1,804 signatures later and a lot of hard work by Sarah and Holly from Journalista as well as my office staff, I handed in today the petition calling on the Metropolitan Police to keep their specialist unit dedicated to combatting human trafficking.  My sincere thanks to each and every one of you who signed the petition – 1,804 was an excellent achievement and just shows the strength of feeling about the trafficking of people for profit. 

In line with the usual procedure, I presented the petition this morning at the meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority Board chaired, of course, by Mayor Boris Johnson.  Also in attendance (amongst others) were Labour GLA Members John Biggs, Joanne McCartney and Toby Harris and the Green AM Jenny Jones.  I would like to pay a special tribute to Jenny, pictured, who has been a consistently strong supporter the petition and has worked hard for many years on the trafficking issue.

In presenting the petition, I was allowed to speak for five minutes.  Concentrating on Europe and London, I told the Board how during the football World Cup in Germany there had been a significant increase in prostitution and that most of the prostituted women had been trafficked for the purpose.  It would be appalling if the same were to happen in London for the 2012 Olympics.

My second point was an explanation as to why the conviction rates for trafficking are low, namely that the victims of trafficking, often locked away and unable to go out very far, are frightened and vulnerable and therefore very unlikely to report what is happening to them.  Interestingly Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, denied that the conviction rate was anything to do with the closure of the trafficking unit.

The real issue, as ever, was money.  In 2007 the Home Office provided the Met Police with £1.8 million for the specialist trafficking unit on the understanding that this would go down the following year and that thereafter the Met would be expected to find the money for the trafficking unit out if its own budget.  The Home Office duly gave the Metropolitan Police £700,000 last year.  This year, it would seem, rather than finding the finance, the Met intend to close the unit.  

I was very pleased that the Politics Show London filmed outside City Hall. (They were not allowed into the Board meeting).  There has been considerable media interest in the petition, which again illustrates just how important it is that we do all we can to eliminate the vile crime of trafficking human beings, a modern form of slavery.

Well, quite a lot actually.

On Sunday I spent the day touring the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior, which is virtually a celebrity, with all the press coverage it gets! Video of the day on its way…

In the next few weeks I’ll be meeting the one and only Boris Johnson and putting some questions to him. I’m particularly interested to know how green the Tories really are. David Cameron may well cycle to and from work, but it seems there’s mutiny in the ranks, check this out – http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/16/tory-bloggers-climate-change.

Next week I’m gong to be interviewing someone from the Environmental Justice Foundation. Their recent report, No Place Like Home, highlights the humanitarian plight of an estimated 150 million people whose homes will be lost as a result of climate change by 2050. So why aren’t more human rights organizations getting involved?

Next Thursday evening Press TV is hosting ‘The Copenhagen Conference: Last chance to save the world?’ with Andrew Gilligan. It’s a chance to get a final world in before COP15 gets underway on December 7th.

I’ll also be getting to grips with freeganism, an increasingly popular movement here and around the world.

Finally, I hope you’ve heard about the Wave. ‘On Saturday 5 December 2009, ahead of the crucial UN climate summit in Copenhagen, tens of thousands of people from all walks of life will march through the streets of London to demonstrate their support for a safe climate future for all.’ Dress-code, blue. Of course I’ll be there to film the event and speak to demonstrators.

Stay tuned for these and other videos.

If you’ve got any questions you’d like me to put to my various interviewees, let me know!

This is Art: Urinal, by Marcel Duchamp

A weekly AngloFiles round-up of U.K. news – sober, stylish, sentimental, sporty, or outright silly.

• London Making Inroads Against Homelessness? “It is completely unacceptable for anyone to end up with only the street for a home in 21st century London,” Mayor Boris Johnson declared in a progress report on the city’s efforts to end “rough sleeping.”  2012 is the self-imposed deadline for a city program that began in February by focusing on a few hundred of the toughest cases. Still, London’s homeless count rose to 5,000 this year. In the U.S., where 650,000 are counted homeless, many cities run anti-homelessness initiatives. Some, like Seattle, address the hardest cases. In New York, Mayor Bloomberg’s pledges stop far short of housing all his city’s homeless, who number more than 40,000 on a given night.

• Women Can Be Soooo Touchy! Suspended ITV WestCountry News presenter Lisa Aziz, one of the first South Asian Muslims to anchor a major U.K. broadcast, has sued ITV for discrimination on racial, age and gender grounds. Aziz, 47, says the network used trumped-up charges that she abused her dry-cleaning expense account to replace her with younger, blonder talent, including Ellie Barker (below). With roots in Dartmouth and Karachi, Aziz also alleges that a colleague suggested she “use her terrror contacts” to report a story, the Daily Mail reported. Of course, there are those in the blogosphere who know that media sexism is a myth and this gal just needs a sense of humor. (Any who question that view might like a look at Steve’s Regional News Caps, a friendly but still creepy-obsessive “lady-newscaster” blog.)
  

  ITV's Ellie Barker: Blonde enough?

   

  

  ITV's Lisa Aziz: Too old?

• “Crappier Crappers” in Hyde Park Speaking of living rough, if you thought public toilets couldn’t get worse, you were wrong. To publicize World Toilet Day, recognizing the inadequate sanitation available to 2.5 billion fellow humans, Water Aid on Thursday temporarily turned a men’s room near Albert and Queen Elizabeth gates into a replica of a Third World latrine, complete with “sensurround” odor. A major goal is to make sanitation a foreign aid priority. The stunt inspired sensitive headlines like “Squatters Unite.” (Those more worried about their own access to sanitation might want to download the water charity’s “Toiletfinder UK” app for iPhone.)

• Electric Cars Lose Out to “Beamers” in Olympics Bidding BMW and not the more fuel-abstaining Nissan will serve as “Official Automotive Partner” to the 2012 Olympics in London. It’s a loss for Boris Johnson, who wanted electric cars, says London-politics blogger Dave Hill. Still, says LOCOG, the Olympic organizing committee, BMW will provide low-emissions cars, showcase electric vehicles and — this must be a new one in the annals of automotive marketing — will “provide bicycles to help athletes and LOCOG staff get around at Games time.”

• Poppy Appeal Networking a “Lesson in Failure” £31 million is nothing to sniff at. That’s how much the Royal British Legion took in during the recently concluded annual Remembrance Day drive. When it comes to social networking, however, the poppy people got a failing grade in this analysis by the chair of Citizens Online, a charity promoting online technology for non-profits.

Urinal photo from Wikimedia commons by Gtanguy.

Millions of lightbulbs, loudspeakers, big screens, not to mention a giant flame… The Olympic games is a black hole of energy consumption and where that energy comes from is an issue of extreme importance if the UK is to lead the way in reduction of greenhouse gases as Boris Johnson would have us believe.

A state of art energy centre is being constructed in the Olympic park to solve all of our energy problems. The centre which is being branded by Olympic officials as “Lean, Mean and Green” is going to reduce the carbon emissions of the games by over 1000 tonnes in 2012 and is even being praised by Greenpeace.

It is to be housed primarily inside an old Victorian building which would have otherwise stood derelict. This ultimate show of recycling is truly a step in the right direction and proves that the Olympic committee have really listen to environmentalists who were concerned that London 2012 would leave more than just a sporting legacy lingering over the city.

The proposed energy centre

ODA Director of Infrastructure and Utilities Simon Wright said: “Sustainability is at the heart of the 2012 project and the Energy Centre will ensure a lasting legacy of green power in the Olympic Park for generations to come. The state-of-the-art Energy Centre will be one of the largest in the UK and the lean, mean and green sustainability features that underpin this project will set a model for future urban regeneration schemes.”

Biomass boilers will use sustainable biomass fuels to generate heat, contributing to a 20 per cent renewable energy target across Olympic Park and zero carbon renewable energy sources used such as biofuel. Of course both of these things are important and exciting new developments but the idea which really captured my imagination was the waste water scheme which proposes that waste water from the Olympic park and village will be used to cool the energy centre.

This means that the water used in the pool that Michael Phelps swam to gold in could then help to light the arena in which Chris Hoy powers to victory. The water that Usain Bolt’s pots and pans were washed in could then help run the timer that records his new world record.

An exciting prospect, no? And if it helps the environment and the green credentials of the games then this new power plant really should be given more publicity.

The centre is due to be completed in Spring 2010.

So was kann jeder.

Von Politikern wissen wir, dass sie gerne Wegschauen und nicht Handeln, wenn es um Straftaten geht. So teilt die Vorsitzende des Bundestagsausschuss für Petitionen (16. Bundestag) , Frau Naumann einem Beschwerdeführer auf seine Petition mit, dass die “Erstattung von Strafanzeigen ….. nicht zu den Aufgaben des Petitionsausschuss zählt“, …

Was will man von solchen Bürgern halten, die sich in Positionen wählen lassen und dann Wegschauen, wenn mögliche Straftaten geschehen? Doch nicht alle Politiker verhalten sich so wie unsere deutschen Parlamentarier.

In London wurde “Franny Armstrong von einer Gruppe Mädchen angegriffen …. Eine der Angreiferinnen war sogar mit einer Eisenstange bewaffnet gewesen”. Franny Armstrong “ist als Regisseurin und Umweltschützerin tätig”… und sehr bekannt, von daher wohl die gezielte Attacke auf sie. Doch sie hatte Glück im Unglück.

“Als ein Radfahrer in diesem Augenblick”, in dem der Mob zuschlagen wollte “an ihr vorbeifuhr, habe die Frau”, Frany Armstrong “um Hilfe gerufen. Der Radler, der sich später als Boris Johnson herausstellte, habe die Mädchen daraufhin verjagt und darauf bestanden, Armstrong nach Hause zu begleiten”.(1)  Boris Johnson ist kein anderer als der Bürgermeister von London.

Was wäre wohl geschehen, wenn Frany Armstrong in Deutschland dies erlebt hätte? Welcher Politiker hätte ihr da geholfen? Das sind die Unterschiede im Umgang innerhalb einer Demokratie, in der jeder sich für den anderen verantwortlich fühlt, wenn der in Not ist. Bei uns fehlt dies im Alltag, und das ist einer der  Grundprobleme der deutschen Demokratie. Selbstverständlichkeiten sind eben bei uns Ausnahmen, die so rar sind, wie Wasser auf dem Mond.

1)http://www.markus-arlt.de/index.php/2009/11/04/londons-buergermeister-beschuetzt-frau-bei-angriff-auf-offener-strasse/

One of the London Mayor’s favourite tactics is to totally confuse an issue, joking around to avoid anything sticking. With an issue like the South London Line he’s in his element. Except that residents of south London might prefer if he used his wit to help save public transport services, rather than trying to deny any responsibility.

Jenny Jones and me by a SLL train

To recap very quickly, the excellent train service (which I use daily) is due to be axed in 2012. Boris has tried to claim it’s the government’s responsibility; that it is purely a technical decision which he can’t reverse; and that he is fighting our corner (only when his hand is forced, of course). In fact, we can be pretty sure that it all comes down to money, and that Boris won’t stump up the measly £2.4m per year for two years out of a massive central Government grant to save the line because he came up short on the East London Line extension.

OK, this is getting a bit nerdy. But today Southwark Councillor and London Assembly Member Jenny Jones stuck it to him again, asking if he would set-up a meeting between Transport for London and Network Rail to discuss the technical issues with London Bridge station. His answer? No.

He can fluster and wheeze about his commitment to public transport all he likes, but campaigners in south London know a Mayor who doesn’t give two f**cks about our services when we see one!

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WOMAN!?

A fat woman stole my breakfast this morning.

There I was, waiting for a delicious Londoner sandwich in Benugo, St Pancras, when the villainous slattern waddled in and plucked my freshly cooked sarnie from the hands of the shop assistant.  I don’t mean to offend by talking about the thieving hag’s weight; I only mention it because I’m sure I can’t have been her only victim this morning.  Keep an eye out for her, or your breakfast could go the same way, shovelled into our hungry criminal’s face with fistfuls of other people’s Egg McMuffins, washed down with gallons of Caramel Macchiato and Coke.

I wonder if, as she left St Pancras with bits of my scrambled egg dribbling down her spittle-flecked chin, she tried to take a chomp out of a passing cyclist – you know, a little appetiser before swiping some other poor sod’s hard-earned bacon butty.  If so, she wouldn’t have had to wobble far to find one.  London’s pavements are beset by mad cyclists, zipping merrily through crowds of terrified pedestrians on their way to find a red light to run.

Imagine my joy, then, when I passed a copper bollocking a cyclist this morning for maniacally charging along the pavement outside City Thameslink.  I think it’s entirely fair to say that we have a problem with cycling on pavements in London; and, to be fair, the problem doesn’t start with speed-demon cyclists, but with the city’s bizarre, Ken-era cycle lane network.  The Standard’s Rowan Moore put it excellently yesterday:

London’s laughable and capricious cycle lanes … stutter like lines of experimental verse before discharging cyclists before trucks …

"I'll save you!"

Our own Fright in Cycling Armour, Boris Johnson, is not averse to tackling pedestrian issues (in the most literal sense).  Earlier this year BoJo provoked cyclists’ ire by calling on police to act with “severity” against pavement-invading cyclists, while just last week he unveiled Oxford Circus’s new Japanese-style road crossings by striking an enormous gong.  Was he wearing a kimono?  I’m not sure.

Anyway, that baffling new £5m crossing is called a ‘pedestrian scramble’, which quite accurately reflects the experience of crossing the damn thing during rush hour – hoardes of people charging across the Circus like startled wildebeest, while nearby buses, lorries and motorbikes stoke their engines into a threatening roar.  Sorry, Boris, but £5m to turn Oxford Circus into a suit-and-tie emulation of the Serengeti seems a bit expensive, old bean.

Still, maybe it’ll work.  I’m not convinced that it’s a sound investment, but only time will tell.  The new crossing thingy is part of Boris’s vision to improve London’s streets; this week, he linked his new open spaces strategy to Gordon Brown’s ill-thought-out 50p tax on high earners.  Boris has earmarked £220m for his ambitious strategy, which he hopes will lead to a fairer, safer and more efficient network.  Will it work?  Will it rid us of two-wheeled banshees mowing people down on footpaths? Only time will tell.

If it doesn’t, find yourself a fat woman and send her chomping…

Big Ben

London has taken a lead on promoting city based green initiatives with a range of new projects:

- first off, there is a new art installation in Trafalgar Square – the remains of trees which once stood as high as Nelson’s column are at the heart of ‘Ghost Forest’ put in place to highlight global deforestation and climate change (see www.ghostforest.org )  

- next up, Mayor Boros Johnson has announced that he aims to have 25000 recharge points for electric cars in place by 2015 – go Boris go!

- There are plans for a new London Cycle Hire scheme and Cycle Superhighways to encourage pedal power in the capital 

- Five hydrogen buses will join TfL’s bus fleet in 2010 – running on hydrogen hybrid fuel, reducing CO2 emissions and helping in the fight against climate change

- London Underground are stepping up efforts to recycle the millions of free newspapers (The Metro, City AM and The Evening Standard) given out to Londoners each week. Current rates are now up to 40% plus.

- The Mayor has plans in hand for cleaner air in London by making sure all minicabs and taxis meet stricter emission regulations by 2012; by bringing in phase three of the Low Emission Zone;  and by supporting campaigns to cut pollution. See www.london.gov.uk

As I was writing my last blog, Boris Johnson was writing his latest act of defiance to David Cameron. With commentary like this from the Spectator’s Coffee House, Johnson seems unlikely to cease pushing this envelope, not least when Andrew Sparrow is amongst those seeing this as part of a long term strategy to make Johnson Tory leader. What with Boris, the ‘Turnip Taliban’ and the looming EU-wars, subject of comment today from Max Hastings, there are various scenarios in which a breakdown of Tory discipline is possible; particularly, if the sheen of winning popularity that now attaches to David Cameron were to corrode. Then Cameron would really find out who his friends are (or aren’t).

David Cameron's chums are 'filling their boots' before they have to settle to the poverty wages of just being an MP and a Minister!

There has been a lot of chest beating over the subject of MPs expenses, and much recrimination, but one of the areas that some MPs seem to have just been allowed to carry on, as before, is in the area of having second jobs, often bringing in very large second incomes.

Now I have always been quite sceptical of MPs who are just professional politicians with very little experience of what is often called ‘the real world’ but MPs should be representative of society, as far as reasonably possible.

The debate in South West Norfolk was a battle between the old fashioned Tory party and Mr Cameron’s alleged brand of modern Conservatives.

The recent news that ‘Conservative candidates are too posh’ would have come as no surprise to many, but today a senior Labour MP has attacked several Conservative MPs for trying to cash in on their second incomes before they are given up at the end of the year.

As the Labour MP said; ‘David Cameron’s allies are filling their boots with a last-minute money grab.’

Apparently William Hague earned £15,000 for a speech to an annual conference in September, declaring it as two hours work! Perhaps the prospect of just an MPs wages, that of a Secretary of State, a free house in London and one in the country is not enough for the rich living Mr Hague.

This appears to be contrary to all the honeyed words that Mr Cameron has deployed to make himself look palatable on the issue of MPs expenses. He needs to understand, though I suspect he doesn’t, that if he really wants his party to be in touch with real people, not many of us earn £7,500 per hour.

It may be ‘chicken feed’ as Boris Johnson would say, but it is this sort of snouts in the trough attitude that makes it clear to most people that the Tories are still a party for the rich and privileged and do not represent the majority of people.

See the Evening Standard for a little bit more.

A few days ago, Channel 4 put on a docudrama called ‘When Boris met Dave,’ or something like that. The main thrust of the piece was to show the two characters in contrast, and endeavour to shape the narrative of their future rivalry through their mutual past. Dave was, therefore, easy-going, politics coming naturally to him, while Boris was more deeply driven and ultimately frustrated by how hard he had to work to get there. The reality, however, might disabuse us of this assertion, but there we are.

It, therefore, seems that Boris’s attack on the 50p tax rate in the Telegraph, ‘We should worry that Tracey Emin, Hugh Osmond and Michael Caine are fleeing the 50p tax rate,’ might have been a proverbial raising of the fingers to Dave and his leadership, from the maverick, and ultimately right, Boris, who should really be the next PM and not merely a provincial Mayor.

I am not so sure that they work in this way, although the article can be seen as a swipe at Cameron’s decision to not immediately repeal the 50p rate. But let us not forget, Cameron has said he wants it gone, but just not yet (ever the politician).

Although Boris does not specifically call for a change in Conservative policy, one must assume that he would like it gone sooner rather than later. And in this, he is right; high taxes destroy enterprise. The tax is little more than an envy tax from economic illiterates who care more about shoring up their hardcore support than serving the best interests of the country (could we ever believe different?).

That it will not raise significant amounts of money (if any) should be reason enough to get rid of the rate, but the overriding reason why this tax rate is idiotic, is because we, paradoxically, need low tax rates to bridge the budget deficit. We need people to be happy paying tax, which means they must be lower, and we need entrepreneurs to be incentivized and to stay here to drive the economic growth we need to fund the deficit. Just as recession reduces the tax take, so growth increases it. If we do not have serious growth in the next few years, we will never get the public finances back on an even keel.

Economics aside, it might just be that Boris has identified the true needs of the electorate. Cameron has taken the view that he must not rock the boat, he must avoid upsetting people who might vote against him and so secure office through damage limitation. However, the example of his friend and No. 2, George Osborne, should be noted. The dramatic change in Conservative fortunes almost to the day coincided with his bold declaration that inheritance tax would be reduced.

The electorate are in dire need of a politician who says what he believes and says it with conviction, even if that upsets a portion of the voters.  In short, they need and want proper leadership. Perhaps Boris understands this, and is showing that he has the conviction to lead the country better than his ‘rival.’ Then again, perhaps he is merely showing Cameron, his friend and colleague, the way, as a generous team player, and we are not, in fact, seeing a variation on the abysmal feud between the two most destructive politicians of this century so far, Blair and Brown.

On what other policies should they show leadership?  The EU?  Immigration?  Welfare State?  Education?  Unfortunately, the Conservative only seem to be grasping the educational nettle, the other areas remaining leadership free zones.  This is why support remains lukewarm for the conservatives.  Why, oh why, do they not try putting forward a genuinely conservative manifesto?  They might be pleasantly surprised at how well they do.

It looks like a gigantic chessboard. But if you happen to be a pawn in Boris Johnson’s new game then you’d be well advised to tread carefully.

This is the new crossing at Oxford Circus, a £5million creation that it is hoped will relieve congestion.

Whether pedestrians will be as enthusiastic as the London Mayor, who opened it yesterday, remains to be seen.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1224693/Get-ready-scramble-Londons-Oxford-Circus-remodelled-famous-Tokyo-crossing.html#ixzz0X4xPPoNr

Actor Alistair McGowan, Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, Actress Emma Thompson and Chief Executive of Film London Adrian Wootton launch 'Green Screen London' at City Hall on February 5, 2008 in London, England

Mayor of London Boris Johnson is backing Green Screen, a newly published guide unveiled at the latest Cannes International Film Festival.

Green Screen is an initiative to help encourage environmentally friendly filming in the capital. It was launched in February 2008 to help film, TV and commercial producers cut climate change emissions in the capital. Supported by the London Filming Partnership, Green Screen has developed a practical package of support for film-makers.

London is continuing to lead the way on tackling climate change and Green Screen is part of a number of sector specific campaigns contributing to the Mayor’s ambitious aim to cut the capital’s emissions by 60 per cent by 2025. Green Screen provides a range of information and guidance and underlines the commitment within the industry to making London the world’s greenest place to film in.

Following extensive research in consultation with some of the leading companies and names in the film, TV and commercial production sector, the Mayor of London and Film London have produced a user-friendly and practical guide.

Many of the ideas in Green Screen will not only cut carbon emissions but also deliver significant financial savings without sacrificing artistic quality.

Boris Johnson said: “Film is an absolutely crucial industry to London’s economy and cultural life. This is not about compromising the quality of productions or hampering creative endeavour – we know the industry is concerned about climate change and we can make it the world’s greenest place in which to film.

“Green Screen contains really practical information on how to reduce emissions and what’s more, save money in the process through reduced energy bills. The film industry can play an important role in creating the new low-carbon economy. In a sector known for being imaginative and forward looking, this is another area that studios, producers and creative talent can take the lead.”

Oscar winning actress, Emma Thompson, also backed the campaign she said: “Our planet is our most precious resource and we all have a role to play, both individually and collectively, in helping to preserve it for future generations. It is really great that the film and TV industry has come together to show leadership but also take real action on this critical issue as it’s time for warm words to translate into action and as of today I will be making changes in my own working practice to reduce my carbon footprint and fully play my part in helping make our industry greener and cleaner.”

The Mayor of London’s most recent ‘Green Screen’ report revealed that 125,000 tonnes of CO2 is emitted by this sector per year (that’s the equivalent of 24,000 households) the breakdown of the London screen industry’s emissions consists of 40% from studio production, and 17% from location shooting. Finally, it also indicated that London is the third busiest centre for movie production.

A positive endorsment of open air preaching.

Als ich gestern morgen mit dem Fahrrad in die Stadt fuhr, erinnerte ich mich wieder: Eine dicke Anleitung zum Fahrradfahren sollten englische Polizisten bekommen (hier die Nachrichten).

Erwachsene, die nicht Fahrrad fahren können? Der Spott des Londoner Bügermeisters Boris Johnson, die Anleitung sei sicher “sehr wertvoll”, spricht da Bände.

Für viele Sachen brauchen wir keine Anleitung. Wir bekommen selbst heraus, wie es geht, wenngleich manchmal auf Umwegen – siehe Nutzung von Computerprogrammen oder Haushaltsgeräten.

Für den Glauben empfiehlt sich eine Anleitung durchaus. Wer Gott ist, sollte man sich sagen lassen: von ihm selber. Das ist nicht nur absolut sicher, das erspart auch manche Tränen und Ärgerlichkeiten.

Schon die Alten vor 2000 Jahren wussten, wo man sicher etwas über Gott findet.

„Sie forschten täglich in der Schrift, ob es sich so verhielte“ (Apostelgeschichte 17,11), heisst es über die Gottgläubigen in Beröa. Das Beste ist, es ihnen nachzumachen. Täglich in der Bibel nachzulesen, was es mit Gott auf sich hat. Was er uns zu sagen hat, dir und mir.  Täglich nachzuforschen, ob das stimmt, was uns manche als rechtgläubiges Christentum verkaufen wollen.

(Verständnisfragen kann man übrigens auch gerne an uns richten: fader.fred(at)googlemail(Punkt)com )

The video of the Spectator/Threadneedle Awards is fun and worth watching. It features a classy speech from Politician of the Year, Peter Mandelson, who said that he shares with Boris Johnson, who presented him with the award, ”a driving ambition to do all we can to undermine David Cameron.” This brought roars of protest from Boris. Perhaps, as Lord Mandelson said, these protests were a little too loud, not least given what could be read into the sub-text of the speech which Mayor Johnson had earlier given on the same stage.

He referred to wisteria in the midst of a riff on MPs expenses. Now just as clearly as porno video equals Mr. Jacqui Smith, so wisteria brings to mind the leader of the opposition. May be, I’m just being paranoid on Dave’s behalf, but, quite possibly, Boris is doing his bit to try to keep alive this unfavourable image of Dave.

Should Boris fulfil what we are to take as his long term ambition, to succeed Dave as Tory leader, the bedrock of his support is likely to come from those Tory MPs who were annoyed by Cameron’s alleged double standards and poor handling of the MPs’ expenses scandal. So, Boris’ wisteria reference is a shout-out to those MPs; a not so subtle “I am your man.” Yes, somewhat less mega-phone and more subtle than the same such shout-out that Boris gave at Tory Party Conference with his remarks on the Lisbon Treaty. But a shout-out, nonetheless. And a rubber ring for himself; a rubber ring to carry his not inconsiderable girth from where he is now (City Hall) to where he wants to be (Number 10 or at least the Tory leadership). 

At the award ceremony, the Newcomer of the Year, Ken Clarke, described where Boris is now as “the world of buses and bus lanes.” When his current station is put like that, despite affording him the third largest personal mandate in Europe after the French and Portuguese presidents, it is easy to understand why Boris grasps for that rubber ring. After all, any man using a bus over the age of 25 is a failure.

The stage of Brixton Academy has been the pinnacle of many careers but on that stage last Monday night, for People’s Question Time, Boris didn’t cut the figure of someone who has achieved any kind of pinnacle. Indeed, it often seemed so much of a chore for the Mayor. Tony Blair and Ken Livingstone, unlike Boris and Dave, share little in terms of background and inclinations, but when Ken was Mayor they formed a great working relationship. This might be because Blair was confident throughout that Livingstone wasn’t after his job and had achieved his pinnacle. The same can’t be said of Boris and Dave.  Probably the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton, but a war that began on those same fields has many more bus lanes and rubber rings to travel before it reaches its (inevitably bloody) conclusion.

The Peak is a new headquarters office building of approximately 77,866 sq ft (7,234 sq m), together with 19,096 sq ft (1,774 sq m) of high quality retail on the ground and lower ground floors, which has been pre-let.

The building accentuates and maximises its peninsula location providing a distinctive and identifiable landmark.

The building will be completed in Autumn 2009, providing new standards of energy efficiency, sustainability and flexibility of use.

Boris Johnson said “The opening of The Peak today is a …powerful expression of the way London is powering out of the recession. It’s another great step forward for Victoria as a prime central London office market and a strong sign of confidence in the economic future for this area”