Tag archive for ‘Ken Livingstone’
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Why Brent leader Ann John is backing Ken
One of the many people backing Ken Livingstone’s candidacy for the Labour nomination for Mayor of London is the leader of my local council, Ann John.
Ann led Labour’s campaign in Brent to win back the the council after a tough night in the local elections four years ago. The previous Labour administration in Brent – also led by Ann John – was replaced by a Tory-LibDem coalition until this May. It’s good see Ann and her local Labour colleagues back in majority control. Local victories like that point to [...] -
Valued pubs are closing – so the Tories cut the fund that saves them
The Telegraph today covers the problems faced by community pubs whose future is threatened by the closure of a £3.3 million fund set up by the last Labour government to help stem the closure of local pubs.
It reports:
Critics said last night that ministers were “turning their back” on rural communities.
More than 80 groups have come forward for help to buy out their local pub since the Community-Owned Pubs Support Programme was announced in March.
But about 50 projects across England that [...] -
235 NEC nominations for Ken
The nominations for the constituency section of the Labour party NEC are now starting to be published. Ken Livingstone has received 235 nominations, with only current party chair Ann Black securing more.
Paul Waugh has tweeted that this means ‘Newt Labour’ is set for a national comeback. Of course the outcome will be decided on the basis of the votes cast rather than the nominations from Constituency Labour Parties but nonetheless it’s a strong showing for Ken, reflecting the same kind [...] -
Are the Tories running scared over police cuts?
Conservatives like to present themselves as the party of law and order so it is no surprise that they are sensitive when the unpalatable truth about their record is brought out into the open.
The reaction of City Hall’s Tories to the news that Ken Livingstone is attending the Metropolitan Police Authority tomorrow to oppose police cuts and defend London’s safer neighbourhood police teams suggests they are less than delighted to have these issues raised.
The cut to police numbers of 455 [...] -
Boris Johnson – dodging public accountability
Boris Johnson’s appearance on LBC’s Nick Ferrari show this morning highlights two clear issues with his administration.
The first is broken promises. In his manifesto Boris Johnson gave a commitment [pdf, see page three] that he would reintroduce tidal flow in the Blackwall tunnel. Now he says he can’t do it for legal reasons.
There are two options. Either he was right during the election, in which case it is simply incompetent not to implement his promise. Or he is right now, in which [...] -
A progressive agenda to stop the right in 2010
Readers of this blog may be interested in attending the Progressive London conference on 30th January – “A progressive agenda to stop the right in 2010.”
Some of the initial speakers, including Ken Livingstone, leading members of the London Assembly, MPs such as Jon Cruddas, Diane Abbott and Tessa Jowell, trade unionists, bloggers, writers, London councillors, MEPs, campaigners and activists, are listed here along with an early indication of some of the subjects for discussion.
As Progressive London reports, Ken Livingstone says:
“We [...] -
Moonwalking bear necessities
Not much reported, but noteworthy all the same, is the news that Transport for London’s “moonwalking bear” cycling safety ad has won a gold award at the IPA Effectiveness Awards for advertising.
As the judges commented, “Faced with the difficult task of reducing the number of deaths and the number of injuries that cyclists sustain on London’s roads, this campaign moved away from traditional shock tactic strategy and instead tried to understand what is causing these accidents.”
Commissioned during [...] -
(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 [...] -
Gordon Brown – more accountable to the media than Boris Johnson
Watching Gordon Brown hold his regular Downing Street press conference today underscores how woefully London is served in this respect by Boris Johnson’s attitude to the media.
Brown exposes himself to questioning on the most important issues of the day. He is joined by a colleague or colleagues to promote an issue that he wants to push on a particular occasion but does not use this to block questions on other subjects. He is willing to be questioned for some time [...] -
Boriswatch on Boris Johnson’s latest broken promise
This is a quick plug for Helen’s latest post on Boriswatch ‘Boris breaks his promise to women – again.’
It tells the tale of how Boris Johnson gave his word to hold a ‘peoples question time’ event on women in London, having first cancelled the successful annual Capitalwoman event that was held by his predecessor Ken Livingstone. Yet the promised event never took place – and the mayor has now informed the Assembly via an answer to John Biggs AM that [...]
