The sudden lockdown – and the U-turn on closing schools – has revealed government failings on planning and logistics once again.  Unless they act quickly, some children will be left behind. When the first lockdown began last year, the Government ...

THE MUSLIM PROFESSIONAL FORUM (MPF) has called on Mosques to close to the public – despite the regulations relating to the new Lockdown permitting faith groups to keep buildings open for religious services. The MPF welcomed the lockdown as a ...

WHO KNEW dominoes was such a popular game that it was being played in basements around Whitechapel?  Who knew it was so addictive that players could not resist breaking Tier 4 restrictions to have a game? Whoever was in the ...

AS THE SECOND wave of COVID-19 sweeps the country, concerns have been raised over whether one of East London’s major hospitals is coping with COVID-19-related admissions. On 29th December, the Barts Health NHS Trust announced that its hospitals were treating ...

AS THE WORLD heads into a new year, the Coronavirus pandemic is not the only threat to our health and wellbeing. In many countries across the world, war rages on – or, even if a war has officially ended, populations ...

IT’S A NEW YEAR – but there’s no let up on the knife crime on East London’s streets. One of the last victims, possibly the very last victim, of 2020 has now been named. Abiola Olalekan Akerele, 28, was stabbed ...

ONCE AGAIN, John Biggs and the Labour Group handraisers are cutting services to the borough’s most vulnerable citizens. This time it’s not just children in general who are in his sights: it’s children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). ...

TODAY WE return with a new series of The Thames Today. The Thames forms the southern boundary of four East London boroughs: Tower Hamlets, Newham, Barking & Dagenham and Havering. In one way it is a barrier, sealing off one ...

THERE WERE several reasons why 2020 was such a terrible year – and it delivered its final kick an hour before it ended, when the UK became a sovereign, independent state once more. After being a member of the European ...

IN OCTOBER we usually celebrate Black History. This month we are looking at how Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Councillors are making new history. “I was helping deliver food to the vulnerable residents of Spitalfields and Bangla Town with local ...