As no residents interests anywhere in the borough seem to have shown the slightest interest in the Tower Hamlets governance referendum on 6th May we thought it was time to present the videos we have found from some of the individuals and groups involved. Well, one group.
Videos are listed in the order we found them. Apart from the first one because that is the most coherent.
Cllr. Andrew Wood
Cllr. Wood (Canary Wharf, Independent) can usually be relied upon to talk common sense, a rare ability for a politician in Tower Hamlets. Here are his views.
Lutfur Rahman
Sorry, we have to put this in front of your eyes. The most revealing aspect of this video is that Lutfur Rahman does not explain at any point how voting to keep the directly elected Mayor model would benefit him if (when?) he becomes Mayor once more or what he can do for the borough.
Or do we know already?
Mr Rahman doesn’t mention anything about the whole getting kicked out of office thing either.
Mayor John Biggs
And we have to put this in front of your eyes too. Sorry.
At least Rahman’s video has some decent production values in comparison to this which has been knocked out in front of a webcam in Mayor Biggs’ living room. He doesn’t even bother wearing his cap.
Maximum grin value from the assertion that ‘a Leader and Cabinet model would enhance scrutiny and accountability so that all our communities are better served’ Funny!
Bethnal Green Labour Party
The video from Bethnal Green Labour Party is by far the best produced film of the bunch although let down by some exceptionally bad background music.
A noticeable omission is that there are no exceptionally bad Labour councillors to be seen. Odd that. Maybe they were too busy playing the background music?
The triumph of this video is that anyone unfamiliar with our dear borough could be fooled into thinking that it is a normal local authority that does normal things. Genius.
Leading Together
The video from the Leading Together is so dire that is really not worth watching. It’s some generic animated dreck with one of those really annoying banjo sound tracks. You can view it on the Leading Together site.
Despite numerous requests by the Enquirer, Leading Together has refused to provide a membership / supporters / who the hell is behind this thing list despite repeated requests. Safe to say that it seems to be a Mayor John Biggs fan club led by the one person, ex-Labour councillor Rachael Saunders.
There are some very good local politicians backing Leading Together but we are pretty sure that is because they want no more nightmare Mayors and this group is the only one campaigning to that end.
In fact it is the only group campaigning for anything.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Despite numerous begging letters from Moley, all of which were returned unopened, it seems that Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will not be moving from the Bronx to Tower Hamlets. Hey, we tried!
So the nearest we will get is the exceptionally good videos of AOC in, er, America.
If you would like to see other AOC videos featuring a politician who does her job check these out. We can but dream of such enthusiasm and ability.
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As community journalists we do exactly what it says on our tin – we work for the community.
In Tower Hamlets, which covers most of London’s East End, that means we spend a lot of time investigating allegations of political corruption.
It is an unfortunate fact that the poorest local authority in the country is still beset by the highest levels of corruption.
As Love Wapping we were instrumental in exposing the electoral corruption of Mayor Lutfur Rahman.
