If it's the summer silly season, then it must be time for some nonsensical surveys that cost a lot and deliver little. Ah, here's one: Haringey-ites are fuming about a report that has ranked borough residents the fugliest folk in all of London-town. This vitally important study, commissioned by pioneering psychologists at the University of Westminster, revealed that in beauty terms the borough's men rank 26th out of 33, while the women fare little......

A tale here of two local councils and their contrasting approaches to the pressing issue of water usage. Following a government campaign announced earlier this year, Westminster council have binned bottled water from their offices in favour of glugging straight from the tap (via a glass or plastic receptacle, of course). They estimate that doing so will save them in the region of £12,000. The council has also vowed to replace pre-bottled water at......

North London rubbish collectors, Haringey Enterprise, have been ordered to remove any soft toys they may have strapped to the front of their trucks as they pose a risk to small children who might be drawn to said, abducted squishies and thereby get squishied themselves, we presume. It's health and safety gone mad, do we hear you cry? Well yes, in a way it is. But we're also secretly relieved. Seeing Little Ted with......

Rats have taken over Muswell Hill. And we're not just talking about the clowns from Haringey Council who dumped those confidential documents a few months back. No, these are the genuine deal, the scurrying little beggars themselves, all brown of fur and sharp of claw. Residents in N10 have spotted sewer rats (species:Rattus evillus) ambling along Dukes Avenue and the Broadway, putting fear and terror into the hearts of locals without so much as......

In the shy sunshine of the new tax year, just as we're adjusting to those increased Council Tax bills and telling ourselves it's OK because at least we get doorstep recycling collections these days, even if our bins are rationed, it's revealed that London Councils collectively wrote off nearly £50 million of unpaid Council Tax in 2007. Councillor Adje, cabinet member for resources of the most owed borough, Haringey, sagely pointed out recently that......

Bad news for Haringey residents: a crime survey this week revealed that three of London's four worst burglary hotspots are in the borough. Figures for 2007 show that, despite a borough-wide reduction in crime, parts of Haringey are ridden by burglary. Tottenham Green, St Ann's and Harringay are the spots to avoid if you're partial to your possessions. A one percent year on year increase in home burglaries has been recorded, and the main......