I think there might be an element of that. He was an excellent Mayor of London btw. The Capital City owes him a lot. I think he’s mutated into a barmy old git, which is sad.
because according to our own person who was in charge of delivering it, its impossible. you cant expect the EU agree to something thats impossible.. its not reasonable at all. We had already found a reasonable solution, it was called the EU, where the problem of open borders were resolved by mutually agreed product standards and EU courts to enforce them, along with not allowing individual trade deals with member outside the EU. but that's something you seem to reject out of hand. Without those checks in place the idea of protecting our trade standards with open borders is not possible.
Spot on VM. People can advocate a technological solution as much as they like, but at the moment it is in the realms of science fiction. It. Does. Not. Exist. Even if it did exist, please could someone explain how technology would prevent smuggling across the Irish border? There is no smuggling at the moment, because everything that is available in the ROI is available in NI, and vice versa, but that won’t be the case after Brexit, especially a Crash Brexit.
Yep. The term “Boris Bike” is an absolute misnomer, though the bumbling blond Bunter was happy to take the credit. Ken’s legacy is a hugely improved public transport network, including an emphasis on making the city more cycle and pedestrian friendly. One little known gem is the network of walks and urban nature trails, known as the London ring. Boris’ legacy will be over 200 high rise office and luxury apartment buildings, ruining the skyline and bringing very little benefit to ordinary Londoners (there’s actually no such thing as an ordinary Londoner, that’s part of the appeal of the place. But most of us aren’t rich, despite how insanely expensive it is to live here now).
The mistakes that led to the Grenfell tragedy were mainly on which Mayor's watch in your opinion Archers?
I would lay that one firmly at Margaret Thatcher’s door mate. The housing crisis in London, of which I see Grenfell as a symptom, is a direct result of her government’s policy of selling off all the Council Houses. And remember councils were expressly forbidden to use the receipts of those sales to reinvest in affordable homes for working people. For the record, Grant Schapps, who was Tory housing minister under David Cameron, owns over 40 former council homes in Westminster Council. It’s a ****ing racket. I could rant for hours about London’s broken housing market, those who have got rich off the back of it, and those who are now paying the cost - but I will resist the temptation for now.
Imagine our two biggest political parties were football team? Who should they try to snap up. The Tories have lacked a world class leader since the demise of Margaret Thatcher. They desperately need one, but looking within the ranks there have only Boris Johnson and Hunt as their main marksmen. While they show talent they are far too inconsistent. Who could fill that gaping gap at the top, a marquee signing? I´d go for Emmanuel Macron but given their present direction the chances of that happening are zero. Like the Conservatives, Labour have lacked and out and out top quality striker since Tony Blair called it a day. While there is some undoubted talent within the ranks, it rarely gets a chance to shine, and foolishly in the views of some, let the outstanding promise of Shuka Umuna go. If they could, they should go for the excellent Spanish stiker, Pedro Sánchez to fill the gap or the wonderful talent from New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern. There is also some great talent within the smaller parties such as Nicola Sturgeon and Caroline Lucas, but could they be persuaded to jump ship and join Labour? At this stage it is doubtful. So like Chelsea, both parties have to try to utilise what they have, for the good of the country but it doesn´t look too promising, so expect another disappointing season on the European and World stage.
You can keep saying something over and over, but bollocks is still bollocks, no matter how oft repeated.
So true. Just ask PM May. She be the queen of stating **** over and over and expecting people to take it differently.
Imagine you are a teacher and a student comes up with something imaginative, although in the real world it has no relevance. Do you still diss the content, or encourage the student to play with his imagination? I may not be the most creative person in the world but sometimes I like to use a metaphor for something.
Tony Blair may not be everybody´s favourite politician, but he is talking complete sense here about the issues facing the country.
But you have this seeming obsession with political parties recruiting talent, as if that’s something that’s ever actually happened!
It was an "if" statement - as the reality is, it does not happen. All they can hope for is that the talent emerges from within the system. Whatever people think of him, Blair was a very capable PM, as was Thatcher. Brown was a good Chancellor, Mo Mowlem was excellent in her role as Northern Ireland Secretary. Further back, Barbara Castle was more than competent as a cabinet minister. As for Kenneth Baker, I´ll leave that up to you, but under his watch as Education Secretary, the National Curriculum came into being that helped teachers assess, measure, and set targets for their students.
