Despite London’s status as a leading world capital our city has some very serious problems affecting its potential and that of its inhabitants - namely a chronic and dire housing shortage, the smallest room-sizes to be found anywhere in the western world, and prices so high that they exclude all but the very wealthy from buying a home [...]

Nervous students all over Hackney received their GCSE results on Thursday and for some it was a testament to all their hard work. According to The Learning Trust, Hackney schools This year, 58% of students achieved five good GCSE’s including English and Maths – a rise of almost 3% on last year. Yet again, this [...]

The issue of personal bankruptcy – core of the novel – is still something of a taboo theme in the western world. The question of whether bankruptcy is the ‘ultimate’ taboo of a materialist society is asked directly in the book . Yet bankruptcy laws have been changed (rather, heavily relaxed) over recent years to [...]

Students all across the borough are celebrating outstanding results in their A levels, this week. They began gathering at the various schools and 6th form colleges early on Thursday, hoping for good news and for many it was. Initial indications suggest these are Hackney’s best results yet –  making the borough one of the most [...]

A week after Clarence Road felt the brunt of the riots, residents and business owners gathered along Clarence Road.       Do you have photos of the tea party you want to share? Please post them on our forum.

On Monday 15th August, exactly a week and almost a minute to the day violent and ugly disturbances broke out in Hackney, Clarence Road will host a tea party for the people of the area. Clarence Road was the worst affected part during the riot, but will be closed off to traffic for the party. [...]

Half the borough’s children live in poverty. Missing, too, are the summer courses that kept minds and hands busy

We all admire a heroine who speaks her mind. Often, though, it’s better to button it

In the 18 months Mark Pytilk lived in Clapton Square, he shopped at Sivaharan Kandiah’s convenience store  in Clarence Road, Clapton, just about every other day, where he was always greeted with a warm smile and small talk.  But it took watching footage of Mondays riots to realise he didn’t know his name. Known as [...]

At street level in trouble-hit Hackney, residents paint a depressing picture of alienation, anger, boredom and mischief