Boris answers your questions

Last week we invited your questions for Boris Johnson and he has submitted the answers below. He answered all fifteen that we submitted him to him. Our apologies if your question wasn't one of those we put to him. Brickbats please to us rather to Boris if that was the case.

Nick Hoile: Please, please, please can we have air conditioning on the tube?

Nick, we are working towards that very goal. We have great plans to upgrade the sub-surface lines by the end of 2009, and in the meantime we’ve put giant fans at particularly busy stations to try and provide some comfort to passengers. By 2015, around a third of the network will have air conditioning.

I’ve refused to concede defeat on getting air conditioning on the deep tube lines (Northern, Jubilee, Piccadilly, Bakerloo, Central and Victoria) and I’ve asked TfL to look at it again.

As always, it’s a question of money and when I met Alistair Darling I pointed out to him that the extra services we’ll be running over the next few years will create extra kinetic energy which will raise temperatures on the tube, thus making investing in air conditioning an absolute necessity.

Lucy: When is he getting rid of bendy buses?

Lucy, my first preference was to banish them on day one and I know that’s what most Londoners wanted to see too. However, the brutal fact is that we need to wait until the contracts expire, as cutting the cord immediately would involve wasting a lot of taxpayers’ money. The first contracts start to expire next year, and I hope to humanely euthanase the bendy buses from then.

activist: Can you recommend any good textbooks for teaching young children Latin?

There are many great Latin textbooks, but I would single out Kennedy’s Shorter Latin Primer.

wtf: What would you say to those who complain that your appointments to City Hall haven't exactly been based on merit? Isn't public school/Oxford cronyism just as bad as Red Ken's jobs for the boys?

I’ve appointed people who I think will deliver my vision for London, regardless of where they come from. I don’t think, for example, that Ray Lewis (despite his appointment not working out) would be pleased to be described as being a public school crony! The reality of the system set up by this government is that, as Mayor, I can appoint a small group of people to help me run the administration. They each bring different, great talents to the table, and in appointing them I have been mindful of my duty to reflect all Londoners.

Dorian Grape:  I get excited about flags, me. As the matter of buildings, flag poles and flags is under your executive control can we have the Cross of St. George displayed prominently at the GLA? You could probably get away with it if you said it was the City of London without the sword.  And how about a GLA flag? You could run a competition or something and come up with one like Haringey's: http://tinyurl.com/638jv3. But I'm pretty sure I have seen that design on a Panzer tank.  No, really. Will you fly the flag of England?

Dorian, if you come to City Hall, you’ll see the Union Jack flying outside, as well as a special ‘City Hall’ flag. You’re very welcome to send me your suggested design for such a GLA flag, as at the moment it just says ‘City Hall’. People often express their frustration at the previous regime’s reluctance to champion English culture and tradition, and ask me what I plan to do to rectify that. We celebrated this year’s St George’s day in Trafalgar Square and will continue to do so vociferously.

I’m sure during next year’s celebrations, we can organise having the flag of St George fly outside City Hall- an offer open to all other cultural celebrations at other times in the year.

Surrey Boy: Why do you think you can deliver a new hub airport in the Thames Estuary when Conservative and Labour governments in the past have studied the proposal in detail and found it impossible to deliver?

I think we all need to wake up to the fact that Heathrow just isn’t the solution to our long-term aviation needs. As long as people continue to want and need to travel to faraway destinations in contraptions powered by kerosene, we’ve got to have the infrastructure to support it. You will never expand Heathrow to the satisfaction of anyone, so I believe we should look elsewhere. There could be an opportunity to do something in the Thames Estuary, and I don’t want to be the kind of Mayor who shuts out fresh thinking. Yes, there are all sorts of issues to overcome- but I want to take a serious look at the feasibility of delivering it.

Imagine if Joseph Bazalgette had looked at previous failure and concluded there was no way of delivering a sewerage system for London? Or if Brunel had thought of what hadn’t been done before, and concluded he couldn’t do any better? We must always press forward, we must always aim higher and we must always seek to achieve what hasn’t been achieved before.

gingeral: Are you going to cancel Ken Livingstone's planned celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution next year (bearing in mind that Castro killed more people in his first three years in office than Pinochet managed in seventeen!)?

You can rest assured this is a dead plan. It is no more, it has ceased to be, it is an ex-plan! My administration will not be treating taxpayer’s money with the lax attitude of the previous administration.

Oberon Houston: When will the review of the city cycle hire scheme be complete, and when will firm proposals be announced?

Oberon, I’ve instructed TfL to move as fast as we can on this, because I’m really excited about the potential this has to transform the city. My aim is to get this up and running in 2010. There are a few hurdles to overcome along the way; the hardest thing is finding appropriate pavement space and finding the right supplier. We’ve also got to do formal consultation, and consider the impact extra cyclists will have on traffic flow. Make no mistake, I want this to happen and it will.

Marcus: Would you PLEASE do something - apply pressure, whatever - to get the 2012 Olympics logo changed from the present amateurish design?

Marcus, I’m now in a position where I’ve got to accept a little collective responsibility! I know it’s not to everyone’s taste, but I’d rather focus on extracting a viable legacy from the Games, and ensuring we deliver an event fit for a first class city. That’s where my energies are directed, and that’s where they are best focused.

WHS: Will the Mayor make sure his bods at City Hall inform local Associations when he is out and about in the boroughs?  He has been to mine on various photo-ops three times since becoming Mayor: it would have given all our troops an enormous boost just to go and touch his hem and cheer him, and made us more willing to go out on wet Wednesdays to make sure he stays in to be Mayor for the Olympics.

I would love to see local members more when I’m out on the road, and I want to take this opportunity to thank all the activists and volunteers who campaigned tirelessly to get out the vote and help us win City Hall for the first time. It really is no exaggeration to say we couldn’t have done it without you, as turnout was so crucial to the result.

There are some visits that I do that are not of an association nature, but I plan to do more visits where associations can be fully involved in all parts of London. Of course, I have to be mindful not use the resources of my office to undertake campaigning, but I do not for one minute want the troops to think I have forgotten them- I haven’t.

JR: I voted for you but am concerned about your level of commitment and interest in the job. Why have you, for example, decided to continue with your weekly column in the Telegraph?

I see no harm in spending a Sunday evening writing a column. It doesn’t impede my duties as Mayor at all. I am quickly finding out that the sheer scale of this job is wider, deeper and more intense than I ever imagined. More important, I am loving every minute of it. My day is scheduled to within an inch of its life, and I want to squeeze as much as I can out of my time as Mayor in order to get things done. There is so much to be done, on transport, on the environment, on housing and most crucially on knife crime. So be in no doubt- this is the biggest and best challenge I have faced in my professional life and I am throwing everything I have into it.

Graeme Archer: I know that legally you cannot sack Ian Blair- power that a Tory government must give the mayor (do you agree?). Why not make a moral stand and publicly demand his resignation? You are far too perceptive to believe his public protestations and he will work to undermine your crime and social justice agenda.

Sir Ian and I need to work together to solve the serious problems with knife crime and youth violence. I do believe that the Mayor should have greater power over the Met, as there is a democratic deficit at the moment. I can, and should, be held accountable for crime in this city- but I have little power to hold the Met to account. Of course, in reality we work closely together, and they are responsive to the needs of the city and my priorities. But if you look at other major cities, like New York, there is a clear line of accountability that enables that Mayor to drive through the changes that the city demands. At the end of the day, I can’t demand, I can only ask and I believe that should change.

Londoner: Please will you and Sir Simon Milton progress rapidly new detailed policy and guidance to deal with tall buildings and overdevelopment (developers are still behaving according to Ken's dictates)? I am thinking of such areas as Vauxhall Cross, which need regeneration but do not need a whole cluster of very tall buildings totally alienating the area from the surrounding mostly Victorian streets. Might you seek a major arts or sports organisation to set up a national centre/performing space there, as the centre point for Vauxhall Cross regeneration, rather than a lot of tall rabbit hutch homes and offices designed only to meet some top down London-wide target?

Sir Simon has already made progress on our planning policy. We have recently released a direction of travel document ‘Planning for a Better London’, which sets out very clearly the priorities of our planning policy (http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/planning/plan-better-london.jsp).
On tall buildings, we will support them in the appropriate locations, where there are existing clusters and give greater weight to local context. On the specific example you give of Vauxhall Cross, as I am soon to take personal control of planning power, I can’t comment in detail as it might prejudice any decision I make. But I can give you my general view. I want new buildings to be of the highest quality, and I want to ensure we think of urban regeneration schemes in the context of how they will shape communities for 50 years and more so we try and avoid the mistakes made by previous generations. I will be more sensitive to local opinion, and only use my new powers to intervene in exceptional circumstances.

Question for Boris Johnson: Mayor Johnson, I would like to know why you felt the need to interfere with internal US politics by endorsing Hillary Clinton and then Barack Obama for president? Protocol generally has foreign politicians - from any country - avoiding endorsements to cause embarrassment. Additionally, I really don't understand how someone who is conservative (with a small 'c') with right-wing leanings can endorse Mr Obama, who had the most left-wing voting record in the US Senate?

I was asked my view on Barack Obama, and I genuinely believe he would give black people the world over a tremendous boost. I suppose that inevitably gets reported as an ‘endorsement’, but I’m far too focused on the challenges facing London to get embroiled in the presidential election. However, I also said at the time that John McCain has many wonderful qualities.

ConHomer: So far, what is your biggest achievement and what was your biggest mistake?

I’ve done a lot of things I am proud of, but if I had to pick one I would say increasing the number of police on public transport. During the campaign many Londoners, particularly those in the outer Boroughs that the previous Mayor ignored, urged me to do something about crime on the buses. I am pleased to have been able to take action so quickly, and establish three bus hubs where expanded Safer Transport Teams now operate. It proves that there are some things that can be done, when there is the right political will in place. I will be announcing the next phase of this operation over the coming weeks, including the early results.

Of course, there are some things, with the benefit of hindsight, I could have done differently, but I think it would have been a dramaturgical cheat on the electorate not to have done a few things that attracted criticism.

Comments

[Sally Roberts]

"There are many great Latin textbooks, but I would single out Kennedy’s Shorter Latin Primer."

Yes an excellent book that I am sure others as well as myself used to deface so it read "Shorter EATING Primer"! ;-)

[Norm Brainer]

When he says "will create extra kinetic energy" and seems to want air conditioning at any costs, this says to me a misunderstanding of the problem.
It's possible he's using air conditioning as a general term to mean any air cooling which would be ok, but it just sounds like because people have decided that aircon is the answer then that is the solution.
I think I just get a bee in my bonnet over this because I spend my time on hot tubes thinking up ingenious cooling systems (that probably wouldn't work)

Also, not wishing to throw my toys out of the pram, but wasn't there 3 or 4 of us that asked about motorbikes in bus lanes? Couldn't have that been tagged on the end of the bendy bus question if you felt asking about latin was so important?
Bit late now, but I was asking to get his general opinion as ken would like to refuse to accept that bikes existed. You see TFL posters around showing all modes of transport but not motorbikes.
It does make you feel like your a rebel outlaw as you ride through the city, which can be fun but shouldn't have to be like that.

[London Tory]

Vintage Boris gag on BBC1 last night. Talking about his mother's lineage;

"I am from a family of Alsace-ions".
Pause.
"Thats the place, not a family of dogs".

[Sally Roberts]

Yes, London Tory I too laughed at that! Last night's programme was fascinating and one of the best things was watching the expressions on Boris's face as the story unfolded and his cries of "Cripes" and "Stone The Crows"! The account of Ali Kemal's demise was incredibly moving and I could see exactly why this was a subject that Boris's Grandfather would never discuss.

I too am someone with what could be called a "mongrel" background and if anyone didn't see the programme I would urge you catch it on iplayer!

[Londoner]

Editor - Thanks for selecting my question on planning and tall buildings. A fine choice of questions.

Wandering a bit, as others have, onto last night's "Who do you think you are?" BBC TV programme on Boris's ancestry, I thought it was wonderful. For those who did not see it, as well as the moving story of his Turkish great grandfather who was killed by a lynch mob, the Alsation/German side revealed, through an illegimate line, that Boris is directly descended from George II (King of England and Elector of Hanover). From henceforth, he shall be known in our household as King Boris I of "the King" for short. It was priceless and, if available on BBC play again, please watch it.

Before anyone says he should be concentrating on being Mayor rather than making TV programmes, I think this was the project that delayed his campaigning last Nov/Dec (and its showing was then delayed because of his election campaign). It was worth delaying his campaign for!

[Dorian Grape]

Thank you for responding to the English flag related enquiry.

Having given it some thought I can see why the cruciform crusader related symbolism might be a problem. Even more serious is the possibly that a passing Russian helicopter gunship might mistake City Hall for the Georgian embassy.

I have concluded that the red cross should be removed altogether and that the remaining background would then be a suitable symbol for the nation formerly known as England.

[Surrey Boy]

Thanks for using my question on the Thames Estuary airport.

He, of course is correct in saying that Heathrow cannot be expanded without upsetting somebody, but how is a whopping great new super airport shoved into an environmentally sensitive area any different? Once again, I suspect the political disadvantages of the proposal are going to be more compelling to him than cost, time scale etc. PPCs and MPs in Kent are already gearing up to oppose Boris at the next election on this issue.

He also misses the point entirely in his comparison to the London sewerage system. We already have a busy international hub at Heathrow. There are proposals to where the new runway and terminal would be sited, with assessment of the environmental impacts. There is nothing wrong with thinking big, but when there is a real proposal on the table, ready for the off, it just seems barmy to start afresh.

[Comstock]

" Brickbats please to us rather to Boris if that was the case."

OK, one brickbat coming right up! Firstly I should declare an interest- I was one of the questioners, and transport geography is a special interest of mine.

Four of us asked about the congestion charge. This is an issue Boris tried to face all ways at once over during the campaign. Now he is safely installed in City Hall, he has still failed to give any kind of straight answers about what he intends to do. Even when the recent report showed the charge isn't reducing congestion, and is only raising revenue because of the fines, he still tried to face all ways at once.

I know questions were limited to 15, but one was spent on asking about Latin textbooks (hardly something in the remit of a mayor who's main powers are in the field of Planning and Transport!!)

[Dorian Grape]

Hi Comstock

Ita erat quando hic adveni.

[ACT]

In answer to JR's question, 'Boris' wrote:

I see no harm in spending a Sunday evening writing a column. It doesn’t impede my duties as Mayor at all. I am quickly finding out that the sheer scale of this job is wider, deeper and more intense than I ever imagined ... My day is scheduled to within an inch of its life, and I want to squeeze as much as I can out of my time as Mayor in order to get things done. There is so much to be done, on transport, on the environment, on housing and most crucially on knife crime ... this is the biggest and best challenge I have faced in my professional life and I am throwing everything I have into it.

This answer is so loopily disconnected (and dishonest to boot), I have to ask: did Boles oversee its transition? Still, when Labour inevitably force him to choose between the two, we'll soon enough see which one Boris 'enjoys' most: the public sector job he was elected to do, or the private sector job he has elected to.

[Dorian Grape]

Interestingly, both Boris and Brown will be in Beijing for the closing ceremony and the climax will be the official handover to the UK. Will it be our Prime Minister who gets the 1.5 billion TV audience? Nope, our very own Conservative Boris has got the gig.

Tee hee, just how grumpy will Brown be? About as grumpy as he has just been in Afghanistan:

‘Mr Karzai, who faces numerous challenges to his own leadership, made the quip as reporters pressed the British Prime Minister over his relationship with David Miliband.

“Cabinet ministers plotting is nothing new. We have it in Afghanistan - although not my foreign minister,” Mr Karzai remarked.

Mr Brown looked irritated by the persistent questions, repeatedly insisting “It is a good relationship. We get on with the job.”

Telegraph
12:25PM BST 21 Aug 2008

[Londoner]

I don't see why ACT thinks Boris's answer on his journalism was loopily disconnected and dishonest. He is saying that he is totally dedicated to the Mayoralty during all normal working hours, and no doubt much beyond them (and making points to show that) whilst writing his Tuesday morning Telegraph column on Sunday evenings (readers of his column will know that this is his copy deadline, as he has told us). Someone like Boris does not need to spend a large part of the week writing a column, even if it offends socialists that he may be paid more than his Mayoral salary for doing so.

I do think there is some potential for the column to embarrass him because of a loose remark being used against him (I slightly cringed at the "Sod Skegness" headline a few weeks ago), but the idea that he does not, or should not, have time is silly. Furthermore it lets him let off steam and keeps his hand in. If he loses the Mayoralty election in 2012 or 2016, it's much healthier if he has another job to go back to than aping the pathetic performance of Ken Livingston, turning up to the public gallery for Mayor's questions, already lobbying to stand again next time, and generally behaving as if his whole life had depended upon being Mayor.

Long live King Boris.

[Justin Hinchcliffe]

I'm surprised my question asking how the Mayor could help London's small businesses, especially markets, didn't get through yet a silly question on flag-flying did.

[ACT]

God knows (and most ex-Telegraph folk too), Bojo doesn't bust a gut bashing out the copy. The point here is essentially an ethical one: should an elected politician be so financially beholden to an outside paymaster? If Boris is allowed to be a newspaper columnist as well as Mayor, should Cabinet members be allowed to do the same? After all, there's nothing special about doing a 'media' job surely? So if you're arguing that there's some greater principle at work here than merely Bojo's bloated self-interest, why not let cabinet members be FTSE100 directors whilst they're also government ministers? Or work for TV companies? Or do whatever they feel like doing for as much as they can get from whoever they can get it from, on top of their government job?

I don't know about you, but I think the current rules preventing them from doing so are there for a very good reason. And when Labour this parliament brings in legislation obliging Boris to choose between the Twins' moolah, and, being pitifully public sector-paid Mayor of London, the question won't be, 'which way will Boris wobble?' The answer to that is obvious. No, the question is, which way will Dave ending up whipping the boys and gels when the legislation comes to the House? To stand up and bravely make the case that Boris, uniquely, should be allowed to keep on raking in the Twins' lolly, or to accept that the London mayoralty should be brought into line with all other comparable posts (government ministers at Westminster, their devolved equivalents, civil servants &c)? My bet: Dave will crumple about a fortnight into this one and say that Boris has to choose. So start reading up now on the procedures for how a Mayor who quits is replaced. It'll be painfully relevant in about 6 months time.

[Londoner]

Well, ACT, I am probably wrong to rise to your goading, but here goes. First, if he had to choose, I am sure he would choose the Mayoralty. To suggest otherwise is even sillier than your original point.

Second, this is a local government position, not a Minister of the Crown. Local Councillors, Council Leaders (even now with "cabinet" salaries, so far as I know) are not prohibited from having non-conflicted outside jobs. There is no conflict of interest here unless the Mayor were considering a Planning Application involving the Telegraph group. If there ever were anything of that nature, he would stand aside for that individual decision as with any other conflict of interest.

If you are really suggesting that the Labour Government is going to introduce special primary legislation on this point to deal with the London Mayor alone as a special case ("The Boris (Amendment) Bill 2009"), you have an even more warped idea of its legislative priorities than I do. If you are suggesting that there should be a general ban on any local government elected official, or perhaps just on those receiving a "cabinet" salary, on any outside work, then I certainly hope that the Opposition would vote against it.

ACT - your points are a combination of a vain attempt to score silly party political points with transparent jealousy. You can't make up your mind whether you most resent Boris because he won the election, has a much larger income than you, or is descended from a King of England. Probably all three!

[ACT]

While I enjoy ad hominem abuse just as much as Londonder obviously does, he has left out a fourth possibility for my motivation: namely, tediously, I've just written what I actually believe to be the case? I know saying what you believe strikes 'Roons as being absurdly old-fashioned, but there we are. And as far as the Bill goes that tidies up the loophole that allows Boris to do what, quite rightly, Brown, Salmond et al are prevented by law from doing, I'm sure Dave will mouth your position for at least the first week or so. Then he'll fold. He'd be mad not to, and whatever else Dave is, he isn't mad, or especially brave.

[Norm Brainer]

"And as far as the Bill goes that tidies up the loophole that allows Boris to do what, quite rightly, Brown, Salmond et al are prevented by law from doing,"

Why quite rightly?
I could see if you are cabinet then there's little job you could take that wouldn't end up with many conflicts of interest, but this isn't the case with Boris.
I'm with 'Londoner' in thinking that your posts just sound like (not saying you are, I'm not that offensive) typical leftie envy or socialist like confusion because the amount of time worked isn't directly proportionate to the income.

[ACT]

What you're arguing is that, it's okay for Boris do a 'media' job. I'm assuming you wouldn't argue that Boris could also be eg a director ICI, or MD of a merchant bank, or chairman of Man Utd, while mayor. Now I have to admit I don't understand why you draw this implied distinction (assuming you do - anyone who feels the Mayor of London - or government or devolved ministers - should be free, on top of that position, to take on whatever additional paid work they want, please do step forward and say so, and why).

Now let's be honest about this, it's hardly as if the twins lack 'interests', not least in London, where the bulk of their corporate activities are based (the hotel, the paper, the magazine, the property holdings and the investments). And Boris is, as we can agree, quite literally in the pay of the Barclays. I'll put this another way: if Ken were still Mayor of London, whilst at the same time holding down as a job the Secretary Generalship of Unison or some red Chinese sinecure, let alone receiving Bojo's salary from more-than-slightly strange offshore multi-millionaires, people on this site would have been among the loudest in their complaints (and rightly too).

I'm not sure how or why this red herring of 'envy' comes into it. I don't begrudge Boris a penny of what he bilks out of the Barclays. But just as it would be completely wrong for Alex Salmond, say, to behave as Boris has done (even his staunchest defenders, surely, will admit that his complete silence on this subject - his absolute intention to resume his Telegraph work - during his election camapign was hardly Boris' finest hour?), it's not right now either. One of ConHome's worst faults in the silly tendency to praise fellow Tories whatever they're doing. Believe me, Boris certainly wouldn't repay your tribalism if you found yourself in a jam and appealed to him as a fellow Tory to help you at any discernible cost to himself (cf McGrath).

What I've done is simply to make two predictions, and ask one question: 1.) Labour will amend the relevant legislation this parliamentary session to make Boris choose between his Telegraph dosh and being Mayor; 2.) Boris, in keeping with his silence during the campaign, will take the money and run. And the question is, how long will Dave put up a fight against this legislation in the House? Not very is my suggestion, and for once that's not a criticism of him. It's Boris who has selfishly put Dave on the spot, not the other way round.

[Norm Brainer]

Where's this implication come from?

If the other director/chairman jobs took a few hours of his spare time then I've no complaint there either.

I thought ken wrote for some socialist rags and that propaganda sheet that we paid for.
Was it OK for him to do that as long as we were paying as it was then part of the Mayor's job - if someone else is paying then it's not part of the job and so he's a "part time mayor"??

[ACT]

Again, I'm not 100% sure why you're, in effect, asking me to defend Ken. Ken was easily the worst person to be elected to any serious political office in this country in, what, well over a hundred years? So is there any chance we could dispense with these slightly weird diversions? The point remains very simple: should someone holding down the high public office (which mayor of London certainly is) also be in receipt of an outside income, and one so greatly is excess of his official salary to boot? I, for one, think it would be intolerable for a cabinet member to have pulled the stunt Boris has, and for a variety of reasons, I'm fairly sure it's going to be put a stop to this parliamentary session. And that's a good and Tory thing which we should all support.

[Norm Brainer]

OK, well I think it's a good thing and I'm fairly sure it won't be put to a stop anytime soon and that's a good and Tory thing which we should all support.

[RealConservative]

I wonder if Boris and David Cameron losing Ray Lewis could be the worst moment so far in Boris’ mayoralty. I still tend to think this was an excellent appointment. There may be aspects that got overlooked in the controversy – e.g. the money that Mr Lewis had borrowed had been willingly given and that he had repaid the whole amount with interest, and as for him not being a magistrate, Mr Lewis had been invited to become a magistrate and had done the training but had not yet been sworn in. Perhaps Ray Lewis was hounded out for political reasons and because he is a keen Christian, and that he isn’t sufficiently ‘politically correct’. Whatever the truth, he may have had an imperfect past and doesn’t claim to be perfect, but can no reformed person ever hold public office? Possibly not if one is a Conservative and a Christian?

Mr Lewis’ work through his Academy is known to have turned around many boys in the E End from violent and dysfunctional family backgrounds - just the type of person needed it seems to deal with the increasing gang and knife crime etc in London. But maybe he is too unconventional for the politically-correct liberal-left forces which even our Party seems too spineless to stand up to. Perhaps Boris can still find a way for Ray Lewis to serve London, even if not through political office.

[passing leftie]

Wow! You really chose the difficult questions. This will enhance your reputation for hard-hitting journalism.

[Londoner]

ACT - I will accept for a moment that your concern about Boris's Telegraph column is high principle, and that you have a special insight/knowledge into the Government's intentions on this. Quite a big assumption to assume both simultaneously, but there you are.

Are you saying that this legislation you expect will be purely related to the London Mayor? Or that it is going to relate to all elected people in local government? Or, if somewhere in between, where are you/they drawing the line and why?

If it is basically just for the London Mayor. don't you think:
(a) that people might think there are higher legislative priorities? and
(b) that people will just think it's spiteful against Boris and that it would be better to leave it to Londoners to decide when they come to vote on his re-election?

If your information is well founded, it strikes me as a very silly idea from some back room PR person which is very likely to misfire. No change there then.

If Boris never said he would continue with a column, anyone who thought it so important should have asked him. He never said he wouldn't. To have volunteered it would have been odd, particularly as he may well not have been offered the continuation until after the election.

[Mark Fisher]

I for one am amazed that he took the column up after winning the election. I think it sums up his entire approach to the election, to politics, and to this job.

Cameron should have told him it wasn't on. But I'm sure as has been said here the Labour Party will step in and force the question. There is no way Cameron will want to throw away votes for Boris Johnson.

[Brian Barker]

As far as learning Latin is concerned, I'm not too sure if this will help Boris in Beijing.

I do know however that CRI now broadcast in Esperanto.

You can see at http://esperanto.cri.cn/