West London Orbital Railway - A measure of Sadiq Khan's failure?

Almost since this blog first started in October 2008, we've followed and supported proposals for the development of a lightly used freight railway between Cricklewood and Acton as a passenger railway to releive pressure on the North Circular and to open up access to West London. 

The first blog on the subject was posted in January 2009, when local transport campaigner contacted me to see if I supported the Brent Cross light railway scheme. This was an ambitious scheme to convert several disused and freight lines into a tram network. I thought the scheme warranted serious investigation. Needless to say, the local Tory regime of Mike Freer and Brian Coleman had no interest at all. Although it was pretty clear to me that elements of the scheme were, shall we say, a tad overambitious, I thought it was a genuine attempt to crystalise the options for public transport in North West London. The more I researched the subject, the clearer it was that there was one part of the scheme that was an absolute no brainer. That was what has become the West London Orbital Railway proposal from Acton to Brent Cross. When Richard Cornelius became Tory leader of Barnet Council, I discussed this with him. To my surprise, he agreed and informed me that there was a forum called the 'West London Alliance', which formed local councils. Richard was committed to pushing the scheme through. He informed me that the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson was also broadly supportive, if the scheme could be demonstrated to be viable and technically feasable.

In 2016, Sadiq Khan became Mayor of London and in 2017 TFL adopted the West London Orbital Scheme as one of the higher priority schemes on the table for London. Studies were done to assess the feasability and in laymans terms ( I don't write blogs for industry insiders who know all of the technical language), it was a complete no brainer. It met all of the criteria for a public infrastructure project in terms of cost benefits and technical feasability and could be delivered quickly. It opened up opportunites for over 12,000 new homes and would make getting from across the West of London far easier by public transport. Just to illustrate, I went to watch Brentford FC play at home recently. The journey took nearly 90 minutes. With WLO, it would take 19 minutes from Hendon to the nearest station. 

The only fly in the ointment is that there is no funding for the project. We have seen, with the Elizabeth line, what happens when you provide good quality public transport. However despite such lessons being there for all to see, the plans languish at the bottom of a pile of papers with the treasury and the Chancellor Rachel Reeves. It seems to me to be incomprehesible that any competent chancellero cannot understand that investment in infrastructure makes you money. A competent Mayor would be banging the drum loudly, pointing out the huge return on investment such projects deliver. We were promised that when we had a Labour Mayor and a Labour government, such things would be delivered. The opposite has happened. We have a situation where the Mayor is unwilling to critise or put pressure on the chancellor. My biggest issue with Sadiq Khan is that he is clueless when it comes to business and money. He doesn't seem to understand that the way to make money is to invest and so all he does is sit on his hands. If we had a dynamic Mayor, the scheme could have been delivered, in some form by now and be delivering benefits to the TFL budget. Instead, we hear that it is 'behind a DLR extension in the queue for cash'. It is ridiculous to manage infrastructure schemes in such a manner. There is a massive difference between borrowing money to build projects that make you money, as opposed to borrowing simply to shore up budgets that you have mismanaged. 

I suspect that part of the reason that Rachel Reeve is scared of making such commitments, is that she's seen how badly HS2 has been mismanaged and doesn't want scuh a cock up on her watch. This is misguided. WLO is a completely different beast. There is very little building required, apart from a few new stations. Some works to change track layouts and a major resignalling of the line will be needed. These will add beenfits for the existing freight channels as well as the new passenger service. There is also the cost of new trains. Unlike a brand new railway, all of these are very uch known quantities. 

In fact the only real unknown in the whole WLO process is what is going on in the brain of the Mayor and the Chancellor.I was foolish enough to believe local Labour politicians when they said that Labour would deliver such things. The Mayor seems to have no idea on how to bring London behind the scheme. Yesterday, the Evening Standard reported that the line would be renamed in line with other Overground lines. This has launched the usual deluge of 'anti woke' nonsense from right wing pundits on Twitter, who are more concerned about what the line is called thah whether it is actually built.  What they miss is that renaming the scheme now actually costs nothing as no signage and maps need replacing. A similar thing happened when they decided Crossrail would be called the Elizabeth line. It only costs money when the thing has been built and the maps and signage rolled out, but personally, I'd rather we didn't have announcements that make it a political football before its been delivered. 

A scheme that costs £6-700 million and delivers a billion pounds in benefits and revenues is a no brainer. If the scheme isn't underway with a set opening date by the time Sadiq Khan stands again for Mayor, then as far as I am concerned, his legacy will be one of demonstrable failure. Of all the thoughts that horrify me, the idea that in sixteen years I might still be writing blogs about how it should be built and what a no brianer it is. CAn you imagine, in 2039, a 30th anniversary blog of campaigning for a project that is a real no brainer?

Oh and just in case you wanted to know my suggestion for a name? I'd call it the Brent Line. This is because it goes from Brent Cross to Brentford, linking two ends of the river Brent. The fact that it seems to be managed rather like a project run by David Brent in the Office is purely a coincidence.

The Sunday Reflection #65 - A reminder of the Church of my youth

 Yesterday, my nephew got married. It was a traditional service in a beautiful old Roman Catholic church in Portugal, as his bride is Portuguese. The service was largely conducted in Portuguese, although some elements were in English. The service was held as part of a mass. It really took me back to my youth. When I was small, all masses were held in Latin, so I understood nothing. It was rather similar. I got to thinking just how much has changed in the Catholic Church. For me, it is unrecognisable. The Church I attend in London is the Sacred Heart in Mill Hill. Itw as knocked down and completely rebuilt in 1996. The new church is modern, more comfortable and far more practical. The old Church had far more atmosphere and felt, to me, far more like a church. 

It is not just the building that is different. Priests used to be known by their surname, so the parish priests were Fr Dowley, Fr Corkery, etc. Now they are Fr Eugene and Fr Chinedu. The Priests in Mill Hill were also always Irish. These days, they tend to be from Africa. Fr Eugene Curran, who recently left was most likely the last Irish parish priest in Mill Hill for a very long time. 

Another difference is that when I was young, alter servers were boys. Now girls are allowed. In fact it seems that there are far more girls serving than boys. The Church has not moved to female priests yet, unlike the Church of England. Personally, I'd like to see this silly rule changed. I think it might solve a lot of the problems the church is facing. I am not a theologian, but I like to think I have common sense.

Another difference is the hyms sung. I used to love the old Victorian hymns, that the congregation would belt out, accompanied by a grand organ. Sadly the organ went with the old church, and it is rare to hear the 'old classic' hymns. 

The question I was pondering during the service was whether I prefer what the Church has morphed into? The honest answer is that I am not entirely sure. I much prefer a sung mass in Latin with incense, it is beautiful. I don't feel that the lack of understanding of what is happening affects my closeness to the Almighty. In fact I think it enhances it. I also preferred the formality of priests using surnames, it seemed more repsectful. Then again, it is nice to not freeze in mass. It is odd that the church has modernised in all the wrong ways to me. I'd rather that they sorted out the child abuse, etc rather than get us to call priests their first name. I have no problem with female or married priests. The world didn't end when they brought in female alter servers. I happen to believe we all have a little bit of God in us, so we should not discriminate. 

Wanna hear some great new music? Be the first one on your block! Tell your mates

 I have been a musician for all of my adult life. I've played in the same band for nearly 47 years, and I've seen all manner of musical styles and fads come and go. There have been lulls in music and great peaks. In London currently we have a really schizophrenic situation at the moment. We have amazing bands, playing great music, often to decent sized crowds. However, live music venues are closing, promoters are struggling to make a living, the bands generally get paid little. Perhaps the hardest thing of all is for bands to get from playing great shows to 50 people to making a proper career where playing music is their day job, playing bigger venues on a regular basis.

As someone who does pay the bills running a music related business, I see the way many musicians struggle. One of the biggest problems artists have is connecting with the audience for their music. You can record the very best song in the world, but if no one ever gets to hear it, then it will never take the artist forward. As a '77 punk rocker, I have always been of the opinion that if someone slams the door in your face, you kick it in. Our mainstream radio stations seem to be totally uninterested in what is going on in the grassroots music scene. So what can be done? Well I've hooked up with a good mate of mine, Griff Griffiths, who does the drivetime show on Rock Radio UK.

Having had a chat with Griff, I suggested that we do a  shout out to the bands that use my studios and also on social media and we asked for artists to submit tracks, so that we can play them on Griff's show. Rock Radio UK has a listenership of around 100,000 and is constantly growing. I was shocked and pleased to get over 50 submissions. I spent a couple of days listening to them all. Nearly all were excellent. I sent them over to Griff and his team and we will be playing four of them on his show on Tuesday. As the station is a specialist Rock station, we had to limit it to Rock tracks. The good news is that the listeners know their mustard and the station will connect the artists with a ready made audience.

If the show gets a good response, we will be chosing some more.

I have a date for your diary! If you are not doing anything on Sunday 2nd November, why not come down to watch my band, The False Dots and a couple of other great bands

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And as it's Friday, here are the local gigs (follow the Barnet Music Facebook page for full details)

Friday 17th
Builders Arms 8.30pm – 11.30pm Groove Rats (rock/blues)
Kings Head 8.30pm – 11.30pm  The Curfew (Classic rock)
Butchers Arms 9pm – 11.45pm Redriffe (classic rock 4 piece)
Sebright Arms 9pm – 11.30pm Runner Brothers (rock covers)
The Arkley Club 7.30pm - late £10 cash entry Vikki Clayton + Floor Spots
Barrington 8.30pm – midnight Karaoke with Neil
Ye Olde Monken Holt 8.30pm – late Robert Storey (DJ) Soul Storey

Saturday 18th
EB RB Legion 8.30pm - late Soul Chain
Lord Kitchener 8.30pm – late Karaoke with Johnno
Butchers Arms 9pm – 11.30pm Bear Pit Band (pop/rock covers 4 piece)
Toolans 9pm X - Pressions 

Maddens 8pm – 11.30pm Cruisin Mooses (blues/rock/soul 4 piece)
The Arkley Club 8.30pm - late £5 cash entry Back To Legends disco

Sunday 19th
Butchers 8.30 – 11.30pm
Butchers Arms Jam Electric/Blues/Rock (Full backline available)
Toolans 8.30 Kieran White

Monday 20th
Ye Olde Mitre Inn, High Street 8pm – 11pm (stables room) Barnet Acoustics Session

Tuesday 21st
The Bull Theatre £5 Acapella & Accoustic Speakeasy 14+ (3rd Tuesday)
further details from Nikki or Tim 07754067594 07956875758

Wednesday 22nd
Toolans 5pm-8pm JJ Galway
Ye Olde Monken Holt 8.30 – 11pm Open Mic Night

Thursday 23rd
Ye Olde Monken Holt 8.30 – 10.30pm Irish Session
Maddens 8.30pm – 11pm Ronnie Gordon Legacy (ska, reggae, blue, soul, latin)Thursday

Friday 24th
Butchers Arms 9pm – 11.30pm Harripaul (pop/rock/jazz/blues)
EB RB Legion 9pm – 11.30pm Broken Bones (Classic rock 3 piece)
Lord Kitchener 8.30pm – late Jamie Callis (Solo artist)
Builders Arms 8 – 11pm Tim Leffman
Kings Head 9.15pm Jamie Whelligan
Barrington 8.30pm – midnight Karaoke with Neil

And if it's Friday, it is time for a joke!

I ordered some cheap German food from Ebay

The sauerkraut is awful and the wurst is yet to come.

And finally, have a great weekend!

Rock and Roll Stories #47 - So what is it actually like at a False Dots rehearsal?

 Last night, I had a rehearsal with my band, The False Dots. I've no idea how many rehearsals the band has had in our career. I'd  guess that its probably between 1,500 and 2,000. It is often the highlight of my week and I always look forward to it. Last nights rehearsal was a bit unusual in that we had two extra guests. We are playing a private party at the weekend and will be having an extra trumpet player join us, as well as a guest vocalist for a couple of songs. When the guest vocalist turned up, his first question was "where's the beer?". These days, when we rehearse, we are an absteemious bunch. Graham and Tom both drive to rehearsals. It was not always like this. 

I was recalling with Graham when we used to rehearse in 1988 and he'd bring a mate of his called Buddha. Buddha would sit quietly in the corner watching us rehearse. He'd constantly roll large joints and smoke them, whilst sitting in the lotus position. At the time, this was not that unusual. However, what made Buddha different was that he had a pet tarantula which used to sit on his head. I am not an arachnophobe, but I tend to try and avoid poisonous things that can hurt. Buddha assurred us that the spider was tame and friendly, stating it was better behaved than a family cat. Whilst I didn't mind him sitting there, I did give it a wide berth. I don't know if it was the fumes or the music, but the spider was very well behaved. I don't think too many bands can claim a tarantula as a fan. At the earliest rehearsals, we'd always have an audience, often girls that we knew, who we thought would be impressed by our stunning lack of music aptitude. We'd get cider and beer and after rehearsals, sit around with our friends listening to music until the early hours. Often, we'd also have a game of five a side football, under the M1 spotlights on thr roadway at Bunns Lane Works.

I recall one incident, where we were playing at around 1am, the games were actually pretty serious for us. The Police clearly thought the studios were a den of drug taking and inquity and three vans turned up to bust us. They were bemused to find us mid game. They had expected a bunch of stoned hippies to cart off. Even more dsconcerting to them was the fact that one of our mates was the son of their boss, the chief at West Hendon. After that, they left us alone. 

As we all developed stable relationships, the girlfriends would sit in another room and chat whilst we rehearsed. After football, we'd usually have a cup of tea. One ot my favourite memories was when the Flower Lane industrial estate was being built on the old railway sidings. The workers were on a 24/7 schedule. We had a rehearsal, followed by a game of football. At around 2am, we retired for tea and biscuits. To the horror of Steve, one of our mates, there was no sugar. So he strolled over to the workers hut at 2am and asked for some sugar. I think they were completely bemused. 

We always took rehearsals seriously. We'd do things like rehearsing in the  dark, with a strobe on, so that we could play with lights and not be distracted. We'd also rehearse standing on chairs and jumping off at key points. to ensure we could do the dynamics of a show properly. One passing musician who watched a rehearsal said that he'd never seen anything like it and suggested that we were more like a circus act. Six months later, we did a gig with them. They were as dull as dishwater and their static show got the response it deserved. Of course, they were disdainful of the fact the audience liked us.

When Paul Marvin was in the band, his Dad Hank of the Shadows gave us some great advice. He said "You don't rehearse to learn the songs, you should do that at home, you rehearse so that if you make a mistake, you can seamlessly recover and no one will notice". As a result, we always used to try and put each other off and clown around at rehearsals. Often bits would get incorporated into the show. The net result is that to this day, I always get a buzz and enjoy band rehearsals. I was in a covers band on bass for a short time. It was good experience as a player, but no fun at all. 

Here's a little clip from a recent rehearsal. Tom our trumpet player filmed it as he played!

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Rebuked!

Yesterday I published my views on the Trump Middle East deal. Today, I received  a long series of rebukes. I am not sure whether they think I support Hamas or I am a Zionist. I have somehow manage to convince many people that I am one or the other. Some people tell me they are highly disappointed that I have been duped, others that I am patsy or worse for one side or the other. I generally studiously avoid the subject of the Middle East and Israel on the blog, not least because I don't really know a lot about the intricacies of the politics. For the record, after what Hamas did at a music festival to innocent people, I abhor the organisation. As to the Government of Netanhayu, I am amazed that the atrocity happened on his watch, yet he is still PM. I see little evidence that he has managed the situation well and sadly, he has lost a lot of friends with his actions. Even Trump and his missus did not like the images of starving kids. One of my studio customers is an elderly Arab Israeli, familiar withe the area. He tells me that it is incomprehensible to him as to what happened. It has been one of the most heavily protected border areas in the world. I don't know. 

What I do know is this. People who tell me what I am or what I think are genuinely clueless. The reason why I wrote a blog yesterday was because there seems to be a chink of hope in a terrible situation, for a lot of people who have been badly hurt, on both sides. I am not getting into the numbers or the rights and wrongs. Just the fact that a lot of people are a lot happier at the start of this week than they were last week. As a human  being with a degree of compassion, that gives me grounds for hope. So by all means rebuke me, it is a free country. But maybe you need to look at yourself first, as if you believe that there will ever be a fair and just solution that genuinely addresses all the genuine grievances of all the inoocent people hurt by this situation, then you are even more deluded than you think I am. Sadly, all we can hope for is a solution that is the least worse available.

Trump!

 I had a very strange experience today. I was discussing the Middle East peace deal with someone and I realised that they had the look of someone who has just had a bereavement. It is no surprise to anyone that Mr Donald J. Trump produces rather mixed emotions, but I was mildly surprised that when he actually does something useful (ie stopping people killing each other), people can't just say "Thank God he's done something useful for once" if they hate his guts. I dislike the man intensely, but if I recognise the fact that if I was a citizen of Gaza, who was no longer getting bombed and may get a decent meal soon, or if I was an Israeli who's brother/sister/etc had just been released, when I though I'd never see them alive, I would probably not be too bothered about all of the reasons that liberal minded folk (like me) generally can't stand the fella. 

There has been too much talk about the Nobel Peace Prize and Donald Trump. My view? It was too early to give it to him this year. If he'd received it and five minutes later Hamas and Israel had resumed hostilities, the Nobel committee would look ridiculous. If thise time next year, the deal has held. Given him an extra special, super bigly amazing one in a solid gold frame. He will have done something I thought nigh on impossible. 

The bottom line with Donald Trump is that, as my Dad always explained to me, you have to deal with the realities of the world we live in, not the one we want to live in. In a perfect world (if I was the architect), we'd all be nice to each other and whatever gene makes us such a psychopathic race, would be eliminated. When there were earthquakes, floods, famines, tsunamis and meteorite strikes we'd all chip in to help the victims. When plagues hit, we'd all support the efforts of scientists and doctors to cure them, not scoure the web for bonkers conspiracy theories that it's all a plan to enslave us. People wouldn't fight or abuse children, because they knew it was wrong. People wouldn't care about people's colour. If someone was a different religion, we'd just say "Well we can all believe what we want and we will be happy with each others choices and respect them". In truth, most people (I know) already live by these rules. 

However, the rich and the powerful don't. That is why we are where we are. However much I wish I could change the way people behave, I can't. So we have to live with people in power we don't like. Be it Trump, Starmer, Sadiq Khan, Vladimir Putin, etc the world is full of leaders who I hear people despair of. It seems almost every conversation in a pub ends up with some sort of discussion about leaders and how rubbish they are. I sometimes wonder if Donald Trump is simply a practical joke played on left wing people by God (yes I believe God has a sense of humour). You put a man like Trump in charge, he fixes a problem that all rational people would want fixed and then you watch as those who don't like him try and find a reason to hate him even more. 

As far as I am concerned, all of the reasons I had to dislike Trump before the peace deal were signed are still valid. But...... And I know this upsets many readers of this blog massively, if he has managed to sort out peace in the Middle East, then people like me should acknowledge the fact that he's pulled off something good. I've no idea what the future holds, whether Israel and Hamas will stick to the deal, whether the ordinary people on both sides who have suffered will see their suffering end. What I do know is that today, it seems as if they might. So be grateful for small mercies. I heard a conversation where one party said "I can't believe that ordinary people in Gaza are chering Trump". The other person said "You'd cheer Trump if it meant people stopped bombing you and you were going to get a proper dinner for the first time in months".

The world will keep turning. I won't be around to read it, but I'd love to know how history book writers perceive what has happened over the last few days and months. Trump is not a year into his second term. There are doubtless going to be many more chapters. There is a Chinese curse that says "May you live in interesting times". Whatever you think of Trump, there is certainly many things of interest to blog and chat about. Someone, who does like Trump, asked me if I could sum up mu views of his efforts in the Middle East today. My response? Ask me in six months time, when we have seen what actually happens. Sadly, I've seen all manner of deals come and go and the reason we are where we are is because they've all fallen apart, through mutual suspicion and ill will. If Trump can put that Genie back in the bottle, he deserves the plaudits. If it doesn't, then he will join the long list of politicians like Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, who thought they'd sorted it all out, only to see things become even worse. I genuinely hope I have to join in the plaudits through gritted teeth, as he gets the Nobel prize next year. If I wanted it to crash and burn, because of my personal emnity towards Trump, what would that make me?

The Sunday Reflection #64 - 30 years ago today, my life changed forever

 What were you doing 30 years ago today. Thursday 12th October 1995? I can tell you exactly. But first let me tell you what I did on The preceding Wednesday evening. I sat in on my own, with a tasty curry from the Mill Hill Tandoori and I watched England play Norway. It was a 0-0 draw. The England team contained such talents as Nick Barmby, Dennis Wise, Tony Adams and Gary Pallister. Terry Venables was the manager. I had onion bhajis, a bhuna prawn masala, tarka dal, pilau rice and a naan. I washed it down with a couple of cans of Fosters. I'd had a busy day. I had a early night after that, as I was exhausted.

On the 12th, I got up, had a shower, had a cup of tea and a bowl of porridge and drove up to Edgware General hospital. I was bring my baby home! The day before, my eldest daughter had been born. Clare stayed in with her. She was tired and I had left her to rest with our new daughter. Clare had been tired after the efforts of giving birth. She looked much better. Our little baldy baby was a cutie. The previous nights curry and beer had been the last time for a very long time, that I'd sit in on my own, watch footie and do such things. A baby changes everything in a family. 

After seeing the midwife, etc. We packed up everything and drove home in my gold Ford Cortina estate. To my wife's mild irritation, I insisted on putting on Sailor by The Steve Miller band before we entered the house. I was told that if you introduced a baby to a noisy house, they would never have problems sleeping. I thought full on Punk rock would be a bit much, so Steve  Millers greatest album seemed right. We got settled in and then the visits started. Clare called her Mum, who turned up almost immediately. Maddie was her first grand daughter, so she was most excited. My mum then showed up. She already had six grand daughters, but she was still thrilled. 

Clares sisters and my sister Caroline also showed up. I was worried it was all a bit much for Clare, but she was fine. We had no idea what to expect. I wasn't looking forward to the sleep deprivation that everyone told me would happen.  We were determined to try and get our little baby into some sort of routine. We put her down at 11pm and she slept until about 4am. At first we checked ever two minutes to ensure she wasn't dead. We ensured the door was shut, so the cat wouldn't murder her. To my amazement, she never really woke up in the night. We all think our babies are the best, but Maddie was really easy. She always had a big smile, except when her bottle ran out. She'd always scream with anger when she realised the bottle was empty. 

Many things changed in my life. I stopped playing 11 a side football. I did this for a year, as I felt that being away all day on Saturday would be unfair. I never played it again. The band was in hiatus at the time. Any plans I might have had to relaunch it went on indefinite hold. We were in the process of building the studio up. At the time, we only had two studios. We were making plans, but they were very much a sideline. We didn't have the shop, the hire business or the recording operation. Ernie Ferebee had just got involved. My main job was doing IT consultancy for Streamline, whichg was Nat West IT Business. It was well paid. When Maddie was six months old, we went on a holiday to Devon. She was just starting to talk (she hasn't really stopped since). The waiter came around and offered us menus. To his surprise, when he asked this little baldy baby if she wanted a menu, she said "yes". He asked her what she wanted and she pointd at something and said "martoes". I said "She wants tomatoes". So these were duly brought and she tucked in. 

I was doing long hours and was on 24 hour callout, doing my best to ensure that our little baby had a secure upbringing. For me, having kids was never something I'd thought about until Clare started to expect Maddie. I was convinced that she was going to be a boy. I told everyone this, and that my eldest son would be called Joe (after Judge Joe Dredd from 2000AD, Clare was horrified but actually liked the name and agreed. She was less keen on my suggested middle name of Rico, which is Judge Dredds rogue brother). All the family were convinced as well. When Maddie was born, we realised that we didn't really have a name, but we'd discussed Madeleine and quite liked it. When I told my mum, she said "You can't call her that, I have a book with lots of nice names in". Once she turned up, everyone agreed Maddie was a wonderful name. I am actually glad I had a daughter first. I think I'd have been a nightmare for a first born son. By the time Matt was born, I had calmed down a bit, The Lord works in mysterious ways. Having not really wanted kids, I now realise just what a blessing they are. I've always believed in letting them follow their own path and supporting them as best we can. It works for us. I am so proud of them all. 

And here we are, 30 years later. On Friday night, we had a birthday party for Maddie at the studio. My other two lovely kids were there. Playing Steve Miller as she entered the house clearly worked as she loves music. I was proud that my band, The False Dots (who emerged from our hiatus when she was five) were asked to play by her friend Helen who arranged the surprise party. It was a blast. Here is how we partied!

@falsedotsrog The False Dots performing We don’t live in America at @Mill Hill Music Complex for Maddies birthday #jazzpunk #ska #punk #soulmusic #skapunk ♬ original sound - FalseDotsRog

The Saturday List #362 - My top ten namedropping list!

 First a quick explanation. The last list in this series was #499, you may wonder why the number has gone backwards? Well its entirely due to my incompetence. When I got to blog 361, I missed 20. I realised as I compiled the full list, that there was a 20 blog gap! So here we go.

Running a studio, doing acting, playing in a band, I've met a few celebrities. Here is my top ten namedropping list

1. David Soul. I always say he's the most famous man to use the studios. A true gent, back in the 1970's Starsky and Hutch was the most iconic cop show on TV. David moved to London and used the studios a few times. Always happy to have a selfie with customers and staff. 

2. Sir Tom Jones. The most famous British person to use the studios. He rehearsed for an appearance on TOTP with Chicane. When he came down, we were having building work done and our bathrooms were portaloos. I was mortified. Tom came in and asked for a tea and where the loo was. I profusely apologised for not having proper bathrooms. Tom made his visit, came back for his tea and said "Don't worry about the facilities, I've played worse toilets than that!". After that, we realised he was a decent, down to earth guy!

3. Stephen Fry. I appeared as an extra in a film called The Tichborne Claimant. Stephen Fry was a leading character. We had a good chat on the set. He was a funny guy, very friendly (I can't say the same about Brian May of Queen, who was on set as his missus Anita Dobson was also in the film).

4. Dickie Bird. The legendary cricket umpire was at a black tie dinner I was at. He was the guest speaker. After the speeches, I spoke to him at the bar. I am not really a cricket fan, but his anecdotes were brilliant. An honour to meet him

5. Jimmy Page. I was visiting my sister in Fort Lauderdale and we went to a bar she liked, in one of the local marinas. When I went up to the bar, there was a guy I sort of recognised, obviously a muso. I assumed he was a studio customer. We had a chat about guitars as we waited for our beers.When I brought the beers back, my sister said "I didn't realised you knew Jimmy Page". I felt like a bit of a muppet, but he nodded to me when he left!

6. Tony Blackburn. Tony lives locally. He has a child the same age as my eldest. Where the Harvester is in Mill Hill used to be a childrens soft play area called Wacky Warehouse. Tony would take his family at the same time I did most weeks. We'd sit there and talk about Soul music. Tony knows his stuff. He gave me several recommendations of obscure B-sides etc that were worth a listen. Sadly The False Dots were inactive, so I couldn't slip him a single!

7. The Archbishop of Canterbury and Mick Jones of The Clash. In about 1978, I found myself at Paddington Station in a queue for train tickets. In front of me was The Archbishop of Canterbury and behind me was Mick Jones of the Clash. As the Archbishop ordered his ticket, I looked at Mick and he looked at me. I said "When I got up this morning, I never thought I'd be sandwiched between you and the Archbishop of Canterbury". Mick giggled and smiled. 

8. David Bailey. The legendary photographer took my picture several times when I was doing child modelling. I have to confess I have no recollection at all of this, but my mum told me of this. My Mum didn't like him. At one shoot, she got chatting to his girlfriend, who she liked and then Bailey dumped her. My mum thought that he was not a nice man for doing that. 

9. Captain Sensible and the Damned. Used to be regular studio customers. I got on well with the Captain, as he shares lots of interests with me beyond punk rock. When I saw the band at Euston Station recently, I got chatting to Captain and I nearly missed my train. 

10. Amy Winehouse. Amy rehearsed at the studio for several years before she made it. She knew us all. I was tempted to put her first, but thought I'd save best until last. He was always lovely in our company and I cried when I heard she'd passed away. We sold her the guitar she played on her first TV performance. A blue Mexican Stratocaster. 

Rog T Food blog - The anticipation is usually the best bit

 This is a first for me! A blog written at the gym on an exercise bike! What better place to blog about food!

I’m warming up for my session dreaming about the fish and chips I’ll be having later in Harpenden, before we watch Hadley play. There is a lovely chippy there. It got me thinking about how so much of the enjoyment of food is anticipating it. Tonight we will smell the chippy before we even enter the door and by the time it arrives, we’ll doubtless be Hank Marvin! (Starving). 

I think one of the reasons we love fish and chips is the amazing smell of a great chippy. The same is true of a Sunday Roast. You have the best part of an hour to build up your hunger, with delicious aromas. That is why I never have a drink before I sit down to Sunday lunch at home. 

I like to think of a great meal as theatre, at Christmas, the centrepiece is setting the pudding alight. Sadly too many of the meals we eat lack such drama. My advice? Add some fun when you cook for friends and make sure they get a good whiff of the food!

And for the record, the Fish and Chips at Godfrey was delicious! 

The Tories announce an excellent policy at their conference

 I daresay that most of my readers will be rather surprised to hear that I have something good to say about Kemi Badenoch and the Conservative party. However as someone who takes blogging seriously and also believes in fairness, I have to say that today they have released a policy that might actually work and has the potential to save the UK hospitality trade. As someone who runs a small business, I have felt we are under attack by all parties since 2008, when the credit crunch hit. 2007 was the year when my studio didn't have to take measures to save money to maintain our business as a profitable entity. This enabled us to give our less well off customers extremely cheap rehearsals, pay our staff significantly more than the minimum wage, invest in formal training for all staff, and do our job properly. We were able to regularly renew our studio equipment, ensuring our customers generally had equipment that was under three years old, and we sold the old gear in good condition.

All of these things helped generate economic activity in the UK. Everything is substantially more expensive now. VAT is 20%, energy prices have been an absolute roller coaster, things like employer NI have been hiked substantially. Minimum wage rates have meant that we simply cannot afford to maintain the differentials that we used to have with other businesses. We simply cannot afford to send staff on external courses. And then there are business rates. These clobber us. Following the slashing of government support, we have had to hike prices this year and cancel equipment upgrades.

Today the Tories have announced that they intend to abolish business rates for certain types of businesses. This would make a huge difference to us. I know many restaurant owners and pub landlords who this will return struggling businesses to profit. Once businesses are profitable, they start planning for expanson, that increases tax income generally. If the UK wants to be a successful economy, we need to make running small businesses viable. This measure is a huge, real and practical step. I genuinely hope Labour has the common sense to shoot the Tories fox and nick this policy. 

There is lots of hype in the press about Reform replacing the Tories. I am not a Tory, have never voted for them, but the truth is that, unlike Reform, they are a grown up party that is capable of developing sensible economic policies. I've seen no evidence that Reform are anything but shouty loudmouths, who are actually rather thin skinned when challenged. This was perfectly demonstrated by the news that Reform run Kent council is to raise Council tax by 5%, the maximum allowed, because they 'discovered' that all the waste and savings they imagined did not exist. The real problem with Reform is that Nigel Farage is a political fantasist. The stories he spins and the tales he tells are attractive to some. But the problem is we live in the real world, not a fantasy world. In the real world, the big bad wolf eats Grandma and Little Red Riding Hood. And our trading competetors and national adversaries are licking their lips at the concept of a Reform government, as it will open up all sorts of opportunities as Britain descends into economic mayhem. Liz Truss showed us what happens when a fantasist takes over. It was telling that the Tories turned to Jeremy Hunt to sort the mess out as Chancellor. He was the most left wing senior Tory left after the Boris purges. That is the problem with the real world for extremists. It always ends in chaos when  extremists get the opportunity to actually get their hands on the wheels of power.