Boris Watch

An attempt to enhance the accountability of the new London mayoralty

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Interim London Underground MD Announced

April 27th, 2009 3 Comments

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 [...]

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St George’s Day Part III

April 27th, 2009 6 Comments

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 [...]

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Traffic Light Update : Forever Amber?

April 27th, 2009 No Comments

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 [...]

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London Cycle Hire Scheme Docking Points Announced

April 27th, 2009 6 Comments

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  [...]

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Andrew ‘Sockpuppet’ Gilligan Smells

April 27th, 2009 10 Comments

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 [...]

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Two Sentences In Failure…

April 27th, 2009 5 Comments

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 [...]

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