Boris Watch

When, two and a half months late, we wondered where Doug Oakervee’s airport report had gone, it was evident others were thinking along the same lines.  After answering the same question from a number of Assembly Members, Kit ‘Airport’ Malthouse and his friends at the Times have produced another one of their airport-pushing puff pieces [...]

Go on, guess?  No?  Well, it’s Doug Oakervee’s report on the feasibility, or otherwise, of the Boris Airport idea.  I’ve picked up nothing on this recently, but Murad Qureshi (and, to be fair, Val Shawcross and Darren Johnson, who got the same answer) tried last month:

Question number
1317/2009

Meeting date
21/05/2009

Question by [...]

That’s the north bank of the Thames, not the North Bank at Highbury, of course.
We’ve already seen what the (mostly Labour) southern side of the Thames Estuary thinks of Borisport.  The north side might be expected to be a bit more welcoming, since they’re mostly Tories over that side.  So are they?  Nope.
Rochford and Southend [...]

Annoyed with the Standard’s pisspoor imagery, I’ve had my own go at a map of Borisport.  Here you go.  Comments and criticisms welcome.  Yes, I reckon it really is that far out to sea.  About 30% of the distance to Holland, I reckon.
View Larger Map

Unsurprisingly the Standard has picked up on Boris’s Magic Stealth Airport, but unusually there’s actually a picture.  Whether this was done by a Standard graphics bod or crayoned by Malthouse in City Hall I have no idea.  I hope it’s the former, since it’s got High Speed 1 in the wrong place, but it does [...]

Apparently the BBC’s London political editor Tim Donovan didn’t go out with Boris on his dredger last week.  We already know that Dave Hill wasn’t invited.  Who was?  Well, here’s a clue:
Speaking to The Sunday Times aboard a dredger, Johnson vowed to continue to oppose the expansion of Heathrow. He also confirmed that he aims [...]

I was looking the original proposals that Boris seems to be examining and I’ve found it – Marinair it’s called.  Bit worrying their website is illustrated by a DC-10, which is a) obsolete and b) notorious for crashing.  The illustration of a train is a diesel Class 180 DMU, which was fairly notorious for unreliability, [...]

Considering what they did to his predecessor, Boris might be worried about what Dispatches are planning on his Island scheme, but then again on that basis it might be a puff piece, we’ll just have to see, particularly if they get a certain  Mr. Gilligan to present this one as well.
Also while we’re at it, [...]

KentOnline have an article on Boris and Nick’s fact-finding trip with some locals giving the Mayor the benefit of their advice:

why doesent he buld this airport in his back garden , or doesent want the plane,s flying over his home, what a prat
What the point of pouring concrete into the sea and blighting our country [...]

Boris is out on the Thames Estuary in a Belgian dredger called the Brabo.  There’s a website that shows the positions of all ships in major UK estuaries in real time.  Are you thinking what I’m thinking?  Let’s watch Boris trundle about, and get a steer on where Oakervee and Malthouse are looking at building [...]