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Palmer steps down from the front-line
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| Out: Monroe Palmer, the old group leader |
The Liberal Democrat group has announced a new leader following Councillor Monroe Palmer's decision to step down.
The Child's Hill ward councillor and group leader of 17 years will be succeeded by his ward colleague, Councillor Jack Cohen.
Councillor Palmer, who was first elected to Barnet Council in 1986, said: "I think it is the right time to hand over the job.
"I plan to continue to play a full part on the council and am looking forward to the local elections in 2010 when I intend to campaign to be re-elected."
He will now take up the role as the party's group whip.
Mr Cohen paid tribute to his predecessor and said: "Monroe has set a standard that will be hard to beat. He is a remarkable character and he has led from the front."
Council leader Mike Freer said: "Councillor Palmer and I didn't always see eye to eye, but he made a great opponent in debates, and was always friendly and civil to me outside the chamber. I would like to congratulate him on his 17 years and I wish him well on his retirement from the frontline'."
Councillor Alison Moore, Labour group leader, said: "Monroe has had a long and distinguished career as a local politician, which I hope he will continue from the backbenches.
"He has always delivered his contributions at council, in cabinet and on committees with great passion."
Mr Freer, also announced a cabinet reshuffle to accommodate Councillor John Marshall's move to become mayor.
His role as cabinet member for libraries and primary schools rebuilding will be taken by deputy leader Councillor Matthew Offord, whose post as
environment and transport cabinet member will go
to Councillor Andrew Harper.
Totteridge councillor Richard Cornelius will become cabinet member for policy and performance.
Mrs Moore was unanimously re-elected last week as leader of the Labour group for the third year running.
Councillor Barry Rawlings was elected as deputy leader and spokesman on health and social care after councillor Linda McFadyen stood down as deputy leader and renounced her shadow
cabinet role.
8:41am Saturday 17th May 2008
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CommentPosted by: Rog T, Mill Hill on 8:48am Sat 17 May 08
So who is taking over Mr Marshall's role as "Cabinet Minister responsible for selling playing fields and decimating facilities for local youngsters"?
I'd be interested to know details of all playing fields sold or abandoned, libraries closed and other ameneties got rid of since the Tories took over at Barnet. Can anyone help me find out? I sincerely hope Andrew Harper does a good job on environment. I exchanged emails with him about sporting facilities and at least he seems to care, which is a feeling I've not got from too many of his colleagues.
So who is taking over Mr Marshall's role as "Cabinet Minister responsible for selling playing fields and decimating facilities for local youngsters"?
I'd be interested to know details of all playing fields sold or abandoned, libraries closed and other ameneties got rid of since the Tories took over at Barnet. Can anyone help me find out? I sincerely hope Andrew Harper does a good job on environment. I exchanged emails with him about sporting facilities and at least he seems to care, which is a feeling I've not got from too many of his colleagues.
Posted by: Helen, High BArnet on 5:53pm Sat 17 May 08
My neighbour said that Councillor Macdonald was going to resign, but I can't see anything about that in this story.
My neighbour said that Councillor Macdonald was going to resign, but I can't see anything about that in this story.
Posted by: David Miller, Barnet on 2:39pm Sun 18 May 08
Monroe has been at the receiving end of a number of my jokes made at his expense over the years but has always accepted them with good grace. A few years ago, he made a rather unnecessary comment about Brian Coleman suggesting that the King of Bling had a large backside. I wrote to the Hendon Times stating that it was better to have a big arse than be a complete one, and they printed it!
Monroe has been at the receiving end of a number of my jokes made at his expense over the years but has always accepted them with good grace. A few years ago, he made a rather unnecessary comment about Brian Coleman suggesting that the King of Bling had a large backside. I wrote to the Hendon Times stating that it was better to have a big arse than be a complete one, and they printed it!
Posted by: Cllr Duncan Macdonald, Chipping Barnet on 5:02pm Sun 18 May 08
Helen
Your neighbour is mis-informed.
Helen
Your neighbour is mis-informed.
Posted by: Dawn, Westminster on 9:10pm Sun 18 May 08
Some might say that not only does the King of Bling have a large backside but also an equally proportioned belly.
But the internal politics of the Liberal Democrats has more intrigue than Hamlet itself.
Some might say that not only does the King of Bling have a large backside but also an equally proportioned belly.
But the internal politics of the Liberal Democrats has more intrigue than Hamlet itself.
Posted by: Truant's, Disposition on 9:22pm Sun 18 May 08
And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come;
Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,
How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself,
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on,
That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,
With arms encumber'd thus, or this headshake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
As 'Well, well, we know,' or 'We could, an if we would,'
Or 'If we list to speak,' or 'There be, an if they might,'
Or such ambiguous giving out, to note
That you know aught of me: this not to do,
So grace and mercy at your most need help you, Swear.
And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come;
Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,
How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself,
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on,
That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,
With arms encumber'd thus, or this headshake,
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase,
As 'Well, well, we know,' or 'We could, an if we would,'
Or 'If we list to speak,' or 'There be, an if they might,'
Or such ambiguous giving out, to note
That you know aught of me: this not to do,
So grace and mercy at your most need help you, Swear.
Posted by: Go on, I'll follow thee on 9:35pm Sun 18 May 08
Angels and ministers of grace defend us!
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin ****'d,
Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou comest in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to thee: I'll call thee Hamlet,
King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me!
Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell
Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements; why the sepulchre,
Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd,
Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws,
To cast thee up again. What may this mean,
That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel
Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous; and we fools of nature
So horridly to shake our disposition
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?
Angels and ministers of grace defend us!
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin ****'d,
Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou comest in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to thee: I'll call thee Hamlet,
King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me!
Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell
Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements; why the sepulchre,
Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd,
Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws,
To cast thee up again. What may this mean,
That thou, dead corse, again in complete steel
Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous; and we fools of nature
So horridly to shake our disposition
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?
Posted by: Most, foul on 9:38pm Sun 18 May 08
I am thy father's spirit,
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part
And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine:
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!
If thou didst ever thy dear father love--
I find thee apt;
And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:
'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forged process of my death
Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father's life
Now wears his crown.
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,--
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce!--won to his shameful ****
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen:
O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
From me, whose love was of that dignity
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage, and to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine!
But virtue, as it never will be moved,
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
So ****, though to a radiant angel link'd,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed,
And prey on garbage.
But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air;
Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
And with a sudden vigour doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine;
And a most instant tetter bark'd about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body.
Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd:
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd,
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head:
O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damned incest.
But, howsoever thou pursuest this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To **** and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,
And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire:
Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me.
I am thy father's spirit,
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part
And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine:
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!
If thou didst ever thy dear father love--
I find thee apt;
And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:
'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forged process of my death
Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father's life
Now wears his crown.
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,--
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce!--won to his shameful ****
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen:
O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
From me, whose love was of that dignity
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage, and to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine!
But virtue, as it never will be moved,
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
So ****, though to a radiant angel link'd,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed,
And prey on garbage.
But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air;
Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
And with a sudden vigour doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine;
And a most instant tetter bark'd about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body.
Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd:
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd,
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head:
O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damned incest.
But, howsoever thou pursuest this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To **** and sting her. Fare thee well at once!
The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,
And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire:
Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me.
Posted by: old as I, am on 9:53pm Sun 18 May 08
Let us be brief, for brevity is the sole of wit,
The poison has been sent for
The plan it is set
Regicide is timely to be entered into
Let us be brief, for brevity is the sole of wit,
The poison has been sent for
The plan it is set
Regicide is timely to be entered into
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