Titbits — Unlikely bedfellows, black cabs and bicycle politics

■ Politics is all topsy-turvy again in Hackney as the Conservative Government’s welfare bill has created some unlikely bedfellows: Conservative councillor Simche Steinberger and Liberal Democrat councillor Dawood Akhoon have joined Hackney North Labour MP for Diane Abbott in opposing the bill, while Meg Hillier MP of Hackney South has followed her party’s cue and abstained.

■ Hackney Council have blown £7,000 on a black cab to ferry around their stack of ‘Hackney: A place for everyone’ surveys. In case anyone’s pen wavers on the dotted line, the Hackney carriage gently prompts citizens with a rash of red spots carrying the I Heart Hackney logo. At least it’s not an Uber.

■ Councillors and residents recently clambered onto a seven person bicycle and pedalled around the Olympic stadium for a roving roundtable discussion called ‘This is what democracy looks like’. It might seem farcical, but in Hackney, where opposition councillors could fit on their own seven-seater, anything is worth diversifying the debate. After all, its hard to slap each other on the back when holding onto handlebars.