Tag Archives: hackney council

LibLink: Pauline Pearce – After the riots, the Liberal Democrats stood by me

As we reported last month, Pauline Pearce – the ‘Hackney Heroine’ – standing as Lib Dem candidate in May’s elections. And last week she explained to The Guardian exactly why she is standing for the party: “because I discovered their commitment to poor communities is genuine”. Here’s an excerpt from Pauline’s article:

I announced earlier this month that I am planning to stand for election as a Liberal Democrat councillor in Hackney, yet I’m still posed a common question by journalists and friends alike: why the Lib Dems? Following the riots, all the major political parties courted me. But when

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged | 1 Comment

Hackney Council under fire over allegations it misled public about who was standing in election

The excellent Jack of Kent legal blog has the full details of the brewing story in Hackney, where the council had already been accused of wrongly excluding the manifesto of the Conservative Party’s Mayor candidate, Andrew Boff, from the booklet sent to the public. (The Mayoral elections in Hackney have similar rules to those for Mayor of London, whereby all candidates submit artwork which is then collected in a booklet and sent out to all electors.)

In addition, Hackney Council is now accused of repeatedly misinforming members of the public, telling them that in fact not only was there no …

Posted in Election law | Also tagged and | 3 Comments

Hackney Council vs Banksy: some graffiti should be left alone

If there was an Olympics for graffiti reporting, I’d rather fancy my chances in the final (137 items reported so far this year to Islington Council; let’s not get started with Haringey, Westminster or Hackney Councils). But despite my enthusiasm for getting graffiti cleaned away, there’s some I regularly pass that I’ve never reported. It’s the graffiti that really counts as art.

Banksy is by far the most famous example of someone who paints items that add to the location rather than detract from it. His paintings are inventive, humorous, famous and widely praised. His Bristol exhibition this year has resulted in …

Posted in News | Also tagged | 4 Comments

Hackney Council backtracks on library book ban

A quick update on the story about Hackney Council banning a book launch from one of its libraries because the book contained “controversial or political opinions”. Dave Hill has the details of how Hackney is now backing away from its original position, and talking about being happy to stock the book by Iain Sinclair in future.

Posted in News | 9 Comments

Liberal Democrat Council intervenes as Labour Council bans “controversial opinions” from library

Jonathan Calder has the welcome news that Liberal Democrat run Islington Council has stepped in to the controversy over Labour run Hackney Council’s decision to ban the launch of a book by Iain Sinclair from one of its libraries because the book expressed, “controversial or political opinions”.

This excuse has been given very little credence by anyone outside Hackney Council. The real motive for the ban looks to be the author’s critical views of the 2012 Olympics plans, which the council has been an enthusiastic supporter of.

In response to the ban, Islington Council has invited the author to come and launch …

Posted in News | Also tagged and | 6 Comments

The Labour councillor who sticks up for Guantanamo and extraordinary rendition

Never let it be said that leading Labour Hackney councillor and ultra party loyalist Luke Akehurst is unafraid to stick up for even the most unpopular of causes. Leaving aside his support for the current government, Cllr Akehurst has declared on his blog:

I am in favour of extraordinary rendition and Guantanamo Bay

Although, to be fair, we should point out that Luke does at least clarify that even he believes the US can sometimes go a little far, noting parenthetically –

(but not torture in Abu Graib)

It’s good to know even Cllr Akehurst can’t ignore all abuses of …

Posted in Local government | Also tagged | 6 Comments
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