Golden Lane Estate Sports Hall Saved – But Quality of Alternative Provision During Closure & Poor Oversight Of Grants For Community Cohesion Still Need To Be Addressed

The lack of joined up thinking and poor use of available resources for fitness and wellness in the City of London was made particularly evident by the blasé discussion of the Stronger Communities Fund shortly after the vote to retain the Golden Lane Leisure Centre sports hall at the 30 June 2026 Community & Children’s Services Committee meeting.

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Aldgate School Early Learning Provision Still Under Threat As City Of London Councillor Helen Fentimen Successfully Pushes For Further Delay To Decision About Its Future

After massive push back to the closure of the Aldgate School early learning provision, the City council decided to extend funding for a couple of years. Subsequent to that a proposal emerged to cut the funding from £174,000 to £60,000. So earlier this week the relevant committee should have voted on whether to cut funding to £60,000 or completely defund this early learning service. In the end the decision was deferred to give the neo-liberals who control the council more time to try to find a convincing justification not to fund this vital service.

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City Of London Council Leaders Utterly Shameless About Their Ties To The Genocidal Chinese Government & Its Spies

The conclusion of a high profile trial that ended with two Chinese spies being jailed last week – they had a local boss who was close to the City of London council leadership & one spy was also a City of London Police special constable – apparently wasn’t reason enough for councillors Chris Hayward and James Thomson to refrain from posting on social media about their recent jaunt to China.

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City Council Leadership Seeks To Further Weaponise Its Standards Regime With The Introduction Of Confidential Reporting Of Low-Level Behavioural Issues

Since it was created 9 years ago, this blog has been reporting on the way the City of London council leadership weaponises standards. For the entire time we’ve been covering our local authority’s standards regime establishment supporters have been free to flout the rules, and those who oppose that establishment have been persecuted for alleged […]

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Complaints About Guildhall Art Gallery Underfunding & Why The Square Mile Is Better Described As ‘Destination Dirty Money’ Than ‘Destination City’

The Guildhall Gallery doesn’t have much of a global reputation and its local reputation is considerably less than stellar. Locally it is perceived as a moribund institution where dull portraits of local politicians – Lord Mayors of London &c. – clog up a stuffy collection. Aside from housing portraits of a good number of local politicians who were also slave traders, there are larger than life-size busts of Christopher Wren and Samuel Pepys – both of whom invested in the slave trade – in recesses in the main entrance wall. There is another bust on the same scale of colonial butcher in Ireland Oliver Cromwell standing beside the the slave trade investors.

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Potential Blockage In The Pipeline Of New Lord Mayors As Current City Of London Sheriff Robert Hughes-Penney Engulfed By Financial Scandal At His Firm Rathbones

New Lord Mayor’s are chosen from among the council’s alders (senior councillors) who have served for a year as sheriff, and these are in limited supply. After the fiasco of last year’s Lord Mayor Alastair King heavily promoting failed fintech firm Guavapay, putting Robert Hughes-Penney of Rathbones in line for the top post at the council looks like it would be a PR disaster.

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Guild Of Young Freemen Scandal Update: Fraser Peck Reported As Banned From City Council Events – With Potential Impact On His Ability To Represent Farringdon Within Voters

Being banned from banquets is an effective punishment for City councillors but that power to exclude could be abused. It can be argued that such bans interfere with a councillor’s ability to represent their constituents, or the City council, as effectively as members who have not been excluded from this local authority’s endless round of dinners. Time will tell whether Fraser Peck “will not be invited to future hospitality events hosted by the Corporation, including dinners at Guildhall and Mansion House”, since the council doesn’t appear to have specifically named him as banned. And if Peck is banned, will he and the other offenders be excluded indefinitely? That said, given the scandal Peck has been embroiled in, this councillor should resign.

Read more "Guild Of Young Freemen Scandal Update: Fraser Peck Reported As Banned From City Council Events – With Potential Impact On His Ability To Represent Farringdon Within Voters"

John Griffiths Wins Coleman Street Ward By-Election With A Grand Total Of 59 Votes. This Sham Contest Is Indicative Of The Democratic Deficit In The City Of London

It couldn’t happen anywhere but the last rotten borough. John Griffiths, whose unhinged trolling of Castle Baynard councillors – after he lost his seat in that ward in spring 2025 – and which eventually led to him being disowned by his political ally and council leader Chris Hayward, was the winner of the 4 June 2026 by-election in Coleman Street with 59 votes. Griffiths polled 15 more votes than his nearest rival Ronnie Barker. All 8 candidates in the competition stood as ‘independents’ although at least two of them had previously stood unsuccessfully for major parties in local elections in neighbouring Tower Hamlets – including Griffiths (LibDems).

Read more "John Griffiths Wins Coleman Street Ward By-Election With A Grand Total Of 59 Votes. This Sham Contest Is Indicative Of The Democratic Deficit In The City Of London"

Parliament Would Like To Know If You Want The City Of London Council Reformed Or Abolished?

Green Party peer Natalie Bennett in her role as a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services has published a statement and survey asking the public for their views on the City of London Corporation (the local authority or council in the square mile). She argues that the City of London Corporation wields real influence over UK politics while standing outside much of the scrutiny and democratic controls that other public bodies are subject to: therefore the question of its future can no longer be left unexamined.

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Martha Grekos Forces City Of London Council To Address Removing Freedom Of The City From Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor; Scandal Over Golden Lane Leisure Centre Deepens

We report on a meeting of the City of London Council on 21/5/26, in which the scandal of its treatment of its residents over the Golden Lane Leisure Centre deepened, and it was forced by Alder Martha Grekos to finally address removing the Freedom of the City from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

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