Sunday 15 November 2009

Meet Mike Foster

Thanks to the ever-watchful Archipelago I now know that Mike Foster dropped by recently for a photo-op at Mission Grove primary school.

No, me neither. Apparently he’s the International Development Minister, whatever that is. I had never heard of him before. The government website celebrates his Walthamstow visit, gushing that

the smallest actions - turning off a light or walking to school can have a big impact on climate change.

A message which Waltham Forest council hasn’t learned, either when it comes to wasting electricity or neglecting the walk-to-school environment.

Doubtlesss the advocate of a greener lifestyle arrived in a ministerial limo. He could have hopped on a train from Liverpool Street and done the short walk from St James Street station, but obviously important people don’t want to mix with the kind of ghastly proles you’ll encounter on the Hackney-Walthamstow line. If he’d walked he might have spotted a Labour council’s indifference to year-round-obstruction of the cycle stands just over the road from Mission Grove school.

(Below) Cycle stands obstructed by traders on a daily basis (they lock their carts to the stands), with Mission Grove School in the background. November 1st.