Titbits – ‘the fact that they wear hi-vis jackets gives them a certain degree of authority’

◆ At a recent Town Hall briefing about anti-social behaviour in public spaces, the Hackney Citizen asked the council what legal powers its enforcement officers had. Cabinet member for community safety Caroline Selman said she would have to get back to us with the details but that “the fact that they wear hi-vis jackets gives them a certain degree of authority”. How reassuring.

◆ The council found our story about their secret £6,000 bash to celebrate the legacy of former Mayor Jules Pipe and the Town Hall’s recent makeover disagreeable. There was nothing about it in the council’s freesheet, Hackney Today, or anywhere else. No official photographs were taken, and no media were invited to cover the event. Many of London’s council leaders attended, along with two deputy mayors of London and a number of MPs. How could it be deemed a ‘secret’ party, the council protested, when over 400 people were invited?

◆ Journalism is an exhausting business. The plight of the Turkish Cypriot Cultural Association (TCCA) nearly failed to see the light of day (see story here). An approach by the TCCA to another local newspaper was rebuffed, after the charity was told that it would be “too tiring to go through all the documents.”