To put this month’s offering into some some sort of context, we have published the two previous Rowson cartoons on the 2012 Mayoral elections.

The Start Line

The Halfway Mark

And The Finish Line

In the Barnhill ward of Brent, Labour successfully defended the fight for the council seat following the resignation of Judith Beckman. Michael Pavey won 56% of the vote to confirm his place in the council chamber – the Conservatives were second, beaten by 1,146 votes. Turnout was in line with the London Assembly and Mayoral elections, at 38%.

The Camden Town and Primrose Hill by-election result was announced late on Friday with Labour’s Lazzaro Pietragnoli taking the seat vacated by Thomas Neumark, the Labour candidate who stood down to move to New York. Labour were expected to win this (and did comfortably, by a majority of 1,024 votes) but interestingly it was the Tories who came second rather than the Liberal Democrats. This was partly to do with the Mayoral election being at the same time and the so-called ‘Boris bounce’.

Heading south and to Bromley, the Bromley Town by-election returned a Conservative councillor, Nicky Dykes, to sit on the Council. This followed the resignation of Tory councillor Diana MacMull at the end of March after news emerged that she would be moving to a new area. Dykes won the contest with a decent majority of 1,347 to the Liberal Democrat candidate, Sam Webber.

Islington’s Holloway ward by-election also returned an expected result as Labour retained the seat. Rakhia Ismail cantered over the line, defeating Jonathan Edwards of the Conservative Party by 2,352 votes to just 671. The news means that Islington continues to have a composition of 35 Labour councillors, 12 Liberal Democrats and a solitary Independent.

Moving back south of the River Thames, the Coombe Hill by-election in Kingston returned another expected winner. The ward – whose electorate voted for three Conservative councillors at the 2010 local elections – followed the form book in electing Tory candidate, Gaj Wallooppillai. Labour’s Laurie South was second but some 1,082 votes behind the victor whose 1,601 votes trebled the number garnered by South.

Over in Merton’s Wimbledon Park ward, there was a very decent turnout of 48% as the Conservatives retained the seat. Their candidate, Linda Taylor, romped to victory with a 906 vote majority over Labour’s Louise Deegan.

Staying in the south west, the North Richmond ward in Richmond was also retained by the Conservatives, although it was a much tighter affair than the other council by-elections that took place last Thursday. The Tory candidate, Stephen Speak, fended off the Liberal Democrats, pushing them into second place by just 146 votes.

In Tower Hamlets and the Weavers ward, it was Labour’s turn to be re-elected in a ward they dominated at the 2010 elections. Labour’s John Pierce held off resurgent Respect candidate, Abjol Miah, as the Party continued its dominance in the council make-up despite being governed by Lutfur Rahman’s Independent Mayoralty. Pierce received a 284 vote majority to second place Miah – who was the Respect candidate in the 2010 General Election seat for Bethnal Green and Bow where he had hoped to replace George Galloway.

And finally, one of the most interesting by-elections took place in the Hyde Park ward of Westminster – a vacancy that emerged following former Conservative and Council Leader Colin Barrow’s decision to stand down from local politics. True to form – and in a replication of all nine by-elections taking place last week – the Conservatives retained the seat. Antonia Cox received almost three times as many votes as Labour’s second placed candidate, Jack Gordon.

Independent candidate Gulam Robanni scraped a win from Labour hopeful Ala Uddin in the Spitalfields and Banglatown ward of Tower Hamlets. Only 43 votes separated the winner, who was openly backed by directly-elected mayor Lutfur Rahman, from his second placing rival whilst the Conservative, Green and Liberal Democrat candidates all fared predictably poorly.

Despite a turnout of only 31.4%, this figure was almost twice as high as the 16.8% polled at the previous by-election held in the ward in 2010.

The vacancy for a new councillor in the ward arose following the three-and-a-half month jailing of former councillor Shelina Akhtar for benefit fraud. Akhtar defected from the Labour party in 2010 in order to support Rahman’s independent administration. Robbani is a former aide of Lutfur Rahman.

Meanwhile in the Goresbrook ward of Barking and Dagenham, the poll marked a 4.8% swing from the BNP to Labour. Labour candidate Simon Bremner polled 1,113 votes to BNP candidate Bob Taylor’s 593, securing a clear 520-vote majority.

Turnout on this occasion was 25.6%, similar to the 25.2% turnout of the 2010 ward by-election.

The by-election was called after trade unionist and former lollipop lady Louise Couling resigned in February due to ill health.

Spitalfields and Banglatown ward results

Gulam Robbani (Independent) 1,030; Ala Uddin (Labour) 987; Matthew James Smith (Conservative) 140; Kirsty Blake (Green) 99; Richard Alan MacMillan (Liberal Democrats) 39

Goresbrook ward results

Simon Bremner (Labour) 1,113; Bob Taylor (BNP) 593; John Walter Dias-Broughton (UKIP) 91; Mohammed Riaz (Conservative) 81; Robert Graham Hills (Liberal Democrats) 48

Despite the dominance of the Conservative administration in the rest of the borough, Arjun Mittra took an extra 16.6% of votes from the party compared to the last election, receiving 2,117 votes. Conservative candidate Anshul Gupta secured less than a quarter of this with 543 votes whilst Liberal Democrat Jane Gibson was close behind with 461. The majority this time around was 1,574, greater than the 2010 election.

However, turnout for the poll was low at 28%, perhaps explaining why the winning candidate needed 814 fewer votes than the previous councillor to take the win. This is in stark contrast to the 66% turnout for the 2010 local election which was generously helped by the occurrence of the general election on the same day.

At the age of 25, Mittra becomes one of Barnet’s councillors and has special interest in issues such as road safety and parking charges.

The by-election was called after former councillor Andrew McNeil stepped down from the seat for personal reasons earlier this year. Having served Barnet Council for six years, McNeil is moving to Northern Ireland to be closer to his daughter who is expecting a baby this summer.

Cable will stretch over 3 UK-built steel towers

Construction of the Emirates Air Line has reached a major milestone with the completion of all three towers and the installation of a 1.1km long stretch of steel cable across the River Thames.

Main construction works on the UK’s first urban cable car, led by international consultancy and construction company Mace, got underway in July 2011 and have been taking place either side of the river. The three main towers will allow 34 cabins to cross the river at heights of up to 90 metres between the two terminals, Emirates Greenwich Peninsula and Emirates Royal Docks.

The three towers were manufactured in Bolton and have been erected in sections via crane. At around 90m tall, the South Tower is the only tower to have been built in the River Thames next to one of London’s key landmarks, the O2. Each tower has been topped with a Doppelmayr ‘head’ (named after specialist cable car contractor Doppelmayr) which allows the cabling to run across the tops of the structures.

The cabling, made of twisted steel comprised of nearly 300 separate strands of steel and 50mm thick, stretches 1.1km across the river. It was pulled into place and tensioned using a 12-tonne winch located on the platform of the South Terminal (Emirates Greenwich Peninsula). The cable has now been clamped and secured at each station and tensioned to gain a minimum clearance of 55m above the Thames.

The 34 cabins which will be used to transport passengers across the river will soon begin a rigorous testing process. This will involve hours of running the cables and cabins across the river before it is due to open for passenger service in summer 2012.

Danny Price, TfL Emirates Air Line Operations Manager, said: “Work on the Emirates Air Line is really gaining momentum now. This is a major milestone for the project and helps everyone to visualise the unique and exciting travel experience soon to link the Royal Victoria Docks and Greenwich Peninsula. It won’t be long before we see the rigorous testing and commissioning process starting with a cabin taking its first flight across the river.”

Matt Randall, Project Director for Mace, said: “The pull of the cable across the Thames has been a highly complex and intricate part of the construction of this landmark project. We used boats to make the initial rope connection during the short night-time window when the tide was at its lowest, working with the Port of London Authority to keep the river way clear, and this was eventually replaced with the cable itself. Now the cable has been tensioned to the correct height, the next step will be to commence the testing of the whole system.”

As keen LCA-watchers will know, we love cartoons and have for many years commissioned them on the themes of London politics, elections and issues of the day. We are publishing a cartoon on our website every month from leading cartoonist Martin Rowson and this is the latest offering to represent London during March as we continue to close in on the 3 May London Assembly and Mayoral elections. Martin is one of the UK’s most well known and influential political cartoonists and features regularly in the Guardian and Independent. He was appointed “Cartoonist Laureate” of London by former Mayor Ken Livingstone and continues to provide a regular illustrative take on London, UK and international politics.

A service to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Peabody and the work of its founder took place at Westminster Abbey.

American financier and philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869) made the trip from the US to settle in London in 1837. In 1862 he established the Peabody Donation Fund ‘to ameliorate the condition of the poor and needy in this great metropolis’.

And 150 years on, Peabody now has more than 20,000 homes for 50,000 people in 25 London boroughs.

Westminster Abbey was packed with guests who were treated to a Bidding from the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, and an Address from the Right Reverend Tom Butler, the former Bishop of Southwark. Also on hand to give testimonies were Peabody residents and TV actor Adetomiwa Edun.

Stephen Howlett, Peabody Chief Executive, read from George Peabody’s letters during the service. Writing of his founding donation of £150,000, Peabody said: “This will act more powerfully in future generations than in the present; it is intended to endure forever. A century in the history of London is but a brief period comparatively with the life of man”.

The Order of Service contained letters of support from the Prime Minister David Cameron, the American Ambassador Louis Susman and the Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

Johnson wrote: “For the past 150 years Peabody has been providing good-quality affordable homes across London. Peabody homes are local landmarks, part of the fabric of our communities.

“I wish them well on the occasion of their 150th anniversary and applaud their mission to make London a city of opportunity for all.”