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 has been a great day for blogging and general hilarity, can I invite our readers to help us with the unpleasant task of trying to come up with a comprehensive list of the number of times ‘kennite’ mentions Andrew Gilligan in the third person or otherwise indulges in inappropriate behaviour? To start you off, here’s a thread from last year about the security services planting stories via friendly journalists:
Blackadder: “This Gilligan chap certaily has a history of having issues with confidential sources, as can be seen in his willingness to out them within minutes of sitting down in front of a cabinet select committee.”
kennite: “But he didn’t do that. And there’s no such thing as a “cabinet select committee.”"
Strike one. If anyone’s public-spirited enough to have a delve, let us know what you find via the comments. Thanks.
Ben adds: You can see why he didn’t bother to use this stunning insight in a Standard column…
“I’ve never seen this before: an incumbent Mayor, and two of the other candidates, posting on a talkboard. On a public holiday, too. Could they, perhaps, be desperate? Interesting to see that Boris doesn’t feel the need to post.”
Yes, our Boris has always shied away from the media.
13 responses so far ↓
Don’t mind seeing a quick kick at Con Coughlin, though – Andrew is practically Seymour Hersh in comparison. (Incidentally, the Time Out piece has gone down. Being paranoid, I’ve saved a cached version.)
I noticed the Time Out link was down too. No idea why, but to pick up a theme I’ve mentioned elsewhere regarding “Bendy Jihad”, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone twigged that a title including “Route Martyr” is seriously inappropriate and took the piece down.
Such a shame the link was taken down. No google cache either.
Ben and I both have it cached – thus:
“A war has broken out between supporters of the bendy bus – led by the Boriswatch blog – and those who want to see Boris’s new Routemaster – led by long-time Boris fan, Andrew Gilligan. Gilligan, in a virulent piece, has accused Boriswatch of getting its figures wrong and provoking ‘unintentional hilarity’ by supporting the despised bendy.
Interestingly, this view is not borne out by either the statistics or the commentators beneath Gilligan’s own piece, the majority of whom favour the bendy and have been allowed to say so despite the Standard’s ruthless policy of vetting overly critical comments.
And as for unintentional hilarious, well look no further than Gilligan himself, who Tory Troll reveals has apparently been leaving favourable comments about himself all over the internet under a variety of different names. Did you really think you’d get away with it, Andrew?
But some interesting arguments lie at the heart of all this froth. Should Boris’s value-for-money campaign promise be compromised by his new Routemaster campaign promise, even if it is going to cost a fortune?
Is the bendy bus actually as unpopular as we are told?
And should public transport put dull but essential things like passenger capacity and cost-per-mile above the beauty of good design?
I’m genuinely undecided by all this. As a bus user, passenger capacity is important to me, but I dislike bendies, which tend to make the horror of commuting even less appealing. And while I don’t have a problem with the state spending money on quality-of-life-raising projects, I do wonder this is the best use of the mayor’s budget in the current climate and with so many other more pressing concerns.
Any views? Do you hate bendies? Do you think Boris should be spending vast sums on new buses that aren’t really needed at a time when he has promised to cut costs? Do you really want a new Routemaster? And isn’t this a more interesting controversy than Sachs/Brand/Ross/Satanic Sluts-gate? “
“I wouldn’t be surprised if someone twigged that a title including “Route Martyr” is seriously inappropriate and took the piece down.”
It’s funny that the Evening Standard didn’t have similar qualms about likening critics of Boris’s transport policy to supporters of a child sex offender and serial killer.
It’s back up, was nothing sinister, just a technical fault.
I’m very proud of coming up with ‘Routemartyr’.
Thanks, Big Smoke. Do you want me to take down my copy now the real one’s up? Don’t want to be accused of breaching copyright.
Actually, the Standard’s comments policy lets most of mine through, and they’re not exactly Gilligan-friendly. I’ve no doubt that they exercise a degree of hidden control, but it’s not completely draconian.
Bloody, hell they’ve actually posted my comment asking Gilligan about sockpuppeting!
Feel free to keep it up, although I might do an edit shortly.
Let’s face it, if Gilligan behaves in such an unpleasant, dishonest and high-handed fashion when out on the internet, he’s going to have enemies at the Standard too. Alex Harrowell and I have both revised our opinion of him sharply downwards since 2003, purely as a result of the way he conducts himself, and I doubt we’re alone.
@AdamB
“It’s funny that the Evening Standard didn’t have similar qualms about likening critics of Boris’s transport policy to supporters of a child sex offender and serial killer.”
Well, that’s a reasonable point, not quite sure how it’s related to this though but I’m happy to say that sounds inappropriate too if it helps?
@The Big Smoke
“I’m very proud of coming up with ‘Routemartyr’.”
Why? How does the word martyr have any relevance to this whatsoever? Has anyone martyred themselves for this cause or are you just proud for finding a word that sounds a bit like “master”? I’m pleased for you that you’re pleased with yourself for coming up with it, but it seems a bit meaningless to me and yes, I will say it again even at the risk of sounding like Mail reading reactionary, inappropriate.
You go right ahead Rob, don’t let me stop you.
@Tom – Just saw your comment in Gilligan’s original piece saying that he’d misquoted you. Perhaps time to get the PCC involved? Would be quite nice to see him having to make an apology.
I am Kennite.