Believe in ourselves

Last Shabbat we read the Sedra of Shelach Lecha (this coming week outside of Israel), which tells us about how the leaders of the Jewish people went to view the Land of Israel, as the Jewish people were preparing to enter the land from the desert, as G-d had promised them.

However, we read how 10 of the leaders told the Jewish people, how it was too dangerous for them to live in the Land of Israel, which the Jewish people agreed with. Our Rabbi's tell us how the Jewish people consintued to have a slave mentality , as they had only been freed from their lives as slaves just over a year preiously. They were therefore unable to believe that they could successfully defeat the incumbent residents of the land and rule themselves.

Last week I went on a tiyul (tour) in which I saw some of the sites along Road 1, where the battles took place to safeguard Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, during the War of Indepence between 1947 and 1949. I learnt of how in many of the battles, Israel's soldiers were Holocaust survivors of only three years previously. Despite this though, they were strong enough and had the belief that they could help to defend Israel, so that they were able to live in the Jewish State of Israel.

During the Tiyul, I was able to see how in modern times, our heroes who help to protect the land of Israel, have been able to overcome the difficulties that many Biblical Leaders were scared to accept, and thanks to these modern day heroes, our soldiers, we are able to safely live in the Land of Israel.

Don't let them stop people travelling

The last few days have seen two international cities disrupted by groups trying to stop the public from using transport systems and I condemn both groups.

On Shabbat, so called religious Jews from Mea Shearim tried to block the opening of a car park near the Old City of Jerusalem. The City Municipality wanted to open this car park, so that many non-Jewish tourists to Jerusalem would easily be able to access the Old City on Shabbat, when other car parks are shut. This car park was free and was operated by non-Jewish workers so that Shabbat law would not be broken. And yet, the so called religious Jews decided to riot to stop visitors to Jerusalem from being able to use this car park and even attacked policeman, therefore breaking Shabbat themselves. This group should learn their lesson and make it easier for tourists to visit Jerusalem.

Today and tomorrow in London, workers on the London Underground are holding what appears to be their annual strike, despite being some of the highest paid public sector workers in London. They are therefore also disrupting people from geting to work or allowing people to travel around London for leisure purposes, thus causing further disruption to the economy when London is trying to recover from a recession. Its about time they were banned from striking.

Dear Angry Labour Supporter

In my post below, an anonymous person has left a rather angry comment, who from his rant is I suspect a Labour supporter. Here is my response below.


Dear Anonymous

You sound very angry, maybe you should relax.

Let me answer your points one by one.

Although I have moved to Israel, I am still also a UK citizen and care for the future of my former home town, particularly as my family still live in Edgware. Maybe if the Labout Party felt the same, they would call a General Election straight away so that the country can rid itself of the useless Gordon Brown.

As a Councillor I was always very concerned to ensure that Edgware was as good as possible, as I wanted to live in a nice town, and I hope many people agree that the Conservative Councillors and the Administration did a good job to achieve this. I am sure Councillors Hart and Scannell also felt the same way as me, and I hope Darrel will be the same, as he is also an Edgware resident.

I resigned as a Councillor when I moved to Israel, up until that time I continued to work hard to represent Edgware's residents. Given that Burnt Oak residents often also came to me for help, I probably also did more than the Labour Burnt Oak Councillors.

Edgware and Totteridge - Excellent Conservative Results

In addition to the European elections, there were two bye-elections in Barnet yesterday in Edgware and Totteridge

A few local campaigners have been arguing that the Conservative run Barnet Council was doing a bad job, and were not popular with the local public.

However, the results, with both Conservaive Candidates getting over 50% of the vote shows that the people of Barnet want to elect a Conservative Government as soon as possible but also have confidence in the Conservative Council.

It also shows that when the country get rid of Gordon Brown, Hendon will also throw out Andrew Dismore and replace him with the Conservative Candidate Matthew Offord.

I would like to congratulate Darrel Yawitch and Alison Cornelius on becoming new councillors. I hope with the current concerns about politicians in the UK they are able to live up to their principles and beliefs and help to make Barnet a better place.

I also think based on number of votes received, Darrel is the most popular Councillor in Barnet, happy to be corrected if I am wrong. I am sure as he replaces me, Edgware will continue to have another excellent Councillor alongside Helena Hart and Joan Scannell.

Obama Calls for Peace in the Middle East

In years past, yesterday I would have been working hard campaigning in London on election day, instead I had the change to hear Obama's speach on his views between the West and the Middle East.

Over the past couple of weeks Obama has been making a number of difficult requirments for Israel, which I have been critical of, but yesterday I thought Obama made a good speech even though I disagreed with much of it.

What I think is clear is that Obama wants to create peace between Islam and the West and between the Arabs and Israel. These are worthy aims but I am not sure whether he can achieve them.

The West and Israel do want to live in peace with the Arab and Islamic world but I believe they will struggle to find partners for peace. Obama has already started to make concessions with his greater tolerance of Iran (the most dangerous country in the world) as they get closer to having nuclear weapons. Israel, in my view will also be willing to make concessions on its settlement of the West Bank and a Palestinian State, (as it has done time and time again) even if many Israeli's disagree with these concessions.

However, the Arab's are looking to wipe Israel off the map, and Islam as described by Bin Ladin yesterday, said they are willing to embark on a long war for Islamic domination of the world. These are enemies that are not going to accept peace. That is why even if Obama calls on them to accept the histroy of the Jewish people, including the Holocaust and its right to a homeland in Israel, not even he can persaude them to accept a peaceful outcome.

Israel is not giving into Obama

President Obama's administration appears to be continuing with its statements that the future of Middle East Peace is reliant on Israel stopping all construction of settlement activity in the West Bank.

The American Government wants Israel to not allow any new house extensions or new buidlings in existing towns in the West Bank (which makes up almost 10% of Israel's population). However, in his meeting last week with the Palestinian leader Abbas, President Obama hardly requested anything of the Palestinians, despite them continually being the party that opposes peace treaties.

However, I am pleased to say that Netenyahu and his whole Government continue to support the continuation of settlements in the historic Jewish homeland, while rightly trying to stop outposts with legal planning.

This week President Obama is likely to set out his broad plans for how to achieve in the Middle East, when he visits Egypt. I hope the other Barak, Israel's Defence Minister, can talk some sense into the Americans during his vist this week, before the President makes his major speech.

United Jerusalem

42 years ago today, Israel defeated Jordan and the other Arab neighbours in the Six Day War, and Jerusalem was again united as one Jewish city, which could again become the Capital City of Israel and the Jewish People, with the Old City and the Western Wall at its heart.

After 2000 years, the Jewish people again had sovereignty over our holiest site. Last night I enjoyed being part of the celebrations in our united capital of Jerusalem, as ten's of thousands of people made their way to celebrate in the old city. Prior the refunification of the city, Jews found it very difficult if not impossible to pray at the Western Wall or even enter the old city. Now, under Israel's sovereignty, every religion is able to carry out their religion freely and safely.

I believe that Israel must therefore retain full sovereignty over the old city of Jerusalem.

This week Barak Obama and Binyamin Netanyahu met to discuss how peace could be reached between Israel and its Arab neighbourhs, before Obama this weeks meet with the Palestinian leadership.

According to reports the American President wants to achieve peace in the Middle East by Israel withdrawing from the West Bank and east Jersualem (including the old city). This plan is not very different from the many peace plans that have been promoted since 1947 and which each time have been rejected by our Arab neighbours, most notably by Yasser Araft in 2000.

Israel has continually shown it is happy to agree peace with the Arab nations, and even completely withdrew from Gaza. However, this independence for Gaza saw the rise of Hamas and the continual use of rockets by Hamas as they have been fired into southern Israel.

So I say to the new American President, yes we do want peace but before we can agree to peace, we need to be sure that our Arab neigbours will actually accept Israel as a Jewish State and not continually attack it, as they have done for the past 61 years.

Are spending and tax cuts on the way in Barnet?

Barnet Council are tonight approving the Mayor and Executive for the upcoming year.

Much of the local news and blog coverage has concentrated on Councillor Brian Coleman becoming Mayor and Councillor Lynne Hillan becoming the Deputy Leader and Resources Member.

What I find more interesting is that Councillors Robert Rams and Dan Thomas are joining Councillor Richard Cornelius on the Executive. These three Councillors who were part of the 2006 in-take have continually spoken about the importance of cutting spending and council tax.

I hope now that they are in the Executive they will use their power to deliver Conservative principles by cutting public spending and so Council Tax. This also means that they need to find cuts and efficiencies in their own portfolios.

Support the Young Jewish Political Network today and Keep out the BNP

If you are free this afternoon, I urge you to get down to Golders Green Road this afternoon to help the YJPN campaign to keep out the BNP in the European elections on 4 June.

Just over a year ago, together with a few friends I helped to set up the Young Jewish Political Network.

I thought that an organisation was needed where young Jewish adults who wanted to make a political difference needed an organisation where they could get together to help represent Jewish and Israeli causes. We therefore set about launching the organisation and to find members which we were able to do with the help of the CST and the Jewish Leadership Council.

Following a number of networking events, I am pleased to say that this afternoon, the YJPN will holding their first campaigning event where they will be urging people to vote in the European Elections on 4th June, so as to maximise the vote and to keep out the BNP.

I wish good luck to the YJPN and hope that this is the first of many successfuly events as it develops into a vital organisation in London.

Good Luck to Darrel Yawitch

Darrel Yawitch will be the Conservative Candidate in the election on 4th June, where the residents of Edgware will vote to decide who will replace me as a Councillor for Edgware.

I would like to wish good luck to Darrel Yawitch, and urge all the residents of Edgware to vote for him.

As an Edgware resident, Darrel has already worked hard for other local residents by helping to open and build the new Edgware Jewish Primary School. I am sure as a new Councillor for Edgware he would be an excellent representative for the people of Edgware.

Its the economy stupid!

With just ten days to go until the Binyamin Netenyahu meets Barak Obama, it seems to be becoming increasingly clear what the new Israel Government's position will be in terms of working to negotiate a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

While not ruling out a Palestinian State, the Israeli Government appears to be moving towards a position where instead of allowing a Palestinian State to be declared as soon as possible, the Israeli Government will work with our neighbours in the Arab world and other interested participants from around the world, to help develop the economy and civil society of the Palestinian people.

I believe this is a good move.

Last week in Israel and around the world, we celebrated Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel's Independence Day, and we celebrated how 61 years ago Israel was able to become an independent Jewish State. However, 61 years ago Israel did not majically appear, the Jewish people for fifty to eighty years previously had worked to develop a civic society and economy that could support an independent state. We see this as we celebrate the 100th birthday this year of Tel Aviv.

61 years ago, when the United Nations voted to accept Israel as an independent state, the Jewish people worked hard to create a successfull indpendent state, and it has continued to develop successfully over the past 61 years. However, at the same time the Arab world rejected Israel and so also rejected the idea of a neighbouring Palestine. This view has continued amongst the Arab world, until today so that in Camp David Arafat refused a Palestinian State, and so did Abu Mazen last year, when offered it by Prime Minister Olmert. Therefore, while Israel has continued to develop, the Palestinian people have been working to destroy Israel instead of trying to build their own society and economy.

Therefore, even if the Palestinian's were to accept their own state alongside the Jewish State of Israel, they would not now be in a position to do so effectively. Therefore, firstly the world needs to work with a Palestinian Authority Government (that recognises that they will have to live side-by-side with Israel) to help develop their economy and society and then this will help create a more stable environment which would allow for an independent state to be created.

It is not for nothing that a successful economy is vital for a successful government.

I was told that late 1970s were bad

I think I made a good decision coming to Israel....

Britain has another 15 months of a disastrous government

Yom Hashoa and the UN's View

Tonight and tomorrow is Yom Hashoa where in Israel and for Jews around the world, we will be remembering the martyrs of the Holocaust (this date was chosen by Israel to commemorate the start of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising).

However, on the same day the Iranian President who will be the keynote speaker at the UN's Human Rights Conference, publicly denies the existance of the Holocaust and has called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

I have recently written about how I am concerned about the rise in anti-Semitism that over the past five or so years has started to increase in Britain. However, this is not a phenomenon that is just occuring but which is increasing all over the world. In effect we are experiencing the worst period of anti-Semitim since the Holocaust.

Holocaust Days were introduced in order to highlight the result of hatred and racism, so as to never again allow a genocide to happen again. However, despite us having these days to reflect on the result of hatred and racism, we have still allowed genocides to happen in the former Yugoslavia, Rwuanda and currently in Darfur and Zimbabwe.

The United Nations was also established just over 60 years in order to stop hatred and racism, and in 2001 held a Human Rights, Anti-Racism Conference in Durban South Africa. However, rather than try and halt human rights abuses around the world, whether in the forms of sexism, racism or homophopia; the UN as its sole human rights objective, again began a battle with Israel by effectively defining it as a racist state. As a student at the time I immediately noticed an increase in the hatred of Israel and Jewish students at the time, to the result that on campuses around Britain, groups began to try and ban Jewish Societies in the same way as they did in the 1970s. Not only this, Jewish students were both verbally and physically abused.

I therefore believe that it was the UN's 2001 so called 'anti-racism' conference that has led to the worst anti-semitism occuring in the past 60 years.

This week the UN are again holding a Human Rights, Anti-Racism Conference. I hope unlike in 2001, the delegates actually choose to find a way to tackle racism, sexism and homophobia around the world. However, I am not confident and so I back the few countries such as Italy, the USA and Australia who have supported Israel in boycotting the Conference.

The reason I am not confident is because the UN have invited the Iranian President Ahmadinejad to be the key speaker. Mr Ahmadinejad has actively denied and supported others who deny the Holocaust occured and has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, at the same time as developing nuclear weapons. Given this fact and that Iran together with Libya have prepared the conference, I am concerned that the Arabic World and their supporters will again try and target Israel, which will further worsen the level of anti-Semitism around the world. If this does occur I hope Britain and other delegates will walk-out of the conference and show it for the farce that it is.

Only through actively showing that the world does not support anti-Semitism and the destruction of Israel, can the world help to defeat these evils.

Hendon's Labour MP will be taking more taxpayers money in 2009/10

British news has recently been dominated by Labour sleaze and MPs wasting taxpayers money. When I was an aspiring Councillor I hoped I could try and help to change this political culture in Britain, however, alas I was unable to and the scinical abuse by many British politicians is not something I will miss when I resign as a Councillor.

Andrew Dismore the Labour MP for Hendon I believe is one of the worst examples of MPs abusing their expenses and taxpayers money. Over 10 years as an MP he has failed to even reach the first ladder of Government, yet consistently has had one of the highest expenses bills in the country. However, this week he has tried to pretend that he will be reducing his expenses when in reality they will be increasing.

Mr Dismore has said he will be claiming less tax payers money in 2009/10, when in fact he will be claiming more.

He has proudly issued a press release announcing that he would no longer be claiming the MP's Second Home Allowance. This he has been claiming for his flat in Burnt Oak (which I don't think he lives in much) while mainly living in Westminster, where he has lived since even before becoming an MP. Mr Dismore announced that he would stop claiming this allowance, which he said in 2008/9 was likely to be £3056.

However, instead he will continue to claim the London Weighting Allowance for his flat in Westminster. In 2009/10 this will increase by £4600 from £2900 to £7500. Therefore because Mr Dismore intends to live in Westminster and not Burnt Oak, next year he will be claiming about £1500 more than he will have claimed in 2008/9.

This is yet another example of Labour MPs taking the taxpayer for a ride.

‘This year we are here – next year, may we be in the Land of Israel.’

I would like to share with you one of the thoughts that I had as we enjoyed our Sedar at our friends Yehuda and Rachel Newman.

On Wednesday night, Sonia and I sat down to our first Sedar together in Israel and as usual began with Ha Lachma Anya, part of which reads; ‘this year we are here – next year, may we be in the Land of Israel.’

For all our lives we have been beginning the Sedar with the hope that we would be able to fulfil this desire to be able to live in the land of Israel, and this year just three weeks after making aliyah, our hopes have been fulfilled. For us this was a relatively easy move, albeit with all the difficulties of any migration.

Our journey to Israel though is a small-microcosm of the history of the Jewish people. As the Rabbi’s write; the lives and stories of our forefathers in the Torah, are a parallel of future events. The whole Pesach story is the story of how G-d helped the Jewish people to escape Egypt and eventually reach Egypt, after the Yaacov and his sons migrated to Egypt because of the famine in Egypt. The line above in the Hagadah refers to the hope that the Jewish people had for 2000 years after they were exiled from Israel by the Roman Empire.

This hope that next year we would be able to live in Israel, is found all through Jewish prayer. One place it is found is in the Sheva Brachot that we say on behalf of new married couples, there we request that we may again here in the cities of Israel and in the streets of Jerusalem, voices of joy and gladness, voices of the groom and bride … and the voices of young people feasting and singing.

This hope that we would one-day be able to live happily in the Land of Israel has been seen over the last hundred years and especially since the founding of the State of Israel almost 61 years ago.

Therefore, as the Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sack says in his Pesach Hagadah, just as at Pesach we remember the historic returns of the Jewish people to Israel, we should also thank G-d for our new return to Israel. This is because;

“Pesach, like a seed frozen in suspended animation, contained the latent energy the led Jews in the twentieth century to create the single most remarkable accomplishment in the modern world, the rebirth of Israel, the land, the state, the nation and the people.”[1]
[1] The Chief Rabbi’s Haggadah, Essays by Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, page 52.



Modiin's main squre full to bursting during Bichat Hachama, Wednesday 8 April, Erev Pesach


On Wednesday morning before our Sedar night, here in Modiin I was able to take part in the celebration of the creation of the world, at the cities communal Birchat Hachama service. Here I saw the voices of joy and gladness as we the Jewish people were able to thank G-d and celebrate here in the land of Israel.
However, just as in the past our future in Israel is not secure. Just in the last few days, since the swearing in of the new Netanyahu Government we have heard many statements which has created questions about what Israel will look like in the future. We have seen Gerry Adams meet with the leader of Hamas in Gaza, we have seen Iran move forward with its Nuclear programme, we have heard President Obama say it is vital to create a two-state solution, and we have heard the new Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman say that it is for the new Israeli Government to set out a process for peace in Israel.

This Pesach I am going to continue enjoy celebrating the history of the Jewish people and our return to Israel, but in the coming weeks I hope to look at what awaits our future here.

Chag Sameach

p.s. I enjoyed being able to write this on 2nd day Pesach (Yom Tov in England).

Future of my blog - www.richardfweider.blogspot.com

Given that I will be soon be standing down as one of the Edgware Councillors on Barnet Council. I thought now would be a good time to update you on the future of my blog.

However, firstly I would like to thank the organisations that have helped to make our aliyah to Israel possible. Nefesh B'Nefesh, the Jewish Agency and the Modiin Absorption Centre have so far all helped to make our aliyah smooth and easy.

Being a Councillor has many benefits, including being able to make a difference for your local community. However, being a Councillor also means that I had to accept collective responsibility and so I had to limit my views made in public, whether I agreed or disagreed with a Conservative Policy.

Now that I am relinquishing my responsibilities I will again use this blog to express my opinion on various issues and events. I plan to use this blog to comment on local and national issues both in Israel and England. I hope to make this blog interesting for you the readers, and hopefully to provide new and useful insights.

Chag Pesach Sameach.

Modiin - Our new home

Following my resignation letter of yesterday I thought you might be interested in where Sonia and I are now living.

We have chosen to live in Modiin.

Modiin is a town that is only 12 years old, in central Israel, with a population of about 60,000 people, but which as plans to become the third or fourth largest city in Israel. The town, which is half an hour from both Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv, has a very Israeli-Mediterranean feel, with lovely white Jerusalem stone buildings, lots of parks. There is also a large anglo-population with lots of immigrants from England. The website http://www.ourmodiin.co.il/ is an excellent information tool and if you are interested provides lots of information on Modiin.

In reporting my resignation yesterday, the Edgware Times picked up on my comment that due to the worrying rise in anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in England, many Jews no longer feel safe. However, I would like to make clear that is not the reason why Sonia and I are making aliyah.

As I wrote yesterday, we believe that Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people where it is right that we should live and where we want to live the rest of our lives; in order to help contribute to the successful future of the Jewish people, in the centre of Jewish life. We are therefore being pulled to Israel and not being pushed away from England.

However, I also see the growing levels of anti-Semitism that are occurring across Europe and see the re-emergence of anti-Semitism that has occurred in Europe throughout the past two-thousand years. The difference today though is that for the past 60 years, as a Jewish people we now have Israel as a State to support and defend us. I therefore feel lucky that I am able to settle here in Israel the home of the Jewish people, when I think of how many millions of Jews, over the past two-thousand years could only dream of living here in Israel.

My Resignation as Councillor

I am writing to let you know that two weeks ago my wife Sonia and I decided to make aliyah (emigrate) to Israel. I have therefore decided to step down as a Councillor for Edgware Ward.

For the past three years I have felt privileged to serve, support, represent and help the people of Edgware both on their individual issues and those relating to Barnet Council. I have also been proud to be part of the Conservative Administration running Barnet Council under the leadership of Councillors Mike Freer and Matthew Offord and hope you have experienced some of the improvements that I have helped to achieve.

These achievements have included amongst others:
- the improvement of Edgware Library and its opening on Sundays;
- improvements to Stonegrove Park and Edgwarebury Park, which recently received a Green Flag;
- continued improvements to local schools,
- the rebuilding of Broadfields Primary;
- the planning permission for Edgware Jewish Primary School;
- improvements to recycling so that plastic and cardboard can now be recycled;
- fighting for better health care;
- good local cohesion; and
- working closely with the local police.

In order to save you the local taxpayers the £10,000 cost of a by-election, my resignation will be timed to coincide with the European elections, scheduled for 4th June. In the meantime you will continue to be represented by my two colleagues:
Cllr Helena Hart - cllr.h.hart@barnet.gov.uk 020 8371 0658
Cllr Joan Scannell - cllr.j.scannell@barnet.gov.uk 020 8959 5921

My wife and I have decided to emigrate to Israel, because we believe passionately in Israel as the home of Jewish people and believe it is where all Jews should strive to live. Therefore, at this stage in our lives we believe this is the correct step to make. Whilst, we are moving for positive reasons, we are also concerned about the rising levels of anti-Semitism in England, where Jews no longer always feel comfortable living as Jews and supporting Israel.

Over my life I have learnt to love Israel, and for the past ten years I have been doing my best to show this to others by supporting and representing Israel. However, I also believe that it is time for us to contribute even more to Israel by living our lives here and helping to make it as successful a country as possible.

I hope that during my time as Councillor, you have appreciated what I have done, even if you did not always agree with it. I also apologies to anyone that I upset.

Finally, I hope to see you all in the future, either here in Israel or in London.


Cllr Richard Weider

Live Blog of Israeli Election Results

21:50 - Thats it for tonight more comment tomorrow

21:45 - Shas are recommending Likud as the main governing party and Netanyahu and Lieberman are speaking on the phone.

21:40 - Is this the end of Barak and Labour. Yes to the first, increasinly likely to the latter. What are we to make of the continual decline of the founding party of Israel.

21:10 - Sky news are suggesting that Kadima, Likud and Labour could form a grand-coaltion. While, others are trying to suggest and workout how Kadima or Likud form their own coalitions, I think the grand-coalition is quite likely.

21:05 - Turnout was 65%. Despite predictions of Israeli's not being interested in the election. This shows what happens when an election is close, turnout goes-up by over 2% from last time.

20:50 - Despite being the second largest party, Likud, including Netanyahu are predicting they will form the Government. That is confident at this stage. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1063118.html

20:45 - The people have spoken but as usual in Israel in recent years the elections have been very close. Therefore in the days and weeks ahead as the parties negotiate to try and form a Government, I urge them to remember that they are working to lead Israel, the Jewish state. They should respect who ever forms the Government and becomes Prime Minister, as a Government should. However, the new Government should also remember their responsibility as leaders of Israel and work to help all citizens.

20:40 - Thunder and heavy rain in Israel. Let's hope it is G-d welcoming a new Prime Minister, but who will it be?

20:35 - Earlier today both Kadima and Likud said the size of their votes would be determined by organisation, organisation, organisation. Given that Kadima's volunteers are paid to help the party, unlike the others, could this be the reason for Kadima winning.

20:30 - The exit polls are a bit of a shock. Polls prior to the election were showing that Likud were expected to be the largest party even if their lead had dramatically declined in the past few weeks. However, Likud's falling lead was argued to be because of Yisrael Beitanu having an increasing number of seats from them. This though does not seem to be the reason for Kadima being in the lead as Yisrael Beitanu have not got as many seats as predicted.

20:20 - Twenty Minutes ago the polls closed in the Israeli election results. The exit polls are showing that out of the 120 seats in the Knesset:

Livni's party Kadima are the largest party with 29 - 30 seats
Netanyahu's party Likud are second with 27 - 28 seats
Leiberman's party Yisrael Beitanu have 14 - 15 seats
Barak's party Labour have 13 seats
Shas 9 - 10 seats

Taking in the minority parties http://muqata.blogspot.com/ is predicting that right wing parties have 63 - 65 seats and the left wing parties 55 -57 seats.

Israeli Elections

The Israeli elections are just two days away on this coming Tuesday and are looking increasingly intriguing.

If I were to be living in Israel I would be supporting Benjamin Netenyahu and the Likud.
However, despite the majority of Israeli’s looking to be supporting parties on the right of Israel, there will be questions over whether Likud can win enough votes to form the Government.

Will they be able to stop voters moving to Israel Beitanu, which could see Kadima become the largest party?

Will the centre-left and left parties see their vote decline dramatically?

Who will be the surprise party in this election.

What type of coalition will be formed?

On Tuesday evening, I hope to be running a live blog answering some of these questions as the results come in and events unfold, see you then.

Do you have a question for me to ask?

On Tuesday I will be attending the Council's Environment and Transport Scrutiny Committee.

The agenda can be seen here http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/meetings/meetingdetail.asp?meetingid=4686

and includes items of discussion on:

- the Council's Performance Indicators
- a review of the Council's street cleaning service
- a report on tree protection in Barnet

To give the public a chance to have a question answered, I am happy to consider asking any questions on the agenda, that are posted in my comments section.

So over to you!

New Life for Edgware's Railway Pub

This week at the Planning Committee I was pleased to support the planning application, which gave permission to convert the Railway Pub in Edgware into a new hotel.

This 1930's listed building which opened as a pub at the same time as the tube station opened, has become a landmark for Edgware. However, in recent years the building has been empty as the pub shut down a number of years ago. I am therefore pleased that the pub will soon reopen together with the hotel and will be improved so that it continues to be an important building in Edgware.

Boris or Barkat who is the better Mayor?

Last night Nir Barkat was elected as the new Mayor of Jerusalem, following Boris' election as London Mayor 6 months ago, I now have my preferred choices as the Mayors of my two favourite capital cities.

In his first 6 months as Mayor of London, Boris has done an excellent job in developing new and exciting strategies to reduce youth crime and knife crime in London, developing a better transport strategy for London, and finding plenty of ways to reduce the cost of running London, so that the London charge of the Council Tax will not rise next year.

I hope Boris continues in this excellent way and that Nir Barkat is also as good in improving the living and economic coniditions in Jerusalem. This will ensure that these two cities can rightfully be seen as the two best cities in the world.

Update on Barnet's money with Iceland's banks

Further to my previous post about the position on Barnet Council's savings I point you towards an explanation of the situation from the Leader of the Council, Mike Freer.

http://leaderlistens.com/

Barnet's money in Iceland

As has been well publicised, Barnet Council has £27.4 million invested in banks in Iceland. This has led to much concern amongst residents of Barnet, given the financial situation across the world and in Iceland and the UK in particular.

Next week, the Council's Cabinet will be discussing the issue. Ahead of this meeting, a paper has been published on the Council's website which helps to explain the situation. http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/reports/reportdetail.asp?ReportID=7341

There has been much debate about whether the Council should invest it's income in bank accounts and the paper helps to outline the wider circumstance's on why this has been done, which has helped over previous years to increase the Council's income. This has therefore helped to maintain the level of services, while not having to raise Council Tax even more then it has increased.

Following the Cabinet meeting next Wednesday on 23 October. There will be an Extraordinary Council meeting at 6:30pm on Tuesday 4 November at Barnet House, to discuss this issue.

Response to Don't call me Dave

A commentor on my previous post about the Council's new website www.whereilive.org has asked me some questions about one of the postings which was made on the site, which he has said was rude to Jewish people.

I condemn all forms of attacks on Jewish people, whether they be verbal or physical and if anyone experiences this I urge them to report it to the police or the CST http://www.thecst.org.uk/index.cfm?Content=9

I am though not able to comment on whether the posting was anti-semitic, as the Council took the posting off before I had a chance to view it, and has referred the comment to the Borough Police Commander. I believe this is the correct action.

What I do know is that sadly a number of residents in the borough are racist and anti-semitic, but I am glad that these appear to be a tiny minority of the population. However, if this comment or other actions do appear to be anti-semitic they should be punished in accordance with the law.

A new way to comment on what you think of the area

I am pleased to say that Barnet Council are always trying to find new ways for local residents to communicate with the Council and to give us all the chance to give our views on what we think of the area and areas which can be improved.

To do this Barnet Council has launched a new You Tube style website that allows you to provide comments or to provide video and pictures of what you like or don't like.

So next time you have a chance why not have a look at www.whereilive.org

Happy New Year

I would like to wish a Shana Tova to my Jewish readers. I hope we will all have a sweet, successful and peaceful new year.

New CCTV Camera for Glengall Road

I am pleased that this Friday, Barnet Council's Resources Committee will be considering a paper which proposes the installation of a new CCTV camera on Glengall Road, this financial year.

Glengall Road is an area for Edgware which suffers from anti-social behaviour, with a number of teenagers hanging about and annoying the local residents and businesses with loutish behaviour and sometimes more serious criminal incidents.

As one of the local councillors this is an area I have been working very closely with the local police safer neighbourhood team to improve. I believe this CCTV camera will help to reduce the amount of anti-social behaviour and criminal activity in this area. Therefore, making the Glengall Road neighbourhood a nicer place to live.

I am therefore urging the members of the committee to support this proposal.

Salute to Israel

Today I am attending the Salute to Israel Parade in London, to celebrate Israel's 60th anniversary. In just 60 years Israel has developed into a great country and we have much to be proud and celebrate about it.

Israel is a country that has been under constant threat, but today is a today to celebrate it's many achievements. Whether it is in the field of entertainment, science, IT, culture or sport. Israel has been able to punch above it's weight. All while this for hoping for peace. Hopefully in the future we can enjoy many more achievements, while it's neighbours all finally accept that the Jewish people have a right to live in peace and safety in the Land of Israel.

I look forward to letting you know what I thought of the day.

Welcome to your new flats

One of the biggest issues in Edgware before I was elected was the regeneration of the Stonegrove estate on the edge of Edgware.
Thanks to the hard work done by the executive of the Council and my colleagues in Edgware Cllr Hart and Cllr Scannell, much of these controversies went away by listening to the concerns of the residents of Edgware.
This week the first new blocks of flats Chantry Court and Dower Court opened on the estate on a new road called Penniwell Close, off Sterling Avenue. This will now allow for the major regneration to take place with the first of the old blocks being demolished.
I hope these new flats will be the start of a new era for this area of Edgware which until now has been a poor estate.

Am I a victim of Boris' cut down on crime?

Over the last couple of years we have seen the shocking rise in knife and gun crime in London, which during the recent elections Boris promised to crack down on once he became Mayor.

Yesterday, I was one of the first people to face this crack-down, when I was stopped and searched by the police.

Boris promised to introduce knife detectors at tube stations across London. Yesterday on my way home, one of these detectors was in place at Edgware Underground Station. Like every other person I had to go through this detector, and when I did my keys set of the alarm.

Therefore, as the police are required to do, they decided to stop-and-search me. This took about 5 minutes of time. While it may have slightly delayed me I pleased to see this policy is being rolled out across London to catch people with knives and guns, which will hopefully see the level of crime fall.

Well done to Boris and the police team yesterday.

When will they meet their promise?

Back in October of last year the Labour Party were proudly saying that they had agreed to provide extra funding to ensure security from Jewish schools. http://www.andrewdismoremp.com/c4b915fd-c74a-c1f4-cdc7-a0c5c73d59fd


I welcomed this, because sadly and worryingly Jewish schools, such as in Barnet do face anti-Semitic attacks.


However, as with promises from this Labour Government, I didn't believe it would be true until schools received this money.

It therefore came as no surprise to me to see that three-quarters of a year later, this money seems to be non-existent and the Labour MP for Hendon, seems to have to beg for this promise to be met. http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/topstories/display.var.2287376.0.mp_calls_for_security_cash_for_jewish_schools.php


When will the Labour Government meet their promise and help protect the school children in these schools.

Yom Ha'atzmaut, the BNP and all that

Last week was Israel’s 60th anniversary of its Independence Day. This has provided an opportunity to look back on the successes of this small country which was created for the Jewish people.

To mark the 60th anniversary I was pleased to attend both a service at Kinloss Synagogue in Finchley and a celebration at Wembley Arena. Both these events made me realise how lucky we are to have a country in the world in which we the Jewish people can have a country which we can call home.

For 2000 years the Jewish people were scattered around the world and faced virtually constant anti-semitic attacks. This culminated in the Holocaust when 6 million Jews were murdered because they had no where to call home where they were able to escape from the Nazis.

However, we now have Israel, which was created just 3 years after the destruction of the Holocaust and over the past 60 years has been built up to become one of the strongest and most successful countries in the world. This is a great achievement, which for which we should be truly thankful.

Not least because as a resident of London, I now have a BNP politician claiming to represent me on the London Assembly, but who really wants me and many other people to leave this country, because we are not really British. However, if the BNP G-d forbid are to grow into a major force in this county, unlike for the past 2000 years, we Jewish residents will at least have Israel to escape to a place we can really call our home.

Mr Dismore what are you so frightened of?

I thought readers might be interested to see this article written by Robert Halfon and published on ConservativeHome yesterday http://conservativehome.blogs.com/centreright/2008/05/what-are-labour.html#comment-114229570

Some weeks ago, Conservative Friends of Israel was invited by Hadley Wood Jewish Community to speak in a Dimbleby Question Time-style debate. We readily agreed. I myself was due to appear on the platform with a representatives from other parties.

Last Thursday, we suggested to the organisation, that given the Labour Panelist was a local MP, Andrew Dismore, and the Liberal Panelist, a Barnet Councillor, Monroe Palmer, that instead of myself doing the debate, it might be more apt to have Councillor Matthew Offord (Deputy Leader of Barnet Council and Tory PPC for Hendon).

The organisers were initially pleased with this idea, particularly since Hadley Wood Jewish Community is in Barnet. Moreover Cllr Offord readily agreed to do the event instead of me.

On Friday, matters suddenly changed. The organisers, asked if I would stand in again because Andrew Dismore MP refused to share a platform with Matthew Offord. Astonished, I asked why, particularly given that, although Matthew was Mr Dismore's opponent, they would not be discussing any issues to do with Hendon. Moreover I argued that Matthew was not only Deputy Leader of Barnet Council, but was a member of CFI, had been on a CFI visit to Israel and had a wide knowledge of what was happening in Israel.

The response was clear and I reproduce it below for the benefit of CentreRight eaders:

"The difficulty is this. Andrew Dismore has a rule against debating with parliamentary opponents. He tells me this is standard practice. He is quite firm about this".

This really is a remarkable response from the Labour MP, particularly since no such rule exists and PPCs and MPs regularly share platforms up and down the country. In the last few weeks Boris and Ken debated on numerous platforms.

Out of courtesy to the Hadley Wood Jewish Community, and because of the incredible and kind efforts of the organiser, CFI agreed to do the debate this evening as originally agreed and I will appear on the Platform with Messrs Dismore and Palmer this evening.


For a local Labour MP to be frightened and refuse to debate with his opponent - on matters of a serious nature - just shows what has gone wrong.

Help defeat the BNP in Hale

In two weeks time on 1 May (the same day as the London elections) there will be a by election in Hale ward in Barnet.

Hale is the ward I use to live in and has a large Jewish population. It has therefore come as no surprise to me that the BNP a nasty fascist party, has continued its recent policy of targeting areas with large Jewish and ethnic communities.

The BNP exist because they want to drive out people, which they don’t consider ‘normal people’ from this country.

There is only one way in which the BNP can be defeated. That is by showing that the overwhelming majority of people disagree and hate their views, by coming out to vote for other political parties on 1 May.

I believe that the best way to do this is to vote for Tom Davey, the Conservative candidate in Hale ward. Tom, together with the Conservative Party, continues to support the Jewish community and it’s schools in Barnet, as excellent examples of community cohesion.

This is in contrast to the Labour Party, who led by Ed Balls the Secretary of State for Education, (and who has been supported by the local Labour Councillors) has been mischievously attacking the approach Jewish schools take. I don’t need to tell you what Ken Livingstone thinks of the Jewish community.

Therefore, on 1 May I urge you to show the BNP and Labour (including Ken) what you think of them, by voting Conservative.

Labour again criticise Jewish Schools

Today’s papers report that the Labour Government are continuing to attack the excellent Jewish schools in Barnet for no fair reason. The Labour Government and Andrew Dismore the Labour MP for Hendon have unfairly criticised Rosh Pinah, Beis Yakov, Hasmonean Primary and Secondary and Mathilda Marks Kennedy schools for asking for voluntary contributions.

As a councillor for Edgware, where Rosh Pinah is based and where many families of pupils in the other schools live, I feel the Labour party’s attack on these schools is disgraceful.

These schools are not requesting cash for places as the Labour Party is suggesting. Instead these are vital contributions which go towards Jewish studies and to the protection and security of pupils at these schools. This comes in the same week as Labour councillors on the planning committee in Hendon voted to not allow Od Yosef Hai in Hendon put up a security fence.

Yet again the Labour government have shown a complete lack of understanding of Jewish school, while Barnet Council and the Conservative Party continue to support them.

Have your say on London

I believe London is a great city but as a Councillor I know from comments I get from residents that it can always be improved.

Therefore I am pleased that a new cross-party think tank called LondonSays has been set up to campaign for London.

Londonsays has launched its iWant campaign to hear what Londoners want from their Mayor of London, who ever he will be after 1 May.

You can contribute at iwant@londonsays.org

Improvements on the way for Stonegrove

Last night I voted along with the majority of the planning and environment committee to support the overall outline planning application for the regeneration of the existing Stonegrove estate and to give full approval for the first zone of the application.

It has taken along time for this application to reach this stage and I would like to thank and congratulate my two colleagues Cllr Joan Scannell and Cllr Helena Hart for fighting so hard to get the previous planning permission scrapped and replaced with this much better application.

As a resident of Edgware all my life, I will be extremely pleased to see the existing estate fully demolished and rebuilt in what will be a much better design. I hope this will become a pleasant landmark for all the residents of Edgware and everyone who enters London via Edgware.

For many years now the estate has become completely run-down and a horrible place for it’s residents and a no-go area for the residents of the surrounding neighbourhood. This regeneration is therefore badly needed.

The regeneration will see the demolishment of sub-standard blocks of flats, including 6 blocks of 11 storey flats, with high quality flats and hundreds of houses with gardens (there are currently no houses on the estate) and only 3 blocks of 10 storey flats with the remaining blocks at lower levels.

The estate will also be designed and landscaped to merge in with the surrounding neighbourhood, so that it is no longer seen as a separate estate and a no-go area. However, for this to be effectively achieved, it will of course be important for the architects, planners and the council’s planning committee to ensure the landscaping and designs to be of a very high quality and for the public areas to be properly managed in the future. As Edgware councillors I and my colleagues will continue to ensure this happens together with ensuring proper traffic measures are put in place.

I am also pleased that the developers of this estate will also be providing approximately in £1 million to Barnet to help fund extra resources for the local area, which will include funding for health services and to improve the local Edgwarebury and Stonegrove parks.

Last night’s decision was an important landmark decision for Edgware, which will see a much better development than the previous agreement. While, this is not a perfect solution for suburban Edgware, it will mark a drastic improvement on what is there currently for everyone concerned.

Are Faith Schools Safe under Gordon Brown's Government

I have written about the importance of having faith schools in this country before but I think it is important to raise this issue again. This is because over the past couple of weeks the Secretary of State for Education, Ed Balls has been backtracking over the Labour Government's support for these schools.

As a former pupil of Rosh Pinah and JFS both Jewish voluntary aided faith based state schools, I believe that these types of schools which have existed for decades and in the case of JFS for hundreds of years are excellent examples of what schools should be like. These and other faith schools produce children and young adults who can become active citizens in this country helping to make it a better place.

I would therefore be concerned if the Government was to stop supporting them.

I was though heartened to hear the recent comments of Michael Gove, the Conservative Education spokesman in Parliament, who highlighted the excellent success story of Jewish schools.

“As to history, I would like the House to recall the experience of one minority community in Britain. Its members came here, often fleeing persecution, with few resources and little in the way of marketable qualifications more than 100 years ago. They found jobs in sweatshops, retail, low-level commerce and other unskilled or low-skilled environments. Yet within 100 years or so—the space of two or three generations—that community has reached a point where it sends 80 per cent. of its young people to university. That community, the Jewish community, is—in education, as in so many other areas—an example to us all. I see no reason why other minority communities might not aspire to similar levels of participation or why we as a nation should not be inspired by that community's example.”
Michael Gove MP, Shadow Secretary for Children, Schools and Families, Hansard 14 January 2008

Organ Donation

Last weekend the Prime Minister attempted to launch a debate on whether organ donation should be compulsory, unless people opt-out. This would be a change from the current situation where organ's can only be taken from the dead when they and their families have said that they are happy for this to happen. I do not believe this change would be a good thing to see dead bodies without consent.

Therefore some of my colleagues in the Barnet Conservative Counci group have written to the Prime Minister to express our concern. The letter is below.

Dear Prime Minister
We are writing to express our deep concern over the support you have expressed for "presumed consent" to organ donation on death, and for the system of "opting out" of donating rather than "opting in".
We are well aware of the need for an increase of organs for transplant, to enhance medical provision and the health service in general. It is of course the Government’s prerogative, if it wishes, to intensify its publicity machinery with a view to encouraging more people to become donors and carry the appropriate cards. However, the decision to donate should at the end of the day be entirely a matter of individual conscience, and we consider it quite iniquitous to envisage parts of people’s bodies being lawfully removed after death without their clear and positive prior consent.
As you are aware there are also many moral, faith and humanitarian aspects to this issue which affect and concern vast numbers of people, from a wide range of communities. Many of those views have already been expressed very forcefully in response to your opinions in the Sunday Telegraph. With respect, the change you are advocating could cause immense harm to religious freedom and community cohesion in this country – a result that no right-thinking person would desire.
We urge you will reconsider your position and would appreciate an acknowledgement of this letter.
Yours sincerely,

Cllr. Dean Cohen
Cllr. Melvin Cohen
Cllr. Mike Freer
Cllr. Brian Gordon
Cllr. Joan Scannell
Cllr Andreas Tambourides
Cllr Richard Weider

Edgware Police AGM - Wednesday 9 January

I wish you all a happy new year.

Tomorrow evening I will be attending the AGM of the Edgware Police Safer Neighbourhood Team.

It takes place at 7:30pm at Edgware Masorti Synagogue, Bakery Path (off Station Road) in Edgware.

If you would like a say on how the police conduct their work here in Edgware please come along.

Would you want the BNP in your house?

This week the BNP have been making the news both nationally and locally here in Edgware.

At the national level there has been much debate about whether Nick Griffin the BNP leader and David Irving should have been invited to speak at the Oxford Union. Those who said they should have been invited, claim that denying them a chance to speak at the Oxford Union is denying them free speech.

This argument though misunderstands what free speech is. Here in the United Kingdom we believe and allow everyone to express their views no matter what it is as long as it does not encourage harm to others. We therefore often have to hear in the media the awful things that Nick Griffin and David Irving come out with. We also allow the BNP to stand in elections. This is freedom of speech.

However, to invite these two disgusting men to the Oxford Union, one of the most prestigious private clubs in this country for debate, does not allow them freedom of speech, because they already have that. What it does is give a platform for racist views to be expressed and so accepted and valued while also upsetting millions of people including many members of the Oxford Union who saw their institution accepting racist white supremacist views.


At a local level I will also be out campaigning in a local Council election in Stanmore, next door to my ward of Edgware, where the BNP have decided to stand a candidate. While, we allow the BNP have every right to stand for election, I hope I can encourage the people of Stanmore to turn out on mass to vote for democratic parties (I hope the Conservative Party). This will then show how the local residents dont want anything to do with the BNP in North West London.

Labour Oppose improvements at Edgware Libarary

I apologise for not writing an article recently, but I just haven't had time.

However, the debate and vote last night at the council meeting has really spurred me into action.

A motion was put forward and won by the Conservative Group to re-invigorate libraries as centres for community life, which will see:

- Edgware Library refurbished, with improvements to its facilities, including the provision of public toilets, disabled access, new RFID technology to allow self-service and new IT facilities.
- Savings being made to allow for Edgware Library to open on Sundays.
- Burnt Oak Library upgraded to become a major hub for local residents.


However, for some reason the Labour Group condemned this new innovative library strategy and then did not vote for the important improvements to Edgware and Burnt Oak libraries. However, before deciding to abstain in the formal vote, they had initially voted against the proposals, before realising that they would be criticised.

However, they should not only be criticised for not supporting these proposals, but I can see that the local Labour Party can be seen to be just as chicken as Gordon Brown who also a chicken and was too scared to call an election.

Wembley, Wembley - Traffic Traffic?

As a result of the traffic gridlock caused by the England-Germany match on 22 August i have been working with Council officers to try and resolve the traffic problems caused by the new Wembley Stadium.

The night of 22 August, experience worse traffic conditions than normal because of the normal commuting, plus the England match with supporters trying to park in nearby stations. This was made even worse by an emergency road closure in Harrow due to a burst water main.

However, as matches and events at the new Wembley have caused traffic problems in Edgware caused by people trying to park in Stanmore and Canons Park, we have been working with Harrow Council to try and resolve the situation.
We are working with Harrow Council and local residents to try and find the optimum parking solutions around their tube stations. While we are also trying to work with Brent Council and Wembley Stadium to encourge their visitors to avoid parking locally which causes gridlock between Edgware and Stanmore.

When will Ken start helping the people of Edgware?

In February I explained how I had received the support of Barnet Council and Matthew Offord, the Barnet Cabinet Member for Envrionment and Transport to request that Ken Livingstone the Mayor of London and Transport For London consider re-zoning Edgware Station from Zone 5 to Zone 4. By being in Zone 5 commuters to and from Edgware Station are penalised with a higher cost of travel compared to customers using similar stations in the suburbs of Londo, while also receiving a poorer service as trains often don't go to Edgware but instead terminate at Golders Green and Colindale stations.

I therefore recently wrote to Transport for London to see if they had considered my request for an improved service at Edgware Station and for the re-zoning of Edgware to zone 4. If you also want to see improvements to services at Edgware Station you can contact TfL at
ChrisWidgery@tfl.gov.uk
020 7126 4071

I will keep you informed of any responses I get from TfL.

Below is a copy of my correspondence.

---------
Dear Sir/Madam

Last February I received support from Barnet Council to lobby Transport for London to move Edgware Station from Zone 5 to Zone 4. By being in Zone 5 commuters to and from Edgware Station are penalised with a higher cost of travel compared to customers using similar stations in the suburbs of London. At the same time as having to pay more to travel to and from Edgware Station, these same customers also receive a lower quality service. This is because many trains terminate at either Golders Green or Colindale stations and so have to change trains and have their journeys delayed, which is becoming an increasing occurrence.

As I have still not heard whether Transport for London have considered the request from Barnet Council to move Edgware station to zone 4 I hope that you have not forgotten about this request and I look forward to a favourable decision.

Yours Sincerely

Richard Weider
Cllr for Edgware Ward

83 Highview Avenue, Edgware, Middlesex, HA8 9TY Tel - 020 8958 0640

--------------

Dear Councillor Weider

Thank you for your recent enquiry, about whether Edgware Station might be re-zoned for charging purposese, from Zone 5 to Zone 4.

This issue was , as I am sure you are aware, raised with the Mayor by Leo Boland, Barnet's Chief Executive, earlier this year . The Mayor replied on 15th February - a copy of that letter is attached.

As the Mayor explains, we need to bear in mind that if some fares go down, as would be the case if we re-zoned Edgware to Zone 4, other fares must go up to maintain London Underground’s revenue overall. This revenue is essential if we are to continue to invest in the modernisation of the Underground.

As promised in the letter, we have looked at the zoning of Edgware station in comparison to other stations in north London, on the basis of distance from Zone 1. This showed that, overall, the allocation of Edgware within Zone 5 is correct . As a result, the level of fares from that station are not such as to warrant other fares going up to make up the consequential revenue loss were it to be re-zoned. Therefore, we do not intend to re-zone Edgware to Zone 4.

I am sorry this response is not what you were hoping to hear.

Yours sincerely

Chris Widgery

Borough Liaison Manager
ChrisWidgery@tfl.gov.uk
10th Floor, Windsor House
42-50 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0TL
020 7126 4071

--------------------

Dear Mr Widgery

Thank you for your response to my email. While I can understand TfL's desire to maintain the overall revenue of the underground, what I can deduce from this is that TfL does not care about the concerns about the residents of the outer suburbs of London, as much as it does those residents living in the centre of London.

While you have addressed the issue of why Edgware Station can not be moved to Zone 4, you have not addressed my other concern about trains regularly terminating at Golders Green and Colindale stations. As a result, while commuters travelling to and from Edgware Station have to pay a higher price, these commuters leaving from Edgware Station have fewer trains per hour leaving from Edgware Station than further up the line, despite it being a busy station. While when travelling northbound trains often terminate at Golders Green or Colindale stations, many times unexpectedly, meaning that commuters travelling to Edgware have to wait for another train and than struggle to get on to what is already a crowded train.

I look forward to you letting me know that TfL will be providing a better service of trains to Edgware, if given your argument the price of the journey can not be reduced.

Yours Sincerely

Richard Weider
Cllr for Edgware Ward

83 Highview Avenue, Edgware, Middlesex, HA8 9TY Tel - 020 8958 0640

Science in Barnet

As I have previously reported over the past year I have chaired a working group examining the quality of science teaching in Barnet schools. Last week I was pleased to present a report to the Education and Children Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Over recent years there has been lots of controversy that fewer and fewere students are studying science beyond GCSE's as it is seen as too difficult a subject to study at A-Level and university. As a result some university science departments were shutting and there have been worries that we will have a lack of science graduates to work in Britain's scientific industries and to teach science at school.

In Barnet other councillors and I were worried that if the excellent pupils of Barnet were not studying science beyond GCSE, where would the future science graduates come from in this country.

One way in which the Government has tried to reverse this trend is to introduce a new GCSE science curriculum. Therefore, as part of our review into how science is taught in Barnet's schools the committee decided to look at how successful the new curriculum had been.

We carried out a number of interviews with science teachers and pupils across Barnet.
What was heartening to see was that in Barnet the state of science does not seem to be as bad as some news reports have suggested. In a number of schools there is already a high take-up of science courses at A-Level and many schools also offer more vocational science courses. In addition all schools which we went to had a full compliment of science teachers who had science degrees.

We also found that exam results were also high and so the subjects may not be as hard as the perception that may exist.

In producing our report we found that schools in Barnet were happy with how Barnet Local Authority had helped them in preparing for the new GCSE science curriculum.

An interesting area of our findings were that pupils and teachers found the new GCSE curriculum more interesting than the previous traditional curriculum. This was one of the aims of the new curriculum to open pupil's up to the real world nature of science, by showing how science affects our diets, our climate, nuclear power and many other interesting areas.

However, we found that this change in style compromised the success which our more able pupils can achieve. We found that the more able students were not being challenged by the new curriculum and so may struggle to have a strong understanding of scientific theories if they are to carry on to study science at A-Levels and university. We therefore called on the local authority to offer support to science teachers to provide a challenging curriculum for all pupils particularly for the more able pupils. We also called on the Cabinet Member of Children's Services to write to the Secretary of State for Schools to advise that in Barnet we feel the GCSE science curriculum need to provide a more challenging option for the more able pupils.

In working on this report I found it very interesting looking at how science is taught in our schools and the hard work that the local authority employees and teachers put into helping our pupils to achieve to their potential.

It was also important to note know that it is important to make subjects enjoyable to encourage students to work in school but at the same time, theories and issues must be taught properly so that they also get a full understanding of the subject.

The full report can be found at:
http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/reports/reportdetail.asp?ReportID=5814

Good News for Edgware Library

At last years local elections my colleagues Cllr Hart, Cllr Scannell and I as councillors in Edgware pledged to campaign to improve Edgware Library. I am pleased to say that our hard work has paid off.
John Marshall the Cabinet Member for Libraries this week announced a new Leading Libraries policy, to go to Cabinet for agreement this week. The policy follows the similar successful Premier Parks policy recently introduced by Matthew Offord Cabinet Member for the Environment.
Edgware Library has been chosen has one of six leading libraries in Barnet. Over the next six months Edgware library will be enhanced to provide wi-fi provision, and self-service machines amongst other benefits including better information about council services and more disabled access. As a result the library will be more modern and brought into the 21st century by being equipped.

Helping to Free the 3 Israeli Hostages

Last night with about 2000 other people, many of whom were from Edgware and Barnet, I attended a rally outside the Syrian embassy calling for three Israeli soldiers to be released from being held hostage.

These three soldiers are:
Gilad Shalit who is being held in the Palestinian Territories
Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev who are being held hostage after being captured from sovereign Israeli territory by Hizbollah

These 3 soldiers were all captured a year ago, which was one of the causes of the Israeli war with Hizbollah. However, one year on despite the UN Resolution which ended the war calling for these soldiers to be released we are still waiting for their return.

However, let us hope that just a few weeks after we heard the good news that the BBC reporter Alan Johnson had been released from also being held hostage in the Gaza strip, these 3 soldiers and all other hostages around the world can also be released.

One thing really struck me though when I was at the rally last night with 2000 other people and also about the rally's to free Alan Johnson. Why are people that attend these rally's able to protest peacefully. However, when ever we see protests by Moslem organisations, usually against our and other democratic governments, we see the people attending calling for people to be killed and flags being burnt. Therefore, while these more aggressive and violent protests may gain more media attention in the short term, it shows that they find it harder to justify their argument peacefully, and so I am sure in the long term it means they wont be able to win the argument.

Latest on Selecting your Conservative Candidate for Hendon

Last night four excellent candidates were nominated by Hendon Conservative Association to take part in the Open Primary to become the next Parliamentary Candidate for Hendon.

The 4 candidates with their websites as they come in are:

Rebecca Harris
Sheila Lawlor - http://www.sheilalawlor.co.uk/
Matthew Offord - http://www.matthewofford.co.uk/
Bob Seely

Attendance at the Open Primary and participation in the vote is open to all registered voters within the Hendon Parliamentary Constituency (Edgware, Hendon, Hale, Mill Hill, Burnt Oak, Colindale and West Hendon).

If you would like to attend and vote you must pre-register by 5pm on Monday 9th July via
telephone on 020 8445 4292
email at Fingold@btinternet.com

The Open Primary will take place on 10 July at St Mary's High School, Sunngingfields Road, Hendon, NW4 4QR.

Anyone who wishes to take part in the voting must be in their seat by 7:15pm.

SELECT YOUR NEXT CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE FOR THE GENERAL ELECTION

I am pleased to let you know that Hendon Conservative Association will be holding an Open Primary on 10 July to select the next Conservative Candidate for the Hendon Parliamentary Constituency at the next General Election.

Attendance at the Open Primary and participation in the vote is open to all registered voters within the Hendon Parliamentary Constituency (Edgware, Hendon, Hale, Mill Hill, Burnt Oak, Colindale and West Hendon).

If you would like to attend and vote you must pre-register by 5th July via
telephone on 020 8445 4292
email at Fingold@btinternet.com

The Open Primary will take place on 10 July at St Mary's High School, Sunngingfields Road, Hendon, NW4 4QR.

Anyone who wishes to take part in the voting must be in their seat by 7:15pm.

Further details on the candidates will be available shortly.

Links to new blogs in Israel

In my last article I wrote about why the academic boycott of Israel is wrong and should be abandoned.

However, while I am not (yet) living in Israel it is difficult to fully articulate what it is like for Israeli's living there at the current time. I therefore recommend three blogs which I have added in my links. These are excellently written by former Londoners who have made aliyah (gone to live) in Israel.

These are by

Jonny Lipczer - http://www.zevzev.blogspot.com
Jonny Steel - http://valleyofghosts.blogspot.com/
Calev ben-Dor - http://www.calevinthelandofmilkandhoney.blogspot.com/

I felt ashamed to be British

Last week I was visiting Israel as part of the Adam Science Leadership Group.

This visit was 40 years since the beginning of the 6 day war. In 1967 Israel a new country of only 19 years old and at some points less than 10 miles wide was under threat of extinction from its Arab neighbours who were threatening to wipe it out, Israeli’s and the Jewish people around the world were fearful for the future of the country worried that Israel would be wiped out. Thank G-d, Israel was able to win the war and in defeating its attackers was able to strengthen itself and the size of the country.

Visiting Israel last week I realised that again after 40 years Israelis were worried about their country existing into the future and I recognized that the Jews of the world and even the rest of the world should have this same fear.

A fear that Israel will again be attacked by its Arab neighbours but also a fear that the rest of the world no longer believes that Israel should have a right to exist.

This was highlighted while I was in the Israel when the British Universities and Colleges Union voted for an academic boycott of Israel. Through voting for this policy the academic union of British Universities decided that Israeli educational institutions, Israeli Professors and Israeli students should not have a right to exist and should not gain any support from British academic institutions.

As a British person in Israel, Israeli’s were asking me how the British people could have a view that their country should not have any rights. Yet as a British person I was not able to justify the vote and it made me feel ashamed to be British.

Why has this union chosen to vilify Israel, only one side of a dispute lasting decades that will not be solved by supporting one side over the other?
Why Israel, when it is a democratic state, when there are many more countries with much worse civil rights offences?

I do not know the answer to these questions. Yet I can tell you why this academic boycott of Israel is wrong.

I am not going to concentrate on the diplomatic and legal reasons why these questions are wrong, which are fully explored in many places elsewhere and which I believe in as well. Instead I want to tell you about how these boycotts will destroy Israeli society.

During my visit to Israel I saw many excellent projects of voluntary organisations and support groups that are helping to build a better society in Israel. Many of these charities and organisations are made up of young Israeli’s either still at university or just out of university.

We saw young Israeli groups trying to build communities where young people that were excluded from mainstream society were helped to reinvigorate their lives, we saw university students living in deprived towns in order to help re-build and reinvest in these towns to assist in developing these areas to make them more prosperous. We also saw ways in which Israeli Jewish citizens and Israeli Arab citizens were working together. We even heard that the Dean of Haifa University is an Israeli Arab who proudly believes in the State of Israel.

All these groups and different projects made me proud of the country that Israel has become and is continuing to develop into. However, boycotts such as by the UCU are putting all this under threat and threatening of the future of the State of Israel, a state for the Jewish people that should continue have the right to exist peacefully and safely.

I therefore call on the UCU to end there boycott of Israel.

Andrew Dismore and his Parliamentary Colleagues should be ashamed

Yesterday was a bad day for democracy in this country.

Andrew Dismore, Labour MP for Hendon was one of 113 MPs to pass a bill which would block the public from finding out information about the work they are doing and how much of the public's money they are spending.

Could Andrew Dismore have supported this policy, because he is fed up with the the media showing that he is an MP, which claims the most amount of tax-payers money for his office.

Andrew Dismore and his colleagues should remember that they are not special, rather he should remember he is a public servant and so should not stop the public from trying to find out information on how much he spends....

and is there anything else he is trying to hide?

Become a friend of Edgwarebury Park

Last night I attended the inaugral meeting of the Friends of Edgwarebury Park. This group has been set up by a group of residents in Edgware who want to ensure that the park can be maintained and improved for their's and everybody's enjoyment. I thought the meeting was very productive and came up with some good ideas for how the park can be used by more people and improved in the future.

If you are interested in how the park can be improved and would like to have your say why not get involved in this group. If you would like to get involved please let me know or you can contact the Council's park team on 020 8359 7870 or parks@barnet.gov.uk and they will put you in contact with the group.

Why Barnet doesn’t need fortnightly refuse collections

Given the recent coverage about waste collection, I welcome the announcement this week by the Council that in Barnet we will not be introducing fortnightly refuse collection.

Unlike some members of the Labour Government, I do not believe there should be a nationally imposed policy of waste collection being cut back from weekly to fortnightly. Though I can understand why some local authorities may wish to introduce refuse collection fortnightly, to encourage greater levels of recycling, I do not believe this is needed in Barnet at present.

As a result of the excellent management of the refuse service by Cllr Matthew Offord, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, who has made recycling compulsory, the service is cost-effective, while at the same time leading to higher levels of recycling. As a result last year and thanks to the conscientious residents of Barnet, 30% of waste in the borough was recycled.

The continued growth in recycling by Barnet residents - so that by 2010 it is likely that 40% of waste will be recycled - means that in Barnet fortnightly waste collection is not required to increase levels of recycling.

I therefore agree with the Leader of the Council Cllr Mike Freer, who has said that it is vital that high achieving councils continue to innovate as we have done in Barnet. This is better than follow the unpopular trends as many councils seem to do.

Happy Birthday Israel

Happy 59th birthday to Israel.

As a strong supporter of Israel, today is a happy today for me. I am able to look back and think of the successes that have taken place in this small country in the world, which is a homeland and safehaven for the Jewish people.

Last night I was privileged to attend the service at Kinloss Shul, organised by Bnei Akiva and Mizrachi. The Chief Rabbi reminded us of how after 2,000 years of exile, a Jewish country, a Jewish language and a Jewish culture has been reborn in Israel. This is much to celebrate especially when we think of all the achievements that have come out of Israel to help the world.

Yet this has all been achieved while Israel has been under constant attack for the past 60 years from its neighbours and enemies around the world, which now even include the British National Union of Journalists who have called for a boycott of Israeli goods.

However, today lets forget this and just celebrate all that is good about Israel.

Councillors Surgery

My Edgware colleagues and I will be holding our regular monthly Councillor surgery this afternoon at 5:30 to 6:30 at Edgware Library.

This takes place on the last Tuesday of every month.

TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN EDGWARE

As you may have noticed, Three Valleys Water have started work at the corner of Broadfields Avenue and Hale Lane in Edgware, which is seeing them dig up the road to modernise the pipe network.

This has caused major congestion for people travelling into and through Edgware. As the councillor I am working with the councils Highways Staff and Three Valleys to see if the congestion can be minimised as the work is due to carry on in Edgware until August.

Sadly as water, gas and electricity utility companies are not governed by the local authority and do not require a permit before digging up roads. Therefore, as councillors all we can do is try and minimise any disruption they cause.

Below is a letter to me from Three Valleys.



Dear Councillor

Replacing the water mains in Stonegrove/Edgware
Further to my letter dated 21 February 2007 regarding the new strategic water main from Totteridge to Fortis Green, please be advised that Three Valleys Water started work on 5 March 2007 to renew the water mains in the Stonegrove/Edgware area. The existing iron pipes are in the region of 70 years old and we will be replacing them with more flexible plastic pipes which will improve and safeguard the tap water supply serving the residents in that area.

This £4.2 million investment scheme includes four areas (Edgware Way, Barnet Way, Highwood Hill and Stonegrove/Edgware) within the borough where the pipes have been identified for replacement.

Work on the first three schemes is well underway and now our contractors, Hollerans have started work on 5 March 2007 to replace the water pipes in the residential streets north of Station Road and will then carry out the necessary work in Hale Lane and Station Road from 16 April 2007 onwards.

Due to the nature of this area, which is heavily occupied by commercial properties and a major east-west route way, we will be working within the hours of 9.30-3pm, Monday – Sunday to avoid peak traffic congestion but carry out the work as quickly as possible to minimise any disruption to businesses. Subject to no major complications it is anticipated that the work in the streets listed on the attached residents’ letter will be completed by early July 2007.

All residents affected by these works are being sent an introductory letter about the scheme and those directly affected by work in their street will receive a second letter with more specific details about how the work will affect them.

We are in close liaison with the London Borough of Barnet Highways Department regarding traffic management throughout the works and have planned communications to ensure that all people in the area of kept informed of our works.

If you need any further information about any of these schemes please do not hesitate to contact me or one of my colleagues in the Public Relations office on 01707 277110.

Yours sincerely
Sally Howe
Public Relations

Campaign for a better NHS

This weekend I will be out campaigning in the Hendon constituency to highlight the increasing failings in the NHS caused by 10 years of mismanagement by Gordon Brown and the Labour Government.

I will be highlighting David Cameron's message that over the last 10 years under Gordon Brown's management the NHS has become a vast inhuman machine resulting in failing staff morale and patient care.

Instead of the increasing amount of central control which as seen millions of pounds waisted on a failing computer system and training thousands of doctors who are then told there are no jobs for them, I will be highlighting the Conservative alternative.

I believe in an NHS run locally by doctors for the needs of their patients.

Please contact me if you would like to join me this weekend in the campaign for a better NHS.

New Hendon Conservative Association Website

I am pleased to let you know of a new Hendon Conservative website at


www.hendonconservatives.org


The website will provide you with all the latest local news about the Conservative Party, its activities, events and campaigns in Hendon.

How to join Hendon Conservative Association

Hendon Conservative Association are currently recruting new members.

If you want to play your part by joining the Conservative Party and helping to elected the next Conservative Government and Conservative MP for Hendon Constituency with David Cameron as Prime Minister you can do so.

All you have to do is send a cheque for £25 marked for 'Hendon Conservative Association' addressed to:

Hendon Conservative Association
Freepost
212 Ballards Lane
London
N3 2LX

You can also call the Membership Hotline on 020 8445 4292 or the Membership Department on 020 8445 4292. Please ask us if you wish to pay by direct debit.

You can also contact us by email at fingold@btinternet.com if you wish us to send you a membership form.

If you don't want to join the Conservative Party but just want to help out with campaigning please use the same contact details. You can help with campaigning by offering to:

- deliver leaflets and letters
- stuffing letters into envelopes
- door to door campaigning
- telephone campaigning
- helping on election days
- putting a poster in your window

We look forward to hearing from you and helping to elect the next Conservative Government and Conservative MP for Hendon Constituency.

Warning about extra traffic in Edgware

I have been informed by Transport for London that they will be carrying out improvements to Edgware bus station from today. As a result all buses will not be starting or terminating in the bus station but rather on Station Road. Therefore, expect that for the foreseeable future that there will be extra congestion on Station Road, Hale Lane and the surrounding roads.