You know that you are living in a Alice-in-Wonderland state, when the same set of council papers both announce that there is a shortfall in the council finances that will require £175m in cuts and sell-offs, and you get motions demanding the additional expenditure of millions of pounds.

Just months after gaining a massive electoral victory, (securing 411 seats, with 20% of the nation’s voters), Labour’s popularity appears to be shrinking; down to 4% in early September according to More in Common.

It does seem that Cllr Thelma Odoi has not fully completed her disclosure to the monitoring officer. Her address is withheld, which seems to be the common practice now. However, we understand her to be a tenant of a council property. She may of course have purchased this.

The Spectator provided a list of admission numbers to Oxbridge Colleges for the top 80 schools in the country. Three of those 80 are in Newham. There is no other borough in the country that has results that compare with Newham.

Photos from The Recorder report.

The ON report on prostitution and the mayor’s (lack of) response generated some heated correspondence. It is clear that residents, particularly those in Townley Court are not as sanguine about the issue as our political leaders seem to be. 

A reader has kindly written to let us know that there should be a number of additions to the Landlords for Labour table. We are pleased to provide an update.

As we have noted, building a property portfolio has been popular amongst Labour councillors.

We make no apologies for returning to this subject. The fate of Canning Town Library is symptomatic of the malaise at the heart of the current administration.

The Order, pictured above, is what Newham officers recommended to curb prostitution along the Romford Road. It might be what residents demanded, but it is not what the mayor wanted.

We learn that Private Eye has become aware that not everything is lovely in the Newham garden.

Readers might wonder why it is that the mayor hasn’t congratulated the London Academy of Excellence and Newham Sixth Form Collegiate. The Times has published the table above which shows that The Collegiate, based on the East Ham Town Hall campus, has achieved outstanding results in ‘A’ Levels with 91.7% achieving A*-B passes. The Academy of Excellence did even better, achieving 92.1%.

The coroner reported, “Omar Abdi Ahmed died on 20th November 2023 in hospital due to hypothermia. Mr Ahmed, an amputee who received domiciliary care three times a day, was found by carers, unresponsive at home on l5th November 2023.

The most repeated cause of the current financial crisis, according to the mayor, is the cost of housing people in temporary accommodation. This year, they anticipate overspending by some £22m. There are additional overspends in children’s and adult services, but temporary housing is cited as the major problem.

In a recent Twitter post, Newham Independents have released the text of a letter sent to the mayor.

The revelation that Newham will have to find £175m to balance the books has shaken some councillors. The Independent Group have called on the mayor to be open about the cuts for this year.

Readers will recall that we submitted an FOI to Newham in respect of the mayor’s approach to prostitution and soliciting along parts of the Romford Road.

This is an issue that has caused concern to local residents in an area where, let’s say, there is significant social conservatism. It is known that this has had a detrimental effect on girls and women who live in the area and who find that they are being propositioned.

Earlier this week, ( 06/08/24), the Overview and Scrutiny Committee met, together with Mayor Fiaz and Finance Czar, Zulfiqar Ali. These senior backbenchers continued to be concerned that the council’s finances might be a problem. In short, their concerns, which had been echoed on this website and in the press, were that Newham is heading for financial disaster.

It seems that several news outlets have taken up the issue of Newham’s pending financial difficulties. This was a matter we broke last week. If anything, the situation is worse than that which the press have picked up. The BBC covered the issue.

The Standard reported that Newham was “hurtling towards bankruptcy”.

It appears that Populo is struggling to meet its debts to Newham. It seems to have run out of cash. (Reported in Room 151)

This is an emotive headline, but what more can you expect from a “right-wing hate site”?

Leaving aside the jibes of political pygmies, the scale of the financial crisis facing Newham is becoming increasingly apparent, to anyone save our elected councillors apparently.

With the Paris Olympics about to start, Eddie Nestor of Radio London reflected on the Olympic Legacy to London, and Newham in particular.