I wish Mr Khan well as London’s new Mayor. He said the right things on taking office when he said heĀ wishes to govern for all Londoners, and recognised the great strengths of the city he now administers. He then went on to spoil it by attacking the Conservatives after beating them and falling out further with Mr Corbyn.
I confess that I did notĀ help Mr Goldsmith in the closing days of his London campaign, despite plenty of requests to do so. I have known Zac for several years during his time as an MP and always found him good company with a gentle approach and good Eurosceptic views. I did not understand the nature of the campaign fought in his name with its heavy negative bias and its constant challenges to the Labour candidate. I did not wish to go campaigning on that basis. Clearly it did not work, with ConservativesĀ starting from behind and remaining well behind. The incumbents first contrived to look like the challengers, and then to look likeĀ losers.
As a part time resident of London who works a lot in Westminster I wanted to hear a positive vision of what London will look like inĀ a few years time. The issuesĀ surely Ā were transport, planning, the environment and taxation.Ā What will the Mayor do about the shortage of roadĀ capacity for cars, vans,Ā buses, lorries and cycles?Ā How will the tube be expanded? When will there be proper 24 hour running? When will all trains be air conditioned with larger carriages? How will London create more affordable homes to buy and to rent?Ā What will happen to the Council tax? Is there a working plan to improve air quality? These questions Mr Khan now has to answer. How can he afford his fares freeze and the large sums needed to expand capacity on the tube? How will he prevent the streets of London from snarling up under the pressures of reduced roadway, more roadworks and more incursions onto the carriageway from the myriad of building projects?
Mr Cameron the morning after the results suggested that they showed how campaigning in the centre ground as One nation Conservatives gave the party a good boost from third to second in Scotland. This was a curious observation. The crucial dayĀ before the elections in the Commons Mr Cameron chose to highlight the London Mayoral race, not the Scottish Parliamentary elections. His message then didĀ not seem to be a One Nation emollient plea for the centre ground, and didĀ not mention what we might do to make London better under Mayor Goldsmith. I think that was a missed opportunity. Instead he concentrated on angry challenges to Mr Khan, who emerged in many electors eyes unscathed from the attacks.
May 8, 2016
Indeed I too wish Khan well. But he certainly could have been easily beaten by a more appropriate conservative candidate without all the daft eco-loon religion and someone who looked rather more like he could address Londoner’s needs.
Perhaps he should start by trying to get Osborne to reverse his absurd mugging of landlords and thus tenants that will push rents up further (by over 10%) and restrict the number of properties available to rent.
May 8, 2016
A good article by Alastair Heath the other day and I see that Brexit the movie is being released shortly.
Also Christopher Booker is very good today. Just why is the BBC so keen on pushing Tesla and electric cars in general? They do not reduce pollution or CO2 emissions (as the power still has to be generated) they have unfair tax advantages and much power is lost in the generation, charge, transmission, voltage converions and discharge. Plus all the environmental problems, the huge expense and limited range of the batteries. A Ā£30,000 battery is so much more expensive, less environmental and far less efficient than a Ā£30 plastic fuel tank. Perhaps the most environmental thing you can do is to keep your old petrol car well maintained, drive it gently, and not change it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/27/only-brexit-can-force-the-tories-to-abandon-fear-and-win-young-h/
May 8, 2016
As with renewable energy I am all in favour of R&D, but not a tax payer subsidised roll out of a rather premature and still rather duff technology. When/if these things work economically they will need no subsidies nor the huge tax advantages on the fuel.
May 8, 2016
The Extremist bill is going to pass rough parliament soon. Is this really about suppressing a view not in favor of Cameron/government? If I disagree with the PC nonsense rammed into the media fear through being sacked, not promoted etc. In light of all his scare campaigning by Cameron is this not, by his own definition, extremism? How about the future, if we disagree with the EU is this extremism? Take a wider view Cameron has been scaring everyone about about Labour’s anti Semitic links or links to Muslim extremists, but in contrast Cameron thinks we should accept IRA supporters and now Sien Fien MPs views as normal! He allowed Martin McGuiness to meet the Queen and Jerry Adams to meet Prince Charles. John Major tried to prevent Mr Adams meeting President Clinton. Clearly Lord Tebbit does not agree with the govt position with the IRA, therefore is he now an extremist? If I hold Christian patriotic views and there becomes a Muslim majority in parliament will I be an extremist? After all Cameron and chums are already conflating patriotism with nationalism, not that nationalism is necessarily extreme either. I think you need to reflect on your blog and the way Cameron is making it a doctoral state for the EU. I note May cannot deport six Algerian terrorist suspects linked to Osama bin laden, she has to obey the ECHR.
May 9, 2016
But Mrs May wants reduced immigration and to get out of the ECHR, but to remain in the EU. In short she is rather little confused.
May 9, 2016
Cameron is proving to be extreme in his comments and remarks on the EU with his equally appalling chum Osborne. Never have I heard such rubbish and claims by alleged statesmen. They should be arrested for their lies and treachery.
Cameron and Osborne must go!!
May 8, 2016
London is doomed with a division and Balkanisation of communities. This will manifest in the same way around the country when religious or ethnic groups realise tribal instincts will purvey under Osborne’s plan to Balkanised our country into regions for the EU superstate project. The liblabcon need to be changed for the sake of all of our futures. Do not blame me I voted UKIP. Everything Farage said about immigration has come true and not one apology from the media of the head of scare stories Cameron. His strategist knighted for dividing our country and eroding social cohesion. With the Extremism bill perhaps Cameron will arrest all people who have different political views from him or the dictatorship of the EU. Now that is truly a scary thought and one to vote to leave the EU.
May 8, 2016
It was Sturgeon & Miliband who won the election for Cameron, not Sir Lynton Crosby.
May 8, 2016
‘His strategist knighted for dividing our country and eroding social cohesion.’
The really alarming thing is that Cameron needs someone to tell him how to win an election. Cameron is clearly so detached from the electorate that he is unable to win power of his own accord. Crosby is good at his job and produces results. What Crosby did not do is create the preconditions for the Balkanisation of the UK. That has been a project of the British establishment who started importing third worlders in the aftermath of WW2. Those who saw the writing on the wall, such as Enoch Powell, were vilified and discredited as racists, than which it seems there is no greater crime, even when the topic is not race.
May 8, 2016
Now have two more ridiculous scare stories: Osborne states mortgages will increase and house prices fall! Does the idiot remember the ERM fiasco or has he looked at Eurozone countries such as Spain where the housing market has fallen through the Floor! Italy and Austria still arguing over border controls against EU wishes, demonstrations against Muslim migration in Germany , demonstrations in Italy and Sweden. Safer I the EU my foot. Cameron st his scare stories again today with spy masters. As Boris points out this is not an EUmatter albeit that they want it to be. The European Arrest Waarant has got rid of our liberties to foreign despots like Turkey and other Eastern European countries. Add the Extremisim bill and we could all end up in third world jails under third world dictatorships because the EAW. Not fantasy fact. Brought to you by the scaremongering Cameron. May not allowed to deport 6 Algerians linked to Osama bin Laden but any of us can be sent to far flung places in the EU for having a sense of humor or disagreeing with the Turkish President!
May 8, 2016
Do not give Cameron any ideas. Libdem policies like his are so unpopular he will need to start arresting people for not holding them soon.
They already have schools and the BBC indoctrinating people in EUphilia and greencrap non science.
Sir Robert John Sawers GCMG (Ex- Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service) was on Andrew Marr today. Not really an interview just a blatant propaganda advert for remain, with free airtime from the BBC. Clearly complete and utter pre-prepared tosh.
No wonder the country is in such a mess with an establishment like this.
There is no reason at all to remain in the EU just to have co-operation over security.
He even seemed to think the EU would break up if we left. If the EU is that unstable then the sooner we leave the better.
May 9, 2016
@bluedog; “The really alarming thing is that Cameron needs someone to tell him how to win an election.”
You mean like Mrs Thatcher needed, employing an advertising agency back in 1979 to think up posters using slogans such as “Labour isn’t working”?…
May 9, 2016
Those posters worked well as I recall.
May 8, 2016
(words left out re Mr Khan ed) The irony of course being that those in the centre vote unquestionably for the hand they think will continue to feed them but that is usually anti City and anti wealth. They have very large families. To win Zac needed to hold the outside of the doughnut but failed completely to provide an adequately conservative antidote to Khan. Fortunately, the mayor does not have massive powers but do expect council taxes to go up.
The wealth generators in london, living mostly in the suburbs, ardently want at least one more runway and despair at the cycle lane chaos which has ruined road infrastructure. Cycle super highways having blocked the arteries at the heart of the city now spread malignantly, ever outwards. This has resulted in ever increasing journey times and a huge rise in the level of pollution it was meant to reduce. I’m waiting for the first study of the negative respitory effects of cycling in london without a gas mask! It’s not a pursuit to be taken lightly. Zac, nice chap though he may be, is a high priest of the Green religion and one suspects something of a watermelon. He also lacks charisma. Karen Brady would have won as a Tory mayor and should run next time. She would suit local and national politics well. Whenever she is on QT she puts the ghastly Truss, Morgan, May and Soubry to utter shame. She is a seasoned media performer, articulate and persuasive.
May 9, 2016
@lifelogic
Indeed, advice you never hear from the Greenies, while they’re campaigning to expand our population and concrete over the Greenbelt.
May 8, 2016
“Eco-loonery” had nothing to do with it. He just did not have his father’s forceful personality hence that is why he was done over by a light weight like Khan.
May 8, 2016
I agree Khan was a light weigh and could easily have been beaten. But clearly eco-loonery is not politically popular either. As we also saw in Bristol.
May 8, 2016
JR Priti Patel. 700,000 children in school have at least one parent who is not a British citizen. How does this stack up to the immigration figures from the EU?
May 9, 2016
Two of those are mine and looking at my last tax return this English man pays his way.
I would not confuse the issues personally
May 9, 2016
Outrageous!
May 8, 2016
Michael Gove, just now on Marr. He was talking about Osborne’s absurd “Brexit will cost households Ā£4,300 a year” claim said:- I disagree with him here, but think he is an outstanding chancellor!
How can anyone think that? Osborne is a truly dire chancellor. A tax borrow and piss down the drain, pension robbing, tax increasing, tenant robbing, tax complexity increasing, wage controlling, economic illiterate. An IHT ratter running a huge PSBR and also a record peace time trade deficit. This while presiding over public services which are dire, over loaded and deteriorating by the day.
The treasuries calculation of the Ā£4300 per household is riven with basic errors and clearly complete and utter propaganda. Incompetent propaganda too. There will be a huge gain from Brexit. With no fees to pay, far less regulation, a restoration of democracy, a far more nimble government, no common import tariffs, fewer bureaucrats, cleaner decision making, no EU courts, away from EURO breakup & bail outs, and moving to selective migration only.
What on earth is not to like about Brexit? Nut why does Gove not make these points. An excellent chancellor you must be joking! Perhaps slightly better that John Major who took us in to the ERM or 98% income tax ’till the pips squeak Denis Healey but excellent, he is totally economically incompetent!
Vote Brexit and be rid of him.
May 8, 2016
We could have half priced energy too, post Brexit, as they have in the US.
May 8, 2016
Osborne forgets the ERM where houseS were lost, business went bust and people lost their jobs because of Major’s extreme views to join the Euro. Look at the housing markets in countries across the Eurozone. Greece is about to go tits up again, could Osborne tell us about the Greek housing market and how much we are on the hook for? Before the referendum. Tell us the true EU immigration figures because of the Euro and EU superstate project. Then tell us about the housing market in Australia. How much is our current deficit against his promise to have a balanced budget by May last year.
May 8, 2016
LL, the Tory in Scotland says she is a John Major Tory! Doomed to failure when the people find out. No wonder she did not say it before the election!
May 8, 2016
What does she mean? Is she perhaps saying she only got 2 O levels ? Or maybe that if/when she destroys the economy of the U.K. witn an ERM type of lunacy, she will never apologise for it?
May 8, 2016
The CGT and corp tax policies are good.
May 8, 2016
Lifelogic – A record turnout and London is socialist these days. I know Boris was Mayor but Boris is Boris.
Had Zac Goldsmith have:
– Shared a platform with the BNP and Marine Le Pen
– Called a pro Asian white man a (words left out ed) (substitute the ‘uncle Tom’ comment)
The Labour and BBC inquisition would have been unrelenting. No-one would have thought to have accused Mr Khan of negative campaigning. Had Mr Goldsmith been a candidate for a Tory party so recently implicated in allegations of substantive racism (unlike the fictional stuff attributed to Ukip) then he would have been toast before he even started.
There are double standards being operated here.
We now have a situation (no disrespect to Mr Khan) where no non-Muslim candidate will ever scrutinise a Muslim candidate’s past ever again in an election.
Yes. It was the negative thing to do. And London disliked it, which speaks volumes about the future it will choose for herself.
etc ed
May 9, 2016
Just to clarify that Dr Redwood’s edited bits I had already self-censored using stars thus: ****
The expression I used as an example of an equivalent to ‘uncle Tom’ is obviously so sensative that it cannot be published – not even in censored form. (I agree – it can’t.)
So why wasn’t ‘uncle Tom’ censored ?
It should be just as offensive if we are an equal society.
May 8, 2016
Mr Khan says he will be inclusive and work for all Londoners like any politician who says the same and most do on entering office. How can he not all Londoners want left wing policies and practices used to run London as they know where that will lead. They know the results will not be good.
The left supposedly the anti racist party appears to be as racist as any other group then we have always known that. It is also odd that many of those who were expelled from the Labour party for anti Semitism were re-elected with increased majority. A very worrying trend racism appears to be on the rise especially in the one group that says it is working so hard to stop it. It appears that group believes in two types of racism as one type obviously does not apply to them.
There are many worrying trends appearing now in our society. None of which bodes well for the future. What to do about them as they have a myriad of causes. Demographics a major one the EU and progressives perhaps even more pernicious. There is also the problem with energy production and much more. If we vote to remain in the EU then none of the rest of it can be adequately dealt with. It will be game over.
May 8, 2016
The left are always far more racist that the right if you look at the history and indeed current times. They also suffer from the the destructive & evil politics of envy.
After all the Nazi party was the National Socialist German Workers’ Party.
May 8, 2016
Wait for regionalisation which will certainly Balkanised ethnic and religious groups against each other. The EU fanatic Osborne does not have the vision to see it. He blindly follows Heseltine fanatical dreams.
May 9, 2016
There are certainly big problems with groups congregating around faith schools, since schools are religiously segregated we tend to see folk of the corresponding religion move around the corresponding schools, which is just a crazy situation which is not healthy for this country. If we cannot integrate the children we have no hope with the adults. And those of us who want our kids integrated seem to have no say whatsoever.
May 8, 2016
If the UK foolishly does vote to remain what will happen? Will we be stuck with a choice between Libdims like Cameron or a Corbyn Labour party of envy wagged by the dreadful Nicola Sturgeon. All while under the thumb of the anti-democratic EU. What a dreadful prospect.
Or will the sensible wing of the Tories regain control of the party in some way, win an election and take us out. I suspect it will be too late then to ever escape. Until the whole thing finally breaks up rather violently I suspect.
May 8, 2016
No, people are realising each day what a liar Cameron is with is false cast iron promises, scaremongering, arrogance to ignore his voters and those supporters who campaigned for him. Vote UKIP will reach better heights now people realise there was more to fear with Cameron as PM and his weird side kick.
May 8, 2016
Of course he will ” work for all Londoners ” – – it’s just that he will very quickly be working for some Londoners more than others.
May 8, 2016
“Mr Khan says he will be inclusive and work for all Londoners”
Apart from the English, who Khan called little Englanders on the BBC’s Question Time a month or two ago. You must wonder how Khan is going to resolve his contempt of the English with his role as Mayor of England’s capital city.
May 8, 2016
London has a housing crisis, due to artificial planning limited supply restrictions and out of control immigration fueled demand. Aided by silly government manipulated interest rates. The election is biased by a large voting base who were not born here. Labour didn’t win as much as the conservatives lost by picking a candidate who has never done a proper job.
May 8, 2016
Indeed and an eco nut to boot. Mind you I suppose if you have a hundred million or so it is rather tempting not to bother getting a job.
May 8, 2016
Iain gill
Labour didnāt win as much as the conservatives lost by picking a candidate who has never done a proper job.
CMD has learnt nothing in all the time as Prime Minister.
Just like the selection of the majority of his ministers especially those in the critical posts. The country needs real professional experienced people in post where they would be better placed to drive this country forward.
May 8, 2016
“who has never done a proper job.” – -be careful what you put – -I got a right telling off from someone for making a similar comment. Luckily some others on here jumped in with replies to my “attacker” – kinds thanks to those who did.
May 8, 2016
Nice piece in The Guardian by Ian Jack yesterday about Mr Whittingdale.The hammer of the BBC, but yet again someone else who never has really been exposed to the real world from the day he left school
May 8, 2016
I really wish you would not use the “affordable homes” political buzz word, which doesn’t mean or do what it says on the tin.
May 8, 2016
People should pay the market price. We need to get the market price down by increasing supply, not have silly gimmicks. Relaxed planning controls and less quack greenery in the building regulations is what is needed. Or fewer people.
May 8, 2016
No, we need to cut mass immigration. Cameron will not tell us the true figures.
May 8, 2016
We need to do both.
Planning is out of control. “Tree officers” in the full time employ of councils protecting bog standard trees with over the top planning nonsense. Which could easily be replaced elsewhere.
300 year old deeds still in force and stopping modern day use of the land.
And even builders allowed to stranglehold house owners by putting conditions on new builds stopping extensions.
It’s all nonsense.
But yes immigration needs real action and not the rubbish we hear from the political class who consistently fail to deliver their modest promises too.
May 9, 2016
Stop offering: irresponsible mortgage multiples, Govt assisted buying and Govt assisted BTL.
Then the market will find its true level and wages will be able to come down.
May 8, 2016
Slinging mud at opponents does not always work. Indeed, it often backfires. In my opinion, it turns off some of the voters. It certainly turns me off! What I want to hear is what a candidate intends to do, not what the other guy has not done, or might not do. There was lots of that sort of thing before the last General Election, and I often hear it at PMQ’s.
I am never impressed by it.
I am sorry that Zac didnt get elected, but I am prepared to wait and see what Mr.Khan does, and whether the confidence of the electorate is justified.
May 8, 2016
Let us hope Cheshire, that the mud-slinging directed at the Brexit campaign also backfires. Never any comment on what the EU does for us, just how bad it “might” be if we leave.
May 8, 2016
Your comments on Mr Cameron’s peculiar behaviour reinforces my view that we do not have a very able prime minister and he should not be the leader of the Conservative party at all. It appears his idea of centre ground politics is centre left. Surely he would be more at home as a Lib-Dim. However to be fair the Tories would not have survived if he had not taken the party leftwards. I thought he did it for strategy sake but it appears he did it out of conviction.
His enthusiasm for the EU especially as he was so humiliated by the non deal he struck with the EU is most telling. Even more telling is the way he is conducting the remain in campaign. It is based on corrupt practices, deceit and fear. Surely we see in Mr Cameron a man not to trusted or respected. He has to go as quickly as possible and an honest right of centre leader must replace him. My preference would be Michael Gove.
May 8, 2016
Off topic I see Cameron is too chicken to do a debate with Mr Johnson saying he won’t do a blue on blue confrontation, what a load of rubbish he’s chicken, if he as put himself as the front man for the inners he should do a debate with who ever, I have a suggestion chicken Dave have a one on one with Mr Farage, now that would get the TVs ratings up
May 8, 2016
What a cracker Farage v Cameron would be too and better for brexit than Johnson or Gove v cast iron Dave. Farage would be unafraid to call out cam’s lies and would focus on stretched public services and immigration. The beeb, like Clegg v Farage would call it unreservedly for the europhile establishment and we the people would all vote brexit š
May 9, 2016
Pay per view. Give the profits to elderly care, war veterans or cancer research.
May 8, 2016
Cameron has a record for being a political coward in debates. He only likes to unleash his Flashman side against opponents he knows are weaker. The Tory party better wake up quickly or they will have another 20 years in opposition like they did under EU fanatic Major.
May 8, 2016
Ah yes, remember the ” I agree with Nick” debate. I didn’t realise how useless he actually is until then.
May 9, 2016
Afer what happened to Clegg in his one-on-one debate Cameron prefers to have others there to gang up with him against Farage.
May 8, 2016
Good morning.
So a pesky Eurosceptic & MP has been removed from Parliament. Someone will be pleased.
Reply Who?
May 8, 2016
I see that the dire Eco nut Libdim Mayor of Bristol was also rightly kicked out. What on earth is “ecological” about blocking all the road and causing endless & polluting traffic jams and wasting people’s valuable time and money too?
The Conservatives should note just how unpopular Libdim policies, like Cameron’s, actually are with the public.
May 8, 2016
Yes, agree Lifelogic. Cameron has gone all Cleggy on us and it makes me really angry. We don’t have a true Conservative party any more. He is trying to be all things to all people and it doesn’t work. I am amazed that Gove and other key ministers are backing Cameron even if the country votes for Brexit!! Madness. We need someone at the helm who is a good negotiator and someone who is passionate about this country and where it is going. THAT IS NOT CAMERON.
On the subject of Khan, my son who is 21 is gobsmacked that London is being run by Khan for the obvious reasons.
May 8, 2016
fedupsoutherner: “London is being run by Khan for the obvious reasons.”
If Livingstone could arrange ‘deals’ with Chavez, is it too far fetched to imagine what Khan will be plotting with Erdogan.
May 8, 2016
As a former inhabitant of Bristol Georgies parking regs actually enabled me to leave my car outside my own house. However you really need to read his replacements CV. I am glad I got out in time and I have no intention of going back
May 8, 2016
The country should not have mayors. It is another waste of money, we should not have police commissioners either. Look at the adverse political influence on the met commissioner, left wing politically correct Europhile police hating Home Secretary with a dreadful record on immigration, losing hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, crime, unable or unwilling to deport terrorists and one Mayor Khan! What could be worse?
May 8, 2016
“He said the right things on taking office when he said he wishes to govern for all Londoners”
Pray tell, why should he wish or feel the need to say that? Why should anyone feel such an obvious aspiration needs to be repeated? “Mayor of LONDON” says it all does it not? Has something changed? Have the three little English words become, somehow, of doubtful meaning? Why?
May 8, 2016
Because of his awful slur against moderate Muslims which he only apologised for the day before his election. Clearly not representing all of London when his slur against moderate Muslims was also a slur against white people as well. How else could you view his comment?
May 8, 2016
London was a grim result for the Comservatives – much worse than it should have been. mr Kahn was a very poor Laboir candidate and it should certainly have been possible to find someone much better who could win. The attempts to portray Mr Khan as an Islamist radical were patently absurd – none of the real issues seemed to get aired or discussed at all!
May 9, 2016
The people of London have shown their belief in multi-culturalism. This makes me proud. But the fact is that Mr Khan should not have cried ‘racism’ no matter the provocation.
It has now led to the real prospect that no white Conservative candidate will ever challenge an opposing Muslim candidate again. I wouldn’t be surprised if all Conservative London Mayoral candidates are Muslim henceforth. Certainly where Labour fields one.
I see no other person with the Boris factor on the Tory side – other than Boris.
May 9, 2016
Be they UKIP or right of the Tory party all right wing candidates have had to endure slights against their personal integrity and insinuations that they are racists – often without any evidence at all. etc ed
May 8, 2016
Housing in London: six years ago I put in plans to develop a derelict warehouse site in W London. It was a magnet for winos and a blight on the locality. My proposal was for twelve modest houses. The local council turned the application down on the basis that it would adversely affect two privet trees which were not actually on the site but hung over it by a few feet.
After a couple of years getting nowhere with officials who appeared to be scarcely better than lunatics, I gave up and sold the site on. It is still undeveloped, and still a wino magnet. London now lacks twelve houses it badly needs, but at least it still has two scruffy privets, which must be a great comfort to the homeless.
This is the sort of madness Mr Khan is up against. I wish him luck.
May 8, 2016
Exactly, red tape gone mad and the eco loons at it again.
May 8, 2016
Indeed the worship of trees, newts or bats (over people) is very common in planning departments. In the countryside you can house pigs, cows or chickens in huge ugly buildings without any planning often, but not people. It is all a question of priorities I suppose.
May 9, 2016
When I first started as a young architect in the mid 70s we could do the design and drawings for the whole job. We finished obtaining approval for a 100 house estate after a 10 year series of appeals and the developer started work, which involved cutting down some trees across the road entry. Within hours the builder called to say the police had arrested the digger driver after protests from tree lovers. I had to pursuade them that the people to arrest were the ones stopping the builder from going about his lawful business.
When I realised I was not actually doing my job but spending all my time finding silly things to do around 1992, my last job was to obtain approval for about 20 houses on a site where the owner of an industrial yard had unfortunately planted a scruffy conifer 20 years before. He had not realised the best thing to do would be to cut it down before the planners slapped a TPO on it. We got nowhere and the site was later sold to a big builder with a team of specialists in giving the planners a hard time. Predictably, within a year there were 20 house built in a scheme very like the one that we had refused.
Architects today tell me that they have to deal with policemen who like houses built in straight lines so they can see burglars easily, soil pollution levels which older estates have had for years , bats and the rest. No wonder they contue to be a lower paid profession. By the way, before starting any application, builders make sure no bats are anywhere near the site.
May 9, 2016
Yes I know several councils up and down the land putting lots of man time into “protecting” trees. Trees which could easily be moved or removed and replaced with an equivalent nearby or elsewhere. This country really has lost the plot completely. We are treating bog standard trees like listed buildings. I really think the public sector should be told to get a grip and concentrate on the basics such as looking after the children in their care properly and not leaving them subject to gng rape as is commonplace.
Its not “green” to waste great amounts of time and energy “protecting” a common plant that can easily be replaced, and we should certainly not be lmaking peoples lifes miserable, or making people homeless, to protect a bog standard tree.
Again its just another example of how badly this country is run.
May 8, 2016
Excellent post I hear the same kind of thing up and down the country. Cambridge is particularly absurd, the local council employs a ‘tree officer’ who’s job it is to come up with this sort of drivel.
May 9, 2016
Rugby council is spectcularly over the top in this regard. The trees are more important than the people in Rugby. Idiots, pure idiots. And getting paid for by our taxes!
May 8, 2016
Looking at the election from outside London I am not well qualified to offer an opinion. That said, Mr Goldsmith did not seem to me to be the most obvious candidate for mayor and clearly the campaign he ran failed to convince enough Londoners. Mr Khan appears to have distanced himself from Mr Corbyn but promised fare freezes that will be difficult if not impossible to honour. I wonder if the rail unions will be ready and willing to play ball on that one.
May 8, 2016
Presumably Mr Goldsmith will be returned to the House of Commons once a safe seat becomes available by persuading an incumbent MP that he should spend more time with his family.
How about the constituency of Witney in Oxfordshire as a suitable choice?
Reply Mr Goldsmith remains an MP. Like Ken and Boris before him he did not resign to fight the Mayoralty.
May 8, 2016
Will he still resign when they finally give a five runway Heathwick the go ahead?
May 8, 2016
To give him his due amongst the (deserved) derision being heaped on him due to the mayoral election, Zac Goldsmith seems to be an effective constituency MP – he increased his majority at the last election from 5,000 to 23,000. Quite an achievement.
May 8, 2016
It is certain the religion and the need or desire for it to be mentioned, and the declared and possible innocuousness of it to persons not of that religion of a leading political figure in England was of fundamental importance somewhere around 1642-1651.
Yet your article JR is titled: The FUTURE of London. Who knows, your article may be emblematic in ways not yet discerned or divined
May 8, 2016
If Cameron stays in power and pushes through his socialist soviet “anti Extremism bill”, I am moving to Australia and giving in on this country.
http://www.christian.org.uk/news/gospel-preaching-could-be-hit-by-new-extremism-bill/
May 8, 2016
Don’t we have enough thoughtcrime law on the statute book already? As we know, thoughtcrime law is used only for the purpose of preventing English people expressing their opinions other than in private. We already have the concept of a ‘hate crime’ if the purported victim believes he has been the victim of such and on no objective basis whatsoever. We need to remove all thoughtcrime laws off the statute book, not add more. We need to get back to our basic common law in which individuals or groups are protected from violence or the threat of violence or the incitement by others to commit the same offences. Words like ‘hatred’ or ‘extremism’ should have no place in English law since they are simply not subject to objective assessment. When is an extremist not an an extremist? When he belongs to what CMD refers to as ‘moderate opposition’. When is ‘hatred’ perceived by the ‘victim’? When the latter’s egregious behaviour is subject to public discussion and disclosure.
May 8, 2016
“What I want to hear is what a candidate intends to do,” – -just like Cameron said he was going to do??? immigration down to “tens of thousands”? and he now has housing going up everywhere, all to house hundreds of thousands ( and still increasing) who arrive, many will not pay any tax whatsoever, many will bring their vastly extended families ( we can’t verify if they actually are family ), ALL will inevitably load the NHS, All will have their multiple offspring sent to school, ALL will expect a house paid for by us, ALL will expect benefits forever – even a pension, by any other name – when they “retire” from never having worked. Some might even bother to learn a bit of English – but then again, why bother learning it – – free translation will be supplied by the bottomless supply of cash from the taxpayer.
Anyone who gets a job has specific things they have to do – -politicians can say whatever they like to get the position – -then just do as they damn well please, knowing they won’t be “fired” for a long while, but will have tucked enough away not to be bothered when/if they are.
May 8, 2016
Politician do indeed promise things then fail to deliver or just issue blatant lies. But then the public are a bit gullible too. Indeed they usually say thing which are totally untrue or so obviously true as to be not worth saying at all – and little else.
Things such as:
Cast Iron Guarantees, I am a low tax Conservative at heart, I am a EURO sceptic, no if no buts down to the tens of thousands, I promise you Ā£1M inheritance tax thresholds, we will cut the deficit 80%/20% spending to tax, we will continue cutting taxes, Bexit will cost each household Ā£4,800, we will be less safe post Brexit, we will be at the end of the queue, we need to cut co2 emissions, …… it is all compete tosh.
May 8, 2016
It was a dreadful election strategy by Zac Goldsmith.
He failed to capture the undecided voters as well as failing to convert Khan’s supporters whilst at the same time even failing to encourage most of his traditional supporters.
Serves him right for having such a negative and personal campaign.
May 8, 2016
From what I saw of the London Mayoral campaign from far away Devon, the result did everything to illustrate the dangers of negative campaigning. This is the great opportunity for the Leave Campaign, with their opponents offering little but negativity, even in some cases, like Mrs May, in respect of the institution they wish us to espouse.
The Opinion Poll indications that Boris would have won again had he been able to stand, were significant.
Leave must be sure it exploits all its assets.
May 8, 2016
Dear William–As I wrote yesterday (except our PC non-Trump host edited half away), the country at large will have noted what happened in London and many will have changed to Brexit, the more so with Turkey on the horizon. Remember Cameron not too long ago was in favour of Turkey’s becoming a member, impossible though that is to believe.
May 8, 2016
There are only so many ways to get from the Atlantic to the Urals. If you can’t go through Russia then you either go through Turkey or around it.
May 9, 2016
“…….either go through Turkey or around it”
Put “New Middle East Project”into your favourite search engine – the way through to Russia’s perceived soft underbelly.
May 8, 2016
There has to be something screwed up with an electoral system that needs 1,310,000 votes for a Mayor of London, but only 35,000 votes for a Prime Minister.
As one of the dreaded twelve regions (EU) of the UK, London is a long way from being a fully self funding City State. The turn out was disappointing at 45%, on top of London having less percentage registered voters per population.
My District only had a vote for the PCC; so very few turned out for what should be your local Mayor’s job, as it is in London.
If you want to see the crazy way London is funded, have a look at section 9 of the Mayor / GLA budget for last year. https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/gla_migrate_files_destination/2015-16%20Final%20Budget.pdf . See how little of its operating costs, actually come from Council Tax and Retained Business Rates.
May 8, 2016
Maybe London non-voters feel like I do – why does London need a Mayor and Assembly? I can see a requirement for a regular meetings of Heads of London Boroughs, but why not simply expand the responsibilities of the Lord Mayor to chair those and be the public face of London?
May 8, 2016
You say, why does London need a Mayor? Why does a corporation need a Chief Executive Officer and/or a Chairman? Why does a ship need a Captain? Why do we need a Prime Minister? I say; in any organisation there has to be ONE guy, at some level, who kicks arse.
I would agree that London doesn’t need a separately elected “Assembly”. The Boroughs could send there own head honchos to do that job. (There is a dirty rumour that someone is looking to reduce the 33 Boroughs to 14, at some point in the future. Probably the same 14 as there are “Returning Officers” for the London elections last Thursday.)
On the continent, elected Mayors are significant people in their municipalities with considerable powers. In England we have only 17 going on 23 by 2017. Mayors can be a catalyst for local political power bases, as they have been throughout history. Westminster will worry about that sort of threat. Imagine if the fuss associated with the London Mayor, gets spread to the other 22.
May 8, 2016
OT. John, the remainers are in full swing, on telly and radio at every opportunity. When are we going to see some leavers?
Reply Good question. I have been ready to go on all week-end, but no invitations to do so, and none running the stories I have posted recently.
May 8, 2016
Perhaps No. 10 has a hand in the official Vote Leave campaign and have promised a good drink to whoever in charge keeps the campaign as low key and chaotic as possible..Oh surely that nice Mr Cameron would never stoop so low…..
Could the editors of The Sun, Mail, Telegraph and Express etc. be sent copies of Mr Redwood’s blog each day ?
May 8, 2016
Well on the BBC it seems to work like this:
One pro remain politician and one Brexit politician. Then one member of the Government (remain), one person from the state sector (remain), one BBC chosen expert (remain), one for academia (remain), one from the EU or another EU country (remain), a BBC employee political correspondent (remain) and the interviewer (Marr or any of the Newsnight lot (remain) and one perhaps from the USA (remain back of the queue). So that is about 9 to 1 or something.
Also the questions are always from the remain angle. 50% of our trade and 12% of theirs or similar drivel.
May 9, 2016
Plus one comedian/actor/celebrity(who is beholden to the BBC for work/publicity).
May 8, 2016
Thanks for the hard work John. Of course they’ll get some idiot on there to discuss the Norwegian option. Is not the designated organisation approached for persons to be interviewed and put forward it’s best? It’s always chukka umunna for remain after all and he is quite seasoned with the lies..
May 8, 2016
The Norwegians aren’t idiots and they’re happy with their option!
If you want to be able to offer the voters a smooth withdrawal with no risk of economic harm to anyone here or abroad, even in the short term, then it makes a lot of sense to plan to leave the EU but stay in the EEA as the first step. It would not be a perfect solution, but it would be practicable as a route out and it would not be set in stone forever. Half a loaf is better than none at all.
Reply No good, as it leaves you with free movement and large contributions. The Uk can do better than that.
May 9, 2016
It’s more a case of “only half good” rather than “no good”.
Norway is a net exporter to the EU, we are a net importer from the rest of the EU, and I don’t see why we should have to pay for the privilege of running a massive trade deficit with the other countries.
So that is not my worry about the EEA, it’s the requirement for free movement of persons which is the most important disadvantage.
However if we lose the referendum we’ll be stuck with that forever anyway, and having extracted our consent to stay in the EU I don’t foresee any future UK government doing anything significant about that even if/when it could. Cameron has talked about having much more longer transitional controls when the next country joins, but that would go by the board.
On the other hand whatever the UK government could do about it while we were in the EU it could still do while we were just in the EEA, whether that was negotiating changes to the present rules or putting up with them for some more years and waiting for the next proposed enlargement of the EU, when it would be able to veto that country also joining the EEA unless the rules were changed.
It all depends on winning the referendum, which would be much easier if many of the Remainders’ arguments were neutralised by a clear plan to make a staged exit via the EEA.
May 8, 2016
Reply to reply. You would be too good for the Brexit case John so you will never get a look in. Too straightforward talking and too much common sense and facts. We can’t have that, can we?
May 8, 2016
The problem with London is simple – many many more people than it was designed to accommodate. Why can’t Mr Redwood ever recognise the root of the problem instead of gilding it in politically correct language?. We all know what ‘lack of affordable housing and road space’ means in the context of London – too many immigrants.
It is overpopulated to the extent that quality of life is being diminished Roads, sewers, schools, the tube, are at BREAKING POINT but nobody wants to acknowledge this.
So good luck John Redwood / Mr Khan et al. in dealing with an unsustainable population boom. Perhaps you can also walk on water?. They want to tackle poor air quality..at the same time as giving the nod to a population explosion. It’s a form of collective madness brought about by kowtowing to political correctness.
What part of the word UNSUSTAINABLE do the politicians not understand. You can stretch the envelope of London’s services to a certain extent but you cannot change it’s physical size. But Mr Redwood seems to believe London can grow indefinitely. Has he a view on what the maximum population of London should be?… can he somehow sidestep the laws of mathematics and grow London without having to advocate building third world style shanty towns to achieve the population density that will be needed ?.
I suspect this is not his view but wishes to kick the issue into the long grass so that a later generations of politican have to pick up the pieces….
The only solution that will work is to impose limits on population density and stop so many people settling there. But it will never happen as our spineless politicians wont do it. We have CMD and his apparatchiks lieing to keep us in the EU…
Reply What nonsense. I am campaigning hard to get us out of the EU so we can control migration!
May 8, 2016
Thanks for your reply.
I have re-read your article and in no way do you consider the fact that London might be full. In what ways can London be improved by cramming more and more people in there ?. It makes it harder to campaign to get back control over migration when your advocating major expansion of tube services that are needed because of the expectation of the failure of the former policy!
Advocating the solution of building more rail ,housing and presumably other capacity as a solution to London’s overcrowding problems is a futile strategy that will just encourage more people to settle in London….and then what?. Keep on building until London is unrecognisable presumably?. It’s a gift to those that wish to pretend that mass migration can continue forever with no consequences.
Why waste ink on this failed strategy of endless capacity expansion when you could be raising awareness of sustainability and the need to stabilise London’s population.?
May 8, 2016
There is an interesting piece on the front page of the Sunday Telegraph about the pressures of immigration on our schools.
Apparently the latest figures were published last week on Parliament’s website, on a page listing papers deposited in the House of Commons Library. I found the page after some looking. Unfortunately I am not ‘web savvy’ enough to post either the link to the Sunday Tel. or the link to the page on the Parliament site. Others on this site will doubtless be more skillful.
May 8, 2016
http://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2016-0411/UKSA_response_to_3524_35043_35280_35430_.pdf
I don’t see how any rational person could entertain the crazy idea that if we leave the EU we will be saying to these people:
“We know that our government and Parliament said you could come here and work and settle here for as long as you liked, and start families here if you liked, but now in the light of our recent EU referendum we’ve changed our minds on that and all 2.7 million of you must go home, including the 1.7 million of you who have been here since before 2008, and your 0.7 million children who are at school, most of whom were born here, but as those who were born here are UK citizens you can choose to leave them behind when you go … ”
Any decent government would be issuing reassurances that this would not happen, even if the UK leaves the EU they would not be adversely affected, instead of using them as pawns in its referendum campaign and leaving them and their various British connections with votes – friends, relations, workmates, employers etc – to worry about what might happen to them if we vote to leave the EU.
Reply We are arguing over how more new people we will welcome in. Anyone currently legally here is entitled to stay, under international law. No elected party is suggesting otherwise anyway.
May 9, 2016
But a government with any sense of decency would have spelled that out, if only to save these blameless people any unnecessary worry; and as far as I know the government it has chosen not to do that, instead it has preferred to see stories about mass expulsions circulate, with of course the concomitant stories about other EU countries retaliating with mass expulsions of our citizens.
May 8, 2016
Ratio of Stronger IN to Vote Leave messages I receive are about 5:1……Vote Leave have a better case to shout about so why are they not doing it!!
May 8, 2016
Posh privileged toff who was incapable of engaging with the broad range of communities needed to attract the necessary support versus the son of an immigrant bus driver. He was the wrong candidate who had no chance. My guess is that his nomination was the price to ‘bought off’ somehow in relation to the third runway.
Another privileged toff, David Cameron showed how out of touch he is with his pre election comments as highlighted by you.
May 8, 2016
I lived in London for many years while building my business . It was an expensive place to live by any standards and mostly safe . The walk I had to my office each day took me through a green park , under a very busy road and down two streets where , everyday pleasantries were exchanged ; altogether it was an agreeable experience for 24 years .
When I returned to London for a day’s visit after many years of absence , I felt like a stranger in a foreign land ; on the bus my family took for a short trip I did not hear any English spoken . The place was crowded to an extent I could not believe ; the people dressed slovenly , men were without ties and the prices had gone through the roof . I was glad to leave and have not been back since .
By and large Boris did a good job struggling with many issues – some of which were extreme ; he has left a standard hard to follow . I certainly don’t think that politicising the job of Mayor will help create change and make London a better place . It is an over-crowded City making its policing and control almost an impossibility ; property prices are driving people away and exacerbating the transport problem ; it now faces a period of rapid decline socially and economically . Good luck Londoners – I want none of it !.
May 8, 2016
Why do the main stream media keep on focussing on “First Muslim Mayor of London”, I don’t care if he is Muslim, Labour or from outer space, is he capable of doing the job?
When is London going to have an independence referendum?
The population of Greater London is twice that of Scotland, which apparently has a democratic right to decide these things separately from the rest of the UK…so if we get Brexit will Londoners have the option to stay in the EU if they wish?
May 8, 2016
You need a BBC that is not in the pocket of remain. But Cameron made quite sure that it was. Appointing people like Lord Patten.
Andrew Neil being about the nearest they have to an impartial presenter and he is the only one.
May 8, 2016
Partly off-topic –
If Chancellor George Osborne fears that house prices could fall after we leave the EU – of course, some will say that lower house prices would not be a bad thing – and mortgage interest rates could rise – of course, some will say that higher interest rates would not be a bad thing – would it not be possible for the selfsame Chancellor George Osborne to do what he did previously, which was to arrange for the Bank of England to create new money – let us say Ā£175 billion, as before – and use that new money to buy up gilts previously issued by the Treasury over which he presides, and so bring interest rates back down?
Or is this another threat, that if we vote the wrong way our government will do nothing to protect us from any adverse consequences and instead it will seek to punish us?
What kind of democracy is it, when the government says to the people “We would like you to decide on this in a referendum”, and then adds “But if you disagree with us we will make sure that you suffer for your impudence”?
May 8, 2016
Indeed, what kind of of a Prime Minister is it who says…don’t worry about future generations that might be confronted with the prospect of Turkey joining the Eu with it’s porous border with the middle east…………………
Just look after yourself …it probably wont happen for decades….
David Cameron taking short term thinking and selfishness to new heights..
May 9, 2016
no it is worse. He is saying this while giving away our taxes to speed up turkey’s entry to the EU. Remember his speech to expand the EU to the Urals? I think he is a compulsive liar.
May 8, 2016
Off-topic, over recent days we have had two important, connected, revelations about the effects of uncontrolled mass immigration from the rest of EU.
According to the first report, just by the rather weak criteria that the government now applies to would-be immigrants from outside of the EU about three quarters of the EU immigrants should not have been admitted in the first place:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3576128/Most-EU-migrants-UK-not-work-visa-Brexit-Three-quarters-arrived-Britain-thanks-Brussels-diktats-free-movement.html
While according to the second report their admission has led to “huge and unsustainable pressure” on our schools, with 700,000 school-aged children, one in 15 pupils, having a parent who is a citizen of another European country:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/07/migration-pressure-on-schools-revealed/
Put the two together, and if the government had been able to apply the same criteria to would-be immigrants from the rest of the EU as it applies to would-be immigrants from outside of the EU then we would have very largely avoided the need for any new schools to cope with the increased demand for school places.
Obviously the children of EU immigrants will need school places – it is said that in a typical state school class there will now be at least two pupils with parents who are European immigrants – and I can’t say how much that will cost the taxpayer, but it will not be chicken feed and I would question whether this and other similar factors are being fully taken into account when the costs and benefits of this mass immigration are assessed.
Looking at this recent debate which turned up on a quick internet search:
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2016-03-17/debates/16031728000002/SchoolPlaces(BarkingAndDagenham)
I see the government spokesman saying:
” … and we are investing a further Ā£7 billion to create new school places between 2015 and 2021. We are also investing Ā£23 billion in school buildings to create 600,000 new school places, open at least 500 new schools and address essential maintenance needs. This is on top of the Ā£5 billion we allocated to local authorities to invest in school places in the last Parliament … ”
So that comes to Ā£35 billion just there, spread over number of years.
May 8, 2016
Yet we keep being told that IN are ‘winning the economic arguments’.
The argument for IN is very weak taking into account GDP per capita and the costs of housing and service expansion…the OUT side are just not getting the message out…
May 8, 2016
Ruth Davidson’s Conservatives won in Scotland by identifying themselves as the Conservative and UNIONIST Party, and adopting an economic policy to the left of English Conservatives. This is the way that the Conservative Party has always done well in Scotland, and Ruth is merely returning to a sensible tradition. If she forges links with Unionists in Northern Ireland – known vulgarly as playing the Orange Card – she will probably do better still.
etc ed
May 8, 2016
Except that he said he thinks Osborne is an excellent chancellor!
May 8, 2016
My interest in London is less than other places, but as the capital we need it to thrive. I have always been impressed by what Mr Khan says( primarily because his views chime with mine) and wish him well.
May 9, 2016
I have voted Conservative in all elections in the last 10 years except for this one. Goldsmith was a hopeless candidate, listless, unengaged, and with policies (though he didn’t mention them much) more suitable for a Green party candidate. A really terrible choice of candidate who seemed to have been selected simply because he was Boris-lite in terms of background.
May 9, 2016
No blog today ! . I trust that John is well and he is far too busy counter-challenging the stupid Cameron allegation that if we leave then Europe will face the prospect of another war !.
Peace and stability in Europe has not existed because we became part of the EU ; dis-unity there certainly is , economic variances are just as big , the rumblings of dissent are bigger than ever , Greece faces yet another round of upheaval , migrants are swarming all over the place . To suggest , however , that we stabilise Europe and that if we “leave” peace will no longer reign , is carrying things too far .
I wish Boris well in his “bussing” around the country encouraging “Brexit”; he can make a case and he does it well with his writings ; I hope the public will turn out and be convinced with his speeches .
May 9, 2016
So Heathrow can get the go ahead now with a Mayor Khan in charge and Boris and Zack out of the way. I wonder what else his priorities are because all we’ve heard are personality sound bites and very little substance. Will the planned garden bridge get scrapped now or is to too far along?
I wouldn’t get too excited about Scotland, although I do like Ruth, its similar to the Lib Dem/Tory local electors splitting the right of centre vote that are letting Labour through in my local area, the same councillors year after year let our town down, we keep getting the same people who do nothing, back into power. Well 20% of the electorate that turn out to vote do! The local labour town council have no excuse either this term; we have a Labour County Council who give us very little and not a fair share of spending. When it was Conservatives in Charge and we were a Labour town I could understand how we’d get overlooked but I’m watching closely to see what they manage to achieve without their usual excuses.
May 9, 2016
Some contrived rewriting of history reported here in the Guardian today:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/09/war-veterans-brexit-risk-stability
āWe sacrificed many, many men in both world wars and this was to establish a peaceful and prosperous union. We canāt sacrifice that now,ā one veteran says in the 60-second video. āFor me, Britain is stronger in Europe because it reflects the values my generation fought for in Europe during the second world war.ā
My parents went through both of those wars, and lost relations and friends in them, and never at any time when they talked about it did they indicate to me that the sacrifices were made to establish any kind of “union”; they were both against joining the EEC, and they both voted against staying in the EEC in the 1975 referendum, and I would have a clearer conscience now if I had taken their advice and done the same.
May 9, 2016
Personally, I quite like Mr Khan’s ideas about London Transport and their excessive spending and salaries. They spend a fortune on advertising to cover their disastrous cycle superhighways, which have been put alongside the only fast roads into the centre, caused gridlock, increased air pollution and put it right where cyclists breath in maximum amounts.Mr Gilligan was on the politics programme today denying what he could see just outside the studio. It is too late now for the new mayor to correct this policy but he should give reverse bonuses to the clots that designed it.
As I have diesel cars and drive into London to take heavy stuff and hospital passengers as well as having a lung condition myself and being a keen cyclist, when all the new green alarm about air pollution came out I read and researched. The cleanairlondon site had links with figures and it turned out that particulate pollution has reduced as cars and buses were fitted with filters. Even NoX pollution has reduced and only exceeds EU limits in congested central roadside positions. A sensible policy would be to ensure that London taxi drivers were able to buy and use cars fitted with filters and buses and lorries just conformed to the latest standards, which filter out NoX as well as particulates.
The strangest thing about the argument is that the figures for thousands of deaths accepted as fact by the Zacs of this world are just estimates based on UN figures for worldwide lung and heart fatalities.No pathologist has been able to say that a person who died from lung disease had done so because of vehicle pollution and not smoking or dust. The Sept issue of Nature showed world pollution levels and Europe is comparatively clean, the heavily polluted areas being in SE Asia. There the industrial pollution is increasing, as we export production and around the world the worst pollution is in homes where stoves are lit inside without flues.
This was demonstrated when we went to a National Trust stately home in Cornwall where they were heating the place in true conservational excellence with a log fire in a large open fireplace. The wall above was smoked and the fumes filled every room, presumably not doing much good to the many priceless tapestries. I felt sorry for the staff who must have been breathing in much more carbon and NoX than anyone on Upper Thames Street.
May 9, 2016
Forgot to mention that Zac’s scrappage ideas for half the cars in the country would have resulted in a huge increase in CO2 and other forms of pollution as new petrol cars had to be made to replace them and then ran with around 60% of the mpg/ CO2/g that the scrapped cars managed.
May 9, 2016
Maybe it was the perfect campaign to ensure a pro EU candidate got the job of Mayor of London, the most important city in Europe. Wouldn’t have done for Cameron if there was another EU sceptic there again.
May 9, 2016
What will the Mayor do about the shortage of road capacity for cars, vans, buses, lorries and cycles? If you are going to increase road capacity without demolishing housing and business. You either build more flyovers, or tunnel under London. Or you reduce demand.
How will the tube be expanded?
At least three full new tube line, would need government funding, would kill of HS2 money pit, and invest in tube lines in London, a proper trolley bus service in Leeds/Bradford, extend Birmingham Metro to 3 full lines.
When will there be proper 24 hour running?
Never their will always be a requirement for proper inspection and engineering. Unlike roads, when their is a rail crash politicians kick up a stink!
When will all trains be air conditioned with larger carriages?
Air conditioning is coming in the new carriages already ordered.
You can make trains longer i.e. more carriages, but you can only make acarriage larger if you rebore the tunnels, lift the bridges, and move the platforms. Just imagine shutting the Piccadilly line while you spend 5 years reboring it and rebuilding every platform and station to match?
How will London create more affordable homes to buy and to rent?
You don’t create how houses, you build houses. Stop selling council houses, and not replacing them (not Conservative policy).
Invest in housing at a national government level you will have a constant return on the investment.
What will happen to the Council tax?
National government policy!
Is there a working plan to improve air quality?
There was no working policy from the previous post holder. Bring back trolley with on board engine for end of routes, diversions etc..
How will he prevent the streets of London from snarling up under the pressures of reduced roadway, more roadworks and more incursions onto the carriageway from the myriad of building projects?
Follow his previous post holder and ignore it?
Reply They have recently introduced larger trains on the Circle and District which did not need rebores.
May 10, 2016
re comments on air pollution and policies, my comments were moderated out. The cleanairlondon bar charts which showed declines in lung and heart disease have been taken off and replaced with many figures and assertions. The Kings College graph shown on the mayor’s site ‘cleaner air for london’ shows declines in particulate and NoX pollution.
The Public Health England – premature deaths by region has an interactive map which is interesting. It shows that Chelsea and Westminster have some of the lowest deaths from lung and heart disease, while Manchester has the highest by far. In between come Brighton, with clean air from the sea but many smokers and Islington and Tower hamlets with similar air pollution to Westminster but half way to Manchester for disease linked to diesel cars. But then, someone came up with 15,000 deaths, so who would want to spoil a good green campaign.
May 12, 2016
Glad and relieved to see the negative campaign of ZG fail. London is better than that.
David Cameron arguably committed the worst act of the campaign with his claim that (about a named individual ed). Carefully made in Parliament to avoid a losing lawsuit I suspect. Straight out of the Sarah Palin ‘palling around with terrorists’ playbook.
Is it any surprise that Cameron has carried on such tactics into the leave campaign?
I’m leaning towards Remain… but it’s clear that suggesting Brexit risks WW3 are ludicrous. The government leaflet which Mr. Redwood is rightly annoyed about is another example of sly dishonesty.
Aside from the issue at hand- the worry is that these tactics can be effective and they undermine the quality of our democracy.