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.

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. 

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

This is not central to this article, (page 1) but can anyone tell us what this verbiage is for? Or indeed, what it means?

Political motions can be used for a variety of reasons.

At their best, they can influence policy and the direction in which the council moves; they can highlight issues that have been hidden; they can generate a change of thinking.

Prior to the election, Keir Starmer spoke to the Sun newspaper, regarding asylum seekers who had been denied status in the UK and who had exhausted their appeals. The context was that the Tories had reduced the number of repatriations in the months leading up to the election.

It’s a story about what we want for our children and it goes to the heart of modern politics.

NewVIC (Newham Sixth Form College), was set up to offer sixth form opportunities to young people in Newham. For many years it did sterling service. But it has had its problems, not least of which was a damning Ofsted report which labeled its management and leadership as inadequate.

Squalor and despair.

The temporary Housing Budget is overspent. Money is spent on street homeless, without any lasting effect. Streets are becoming run-down and lives are being ruined as homeless left to fester on the sidewalk.

Word has reached us that Cllr Shaban Mohammed is facing an internal Labour inquiry regarding antisemitic remarks he is alleged to have made. We are told that this is not a single complaint, but consists of multiple complaints of antisemitism.