The old boy has bucked a trend in the recent council elections, and been re-elected as Mayor of London. As the Conservative party took a fair old pounding across the Country, the female pro-Boris vote held strong and he was able to fend off Ken 'the con' Livingstone and remain firmly entrenched in County Hall.
It's nothing out of the ordinary for the incumbent Government to get roasted in the mid-term elections, so I suspect Dave and his crew will be fairly relaxed about the wider political picture. He might, however, be looking over his shoulder from time to time to check that Boris is still maintaining that he has no presumptions about being PM. That could all change though.
In the last term we had the introduction of the Boris bikes into London, and he is now well placed to see through the Olympic Games in a few weeks time. I suspect his major focus, and legacy, though will be to try to force through the plans for an estuary airport at the mouth of the Thames.
The four runway airport will reputedly cost between £40-£70 billion and would be built on to artificial islands near Whitstable. Bet the oysters aren't too happy! Norman Foster favours a land side airport on the Isle of Grain and there are alternative options for Gatwick and Stanstead, although Heathrow does now seem to be out of the running. With Gatwick and Heathrow likely to be close to meltdown during the upcoming Olympics, there will certainly be a ground swell for a new facility near London. Link it somehow to the Eurostar and fast trains to the North of England and we could see the Boris Island Airport gather some momentum.
At the moment there are minimal UK flights to China, India and Brazil that the UK are missing out on very lucrative deals with these rising industrial giants. Guangzhou, the main industrial centre in China has no direct flights from Heathrow. Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt have 800 a year between them. So clearly something must be done. Will the finance be there, can the nature and ecology problems be overcome, and would it really take 20 years from conception to delivery. If that's the case Boris better get bonking!!!
Showing posts with label Ken Livingstone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ken Livingstone. Show all posts
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Friday, 9 May 2008
A week is a long time in politics
....and a long time not to post a blog entry, so whats been happening?
There have been a number of developments regarding previous stories in the last few days. Most significant has been the election of Boris 'The Spider' Johnson, as the new mayor of London. jolly good show I say as it removes Ken 'The Newt' Livingstone from office and removes the sleaze which allegedly followed him around in the London Assembly rooms.
Tomorrow is the start of my second year of Blog writing, so that means the house must have been on the market all that time, or near enough.We are not really any closer to selling, but there seem to be some new people dragged along by Foxtons to at least show a bit of activity.
I still can't work out the way the hit tracker works, it says 942 people have visited but I am sure it is not counting unique id's so will need to see how to sort that out....something for a quiet day at the office maybe?
There is no Clampitts tour this year, but SWMBO is off with some amigos loco to sunny Spain at the weekend, definitely lock up your husband time. I shall take advantage to play a few medal rounds of golf and make sure my handicap is still kosha. Next week is the IBM national golf tournament qualifier in Ilkley, then its off to the boarders in Scotland for a bit more Ailsa Craig trophy hunting. I must try not to win the Rabbit this year, which reminds me, I wonder where it is? As I was captain of the winning Moose Cup team in Portugal this year, I must be attracted to trophies associated with animals.
Well that's a brief summary of things past, I am just off to get the kids off the bouncy castle and cut all the trees down in the garden, you just can't be too careful these days can you?
There have been a number of developments regarding previous stories in the last few days. Most significant has been the election of Boris 'The Spider' Johnson, as the new mayor of London. jolly good show I say as it removes Ken 'The Newt' Livingstone from office and removes the sleaze which allegedly followed him around in the London Assembly rooms.
Tomorrow is the start of my second year of Blog writing, so that means the house must have been on the market all that time, or near enough.We are not really any closer to selling, but there seem to be some new people dragged along by Foxtons to at least show a bit of activity.
I still can't work out the way the hit tracker works, it says 942 people have visited but I am sure it is not counting unique id's so will need to see how to sort that out....something for a quiet day at the office maybe?
There is no Clampitts tour this year, but SWMBO is off with some amigos loco to sunny Spain at the weekend, definitely lock up your husband time. I shall take advantage to play a few medal rounds of golf and make sure my handicap is still kosha. Next week is the IBM national golf tournament qualifier in Ilkley, then its off to the boarders in Scotland for a bit more Ailsa Craig trophy hunting. I must try not to win the Rabbit this year, which reminds me, I wonder where it is? As I was captain of the winning Moose Cup team in Portugal this year, I must be attracted to trophies associated with animals.
Well that's a brief summary of things past, I am just off to get the kids off the bouncy castle and cut all the trees down in the garden, you just can't be too careful these days can you?
Tuesday, 17 July 2007
Spiders and newts
The news that Boris Johnson has agreed to stand as prospective Conservative candidate for the position of Mayor of London will, I am sure, be greeted with mixed emotions, and these emotions will probably not be segregated by party politics, such are this man's particular characteristics.
Boris is one of the few MP's who has been asked to apologise for telling the truth, he portrays himself as a larger than life character with his frequent television appearances and he is an advocate for the use of cycles ahead of the motor , even though he loves fast cars. He could probably entertain viewers in a one man "I'm a celebrity..." or "Celebrity Big Brother", but is he the right man for the job of Mayor?
He is seen as a bumbling character, but this is an image he works hard at portraying, very few people actually dislike him, but he does have a problem with people failing to take him seriously. Like Ernest Shackleton, however, he is very good at surrounding himself with highly skilled, successful people. The Mayor of London will need such support to manage the diverse and endless tasks which the position warrants.
Then, of course, we have to ask whether 'Red' Ken is worth a third term in office. In the same way as Monty Python asked what had the Romans done for us, so Londoners could ask the same of him.
The congestion charge will probably live as his legacy, it has certainly earned a lot of money for the coffers, but has it been the success he says it is? I don't drive into London so I am not at liberty to say whether the traffic flows more freely during the day, but I see it as a bit like speed cameras. They too generate income but do they stop accidents or speeding motorists, I don't think so.
Livingstone will at last face a tough election if Boris is indeed his opponent, and Ken will be keen to win. He has his Crossrail scheme to see through, and would dearly like to be Mayor during the London 2012 Olympics albeit having to face a fourth election to achieve it. He does, however, court controversy in the same way as he indicates his opponent does. His stubbornness is illustrated by his insistence on progressing the West London tram link through Shepherds Bush and Ealing, when most of the local people are not in favour. His free travel for U18's caused a rash of streaming attacks on buses and his intransigence was evident when he failed to review and modify the scheme, and his power trip has been most evident with his insistence on taking over local planning approval from the Government, something which will allow his own personal taste for high rise and unsuitable architectural design to dominate the London development landscape for as long as he remains in power.
First of all Boris needs to be nominated as one of the Conservative candidates, then all of London get to choose whether he stands against Ken. The opportunity for tactical voting, and election fraud will reach new heights I suspect, as Labour look for ways of excluding Boris from the final election. The fact that Livingstone is already bad mouthing Boris in a sure sign of genuine concern at losing his job.
As The Times quoted "We ought to celebrate it, being the first election for decades when a maverick can't lose."
Boris is one of the few MP's who has been asked to apologise for telling the truth, he portrays himself as a larger than life character with his frequent television appearances and he is an advocate for the use of cycles ahead of the motor , even though he loves fast cars. He could probably entertain viewers in a one man "I'm a celebrity..." or "Celebrity Big Brother", but is he the right man for the job of Mayor?
He is seen as a bumbling character, but this is an image he works hard at portraying, very few people actually dislike him, but he does have a problem with people failing to take him seriously. Like Ernest Shackleton, however, he is very good at surrounding himself with highly skilled, successful people. The Mayor of London will need such support to manage the diverse and endless tasks which the position warrants.
Then, of course, we have to ask whether 'Red' Ken is worth a third term in office. In the same way as Monty Python asked what had the Romans done for us, so Londoners could ask the same of him.
The congestion charge will probably live as his legacy, it has certainly earned a lot of money for the coffers, but has it been the success he says it is? I don't drive into London so I am not at liberty to say whether the traffic flows more freely during the day, but I see it as a bit like speed cameras. They too generate income but do they stop accidents or speeding motorists, I don't think so.
Livingstone will at last face a tough election if Boris is indeed his opponent, and Ken will be keen to win. He has his Crossrail scheme to see through, and would dearly like to be Mayor during the London 2012 Olympics albeit having to face a fourth election to achieve it. He does, however, court controversy in the same way as he indicates his opponent does. His stubbornness is illustrated by his insistence on progressing the West London tram link through Shepherds Bush and Ealing, when most of the local people are not in favour. His free travel for U18's caused a rash of streaming attacks on buses and his intransigence was evident when he failed to review and modify the scheme, and his power trip has been most evident with his insistence on taking over local planning approval from the Government, something which will allow his own personal taste for high rise and unsuitable architectural design to dominate the London development landscape for as long as he remains in power.
First of all Boris needs to be nominated as one of the Conservative candidates, then all of London get to choose whether he stands against Ken. The opportunity for tactical voting, and election fraud will reach new heights I suspect, as Labour look for ways of excluding Boris from the final election. The fact that Livingstone is already bad mouthing Boris in a sure sign of genuine concern at losing his job.
As The Times quoted "We ought to celebrate it, being the first election for decades when a maverick can't lose."
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