WHAT HAS happened to the “world-renowned technology and innovation festival” that Hackney boasted was coming to the borough this summer 2015?

A year ago the council trumpeted a Maker Faire, to be held at Here East, the Olympic Park former media centre, in 2015.

The spinners of Mare Street breathlessly said that “This new third flagship fair will run in the 2015 summer holidays for up to four weeks, and is expected to draw about 75,000 people”.

Those thousands in search of the latest geekery will, however, be heading north not east: the 2015 event will take place in Newcastle.

What has caused the loss of a show that according to Hackney would create “routes to jobs”? (Try putting “route to a job” on your CV.)

Could it have anything to do with the red faces at the town hall earlier this month when it had to admit that sponsorship for its annual beano to Texas had fallen through?

Yeee-up, you-all, Hackney House Austin would not be opening this month March 2015 at the South by Southwest interactive festival, “the place to preview the technology of tomorrow today” in Austin, pictured, the Texan city famed for crude oil, Stetson hats, country music and sassy southern belles.

British Airways was just one of the companies that pulled the plug on the Hackney jolly, leaving councillors who had tapped the dates into their phones mumbling about a “shortfall” in funding.

The festival was unaffected. It takes more than the absence of a gang of limeys to spoil the party. And SXSW is known for its parties.

Hamish Scott 260315

* Maker Faire UK 2015, Life Science Centre, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sat 25 Apr 2015, Sun 26 Apr 2015 

* Backstory: Tech fest coming to Hackney

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