Her Majesty found in Town Hall cupboard

At a meeting in Woolwich Town Hall earlier this week I was rather astonished to stumble upon a portrait of Her Majesty The Queen, out of sight in a cupboard between the Council Chamber and the Members' cloakroom.

.

As the picture was on a stand, and there was also a Union Flag stowed alongside, I guessed that it is used at citizenship ceremonies. It does seem rather odd, however, to bring out the Head of State to welcome new citizens, then shut Her away the rest of the time.

.

I've now written to the Mayor and Council officials suggesting the portrait or an alternative be placed permanently in the Chamber. Admittedly we're not short of Royal images in the Town Hall (Elizabeth I and Henry VIII stare down from stained glass windows and Queen Victoria, in statue form, dominates the main entrance hall) but it is only right that our reigning sovereign should join them.

.

It would be particularly apt to do so, as Prince Phillip was created Baron Greenwich before his marriage to the then Princess Elizabeth. Given that fact, and the work His Royal Highness has since done in support of the Cutty Sark Trust and the National Maritime Museum, it would be appropriate if he too had his portrait displayed alongside one of The Queen. Let's give Lord and Lady Greenwich the respect they deserve.

Michael Martin's peerage announced by Twitter
I must admit to being something of a constitutional geek, which is why I often read the London Gazette, the official journal for state and official announcements. It's also a wonderful historical resource.

That's how it was that I noticed Michael Martin's peerage had been "Gazetted", with the announcement in yesterday's edition that:

'The Queen has been pleased by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Realm dated 25 August 2009, to confer the dignity of a Barony of the United Kingdom for life upon the Right Honourable Michael John Martin, by the name, style and title of BARON MARTIN OF SPRINGBURN, of Port Dundas in the City of Glasgow. '

I duly put this on my Twitter page, where it was picked up by Jonathan Isaby of Conservative Home, and from there by the Telegraph, then the Daily Mail, and this morning by the Express and The Sun. Funnily enough the peerage was also announced in the Times' court pages, a day earlier, but clearly no-one on their or other papers' newsdesks noticed.

Climate Camp comes to Blackheath
In common with many local people, I was very concerned when I heard that the "Climate Camp" protest had decided to pitch its tents on Blackheath.

Although billed as an environmental awareness campaign, it is fair to say those organising and attending it often have a rather wider agenda. For example, their website covers "anti-bank" protests, demonstrations against the arms trade, alleged police brutality, and so on. All fair enough if they want to campaign on those issues too, but it does seem as though the serious issue of climate change is being used as a banner to connect a range of anti-capitalist causes.

The danger is always that events like this indulge the ego of the organisers, and are good fun for those taking part, but by being unfocussed and attracting negative coverage, actually damage the causes they seek to promote. Hugo Rifkind of the Times wrote a wonderful article on this.

But as a local resident and Councillor, my main concern is that the camp doesn't leave Blackheath in a mess. It would be ironic indeed if an environmental protest messed up one of London's nicest green spaces. The group have now issued a letter to residents claiming that they have a good record of cleaning up after themselves, but I think any claim to be wholly responsible is rather undermined by the fact they refused to co-operate with the police and other authorities about the location of the camp. I hope they keep their promise, and will be checking the site myself when they leave.

What a long Blogging holiday!

I have been very bad at keeping up this blog in recent months - a new job, general busyness and the fact my phone lost the abilty to blog have all contributed. I notice there haven't been riots on the streets demanding I post more often, and in fact I haven't had a single complaint, which is actually rather depressing.

Anyway, I shall make up for it with a series of 'back-posts' (is that an expression? It is now) of things which happened during my absence, as well as more current ones.