The BoJo Show
I am frowning so hard right now. So hard.
Hmm.
Don't get me wrong: I'm no particular fan of Labour, and although I think they've not done so badly overall, they have had a long-enough run of miscellaneous fuck-ups and scandals, as well as their fat-headed pursuance of the Iraq war, that they deserve a shake-up. And since there's not that much difference between them and the Tories, I guess the latter are a just-about bearable lot to retributively hand the reins over to for four years, though hardly my first choice.
But Boris isn't right for mayor of London. Yes, I know there's a brain under that newly-neat haircut - but he is nevertheless a partial buffoon and while that might be funny, it isn't good enough for the large amount of PR work the mayor has to do. Gaffes will be made, patience will be strained, respect will not be extended. I say this not just because Boris has a poor sense of tact in general, but also because he holds all the views about the non-white, the non-straight and the non-rich you'd expect of a gilded, sheltered Old Etonian, and they're bound to leak out of him at one point and another, as they already have.
More importantly, he doesn't have the administrative experience to run something as huge, and as tightly jammed between local and national politics, as the Greater London Authority. The more he tries to apply his hand to it rather than letting it tick over by itself until someone competent can be brought in, the more he will fuck it up. The possible good side of this is that he will recognise it, and for the sake of his career and the Tories' reputation, confine himself to the role of London Mascot.
It could be worse. But it could have been a lot better. Ken was doing a decent job both as a manager and a provider of new ideas, and I would have been quite happy for him to stay on. For the record, Paddick was my first choice. It's nice that, at least, the Lib Dems are holding their own on the national stage (and indeed making some gains, if small).
Hmm.
Don't get me wrong: I'm no particular fan of Labour, and although I think they've not done so badly overall, they have had a long-enough run of miscellaneous fuck-ups and scandals, as well as their fat-headed pursuance of the Iraq war, that they deserve a shake-up. And since there's not that much difference between them and the Tories, I guess the latter are a just-about bearable lot to retributively hand the reins over to for four years, though hardly my first choice.
But Boris isn't right for mayor of London. Yes, I know there's a brain under that newly-neat haircut - but he is nevertheless a partial buffoon and while that might be funny, it isn't good enough for the large amount of PR work the mayor has to do. Gaffes will be made, patience will be strained, respect will not be extended. I say this not just because Boris has a poor sense of tact in general, but also because he holds all the views about the non-white, the non-straight and the non-rich you'd expect of a gilded, sheltered Old Etonian, and they're bound to leak out of him at one point and another, as they already have.
More importantly, he doesn't have the administrative experience to run something as huge, and as tightly jammed between local and national politics, as the Greater London Authority. The more he tries to apply his hand to it rather than letting it tick over by itself until someone competent can be brought in, the more he will fuck it up. The possible good side of this is that he will recognise it, and for the sake of his career and the Tories' reputation, confine himself to the role of London Mascot.
It could be worse. But it could have been a lot better. Ken was doing a decent job both as a manager and a provider of new ideas, and I would have been quite happy for him to stay on. For the record, Paddick was my first choice. It's nice that, at least, the Lib Dems are holding their own on the national stage (and indeed making some gains, if small).