The Friday Joke 12/9/2014 - Scottish Independence Special

The Queen is in Glasgow and she bumped into Alex Salmond.

HMtQ:  How nice to see you Mr Salmond.

AS:  Nice to see you Ma’am. Now, what are we going to call Scotland when we win Independence? How about calling it a Kingdom, and then I’ll be a King?

HMtQ:  No, we don’t like that, it'll upset Charles, you know he sort of has an eye on that job.

AS:  Empire, and I'll be Emperor?

HMtQ: Oh no, that will be a real step backwards into the past.

AS:  Alright, so how about calling it a Principality, and then I’ll be a Prince?

HMtQ:  No Mr Salmond, we've already got enough of them, we've even got another one on the way.  I suggest we call it a Country and you can carry on as you are.

The Thursday Music Special #3 - The Heartbreakers

Preamble -When I decided to do this series of blogs, I originally started by trying to make a list of the songs I liked and the artists I liked. I then decided that this was a bit of a bland and uninteresting list, and decided to try and chronologically list the musical influences of my own musical career. So for the format of this series, I'll try and feature two clips from each artist, their "greatest hit" and the song which influenced me. I hope a few of you out there enjoy these. It is a bit left field and I guess my approach is a tad self indulgent, but hey ho, if like me music fascinates you and is a "bit of a journey" I hope somewhere you find some new gems and enjoy the ride. I have.

Anyway onto this weeks choice. We have the Heartbreakers. Not the Tom Petty lot, Johnny Thunders rip roaring bunch of smackheads. In 1977 as we were setting up the band, these were my very favourite band. I bought the album LAMF purely because it was the only punk record in the Mill Hill record shop. I'd not really heard of the band, I was just starting my musical journey. It was the second punk album I bought (after Puremania by The Vibrators). I ran home and put it on the stero, not knowingwhat to expect. I got into punk rock on the 6th June 1977, going to see the Ramones. I then bought Puremania, by the Vibrators. I had Stones and Wings albums, but Puremania was different. It is imposible to describe how fantastic it sounded to listen to people writing about the alienation I felt. Then I bought LAMF. It was great. There is something about Johnny Thunders guitar playing that is just so cool. His lyrics and his singing has attitude, but is ultimately so vulnerable. I was 14 so I didn't get the drug references like "Chinese Rocks", perhaps their most notorious song, written with Dee Dee Ramone and Richard Hell.


 I instantly fell in love with the band. I lent the album to my best mate Pete Conway, also getting into punk. He'd bought a bass and I'd bought a guitar. To my amazement, he went off and worked out "I wanna be loved" from LAMF and suggested we do a cover of it. I asked why, he replied "Cos its really easy". Our drummer, Dave Edwards was also a Heartbreakers nut, so bought into the idea.

Although "6000 crazy" by Spizz was the first song Pete & I jammed, "I wanna be Loved" was the first cover we played as a band.  And it was easy, it is a great Rock and Roll song and stayed in the set for over four years.
 

I always dedicated it to my girlfriend of the day and told them I'd insisted the band play it for them. I'd recommend any rock and roll band, anywhere to play the song. It is what rock and roll really should be. Simple, dirty and easy to play. I love the song and we only stopped playing it because we got a girl singer and changed our style.

Johnny Thunders died of a heroin overdose in 1991. I saw the Heartbbreakers on many occasions. Many times Johnny was stoned off his nut and the band were terrible. Just occasionally, he hit top form and they were awesome. At their best I believe they were the worlds greatest rock and roll band. I love Walter Lure's guitar playing and I believe Jerry Nolan (also dead) was perhaps punks most underrated drummer of the era. Listen to his beats on "All by myself", what he does is awesome. Billy Rath is a great bass player. I guess with their habits the Heartbreakers were always doomed. The one lesson they taught me was that you don't have to write complicated songs to rock. Maybe we'll reprise "I wanne be Loved" for our next gig. The one girlfriend I've never played it for is the Missus as we started going out just after we dropped it. After 28 years its well overdue!

The London Borough of Barnet - A Bad Place to do Business in the new world of Capita Ville

I am very disappointed by recent events in The London Borough of Barnet. They seem to indicate that Barnet Council has turned "anti small business". One would assume that a Conservative authority would look after its core voters, people running businesses large and small. I've not a Conservative voter, but I accept that the Conservatives are traditionally the party of business. Sadly in Barnet, they seem to be only interested in maintaining the profits of mega corporations. They have handed all of the councils functions to Capita PLC, generating huge profits for Capita shareholders. Now firstly there is nothing wrong with big profits for the shareholders of big companies. These pay most peoples pensions in the UK, so it is extremely naive to say such things are bad per se.

The trouble is that when the interests of such companies ride roughshod over everything else and there are no checks and controls, all of a sudden we have a very dangerous situation. Last year when Capita PLC took over running the Councils business, the first thing they did was bring in their own firm of bailiffs, called Equita, to enforce payment of fines & taxes on their behalf. The Council had other agreements, but Capita set these aside. The worry of myself and many others was that as Equita make a big profit on every order they enforce, there was a huge conflict of interest. Wheras Bailiffs are traditionally the last port of call, sent when there is no other option, for Capita, rigorous use of bailiffs becomes a nice little Earner.

What happened this week in Finchley High road was amicrocosm of all that is wrong with the business environement Capita have created. Local cafe owner Helen Michael had an extremely difficult time between August 2012 and August 2013. Firstly her mum got seriously ill. Then former Councillor Brian Coleman beat her outside her shop. To compound matters, Coleman lied about this and pretended He was the victim. This went on for six months, until he was eventaully exposed as a complete liar and a violent thug in court, courtesy of the CCTV footage.

Then Helen's mum passed away. Dealing with the stress of all this lead to her getting behind on her rates. She ran up debts on her rates of £8,000. When she got her head together, she started to pay off the debt. Barnet Council got a court order, but as Helen was paying the debt, she assumed the matter had gone away. In August the debt was down to £1800. The council apparently started chaing her. By September the debt was down to £800. Then out of the blue, Equita turned up at her cafe, despite 90% of the debt in a year. It was only the lack of paperwork that prevented them from taking her coffe machine. Given it was clear she was paying, why did the Council call in the Capita?Equita bailiffs just before the debt was cleared. Is this business friendly.

The Council issued the following statement

“Barnet Council’s business rates department has been in regular correspondence for over 12 months with Ms Michael concerning her outstanding business rates for 2013/14. Her initial bill was sent in March 2013, a reminder was sent on 22nd April 2013, a final notice on 18th June 2013 and a court summons issued on 23rd July 2013.

In August 2013 Ms Michael wrote to us offering monthly payment plan, which wasn’t deemed to be an acceptable rate of payment and on 13th August 2013 the Magistrates’ Court granted the council a liability order for £8,114. Ms Michael increased her payments after the liability order was issued.

However after several missed payments the council handed the matter to its Enforcement Agents Equita. On 8th August 2014 Equita issued Ms Michael with a letter of enforcement for £2,032.50 plus a compliance fee of £75.00.

Ms Michael wrote back to the council on 15th August 2014 in response to this letter of enforcement. At the time of the Enforcement Agent’s visit Ms Michael had paid off some more of the outstanding debt, but was still in arrears for last year’s business rates.

Business rates are set by central government and a proportion is retained by the council and the GLA. The council is responsible for their collection and enforcement on behalf of the government, and the GLA. The council’s four year collection rate for business rates is 98.8%. The council tax collection rate is 98.1%.

Enforcement Agents follow a strict code of conduct and issue fixed fees in line with Ministry of Justice rules. Barnet uses Enforcement Agents to recover unpaid Business Rates and Council Tax, and to date has recovered £3.6m of unpaid tax with this method.”

So the question is this. Were the bailiffs called in as a last resort? Was it necessary? We believe it wasn't and the action wasn't proportional. Was Helen singled out for anti council activities or will they do this to all of us, if we make one small slip with our rates payments? Either way, it is plain wrong

Guest Blog - An Update from the retired Curator of Church Farmhouse Museum by Gerrard Roots

Dear All

As expected, Barnet's Assets, Regeneration & Growth (ARGhhhh!) Committee voted last night to offer Church Farm to Middlesex University on a 7-year lease, rent-free, and also cough-up £280,000 towards the costs that Middx has identified as necessary for refurbishments- refurbishments needed only because Barnet has so grossly neglected the building for many years.

I, Theresa Musgrove (blogger 'Mrs Angry') and Jeremy Teare submitted pertinent written questions to the Committee, and Theresa and I were present to ask supplementary questions. We might as well have stayed at home. One might have thought that with the consignment of Cllrs Rams & Coleman (the main architects of Church Farm's demise) to the political graveyard there could now be a sensible discussion about the future of Church Farm: but, no- the effluvia from their rotting corpses still permeates the 'debating-chambers' of Barnet council.

Chairman Cllr Daniel Thomas proved, if more proof was needed, that he had no understanding of history, of the importance of museums, or of the common good, but  ,perhaps, even more disturbingly, his new mantra,  'protecting services, not buildings,' revealede that he, like the rest of his cloddish Tory chums, is incapable of recognising that the Council has a 'duty of care' towards any listed buildings it owns. The responsibilty is statutory, not optional, but why should the Deputy Leader of the second biggest borough in London be expected to be aware of that?

Of the Committee members, only Labour Councillor Pauline Coakley Webb spoke about Church Farm as a much-loved museum, and as a significant historic building. In reply, Cllr Thomas stated that it was obvious  that nobody really cared about the Museum, because Hendon Ward (in which Church Farm is sited) had returned, yet again, three  Tory councillors at the elections last May. The fact that Church Farm, which had by that time been shut for three years,  was an asset not just for Hendon but for all of Barnet (and beyond),  and that his- increasingly beleagured and flouncingly defensive- collection of Conservative 'colleagues' snuck in to control Barnet in May by one seat seems not have impinged on this wannabe (anywhere-else-but-in- Barnet) Conservative MP.

After the meeting, a former Chair of the Friends of the Museum, aptly quoted Oscar Wilde: 'They know the price of everything, but the value of nothing'. Moreover, in Barnet, only Barnet's Tories actually know the price: the rest of us, the humble oiks who pay these posturing dolt's allowances, were excluded from the deliberations on the financial details of the lease between two publicly- funded bodies: Barnet Council and Middlesex University.

Middlesex  University has, despite Barnet's claims otherwise, no proven expertise in dealing with an old and 'vulnerable' (English Heritage's description) Grade II* building. But then two baboons with lump-hammers would have been more adept at preserving Church Farmhouse's fabric than Barnet Council has. Perhaps Middllesex will make a better job of it.

Now, to me, there remain two major issues: Barnet claims that the lease to MU includes 'community use' of the building in the evenings, and at week-ends. There were no 'consultations' with the 'community' before the Council report (after all, this is Barnet) but Cllr Thomas reassured us that these would be forthcoming at some unspecified time.  If such  'consultations' actually materialize  then we must engage withe them. More importantly, we need to know what Barnet Council ( if it is still in existence in 2021) intends to do with  Church Famhouse when the lease runs out. Perhaps we should make our overtures to London Borough of  Capita now: 'Please sir, can you return this lovely !7th century building that we have all paid for into a public museum? Please, sir! Oh, please, sir!'

regards

Gerrard


Editors Note : This is a video we made with Gerrard Roots Earlier this year

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Guest Blogs are always welcome at the Barnet Eye

Did Manchester United sell the wrong striker - Welbeck shines for England

Six weeks after the World Cup and competetive International football is back. England started their 2016 qualifying campaign with the hardest of the group games they are likely to face. They were up against the mighty Switzerland, ten places above England in the FIFA rankings. Unlike England, Switzerland acquitted themselves reasonably well in the World Cup finals and didn't come back to a barrage of flak from the press. Many England fans approached the game with a bit of trepidation. England have a long record of performing extremely badly in matches in September. To be drawn away against your toughest opponents for the first game was not a gift from the footballing gods.

Whilst the results for England at the World cup were truly awful, I felt that this didn't tell the whole story. England played very well against Italy and were desperately unlucky to lose. Against Uruguay, they were undone by Louis Suarez, who is one of the very best strikers in the world. Having said that, results don't lie.

So it was with a feeling foreboding that the telly went on at 7.15pm for the match. There was a moment of comedy when the ITV pundit team of Hoddle, Wright and Dixon along with Adrian Chiles got soaked as they were commentating by the sprinkler system on the pitch. I wondered if this would be the highlight of the match. I must say that generally my view is that ITV pundits should be put on permanent ice bucket challenge. For some reason as soon as a pundit joins ITV they seem unable to utter a single intelligent word. Much as I may loath Gary Neville at Sky for his Manchester United connections, you can't deny he is an excellent pundit. Even my missus who hates football says he does a good job. Is it part of the ITV contract that you have to have a full frontal lobotomy?

So onto the game. It started fairly tepidly, with England having quite a lot of possession going nowhere. For some reason Jack Wilshire seemed unable or unwilling to try and find space in midfield, with the result that the diamond formation was as flat as a pancake. Delf seemed to be of the opinion that getting sent off in his full debut was the way to get a few headlines, seemingly haking down everyone in sight, earning a yellow card after about 15 mins, having given the ref no choice.

Every game has a critical moment and this games came from an unlikely combination. Joe Hart picked out Danny Welbeck on the left wing and Welbeck ran at the Swiss defence with great purpose. All of a sudden the Swiss defenders started to look rather scared. From that moment, England started to play with drive and purpose.  Rooney was set up beautifully for a volley, but it seems he is lacking confidence and he took and extra touch and the chance was gone. Rooney doesn't look the player he was two years ago. He had a few decent touches, but doesn't look confident. Is the captaincy weighing heavily on him? Welbeck on the other hand was a  revealation. Full of purposeful drive and running, he looked the real deal. His first goal was a shinned finish, but he was in the right place at the right time. Just before injury time Rooney was replaced by Ricky Lambert. With five minutes to see out, it seemed like a move to close out the game. Stick Lambert up front and use him to hold up play. In the event Stirling got hold of the ball, passed to Lambert who set up Welbeck for a glorious second goal. For a striker who is not meant to be able tpo score, he looked pretty good. Did  United sell the wrong striker? Is it possible that the current situation at Utd is acting as a millstone on their players and suppressing their natural sparkle?

As to the rest of the team, Jones and Cahill had a solid game. Baines probably had his best game in an England shirt. Wilshire was a tad disappointing, not really showing the purposeful drive we've come to expect. Stirling had a quiet game, but played a part in both goals. Bizarrely the ITV commentators suggested that Joe Hart was the man of the match. Joe had a good solid game and is seemingly back to his best, but come on guys. Welbeck was the man.

This England team is an improvement on the World Cup effort. At no point did I think "We need a Gerrard or a Lampard in there". It is a work in progress, but there are green shoots. As an England fan, that is something to behold.

The right to buy rip off hits the news

BBC London is this morning reporting a huge rip off of right to buy leaseholders by councils across London. It seems where former council tenants have exercised their right to buy on leasehold properties in blocks of flats, councils have been refusing to pay the market rate, when these flats are compulsoraly purchased back by councils for redevelopment. Some tenants are only being offered 1/3 of the true market value and have no means to get a fair deal. Sadly our local MP's such as Mike Freer, who made the govt force through legislation to protect the property rights of foreign dictators, are not interested.

This is clearly completely imooral behaviour and as ever it is the most vulnerable who are most likely to suffer. Councils often go into partnership with rich property developers to execute such schemes and small fortunes are being made. Sadly the long term residents who have the strongest relationship with the area are the ones shafted in the process.

It is clear that the government, which brought in legisilation in the first place, should take action to guarantee the rights of tenants to obtain a proper market value.

Putting the boot into the Boris Island Baby

Today the Sunday Times publishes a poll which says Scotland now has a majority of people favouring independence. This pushes us even closer to the concept of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Perhaps Boris' biggest plan is his Boris Island Baby. Lets have a think about this, but first lets have a little think about transport infrastructure planning in the UK. 

A while back I was having a drink with my elder brother Frank. He was telling me about a trip he went on with the Scouts back in the 1950's. He told how they all gathered at Mill Hill Broadway and all of the Scouts gear was loaded onto a rail wagon. This was attached to the back of a train and the whole party, gear and all was transported to somewhere in Scotland (possibly Loch Lomond) for a weekend of canoeing and other outside activities. This lead us onto a discussion about how the M1 motorway, which arrived in Mill Hill around 1967, forever changed the appearance and feel of the Broadway, the old station that they left from was demolished and the new "utilitarian" 60's style station was constructed. Frank told me that at the time it seemed terribly modern. It was the new face of British Rail stations, a work of bland concrete. At the time British Rail was on a mission to destroy the past, magnificent old stations such as Euston were ripped down and replaced with "modernised" bland identikit new buildings.

At the same time Beeching was taking an axe to the National rail network and closing every line that the bean counters thought "uneconomical". No one at British Rail, or in the government of the day asked the obvious question "can we do something to make the lines pay theire way and what effect will it have on the nations infrastructure if we do this". We are left with a situation where we now have to pay tens of billions simply to rebuild the rail capacity that was so callously shut down. Perhaps the most ridiculous example is HS2. Ultimately this line is simply a replacement for the Great Central Line which Beeching shut.

They say that the ultimate stupidity is to  learn nothing from the past and repeat the mistakes. Which brings us nicely onto the subject of Boris Johnsons baby - "Boris Island". Boris has this marvellous idea that we simply shut down and redevelop Heathrow and replace it with a new airport, Boris Island in the Thames Estuary. The logic of Boris is that Heathrow is too constrained by its location to grow without huge disruption to the locality and so why not simply up sticks and start again.

There are many flaws with this huge ego trip of Mr Johnson. At present Heathrow is a very successful hub airport. Many foreign airlines use it as a transatlantic hub. If they are forced to move, at great cost, to Boris Island, junking billions of pounds worth of investment in Heathrow, who will pay? Will it be the taxpayer? If it is the airline, the first thing any sensible business will say is "Lets have a review and see if this really is the best place for us to have our European centre". As with the British Rail planners of the Beeching Era, who made the assumption that everyone who travels by train, will simply shift to another, less convenient train route, they are likely to find that other European airpots see this as a once in a lifetime opportunity to grab business from Heathrow. If an airline has to move anyway, they will be offered all manner of lucrative incentives to change their base to European airports.

Then there is the question of convenience.  Whilst there are many issues with access to Heathrow, it is well located for passengers from London, the South, West Country and the Midlands. When Crossrail opens ot will become an even more convenient location, with fast services from Central London and Essex. With the advent of Boris Island, a whole new rail infrastructure will need to be built. All of the traffic mentioned above will have to either go through London or around the M25 and we already know how bad that is. It would massively overload the Dartford river crossing and surely force many potential passengers to other regional airports.

Which takes us back to the example I gave at the start of this blog. If the Mill Hill Scouts were organising a canoeing trip to Loch Lomond today, they would presumably have a very different journey. British Rail don't hitch wagons full of canoes to the back of passenger trains anymore, so even if the boys went by train, the gear would presumably go up in a van. The point I'm making is that when you tinker with transport infrastructure, you make people rethink the way they use it. The biggest change the Beeching changes forced on the British public was to moce us off the Railways and into cars. This resulted in massive congestion on the roads, which is moving us all back onto the railways. Boris Island is likely to decimate the British aviation industry and force even more of us onto the roads or railways. We all know how difficult it is to build new roads and train lines. HS2 is a classic example. Everyone know we need more train capacity, no one wants it in their back garden. 

I had always thought that the Beeching cuts to the railway network was the most short sighted and most damaging mistake it was possible to make in transport planning in the UK. It seems that Boris is determined to prove me wrong. What I cannot fathom is that a man with such a stupid plan is being trumpeted as potentially the next Prime Minister.

The Saturday List #68 - 10 tips that could save your life in a fire

Yesterday I wrote a blog about how our house was nearly burned down. This was as a result of my daughter falling asleep after lighting candles in her bedroom, one of which set alight the chest of drawers containing her clothes. Having found myself in a rather stressed out state about the whole thing, especially the fact that my daughter could easily have died, I nipped up for a pint to relax when I got home from work. A conversation ensued about all the things we can do to make ourselves safer at home. I guess that few of us really take safety at home as seriously as we could. So I thought I'd put together a list of the the things we can do that may save our lives, save our property and give us a degree of peace of mind. If your children are living in rented digs, do the same for them

1. Ensure that you have smoke alarms which work. Ensure they are in the right place and that they are loud enough to wake you up, as well as anyone else in you house. Change the batteries when they wear out. If you have a diary schedule a regular check of them.

2. Get a Carbon Monoxied alarm and place it near your boiler. Carbon monoxide is a silent killer. A faulty boiler can give off fumes that can kill you. There is a common misconception that if you can smell gas, this means that you have a carbon monoxide issue. This isn't the case. Carbon monoxide is the waste product of the boiler burning gas and has no smell. Of course if you smell gas, this is a very dangerous situation as this can explode and kill you.

3. Buy C02 fire extinguishers for electrical appliance faults. All of our homes have ever more electrical devices. If these catch fire, then throwing water on them will simply make matters worse. Small electrical appliance fires should be attacked with a CO2 extinguishe (not water), turning off the power first if possible. Of course this really applies only to small appliance fires, which are not out of control (ie a smouldering telly etc). Please note that if the issue is with wiring or anything other than  a small fault where the source is 100% obvious, always get out and call the fire brigade ASAP. It is fire brigade advice to always call for an inspection in the case of an electrical fire.

4.  Buy an escape ladder if you are not at the ground floor level and ensure that you can use it. If you are in a first or second floor flat and there is a fire at ground level that has blocked your means of escape, then your survival is entirely dependent on the fire brigade evacuating you. Of course, they are well trained and very efficient, but with ever more cuts to the London Fire brigade, what happens, if all the fire engines are at another fire? Rope ladders can be purchased that will give you an emergency option, but make sure you have a secure fixing to fit it to, that is tested up to your own weight. I personally would only use this as a last resort.

5. Have a "family fire plan". In our house, the electricity main supply is situated under the staircase. Just suppose this caught fire at night. The whole family would be trapped. Evacuation by the fire brigade would be the only way we could escape. Bear in mind, this situation would occur in the nght with smoke, fire etc. So what should the family do? There are several options in our house, but it is important that the family know what these are and what to do. In many cases, if the fire brigade have been called, this could simply be maing sure doors are shut to bedrooms, to keep smoke out until bedrooms can be evacuated. As with all aspects of fire safety, your local fire station can offer advice if you are unsure or need some ideas. There is info from the fire brigade at http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/know-the-plan.asp … Which details  the importance of having such a plan.

6. Identify what the risks are in your house. Do what you can to mitigate these. There are all sorts of silly things we do and don't even realise that we do it. In light of what happened, I had a quick look around the house and found that my other daughter, who is a keen artist, was doing a painting by her computer. A bottle of white spirit was open on her workstation desk. If this was knocked over and fell on the computer, this is flammable and would instantly cause a huge blaze. When we discussed this, nmy daughter realised that it was a safety risk. Like many dangerous thinks, we simply don't realise. Typical things to consider are flammable items above open fires etc.

7. Ensure Candles, Tea Lights etc, are only lit when seated in inflammable secure and safe fittings. The fireman who attended our house said he'd seen many fires caused by tea lights. If they are placed oin anything which could be flammable, they can heat up and set them on fire. He said people often put them on top of TV's and other things made of plastic that melt. If a candles falls out of its candlestick, what will happen? Will it set fire to any surrounding objects? Give this some consideration.

8. We have a house with 3 teenage children. When the fire brigade inspected the fire, he mentioned the fact that our stairs, halls and landings were like an assault course, with trip hazards galore. He quite rightly said that in the event of a nighttime fire, we'd probably break our necks tripping over them. He also pointed out that it was a danger to any firemen attending the scene. So keep your access ways clear.

9. Check your wiring.  Whilst most fires are caused by our own actions, another major cause is badly maintained wiring in homes. One of my friends is an electrician and his tuppence worth to the debate was to say that around Barnet, many homes are quite old and have very substandard wiring. Over the last 40 years, there have been massive improvements in legislation regarding the standards of wiring in homes. Modern houses are fitted with spophisticated fuse boards, with circuit breakers that trip if they detect all manner of potentially dangerous situations. Check your fuse board. If it has an old fashioned fuse board, with plug in fuses, then you are potentially exposing yourself to danger. Get a reputable electrician around to check the house out. It is worth considering that homes wired in the 1950's were not wired for the requirements of modern living, where we all have a TV, radio, Laptop and God knows what else in our bedrooms. You wouldn't fly on aircraft that was unsafe, so why would you live in one?

10. Don't light cigarettes when you are likely to fall asleep in a chair. One of the biggest causes of home fires are people falling asleep with cigarettes lit. These then fall and start fires. 

Having reviewed my list, I then had  a  look at the London Fire Brigade page on fire safety at home.

They have some great links that cover these topics on their website.  Please take a few moments to check their website - http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/SafetyAtHome.asp - it is full of sensible and practical information.

• Request a home fire safety visit
• Smoke alarms
• Smoking
• Cooking
• Candles and naked flames
• Portable heaters and open fires
• Electrics
• Advice for parents of young children
• Advice for the carers of older people
• Bedtime routine
• Escaping from a fire
• Renting and sharing
• After a fire
• Outside your home
• Hoarding
• Home risk assessment escape plan
• Carbon monoxide poisoning

As with many bad things that happen, yesterdays scare has taught the whole family a lesson. I don't usually ask them to read any of my blogs, but I will make an exception this time. I am extremely pleased that the blog yesterday has become the most read blog on this site in the last 30 days. Hopefully this means that a few people out there will be a bit safer at home. I sincerely hope that a few Barnet Eye readers will be sleeping more safely tonight.

How my daughter nearly died this morning - or why you should check your smoke alarm

Today has been the most stressful day for a long time. I was not looking forward to today. I was scheduled to address a conferance this morning and I had a lot of preparation to do prior to the event. So the plan was that we'd get up at 6.30am, walk the dogs and I'd get on the 7.37 train from Mill Hill Broadway to prepare.

I didn't sleep too well and I was awoken at 3am by my teenage daughter returning from a party, banging and crashing around the house. I was rather cross with her. All too soon the alarm clock woke us up at 6.30. As I'd played football last night, it was a real effort. Having dogs is a real commitment and so it wasn't much fun. Normally I enjoy walking the mutts when the weather is nice, but my calves ached and I felt cream crackered. We got home, had some breakfast and at 7.30 I was just about to leave when the smoke alarm sounded. My wife said "Go and change the batteries". I realised that this wasn't the low battery sound. I was a little confused. I ran upstairs to see. Reaching the landing, I was slightly confused as there was a smell of smoke, but no obvious source. I then noticed my daughters bedroom door was shut. I don't really like entering her room uninvited as she's 18, so I opened the doof gingerly. As I did, a huge waft of smoke hit me. So I burst in to see a scene of carnage. The chest of drawers in her room was ablaze with 2ft high flames licking up it. There were also candles all over the place. Realising that the situation was highly dangerous, I screamed at my daughter, who was completely zonked out, to wake up.

I then assessed what possible action could be taken. Realising the seriousness, I grabbed my daughters duvet and used this to smother the flames, calling Mrs T to bring up a bucked of water. Thankfully this action had the desired effect and we were able to extinguish the flames. Neighbours seeing the drama had called the fire brigade who turned up just as everything was sorted out. They quickly checked and confirmed the situation that all was ok. A chat with the fireman revealed that the tea lights my daughter had lit around her room, are a major cause of fires. He also noted that our smoke alarms were responsible for saving the day. In his opinion, they should be in every room in the house. He pointed out that by the time enough smoke escaped from daughters room to trigger them, the fire had taken hold. He estimated that we had approx 2 minutes more (based on scorch marks etc) before the fire would have been out of control. In short we were very lucky.

So please, whether you are my best friend or my biggest enemy, please do the following

1) Check your smoke alarms today
2) Don't leave candles/tea lights ablase when you go to sleep
3) Make sure your teenage kids who are living in digs have smoke alarms.

We were lucky. It scared the sh*t out of my daughter and I hope to God that a lesson has been learned. After all the fun died down, I just caught the 8.06 train and ended up giving my conference address with no prep at all and in a very stressed frame of mind. As it was, that went well.

I hope and pray that whatever your weekend has in store for you, you don't have to face what greeted me at 7.30 this morning. As I sat on the train into town, realised how close I'd come to losing my daughter and my home. It is a very sobering thought and puts many things in perspective.

And finally God Bless our firemen.