Mayor Johnson, as we know, opposed the smoking ban. His voting history on the issue can be found on TheyWorkForYou.com. The noxious fumes produced by the evil weed were not, it would seem, enough in Mr Johnson’s opinion to warrant an intrusion on people’s liberty and bar and pub workers would have to lump it; […]

Mayor Johnson
The headline news is, of course, the victory of Boris Johnson. It is no secret (at least if you’ve been reading this blog!) that I was and remain a strong supporter of Ken Livingstone and that I have very grave doubts about the Johnson mayoralty. I have tried to draw a comparison between […]

Having been in the ’set’ position for some time now, the starting pistol has fired and the candidates for Mayor are away. Unfortunately, Dave Hill – a blogger that I like and have a lot of time for – makes the mistake of thinking that Boris and Ken are somehow close on policies:
as a battleground […]

I was able to interview Ken Livingstone this morning following the launch of his transport manifesto. Unfortunately, announcements kept coming over the tannoy, hence the odd cutting and jumping.Dave Hill also spoke with Ken, and his interview is available here along with thoughts on the Mayor’s transport manifesto here. There is more on […]

As has been reported in the press, an art auction raised some considerable funds for Ken Livingstone, not least because a Banksy went for £195,000. I bought a piece by STOT21stCplanB for the rather less princely sum of £200; I may post a photo because I rather like it. Just next to the Aquarium L-13 […]

A recurring theme of late is honesty in politics or, rather, the lack thereof. Politicians want to appear as straight-talking but frequently are not. Three things have struck me on this today.
Brian Paddick, the Lib Dem candidate for Mayor of London. As the Evening Standard reports, he has said that the Underground is the most […]

Boris Johnson launched his transport manifesto yesterday. You can read the press release as a on his website or, indeed, the full manifesto for transport. In places, it is quite surreal. The accusations of Ken’s transport policy being weighted excessively heavily towards zone one don’t stack up. Certainly, the congestion charge lies within zone one, […]

The shortlist for the new installation on the Fourth Plinth have been announced. They are The Spoils of War (Memorial for an unknown civilian) by Jeremy Deller; Something for the Future by Tracey Emin; One and Other by Antony Gormley; Sky Plinth by Anish Kapoor; Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle by Yinka Shonibare; and Faîtes […]

Kew is remarkably beautiful in the autumn, when the leaves turn a hundred shades of fire. Despite it being the fourth of November, it was warm enough to stop for an ice-cream. There is also an exhibition of Henry Moore sculptures; unfortunately, there were rather too many people in immediate proximity to the statues to […]

I’ve just come home from the Thames Festival with Alice, which was a lot of fun, with a carnival, floats, performers, food, stalls, fireworks and an altogether lovely atmosphere. Of that, more later, along with photos, but in the meantime here is one with which I am pleased.
and one in a similar vein from Alice:
xD.