Tag archive for ‘Evening Standard’
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Crossrail – problems for a Tory mayor
Ongoing speculation about the future of Crossrail is mainly a problem for London. But it is also a problem for London’s mayor.
During the general election campaign Labour highlighted the failure of the Tories to give a clear commitment to complete Crossrail. That issue finally broke open when Justine Greening, then the Shadow London Minister, admitted that it was possible that under the Conservatives Crossrail might be cancelled.
The Tories’ deliberately imprecise formulation of ‘support’ for Crossrail – as opposed to any [...] -
Has Boris Johnson lost his grip? – asks the Spectator
There’s disgruntlement with Boris Johnson’s mayoralty from an unexpected quarter today – the Evening Standard’s property and planning correspondent Mira Bar-Hillel, in the lead article for this week’s Spectator.
Accusing the mayor of having passed his ”Emperor’s New Clothes moment,” Bar-Hillel pulls no punches: “he can’t admit he’s wrong, but he’s a little too lazy to do his homework properly, and that often leaves him intellectually denuded.”
“Just how well-suited is Boris to power?” she asks.
Bar-Hillel characterises Johnson’s administration as “well-meaning enthusiasm, followed by [...] -
Standard City Hall editor’s blog is back
The Evening Standard’s City Hall editor Pippa Crerar recently returned from maternity, and now her Standard blog is back.
It’s a welcome return, adding an extra dimension to online City Hall-watching. Here’s her take this week on the confirmation hearing for Kit Malthouse’s appointment, and possible future directions for the MPA.
Read Pippa’s blog here. -
(Not just) a Standard night out
Just back from an Evening Standard bash on Horseferry Road. (No, of course I’m not on this list).
I’ll leave it to the Standard’s staff to report the event properly tomorrow, including perhaps Ken Livingstone’s and Boris Johnson’s interesting chat…
Amusingly, Ken bumped into Rachel Johnson on the way in to the party – so you could say he arrived with the mayor’s sister.
Shameless name-dropping alert. Among those I had a chance to speak to were Boris Johnson’s chief of staff Simon [...] -
Cronyism and fraud: how reality under Boris Johnson has pushed fiction aside in the end
A deputy mayor given suspended prison sentence and community service for fraud…Another appointee resigns from his Olympics post after breaching Financial Services Authority regulations over shareholdings…A deputy mayor forced out after allegations of impropriety and for lying about being a magistrate…The mayor embroiled in a row after seeking to appoint a personal political ally to the Arts Council, reportedly against the Nolan rules for appointments in public life…
Just imagine the fury-filled pages that [...] -
Wadley smeared Ken but real the real cronyism is under Boris Johnson
The latest Boris Johnson-related story is the news that the mayor tried to get the former Evening Standard editor – Veronica Wadley – appointed to run the Arts Council in London.
The Times reported this morning:
“Johnson has been accused of breaching rules on public appointments after trying to appoint a key ally to a top London arts job…
“The appointment was resisted by Liz Forgan, chairwoman of the Arts Council in England, who took part in the shortlisting process and has suggested [...] -
Putting the mayor to the test – Geordie Greig on the Politics Show
The editor of the Evening Standard was one of the guests on the London segment of the Politics Show today. Geordie Greig’s interview with Tim Donovan was highly revealing and ought to give those in City Hall and those following London politics food for thought.
Asked whether the Standard had been a propaganda sheet during the last mayoral election, he argued that the paper had been “extremely pro-Boris” and made public that one of his first acts after becoming editor was [...] -
The Standard’s thirst for a story on Boris Johnson’s broken promises and inaction
I’m very struck by a section of the Standard’s report today into Boris Johnson’s failure to deliver his drinking fountain pledge.
Darren Johnson, the Green Assembly member, had raised the issue.
The Standard first reports:
The Mayor ordered Sir Simon Milton, his chief of staff, to investigate sites [for drinking fountains] and potential costs in June last year, saying: “If this place is generally getting hotter and people are going off buying bottled water I think we should have a new era of [...] -
Standard owner writes for Ken Livingstone’s New Statesman edition
I promised the occasional update on Ken Livingstone’s one-week-only editorship of the New Statesman…The latest news on Ken’s guest-edit is that the Evening Standard’s new owner, Alexander Lebedev, is to contribute. Lebedev will write the diary column in Ken’s edition.
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Evening Standard letter on Barnet’s cuts plans
The Standard today (1st September) has an abridged letter letter from me following Barnet council’s plans for cuts and privatisation.
Below is a longer version of the letter.
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It is a sign of things to come that Conservative Barnet Council, under the guise of its “Future Shape” easyCouncil model, is proceeding headlong towards privatization, cuts and more new charges. It is difficult to escape the impression that Barnet is gleeful that the economic climate gives them a pretext for privatisation.
Once [...]
