Why Russell Brand is wrong and you should use your vote

I've spent the last 36 years playing rock and roll, running a music studio and organising music gigs, festivals etc. I am by nature a cynic. I've had the misfortune to meet plenty of very uninspiring politicians, who are the opposite of what one may call an advert for the profession. I've had politicians tell me bare faced lies, insult me and even tell lies about me on the radio and TV. This is not a new thing either. When our band toured Sweden in 1981, we were denounced as dangerous by a Swedish politician on national TV, following the disappearance of 2 teenage girls following our gig at the Underground club in Stockholm. We were accused of abducting them and taking them to Finland. When it turned out that they'd simply gone home with boys they'd met at the gig, doing what teenage girls sometimes do,  we did not get an apology for the wild accusations that had been made. The politician simply changed his tack to state we'd encouraged them, by singing permissive music. The whole incident was ultimately rather comical. When we returned to Stockholm, the poor girls mother actually apologised to me in front of TV cameras for the insults she'd made the previous evening. Bearing in mind that we'd been in Finland and hadn't got a clue what all the fuss was about (no moblie phones in 1981), it was rather surreal (the apology was staged by the tour promoter to get us a bit of free publicity). When the full story was told, I felt very sorry for the Mum. She'd been wound up and used by a nasty right wing politician, who was trying to garner support for the 1982 general election there. It was quite funny seeing myself on the Swedish news being asked my opinion of said politician, to which I replied "He's clearly an idiot, I hope no one votes for him" with Swedish subtitles.

Strangely enough what they didn't show was the rest of what I said. I told them that we didn't sing songs urging teenage girls to run off with their boyfriends, we write songs to help people deal with the issues they are facing in their lives, issues which fat, useless politicians don't give a damn about.

Despite my antipathy towards the type of politician who lies, abuses there position and doesn't give a damn about the society they live in, I cannot possibly let Mr Brand have his say without making the point that not only is he wrong, he is what Lenin would call a "useful idiot" for the very powers he claims to be fighting against. In this country there is huge injustice, yet the people at the end of the sword cutting welfare budgets are those least likely to vote. When Russell Brand "whips up apathy", he is not whipping it up amongst the billionaires such as Rupert Murdoch, who ensures his media empire does everything legally allowed to ensure a Conservative victory. It does not whip up apathy amongst rich property owners, who campaign like tigers against a mansion tax, but ignore the people at the bottom being forced out of their homes by the bedroom tax.

Sadly the people most likely to buy into the Russell Brand form of apathy are impressionable teenagers, who are idealistic and impressionable. What Brand is doing is simply removing a whole swathe of voters who care about injustice and the environment from the process, ensuring that those who simply want to maintain the status quo and protect their own privilige.  If you look at countries where there are not democratic elections, they are invariably hell holes. Whatever you think of the UK at the moment, it is one of the best places in the world to live. By not voting as a positive decision, you are in effect lining yourself up with some of the most vicious and repressive regimes in the world.

Brand argues that "voting doesn't make a difference". This is a complete lie and I am sure Russell knows it. I thought I'd make a short list of some of the decisions that have been policies of the Conservative Party and opposed by the Labour party, which have made huge differences to millions of peoples lives. Some are local and some are national issues.

* Closure of Edgware General Hospital. I was born there, my eldest daughter was born there. The Tories shut it, so my next daughter had to be born in Barnet General. As my mum's health failed, I spent many hours in the overloaded A&E dept of Barnet General, which has never been able to cope with the number of people using it following Edgware Closure.

* NHS cuts starving cancer pateints of services. I am under treatment for prostate cancer. Following my last MRI scan in February, I had to have a telephone consultation with someone who wasn't my doctor, because the cuts mean there are too many patients at the Royal Free for the number of doctors available.

* Privatisation of the railways, meaning trains are run largely for the benefit of foreign shareholders. On the Thameslink service, the latest in a long list of useless private contractors are driving the service into the ground. Under BR, Mill Hill Broadway had eight trains an hour in rush hour. Now we are lucky to have five or six and they are all rammed full. Fares now cost a fortune and vicious regimes levy huge fines if you make the slightest mistake or the Oyster reader doesn't read your card properly.

* Students face a massive tax, wrongly called a student loan. The Tories have hiked this so students leave University with tens of thousands of pounds of debt. If tax is on millionaires is bad for the country, how can it be good for students? (Note Brand is a millionaire so likely to benefit from a Tory government). I have two daughters starting Uni in September. Whilst my wife studied Russian for four years and left college with no debt, my daughters will be well and truly shafted.

* The Tories have decimated the supply of social housing. Margaret Thatcher forced councils to sell off council houses and did not allow them use the money raised to build new ones. This means that young people are forced to pay huge rents to private landlords, many of whom are less than scrupulous.

The bottom line is that for the vast majority of people living in this country, health, education, housing and transport are the issues which define the quality of our lives. It could not be clearer that the Tories and Labour have completely different policies and approaches. When a millionaire encourages people not to vote, I always get suspicious. When most of the people he is targeting, will vote against his fiancial interests, I smell a huge rat.

The Saturday List #47 - The seven deadly sins - The most missed seven things in Barnet

As is the tradition, we like to have a list on a Saturday. We've had a pretty full on week with the Your Choice Barnet Week, so here is a bit of a change. I thought I'd list the seven things which we've lost from living in the London Borough of Barnet. It is a personal list

1. Barnet FC - The club still exist but now they play in Cannons Park, Harrow. A crime and a scandal.

2. Edgware General Hospital. I was born there, but first the Tories, then Labour shafted us and we lost our hospital. Now we have to go to Barnet General and wait for hours

3. Woolworths. I don't care what anyone said. Every High Street needs a Woolworths. I loved it and my kids loved it. Don't believe the porkies that it was an outdated business model. The company was shafted by asset strippers, who flogged off the properties, took all the money out and then crashed the company. If you own shares in any company where they flog off the properties, my advice is run a mile (please note this is not financial advice, as I am not qualified to give it, just a personal view).

4. Hendon FC. Another great football club shafted by the Council.

5. Watling Boys Club. A community asset in the heart of one of the more deprived parts of Barnet.

6. The Oriental Centre. The heart of the local Asian community. A great food hall and a much loved centre. Shafted by greedy property developers and left to rot.

7. Mill Hill Swimming Pool. Forget the Garden Centre, the real crime of Barnet Council was closing Mill Hill Swimming Pool, bequeathed to the people of Mill Hill in perpetuity as a community asset. This covenant was ignored by a greedy council who flogged it off as a Garden Centre. I always felt bitter about this, which is why I was totally ambivalent about the campaign to save the Garden Centre.

Local Tories in Election Leaflet bungle

Readers of the Barnet Eye will have recently read of rather odd claims that "Lib Dems plan 500 seat stadium for Copthall Chase Lodge" from the Mill Hill Tories in a recent leaflet. Given that no local Lib Dems have a clue about any such plans, the Barnet Eye was keen to find out what the Tories were on about.

The Barnet Eye has spoken to various Lib Dem councillors and has discovered the source of the rumour. Local Tories have confused Lib Dem support for planned improvements to Chase Farm Hospital with the Chase Lodge football pitches.Local Lib Dems have spearheaded the campaign to retain and improve facilities at Chase Farm. This will ease pressure on the already overworked Barnet General hospital.

Barnet Lib Dems are happy to announce that they fully support improvements to Chase Farm Hospital. As to Stadiums at Copthall and Chase Lodge, we've seen no plans and none have been submitted for any form of planning approval. No Mill Hill Lib Dems have been involved in any schemes for stadiums (as alleged in the Tory Leaflet) or any other developments on the site and can only suggest that the Tories have got their wires crossed between Chase Farm pitches and Chase Lodge Hospital, where the local Lib Dems are spearheading the drive for improvements. If it didn't affect local residents it would be quite funny.

Is there an election coming up by any chance?
***** Update at Saturday *****
In response to a confused resident from Enfield who rather likes this blog. Lib Dems are not proposing that Chase Farm hospital be turned into a football stadium. We are proposing that the hospital services are retained and improved. Local residents may recall that the Conservative government closed Edgware General hospital (I know, I helped organise the campaign to oppose the closure). There is only one party which opposes hospital closures and stands up for the green belt in Mill Hill. That is the Lib Dems.

The Chase Farm maternity scandal

Praise where praise is due. Of all the questions asked at the Council meeting this week, the best, most important and the one with the least satisfactory answer came from Tory Hale Councillor, Brian Gordon.

Unfortunately, our local paper paints a rather rosier picture, clearly being taken in by the hype. It seems to me that Barnet PCT are intent on putting even more strain on an already creaking service. If Barnet turned away 63 mothers whilst Chase Farm is still open, heaven only knows what will happen when it is closed. Sixty three women means that more than one a week is being turned away. That means it is routine practice. We've three children. One was born at the now closed Edgware General Hospital. The second was born at Barnet General and the third at the low risk birth unit at Edgware. I cannot imagine how stressful it would be to find yourself having to go elsewhere. This is totally unacceptable. I rather hope that Brian Gordon will not let this matter rest. As he's a Hale Ward councillor, he has first hand experience of what problems it causes when a hospital shuts.

I still harbour serious resentment at the closure of Edgware General. I think that it is shameful that no proper public transport provision has been made for people in the west of the borough wishing to get to Barnet General.