Boris Watch

Today, Boris and London Councils signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ that will, the GLA claims, ‘enable them to work together more effectively in delivering first class services to all Londoners’.
The Memorandum itself is split into three sections, with aims, principles and methods for action.
Aims
The ‘needs and aspirations of everyone in London‘ will be met, public [...]

Better late than never, I suppose.  The Transparency Express has been delayed six weeks.  We apologise for any inconvenience caused while we spend your money:
Following requests made at last week’s press conference, some details about Mayor Johnson’s “transition team” of fifteen interim advisers have now appeared on the GLA website. I’m told these will be [...]

Meet two peas in a pod:
Firstly, Ken Livingstone on George W. Bush, 2003
I think George Bush is the most corrupt American president since Harding in the Twenties. He is not the legitimate president.
This really is a completely unsupportable government and I look forward to it being overthrown as much as I looked forward to [...]

I’ve dug up the contract expiry dates for the various bendy bus routes - these *should* be the first opportunity for a phased withdrawal to start:

Route - Start - Duration - End
12 - 31/07/2004 - 5 years - 31/07/2009
18 - 23/08/2003 - 5+2 years - 23/08/2010
25 - 26/06/2004 - 5 years - 26/06/2009
29 - 14/01/2006 [...]

Having said that there’s no sign of a new Routemaster tender out on the OJEU, there is one arena in which Boris-run TfL is forging ahead - hybrid taxis.
Short description of the contract or purchase(s): TfL is actively working towards reducing the carbon footprint of its operations and is now planning to introduce a new [...]

Here’s what the Evening Standard said about Boris’ mayoral campaign:
Boris Johnson has vowed that his first act as Mayor of London will be to scrap bendy buses and replace them with a modern-day Routemaster.
Here’s what Boris’ mayoral campaign actually said about buses:
“We should on day one, act one, scene one, hold a competition to get [...]