Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 08:56:57 +0000 (UTC), Recliner
wrote:

But we have the Boris Bus, Boris Bike, and would-be
Boris Island, but no Ken Fare, Ken Train, Ken Card, Ken Tram, etc.

All that proves is that Boris is a bigger egomaniac than Ken was and
he was no shrinking violet. I actually prefer substance to "style" and
Ken delivered far more of value and substance. The test of that is
that Boris has barely reversed any of Ken's major policy initiatives -
especially on transport.

All I can give Boris credit for is managing to maintain funding for
Crossrail and not cancelling it, South London Line extension to the
Overground, sustaining investment in Overground and Tramlink capacity
and forcing TfL into releasing Bus Countdown information.

There's very little else of merit - the bus network development has
lagged behind growth and economic development, the tube is under
severe strain and several investments are wrong or have gone wrong,
there has been a planning blight of around 6 years which has destoyed
momentum in new scheme delivery which will probably result in a gap of
10-12 years in anything substantive happening. Traffic congestion is
pretty appalling as is pollution and the Mayor has nothing meaningful
to say on this because he essentially believes people can drive where
and when they want. Whoever the next Mayor is has some real nasty
problems to deal with.

It looks like Boris has chosen his successor: fellow old-Etonian Zac, while
Boris tries to succeed fellow old-Etonian Dave.

On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 11:40:59 +0100, Paul Corfield
wrote:

On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 10:23:54 +0000 (UTC), Recliner
wrote:

Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 08:56:57 +0000 (UTC), Recliner
wrote:

But we have the Boris Bus, Boris Bike, and would-be
Boris Island, but no Ken Fare, Ken Train, Ken Card, Ken Tram, etc.

All that proves is that Boris is a bigger egomaniac than Ken was and
he was no shrinking violet. I actually prefer substance to "style" and
Ken delivered far more of value and substance. The test of that is
that Boris has barely reversed any of Ken's major policy initiatives -
especially on transport.

All I can give Boris credit for is managing to maintain funding for
Crossrail and not cancelling it, South London Line extension to the
Overground, sustaining investment in Overground and Tramlink capacity
and forcing TfL into releasing Bus Countdown information.

There's very little else of merit - the bus network development has
lagged behind growth and economic development, the tube is under
severe strain and several investments are wrong or have gone wrong,
there has been a planning blight of around 6 years which has destoyed
momentum in new scheme delivery which will probably result in a gap of
10-12 years in anything substantive happening. Traffic congestion is
pretty appalling as is pollution and the Mayor has nothing meaningful
to say on this because he essentially believes people can drive where
and when they want. Whoever the next Mayor is has some real nasty
problems to deal with.

It looks like Boris has chosen his successor: fellow old-Etonian Zac, while
Boris tries to succeed fellow old-Etonian Dave.

Not his choice though is it? It's a party choice and it'll be
interesting to see who wins through. Poor old Andew Boff must be
seething - is this his third or fourth go at trying to be the
candidate?

Boris's role was in persuading Zac to stand. If his Richmond
constituents back his decision, I think he'd be very likely to win the
Tory candidacy, and would then be their best prospect to win the
election itself.

I agree Mr Goldsmith, if selected, will be a very tough candidate to
beat. I also feel Labour are in grave danger of wrecking their
prospects.

I suspect Zac would easily beat Dame Tessa or Sadiq Khan. But perhaps
Labour will choose dark horse charismatic 'transport expert' Christian
Wolmar who has, to my surprise (just) made it on to the shortlist.

On 2015-06-14 08:23:43 +0000, Robin9 said:

The one thing we all, Paul Corfield, Spud, myself, everyone else, agree
on!

I don't agree. He may not be all good for London, but I don't believe
he is actually an idiot. Quite the contrary - I believe the
"buffoonery" is a very deliberate act.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 12:28:12 +0100, Recliner
wrote:

On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 11:40:59 +0100, Paul Corfield
wrote:

On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 10:23:54 +0000 (UTC), Recliner
wrote:

Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 08:56:57 +0000 (UTC), Recliner
wrote:

But we have the Boris Bus, Boris Bike, and would-be
Boris Island, but no Ken Fare, Ken Train, Ken Card, Ken Tram, etc.

All that proves is that Boris is a bigger egomaniac than Ken was and
he was no shrinking violet. I actually prefer substance to "style"
and Ken delivered far more of value and substance. The test of that
is that Boris has barely reversed any of Ken's major policy
initiatives - especially on transport.

All I can give Boris credit for is managing to maintain funding for
Crossrail and not cancelling it, South London Line extension to the
Overground, sustaining investment in Overground and Tramlink capacity
and forcing TfL into releasing Bus Countdown information.

There's very little else of merit - the bus network development has
lagged behind growth and economic development, the tube is under
severe strain and several investments are wrong or have gone wrong,
there has been a planning blight of around 6 years which has destoyed
momentum in new scheme delivery which will probably result in a gap
of 10-12 years in anything substantive happening. Traffic congestion
is pretty appalling as is pollution and the Mayor has nothing
meaningful to say on this because he essentially believes people can
drive where and when they want. Whoever the next Mayor is has some
real nasty problems to deal with.

It looks like Boris has chosen his successor: fellow old-Etonian Zac,
while Boris tries to succeed fellow old-Etonian Dave.

Not his choice though is it? It's a party choice and it'll be
interesting to see who wins through. Poor old Andew Boff must be
seething - is this his third or fourth go at trying to be the
candidate?

Boris's role was in persuading Zac to stand. If his Richmond
constituents back his decision, I think he'd be very likely to win the
Tory candidacy, and would then be their best prospect to win the
election itself.

Didn't know he'd done any persuading. I agree Goldsmith is likely to
win provided he has some sort of coherent policy position. I don't
trust Greenhalgh at all. TfL would be laid waste in order to fund his
proposed fare cuts plus he doesn't understand the need to compenstate
the TOCs (outside of TfL control) for revenue losses.

I agree Mr Goldsmith, if selected, will be a very tough candidate to
beat. I also feel Labour are in grave danger of wrecking their
prospects.

I suspect Zac would easily beat Dame Tessa or Sadiq Khan. But perhaps
Labour will choose dark horse charismatic 'transport expert' Christian
Wolmar who has, to my surprise (just) made it on to the shortlist.

I can't see the "labour machine" allowing Wolmar to win. I also don't
think he's a particularly good candidate. I read his recent Transport
document - no mention of buses despite them being the busiest
vehicular mode of public transport in London. That's just ridiculous
and shows his preoccupation with walking and cycling.

As things stand today, and I accept it's very early days, I am not
impressed by any candidate from any party.

The real yardstick for impression is Boris at this stage 8 years ago and Ken
even longer ago. I agree with you on Wolmar. I just don't think he could run
the ship. On policing he'd be even more out of his depth than Boris.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On 14/06/2015 09:56, Recliner wrote:

Robin9 wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

Blimey Boris is an idiot.

The one thing we all, Paul Corfield, Spud, myself, everyone else, agree
on!

I don't: I think he's a very smart operator who successfully adopts the
guise of a bumbling idiot. [...]


I quite agree with that - various suggestions that 'bumbling Boris' act
likely surfaced as a defence mechanism when he went to Eton, because he
wasn't anything as posh nor aristocratic as many of his peers.

My comment above was really just in frustration that he gets away with
it so much, prompted by the numerable public statements he made saying
the bus would have an open platform giving the freedom to hop-on and
hop-off - well, the mark 2 version won't have that at all, and there are
plenty of mark 1 buses plying their trade that never have their rear
platforms open.

My main issue with the bus though is that it can get so hot.

On 14/06/2015 12:28, Recliner wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 11:40:59 +0100, Paul Corfield
wrote:
[...]
I agree Mr Goldsmith, if selected, will be a very tough candidate to
beat. I also feel Labour are in grave danger of wrecking their
prospects.

How so Paul?


I suspect Zac would easily beat Dame Tessa or Sadiq Khan. But perhaps
Labour will choose dark horse charismatic 'transport expert' Christian
Wolmar who has, to my surprise (just) made it on to the shortlist.


There's zero chance of Wolmar getting the Labour nomination, really.

I like Tessa Jowell a lot, she's a very competent operator, and knows
London very well.

London as a whole is Labour leaning, and I think Zac Goldsmith might
just come across as another Tory posh boy. Of course, there's a lot more
to him than that - but he's yet another from the old school gang.

wrote:
In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 12:28:12 +0100, Recliner
wrote:

On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 11:40:59 +0100, Paul Corfield
wrote:

On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 10:23:54 +0000 (UTC), Recliner
wrote:

Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 08:56:57 +0000 (UTC), Recliner
wrote:

But we have the Boris Bus, Boris Bike, and would-be
Boris Island, but no Ken Fare, Ken Train, Ken Card, Ken Tram, etc.

All that proves is that Boris is a bigger egomaniac than Ken was and
he was no shrinking violet. I actually prefer substance to "style"
and Ken delivered far more of value and substance. The test of that
is that Boris has barely reversed any of Ken's major policy
initiatives - especially on transport.

All I can give Boris credit for is managing to maintain funding for
Crossrail and not cancelling it, South London Line extension to the
Overground, sustaining investment in Overground and Tramlink capacity
and forcing TfL into releasing Bus Countdown information.

There's very little else of merit - the bus network development has
lagged behind growth and economic development, the tube is under
severe strain and several investments are wrong or have gone wrong,
there has been a planning blight of around 6 years which has destoyed
momentum in new scheme delivery which will probably result in a gap
of 10-12 years in anything substantive happening. Traffic congestion
is pretty appalling as is pollution and the Mayor has nothing
meaningful to say on this because he essentially believes people can
drive where and when they want. Whoever the next Mayor is has some
real nasty problems to deal with.

It looks like Boris has chosen his successor: fellow old-Etonian Zac,
while Boris tries to succeed fellow old-Etonian Dave.

Not his choice though is it? It's a party choice and it'll be
interesting to see who wins through. Poor old Andew Boff must be
seething - is this his third or fourth go at trying to be the
candidate?

Boris's role was in persuading Zac to stand. If his Richmond
constituents back his decision, I think he'd be very likely to win the
Tory candidacy, and would then be their best prospect to win the
election itself.

Didn't know he'd done any persuading. I agree Goldsmith is likely to
win provided he has some sort of coherent policy position. I don't
trust Greenhalgh at all. TfL would be laid waste in order to fund his
proposed fare cuts plus he doesn't understand the need to compenstate
the TOCs (outside of TfL control) for revenue losses.

I agree Mr Goldsmith, if selected, will be a very tough candidate to
beat. I also feel Labour are in grave danger of wrecking their
prospects.

I suspect Zac would easily beat Dame Tessa or Sadiq Khan. But perhaps
Labour will choose dark horse charismatic 'transport expert' Christian
Wolmar who has, to my surprise (just) made it on to the shortlist.

I can't see the "labour machine" allowing Wolmar to win. I also don't
think he's a particularly good candidate. I read his recent Transport
document - no mention of buses despite them being the busiest
vehicular mode of public transport in London. That's just ridiculous
and shows his preoccupation with walking and cycling.

As things stand today, and I accept it's very early days, I am not
impressed by any candidate from any party.

The real yardstick for impression is Boris at this stage 8 years ago and Ken
even longer ago. I agree with you on Wolmar. I just don't think he could run
the ship. On policing he'd be even more out of his depth than Boris.

I've never taken Wolmar seriously as a mayoral candidate. I'm pretty sure
both major parties will put up popular London MPs.

I'm amazed Wolmar even managed to creep on to the short list. This campaign
to become a candidate must have been hard work for him, and he'll be very
out of pocket, both because of the cost of the campaign (presumably not
funded by any generous donors) and the absent sales of the next railway
history book he won't have written this year.

On 14/06/2015 11:18, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 08:56:57 +0000 (UTC), Recliner
wrote:

But we have the Boris Bus, Boris Bike, and would-be
Boris Island, but no Ken Fare, Ken Train, Ken Card, Ken Tram, etc.

I've heard "Kengestion charge"

All that proves is that Boris is a bigger egomaniac than Ken was and
he was no shrinking violet.

Or that "Barclays cycle hire" is too much or a mouthful, and "New Bus
for (4?) London or is it New Routemaster?" is too confused.

And it's not new; speed limits are here to stay and the Pillbox Affair
is now pretty much forgotten, but the ghost of Baron Hore-Belisha still
lives on in the form of street furniture.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

In article

rg, (Recliner) wrote:

wrote:
In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 12:28:12 +0100, Recliner
wrote:

On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 11:40:59 +0100, Paul Corfield
wrote:

On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 10:23:54 +0000 (UTC), Recliner
wrote:

Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jun 2015 08:56:57 +0000 (UTC), Recliner
wrote:

But we have the Boris Bus, Boris Bike, and would-be
Boris Island, but no Ken Fare, Ken Train, Ken Card, Ken Tram, etc.

All that proves is that Boris is a bigger egomaniac than Ken was
and he was no shrinking violet. I actually prefer substance to
"style" and Ken delivered far more of value and substance. The test
of that is that Boris has barely reversed any of Ken's major policy
initiatives - especially on transport.

All I can give Boris credit for is managing to maintain funding for
Crossrail and not cancelling it, South London Line extension to the
Overground, sustaining investment in Overground and Tramlink
capacity and forcing TfL into releasing Bus Countdown information.

There's very little else of merit - the bus network development has
lagged behind growth and economic development, the tube is under
severe strain and several investments are wrong or have gone wrong,
there has been a planning blight of around 6 years which has
destoyed momentum in new scheme delivery which will probably result
in a gap of 10-12 years in anything substantive happening. Traffic
congestion is pretty appalling as is pollution and the Mayor has
nothing meaningful to say on this because he essentially believes
people can drive where and when they want. Whoever the next Mayor
is has some real nasty problems to deal with.

It looks like Boris has chosen his successor: fellow old-Etonian
Zac, while Boris tries to succeed fellow old-Etonian Dave.

Not his choice though is it? It's a party choice and it'll be
interesting to see who wins through. Poor old Andew Boff must be
seething - is this his third or fourth go at trying to be the
candidate?

Boris's role was in persuading Zac to stand. If his Richmond
constituents back his decision, I think he'd be very likely to win the
Tory candidacy, and would then be their best prospect to win the
election itself.

Didn't know he'd done any persuading. I agree Goldsmith is likely to
win provided he has some sort of coherent policy position. I don't
trust Greenhalgh at all. TfL would be laid waste in order to fund his
proposed fare cuts plus he doesn't understand the need to compenstate
the TOCs (outside of TfL control) for revenue losses.

I agree Mr Goldsmith, if selected, will be a very tough candidate to
beat. I also feel Labour are in grave danger of wrecking their
prospects.

I suspect Zac would easily beat Dame Tessa or Sadiq Khan. But perhaps
Labour will choose dark horse charismatic 'transport expert' Christian
Wolmar who has, to my surprise (just) made it on to the shortlist.

I can't see the "labour machine" allowing Wolmar to win. I also don't
think he's a particularly good candidate. I read his recent Transport
document - no mention of buses despite them being the busiest
vehicular mode of public transport in London. That's just ridiculous
and shows his preoccupation with walking and cycling.

As things stand today, and I accept it's very early days, I am not
impressed by any candidate from any party.

The real yardstick for impression is Boris at this stage 8 years
ago and Ken even longer ago. I agree with you on Wolmar. I just
don't think he could run the ship. On policing he'd be even more
out of his depth than Boris.

I've never taken Wolmar seriously as a mayoral candidate. I'm pretty sure
both major parties will put up popular London MPs.

MPs anyway.

I'm amazed Wolmar even managed to creep on to the short list. This
campaign to become a candidate must have been hard work for him, and he'll
be very out of pocket, both because of the cost of the campaign
(presumably not funded by any generous donors) and the absent sales of the
next railway history book he won't have written this year.

Labour allowed each constituency party to nominate two people. That
certainly helped a number of candidates.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

There is one person who is closely associated with London, but has never uttered the phrases "Boris Bike" or "Boris Bus". That person is Boris Johnson.