Friday joke: Brian Coleman, and how to discourage dependence on subsidised housing

Victorian values return to Broken Barnet: for some of us

Updated below:

Mrs Angry did not attend the Broken Barnet Cabinet meeting last night, as she was too tired and fed up, and could not bear the thought of spending another evening staring at a row of snivelling Tory councillors: she thought she could leave the blogging duty safely in the hands of fellow bloggers.

What a mistake. Mr Mustard turned up late, apparently: really, Mr Mustard ... and ex Tory councillor Barnet Bugle had an argument with camera shy Brian Coleman, which Mrs Angry would have loved to have seen.

Never mind. The Barnet Bugle has partially redeemed himself by uploading an gobsmackingly awful piece of footage (awful in terms of content, although ahem, sound quality not very good, or perhaps it's my dodgy hearing). Mrs Angry has stolen this and will attempt to link it here - don't hold your breath ...

Cabinet 3 Nov 2011 Item 7 - Report of the Cabinet Member for Housing - Cancel Upload? Local Tenancy Strategy from The Barnet Bugle Ltd

Try not to be distracted by Councillor Andrew Harper fiddling with his very pink portfolio, right there at the table: marvel at the sanctimonious claptrap spouting from the mouth of Councillor Tom Davey. You know, Davey, the new Cabinet member for housing, and an Imperial Tobacco employee who thinks that public sector jobs are not real jobs. He also disapproves of the shiftless, undeserving poor, who are too keen on becoming dependent on social housing subsidised by the tax payer, and so Barnet tenancies are now going to be available on a limited basis only.

If you are poor in Broken Barnet, this is your fault, of course, a result of your feckless life choices and you and your children deserve to be punished. You may, if your 'positive contribution to the community' is proven, make it one day to the top of the list for social housing, but this will be allocated only as long as Tom Davey and his Tory chums think you deserve it.

Children whose parents have forgotten to make time in their working lives, struggling to pay the bills and bring up their families, to devote themselves to the Big Society, opening libraries, delivering meals on wheels, or acting as armchair auditors, will necessarily be punished for their parents's sins, and it serves them right for choosing such irresponsible mums and dads.

Should there be a family with children which is genuinely homeless - and not pretending, like so many poor people do - it may be possible to place them in Barbara Langstone House, if they are really lucky. Here they can run along corridors that have to be continually checked for drug dealing, or learn what it is like to survive in council accommodation with serious mental health issues but no support. They may even be invited to join our popular local gang, whose increasingly violent members have often been recruited from this hostel.

For those tenants lucky enough to find social housing: it would be a mistake for you to become too comfortable, settle down, make a life and feel a part of your community. Councillor Davey and his Tory mates will be coming round on a regular basis to see who is in your spare bedroom, for a start, and if it is empty, you will be turned out on the street. As he tells us in this clip, tenants cannot expect to be supported all their lives by the rest of us.

Sitting next to Tom Davey throughout this sermon is his colleague Councillor Brian Coleman, AM, FRSA.

Councillor Coleman, you will note, does quite a lot of nodding. Oh:ah - Councillor Coleman stops nodding and does a lot of ticking of unseen notes at one point. It seems to coincide with an explanation as to why it is unacceptable for people to live in subsidised accommodation with surplus rooms when their circumstances do not support such a subsidy.

Councillor Brian Coleman, AM, FRSA, who earns around £128,000 per annum from four publicly funded posts does not of course live in accommodation subsidised by the tax payer. As we know, he lives in a flat owned by a charity, Finchley Methodist Church, and his flat has a rent protected by the Valuation Office at £546 per month: around half the market rate for this area.

Perhaps Councillor Coleman would like to go and live in Barbara Langstone House, where his housing needs can be perfectly accommodated, and perhaps he might care to offer his flat to one of the two families with children who are currently incarcerated there?

What do you think, Councillor Davey?

*Update

Now adding a clip showing Mr Reasonable asking a reasonable question, as he always does: told that we can't the budget proposals be discussed at our residents' forums, he asks what the council is afraid of. Watch Brian Coleman's body language (if you can bear it) as soon as Mr Reasonable is called to the table, and (if you can bear it) watch the next four minutes, as he rudely sits looking at his phone rather than listen to Councillor Lady Palmer's contribution to the meeting.

Cabinet 3 Nov 2011 - Item 5 - Report of the Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Resources and Performance - Business Pl from The Barnet Bugle Ltd on Vimeo.