BARNET and Brent are two North-West London boroughs, either side of Watling Street. Barnet is Tory-controlled, while Brent is currently run by Labour. The Barnet Tories want to close, outsource or privatise everything in sight. Brent Labour, despite a change of leadership on the council, is still making cuts, if not with the same gusto and pretence that it's improving things that it began with.

At the weekend I was in Kensal Green, helping clear up and sort belongings left by my late friend Kyran Connolly. Among them were a quantity of maps, and a lot of books, including expensive atlases. Kyran worked on encyclopedias, did a lot of travelling, and was a founder of the NUJ Books Branch.

We thought of donating some of the books to the local library, except that despite opposition from local residents it has been closed, and they are having to make do with a self-help pop-up library with limited storage. When the council first announced it was closing Kensal Green library it said users, many of whom were kids, could go to Willesden Green library. But as one of my fellow helpers, herself a Labour councillor and friend of poor Kyran reminded us on Sunday, Willesden Green library too is being closed for a time due to redevelopment.

I thought of this (and of what normally good-humoured Kyran might have said in less temperate language) when I came across an item in Martin Francis' Wembley Matters blog:

Sujata Aurora writes:

Last Thursday I spoke on behalf of Brent Fightback at Kensal Green Labour ward meeting. There were 11 or 12 people there, including all 3 ward councillors, and the response was very positive. This was not an anti Labour rant but I presented a few issues where I thought the council was lacking and Labour members could be exerting pressure.

These were namely 1) the closure of Central Middlesex A&E where I said that Labour should take a strong stand within the Health Committee and refer the decision up to the Secretary of State, and 2) the response to housing/benefit changes where I said the council should look at reclassifying homes to avoid the bedroom tax (as Knowsley Housing Authority has) and also adopt a policy of no evictions in the way that Dundee council has. (I did also mention a needs budget but its didn't get taken up in the discussion afterwards).

Despite not raising a word of disagreement at the time, Councillor James Powney is now attacking Brent Fightback on his blog as the "loony left alternative" whose "main activity consists of attacking people in the Labour Party". This strikes me as more than a little dishonest and perhaps an indication of how isolated he is from ordinary members within his own party.

Brent Fightback is the anti-cuts campaign initiated and supported by Brent Trades Union Council, and includes Labour Party members, perhaps even one or two present or future councillors. When residents who object to their local library closing are told they can use another, which is also about to be closed, they may have differing opinions on which are the "loonies".

Meanwhile in neighbouring Barnet, the Tory group leader was also diagnosing the resistance.

One Barnet campaigners are 'eccentric socialists', says leader

8:50am Wednesday 6th March 2013

By Chris Hewett

A campaign group fighting Barnet Council’s outsourcing programme was dismissed as “a group of eccentric socialists” by the leader in charge of the scheme.
Conservative group leader Richard Cornelius made the comments about the Barnet Alliance for Public Services as the authority’s annual budget was passed at Hendon Town Hall last night.
In his speech, he attacked the group, which has fiercely criticised and campaigned against the Tory-imposed One Barnet outsourcing scheme.
He said: “(They are) just a group of eccentric socialists, American exiles, bloggers and a coffee shop owner.”
The Totteridge representative also referred to a judicial review brought against the One Barnet scheme, supported by BAPS, which is due to be heard at the High Court later this month.
Outsourcing contracts have been put on hold pending the outcome of the legal proceedings.
Councillor Cornelius said: “Everyone has a right to speak to the courts, but the delay will make it difficult for us to implement the savings we have planned.
“I don’t see how a union (BAPS) can support this when it is potentially damaging its members’ job prospects.”
He later added: “We read a lot of local propaganda from bloggers and general whingers but people want to live in Barnet – we have the two best schools in the country, the second best primary education system, our regeneration schemes are delivering and our business base is strong.”

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/10268573.One_Barnet_campaigners_are__eccentric_socialists___says_leader/?action=success

We can understand the councillor from leafy Totteridge thinks socialists of any kind are to say the least "eccentric", his ward being one of the wealthiest in London, though his colleague Brian Coleman enjoys a charity residence. But why the animus against Americans and owners of coffee shops? some readers asked.

Well, it was an American called Charles Hondericks who, revisiting the area from which his mother hailed, hit upon the idea of making a film about how the area has changed since the days of the Barnet workhouse about which Charles Dickens wrote, and in doing so, gave a voice to some of the residents who are fighting the Tory council's scheme.
A Tale of Two Barnets

As for the coffee shop owner, Brian Coleman, or "Mr.Toad" as some unkindly dubbed him, was suspended from the Tory party following his arrest over an incident with a lady who runs a local cafe and tried to photograph him parking in a loading bay. We won't say more as the case is due to be heard next month. But it was good of Councillor Cornelius to remind us of this.

"Ex-Barnet mayor Brian Coleman hit woman and drove off with her"

Trial Postponed

Labels: Labour Party, local government, London, Tories