Blogs - Newsroom and Reader Blogs from the Times Series

Mike Freer is Leader of Barnet Council and represents Finchley Church End as a local councillor.

As well as being Leader he is also the portfolio holder for Resources. He has previously held portfolios for Policy & Performance working on both budget management and performance improvement. Mike has been instrumental in reducing waste & inefficiency at Barnet, whilst improving services and customer satisfaction. (Barnet as the UK’s 10th largest Unitary Authority enjoys the highest customer satisfaction rating of any outer London Borough and is the only Outer London Borough to improve customer satisfaction over the past few years).

Mike has for many years worked with the faith communities of North London in an effort to improve understanding and to reduce barriers due to ignorance of each other’s faiths.

Away from Barnet Council, Mike works for Barclays Bank PLC as a Performance Manager and is looking forward to blogging for the Hendon Times providing more opportunities for two way communication with the residents of Barnet

Team Work

Early Sunday morning I received a call from our emergency team telling me about the fire at Garth House (Sheltered Housing) in Cricklewood and that the elderly residents of the building had been safely rescued and moved to an emergency rest centre we had set up.

Simple things…..

Yesterday I went to the home of a resident in Friern Barnet to see the first person receive one of our ‘computers for the elderly’. Admittedly not a snappy name and the resident himself may not like being thought of as ‘elderly’. So what’s it all about? Well about 18 months ago I visited a Christmas Lunch at the Finchley Baptist Church and met a sprightly 80 year old lady who was pleased as punch at being able to email her grandchildren and swap photos. I thought what a great way to bridge the generation gap and keep people in touch with their extended families and friends. Thus helping people who might otherwise be isolated at home.

Raising the flag raised my spirits

Today I was fortunate enough to attend the raising of the Olympic Flags at City Hall. The ceremony was simple, dignified but enormously powerful - perhaps as a result of the simplicity of the event.

Bigots only allowed?

Yesterday I was told of a shocking incident whereby both the landlord and manager of a pub in Barnet asked a party of young people to leave the pub. Just an everyday tale of pub life? Perhaps the group were being rowdy or had had too much to drink, or maybe the group were starting to be anti-social causing the raising of eyebrows and tut-tutting from other drinkers? Sadly none of these were so.

Disgusted of Tunbridge is alive and well – in Barnet

I find my post bag contradictory. One day people decry the lack of availability of homes for their children and grandchildren to rent or buy. Most people still want to buy, but even the credit crunched prices make them a real stretch for first-time buyers (and the housing market needs entrants to push the chain along). Then the next day, perhaps from the vantage point of a well stuffed armchair or perhaps cosseted by family money, I am assailed as a philistine for the temerity of allowing new homes to be built. Oh and sometimes the two are combined – go figure.

The land of the rising Barnet?

I took a call today from one of Boris' new Deputy Mayors who half jokingly referred to the borough as the 'land of the rising Barnet'. After I stopped chuckling I thought perhaps he had a point. The Council does seem to have the ear of policymakers at present.

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