Boris Watch

Those who were revolted by Ken’s record of nepotism will be perturbed by the news that Guto Harri, the Mayor’s new spin doctor, has been friends with Boris since their days at Oxford. One doubts that this will raise too many eyebrows, however, as Guto was a respected BBC presenter, not a member of Socialist [...]

If Lord Brocket - convicted fraud, old Etonian and absolute cretin - is given public money then Britain will, in the words of Peter Cook, ’sink giggling into the sea’.
Boris, employing a fraud would hardly the best way to ‘target sleaze’, and if you’re really concerned about transport then you won’t involve the presenter [...]

The Telegraph reports that Boris had been given a new opportunity to test his diplomatic skills as Mayor. Seasoned Johnsonians may remember that after the poisoning of the former spy Alexander Litvinenko, Boris portrayed Moscow as a place where one could be killed “in coffee lounges just because [one has] been mildly disobliging to the [...]

After his promise to “clean up” City Hall, Boris has established a forensic audit group, which will investigate the finances of the Greater London authority. In a statement he declared that:
“I was elected on a promise to provide Londoners with better value for money from their taxes. I am delighted to have recruited some [...]

Yahoo reports that the alcohol ban may find opposition. Bob Crow of the RTM transport union is wary of the risk of violence towards staff if they try to enforce the rules with drunk passengers.
“”We are in favour of any measure that will make our members’ lives safer and curb anti-social behaviour, but it appears [...]

Boris has banned booze on tubes, buses, DLR and Tramlink.  I wonder how much of problem this was?  Here’s a snippet from the last TfL Board Meeting in February:
Over the Christmas and New Year period, Underground services performed well.  In particular, there were only two significant incidents.  … . The post event de-briefs have shown [...]

Bojo is planning to reduce his press office from 73 to 50 and cut London’s advertising budget by £2 million.
This is actually a good idea. As well-done as a lot of Ken’s ad campaigns were, it’s rather hard to defend the cost. Another £2 million freed up for other, more important, projects sounds like a [...]

Not through the TfL press centre yet, though, but it’s on the BBC.  It’s seemingly a ban on the drinking of alcohol rather than the carrying of it, which is an important distinction, particularly if you want to take the bus home from the shops.  There’s one omission though:
Mr Johnson said: “I firmly believe that [...]

TfL Press Releases April 2008 - 29
TfL Press Releases May 2008 (so far) - 1
May not mean anything, after all there has been a Bank Holiday weekend in that lot, but we should see about one a day really.
In other rune reading news, over at uk.transport.london John Band thinks the TfL leadership are safe:
[Y]esterday I [...]

Success, ladies and gentlemen, may take years - decades, even - of hard graft and dedication. Failure takes only a moment and a poorly thought-through manifesto pledge.
Our new blond boy hasn’t even had a chance to get over his celebratory hang-over (I kid because I love), and he’s already facing a tube strike. Now, that’s [...]