Archive for London
Met Police wastes money for business class on short-haul flights
Good sleuthing by Liberal Democrat Assembly Member Dee Doocey has brought to light the large sums the Met Police is spending on sending its officers on business class flights: Figures show that Met officers took 1,497 business class flights in the last financial year at a cost to the taxpayer of £2,675,768. A total of [...]
Police compensate teenager banned from photographing Armed Forces Day Parade
The Press Association reports the latest news on a case taken up by Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member Dee Doocey and others at the time: Lawyers say a teenager wrongly stopped by police from taking photographs at a public event in a town centre has been compensated. [Police officers had] prevented Jules Mattsson – then [...]
Ken Livingstone ‘cannot win’, says top Labour official
News from the troubled Labour campaign for Mayor of London: The official in charge of the London Labour Party has been removed after saying that Ken Livingstone, Labour’s candidate for the mayoralty, “cannot win” next year’s election if he continues as now. Hilary Perrin, Labour’s London regional director, has been moved back to her previous [...]
Sometimes the details are very telling…
The emails I’ve been getting from the Ken Livingstone campaign often raise a smile. I don’t think they really meant that Ken’s election chances depend on people “like myself” for example… And sometimes the details in such campaign messages are rather telling – as with this weekend’s email which listed the many professions of people [...]
New Blackfriars Bridge road layout proposals: the Lib Dem view
Yesterday GLA member Caroline Pidgeon joined Brian Paddick and others campaigning against Transport for London’s proposals for Blackfriars Bridge. Here’s the background to the issue with Caroline’s letter to TfL from April: I am writing as the Liberal Democrat Transport spokesperson, to set out concerns with the new Blackfriars Bridge road layout proposals by Transport [...]
Bromley Council pulls a controversial novelty with a lollipop lady petition
Tsk, tsk, Bromley Conservatives. There is a council by-election campaign underway in Shortlands ward, Bromley where the excellent Anuja Prashar is the Liberal Democrat candidate. (So excellent, I’ll forgive her for organising a raffle once that broke all my Lib Dem raffle rules.) She has been campaigning against council plans to axe the lollipop ladies [...]
Oyster Card survey shows heavy interest in cutting coverage or raising prices
During the week I got an email in my inbox asking me to take part in a survey on behalf of the Passenger Demand Forecasting Council (“a body consisting of Transport for London and other industry bodies”) about the future of the Oyster touch in/touch out travel card used in London. The email went a [...]
Guide dogs allowed on London Underground escalators – Caroline Pidgeon campaign success
Following a campaign by Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon, the legal ban on guide dogs travelling on the escalators on the London Underground is being lifted on Wednesday. Transport for London and the Government are changing a by-law which originated in the era of wooden escalators which could expand and contract depending on [...]
Where gets hottest on the London Underground?
Transport for London has put together a variant of the usual Tube map, showing which parts of the network get hottest. It is based on heat data from last summer (you know, the one which had some sun). You can view the Tube heatmap here and then wonder why Edgeware Road is quite so hot.
