Finally I’ve received the mobile phone bills for the council Blackberry phone the council provide me for the period December 2010 to May 2011! I spent just under £50 which to avoid any errors or dispute about were any of the calls personal I’ll be paying back.  This should mean that councillors phone bills will be published in the near future – good for transparent honest local politics.

Separately I’ve heard via a Freedom of Information request that three councillors are behind with paying Council Tax. Two Labour and one Lib Dem. I’d like to reassure East Dulwich voters that I’m fully up to date with paying my Council Tax and pay via Direct Debit.

Times are hard for many and most people in realterms have not seen wages keep up with inflation. A hard fact of life while the nation sorts it finances out. So I have sympathy with colleagues finding it hard to makes ends meet. But equally we do receive a large allowance to help us be councillors and in fact many receive extra Special Responsibility Allowances – most Labour councillors receive SRA’s for example. Voters will not understand how councillors can owe the council money when they are paid so much.