One Barnet program lies in tatters as Nick Walkley leaves Barnet Council

Today official sources at Barnet Council have confirmed that the CEO, Mr Nick Walkley is leaving Barnet council for a job at Harringey Council. As Mr Walkley is on £200,000 per year at present it is most unlikely that he has left because he couldn't make ends meet at Barnet. Mr Walkley has been the driving force behind the One Barnet outsourcing program. This porject has been reportedly been in deep trouble. Councillors and council officials have, for several months, been giving conflicting briefings both on and off the record. All of these have shown that the project was in serious trouble.

Barnet Council now has a massive crisis at the top. The CEO is going at the vital stage in the project life cycle. The deputy CEO is a part time consultant. In short, Barnet now has a serious power vacuum. This at a time when contract negotiations are at their most delicate stage. Even more worrying, many middle managers have either been made redundant or have jobs under threat. The organisation has been softened up for outsourcing and now the rug has been pulled from under it.

It is clear that Barnet must immediately suspend all work on One Barnet, until such time as the issue of the power vacuum has been resolved. Would Walkley have wlkley'ed away from such a prestigious project if he thought it would work? This blog has known for some time that Mr Walkley was looking for another role.  We wish him and the people of Haringey well and hope he  has learned some lessons from his time in Barnet.

Here is a copy of the email Nick Walkley sent to all staff today at 5pm
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From:Adams, Nikki On Behalf Of Walkley, Nick
Sent: 04 October 2012 17:20
To: AllStaff
Subject: Message from the Chief Executive

I am writing to let you all know that earlier today I was offered the role of Chief Executive with Haringey Council and that I have accepted the post.

This is obviously a hugely challenging role and one I felt unable to turn down. There is still a formal appointment process to be completed but I feel it is important at that I inform you all personally.

I will send out details of transition arrangements, which are likely to take some months, as soon as I am able.

Nick

Nick Walkley
Chief Executive
London Borough of Barnet, North London Business Park , Oakleigh Road South , London N11 1NP
Tel: 020 8359 7001
Barnet Online: www.barnet.gov.uk

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Leader of Council confirms that CEO Nick Walkley is leaving Barnet Council

The CEO of Barnet Council, Mr Nick Walkley is leaving his job. He was interviewed for a post at Haringey Council and ha apparently accepted the job. This has been confirmed by official sources at Barnet Council to the Barnet Eye

More to follow.

Updated - Hendon MP Matthew Offord claims he knew about Jimmy Savile for years

In an extraordinary twitter today, the MP  for Hendon claims that he knew about Jimmy Savile and the allegations of paedophilia for years. He says

Matthew Offord‏@HendonMP

For nine years I worked at the BBC and the rumours about Jimmy Saville were well known amongst staff, particularly the HIGNFY transcript.

On has to ask the question why he chose to do nothing about it? Turning a blind eye because everyone else is, surely is not an acceptable excuse for an MP?


************** Updated 18:07 ****************************
Mr Offord has been talking to the local press and made some quite appalling and disturbing statements. He told the Press Group

http://www.edgware-today.co.uk/news.cfm?id=34792&headline=Hendon

"There would have been nothing more to do. It was 30 years ago. In a lot of these cases we all pray that the behaviour is relegated to the past.  He had been a been off mainstream TV for many years and had become a peripheral elderly figure.”

In other words, the fact that he was knocking on a bit,. it was a long time ago and he isn't on telly any more so we can forget about it. This is truly appalling attitude. What deterent is there in an attitude like this. As a Roman Catholic, I am pleased that elderly priests who abused children are being brought to book. Why on earth should Mr Offord take the view that a celebrity should be treated differently because he isn't on telly any more.


He told the Times Group

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/9967197.Hendon_MP___Savile_was_protected_by_BBC_/

“There is no way I would have gone to the police or my line manager and reported that I’d heard rumours and it was so long after it was supposed to have happened that it was no longer on the news agenda."

Am I alone in finding Mr Offords attitude repulsive. Sexual abuse of minors cannot be tolerated for any reason. Mr Savile had a unique position of power. It seems Mr Offord felt his career was more important than justice for the victims of abuse.

I am truly sickened.

I tweeted a message to Mike Freer MP, who clearly understands that this is an issue and that actiuon should have been taken. Whilst I may disagree with Mr Freer on political ideology, he does at least seem to know right from wrong.

Here is our twitter exchange

Rog T‏@Barneteye

@MikeFreerMP just out of interest, do you think that staff who are aware of sexual abuse by celebrities should've turned a blind eye at BBC?

 

15mMike Freer MP‏@mikefreermp

@Barneteye of course not

11mRog T‏@Barneteye

@mikefreermp I agree with you. I find your colleague @HendonMP comments to Times newspaper disturbing - http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/9967197.Hendon_MP___Savile_was_protected_by_BBC_/ …

Barnet Libraries - The sad truth exposed

Yesterday I attended a meeting at South Friern Library. Full details will be posted later today. There was however one shocking admission from the Barnet Council Library service which exposes the myth that they are interested in preserving the service.

Any valuable community asset in a time of recession is likely to face budgetary threats. If the management of the organisation care and want to preserve it, they do something about this to ensure that alternative funding streams are generated. That is why your children can have a sleepover party at the science museum. That is why the friends of the Settle and Carlisle heritage railway organise steam train excursions on the route.

Barnet currently has 14 libraries. I asked a question yesterday. How many of these libraries have "friends of ...." groups to help fundraising and to organise other activities. Can you guess the answer? None. Apparently something used to exist, but no longer. As the organiser of the save Barnets libraries petition, I know libraries have huge goodwill. If each of these libraries had a friends group and each of these friends groups had say 300 members and each of these friends paid £5 to join, then that would on its own generate £21,000 without any effort at all. Extra activities and fundraising could be then organised and just suppose extra lessons and parties etc could be organised out of hours and raise say £200 per week, that would net the libraries over £140,000 per year. That with the £21,000 would be a third of the way towards plugging the gap left by the non sale of Friern Library. Over five years that is over £800,000. This is nearly twice the sum raised by the sale of Friern.

So why haven't they done this? It is a classic way to make any asset work? Because if they did, there would be a ready made protest group when the numpties tried to shut the network down. They would rather manage decline than try and encourage the community to support the network and dip into their pockets a little bit.

The Barnet library service are trying to pretend they are the good guys and are trying to say they are closing Friern to protect the rest of Barnets libraries. This is hogwash. If they were, they would engage with the community. Closing one library and disadvamtaging one community, to pay for improvements to other (often better off communities) libraries is completely immoral. The lie is now laid bare.

West Coast Franchise cancellation spells the end of One Barnet program

Today we hear that the West Coast railway franchise sale has been cancelled, due to the failure to properly assess the risks of the winning bidders proposal. Given that First Group had already handed back the keys to the Great Western franchise as it wasn't making enough money, this should surprise no one.

This puts the spotlight on One Barnet, the biggest local authority outsourcing program ever. Critics have asked all along where the proper evaluation of risk is. Time and time again, we've not had a proper answer. The only answer we get is that the council are satisfied that contracts are watertight.

Well we now see that even central government gets it wrong. How did we find out? Because Richard Branson launched a legal challenge, so the government had to ensure the process of evaluation was robust.

It strikes me that, given the complete lack of transparency, we need a similar legal challenge in Barnet before it is too late. Or even better, the Leader of the Council could open the books up to Unison, local bloggers and other interested parties to prove that the process is robust.

Why won't they? I think the reason is they know exactly what we'll find and that will be that.

Very odd statement in Brian Colemans latest blog

Regular readers of this blog will know that the day after the alleged assault by Brian Coleman, the Reverend Adrian Benjamin turned up at Helen Michaels establishment, Cafe Buzz and started behaving in an extremely odd manner. He was observed picking up the chairs placed outside of the cafe and moving them next to some dustbins, next to a sidestreet.

The Barnet Eye was present at the time, and recognising Fr Benjamin as a long time friend and cohort of Mr Coleman, immediately went outside to  enquire what he was doing. Helen Michael accompanied me. Unbeknown to me, Helen actually knows Fr Benjamin. Her children attended a school he is associated with. She enquired "Adrian, what are you doing?". His only response was "They would look better here". As the Barnet Eye was aware of the long standing links between Benjamin and Coleman, I advised Helen at this point to be rather careful and explained the reason why. At this point, Benjamin recognised the Barnet Eye as a local blogger and started shuffling away. He then noticed Keith Martin, who he knows, in Cafe Buzz and wandered in for a chat.

Myself and Helen Michael were completely bemused by these actions. Today Brian Coleman makes a rather cryptic statement in his blog. He says

When the chips were down Adrian was there, he is no fair weather friend or clergyman who dispenses warm words and takes no action

This statement certainly makes me wonder whether there was more to the chair moving incident than a slightly confused elderly gentleman behaving as slightly confused elderly gentlemen sometimes do. It is often a mistake to read to much into the things which happen, but I am glad that I was present to witness the incident. If there are any other allweather friends of any local Conservative Councillors out there, who fancy absent mindedly rearranging Helens chairs, please be advised that she has now significantly beefed up her CCTV and a whole array of local shopkeepers and friends are keeping a steely eye on the premises. Given the pain from the torn tendons in her hand, she is in no mode to have any truck with any further attempts to improve the Feng Shui of her establishment, without her permission.

Why the Tories should sack Cameron and appoint Boris ASAP

Regular readers of this blog will be shocked at what I have to say or wonder if it is some sort of bizarre joke. As it's not Friday, I can assure you it isn't. I take no pleasure in writing this, but sometimes you have to face reality and speak the truth. The UK is faced with a massive economic crisis. It is 100% clear that David Cameron and George Osborne have not got a clue how to address it. That would be bad enough, but they seem to be hell bent on a set of policies which will drive the UK into a steeper decline.

Every Conservative I've spoken to recently has acknowledged three facts

1) Cameron isn't up to the job
2) Osborne hasn't got a clue what he's doing
3) The undynamic duo haven't got a clue what to do next

Cameron and Osborne have a mantra that there is "no plan b". Well there damn well should be, because plan A clearly isn't working. What is even more bizarre is the fact that there are a whole raft of highly unpopular policies which run counter to Tory mainstream thinking and are alienating huge swathes of Tories in their heartlands. To name but a few

* HS2 Rail link
* Heathrow Expansion
* Police cuts

They cannot blame these policy disasters on the Lib Dems. In fact, there are no policy disasters that they can realistically blame on the Lib Dems at the moment. Many Tories mumble that if there wasn't a coalition things would be better, but they can't name a single economic policy of the government that they can blame th Lib Dems for. They hate the Lib Dems for the fact that they are pro European, but even the most die hard Tories doubt that the policies towards the EU would be any different if Cameron had a majority.

Even more worrying is the fact that Cameron and his cronies seem to have no connection with ordinary families. This first became apparent when he failed to win a majority in 2010. Gordon Brown was as popular as the Pox, but Cameron couldn't even get a majority, despite Brown and Bust. The reason was clear, he was Tony Blair without the brains. Whatever one may think of Blair, he instinctively read the electorate correctly, that is why he won three terms. Labourites hated Blair for his lack of ideology and Tories hated him for spanking them three times. The electorate loved him. That was why he won. These days it is hard to find anyone with a good word for Blair, but when he was Prime Minister, we knew who was in charge and we knew that he had credibility. Blair made monumental cock ups, the greatest of which was his support (a la dodgy dossier) for the Iraq war, but he was a proper prime minister who won elections. I was not a Blairite, but like millions of others, I voted for him three times, because he was clever enough to ensure that he seemed like the least worst option.

Which brings us back to Cameron. The Tories have to ask themselves "Is Cameron likely to be the people's choice as least worst option?" Well he wasn't when Labour were lead by Gordon Brown in the middle of a massive economic crisis. Given that Cameron and Osborne have created an economic crisis of their own, they convince no one. Labour have a rather unconvincing leader of their own in Ed Milliband, but even he seems to have the measure of Cameron. Given the likely devastation of the cuts still to bite, there is likely to be an even more gloomy outlook when the 2015 election kicks off.

Which brings us to what any sane Tory would be doing. Cameron had an open goal in 2010 and he blew it. Who is a credible alternative? As far as any Tory I've spoken to is concerned, there is only one. Boris Johnson has been running London for 4 years. Much to the surprise of left wing commentators (like me) he hasn't made a complete cock up of the job. He managed to oversee a triumphant Olympics and despite the woes of the Tories nationally, got re elected comfortably.

He knows that the policies of HS2, Heathrow and Police cuts are plain bonkers and he believes in economic stimulus via large infrastructure projects. During his time as Mayor, he has come to see the value of a bit of joined up thinking, which is why he is lobbying for control of commuter rail routes. He has seen the dangers of overzealous outsourcing at the Olympics with G4S and has even done his bit to boost the UK's manufacturing sector with the Boris bus. Many people have derided the Boris bus as a vanity project, but it has created jobs and is far more environmentally friendly than any other similar vehicle on the road. Had it been a Labour devised project, the Tories would have lambasted it from start to finish, but Boris gets away with such largess.Any visit to the Conservative Home blog will confirm this.

The man question for us is whether Boris would make a better Prime Minister than Cameron. He has two main qualities which would help him enormously. Firstly, he's clever than Cameron. Whilst Cameron seems perpetually mired in dithering, Boris seems able to see a path and then follow it. Whilst many of us don't agree with his decisions, he sees them through. The second quality is that he's far lazier than Cameron. This may seem like a perverse attribute to label a quality, but as a Prime Minister it surely is. Workaholics end up like Gordon Brown, mired in detail and unable to delegate. Boris doesn't do detail, he gives people a job to do and lets them get on with it. He is quite prepared to use whatever tools he has at his disposal to reach an end, whilst making sure he isn't associated with unpopular decisions. A classic example of this was his appointment of Brian Coleman at the LFEPA. Boris didn't want to be associated with clobbering the fire service, so he stuck a loudmouth Tory bogeyman in charge. Colemans obnoxious personality was so overbearing that Boris took no flack at all for the massive attacks on this highly popular service. For a while, I couldn't understand how Boris tolerated Coleman, until I realised just how useful he really was.

Of course Boris isn't an MP and any process to replace Cameron would be extremely high risk, for all concerned. Realistically, even if a bunch of Tory plotters hatched a plot tomorrow, it would probably be 18 months before they could install their man. Just in time for the 2015 election. I suspect that there are moves afoot and they want to get the worst of the cuts out of the way and let Boris come in when there is a perceived upturn around Spring 2014. I think this plan is a bad one. Cameron and Osborne are clearly inept and I suspect that by 2014 things will be even worse. Another suggestion is that if Boris took over, the Lib Dems may pull the plug on the coalition. I personally doubt this. If they did they would alienate right leaning Lib Dems. Having permanently scared off left leaning Lib Dems, they would be well and truly finished. It is clear that Lib Dems have only one place to go and that is onwards on the current path.

I suspect that Boris would have most of them for breakfast. I suspect he would actually work with Vince Cable quite well. Cable is clever and useful to him. Cable knows that Boris gives him an opportunity, because if Cameron goesm Clegg won't be far behind. A Johnson and Cable team would draw up a list of infrastructure projects that both would back and put the differences on the back burner for a year until after the election.

Now you may wonder why I am backing such an unholy alliance? I am not. I think it would be a complete disaster for the UK. Unfortunately with Cameron, Osborne and Clegg, we don't have a disaster, we have a complete catastrophe. Labour has spent two years refusing to face up to a horrible truth. If they could dislodge the Lib Dems from the Tories and form a government, they could conceivably prevent both disaster and catastrophe. Could they prevent a Boris led Tory party? I am convinced that only a nasty accident could stop that. I just think that it would be far easier to stop the Boris bandwagon from a position of having rescued the economy than with him installed as incumbent PM on a rising economy. This blog, written in the week of the Labour Conference, isn't aimed at Tories (though I suspect more than a few will agree). It is aimed at the Labour party. If they don't wake up to the horrible reality which is about to unravel, Boris will do to them what he did to Ken Livingstone in May this year.

If you are in a car accelerating towards the edge of a cliff, you can do one of two things. You can change direction or you can cover your eyes and pretend it isn't going to happen. Both Tory and Labour parties are currently in this position. Sadly, whilst they are driving the car, we are all the passengers.

A message to all Conservatives in Barnet who care about our heritage

Please read this statement from the Conservative Councillor in charge of Barnet's heritage. If you believe that this man is anything other than totally unfit for the job, please leave a comment of email me to tell me why.

http://robertrams.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/statement-on-church-farmhouse-museum/

If you believe that this is the most disgusting thing you have ever read about the treatment of our heritage in Barnet, then I suggest you get on to your friends in the local Conservative Party and urge them to sack this awful man before he does any more damage.

And if you simply couldn't give a S**T? Well I am sure you are in good company with Councillor Robert Rams and his friends in the Barnet Council cabinet.

As for me, I am completely sickened by this. Here is a video I made on the day the museum closed last year. I am very proud that this one little snippet of the museum has escaped the philistine axe of Rams, Cornelius and co.

Friern Barnet Library latest - Have you been affected or disadvantaged by the closure

If you are a resident of Friern Barnet and have been affected by the closure of the library, the Save Friern Barnet library campaign want to hear from you. We need as much support as possible for the community campaign - PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEND AN EMAIL TO THE CAMPAIGN - please include in the email your details of address, status and age. Please make the title of the email "Message of support for Friern Barnet Library Campaign". Please also include details of how you have been inconvenienced.

Please support this campaign in every way you can.

Barnet - The Billion Pound Gamble

Press Release - 1st October 2012 - Barnet - The Billion Pound Gamble - World Premier

On Monday 22nd October, at 6pm  the first screening of a brand new film about life in the London Borough of Barnet will be screened at the Phoenix Cinema in Finchley.

The film explores how the people of Barnet are coping with changes to parking, cuts to care budgets and the effect of the councils One Barnet outsourcing program are making changes to the lives of residents.


The film will feature interviews with residents from all walks of life in Barnet detailing their experiences of life in the 2012. Interviews with Olympic Torchbearers, gold medal winners from the special Olympics, local business people and stories from carers and disabled people are interspersed with some of the landmark sites and local events which have happened in Barnet in 2012.

The film is the follow up to the highly claimed "Tale of Two Barnets" and has been directed by Charles Honderick and produced by Roger Tichborne.

The film has been made in direct response to requests from local people who saw "A Tale of Two Barnets" and wanted to see the stories behind the stories. After the success of the film, many people approached the director and producer and wanted to particpate in a follow up. The production team found that "A Tale of Two Barnets" had only scratched the surface of the story. 

This film lifts the lid on the real life stories of the people you never get to see and tells you the stories that the council don't want you to hear. Charles Honderick said "The response to the film (A Tale of Two Barnets) has been overwhelming. So much has changed and moved on since January, when we finished filming the film. I have been inundated with requests to make a follow up. We have also received several donations from ordinary members of the public to help with the costs. It reached the point where it would have been impossible not to make a follow up".

***** Ends *****

Notes to Editors.

1. The world premier for the film will be shown at The Phoenix Cinema on Monday 22nd October. Doors open at 6pm and the film will be shown at 6.30pm. Entrance costs £1.

2. The film has been directed by USA film director Charles Honderick. The film is a follow up to the acclaimed film  "A Tale of Two Barnets" which has been screened at The House of Commons, The Edinburgh Festival, The Unision National Conference and the TUC centre at Great Russell St. There have also been over 20 local screenings.

3. The film features a new exclusive interview with award winning film director Ken Loach, talking about life, football and outsourcing.

4. The film website is  http://www.billionpoundgamble.co.uk/ . This is being constantly updated with information, details and clips as we move towards the full screening.

5. The website for "A Tale of Two Barnets" is http://ataleoftwobarnets.yolasite.com/ . This has full details of all press coverage and clips from the film including full interviews with Ken Loach, Richard Cornelius (Leader of Barnet Council) and Nick Walkley (CEO of Barnet Council).

6. Please contact Roger Tichborne via the contact link on the film website for more details