Boris Johnson nearly got a nasty shock when Islington Council leader Catherine West claimed that the London Mayor had pledged to build 50,000 affordable new homes in her borough! Fortunately, it was a typo in the glossy broadsheet Islington Now council magazine—and that figure was meant to be across all London boroughs. But surely someone in this £216,000-a-year taxpayer funded publication should have checked the ludicrous figure—in reality it is 1900 homes—and do we really need this council propaganda magazine anyway?
Excellent news that Education Secretary Michael Gove has pulled the plug on Islington Labour’s election pledge to give free school meals to every primary school child in Islington regardless of their financial circumstances. Previous Education Secretary Ed Balls promised the funding in a shameless pre-election ploy, but now reality is setting in.
Good news too that Islington Town Hall is cutting the post of language interpreting service co-ordinator. That will lop £40,000 off the annual £122,000 spent on providing non-English speakers with interpreters so they can access council services. Good for them—and now for that message in Gujarati, Albanian, Somali and Yoruba…
Tim Newark, Islington TPA