Blog articles tagged with Boris Johnson

Londoners: Boris wants your pictures

by Bethany Wheatley / 17 Feb 2012 09:52

The mayoral election on 3 May comes at a critical time. Londoners are going through one of the toughest periods in recent memory. Despite this, there are signs of progress coming from the fresh and honest approach. The same fresh-thinking that has delivered the world's most successful bike hire scheme.

Boris's determination to end the waste and mismanagement of the previous mayor has freed up the money to pay for a

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Exclusive look at Ken's new policing vid

by Amber Elliott / 08 Feb 2012 08:17

Today Ken Livingstone has launched his latest campaign video – and this one's on police cuts.

Team Ken describes it as a "hard-hitting" video about victims of crime. As well as the video, there will be Facebook ads, text messages and emails to Londoners about his Police Pledge.

Yesterday, the former Mayor of London launched a pledge to reverse cuts to 1,700 police officers and reinstate sergeants to all 600

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Boris hints at government support over smacking

by Amber Elliott / 30 Jan 2012 11:01

Yesterday, Boris Johnson was the latest politician to back a review of the smacking ban.

Although the Mayor of London did not go as far as Labour MP David Lammy in suggesting that the partial ban on smacking was a cause for last August's riots, he did hint that there was support for the idea within government.

One line in the Daily Mail this morning is worthy of note: "The Mayor

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In appreciation of Jacob Rees-Mogg

by Alexander Wickham / 23 Jan 2012 11:26

With his array of bespoke suits, utterly superb spectacles and a voice than isn’t far short of perfection, Jacob Rees-Mogg quite understandably invokes feelings of reverence amongst his growing band of followers.

Last week he tabled a ‘fantabulous’ (his word, not mine) amendment to the Daylight Saving Bill that would grant his county of Somerset its own time-zone, meaning that clocks from Taunton to Bath would be set fifteen minutes behind those

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The return of Boris Island

by Ben Duckworth / 18 Jan 2012 09:15

The Daily Telegraph’s splash this morning that there will be a formal consultation on a new London airport in the Thames estuary makes for great politics. The original announcement was supposed to be made at the beginning of January to link up with the HS2 plans – a mega transport plan for the future. However, Nick Clegg blocked it, according to Robert Winnett’s report, because he thought it was being rushed through. The announcement

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Take your bets on 2012

by Alexander Wickham / 05 Jan 2012 10:30

New Year predictions tend to be the archetypal example of page-filling waffle, so let’s try to inject something a bit more exciting into the early January snooze-fest by attempting to make some money.

Betting on politics is an underrated activity for those inclined to throwing their cash away. What better way to test out your political nous than by putting your money where your mouth is? Here are three tips that might just

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Ken intends to make money out of 'chicken' Boris

by Amber Elliott / 04 Jan 2012 16:30

You might think it's a yolk (sorry), but Ken Livingstone will today launch an online fundraising chicken.

The chicken – as yet nameless* – is designed to raise £10,000 towards Livingstone's campaign.

The chicken turns yellow from the feet upwards as the money comes in.

The idea came about after Team Ken accused Boris Johnson of 'being chicken' for refusing

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Just how far do Boris's plans for education go?

by Amber Elliott / 18 Oct 2011 16:21

Boris Johnson seemed to suggest he was looking to extend his power over education in London at a press gallery lunch today, although he admitted that his thinking is "not very far in advance".

Asked what makes a good mayor, Boris told his audience: "You need to have some role in education."

"That is not something at the moment that the Mayor of London has but it's very difficult to have a

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Boris is failing to deliver the goodies

by Jenny Jones / 03 Oct 2011 11:59

The big advantage of having a Mayor of London in the same party as the prime minister is that they will talk, do deals and scratch each others backs. So why has Boris won so few deals?

The Mayor has several major responsibilities and with an election campaign starting in a few months time, you would expect the Government bribes to be arriving thick and fast. The reality is that the Mayor has

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Boris Johnson, the auctioneer

by Holly Smith / 30 Sep 2011 10:50

Witnessing Boris Johnson auctioning off a portion of fish and chips for £100, in response to be being heckled in a warehouse in Ruislip, North West London, is not something you see every day. However that was the situation Conservative Party members found themselves in last night.

The mayor arrived to much excitement and made his speech with typical gusto. Being insulted by Harriet Harman is, according to the mayor, ‘like being savaged

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Politics is just stand-up comedy really

by Gr�inne Maguire / 27 Sep 2011 12:40

My first ever political speech begins very much like my first ever comedy gig; me dumbstruck, quietly panicking about the potentially humiliating experience my ego and need for attention have got me into now.

Sitting waiting to speak I almost become nostalgic for a rowdy audience. The talk, for Labour Youth, is taking place in the back room of a pub away from the conference centre. I know grubby rooms above pubs -

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Does public transport hold the key to the mayoral election campaign?

by Holly Smith / 26 Sep 2011 13:26

Boris bikes, bendy buses, Bob Crow; whatever other issues the London mayoral candidates have to deal with, it's fair to say that public transport is universal. Pretty much every Londoner uses it and they all have their own opinion on it. Nothing whips up a frenzy of tutting and under the breath mutterings like a delay on the Circle line or, god forbid, a tube being taken out of service.

Perhaps that's why Ken

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