Mae West once said about publicity - "I don't care what the papers say
about me as long as they spell my name right". I am encouraged that
the candidates for London's Mayor are taking Transport as a serious
election issue. As this group has an expert appreciation of the issues
- what question would you like to pose to all mayoral candidates?

Some of today's cuttings to stimulate your juices.

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/people...ayorship,22897
quote
Boris needs to get on track to clinch victory
If the opinion polls are accurate and he doesn't come a cropper with
some scandal/gaffe or other, there is a real chance that Boris Johnson
will beat the incumbent Ken Livingstone to become Mayor of London in
May. And if there's one thing that will persuade Londoners to vote the
Tory in, it'll be confidence that he's the man to correct the
inadequacies of the city's antiquated Tube system.
Boris needs to start by looking at a Tube map. His website states that
the borough of Greenwich doesn’t have any tube stations – in fact it
has North Greenwich (plus three Docklands Light Railway stations).
Likewise, the residents of Newham will be confused. They thought that
their borough had three lines – the District, Hammersmith and City and
Central – and a total of five stations. BackBoris.com, however, says
Newham has none. Get to it, Boris!
Unquote

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...london08.boris
quote
Johnson ready to take on the tube workers
· Mayoral candidate wants to negotiate no-strike deal
· Executives approached in search for transport chief
Matthew Taylor and Dan Milmo
The Guardian,
Thursday March 27 2008

The Tory candidate for mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has set himself
on a collision course with tube workers in the capital after holding a
series of secret talks to find a transport chief to take on the RMT.
The Henley MP, who was ahead in the latest opinion poll, says he wants
to negotiate a no-strike agreement with the union if he wins on May 1,
claiming it has had its "thumb around the windpipe of London
commuters" for years.
Yesterday a spokeswoman for Johnson confirmed he was holding private
talks with senior executives, although she said no job offers had been
made.
The RMT dismissed the no-strike plan, and said it would publish
results of a strike ballot among tube engineering staff later today
which could trigger a polling day walkout on May 1.
"Boris Johnson is living in cloud cuckoo land if he believes this kind
of approach could ever work," said a spokesman. "The RMT does not sign
no-strike deals and would never give up its right to strike. More
working time is lost in Britain through injuries sustained as a result
of poor employers than through industrial action."
The outcome of the London mayoral election is expected to shape the
political landscape across the UK in the run-up to the next general
election.
According to the latest opinion poll Johnson has opened a 12% lead
over incumbent Ken Livingstone, although most analysts still believe
the race is too close to call.
Steve Norris, the Conservative candidate in the previous two mayoral
elections who has been tipped as a possible member of any future
Johnson administration, said yesterday he had been working closely
with the campaign for the past six months but maintained he had not
been offered a job yet. "I would be extremely pleased to be part of
Team Boris but there has been no job offer," he said.
It is understood that if he wins Johnson is considering a replacement
for Peter Hendy, commissioner of Transport for London, and a new TfL
chairman - a position held by Livingstone.
Both roles are crucial to running the capital's buses and tubes.
Christopher Garnett, former boss of the failed GNER rail franchise,
was considered but he is now thought to be out of the running. Nicola
Shaw, head of FirstGroup's bus operations and Jay Walder, a partner at
McKinsey and a former TfL executive, are among names being mooted.
Since Johnson went ahead in the polls David Cameron and senior shadow
cabinet ministers have taken a closer interest in his campaign.
Earlier this month Johnson was accused of incompetence after an
independent transport analyst uncovered a £100m hole in Tory plans for
London buses and it is thought Central Office wants to avoid any
future mishaps. A senior Conservative figure told the Guardian that
Cameron "will not allow" Johnson to damage the party with a gaffe-
prone tenure as mayor. He said experienced figures would be drafted in
to guide him and rein in his undisciplined streak if he won.
Last night Tony Travers, director of the Greater London Group at the
LSE, said he expected Johnson to act as a "chairman of the board" if
the Tories win, with a team of deputies underneath to counter repeated
accusations that he is inexperienced.
"If they [the Tories] really are going to bring in a union-busting
transport leader he or she is going to have to be very tough," added
Travers.

Tube strikes cost the UK economy around £50m per year.
Unquote

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...tone.london081
quote
A row between Ken Livingstone and one of his rivals in the London
mayoral race has erupted on the Guardian's website after the mayor
wrote a blog post attacking his opponents' transport policies.
Livingstone and Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat candidate, traded
barbs on the Comment is Free (Cif) section of site, with the Green
party's Siân Berry and controversial Respect MP George Galloway also
getting involved as the debate intensified.
Livingstone initiated the clash in a post accusing Paddick and Boris
Johnson, the Tory candidate, of favouring privatisation of the London
Underground. Paddick's transport manifesto states that "one company"
should run the tube "along the lines of the DLR [Docklands Light
Railway, a section of the tube network in south-east London] and
London buses", both of which are operated by private companies.
The next day, Paddick – a former deputy assistant commissioner in the
Metropolitan police - added a long comment defending himself and
describing his policy towards the tube as being "exactly the same
model that operates on all London bus routes and on the DLR ... London
Overground [an above-ground east-west train line recently taken under
the mayor's control] is also run by a private company on behalf of the
mayor."
He accused Livingstone of promoting only environmental policies that
would "hammer those least likely to vote Labour" and would not "put
off poor families who might vote Labour".
Livingstone returned the next day to accuse Paddick of going against
established Lib Dem policy in opposing his proposed £25 charge on "gas-
guzzling" cars entering central London, and his low-emission zone that
is already in operation and which targets large lorries.
Paddick hit back by saying: "You are playing politics with the planet,
Ken, and I think we need a more responsible, more common-sense
approach."
Berry, the Green party candidate who has formed an electoral alliance
with Livingstone, chipped in to defend the mayor and encourage
traditional Lib Dem voters to vote Green or Labour.
Galloway, who was among more than 100 readers to join the online
debate, said: "For all Ken's faults, he is of the progressive left,
and on matters like transport and the environment the division between
him and the other main parties is becoming clearer by the day."
Of the main candidates in the race, only the frontrunner, Johnson, did
not appear.
One reader using the name Kennite posted a comment, noting: "I've
never seen this befo an incumbent mayor, and two of the other
candidates, posting on a talkboard. On a public holiday, too. Could
they, perhaps, be desperate? Interesting to see that Boris doesn't
feel the need to post."
A spokesman for Johnson said: "He spent hours out on the campaign
trail this weekend and he wasn't concerned about one blog post because
he was out there meeting real people."
But Livingstone praised what he called an "intense debate" on the
website.
"The debate on the tube on Cif thrashed out vital issues for Londoners
which most conventional media have missed," the mayor said, "with
Boris Johnson opposing my stand against the PPP and Brian Paddick
backing privatisation of running of the tube. Many strands of opinion
participated in real time."
Repeating his charges against Paddick, he said his blog post had "led
to intense debate by green, left and centre-left parties, who are
important in many parts of London, when they realised he [Paddick] was
not supporting long-held progressive positions".
But Paddick was less positive. "Based on the experience at the
weekend, I am unlikely to engage in another online debate with Ken,"
the Lib Dem candidate said.
unquote