Boris Watch

An attempt to enhance the accountability of the new London mayoralty

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Moments Of Calm

August 16th, 2008 14 Comments

Emma Jacobs in the FT:
“Boris Johnson may be well-versed in Latin - he dropped a bit of Virgil’s Aeneid into his first mayor’s Question Time. He may be well-versed in Shakespeare - he cited Romeo and Juliet to the Commons home affairs select committee. “We need to deglamorise knife crime,” he said. “This is [...]

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Stuff On Nonsense

July 27th, 2008 No Comments

Try to spot the connection between the two articles that I’ve quoted from.
Here’s an extract from a 2003 New Statesman column regarding Anthony Browne:
“The Conservative Party is now committed to taking MI5 officers away from these urgent tasks and giving them the drudge work of screening applicants. Duncan Smith and Letwin must know that their [...]

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Stuff On Nonsense

July 19th, 2008 No Comments

Councils have been profuse in their support for Boris’s latest piece of authoritarian warbling. It will be tested in Croydon, and our sympathies are extended to the eighteen to twenty-one year olds of that area that may want to buy alcohol without venturing into a pub. It’s currently a ‘voluntary’ system, and so there may [...]

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Stuff On Nonsense

July 12th, 2008 No Comments

This week, the GLA released their Planning For A Better London report. We shall work way through it, with the requisite whisky and cigarettes, but in the meantime you can read it here, and, should you be gripped by inspiration, send your thoughts towards City Hall. Property Week and Building Design comment briefly.
Members of the [...]

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Stuff On Nonsense

July 5th, 2008 3 Comments

Reactions to the resignation of Ray Lewis have been swift. The tireless Dave Hill gives fine summations in the Guardian,  the Standard provides a reaction from Mary Massey and the Telegraph, the Times and the BBC pitch in.
Elsewhere, Dave also writes on the Routemaster, Jenny Jones comments on the Western Extension and various characters debate [...]

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Stuff On Nonsense

June 27th, 2008 1 Comment

Dave Hill recorded the State of London Debate, and I’ll work my way through it through it, over whisky, cigarettes etc. In the meantime, however, other reports are filtering through.
Dave notes differences of opinion among the panel, while Martin at Mayor Watch was entirely unimpressed with the officials, but thought that Ross Kemp was rather [...]

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Stuff On Nonsense

June 20th, 2008 1 Comment

Reaction to the Mayor’s stumbling has been slowly appearing in the press. The Telegraph and The Times report on Boris’s memorandum mystification, while Dave Hill has an excellent piece on Comment is Free that wonders “does he actually know what they’re doing?“.  Not only that, but he links to this site.
The wonderful Beau Bo D’Or [...]

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