'Barnet - billion pound gamble': get the DVD!

Barnet Alliance for Public Services (BAPS), Barnet bloggers, residents, the odd MP, were at the Palace of Westminster (Parliament) last night for a screening of 'Barnet - the Billion Pound Gamble'.

This film by director Charles Honderick and producer Roger Tichborne is a follow-up to their 'A Tale of Two Barnets' at the start of the year. It reflects on developments since, and includes coverage of the campaign to save Friern Barnet Library, which was not in the first film.

At our meeting on 19 November, in the plush surroundings of Committee Room 12, we also heard a number of speakers: Barbara Jacobson for BAPS on how Barnet Council's 'One Barnet' privatisation plan (the billion pound gamble) will destroy local democracy; 'Mr Reasonable' blogger John Dix; and Barnet resident John Sullivan, whose daughter Susan is instigating legal proceedings against Barnet Council over One Barnet.

The film which lasts 30 minutes is available on DVD for £3 (£5 incl postage). Please email barnetalliance4publicservices@gmail.com to order a copy.

Some pictures of the evening below.

Hilary Benn, MP for Leeds Central and Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with Barnet Councillors before the meeting

Ruth Kutner (BAPS chair); John Dix aka Mr Reasonable

Barbara Jacobson for BAPS

 

John Sullivan

 

One Barnet - Billion Pound Gamble? You bet!

The Ham&High newspaper have an article today called 'One Barnet - a Billion Pound Gamble?'.

They attended the premiere on Monday night of Charles Honderick and Roger Tichbourne's new film 'Barnet - The Billion Pound Gamble' (which is very good, by the way - list of free, local screenings here).

It's good that they've written such an article, trying to explain One Barnet in some detail. But it's actually pretty limited and gives Barnet Council far too much of the benefit of the doubt.

There are also some plain errors in it.

I have posted a long comment - they haven't approved it yet, perhaps they're combing through it for accuracy/libel, etc. I actually think they should give Barnet Alliance a chance to respond in their pages. I'll ask them for it!

My comment is below. It's a comment on the bottom of an article posted on a website, so it's not 'fully rounded', but I think it's useful.

Thank you for covering One Barnet in some detail. There are a few corrections I would like to make.

One Barnet did not start life in 2010, but earlier. I think it was mooted around 2007, and started going through the council committees in late 2008. When it began life it was 'Future Shape'. The national spending review in 2010 only gave the council a new propaganda reason to say it was necessary.

For sure the council say it will be done to save money. But will it? Many large-scale outsourcings have gone wrong and ended up costing money, eg, BT in Liverpool. Cornwall Council - led by the Conservatives - this week voted to pull back from a large outsourcing project. There are numerous more examples. It IS a big gamble, and while we might gain - might - we also lose a lot of control and accountability

Moreover, the One Barnet umbrella doesn't just include three big and one small outsourcing contracts (two large contract negotiations are far advanced; a large street scene contract will follow soon; parking has recently been outsourced to NSL with a severe drop in the quality of the service).

One Barnet also includes such things as: service reductions (cuts); 'efficiencies'; raising charges for some services (this really DOES fit with the easyCouncil model) including adult social care and parking for residents living in CPZs - currently being fought by residents through the courts. So a lot of the 'savings' are really just cuts!

One Barnet is also highly ideological: a lot of the savings they hope to be made are through fostering 'a different relationship with citizens' - and this boils down to getting us to do more things for ourselves. OK for some; on the whole, not OK. Services in Barnet are hardly extravagant at the moment, and generally people really need the services they use.

There is also a simple belief by the Conservative administration that private sector is best; it is often demonstrably not so. We are also worried about the lobbying role that the outsourcing companies have conducted on senior council officers who then prevail on councillors (who frankly know shockingly little about One Barnet) to go along with privatisation. BT, one of the bidders for the £750m NSCSO contract, had a man seconded to Barnet Council for a long period, for example.

Am I going on a bit? I'm sorry, but there is so much detail that people need to know more about in order to see why we are worried, and why we are working so hard to oppose One Barnet. People can read more on the Barnet Alliance website: http://barnetalliance.org/

I think the final thing I would want to take issue with is Cllr Thomas's claim that the administration has a mandate for One Barnet. In no sense was the policy 'out there'. The Conservatives' manifesto in 2010 had 3 points: council tax freeze; weekly bin collection (whoopee!); we won't allow building on the green belt.

That's it! They have repeatedly said they don't think residents care about how their services are delivered - but never thought to ask them. We are finding as we tell residents about One Barnet that they do care, and that they oppose the programme.

Vicki Morris
Barnet Alliance for Public Services publicity officer

Torrid Tuesday in Barnet (and elsewhere) - Cornwall Conservatives, Barnet Conservatives, and Brian Coleman

Against a backdrop of rumours about necrophilia and Tory paedophile rings (I DID say rumours), Tuesday was possibly even more tumultuous than Manic Monday. I'm only glad I'm out tomorrow being exploited all day - it'll take my mind off things.

In Cornwall, the council voted by 93 votes with 7 abstentions to suspend their move to a Joint Venture outsourcing programme. The bidder, BT, says they'll hang around till spring to see whether the council changes its mind back again. This is a Conservative administration that has decided it must look at an in-house bid before contracting out its back office functions.

In short, great news!

At last night's afterfilm BAPS committee meeting (it's true, we never rest!) we heard a rumour (there we go again!) that the chair of Barnet Council's Budget and Performance Overview and Scrutiny Committee (BPOSC), one Brian Coleman, had consented to BAPS making a presentation about One Barnet at the next meeting.

I emailed the Barnet Council staff member dealing with this committee about it. I got an email back saying the Chair had consented to no such thing.

Oh, well, that was just a rumour, I thought. But I chuckled at the idea that it might have put Brian Coleman's nose out of joint!

Minutes later my phone rang.

'Hello, Vicki Morris?'

'Yes,' I said. That voice is familiar.

'It's Brian Coleman,' the voice said. My immediate thought was, oh, shit, he's rung me up to tell me to stop harassing him (he has form for this sort of thing).

He hadn't. In fact, we had a polite enough and business-like conversation about a misunderstanding. The agenda at this Thursday's BPOSC will not cover One Barnet so BAPS should not come and present at it. However, we can come and present at the special meeting on 29 November, which will be given over to discussing the £750 million NSCSO contract.

At one point during this conversation Coleman said 'trade unions, Barnet Alliance, and other sensible people' could come and speak.

He can't be feeling himself. Mentioning trade unions, Barnet Alliance and sensible people all in the same breath?!

I couldn't get much of a word in edgeways during this conversation, but even if I had been able to I think it was right to play it straight.

As it happens, we might not get to make our presentation after all because Coleman - quite rightly - won't be the BPOSC chair much longer; he looks like he is going to be suspended from Barnet's Tory group - as he should be. The bloke's been charged with 'assault by beating' and a driving offence!

Barnet Council leader Richard Cornelius has evidently been leant on by fellow Tories in Barnet - who aren't all as stupid as they look (if you want to know just how stupid they can look, there is a great passage in Charles Honderick and Roger Tichborne's 'Barnet - The Billion Pound Gamble' film showing Barnet Tory councillors guffawing hammily at the public gallery - that's right, at residents - during a Council meeting). Cornelius has announced this evening that he has begun the process of suspending Coleman from the Tory group.

Or by Conservative Central Office (who aren't stupid at all, just bloody dangerous). Or, probably, both.

What else exercised me today? Oh, a stack of personal chores; I didn't even have time to listen to tonight's Radio 4 'File on Four' programme, 'Public, Private and Profitable'. The introductory blurb says:

Public, Private and Profitable  

The midnight collapse of the Government's plans for the West Coast main railway line once again raises questions about the outsourcing of public services to private providers.

Public bodies of all kinds now face massive budget cuts and are under pressure to deliver savings. As a result, across the country, public services of all kinds are now up for tender in the hope they can be delivered more cheaply by the private sector.

With relatively straightforward things such as refuse collection, there's general agreement that experience to date shows outsourcing can work, and can save the taxpayer money.

But with complex services in education, health or transport, the picture is far less clear.

Michael Robinson investigates the outsourcing of these complex public services and uncovers another, as yet unreported, example of huge profits being earned by major private companies at taxpayers' expense.

The programme will be broadcast again on Sunday afternoon, I think.

I wonder if we here in Barnet would learn anything new? Still it's good to know that the rest of the world out there is finally catching on.

Manic Monday in Barnet - film premieres, cowardly Conservatives

I'm setting out shortly for the Phoenix Cinema in Finchley, to watch the premiere of 'Barnet - The Billion Pound Gamble'.

Doors open at 6pm, entrance is £1. The film starts at 6.30pm and lasts 30 minutes. Afterwards there is a panel discussion featuring some of my fellow Barnet bloggers.

The film is a follow-up to 'A Tale of Two Barnets' earlier this year. The director Charles Honderick and producer Roger Tichborne have put together more interviews with residents about their hopes and fears (mostly the latter) as Barnet Council prepares to outsource most of its services to 3 or 4 multinational companies.

The outsourcing programme is called 'One Barnet'. The Council will sign contracts for 10 years and hand over more than £1,000,000,000 (£1 billion) to the outsourcing companies, along with most of their - hence our - control over services.

Madness!

In other mad news, Conservative Councillor Brian Coleman has been charged with common assault for an alleged attack on Helen Michael, owner of Cafe Buzz in North Finchley.

The Council has announced that Coleman can only be removed from his post as Chair of the Council's Budget and Performance Overview and Scrutiny Committee by a meeting of the full Council. (There is a meeting of the committee this Thursday 25 October at 7pm at Hendon Town Hall.)

But that doesn't answer the question of how Coleman's party will treat him.

The Labour Group leader on the Council Alison Moore has written to Council Leader Richard Cornelius:

Now that Cllr Coleman has been charged with assault it is clearly time for the Leader of the Council to take action and remove the whip from him. I have written to the Leader today asking him to confirm that he will be doing this.

The current betting is that Cornelius will do nothing of the kind.

Madness!

Welcome to another manic Monday in Barnet.

"A Tale of Two Barnets" in the Houses of Parliament

Jeremy Corbyn MP speaking at showing of "A Tale of Two Barnets" in Parliament

I went last night to the screening of the community film "A Tale of Two Barnets" in the Houses of Parliament. John McDonnell MP had booked the Wilson Room in Portcullis House.

It was interesting to see around this building whose high cost - no expense spared on the fixtures and fittings - was so controversial. It looks good for the money! But whether it was an appropriate amount (final cost of the building £235 million) to be spent on a building that only a few MPs and attendees of select committees ever see... well, it wasn't, was it? But I digress...

The Wilson Room, as other bloggers will probably tell you in more detail, was where Rupert Murdoch gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry.

A suitable backdrop then for a showing of the film about Barnet council's cuts, privatisation and lousy governance culture? I think so!

The film was enjoyed by an audience of local anti-cuts activists and guests. John McDonnell MP and Jeremy Corbyn MP both attended to discuss the wider context of the cuts and privatisation agenda. As you can see from the photo below, all of Barnet's three MPs were invited to attend but did not. As far as I know, none of them has yet seen the film that has nevertheless been seen by more than 1,000 of their constituents.

Council leader Richard Cornelius also had a place reserved for him but he did not come either. I don't think he has seen the film yet, although he has complained about it enough.

Both McDonnell and Corbyn had to nip in and out of the meeting to participate in votes on the Finance Bill, the piece of legislation which includes cutting the top rate of income tax from 50p to 45p, a measure that will benefit, among the rest of the top-earning 1% of the population, Barnet Council's own chief executive, Nick Walkley. (Yes, we pay him that much.)

The discussion after the film was very interesting and focused on the council's lack of honest consultation with residents. When they consult, they simply ignore the majority opinions of those they consult with. The impression is that they have always already made up their minds what they are going to do, and that consultation is a tick-box exercise only.

We also discussed things we can do next around the issues that concern us.

Helen Michael, who represents North Finchley traders, told us about their poster campaign targeting Brian Coleman, "murderer" of Barnet's high streets, with his disastrous parking policy. The poster campaign is reported today in the local press.

Helen told us how the council has asked the traders to participate in building the mood for the Olympic torch relay which is due to pass through North Finchley, handing out flags and so on. The traders have asked what's in it for them, when the council is in the process of ruining their businesses, and our high streets with them.

Friern Barnet library campaigner Joanna Fryer talked about the next Friern Barnet pop-up library event, meeting this coming Saturday, 21 April, from 11am to 1pm in the British Legion building next to Friern Barnet Village Green.

John Sullivan spoke about the Campaign Against the Destruction of Disabled Support Services; the Barnet Alliance for Public Services was represented by Tirza Waisel and Alan Sloam.

Roger Tichborne, "The Barnet Eye" blogger and producer of "A Tale of Two Barnets", presented the film, and the director Charles Honderick also attended.

In summary, an interesting and fruitful night, sharing ideas for campaigning. I detect a growing confidence, cohesion and determination among the different groups campaigning for public services and simply for the overall spirit of Barnet - a determination to stop the place from declining irreparably.

I have posted a few more pictures of the evening here.

A new empty chair crisis?

How the City of London shut down Friern Barnet Library - or something like that

Everything came together perfectly today for the first Friern Barnet People's Library. The weather was great, there was a genuinely wide choice of books, there was an impressive turnout, and we even achieved a one-week-on reunion of the #OccupyFB crew.

I arrived fairly late after catching two 251s (having to change at Whetstone). I was wearing my best Barnet blue flasher's mac, which you can see in rather too many of the photographs from the event (lots of people have pictures, e.g., the Pinkham Way Incinerator blog).

I didn't take my camera for once. It was a choice of heavy camera or heavy book - Capital vol. 1 by Karl Marx (I took something a little lighter, in all senses of the word, to donate to the library).

I swapped my donated book for the 1991 edition of a book called How the City of London Works. It probably doesn't work in quite the same way any more, but it's high time I found out something about it.

After all, it's the recklessness of some s**tbags in the City with their weird financial "products" that caused the almost complete crash of the banking system in 2008 that necessitated the banks bailout that pushed up the national deficit that provided the Tories (and their lickspittle Lib Dem lackeys) with the pretext for privatising everything in sight and savaging our public services that led to us being on Friern Barnet green at all... outside the now closed Friern Barnet Library.

The Library was nicely adorned on the outside by campaigners but we still would have preferred to be inside. The Councillors' surgery has had to move to take place in the Royal British Legion building nearby. So much for the library not being a community hub in the eyes of the Cabinet that has closed it!

(Thanks too today to the Legion for providing free tea.)

There was such a great gathering of people, we were able to swap ideas for the next steps in various campaigns. It really felt like a great coming together today of the various strands of discontent in the borough.

The "people's library" was the inspiration of Barnet Eye blogger Roger Tichborne. Lots of people pulled it together today, including the still determined Save Friern Barnet Library group. (They have a new petition on the Barnet Council website: please go and sign it and ask others to sign too.)

Robert Rams, Barnet bullshitter extraordinaire

Thank you to Mr Reasonable this evening for alerting us to the next full meeting of Barnet council this coming Tuesday, 17 April.

The business includes questions to Cabinet and Leader. The Labour group has asked some questions of Robert Rams, Cabinet member with responsibility for libraries including the decision to close Friern Barnet Library.

Rams' replies are truly staggering. He as good as admits he has never had any worked-up plan for his much vaunted "landmark library" at the Artsdepot to replace the closed Friern Barnet library. He is only now getting around to holding meetings about it with the Artsdepot. The funding for any future library will rely on the council persuading Arts Council England to stump up for it - how likely is any of this?

Please take the trouble to look at the questions and answers in the official document which you can acess via this page.

The questions of most interest are 50, 51, 58 and 59. Rams' answers to these questions are so bad that they deserve a blogstory all their own but time is pressing.

The Friern Barnet People's Library will run again next week, Saturday 21 April, 11am-1pm, at Friern Barnet Library. Don't miss it!

Friern Barnet pop-up library, 11am-1pm, Saturday 14 April

The "Barnet Eye" blogger Roger Tichborne and Save Friern Barnet Library campaign have organised a pop-up library at Friern Barnet tomorrow, Saturday 14 April. It will be in front of Friern Barnet library, recently closed by Conservative Barnet Council.

Get along there for fun and bookswapping; I think this will be the first of many such events. But tomorrow is the official opening. Come and support the campaign to re-open the library.

Roger has sent the following invitation to all of Barnet's councillors:

You are cordially invited to the official opening of the world's very first Pop Up Library at Friern Barnet on Saturday 14th April. This will give you a chance to meet the people of Barnet and discuss how passionately they feel about the provision of local library services and why Barnet Council should be expanding and not closing libraries.

We will be making a film of the day's activities and we will be asking local councillors and members of the public to tell us why they love their librarys, what their fondest memories of their library are and why they need a LOCAL library.

The Barnet Eye looks forward to seeing you at this truly unique event. With the forthcoming GLA elections, we hope that councillors of all partys take the opportunity to meet members of the public in a relaxed and happy environment and listen to their views.

"A Tale of Two Barnets" exceeded all of my expectations - Barnet resident

I expect you have heard by now how well the premiere of the film "A Tale of Two Barnets" went on Monday night. It was a full house at the Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley! The programming was rather haphazard but, hey, we don't do this sort of thing every day.

Barnet TUC hired the venue for the occasion, and the anti-cuts group, the Barnet Alliance for Public Services, did much of the work to publicise the event, and stewarded on the night.

A lot of people have put a lot of work into this project, in the first place, naturally, the director Charles Honderick and the producer Roger Tichborne. They have done an excellent job.

"A Tale of Two Barnets" is a film about aspects of life in Barnet today, under the current Conservative regime, both national and local. Yes, it was critical of both. (Although it could have been a lot worse!)

The film focused in on some of the issues that have exercised Barnet residents lately. These included the rises in parking charges, and the rises in charges for adult social care services. They have a common theme: Revenue Income Optimisation (RIO). The council, responding to a smaller grant from central government, is casting about for ways to increase its take from those services it charges for. RIO (a lot less fun than it sounds) means that someone visiting a resident living in one of the borough's Controlled Parking Zones must now pay £4 for the privilege if they want to park - until recently, the price of a visitor permit was £1.

And RIO means vulnerable adults having, for example, to pay more in order to visit day centres. As a consequence some decide that they cannot afford to - then they miss out on social interaction, and their carers can miss out on vital respite. (I know how important this is, since I share in the care of an older person.)

And a third theme covered in depth in the film was the One Barnet programme: the plan to privatise most of the council's services through offering (to date) three large contracts to the private sector. Part of the justification given for this alarming leap in the dark is, again, the cuts in the money from central government. (Few of us who know anything about One Barnet believe that it will ever save any money at all. Indeed, it could end up costing residents more, and is likely to lead to worse services.)

I could go on all night. You must see the film for yourself! Its stars include: bloggers Mrs Angry (Broken Barnet blog) and Mr Mustard (LBB Spending blog), Professor Dexter Whitfield, Julian Silverman, Linda Edwards, David Attfield and so on...

The council was given the chance to have their say in the persons of the Chief Executive Nick Walkley and council leader Richard Cornelius.

Richard Cornelius is a politician, supposed to be in charge of what happens in the council. In this film he has all the best lines - and, of course, completely unscripted. Memorably, this, for example:

“I’m not sure there is much I can change about Barnet, so I have set my expectations quite low.”

Gobsmacking, but at least he delivers this line with a disarming smile.

Nick Walkley is a charmless, overpaid local government technocrat, who, with his friends, is behind the drive to privatisation. His salary, £200,000+ per year, puts him among the top 1% of earners in the country. (Chancellor George Osborne is likely to grant him a tax cut in the Budget today.) Yes, those people going on recently about being the 99% were defining themselves against... the Nick Walkleys of this world. Makes you shudder.

Go and see the film, which will have many more showings around the borough in the coming weeks. See for yourself what you think. This should be a real eye-opener for many residents!

New screenings will be publicised on the film's official website here, and I hope to plug them as they come up. If you would like to screen the film in your area, enquiries please on 07754 910425.

Barnet bloggers put another Yule log on the fire burning under the Barnet administration

Making it three posts in an afternoon - and me with a train to catch! - can I draw your attention to the Barnet council civic awards? Usually, not desperately exciting to most, the competition could be more interesting this year.

Barnet CPZ Action are nominating Barnet blogger Mr Mustard (aka Derek Dishman) for services to blogging and his part in the campaign against the CPZ charge rises, and David Attfield, also for the latter.

There will be other people who should be honoured, I would include all my other fellow Barnet Bloggers, Mrs Angry, Mr Reasonable and the incomparable Barnet Eye. The bloggers have done a great job this year scrutinising the failings of the current administration.

Private Eye has just honoured the Barnet Bloggers, Mrs Angry in particular, in its 2011 "Rotten Borough" awards:

The past year saw a growing trend for councils to use the law, or the threat of legal action, to stifle free speech and limit public scrutiny of the way elected representatives spend tax payers' money. Councils seemed particularly alarmed by the increase in 'citizen journalists' writing blogs and tweeting - and holding councils to account in ways that many local papers no longer have the balls to.

Highly commended: Tory 'easycouncil' Barnet was one authority which took fright at the interest shown in its activities by electors - in particular a busy group of bloggers. It seriously considered prosecuting one of them, 'Mr Mustard', under the data protection act, until the information commissioner told it not to be so silly. Meanwhile it hired security men dressed in black paramilitary style uniforms to intimidate members of the public who turned up for an important budget meeting. Hats off to the bloggers, in particular 'Mrs Angry', who revealed that the company, MetPro, hadn't got a proper contract, and used unlicensed, non CRB checked staff.

With all the plaudits rolling in, I don't think we'll be going away next year! To take part in these exciting elections - the awards ceremony would be a hoot - visit this webpage. You only have until 31st December to make nominations!

Barnet Eye interview with John Burgess, Barnet Unison

The Barnet Eye blogger Roger Tichborne has a very good interview with the secretary of Barnet Unison, John Burgess, about the strike action yesterday. If you haven't seen it yet, do have a look!

I expect Roger would be more than happy to interview senior council management - Nick Walkley, the Chief Exec, in the first place - and members of the leading Conservative group to get their side of the story...

No? Don't fancy it? Why not? You plan to put the bulk of council services out to tender, surely residents deserve a few minutes of your precious time to tell us why you think it's such a good idea.

Anyway, here's that interview with someone who is prepared to face the public.

Top banker slags off Barnet Alliance - we must be doing something right!

Rog T has defended the honour of Barnet anti-cuts campaigners against a top banker. Colin Hewett sent an abusive email to the email address of the Barnet Alliance for Public Services.

You can read the correspondence on Rog's "Barnet Future Shape" blog.

Here's Hewett's Linked In information for you to judge the calibre of our critics:

Colin Hewett’s Experience
Director
Nomura
(Public Company; 10,001+ employees; NMR; Investment Banking industry)

Currently holds this position

Executive Director
Nomura International plc
(Banking industry)

1981 — Present (30 years)

Save Barnet's libraries - sign the petition today (and tomorrow)!

The official consultation for the libraries strategic review closes on 17th December. Councillor Robert Rams who is coordinating the move to cut Barnet's library provision has rather hastily said that he hasn't received any petitions on the issue.

In fact, the petition coordinated by Roger Tichborne of the Barnet Eye blog is still going strong. Like a snowball picking up speed as it rolls down a hill, it is gaining momentum till the last. You can still sign the petition online at http://www.gopetition.com/petition/39319/signatures.htm.

Roger has invited Robert Rams to meet him tomorrow evening (Thursday) to receive the petition at the Adam and Eve pub in Mill Hill at 10pm (sounds like a date!). I imagine anyone going into the pub on the night can also sign the paper version of the petition. So, there's just over 24 hours to spread the word!

The petition has several thousand signatures already: let's add to that with one last push! Save Barnet's libraries!

If only all protests were as successful as this

The cold, the prospect of listening to councillor Robert Rams, and the worry of an angry protest outside combined to keep Chipping Barnet Tories away from their own meeting this evening. Roger Tichborne tells the story over on his Barnet Eye blog.

Now, if only we can repeat this next Tuesday when the Tory-run council plans to vote through cuts of £54 million over the next three years. It would be wonderful if the Tory councillors were too nervous about a lobby or cosy by their fires to turn up, or suddenly had an attack of self-loathing at what they were about to do.

(And what about Barnet's three Lib Dem councillors? What are they saying about the budget, and will they come down with abstainitis on the night? If they've any sense, they'll vote, like Labour, against.)

Sign the save Barnet libraries petition

Roger Tichborne has set up a petition as part of the campaign to save Barnet's libraries. Please sign up here, and let others know about it. Roger has a stall on Mill Hill Broadway this morning, 10am till 12 noon (does anyone know whether 12 noon is am or pm? My guess is am).

http://www.gopetition.com/petition/39319.html

Save Barnet's libraries - campaign starts tomorrow in Mill Hill

Barnet's library service is sure to be threatened as a result of the council's "Strategic Library Review", launching - though probably not where residents might notice it - soon.

Roger Tichborne has launched a wonderful pre-emptive defence of the libraries. He starts this Saturday (tomorrow, 25 September) on Mill Hill Broadway. He is inviting residents to visit him on a stall between 10am and 12 noon. You are invited to bring a book to donate to councillor Robert Rams, who is heading the library review.

Mr Rams has suggested that library books will be available in more places than ever, once the review has finished, including, for example, Starbucks. If that's Rams' proposed alternative to picking books up in a library, we are right to be alarmed.

Please get along to Rog's stall if you are in the area. This is just the start of the campaign, but it's a good place to start!

P.S. I am scouring my bookcases now for titles that I think Rams will benefit from reading, or that I cannot be bothered to. Here's a good one.

Never mind the politics

I have read on some blog comments (eg, this one) that Malcolm McLaren was from Burnt Oak, at least, that he attended Orange Hill grammar school. Stone me! Can anyone confirm?

I'm off to Blackpool in a couple of hours for the trades councils conference. As to what is happening in the wider world of politics right now, my only comment is "what he said".

It's nice to have a nibble on it now and again

I know what I'm doing on Friday night. I'm representing Barnet TUC at the annual trades councils conference, which is held this (and possibly every) year in Blackpool.

Banish stereotypical images of the Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club from your thoughts (Vicki). We've deadly serious matters to discuss. Next week, I shall report back on the proceedings.

Alas, this absence means I shall miss Roger Tichborne's fundraising band night. The rest of you have no such excuse. Please support this event if you can - visit Roger's blog for details.

Meantime, I am getting in the mood for my trip oop north with this video of George Formby singing about his little stick of Blackpool rock. I used to find George a bit creepy but I am warming to him (his wife, apparently, felt the same). He was a good singer, his lyrics are funny, and I love the banjo/banjolele. There is also a story of him being booted out of South Africa in 1946 for playing to black audiences that endears him to the likes of me.

Go on, have a nibble!

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.

Heaven, hell and the minimum wage (written in the style of Matthew Offord)

As part of Barnet trades council's election campaign without a candidate I am keen to get up early and get out onto the streets of Barnet. After a wholesome breakfast of a fruit salad and some oat cereal which should keep me going for a couple of hours, I gather up all the things I will need for today's stall.

My significant other is not likely any time soon to be my actual husband - it is too bad as I will miss out on that handsome £150 tax break that the Conservatives are offering for anyone prepared to tie the knot that couldn't see the point of it before. Nevertheless, he very kindly offers to give me a lift, but I turn him down because I want to get on public transport and see how it works.

I make my way up to the bus stop and wait in the unseasonally glorious sunshine for a 251 bus only pausing to exchange some bored looks with my fellow passengers. I do not have to wait long before [...oh, God, I'll skip this bit and get on to the more interesting part].

I am excited to see that there is a B&Q superstore at Whetstone. I can't wait to hurry inside and roam up and down the crowded aisles looking for a wallpaper pasting table. I hope no one thinks I am going to do some decorating! I want it for a quite different purpose altogether!

I exchange a couple of text messages on my mobile phone with someone that I am due to meet at my final destination of the morning. He tells me that he is very relieved to hear that I have bought a table and that he doesn't have to bring the picnic table I asked him to bring along in case after all. This means that he is now free to RIDE HIS BIKE! He's very pleased about this as am I.

Barnet trades council is very hot on the environment, unlike the Tories who are lashed up in Europe with a bunch of climate-change deniers. I would be please to elucidate to anyone that I could find that would stand there and listen to me long enough some of the highlights of Barnet trades council's proud record on the environment. It includes:

- we are signed up to the Coalition for a Sustainable Brent Cross Cricklewood Redevelopment;

- ummmm... er... that's it. (Note to self, must dig out some more environmental cred point scoring achievements.)

[skip to the good part where I finally get to name-drop a local eating establishment] I finally reach East Barnet after a rather bad-tempered bus journey completed with my wheeled case full of leaflets, a rucksack, my new wallpaper pasting table and a rather officious bus driver. Since I am early for my meeting with my fellow campaigners I am delighted to be able to pop into the Sunshine Cafe on East Barnet Road just opposite Sainsbury's and a few doors down from the Lord Kitchener public house, and have a delicious egg mayonnaise sandwich and a scalding cup of coffee. It's a real privilege to be able to eavesdrop on some old maids of the parish congratulating each other on still being alive. I think we can all relate to that!

P.S. How could I forget?! While I was on my 251 bus-ride through Mill Hill I saw that Roger Tichborne out campaigning in the blazing heat, him and a stout fellow. I'll bet Roger's sorry now that he succumbed to the inducements of the Lib Dems, and resisted the allure of joining instead my rather confusing election campaign without a candidate. Only time will tell. That and the good voters of Mill Hill!

[anyway, back to East Barnet, bloody hell, how much longer can this go on?] Where was I? Oh, yes, at East Barnet I finally got to set up my stall outside Sainsbury's. We got there just after the Labour Party canvassers left, that was a close shave. I managed to snatch a few words with one of them, who told me that the council is run by the Tories. It's interesting what you can learn from these political johnnies.

My stall was on a very serious matter, far too serious to parody in a blogpost like this. Hopefully, you'll all've given up reading by now and won't tick me off for that. Anyway, while we were campaigning in the glorious April sunshine, asking people to fight for jobs, homes and public services and not to vote for the racist, fascist BNP, a group of Christians stood next to us doing some open-air preaching. But not before one of them came over and introduced himself as a fellow trade unionist. Did you know that the Unite union organises a faithworkers branch? No, neither did I, but it does! And this chap is a member! After we had had a nice chat about why it is wrong to vote for the BNP, he went back to his preaching of the gospel telling people that they have a basic choice between Heaven and Hell. It looked like the good people of East Barnet knew exactly what he was going on about!

Anyway, over the next couple of hours we met a good many more very interesting people and I hope we managed to steer some of them away from evil and onto the righteous path of loving their neighbour as they would have others do unto them. That could be of any faith, of course. (I hope I haven't missed anyone out.)

There was just time on the way back to get a lift from one of my fellow campaigners who kindly drove me up to the High Barnet station passing a pub - I think it was called the Old Red Lion, Barnet - where a large number of men in football shirts stood drinking in the scorching heat of the unseasonably warm spring afternoon. I wonder what they were doing. I'll go back next week and find out.

I am pleased to say that I just had time to stop off for a revivifying fresh juice drink at the Blu Cherry juice bar on my way back through Whetstone, before catching the 251 bus back home to my home. Tired but revivified. And rather tired. It's these things that make being a non-candidate so rewarding.