The Saturday List #379 - My top ten irrational fears and phobias

 I'm surprised I've not covered this topic before. As regular readers will know, The False Dots released a new single recently titled "Big Hairy Spider". A mate asked me this week if I was phobic of spiders, and whether this was an inspiration. In actual fact, I am not. My sister Caroline is. Often when we were kids, I'd be woken by her screams, as she saw a spider in the bedroom. Dad would be summoned to despatch it. I don't think my Dad was scared of anything, but when we were kids, he'd entertain us with tales of snakes, spiders and all manner of other terrible things, which fed our phobias. I recall one time, I told him I was scared of the monsters on Dr Who. He replied "I can show you the scariest monster of all". He picked me up and told me to shut my eyes and not open them until he said so. He carried me up stairs and said "You can look now". I opened my eyes, to find myself looking in the mirror. He then said "People have done far worse things than animals, animals just kill to survive".

As for my sister, I used to have great fun collecting big spiders to put under her bed. My brother used to collect earwigs and put them on my pillow, telling me that they'd climb in your ear and eat your brain. I'm not scared of them either. When I figured out what he was doing, I'd just check the bed every night and put them in his bed. To the best of my knowledge, his brain is still intact. So what are my fears and phobias?

1. Snakes. I can't stand them. If I see one I feel sick. I do blame my Dad and his tales of brown snakes in the outback of Australia for this. Living in London, I only come across them in zoos usually, so it is a bit of an odd fear. 

2. Ragworms. When I was a kid, I used to like fishing. We went to Brighton pier. Dad bought a bag of Ragworms as bait. What I didn't know is that they have massive jaws and bite. They are also very ugly critters and do not take kindly to being stuck on fishing hooks. Dad was most disappointed with me, as I wouldn't go near them. I think that was the last time we went fishing. 

3. The 221 bus through Finchley. For nearly five years, I took the 221 bus from Mill Hill to Finchley to school. I hated my time there. I didn't realise how much until I went to Orange Hill. It was far more relaxed and there were girls. I felt Finchley Catholic was like being in prison. I loved my mates and a few of the teachers, but it was really oppressive. For years, if I got the 221 I got a deep feeling of unease as we approached the Avondale Avenue stop, where we'd disembark. I have got over this, My son went there and I had to face up to it. The school has changed. Oddly, I had less problems going to the school than I did going on the bus.

4. Borehamwood. For many years I was terrified of going to Borehamwood. There was a very simple reason for this. When I was about five, my sister Valerie took me to Burnt Oak market. As we got the bus back, a 292 came along, with the destination of Borehamwood. She said we shouldn't get the bus. I asked why. She said that it was going to Borehamwood, rather than Mill Hill. I asked her what Borehamwood was like. She said "They don't like people from Mill Hill, if you go there, they will all come out and throw tomatoes at you". I believed her and had a fear of the place for a very long time. I can say I've overcome this one, and never had a tomato thrown at me when I visited.

5. Mushrooms. I used to get a comic called "TV Action" when I was a kid. There was a competition to design a monster for a Dr Who story in the comic. The winner designed a monster called an Ugrakk. It looked a bit like a squid crossed with an elephant. They were a fungus and could control other mushrooms. I'd been fond of mushrooms until then. It put me right off mushrooms for many years.

6. A woman who lived on my paper round in Flower Lane. When I was 14 I started doing a paper round for Vernons newsagents on Station Road. There was one house I delivered papers to and the people were lovely, but they had a daughter, who was about 20 years old and was horrible. She'd look out of the window and as I delivered the papers, she'd open the door and shout at me. The papers were always late, creased, wet, something. It got to the stage where I'd develop a strategy to get them through the door without her catching me. At Xmas, we'd always go around an knock on doors for an Xmas box. I decided I would not bother with her house. It seemed futile. As I walked past, the Dad saw me. He'd seen me knocking on the other doors, as he was washing cars. When he realised I was not knocking on his house he called me over. He asked why. I explained that I thought they were unhappy because his daughter was always telling me off. He looked embarrassed and said "No, you do fine, she's just a bit unhappy". He gave me a fiver, which was a huge amount. I used to see her in the cafe's in Mill Hill until about ten years ago. She'd always scowl at me. I have no idea why she disliked me. Mind you she was horrible to my mate who took the round over as well.

7. Trees. Of all the irrational fears, this is perhaps the most irrational. When I was about 18, a mate suggested that a group of us take magic mushrooms. Apparently these would open my eyes to the beauty of the world. It was a warm, sunny November day. Everything looked lovely. We went up to Moat Mount, to clown around. Everything was magical, until the sun went down. Then I noticed that the trees seemed malicious. I could hear them saying to me, telepathically "You are the enemy. We will be around long after the last human has gone". I have had a mild aversion to being in the company of trees at night ever since. It is always at the back of my mind that they hate us! I must say that it rather put me off such substances. I told a mate who is a hippy and loves such things. He said "Yeah trees have split personalities, they are happy in the sunshine, but really nasty at night". Make of it what you will.

8. Graveyards at night. I went to St Judes on the Hill last night. I had to walk past Golders Green Crematorium and Hoop Lane Cemetary. I've never seen a ghost at a cemetary, but I always feel a sense of forboding. I guess that we only ever really visit cemetaries when we are sad, so it isn't completely irrational.

9. Swimming. When I was four years old, I fell in the deep end at Butlins and nearly drowned. After that I was terrified of water. I got clobbered by teachers several times for refusing to participate in swimming lessons. I would have panic attacks. I'd bunk off school if I knew one was scheduled. I believed it was something I could not do. Then when I was 16, there was a girl I rather liked who was a keen swimmer. I decided that I had to learn. I went to Copthall Pool and taught myself. I am not a great swimmer, but I was functional. The whole thing scarred me so deeply, that I ensured my kids could swim a length by the time they were three. I wanted them to be able to get to the side and not panic if they fell in. My Eldest Daughter was a National Swimming Champion, so I guess something good came out of it.

10. My ex girlfriends flat mate. Many years ago, I went out with a georgeous girl who had a flat in Hendon. Her flatmate was a large girl, who was very sexually active and let say her morals were not those of a nun. One day, when I wasn't working and my girlfriend was, she came into the bedroom with a cup of tea. She was dressed seductively and made it clear that she was interested in some action. Now I always try and be polite, but there were many reasons why I was not interest. I liked my girlfriend,  I knew her boyfriend and I didn't find her attractive being near the top of my list.  She was quite persistant, but I managed to extracate myself from the situation quite diplomatically. However, at every opportunity, she made it clear that the offer was there whenever I wanted to take it up. I found it rather intimidating and I did everything I could to avoid being alone with her. What really perturbed me was I think she realised and took great relish in catching me in various situations and invading my personal space whenever possible. If anyone ever tells you a heterosexual man will always succumb if offered they are offered some slap and tickle with no consequences, I can assure you it isn't true. She ended up dating two ex members of my band at the same time and the situation ended pretty badly for all concerned. At the time, I actually thought that my girlfriend had set the situation up to see if I was the unfaithful type. Subsequent events made me realise this wasn't the case. 

I have managed to connquer all of them, apart from the first two and I suspect the last, although I've niot had any contact with her for decades! I don't really have any desire to overcome my fear of snakes or Ragworms. I must add that I had mushrooms for breakfast and they were delicious. 

Anyway, I'll dedicate this to my sister Caro and her dislike of Spiders. This is The False Dots latest single, Big Hairy Spider.

80 Not out - My brothers make a major milestone

Rog, Mum, Frank & Laurie at Mum's 75th

You may have noticed that I've not been as active as usual on the blog. Real life has been getting in the way! We went to Bristol to see my elder brother Frank and celebrate his 80th Birthday, a real milestone. It is quite interesting to note Frank (and his twin brother Laurie) are the first year of the Baby Boomers. I was born in the second last year, sixteen years later.  My Dad was still in the RAF when they were born. London was littered with bombsites, there was rationing. Families did not have tellies, dishwashers, central heating, telephones or microwaves. Home entertainment was either newspapers, books, musical instruments or the radio. Schools were very different places. My brothers arrived at St Vincents School as 4 year olds. My mum had walked up with them from their council house on Wise Lane. They were dropped off and were immediately naughty. Their teacher, Miss O'Donovan got the cane out and they ran and hid behind the piano. Eventually, the caretaker was summoned to extract them. They managed to swerve out and escaped, arriving home before 11am. They informed Mum that they didn't like school and weren't going back. Sadly, for them, they had to and they had to face the ire of Miss O'Donovan. Much has changed, four year olds are not caned and such an escape would prompt a major incident. 

As they grew older, they developed a love of music. When they asked my Dad to buy them guitars, he told them to build them, which they did. Both are natural musicians, far more gifted than me. When I was small, the biggest joy in life was listening to them jamming the skiffle songs of Lonnie Donegan and others. Frank got married when I was five and moved to Chelmsford to start a family, two years later his son Martin appeared. I was most exited. The age gap between Martin and I was seven years, less than half the gap to Frank. Frank loved football and got me interested in the game. In 1968, he tried to persuade me to support Manchester United. I plumped for City, my Mums team. This started a lifetime of good humoured banter. Laurie was not into sports. He considered them a waste of energy. He was always very into music though.. In 1968, Laurie played me the album Sailor by The Steve Miller Band and confidently informed me it was the best record ever made. A view I firmly believed until I discovered Punk Rock. As I have matured, I still believe it is in the top five. Laurie left home at 13 to study to be a Priest with the Mill Hill Missionary Order. In our family, he was considered a living saint, Mum and Dad's free ticket through the pearly gates. His education was away from home in places like Freshfields in Lancashire and Rosendaal in the Netherlands. Although Laurie lost his faith and vocation before he was ordained, he has always told me his education was amazing. Studying abroad gave him excellent language skills.  I suspected that he chose that route to get away from Challoner School and the attentions of headmaster Daniel Coughlan, a notoriously vicious character. 

Frank left shortly after to go to Finchley Grammar School. Frank got good O Levels and A Levels and went to University to study electronics. He has had a long career as a Rocket Scientist. In the mid 1970's, he had a spell running the family business, car crash repairers Mac Metals in Bunns Lane. He did a good job, but it wasn't really his thing. He did however learn vital management skills and when he returned to electronics, he managed large teams, working on such projects as The Space Shuttle and Giotto. Laurie set up a welding business, that continues to this day, called Bunns Lane Welding. Laurie is a highly skilled welder and is one of the few people in London to be able to fix alloy wheels.

I find it hard to believe both are 80 years old. I can remember, as a four year old, the excitement of their 21st Birthday Party. Both of them have played a massive role in my life. Both encouraged me musically and have supported me in developing the studios, on the industrial estate the family own. Both are very different but highly intelligent and have, over the years, given me much sound advice. As a sibling sixteen years younger, they are both good role models. If you met them, you would not recognise them as twins, but if you heard them jam a track, you'd see the link. 

I find it fascinating to see the different mindsets of the top and tail of the Boomer generation. They were born into a country in the height of austerity, I was born into a country rushing into the swinging sixties. Frank told me that he lost his faith when the Church started saying mass in English rather than Latin, when he actually understood what was being said, he decided it was a load of mumbo jumbo. Apart from when I was very small, English was always the language for me. I've never quite figured if I was more effectively brainwashed than my brothers, or I saw things as they were and figured it differently. Who knows?

I notice that many of our attitudes about issues are markedly different. I suspect that the punk rock generation are far more cynical about many things and we have a very different relationship with authority and the status quo. As for my brothers, I see a big difference in the way they see the world. I put some of this down to the fact Laurie lives in London and Frank lives in Bristol. Another factor is that Laurie has run a small business, whereas Frank worked on massive projects for huge companies. What they both have in common is their loyalty and love for their nuclear families. Having children is a massive challenge and they've both done an amazing job with their children. 

What I find difficult to get my head around is that their next keynote birthday should they make it will be their 90th! A date beyond what my Mum, Dad or any of their siblings reached. We are lucky, their are six of us and we are all still here. I see Laurie almost every day at work, Frank once or twice a year.  Many things have changed, but whilst they are still around, I feel the world is a better place. 

Happy birthday bro's!!!!!!

A message to our Jewish friends across Mill Hill, Barnet and London following the Golders Green Attacks

 Yesterday, I was pulled up by a friend who is local member of the Jewish community in Mill Hill. He was extremely cross with me. Yesterday, I did a slot at around 12.10 on Eddie Nestor's mid morning show on BBC Radio London. The feature is called Trends at 12. Just before my slot, the news broke about the awful attacks in Golders Green. I was actually at my brothers house in Bristol, celebrating is 80th Birthday. What happens is that you get a call a few minutes before your slot. I had pre-prepared topics to discuss and I wasn't aware of the story or the details. Eddie didn't ask me about it and the slot was cut short due to the importance of the story. However my friend was very cross at me. He said "You are a local community leader, you have the most read blog in Barnet, you stood for council in areas with large Jewish areas on several occasions and you were on a London Radio show and the silence was deafening on the attack. You have a view one everything else,  but you couldn't say one word on an unprovoked attack on two innocent Jewish Barnet residents". I was quite taken aback at the anger in his voice. I completely understood what he was saying. The subtext of what he was saying is that I really wasn't too bothered about the whole thing. 

My reply? I told him that I was unaware of the news before I went on the air, I didn't know any of the details as it was a breaking story and Eddie cut me short as I was about to say something.  I added that I would post a blog this morning on the subject to make my views 100% clear. I don't think he accepted my explanation and stated that he would be interested to see what I had to say. So here it is.

Any attack on anyone walking down the street in the UK is deplorable. There can never, ever be any justification for attacking a stranger. When the motivation is because they belong to an identifyable ethnic minorty, such as a member of the Jewish community is clearly a deplorable racist attack and no one can ever justify it in any circumstances. There can be no whataboutery in this matter. The police must take whatever actions they can to prevent such attacks, as is possible in a liberal democracy such as the UK.

I don't know the details of this case. I don't know if there were any red flags or whether it was just a dangerous individual with mental health issues. It seems to me that in many previous cases, there was intelligence that could have prevented the attack. If this is the case in this instance, then the Met must learn the lessons. It has been suggested that elements within the Iranian regime are fermenting such incidents. If this is the case, then clearly we should take the actions that we take when our citizens are at threat from hostile foreign governments. If this means expelling diplomats or deporting non UK nationals, then this should be done. Clearly the Police also need to act on intellgence, if it is clear that UK nationals are involved in planning organised terror attacks against the Jewish comminity.

That is only half of the problem. The other half is well demonstrated that a friend who I've known for years felt so let down by me. When a community is under attack, the members of that community should receive support from across the whole community. The local Jewish community is a massive part of my life and always has been. Just a few examples. I went to Orange Hill Senior High School and maybe half of my friends their were Jewish, one of my first girlfriends was Jewish, the drummer in our band was Jewish, one of our vocalists was Jewish, we played some of our first gigs at the Jewish Youth Club in Kenton, where he was a member. A member of the Mill Hill Music Festival Organising Committee is Jewish, we've organised events at the local Shul. Many of the customers of my business are Jewish, we have Jewish members of staff. In short, the Jewish community is and always has played a massive, positive role in my life. 

Until very recently I never gave things a second thought. I could write similar things about many local communities, Irish, West Indian, Asian, etc. I've never given a thought to such matters until very recently. But it is the Jewish community who are under the cosh at the moment and as someone who has been identified as a community leader, I have to speak out. I have to state, unequivocably, that I stand with the local Jewish Community at this time and I am not blind to the issues they face.

There can be no doubt that global issues are being used by some to pour petrol on the fire of anti semitic hate. It would be dishonest to pretend otherwise. But NOTHING can justify anyone performing acts of random violence against members of any community in our society. ANYONE who is planning acts that terrorise and scare members of any community should attract the full force of the UK legal system.

Whatever you may think about events anywhere in the world, if you think that attacking random people, who you don't know is the solution, then you are the problem. It is as simple as that. I hope that this sets the record straight with regards to my friend. 

The Sunday Reflection #84 - Don't worry because we are all only figments of our own imaginations!

 Many years ago I was chatting with an esteemed philosopher, a man far more intelligent than myself or anyone else I've ever met. He asked me a pretty fundamental question "Do you believe you actually exist?". It wasn't a questiul ul on that I had considered at all. Ever. My glib answer was "Well of course I exist, because I wouldn't be stitting here with you having this conversation". He persisted "But how do you know any of this is real?". Maybe it is all justa figment of your imagination. Maybe, you are somewhere else completely, with no eyes, no ears and just a vibrant imagination and you've constructed a massive fantasy". I responded "I am sure if that was true, it would be far less mundane and I'd be leading the life of James Bond, rather than painting window frames in the rain in Golders Green (my job at the time). Although the good professor was fascinated by the nature of existence, I wasn't at all and I am not sure I am now. However truly intelligent people have spent their whole life agonising over the meaning of life and existence, why we are all here and what is the purpose of this journey. My problem with this is that the time I spend worrying whether all of this is the figment of my imagination and I am really in a coma in hospital ward imagining it all, or just a few lines of code in Gods massive AI generator, is time I could far more productively spend playing my guitar and writing new tunes for the bands next album. 

The good professor was most disappointed with my lack of curiosity about the nature of existence. He knows my eldest brother who could hypothesise for hours on such matters and enjoys such discussions. This weekend I was at the wedding of a friends daughter. It was a wonderful event. Lots of people gathered together having a marvellous time. As is my want, I ate and drank far too much and today I was rather tired as we travelled back on the train today. I love trains as you get time to think. I started to think about the good professor and his fascination with the nature of existence.  That conversation was nearly fifty years ago.  I started to wonder if I'd have answered the question in a different way if we had the conversation now (not a possibility as the professor has passed away). I think I'd still be a massive disappointment. If anything, I am even less interested now than I was then in such questions. My defective dyslexic brain can only deal with tangible concepts. I am fascinated with minutae of recordings by punk rock bands fiftey years ago. I can spend hours discussing the sociological impact of music on society and how rock and roll has redefined the world. I am fascinated by the way the collision of Punk and Reggae in 1977 tore up all of the old rules of music and popular culture and gave rise to a completely different type of music, clothing, writing and art. Subjects I am sure the good professor would find banal beyond belief, but that is what excites me. But I did start wondering about whether, should the professor be correct and all of this is a figment of my imagination, why so much of what I've invented in my head is so utterly crap. Why invent all of the people who annoy me? Why don't England ever win the World Cup? Why don't my dead mates magically come back to life? Why has the dog become incontinent? The only reasonable explanation is that I am a figment of someone else's imagination and they don't like me. Some friends have become very animated about the concept that we all live in the Matrix, a huge computer simulation and they constantly seek glitches. My problem with this is I worked in commercial IT for 37 years and if we were living in a computer simulation, then surely all of the code I had to fix in those years would have been properly written if are all just in an AI simulation on the Matrix. 

And then I got around to the basic question "Why are we all here?". If we are not and we are all just the musings of a giant brain in jar of junk, it is actually quite reassuring. If that is true, there is nothing to worry about, is there? But then again, next time my daughters train is delayed and she is late home, or Donald Trump starts another war and I start fretting, I will realise that sadly if it is all a big simulation, it is not one we are supposed to enjoy. If we really all are just bits and bytes in a big computer, if it doesn't want us to know, it will simply delete our RAM when we start to figure it all out. Maybe that's why the dinosaurs disappeared!

My philosophy is rather simple and rather dull. Enjoy the good times and in the bad times keep the faith that it is just a passing phase. Whether it is all real or not is actually pretty irrelevant. 

Regrets? I’ve had a few….

 I’m cream cracked! My week? Sunday we had a barbecue with friends & family to mark the closing of Boucherie Gerard, my favourite ever butcher. I will write a separate blog at some point about Gerard, but it was an excuse to enjoy the garden in the Sun. Then we watched Man City beat Arsenal. Too much alcohol was imbibed. Monday? I met with an old boss and a mate from the world of IT, for a beer and then a curry at The Great Nepalese in Eversholt St. Ashwin, my old boss has had a few health issues, so it was great to catch up. Afterwards, I had a band rehearsal. I’d also started to come down with a lurgy. Tuesday, I had meetings at Mill Hill Setvices Club, including a new members meeting, where we welcomed six new members. More beers were had. Wednesday, met up with another group of ex IT workmates and an ex boss.We went to Jamon Jamin Tapas bar off Charing Cross Road. An ex colleague Karen generously bought dinner as she’s just been made redundant. She was delighted and will retire with a big pay off! Needless to say more alcohol was drunk. Last night, the False Dots performed at a St George’s night function at The Mill Hill Services Club, raising money for the Royal British Legion. It was a great night and much beer was drunk. This morning we got a train to Chester, it’s a mates daughters wedding up here tomorrow. We are having drinks & dinner tonight. I normally have three days off the booze a week. To quote Frank Sinatra ‘Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention’

What will the Barnet Council Labour regime of 2022-2026 be remembered for?

 I guess everyone goes into politics dreaming of leaving a golden legacy of success. But you can only achieve success with power. This was brought home to me last night. I was having a beer with my ex boss. He shocked us all by announcing that he had been considering standing as a candidate for Reform in Colchester.  He has always been a Conservative, but I never had him down as a reformer. He explained that he was very tempted as he believed that they have an excellent chance of winning Colchester Council and he fancied the opportuinity to run it and sort the problems in the Council out. It was nothing to do with their politics, it was access to power. What disturbed me most though, is that I know he is excellent at whatever he does, a superb boss, and I'd have put money on him doing a brilliant job running the finances. The conversation turned to Barnet. Another friend at the booze up is a Barnet resident and a Labour supporter. He was waxing lyrical about the achievements of Barnet Labour. I had to disagree, but he was claiming Barnet Council had been turned around and more potholes than ever had been fixed.

The sad truth is that Labour have not fixed the council and as far as I am concerned, their reign has been northing short of a disaster. On the night they won, Leader Barry Rawlings invited me to help formulate a culture strategy. Within a month I'd drafted one and circulated it to councillors and officers. I don't think any read it. Their vision was different. They believed the route to success was to employ expensive consutants, rather than follow my model of building a council of local arts organisations and building a collaborative network. My solution was almost zero cost and would have exploited all of the energy and efforts of people already doing good work. The abject failure of their efforts is best demonstrated by the failure to stage the Borough's biggest festival, The East Barnet Festival in an election year. My focus is always on arts, but across the Borough there is discontent. A terrible scheme in Edgware, albiet a legacy of the Tory regime, but one mired in failure. Labour promised to address the mess that is the Railway Hotel in Edgware. There was talk of a compulsory purchase order. Nothing has been done. Council taxes have gone up, services have not improved. I've not seen a leaflet from Labour in Mill Hill to see what they think they've done well. They do however have a website. Here is there manifesto

Labour launches ‘Ambitious for Barnet’ Manifesto

Barnet Labour have launched their manifesto for the local elections: ‘Ambitious for Barnet’ which sets out our programme to continue to improve services, our roads, pavements and green spaces, back the environment and support those struggling with the cost of living.

Council Leader, Labour’s Councillor Barry Rawlings said:

“The Conservatives ran Barnet on the snooze button for 20 years, with no real vision for the borough, and left a legacy of cuts, depleted reserves and run-down services.

“Labour has been ambitious for Barnet, delivering a far-reaching programme.

“That’s why we’ve filled over 16,500 potholes – 61 per cent more than the Conservatives managed when they were in power, upgraded and expanded a CCTV system that was broken more than half the time when the Conservatives were in charge, planted nearly 5,000 trees, improved or re-built 20 playgrounds and secured 1,000 new council homes.

“We have delivered this and much more, while keeping council tax lower than all our neighbours.

“We will continue to be ambitious in a second term, campaigning for our high streets, continuing to clamp down on crime and anti-social behaviour and building new affordable homes.”

As part of the Barnet Labour’s Manifesto, we are making six key pledges.

1)       Keep Barnet Moving: We will aim to cut roadworks times by 20 percent by charging extra penalties to dawdling utility companies for working too slowly.

2)       Keep Barnet Green: We will protect our green spaces, plant 4,000 more trees and create a ‘Regional Park’, making even more green space accessible.

3)       Keep Barnet Safe and Clean: We will continue to crack down on crime, anti-social behaviour, fly-tipping and litter to keep Barnet safe and clean by using our upgraded CCTV system with tougher enforcement and higher fines, whilst protecting the free community skips service.

4)       A More Affordable Barnet: We will secure a further 1,000 social rent homes, having already secured the delivery of 1,000 new council homes in our first term.

5)       A Healthier Barnet: We will campaign for greater powers to stop the increase of gambling arcades and fast-food shops.

6)       Keep Delivering Value for Money: We will always prioritise finding efficiencies and savings to keep costs down, ensuring council tax increases are minimised.

Councillor Rawlings added:

“These are difficult financial times and, unlike the Conservatives, who cut half of Barnet’s funding, we have worked with the Government to secure £37million more for local services.

“We have a roadmap to financial sustainability that invests in prevention to reduce demand for high-cost services.

“The Conservatives first priority is to propose raising council tax by 50 per cent over the next five years before doing the hard work to keep costs down.

“That’s the choice at this election.

“With a lot already done by a Labour council, and a lot more to be ambitious about, there’s a lot at risk under any other Party but Labour.”

They have a record to judge them on. The biggest achievement Barry can boast about is getting a £38 million bale out from government to shore uop finances. That is not sustainable. They have a record to be judged on. I suspect residents will not judge them kindly. Barry is a nice bloke, but Barnet needs someone who has the wherewithal to sort the finances out and I don't mean by getting baleouts. I mean by structural reforms and genuine efficiencies, which involves understanding where cash is being wasted. My view is that the management structure at Barnet Council is massively top heavy and they have set up all sorts of companies such as Barnet Homes, which have unnecessary boards and costs.  That is where I'd start. 

Stupidity is a much underrated commodity

 The most powerful tool in anyone's arsenal is stupidity. It will win you battles, arguments and even wars. It is only a problem when it your own stupidity. There are two types of stupid people. People who are stupid and realise it. They generally don't cause problems and know their own limitations. It becomes a problem when they convince themselves they are a genius. Stupidity is only really dangerous when the stupid think that they are cleverer than anyone else. It amazes me how often stupid people manage to manourvre themselves into positions of power and responsibility. The reason is because they offer simple solutions to difficult problems. The problem with simple solutions to difficult problems, is that they don't work. The problem is that every time you address an issue, the vacuum that is left is filled and it isn't always filled in the way you want. Being calm and analysing situations and trying to anticipate the effects of actions will often reveal why simple solutions are defective. However, when you deal with extremely complex problems, you cannot predict every outcome of every action. You can make a stab at a guess and work out mitigations, but when you play with guns and you don't know what your doing, you are as likely to shoot yourself in the foot as you are to shoot your enemy in the head. 

But if you are up against a stupid opponent, their stupidity is your strongest weapon.  Even if it seems like the odds are not in your favour, a stupid person does not make good decisions. If they don't listen to wise council, then they are going to make mistakes. Arrogance and over confidence is the downfall of many. You need a cool, calm head. I guess the problem many of us have, is that we don't know how stupid we really are. I was lucky. I went to St Vincents and had a bevvy of nuns to inform me of my limitations on a daily basis. I learned that despite my own limitations, I could succeed if I surrounded myself with good people who I could trust and had good judgement. Usually such people do not seek the spotlight. Like many fools, I actually quite like it. That is why I play in a band!

People sometimes see my willingness to delegate and discuss as a weakness. It isn't, it's a superpower. As a musician I write songs. I like to think I have good ideas, but they are invariable taken up three notches by the rest of the band, when they contribute. It was a principle I first learned in music. What I also learned is that not everyone is trustworthy. When people breach trust, you only find out when the damage is done. Often people who are duplicitous believe they are clever. However, you have to operate on the level of a genius to get away with snake like behaviour over any length of time. Most such people are not that clever. They get caught out and find themselves to be deviod of friends. It is all fine and dandy to curry favour by being sneaky, but only a fool misses the fact that people despise people with no honour. 

It can be dispiriting seeing such behaviour, but arrogant fools are their own worst enemy and when they surround themselves with sneaks and cheats, they are doomed to exist in a level of hell that is grim and unimaginably dull. When you come up against such characters, don't despair. They make mistakes. It is not always pleasant in the middle of it, but their foolishness is always their own downfall. They do get their victories, but their lack of self awareness means they misinterpret the lessons or generally don't even see there are lessons to be learned. Ultimately it never ends well. So if you come up against a fool in life, or despair of those on the world stage, don't despair. Just bide your time and make sensible wise choices as best you can.

So how will The London Borough of Barnet vote in the local elections

 As I alluded to yesterday, for the first time ever as an adult, I am not really taking any great interest in the local elections. I was a member of the Labour party from 1979 - 2009 and then have been a member of the Lib Dems 2009-2011 and 2016- now. I've delivered leaflets, knocked on doors, attended rallys etc. I've always been fascinated. It was the reason I set up this blog, as I felt the Conservatives. were doing a rotten job. I found I enjoyed writing on other subjects and the blog has evolved away from those roots. 

But now, here we are in the middle of an election campaign and I find myself in the strange position where I can find no enthusiasm at all to blog about what is going on. However, I do have some views on how things are likely to pan out. Since the last council elections, we've seen the rise of Reform. We can get some idea of how the cookie will crumble based on recent by elections. Lets start with the recent one in Hendon ward

30 October 2025 Hendon Ward by-election results

Candidate: BAILEY, Gabrielle Louise
Description: Green Party
Votes: 201

Candidate: DAVID, Yosef
Description: Reform UK
Votes: 1,069

Candidate: HARRISON, Lewis George
Description: Labour Party
Votes: 423

Candidate: REND, Ben
Description: Rejoin EU
Votes: 81

Candidate: RYDE, Shimon (Elected)
Description: Conservative Party Candidate
Votes: 1,656

Candidate: WALSH, Jeremy
Description: Liberal Democrats
Votes: 107

Shimon Ryde was duly elected as Councillor for the Hendon Ward of the London Borough of Barnet. 

Lets compare that with the last council elections.

5 May 2022 Local Government Election results for Hendon

Candidate: Joshua Aaron CONWAY (Elected) 
Party: Conservative
Votes: 2632

Candidate: Charlotte Elizabeth DAUS
Party: Labour
Votes: 1427

Candidate: David Jonathan DUNITZ
Party: Labour
Votes: 1329

Candidate: Christopher Jon FORDYCE
Party: Green
Votes: 429

Candidate: Michael James HUGHES
Party: Liberal Democrat
Votes: 277

Candidate: Franca Mina Anna OLIFFE
Party: Independent
Votes: 568

Candidate: Eunice PHILLIPS
Party: Liberal Democrat
Votes: 240

Candidate: Alex PRAGER (Elected)
Party: Conservative
Votes: 2545

Candidate: Mark Richard SHOOTER (Elected)
Party: Conservative
Votes: 2436

Candidate: Janice TURNER
Party: Liberal Democrat
Votes: 276

Candidate:  Viljo George Rafiq WILDING
Party: Labour
Votes: 1018

A couple of points to note. The first is that bye-elections generally have a lower turnout than normal council elections. The Tories held the seat quite easily. I expect the Tories to hold all of their seats and make gains from Labour. 

The same pattern was seen in Burnt Oak, which is a Labour heartland

13 February 2025 Burnt Oak Ward by-election results

Candidate: AKBIYIK, Altan Richard
Description: Liberal Democrats
Votes: 93

Candidate: BAILEY, Gabrielle Louise
Description: Green Party candidate
Votes: 202

Candidate: DAUS, Charlotte Elizabeth
Description: Labour Party
Votes: 1,064

Candidate: GHATEH, Kevin Kishar
Description: Conservative Party Candidate
Votes: 501

Candidate: HONDERICK, Charles Laurence
Description: Rejoin EU London
Votes: 68

Candidate: KHATRI, Sury
Description: Reform UK
Votes: 434

Charlotte Elizabeth Daus was duly elected as Councillor for the Burnt Oak Ward of the London Borough of Barnet. 

If we now look at the 2022 elections, we see this

5 May 2022 Local Government Election results for Burnt Oak

Candidate: Sara Tracey CONWAY (Elected)
Party: Labour
Votes: 2545

Candidate: Kamal Bahadur GURUNG (Elected)
Party: Labour
Votes: 2377

Candidate: Ruth Carline Alexandra HART 
Party: Conservative
Votes: 962

Candidate: Timothy James Matthew Weng Ho McGEEVER
Party: Conservative
Votes: 861

Candidate: Ammar NAQVI (Elected)
Party: Labour
Votes: 2105

Candidate: Rashina SHAH
Party: Green
Votes: 520

Candidate: Samuel SHUPAC
Party: Conservative
Votes: 736

I wasn't surprised that Labour won easily. Their voters are pretty tribal, but I was perhaps more surprised to see The Tories beating reform. It demonstrated the fact that although Reform have a hardcore support, it is nowhere near enough to win seats in Barnet. If I was going to put money on anyone to win, I expect the Tories to take back control. As Labour has not shone locally or nationally and I expect that to be reflected at the polls. Although the Tories are not exactly setting the world laight nationally, I expect a disciplined and sensible campaign focussing on local issues and trust. 

Reform locally has a few estranged ex Tories on their cards. In Mill Hill, we have Sury Khatri on the slate. I like Sury personally, but he was a Tory until they booted him out and since then he's lent support to just about everyone. I am not sure that such candidates ever really have much credibility. He supported the Lib Dems in Mill Hill in 2022. I can't really see how that can be squared off with joining Reform. I suspect that he thinks they will win. I think that outside of London, Reform will perhaps do better, although I will be very surprised if they make they gains they think they will. The Tories and Labour have decades worth of polling data and experience in fight seats. It is all very well thinking that you'll win because people don't like Starmer or Badenoch, but Reform don't have a good story to tell in local government, so I think the big parties will play on the fact that inept and inexperienced councillors mean bigger bills will be rather potent. 

I've spoken to a few Reform supporters of late. I have been quite shocked at how detached from reality some are. It takes a lot of hard work to win elections and you need to know the lie of the land and who you need to engage with to get them out. A few leaflets and bold claims is not enough to win. Of course, sometimes things happening nationally have a huge effect locally, but Reform is polling lower than last year and they couldn't win bye elections last year. 

I am not involved in what the Lib Dems are doing, so I don't know what they are targetting. Likewise I am not close to the Greens. Generally in Barnet, the Greens mistakenly think that if the Lib Dems are doing well, they will. This is a myth. They would be better targetting wards where voters may have issues that the Greens have strong policies on. I think that the Lib Dems may win a ward or two if they run strong campaings, as may the Greens. In Mill Hill, we have a couple of independents running. I think that they have massively underestimated the task at hand to winkle out the Tories. I wouldn't be surprised to see a shock or two, if there are local issues that people are hot under the collar about, but I will be very surprised if Barnet doesn't flip back to the Tories. 

I say that with no glee. They were useless between 2002 and 2022. I think Labour had a chance to do good things and they've blown it. 

Here is the full list of candidates - www.barnet.gov.uk/elections-and-voting/local-government-elections-thursday-7-may-2026/statement-persons-nominated

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The Sunday Reflection #83 - This is not what I signed up for!

 I first started writing the Barnet Eye in October 2008. I didn't expect a lot. I thought that if I was lucky a couple of dozen people would read it. I thought I'd get bored with it after a couple of months and do something else. I thought no one was interested in the rantings of a dyslexic punk rock musician, who was prone to ranting about the shortcomings of Barnet Council, moaning about the absurdity of life and wallowing in the uselessness of my football team of choice (Manchester City, who were a very different beast back then). I was so convinced that no one was interested, I never even bothered to look at the readership stats of the blog. I thought that knowing no one was interested, would make me give up. To me amazement, after six months, curiosity got the better of me. I found that the blog had 60,000 views. More people than watch Man City on a Saturday at the time.

I didn't expect a bunch of other people to be inspired and start blogging about Barnet. I didn't expect National TV, National and Local Radio and the newspapers to start taking an interest. I didn't expect the local government minister, Eric Pickles to compliment the Barnet Bloggers. I didn't expect to get asked to write a chapter of a book published by a well respected publisher, or to write articles for The Guardian. I didn't expect death threats from lunatics, enraged by what I had to say. I didn't expect social media companies to ban me, for reasons they wont tell me (yes x.com, that's you I am talking about), even though they have stated that I've been reinstated. I didn't expect to make friends as a result of the blog. I didn't expect to produce films that would be shown at the Phoenix Cinema, The House Of Commons and The Edinburgh Festival. 

I didn't expect any of this. In January 2008, if someone had asked me what I expected any obituary to say about me (not that I expect one), I'd have said "Roger Tichborne was the founder of Mill Hill Music Complex studios in Mill Hill. He played guitar in an obscure London band called The False Dots and he was married with three children". The whole blog thing was an accident. I am not sure whether it was a lucky one. 

This morning I was at the 8.30 mass, where I normally formulate this blog feature in my head. The gospel today is the one where a couple of the followers of Jesus are walking down the road and a bloke joins them. They chat to him, then have dinner with him. It is only when he breaks the bread that they realise that it is the risen Jesus. I don't really talk much about religion in this feature, but this is one of my favourite Gospels. Not because of the religious significance, but because it is a great example of how the bleeding obvious can be staring us in the face and we are far to wrapped up in our own worries and intrigues to see it. I love the bit where the penny drops as to who their companion is. Jesus immediately disappears. To me it is a subject lesson in the fact that you don't really realise what you've got in life till its too late. 

For reasons I can't quite fathom, the reading made me think about this blog and its effect on my life. Being a 'famous blogger' has changed me. When I read the earliest blogs, I had a fearlessness about my writings. I was charged up with energy to confront injustice and call out people who were not doing their jobs properly. Re reading them, I realise why many people thought I was a bit of a humourless maniac! The local Tories, who ran the council, dismissed me as a humourless  swivel eyed Trotskyite maniac. As such I was easily dismissed. Then, a few of them realised I wasn't. The oddest thing happened. When they realised that I often wrote blogs that were funny and that they were looking ridiculous, they became a lot more worried. When Richard Cornelius became the Leader of the Council, things changed. Like me, Richard had a sense of humour. I did an April Fool blog that really wound him up. He sent me an email. It didn't threaten me, he just said that it was extremely funny, he'd had a good laugh at it, but suggested I removed it, as someone reading it on any other day of the year may not get the joke. Because Richard was polite, good mannered and pleasant, and didn't get riled by me winding him up, I largely stopped poking fun at him. At civic events we'd chat and joke. Often he'd try and figure out who was leaking information from his group of councillors. I suspect that if I'd told him at the time, he'd have been deeply shocked, but if I told him now he wouldn't. I'm not telling anyone though. 

In 2022, when Labour took the council, it was all change. I had expected them to do a lot of really obviously sensible things. They didn't. I expected them to put together a proper arts strategy for Barnet (they asked me to help, then ignored everything I said), they haven't. I expected them start a new era of openness. They haven't. For the first council elections since I started blogging, I have no interest at all in the outcome. The Tories are useless. Labour are useless. Reform are clueless. The Lib Dems are not interested in Barnet. I was asked to stand, but refused, as I am Chairman of the Mill Hill Services Club and felt it would be a conflict of interests.

So what do I want to happen? My preference would be to see a situation where no party or two parties had enough councillors to have control. A Tory/Reform coalition would be a disaster. Labour don't deserve another term. Some sort of coalition where Lib Dems, Greens and local residents would, I believe bring back some sort of focus to local people. Both the Tories and Labour seem more interested in being friends with developers and people simply seeking to cash in on the wealth in Barnet, rather than doing good for the hard pressed residents. I have a personal interest to state. Pete Williams, a green candidate in Mill Hill is a candidate. I've known Pete for years and will be voting for him. I will also be voting for the Lib Dem candidate Charles Wakefield as I am a party member. And my third vote? I really do not want to see Reform get in. I will be voting for Conservative Elliot Simberg. I have known Elliot for a very long time. He is a decent man and has told me that he will never defect to Reform. I have never voted Conservative before, but I am seriously worried that Reform will get in. 

I did not sign up to be a Barnet Blogger to promote a Conservative candidate. However I am not going to lie or seek to curry favour with anyone. I am not going too say Elliot is the best of a bad bunch, because I believe he is a decent man and that would be a lie. We disagree on politics, but I've shared a scotch with him and commend him as a human being and given the choices, that is all I can really say.

And I urge you to think very long and hard about who you vote for. Think about what sort of people you want to run the Borough. Think about what will happen if we have no councillors with any experience. Think about who tactically will give you a regime you can live with. I doubt that many people who read this blog will agree with y choices. But I make the with a clear conscience. 

The evil men are not the people you need to worry about

 I am sorry to say that when I look at the news, it is hard to take solace in anything right now. It seems to me that we are going through a difficult period of history, where being calm, rational, reasonable and honest are not qualities that are deemed necessary for leadership. I'm not going to bother to list the latest examples, because by this time next week, they will be forgotten, swamped under the next layer of depressing news, and the the next three layers after that. A friend asked last night what I thought could be done about the seemingly evil men, who are running the world. My response surprised them. I said "They are not the problem". I have no idea how the current situation will play out. I have no idea what the history books will say (should there be anyone around to read them). I may even be wrong about the whole thing, who knows? I am not arrogant enough to think that just because I don't like someone, they are actually bad and evil. But I write a blog and can only write what I see, through the prism of my own experience and circumstances. 

So you may ask, if the evil men at the top are not the problem, who are the problem. Sadly if we look at the rise and fall of the Third Reich in Germany, the answer is there to see. It is the ordinary man in the street. The man who is normally decent and moral, but who does not think for himself and question what is going on. The man who falls into line behind despots like Adolf Hitler, out of a misguided sense of patriotism. The man who does not see the obvious lies and does not question them. The man who finds themself in a position of power, which they didn't seek or expect, but they find themselves with power over other human beings and enjoy the culture that is emerging where that culture removes the sense of morality that keeps us all in check. The man who is convinced that another human being has less worth, no worth at all or, due to ethnicity or religion, is someone to be despised, attacked murdered, robbed, beaten. the Third Reich could only function because people who had previously been honest, decent citizens, where educed by a cult of hate. 

I have mentioned this before, but one of the things of my formative years left the most lasting impression was listening to my Dad, who was a bomber pilot for the RAF talk with a German fighter pilot, when they met during a friendship exchange organised, I think, by the Rotary Club. The two men, who may well have killed each other without a second thought in 1944, were having scotches, joking and discussing tactics in 1984, in a sense of amicable friendship and a shared experience that few could really understand. Toward the end of the evening, the German told my father, with a tear in his eyes, that the most difficult thing was that after the war, he'd realised Hitler was a maniac and that he was morally on the wrong side. He said that for him, he could live with it, because he was raised in an environment that he only saw one side of the argument. He saw Germany being rebuilt and becoming strong and as a patriotic German, he felt proud to serve in the armed forces. It was only after the war, when he read about the true nature of the Nazis, did he realise that the sacrifice of him and all of his comrades who died was something to be ashamed of, not to celebrate. My Dad simply said "I guess you never really know the truth at the time. I just thought I was doing my duty too". It made me realise that many young men never questioned anything and signed up. Many more were conscripted. In a totalitarian state, you'd have to be very brave to question orders. However soldiers do question orders. In Bosnia, General Michael Jackson defied a direct order from General Wesley Clarke to order his men to engage a brigade of Russians at Sarejevo airport. Instead he went to the airport with a bottle of Whisky and de-escalated the situation. He told Clarke "I am not starting World War three for you".

Good men can stop wars, just as bad men can start them. But it needs backbone and you need to be prepared to take risks. Bad leaders get rid of advisors who disagree with them. All this does is make them into even worse leaders, because there is no one around to explain the error of the ways. The sad truth though, is that there are always a lot of decent people, who don't stand up and be counted. Last week, I tried to persuade a foolish man to see the error of his ways. He opened the conversation by saying "I don't want to talk to you". He ended it by saying "I don't need your advice". My parting words to him were "Well at least I tried". That is all we can do sometimes. I'd rather have a clear conscience personally.