London: Mayor & More

He's Back & He's Mad

Returning from his summer holiday, the Mayor has a bad luggage day at Gatwick:

"The only representative of authority was a nice but increasingly rattled young man from the lost luggage department. Shielded behind his attack-proof glass, he told a growing crowd of passengers what he knew. He knew nothing. Why had some bags arrived from Dalaman, and not the others? He didn’t know. Where were the bags from Cagliari? He didn’t know. All he knew was that our bags were out there somewhere in the dark on the rain-lashed tarmac. We offered to mount a Entebbe-style raid to liberate our luggage, and were told we couldn’t do that for health and safety reasons."

Not being funny or anything, but I'd love to hear the lost luggage lad's version of these events. Now read on.

Boris First 100 By His Biographer

Interesting. Andrew Gimson is usually far more sceptical:

"Boris Johnson has proved a great disappointment to his critics. In his first 100 days, the Mayor of London has destroyed one of the last hopes of the demoralised and exhausted Brownites. These brutal class warriors, whose main gift is for doing down anyone who threatens their gang, clutched at the desperate idea that a man elected to the Bullingdon Club while at Oxford University would be out of his depth when elected to run a world city, and they have been proved wrong."

Steady on old thing! Now read on.

At Guardian Politics: Mayor Johnson, The Good & The Bad

Written while half asleep:

It hasn’t been dull, has it? The first hundred days in power of the – sorry Dave - most famous and popular Conservative in Britain have been as engrossing and as chaotic as was widely predicted. They’ve been intruiging too. Characterising the new London mayor politically has proved quite difficult so far. At times he’s sounded like the impeccable social liberal he claims to be, at some others like a proper Melanie.

Along with criticism from greens, the liberal democrats and the left he’s attracted derision from the libertarian right – most notably over the booze ban – and from its authoritarian wing, with the Daily Mail heralding the resignation of Ray Lewis with the front page headline: “Boris: The Wheels Are Coming Off Already!”

But they haven’t come off yet, despite sometimes looking as though they might. And at times he’s given a fairly friendly critic like me – yes, trolls, at least three Tory AMs and one close Johnson lieutenant see me that way – reason for hoping he’ll achieve at least some good things during his mayoralty. Mind you, there have been other occasions when I’ve wanted to give him a good talking to. To illustrate these points, here are my best five reasons for being cheerful about Mayor Johnson moments and my five for being cross.

At Guardian News: Those First 100 Days

Tagging along with Matthew Taylor.

Mayor Johnson Swallows Fly

Yeah. And he eats babies too.

More On Boris 4 Obama

What will Dave be thinking?

Well Whaddya Know?

From the Telegraph:

"The Mayor of London is the most high profile Conservative publicly to throw his weight behind Mr Obama. He told this month's Square Mile magazine: "I was looking at him on the news and just thinking what an amazing moment this is, watching his speech in Berlin and thinking what a critical moment this is for America and for attitudes towards what they can achieve amongst the black community. 'If Barack Obama can do it, it will be the most fantastic boost, I think, for black people everywhere around the world." Asked for his views on the Republican candidate, Mr Johnson said: 'Well, OK, I think John McCain has many, many wonderful qualities, but I think a Barack Obama victory would do fantastic things for the confidence and the feelings of black people around the world - that they can win.' Asked if his words amounted to an endorsement of the Democrat, he said: 'Yes.'"

I'm saying nothing.

Mayor Johnson Interview, Richmond & Twickenham Times

In which he summarises his ambitions as a "fairer, greener and safer London” and hints at a new task for the LDA:

"[It] could also look at the early stages with children. The most important skills are reading and writing. The mayor can really organise that...I think the motto for the LDA should be ‘homes, jobs and skills for London.'”

Full piece here.

Conservative Home Fantasy Boris

Via the Troll I discover that it's all been going swimmingly so far!

Today's Hot Live Action: Mayor's Question Time

The Plan: By this time I would be preparing to take my seat in the City Hall chamber to watch Johnson's third Mayor's Question Time.

The Reality: My two youngest children are unwell - tummy trouble - which means that I'll be watching MQT from home via the webcast and tending to the sick and needy at the same time.

The Outcome: Anything - or indeed nothing - could happen on this blog in the next five hours. Multi-tasking, eh?