London: Mayor & More

Lavatory Humour

From the Mayor's office, a press release about toilets. It's a perfectly good press release, but I prefer the story as translated for Americans.

Spineless Monuments

A speculation over the Fourth Plinth continues, Jonathan Jones asks:

"Have you seen that ridiculous memorial to "the Women of World War II" on Whitehall with its empty overcoats, as if the artist designed it after an evening at Les Miserables (empty chairs on empty tables ...)? And how about the memorial to animals in war on Park Lane, dedicated to the soldiers "who had no choice" (unlike human conscripts in WWI?) and decorated with a hilarious procession of sculpted animals. This is London's dirty secret. The capital is purportedly in love with modern art. It's the place people come from all over the world to see the latest, newest, toughest work. But when it comes to public monuments, there is no artistic courage here at all."

Ouch. Now read on.

Turn Again, Rosie Boycott

Dave Osler on Mayor Johnson's appointment of Rosie Boycott. Yes, that's Rosie Boycott:

"I won’t even ask exactly what it is one has to do to be a food champion. I mean, when someone is described as a tiddlywinks champion, you instantly get the picture; chances are, they are better at tiddlywinks than anybody else. But food champion? As job title inflation goes, that’s right up there with homelessness czar."

Just goes to show what a bit of high profile job-touting will do. Now read on.

Back Home

Back home to just the 200 emails. And guess who's been speaking in Latin at the opening of the Hadrian show? Can his office provide the full text? Was his syntax up to scratch?

Mayor Johnson At Home Affairs Committee

A full webcast of yesterday's appearance here, courtesy Parliament.co.uk.

Munira Mirza On Cultural Policy

She's been speaking to a committee this morning:

On the Rise Festival: “We have changed the emphasis, moving away from an explicitly anti-racist festival by stressing the cultural and community message of Rise and trying to involved grass-roots and community groups which have not previously been invited to be involved. I think it’s fair to say that the groups which have been involved in previous years did come from very narrow political background and we felt that this year it would be right to open up and make it more inclusive, to make it a very positive event that celebrate London’s diversity. My opinion and the Mayor’s opinion is that this is a new way of doing anti-racism, celebrating the rich mix and diversity of London.”

On Multiculturalism: “I have celebrated diversity and multiculturalism as a fact, but I recognise that there have been political problems with the way in which this has been shaped in policy."

Webcast here.