This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/davehillblog/2012/apr/19/sky-news-question-for-boris-johnson
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Nine questions for Sky to ask Boris Johnson | Nine questions for Sky to ask Boris Johnson |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The second live TV debate of the mayoral election campaign takes place tonight on Sky News. It cannot possibly be worse than the first. Newsnight's dazzlingly dreadful interrupting contest two weeks ago generated wasteful heat, little light and another week of journalists ignoring all that boring stuff London mayors are meant to actually do when they're in the job, like alleviating London's chronic housing crisis, improving its transport systems, cleaning up its filthy air and finding the best ways to stop teenagers stabbing each other. | The second live TV debate of the mayoral election campaign takes place tonight on Sky News. It cannot possibly be worse than the first. Newsnight's dazzlingly dreadful interrupting contest two weeks ago generated wasteful heat, little light and another week of journalists ignoring all that boring stuff London mayors are meant to actually do when they're in the job, like alleviating London's chronic housing crisis, improving its transport systems, cleaning up its filthy air and finding the best ways to stop teenagers stabbing each other. |
| Sky News has been asking for suggestions for questions to put to Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone and Brian Paddick (Jenny Jones is not involved this time, which is a shame). Given that the media herd has been engaged in a big old game of Get Ken for months on end, I've nine questions Sky might like to put to Boris to even things up a bit. I've picked the figure in honour of the Conservative candidate's very own nine-point plan. | |
| One. Why does your nine-point plan for Greater London include pledges to do things you've previously claimed to have already done? (1,000 more police than when you were elected, "save" Londoners £445 in council tax). | One. Why does your nine-point plan for Greater London include pledges to do things you've previously claimed to have already done? (1,000 more police than when you were elected, "save" Londoners £445 in council tax). |
| Two. Can you explain the maths behind that pledge to "save" Londoners £445 in council tax? (Clue here). | Two. Can you explain the maths behind that pledge to "save" Londoners £445 in council tax? (Clue here). |
| Three. London is in the grip of a deepening crisis of housing affordability. You claim to have "delivered" record numbers of affordable homes. Could you have achieved this without the large sums of money at your disposal thanks to your predecessor as mayor and the last Labour government, and how do react to the observation at Inside Housing that you are alone among mainstream candidates in offering no new ideas in this area of policy? | Three. London is in the grip of a deepening crisis of housing affordability. You claim to have "delivered" record numbers of affordable homes. Could you have achieved this without the large sums of money at your disposal thanks to your predecessor as mayor and the last Labour government, and how do react to the observation at Inside Housing that you are alone among mainstream candidates in offering no new ideas in this area of policy? |
| Four. You came to power amid high hopes that you could lessen serious youth violence in London, yet Met figures show annual rises, your mentoring programme is running late and the group of experts you recruited to provide you with advice have described your strategy as "a shambles." Why shouldn't Londoners feel let down? | Four. You came to power amid high hopes that you could lessen serious youth violence in London, yet Met figures show annual rises, your mentoring programme is running late and the group of experts you recruited to provide you with advice have described your strategy as "a shambles." Why shouldn't Londoners feel let down? |
| [Update, 12:20. And now it has emerged that criticisms of the performance of the young offenders' rehabilitation scheme at Feltham you support were removed from a report on its progress.] | |
| Five. One of your first acts on becoming mayor was to support a large increase in the use of random stop and search and you've continued to support this. Metropolitan Police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe recently said that the tactic should be far better targeted and more professionally executed. Have you spend four years getting it wrong on stop and search? | Five. One of your first acts on becoming mayor was to support a large increase in the use of random stop and search and you've continued to support this. Metropolitan Police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe recently said that the tactic should be far better targeted and more professionally executed. Have you spend four years getting it wrong on stop and search? |
| Six. Your transport manifesto (pdf) claims that further automation of the London Underground - by which you actually mean new rolling stock on the Northern Line - "will reduce the bargaining power of the union bosses." But the "train captains" who would staff these new trains would be union members. Most of those already employed on the Docklands Light Railway are members of Bob Crow's RMT and have demonstrated that they are quite prepared to go on strike. So how will the advent of "train captains" on the underground reduce the Tube unions' power? | Six. Your transport manifesto (pdf) claims that further automation of the London Underground - by which you actually mean new rolling stock on the Northern Line - "will reduce the bargaining power of the union bosses." But the "train captains" who would staff these new trains would be union members. Most of those already employed on the Docklands Light Railway are members of Bob Crow's RMT and have demonstrated that they are quite prepared to go on strike. So how will the advent of "train captains" on the underground reduce the Tube unions' power? |
| Seven. Your 2008 accountability manifesto promised to "end the culture of cronyism at City Hall." In August 2008 you appointed one of your mayoral campaign donors to the board of the London Development Agency. In June 2010 your fellow Conservative Jeremy Hunt appointed your nominee to chair the Arts Council in London despite her having been turned down by Hunt's Labour predecessor on the grounds that the process you devised that led to her nomination had breached Nolan Rules governing standard in public life. That person was Veronica Wadley who, as its editor during the 2008 campaign, led the London Evening Standard's relentless campaign against your rival Ken Livingstone. Have you honoured your pledge on cronyism? | Seven. Your 2008 accountability manifesto promised to "end the culture of cronyism at City Hall." In August 2008 you appointed one of your mayoral campaign donors to the board of the London Development Agency. In June 2010 your fellow Conservative Jeremy Hunt appointed your nominee to chair the Arts Council in London despite her having been turned down by Hunt's Labour predecessor on the grounds that the process you devised that led to her nomination had breached Nolan Rules governing standard in public life. That person was Veronica Wadley who, as its editor during the 2008 campaign, led the London Evening Standard's relentless campaign against your rival Ken Livingstone. Have you honoured your pledge on cronyism? |
| Eight. A report you commissioned suggested that over 4,000 Londoners die prematurely each years as a result of air pollution. Your latest move to avoid a large EU fine has been to glue pollution to the ground in hot spot areas. Is that good enough? | Eight. A report you commissioned suggested that over 4,000 Londoners die prematurely each years as a result of air pollution. Your latest move to avoid a large EU fine has been to glue pollution to the ground in hot spot areas. Is that good enough? |
| Nine. You claim that you will introduce 600 of your new London buses in the course of your second term and that these will cost no more than existing "hybrid" buses do. However, in December 2008 you promised that over 350 hybrids would be operating on London's streets "by 2011" and that every new addition to the fleet would be a hybrid "by 2012." Three years later it emerged that only 52 out 800 buses on order were hybrids. The reason Transport for London gave for this was that the cost of hybrids had failed to fall to levels hoped for. Why should we believe your promise about your new bus? | Nine. You claim that you will introduce 600 of your new London buses in the course of your second term and that these will cost no more than existing "hybrid" buses do. However, in December 2008 you promised that over 350 hybrids would be operating on London's streets "by 2011" and that every new addition to the fleet would be a hybrid "by 2012." Three years later it emerged that only 52 out 800 buses on order were hybrids. The reason Transport for London gave for this was that the cost of hybrids had failed to fall to levels hoped for. Why should we believe your promise about your new bus? |
| There you go, friends at Sky. Hope that helps. | There you go, friends at Sky. Hope that helps. |