Word of the day: gobshite

I learn on Twitter that my MP, the MP for Hendon, Matthew Offord (Conservative), is in the newspapers today.

He's alleged to have got drunk at a dinner sponsored by weapons manufacturers for politicans and other movers and shakers. What's not alleged but is indisputable is that he got into a slanging match with some Labour MPs, calling them "gobshite" and "prat".

For the usually pro-Conservative Sun and the Daily Mail to point the finger this morning at Offord, rather than at anyone else, suggests that Offord was the guilty party here.

Offord has a Twitter account, but has been barring anyone remotely critical of him. If you are on Twitter and want to try following him, his name is @HendonMP.

You see, it's not his private Twitter account, but his MP Twitter account, yet he still bars constituents from benefiting from his tweets.

If they are anything like what comes out of his mouth on the prestigious occasions - as Saturday night's dinner was - perhaps we're better off not knowing.



A woman on the TUC march on 20 October apes her betters.

Barnet: a tale of two petitions

I thought I'd post my answers to a questionnaire someone put to me recently. The starting point was a petition I created against the One Barnet Programme. Answering the questions was an interesting exercise for me, in reviewing the activities of the past few years (!) and where we are at now with the campaign against One Barnet and the cuts more generally (because One Barnet is partly about the cuts as well as privatisation).

I wrote it in a candid mood and make no apologies for that. I hope it'll be useful as well to anyone who has ever thought of using an online petition as part of a campaign.

Why did you start this petition? What do you hope to achieve with it?

The petition was started on 9 May 2011, that's the one on the GoPetition site: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-the-one-barnet-programme.html. The same text is also on Barnet council's own e-petition site: http://petitions.barnet.gov.uk/OneBarnet/ - I think I put it there on 27 May 2011.

I hoped it would be a tool to show people's opposition to the One Barnet privatisation plan; at least, it could be a way to publicise it and raise awareness.

How is it going so far? Can you tell us about any successes? Or, alternatively, any obstacles/difficulties you've had to face?

The petition gathered quite a few signatures at first, but we did not promote it enough (by 'we' I mean Barnet trades council (Barnet TUC) and the anti-cuts group Barnet Alliance for Public Services).

To make such petitions work you have to continually plug them, I've experienced this already when I was trying to promote a petition about Brian Coleman's behaviour towards the Fire Brigades Union in 2010: I started a petition then, but it only grew if everyday I plugged it on websites, Facebook, etc. In the end, you realise that you would probably be more effective doing something else to publicise your issue.

However, petitions can be effective; if they 'go viral' and grow very quickly. Or if they might lead to a realistically achievable practical outcome, such as this petition on the Barnet council website opposed to rises in parking charges: http://petitions.barnet.gov.uk/parkingcharges/. This petition is organised by the Labour Party in the first place. If it gets the required 7,000 signatures by 14 March the council has to hold a debate on the issue.

Have you been affected, or know anyone affected, by the One Barnet Programme?

One Barnet is a big issue affecting many aspects of Barnet council services. It is part of the overall response of the council to the cuts imposed by central government. It seems that all the work the council is doing towards One Barnet is distracting it from what it could be doing to find ways to save money and make efficiencies without privatising services. From that point of view, I believe it is wasting money and – already, before it even happens – harming services.

I do directly know people affected by the cuts that have taken place, with attempts to cut money paid by adult social services for care delivered at home to someone I know very well.

I also think that Barnet is a pretty dreary place to live, dirty and for the most part cheerless, particularly in my own part of the borough, the west. That is only getting worse as services are cut. A museum close to me – Church Farmhouse Museum - has closed, and the council wants to sell the site. I can’t visit that museum now; and I am worried about what will happen to the look of that area if the building is sold (the building is historically interesting). I’m quite depressed about all that, actually.

People I know who work for the council are worried about their jobs, either being privatised, which is likely to lead to them receiving less pay, or losing their jobs altogether.

And in order to stem the public criticism of One Barnet, the council has moved to shut down some of the democratic processes by which residents hold the council to account. If in future all our services are delivered by private companies working to a contract, democratic accountability will be enormously harmed - what we have seen so far is a taste of what is to come.

Do you think the goal of the petition can be achieved with the current Barnet council in place?

Would the ruling Conservatives change their policy? I think if they thought the political price they paid for One Barnet was too high, they would. The petition can contribute to that – if it is used effectively (which I don’t think it is at the moment!).

The Labour Party is opposing the One Barnet Programme. If they replace the Conservatives I very much hope they will scrap the programme. Lib Dems locally oppose the plan as well, although I don’t know what their party nationally would say and they are the minor opposition party in Barnet.

Have you tried any other ways prior to this petition to remove One Barnet?

We have been doing many other things since the One Barnet Programme started up in 2008 (!), including several protests outside council meetings, publicity (such as the Our Barnet newspaper), etc. We have attended council meetings, including committee meetings, and put questions to the council about their plans. In January 2011 we held a march of 1,000 people (estimate). We have been very active!

Do you think the petition has a good chance of removing the Programme?

I never imagined that the petition would gather enough signatures to stop the programme: it was one tool among many; with other campaigners I thought about organising one massive petition, to be promoted on street stalls and so on, that might lead to a referendum on the One Barnet Programme, but we could not find out for certain what the legal position was – we did not want to do all that work and find out it would not make a difference. And we were not sure if it was a good tactic. It is quite difficult for people – including most Conservative councillors! – to understand the full scope of One Barnet, so it is a hard issue to have a referendum about.

What will you do if the petition does not succeed? Do you have any other plans or measures to remove the Programme?

We certainly continue to campaign. We have been supporting the industrial action by the local government Unison branch about the terms on which they might transfer to the private sector, and we will continue to do so; and we organised a protest outside Capita, one of the companies that wants to take over running our services – for a price! We will do some more of that. More of a spotlight needs to be shone on the activities and the motives of the multinational companies that want to move into running our public services.

If the petition does succeed and you get the signatures required, what are the next steps?

The petition has succeeded in getting attention for the issue, but by itself it cannot stop the One Barnet Programme. You have drawn my attention back to it with these questions: perhaps it is time to promote it again!

I have found the comments that people have left on the GoPetition site, revealing their concerns about the One Barnet Programme, very illuminating. I’m not sure whether – for data protection reasons – I’m barred from publishing them, for example, in a blogpost, but I would like to.

Recycling Christmas cards already!

I haven't had time to sort out a super-dooper Christmas card for you, so I've nicked one from Barnet CPZ Action! I hope they won't mind.

Barnet's traders in particular will be grinding their teeth at the callous indifference shown to their plight by Barnet's Tory council this Christmas.

Foregoing the 'amnesty' on parking charges in the borough, which they have implemented in previous years, the Tories have ploughed ahead with raising parking charges and made sure that a council debate on parking, called for by the Labour group, will now take place in late January when most of the damage has already been done.

The Labour Party are collecting signatures for a petition which could lead to a further council debate... in March. That's a fair way off, but it would shine a very unwelcome light on the Tories' policy in time for the GLA elections in May when incumbent Brian Coleman, the mastermind (I use the term loosely) of the parking policy, is hoping against hope to be re-elected as the representative for Barnet and Camden.

The Labour Party petition, hosted on the council's own website, says:

We, the undersigned, request Barnet council to reverse the parking charge increases implemented in 2011 that are having such a damaging impact on our local town centres and residents at a time when they can least afford it. We need action now to help small businesses and relieve residents. We believe that reversing the parking charges will increase the number of shoppers in our town centres, giving struggling local businesses and traders a much needed boost and helping our hard-pressed residents in these difficult economic times.

Sign the petition here.

One of our banners is missing

The Barnet Alliance's banner is missing - the one in citrus shades pictured here outside the HQ of outsourcing company Capita earlier this summer.

We have another one that can do service at the lobby of Barnet council on Tuesday 13 September. However, we would like our main banner back!

It went missing at the Friern Barnet summer show, taken and left somewhere either by Father Adrian Benjamin or Councillor Brian Coleman or Councillor Rowan Turner or one of their goons.

Can you imagine the Barnet Conservative Party shrugging it off if someone had misappropriated their banner? I can't either. And neither will we give up so easily!

I am offering a reward for the banner's safe return. Please email me via the trades council info@barnettuc.org.uk if you have any information. Any information. Thank you.

P.S. If you like your local politics pretty surreal our missing banner has a Twitter identity - no, I had no part in it. You can follow Mr. Banner @TheLostBanner.

A tale of two Brians

This email exchange has reached me.

---
From: Coleman, Cllr Brian Conservative
Sent: 10 September 2010 19:07
To: BSchama@aol.com
Cc: Prentice, Cllr Wendy Conservative; Hillan, Cllr Lynne Conservative; Harper, Cllr Andrew Conservative; Scannell, Cllr Joan Conservative; Rayner, Cllr Hugh Conservative; Cohen, Cllr Melvin Conservative
Subject: RE: Council Meeting September 14th. Agenda Item: 3.6

In view of the contents of this e mail , which I assume is notification that you cannot support a vote of Confidence in our Administration despite the result of the ballot at the Group I assume this means that you have resigned the Conservative Whip

As I am sure you will appreciate this is a serious matter and I ask you to reflect as of course if you intend to sit as an Independent appropriate arrangements will have to be made

Kind regards

-----
From: BSchama@aol.com [mailto:BSchama@aol.com]
Sent: 10 September 2010 18:24
To: Coleman, Cllr Brian Conservative
Subject: Council Meeting September 14th. Agenda Item: 3.6

Dear Brian

I am a loyal supporter of David Cameron, who I believe epitomises the wish of all genuine Conservatives to find the right solution to our current financial problems at both national and local level, and I fully support him and the Coalition in this very difficult task.

Lynne's stance on Allowances has embarrassed him and the Party I support. Grant Shapps made this very clear publicly and still she did not listen. I would like to be free to look after the best interests of the residents of our Borough and my Mill Hill Ward.

I have no problem with how the Leadership election was conducted which, so far as we know, was in a professional and fair manner. Nonetheless, nearly half the Conservative Group voted for Mark Shooter as Leader and this has further weakened Lynne Hillan's credibility.

As you are aware, the Council now needs to make a number of extremely tough decisions when reviewing funding and public resources. For Lynne to have chosen this very time to attempt to push through an obscene pay increase for herself and her closest cabinet and committee chairman colleagues demonstrated once and for all that she lacks the sense, sensitivity and judgement required of a leader.

As you also well know, a number of her Conservative colleagues - both old and new - advised her that this course was wrong. She refused to listen to reason and instead cynically persisted in attempting to justify the increases and only backtracked when she found herself caught in the relentless glare of adverse publicity, destroying the last of her personal credibility in the process.

Even now she still simply does not understand that the public want - and are entitled - to know exactly who is receiving an increased allowance and how much the increase is in each individual case, including the Chairman of her various Committees. Yet in attempting to explain her new "fallback" proposal she has signally failed to itemise both her own and her Cabinet & Committee colleagues' actual existing allowances and their proposed new allowances in a way that is transparent to our residents.

Every difficult Council and Group decision which has to be taken in the months ahead will now be tainted by her personal history of cynical allowance manipulation.

I would like to be free to vote in the best interests of the residents who I have the honour to represent and to do so with a clear conscience, without my loyalties divided between our national leader (whom I respect) and our local leader (who I do not).

I would be happy to support Andrew Harper, as Leader as I believe he stands the best chance of uniting our troubled group, supported by Mark Shooter as Deputy Leader with special responsibility for fiscal matters.

This is the only way that our Conservative group can unite again and go forward

Of course, you will need to seriously change your personal style if they are to succeed.

I want you to know that I bear you no personal animosity and I take this opportunity to wish you and your family "Shanah Tovah".

Regards,

Brian

A busy week ahead for functional body Brian Coleman

I have gained exclusive access to the desk diary of Brian Coleman AM FRSA BAKA for next week. Tiptoeing past his slumbering form, I was able to glance over his shoulder and read there the entries for next week. He has a busy schedule, I can tell you.

Monday 6 September: Barnet council Cabinet meeting. Well, in fact, I'm not sure that Cabinet meetings really are all that onerous for the members; all the decisions have already been made. Hillan's merry band troop in and wearily perform their pre-rehearsed lines for the assembled public and press. They like to wrap up business as early as possible, presumably so that they can go back to their dinner parties. That's one of the reasons - there are others - that they hate the 30 minutes allowed for public questions.

Unlike the public, who have had to wade through a 300+ page agenda to work out whether their public questions will be in order (ie, relate to business being heard at that particular Cabinet meeting), I can't imagine that any of the Cabinet members will actually know what they are voting on when they stick up their hands in unanimous agreement with the Leaderine. But they will do it anyway and probably accompany the act with fulsome praise for everything Hillan thinks, says and does. Even those of them who plan to stab her in the back the next night.

Tuesday 7 September: Barnet Tory group crisis summit. The Tory group will meet to decide whether to continue marching into oblivion, ignominy and national notoriety with Lynne Hillan at their helm, or whether to rally around a bloke no one knows from Adam who has some powerful friends in high places... somewhere...

At least Mark Shooter makes the right noises to the press and he has gained some supporters in the blogosphere. Vote Shooter, get fewer howling political blunders and unwanted media attention? A better bet, therefore, for shafting the residents and workforce of Barnet big time? It is for Barnet's Tory councillors to decide. The recalcitrant residents of Barnet will merely await the next Pope and see what s/he plans for us.

Wednesday 8 September: Functional Body Question Time at the GLA. This week's functional body is Brian Coleman, chair of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. The questions that Coleman will face in the meeting are listed here, plus a great long list of questions requiring written answers. (Volunteers are sought to sharpen Brian's pencil.)

There is only a fleeting mention of the dispute that Coleman and the London Fire Brigade have engineered with London's firefighters. In brief, the LFB has threatened to sack all of London's firefighters before Christmas if their union doesn't agree to drastically changing their shift-pattern. The FBU is balloting its members on action short of strike as a first step to show their displeasure at being treated this way. You can read the FBU's very reasonable case here.

Thursday 9 September: Why, it's the weekend, isn't it?!

Can Trouble Shooter save the wardens? And stop Future Shape? And get money back from Iceland?

Mark Shooter has set out his stall before the Tory group meeting on 7 September that will decide whether he takes over as group leader from Lynne Hillan. In an interview with the Times series, Shooter appears to promise the earth - to the likes of me. Alas, Mark, I don't get a vote.

He seems to say a lot of the right things - if you don't like the Tory council and everything they stand for.

Read the interview here.

In it Shooter says the council:
- screwed up over the Icelandic bank deposits
- should review its plan to scrap sheltered housing wardens
- might be wasting money on the Future Shape scheme where it could make savings through other "efficiencies"
- has a bullying culture.

Has he done himself any favours with this interview? I doubt it. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would think that he is doing work for David Cameron, reassuring Tory voters that the Barnet party has a nice wing as well as the nasty wing represented by Lynne Hillan and Brian Coleman, and that it is still safe to vote Tory! But I'm not a conspiracy theorist...

Lean on me... but not too hard

The London Daily News, a bizarre "news" website which spins Barnet council stories in favour of the Tory regime, has a lovely take on Lynne Hillan's "spectacular U-turn" (Times series) over councillors' allowances.

The LDN headline (no, they don't employ a subeditor) is:

Hillan "overall cut to the budget for member’s allowances of around £95,000."

And there's a truly cringe-making picture of Lynne Hillan literally leaning on Mike Freer, her forerunner as Barnet council leader, now MP for Finchley and Golders Green. In fact, Mike Freer has not been very supportive of Hillan throughout this whole episode.

I don't know how old this picture is. Lynne looks happy, perhaps as she tries to shore up her political career. To judge by the disgusted look on Freer's face, it could have been taken about five minutes ago.

Senior Barnet Cabinet members face destitution

When Lynne Hillan and her Tory group pushed through the changes to councillors' allowances that saw senior Cabinet members getting massive rises (you mean Allowancegate - Ed) there was uproar among the people of Barnet.

Defending her corner in an interview with the Barnet Press, Hillan said:

"The new system only allows for one allowance, and doesn’t mean a councillor suddenly loses or gains more money overnight – councillors have mortgages to pay and families to keep as well."

Now that Hillan has been forced to back down on the changes, the prospect therefore looms of senior Cabinet members becoming destitute. Have a heart! It behoves us all to show generosity at a time like this.

If you see an indigent Lynne Hillan or Brian Coleman round your way, slip them a fiver, check in the larder and see whether you haven't a Fortnum and Mason hamper going begging.

(It ill becomes me, this sarcasm, but I think you get my drift! Congratulations to Rog T on getting the scoop. What shall we win next?)

Dear Dave, where's our Big Society?

Dear Mr Cameron (or, if you prefer, Dave),

In Barnet the Conservative-led council wants to hand over delivery of most council services to a big private sector contractor, such as Centrica, where's our Big Society? And it stops residents asking the questions they want to ask councillors at their own forum (Chipping Barnet residents' forum, 20 July), where's our Big Society? And it has granted responsibility for the Brent Cross/Cricklewood regeneration (£4.5bn scheme) to one big company, Hammerson, where's our Big Society?

I could go on but I think you get the picture. This Barnet resident for one remains to be convinced that the Big Society you have just launched is anything more than a load of rhetoric to prettify public sector cuts. Am I wrong?

Yours sincerely,
Vicki Morris

Chipping Barnet residents' forum tonight - elect Kate Salinger!

It's Barnet council's Chipping Barnet residents' forum tonight. It's held at the library and starts at 6.30pm. Papers for it here.

I don't know what's on the agenda but there are plenty of issues that need addressing:

- New Barnet town centre plans

- the rush to academise Barnet's schools

- the council leader and cabinet voting themselves big fat allowances hikes

- the vote by the Conservative group to remove Kate Salinger from the post of chair of the Chipping Barnet residents' forum for refusing to vote for the big fat allowances hikes.

Will Kate Salinger go to the meeting? If I were her, I would go along to defend my actions and protest against my punishment.

And if she did turn up, it might be quite good fun to elect her as the residents' own choice of chair just to irritate whichever councillor has been appointed to replace her. Well, I can dream.

If any Chipping Barnet resident who attends would like to write a report of the meeting I'd be happy to post it up here, without comment or editorialising, tomorrow.

Vicki

Tories 39, Labour 21, Lib Dems 3 - let the nastiness commence!

The Times series reports rather a bollocks (it's a day for intemperate language in Barnet blogland) overall picture in the Barnet council elections:

Conservatives 39
Labour 21
Lib Dems 3

Lib Dem leader Jack Cohen comments on his party's poor showing:

It's disappointing. I think we were always up against it because the General Election was on the same day.

The local elections are about candidates who work and have a strong personal vote, but in General Elections many people don't take that into account.

Barnet blogger Roger Tichborne is one that has lost out. He would have made a great councillor. Don't bow out now, mate! With this crew in charge, we're going to need your wit and wisdom more than ever.

Barnet Tories will be feeling massively vindicated and will be rolling up their sleeves ready to inflict their wretched plans on Barnet: cuts to sheltered housing wardens (and it won't end there), easyCouncil... Just as soon as they have got over their champagne hangovers, that is. (I know, I'm just rubbing salt into the wound now.)

The more I see of them, the more I understand that Tories are hardnosed characters. Let Nick Clegg bear that in mind if he wants to go into coalition with them.

Barnet Tories' three big ideas examined, Or: How big is your bin?

The Barnet Tories' manifesto is basically what they put in their recent full-page newspaper ad:

1. Barnet's first Council Tax freeze in the borough's 45-year history

2. Conservatives will never allow development on the Green Belt

3. Conservatives will continue to collect rubbish on a weekly basis

On 1, please see my post below.

On 2, please read what Roger Tichborne has written about Belmont Children's Farm and what David Miller has written about council leader Lynne Hillan's election material for Brunswick Park ward. Hillan says:

We have seen what overdevelopment has done in many areas of London. High-rise blocks of flats, over crowded estates and the demolishing of our family houses is not allowed in Brunswick Park.

Whereas, it's perfectly alright for wards such as Colindale.

On 3, this really doesn't sound like much to boast about. We have a weekly rubbish collection at the moment. Around the country, we hear, some councils have tried to bring in fortnightly collections and often backed down due to their unpopularity.

But this guarantee is not very reassuring to Barnet residents and voters. Much more to the point is what Barnet Tories' easyCouncil idea will mean for rubbish collection.

What we really want to hear from Barnet Tories is: what sort of rubbish collection service will we get for our council tax and what will we have to pay extra for?

You might not think there is any wiggle room here for the Tories, a weekly collection is a weekly collection, no? Yes, but how big is your bin? Seriously. Tories say they might offer discounts for people who only put out small amounts of rubbish. They might offer smaller bins for people interested in this. It would not be difficult for them, inverting the principle, to start charging people more for using the standard sized bin.

This would penalise the worse-off and people who, for reasons beyond their control, create more rubbish. I help to look after an ill, elderly woman and providing for her needs produces much more waste than the average.

Perhaps easyCouncil will actually end up being more like Starbucks, with bins coming in tall, grande and venti sizes, according to your taste and pocket.