• I CONFESS I was feeling a little short-changed when the eagerly awaited March edition of the Camden Magazine was hand-delivered to my door: only three small photos of Cllr Sarah Hayward, two of them the same, just different sizes!

Is this what cruel, central government cuts have brought us to? I’m sure we’d all gladly up our council tax increase from five to 50 per cent if it would help the council’s splendid communications team get it back to the way it used to be.

But it turned out that I needn’t have worried. The very next day, a second council publication was also hand-delivered to my door: “Camden Housing, Kentish Town edition.”

This was a new one on me, but I’m impressed and craving any back editions!

It had only four pages, but all in fine, high gloss! And a full half of the front page was devoted, of course, to the same picture of master-builder Cllr Hayward already twice reproduced on less worthy paper in the Camden Magazine, but at last now in a more substantial, cut-out-and-keep size, as befits an MP in the making.

I am so grateful to our generous council for hand-delivering these two essential publications of high journalistic merit and integrity to my door despite these austere times. How do the clever people at Camden find the funds for these and for all the high salaried press officers, I wonder?

I actually have to make a conscious decision to go and pick up the Camden New Journal. Not at all the same level of service as the council provides.

It was just a touch embarrassing, though, that Camden Housing, Kentish Town edition focused on fly-tipping.
Dumping two self-serving publicity rags through the doors of taxpayers who have given no indication that they want either certainly constitutes fly-tipping in my book.

Anyway, Camden residents must learn to forget about dementia homes, libraries, public toilets, weekly rubbish collections and all such fripperies. These surely cannot be the tasks of local government. Endless self-promotion and self-publicity are what our taxes are needed for. We have a wannabe MP to help find a seat for.

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