Out campaigning in the Norland ward by-election this evening (including an, er…, interesting delivery round), I caught up on one of the many ways that Kensington & Chelsea Council has been rather profligate with money when it comes to looking after senior council staff or Conservative councillors.

It turns out that Kensington & Chelsea has been spending thousands of pounds on couriering council paperwork to a Conservative Councillor Daniel Moylan’s holiday home … in Thailand. The council’s argument is that this is a necessary action as he has to keep up with the paperwork and it includes large maps which are best looked at on paper rather than electronically… but even if you buy the argument that paper is better than screen, it doesn’t say much for Cllr Moylan’s ability to delegate or arrange cover for him to insist that he and only he can deal with those matters whilst he’s on holiday.

Add this to the council’s record of first class trips to the US and expensive lunch at the Four Seasons and there’s a wider picture: those in power at the council are over generous in spending money for their own convenience.