Iain Sinclair is absolutely furious. And no wonder; the London chronicler’s forthcoming book, Hackney, That Rose Red Empire, has been struck off the council library list three months before publication and Sinclair, a long term resident of the East London borough, is forced to hold his book launch in a bookshop rather than in his local library as initially planned. The reason? He criticised the borough’s Olympic plans in an article for the London Review of Books earlier this year. It took the powers that be at Hackney Council some time to notice his “controversial views on local issues” but justice was swift as soon as they did. This morning, the Mayor’s office weighed in. Would they be so outraged if a Tory Council was behind the ban?