Saturday 9 May sees Boris Johnson’s second annual State Of London Debate, intended to allow the London electorate to directly question the Mayor, the London Assembly and representatives of the other bodies under the Mayor’s control such as the MPA and the LDA. Relegated last year to an evening event it has reverted to an all-day event on a Saturday, but in a massively truncated form. The State Of London Debate now features only five “policy sessions” in the morning which repeat in the afternoon, enabling members of the public to attend, at most, two sessions.
The last State Of London Debate under the previous GLA administration, in 2007, featured 16 different discussion sessions over three different time slots, enabling Londoners to attend more sessions on a far greater range of subjects and with many more expert speakers. If you wanted to question a member of the MPA, for instance, in 2007 you could have been face-to-face with Steve House, Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and Cindy Butts, Independent Member of the Metropolitan Police Authority. This year, however, Kit Malthouse, Deputy Mayor for Policing is joined by two fellow Assembly Members who are members of the MPA rather than any serving police officers.
As for Transport, in 2007 you could have directly questioned Peter Hendy, Commissioner of Transport For London (I attended this session and it was very popular, with many questions asked and all receiving satisfactory answers) but this year you’ll be faced with the associate editor of Transport Times, the Lib Dem and Tory members of the London Assembly Transport Committee, the Tory chair of the London Councils’ Transport & Environment Committe and Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor’s Director of Transport Policy. I’m guessing Kulveer won’t be supplying many answers at this session as the usual public questions are about specific bus routes and transport interchanges, about which he quite possibly doesn’t possess the encyclopaedic knowledge of Peter Hendy. Nor does he possess the power to immediately influence day-to-day operations. Accountability, eh?
The previous State Of London Debates and their post-debate reports have now been removed from the GLA website, in Boris’s usual manner of censorship and re-writing history, but thanks to the Internet Wayback Machine I present the 2007 programme for comparison with that of the new (un)accountable GLA:
12 May 2007 programme
| 10.00 to 11.25 | Opening Plenary: The State of London Debate Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London Chair: Councillor Brian Coleman, London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden |
| 11.35 to 12.50 | 2012 Olympic Games – A lasting legacy for London Paul Deighton, Chief Executive, London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games David Higgins, Chief Executive, Olympic Delivery Authority Manny Lewis, Chief Executive, London Development Agency Denise Lewis, Olympic Gold Medallist Chair: Victoria Derbyshire, Broadcaster |
| Multiculturalism: a key to London’s success Diane Abbott MP, Hackney North & Stoke Newington Gautam Banerji, Executive Member, Legal and Social Protection, Hindu Council UK Pauline Berry, Interim Programme Director, Diversity Works for London Inayat Bunglawala, Assistant Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain Dr Indarjit Singh, Director, Network of Sikh Organisations Wilf Sullivan, Race Equality Officer, Trades Union Congress Chair: Redmond O’Neill, Director, Public Affairs and Transport, Mayor’s Office |
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| London’s success: ensuring everyone benefits Karen Buck MP, Regent’s Park and Kensington North Dinah Cox, Chief Executive, Race on the Agenda Kate Green, Chief Executive, Child Poverty Action Group Steve Hart, London Regional Secretary, Transport and General Workers’ Union Neil Jameson, Lead Organiser, London Citizens Jane Wills, Professor, Queen Mary’s University of London Chair: Neale Coleman, Director, Business Planning and Regeneration, Mayor’s Office |
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| London: the most successful world city? Martine Ainsworth-Wells, Marketing Manager, Visit London Ricky Burdett, Centennial Professor in Architecture and Urbanism, London School of Economics and Political Science John Ross, Director, Economic and Business Policy, Mayor’s Office Chair: Judith Woodward, Senior Policy Adviser, Cultural Strategy, Mayor’s Office |
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| London’s transport journey Peter Hendy, Commissioner, Transport for London Chair: Samira Ahmed, Broadcaster and Journalist Please contact Transport for London to put your question to Peter Hendy in advance of the debate. |
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| 13.50 to 15.05
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Tackling climate change – what cities can achieve Pooran Desai, Director, One Planet Living and Co-Founder, BioRegional Paul de Zylva, Friends of the Earth England Farhana Yamin, Fellow in Environment, Institute for Development Studies Mark Watts, Principal Adviser on Climate Change, Mayor’s Office Chair: Samira Ahmed, Broadcaster and Journalist |
| Democracy for all Londoners Anas Altikriti, British Muslim Initiative Jon Cruddas, MP Bishop John Francis, Ruach Christian Ministeries Gloria Gomez, Leader, The Latin Front Councillor Deniz Oguzkanli Dilip Joshi, Executive Officer, Equality & Diversity, Hindu Council UK Dr Alistair Soyode, Chief Executive, Ben TV Dr Mary Tilki, Chair, Federation of Irish Societies Chair: Lucy Anderson, Business Manager, Public Affairs and Transport, Mayor’s Office |
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| Skilled for success – jobs and training in the capital John Attree, Director of Skills, Education and Diversity, London First Dinah Caine, Chief Executive, Skillset Barry Francis, Unionlearn Regional Manager, Trades Union Congress Bill Rammell MP, Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further & Higher Education Dame Ruth Silver, Board Member, London Skills and Employment Board Chair: Khamani Eze, Business Manager, Major Projects, Mayor’s Office |
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London Assembly: 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games – the legacy for Londoners Jennette Arnold AM, Labour, North East Bob Blackman AM, Conservative, Brent & Harrow Dee Doocey AM, Liberal Democrats, Londonwide Damien Hockney AM, One London, Londonwide Jenny Jones AM, Green, Londonwide Chair: Mark Demery, Head of Assembly External Relations |
| The importance of London’s waterways Mark Bensted, London Director, British Waterways Richard Everitt, Chief Executive, Port of London Authority Robert Runcie, Director, Environment Agency Chair: Murad Qureshi AM; Chair, London Waterways Commission |
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| Women in London today Denise Burke, Head of Childcare, London Development Agency Dawn Butler MP, Brent South Davina James-Hanman, Director, Greater London Domestic Violence Project Gita Patel, Director, Stargate Capital Chair: Anni Marjoram, Policy Adviser, Women’s Issues, Mayor’s Office |
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| 15.30 to 16.45
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A safer London for all Azad Ali, Chair, Muslim Safety Forum Decima Francis, President, From Boyhood to Manhood Foundation Steve House, Assistant Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Cindy Butts, Independent Member of the Metropolitan Police Authority Tony McNulty MP, Minister for Police and Security Rev Nims Obunge, Chief Executive, Peace Alliance Chair: Samira Ahmed, Broadcaster and Journalist |
| Tackling inequality – vital to London’s success Tufyal Choudhury, Director, Discrimination Law Association Angela Eagle MP, Wallasey Caroline Ellis, Head of Parliamentary Affairs, Disability Rights Commission Jonathan Finney, Parliamentary Officer, Stonewall Maleiha Malik, Lecturer, King’s College London Sarah Veale, Head, Equalities and Employment Rights Department, Trades Union Congress Chair: Anne Kane, Equality Adviser to the Mayor’s Office |
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| India and London – partners in globalisation Shri Asoke Mukerji, Deputy High Commissioner of India Nasreen Munni Kabir, Documentary Film-maker and Author Chair: John Ross, Director, Economic and Business Policy, Mayor’s Office |
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| Loving London’s global culture Amma Asante, Writer/Director Sandra Hebron, Director, London Film Festival Bradley Hemmings, Artistic Director, Greenwich & Dock Festival Helen Marriage, Director, Artichoke Productions Chair: Anneliese Midgely, Business Manager, Culture, Mayor’s Office |
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The London Thames Gateway Peter Andrews, Chief Executive, London Thames Gateway John Biggs AM; Vice Chair, London Development Agency Jenny Jones AM, Green, Londonwide Chair: Manny Lewis, Chief Executive, London Development Agency |
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The proposed agenda is the same as 2007 — but with all the lefty PC crap taken out.
So thank you for posting this. I have plenty of misgivings about Johnson’s leadership, but reading this reminds me why I was dead right to vote for him.
In regards to AoE;
Boris has five key areas which can be summarised thus:
Policing, Transport, Business, Environment and Multiculturalism.
The last two would probably fit under your definition of “lefty PC crap,” but we can give Boris some leeway. Well, you can.
So everything else which has been left out was clearly the horrible and dreadful work of the leftist, politically correct elite.
Er…
1) The 2012 legacy
2) Inequality
3) London Democracy
4) Education and skills
5) London’s Waterways
6) Women
7) India/London partnership
8) Culture
9) The Thames Gateway Project
How many of those are “lefty PC crap?” Time for an ideology litmus test.
Unless something has passed me by, a desire to ensure that the Olympics have a positive impact on London is not especially “lefty.” Seems a non-ideological issue to me; ensuring that £9.3bn isn’t spent on a glorious white mausoleum in the Lea Valley is something all parties are interested in.
Then there’s inequality; I will be so generous as to say that’s something which the left is far more concerned about than the right.
And then there’s the quite clearly Leftist PC discussion on London’s democracy. Democracy? In my London? Well, we can’t have that. We can’t have people discussing the health of London’s democracy. Otherwise we might end up with a system which actually works.
Then there’s education; another non-ideological subject. Despite what you may believe, people of all parties are interested in making sure people have the necessary set of skills to find employment.
I don’t know why London’s waterways is there. It is neither lefty, PC or wholly relevant.
But then there’s women! Another return to form. Or is it possible that we should be discussing issues which mainly involve women? I may be wrong, but when a rapist like John Worboys is able to operate for six years with a possible victim count of 100, it might be of benefit to the capital to discuss the issue of, I’m having a wild stab in the dark here, the lack of funding for Rape Crisis centres or cutting back on an election manifesto pledge. Just possibly.
And the Indian/London partnership. Globalisation is such a lefty issue, isn’t it? Of course, the lefty PC thing to do would be oppose such a measure, rather than actively encourage links between the financial services capital of the world and a newly industrialising country. Encouraging business links which are beneficial to both parties? Sounds like the antithesis of Socialist Action to me.
I would give you culture, but then I remember that some of London’s biggest attractions are all cultural; the Museums, the Galleries, the Theatres. And then I remember two Simon Jenkins articles in which he pushes cultural diplomacy as being more important than the Foreign Secretary;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jan/18/russia.politics
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/28/comment-v-a-exhibition-syria-miliband
Ah, Simon Jenkins. That well know… er… editor of the leftist rag The Times? Sir Simon Jenkins, a lefty PC… er… Thatcherite?
And we conclude with the Thames Gateway; another Olympian project which is bloody important we get right. Given the large budget, the big impact and the importance this holds to London and the south-east as a whole, I would feel reassured if Boris told us what he thinks about it, what he’s doing to keep it on track and how he’d improve it (other than removing transport links in the form of bridges). Is that wrong? Is that leftist and PC? Hardly.
So with you it seems less like a case of celebrating the end of an era of leftist PC crap and more like you’re ranting like a partisan demagogue who cares less about practicalities and more about ideology.
Before The State of London Debate 2009 we should be looking at The State of The GLA and it’s leadership under the Mayor for London Boris Johnson for the following reasons : To bring about Clear Truthful and Honest decisions and actions with real Transparency and Accountability. I believe that The Mayor for London’s Office should be scutinized on a daily basis by an outside independant body for the following reasons : When Boris Johnson was campaigning for votes to become Mayor for London he claimed that Ken Livingston’s office was corrupt and employee’s were syphoning of Tax Payers money that was meant for projects around London. This was later disproved and there was no wrong doing by Ken Livingstone’s staff , this only came to light after Boris Johnson became Mayor for London. How much damage was done by Boris Johnson and his advises due to those damaging claims ? So much for Transparency and Accountability on Boris Johnson’s part, as it is clear that these were Dirty Tricks. Then Boris Johnson highly recommended and employed Ray Lewis as Youth Worker but people quickly learnt that Ray Lewis was a con man that had stolen of a Church Congregation and later had to leave.. Then Boris was involved with Sir Ian Blair’s resignation under a stormy cloud and it appears that Boris Johnson broke rules here. Then we learn that Victoria Borwick had a serious conflict of interest and used Tax Payers money wrongly and claimed “Mistake Sorry” She sits on the Metropolitan Police Authority also..Then there was the Damien Green affair where Boris Johnson had clearly broken rules that he should have been very familiar with. but choose to have a lapse of memory when questioned at a Common’s Sellect Committee , amazing given how intelligent he is. Then Boris went on to voluntarily telephone Kieth Vaz and subjected him to a volley of abusive swear words, he did not have to do that ,but chose to.Also when Boris had to attend a Common’s Sellect Committee concerning the snowfall to discus what everyone can do next time to try and avoid a total shut down of London Boris got the hump and tried to walk out showing complete disrespect for the whole process. The State of London is completely at the mercy of those that are Governing it and in the manner that they do so. All I see is a Mayor that demonstrates to the London’s Youth that it is cool to be arrogant and swear when you so chose. Is this an example that those in power should be setting to the youth of London. Sadly I feel that we have a Mayor that appears slightly out of touch of reality and London is beginning to look like Gotham City with a Joker at the helm. A bad Mayoralty is bad for all Londoner’s and with what has been going on ,it requires more regulation on certain individuals to ensure Fairnes, Justice, Transparency and most importantly Accountability that is carried out. After this we should then look at The State of London in greater depth.
The Mayor for London Boris Johnson in fact had employed Ray Lewis as Deputy Mayor for London. For the exact details of how corrupt Ray Lewis was, can be found on :
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/so-is-ray-lewis-a-hero-or-villain-862962.html
Please take a look and come to your own conclusions.
[...] address on Thursday and I have tickets and, indeed, an invitation to see Boris afterwards, like last year (where he wouldn’t look me in the eye and give me a straight answer, but that’s by the [...]
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