• THE jokey piece (No invite? Is the CNJ on the naughty step now? April 14) referred to the failure of the Labour Party to invite the newspaper to a hustings meeting.

This is a very worrying development. Some years ago the newspaper was banned from the town hall.

Last month a request to the council for CNJ journalists to accompany a large pack of councillors, police, council officers, and residents around the sites of Gospel Oak was ignored.

To get even the simplest of information from council officers now requires the use of the Freedom of Information Act.

Link this to the expulsion of several sitting councillors, advice to a similar number that they would meet the same fate if they applied, the blocking of an unknown number of new applicants, opposition parties who struggle to get themselves heard, and the misuse, bizarrely, of social media by the former chief whip and we’ve a worrying situation of local democracy.

As a long-living resident of Gospel Oak, I regularly observe the effects of local policies and practices on the most vulnerable members of our community and the frequent ignoring of them by Camden Council.

Rarely do councillors respond to critical articles and letters in the CNJ. But who is responsible for and what criteria are used to make the decisions? Do I have to use the FoI act to get the answers?

MICK FARRANT, NW5