By-election special - Brunswick Park - Thursday 31 May

Well here we go, fresh from ousting Brian Coleman AM from the London Assembly there is another chance for voters to send a message to our local government that we don't like the way that the borough is run at present. The honour falls to the voters of Brunswick Park ward. 

The candidates are:-

Yahaya Dumba Kiingi (Liberal Democrats)

Shaheen Kauser Mahmood (Conservative Party Candidate)

Andreas Ioannidis (The Labour Party Candidate)

Lots has been written already by other bloggers on this subject and you can catch up with their views on the following pages, and others

Barnet Bugle

The Barnet Eye

Citizen Barnet

Mrs Angry of Broken Barnet

Mr Reasonable

Who would Mr Mustard vote for if he lived in Brunswick Park ward? Not the Liberal Democrat candidate as he can't truly expect to win. It's a great shame as the 3 lib dems we have in Childs Hill ward have done sterling service for years and it would be better for them to have a greater say in things.

Not the conservative candidate either. Why not? Well firstly because she has as the headline on her letter to voters of 25 May 12 that she is the only candidate who lives in the ward. If this is such a great thing why is it that Lisa Rutter doesn't live in the ward; does that make her a lesser councillor? Mr Mustard isn't Lisa's biggest fan although she seemed quite good at planting trees, talking to people and cutting ribbons etc. as mayor, but to say in effect that, if elected, one of your existing fellow councillors is less worthy as a councillor is completely wrong.

She also claims not to be a politician. This is so ridiculous. Why are you standing for a political office if you are not a politician? It doesn't sit very easily either with your position as the contact person for the Conservative Muslim Forum which, presumably, has some interest in politics?

Why do you float round the ward in a large black Mercedes estate car when the ward is not very big and you really should be a bit greener and walk like everyone else including Mr Mustard who was delivering BAPS leaflets which tell residents about the One Barnet mass privatisation programme. By walking you would meet more local people and have had the chance to tell them why they should vote for you. ( BAPS = Barnet Alliance for Public Services )

Now what will you get if you vote for Shaheen Mahmood? Mr Mustard has to surmise from what isn't being said. You will get someone who, coming so late to the game, will be unable to do anything to stop the One Barnet mass privatisation even if she wanted to. She would need to read 3 years of council reports, which does not seem very likely, just to get up to speed. You can just see her hand going up with the flock of lambs at meetings of the whole council.

She isn't going to rock the boat and ask for the nearby Friern Barnet library to be re-opened. People on that edge of Brunswick Park ward used the FB library as could any resident of the borough.

If any governor of St Paul's Church of England School in N11 can quietly tip mrmustard@zoho.com the wink about why Shaheen self-disqualified herself from being a governor in about January 2012, or just before, he would be much obliged.

You won't get free bays back in CPZs.

You will get more remote services provided by BT or Capita or some such conglomerate from whichever country they find cheapest to locate the services.

Parking has already been outsourced by the conservative administration. This candidate won't be able to stop that as it is a fait accompli.

You won't see parking meters put back in every location.

You will still see private parks rented out for private parties (how you can put that councillors have listened to residents in your letter of 25 May 2012 to voters is brass neck indeed. The current administration may have listened but it ignored the 99% who said they didn't want private events in public parks).

You will still see allotment rents being steeply increased.

You will see the continued progress of the One Barnet mass privatisation programme for which Mr Mustard has never seen an intelligent report with a properly detailed cost benefit analysis.

You won't see the existing in-house teams being given the chance to bid to run their services.

You will carry on seeing masses of town hall tax dodging consultants on up to £1,000 a day with their noses in the trough which your council tax is wasted filling.

You will get the massive Brent Cross expansion programme. 

Will Barnet FC fans vote for you? not after the way the club has been treated.

The policies which this current conservative administration have embarked upon, and which most of the non-cabinet councillors almost certainly know very little of the detail, are wrecking the borough. 

The only way to make them listen and change it seems is to take every chance to vote them out of office and Labour in.

So please on Thursday vote for:

Andreas Ioannidis 

(The Labour Party Candidate)

If Mr Mustard could vote in this by-election, he would do so tactically ( he is not a member of the Labour party ) and would vote Labour in order to send the message to the conservative councillors

We do not like what you are doing to our borough and we are going to stop you before you ruin it.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard