In the event, whilst there was a low turnout (16.46 per cent), which was to be expected given the proximity to the Christmas break, we held the seat comfortably, with a very satisfactory 11 per cent swing to Labour from the Tories. It was one of Labour’s best results in London this year. This should be of real concern to the Tories, as they threw everything at this by-election and were rewarded with their worst result for over a century, getting the lowest numerical vote for any Tory candidate in Queen’s Park since 1903. Although it was the first time the Greens had contested the ward, their candidate Susanna Rustin came third, beating the Lib Dems into fourth place. All this bodes well for Karen Buck MP in the new Westminster North seat in the forthcoming general election.

Finally, my father would have been delighted to see his political legacy bringing about such a decisive Labour victory and providing a firm foundation on which to build a Labour campaign in next year’s general election and council elections. And the newly elected Councillor Patricia McAllister (pictured) will make a worthy representative of the community in Queen’s Park for years to come.

Firstly, such commentary by the Sun and the other papers that took up the story is highly inflammatory. You have only to look at the email responses on the Sun message board to see what I mean, with hate-filled rants about asylum seekers and praise for the BNP. You can only imagine what the telephone messages left on the SunTalk number must be like!

As for expecting some accurate journalism, you can forget that. For example, the block of flats is neither in nor even near the West End. It has an NW1 post code. Nor is any property in the neighbourhood worth £1.8 million – the actor Sienna Miller is having enough difficulty trying to sell her propertyoff the Edgware Road a few blocks away, after dropping the price to under a million. Nor can the block of flats be described as a particularly desirable property, given that it directly backs onto the Marylebone flyover.

The block was built during the peak of the property boom in Central London, and when the developer was unable to sell any of the units it was taken over by receivers. As a result it has been lying empty for a number years. I have argued that such developments should be picked up by social landlords and rented out as social housing in a neighbourhood like this with acute housing need. I should know, having been one of the local councillors for eight years between 1998 to 2006, undertaking surgeries on Church Street where overcrowding and rehousing was the major issue. The Shirley Porter legacy had left every little council and social housing in this neighbourhood available for families in desperate need.

The real lesson to be drawn from the Sun story is that a means should be found to get this block into social ownership rather paying extortionate rents to the receiver – or anyone else taking the rent!

While Boris is happy to turn up to such events in search of a photo-opportunity, it is not at all clear what practical support he’s offering to the club, despite the pledges of financial assistance he made during his election campaign. Indeed, when I questioned the Mayor about it last month, I got a distinctly non-committal response. While the Mayor is evidently reluctant to offer the club financial assistance, the three local councillors certainly have done so by giving £5000 from their ward budget.

Truth be told, the City of Westminster Council could also help by CPOing the premises in Harrow Road where the All Stars Boxing Club is based, but that would mean admitting their folly in selling it off in the first place a few years back.

In the meantime Friday’s event rather died a death after Boris’s brief appearance, which does not bode well for the long term future of the Mayor’s Cup. The least Boris could do is assist with the marketing, brand the event with the mayoral logo and do his hosts the courtesy of staying for the whole evening.

The most telling point was that there was no show from the new heavyweight champion of the world, Londoner David Haye, who had attended last year. Clearly he’s a bigger figure in the boxing world than the Mayor of London, and what was more embarrassing was that the Mayor’s office made out Haye was coming when he was actually in Cyprus taking a well-earned break with his family. I certainly know who the punters came to see but I am not sure Boris did.

There, to a full house, I saw a very a different approach to these issues and one that many of those in the audience responded to very well. Residents received energy saving advice, found out how to take advantage of the local car sharing club and learnt how others are making environmentally friendly life changes such as taking up composting. This while being entertained by the Paddington Academy’s Eco Team and marvelling at the Queen’s Park children’s play on “Thinking global, acting local”.

While the next few weeks are going to be dominated by nations negotiating at the Copenhagen Summit over targets for CO2 emissions and in all probability not getting very far, it’s worth reminding ourselves what the campaign against climate change means on the doorstep of homes in wards like Queen’s Park.

So well done to the Queen’s Park Forum.