Boris v Ken - What have they done for London?

[HowMuchLonger]

Jetl3on said:

James P said:

Jetl3on said:

Well yes of course, standard political practice, but we cant credit the Parisians for bringing it to London, that honour goes to Ken.

So you credit Ken for taking an idea that was already in widespread use elsewhere and was actually implemented by Boris? As you say, standard political practice for Ken.

As it is, Boris implemented the idea without Ken and all his cronies needing to go on fully-expensed trips to look at people riding bikes in other capital cities - preferably ones that are warm and sunny with plenty of golf courses

Regrettably yes, he got on his champagne quaffing private jet, filled with venezualan petrol, flew to Paris Hilton, shook dignitary hands, kissed ugly babies and collected his big fat cheque to sell the idea to Londoners, which he did. Whichever way you tell it, does not make it any less true

And Boris flew to Beijing in economy class.

[oyster]

DonkeyApple said:

Boris' main achievement is in not being Ken.

People like Boris because he isn't riddled with hatred and doesn't actually hold any group in contempt nor want to punish any groups for just existing.

Sadly, he will be handing the reigns back to Ken who has the whole of south London and every welfare feeder in his pocket.

The people who swung it for Boris last time won't be voting in anywhere near the numbers needed to keep him in.

Your demography/geography may be a bit wrong.
Several of Boris' strongholds are south of the river - in fact the outer ring. Only the east of London has both the inner ring and outer ring that Ken carries more support in.

[Hooli]

oyster said:

Your demography/geography may be a bit wrong.
Several of Boris' strongholds are south of the river - in fact the outer ring. Only the east of London has both the inner ring and outer ring that Ken carries more support in.

Your a card

[markh1973]

The bikes may be a good idea but they aren't generating enough income so are costing every London Council Taxpayer money.

The scheme cost £79m and Barclays put in £25m and the running costs are more than the annual income

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-mayor/artic...

[Frankeh]

markh1973 said:

The bikes may be a good idea but they aren't generating enough income so are costing every London Council Taxpayer money.

The scheme cost £79m and Barclays put in £25m and the running costs are more than the annual income

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-mayor/artic...

Still a bit early to tell, surely.

[Tallbut Buxomly]

markh1973 said:

The bikes may be a good idea but they aren't generating enough income so are costing every London Council Taxpayer money.

The scheme cost £79m and Barclays put in £25m and the running costs are more than the annual income

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-mayor/artic...

Typical short term thinking and proving you just can't win.

People said it was a great idea and wanted it to happen to reduce traffic, lower transport costs on an individual basis and to clean the air. Now due to the scheme not making quite enough money fast enough people want to put it down and criticize Boris.

No one is prepared to look at things long term. Long term it will break even as it will be reviewed constantly and shortfalls will be looked at and ways to shore them up will be implemented.

It is impossible to implement a scheme like this and get the numbers right immediately. It takes time to assess use and running cost. Its all well and good to look at it after a year and go oh look its not making enough lets increase the charges or scrap it. When you should do a longer term review. Lose money short term gain it long term.


Also bear in mind that it may be losing money but it is quite likely it is saving London taxpayers money in other ways.

[essexplumber]

Jetl3on said:

Regrettably yes, he got on his champagne quaffing private jet, filled with venezualan petrol, flew to Paris Hilton, shook dignitary hands, kissed ugly babies and collected his big fat cheque to sell the idea to Londoners, which he did. Whichever way you tell it, does not make it any less true

Srsly?

[Jetl3on]

Tallbut Buxomly said:

Also bear in mind that it may be losing money but it is quite likely it is saving London taxpayers money in other ways.

Indeed, more room and less crowding, less biker accidents, lower insurance price hikes, reduced use of our emergency services.....to name a few.

[lazystudent]

Hooli said:

I can't believe anyone thinks ken is anything except a whinging lying scummy commie tt who should be led out & shot.

In front of his family?

[James P]

Jetl3on said:

James P said:

Jetl3on said:

Well yes of course, standard political practice, but we cant credit the Parisians for bringing it to London, that honour goes to Ken.

So you credit Ken for taking an idea that was already in widespread use elsewhere and was actually implemented by Boris? As you say, standard political practice for Ken.

As it is, Boris implemented the idea without Ken and all his cronies needing to go on fully-expensed trips to look at people riding bikes in other capital cities - preferably ones that are warm and sunny with plenty of golf courses

Regrettably yes, he got on his champagne quaffing private jet, filled with venezualan petrol, flew to Paris Hilton, shook dignitary hands, kissed ugly babies and collected his big fat cheque to sell the idea to Londoners, which he did. Whichever way you tell it, does not make it any less true

I really don't care whose idea it was, Ken has a history of ideas for spending other peoples money dating back to the days when the GLC was being disbanded and any number of "free" concerts were arranged on the South Bank. I could probably have sold the idea to Londoners! Boris managed to sell it to Barclays and got them to put their hand in their corporate pocket for the benefit of London.

[DonkeyApple]

oyster said:

Your demography/geography may be a bit wrong.
Several of Boris' strongholds are south of the river - in fact the outer ring. Only the east of London has both the inner ring and outer ring that Ken carries more support in.

I do have a tendency to forget Richmond. On the grounds that it is quicker to fly to Luton and get a cab in order to get to London.

[Jetl3on]

James P said:

I really don't care whose idea it was

That may be, but the point being you cant claim credit for someone elses idea, regardless of what you think of them or what the bike is called, its just wrong. This was one of Red Kens few accomplishments and all im saying is give credit where it is due.

[Yertis]

DJRC said:

No, in the interests of fairness I think we will find it was a Continental idea that most major cities have been implementing over the last few years, the most popular and reported being the Paris biking scheme. Either way Boris gets the PR and credit for it in London because he has long been associated with cycling around the place.

Google images "Ken Livingstone on bike" = none (well, one of him on an electric bike to be fair)

Google images "Boris Johnson on bike" = pages and pages and pages...

[Zod]

Boris introduced Congestion Charge Autopay, which Ken claimed would have been impossibly expensive to implement (I received a letter from his team to that effect when I asked why it hadn't been introduced with the charge). Under Ken, I received an average of one CC fine a month. I haven't had one since Autopay arrived.

[thinfourth2]

essexplumber said:

Jetl3on said:

Regrettably yes, he got on his champagne quaffing private jet, filled with venezualan petrol, flew to Paris Hilton,

Srsly?

he always looked taller in photographs

[otolith]

Boris does not appear to have a spiteful bone in his body, while Ken's entire skeleton appears to consist of little else. Just a corpulence of sneer propped up by a framework of spite.

[James P]

Jetl3on said:

James P said:

I really don't care whose idea it was

That may be, but the point being you cant claim credit for someone elses idea, regardless of what you think of them or what the bike is called, its just wrong. This was one of Red Kens few accomplishments and all im saying is give credit where it is due.

I'll give credit for Ken recognising the idea elsewhere. They are both politicians though and ideas and statements are cheap. I'd prefer to judge them both by what they actually managed to achieve rather than the ideas they managed to refer to in speeches and soundbites. It is very easy for a politician to say something, actually getting something done is rather more difficult and for that I'll credit Boris.

[vit4]

Boris for two reasons; firstly, he's acted on his promises, but equally for the fact that he's the only person in politics I can think of who actually has a personality (racingdud excluded ). And a good one at that, genuinely seems like a nice bloke who's getting the job done

[robm3]

Boris Facebook page: 120,000+
Ken's Facebook page: 4,000+

[Jetl3on]

Im sure I heard on the news Ken has 5 kids by 3 different women??? I must admit I was a tad surprised, he was threatening to sue somebody if they used it against him during elections, (probably Boris PR team).

Ken a playa??? I cant believe it, the old dog