boris johnson

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Mayoral Update: Ken Off The Launchpad

Londonist was at the Royal Festival Hall on Tuesday for the formal launch of Ken Livingstone’s mayoral election campaign. Setting aside the usual cynicism about politicians and the worrying stuff in those Evening Standard exposes, it was a stirring occasion. Doreen Lawrence introduced the mayor, …

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Mayoral Update: The Cost Of Livingstone

It’s still difficult to tell how the mayoral race is going – where are all the opinion polls? But there’s no doubt that, in the past week, the Livingstone campaign has made a huge effort to get its show on the road. The launch of …

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73 Still Free

The bendy bus comes in for regular bashings, and the articulated eyesore is one of the hot topics in the Mayoral election, with Boris Johnson threatening to scrap it altogether in favour of a remixed Routemaster. Now a new report comes along that suggests the …

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Mayoral Update: Boris Doesn’t Have Enough Bus Fare

The clearest thing to emerge from the mayoral race this week is that no one can agree about buses. The arguments began last Wednesday when Boris Johnson told Vanessa Feltz that the ’21st Century’ Routemasters he wants to replace bendy buses with would all have …

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Olympic Update(s)

Olympic news items are like buses, or decent Boris Johnson policies: you wait for ages then two come along at once. This week we’ve heard about the package of security measures announced for the Games, while the International Olympic Committee popped by to check up …

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Extra, Extra

Boris Johnson might just have won himself the election with a pledge to abolish the bendy bus and bring back the Routemaster. Emotions were high today as the Bethnal Green tube station disaster was commemorated, 65 years on. Londonist is feeling left out: we want …

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Mayoral Update: Ken Concentrates On His Personality

All I do each night is pray…hoping that I’ll be electable again some day. The highlight of the mayoral election week came at the Evening Standard’s Influentials Debate at the RSA on Monday, when Ken Livingstone told LBC breakfast host Nick Ferrari why he doesn’t …

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‘London Orb’ To Relieve Congestion?

Though Boris Johnson’s campaign team may have trouble waking up in the morning, the man himself is not lying down when it comes to outflanking Ken on public transport. His latest initiative is for a network of express buses in south London. The nattily named …

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Team Boris’ Alarm Clock Blues

Word reaches Londonist that Boris Johnson’s mayoral campaign is facing a foe more taxing than Ken Livingstone could ever hope to be: tardiness. A number of Bozzaphiles were up bright and early Thursday morning at an undisclosed location, ready to leaflet the good burghers of …

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Mayoral Update: Environment, Crime And How To Ride A Bike

It’s been another bruising week in the London mayoral election campaign. Eccentric Tory contender Boris Johnson may have had the best of it. On Tuesday Ken Livingstone announced that drivers of gas-guzzlers will be charged £25 to enter the Congestion Zone from October – assuming …

England's Lane Banksy

Putting The Canvas Back Into Canvassing

While lesser politicians find themselves embroiled in the mundane tracasseries of campaign funding, our Mayor takes a more creative tact. Twenty artists, including Banksy, Antony Gormley and Marc Quinn, are selling their work to raise money for Livingstone’s re-election. The ‘Bid For Ken’ auction takes …