Report from the street

Out on the streets of Bethnal Green North last night. We were there a few weeks ago, leafletting some of the estates. This time we went to finish up, covering the Minerva Estate on the north side of Old Bethnal Green Road (with buildings named after Paris, Ajax, Achilles, Nestor and others I'm surprised the council didn't try and cash in when the film Troy opened last month) and then Nelson Gardens a little further along.

On what was the warmest day of the year so far (although I gather today should be the hottest), I also did a quick three-minute interview with a local radio station. And that will probably be cropped down to 20 seconds or so between the jingles.

Then this morning I was out with colleagues handing out leaflets at Bethnal Green tube station. I stayed at one of the entrances until the Respect people arrived. There didn't seem to be any point swamping the public with leaflets and the impact of ours would have been lost. But I do wonder about the merits of early morning leafletting. As if it isn't hard enough to rouse oneself in the morning, you then have to deal with commuters, who like yourself, feel tired and don't want to be bothered.

And that's not even saying anything about the leaflets, which were colourful but too big and full of ink which runs off far too easily.

As you can probably tell, mornings aren't my favourite time.