My latest debate has even got to the teachers at school
Subject: This house would vote for Boris Johnson in the London 2012 Mayoral Elections.
Guess which side people are on?
And we've taken it up a gear with me getting a "Back Boris" oyster card holder and the deputy head and one of the Latin teachers have a "Sack Boris" oyster card holder.
I'm printing a poster that says "Ken's unfare deal" and in some betting shops they are taking bets on how long it will take Ken Livingstone to lie (according to my Dad)
And I subliminally campaigned for Boris in Trafalgar Square whilst on a school trip - one bus went past and cheered at me (at which point I waved politician-style)!
My case is this:
Boris Johnson. An amazing politician for some, a joker for others. Yet how can a man that has fixed the problems that Ken Livingstone, the previous mayor of London made?
Firstly, transport. The elephant in the room is the London Underground. In 2003, Geoff Marshall, later a tube world record holder (who has his own website
here) said that ""Uncle" Ken got his grubby mitts on the tube...". The words "grubby mitts" tell us that Ken had ruined an important method of transport. One year later, Mr. Marshall said that "The Tube is in need of repair and "Uncle" Ken has done nothing." Ken Livingstone's failure to upgrade the Transport system called RMT (National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers) leader Bob Crow to resign from TFL (Transport for London). Ken Livingstone did not bother about upgrading the tube so much that instead of leading TFL to the job, he left it instead to two private companies, Metronet and Tube Lines. Metronet tried to upgrade West Harrow station but after spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on it, all they managed was a ditch. It also meant that one of the entrances to the nearby primary school was closed for two years and punctuality dropped as students had to go the long way round. Under Boris Johnson, he fought relentlessly to regain Tube Lines and TFL acquired it in 2010. Now many Londoners criticise the Jubilee Line for being un-punctual and, and I am not making this up, one Londoner said that "The contestants on X Factor are more in time than this!" The fact of the matter is that Boris fixed the fiasco that was the Jubilee Line by acquiring Tube Lines - signal failures since the formal completion of the upgrade (June 2011) are down by 55% than before the upgrade. Tube Lines wanted TCDC, a speed limiter that was extremely unreliable. TFL decided on ATO - automatic trains. Much money was spent on the upgrade and much money was saved by not having to build new trains. The Jubilee Line has developed a 33% capacity increase, up from the initial estimate of 25%. The Metropolitan line is currently being upgraded. Now, the buses. Some of the younger Londoners would never remember a Route-master bus when Ken Livingstone scrapped them in 2001. He then chose to replace them with, yes, you guessed it, bendy buses. Bendy Buses are so long that they have to have a sign on them saying "WARNING: This bus is X meters long." But Boris Johnson, with the help of TFL and with passenger capacity in mind, decided to effectively remove the back half and place it on top. Et voila, a better solution for everybody. Now many people have been saying that it's been taking too long, but several Lib Dems in the London assembly are holding it back. Nevertheless a new bus for London, combining the old with the new, will be in service in January 2012. Some more transport aspects; Boris Bikes, a huge success that has got people cycling more (For those who don't know, it's like a taxi but you have to cycle it to a docking point and the fare builds up the longer you cycle, but the first half-hour is free). Another amazing transport thing that Boris has done is to remove the Western extension of the Congestion Charge, saving the average Londoner £1 per day - that's £1,461 every four years.
Secondly, crime and other atrocities. Boris Johnson, despite the riots, cut crime by 5%. It just shows what could have been if the riots did not happen. Ken Livingstone, however, rose crime, even when you discount 7/7. To make things even worse, Ken Livingstone actually said "I had no problems with 7/7."
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However, for Boris, 5% is not enough and there will be an extra 1,000 police officers on the street by May 2012, the start of which I am already beginning to see. Crime has gone down significantly over here despite a Labour MP.
Thirdly, the Olympics. Although Ken Livingstone has been voted out, Boris has picked up what Ken did (not much) and pushed forwards. He cares so much that he managed to take a London bus and flew it to Beijing specifically for the handover ceremony. For all that Boris Johnson has done, it would be a real shame to not see him hand the flag over to the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro. And as the official logo says, be part of it. Back Boris. You can still see the flag at City Hall.
Lastly, Boris Johnson has managed to make himself more connected with the public by publishing every single thing over the value of £500 that City Hall has spent. In politics, that is not a lot.
Boris Johnson.
Not a joker.
Official Back Boris website:
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Official Ken Livingstone website:
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Back Boris.
(Now do you believe me that I can debate?)