Boris Watch

We’ve been wondering who’d replace the sadly departing Tim O’Toole.  It’s a chap called Richard Parry.  What do we know about him?  Not a lot.  He’s not on the TFC’s list (see comments) of runners and riders from 3.3.2009, that’s for sure.  All I can glean is that it’s an internal appointment, him having been [...]

So, did you enjoy Boris’s “week of free events” in London for St George’s Day 2009? What did this promised packed programme of events entail? We had a free family day at the Globe Theatre on 19 April, an event which had been sponsored by the Mayor since 2004, a very small selection of English [...]

In the latest episode the continuing saga of how the Universe is telling Boris Johnson that the only solution to congestion in London is reducing traffic volumes, the sheer amount of red on the map today indicates that something else has gone wrong with the traffic lights.

WC2N Trafalgar Square (Holborn)
Signal Failure

At the junction of Pall [...]

The Evening Standard reports that there will be 400 pick-up points for Boris Johnson’s London cycle hire scheme which is intended to be operational by May next year.
The docking points will be approximately 300m apart in Zone 1. However, there will be no docking points outside Network Rail stations, the bicycles will have no locks  [...]

Whenever we write an article pointing out how unpleasant Andrew ‘Sockpuppet’ Gilligan is, he smears us in the paper, usually accompanied by a mind-boggling degree of psychological projection
There’s no such thing as bad free publicity
Therefore Andrew ‘Sockpuppet’ Gilligan smells
[twiddles thumbs] [waits for next Gilligan article]

BTW if anyone wants to see how far they can push [...]

Factual research fail…
“On a dozen blogs, Ken and chums blame Boris for every crack in the pavement, accept no failings of their own, and rant endlessly about how the capital is Going To The Dogs. They remind me of a failed, Lefty version of the Daily Mail.”
Straw man fail…
“On a dozen blogs, Ken and chums [...]

Another day, another TfL press release asking us to give credit to Boris for something he didn’t start.  Uh-uh.  This time it’s the iBus automated bus information and location system, the rollout of which is now complete across all 8,000-odd London buses:
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: ‘I put providing Londoners with clear concise information [...]

Amid speculation that Boris intends to capture Downing Street (you don’t say?) he arrived as promised (albeit somewhat tardily) at Leadenhall Market this morning, riding on the top deck of a Routemaster with assorted spin doctors, PR, journalists, photographers and er…Gary Rhodes.
The first photographer off the bus greeted his waiting colleagues by giving them the [...]

Via Railway Eye and London Reconnections comes word that London Travelwatch, the rather toothless body charged with representing the London transport user, has noticed a bit of buried bad news in the recent East London Line Extension Phase 2b announcement.  This was the one, you may remember, greeted so warmly a few weeks ago by [...]

Tomorrow sees Boris Johnson’s first St George’s Day as Mayor of London and he plans to spend it as he did last year, arriving at Leadenhall Market on a Routemaster and then proclaiming in Latin English about how fantastic he is. He may, however, be somewhat busy after his hearty luncheon of jellied eels [...]