Hackney - We're Stinking Rich

It's official. I've argued for ages that Hackney is heading for perfection, but now we know it's true. Not that you'd know from reading The Hackney Groveller, mind you. Full of nasty stories about rapes, murders, road accidents, toxic contamination, evictions and electric fences.

What a difference a few years of sound New Labour management of the Borough can make. Under the reign of McCafferty, Hackney was almost bankrupt. Poverty was to be seen everywhere.

But nowadays we're so rich we don't need handouts. We've already given back large amounts of Sport England grant funding because our children are over-provided with sporting facilities.

And now the Council has underspent its budget by £5 million because there's nothing left to spend the money on.

Nothing to do with Penny Thompson's dismissal, of course. Except, of course, that with paradise just around the corner there wasn't really very much for her to do. Mind you, this is all just Sunday night boredom speculation. As I said last month, we ordinary Councillors never hear anything to do with budget underspends.