Boris Watch

An attempt to enhance the accountability of the new London mayoralty

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Entries from June 2008

Trade Unions Withdraw Support From Rise

June 24th, 2008 3 Comments

In the wake of the mysterious remarketing of the Rise festival, various Trade Unions have been withdrawing their support.
Megan Dobney, Regional Secretary of SERTUC (the TUC in London, the South East and East of England):
“Trade unions are greatly offended by the removal of the central anti-racist message as well as by the ban on an [...]

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A new ‘Number One Priority’ for Boris?

June 24th, 2008 5 Comments

He’s certainly actioning this more quickly than many of the things he’s applied that label to, anyway:
Brian Coleman: When will the Mayor of London arrange for a portrait of the Queen to be hung in City Hall?
Mayor Johnson: I have asked officers to make the necessary arrangements.

(The answer is only in the PDF at time [...]

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Boris’s biggest fans

June 24th, 2008 7 Comments

The mainstream media can be pretty sickening at times. Boris might originally have sneaked out the doubling of bus fares for London’s poorest on a Bank Holiday Sunday, but the news that he was definitely not going to find ‘alternative’ ways to keep their fares discounted came out on a perfectly ordinary weekday, today.
How did [...]

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Boris Abandons Half-Price Fares

June 24th, 2008 1 Comment

In response to a written question from Darren Johnson, Boris has admitted that the half-price bus and tram fares offered to those in receipt income support will be cancelled. He stated that:
“The total number of cardholders represents less than 20% of all those claiming income support in London. I therefore do not consider this to [...]

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The Mysterious Incident Of The Mayor And His Cigar Case

June 24th, 2008 9 Comments

A police probe has forced Boris to hand over a cigar case that he ‘trousered‘ in Tariq Aziz’s home. Police have stated that they will hold the item “while further enquiries are made”.
For tomorrow’s Daily Telegraph, the Mayor wonders “can it be right that police time is allowed to be wasted in this way?” Can [...]

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‘Boris’ Strikes Again

June 24th, 2008 2 Comments

Far more interesting than the statements of James McGrath are the Conservative reactions to them. At David Cameron’s press conference today, he was asked a question regarding the sacking of the adviser, and replied that:
“I think Boris has acted very quickly and rightly.”
Why, then, are the Guardian and Reuters reporting that ‘Johnson consulted David Cameron, [...]

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Like boss, like aide?

June 22nd, 2008 8 Comments

We all know Boris has made his fair share of race-related gaffes over the years, and now I learn via Dave Hill that one of his aides has put his foot in his mouth. Must be a nice change for Boris to get to put out a news release apologising for someone else’s racially insensitive [...]

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State of London Debate

June 22nd, 2008 No Comments

Next Wednesday, the Mayor will be taking part in the State of London Debate.
As Mr Stop Boris noted last month, the event has been considerably cut, but will nonetheless feature Munira Mirza (Arts and Culture), Ray Lewis (children and young people) and Ross Kemp (hard man). The panel will focus on ‘increasing opportunities for young [...]

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Separated at birth?

June 21st, 2008 4 Comments

Mrs. Stop Boris just noticed that the new (?) Friends Reunited logo bears quite a resemblance to that of a certain "politician". But does the similarity end there?

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BBC London coverage now on YouTube

June 21st, 2008 1 Comment

Thanks to a kind reader by the name of Wireman, who grabbed the BBC London video stream as a video file and sent it over to me, I have now been able to put the BBC London gaffe coverage from Thursday on YouTube. If you haven’t seen it yet, have a look now:

(Hmm, in theory [...]

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