David Hencke

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11/20/11--09:34: Barnet blogger row takes website hits to over 75,000:Twitter following tops 2000 (chan 1862559)

Interest in Barnet council’s appalling attempt to criminalise and censor Mr Mustard, a local blogger, took the total number of hits on this website to over 75,000 – they are now over 76,500.  The blog attracted over 3150 hits last week – making it the second all time most popular blog. The only blog that has been more [...]


davidhencke

11/21/11--03:20: Council Fraud up £50m Eric Pickles- so let’s relax auditing nearly 100 authorities (chan 1862559)

Detected fraud in local councils has jumped £50m in one year – with the biggest scams involving cheating on council tax benefits, unlawfully subletting council homes and false benefit claims.  You would think Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, and Grant Shapps. the local government minister, would only be too delighted that someone is collecting this, [...]


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11/27/11--11:24: Does churnalism damage your wealth ( and your pension)? (chan 1862559)

I am not a natural fan of Nigel Lawson. I didn’t agree with his slashing the higher tax rate when he was chancellor. I don’t agree with his views on climate change. I am sceptical of his Eurosceptism. (though I think there is a major democratic deficit in the EU). Yet in an interview  I [...]


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12/05/11--04:13: Exclusive: Francis Maude’s secret gold plated banker’s pension (chan 1862559)

Armchair audit is  raising its sights. As well as looking as councillors like Brian Coleman, it is now turning the spotlight  on auditing the  seriously wealthy to see if they follow David Cameron’s dictum that we are in it all together. Francis Maude is the public face for taking on the public sector trade unions and  [...]


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12/11/11--08:03: Francis Maude powers site hits to 80,000+ (chan 1862559)

Thanks to all who read my tale on Francis Maude’s gold plated pension. The number of hits is 1671  so far – most in the 48 hours after the story went up. Special thanks to Political Scrapbook who made it their main story for a couple of days, Hugh Muir at the Guardian Diary who wrote up [...]


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12/12/11--02:53: Maude’s Tory Madrassa: The House of the Rising Spads (chan 1862559)

This is the second part of the Armchair Audit of Francis Maude -looking at his role as a landlord. Not only can Mr Maude look forward to a platinum pension  from investment bankers, Morgan Stanley, (see previous blog) but he is  also making money as a  landlord in Kennington, south London by letting out rooms available only to young  ambitious [...]


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12/18/11--12:53: More Revelations after Christmas (chan 1862559)

It is time for a Christmas break. Thanks to all followers  and viewers who have read this blog over the past year. Normal service will resume after Christmas with fresh investigations in the pipeline  including one on a leading Labour councillor. There may also be further revelations about the life  and wealth of Francis Maude as the government in [...]


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01/03/12--08:23: Not Quite A Great Swiss Rail Journey (chan 1862559)

Now back I can’t quite resist  going off piste and writing an evaluation of taking a break this Christmas - going with my wife Margaret on an organised rail trip to Switzerland in search of snow. Run by Great Railway Journeys (more later), a well-known up market travel company, parts of the trip equalled expectations. Going over the Bernina [...]


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Bernina Express near Bernina Pass, Engadin, canton of Graub¿ºnden, Switzerland, Europe

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01/04/12--08:04: Blog review 2011: Who came, saw and commented (chan 1862559)

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: This blog was viewed about 67,000 times in 2011. This compared with 17,000 in 2010 – the year the blog was launched.Click here to see the complete report.


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01/08/12--10:19: Brian Coleman: “Human Rights-My Backside!” (chan 1862559)

Tory councillor Brian Coleman – standing for election again this May as London Assembly Conservative member for Barnet and Camden – is at it again!  In an interview for a foreign TV station he is making it clear again that he wants stringent controls over everybody who blogs on the internet – after the failed [...]


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