The recent climb down by the City Corporation's Standards Committee over its dispensations policy was a victory for residents. The Standards Chair, though, has tried to spin it as an achievement of her committee. What follows is her “delighted” announcement and my satirical response, which reminds the Court of Common Council that it was the persistence of residents that compelled the Standards Committee to reverse its policy.

The fact that in a period of more than a…

I came across this charity which is doing very important and relevant work. If you want to find out more, please have a look at their website or contact them.

"Refugees At Home, a small charity, working largely in London but across the UK, has enabled hosting for four years now. It currently has about 120 people hosted every night and has found refugees somewhere safe, warm and dry to sleep for more…

This is the text of an email that I sent to all members of the Court of Common Council on 27 January:

SUMMARY

During the last 15 months, the Standards Committee has done a 170 degree turn on its dispensations policy, ending with the decision at its meeting last Friday to abandon the restriction on granting dispensations to vote “only in exceptional circumstances”, and to require democracy to be taken into account when granting such…