Clik here to view.
Out of the fire: a night at the Phoenix, and World Book Day
"There was a silly damn bird called a Phoenix back before Christ: every few hundred years he built a pyre and burned himself up. He must have been first cousin to Man. But every time he burnt himself...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Barnet Libraries''Watergate': another privatised cock up?
In a couple of weeks time, the new model Barnet library service will begin - a once magnificent, beacon status, value for money service, one of the best in the UK, now slashed to pieces, battered and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kicking it into the Bushes,Unproductive Clutter, and a Question of Urgency:...
Unison members at the Town Hall, in Lo Vi jacketsAccording to the Book of Revelations (Broken Barnet version, rather than King James), the certain signs of an impending apocalypse is predicted not by...
View ArticleClik here to view.
He would say that, wouldn't he? Barnet's 'Watergate' continues, as our...
Grahame Park Library, pic courtesy Modernism in Metroland blogAfter writing to John Hooton, the Chief Executive of Barnet Council, on Monday, to complain about the false assurances he had previously...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The promotion of well being, or - The Order Lands: another Housing Inquiry in...
The venue for the second West Hendon housing Inquiry could not have seemed more inappropriate, at first. Why on earth would you hold it at the RAF Museum, in Grahame Park, rather than the previous...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Barnet Libraries: The End
A defiant message of support from the children of Martin's School, East Finchley, to the library next door, that appeared on the last day of opening as a fully functional serviceApril Fools' Day came...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Code Seven: The destruction of Barnet Libraries
The former children's library in Hendon, created by pioneering children's librarian, Eileen Colwell: now gutted, to make space for rented office space ...There was an Audit meeting, one night last...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My Way, or the Highway: the Barnet Tory ward expenditure scandal revisited
Here is a picture of Mrs Angry's favourite, self perpetuating pothole, by the bus stop outside Tesco's, Finchley. She is at a funny age, you know, and developing an interest in the most peculiar...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Saving Broken Barnet: Mrs Angry's pre-election guide
A couple of weeks ago, Mrs Angry went along to the launch of the campaign of the Labour candidate for Finchley and Golders Green, held at the Bohemia, in North Finchley. To be quite honest, this...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mayhem, but a moral victory: the battle of Broken Barnet: Election 2017
For some time now, the museum in Chipping Barnet, surviving against all the odds, in spite of the concerted efforts by the local council to close it, has tried to interest the same Tory council in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The towers of silence: after the fire - the legacy of Grenfell
Watching the coverage this last week of the dreadful fire at Grenfell Tower has been a traumatic experience for everyone, and one that none of us will ever forget. To see such suffering, and be unable...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Tail Wagging the Dog: or, a Tale of Two Meetings, in Broken Barnet
Residents supported by members of Barnet Housing Action Group and Unison outside Hendon Town HallTo have to attend one council meeting, on a beautiful summer's evening in June, might be thought to be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Finchley Memorial: the 're-imagining' of a hospital, and secret development...
During the recent election campaign, one of the most important local issues, here in Finchley and Golders Green constituency, was the scandalous state of affairs regarding the continuing under use of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
"Refurbishment" - Or: How to destroy a library service, the Barnet Tory way
Take a long, hard look at this photograph. What is it? What was it?It was the children's library, in Golders Green.It isn't any longer. It has been - what was the word, on those banners that appeared,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Children at risk: Time to take responsibility - a joint statement
Children at Risk: Time to take responsibilityA joint statement from the Barnet Bloggers“There are widespread and serious failures in the services provided to children and their families in Barnet....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Beware of the Leopard: or - tales of planning and enforcement in Broken...
“But the plans were on display…”“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”“That’s the display department.”“With a flashlight.”“Ah, well, the lights had probably...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Save Our Libraries: Barnet's children take their protest to Whitehall
Children from Martin's School explained what the library next door meant to them, and put up this display to mark the last day of opening - last day as a real libraryThey call it 'refurbishment'. We...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It makes us want to shout: Barnet's children, locked out of their own...
Arriving at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, with letters from Barnet childrenOne of Mrs Angry's many difficulties, as a result of being dyspraxic, and hopeless at negotiating journeys, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Shooting the messenger: or - the art of audit, in the age of Capita
The night the auditors came, left: BDO's Leigh Lloyd-Thomas tells it like it is ...Mrs Angry had more or less given up going to Audit meetings, since the Tories scrapped the principle of having an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The fields lie sleeping: the story of Victoria Park Lodge
Victoria Park LodgeOnce you get outside the inner areas of old cities ... you do not have to go far down to find real earth, the kind cows walked on and crops sprang from, lying there fallow beneath...
View Article