Boris Watch

Back to reality.  We’re getting to the stage when Boris is going to have to announce which transport improvements are for the chop - the Cross River Tram, thought to be vulnerable, is attracting cross-party support from Southwark, where the ruling LibDem/Tory coalition have been meeting Sir Simon Milton to put their case, with Boris’s [...]

Just in case they fall down the memory hole, here are the most recent five comments from Gilligan’s article.  As you can see, they published mine, too.  Does the heart good to see that kind of thing.
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Well, the story just keeps snowballing - latest is Time Out, which picks up Gilligan’s Monday rant and ties it neatly in with the value-for-money aspects, all this from a bendy-sceptic too. Elsewhere Sadie’s Tavern has a brief mention. Remember, proper bloggers don’t like sock-puppets - they ruin the fun.
To round off what [...]

Regular readers will know that we’ve previously taken aim at two tiresome and ill-informed CiF commentators, who often appear in tandem on Dave Hill’s bus coverage, usually to tell us how brilliant Boris’s new Routemaster will be and how horrid Ken Livingstone is.
The first, ‘newsed1‘, was outed here as Hilton Holloway of Autocar, who has [...]

Much hilarity in these parts over Andrew Gilligan’s typically fact-free, misquoted and over-the-top attack in the Standard today, which it’s hard not to see as a desperate attempt to reinflate the bendy jihad after its implosion over the past two weeks.  Just a few quick points in case anyone actually reads his articles any more [...]

The Bendy Jihad is a joke policy - you can’t take it seriously even though you know it’s the product of ghastly propagandists you wouldn’t want to be seen dead in a ditch with.  When Policy Exchange turn their black arts to grown-up issues it’s a much more serious matter.  From Politics Home via Lib [...]

Someone’s been leaking stuff to the Standard about the Met Police Commissioner job.  Apparently Malthouse (the only side mentioned by name) is at odds with two unnamed City Hall officials about whether to promote the late Sir Ian Blair’s deputy Paul Stephenson (the safe option) or bring in someone from outside, such as Hugh Orde.  [...]

Further to Dave Hill’s post on Red Boris welcoming London’s newly won Fair Trade City status, where he mentions that 20 boroughs have been so accredited, I’ve been digging them up.  Here’s the most recent list I could find:

Camden
Croydon
Ealing
Kingston
Lambeth
Lewisham
Newham
Hammersmith and Fulham
Hounslow
Greenwich
Richmond
Islington
Tower Hamlets
Southwark
Sutton
Waltham Forest
Hackney

Obviously that’s only 17 (if anyone knows what the other three are supposed [...]

Recession looming, shares crashing, pound plummeting, oil price rising, so Boris has now kissed goodbye to:
£20,586,719
There’s value for money, boys and girls.

Boris, in response to a question regarding the curtailment of street prostitution…
“In April 2009 I intend to publish my draft Violence Against Women Strategy which will include issues around prostitution.“
Now, let’s remind ourselves of Boris’s little encounter with the Commons…

“Labour’s Margaret Moran says Boris was committed to increasing the number of rape crisis centres in [...]