his plan

As a Hendon resident I am a regular user of the Northern Line and understand how important it is that hard working commuters and other Tube and train users have a smooth and comfortable journey.
I will continue to campaign for improvements to the Northern Line and Thameslink and am Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group to improve the Thameslink line.
It is no surprise to me that we are seeing such appalling service when our MP has so little interest and puts so little effort into representing his constituents interests. Whilst I have no wish to become the MP for Hendon, if I was, I would, like Mr Offord, have a plan for Rail users. Here is my plan.

1. Hold fortnightly meetings with the management of Govia and Network Rail, to update on progress to resolve the issues facing commuters, until such time as the timetabling issues were fully resolved. I would then hold monthly meetings. I would provide a full update on my website of these meetings.

2. I would hold monthly meetings with TFL to ensure that commuters issues are fully understood by TFL and the Mayor of London.

3. Hold monthly meetings with regular users of both the Northern Line and the Thameslink route, to ensure that I could properly represent my constituents.

4. I would draw up a list of transport improvements that would improve the lives of my constituents, and lobby tirelessly to make them happen. Amongst the proposals that I would champion are the following
 - Step Free Access for Mill Hill Broadway and Hendon Thameslink Stations
 - Step free access for Northern Line stations
 - Full support for the West London Orbital route, with provision for an extension of the plans to RAF museum in Hendon and Mill Hill Broadway.
- Work to secure the route of the disused railway between Mill Hill East and Edgware, initially as a dedicated cycle path, with a view to reviewing options for light rail or full reopening if possible.
- Ensure better integration of the rail, tube and bus networks and seek introduction of better cycling provision to rail hubs.
- work with residents groups, commuter associations and the industry to deliver these objectives.

Provide regular update on all of these via my website.

It may well be that Mr Offord doesn't think any of these ideas are a worthwhile use of his time representing the Constituency of Hendon. He has asked plenty of questions in Parliament since it resumed sitting earlier this month. I will leave you to decide whether these issues are more important to the average Hendon voter.

Photo of Matthew Offord

Matthew Offord Conservative, Hendon

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential productivity of the livestock industry over the next six months.

Photo of Matthew OffordMatthew Offord Conservative, Hendon

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential productivity of the arable industry over the next six months.

Photo of Matthew OffordMatthew Offord Conservative, Hendon

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many parking penalty charge notices were issued under the Forestry Commission Byelaws 1982 for (a) non-payment and (b) insufficient payment in 2017.



    Photo of Matthew OffordMatthew Offord Conservative, Hendon

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will seek a change through the International Maritime Organisation to ban ships from using heavy fuel oil when travelling in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.








    Finally let me finish with my favourite of the lot. We have previously noted Mr Offords interest in Cheese shops. Now it seems that he's taken up the cudgels for our local potato farmers. I hadn't realised that these were more important to the local economy than the thousands who commute into the City, but as we all love a nice bag of chips, it shows he's got his finger on the pulse.

    Photo of Matthew OffordMatthew Offord Conservative, Hendon

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the potato crop for England and Wales in 2018.
    The answer is also quite fascinating (if you find counting potatoes fascinating).

    Photo of George EusticeGeorge EusticeThe Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    With the cold, wet spring followed by the prolonged dry spell over June and July, some yield and quality issues are expected for the potato crop this year. The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) estimate that there is a 3% reduction in the planted area in Great Britain. The harvest is on-going and estimates of yield and production will be published in Agriculture in the UK next spring.

    If it wasn't for the fact that thousands of commuters every day have been subjected to complete mayhem on Thameslink, you would be forgiven for thinking that maybe Mr Offord hasn't got much to do with himself.
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    Sunday, 16 September 2018

    The Tweets of the Week in the London Borough of Barnet -16/9/2018

    Without further ado, here is our round up. Don't forget to follow any tweeters who tickle your fancy!

    1. This is a story we've been following for some time. Well done to Mark Amies for keeping this in the public eye




    2. I suspect that many local commuters who've been toasted by Thameslink, subjected to delays etc, will be surprised to see that the new Thameslink trains have been deemed Train of the year at Rail Industry awards!


    3. I daresay residents of Burnt Oak will be pleased


    4. Some of our bus routes are changing. If you use the buses, check this out


    5. This sight always gives me goosebumps


    6. We love this


    7. However this is tragic


    8. Returning to the theme of undre threat pubs


    9. Never forget that we've got great young people in the Borough


    10. Our favourite Rugby team are doing the business for the community again


    That's all folks!

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    Saturday, 15 September 2018

    The Saturday List #188 - Ten things you can achieve by writing a blog!

    Things we stand for
    "What is the actual point of your blog?" This is a question I've lost count of the number of times. I am always reminded of the opening words of "Mother Sister" by The Fall. A voice says "What's this song about?", Mark E. Smith replies "Nothing!". I have never set out to write about anything, there is no theme. The blogs about Barnet Council are written without any agenda. I just happen to write about things that I see that I think deserve to be discussed in public. If there was nothing of interest, I'd never write anything about them. The Friday jokes I just publish because I get sent a list of jokes every week and I find some funny and I rather hope other people will. Sometimes I make them up. But the main reason I blog is because I've found it quite therapeutic. My blogs about dyslexia have actually helped me to understand myself. My blogs about Cancer have helped me deal with a major crisis in my life. The Tweets of the Week are simply things I've noticed that are interesting that I think readers may also be interested in. And it has been useful in promoting shows for my band. So the point of the blog is that there isn't really a point, but nonetheless the point is also that anyone who is interested in some of the stuff I am interested may find it helpful/enjoyable/informative/funny (Take your pick). But for something quite so pointless, as we approach our tenth birthday, I think I've achieved a hell of a lot. Here is a list of what I consider can be achieved, based on my proudest blog associated achievements.

    1. You can inspire other people to write blogs, many of whom will actually do it far better than you. As the first of the Barnet Bloggers, it has been great to see Mr Reasonable, Mrs Angry and Mr Mustard emerge and each in there own way has made a huge contribution. It was quite amusing that on Tuesday, at the Budget Consultation session I sat with Mr Reasonable and Mrs Angry. At the end a nice chap from the Barnet Society bounded over and warmly greeted my two fellow bloggers. He said " I always read your blogs and they are amazing". I said "Hi, I'm Roger who writes the Barnet Eye and went to shake his hand". He sort of scowled at me and said "Oh yes, I've seen that as well", with the look of someone who has found himself stuck in a lift with Croydon cat killer and a bag of moggies.  I've always suspected that the worthies of High Barnet are not really too comfortable with us Mill Hill lowlife! What it shows is that in Barnet we cater for all tastes! This blog stands for Peace, Brotherhood, Consciousness and Conservation. We hope you do as well!

    2. You can stop bad things from happening in your community. This blog has been at the forefront of numerous successful campaigns. Perhaps our proudest moment was saving Friern Barnet library from beings old off. It is still, rightfully, at the centre of our community. We have a couple of current campaigns, one is to Save the Railway in Edgware and the other is to Save The Midland Hotel in Hendon.

    3. You can help and support local charities. This blog has always made a point of supporting important local charities, particularly Colindale Food Bank.

    4. You can publicise great local events. I try and do this on a weekly basis through the Tweets of the Week and if there is a big event I will post a complete blog. This has been especially useful for the various music festivals we help run.

    5. You can alert the public to local politicians who are not treating the public with the respect they deserve. I guess long standing readers will know exactly what and who I am talking about. Happily, the public decided they agreed with me and the last time he stood for election he got a measly 264 votes and was booted into oblivion.

    6.  You can help people get through difficult times. My blogs on bereavement and Cancer have resulted in numerous private messages of thanks. In many ways, these are the blogs I am most proud of.

    7. You can make people smile. The Friday joke is a long standing tradition on the blog. It was started by Vicki Morris, who was the second of the Barnet bloggers, but who moved to Nottingham a few years ago. My Dad always used to say to me "If you can make someone smile, the day has been worthwhile".

    8. You can make people aware of things that other people were trying to cover up. Perhaps the best example of this is how the Barnet bloggers exposed the Metpro scandal. Our action has saved the Barnet Council Taxpayers over a million quid, which presumably has paid for the CEO and his deputy ever since!

    9. You can sort your own, longstanding mental health problems out! It may sound quite strange, but writing about my dyslexia has forced me to deal with some very deep standing issues. There are some blogs that I've written on the subject that I have not published, because what I've written is so shocking that I really wouldn't want my children to see it (not things I've done, I hasten to add, but some of the experiences I have had that I have had to bury and lock away). The mere act of writing them down has forced me to deal with issues and I believe that this has made me far stronger and more able to deal with some issues that have caused me a lot of problems, mostly with anger.

    10. You can share amazing things with the whole wide world! Today I will finish by sharing with you a Spotify Playlist I've just put together. This is the complete list of songs covered by my band, The False Dots in our long, illustrious 39 year career. This list is only ones we've publicly performed. Even if you don't like the Dot's I think this is a pretty damn fine playlist. Have a great weekend.



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    Friday, 14 September 2018

    Guest Blog - The Ongoing Saga of Edgware’s Railway Hotel by Mark Amies

    Mark Amies
     

    By Mark Amies (AKA @Superfast72)

    Some of you may be aware of my occasional rants on Twitter (on my handle @Superfast72) about the dear old Railway Hotel in Edgware. This Grade 2 Historic England Listed building served the people of Edgware for nearly eighty years, until it closed around 2008. Since then it has sat boarded up, and unloved. In recent years its grounds have been used as a car lot, a car wash and as a turnaround for coaches going to Eastern Europe.
    I don’t know the exact year it was finished but I believe it was the late 1920’s. I will allow the author of ‘Modernism in Metroland’ (http://www.modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/  - check it out, it is very good) to describe it better, “…the Railway Hotel in Edgware by A.E. Sewell, the prolific in house architect for Truman Hanbury Buxton and Co. Defiantly neo-Tudor, with barge boards, half timbering and bay windows.

    I moved into the area in 2013 (although I knew the area well enough before then), and I was really sad to see this once important local asset decaying and neglected, and so I kept an eye on it , occasionally taking photos and sticking them on my Twitter account, really just to keep it from being forgotten (if you search the tag #railwayhoteledgware , you will see some of them. I recall talking to the owner of the Edgware Music Shop a few years ago, and he had told me that the building had gone through a succession of owners, many of them eventually frustrated by the planning restrictions of the Listing Status.  But you see, that is why heritage buildings are listed – to stop them being ruined by insensitive and unsuitable renovations.

    There had been talk of it being converted into a hotel again, and with the land behind it, that would probably have worked well….except who is going to come and stay in a heritage hotel in Edgware these days? Back in the day hotels of this nature served the needs of travelling salesmen, and being next to the original Edgware station ( that sat where Sainsbury’s and Premier House now are), it would have served very well.  There had also been shadowy rumour that in fact , what a developer had wanted to do was to demolish the building, buy up the old Post Office next to it,  the ‘Forum’ flats and shops that create an L shape onto the Edgware Road , and the land behind ,and let it fall into disrepair. Then the whole chunk of land could be turned over for a high density housing development.
    Sound familiar? Very much the sort of thing Barnet RE are really enthusiastic about. If you combine that with the similarly dishevelled-looking Masons Arms pub nearby,  that’s another attractive ‘road corner prime position’ for a developer.  It all points to what we have seen so much of in North West London, vast areas of land freely handed over to unscrupulous developers, to build complexes of human rabbit hutches – all waived on by a Government that says we desperately need more housing. Yes, we do  - we need affordable housing, suitable for families to live in, not luxury flats that are unaffordable or future slums that look terrible after 18 months.
    So…the saga of this building carried on, no pub chains were interested – believe me I tried to get them interested. I contacted Fullers, Antic and Youngs, all known for taking on heritage buildings. All declined. Sadly the area was the biggest issue for them. Edgware clearly didn’t tick the boxes, and let’s face it do you blame them? Edgware has fallen down in the last ten years, in no part due to Barnet Council effectively deserting the town like an unwanted child. It’s only desire to rubber stamp unsuitable developments like the revamped Premier House on Station Road.

    However on Thursday evening I had a few emails from a person who had been in contact with me about The Railway Hotel before. They had seen my tweets and got in contact. Their enthusiasm for action was noble, and it was great to see at least another human being in the area was keen to look out for the building.  The thing about the recent email was it showed activity. “At last!”, I thought, but as I read on I got worried……very worried.  Apparently the building was being cleared, in preparation for flats on the upper floors , and a restaurant on the ground floor, and of some note, an ‘extension’.  Don’t get me wrong – it is great to see the building will be put back into a working role , rather than neglected. However the detail was showing that the clearing was fairly ruthless, and included the breaking up of concrete , the process of which was apparently causing the building to shake (remember we are talking about an eighty year old building with a  great deal of timber and glass, built before building regulations, and put up by guys wearing flat caps and smoking Woodbines).
    I took a note of the building company and nowhere on the signage did it mention that they were specialists in heritage restoration. In fact it looked to me like it was just whoever turned up first in a local web search.  I have no reason to doubt the abilities of the builders but I would expect something more in keeping with the listed status of The Railway Hotel.

    Now, here is where things get interesting. I had the time the following day (I had to wait in for a boiler repair guy), to do some emailing and calling.  Two of the people I contacted were Roger and Mrs Angry. I also contacted Historic England at their London Office, the Senior Planning Enforcement Officer at Barnet Council, the Twentieth Century Society , the three Barnet  Councillors for the ward the Railway Hotel sits in, a contact at GetWest London media, BBC London , and probably a few more.  A bit excessive you think?

    Well, you can think that, but back in 1980, over the course of the August Bank Holiday weekend the fabulous Art Deco Firestone Tyre factory on the Great West Road, in Brentford was demolished. The listing that would have stopped this horror from happening was due to be served on the following Monday. Too little, too late. There is the example that a great many lovers of heritage buildings at risk will use. It would appear that my efforts may not have gone in vain. Despite the Barnet Planning Officer being rather shy , Historic England did get back to me that morning to inform me that “…. Historic England have not been consulted on any recent applications for the site”.
    I decided I would try, for the third time to call the shy Planning Enforcement Officer at Barnet, and they actually answered. In a tone and manner that I can only describe as emotionally detached, I was told that her manager was on the way to The Railway Hotel as we spoke to check what was happening. Does that not sound a little like negligence?  Barnet Council have a duty of care by law over the Railway Hotel, or indeed any listed building in its territory.
    I don’t know if my hasty intervention, prompted by a well meaning individual ,( who I will not name out of respect), will save the Railway Hotel from a fate worse than death. All I can do is to keep it in the spotlight, so that people like you, reading this rather long article will be aware of what is going on with our shared built heritage. These buildings are more than just bricks and mortar, they are places where couples met, and later married, where events that shaped people’s lives took place – a pale youth’s first pint in a pub, a game of darts or pool that meant a lot, a wedding reception, a wake, or simply just a great night out, or lots of great nights out. These buildings are part of an area’s identity, its history. If we let them get desecrated, or demolished then we are letting a little bit of our collective soul be wiped from the present  and left only as a faded memory.

    If The Railway Hotel gets restored to just a quarter of its former self, I will be delighted. If it provides a meaningful purpose for the local community (as it once did), even more so. If it provides someone with a much needed home, brilliant. But whatever happens it needs to be done with sensitivity, and within the boundaries of the listing status that was placed upon it.
    Now get me a pint!!

    Mark Amies, September 14th 2018

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    The rise of Fascism in the UK - is the Daily Express joining in?

    Last week I was sunning myself in Portugal. It was lovely. As I always do, I take a few books to read as I chill out by the pool. For this trip, I bought "Travellers in the Third Reich" by Julia Boyd. The book is a collection of letters, diary entries and other recollections of non German people who travelled through Germany between the end of the first and second world wars. These ordinary people chart the rise of Fascism. The book has the strapline "The rise of Fascism seen through the eyes of everyday people". I specifically bought the book to see if it gave any pointers as to whether there are any parallels with the situation today.

    Just a week ago, I was fairly smugly saying to myself "well actually, although what we are seeing is pretty unpleasant, what is happening here is not really the same. What we are seeing in Labour is not whipping up anger directed at Jewish people. Whilst Jeremy Corbyn has been extremely insensitive with his statements and attitude towards the UK Jewish lobby, there is no evidence at all that he wants to emulate Hitler. We see no smashing of synagogues or breaking of Jewish owned shop windows orchestrated by Corbyinte thugs. We see no calling for the end to "Jewish Bankers" by the Labour front bench. For example, one quote from Captain Truman Smith from 1922 stated

    "Twelve hundred of the toughest roughnecks I have ever seen in my life passed in review before Hitler at the goosestep under the old Reichflag,  wearing armbands with Hazenkreuze (Swastika)... Hitler shouted "Death to Jews" etc and etc. There was frantic cheering."
    Whatever we are seeing coming out of the Labour party, it is nothing of that nature. It is worth keeping that in mind when we discuss the subject. But as I've thought about what is going on, it seems to me that we are very much at risk from a nationalistic form of fascism, more so than any time since the 1930's. Yesterday I reported that the Board of Deputies of British Jews had condemned the alliance in the EU Parliament between the UK Conservatives and the highly fascistic Hungarian government. It can only be worrying that a party which is traditionally centre right can sit comfortably with such people.

    Poster for Nazi Art Exhibition
    One of the subjects in the book that intrigued me was the Exhibition of Degenerate Art staged by the Nazi's to show people how bad "Modern Art" is. As an artist, it always amuses me when people try and describe art as good or bad. For me it is a very personal thing. For me, I much prefer modern art to the more traditional forms. I love the work of Kandisky, Matisse and even Banksy. I was fascinated to see Tracy Emin's breakthrough at the Whitechapel Gallery a decade ago. The friends I was with didn't get it at all, but I thought it was brilliant. To simply decide that "classical art" is the only valid form puts a straightjacket on creative thinking. I happen to think it is also a very un-British way of thinking. We glory in the odd and the absurd. I think the reason we have such an amazing country and have invented so much of the fabric of modern life is because we don't put constraints on thinking.  Imagine how disturbed just how disturbing I found reading a diatribe in todays Daily Express against spending taxpayers money on Modern Art.

    Leading the charge is a Tory MP I'd thankfully never heard of previously called "David Davies". He said "Some additions are “worthless tat which could be knocked up in 10 minutes by a child with a finger painting set. Mr Davies said: “We’ve spent more than £60,000 on a photo of a window. It’s a disgraceful waste of taxpayers’ cash."  The article continued "More than £20,000 was raised for Wine Dark Sea by Mary Ramadan, while six stick man drawings by David Shirley set taxpayers’ back more than £14,000.  The GAC is supposed to feature pieces by artists who have a strong British connection.   But for around the same amount of money that would pay for three NHS nurses the committee decided to secure "In The Back" by Left Wing German campaigner Wolfgang Tillmans."

    It seems very worrying to me that The Express is suggesting a piece of art should not be purchased because it was created by a left wing German artist. When I see an article that could be lifted from a Nazi paper of 1937, that can only ring alarm bells.

    Another feature of the rise of the Nazi's was the way they would totally distort the facts of events to whip up hatred of their opponents. Perhaps the classic example of this was the burning of the Reichstag (German Parliament) in 1933. This was blamed on communists and used as an excuse for a round up of opponents of the Nazis. In the Express we saw just such a smear today. In an article entitled "Harassing an MP’s children is a new low for the Left", Express columnist Ross Clarke blames John McDonnell and the policies of Jeremy Corbyn. Anyone who is unfamiliar with the events would assume that the totally unacceptable harassment of Jacob Rees-Mogg's children was an action of people associated with the Labour Party. Nothing could be further from the truth. The man responsible is Ian Bone, who is associated with anarchist group Class War.  Class war are a tiny grouping who loath Labour and Jeremy Corbyn just as much as they hate the Tories. Mr Clark seems to suggest that John McDonnell has suddenly given permission for such protests. Any serious journalist, who had done his homework would know that Bone organised "Bash the Rich" protests in 1985. If anything, telling Mr Rees-Moggs kids that their Daddy isn't very popular with some people, although repulsive, is thankfully a de-escalation from his previous stance that would presumably have been to have bashed Mr Rees-Mogg. From what I heard of the event, all we witnessed was two strands of rather odd English eccentrics having a rather absurd stand off. Jacob Rees-Mogg clearly understood that he'd simply been called a few names by a rather odd man and his friends. I suspect that the likes of Mr Bone will still be around long after the Corbynista's have been supplanted in whatever the next set of machinations to face the Labour Party produce. What concerns me most, isn't that there are a few rather odd individuals such as Mr Bone. That will always be a feature of a free society. What concerns me is that The Daily Express, a National paper allegedly employing professional journalists, can publish something that is so completely misleading about the left, John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn.

    I am sure that if Mr Clark really wanted to, and was inclined to get off his fat arse and do some proper journalistic work, he could uncover all manner of things about Corbyn and McDonnell that would send his ever diminishing band of readers into a froth. What is clear to me is that the Daily Express is drifting ever further from being a paper that provides sane and rational news coverage, and is becoming ever more dishonest in its pushing of a hard right ultra nationalist agenda.

    Whilst I still think we are a hell of a long way from the situation that lead to the rise of Hitler, Mussolini and Franco in the 1930's in Europe, it is also clear to me that some elements of the press are sacrificing the principles of professional journalism to create a climate that could give critical mass to the people who believe in such things. Whilst one really can't draw too many conclusions from a few rather badly written articles in a newspaper with a plummeting circulation, unable to attract higher calibre journalists and forced to toe a deeply dodgy editorial line by rather ideologically motivated owners, we have to keep an eye on such things. I see the role of bloggers very much to be to flag these things up, so that lies do not get accepted as being truth. We are not on that slippery slope to Fascism yet, but if we don't shout loudly about this sort of thing then we will be taking another step towards it.

    People have said to me "why do you read rags such as the Daily Express?" I could be glib and say "Someone has to", but the serious answer is that if I only read worthy tomes that I agreed with, I wouldn't have a clue what is really going on. Articles such as this tell me far more than all of the 10,000 word deep analysis I may read in the Guardian. And sadly it is not what the articles say, but what they mean when you view them in the historical perspective of how such articles and ways of thinking have been used in times gone by, where bad things have happened.
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    Thursday, 13 September 2018

    The Board of Deputies of British Jews condemns the Conservative Party alliance with racist and anti semitic Hungarian government

    Statement from Board of Deputies of British Jews
    We live in very troubling times. The London Borough of Barnet has excellent community relations. I was privileged to be give the task of organising a multi faith memorial service earlier this year, attended by the Queens Lieutenant, The Mayor of Barnet and members of all our faith groups, in memory of shop worker Vijay Patel who was tragically killed in Mill Hill in January. Each different faith gave a reading from their holy books. What struck me was that the message was the same. Work for peace and justice.

    Sadly we are living at a time when anti semitism is on the rise. There has been justifiable criticism of the Labour Party for not dealing with issues of anti semitism. What has been completely missed is that the Conservative Party also has a major problem with racism and anti semitism. This was exposed today by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who roundly condemned the alliance between the Conservative Party and the fascistic government of Hungary. Today the Board released the following tweet.

    Many of my Jewish neighbours and friends voted Conservative in the Barnet Council elections specifically because thy wanted to send a message to the powers that be that anti semitism is unacceptable. I wonder how those people feel now to find out that the Conservatives are in alliance with a bunch of fascists with openly racist and anti semitic policies, far worse than anything that Jeremy Corbyn has uttered. This is simply inexcusable.

    I hope that there will be no attempt to brush this under the carpet. Every Barnet Conservative must hang their head in shame.
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    Ten things which aren't funny (revisited)

    Back in 2012, I published a blog entitled "Ten things which aren't funny". I thought that maybe this should be revisted. I suspect that I would change a couple of the items.

    1. Anything on a spam email which is deemed "hilarious" (unless you happen to be a bloke running a business repairing computers).

    2. Jokes made by politicians. "Humourous" Facebook posts about #Brexit

    3. The Monty Python Parrot sketch being recited in the pub after 9pm.

    4. Ben Elton over the last 15 years. My new number 4 - Anything that involves cruelty to animals

    5. Jokes made by any member of the Royal family (except Prince Phillip, who is often hilarious for the completely wrong reasons).

    6. Any comedian who ever comments that Bernard Manning wasn't funny (yes he was a horrible racist, mysoginist and some of his material was not funny but he had exceptional comic timing and a comic who cannot acknowledge that does not know his job).

    7. Humour records (after the first listen).

    8. Your best friends four year old telling jokes at a party after 30 seconds.

    9. Russell Brand My new number 9 - Anything with regards to Boris Johnson that does not include Ian Hislop

    10.  Any video made by a political campaign team, which a politician tweets as hilarious.

    So why have I adapted these lists. Well for no 2, I have to admit that sometimes politicians are very funny. Winston Churchill was the master of the witty put down. So yep, I got that wrong. In 2012, there was no such thing as Brexit. I am sick of postings on Facebook of allegedly funny posts and cartoons about Brexit, they simply don't work. As for number 4, as Ben Elton seems to have completely disappeared, it is really rather pointless including him. I really find cruelty to animals vile. so that seems a far better fit. As for number 9, I have seen a couple of things featuring Russell Brand that were mildly amusing since 2012, and he deserves a bit of credit for sticking up for the people on the West Hendon Estate. As for Boris, I just think he's a fat, unpleasant Berk (in its truest sense). As a Roman Catholic, I believe Ian Hislop deserves a hundred years in purgatory for sanitising him, but I have to admit he can make Boris seem amusing at times.

    Any more for the list.
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    Wednesday, 12 September 2018

    Barnet Council Budget Consultation with Richard Cornelius at The Bull Theatre Barnet

    Last night I made my way across the Borough to High Barnet. I'd gone to attend a budget consultation session with the Leader of Barnet Council, Richard Cornelius. The session was about half full with local residents. I arrived early to have a chat with Richard. We had a brief discussion about Brexit. Both Richard and I run small businesses and we are in complete agreement that the uncertainty is extremely bad for the economy. Richard is hopeful that within six weeks we will have clarity as to what will be happening ( I don't share his optimism). We both agree that a return to a full system of customs controls at the borders with the EU would not be good for business and Richard agrees that if we return to the old system where customs carnets are required for businesses who need to move goods through the EU from the UK it would be bad. For my business, which is music it would be a disaster. For many third tier bands rely on touring Europe to pay the bills, the costs of customs clearance for equipment for tours will, for many, make this uneconomical. But enough of that.

    The meeting started with a set of slides, which Richard talking us through what they meant. I sat in the front row, next to fellow bloggers Mr Reasonable and Mrs Angry (where was Mr Mustard, I hope he can get a note from Mum excusing him, otherwise we'll send the blogger inspector around to sort him out).



    Richard's basic message was that Barnet Council has not got enough money to meet its commitments, but trust him, he'll sort it out. Mr Reasonable, sitting next to me, had a stack of paperwork. As ever, he had done his homework and had the figures at hand. Sadly within a minute of Richard starting his pitch, a well coiffured lady, who was clearly quite friendly with Richard interrupted. She said "I hope that you are not going to limit the questions to issues about the budget, people haven't come here to talk about that, there are lots of things we want to discuss about High Barnet". Richard replied "Of course I'm happy to answer questions about anything". This rather ignored the fact that the whole purpose of the meeting was to consult on the Budget. That is why I missed an England game on the telly.

    There was a generally satisfied round of applause from the audience as people had a whole stack of questions for Richard that were nothing to do with the Council budget. Whilst there is nothing I like more than seeing the Leader being grilled by local residents, I was horrified by this. In fact I was quite speechless. You see the council legally has to consult on the Budget. If they've set up a Budget consultation session and marketed it as such, then that is what it should be. If you go into the pub and order a pint of Guinness, you expect a pint of Guinness, not a Stella or a pint of cider (even if it is more expensive). I'd dragged myself across the Borough, to discuss the budget, not to hear people moaning that the Police weren't arresting people for peeing in shop doorways. I understand that if you own a shop and someone pee's in it, that is not very nice, but as there was no one from the Police to answer questions, the whole thing becomes an exercise in futility.

    Maybe this wouldn't matter if Barnet Council's finances were in rude good health and Richard had the money to buy a few empty shops and convert them into public loo's. However as Mr Reasonable pointed out, there is a £9 million budget deficit this year and a £67 million gap over three years. This is a huge amount of cash. Mr Reasonable pointed out that senior salaries were costing £10 million per annum. He asked why we needed a Chief Executive, a Deputy Chief Executive and Deputy for the Deputy Chief Executive "all on salaries bigger than an MP". Richards responded by saying "It's funny, Mr Dix (AKA Mr Reasonable) has the uncanny knack of asking me these questions in public forums that I always find myself thinking about when I am lying in the bath the night before" (or words to that effect - I didn't write down his exact response). For just one second, I was rather disturbed. Does Mr Reasonable posses psychic powers? Does Richard channel Mr Reasonable when he's in the bath? Richard suggested that this was something receiving serious consideration. Mr Reasonable suggested that the £35 million cost of the commissioning department, which didn't exist six years ago, was a waste of money. He pointed out they have responsibility for "monitoring in house functions", which is nothing to do with commissioning in the true sense of the word. Mr Reasonable queried the fact that it is impossible to have any financial planning or control, when the systems were not fit for purpose, reminding Richard of the disasters of the late audits.

    Richard made a rather startling statement. He replied "The figures are improving to the point where I now believe them". A lady in the audience asked what outsourcing meant to her and why the council was doing it. Richard replied that "it means you are paying £114 a year less in council tax". Mr Reasonable nearly exploded "You know that is not true Richard!". He pointed out that with the "contract extras" the opposite was actually true. What Richard means is that if you ignore all of the extras and had kept services in house, sought no efficiency savings and kept budgets at the 2013 levels with inflation, then we'd have to pay £114 a resident more on an average Council Tax. As Richard signed the contracts with Capita, I suspect that he's rather keen to sell this line.

    When Mrs Angry challenged Richard stating "You've made an almighty mess of the finances", the nicely coiffured Lady who asked if she could ask about people peeing in doorways let her fragrant mask slip and started shouting at her. Once she started shouting, she simply wouldn't stop. She started screaming "vote for someone else and see where that gets you!" rather smugly. It became clear that she was one of Richards fifth columnists. This prompted a rather worried tweet from the normally quite robust Mrs Angry


    This made me think. Was this all a cunning plan by Richard? He has to legally consult on the budget, but if he can drag all his mates down to scupper a proper meeting on the budget, then he can meet his legal requirements to consult, without actually having to answer any questions.

    As I watched the situation unfold, I started to think about what should have happened. Barnet Council has a legal responsibility to consult. Richard Cornelius is the leader of the council, but if they are doing the consultation properly, then he is not the person who can actually answer the questions. There should have been a panel, preferably consisting of the CEO, the Head of Finance, the Head of Audit and the Leader and possibly the Section 151 officer. Questions should be limited to issues relevant to the budget. If Richard wants to answer questions about people peeing in doorways and why the Police don't arrest them and deport them, that is great, I am all for public engagement, but that is not what a budget consultation is about.

    I will be writing (possibly a joint letter with other bloggers) to all of the above, to state my objections to what we saw last night. The budget crisis is too serious to ignore. If I go to see a performance of MacBeth at the RSC, I don't want to  find that they have replaced that with a duet between Michael Macintire and Barry Manilow, even if most of the audience decide this is far more fun.

    Anyway, for the record, here are my notes on some of the highlights that had nothing to do with the Budget.

    Richard answered a question as to why there was so little social housing being put up in the North East of the Borough. He stated that "This is the nice bit of the Borough, we want to concentrate the building on the parts that aren't nice". A query as to what was being done about fly tipping resulted in us being told that the Council had seized and crushed two white vans owned by "commercial fly tipping organisations" and that fly tipping was big business in Barnet.

    A question about small business drew a response from Richard stating that Barnet had the third highest number of small businesses of any London Borough. He stated he was proud of this. What he didn't say is that Barnet now has the largest population of any London Borough, therefore being third means that we are below where we should be by this measure. Richard told us that we are now collecting 98% of council tax.

    Several residents asked questions about policing. Richard made the point that "this is nothing to do with me guv'nor". The subject of street drinking and homelessness came up. Richard stated "most of them are foreigners". As I volunteer with the Mill Hill Churches Homeless Shelter Scheme, I pointed out this wasn't correct. Many are British born and bred, with mental health issues and substance abuse problems. These are things social services could deal with. Another resident suggested that closing public conveniences was responsible for the increasing instances of public urination. One well coiffured lady said "It's not just street drinkers, people using pubs are also urinating in public!". This seems unlikely to me. Pubs have toilets. Unless people have prostate cancer and need to pee every five minutes or a mental disorder where they prefer public urination, why on earth would people nip out of the pub for a wee? My overriding impression was that many of the more well heeled members of the Barnet audience were a tad lacking in compassion.

    There were also a few questions about the lack of provision for children to engage in outdoor activities. As I don't live in High Barnet, I don't know if it is worse there. I actually think Mill Hill is quite well provisioned. Having raised three children, much as I'd love to slam Richard on this, we have decent provision. We have decent parks, scout groups, brownies etc. The problem is teenagers and gangs.

    A couple of residents suggested that Barnet Council should put up council tax to pay for better services and more policemen on the street. Strangely, Richard didn't boast that he'd met this aspiration, as Barnet are putting up taxes by the maximum amount they can without having a referendum.

    Several residents asked about libraries. They stated that the without trained staff, the libraries are a shambles. One resident said he now used Enfield library. Richard looked rather upset.

    A gentleman who identified himself as a former soldier and policeman and as someone who runs a small charity asked some very searching questions about the Youth Zone project in Burnt Oak. He pointed out that the "Postcode War" mentality of local gangs made this out of bounds to many vulnerable young people. He suggested that the money would have been far better spent on the many small groups that are starved of funds. He said the "grand project" approach to youth was not the way to gain trust with young people.

    I asked Richard a question about Capita running planning, citing three examples where the interests of Barnets residents, businesses and environment have been let down. One of these was a case where the Capita run department failed to process the request, resulting in a huge electronic sign by the motorway being "deemed approved" by the planning Inspectorate, despite enough objections being made for it to referred to the planning committee (which obviously never happened).  Somehow Richards meandering response ended with "I think this shows that it is all actually working rather well".

    The more I see of Richard Cornelius, the more I admire his Machiavellian talents. Just about everyone on the left has dismissed him as a buffoon, but he is anything but. He understands Barnet, the people and the politics. He understands how the council works. In May, against all expectations, he won a stonking majority at the polls. I think Richard knows exactly where the G-Spot of the majority of the well coiffured, well off voters of Barnet can be found and unashamedly knows how to excite it, to the extent where they simply have to give him a great big X at the election. Sadly the rather dull and dour campaigns run by the Labour Party in recent years simply encourage Labour voters to reach for the whisky and the revolver (in Borisesque electoral terms).

     He has sidelined or lost nearly all of the "problems" in his base of councillors. I suspect that he knows the only effective opposition in the Borough is the bloggers. What I saw last night is his strategy for dealing with us. Richard is not stupid. He knows that John Dix has him nailed on the issue of Capita. What he also knows is that most Barnet residents don't give a monkey so long as their bins are collected and their taxes can be perceived as low. He knows that so long as John Dix isn't given the opportunity to ask questions of people who can answer his questions, he will survive. That is why we didn't have a budget consultation meeting with the appropriate people involved. It really is as simple as that.

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    Tuesday, 11 September 2018

    Thameslink Brent Cross South Station - The risks to Barnet Taxpayers mount

     
    Next Monday, we see the Barnet Council Assets, Regeneration and Growth Committee meet to discuss the proposal to build a new Thameslink Station at Brent Cross South. As Hammersons (The developer of the shopping centre scheme) has put the shopping centre on hold, this has created a massive funding black hole as described in Section 1.2 of the Council report. It says
    1.2 - It also outlines the work being undertaken by the Council following Hammerson’s
    announcement to defer start on site on the Brent Cross Shopping Centre as set out in paragraph 1.4 of this report. Whilst the preferred station funding strategy set out in the Full Business Case approved by Policy & Resources Committee and HM Government is based on the ringfencing of business rates growth from the shopping centre development to date, the FBC also addresses the risk of delay by Hammerson and identifies possible mitigations. The public sector partners have agreed to work together to find an alternative funding solution by end of October 2018 to secure delivery of the station and BXS. The public sector partners agreed to continue to commit MHCLG grant to maintain momentum and in the expectation that a solution will be found as set out in paragraph 1.41 of this report. 
    To summarise, it appears from the papers that the public sector are now pulling together a funding package. Later in the report the following statement is made

    Impact of Hammerson deferral on the Thameslink Station
    1.41 The Committee will recall that the Council’s investment in the station is dependent on the BXL Partners commencing the shopping centre development (which secures the business rates growth that will support the borrowing costs). Following Hammerson’s announcement to defer Brent Cross as set out in paragraph 1.4 of this report, this funding is not expected to be confirmed by December 2018, when the Council needs to enter into contract with Network Rail to maintain May 2022 opening date. Thus, an alternative funding solution needs to be agreed with HM Government and the GLA for the station. This scenario was identified as a risk in the Full Business Case approved by Policy and Resources Committee and HM Government in 2016. On 1 August 2018, the Government Assurance Board, comprising the Council, MHCLG, HM Treasury and GLA:
    1. Reaffirmed public sector commitment to delivery of BX South and Thameslink
    2. Confirmed commitment to finding a solution to the funding challenge
    3. Confirmed that LBB can continue to commit MHCLG grant, to maintain momentum and in the expectation that a solution will be found.
    Whilst I am a big fan of rail infrastructure projects, this one is starting to ring alarm bells. What particularly concerns me is that for the project to proceed, funding will have to be secured by December. Once this is done and dusted, what is to stop Hammersons coming back and building the shopping centre with no financial commitments at all. As the station will hugely improve the scheme, they will in effect have secured a massive win.

    The big question for me is where will the extra dosh come from. Barnet Council can't put up council tax any higher without a public referendum, as the Tory administration is already committed to the maximum permitted rise without funding Brent Cross. So where else can the council find the dosh? One would have rather hoped that if there were grants and subsidies available, these would have already been tapped up to ensure the project proceeded without the risk of the rates guarantee. The other possible source that comes to mind is stealth taxes. Typically we are talking about parking charges. Barnet Council has fallen foul of the law on this before, but presumably the station can be sold as a transport enhancement.

    I have asked two questions of the committee. I await the responses with interest

    1. Please can the council explain how the funding for the new station at BXS will be achieved. In particular I am concerned that it appears that alternative funding is being sought, wheras the original business case envisaged a ring fencing of Business Rates from the Brent Cross expansion. Once this funding has been identified, is there a realistic prospect that the developers will be able to reactivate their plans and dodge their previously rig fenced commitments.

    2. In light of the current problems facing retailers, there has been talk of a complete review of the system of business rates (a proposal I fully support). What plans are in place to ensure that such a change to legislation would prevent the Barnet Taxpayer having to pick up the bill if Business rates are abolished and another method of business taxation used? I note that this is not mentioned in the risk register.


    I will keep you updated with what happens. Just to give some idea of the scale of this scheme the papers state

    5.1.9 The current total approved Capital Budget for Thameslink is £70.516m Current spend to date (including expenditure committed but not yet paid) is £30.7m.
    What is encouraging in the papers is that there is a firm commitment to improve the West London Orbital Railway Scheme and improve access between the station and the Thameslink Station. Sadly like many schemes, this one seems to have become one where the public sector takes all the risk and the private sector reaps all the rewards.
    .
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