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20 Most Recent Press Articles
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Wed 3rd Mar 2010
Last night's Council meeting cleared one thing up: the Conservatives read this blog. As far as any thing else goes nothing changes. The Conservatives used their majority to vote in the Mayor Designate and again their majority ensured our budget amendment was voted down and the Tory Budget went through.
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Tue 23rd Feb 2010
Yesterday I had a night out. Well to be exact I went as spectator to watch the Barnet Cabinet debate their proposed Budget for 2010/11. Palace of Varieties it was not. I think there were two members of the public in the gallery. Council officers outnumbered the Councillors. Curiously none of the Cabinet members had their nameplates in front of them.
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Fri 19th Feb 2010
Just got back from two weeks Rand R. I made the most of it as I suspect life will be hectic from now on. The local council elections are less than three months away. A General Election has to be called before the middle of June.
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Tue 26th Jan 2010
Last night I attended two meetings at the Town Hall. First up was the Policy and Performance Overview and Scrutiny Committee. I am not sure what this committee does. It meets twice a year.
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Thu 14th Jan 2010
Yesterday Jake my beloved companion for the past twelve and half years died. It all happened so quickly. He collapsed at home. When we got him to the vet it was obvious little could be done, so we mercifully put him to sleep. He had a happy life and only that morning he had enjoyed his walk to Swan Lane Open Space. Jake was a rescue dog twice over. His previous owner a young girl died of anorexia.
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Tue 12th Jan 2010
I am not allowed to tell you what went on at the Corporate JNCC meeting last night. The whole meeting is held in what's called part 2. This means the public and press are excluded.
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Wed 6th Jan 2010
I don't know how many of you have been to North Finchley Post Office recently. They have introduced a "no queue "system. You take a ticket and wait for your number to be called. On Monday I went to renew my Freedom Pass. The last time I was there I had a twenty minute wait, just to buy stamps. This time I took my ticket, number 181. The current number being dealt with was 120! Sixty one customers were in front of me. Forty five minutes later and after doing my shopping in the High Road my number came up. The whole set up is almost surreal. You really do need to go there and see for your self. To be fair to the staff they are doing their best. One of them confided they were as fed up as everyone else. This is what happens when all the local post offices close. Another policy this Government has to answer for.
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Fri 18th Dec 2009
The full Council meeting on Monday descended in to farce. I cannot recall any Council meeting under any political control that ever ended up in such a shambles. There were so many vignettes that I would be blogging well into the New Year with these delights.
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Tue 15th Dec 2009
No this blog is not about tonight's full Council meeting. Last week I was at St Agnes' RC Primary School in Cricklewood. I have been a Governor there since 1988. This was my twenty second Christmas play. As usual it was the story of the Nativity. But this time we had space ships and sat-navs thrown in. So hence the title of their play "Christmas with the Aliens"
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Sat 5th Dec 2009
On Monday I attended the Finchley and Golders Green Area Environment Sub Committee. My Colleague Cllr Monroe Palmer was unable to attend so I was there as his substitute. The meeting started at 7pm and was all over at 7.25pm. This committee is a bit like the Area Forum except it has the powers to make decisions. But nothing new in that the vice chairman did not turn up. Is there also a special allowance for the post of vice chairman?
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Sat 28th Nov 2009
Finchley and Golders Green Residents' Forum is always a good place to start the week. Last Monday's meeting was better attended than usual. The Council suggested that the good turn out was because of the promise of consultation on the Council's budget and the Council's new planning document "Direction of Travel".
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Tue 24th Nov 2009
Years ago, a Conservative Government, I believe it was commissioned an inquiry into the Planning System. A report was produced by the Nuffield Foundation. Amongst the recommendations was one which said objectors should have the right of appeal in major planning applications. The Report was quietly shelved.
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Sat 21st Nov 2009
Whilst all the attention was on the marathon Brent Cross planning meeting this week, it was events at the Business Management Overview and Scrutiny Committee that could have a much more profound impact.
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Sat 14th Nov 2009
Two planning meetings attended this week. On Tuesday the Finchley and Golders Green Planning Sub Committee met for its regular monthly get together. On Thursday the main Planning Committee sat in judgement.
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Thu 5th Nov 2009
Less than six months to the local elections in May next year. So I wondered what the atmosphere would be like at Tuesday's full Council meeting. It was all rather odd. It was as if War had not been quite declared but all sides were waiting for the other to fire the first shot.
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Sat 31st Oct 2009
The hastily rearranged Finchley and Golders Green Residents' Forum turned out to be, by all accounts, a rowdy affair. I had another engagement so could not attend. I have seen a number of emails flying back and forth which give the impression that residents were very unhappy with Barnet Council.
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Mon 19th Oct 2009
An issue that will not go away was raised again when I held a regular ward surgery at the Railway Terraces. Some months ago Barnet Council painted double yellow lines. No one told the residents who awoke one morning to find Council Contractors hard at work.
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Written by Matthew Harris and published in Jewish Chronicle on Sun 18th Oct 2009
As a communally active Liberal Democrat, I have lived through more than the occasional Jewish political row. Letters from the Board of Deputies, front page headlines in the JC - I don't so much have that T-shirt, as a whole wardrobe full of them. The latest such row, about the Tories' new allies in the European Conservatives and Reformists group, is like a greatest hits compilation of this ever-expanding genre, prompting me to offer the Tories some entirely unsolicited tips on how to manage (and how not to manage) the fallout:
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Thu 15th Oct 2009
I went walk about (not in the Australian Bush but along Cricklewood Broadway) last week end. It was organised by a resident group called North West Two. This group operate from the Brent Side of the Edgware Road. They are well organised and their campaign to make Cricklewood a better place to live is paying off.
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Written by Cllr Jack Cohen and published in Hendon Times on Sat 26th Sep 2009
Wednesday's planning committee turned out to be an anti climax. The main item and probably most controversial planning application in recent years was suddenly off the agenda. The Brent Cross regeneration plans had certainly attracted lots of opposition. I had ploughed through three hundred pages of text only to learn very late in the day that the planners wanted more time to consider late representations.
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