Forum Topic

Boris is doing a grand job so far

It is early days yet but Boris is doing a grand job so far:Cutting back on unnecessary expenditure such as Livingstone propaganda, prioritising a crackdown on violent crime, guns, knives and drugs, strongly opposing Terminal 6 and Runway 3, initiating an urgent inquiry into the spending of taxpayers' funds by Livingstone, Lee Jasper and the LDA, planting trees, learning lessons from New York, firing useless Lefties and replacing them with well qualified, experienced executives and advisers,working in cooperation rather than in confrontation with the boroughs and the utilities, offering a no-strike deal to the transport unions, banning drinking of alcohol on public transport, replacing socialist ideology with common sense, extending the Oyster card scheme, appointing a black Deputy Mayor, embracing inclusiveness rather than exclusiveness, bringing Londoners togerther rather than classifying and dividing them into racial or class or national groups, consulting with residents and businesses on the Western Congestion Zone Expansion and appointing very well qualified Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority.Roll on Boris !

David Giles ● 6283d19 Comments

Thanks Robert!Mick

Mick Brent ● 6276d

Micks van sounds like ours. Our transit van was bought new in 2001. It has a full service record and has only done 13000 miles. It has a lower emission rating than my car made in 2006, which by the way has a so called ecotec engine. Nobody at the ex mayors office could explain why our van was included in the LEZ scheme. As for dodgy vans the MOT test for commercial vehicles is far more stringent than it is for cars. The fact of the matter is the whole LEZ scheme was dreampt up by Ken not to save the enviroment but to make more money for him to squander on lunatic projects and not for the good of the people of London. Mick. I hope this helps I telephoned the Mayors office and they said that Boris will be making a statementon his manifesto pledge to remove LEZ soon.

Robert Ayres ● 6277d

"It is X reg but has only done 20,000 miles..."You didn't buy it from the Hounslow Labour Party by any chance, did you??

Phil Andrews ● 6277d

It's not dodgy at all Philip. In fact its only crime is to be fairly old. It is X reg but has only done 20,000 miles - almost brand new for a van. In any case, the LEZ is not about general "dodginess" but only about emissions - somewhat nonsensical when you consider the huge amounts of crud dropping from the airplanes using Heathrow every day - but then Ken loved his freebie flights.How often would I have to drive into the zone? - We are in Brentford - we LIVE in the zone!! The LEZ covers the whole of the area within the M25 as far as I know.Back to my original question though - has the LEZ been scrapped? I haven't been able to find information on it anywhere else.Mick

Mick Brent ● 6277d

Mick your van must be quite dodgy if it was to be penalized under the LEZ.I personally do not except that dodgy vehicles no matter how beneficial to the users have a place on our roads that sets them above the safety and quality of life for the rest of us.I am not uncaring of your position but do wonder how often you would need to drive into the zone which was intended to deal with commercial vehicles being operated by unscrupulous traders and transportation companies, who I doubt would pass on financial savings to the rest of us.

Philip Walsh ● 6277d

Hi Mick. I heard on the BBC news during the Election that Boris had said he would scrap the LEZ. We too are waiting to celebrate as we will not have to make our van driver redundant. Also people in London will save money on the everyday things that are deliverd by road.

Robert Ayres ● 6278d

Philip Walsh wrote: "Oh and the low emissions zone that Boris Just scrapped"Has he actually scrapped the Low Emission Zone???? Have you a reference for this?I want to be absolutely sure before I celebrate. I have an Iveco van which is the only vehicle I could afford which is large enough to contain my disabled wife's "buggy." This has increased our quality of life immeasurably, but we are faced with having to get rid of the van when the LEZ hits white van man in October 2010. There is no way we would be able to afford either a new van or to have our existing van converted, so from October 2010, unless Boris has scrapped the planned LEZ, my wife will once more be stuck at home thanks to Ken (and many small businesses will fail also).

Mick Brent ● 6278d

Nice posting VanessaTalk about setting the stage for cronyism and corruption. The people you listed should all have been disbarred from public office. The housing decision was criminally negligent and as for the actions with regard to that bitch Porter criminal conspiracy is not to strong a word. The fact that this thieving s**t of a woman was allowed to walk out of this country without being jailed after stealing / embezzling / misappropriating  so much from this country is a sin and shames our legal and political systems. How can we expect the young and the poor to be honest when criminals such as Porter are allowed to be so very very very corrupt and walk away without any punishment?Oh and the low emissions zone that Boris Just scrapped kept dodgy poorly maintained east European lorries out of London. These Lorries represent a disproportionably high number of the vehicles involved in traffic accidents on the UK roads due to the poor maintenance of these vehicles.Personally I feel that was a good thing and if it meant that dodgy lorries from Britain were kept out of the Capital also, I for one felt no need to shed a tear for them either.

Philip Walsh ● 6278d

Time will tell.

Vanessa Smith ● 6278d

ps must spellcheck before posting

Jamie Halliday ● 6278d

keithcyclist hate potholes just as much as you do. ever been over one on a racer? not pleseant. i think you might find that most cylcist also run cars, they just cycle to work coz its cheaper and quicker. so that makes most cyclists interests in roads just as relevent as yours.mickthe vast majority of times a bike hits a car, its becuase the driver has moved without looking. its the overwhewhelming case.i drive a fair amount in london as well as about 120 miles a week on the bike. a little understanding and respect - from all parties using the road - would be a good thing.as far as cycle paths go, hounslow is pretty good. but trust me, the further eest you go, the worse it gets.i beleive boris wants to extend the use if bus lanes to motor cyclists. this would be a bit of a silly idea. about the only criticism so far tho.

Jamie Halliday ● 6278d

Has Darius Guppy got a job yet? if not maybe he could be put forward as the enforcer on the buses for as I understand it it is the travelling public who are expected to enforce the new anti yob rules on the buses. Yea. Right.

Ken Collins ● 6278d

While I think Boris has done well so far I would have prefered him to appoint non political people to help him run London. Vanessa is right that some of his people have done some very shady things during thier time in other organisations.

Neil Chippendale ● 6281d

I would still rather this group then the likes of Ken and Lee Jasper.

Paul Fisher ● 6281d

Really? With all the Westminster Tories appointed. The following comes from 'Private Eye'.Nicholas Boles former director of the Tory think-tank Policy Exchange becomes Boris's interim Chief of Staff; Kit Malthouse, notorious for leading Westminster's negotiations with Dame Shirley Porter which resulted in her paying just £12.3m of the nearly £49m she owed taxpayers for her gerrymandering corruption is a deputy Mayor; and last but not least Sir Simon Milton, who is stepping down as Leader of Westminster COuncil next month to become Boris's lead advisor on planning and housing. Milton was a member of Porter's housing committee that voted in Feb. 1989 to house homeless people in asbestos-ridden tower blocks - an act described by Westminter's former chief exec. Rodney Brooke as "simply criminal", who better to help Boris increase and improve London's housing stock?Meanwhile Westminster's chief executive Peter Rogers (the man who distinguished himself by his sloth-like "pursuit" of Shirley's millions - sending an urgent letter to Porter in Israel with a 2nd class 19p stamp, so it took 68 days to reach her by surface mail), becomes interim boss of the London Development Agency.As for Ray Lewis, Boris's deputy Mayor for yoof - "straight talking former prison governor" with the Sunday Times describing how he "became the governor of Woodhill prison, a young offenders institute" in 2000. Alas the actual governor of Woodhill 2000 - 2003 was one Bob Mullen a man with more than 20 years experience in the prison service. Lewis joined in 2000 through the fast-track process and after 3 months  training started work at the bottom grade, known as "governor grade 5". Technically he has been a prison governor - but hardly what the public understands by them.Yes, that should really fill us with confidence - NOT!

Vanessa Smith ● 6281d

'...the motorised slaughter of cyclists and pedestrians proceeds unremittingly..'.Any death on the road is tragic,but which planet do you cycle on exactly?My car has been hit by uninsured,inattentive cyclists who are a danger to themselves and other road users.There is a high percentage of poor cycling,more so than with drivers,imo.

Keith Iddon ● 6282d

Isn't the new layout down the London Road good enough for you and your bike, it wouldn't matter what anyone did to improve the lot of a cyclist you still would not be happy, I have seen more cycle lanes in the Hounslow borough than bicycles. What about fixing the potholes that are like a pox on a whores face with the tax that us car drivers pay in road fund licence and petrol tax so get off your high horse. PS. Boris is going to be great for London.

Mick OBrien ● 6283d

I second that. What a start

Robert Ayres ● 6283d

David, Sadly your list doesn't include any measures to help cyclists.  While using his image as a Cycling mayor to promote his mayoral election prospects Boris hasn't come down with any measures to improve our lot.  Ex-mayor Ken while a self-proclaimed non-cyclist did inject many millions to promote cycling for his vision of a green,cycling-friendly London and ensured the huge increase in cycling we see now.In particular in this jungle of Brentford roads the motorised slaughter of cyclists and pedestrians proceeds unremittingly.  Please David signal to Boris that we need his help.

Michael Fletcher ● 6283d