The Saturday List #19 - Reasons why the Conservatives are still the Nasty Party

1. Andrew Mitchell called the Police plebs and swore at them - David Cameron didn't sack him

2. Stingy George Osborne tried to avoid paying for a first class ticket with the excuse that he couldn't possible stand travelling with ordinary people.

3. Barnet Tory Leader Richard Cornelius wants to stump up £14,000 of taxpayers money for legal fees defending his mate Councillor Andreas Tambourides against a standards complaint from highly respected Tory Councillor Kate Salinger.

4. Councillor Brian Coleman has refused to apologise for calling a resident a "Blackshirt" despite                 being ordered to do so by the Standards Committee. Richard Cornelius refuses to sack him.

5. Councillor Brian Coleman is currently on bail following an alleged assualt of a woman in North Finchley, Richard Cornelius refuses to suspend him from the party, despite this being the standard procedure.

6. Councillor Brian Coleman recently called highly respected Age UK Barnet chair, Julia Hines and Barnet blogger Theresa Musgrove a pair of hags in a council meeting. Richard Cornelius refused to sanction him.

7. Councillor Brian Coleman referred to other members of the public gallery, including a local rabbi as "sad and mad" at the same meeting. Richard Cornelius refuses to sanction him.

8. Councillor Dean Cohen pretends that parking policy changes haven't damaged local traders -times-series.co.uk/news/topstories/9990384.Councillor_claims_parking_not_solely_to_blame_for_high_street_s_downturn/ … 

9 Councillor Robert Rams supports Dean Cohens distortions on Twitter - https://twitter.com/CllrRobertRams/status/258585119051354112

10. All of the Councillors mentioned in points 3-10 are members of Barnet Council cabinet (apart from Kate Salinger). 

Andreas Tambourides guilty of breaching Barnet Council Standards code

Yesterday Barnet Councillor Andreas Tambourides was found guilty of breaching the Standards code of Barnet Council. His punishment? He has to go on a training course and write an apology to Councillor Kate Salinger, who he circulated scurrillous lies about.

The Barnet Eye ha one question. Is it appropriate that this man, who clearly hasn't got a clue how to conduct himself, is fit to remain as a member of the Standards Committee, where he has to judge others?

Time to see if Barnet really cares about "Bullying and Intimidation" - Councillor Tambourides up before Standards Board

Next Tuesday, there really is the most incredible Standards case ever in the history of Barnet Council. A Barnet Conservative Councillor, Kate Salinger has reported another Barnet Conservative Councillor, Andreas Tambourides to the Standards committee. What is even more interesting is that the report produced by the independent investigator has found that Tambourides breached the code on TWO counts. It is now the job of the committee to decide whether to accept the findings of the investigator and whether to impose a sanction on Tambourides.

Yesterday the Barnet Eye reported that Barnet Council had secretly issued a press release stating that

The council does not tolerate the abuse or bullying of any of its staff.

This case is an important test of this principle. Tambourides is a high ranking Conservative cabinet member, who deliberately circulated an email seeking to denigrate a colleague. Why? Because Kate Salinger had taken a principled stand against awarding herself  a payrise. She was publicly humiliated and stripped of all responsibility within the council. She then suffered the indignity of a colleague circulating a humiliating and inaccurate blog about her to all her colleagues. The blog was forced to apologise, but Tambourides did not bother to circulate the correction.

Long standing readers of this blog will know I took Councillor Brian Coleman to the standards committee. He was found guilty of breaching the code, but no sanction was imposed. Having been through the process and had the indignity of having a highly paid lawyer spend two hours besmirching my character - spouting innaccuracy after innaccuracy, I will be most interested to follow these procedings. Certain members of the Barnet Conservatives cannot behave themselves. They will only learn to behave when they are brought to book. The time is long overdue. Kate Salinger has shown herself to be the bravest, most highly principled and the nicest of all Tory Councillors. She is an example of good manners. She exemplifies the qualities that all good local councillors should aspire to have. It is incredible that Tambourides was not instantly relieved of all duties when he circulated the offending email. It shows just how rotten to the core the clique at the heart of Barnet Council really is. I applaud Councillor Salinger for standing up to this bully and holding him to account.

Here are the papers for your perusal.
Agenda and Reports Pack[1]

Rant-a-Vision Launch - Official Barnet Tory Response

Yesterday I launched the Rant-A-Vision service on this blog, with a rant about tuition fees. I then emailed Barnets leading Tory blogger (since the retirement of Don't Call Me Dave) for a response. I am mindful that I don't want this blog to become the "internal house magazine of the hard left" in Barnet as one correspondent described it. Given that I don't actually understand the Tories support for tuition fees, I thought maybe Mr Dan Hope, Blogger, Ex Councillor and Barnet Tory might be just the man. Anyway, he has done a response of sorts, although you may need the password - swiveleyedtrot (can't think why he chose a password like that) - to access it  -  enjoy -

http://vimeo.com/16805458

Unlike most of our Barnet Tories, Mr Hope isn't completely without humour (except when it comes to his ex Tory Councillor Colleagues,  especially Andrea Tamborineplayer, winding him up). Sadly though, I must surmise that he agrees with every word I've said as his response consists entirely of my original broadcast.

It is very hard to start a debate when everyone seems to agree (apart from a few MP's more concerned about their career than their communities).

Brunswick Park and the changing face of Barnet Politics

It was anticipated that there would be a bit of interest in the fact that I was announced as candidate for the Lib Dems during the week. It's fair to say that this blog has attracted a bit of attention to me and a lot of people who aren't natural Lib Dems have pledged to support me, some overtly and some covertly, at the next election.

What wasn't anticipated in the least, and what consumed an inordinate amount of time was the number of natural Conservatives who contacted me yesterday from Brunswick Park ward to say that they cannot possibly vote for Lynne Hillan or Andreas Tambourides and asking if we'd like them to deliver leaflets etc. As a result, Brunswick Park has risen to the Lib Dem no 1 target seat (where we have no existing councillors). Quite a few have said that they will continue to vote for Lisa Rutter, to show that they are still, at heart, Conservatives. Basically they will lend us their vote for this election, for two of the three seats, to show they are sick and tired of what has been going on at the Town hall and Hillan and Tambourides antics.

If you live in Brunswick Park and want a change and you want to help this happen, please CLICK HERE to send me an email and I'll get in touch to tell you how you can help us. It might be by delivering a few leaflets, it might be by putting up a poster. Every little helps and the only way you can make things happen is by doing something. I hadn't really anticipated much involvement with the politics of Brunswick Park, but when a Tory tells you "we've got to do something about Hillan. Please help", then you have to listen. I'm just pleased that people seem to trust me enough to bother to get in touch. I hope this little blog today is the start of a change in Brunswick Park.

Tambourides gets touchy !!!!!!!

I heard a rather amusing little story. Don't Call Me Dave published a rather interesting blog showing a picture of Councillor Andreas Tambourides car parked illegally. Now Mr Tambourides is one of my favourate Tory Councillors. Prior to her defection to Hertsmere Council, he would always make me chuckle at Council meetings, when he'd "admire" Former Tory Councillor Caroline Margo (now known as Caroline Clapper) as she used to walk across the Council chamber (of course the Barnet Eye wishes to make clear that Caroline Margo is a very admirable person and thoroughly agrees with Councillor Tambourides in this repsect). As he looks rather like the sadly missed Sid James of  "Carry On" fame, his admiration of his fellow Councillor always reminded me of many happy days watching Carry on up at the Council.

Anyway, what you may ask is this amusing little story that I was told. Well, it seems that Tambo has taken to claiming that this picture of his car (taken from DCMD's blog) :-

has been spoofed up by Don't Call Me Dave in paintshop. It seems he's going around saying that Don't Call Me Dave is so bitter and twisted by the success of the Tambourides clan, that he will stop at nothing to discredit him. Well, as you all know, The Barnet Eye will leave no stone unturned when it comes to ensuring fair play in Barnet. I sent the photo to my good mate, Spiderpilot, who is one of the worlds leading experts in the use of Photoshop to spoof up pictures. He assures me that this picture is genuine, apart from the rather clumsy attempts to hide Tambo's number plate.

In the Barnet Eye's mission to help and educate the populace of Barnet in the wicked ways of our local politicians, Spiderpilot provided me with this picture of what a "Spoofed up photo" of Tambourides may look like -

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE UNEDITED ORIGINAL AT NOTTHEBARNETTIMES (You won't be disappointed).

Sadly, it seems that I've got old Tambo all wrong. You see, I thought he was a guy a with a sense of humour, but I found that he takes himself a tad seriously. Not so long ago he complained to OFCOM because a presenter on London Greek Radio dedicated a song to him !

Apparently the presenter played the song, entitled "Baby, Shhh" and had the audacity to say :- "Baby Shut up, I should dedicate this to Andreas Tambourides who, the day before yesterday, was telling me how much he likes it. Andreas, I dedicate this to you, with much love. Many Kisses to you".

Tambo's complaint to OFCOM said the following :-

You can read the whole story if you CLICK HERE (go to page 79).  Now of course, The Barnet Eye thinks it's terrible if our local politicians should have people ridicule them. I'd have thought that with Andreas and his wife claiming over £50,000 a year in allowances, he'd be laughing all the way to the bank. My advice to Councillor Tambourides. Lighten up, your looks and your charm are your biggest assett. Use them wisely !

What Brian Coleman told the Standards investigator in his interview

During the course of the Standards Complaint interview between Councillor Brian Coleman and Melanie Carter, the independent investigator, Brian Coleman said many things which require a bit closer scrutiny. Some because they are, shall we say "slightly at odds with things of public record", some because they are funny, and some because a few people might be rather surprised that Brian Coleman said them. These are taken from my scanned copy of his statement. This document was published on the Council's website among the background papers.

There are other things which I could have also included, but to quote Mayor Coleman, "life's too short".

In this extract, Brian Coleman states that I turn up at virtually every residents forum an I attack people. There are approx 18 of these a year in Barnet. I've been to 3 in my life. At the last one I went to, I asked a question about the state of the football pitches at Burnt Oak Leisure Centre, where my son plays football. This is a matter of public record.

I've never stood for Council (although having seen how rotten the Standards process is, I'm seriously thinking about it). This again is a matter of public record. I cannot believe that Brian Coleman would make such a claim without checking his facts. 

In this answer he specifically accuses me of making an anti semitic statement and being a homophobe. With regards to the Anti semitic statement, the phrase he refers to is one that a Barnet Council video featured on it's You Tube website. I stridently criticised the council for allowing this to be featured. You can read the blog here which details the incident.

http://barneteye.blogspot.com/2008/10/barnet-councils-incompetance-puts-nazi.html

Coleman and his legal team must have known this. My blog is all on public record. There is no homophobia and no anti semitism. If there was, Coleman's £10,000 lawyer would have been over it like a rash. One other point regarding the Watling festival. I was actually organising a 5-a-side tournament for 8-10 year olds when Coleman turned up. Anyone who has ever organised an event for 50 children will know you are too busy to behave in the way Coleman alleges. Ho hum.

Now this is the Barnet Eye, we like to look at the funnier side of things as well. We've well documented Brian Coleman's speech impediment "Call me Bwian" - Anyway, here's a video of Mayor Coleman. Does he preonounce "R"s as "W"'s as I said (comparing him to Monty Pythons Pontius Pilate in the Life of Brian) or not.  As ever, you be the judge.



Another highlight. This is something which I totally believe Brian Coleman when he says it. He tells us what his Tory Colleagues think of the Barnet Eye and what they are really like. Sound like a lovely bunch, don't they. I wonder if Freer, Hillan, Offord, Tambourides, Hart, etc recognise themselves from Brian Colemans description

Last but by no means least. A little quote that quite a few people may enjoy.

 

I'm having a couple of days off blogging. I'll be back nice and sharp at 11am on Wednesday, so until then, adios amigo's.I've got a song to write for a great singer and I need to cleans my soul of Brian Coleman. To all my Jewish friends and readers I wish you a fullfilling fast and to everyone else enjoy what's left of the weekend and I hope like me you've enjoyed the weather.I'm off to have a glass of wine and pick up my guitar.

Dan Hope's filing cabinets

It seems that in the inner echelons of the ruling junta at Barnet Council there is much mirth and merriment at a Youtube video of Tory Ex Councillor Daniel Hope trying to flog a few rather tatty filing cabinets. Mr Hope used to be a Barnet Councillor, but was deselected and replaced by Councillor Andreas Tambourides wife, to make up a husband and wife partnership.

Now I rather like Councillor Tambourides, not for any reason other than he looks and acts a bit like Sid James (I've noticed at Council meetings he has a roving eye, especially when Councillor Caroline Margo used to walk past him, although to be fair she's a bit of a looker. I'm not for a second suggesting he's up to any naughtiness, not least because his wife is sitting next to him, ready to dispatch a well aimed handbag at the first sign of any misbehaviour). As such he brings me much joy during dull council meetings, but I do wonder whether these husband & wife teams deliver the same value for money & independence that two people who don't share a marital bed would.

Anyway for reasons I don't know, Ex Councillor Dan Hope was deselected. He clearly is not what one might call a Freerite Tory and has been a big critic of the Tory groups policies, being of the opinion that they are not Conservative. Dan Hope thinks that in effect the Barnet Tories are New Labour under a Conservative banner (I suppose it is fair to say that as a Labour supporter, I disagree and think they are just plain old useless under Tory banner).

For his sins, he's been excommunicated from all but the fringes of the Barnet Party (although rather strangely for such an apostate, the local member seem to quite like him). Now I don't normally step into the fray to defend right wing Tories, especially not ones who I've clashed with many times in the Edgware Times, but the sniggering at his video is worthy of comment, for a wider issue.

The Barnet Tories find it hilarious that he is earning a few quid in this way. "Oh how the mighty have fallen, they snigger". Well I'm a small businessman. In the early days of my studio business I used to have another job where one of the tasks was organising an office move from Tottenham Court Road to Buckingham Palace Road. The new office had brand spanking new office furniture. The old office was full of shabby desks, worn out carpet tiles, bashed up filing cabinets etc. My then boss asked me to get a quote to get rid of them. The drummer in my band at the time, big Gray Ramsey, was into a bit of wheeling & dealing so I asked him how much to remove the stuff. He replied that we could sell it and make a fortune. I spoke to my boss and said "I've got a mate who'll pay us cash & take it away" He replied. "Well if he can sell it, you split the money with him, and treat it as your bonus". Anyway, cut a long story short, we pocketed £800 each for a weekends work. Not only that but I got enough carpet tiles, ash trays, etc for the studios to probably save me another £800.

As for my boss, I bought him lunch from the profits, he was more than happy, he got a nice lunch, the stuff went and I'd had my bonus without him paying a penny. The point is that, as the saying goes "where there's muck there's brass". A shrewd small businessman, with an eye on costs recognises this. He will seek to cut expenses, maximise income, turn a profit on a deal. People who've never had experience of anything other than cushy desk jobs, where hands don't get dirty, have no concept of this. This is why Council projects such as Aerodrome Road have gone way over budget. A councillor such as Dan Hope would surely go downto the site, walk around regularly and ask awkward questions. I suspect that the desk jockey councillors who laugh at him, sit waiting for management reports, saying "due to unforeseen circumstances, we are £4 million over budget". I asked Council Leader Mike Freer, on his Leader Listens blog, how often he turns up unnanounced at Council sites to check things. He didn't answer (he didn't even post the question up).

I've already pulled up one local Tory candidate for deriding hard working small business owners. This is yet another example of the disdain which those who can't stand the concept of getting their hands dirty hold those who do in. They should be ashamed of themselves. This is why they keep losing money.