Titbits — History lessons, mansion tax and no bangs for the bucks

■ Bonfire night is fast upon us. Cue stories about dogs cowering in terror and hibernating hedgehogs lost in the flames. But what of those other cute critters, the deer of Clissold Park? The park has been picked as the location for a public fireworks display, but a little birdie tells us some residents are unhappy about the impact the colourful explosions might have on the stag and hinds. To charges that these noises could deafen the herd, Clissold Park Users Group (CPUG) has a surprising answer. “There will be no loud bangs,” a post on CPUG’s Facebook page states. Fireworks without the bangs will no doubt disappoint some, but you can’t please all the people and all the animals all
the time.

■ Edward Benyon, the landlord of Hoxton’s New Era Estate, gave a history talk to a meeting of the De Beauvoir Women’s Institute last month. Given that he has been lambasted over rent hikes by residents of his Hackney properties, you might think he would want to lie low, but he seems to regard himself as a good old fashioned Lord of the Manor. Presumably his talk was entitled “History, As Written by the Victors”.

■ Speaking of Lords of the Manor, Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbott has come out against Stoke Newington resident and shadow chancellor Ed Balls’s mansion tax plan. Suddenly this internal Labour Party spat seems dangerously close to home.