Local traders and residents in this area of Highgate won a bid for funding for a Christmas tree to brighten up a little patch of land in this very heavily trafficky corner between Archway Road and Muswell Hill Road. You can read the sad tale here in the Evening Standard. The picture shows my Liberal Democrat colleagues standing by a very pathetic looking Christmas Tree – a tree that actually cost £150 but which, by the time Haringey Council had erected it, cost £1500. The local residents and my LibDem councillor colleagues are pretty cross – to put it mildly.

This tale of Christmas Tree woe stands as a metaphor for Haringey Council – they do things really badly and it costs the earth.

But as it’s the season of good will………………………