If you had any doubt whether the people of Croydon need to help the homeless and poor of the borough, because they cannot rely on their elected councillors to provide food and other assistance, then they have only to consider this picture.

It was taken in the members’ room last night, and shows the sum total of the generosity of Croydon councillors towards the homeless and those less fortunate than themselves.

Turning other people’s neediness into a competition is, at best, in questionable taste. This was the sum total of the collection in the members’ room at the Town Hall by Monday evening. Generous to a fault. Not

What you can see above are the donations from the borough’s 70 councillors in just about a week – a week when they have had to “endure” Council Tax-funded mince pies and mulled wine in the Mayor’s Parlour, and a “Gourmet Dinner” last Wednesday. That event was 50 quid a ticket, and all for charidee, according to Vidhi Mohan, the Tory councillor for Fairfield ward, who never considered by-passing the banquet and instead donating the £50 directly to a charity for homeless people.

Croydon Council recently open new offices, built at a cost of £140 million. Its councillors collectively received £1.5 million in “allowances” from public funds last year.

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Coming to Croydon

• Strange Air book talk, Upper Norwood Joint Library: Dec 14
• Surrey Street Christmas market, Dec 15 and 22
• Cinema Ruskin: Dec 21
• Steve Knightly at Stanley Halls: Feb 5

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