Titbits – Short stories, Pipe dreams and local Labour’s fraying seams

◆ Debora Robertson @lickedspoon sparked a bit of Twitter mirth when she clocked Mayor Philip Glanville wearing shorts at the Stoke Newington Literary Festival. Hackney Society chair Nick Perry responded: “I don’t want to get all political or anything but we never saw his predecessor in shorts #justsaying.” Said Debora: “We never saw his predecessor at all.”

◆ Recently re-elected Mayor Philip Glanville is on the lookout for a Political Assistant, with a starting salary of £34,938. The blurb for the job helpfully states applicants should have a “proven record of providing advice”. But strangely, the post only runs until 2020, halfway through the Mayor’s four-year term. With Greater London Authority elections falling in the same year, one can only wonder why. Pipe dreams?

◆ Meanwhile the appointment of Glanville’s chum Feryal Demirci as a second Deputy Mayor has ruffled feathers within local Labour circles. The thorny issue is not helped by rumours that co-Deputy Anntoinette Bramble is being sidelined.