Farenheit 451 and the 'gilded fool'.

Echoing the fire chief in Ray Bradbury's 'Farenheit 451' - fire chiefs in London have ordered the destruction of a picture of a certain 'gilded fool'.

The poster, it seems, is a 'safety risk'.

The Tory Troll blog has the scoop - (as ever)

Click here for bigger.

PS - If you've read down this far then you may be interested to know that the 'gilded fool' reference is taken from a quotation from 'Farenheit 451':
"This age thinks better of a gilded fool than of a threadbare saint in wisdom's school!"

Its a little obscure I admit, but I couldn't resist it.

Commend-A-Copper's Come A Cropper

Police throughout the land are breathing a collective sigh of relief tonight that they are no longer being 'helped' by Brian 'Mr Toad' Coleman (after all, with friends like him....).

This is because, it rather looks as though his failed Facebook fiasco: the 'Commend A Copper' group has finally been removed.

As this blog reported, Mr Toad set up the group as a cheap and nasty gimmick, to divert political flak away from himself. It failed. Miserably.

In fact, Coleman's association with the group ensured that it only drew criticism of the police and of himself. He deleted almost all of those messages that were critical of himself and his ill-conceived, quick-and-dirty piece of PR. He also deleted the commendation of Sir Ian Blair that someone posted on that page - presumably because he disagreed with it.

What a miserable failure.

Brian Coleman on holiday

I hear that Brian Coleman is on holiday.

Certainly, he could do with the break after the recent avalanche of negative press he's received. Just in the last month, he's been:

* Censured by the LFEPA for unlawfully making up the (un)democratic process as he goes along.
* Lambasted by the London Assembly Audit Panel over his abuses of the expenses system
* Found out by The Barnet Eye for apparently 'flipping' his expenses
* Caught out awarding a multi-million pound contract to a company which treated him to free food and a Harvey Nichols hamper
* Facing a misconduct hearing at Barnet Council (this blog awaits the results with interest).
* Shouted at by Boris Johnson who forced him, in an embarrassing climbdown, to reveal his 'ridiculous' expenses
* Publicly rebuked by members of his own party, notably here and here and here and (very pointedly) here.

Things have got so bad, that he's now refusing to answer the phone to journalists.

Yes, Mr Toad could certainly do with a break. And he's not the only one!

But the big question for Boris Johnson and the Conservatives has been this: Where can Coleman be sent where he's sufficiently remote to do little damage and, in these times of spin, where he can start to rebuild his political reputation?

It would need to be a place where there was another figure, more foolish, more prone to embarrassing gaffes and a bigger bully. It'll need to be somewhere with plenty of food of course.....

Ah! Got it!



Incidentally, I checked Addison Lee's website for a taxi quote between London N3 and sunny Torquay. Its £579.10 each way. So don't try it Coleman. We'll be watching!

What the Dickens!?!

If Charles Dickens were still around, he would, I'm sure, have enjoyed writing about Brian Coleman. In fact, I have often wished for his genius at deft ridicule, particularly for the purposes of writing this blog. For if ever there were a modern day Dickensian figure then surely it is Councillor Coleman of Totteridge, Mayor of Barnet and self-styled 'King of Bling'.

Imagine then my delight at coming across this incontestible proof of his Dickensian-ness:

Mr Bumble the beadle................Mr Coleman the mayor

"Mr. Bumble had a great idea of his oratorical powers and his importance."

~Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

I rest my case.

UPDATE:
I should add here that Brian 'Mr Bumble' Coleman is in no way related to Barnet's other Mr Bumble. This latter Mr Bumble of course, being much-loved at Barnet Football Club...

Brian's bookshelf

If, like me, you've ever wondered about Brian Coleman and, specifically, what on Earth might have made him so...so...well, you know, like he is - then this post is for you.

This blog has managed to get a sneaky glimpse of Brian's bookshelf and I think it provides a revealing insight into what has inspired Brian Coleman to be so...so...well anyway, here are the books we sneakily glimpsed:

Firstly, an object lesson, on why you must be careful about what books you give your easily-influenced children to read. Just look at Coleman's Bottom! NB - its not as scary as it sounds.

Secondly, a book that's clearly been a huge success for the comatose Councillor Coleman.

Here's some more advice that the Assembly Member for Barnet and Cabden has taken very much to heart.

Enough said!

And finally - Oh dear. It looks like the masticating Mayor has taken some bad advice when it comes to his pet hate: Blogs, and his pet love: Lunches.

Brian Coleman's Wind

Archive Coleman-related shennannigans on a Friday is becoming something of a habit. Today's concerns Frith Manor Primary School.

Following the school tragically burning down, they decided to rebuild as an Eco-school, generating their own power, saving money and the environment, and educating and involving the kids into the bargain. A brilliantly imagined and realised project as this really nice clip demonstrates.

There was a single objector: Brian 'Mr Toad' Coleman (now on his holiday, one assumes he's not taking his vacation on the Isle of Wight to support the Vestas workers)

Here's the really nice clip:

Lazybones