7 May - Bexley. Twinned with Barnet?
I take a look at the
Barnet-Eye blog
three or four times each week. In a very different style to Bonkers it provides the
low-down on a Conservative administration running
amok. Not that Barnet is as undemocratic as Bexley, it allows filming in the council
chamber and it hasn’t yet reported bloggers to the police for “criticising
councillors” though it did employ lawyers in an unsuccessful attempt to convince
the Information Commissioner that blogging offended against the Data Protection
Act. It also scores twice as highly as Bexley in
its treatment of questions
to the council but it also ignores petitions, albeit of only 290 signatures rather than
Elwyn Bryant’s 2,219.
It is similar in another respect too…
It introduced telephone payment for parking with no alternative. Unlike Bexley
where charges crept up from 20 or 30 pence to its present norm of a pound an
hour over several years, in Barnet they thought it was sensible to make the jump
in one go - with predictable results. Shops in Barnet were hit hard in the cash till
and their owners protested loudly.
The Leader of Barnet Council is Brian Coleman, a man unafraid to insult the Jews
in an area where that religion flourishes and to call his fellow councillors
odious toads - See video. Brian Coleman, like our own council leader Teresa
O’Neill is a close associate of Mayor Boris Johnson. He is Chairman of the
London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and a member of the Greater London
Assembly. But not any more, he was the biggest loser in the last Thursday’s elections for
Assembly Member and thankfully deprived of his £53,000 a year.
The bloggers of Barnet have been very high profile, they make no secret of their
support for the Labour Party which helps them get coverage in the Guardian newspaper
but they have worked hard organising street protests and making publicity videos
and now they have succeeded in bringing down a politician who trampled all over the
wishes of the local population. Brian Coleman lost 10% of his
vote in a
constituency that pushed up the vote for Boris Johnson by 17%. Apathy does not
always rule the roost.