One - Nil to the Barnet Eye !!!!! Barnet Council allows visitors to video meetings

As the blog which broadcast the first video of Barnet Council in action, please allow us a small gloat at  the decision to allow visitors to video Council proceedings.

If you visit this link, you will see that the videos we've posted of the Council have attracted a decent amount of hits and interest. Councillor Danny "Imber" Seal suggests that bloggers will soon get bored filming meetings now it's allowed. This totally misunderstands the blogging community and the wider Barnet community. Not every meeting will be video'd,  but ones with huge public interest such as the Budget meeting this year and the Pinkham Way meeting, most certainly will be.

If you click this link - http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rogtex+&aq=f -, you'll see that the Town hall footage video has got 845 views. The Pinkham Way debate got 531 views. There is an audience for the issues of real public interest. People didn't view these video's because they were well filmed or because they were banned. They viewed them because they were interested in the subject matter.

Danny Seal is not the first Barnet Tory Councillor to totally misunderstand the people he represents. Sadly he won't be the last either. Nope, I didn't film it. Last June I was elected to our local Parish Council and I had to attend the bi-monthly meeting on behalf of the people in the Parish who elected me.

Coleman: It's a no score draw - No it ain't mate

I just heard Brian Coleman being interviewed by Eddie Nestor on BBC London 94.9. He claimed that as the Standards sub committee did not fine or ban him meant he'd got a no score draw.



I love football, that's a great analogy. The only thing is that he had the best lawyers my tax money could afford. He knows the procedure. He knows the panel. Not only that, but his £10,000 solicitor was able to spend an hour trying to rubbish my character to the panel, with lies such as "Tichborne insulted Colemans mum (disproven by Vanessa Feltz live on radio this morning)". He had home advantage, as it was at the town hall. I wasn't even allowed to address the committee. Coleman was allowed to speak, I wasn't.

So back to the football analogy. Coleman had the most expensive team (mine cost nothing), he was given a string of dodgy penalty's (he addressed the committee as did his £10,000 lawyers, I couldn't). He had an expensive backroom team to spend months preparing the case.

In terms of Football teams, it was Manchester United Versus the Mill Hill Village 5th Eleven. Even with all of his advantages, he got, in his own words, a "No Score Draw". Well if Man U got Mill Hill Village at Old Trafford in the FA Cup and got a "No Score Draw" would Fergie be happy, would the fans. Nope, they'd be a laughing stock.

All of the cards were loaded against me, but I WON. I GOT WHAT I WANTED - I just wanted his behaviour to be exposed - when I brought the complaint, I thought he'd be told off and it would make page 16 of the Mill Hill Times. It's been no 1 item on the London BBC news, I never dreamed that it would be such a high profile story. I also wanted the Council to train it's Councillors to treat the public with respect. This is something they have agreed to do. Coleman clearly doesn't get it. He may not have been banned or fined, but his true colours have been shown. He lost the case. I understand that as he lost he has to pay his expensive Lawyer the £10,000 fee. The council only paid it if he was cleared. In my book, that's a pretty harsh sanction. I hope his lawyer buys him a pint after.

Anyway, I thought I'd dedicate a little bit of Frank to Brian

Yet another victory for Barnet Eye and the blogs of Barnet

Warmest congratulations to the Barnet Eye's most avid reader. The Leader of Barnet Council has heeded the advice of our humble publication TWICE in one day. Maybe he's figured out that the thousands of people who read this blog every week aren't too impressed with some of the things he's been up to and he's decided to mend his ways !!!!!

First a couple of excited readers emailed me to tell me that Mike's technical team had renamed the offensively named file on his Finchley Conservative website to something a bit more acceptable. Now given that the picture has been on his website for months and it's unlikely that he changed it anytime recently to something so offensive, it can only mean that the Barnet Eye spoke and Mike has listened. Well done Mike (Click for Original story HERE). First chance his techies got, wham bang and a nice new name. Then I found that this was only the start on a feast day of victories for the Barnet Eye.

The Edgware Times reported that Mike has decided to freeze his own pay !!!! Now in THIS BLOG I raised the issue of Councillor Allowances, tipped off by Statler and Waldorf and assisted by Barnet Council Watch blogs (warm congratulations on this joyous day gentlemen have a sherry on me). Unlike some I'm not going to be cynical or criticise Mike Freer for following my advice. Mind you I will give him some more for free. He should tell his cabinet that they must forgo their allowances as well. There are 33 Tory Councillors, many of whom who would love a cabinet post, even at the old rate. If the current lot don't like it, name and shame them.

The cabinet reports that Mike's sacrifice has saved approx £5,000. This is not a huge sum, but it is enough to freeze all burial charges for infants for a year. How about it Mike? It would cost very little, help a few people in real distress and show that you care and listen.


Mike said in his Podcast last week that he doesn't listen to bloggers such as myself. Well it is as clear as a sunny spring morning that both of the things I've detailed above are inspired by the blogs of Barnet. If Mike continues to say he's not listening to us, then you know he's trying to feed you one of these. Lets hope he starts listening to the sensible advice, available for free here on a far more regular basis !