The Brave New Dawn of Boris the Wondermayor

Ned voted for Boris? I KNEW IT

Fucking foreigners.

Not only that, I went around each ward voting as many times as possible. JUST TO SEE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN!

I feel such a fool now...

It's been sunnier, but I had a nightmare trip to Camberwell on Saturday. So 50/50 so far.

Banning booze on public transport: anti-Polish discrimination?

shouldn't be drinking that anyway

lol good point!

Chelsea now official gun capital of London on Boris' watch.

On ITV's exciting Flood drama David Suchet said that "we'll have to sacrifice Camberwell" is this a coincidence I think NOT!

"we'll have to sacrifice Camberwell Now - I've got their album on my iPod anyway"

I note how the 'no bouze on my Tube' posters are an angry finger-wagging blue rather than the gentle pastel 'Mayor of LondON' things we've become used to. Perhaps that's because Boris had 5minutes to do it in MSPaint in between induction sessions, though.

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/1747/borisinthewaylb9.jpg

Can I do my 'Paul Merton asks "Is it the woman on the left saying 'I don't care if they ban the booze, but I wish they'd ban those idiots getting in the way of the barriers'?"' joke now?

Johnson is saying "So, this is what a tube station is? How jolly."

I notice that the police already had powers to deal with drunks...
"Most of the time, just letting people know that their behaviour is no longer permitted will be enough to make them stop, but if they become antisocial or aggressive they will be dealt with under current legislation and bylaws."
...so why make extra hassle?

Boris is saying "So, run this by me again, you pay for...what did you call it...a ticket? And then what? You go through there...right...and where are the porters?"

Would be fucking great if somebody shot the cunt.

bad things: ban them. If they already banned, ban them again.

I notice that the RMT and ASLEF are annoyed that he didn't consult them first on booze ban. I suppose they're hardly his constituency anyway so probably doesn't give a fuck. All part of his new Hard Man act a la Giuliani (and Bloomberg) or perhaps he has a "Thatcher vs the miners" moment in mind.

He's planning to negotiate a no-strike agreement with Tube workers. Good luck with that!

You'll still be able to drink (and buy booze, if there's a trolley) on National Rail services (including London Overground) and on the boats.

I noticed the 'new Routemaster' got a brief mention on the local BBC news this morning, although there doesn't seem to be any actual development. The designers apparently reckon it 'could' be built and sold for a price of about £200,000. Whether that includes the costs of setting up a new production line or not I don't know.

I'm entering the competition for the new Routemaster with this:

http://www.flightsimnetwork.com/shigeru/images/stxbusf5-humor.jpg

That idea might fly (sorry)

OMG Bob Crow says:

"We are in favour of any measure that will make our members' lives safer and curb anti-social behaviour, but it appears that this really hasn't been thought through very well and could well make matters worse. We are being told that it will be our members who will have to approach people drinking and ask them to stop - but the mayor hasn't asked us what we think.

"Perhaps the mayor will come out with his underpants on over his trousers like Superman one Saturday to show us how it should be done, and maybe tell a crowd of Liverpool supporters that they can't drink on the train."

Looking good for those negotiations then!

Tube FAP?

Well we all know what Boris thinks about Liverpool so he'll probably put up armed border posts at Staples Corner.

Tube FAP has to happen: tribute to the days of Circle Line carriage raves.

You have to dress like that famous photo w/ Cameron, Boris et al (you know the one)

cold_dead_hands.xls

This one you mean:

http://a4.vox.com/6a00c2251c05e18fdb00d4141720e4685e-500pi

... that's Boris in the middle

I probably wouldn't mind the Bullingdon Club photos if they dressed as well as the Brideshead gang did.

I apologise for not running them over with my Dulux Super Qualcast hover mower when I had the chance.

I noticed the 'new Routemaster' got a brief mention on the local BBC news this morning

this is nuts. here's why:

1. a transport company wouldn't reintroduce conductors as it would almost double its labour costs in one fell swoop - commercial suicide.

2. no bus company outside London would be interested in buying the bus. No-one was interested in buying the old Routemaster either actually. The only company that operated Routemasters during their years of production was Northern General - and they only bought 50.

3. The Routemaster falls foul of both health and safety and anti-disabled discrimination laws by having an open platform at the back with no facility for "kneeling" or the provision of a wheelchair lift. You could build them with doors rather than an open platform (in fact the Northern General version mentioned upcomment had doors, as did some of the Country Area e.g.s but - well, what would be the point? The bus's main USP: ease of getting on and off and hence reduced journey times - would be removed.

4. It is utterly impractical to construct a jig-built integral (ie not just a chassis to which different bodies can be attached as is the case with most buses, but all-in-one by one manufacturer) bus with a half-cab (ie with the engine next to the driver and a passenger window beside. To do so would cost millions and no manufacturer would be able to make the figures add up. The situation is analogous to the VW Beetle. It would cost millions to restart production of the old Beetle and it would be a huge lossmaker for VW, so VW made a new Beetle which was vaguely the same shape but built on the Golf platform so not really a Beetle at all.

seeing as the new bus would not fulfil the criteria cited above, in what way would it be a Routemaster? Answer: it wouldn't. And, given that a new Routemaster can't be built, is there any point in building another new type of bus rather than continuing to purchase the many fine models manufactured by Dennis, Volvo, Scania, Mercedes etc? Answer: there isn't.

Yep, all going swimmingly for Boris so far

Quite. This is as far as the design's gone anyway: http://www.capoco.co.uk/capoco-routemaster-study.html (Capoco are only designers, rather than an actual manufacturer) - Beetle analogy is spot-on.

Bus operators in London are currently forbidden to buy Volvos, because they're too noisy.

I find your second sentence highly improbable, Bocken.

The Private Eye before last asserts that the new Routemasters he's proposing are potentially bigger killers than the bendy buses because of the new design's long wheelbase.

It's true! (sort of). There's a problem with the cooling fans which meant they were on all the time and actually quite loud, and I think TfL put an embargo on new orders for them while it was being looked into, although it seems to have been lifted now.

In other Boris news: Homes for Votes chap in as senior planning advisor

Grandpoint and Bocken sound like my dear departed dad who loved the routemasters (and would scoff unbearably if I mistook an RT for one (see for instance this so-called routemaster illustrating this article.... My dad would have been the bloke making the last couple of comments)but who recognised that they were gone and it was just sentimental old tosh to bring them back. There are plenty of good modern buses (not necessarily bendy ones) but of course BJ is not doing this for practical reasons, he only needs a few subsidised ones trudling around central London and then he can point at them and say "I Deliver!".

The Private Eye before last asserts that the new Routemasters he's proposing are potentially bigger killers than the bendy buses because of the new design's long wheelbase

er, yeh, but there's a pretty damning letter in the current one saying "get one understanding of articulation" -- and it's that two-part swing that seems to be the major problen with bendy buses and cyclists.

(whatever the solution is, though: it ain't fucking routemasters.)

You don't know what you might catch!

In other Boris news: Homes for Votes chap in as senior planning advisor

Boris shares late night meetings with gay man shockah.

Haha, yeah, re: grimly point - getting bus nerds to agree on anything is impossible. I've been there, it gets ugly. They are worse than trainspotters (although usually, for some reason, better dressed).

the solution is to roll out the pay *before* you enter rather than *as* you enter system across the whole of the Capital and to further increase the pricing differential between Oyster and cash fares to the point when cash fares became a farcical rip off. If I had been Mayor I would also put more Oyster checking devices (the things with the yellow disks, whatever they are called) in each bus, making them almost as numerous as the stop buttons maybe, so there was no obligation to swipe it as you got on the bus. That way you could actually get rid of the bendies and replace them with normal double deck buses. This would also necessitate employing more ticket inspectors to ensure people didn't ride for free, but their salaries could be paid for by the savings you could make by not having the cash counting and accounting systems needed for each driver returning to the garage with his or her cash fare money. I would also increase the penalty fines for travelling without a ticket or swiped Oyster.

I daresay Ken would have done this (or similar) had he remained Mayor. Ken's main error, apart from some of his dodgy appointments, was to rejoin the Labour Party. If he had remained as an Independent he would have not been tarred with the same brush as the Brown govt and would most likely have swept to a deserved and resounding victory last Thursday.

You don't know what you might catch!

it's more the fear of getting your knob stuck in the exhaust pipe.

Apparently, however, the oft-heard call of "time for a change" was a heartfelt public reaction to the inflexibility of non-Routemaster buses in terms of EXACT MONEY ONLY.

Apparently a potential Labour candidate for the mayorship in 2012 is...

Dave Rowntree.

Well done Labour.

Matt Willis must be quaking.

Drummer Out of Gay Dad vs. Gay Drummer Out of Blur

... It's So On

it's more the fear of getting your knob stuck in the exhaust pipe.

oooh! aren't we boastful?

free bus rides for drummers!

Jenny Redhead vs Jenny Best Colour Blind Illiterate Saleswoman in Europe

I am thinking Lee Jasper would be a very good choice here. He has strong backing among ethnic communities, is a well known figure having had a lot of press coverage and of course nothing has been proven against him.

http://www.labourhome.org/comments/2008/5/7/11360/98624/4#4

why is no one making more of the Tories billing this as their March on Rome?

Our new law-breaking Mayor.

Boris 'five jobs' Johnson

U-turn-a-go-go.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23488227-details/RAF+hero+snubbed+as+Boris+keeps+plinth+art/article.do

Strong, firm, decisive, tells complex planning issues where to get off Mayor Boris.

I give him six months max.

Circle Line party tomorrow night to 'celebrate' end of Tube boozing!

The (supposedly) 10,000 people turning up would only fill about seven trains, out of the 60-odd that must be running on there at any one time.

From Radio 4's Today programme:

London mayor Boris Johnson has clashed with his predecessor Ken Livingstone over the funding of the 2012 Olympics.

Mr Johnson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme a deal signed by Mr Livingstone on cost over-runs was "far from clear" and he doubted it existed.

http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/publications/3657.aspx

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51GleEg1ibL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

Even a big bear can feel small in a new school

I'm not sure what to make of this -
Vote Boris for PM -in the Torygraph except that Gilligan really really loves him doesn't he?

What's red and invisible?

A deal signed by Mr Livingstone that doesn't exist!

Except it does!

Vote Boris for PM -in the Torygraph except that Gilligan really really loves him doesn't he?

He might well do but he didn't write that article

As a well-placed observer said: "They have no history of friendship and Boris has never been part of Cameron's set.

I'm sure there's a photo somewhere of some kind of set that Boris and Dave both belonged to, some bullying club or other...oh, it would be hopeless trying to find that out though, probably happened at Cambridge or Oxford or something. If only there was an easy way to search for such things...

xp. Yeah, sorry, getting my tory Andy's confused...

http://www.islamdenouncesterrorism.com/images/pictures/hitler_and_nazis.jpg

"I'll show that Kurt von Scheicher who's boss"

Ned the photo you're referring to has been banned from publication by court order, on request from the photographer himself*

*this is actually true

er, though i guess that doesn't apply to the internet:

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&q=johnson+cameron+bullingdon

I love that photo

He is an odious racist parochial small-minded twerp, isn't he? I thought he'd just cancel the Rise festival, but to actually make an anti-racism event not about racism. That's just great, isn't it? What did we do to deserve this man? The most multi-ethnic city on earth, the world in a capsule, and we have BJ and the Evening Standard. I feel ashamed.

Please explain about Rise?

It is no longer an anti-racism carnival. It is to focus on the community aspects instead.

Technically, it's now about "diversity" rather than "anti-racism".

Is it just spite? Trying to ruin everything Ken did?

Does he genuinely think there is no racism in London? That it's a left-wing plot cooked up by special interest groups to wring money out of the state?

What a fucking cunt of a man.

anti-diversity

Keynote speech to be given by Alexandra De-Gale (xpost)

Technically, it's now about "diversity" rather than "anti-racism".

Really? That would complicate things a bit. I might have to adjust my position on my high horse.

links please (for lolz)

I still think he'll quit after six months (at the very most) in office out of boredom.

This Rise Festival Business

I still think he'll quit after six months (at the very most) in office out of boredom.

-- Dingbod Kesterson, Thursday, 19 June 2008 13:30 (56 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

Nah, he'll be a one-termer. Next mayoral election will be in 2012, just in time for the first Cameron cabinet reshuffle. The guy knows where his bread is buttered.

he'll be replaced by tv's david mitchell.

TV and The Guardian Review's David Mitchell, call him by his name

Will Cameron pick Johnson's replacement from the following Tory hopefuls?

John Terry
Noel Fielding
Kelly Jones
Duffy
Kirstie Out Of Phil And Kirstie
Ed Balls
Fleet Foxes
Alexandra de Gale
Lembit Opik
Lee McQueen
TV's Tim Vincent?

didn't think ILX would be big on harry's place

http://www.rarelist.co.uk/books/0190/93-0.jpg

I'd temporarily forgotten about late eighties top Tory boyband Bros.

i'd like to go to a freshers' fair where there are oodles of annoying lefty organisations, the last one i went to had a massive conservative future stall handing out I *heart* Boris badges

how old are you?

43

lol joek

what do you do at an anti-racist fest that distinguishes it from other fests?

*insert transitive verb of your choice* Pete Doherty

I hear Bozza is starting a Love Racism Hate Music fest!??!?!??!?!?!/1/!?

http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/brown/archives/Morrissey%5Bsmall%5D.jpg

^^^waiting for this dude's opinion

Fabio Lovino?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7464712.stm

This is brilliant.

'Are you sure?'

bbc are going to get more accusations of tory bashing with that report.

most people who voted for boris won't be put off though -- if anything they'll find it endearing.

Astonishingly, this was recorded on Tuesday, the day after the story had broken and the mayor's office had defended the decision in a press release.

Fair play to the guy for having that little interest in who is doing what in his name.

Ned the photo you're referring to has been banned from publication by court order, on request from the photographer himself

The Guardian have since got around this by printing a painting of the photo.

yep, good ol' comprehensive-educated, non-oxbridge guardian.

That's not a fair comparison and you know it. The Cameron cabinet actually has a working class guy in it.

loved boris's "relax! take a chill pill dude" in the video

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7468434.stm

Presumably one of the people BJ was talking about in the clip - "high powered people able to get on with their jobs with maximum dispatch".

The actual quote was ""Let them go if they don't like it here, oops fuck."

saying "let them go if they don't like it here" vs taking away anti-racism message from europe's biggest anti-racism music festival

exactly.

What makes me most angry about all this shit is that because Labour's so fucking incompetent and lily-livered at the moment, all of these things that should be crashing blows on Johnson's credibility are basically spitballs at Floyd Mayweather.

Yeah, but you know what they said...

"If we all spitball together...

You all seem to be missing the crucial "Australian" component here.

If Australian's don't like being called racists they can go back...no, wait...

Isn't most of the Tory backroom staff ex-John Howard aides?

Mcgrath's allied to fellow Australian Lynton 'dog whistle' Crosby

Iain Dale's having a go as well, but from the other direction (if you get my meaning) -
Boris and His Absent Backbone.

It may be a good thing that Boris has made a rod for his own back. It can go where his backbone should be.

I'm sending this dude an invite to the LBZC secret forum.

Australian in 'racist fuck' shocker

Boris and His Absent Backbone.

I accidentally moved my mouse over the banner ad on there and a huge scary Gordon Brown face filled my screen. Be careful out there.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7470648.stm

it's not that he's wrong, it's just that he's being such an incredible penis about it.

he is?

"I am informed by my friends in the Metropolitan Police that I am shortly to become the one and only Western politician to be brought to justice for crimes committed in Iraq."

I mean, hat off to Boris for this line!

I mean, he found it at Tariq Ali's bombed out house, TA himself said "keep it, dude", some Labour Activists decide to throw some muck about it.

2000 - 2004 Pre Grout
2004 - 2008 Post Grout

It's his world we just live in it.

-- Free Peace Sweet!, Wednesday, 7 May 2008 14:52 (1 month ago) Bookmark Link

four years! Blimey.

I mean, he found it at Tariq Ali's bombed out house

Somebody bombed Tariq Ali's house? Where would that be, West Hampstead?

lol they all look the same

I know the Left is having a hard time of it these days but...

oops typo.

Tariq Aziz.

Tariq Aziz.

Just when the police are trying to focus on beating knife crime and making the streets safe, they are told they must lavish money and manpower on a preposterous investigation that will do nothing for the security of the public."

Lavish?
Manpower?
But I like the idea that the police should only deal with stuff that has to do with the 'security of the public'. But who should do the other stuff? The council? CSO's?

you have to bend a long way backwards not to find this funny.

yeah, the same line gets used when gets parking ticket/littering fine/drinky on the tubey summons/etc...

What do Bullingdon Club rules have to do with anything?

it's true it seems a bit heavy handed, but turning around and saying "oh it's just the silly police investigating something trivial and silly and aren't they just silly and well anyway tony blair started a war and i don't like knife crime" smacks of one rule for one.

yeah, all those poor teenagers locked up for looting the homes of former members of the saddam regime... and the toff goes free.

is boris getting locked up or something?

He's a serial offender though, surely it's about time the courts did something, police are powerless against them, political correctness, what's the point, house prices down, eggs a luxury...

so called hard earned cash, RENEGED on ELECTRICAL PLEDGE to ERECT PERMANENT FOURTH STATUE in TRAFALGAR SQUARE for SO BRAVE RAF NATIONAL HERO where's your PRIDE you bifaced BIPED BORIS?

actually that should have been ELECTORAL PLEDGE but I think the Curry's feel is entirely, if accidentally, apt.

JUMPED UP JOHNSON calls himself PATRON OF THE ARTS yet where was he at London's busy ROUNDHOUSE last weekend to witness COMEBACK of MY BLOODY VALENTINE OBE NATIONAL HEROES was he cracking WALNUTS over his CRUSTED MADEIRA and listening to VERA LYNN RATEPAYERS MUST BE TOLD

yeah, all those poor teenagers locked up for looting the homes of former members of the saddam regime... and the toff goes free.

Reminds me of when all those council estate kids were getting sent down for conspiring with Darius Guppy to have a journalist beaten up

To sum up then...

ADULTERER BULLY BOY JOHNSON LOOTS AND LIES HIS WAY INTO POWER - AND THEN CYCLES WITHOUT A HELMET - IT'S TIME UP FOR THE TUSSLED HAIRED TOFF

Hmm, maybe TROUBLED TOFF is better...

The 73 I was on yesterday got stopped outside Kings Cross and I had to WALK to Euston, BORIS OUT.

Don't blame BORIS he has promised to rid london of the damned un-British Bendy bus and send it back where it came from.

SEVENTY THREE reasons to ditch BLUNDERING BORIS, as he condemns commuters to further BENDY BUS HELL

Ooh, BLUNDERING BORIS - that's good. I'm gonna use that.

has his deputy resigned yeT?

ooh accidental caps lock there

oh yes he has lolololololololololol

Banned from the priesthood, WE KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS DON'T WE TABLOID-READERS OF BRITAIN?

Idiots.
Liars.
Racists.
Paedos.

Who else did he hire, Hitler?

Wait are we talking about Boris or Ken?

yeah! Hire more idiots! Less of the other kind!

Boris the BLUNDERMAYOR morelike

Boris gives £400,000 of my money to Porsche, fails to deliver my 911

Fuck Boris for undermining the idea that we can Tax the irresponsible for the damage they do to the rest of us by caving on this. OK he is a Tory and that is what they are for but fuck him anyway, my dad was on the verge of buying a sensible car because of this.

who drives a Porsche these days anyway?

Tory voters?

not any i've ever met

not all stupid people are conservatives

Wow, that story really has it all. Every element of Tory fuckwittery in place.

Well it is in The Guardian

not all stupid people are conservatives

but the reverse, however...

http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/823871/did-they-vet-the-wrong-ray-lewis.thtml

Good work all involved.

Just been held up coming out of Mile End tube thanks to a marvelous Boris knife crime photo op, right in the middle of rush hour.

Ken writes:

What has in fact been carried out is one of the most complete purges of women from the senior levels of management ever seen in any administration with corresponding changes at other levels.

http://www.mayorwatch.co.uk/Ken-Livingstone-Boris-Johnsons-Administration-Women-in-London-article_id-1712.html

jesus, london is moving backwards; imagine if they were in charge of the whole country

conservatives that is, not london

Yeah, it'd be horrid to see the Tories undo all that great work that's seen Britain in such rude health at the moment.

social problems are often the consequence of the choices that people make

Yeah, it'd be horrid to see the Tories undo all that great work that's seen Britain in such rude health at the moment.

Yeah but they're going to bring back fedualism. That shit really worked back in the day.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39179000/jpg/_39179088_federico150.jpghttp://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39179000/jpg/_39179088_federico150.jpg

dom, your zing implies that the tories would do a better job

Marvellous Boris knife crime, eh? Did he survive?

dom, your zing implies that the tories would do a better job

-- czn, Wednesday, 9 July 2008 10:29 (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

No, but really the Labour party, and the left in this country, need to come up with something better than "We're not Tories" as an actual manifesto. Especially being as Brown's policies can best be described as "slapstick Thatcherism"

What 'left'?, three Liberal parties today.

They could try actual socialist policies but no one will vote for them because they want their second Porsche and climate change fingers in ears la la la can't hear you Witchfinder General peasantry &c.

In reality it's a continual shift to the American notion of politics where the only "arguments" are between the right and centre right and the left are banished to eternal wilderness.

I don't know Marcello, one of the depressing things about the noises that have been emanating from the Labour leadership for, oooh, ten years or so have been essentially 'its either back us or go back to the days of Michael Foot or Tony Benn' as if they were the only two choices for the Labour Party to take.

Essentially they were able to fudge this debate in the 90s because the party was so desperate to be in power and the country was so desperate to get rid of the Tories. But at some point soon they really need to have the 'what is Labour for?' debate and they're probably only going to be able to do that in opposition.

What's holding back the Tories at the moment is that they have no real equivalent of that; Cameron can't really say "it's us or back to the days of Maggie and Norman" because the differential, once you get past the cosmetics, is infinitesimal in terms of actual policies and also there isn't that feeling of rift or divorce or clean Clause 4 break with the past. There doesn't seem a real urge for the Conservatives to move forward as such so whether they like it or not any electoral success will essentially depend on their not being Gordon.

I'd imagine most Tories would be quite happy to go back to the days of Maggie and Norman, what scares them is going back to the days of William and Iain and Michael Howard and that remains Cameron's trump card. All three previous Tory leaders would lose an election to Gordon Brown even now.

i think Hague could win now if he hadn't already been leader and failed once already.

The Tory faithful _really_ want Hague as their leader again at some point.

Pretty sure fear of being "the new Hague" is what's stopping Milliband making a leadership bid, as well.

Other than people who never leave their Westminster bubble, does anyone in the fucking world look at David Miliband and see a future Prime Minister?

Morons, mainly.

Still a better option than Harman, though.

Good news, everyone!

Mayor of London Boris Johnson today delivered on another election promise by announcing that he is increasing the Living Wage for London to £7.45 per hour which is nearly 35 per cent higher than the national minimum wage set by Government and recognises the particularly high and rising costs of living in the capital.

The new figure will apply to all Greater London Authority Group staff and also to all new contracts as soon as possible.

Twenty-seven organisations, including the GLA Group, the Metropolitan Police Service, Barclays Bank have now signed up to pay their staff the London Living Wage. Ealing Council has committed to introducing the London Living Wage in key contracts from September.

http://www.london.gov.uk/view_press_release.jsp?releaseid=17799

it's a trap! this means imminent 35% increase on bus/tube fares/congestion charge surely.

not only that: Wasn't he against the minimum wage in the first place?

it's a trap! this means imminent 35% increase on bus/tube fares/congestion charge surely.

^^This. I read something more concrete on this subject recently but I can't remember where. It's pretty obvious though that there's going to be less money for transport, as described here http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/09/boris.london

Add up the cost of cancelling the CO2 charge scheme (£50m a year), ditching the western extension of the congestion charge zone (£65m), cancelling the deal with Venezuela that gave people on income support half-price fares (£16m) and swapping bendy buses for a newly designed and built Routemaster (think of a large number, then add an order of magnitude or two), and it starts to become obvious that a very big hole is going to develop in London's future transport budget.

Bearing in mind the ES's usual calm reporting of ticket price rises I can't wait to see how they react to the new fares (usually announced in September, I think?)

At least I got my plastic recycling bag yesterday!

Alexander Boris De Pfeffel Johnson, your days are numbered.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jul/18/livingstone.london

hmmph, new candidates please. don't fancy ken's chances at all.

He's had it now anyway - Lily Allen has nailed her colours to Boris' mast.

What did she say?

Lily Allen met London mayor Boris Johnson yesterday (July 17) to discuss the problem of knife crime in the capital.

The singer met Johnson at City Hall after writing on her MySpace blog that she would like to do something to help tackle the problem.

She had written a blog urging UK citizens to stop "stabbing each other in the UK".

Boris consulted her on how to tackle knife crime, she overdid it on the mascara, not sure how this was helpful.

stabbing each other in the UK

never heard it called that before

How exactly is Boris's personal rating looking at the moment? I have absolutely no idea.

I do get quite stabby when I see her or hear her music, tbf.

Shall we post that nsfw picture of her on the boat or not?

Nah, repost the one of her as a topless 14 year old.

http://www.flisted.com/wp-content/uploads/lily-allen-gq-7.jpg

seXXXy

be grateful god saved us from the lily allen / chemical brothers crossover baby

^EW
Good news, everyone! WHAT LIVES IN LONDON. Anyway Blueski and Broken Social Scene are OTM. Its a trap, just like the lecturers 'pay rise'.
Before 'the UK used to stand for United Kingdom and now it stands for UNBELIEVALE KRIMEWAVE' so I for one am glad that Boris and Lilly have picked up on this new knife crime phenomenon before it got way out of hand.
the left are banished to eternal wilderness. LOLZ. Its funny coz its true.

Banning 18-20 year olds from buying alcohol C/D?

(I think it's total bullshit, but then I tend to be against banning things in general - isn't this the kind of "nanny state" government interference that Tories who pretend to be progressive and libertarian are against?)

“Where we have got particular problems in particular areas, then off-licences and supermarkets should stop the sale of alcohol to the under-21s. That is the kind of solution that Londoners are looking to us to provide.”

So, targeted banning in particular boroughs?

Or just streets? Or what?

A £700,000 funding package has been announced by the mayor of London to help tackle knife and gun crime among young people.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7530612.stm

You could buy half a house for that, Boris.

In the old days, that would have bought a MASSIVE MAGNET!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/audio/2008/aug/01/boris.bug

http://www.boriswatch.co.uk/2008/08/19/parker-stands-down/

Boris loses ANOTHER dep.

there is no substitute for me

I want the third one to, like, spontaneously combust or something.

... while the firemen are on strike

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/5921/boris2kt1.jpg

Boris gives the 'white power' salute.

LEGERND

Ping Pong's coming home. Does that mean Baddiel and Skinner will be making a comeback?

http://torytroll.blogspot.com/2008/09/boris-johnson-decisively-indecisive.html

Seems like a pretty good round-up so far.

Roffles.

http://torytroll.blogspot.com/2008/10/andrew-gilligan-caught-sockpuppeting.html

Fair do's to Boris for this, though, especially in light of the subsequent spluttering outrage from retired colonels, &c.

He's just getting in line with Dave and the other tories who realise that McCain is bust. He basically says in that article, I don't agree with his policies but at least when he wins PC whiners won't be able to argue that racism exists any more.

I'm not complaining though really, the more the merrier.

Yeah, the British right's reactions to the US election is probably worthy of its own thread, especially to laugh at Iain Dale realising he backed the wrong horse and twisting himself sideways in order to make himself not look even more of a cock than he normally does.

See also: Nick Cohen.

I'm not sure some of the British right really cares which party is power seeing as the Democrats are economically at least as right-wing as the Tories.

See also: Tony Blair.

Where is Nick Cohen band? I've got far better things to do on Sundays than read the Observer (including sleeping) so I presume he's still rewriting his one article there weekly but the Eustonists have been markedly quiet of late.

Cohen's also in the Standard and, hilariously, the TV critic at Standpoint, a new right-wing magazine (think modelled on Prospect), where he goes on and on about 'Spooks' not being beastly to Muslims.

He wrote a hilariously poorly timed piece in the Observer after the Republican conference about how the left had completely lost it regarding Palin, which he has spent the last few weeks trying to shuffle away from.

Toby Harnden: Boris Johnson’s silly endorsement of Barack Obama
Unexpected Obama lead opens up in Republican states
Read more from Boris Johnson

Melanie Phillips is repping hard for the "Barack Obama will force your child to have sex with a Muslim" bandwagon.

I'm not sure some of the British right really cares which party is power seeing as the Democrats are economically at least as right-wing as the Tories.

Haven't you heard that Obama wants to "spread the wealth" = ohmigodhesafuckingcommie.

Nice to see that Conrad Black's writing articles for Standpoint. Upright moral fibre, eh, chaps?

I'm not sure some of the British right really cares which party is power seeing as the Democrats are economically at least as right-wing as the Tories.

i know why you say this matt and is many respects it's true but we're starting from different contexts - i can't imagine any significant labour politician proposing a vast new system of entitlements that could theoretically cover every british person (as an obama health care plan would)

possibly because the key entitlements are already covered to greater or lesser extent over here.

And the tories know they couldn't get elected if they tried to dismantle them.

that's my point, they already exist. try to imagine something on that scale that DOESN'T exist in the UK, and then imagine a current labour politician trying to enact it

Boris Johnson is considering scrapping the entire congestion zone to boost the London economy, he announced today.

That's a real disingenuous dick move.

Mr Johnson said every Londoner would be worse off if the extra money was not there to be invested in the transport infrastructure half-baked new Routemaster proposal.

This comment can't be serious:

Keep the charge and CHARGE all CYCLIST £8.00 to enter London as they also cause congestion on the roads and are more of a danger (no lights , cycling on pavements, jumping red lights, no warning when approaching etc)to those like myself that walk almost everywhere in London and also make them pay to park. Then after 1 year ask them for their views.

- Den, London

Leslie Grantham certainly feels strongly about cycling.

no lights , cycling on pavements, jumping red lights, no warning when approaching etc

These are all true though

also the blatant refusal by so many to not look like a wally and wear a helmet

As far as I'm concerned, cunts cycling on pavements is the single biggest reason to move out of London, more than knife crime

Well that and playing music out loud on buses

I got into a conversation with some teenagers who were doing this on a night bus recently. It was all fun and games until a guy sitting on the other side of the aisle, who had obviously been getting himself into a real rage on the quiet, rushed to where the kids were sitting and ripped the phone out of their hands while shouting at them to "fucking shut up!!!", while his girlfriend tried to calm him down.

I couldn't help feeling partly responsible.

what were they listening to?

Really tinny bassline stuff on very poor mobile speakers.

Hmm, so abolish the congestion charge, then ask everyone a year later if they like it better with lots of traffic now?

It was all fun and games until a guy sitting on the other side of the aisle, who had obviously been getting himself into a real rage on the quiet, rushed to where the kids were sitting and ripped the phone out of their hands while shouting at them to "fucking shut up!!!"

Hope he threw it out the window. Have several times asked people to stop playing music on the bus, but it's hardly worse the hassle, so now I don't sit upstairs on buses at all.

Not this time, but a friend of mine saw someone very coolly post an offender's phone out of the window, followed by the poster saying "you can either get in a fight with me or get off the bus and pick it up", or words to that effect.

I'm sure lex will be here in a minute to tell us what squares we are, and how cool the kids are!

I wouldn't bother if it was kids and teenagers, it's people in their 20s and upwards that I usu. remonstrate with

I mean, grow up fer'chrissakes

Yeah that's the weirdest. Usually just dickheads spoiling for a confrontation.

No, they generally aren't looking for a confrontation, they're usually just dimwits

probably not a battle Boris can win but pleased by this
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jan/13/transport-transport

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/02/03/article-1134582-034869E2000005DC-177_224x352.jpg

Flunked the first big test, didn't he?

Boris Johnson launched a furious F-word attack against a senior MP in a telephone call.

The Mayor of London also accused Labour MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the all-party Commons home affairs committee, of "bullshit", say sources.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23640234-details/Mayor+Boris+Johnson+in+F-word+tirade/article.do

Mr Vaz is then believed to have challenged the Mayor over how prepared he was for the committee hearing, last Monday during the snow chaos in London, but Mr Johnson told him: "I f***ing warned you beforehand that I would not be very good on details."

"I f***ing warned you beforehand that I would not be very good on details." - Boris has the perfect slogan for his next mayoral election

lolz at boris-voting suburbs getting the brunt of the snow and the ken-voting city only really getting a day or so of the hard stuff.

Interesting that this complete non-story pops up on the front page just days after a change of ownership and editorship at the Standard.

Counter-revolutionary cadre at the Standard?

Haha I doubt it, but at least a warning to Boris that they're not going to suck him off at every opportunity any more.

veronica wadley sucking off boris ugh i've just eaten my lunch twice

being caught having a pop at Keith Vaz isn't going to do Boris any harm with anyone

'You're trying to make me look like a f***ing fool'

"That's my f***ing job!"

Haha I doubt it, but at least a warning to Boris that they're not going to suck him off at every opportunity any more.

― Maximo Park Ji-Sung (Matt DC), Thursday, February 12, 2009 2:59 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

private eye sez the new lot may well favour not-boris.

They are more Boris Yeltsin than Boris Johnson after all

boris on breakfast this morning pledging to build more houses that people can rent and then buy. sounds like a good idea. except it's targeted at households earning £72k and over. ie nobody i know.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23589917-details/Boris:+50,000+cheap+homes+on+the+way/article.do

"Households earning up to £72,000 - or a couple paying the basic rate of income tax..."

surely some (deliberate) mistake. isn't the threshold for the high rate in the low to mid £30k? (ah, 34800 apparently, up to 37400 in april)

oh, that was published 20.11.08. why was he on breakfast talking about it only this morning then?

It's households up to £72k, not £72k and over.

ah, yes. wasn't the impression i got from breakfast but you're right.

How does he propose to finance this?

Isn't this verging on the sub-prime farrago which got the world into its current mess in the first place? More lending to people to pay for things they can't afford? Where's the logic in that?

Furthermore, where does he propose to build all these new houses?

Doesn't it make a lot more sense to impose some sort of control on rent levels in London so that more people can afford to live near where they work, and hence lessen the burden on public transport, reduce traffic and relieve Londoners of a hell of a lot of stress?

Oh no, I forgot - this is unregulated free market economics and there are the Olympics to pay for...

Doesn't it make a lot more sense to impose some sort of control on rent levels in London

What about the poor Rent-to-Buyers who are suffering so much in this downturn?

Or Buy-to-Renters, rather!

My nose bleeds for them.

I Pity the Poor Landlord

Landlord <--------- great word

A poor landlord, yesterday...
http://medializzy.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/fqco.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7978280.stm

Lol Boris.

The committee asked Mr Johnson what action he had taken before he was made aware of transport problems on 1 February.

The mayor replied: "I observed that it had started to snow."

that doc last night was rubbish.

"It is not within my competence to stop the biggest downfall of snow we have had over the skies of this city for 20 years."

good point. except nobody expected you to stop it, just deal with it when it hit the floor.

just had letters from conservative mp for our area asking us questions, all of which were snide attacks at the government 'do you thing that the billions of pounds worth of debt the labour government has saddled us and our children with is a good thing?' etc

(and i got two identical copies in the same post)

they are the party of snarky irresponsibility, and their followers love them for it.

but this time he/they were TOO responsible/overcautious. "I would ask the committee to consider just how many accidents you would like to have seen? Yeah why not just close all of London's roads completely then?

fwiw i feel like Ken would've done the same thing. did he criticise it himself?

BBC headline suggests he has a problem with the eponymous Canadian rapper.

fwiw i feel like Ken would've done the same thing. did he criticise it himself?

Bitterly. In an embittered way.

"I would ask the committee to consider just how many accidents you would like to have seen?"

Health and safety gauleiters... wrapping people in cotton wool... nanny mayoralty... political correctness gone mad... is this Russia we're living in... Englishman's home... harrumph harrumph

but this time he/they were TOO responsible/overcautious. "I would ask the committee to consider just how many accidents you would like to have seen? Yeah why not just close all of London's roads completely then?

ah, i meant in terms of owning up to the aftermath of what they ever get involved in, rather than being irresponsible re: buses. tbh i drove my car across london that sunday night and it was terrifying, and am glad the buses were cancelled. and i traipsed all the way to the US embassy that morning, using all kinds of fucked public transport, so i'm not unsympathetic to the inconvenience, but the roads were treacherous.

But I honestly thought he was a new age hippie who cycled everywhere:

New figures show that the Mayor claimed £1,501 in cab fares in November, December and January as he visited the outer London boroughs where he is most popular.

That works out at an average £16.31 a day, although this would barely take him from City Hall to Westminster.

Mr Livingstone, in his final year in office, spent £729 - an average of £2 a day. It means Mr Johnson is racking up over eight times more in fares than his predecessor.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23670312-details/Boris+Johnson%27s+taxi+bill+is+eight+times+more+than+Ken%27s/article.do

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23673569-details/Music+festival+falls+victim+to+lack+of+funds/article.do

Rise festival cancelled due to "lack of funds". Yeah right Boris.

Boris would make an excellent PM because he wouldn't be bounded by the shackles of the Livingstone administration that have been forced upon him. When I voted for Boris I expected him to cancel the Olympics, ban all tall buildings and promote private transport over the dangerous Tube and dirty buses. I felt he hasn't, but this is down to Ken's cronies still in City Hall influencing him. With them out the way and Boris in Parliament he can hopefully complete his election promises.

- Kimberley, London

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23679892-details/By+George!+Boris+Johnson+starts+No10+battle/article.do

has BJ been given credit for his 'public toilets' policy?

A scheme to encourage companies to open their loos to the public was launched today by Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, to help tackle the shortage of public toilets in the capital.

"Open London" stickers will be used to publicise firms willing to lend their toilets for free during opening hours without obliging individuals to make a purchase.

Johnson wants to alleviate the frustration of Londoners and tourists caught short in a city that has experienced more than double the average rate of public loo closures in Britain. There has been a 40% decline in the number public toilets in the capital since 1999.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/18/boris-johnson-public-toilet-scheme

If i'd known that was in his manifesto, I might've voted for him. (jk)

I'm always tempted, if challenged on way to pub toilet, to point out that the challenge in and of itself can turn a potential customer into a non customer.

Boris Johnson has told LBC radio that he reduced the height of the controversial "three sisters" skyscrapers at Waterloo even though the design changes happened nearly a year before his election as Mayor of London.

http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/3856

"i paid last time but didn't use the loo so just balancing out"

have any of you actually ever been refused usage of the toilet because you haven't bought anything?

i mean, aside from the combination lock at the doric arch/head of steam

craziness: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/23/boris-cycling

wonder how the lorry driver reacted when he saw Boris

"peddled"?

Holy hell! That's nasty. Didn't really look like there was much space for that lorry to get past in the first place, but those doors... eeek, nightmare stuff.

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, claimed £16.50 for a Remembrance Sunday wreath on his expenses during his time as an MP.

Mr Johnson said yesterday the cost of the wreath had been "mistakenly added" to his expenses and he had "happily" paid for it out of his own pocket when it was pointed out by the fees office.

Between 2004 and 2008, Mr Johnson also claimed £85,299 on his second home allowance for his constituency home in Henley on Thames. In his last two years as an MP, he claimed the maximum allowable second homes allowance.

In his final year in Parliament, Mr Johnson declared outside earnings of between £340,000 and £405,000 in addition to his parliamentary salary.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5431700/MPs-expenses-Boris-Johnson-claimed-16.50-for-Remembrance-Sunday-wreath.html

Considering Boris is paid £250k pa by the Telegraph they held this over for as long as they possibly could. I'm surprised they published it at all.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8083056.stm

What a cock:

I hear its my predecessors birthday today. Happy birthday Ken and I hope you are enjoying your retirement

to be fair, ken livingstone (who is a dick anyway) has been a dick and a bad stalkery loser, so i think it's kind of acceptable for johnson to have a crack back. why not?

^ fair and balanced

do they have apostrophes on twitter?

But was he notably more gifted than Otis Redding? Was he a better singer-songwriter than Marvin Gaye? Absolutely not. And yet the BBC didn't fly out Jeremy Paxman when Marvin Gaye was shot by his own father, and the crowds didn't come out for Otis – or not in the same way.

THEY KILLED U MICHEAL ... YOU KNOW IT AND I KNOW YOU ARE WATCHING IT FROM UP DERE ... THEY CALL U BAD, THEY ARE TOO DUMB TO UNDERSTAND MEDIA PROPOGANDAS ,FAKE ALLEGATIONS, AND THE WAY THESE KILLERS BLACK MAILED U ENTIRE LIFE ... YOU RAN A CHARITY FOR CHILDREN, YOUR ACCESSORIES WERE SOLD FOR MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WHICH WENT FOR CHILDREN CHARITY ... DUMB PPL CALL U BANKRUPT ... THEY DNT EVEN KNOW DAT ONE ASK OF YOURS CAN MAKE YOU MILLIONAIRE IN A SECOND ... ARAB WORLD WAS READY TO PAY EVERYTHING ,OIL WELLS TO GET YOU CUZ YOU WERE SUMTHING ... THEY DNT KNOW HOW PPL USE TO FAINT AFTER WATCHHING YOU IN CONCERTS CUZ THEY NEVER HAVE BEEN DERE ... THEY DNT KNOW DAT U WERE KILLED ... THE REPORTS SAY THAT YOU WERE FIND WIDOUT HAIR (FUNNY)... THEY ARE TOO DUMB TO UNDERSTAND DAT U WERE TO DO 50 CONCERTS ... I CAN JUST SALUTE THE STUPID PPL OF OUT NATION WHO ARE NOW CAPTIVES AND SLAVES OF JEWS ... THE TIME I SAW DAT JEWISH STAR ON DA RESCUE HELICOPTER AT DAT TIME I WAS KNOWING DAT U WERE MURDERED ... JEWS CAPTURED 2 THINGS AND WE ARE ALL SLAVES NOW TO THEMM 1)MEDIA . 2) ECONOMY ... MAY AL-MIGHTY BLESS U !! ... LOVE YOU FOREVER N EVER.

Telegraph readers lol.

Michael Jackson went one better. He spoke to the billions of people the world over who feel that they do not conform in some way to the Hollywood stereotype of good looks – either because they are too fat or thin or the wrong colour or have the wrong sort of eyes or nose. In a world dominated by a demoralising canon of physical perfection, he was the patron saint of dysmorphia.

Yeah, Boris. That's precisely why this is a big deal.

Reading Boris Johnson on Michael Jackson, life's too short really

Boris on Farah Fawcett - now that would be a column.

Boris on Sky Saxon, I probably would read that

Boris on Seething Wells.

I know, just felt there was one missing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrz_UwSfHME

The design of a tower block in which a fire spread and killed six people is to be examined as it raises "big safety questions", London's mayor has said.

Boris Johnson, who will visit the scene later, described the fatal fire at Lakanal House, Camberwell, south east London, as "very disturbing". [q/]Fatal fire block's layout probed
[q]People often ask me why there are so many traffic lights, and why they seem to spend such an unconscionable time on red. The answer is that there has indeed been a huge expansion of traffic lights in the past 10 years, and each one generally represents the culmination of some campaign.

Typically, there will have been an accident, and local campaigners will get together with families of the victims to demand a solution. In these circumstances, it is very difficult for local politicians to resist. On the contrary, the overwhelming temptation will be to "do something". And though a plausible case can be made for each intervention, the cumulative effect can be counterproductive.

Balls-ed that one up. You get the gist.

But was he notably more gifted than Otis Redding? Was he a better singer-songwriter than Marvin Gaye? Absolutely not.

this is otm tbh

Yeah, but it misses the point somewhat.

Boris just isn't trying any more - that health and safety rant is pretty much Telegraph Columnist 1.01. If I were his editor I'd demand a bit more for my £250k.

Got hundreds of sycophantic comments though so they're probably happy.

http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00208/Boris_Johnson_at_th_208803s.jpg

Will be making a guest appearance on Eastenders, apparently.

http://www.thelondondailynews.com/images/Boris%2008.JPG

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090720/ten-boris-johnson-to-star-in-eastenders-ea4616c.html

I read this earlier and wondered when Clive James and Chris Lowe had managed to be in EastEnders as well as Neighbours, then realised whoever cobbled that article together from other sources basically couldn't read:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jul/20/boris-johnson-eastenders

(also in what universe is Neighbours a rival to EastEnders?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjcaRzAUiXc

Boris in control of Scotland Yard

Or, to put it another way, next time the Met kill an innocent person, we know who to blame.

Insert obvious joke about putting a blonde bimbo on the cover:

http://www.elleuk.com/var/elleuk/storage/images/news/fashion-news/london-mayor-boris-johnson-on-the-cover-of-elle/3457953-2-eng-GB/london-mayor-boris-johnson-on-the-cover-of-elle.jpg

BTW they're only inflicting this cover on Fashion Weekers and related VIPs. Elitist!

Gets his leg over, etc:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2480/3900617690_92f4a961e6.jpg

http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2009/09/borisnewyork_415.jpg

"Where's this fourth plinth I've been hearing so much about?"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8283570.stm

Guh, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8283570.stm

Don't give up the day job...oh, wait...DO give up the day job...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2_D93XZEik

people actually find that kind of toss funny

Boris and Peggy should swap haircuts for the day.

Boris Johnson has been accused of breaching rules on public appointments after trying to appoint a key ally to a top London arts job, The Times has learnt.

The Mayor of London tried to install Veronica Wadley, former editor of the Evening Standard, which championed his campaign for the mayoralty, to run the Arts Council in London.

Fucking hell, the Arts Council run by Veronica Wadley is a pretty horrific idea.

serious. double-u tee eff.

that would be a hellish idea.

and she was an abject failure as standard editor.

Motorists face being charged for every mile they drive under radical new plans by London Mayor Boris Johnson.

Drivers could be forced to pay to use the capital's busiest roads as Mr Johnson seeks to plug a multi-million pound hole in the Transport for London (TfL) budget.

The extra charges would come in addition to the congestion charge, which costs £8 per day or more if not paid on time

The Evening Standard also quotes him as saying "The best things in London are free. Free elections, free museums, free healthcare. The Evening Standard is the indispensable guide to London. I wish the paper well."

... when it was only two weeks ago he was wanting to re-introduce paid admission to London's free museums.

Still, LOL OMFG!!!! BORIS DONE A GUFF!!!! ROFL!!!!!!! THE MAN IS A LEGERND I TELL YOU LOL!!!!! I CARNT WAIT 2 SEE HIM RUNNING THE INTIRE CITTY!!! BORRIS 4 KING!!! LOL!!! LOL!!! LOLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!, etc.

From January, a weekly bus pass will increase from £13.80 to £16.60 and a zone one Oyster pay-as-you-go Tube fare will go up 20p to £1.80.

Meanwhile the existing £8 daily congestion charge to drive into central London will rise to £9 for people using a new automatic payment system and £10 for people who stick to the current options.

Lol, Boris.

LOL, taste of what it'll be like to live under the Tories for the next x years

Good thing he's ending the congestion charge and getting rid of the bendy buses, OH WAI

A senior manager at Boris Johnson's regeneration agency has been sacked for using “extremely offensive and racist” language.

Nick Hoare, an interim director at the London Development Agency, was dismissed within hours of allegedly using the “n word” during a meeting.

Mr Hoare is not thought to have had any other complaints against him. He added: “My boss, Sarah Ebanja, she is a coloured person. She knows I'm not racist"

He said he had been 'misheard' and had been 'framed by an external party who has a business interest.”

Tigger? Nipper?

“My boss, Sarah Ebanja, she is a coloured person. She knows I'm not racist"

What colour. Blue? Puce? Aquamarine?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/thickofit/images/thick_char2_swain.jpg

one of my best friends is an asian

Chance of some Prince Philip-style racist lols today:

Europe's busiest diagonal crossing has opened in central London's Oxford Circus.

Based on crossings in Tokyo, the new design stops traffic in all directions, allowing shoppers to cross diagonally in an "X" as well as straight ahead.

It will be officially unveiled at 0945 GMT by London Mayor Boris Johnson.

In homage to its Far Eastern inspiration, the mayor will strike a two-metre high cymbal as Japanese musicians play taiko drums.

Cool. Anything else happening in central London today that could make the headlines? Maybe some line painting in Soho? A new manhole cover in Piccadilly?

A dustbin being kicked over in Shaftsbury?

You don't know if you're reading the front page or the comics.

Screw the haters. This is more important than bombs Afghanistan, Iraq and Somali pirates combined.

Hang on - the "£5m junction"?

I don't for one minute believe this is all Boris's doing but that particular junction has been fucking horrendous for years and anything that makes it less so is good by me. It is the junction of the two biggest shopping streets in London.

Yeah, those barriers were awful. Hated going through there. Now it'll be much easier to run pedestrians over.

Like trying to drive through a flock of sheep more like.

no, sheep will scatter on hearing a horn.

Seriously though Matt is right it was horrible walking through there (I don't think I've even driven through it - unless by accident). This looks good even if £5m seems quite a lot of money for mostly getting rid of stuff, I guess York stone doesn't come cheap.

Those ropes won't keep anyone from crossing.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2753/4068437676_7d13bbe856_o.jpg

I rather like the idea of having a doorman lifting up little ropes for people to cross major roads though. And stopping people in jeans and trainers.

Road accidents to increase exponentially

"If your name's not down, you're not getting into Niketown."

A dustbin being kicked over in Shaftsbury?

― James Mitchell, Monday, 2 November 2009 10:55 (1 hour ago) Bookmark

ha ha

anyway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5nbiQs2lGw

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/6421/drab.jpg

And here's the same crossing from my holiday snaps, looking a tad more mundane. Forget the big promises - this is all Boris has to offer you, London.

http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/4226/148051-103500-xavier-institute-for_super.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8340865.stm

Really? 'Oiks'?

"He picked up the iron bar, called after the girls and cycled after them."

So were they even there when Boris rolled up? Seems to me they had run off, conveniently leaving the iron bar. All seems a bit odd.

Oink oink oink.

Tens of thousands of people will have to pay to travel home from central London by rail this New Year's Eve because transport bosses have scrapped the running of free trains.

Londoners have enjoyed free travel on buses, Tube, trams and trains on the night of 31 December since the scheme was introduced in 2003.

But Mayor Boris Johnson has ditched the rail part of the scheme after claiming the £100,000 saving is needed to help plug a £5 billion transport funding gap.

Boris Johnson: We're spending record sums on cycling

must say, i didn't give much of a fuck abt boris, not having lived in ldn in a twelvemonth, but £1.20 bus fares? fuck you very much.

Meanwhile the budget for the wonderbus has gone up from £3m to £11.4m

Meanwhile the budget for the wonderbus has gone up from £3m to £11.4m

he should be wicker-manned for this alone

vast amounts of money wasted replacing buses that were only a problem for people nostalgic for double deckers and who never use buses anyway

^^^^^^ vastly simplified but you get my meaning

must say, i didn't give much of a fuck abt boris, not having lived in ldn in a twelvemonth, but £1.20 bus fares? fuck you very much.

I really don't understand how he can then say "The bus fares have not gone up twenty percent" in an assembly budget meeting and no-one says anything. (see also BBC News running bus fare increases as 11% (iirc) in the new year) - has maths changed recently?

Is a 1.20 bus fare good or bad? How far does that get you?

It is more than that out here in non-London land (minimum fare of 1.40, 1.80 to go a mile into the centre, another 1.80 ticket if you then want to go a mile out the other side). As someone used to living in the sticks and getting 200 miles out of a 20 quid weekly ticket, I've been a bit shocked, but assumed it was the price to pay for going from hourly buses until 6pm to ten-minutely buses and some at night. But I assume you Londoners get all that too.

It's ok I think - it's one journey, and I think a bus travelcard for all day travel isn't that expensive either.

I'm always shocked at how expensive country buses are. Jesus, listen to me, I sound about 90.

I'm sure a lot of this spending on bicycles is on that scheme for those generally available bicycles that they've got in Paris. I'd heard, I don't know how reliably, that the really quite good scheme for the upkeep of cycle routes (that is not paths, but directing cycles along less busy roads, with special lights where necessary) has had its funding slashed.

I'm a bit dubious about the Paris cycle scheme - looks like a headline catching idea, but with potentially problematic (how reliable are the bicycles? who checks maintenance? how many docking stations? presumably considerable number of people not necessarily used to cycling in the capital suddenly getting on bikes.)

Is a 1.20 bus fare good or bad? How far does that get you?

It is more than that out here in non-London land (minimum fare of 1.40, 1.80 to go a mile into the centre, another 1.80 ticket if you then want to go a mile out the other side).

yeah i live in non-ldn too and the fares are outrageous.

but in london the point is, it was less than that till boris came in.

£1.20 (that's the Oyster PAYG fare, btw. Cash is £2. If you just use buses all day Oyster will cap at £3.30 as well) will take you as far as that route goes. Is it a fair price? It was £1 last year, and it was the only significant rise in the new year, and 20% is way above inflation - on the other hand monthly travelcards stayed at 2009 prices. I don't think it's ridiculous to draw parallels between Boris/non-Boris voters and commuters who tend to buy period travelcards or use PAYG.

Bus prices outside London is a different issue though, de-regulation and that. It shouldn't be a race to the bottom.

Oh don't get me wrong, two things I like any opportunity for are 1. being annoyed at Boris and 2. being bitter about minor local inconveniences, my indulgence in 2 here is not to say I don't agree with 1 too

Getting rid of Johnston?
http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/981674/Mayors-office-roll-new-classic-brand-identity/
I can't believe that he would, but maybe he thinks it's too socialist or something?

The cost of rebranding every Tube station would be astronomical, wouldn't it?

I'm guessing it's not about changing the Tube stations themselves, just going from

http://media.livenation.co.uk/fido/publishing/content/p/q/m/Image/Tfl.jpg

to something more like

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/1406/visitlondonlogo.jpg

and making a huge typographical mess out of the whole thing.

TfL themselves have also indicated they have no plans to replace their iconic branding and were happy to go on record on the issue:

The Mayor's office is seeking to develop a new brand for London which could be extended to the GLA family including TfL. This work is at an early stage but no changes are planned to the London Underground and TfL family of roundels or the New Johnston typeface used on station signage.

from http://londonreconnections.blogspot.com/2010/02/typographical-chinese-whispers.html

He could've done this at the same time as colouring in all the red 'ON's in London, surely.

Oh God. That and HolBORN. (First time I saw something similar was the downright weird DerbYES!)

It's not a good look - should go with how things are said rather'n written I think.

Boris intends "to keep blapping ministers between the eyes".

jesus

Maybe Jacqui Smith's husband can watch...

mablapropism

happy blapping

sharting is next.

Johnson is guilty of blapsploitation

We are looking for someone to play BORIS JOHNSON in KNIGHT ON A BIKE,
a new 15 minute musical written by one of the students on the MA in
Musical Theatre at Goldsmiths College. The show is based on the true
event of Boris saving a woman he saw being mugged by two teenagers.
The musical is a quirky romantic comedy in which most of Boris' lines
are taken from things the real person has actually said!

All performers need to be good movers, on the ball and should have an
interest in contributing to the development of this new piece.

AUDITIONS: Auditions will be held on Thursday 18TH MARCH at Goldsmiths College, University of London.

REHEARSALS: Fri 19th-Thurs 25th March (times to be arranged).

PERFORMANCE: The performance will take place on Thurs 25th March at
Goldsmiths College.

I think Boris Should go for it.

Another Boris Johnson appointment ends well

always said Goldsmiths should be bombed

^^^ totally otm

guess this is kind of a london thread

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/3/31/1270044964261/Anish-Kapoors-Olympic-tow-001.jpg

ENJOY THIS LONDON

anish kapoor is a lamentable hack

Fuck getting planning permission, yeah?

£19.1m, bargain!

Informed by AM that Australia has a soft spot for London's ever-unpredictable, larger-than-life mayor, he replied: "Australia loves me? G'day Australia!"

"Can I just say hello to all my cousins, Mark and Paul and James and Stephen and Jenny Lynne and everybody else."

No way, get fucked, fuck off.

whoa. did boris... just do... something... right?

http://waugh.standard.co.uk/2010/05/breaking-news-boris-collapses-the-tube-ppp.html

It was on its last legs, a good day to bury bad news.

it's good news, though!

Cringe.. Boris is actually doing a good job..

not for a tory party in favour of keeping public services going by paying for them on the never never (like labour)

I am suspicious. The only way Boris could possibly do something good is by accident.

but then, he is accident-prone.

Even a stopped clock shows the right time twice a day.

I'm about to say something really really wrong:

(Boris's little brother is actually kinda hott)

I will now go and flagellate myself with a copy of the Guardian. I'm so sorry.

http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/top_right_image/newbus-245x170.jpg

Thanks for that, Boris.

loooooooooool

idgi

was more laughing at British conservatism regarding what buses should look like and how Boris has tweaked it because hey look at this! SPACE-AGE

“I expect to have hundreds five of these on London's roads, and for cities around the globe to be beside themselves with envy for our stunning red emblem of 21st century London.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWckXHojurM

I think the 2 staircases should be elevators to enable diabled people to go upstairs.or at least one of them.Also useful for people carrying shopping.

Re: Boris getting rid of the last bit of the Tube PPP, it was pretty much inevitable wasn't it?

It was on the cards for at least 9 months, I think both the tories and labour were keen to see it slip into purdah, no one looks good on that one. Brown should definitely carry that can for that one.

http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2010/05/routemaster-ad415.jpg

http://www.techeye.net/internet/mayor-of-london-promises-full-wi-fi-coverage-by-2012

totally forgot about this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWIUp19bBoA

London mayor Boris Johnson is scrapping the usual London Pride mayoral reception.

The mayor usually holds a reception to mark London's biggest gay festival but City Hall has decided to end receptions which are specific to minority groups.

lol boris:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1gndSTEGys

hmm

http://twitter.com/DMiliband/status/15418180781

Tories just sneaked out they're abolishing the position of Minister for London.
2 minutes ago via txt

Is that the same as "Mayor" ?

More of an interface (interference?) between govt and the mayor - meaning imo Boris has told Dave to stay the fuck out of his business.

Boris is 'a quivering jelly of indecision' on the question of 'Olympic vuvuzelas': http://www.itv.com/news/boris-johnson-ar-dilemma48311/

http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2010/06/borisSA-415.jpg

http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2010/06/18-boriscab-415.jpg

takemethereboris.co.uk, which goes live today, features an interactive map of landmarks such as the Tower of London and St Paul's Cathedral, which link to short clips of the Mayor as a black-cab driver picking up a customer at each spot.

http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/m4/jul2010/3/2/boris-sifr-2-777331528.jpg

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/07/15/boris-johnson-the-socialite-and-her-very-angry-lover-115875-22413560/

Saw Boris in a Bloomsbury pub a couple of years ago stroking the hand of a young intern. Complete philanderer, amazed he gets away with it.

Boris rents a flat just 100 yards from his family home 'to give his wife some space'

so much ammunition for ken livingstone

ah, hang on

"My Wife Next Door"

Oh, Ken.

really wish ken would fuck off and die tbqh

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/davehillblog/2010/oct/19/london-london

and apparently ken is on the NEC now?

gonna be a looong five years

Expulsion from the Labour Party worked pretty well for Ken last time round...

If this blog post is true then the Tower Hamlets election is a complete mess. Can't see how they can keep Ken now, but equally can't see how it wouldn't be suicidal to get rid of him.

Also this... which has shades of The Wire about it. Either way, Ken obviously likes a ruck and has gone in completely suicidally on this one. Boris must be pissing himself laughing.

can't find any links not written by, like, andrew gilligan but lutfur rahman is mixed up with a pretty rum crowd

ah fuck it, i think there was an ep of 'dispatches' on the IFE too:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/7333537/Radicals-with-hands-on-the-levers-of-power-the-takeover-of-Tower-Hamlets.html

Thing is, no one outside Labour gives a rat's arse about their internal procedures, so for Ken to go in two footed like this looks pretty short-sighted.

All the posters call the official candidate "Labour's Abbas", which I suspect may be because his first name is v similar to "halal".

Uh, it's Tower Hamlets, dude...

i think he's gambling, big-time, testing the size of the leadership's balls; i can't remember what his relationship with militant was in the 80s, but he's consistently mixed with people outside labour, ie his trot inner circle as mayor. he knows full well that oona king would not win, and he knows the leadership knows that.

he isn't campaigning for the NEC to put in the second-choice candidate over the third-choice -- he's protesting rahman's expulsion. it's ugly, tammany hall shit.

suppose at least hackney council have someone to look down upon

Boris launches two day drawing festival, contributes own doodle

http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/imageuploads/1287743769_80.177.117.97.jpg

er...

nice fuckin ballsack your lordship

lol boris:

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, vowed that there would not be any "Kosovo-style social cleansing" of poor people in the capital under his watch as a result of housing benefit changes being introduced by his Conservative colleagues in the coalition government.

id guess ken opposed the kosovo war but... choose words much?

It'll get Clegg on his back:

At Commons question time, shadow justice minister Mr Bryant warned an estimated 200,000 people would be forced out of major metropolitan areas as a result of the Government's "niggardly" proposals on welfare reform. This would turn London into Paris, he said, "with the poor consigned to the outer ring".

Mr Bryant asked: "Would it not be iniquitous if on top of being socially engineered and sociologically cleansed out of London, the poor were also disenfranchised by your (Parliamentary Voting Systems and Constituencies) Bill?

"How do you propose to make electoral provision for these displaced people?"

Mr Clegg angrily told him: "To refer to cleansing would be deeply offensive to people who have witnessed ethnic cleansing in other parts of the world. It is an outrageous way of describing..."

i assume it's a reference/pisstake of clegg

it's not funny, of course

it kind of lowers the bar for politician's pledges: "no genocide under my watch!" "er, ok, thanks."

He's only ruling out Kosovan-style genocide. Maybe he's more of a Rwanda man.

"To refer to cleansing would be deeply offensive to people who have witnessed ethnic cleansing in other parts of the world. It is an outrageous way of describing..."

nice way of avoiding the question. also, who in the house has witnessed ethnic cleansing and would be offended? i don't think parliament recognises the law of godwin.

Have to say I'm with Boris on this one...

Boris Johnson said: "I have kept the fares for 2011 at the absolute minimum while still protecting the vital improvements that London's transport network needs. Those improvements include upgrades to the Tube, the delivery of (the cross-London scheme) Crossrail, and maintenance of London's bus network.

"I promised to protect free and concessionary travel for those needing it most and this package does exactly that."

He went on: "Even in difficult times I am not passing the buck to the travelling public; we have stuck with the fare rise we said we would deliver last year and we continue to make efficiencies at TfL in order to make sure Londoners are getting the best value for money possible."

Boris isn't half talking some shit with this "if you don't stop striking we'll sack you all and replace you with driverless trains" bollocks.

mayorless london a better idea

They're giving Boris responsibility for emergency planning:

http://www.londonprepared.gov.uk/news/news-20101021.jsp

We're all fucked.

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01265/SNN0712AA--6825_1265701a.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/VJsxA.jpg

Two bicycles, one town bike, one ex-Governator.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13236556

"London Mayor Boris Johnson is to give tandem bicycle based on the city's bike hire scheme as a wedding present to Prince William and Kate Middleton."

complete with Barcleys branding. class.

Can't help liking Boris more for this.

fuck boris

the bikes were ken's idea

Ken might have got Barclays to stick another zero onto their sponsorship offer, though.

yeah he might have got them to throw in some unicorns as well, ken is the best human being ever

everything's relative Romford Spring

i meant it!!!!!!!!!!!! i <3 ken!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

calm down, dear

sexist

Wait: Ken still exerts such power that he can make London give a tandem bike to the royal couple?

no the bikes not that bike

Well, yeah. But it was that bike that was being made fun of, no?

boris has made a gift to the duke and duchess of cambridge on their wedding of a tandem based on the design of a boris bike further reinforcing his status as the driving force behind the prestigious bike initiative that Republicans voiced concern about young pages hearing the word uterus points out was ken's idea

Not sure about this:

http://i.imgur.com/LUAaA.jpg

http://static.worldarchitecturenews.com/news_images/16677_6_londonpark6.jpg

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/new-river-park-planned-for-thames/5018183.article

The north side of the river is pretty shitty to walk along atm, so from that perspective it's a bonus. Those pods are fugly though, and not shown are the plethora of portakabin cafes, wheelbarrow coffee stalls, hotdog and hot nut sellers, that will inevitably flock in to 'monetize' this new tourist asset. And those living statue c*nts.

And if it's garishly lit at night it will destroy the view along the river. The Thames should be a ribbon of darkness through the luminous city. Already worried about the glare from the new Blackfriars station that is currently ruining the view from Waterloo Bridge, idk if that will be permanent or is just there for construction purposes.

You might be un lucky there...
[Removed Illegal Image]

How is this going to make money for the investors?

Ooops - just go here.
http://www.bdonline.co.uk/pictures/800x400fitpad[238]/0/9/3/1693093_Gensler%20river%20park%20night.jpg

Oh fuck it. You'll have to c&p it. Anyway it's quite garish.

re: making money: charging rent for aforementioned unpictured commercial outlets?

I think this is pretty cool actually. I don't think you get much of a return on your investment charging rents to coffee stalls and most of the money will come from renting out the pods for events.

Also Ledge OTM about the north bank being appalling to walk along at the moment.

Meanwhile, no completion date has been given for the cable car linking The O2 with the Royal Docks - which is being funded by TfL after it failed to find private investment. The Mayor insisted if its future was not dependent on the 2012 Olympic Games.

Mr Johnson said: "The cable car will be delivered when it's good and ready, and ready to carry passengers across the Thames. There's no delay. It may be ready for the 2012 Games, but it's not tied to that.

"We are doing things that are much more important than the cable car. It will be ready in the fullness of time."

When pressed by Ms Pidgeon, Mr Johnson revealed the link, costing at least £57million of taxpayers money, could be ready by next summer but refused to be drawn further.

He said: "You are trying to get me to set a deadline, but I won't. There's very complicated work being done, with piling into the Thames. If we commit to a deadline that proves impossible you would correct me for failing to keep to that."

The Mayor defended the economic value of the cable car, despite the lack of private backing.

He said: "It's valuable in its own right. It will help with what we are doing at the Royal Docks enterprise zone. There's a good business case for it."

However, Mr Johnson's assertions cut little ice with Ms Pidgeon.

She said: "For the Mayor to state that the cable car will be completed when 'it's good and ready' is totally unbelievable.

"It is simply staggering that the Mayor is throwing around £57 million of public money at the Thames Cable Car yet is totally incapable of giving any assurance as to when it will be open.

"The Mayor should get on top of this flagship project."

There's very complicated work being done, with piling into the Thames.

Do not want a cable car to do this.

The number of Londoners fairly or very satisfied “with the way Boris Johnson is doing his job as Mayor of London” is 32% while the number who say they are “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied” is 33%. Those who are fairly or very dissatisfied is 15%, almost half the number of those happy with his performance.

The percentage of those who say the Mayor is “doing a good job” is up from 11% in 2009 to 19%.

Boris ­Johnson has almost ­doubled the salary of a key ally.

Daniel Moylan’s pay has leapt £55,000 from £60,000 to £115,000 for working just four days a week, a leaked letter reveals.

It makes him more ­highly paid pro rata – £143,750 – than the Prime Minister, who is on £142,500.

The revelation will put the Tory pair on a collision course with ministers.

They have attacked ­“excessive” pay of local politicians at a time when public-sector workers are suffering a pay freeze.

Mr Johnson approved the rise for Mr Moylan in his role as deputy chairman of Transport for London.

Mr Moylan still gets £10,597 as a councillor in Kensington and Chelsea.

And he is paid £6,000 as a member of the London Waste and Recycling Board, making his total from the taxpayer £131,597.

A spokesman for the mayor said: “His pay ­reflects his key role in helping improve services for ­millions of passengers.”

Is he panning on bringing back smoking on buses?
http://www.danielmoylan.com/

planning obv.

has his site been hacked/??

No.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23857666-the-king-of-kensington.do

I hate the right-wing feebs who get a fleeting hard-on from nonce-ness like this:

It is as if Daniel Moylan, deputy leader of Kensington & Chelsea council and deputy chairman of Transport for London, wants to send a message to the world — “damn political correctness, I really don't care”.

Then they find out he's gay and get all conflicted about their hard-ons.

Boris Johnson joined cops in a crack den raid yesterday - and was asked by a suspect: "What the f*** are you doing here?"

The Tory politician was behind bobbies in riot gear as they broke into a barricaded flat in Tottenham, North London.

A suspect nicknamed Rambo, 48, was stunned to see the Mayor appear.

Mr Johnson said of his face-to-face meeting: "I don't think this chap was pleased to see me."

Freedom for Tooting!

A senior London City Hall advisor has resigned after a newspaper article quoted him saying he "stole" from supermarkets and food chains.

Tom Campbell, who advised on the Cultural Olympiad, said he was "misrepresented" in the article.

In the Evening Standard story he was quoted saying if he went to "chain stores" he had to "steal something".

The Greater London Authority (GLA) said his comments were intended to be "light-hearted and playful".

Those of a sensitive disposition, look away now. Word reaches me that Boris Johnson was recently left in an uncomfortable situation when his 8th floor City Hall loo was sabotaged.

I'm told that a security guard was posted outside the executive khazi after it was deliberately blocked on several occasions a month or so ago, forcing the Mayor to go in search of a clean lavatory. Apparently the scene inside was grim - and one source told me that it involved a "dirty protest" with excrement smeared on the wall.

Quite what sparked the protest remains a mystery, and the offender has not been caught.

Certainly, Mr Johnson is doing all he can to improve his chances with the voters of London. On Monday, he defied the Government vow of silence to declare Greece bust and call for its immediate withdrawal from the euro. As if that wasn’t enough to get attention, he also announced that he opposed Kenneth Clarke’s plans to soften sentencing laws. It was a moment of brazen defiance, yet the only reply from Downing Street was a muted sigh of resignation.

In fact, they have seen far worse from their so-called ally across the river, such as when he compared Coalition plans to limit housing benefit to “ethnic cleansing”, or when he paraded his support for a referendum on the Lisbon treaty at Tory conference. Boris has been decoupling himself from the Tory leadership for months. This is, in fact, an agreed strategy rather than a unilateral declaration of independence.

Some time ago, he came to an understanding with Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne – who oversees Tory election planning – that gives him permission to defy them on policy. Both sides recognise that to win, the Mayor must separate himself from the Prime Minister and even at times beard him. In the near daily exchanges of text messages between the three, there is an informal understanding that when Boris plans to go off the reservation, he will alert the high command.

As a political manoeuvre, it has worked a treat. Yesterday, pollsters YouGov reported that Boris had opened a seven-point lead over Mr Livingstone.

sun hasn't set just yet

go on ken ;_;

@tnewtondunn: Breaking: Boris Johnson is in Kurdistan to assess the fight against ISIL personally. @Sun_Politics is with him.

How many elections has Boris won thus far? Just the one? Feels like he's been the fucking mayor forever.

And London is so much worse since his arrival, in every way.

He's won two, we've had Ken vs Boris twice now.

jesus.

He's settled an old US tax bill, possibly as a pre-requisite for dumping his US citizenship before a run at Number 10.