Dramatic license...

Just before Christmas, the Conservatives sent out an absurdly over-the-top letter to residents of Kenilworth Court and surrounding areas scaremongering about an application to extend the time the small Eatmore Express shop at 9 Lower Richmond Road (just opposite Putney Bridge) can sell alcohol at weekends only.

The Conservatives all-but told residents that if this extension was approved the world would pretty much end: there would be hordes of drunken yobs rolling around in Lower Richmond Road and for some reason they failed to explain, it would all be the fault of the Labour Government. This despite licensing applications being a matter the Conservative-run council decides.

A stunning total of eight people were prompted to write in and object as a result of the Conservatives' scaremongering. And then the Licensing sub-committee - all Tory councillors - went ahead and granted the license extension without any amendment whatsoever! Read the decision here, if you like.

What a surreal episode, and what an extraordinary way to behave.