Most Borrowed Books Out

The most popular titles and authors borrowed from UK libraries are now available from the British Library.

Brent Council Budget Proposals from the Liberal Democrats

Apparently the Liberal Democrats are going to produce their own budget at the Budget setting meeting of Brent Council. That will be the first time in more than a decade. I looked briefly at their proposals and found it to be just as insubstantial as I expected with a lot of raiding the reserves and confusion between revenue and spending, just as they used to be.

Defending Brent Civic Centre Once Again

I see Martin Francis has been blogging on Brent Civic Centre once again. This time he is exercising his gift for making everything sound negative to proosed changes to Brent Civic Centre. I don't know if the changes are good, and public descriptions so far are fairly vague, but Matin seems to have decided to make any change sound bad. Firstly he seems to think spending £2 million on the changes is exorbitant. It rather depends on what you get in return for the money. Certainly £2 million is only about 2% of the original £100 cost, and it is not particularly odd to make changes to a building ten years after it opened. However Martin has always hated Brent Civic Centre. As usual he builds well known details and tries to make sound bad. It really isn't amazing that Brent Civic Centre is in Wembley as the old Town Hall was. Given that it is roughly in the middle of Brent, that site is as good as anywhere else. Certainly it is no worse than using the old Wembley Town Hall. It also a lot cheaper than the 15 buildings it replaced. At the time of opening, it was projected to generate £3-4 million a year in saved costs and revenues from rent. Those are likely to be greater now the reduced headcount of the Council has allowed more office space to be rented to third parties. I am surprised that he thinks that the heating does not work as the heating and ventilation should work through passive priniples to minimise energy use. They should only malfunction if the building controls aren't working, or if people keep opening and closing the windows. Otherwise the offices should maintain an even temperature. Power is supplied through renewable energy, which is another thing the Brent Green Party colleagues objected to. He is accurate that the atrium is unheated. This is because it is an open air court yard covered with a glass roof. Heating such a space would financially expensive and extremely wasteful in climate change terms. As to it being "overwhelming". Well that is the designed effect for a major piece of public architecture and a commonly used device is prestigious buildings. Compare for example the two Cambridge Colleges I have connections with, First the Great Court of Trinity and then the famous view from the Backs of Kings Colllege, beloved of television producers.

It seems sad that Martin only see these spaces as room for a Tower Block wasted.

Transforming Brent Libraries at Brent Archive

I notice that Transforming Brent Libraries ( LINK) is now itself available at the Brent Archive in Willesden Library, which seems appropriate.

Transforming Brent Libraries Reviewed

I see my Transforming Brent Libraries has been "reviewed" by Mike Phipps on Wembley Matters. Sadly, Mike Phipps apppears to have been so overcome with personal dislike/far left zeal that he does not seem able to review it paroperly, so I hope anyone who wants to read it goes to the original Transforming Brent Libraries instead. It is always best to go to the original if you want to know what it said. I was struck by one of the comments though. Made by Philip Grant, it reminds me of a point I made in the book about a different person who had been complaining about the poor state of Kilburn Library over many years. The Libraries Transformation project led to a major refurbishment costing almost £650,000. The quality of the library was hugely improved. Instead of being pleased, the person concerned seemed almost affronted, which I can only assume was caused by having her hobby of lamenting the neglect of Kilburn Library taken away from her. Likewise, Mr Grant seems unhappy that during the consultation on building the library the plans were changed to meet his objections about the "Victorian" street frontage. Mr Grant seems offended if the plans aren't changed but also if they are! I note that in the same post he accuses some people (not me) of telling lies. This is always a bad idea, as legally it is very hard to sustain, not least because of the difference between a lie and an inaccurate statement.

What Scots Want from the UK

A curious insight into what Scots want from a Yes vote comes to me via Eddie Barnes. Some of these majority/plurality option strike me as unlikely (UK wide pensions? no Anglo-Scots border?); other seem impossible. If there are common Armed forces who holds ultimate say in how and where they are deployed? If the British Prime Minister orders military action does get it even if Scots politicians don't want it? It seems to me, based on these figures Scots voters imagine that they can get exactly the deal they dictate without worrying about the downsides, precisely the error Brexit supports imagined for themselves.

A Quieter Scene

As can be seen below, I have been off this blog for quite a while. I am returning to it because it seems to be a necessity once you publish a book, as I now have with Transforming Brent Libraries. When I came off blogging about Brent in 2020, it seemed that Brent Council was entering a much quieter phase, as most of the most difficult reforms and spending cuts had been made. This meant that mischief makes such as Martin Francis had far less to write about. Judging by Martin Francis' (still extant) Wembley Matters, that is still the case. He seems to be reduced to commenting on the odd planning application here and there. With some very nasty budget cuts coming up, we shall see if that continues.

Robert Evans OBE

I notice that Cllr Robert Evans (Surrey) has been made an OBE in the King's New Years Honours list. Presumably the absence of a resignation Honours List for either Boris Johnson or Liz Truss is that not being allowed to put one forward. Robert is a well known figure in Brent following his lengthy stint as a MEP for North West London and then London as a whole.

Transforming Brent Libraries at Queens Park Books

Transforming Brent Libraries is now available at Queens Park Books at 87 Salusbury Road, NW6. It is also still available online here.

Letter on Libraries in the Guardian

In addition to my new book "Transforming Brent Libraries" I also had a letter published in the Guardian which you read here. It comments on the Guardian's recent editorial on local libraries here.

Transforming Brent Libraries Now Available

I haven't been on this blog for a very long time. I am returning to it now because I have published a book "Transforming Brent Libraries" which goes through the process of how the Libraries Transformation Project was formulated, decided, defended against legal and political objections and eventually implemented. The book is available for sale at a new web site: https://www.jamespowney.com/

More on the Rule of Law

I have just been reading "Fake Law" by the Secret Barrister. In it he recounts that Harriet Harman as Solicitor General said that Fred Goodwin's employment contract giving him a huge pension despite trashing his employer, RBS, "violated the Court of Public Opinion" and should be over ridden. He regards this violation of the Rule of law as shocking, which it was. One Tory MP at the time dismissed it as "leftie inanity". The MP was Boris Johnson. He gives Johnson's own web site as his source. Quite a change from Mr Johnson's views on breaking international law today.

Brexit Promises

Boris Johnson's proposal to over ride existing law to implement the Irish backstop is probably the most self defeating tactic he could pursue. I wonder what all those strict believers in Brexit as the "will of the people" think of it? It is after all quite contrary to the electoral mandate that Johnson won less than a year ago.

Brexit Chicken

Why does it not seem to occur to Boris Johnson and his ilk that if he has decided that the EU will cave because the damage from no deal would be so gigantic, the same calculation may be believed by them about him? These are the exactly the right way to create an accidental no deal Brexit, and exactly the best way to put the EU off negotiating with us in future.

The Climate Emergency is too Urgent for Extinction Rebellion

Yesterday's partial blocking of newspapers exposes how the Extinction Rebellion has been hijacked by people with quite other motives. This not as uncommon as one might hope. Another example might be Palestinian rights. Fringe groups whose main objectives have little public sympathy like the SWP try to latch on to more popular causes and exploit them. In the process, they wreck those causes. This should be allowed to happen with tackling the climate emergency.

Brent Council's New Executive

I gather it is intended to drop three of the existing Council executive from the new one, which is tough on them but otherwise not noteworthy. Brent Council is essentially being run by one man as a family business.

Brent Council General Reserves

Brent Council Audit Committee will shortly meet and find that Brent has a General reserve of about £15 million. Grant Thorton believes that makes it safer than most Councils from catastrophic failure. This is the culmination of many years, arguably starting with Paul Daisley who was leader from 1996 to 2001. Inheriting organised financial chaos the Tories under Bob Blackman, he set the pace for Brent's professionalisation as a Council. This continued once his former Deputy Ann John succeeded him as Leader. There was a short hiatus under the Tory/Lib Dem leadership of Paul Lorber, who cut reserves ahead of the 2010 election. The very tough financial situation then facing the incoming Labour administration, where at one point we faced a projected overspend of £7.1 million but a reserve of only £7.5 million, caused it to follow the auditors' advice and increase reserves again. It also caused the administration to seek increases in revenue wherever possible (with the exception of Council Tax). At the same time there were a number of money saving transformations, improved procurement and in cases quite courageous decisions no longer to fund certain activities. All this work helped Brent Council to maintain relative freedom of action in the ensuing years. Now that Brent is once again facing even more central government cuts it is important that councillors show similar courage and discipline. The alternative is to lose a grip on the finances and therefore the political agenda.

Labour Group Elections

I notice that various runners and riders in the Brent Labour Group elections have been made public. Nothing substantial is likely to change however, especially as the governance mechanisms of the Labour Group remain the same. There will however be a series of extremely brutal changes to Brent Council services as the Councils finances collapse.

Harlesden and Kingsbury Libraries

I am told that Harlesden and Kingsbury Libraries have reopened, although I have been to them myself. I hope all Brent libraries extend their hours soon.

2019 Election Retrospective

I have just been reading today's Sunday Times on the 2019 election, and it is the weirdest account I have ever read. The Corbyn's hatred for everyone else was always plain, but their deep loathing for each other less so. The sheer unprofessionLism of these who refused to speak to one another, accept basic facts, even share details of events is indezcrible. A slogan was even rejected because Tony Blair had used it more than twenty years before. There really is no need to believe in conspiracies to sabotage people who are doing so much to destroy themselves.