Everyone has a story. Journalist Peter Gruner knows Islington better than most of us despite never having lived here. After 11 years on the Islington Tribune the Trib he retired in May. Interview by Nicola Baird. Peter Gruner is a real Islington character, despite living in Barnet. Peter spent 20 years at the Evening Standard covering mainly environmental issues, including the debate about the health impacts of using diesel fuel. He then moved to the Islington Tribune around We now know that diesel fumes are extremely dangerous particularly for children.
And look how many schools in the borough are built next to main roads. Fresh interviews are published once a week. Now 68, Peter retired in May His farewell party was held at an Irish pub close to the newspaper offices in Camden Town and attended by friends, colleagues, contacts, councillors and even Jeremy Corbyn, MP. See www. And everyone has got something interesting to say, even though you may not always agree with them.
Impressive Islington Green party campaigners. Katie was wonderful. She helped introduce the 20mph speed limit in the borough. When she first arrived on the political scene I was so delighted. It was a breath of fresh air. She had lots of good ideas, and she held the balance working with both Labour and the Lib Dems.
I was sad when she got knocked out. Now Green Cllr Caroline Russell is the only elected opposition on Islington council a gainst an often vociferous army of Labour members. I wish Jeremy Corbyn well as new leader of the Labour party. I did an interview with him on his 30 th anniversary as an MP a few years ago and he talked about his love of cheese, in particular Stilton. He also enjoys baking his own bread and talked about his beloved allotment. My story about Bob the cat and busker James Bowen was read by a local literary agent.
The rest as they say is history. She got James to write his life story which turned into several best selling books and soon a film. There are loads of famous people in Islington. I used to see Boris Johnson on his bike before he became London Mayor. He was president of the Islington Tories. Very nice bloke. Multi-skilled Peter rarely uses Twitter or Facebook to get stories, unlike a lot of younger hacks, and prefers the face-to-face interview.
