This Thanksgiving, be grateful for the political freedom to campaign November 21, 2018 Tomorrow is the fourth Thursday in November, so Americans, in the US and across the world, will be celebrating Thanksgiving. Whenever I have been invited to Thanksgiving dinners, one of my favourite traditions is when everyone sitting around the table mentions something which they are grateful for in their lives. People often mention something personal [...]
Max fac is back to help solve Irish backstop worries, Downing Street reveals November 20, 2018 Theresa May is reviving plans to use technology to prevent a hard border with Ireland in a bid to win support for her under-fire Brexit deal. The so-called maximum facilitation proposal – dubbed ‘max fac’ – was one of the customs arrangements considered by the Government last year before being dismissed. It has support among [...]
Boris’s water cannon fetch junk price as they are sold off for scrap November 19, 2018 Three water cannon bought and renovated for over £300,000 by former London mayor Boris Johnson will be broken down for scrap after being sold for a fraction of their value. The machines, which were never used, have been sold for parts to Reclamations (Ollerton) Ltd for just over £11,000, the mayor’s office announced yesterday. The [...]
London Assembly launches new probe into scrapped Garden Bridge project November 15, 2018 The Greater London Authority (GLA) is to investigate the scrapped £200m Garden Bridge project that was promoted under former mayor Boris Johnson. The GLA announced at an oversight committee this morning that it had set up a cross-party working group to scrutinise decisions on the Garden Bridge taken by the Garden Bridge Trust and Transport for London (TfL), [...]
Brexit: Theresa May warned she will lose support of her party over draft deal November 14, 2018 Theresa May was today warned she will lose the support of Conservative MPs if a draft Brexit agreement could see the UK being kept in a customs union with the EU. Veteran Brexit supporter Peter Bone issued the stark warning to the Prime Minister less than two hours before a meeting of the cabinet to [...]
Sadiq Khan slammed for ‘shocking’ strikes record ahead of Central Line action November 6, 2018 Sadiq Khan has been accused of having the worst strikes record of any London mayor despite promising there would be zero industrial action on his watch. Tomorrow's strike on the Central Line by the Aslef and RMT unions marks the 15th strike to occur since Khan was elected in May 2016. That figure includes 11 Tube strikes, one bus strike, [...]
Boris Johnson accepts £14000 Saudi Arabia trip weeks before journalist’s murder October 31, 2018 Former foreign minister Boris Johnson accepted a free trip worth £14,000 from the government of Saudi Arabia two weeks before the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The cost of the three day trip to Jeddah, including travel, food and accommodation, was covered by the Saudi government according to a register of MP’s income. The [...]
London mayor Sadiq Khan’s green war on diesel cars finally hits home October 30, 2018 Sad news in my household: Moonie is not long for this world. The time is fast approaching when I must put her out of her misery, despite the fact that she seems pretty robust regardless of her ageing years. Like Boxer in “Animal Farm,” I will soon load her up into her metaphorical horse box, send [...]
Do you want to save the turtles? Don’t ban plastics – ban littering October 22, 2018 Like any good Londoner, I used the fantastic summer weather to kayak from Limehouse to Hackney, discovering that part of the city by water. As a fairly experienced river and sea kayaker, I was taken aback by how full of litter London’s waters are. At around the same time, the national and global debate on [...]
Chomping at the bit: The race is on to be the next Tory leader October 17, 2018 There will be no deal this week. It was intended, then hoped for, but a Brexit deal is now as far away as it has ever been. The longer this goes on, the more likely it is that there will be a late capitulation, the mother-of-all-compromises by Downing Street, presented as a victory for all [...]