Jump to content

Recommended Posts

mockney piers Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Plus I don't think any of this is enshrined in law is it[?]


Only since 1962 apparently: LRT Byelaws - No 4 is the booze one


So it's not new - just enforcement of a law that is already in place.


Can't say I've ever thought that I'd give the tube or buses a miss because they're always full of drunks - except during the Christmas season of course when I just might have indulged in the odd sherbet myself.


I find people eating malodorous food more of a problem than people drinking but there doesn't seem to be a byelaw to cover that - although 6.2, 6.4, 6.7 and 6.8 between them might just cover it.

Miss Wheatcroft said: "It is crucial to understand how public money has been wasted or misspent in the past so that we can make sure that it doesn't happen again."


So no pre-judgement there, then. Patience is very ambitious politically (although the job she really wants is to be editor of The Times) and exactly the sort of power-suit wearing "ice maiden" that gives the likes of Boris the raging horn.


Will her audit team look into the LDA's plans (backed "Zone 5" Bromley Council) to flog off bits of Crystal Palace Park to leisure and property developers, do you think? Or is a conflict of interest only evident if it's not your kind who stand to benefit?

Do you think there is a cynical sub editor or journalist at work there or were they really completely oblivious to the irony of this statement?


?Boris Johnson vowed to root out corruption, cronyism and waste as he launched plans to "clean up" the way London is governed.?


The article is about him hiring someone who can easily be described as one of his cronies.

I suggest from now on that we use a code in order to express our approval or disapproval concerning our mayor.

During his his time in office he will inevitably make decisions that we disagree with.

When it's something we like refer to him as - 'Magic' Johnson.

When it's something we don't like refer to him as - Boris Gump.


Just a suggestion.

Boris is apparently likely to appoint Munira Mirza as "cultural adviser".


She's described as a "glamourous young Muslim woman" and she's heavily associated with Claire Fox and the Institute of Ideas / spikedonline. (The online phoenix risen from the ashes of LM).


They're a weird bunch (dodgy mc-dodge)- libertarian but ex Marxist. Generally contrarian and self styled promoters of the "enlightenment" - they still deny there's a global warming problem and insist science is the way forward.


They run "debating" competitions for schoolchildren and debates for grown ups on science and ethics sponsored by people like Pfizer and Monsanto.


She says that the problem of racism is overstated in this country.


Personally I thinks its shockingly bad news.



Munira Mirza, who argues that racism in the UK is greatly exaggerated, is to serve as a cultural adviser to the mayor.

I don't know anything about her, but who else might be best placed to give an opinion about the state of racism than a Muslim woman? She has suggested that policy decisions that are based on multi-culturalism may not be a good thing. It's apoint of view that's up for debate. Science as a way forward? I can't argue with that.As far as I'm aware there is still some arguement as to whether there's global warming (man-made) or climate change (natural) unless you decide to take it as an article of faith.

Encouraging schoolkids to engage in debate with Pfizer and Monsanto? Not such a bad thing, any kids I know would be prepared to put awkward questions, awkwardly. I can't see why it's 'shockingly bad news'

Is she just the 'wrong' sort of Muslim woman for your taste?

I totally distrust the cabal involved in institute of ideas / spiked / manifesto club / culture wars etc.


I certainly find their challenge to the received ideas useful and contrarians are good for a laugh but their idea of a debate often involves filling a panel with people whose views already align and intimating that there is a range of views around the table.


The debating competition for school children is carefully structured to direct lines of argument and I'm suspicious of them already so that doesn't sit well with me.


My statements about mm and her associates weren't supposed to be a devastating argument against her and her chums. I was just trying to give a quick sketch for people who may not have come across them before. I've come across them a lot and I don't like them one bit.


I'm interested to see how they'll reconcile their association with Bojo. They published an article recently lamenting his move away from pure libertarianism.


Sourcewatch.org is illuminating - in a conspiracy theory stylee - on this.


Its "shockingly bad news" in my opnion, given what I know of that gang and given my own feelings about them. So, of course, its an overstatement on my part!

In line with HonaloochieB's suggestion:


Boris Gump - Boris Johnson drops Ken Livingstone's lawsuit against water plant


Magic Johnson - Mayor to discuss Oyster card plans - although Ken was already doing this but never let it be said if nothing but fair and impartial!


Hahaha.


Edit: Magic Johnson strikes again: Mayor of London Boris Johnson announces the start of a programme to

deliver a manifesto commitment to plant 10,000 new trees across the capital.

david_carnell Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Magic Johnson - Mayor to discuss Oyster card plans

> - although Ken was already doing this but never

> let it be said if nothing but fair and impartial!


Given that this application - Oyster validation machines at North Dulwich Station - was received by Southwark on 2 April, I don't think we can chalk this up as a plus for Boris.

My hopes of substantive improvements to quality of life in London evaporated long before Boris as mayor could even be joked about, and definitely well before this afternoon when the pollution levels made me feel ill - again. So I was heartened by the news that not everyone has been reduced to apathy (or even desperate humour). Some Oxford citizens (among others) have taken to anarchist tactics to assert their continuing interest in civic engagement - painting ED's roads in lovely colours anyone? http://www.wormworks.com/roadwitch/index.html

david_carnell Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Magic Johnson strikes again: Mayor of London Boris Johnson

> announces the start of a programme to deliver a manifesto

> commitment to plant 10,000 new trees across the capital.


This one's a bit odd too. ?4m to deliver 10,000 trees over 4 years at ?400 per tree? Sounds impressive eh?


Well.... 425,000 new trees have now been planted throughout London since the start of Trees for

Cities? ?Million Trees Campaign?, which was launched in June 2002 - ie roughly 71,000 trees per year.


We were apparently on target to plant 1 million new trees by 2012. So, whilst an extra 2,500 per year is of course welcome, it's only 1.7% of the total that were due to be planted anyway between now and 2012.


All details here in a Press Release dated 18 April 2008: London's Million Trees Campaign

bawdy-nan Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------


> They run "debating" competitions for

> schoolchildren and debates for grown ups on

> science and ethics sponsored by people like Pfizer

> and Monsanto.

>

For anyone who eats food, or who has children or grandchildren who are planning to eat food in the future..if you only watch one film/read one book this year, watch/read this:


The documentary, Le Monde Selon Monsanto, by Marie Monique Robin, available to download from Arte (for PC only, not Mac); the book is currently only in French, English version available Jan 2009.


http://blogs.arte.tv/LemondeselonMonsanto

Anyone suspect this trees thing has a whiff of Zac Goldsmith about it? Everything Boris has done so far is totally out of character and looks like a sort of party election broadcast for Cameron's New Conservatives put together by people behind the scenes. Am waiting for him to slip up... it can't be long now.

bignumber5 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7395741.stm

>

> Oyster on actual trains! Got to say I put this as the first mark

> in the Boris-Achievements column (assuming it actually happens)


Except that, as I pointed out above, this has nothing to do with Boris because Ken had virtually sorted it already:


Given that this application - Oyster validation machines at North Dulwich Station - was received by Southwark on 2 April, I don't think we can chalk this up as a plus for Boris.


Let's not get carried away folks!

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • I don’t think Reform will withstand the heat of any election.  Finding enough people to stand will be bad enough. Finding credible ones quite a bid tougher  I think yes this government is lacking in a long term plan and has not had a good first year. Today the least.   but the speed with which this was dealt with is a notable shift compared to last 14 years where months would drag by and we would constantly be told to draw a line under  if Labour called an election tomorrow, there is not a single party that could present a better alternative with any credibility. And that’s a low bar Reform are dangerous lunatics but more worrying is the descent of the Tories into the same swamp i also worry that England voters have contracted some melodrama virus after the Tories where we had 5 PMs in almost as many years  it’s ok for governments to be unpopular without needing to have an election every 1-2 years       Looks like Lucy Connolly will me one of those Reform candidates at next election tells you everything you need to know about that party and where the country would be headed 
    • Well, I made £50 out of it and Alice owes me another bullseye, so I had a good day Clearly the thread has moved on, but just a final few words on Rayner (from me, at least). If she hadn't gone like this (with a chance to revive her career at some point in the future) there's plenty of other stuff loaded up and ready to be fired at her about the motivation, finances and machinations of her move down South. It's not pretty reading. Tawdry doesn't come close. I was born in Ashton Hospital and grew up in Tameside, I've got a lot of friends and family who weren't as lucky as me and didn't make it out, some close to her constituency party, and there's been a lot of bad feeling around 'Our Ange' for a long time. My favourite quote was: 'She should fuck off back to Stockport.' And that was from a party member. The writing was on the wall for her. Moving from Ashton (majority c6.5k, large Pakistani minority, but predominantly white working class and targeted by both the Independent Alliance and Reform) to Hove (majority c20k, neither of these issues with the electorate) was a pretty cynical move, and she's fucked it royally. 'The Honourable Member for Hove and Portslade' will be sleeping a lot easier in their bed tonight. This thread was never supposed to about Labour bashing, and I'm not sure it is. It's definitely descended into 'Whataboutery', and that seems to be the problem, in my mind at least, with British politics. It's playground stuff, he said/she said, blame-game bollocks. Watch PMQs and ask yourself if you'd accept this sort of behaviour amongst toddlers, let alone in an elected parliament. One thing that does stand out is the opposition to Reform across the board, and yet we seem to be sleepwalking towards a likely scenario where Farage could head up a minority Reform government. I've 'followed' politics since the late Seventies - mainly because the BBC News came on right after 'Roobard and Custard' or 'The Magic Roundabout' - and I can't remember an era where both major parties are so bereft of leadership, direction or ideas. There's a certain irony that we'll all be getting a test text on Sunday to warn us of an impending 'National Emergency'. Seems quite prescient.
    • But not old enough to remember the highest unemployment rate, inflation and interest rates in history in the early eighties under the Tories? A rather selective memory you have. There has never been a four-day week: it was a three-day week imposed by the Conservative government under the Blasted Heath.
    • I see that there was a government consultation started in July 2024, a response, and then a revision to the National Planning Policy Framework, and then to the Green Belt guidance in February 2025, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/green-belt .  It includes the updates but doesn't give the nescient much clue of what was materially changed. There will probably be some good, and less good, summaries to be found. 
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...