Well done Boris

I rarely give praise to Boris Johnson, but he deserves it for THIS action he has taken.

It's clear that FIFA are utterly corrupt, preferring to talk about the evils of the English Press rather than questioning why in Russia journalists are murdered for speaking out against the government.

Let's ensure Mr Blatter never sullies these shores again, and if he does, let's make sure he's paying for the privilege.

The Trouble with Boris - Channel 4 Dispatches

No doubt Tories will come out with a ringing endorsement of Boris Johnson after the Channel 4 expose of his first year in charge in the capital, but at the half way point through the hour long investigation the basic accusation against Boris Johnson is, as I understand it, that he ;

1) Is obsessed with gimmicks that have no meaningful effect.
2) Makes claims about making London more eco friendly but his policies have the opposite effect.
3) Writes letters to interest groups but then does the opposite of what he promises.
4) Seems to favour friends who employ him or offer him free rooms for his campaigns.
5) Consults with staff on the basis that they reply quickly so he can "get the story in to The Sun".
6) Appoints people to high office within London who seem to be unqualified or have dubious qualifications for the role.
7) Pushes excessive new "social" housing in to Labour boroughs and away from Tory ones, in a way that I assumed to be a "Gerrymandering" exercise.
8) He has not got a clue about the way the Police have to remain operationally independent and that he sought to exert pressure on and intervene in police matters.

And we are only half way through the 60 minutes.

Labour had hoped that a Boris victory would let the cat out of the bag about what the Tories are like when in power. It appears they may be getting their wish.

I don't really care if it is a conspiracy or not

I don't care much for the theories going around that Sit Ian Blair resigned as head of the Metropolitan Police because of some sort of conspiracy. As far as I am concerned Sir Ian had outstayed his welcome, and as Britain's senior policeman, had lost the trust of politicians and the public.

To be honest, if Boris had organised a conspiracy, I'd say well done. At least it would have meant that electing Boris as London mayor had at least one positive effect.

Could McCain be heading for a Ray Lewis moment ?

John McCain's attempt to sidestep Barack Obama and steal the headlines by choosing Sarah Palin as his Vice-President might be bold and audacious, but it could explode badly in his face if allegations about Mrs Palin are found to be true.

As the BBC reports

"Mrs Palin's electoral chances may be harmed by the fact that she was placed under investigation in Alaska by state lawmakers at the end of July.
She sacked a public safety commissioner and the allegation is that she removed him because he had not fired a state trooper who is Mrs Palin's former brother-in-law, and who is in a custody battle with her sister. "

These are very serious allegations and go to the core of why people distrust politicians and undermines the strength of democratic institutions.

Like Boris Johnson choosing Ray Lewis for a senior role in London, this clever bit of PR by McCain may well make him look like a fool in the coming months.

What an utterly pointless statement

So Boris Johnson has said that he wants to deliver the 2012 Olympics under budget. Whatever next, an announcement that Boris Johnson is against murders or that Boris Johnson opposes war ?

No politicians in the world ever wants to deliver a project "over budget", so why make the statement ?

Utterly pointless.

Who do you think you are warming to Boris Johnson ?

I was somewhat reluctant to sit down and watch Who do you think you are on BBC1 last night when I realised it was Borat Johnson that was the subject of the programme. It's not just Boris/Borat and his fluffed up, dragged through a hedge backwards look that I find annoying, its his politics. However, I put all my bile to one side and watched the show, and I was really jolly glad I did.

Boris has, as it turns out, a fascinating family history, a Turkish great Grandfather murdered by Kemal Attaturk, whilst going back further his family descend from the German Royalty and before that, British Royalty too.

But what surprised me most was that I warmed to Boris Johnson. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't vote for him, but he was the perfect subject for this show, a good linguist and showed a real depth of knowledge that supported the shows research.

Now is their an antidote to warming to Boris ?

Apparently I am an "Uncle Tom hating Leftist" - According to Iain Dale

Ray Lewis, the man the Tories lauded a few weeks ago as an example to everyone, and someone chosen by the Tory hierarchy to be s sign of the new Tory party, and be deputy Mayor of London, has been caught out, big time. Everyone knows this, the virtual silence on the issue by Tory bloggers says it all. Except, that is, if you are Iain Dale.

Apparently, a man who lied about being a JP, a man who claimed to be a prison governor but never governed a prison, a man who the Church of England have serious doubts about, cannot be criticised in Iain Dale's world because he is black.

Apparently, according to Iain Dale, because I choose to criticise him, I am an "Uncle Tom hating Leftist".


I believe that Ray Lewis has been criticised because he put himself up for high office on the basis of a number of lies. White, black, orange or yellow, he would have been criticised for what he did no matter what.

If Iain believes that it is racist to criticise someone who is not white, then he is wrong, 100%. What is racist is to believe that anyone who is not white cannot be criticised on the basis of real evidence.

I have learned to like Iain after our battles in North Norfolk and have really been grateful for his encouragement to my blog. He is brave to blog on the subject of Ray Lewis whilst other Tory bloggers stay silent. But his selfless devotion to the Conservative Party, right or wrong, is a real shame sometimes.

Ray Lewis - 6 degrees of separation ?

Ray Lewis said yesterday he was a magistrate. Boris Johnson repeated this claim. Today it has been revealed he was not and never has been a magistrate.

Yesterday Boris Johnson introduced Ray Lewis as a former prison Governor, yet even in the press conference Mr Lewis admitted, as I understood him to say, that he had never been the governor of a prison and was instead a senior warder who had a grade that was equivalent to that of a certain type of governor.

He also appeared to claim in his press conference that Newham Council continue to fund his school in East London. Reports today suggest this is untrue as well.

Is it me or is he some sort of fantasist ?

Whatever next, will he attempt to pass himself off as the son of Sidney Poitier ?

Ray Lewis Resigns

The news that Ray Lewis has resigned begs the question as to whether there is truth to the rumours about him.

Yesterday, during the press conference he and Boris Johnson did, Ray Lewis stated clearly that he would resign if the allegations were proved to be true.

Are political advisers not destined to be politicians themselves because they cannot keep their mouths shut ?

Politicians, so we are told, are supposed to be rather obsessed with the sound of their own voices. However, it seems that the difference between a politicians and an adviser is the ability of politicians to internalise what they may be thinking whilst an adviser speaks out loud.

Take for examples a couple of examples of advisers to conservatives on either side of the Atlantic in the last couple of days.

Yesterday one of Boris Johnson's aides was forced to quit after he said "let them go if they don't like it here" when asked about how black people might react to decisions taken in London. Mayor Johnson let his aide leave his post swiftly, but it says much that a person who says such things could have been given a job in the first place. It is also worrying that it was said to an undercover reporter in that it gives the impression that some advisers might be saying one thing to the press, but secretly believe something very different.

Today we read if an adviser who spoke the truth too loudly in the US. An adviser to Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain said that a September 11-type attack before the November election would benefit McCain. A rather sinister thing to say, but given that the Republicans want to label Barack Obama as week on national security, the adviser was daft to say out loud something the Democrats must fear on a political level as well as a national security level.

It seems to me that advisers to politicians are sometimes too keen to make names for themselves and lack the ability to keep quiet. Perhaps it highlights the real art to making it to the top is to listen more and talk less.

Political dogma overtakes common sense

Which ever way you look at it, Boris Johnson's decision to let Londoners pay more for the fuel for buses is crazy. It's like cutting your nose off to spite your face.

Update : I wrote the last bit late last night, but thought I'd add more now I am rested.

The Tories, like any other political party in power, have never been afraid of taking advantage of countries generosity in the past. Would we turn down cheap oil from Saudi Arabia ? Would Boris Johnson complain about the poor without votes in middle east countries if they offered us a deal ? Of course not.

The point is that this move was political and not practical and it is a shame when politics gets in the way of making the right decision. You might not like Chavez, but let's not forget we give aid to Zimbabwe, we buy oil from dictators and we sell weapons to just about anyone who'll be bribed, so let's not come over all pious over accepting cheaper oil from Venezuela.

It seem the American's have no problem accepting Chavez's oil on the cheap in return for advice, so Boris Johnson's decision seems ludicrous in the extreme.

Is it Three Jobs Boris ?

I heard on Radio Five Live earlier that Boris Johnson was going to use money from his Telegraph article he writes to fund some promotion of "Classics" (Latin and Ancient Greek) in the capital.

The thought struck me that Boris is Mayor of London, MP for Henley and also a writer for the Telegraph. Surely "Three Jobs Boris" has enough to do. So when will he resign his Henley seat ?

Hang on, I thought al BBC journalists were supposed to be lefty socialists ?

This rather flies in the face of the perceived Tory drivel about the BBC.

Considering Question Time yet again had two Tories on the panel, I think the Tories overdo the whole anti BBC thing.

Even if the Tories don't get a fair deal from the BBC, which I personally feel they do (David Cameron only has to catch a bus and it's on the news), I suggest they start supporting the lib Dems for one week then you'd know what it's like to be treated badly be the BBC.

The Boris win says so much about the sorry state of politics in London

Tories will, quite rightly, be delighted by the win of Boris Johnson in London, but for me it is a sad indictment of the state our politics is in.

When you look at what Boris stands for, privilege, Oxbridge, private schooling, the Bullingdon club, does he really speak for London ? Perhaps parts of Chelsea yes, but Hackney ? Putting aside what might viewed by some as class prejudices (at least I don't refer to picaninnies or slag of whole cities like Boris), perhaps he has got something to offer. I hope so for Londoners sakes. The problem is that people didn't seem to vote for him on the basis of what he has to offer.

His other more public faults be they not being a full time MP (how does that square with his commitment to working full time for London), his penchant for slagging various parts of the UK, people from different cultures, his inability to keep his trousers on, and a host of other issues seem to have been brushed aside because "he's that guy off the telly with the scruffy hair". So what does that tell us about politics ?

We seem to have entered a realm of politics where it does not matter what you do, it matters little about how you treat your wife and family, it matters not who you insult, and nobody cares what your policies are or if you have any at all. But if you are on the telly, that makes you okay. Is that right ? Is that good ?

Even Boris' supporters were damning him with faint praise this morning. Amanda Platell describes him as not being good with detail but he would be god at delegating. Wow, what an endorsement. It's like saying "He can't do the job but he knows a man who can". So why the hell didn't Londoners elect a man who can ?

The answer is, of course, because the man who can is not a celebrity. How sad.

What does Ken's decision to put family first say about politics and about him ?

Ken Livingstone turned up late for a radio debate today, some suggest because the tube was not running on time, but Ken claims it was due to wanting to spend more time with his kids.

I can sympathise with Ken's reasons as I am a relatively new father myself, but I gave up any political ambitions I had, which as an approved Lib Dem parliamentary candidate and local councillor who was being asked to stand for a target seat and who had all the necessary contacts and local knowledge, this was a very big decision to make. But I did it because I wanted to spend lots of time with my son and I knew that this was largely incompatible with running a proper election campaign.

The truth is that politics puts an intolerable burden on peoples family lives and we have to accept that. I guess the choice is, if we are to believe Ken's version of events, what kind of politician do we want to have running our affairs. I have no problem with a family man running things, surely this makes him (or her) a more rounded person. However, I accept Boris Johnston's view that it appears that it shows that Ken's priority is not his job.

It's a difficult call to make as to whether Ken is right or wrong. Given the choice though I think that family should come first and if it is too much of a bind to do his job as well then he should consider standing down.

New London Poll shows Johnson ahead of Livingstone

It looks increasingly like the election for London Mayor may come down to who ever can get their voters out on the day as a new poll indicates that Boris Johnson has overtaken Ken Livingstone again.

Taking in to account second preferences, Johnson is on 51% and Ken is on 49%.

Obviously there is a small margin of error to take in to account, but you would have to imagine that the Tories have an advantage over Labour in having motivated activists and motivated voters who will come and and vote in greater numbers than Labour. There is already a lot of chatter on the internet about Labour finding it difficult to find candidates nationwide, and you'd have to expect this apathy to apply in London too.

So my money is on the Tories to win, although I cannot believe for one moment that Boris Johnson would make a good mayor.

It's called a brain injury Boris, not a scab

Boris Johnson, in his usual half witted, half arsed, half thought about way, rights in his usual full literary style about the pleasures of scabs today in the the Telegraph.

The problem with Boris Johnson is, as ever, that it is all fluff, all nonsense, all a load of guff packaged in a lively form of prose that engages and lulls you in to thinking it has substance, which sadly it does not. Indeed, Boris Johnson's writings are "the Emperors new clothes" of political thought. Look closely and there is nothing there.

Of course, the real reason he writes is to paint some fanciful picture of an England long gone and lost (and as as far as I am aware, one that only exists in nostalgic bunkum) , and also to have a go at Labour. Boris uses Ed balls announcement that he would like to see more kids playing games like British bulldog and hopscotch to attack the culture of health and safety.

Boris Johnson chooses to base his argument on the use of a form of soft tarmac that local authorities and school use underneath climbing equipment. Of course if Boris knew his stuff he would know it is very difficult to skin a knee from falling vertically from a climbing from on to a hard surface. Scabs on knees are far more likely to occur from falling horizontally, from a trip whilst playing football or falling from a bike. So the use of soft tarmac underneath play equipment has nothing to do with the lack of scabs. Football, Boris should know, is not played underneath climbing frames.

Then Boris chooses to claim that deaths in parks have changed little in the last 20 years, again in an attempt to prove somehow that safety measures employed like soft tarmac have no effect. What Boris fails to understand is that few children die in parks, and few children have ever died in parks in the past due to playing on play equipment. What soft absorbant tarmac is there to do is to prevent much more serious head injuries that can lead to brain damage, spinal injuries and broken bones. Has Boris found out the statistics for these injuries ? What do you think ?

In my experience there is a fear of being sued whenever anything new is built, but that leads to new parks and play equipment being as safe as possible. Were it not for absorbant tarmac, would any knew playground be built ? And as for the argument against made by the part time member of Parliament for Henley that parks have declined so much under Labour, need we remind him of the massive sell off of school fields under the Tories ? I guess Eton didn't have to sell their fields off.

Mr Johnson ought to remember that soft tarmac is there to prevent brain injury, not a scabs on knees and friction burns. Come on Boris, if it comes to friction burns you really ought to know about them. Ask Petronella !

Missing man charged by police

Police have formally charged a man who went missing in mysterious circumstances who suddenly re-appeared last week.

Boris Johnson, who had been selected as Conservative London Mayoral candidate went missing some months ago, with the press and Londoners at a loss to understand where he had gone, why he had nothing to say on issues affecting London and why he wanted the job of London Mayor in the first place.

In recent months some have suggested it was an inside job with the Conservative Party being accused of having knowledge of Boris' whereabouts, but were too afraid to reveal that he had not in fact gone missing and he was, instead, just bloody useless and bone idle.

Police sources suggest the Mr Johnson has been charged with wasting every ones time.

How many of Boris Johnson's supporters are actually voting for him ?

I note with interest that Boris Johnson is publishing a list of supporters on his website.

However, as Justin Hinchcliffe writes, he is listed as a supporter when in fact Boris was his last choice. All he had simply done was sign up to get Boris Johnson's e-mail newsletter.

You would assume that Boris Johnson had enough proper supporters without having to make them up, wouldn't you ?

Labour attempt to stop Boris

Well if you hold open primaries, what do you expect.

At least in America people have to be registered supporters of a political party in order to be able to vote in a primary, but if the Tories persists in having such a silly system then it was only a matter of time before it is subverted and circumvented in THIS way.

Yes, I agree, it is childish and hardly raises the bar when it comes to people trusting politicians. but it appears to be within the Tories own flimsy rules, so it is difficult to condemn.