Barnet Tories must condemn Brian Coleman's aggression

An open letter to Richard Cornelius, Conservative leader of Barnet Council.

On Friday 3 May Councillor Brian Coleman pleaded guilty to the charge of common assault by beating of Helen Michael, in the High Road in North Finchley. Evidence from CCTV was shown in court and proved incontrovertibly that this incident was nothing less than an utterly indefensible act of aggression. It resulted from Councillor Coleman being caught parking in a loading bay, trying to evade the hugely controversial parking payment scheme he had imposed on residents in this borough.

Despite the fact that he has now been convicted of a criminal act of assault, Barnet Council has refused to comment, absurdly claiming that this is unnecessary as the attack did not take place while the Councillor was on council business.

Indeed local Tory members, including leader Richard Cornelius, openly continued to support their fellow member after he was charged, and were privately informing others that the story of the assault was false. Councillor Coleman was suspended from the party only after intervention from Conservative Central Office.
Since the conviction, local Conservatives have issued no statement.

By his own actions Councillor Coleman has shown himself to be unfit for public office: such bullying behaviour, dishonesty and hypocrisy are not acceptable in an elected representative of the community. We demand therefore that he stand down from his seat in Totteridge, and that the Conservative Party expel him from membership.

We call on Richard Cornelius, as leader of Barnet Council, and on behalf of the Conservative Party in this borough, to apologise to Ms Michael, and to dissociate himself and his colleagues from this appalling incident.

To remain silent is not an option: to remain silent is to condone an act of violence against a woman, and this was and must always be absolutely unacceptable.

Signed:
Derek Dishman
John Dix
Vicki Morris
Theresa Musgrove
Roger Tichborne

Barnet Council breaks the law on consultation

Mr Justice Underhill (not sure whether that's the right address but I'm sure I can be forgiven) ruled today that Maria Nash's application for Judicial Review of Barnet Council's One Barnet outsourcing programme was made too late and could not therefore be allowed.

For anyone following the case this is not entirely a surprise. Nor should anyone be surprised that we campaigners against One Barnet are not downcast by the decision. For it is clear that Barnet Council have only won - for now, an appeal is still possible - on a technicality.

In court they argued that:
1) the challenge should have been brought earlier
2) they did not, in any case, need to consult.

Well, the Judge has disagreed with them over (2). The Judgment says:

...the Council never set out to consult about its outsourcing programme at all.

...if the application for judicial review had been made in time I would have held that the Council had not complied with its obligations under section 3 (2) of the 1999 Act in respect of the decisions taken in 2010/11 to outsource the performance of its functions and services, covered by the proposed NSCSO and DRS contracts.

He is saying that the Council should have consulted and failed to.

Barnet Council will naturally spin this to their own ends; it's our job to spin it to ours! I don't think our task is hard. We have always tried to run a political campaign against One Barnet - informing residents what is planned when the council wouldn't, questioning the Council, challenging them - the substance of meaningful rather than tick-box consultation in fact. That will not change now.

In fact, I would think that the campaign will hot up. One Barnet's effects are beginning to be seen: ludicrous consultancy spend, no savings as yet, jobs exported out of the borough, and worse services.

That is only going to escalate, and Barnet's ruling Tories are only going to find themselves paying a heavier and heavier political price for the decisions they have taken - without consulting residents!

'Your Choice Barnet' campaign launched

Click here for a report of the launch meeting for the "Bring 'Your Choice Barnet' Back In-house" campaign which happened on Tuesday 11 April at the Greek Cypriot Community Centre.

It was a great meeting, with around 50 people attending. Below, a couple of pictures.

The next meeting of the campaign is Thursday 25 April, 7-9pm, Greek Cypriot Community Centre, Britannia Road, London N12.

Before that we are supporting Councillor Barry Rawlings' motion to the next Barnet Council meeting, Tuesday 16 April, please join the lobby of Hendon Town Hall at 6.30pm.

Please sign the petition here.

(L to R) Roger Lewis, DPAC; John Sullivan; Tirza Waisel, Barnet Alliance

Tirza Waisel, Barnet Alliance; Helen Davies, Barnet Unison

Voting on the motions, including support for Councillor Rawlings' motion to the next Council meeting on 16 April

Would the panel bring 'Your Choice Barnet' back in-house?

Yes, I'm still here, haven't shuffled off this mortal coil yet - sorry, is that in poor taste?

I'm in good health but I keep having flashbacks of West End doorways crammed with the bodies of the homeless - even as far as the door of the Ritz Hotel. Oh, I forget, that was the early 1990s and the logic of Margaret Thatcher's policies of decimating industry, removing Income Support from 16- and 17-year-olds and closing the old mental asylums was working itself through.

The world's nothing like that now, of course. We're many years further into the neoliberal reforms pursued by the erstwhile MP for Finchley. Reforms such as the financial "Big Bang" - liberalisation and deregulation of the City. See how well that worked out!

This evening a special edition of "Question Time" will be recorded in Finchley; I expect they always planned to come here when Margaret Thatcher died. Lucky she did it in the Easter hols, then, and they can take over Finchley Catholic High School for a couple of days.

Despite the best efforts of local newspaper journalists to find Barnet Tories who remembered Thatcher's days here, and had a kind word to say about her, the choice of Finchley for this special - if you like, "commemorative" - QT feels oddly beside-the-point. The world, including Finchley, has moved on. Never mind, here comes the caravan.

For the past couple of days we have been lost in a sort of misty blue nostalgia-fest where only the good side of being a hard-faced, ultra-right winger espousing rampant individualism has been considered. On a personal level it might have been depressing if I had watched the television or read a newspaper, but I've managed to avoid all of them.

I don't have a ticket for tomorrow night's QT either, although I did dutifully apply for one. I hope that some of my fellow campaigners have had more luck and that we will see one or two familiar faces in the audience. I can already predict some of the questions:

• Does the panel think that MT was the greatest PM of the 20th Century/ever?
• Does the panel think that the public should pay for MT's funeral?
• Does the panel think the Queen is wrong to attend MT's funeral?
• What does the panel think is MT's greatest contribution to politics?
• How many years does the panel think Glenda Jackson should spend incarcerated in the Tower of London for daring to say publicly what others have thought privately?

I have my own answers to these questions which you can probably guess at. I only hope that someone - on the panel or in the audience - has the guts to criticise Thatcher's works and her legacy, which we are well and truly living with and suffering from today, in Barnet as much as anywhere.

Indeed, tonight I'll be a few yards up the road from QT, in North Finchley at the Greek Cypriot Community Centre, Britannia Road, N12, where from 7-9pm the Barnet Alliance has a public meeting to explain why we want Barnet Council to bring 'Your Choice Barnet' back in-house.

This outsourced service providing support to disabled adults was supposed, believe it or not, to generate a surplus. It isn't, it is losing money and is having to be bailed out. Worse, in order to make the books balance, the management want to cut staff pay, and to reduce the quality of the service. All of this is a scandal and of a piece with the privatising, cutting agenda that Thatcher instigated and that her political heirs among the Barnet Tories are continuing.

Speakers at the meeting include John Sullivan, parent-carer of a user of the 'Your Choice' centre.

Please join us if you can at this important meeting, and please sign our petition on the Barnet Council website. You can find more details about the meeting here.

Iranian residents launch "Occupy Moat Mount"

Angry Iranians in Barnet have taken a leaf out of the book of Occupy London, learned the lessons of the successful occupation and re-opening of Friern Barnet Library, and announced that they will launch "Occupy Moat Mount" today, Monday.

The move is an angry response to the continued failure of Barnet Council to accommodate Iranains' age-old Sizdeh Be-dar ceremony, the last day of the 13-day Noruz (New Year) celebrations.

On the 13th day, it is traditional for Iranians - and Kurds and many Afghans - to take to the great outdoors, in fact, it is considered bad luck to stay indoors on this day. Picnics and barbecues are traditional, which has led to some conflicts with local authorities. In recent years, Barnet Council has gone so far as to ban Iranians from gathering in the parks that they most liked to use, including Moat Mount Open Space.

Now, this year, a small group of Iranian residents has vowed to "occupy" Moat Mount in protest and to assert their right to observe their traditional customs.

A young man identifying himself only as Faravahar said: "Barnet Council boast about their good relations with different sections of the community, but they can't come to an agreement with us over an annual barbecue. We have offered to bring our own binbags and even offered workshops in litter-picking, but still they won't talk to us. Well, we have had enough. This year we are going to take back our public space to celebrate this ancient festival."

Barnet Council have not yet responded to the activists' threat, but Hendon MP and former Council Cabinet member Matthew Offord has been sighted in recent days in the trees at the edges of Moat Mount wearing a balaclava and muttering about Camp Ashram... or it might have been wigwam.

Eggcentric socialists no. 3 - Albert Einstein

In 2010 I began an occasional series called 'Unlikely socialists', featuring famous people that others might be surprised to find out are socialists. It has turned out to be very occasional, I've only written two posts!

I am reviving the strand now but rebranding it 'Eccentric socialists', in tongue-in-cheek tribute to Richard Cornelius, Tory Leader of Barnet Council. Cornelius thinks that opposition to his wacky One Barnet policies in Barnet is confined to 'eccentric socialists, American exiles and a coffee shop owner'. (He could do worse!)

Since it is Easter Sunday, I've included a little pun in this entry. I think that the revolutionary scientist Albert Einstein is someone deserving of the 'eccentric' title - showing that 'eccentricity' is a virtue, someone that stands up to the mainstream, and challenges ideas that deserve to be debunked.

Here's what he wrote about his socialist beliefs in "Why socialism?", an article for the US magazine Monthly Review in May 1949. (Read the whole article here.)

The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate. All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.

The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us a huge community of producers the members of which are unceasingly striving to deprive each other of the fruits of their collective labor—not by force, but on the whole in faithful compliance with legally established rules. In this respect, it is important to realize that the means of production—that is to say, the entire productive capacity that is needed for producing consumer goods as well as additional capital goods—may legally be, and for the most part are, the private property of individuals. ...

Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to find employment; an “army of unemployed” almost always exists. The worker is constantly in fear of losing his job. Since unemployed and poorly paid workers do not provide a profitable market, the production of consumers’ goods is restricted, and great hardship is the consequence. Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all. The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions. Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before.

This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.

I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that a planned economy is not yet socialism. A planned economy as such may be accompanied by the complete enslavement of the individual. The achievement of socialism requires the solution of some extremely difficult socio-political problems: how is it possible, in view of the far-reaching centralization of political and economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming all-powerful and overweening? How can the rights of the individual be protected and therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of bureaucracy be assured?

Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of greatest significance in our age of transition.

Join the Barnet Spring march, Saturday 23 March, Finchley

I've little time to write my own blogpost this evening so I'll just shamelessly re-publish this week's Barnet Alliance newsletter - which has itself shamelessly stolen Mrs Angry's excellent headline from her blogpost reporting on the final day of Maria Nash's application for Judicial Review of Barnet Council's 'One Barnet' outsourcing programme.

Of course, we have been at the High Court this week finding out just how little regard the Council has for our intelligence or our right to be consulted over what happens to the public services we all rely on and pay for. Mr Justice Underhill's verdict is due after Easter.

Tomorrow, Saturday 23 March, we will be marching, possibly through snow, from Finchley Central station to Friern Barnet Community Library on the 'Barnet Spring' march. There is a bus for those who don't want to walk.

P.S. I can at least contribute to the commonweal some photos from outside the High Court.

Nothing About Us Without Us!

This term communicates the idea that no policy should be made without the full and direct participation of the people concerned. It has a long history within the disabilities rights campaigns, and was adopted by DPAC, Disabled People Against Cuts, as their battle cry.

This term concerns us in many ways. There is, for example, the lack of consultation about the One Barnet Programme, which the council, on the one hand, tried to deny in the High Court; while claiming, on the other hand, that residents are “not capable” of understanding the complexity of the programme, so consultation is pointless. There’s also the failure of Your Choice Barnet, which will cause suffering and distress to parents, carers, service users and staff, and demonstrates the council’s inability to manage and to understand the complexity of its own programmes. And, finally, there is the contempt with which the council has dismissed and insulted concerned residents. 

 

If you haven't heard yet, the High Court judgment regarding Maria Nash’s challenge will be delivered after Easter. You can find a summary of the deliberations on our website, and also reports (better then ours) by the local bloggers: Barnet Eye, Broken Barnet and Mr Reasonable.

Tomorrow, Saturday, is Barnet Spring. Although spring is not an accurate term for the weather that has been forecast, it might not be that bad. Anyway,we have braved bad weather conditions in the past, so let’s all dress warmly and remember: battling against the weather will make good photo ops and is nothing like as hard as battling against government. Even if the weather is as miserable as the council, the government and austerity, let's make the Barnet Spring March BIG, big and angry: Nothing About Us Without Us!

The rally will start at 11am near Finchley Central Tube Station. We will begin to march to Friern Barnet Community Library at midday, accompanied by a double decker bus for people who have difficulty walking that far. Please note that the bus has no ramp. Wheelchair users will be buddied up with supporters and there will be stewards to assist with this at the assembly point.

The second part of the rally will be held at Friern Barnet, with music and food courtesy of the Friern Barnet Library Campaign. 

 

There will be speakers from all over the country: MPs, councillors, LGA members, trade unionists, and campaigners, including Tony Benn. The list of speakers, delegations and messages of support is here.

• Please help us make this march a success: join us from 9am to prepare. We need stewards and help with:

• fund-raising collection
• distributing leaflets
• decorating the bus
• putting up posters along the march route.

If you can help, please just turn up at 9am outside Finchley Central tube station or call 07534 407703.

And for a last-minute push:

1. Forward this newsletter to friends and family.
2. Make sure that everyone you know knows about it!
3. Tweet mercilessly with the hashtag #BarnetSpring and the link http://goo.gl/jhzX6.

One Barnet on trial - join us at the High Court

Barnet resident Maria Nash has applied for a Judicial Review of Barnet Council's One Barnet outsourcing programme, and the application will be heard in the High Court from tomorrow, Tuesday 19 March. The case will probably continue on Wednesday and might run to Thursday.

Barnet Alliance for Public Services is supporting Maria in her application. With Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), we have organised a support demonstration outside the Royal Court of Justice, The Strand tomorrow (Tuesday) from 9.30am to 1.30pm.

Please join us if you can, and follow proceedings on Twitter. Follow @BarnetAlliance, hashtags: #OneBarnet #BarnetSpring.

It is a shame that it has come to this: a legal challenge to Barnet Tories' privatisation plan, but for more than four years we have been arguing, debating, challenging in every way that we can politically. I think we honestly believed that they would see sense or at least calculate that the political price they would pay for One Barnet would be so high they would not want to pay it.

We were wrong.

Maria is not a member of BAPS but we are supporting her. Of course, the political campaign WILL continue and Barnet Tories WILL pay a high political price for persisting with One Barnet. They are likely to lose control of Barnet Council to Labour in the local government elections in 2014. I for one will certainly be campaigning to make sure that they do - and to pressure Labour to make sure that what we get instead will be better!

But it is a tragedy that so much damage has already been done. 

It is a shame that it has come to a legal challenge, but we will all learn interesting and useful things through this process (we already have).

There will be high public interest in the court case. The arguments aired will be mulled over and used by other local authorities contemplating mass outourcing, and by those challenging them.

Maria has a right to insist on her her day in court. Her case is that she is worried what will happen to her when services are outsourced - she is disabled - particularly if the outsourcing goes wrong, the contracts fail, and Barnet ends up losing not saving money. She is right to worry! The cuts to our vital public services - already severe - will be far worse the more money that Barnet loses.

The problems with 'Your Choice Barnet', the arms-length company set up by Barnet Council to deliver care and support services to disabled adults show the dangers of moving to a commercial model for vital public services. The Council is being called on to bail out Your Choice, which was supposed to make a surplus.

Now that it is losing money, the management are making plans to cut staff pay and conditions and reduce the standard of the service.

Please sign the petition here calling on Barnet Council to bring 'Your Choice Barnet' back in-house. And you can end an email to Barnet Council's Cabinet members using the link here on the Barnet Alliance website.

2e2 - When Outsourcing Goes Wrong

Barnet Council have been having trouble with their IT infrastructure for some time. Back in 2011 an internal report identified that the Council was having difficulties with their IT Infrastructure Supplier, 2e2. The report stated that:

“2e2 contract was put in place to transfer the operational management and risk of core infrastructure to a private provider. 2e2 no longer feel responsible for this and have passed all risks back to the council, on the basis that all equipment has reached EOL (End Of Life)”.

The report identified that a key risk was that,  “2e2 will pass all risk back onto the council and not deliver to their contractual arrangements” and that to mitigate that risk the council should, “Improve the relationship with 2e2 and look into terminating the 2e2 contract early and bringing services and staff, under TUPE, in‐house, if necessary”.

 

Unfortunately, Barnet ignored its own advice and continued to engage 2e2 at a cost of over £1 million a year, including an annual up-front payment of £400,000. In January 2013 2e2 went into administration and withdrew its services. This leaves Barnet £220,000 out of pocket for the unused up-front fees and scrabbling around to find someone else to run the IT infrastructure, without which the council would struggle to function.

To get themselves out of a hole quickly, Barnet Council have appointed Capita, without any form of tender, on the basis that it was an emergency and they had already had discussions with Capita to take over the running of this service. This new contract will cost £72,595 per month. 

The Council states that they did undertake a risk analysis of 2e2 in January “using Experian reports” and that “the report stated the company was satisfactory”. However a quick check on the internet would have shown that suppliers have not been able to get credit insurance on goods supplied to 2e2 for some time and that 2e2 were handed a number of County Court Judgements in 2012. 

If Barnet had simply followed its own risk register advice back in 2011 and brought the service back in house, we would not be in this position. It also shows the massive risk that comes with outsourcing key services and that even large companies can go bust. 

Barnet need to stop taking risks with our services and abandon One Barnet now. 

Signed

Derek Dishman
John Dix
Vicki Morris
Theresa Musgrove
Roger Tichborne

The Friday joke on a Thursday

Tomorrow, 8 March, is International Women's Day. The origins of the day are, believe it or not, in the socialist and trade union movement, and it used to be called International Working Women's Day.

Most, almost all, women work in some capacity or other, but it is still useful to remember the origins. All appearances to the contrary, it is not, or shouldn't be, International Careerist Women's Day, International Bourgeois Feminist Women's Day or even, shudder, International Radical Feminist Women's Day.

As I might be running around tomorrow taking photos at various events marking IWD, I thought I would post my Friday joke (a rare event) a day early. It isn't about feminism, but if you have been following Barnet local politics lately you will know what it is about.

(Mystified? This article will explain.)