CHAMPIONSHIP result: West Ham United 0 Crystal Palace 0

THAT must have been a thrilling match, the kind of game when if you are in the stands you turn to the person in the next seat and start chatting about something else to pass the time. Like High Speed trains. Or cuts to public spending.

In Labour cabinet councillor Tulip Siddiq’s case, at Upton Park earlier this month as a guest, the bloke in the next seat just happened to be Bob Neill – a Tory MP in Eric Pickles’s local government department. That’s the same Bob Neill currently causing all levels of irritation among Tulip’s top-ranked colleagues in Camden for wading into the row over business rates owed by The People’s Supermarket in Holborn.

Tulip, I’m told, lobbied Bob as much as he lobbied her as they discussed all the issues that affect Camden the most during the half-time tea break. Let’s wait and see what he took away from their accidental meeting.