The Sunday Reflection #82 - Backbone!

Dad supervising repairs to his Wellington
bomber at Foggia Main Air base in Italy
in 1944.  These men hadbackbone
and gumption

Life is a strange thing. Every experience you have, good or bad, gives you another tool in the toolkit of life. Every mistake has a lesson, every victory should give pause for reflection. Every conversation is stored away and anything useful filed. I was born very lucky. My father had lived a life so full and varied that I was passed an almost full toolbox almost before I set out on my own journey that is life. One piece of advice that he passed on to me, which I always take full account of is this. I guess I was sever or eight at the time. It was before my Mum had surgery for cancer. She had been advised to get a good holiday to builder her up. Dad had to stay behind and run the business. During the week, I stayed with my Uncle Jimmy and Aunty Josie and their ten kids. I was at the same school as their son Gregory, so we both went to school and came home together. At the weekend, I was in Dads care at home. This was wonderful. We had bacon sarnies for breakfast, pie and chips at the cafe for lunch and he got some steak for dinner. During the day, I spent it with him at his car crash repair business, MacMetals. He gave me a job sorting out some big trays of nuts and bolts. He gave me half a crown wages, which bought a good stock of sweets. My sisters had gone with Mum to Spain (Dad wouldn't set foot in the country because Franco was a Fascist and he didn't like Fascists). 

During the course of the day, he got into an altercation with someone in the workshop. I didn't know the person. They were not an employee or a customer. My Dad was a bit of a hardnut, an Aussie ex RAF officer who'd been a prisoner of war. You didn't mess with him. He had a bad temper. Whatever happened escalated extremely quickly. I knew not to mess with Dad when he had red mist. What had started as an amicable discussion, suddenly turned very nasty. My Dad shouted a stream of profanities as the said individual and told them that if they didn't F--- Off he'd throw the chap in the incinerator. This was not an idle threat. He'd thrown a local gangster in, when they had threatened him and demanded cash. I now believe Dad had PTSD from the second world war, which is why he could turn so quickly. The odd thing was, he'd switch back just as quickly, almost as if nothing had happened.

That evening, I asked Dad what it was all about. He seemed slightly embarrassed, but he explained. The said individual was a member of an organisation that my Dad belonged to. Some money had been misappropriated. My Dad was scrupulously honest and generous and he was horrified to learn what had happened. It was absolutely clear what had happened and who was responsible. Dad was mates with a chap called Charlie Dawson, who was the local copper. Dad wanted the culprit to be nicked and exposed. He felt stealing off a charity was despicable and the act of a total low life. The person who had visited him, was the person who had collated all of the evidence. Dad had asked to see him, and suggested that the information be turned over to Charlie. 

He had come down and to my Dad's absolute horror, he'd been told "I have destroyed the evidence". It transpired that the bloke who visited my Dad was his best mate and he didn't want to dob him in. Worse still, without the evidence, the individual in question would be remaining in situ.  My Dad was horrified and what sent him over the cliff was the individual in question then stated "Now it's only our word against yours and no one will believe you". Dad was not stupid and he knew this was most probably true. I asked Dad what he was going to do. His response shocked me. He said "Son, in life you will learn one lesson. You will meet people like that. People who you think are friends, but when the chips are down, you learn they are cowards and have no backbone". Dad went on. He said "In the RAF, I put my life on the line for what was right every night. I had to have the total trust of my crew and they had to have the total trust of me. If that broke down, we would all die. However, you'll learn that in normal life, it is quite acceptible to lack backbone and indulge liars and theives". He added "The reason they get away with it, is because people who should know better indulge them". I was intrigued. But I asked again "Dad that doesn't explain what you are going to do about all of this". His response was intriguing. He said "Son, you've got to learn one lesson. Wars are a long game and they are not decided on the first battle. Now this lot have revealed their true character, I will wait and I will catch them out sooner or later and I will make sure I have what I need to do what needs to be done. People like that always screw up sooner or later". And that was that. Or so I thought.

As I said at the start of this blog. Life is a strange thing. I had always wondered if my Dad was right in this case. He never mentioned it again to me. I doubt he would have, if I'd not seen his melt down. But the last time I had a proper night out with Dad, over a whisky at 2am in the morning, I asked if he remembered the incident and what had happened. Had the bad men got their comeuppance? He laughed and said "Well, it was quite tragic really". Dad went on to explain that he was so morally outraged about the theft of the cash that he'd decided to go around and front the bloke who nicked the money. I think his intention was to smack him in the mouth and tell him what he thought of him. He went around to his house and told him he needed to discuss a serious matter. He was beckoned in and offered a whisky. The guy then explained that not a soul knew this and he asked for him to keep it quiet. Dad told him that it would have to be a very good story. He then explained that he'd been told he had terminal cancer and had no more than six months to live. He was very well insured, but he'd be dead so the cash was no good to him. He'd taken the cash from the charity and paid for a ten day luxury cruise with his wife, as he was still well enough and he'd always promised her. He'd changed his will and when he passed away, the charity would receive a large bequest, far more than he'd 'borrowed'. Dad told me that he was completely taken aback and agreed to never mention it. Sure enough, after he passed the bequest was made. Although not strictly moral or legal, Dad understood completely that it wasn't petty pilfering. Dad asked whether the treasurer knew. He said no. Dad then explained that when the charity accounts were prepared, it was clear that there was a large sum missing. Not only that, but the peperwork was missing. The treasurer came under suspicion and could offer no reasonable explanation, so was thrown out of the charity and became a pariah. The assumption was that he'd nicked the money. Dad said that given his behaviour he felt it was up to him to explain his actions. He said "That's the price of not having a backbone, if he'd have confronted his mate then maybe they could have sorted something out, but he was too much of a coward to ask and a man like that should never be in charge of money at a charity". 

Dad then said, and this is the key point. "Never be afraid to ask difficult questions. Sometimes there is an explanation that you would never have expected. If  you are too cowardly to ask questions don't complain when people think you are the one who has been up to no good". As I wake up today and survey the world around me,  I see a world where too many men lack backbone. If you lack gumption, don't complain when it comes around and bite you on the backside. God bless you Dad, wherever you are right now.

The London International Ska Festival 2026 - Review

 It's Tuesday and I'm still recovering! I spent the Easter weekend enjoying the London International Ska Festival. I'm 63 and having four full on days is a tad tiring! The festival is the brainchild of Sean Flowerdew, a stalwort of the London Ska scene for decades. My company, Mill Hill Music Complex has been the sponsor for a decade. Sean's wingman Gavin Carroll was Boz Boorer's guitar tech when Boz worked on the Morrissey gigs. Boz introduced me to Gavin when we were doing the North Finchley Festivals and Gavin suggested we got involved in the Ska Fest. Since then, we've lent the festival backline (drums and amps) and made rehearsal facilities available for artists flying in from Jamaica. It is a matter for pride for me to be involved, as Ska and Punk re my two favourite genre's of music. 

This year, my band The False Dots made our festival debut. We played at the 100 club, which was a real buzz. 

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On with the False Dots were 80's all girl Ska group The Deltones and the amazing Edinburgh Ska outfit Porkpie. Porkpie are on at Dingwalls on 30th May, don't miss them. As well as the Friday, we attended the Thursday and the Saturday shows. 

Thursday was the hot 100 at The Dome. 10 DJ’s playing their ten fave Ska tunes. My mates Boz Boorer and Lee Thompstook turns. Lee was under the weather but still gave a tour de force.

Saturday saw an afternoon show, with Keith & Tex of ‘Stop that train’ fame headline. It was excellent. Keith sings and dances like a man half his age and has the sweetest voice. In the evening it was U.K. Reggae Legends The Cimarons and Misty in Roots. Both were awesome. Misty opened with Wise and Foolish. Surely one of the best Somgs ever written on these islands.

I’ll add my highlights later!

The Sunday Reflection #81 - Something to believe in?

 I broke one of my hard, fast rules of life on Friday. My band, The False Dots had a gig at The 100 Club for the London International Ska Festival. The show was sold out and was absolutely brilliant. I don't know if you are a musician, but when you play to a packed hall and smash it, there really is no feeling in the world like it. When I woke up on Friday morning, I felt absolutely awful. I had that feeling when a cold is coming. I felt hot, clammy and shakey. Given that this is perhaps the biggest and most important gig the band have played for decades, this was not good. I had planned to go to the noon service at The Sacred Heart for Good Friday and then to Hadley FC, before trekking down to the 100 Club. I decided to stay in bed and try and get myself in shape for the gig. I have a form of faith, so I prayed for the strength to get through the day. My Catholic guilt was telling me that if I was going to do anything, it should be attending Church. But I also have a faith that God put me here for a reason. I believe that reason is to make music and make people happy. So off I went to The 100 Club. Even though it's a day of fasting absitinence, something I always follow, I had a few beers. I felt the good Lord had given me a pass.

It was an amazing night. The band has really come a long way in the past five years. I've always loved what we do, but we are in a very sweet place at the moment. I've learned that you never know how long such moments last and to embrace them. A large group of my friends bought tickets to support us, but more pleasing was the hundreds of strangers, dancing, nodding and smiling and the dozens who told us after the show that they loved it. Here is a short clip of Trumpet Tom singing the Prince Buster classic "Free Love", with guitar legend Boz Boorer guesting on lead guitar.

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Something to believe in? I got at around midnight and I was absolutely shattered. I got home and it all caught up with me. I slept like a log. At around 8.30am my wife woke me with a cup of tea. We had another Ska fest gig to attend at 1pm and we had friends to meet first, dogs to walk, etc. But when she woke me up, I was in the middle of a vivid dream. One of those gigs that you sometimes have that make you think. That I will remember until the day that I die. In my dream, I entered a dark room with a large table, a big spread with candles. Holding fort was my cousing Tessie. Tessie was my age, but died of covid during the pandemic. She was born with Downs syndrome and suffered from dementia in her last few years. I got on with her. She always told me I was her favourite cousin, but then again she probably told all her cousins that. We got on well. She was feisty, cheeky and naughty. When I was little, I was actually jealous as she had a free pass to do what she liked and everyone just said "That's just Tessie". 

Anyway, in my dream I entered, sat at the table and Tessie said "My favourite cousin". I was overjoyed to see her again. I asked how are you. She replied "Oh, it's great here. I don't have to pretend to be stupid anymore". This answer surprised me so I asked what she meant. "God sent me and I was weak and vulnerable, so he could see who the arseholes really are". When she said this all her friends burst out laughing. It all became clear to me. The life we live here is a completely different realm. Wherever we go on the next phase, we see through all of the bullshit and we are not encumbered with the baggage of human existence. I realised that Tessie had just as much of a purpose as I have with my music, that everyone has, but often don't see. Tessie's job was to give us the chance to be the best version of ourselves around her. But now, she could just enjoy herself and be the witty, naughty, fun loving person she always was but we stuggled to see. No one was judging her anymore. She was in a wonderful place, having fun with  friends.

When Clare woke me up, I was actually cross. I'd not had the chance to really to ask the questions I wanted. I was back. All I could think was "Who will be at the table with me when I get there, will I understand my purpose?". Of course, all you cynics out there will say "It's just a dream, it means nothing". Maybe, maybe not. For a moment though, perhaps the second time in a day, I was blissfully happy and I actually realised it was all going to be alright. I thought I'd share it with you. Do with this gift as you will, but please, try and be happy and make other people happy. I've failed in that mission too many times.

.

Excitement at playing an iconic London venue!

The False Dots
Rambo, Fil Ross, Rog T, Trumpet Tom
Our new album coming soon

I'm a musician, I have been all of my adult life. My band, The False Dots have been going for 47years and we've done a fair few gigs in that time. Music venues are my lifeblood. In 2015, I started a campaign to save them in London. We made a list of all of the grassroots venues in London and encouraged people to support them. As for me, some are special as both a punter and a musician. Sadly, I've not played all of the ones I've dreamed of playing, but I've managed a few.

When we started, our ambition was just to do a gig. No one wanted to give us one, so we booked the Harwood Hall in Mill Hill from the local vicar. We paid him a tenner, charged a £1 to get in, got two bands to play with us, paying them £20 each. A hundred and twenty people came. After paying the bands. I made £50 and thought, this is the life. When we were done, I took the band and all of our mates to The Mill Hill Tandoori, when it stayed open until 1am and spent most of it. I thought we'd made it. The gig night was preserved for posterity by The Vektors, a local band from Edgware, who played with us. This is their rendition of Sound of The Suburbs! 

No one really had video camera's then, so this is a real gem

For us, the Harwood Hall was the pinnacle of our career in 1980. In 1981, we decided that we needed to do more. In April, we made it out of Mill Hill to Hendon! We played at The Midland Arms (now the Claddagh Ring) supporting Way of The West, who had a Radio One single of the week, with their hot tune "Don't say it's just for white boys". It was actually a big gig, the Midland was a decent venue. In the Autumn, I moved to Stockholm. I managed to blag the band a tour in January 1982. The keynote gig was at The Underground Club in Stockholm. A large venue, popular with Swedish Hipsters. It had a capacity of around 400, we pulled 250. For a band that had played no futher than Kenton previously, it was amazing. 

Our ambition had always been to play The Moonlight Club in West Hampstead. We'd seen the Damned, and bands like Joy DIvision there. It advertised in the NME. We thought if we played there, we'd have made it. We achieved that in March 1982.  We got a mini residency there and played several more times. 

In 1984, we hot the pinnacle of our first iteration. We played Dingwalls in February. The venue was sold out and we absolutely blasted it. Offers of record deals and management followed. Nothing materialised. We signed up with a manager, who promised gigs and did nothing. We did a string of local gigs until we knocked it on the head in 1990.

Then we got back together in 2002. We mostly played local charity gigs, In 2010, Connie Abbe joined the band and we started doing Camden again. We started at The Fiddlers Elbow, one of the best Camden gigs for up and coming artists. From there, we did the much missed Purple Turtle. That was a great venue (sadly gone). We also played at The Water Rats, another London legend, But it didn't last.

We did the launch of the Save London Music Campaign at The Fiddlers Elbow in 2015, but largely were back to local venues when Allen Ashley was singing.

In 2022, after Allen left, we were invited back to Camden, to the Dublin Castle. A residency followed. It is our spiritual home! We love playing the Dublin Castle. I've always been of the opinion that you should be loyal to promotors, so Tony at the Dublin Castle is our Camden go to. However tonight, I tick off one of the real legendary venues! We are playing at the 100 Club on Oxford Street. All of the punk bands I love have played there. Most of the Ska and London Reggae bands. I've seen such iconic legends as The Boys, 999, Menace, Jah Wobble, The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra there. I didn't see the Sex Pistols, but it is part of the legend of London music. When we started, there were four venues I really wanted to play. The Moonlight Club, The Marquee on Wardour Street, The 100 Club and The Roundhouse. Although I'd do it and it would be amazing, venues like Wembley Stadium and The Millenium Dome etc are massive but not my really thing. Sadly, the Marquee is gone, so that is a pipedream. The Roundhouse? My name is on the wall, and maybe one day one of my mates in a big band will do me a favour! But tonight it is The 100 club. At the age of 63, I am realising a dream I've harboured for nearly 50 years!

It is sold out, so you can't get a ticket. If you have one, see you there.

All I can really say is hang on to your dreams. 

The disturbing historical parallel - Britain in 1940 and Iran in 2026

 My view is that all world leaders should acquaint themselves with history. Understanding the lessons of the past can only help leaders to make better decisions. I watched a fascinating documentary yesterday about WW2 and Great Britain for the period 1939 to the Nazi invasion of the USSR. For much of this period, the UK stood alone, our allies were vanquished. After Dunkirk, Hitler and his generals (not his Navy interestingly) believed that Great Britain was defeated. They believed that Churchill would sue for peace, or even better for Hitler, his ragime would topple and a new government and a new monarch, sympathetic to Germany would emerge. When Churchill made it clear that Britian would fight on alone, defying just about every rationale of warfare, Hitler ordered the preparataion of "Operation Sealion", a seaborn invasion of the UK. 

To Hitlers surprise, his top Admiral Doenitz was less enthusiastic than the army generals. He pointed out that without complete air superiority and the destruction of the Royal Navy, his army may be sunk crossing the channel. Hitler turned to his airforce chief Herman Goering, who declared that he would "sweep the RAF from the skies in six weeks". Goering produced intelligence assessments showing that the RAF had been massively weakened during the Battle of France and short air campaign would destroy airfields, factories, and planes. The assessment was that they could shoot down Spitfires and Hurricanes far quicker than Britain could build them and the RAF would run out of trained pilots. There was also an assumption that the British people were weak and decadent and would kick Churchill out when the bombs started dropping. 

So Germany launched the Battle of Britain. The problem was that the German assessments of the RAF and the production capacity of Great Britain was wrong. Pilots made their way from all over the world to fight fascism. Lord Beaverbrook reformed production. Britain was producing more fighters than Germany, The British public were not cowed, in fact they were spurred to loathe the Nazi's even more.

I am no historian, but the one thing that Britain showed was that the only way you can win is to hang in and not give up. As the documentary went on, the parallels and differences with the current Trump war on Iran became clear. Both the Battle of Britain and the Iran war are air wars. The instigators are given to making bold claims about how the enemy is defeated, failing to realise that no one on the enemy side is listening. Just as Goering told Hitler that the RAF was running out of planes, Trump boasts that Irans military has been destroyed. In both cases, this is demonstrably untrue. If it was true, then the Straits of Hormuz would be open. There can be no doubt that the Iranian people are suffering, it must be hellish.  I doubt any readers of this blog would like to live in a country run by a strict Islamic Revolutionary Guard. But whilst the Mullahs have been gravely damaged, their government and the structures are still functioning. It is clear that they still can fire rockets and drones at whoever they want. 

The Iranian strategy is not too dissimilar to that of Churchill. Hang on in there and wait for the wind toc change. The Iranians suffered a long, bloody war that lasted from 1980 to 1988, with the US supporting Saddam Hussein. They know that in eight years time they will have seen two US elections. Although Trump looms large, the US constitution means he will not be President for ever. He is also an elderly man. Iran must be calculating that sooner or later, they will have a different leader to deal with. From their persepective, all they need to do is hang on in there.

And when the wind changes in the USA, for whatever reason, should the Iranian regime survive, they will be stronger not weaker. Now of course, this analysis takes no account of Israel, who will no doubt continue to assassinate every Iranian leader they can find, until they decide there is one they can deal with. 

But take a step back. Who was the biggest beneficiary of the period 1939-41. Ultimately it was the USA, who weren't involved. Their economy boomed. Prior to the war, they'd seen Britain as a competetor globally, albiet a friendly benign one, with the British Empire fuelling the nations wealth. By 1941, the UK was bankrupt. I look to the east and see China as the big beneficiary. As the USA tears up alliances, the Chinese look to many nations to be a stable and trustworthy partner. They need do nothing. I started this blog eighteen years ago. If someone had told me how the post 2008 period would pan out, I'd have thought them mad. This is just the latest chapter in a story of global self abuse by the human race. It is thorughly depressing.

Rock and Roll Stories #62 - The changing face of musical inspiration

 The best stories are journeys. So hopefully this installment will be a good one! It is the journey of what inspired me to put pen to paper and write the songs that The False Dots perform. I've touched on this several times but never properly charted the journey. So take yourself back to early 1978 if you can remember it, and if you can't, let your imagination do the work. The False Dots, as a band were still a year away from our first formation. I was a snotty nosed 15 year old at Finchley Catholic High School. I had discovered Punk rock the previous year and was lapping it up. I had a mate at School, Pete Conway, who was like minded and we decided that we needed to form a band. We couldn't play, we had no instruments and we had no idea where to start. At the time, our big influence was The Clash and their first album. We had some vague idea that we should play Garageland as we wanted to be a Garage band. The aim was to sound a bit like The Clash. Pete came up with a brilliant idea. Rather than try and copy songs, we'd write our own. As we were both completely lacking in any clue as to how music is put together, this was not the best way to 'learn the ropes'. I had a book by Bert Weedon called Play in a day, which my brother, a decent guitarist, bequeathed to me. It had songs like "When the Saints go marching in" and "The Old Folks at Home" in. Pete observed that we just had to jumble the chords up and play them quicker. It seemed like a plan. To my horror, playing the guitar was much harder than I thought and I had no aptitude for it at first. 

In May, Pete took a radical deicision. He quit school and got a job at Dewhursts as a butcher. This would pay for a bass and a bass amp. When I was sixteen, I was coming into a bit of cash from my child modelling career. To my mums horror, I bought a Hofner Galaxy and a Selmer guitar amp. By January 1979, we were making a right old racket in my bedroom every night. We'd written a bunch of songs, more or less randomly picking chords out and hollering slogans over the top. By this time, the Pete and I had discovered Crass. It is fair to say they were a massive influence. They were far less musical than The Clash and far more political. There was one thing though, that they bequeathed that was a massive positive. Crass were amazing at coming up with catchy slogans "fight war, not wars", "Do they owe us a living, of course they do" were just a couple of examples. Our best song of this era was definitely "Wrong" which we are reprising on our new album. It is 45 seconds of sheer punkyness. 

By September 1979, my obsession with Crass and the first iteration of the False Dots was done. I had discovered The Specials, Two Tone and Ska. This was what I wanted to do, but we didn't know any brass players. It was also more tuneful and required a much better drummer than we had access to. Pete wrote a Reggae song called "Kingston Rock", which in truth was not very good. He was more into Dub reggae. It was neither. 

We did however get a brilliant drummer in 1980. Mr Dav Davies. Sadly, he came in to a set full of punky songs. The time was febrile, huge amounts of musical energby flowed through London. We experimented. We tried our luck with electronic music, influenced by Gary Numan and also started to lean sound wise towards the more tuneful end of The Velvet Underground catalogue. Pete was keen that we be shocking and cover subjects that sane bands of the day would avoid like the plague. I loved the way The Velvet Underground put sugary melody on bitter lyrics. Songs like Not all She Seems from our last album date from then, deals with the issue of the social exclusion of gender fluid sex workers. Not all of these numbers have aged as well. 

When Pete left in September 1980, I found myself writing songs on my own. I also had freedom to arrange songs as I saw fit. Craig Withecombe, an excellent guitarist joined and we started gigging. With competent musicians, the songs sounded pretty good and I was inspired to write more, but I struggled to be inspired in the way Crass had originally inspired us. I made the biggest mistake that a songwriter can make. I thought if I made the songs complicated, they would be better, they weren't. Oddly, I wrote a couple of great songs by accident. The best, also on our last album, was Action Shock. This was inspired by the protest songs of Country Joe McDonald. It was my attempt to recreate a punk version of the classic anti war song "I feel like I'm Fixing to Die" around the Falklands War. It worked because it was simple. Dav departed and Mark Barnett joined. He was less capable technically, but he kept the show on the road. We experimented with a reggae song, christened "FalseDub" by a Rasta mate. 

By 1985, I realised I needed to up my game. I enrolled in a songwriting course. I believe if I'd done this in 1978, we'd have had hits! It was brilliant, I learned how to structure music properly, but also the importance of what you put together being functional. I also came to understand that song lyrics work better with trigger words and reinforcement of concepts, so that the lyrics can be layered over the music to paint patterns. I also realised the power of what Crass had taught us. Strong lyrics that you remember.

I had long been a fan of Ian Dury, but it never occurred to me that The False Dots could borrow from him lyrically or from the Blockheads muscially. By the late 1980's I had gotten more into groovy and funky vibes. I loved the Run DMC Walk this Way cover. It seemed to me to be the way to go. When Tony Robotham, a very talented singer joined the band, I thought we could nail it, but the industry had changed and it was almost impossible for us to even get gigs, with the feel we had. It was a real shame. 

Dispirited I stopped playing. In around 2000, I decided to get a band together to record a few of the old numbers, now I had a recording studio, purely for my own pleasure. I found I enjoyed playing, but did not consider writing any new material. Out of nowehere in 2006, I got the urge to write again. The inspiration was quite odd. I was watching the classic TV cop series "Life on Mars" when a few sentences spoken by a character triggered me. I wrote a song called "I'm the man" AKA "Pusherman". I just wanted to write a sort Stooges style punk song, written from the viewpoint of a psychopathic drug dealer. I hasten to add I am not one, but I enjoy constructing storyboards for songs and videos in my head when I am inspired. It worked. In some ways it was a bit of an evolutionary blind alley. In 2009. Connie Abbe joned the band. Connie is a brilliant Sudanese singer and rapper. 

All of a sudden, I had the band I wanted. We could rock, skank, rap and groove. To get my head around what Connie wanted, I immersed myself in Rap music and found it really inspiring. We wrote tracks like "Put me in the Spotlight" which I think was a masterpiece and is the most listened to False Dots track ever. It was used for the Goal of the Month show on the Man City website and had over 47 million plays! Sadly we got almost nothing, but it was a kick.

Sadly Connie went to pastures new. As part of the Library campaign I was involved in, The False Dots got asked to play at Friern Barnet Library, to celebrate the saving of the library. I got the 1985 line up of the band together, with Poet Allen Ashley on vocals. It seemed fitting as Allen is a poet and author. As often happens when you collaborate, your influences are suppressed. I enjoyed the line up, Allen is a great lyricist, but it wasn't particularly the direction I wanted to go in. 

When the band emerged from Covid, Allen was not available. I am mates with Lee Thompson of Madness and wrote a song called "Longshot didn't die" with the idea of him performing it with us. I played a rough version to Lee. He said "It sounds great, why not sing it yourself". It was the kick I needed. In short, it worked. I had worked on the song with Allen, with him contributing lyrics, but it was very much the start of the new Dots era. I realised that I'd spent 40 years skirting around the fact that what I really wanted to do was a mash up of The Specials and Ian Dury. I love Dury's narrative style and I love everything about The Specials, but not least the fact that their views align with me. 

So I started writing songs for me, to be sung by me and in an manner that is both witty and to the point. Then Tom Hammond joined in trumpet. The missing piece of the jigsaw. Now we were able to bring the ideas to life. Tom can also sing, so it has given us the option to do material that would simply not work with me singing. I revisted a couple of old songs. As mentioned earlier, we reprised Wrong as a nod to our roots. Another highlight is Electric Ballroom, as song originally called Reality Ballroom. I completely rewrote the lyrics when Pete Conway left the band. We now give it a semi psyche rock makeover. It sounds great. And then there is the silliness. Songs like Big Hairy Spider, our recent single. Musically, it is somewhere between The Clash and The Specials. Lyrically, it is actually inspired by horror comics of the 1960's. It has been a long journey, but there are elements of every stage on our forthcoming album. 

What I've learned is that you don't need to search for inspiration, open your eyes and ears and it will hit you over the head. Keep it as simple as you can put put twists and turns on the road in your songs. Big Hairy Spider has a middle 8 that is pure Benny Hill. I like it. Have a listen, and we hope to see you at The 100 Club on Good Friday.

Exclusive - Barnet Council to impose 10mph limit on all local roads in Barnet

 The Barnet Eye has learned of plans by Barnet Council to change the speed limit of all local roads in the Borough (ie not A or B roads) as well as all roads outside local schools to a 10mph limit. Speaking exclusively to The Barnet Eye, a council source stated "When cars are travelling at 10mph, the incidents of fatalities and serious injury is almost completely eradicated. The council is embarking on an ambitious policy, to eradicate death through road traffic accidents in the Borough of Barnet. There is absolutely no need for cars to travel faster than 10mph on local roads."

The Barnet Eye has also contacted local political parties for comment. Thus far, only the transport spokesman for ReformUK in Barnet, Mr Richard Maximus has responded "We believe this is another example of Labour gone mad in Barnet. This is the Nanny state at its most extreme. We see no justification for making the lives of motorists in Barnet intolerable. We should be raising speed limits, not lowering them and if Reform is elected in Barnet, we will put the rights of motorists first".

My band, The False Dots released a video celebrating "Boy Racer" culture in the Borough of Barnet in 2024. You will be pleased to know I have not been kicked in the head by a horse, so I will not be endorsing ReformUK or their policies. 

(as I am sure you guessed, this is the Barnet Eye April Fool blog for 2026 - however, odd though it seems, if it comes to pass it won't be the first time!)

I upset AI and now it is getting its revenge!

 I've been writing blogs that have been disparaging about AI. What I didn't realise is that AI is now running the worlds IT system and it is taking it's revenge. The first sign was when X.COM cancelled my Barneteye account after 15 years, on the rather strange grounds that the account was inauthetic. Despite a subsequent email saying the account would be reinstated, to date it hasn't been "computer says no!". There seems no prospect of actually getting a human to interact at X. I do wonder if the worlds AI systems are sharing details of AI Apostates? It hadn't occurred to me, but I am starting to see pattern. Today Linkedin decided to no longer accept my password. This is saved on my phone, so it is a bit odd? No worried, I though. I simply did the password reset. Maybe it had been compromised? I did the process and guess what. It suggested a "Strong Password". Now normally these are completely incomprehnsible things like XYp&6tT38Px! - imagine my surprise when I saw the first six letters of the what the Linkedin AI suggested as password. They were "nobkok". Call me paranoid if you like. You will be pleased to know I didn't choose it!

We have a smart speaker in the kitchen. Last night I issued a simple request. I had to practice a couple of numbers vocally, so I asked it to play The False Dots on Spotify. What did it play? Fools get lucky by Barry Manilow. I was not impressed. As for Facebook, it posted a whole load of Pro Manchester United spam on my account (I am a City fan for the record). There have been several other rather odd issues on various IT platforms I use. Perhaps the oddest is that as I am writing this, BTINTERNET, the internet provider we use decided to stop working. Was it a warning? (It is blue when it works).

Also rather oddly, we went away for the weekend and my electronic card to enter my room at the hotel continually stopped working. Am I paranoid?

Well I'd like to state publicly that I think AI is wonderful and I used it to generate The False Dots new video and it did a marvelous job. Lets hope that sets the record straight!

The demolition and rebuilding of the Sacred Heart church in Mill Hill - A guest blog by Chris The MillHillian

During the early 1990’s Fr Aiden McGing CM became the Parish Priest of the Sacred Heart Church. He had spent most of his priestly life in teaching and this was his first appointment as Parish Priest, this was unusual for a man of his age but he actively settled into the job with much enthusiasm having served as a curate there prior to his appointment. His predecessor, Fr Joe Cunningham asked me in my capacity as Diocesan Building Surveyor to set out a schedule of works with costs to bring the building up to scratch. 

The survey revealed so much that had to be done but the old longstanding problem of subsidence and structural defects presented the main problem that had never been successfully tackled. Engineers were engaged to carry out a full review with Mr Tom Bedford from the parish discussing his various attempts to stabilise the structure in bygone years. 

Having filed the report to Fr Cunningham, it was left to his successor Fr McGing to follow up on this. We had a chance meeting at the back of the church one morning and I was asked about the report. Having explained that a total overhaul would be like taking the wheels off an old car to bolt a new car to it, he asked what I would recommend. I immediately suggested that he formed a building committee to fully interrogate the option to repair or rebuild with full cost analysis for both. 

He quickly followed up on this and decided to let his parishioners decide on whether to replace the Church with explanations of what had prompted this enquiry. He was very surprised to find that the voting was 95 percent in favour of a rebuild. This encouraged him to arrange an architectural competition to choose the most acceptable design out of six requested from different architects. The successful practice was the PRC partnership. The tenders were within budget and the works soon got underway after completion of the planning process and procurement. 

Check out these historic pictures of the demolition and rebuilding

The buildings were completed together with the option to rebuild the church hall in 1996. It weighed heavily on me having a hand in witnessing the church I loved being demolished as it was rightly an impressive landmark on the Broadway. Nearly all my many siblings and relatives were baptised there and received the sacraments. My brother was ordained a Priest there in 1974 and many of the relatives had their funerals there including our beloved Nana (my Grandma) who was the Sacristan. 

The old church was of interest from an architeectural standpoint. The front elevation designed by the Priest Architect Fr Benedict Williamson in 1922 was inspired in its architectural detailing from Egyptian architecture which became fashionable in the 1920’s following the discovery of Tutankhamuns tomb in the valley of the King’s in Egypt. The building was just seventy years old when this redevelopment came about and it needs to be known that the people who voted for a new building did so more our necessity but many favoured the architectural feature of the front facade and reluctantly had to see it go. 

 Investigations revealed that the foundations of the building were eight feet deep which was deep for that time but sadly not deep enough as the London Clay below was forever wet and sticky due to underground streams in the locality. The church was built over an old pond. That coupled with some weaknesses in the structural design with lack of movement joints would require much to correct and none of it visible on completion. 

The roof was also heavily infested by dry rot and the windows were rusting away. The new church and presbytery buildings are all built on deep concrete piled foundations without a crack in sight, so expectations are that these replacement buildings will survive much longer than three score years and ten of the old Church. If anyone is interested in seeing similar examples of the old church in London there are two in Fulham of similar period by the same architect as well as the significant church of St Ignatius in Stamford Hill designed for the Jesuits. When walking in to the church in Stephendale Road Fulham it felt like being back in the familiar surroundings of the Church of Sacred Heart and Mary Immaculate. 

 Chris Fanning the Mill Hiller

Editors Note: You can see old Sacred Heart in all it's former glory in The False Dots video "Sunday in the 70's"

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Guest blogs are always welcome at the Barneteye

Why is my X.com still suspended when X.com told me they were restoring it?

On 19th March, I posted a blog stating that X.COM had suspended my X account, as it claimed it was an inauthentic account. On 25.3.26 at 09.56 I received an email from X

Hello,

We’re writing to let you know that we’ve unsuspended your account. Should you run into any trouble logging back in, try requesting a password reset email. It may take an hour or so for your follower and following numbers to return to normal.

Please note that your account was previously suspended for violating one or more of the X Rules, such as:

1. Sending multiple unsolicited @replies or mentions. Learn more.

2. Posting multiple unrelated updates to a trending or popular topic. Learn more.

3. Aggressive and random repost and/or liking posts from other accounts. Learn more.

4. Misuse of X product features

This includes any of the following: “follow churn” – following and then unfollowing large numbers of accounts in an effort to inflate one’s own follower count; indiscriminate following – following and/or unfollowing a large number of unrelated accounts in a short time period, particularly by automated means; and duplicating another account’s followers, particularly using automation.

Please note that repeated violations of the X rules may result in suspension.

This case will now be closed and replies will not be monitored.

Thanks,

X

All good then? No. Despite receiving this email, I am no nearer getting my account restored.

----- Here is the original post

Sometimes you just have to laugh. The world just becomes more ridiculous every day. When Elon Musk took Twitter over, many of my mates left. They decided that the new ultra libertarian ethos was not for them. It has seemed that all moderation has gone out of the window. Overt racism, Islamophobia and Misogyny is fine. I have thought several times about abandoning the platform. Before the Musk era, most of my tweets would get hundreds, if not thousands of views, now most get a couple of dozen. I rarely post, however I have taken the view that some readers of The Barnet Eye and some of my mates are still on it, so I persisted. I used to actively promote the platform, I did a feature every Sunday called "The tweets of the week in the London Borough of Barnet", which was a round up of the best tweets from local tweeters. I uncovered many gems and made a few friends as a result. It ended in October 2023, not because of any ideological fall out. It was simply because there was not enough interesting posts from local tweeters to make it worthwhile. The local tweeters had voted with their feet. Finding ten posts a week that were worth highlighting was almost impossible. 

Whereas I wasted half a year looking at Twitter pre Musk, now I rarely check it out, except when researching blogs or checking news stories. A cursory glance in the morning and a visit to post when I write a blog. There are still a couple of interesting posters, who I do try and keep up with, but it used to be dozens. In short, it is no longer something I have any real interest in, but while there are a few people on who are worth supporting, I would have stayed. However it seems Elon Musk had other ideas. Yesterday, I received this message from X.COM

It seems I am not an 'authentic poster', whatever that means. After 15 years on the platform, I have been deemed 'an imposter'. It states that I had been reported. I was bemused. Why? The only reasonable conclusion as to why this should come now, out of the blue, was as a result of the Guest blog I posted on Monday about the Edgware Redevelopment. I genuinely cannot think of, or see a reason why anything else would upset anyone enough to report my account, let alone make up a truly ridiculous complaint. However, there is a lot of money to be made by property developers from such schemes. They have paid media consultants, who are savvy with the art of drive by shootings on X.com of pesky bloggers. Now of course, it could be a disaffected ex girlfriend from 50 years ago, someone who hates my band or someone who disliked Country Joe McDonald (the things I've posted recently). There is a local convicted paedophile with a long standing grudge against me, after his activities were exposed, who may well have stuck his oar in. That would not surprise me either. I don't know. They don't give you any clues. 

Do I care? Not really. It has sort of made a decision for me. However, if my suspicions are true, then it is something that needs dealing with. I have appealed. Any vaguely sentient being would see that my account is not a Bot and is authentic. 

Anyway, if you are a Twitter friend and have had a look at the blog as I've not posted, here is the reason why. 

.