London: Mayor & More

All Hail, Tottenham Hale

Took this near the station, where I dropped off a Stansted-bound daughter recently. I'm not a purist about purpose-built shopping complexes, but something about Tottenham Hale's depresses me. The signage seems to provide the one point of originality.

Zac Goldsmith On Green Boris

At Cif, Cameron's eco warrior, Zac Goldsmith:

"For the first time in British politics, a mainstream candidate for high office, Ken Livingstone, put climate change at the heart of his campaign. Yet, against expectations, he lost. But while it has been said that majoring on green issues was partly the reason, I believe it was his approach to environmentalism that turned people off. By reducing the complex environmental challenges we face to the single issue of carbon, the mayor lost sight of the broader environmental concerns of ordinary people. He understood the fundamental importance of climate change. But because he failed to link it to people's lives, there was a backlash."

It's a shortened version of a chapter in a new Policy Exchange publication looking at what Mayor Johnson ought to do. I've a feeling there may be more to come on this.

Green Economies

Jenny Jones AM adjusts to the new regime.

"The most convincing argument for Ken Livingstone's advisers on making 20mph the normal speed limit is probably the same one that will appeal to Boris: it is cheaper."

She has a little more to say on roads and budgets too.