... Who actually IS rather different from the old boss at the moment, but let's see what four years in power will do, eh?
Bloody hell, though. BORIS as Mayor of London. Who'd have thunk?
I think Political Umpire and are I are the only people on the planet who seem at all pleased by the demise of Red Ken, but there you go. As a Londoner by birth I'm not even sure that we need a mayor - we seemed to manage quite well till eight years ago, but in the interests of democracy I think it's a good thing that Ken has been voted out. Whether the Boy David will be so grateful come the next General Election remains to be seen. Boris could well end up stymieing the Conservative surge and giving Gordon his best ever opportunity to be the Comeback Kid, but we won't know that for at least two years.
In the meantime I sympathise with all the labour voters who are no doubt feeling thoroughly bruised after the events of last week and rejoice in the return of cut and thrust politics. At last, we're going to have an election where unless something changes drastically we should have a decent fight on our hands. And I do hope if the Tories do make it back to Downing Street next time, they don't get a huge majority. The story of politics in this country since 1979 has been governments having too much of a mandate, and it makes them think they're invincible and detaches them from the people who brought them into power.I'd really like to see an end to the arrogance of the people who've governed us since before I was old enough to get the vote. We need to keep our politicians on their toes, I think. That's where true power to the people lies...
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I am enjoying all these references to the Who, this is exquisite taste. I have stayed in a hotel that was once Keith Moon's home (in Chipping Norton), and revel in the fact that he was the apparent inspiration for Animal from the Muppets, a hero from my childhood.
As for Boris we'll just have to wait and see. Apparently one of his first acts was to ditch Ken's subscription to forty issues of the Morning Star (I'm not making this up; apparently Ken wanted to 'support' the publication and as ever wasn't averse to using taxpayer funds to do it). This amounted to about half the MS's total subscriptions, which of course they've now lost overnight. Taxpayers of London now ten grand better off a year and culturally much more so.
His appointment as deputy mayor - Ray Lewis - seems a very good move too, I have heard nothing but praise for Mr Lewis who is one of the last people in the land to believe in discipline and achievement and actually not be afraid to say so publically.
On the other hand, I think banning booze on the tube is a bit pointless. Trouble making hoodies who are already plastered will cause the same degree of trouble anyway, probably more as they'll start a fight over the booze. And the only ones who'll end up getting prosecuted will be the middle class hen nights and the chaps heading for the cricket.
And of course Ken's left a time bomb for his luckless successor in the form of the final bill for the Olympics. Boris will protest that he was stuck with it, but he will still cop the flack as he is required to hike up taxes and divert funds from more worthy causes ...
In New Zealand after a hung parliament it was six weeks at least before a new parliament was formed. For that time no new legislation or regulations were passed, and essentially central gvt did nothing.
The wheels didn't fall off, the economy didn't grind to a halt, unemployment didn't go up, no-one was visibly less happy ... and by the end people weren't wondering if we couldn't get rid of the feckers in toto. Sadly MPs figured this out and quickly got meddling again.
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