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Boris in charge
8:59am Monday 5th May 2008
Boris Johnson has officially taken over as London mayor.
Mr Johnson was handed the seals of office by his predecessor Ken Livingstone and took over the role at midnight.
Speaking yesterday at the Sikh New Year festival, Vaisakhi, in central London, Mr Johnson said the hard work would now begin.
Mr Johnson has pledged to tackle violent crime, work to unite communities, make public transport safer and protect taxpayers' money.
"The last few days have been very, very exciting and very, very exhausting, but this is the single most wonderful job in British politics.
"I am going to be a mayor for all London and work to unite communities.
"One of the wonderful things we have got in London is fantastic diversity - we have got the whole world in a city.
"I certainly think it's extremely important that we get to grips with violent crime, which is going up, and we get to grips immediately with the scourge of so-called minor crime and disorder on the buses and the places in which the mayor is directly responsible.
"I am not pretending we can transform this overnight, but it is the job of the mayor to give a lead, and I won't rest till we have started to make a difference."
Mr Johnson's aides said his first days would be spent working to get 440 police community support officers on the Tube and trains, weapons scanners at stations and review plans to extend the congestion zone west.
Your Say YourLocal Guardian
Les, Sutton says...
2:24pm Mon 5 May 08
Livingstone the tyrant, dictator and bringer of misery is gone. Boris brings us new hope, after eight years of the miserable grey draconian punishments for trying to live and work in London there is hope for a brighter future. Don't let us down Mayor Boris.
Tom, London says...
6:41pm Mon 5 May 08
Kes, Upper Norwood says...
7:29pm Mon 5 May 08
Dee Speers, Henley says...
7:42pm Mon 5 May 08
Kes, Upper Norwood says...
7:46pm Mon 5 May 08
Tom wrote:No thank you, Tom! If we have learned anything from Iraq and Afghanistan surely it's that we cannot put the world to right. Let's get our own problems sorted out. A good start would be to secure our borders to stop this country from being a magnet for the world's rif-raf.
Les, perhaps you should try living in Burma or Zimbabwe if you want to really discover what tyrants and dictators are.
dee, henley says...
7:55pm Mon 5 May 08
SV wrote:Spot on SV and rest assured Boris J is on task. Big issues must be around mental health and inadequate funding... this with lack of resources within youth work and cuts always from a 'bottom up' not 'top down' approach. Most public Chief Executives are paid in excess of 6 figures per year and that is public money that must be accounted for ...not in aims and objectives but in measurable, realistic specific targets. Professional care is a basic right and not an emotional luxury. Look after the most fundamental social inequalities and other areas will improve.
You can change the Mayor, but the Croydon Borough Police chief remains the same and he has clearly failed to tackle the gangs in Central Croydon after 3pm every day. Now that Boris is going to chair the police authority we will have only one person with whom the buck truly stops.
ivan, working here says...
10:53pm Mon 5 May 08
Will Lawson, Sutton says...
12:32am Tue 6 May 08
Jill, London, says...
12:32am Tue 6 May 08
Agree with Les, Sutton, we've got rid of a tinpot dictator who liked cosying up to foreign dictators like Castro in Cuba - at our expense.
Indeed, living in 'the outer boroughs' that's all we were good for, to be taxed by Comrade Livingstone, and to get nothing in return - so much for Labour Party 'fairness'.
Will Lawson, says...
12:36am Tue 6 May 08
As for Les, some of your comments are bordering on insanity, so not sure whether you should have been able to exercise your vote as your mental status should have procluded you from casting your preference! As Tom suggests, a visit to Zimbabwe may do the trick!
Ali Choudry, Suburbia says...
8:33am Tue 6 May 08
The thing that amazes me is that he got red Ken got elected at all after all the trouble prising London out of his lefty mits when he ran the GLC.
P.S. Pull down the gerkin Boris!!!!
SV, Croydon says...
9:35am Tue 6 May 08
These 'quality of life' issues must be matched by Boris in the next 4 years.
C, London says...
9:57am Tue 6 May 08
ric, kingston says...
10:43am Tue 6 May 08
but im all for change. i hope he boris does well.
Sarah, Surrey says...
11:26am Tue 6 May 08
Kes wrote:Here Here
Tom wrote: Les, perhaps you should try living in Burma or Zimbabwe if you want to really discover what tyrants and dictators are.No thank you, Tom! If we have learned anything from Iraq and Afghanistan surely it's that we cannot put the world to right. Let's get our own problems sorted out. A good start would be to secure our borders to stop this country from being a magnet for the world's rif-raf.
Realist, London says...
11:59am Tue 6 May 08
ric wrote:So you want to return to an average speed of 5 mph??!! Think it thru, man!
im glad boris won. i hate livingston with a passion. he has ruined transport in london. i doubt we will ever get it back to how it was. but im all for change. i hope he boris does well.
ric, kingston says...
12:07pm Tue 6 May 08
not only that we now have to pay even more to drive.
and to help out they put the bus fairs up.
i enjoyed driving way more in london 5-10 years ago.
lets not forget that no new road surfaces have been laid in and around where i live for over 10 years now. its a mind field of pot holes and speed humps.
all put in place since red ken was incharge. someone who clearly doesnt give 2 ****'s about the motorist.
ah well. there were more of us than he thought. because we got him out in the end.
Tom, London says...
12:34pm Tue 6 May 08
Sarah wrote:Well, Sarah, it would have helped if Kes had understood what I was saying. I wasn't suggesting we go into Zimbabwe, I suggested Les should go and live in Zimbabwe and then he may take greater care about using stupid terms like Dictatorship. Jill would look equally less foolish.
Kes wrote:Here HereTom wrote: Les, perhaps you should try living in Burma or Zimbabwe if you want to really discover what tyrants and dictators are.No thank you, Tom! If we have learned anything from Iraq and Afghanistan surely it\'s that we cannot put the world to right. Let\'s get our own problems sorted out. A good start would be to secure our borders to stop this country from being a magnet for the world\'s rif-raf.
PATRICIA DENNIS, south croydon says...
2:21pm Tue 6 May 08
Bob Peel, Croydon says...
4:01pm Tue 6 May 08
What is interesting is the BNP now have a member in the GLA/LDA so there'll little of this New Labour/SWP bowing to the illegal ethnic minority at the earliest opportunity and Lee Jasper.
Kes, Upper Norwood says...
8:48pm Tue 6 May 08
PATRICIA DENNIS wrote:Is this Anne of Selsden in disguise? Many women, I speak to, avoid central Croydon at all costs between 2-30 and 4pm (Mon-Fri). PCSOs- are they those people who walk around in two's and dressed like policemen/women?
What gangs after 3 p.m. in Croydon? I have never seen any - only nice groups of happy teenagers! There are always plenty of police about - NEOs, PCSOs, PCs, etc.
Kes, Upper Norwood says...
9:01pm Tue 6 May 08
Tom wrote:But why should Les go to live in Zimbabwe or Burma- just to prove those regimes are worse that Ken's was? Some might think that's "foolish" or just plain "stupid".
Sarah wrote:Well, Sarah, it would have helped if Kes had understood what I was saying. I wasn't suggesting we go into Zimbabwe, I suggested Les should go and live in Zimbabwe and then he may take greater care about using stupid terms like Dictatorship. Jill would look equally less foolish.Kes wrote:Here HereTom wrote: Les, perhaps you should try living in Burma or Zimbabwe if you want to really discover what tyrants and dictators are.No thank you, Tom! If we have learned anything from Iraq and Afghanistan surely it\'s that we cannot put the world to right. Let\'s get our own problems sorted out. A good start would be to secure our borders to stop this country from being a magnet for the world\'s rif-raf.
Let's all rejoice now because Boris is in charge
Kes, Upper Norwood says...
9:08pm Tue 6 May 08
Will Lawson wrote:I've got news for Will! When Gordon finally has the bottle to call an election, it will be anti-Gord votes that will decide it. I don't care what excuse voters use as long as we get rid of this **** awful government.
Boris is undeniably a likeable, witty intellectual, but has no experience in running anything remotely resembling an administration the size of London. Other than being the editor of the Spectator, the only thing he has ever run is his own bath! His inexperience was exposed during the mayoral election campaign when his plans to replace the bendy buses and reinstate Route Masters along with conductors across the network was costed at £8m, under scrutiny this was revised to £200m and I believe some even costed his plans at £500m. However, a Boris friendly media in London failed to really make anything of this. I think a lot of votes for Boris were anti Ken votes, rather than pro Boris votes.
Croyboy, says...
3:22am Wed 7 May 08
A good start would be to secure our borders to stop this country from being a magnet for the world's rif-raf.
Quite agree, but I didn't see much to be optimistic about in the mayoral election, with the representatives of the Lib/Lab/Con-trick all agreeing that it would be a Good Thing to allow the estimated half million illegals in London to stay!
Thank God the BNP has a seat on the London Assembly now.
Tom, says...
8:46am Wed 7 May 08
Kes wrote:No Kes, to make them think twice about how lucky they are to live in a country that has true democracy - one in which the unpopular leader can be voted out. These screeching ninnies who claim they live in a dictatorship may learn to value what they have if they lived under anything like a true totalitarian regime. Their continued use of dictator and despot is an afront to the millions of people who have to endure such regimes every day
Tom wrote:But why should Les go to live in Zimbabwe or Burma- just to prove those regimes are worse that Ken\'s was? Some might think that\'s \"foolish\" or just plain \"stupid\". Let\'s all rejoice now because Boris is in chargeSarah wrote:Well, Sarah, it would have helped if Kes had understood what I was saying. I wasn\'t suggesting we go into Zimbabwe, I suggested Les should go and live in Zimbabwe and then he may take greater care about using stupid terms like Dictatorship. Jill would look equally less foolish.Kes wrote:Here HereTom wrote: Les, perhaps you should try living in Burma or Zimbabwe if you want to really discover what tyrants and dictators are.No thank you, Tom! If we have learned anything from Iraq and Afghanistan surely it\\\'s that we cannot put the world to right. Let\\\'s get our own problems sorted out. A good start would be to secure our borders to stop this country from being a magnet for the world\\\'s rif-raf.
Jill, London, says...
10:26pm Wed 7 May 08
And all things are relative. In British terms, Comrade Livingstone acted like a dictator. Ask the residents of Kensington and Chelsea who repeatedly voted 70% against his car tax but he still imposed it on them. Thats undemocratic.
Moreover, Comrade Livingstone admitted on BBC Radio 4s Today programme that hed run London like a personal fiefdom. Fiefdoms are at odds with democracy.
Croyboy, says...
2:57am Thu 8 May 08
... make them think twice about how lucky they are to live in a country that has true democracy - one in which the unpopular leader can be voted out.
No, we have nothing like a "true democracy": we have an elected autocracy, which does exactly what it likes until it's the turn of the other clowns to mismanage for a while.
Oh, yes...and who of us voted for Broon to be our "leader"?
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Boris Johnson took over at midnight
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SV, Croydon says...
10:43am Mon 5 May 08
Now that Boris is going to chair the police authority we will have only one person with whom the buck truly stops.