Titbits – Frosty recitals and unsettling titles

◆ Local resident William Oates’ pleas in the council chamber for action over speeding vehicles on a Clapton street were met with a strangely effusive response from Tory councillor Harvey Odze: “I can see that you live up to the selfless attitude of your illustrious namesake, who sacrificed himself for the rest of the Antarctic expedition.” 

He was referring to explorer Lawrence Oates, but it was his interest in The Big Ice that pricked ears – for Odze has been very vocal in his denials of manmade climate change. Cold feet perhaps?

◆ That’s a hard no. Odze, in the same meeting, called his Labour counterparts “Stalinists”, before telling them he would not let them “prevent my [Orthodox Jewish] schools from teaching” pupils that climate change is a natural phenomenon. Labour councillor Sem Moema later sarcastically responded to the dig on Twitter: “I feel like I’ve made it in life.”

◆ ICYMI: the council has changed the name of its Move On Team, which hit headlines recently for giving a pregnant woman 24 hours to move to Stoke or become intentionally homeless. It is now the Settled Homes Team. How cosy.