SOMALIA USED TO BE a proud country in East Africa. It had strong links with the UK – not least because, as a seafaring nation, many Somalis sailed to the UK and some also served in the British Merchant Navy during the Second ...

JOHN BIGGS had a busy evening last week, on the fourth Thursday of the month. By the time he reached Newham to attend a charity dinner in aid of combating acid attacks, he had been to three other meetings already ...

LABOUR LOYALIST John Biggs, Executive Mayor of Tower Hamlets, is facing accusations of hypocrisy after adding his name to a letter in the Sunday Times headed “Labour Executive wrong to meddle”. In the letter, Labour Council Leaders declared independence from the Labour ...

TOWER HAMLETS NOW has the highest percentage of children living in poverty in the UK – and Cllr Ahmed, the Independent Mayoral candidate for Tower Hamlets, is demanding urgent action by both central government and Executive Mayor John Biggs. Cllr Ahmed has ...

IT IS revealed that Tower Hamlets has the highest rate of child poverty in the UK, the borough’s two MPs have expressed their shock but are short of suggestions on action they – or we – could take to improve ...

ALL EYES ARE turning to Executive Mayor John Biggs as it is revealed that children in four constituencies in the UK are more likely than not to grow up in poverty – and two of the four are in Tower ...

IT WAS A day out at the recycling plant for Tower Hamlets Mayor John Biggs and his Cabinet Member for Strategic Development and Waste, Cllr Rachel Blake, last Thursday. The two Labour politicians headed down to the Bywaters Recovery facility ...

IT WAS GOOD NEWS for hockey players in Tower Hamlets last week as a new all-weather, floodlit hockey pitch was opened in Mile End Park. It was formally opened by Helen Richardson-Walsh, Olympic gold medal winner, and John Biggs, mayor ...

IT WAS FOUR HOURS OF talking, vision and passion – and no discussion of how to keep basic services going under the Tory Government’s austerity regime. That was the “partnership summit” last week. The event brought the public, private and ...

CAMPAIGNERS TRYING to stop London Mayor Sadiq Khan vandalising Fish Island by permitting a new road bridge to be built and a wharf to be demolished are having a publicity day on Tuesday, 16th January. Activists from the Save the ...