Inside Croydon

Keir Starmer, the son of a tool-maker, managed a quick, and secretive, visit to Ikea in Croydon this morning.

It was suggested that he may have been looking for a new cabinet, because the one he’s got in Downing Street appears to be falling apart…

But the visit, which undoubtedly will have been diarised by the chair of the Streatham and Croydon North Constituency Labour Party, failed to warrant any mention on Starmer’s or No10’s social media platforms.

Teuta Hoxha, the Palestine Action prisoner from Croydon, has ended her hunger strike after 58 days.

The decision to pause the hunger strike was taken on Monday, with Hoxha’s physical condition weakened so significantly that, according to supporters, she is in need of hospital treatment. It is alleged that Hoxha had been denied medical treatment by staff at HMP Peterborough.

Hoxha and the other remaining hunger strikers had entered “the lethal zone”, a period where, if someone has gone without food for around 45 days or more, they are at serious risk of dying.

Political Editor WALTER CRONXITE on a Whitehall transfer which may have considerable significance

Steve Reed, the MP for Streatham (and Croydon North if he can be bothered), who has been implicated in spying on his colleague councillors in Lambeth and in Croydon, now has eyes and ears inside the Prime Minister’s office at a crucial point in Keir Starmer’s premiership.

Political Editor WALTER CRONXITE on a Whitehall transfer which may have considerable significance

Steve Reed, the MP for Streatham (and Croydon North if he can be bothered), who has been implicated in spying on his colleague councillors in Lambeth and in Croydon, now has eyes and ears inside the Prime Minister’s office at a crucial point in Keir Starmer’s premiership.

Heavenly Desserts on Dingwall Road, near East Croydon Station, is offering a 10% discount for students on all eat-in drinks, meals and desserts from now until March 31.

All anyone needs to claim the money-off saving is a valid student card.

“Designed to make catching up with friends, study breaks and post-lecture treats even sweeter, the offer gives students 10% off their entire bill when dining in at Heavenly Desserts Croydon,” say the restaurant managers.

Importantly, this is a dine-in only discount.

Housing minister’s attack against the Green Party leader may have back-fired, as the cabinet member flagged up reports linking him to the unlawful hacking of this website. By STEVEN DOWNES

The illegal hacking of this website in 2021 has been placed front and centre in the national news after Steve Reed, the MP for Streatham (and Croydon North when he can be bothered), chose to question someone else’s morality on Christmas Day.

Multiple-year settlements for councils in England and an end to the postcode lottery that has been local authority funding from Whitehall, as £78bn is allocated in effort to ‘end deprivation’. By STEVEN DOWNES

Croydon Council will receive an extra £40million each year for the next three years in its annual grant from central government it was announced today.

The news was made in a parliamentary statement in the House of Commons just before 3pm by Alison McGovern, the Minister of State for local government.

Housing correspondent, BARRATT HOLMES, on a developer-friendly decision which might yet set the trend for all of London

This is what you get when you “Build, baby! Build!”

Merton Council has granted planning approval for 626 homes on the Mitcham Gasworks site, with not a single unit to be designated as “affordable housing”.

Streatham and Croydon North MP Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for housing, must be so pleased to see his property developer-friendly approach having such an immediate impact…

A former pupil at Croydon’s BRIT School has been sentenced to almost two years in prison after being found guilty of having what the Met Police have described as “extreme right-wing material” on his phone.

Declan George-Candiani, 26, a self-proclaimed Satanist who claimed he made a pact with a “red-horned devil”, was given a 23-month sentence at the Old Bailey last week, where the judge ordered he serve an additional year on licence. He will also be subject to notification requirements for 10 years.

KEN TOWL delved into the little-known world of local literary societies, the ‘Lits’, where talk is cheap and at least the fruitcakes promise ‘no nuts’

I have discovered a hidden world, a world that exists in the shadows, a world in which people, mostly retired people, visit buildings, mostly churches, between the months of October and March, to hear about such topics as “Paranormal Mysteries and Cover-Ups” and “A Conspiracy Theory of the World”.

Local cemeteries and high streets are popular topics, too.