Greenwich Time get's a facelift

Following on from our last post about Greenwich Time and the role that it plays within Greenwich its interesting to note that this week sees a relaunch of the viewspaper. It would appear to be trying to mimic the style and front page content of a real local newspaper albeit with a strong tabloid influence. The front page has as its lead story a photo of Charlton Athletic's Zheng "Zizi" Zhi along with a tired, emotional and unshaven looking Cllr Chris Roberts. This is along with numerous competitions on the inside pages; there is still some space left over for what the communications budget is supposed to be spent on, that being informing the public about various official council activities, such as Council Housing and Jobs.

The front page also hosts an editorial from Peter Cordwell, the editor and publisher from Community First Journals, which by all appearances earn a vast amount of their income from Greenwich Council. It says "GT will find the people who are already beavering away behind the scenes to improve their neighbourhoods." along with "We'll also be promoting Greenwich Council services and initiatives working to make Greenwich greater". We can't but help remind ourselves that who pays the Piper, picks the tune.

The final passage of the editorial really caught our eye though, "Cynics like to say there's no such thing as communities, but we're having none of that... and we'll prove it every week in the new GT". In our view a real community would welcome it if people pointed out their flaws, afterall how are they supposed to improve otherwise, that and it keeps them honest. So we look forward to seeing the minimum 2 photos of Council Leader Chris Roberts and the photo of a random cabinet member for each edition. What will be interesting is if any of the reports will cover both sides of the story, as real local papers try to do, or even if these problems ever get a mention;

• Negitive Equity in Theamesmead
• The Ferrier fiascoes
• John Roan School
• Compleate Educational Failure
• - amongst other things

At the same time as all of this it looks like the Council are also conducting yet another survey, this time into Greenwich Time, take a look.

Informing the public?

Looks like the nonpartisan, kitty litter liner that is Greenwich Time was being delivered on the Polling Day for the Mayoral and GLA elections. Along with the usual pro Council stories and smiling photos of various Council Cabinet members there was also a piece covering the elections. Now, was it that Greenwich Council and the newspapers' controller in chief (Cllr Chris Roberts) wanted to help promote a candidate in the election, or was it incompetence?

The Council knew the date of the election, and did the normal thing any council would do and tell people how to vote but still failed to allow time for the newspaper to be delivered? When they realised that the election was on Thursday they called up the company that delivers Greenwich Time and at short notice got them to rush out the viewspaper?

So either incompetence, corruption or just yet another funny coincidence? You decide.

Either way, we wonder if Chris Roberts will let there be a photo of the new Mayor of London, the Conservative Boris Johnson? Or if only the GLA Representative, Labour's Len Duvall, will get any coverage?


Hat Tip: Indigo and Dizzy Thinks

Olympic Borough's actively support sport, right?

One of the more lively events in the 3½ hour spectator sport that is Greenwich Council's Politburo democracy, is the ability of the public to talk about petition items. January's council meeting was a master course in this, with a number of petitioners taking up the chance to talk.

One group - which was desperately trying to get their local sports field brought back into a working condition - ended up holding up copies of Greenwich Time, which had the headline "It's good to be listened to!" whilst simultaneously shouting "liar!" when Cllr Fahy was speaking (it brought such a smile to our face).

However, even with public there, the administration seemed to be far more keen to move a primary school onto the site. Who cares about the views of local residents when you have brass necked arrogance on your side?

Tory Councillor, Andy Jennings, who was supporting the petition, asked why, if we're an Olympic Borough, we have amongst the worst sporting participation rates in the country, which is no doubt linked to the lack of interest the Council shows in maintaining sports grounds.

We wonder this too. Could it be that the council wants to sell the old primary school site off and make a fast buck?