I compiled an overview of the top stories making the news in Ham & High for each month of the year. This was published in print as a 5-page spread on December 31st 2015.
Front page stories:
Figures revealed by Mayor of London Boris Johnson show that between June and September this year Camden lost officers on 1,293 occasions after they were shifted to other boroughs. Barnet lost a further 951 officers. No substitutes were brought in during this time. Frognal and Fitzjohns safer neighbourhood panel member Jessica Lermond-Criqui spoke of force bosses turning up to work to find their team assisting elsewhere: “They then can’t do anything… so muggings, stabbings, moped enabled crime which needs investigating has to sit there until they are back”.
A mother praised passers by who assisted in saving her three-year-old son who stopped breathing. Rachel Morris was in a Belsize Park café when her son Wilfred told her he was feeling sick. She was taking him outside of the café when he stopped breathing. Emergency services were called and by luck an ambulance was driving by and Wilfred was rushed to the Royal Free hospital while paramedics performed CPR. Ms Morris is now urging anyone and everyone to learn CPR. (The original story can be viewed here)
Light-hearted: Dog owners raised £1,200 for All Dogs Matter rescue organisation by dressing up their pooches in scary costumes for the annual All Dogs Matter Hallowe’en Dog Walk event. The charity event was held at The Spaniards Inn pub. (The original story can be viewed here)
Controversy: Former Spice Girl Geri Horner’s fast-tracked plans to set up a free school near her Highgate home has sparked a fierce reaction. Grove, who also set up a free school in the borough, said it took her and other educationalists five years to campaign for and open the Abacus Belsize open free primary school in 2011. She believes that Horner’s ‘celebrity status’ has sped up the process – including meetings at 10 Downing Street and with the Department for Education (DfE) – resulting in the devaluing of the process to set up free schools. (The original stories can be viewed here and here)
Lillian Altman 