Who is Clyde Loakes?
According to his Wikipedia entry, he is someone
nationally notable for his work towards improving Waltham Forest and North-East London
Not just a respected hero of us local folk but someone whose fame and achievement echoes to the furthest perimeters of our glorious nation!
Mind you, after that remarkable statement it does have two little blue words which read: citation needed.
A brutal and jaded cynic might well conclude that the author of this Wiki entry is none other than Clyde himself.
Strangely, this glowing description of our esteemed former leader of the council doesn’t altogether gel with this local perspective
Of course, the Wiki entry might not be Clyde’s work, though it is hard to think of anyone else who would care enough to want to write one. And to be fair there is at the end a section headed Criticisms and controversies, which sheds a less than flattering light on the years of the Loakes administration. But here, strangely, references 33-38 have been deleted
Including two for this statement:
Further claims were that roads and street cleanliness was at a poor standard in Waltham Forest and this also claimed the blame was all Clyde Loakes's fault [37], although they offered little quantitative evidence to support that claim other than a string of photographs showing fly tipping, untidiness and poor road design in the Borough [38].
Who “they” were is not stated, although I could almost believe that whoever wrote this sentence may have had this blog in mind. It’s a mystery.
Apparently apart from his other luminous contributions to our local paradise, Clyde is also passionate about cycling. I must admit this came as a bit of a surprise.
Loakes was a keen cyclist and sought to encourage cycling in Waltham Forest
Indeed, he was so passionate about cycling that in all his years as council leader he never got round to installing a single cycle stand in Walthamstow village, or even at all the borough’s libraries, let alone numerous other council buildings used by members of the public!
I'm afraid I've never forgiven Clyde for eating my cycle lane.
