Forum Topic

IF tfl goes bust, does that mean we finally get shot of Khan, Bell, et al and their incompetency?

Does it mean that Central Government step in and run tfl?Once the politicised mismanagement by Khan, Bell et al are removed I imagine Londoners will be a LOT better off with their transport system?

Rosco White ● 1295d29 Comments

He will run & hide, never answers, except with another question.Lies as well full of ****

Peter Yale ● 1282d

Don’t be a fool, Paul. A classic bit of dismissive rhetoric from you because you can’t actually find a fault in my argument. I’m saying those things should be done. So you agree with me. That’s not whataboutery then. It’s what politicians would call policy, if they had any sense.And what a screaming hypocrite you are. Too many car journeys, then you jump in a car for a jolly jaunt in Richmond!! There’s a bus service there from Ealing you know.And

Simon Hayes ● 1282d

ALL these things can be done Simon, not just some of them.It's absolutely fair to describe your post as whataboutery, even if the things you listed aren't that when discussed in isolation.So when you're using them as an excuse NOT to do what we need to do regarding the number of car journeys made that IS whataboutery.

Paul Richard James ● 1282d

No, Paul. And isn’t it a bit early in the evening for you to be under the influence?All those things are within the power of the authorities to change. They would be positive changes as well. Funny how things you suggest aren’t ‘whaaboutery’, even though your misanthropic viewpoint makes it clear that they are. What about fewer cars? What about emissions? What about my trip to Richmond Park? Etc, etc.Gurnell was home to the biggest swimming club in the country, with over a thousand members. Travelling to alternative pools has proved difficult for many, yet Mason and co are dragging their feet over revealing their plans for the site. The likelihood is they will come back with a revised planning application to build flats there, despite it being Metropolitan Open Land and a flood plain. Not very green that. Even you might agree that.It’s clear that you don’t know much about anything, and much of what you think you know is just wrong. Did you go to school? Are you even a real person?

Simon Hayes ● 1282d

NOT to do stuff I mean."Whataboutery" I think it's called.

Paul Richard James ● 1282d

All I can hear from you there Simon is excuses to do stuff.

Paul Richard James ● 1282d

More what, Paul?Maybe cut down on the number of cheap shit food places that deliver, at inflated Deliveroo/UberEat prices. 200 calories in the average pizza slice. Would need a lot of cycling to burn off all that. Do you really think that the record level of obesity in London is down to a lack of active travel? If you do then you are seriously deluded.Maybe re-open Gurnell Leisure Centre for the thousands of people who used it pre-lockdown?  Swimming is a lot better for general health than a bitnof pedalling every now and then. It’s also a valuable life skill. Add in circuit training or five a side football (both of which are better aerobic exercise than tricycle fun). Yet Ealing Council don’t think these activities are to be encouraged locally. Probably because they might have to invest in such facilities.Oh, and maybe cut down the amount of construction work going on. Where does a lot of airborne particulates originate? Construction sites. Pop down to Southall to see it in action. Mr Khan didn’t even bother enforcing his vaunted clean air policies on the plant used by builders. Decided to let them self-certificate their machinery. Surprise, surprise, none of it is ‘clean’.

Simon Hayes ● 1282d

>All that has gone.  People are far healthier, and far longer lived.We need to do more. I don't know why you're not getting this.

Paul Richard James ● 1282d

"It all comes to one thing. Money and how to squeeze it out of us all. And how those feed of it."Correct, and ALL the parties are at it, in one way or another - there's absolutely zero integrity these days.

Rosco White ● 1282d

You are all overlooking the fact that they are planning to place and age cap on vehicles meaning that when your current ULEZ compliant vehicle reaches a certain age it will become liable for the charge.The second fact is that the current Zone is not raking in the desired income or making a jot of difference on pollution levels. Simply because the natural evolution of cascading of vehicles or engineering innovation was not  factored in the already out of date data used. Older vehicles generally become secondary or runabout vehicles and those in good condition are such because of low mileage and low use. The amount in daily use is so insignificant it does not register.The money spent in ULEZ infrastructure could have replaced every private non compliant car registered on the road in Greater London and still left money over.A long lasting vehicle represents better use of it's components by not having waste of raw materials.Given Electric Buses are already sitting in scrapyards as component and battery failure renders then completely uneconomic for refurbishment and heavy overhaul and others are now being converted to Diesel use as the range and charge rate renders the bus wholly unviable for revenue work.London is nowhere near as polluted as it was 40- 90 years ago, by a huge margin.Yet it's population is more than double.This river used to stink.  It was bereft of aquatical life.  The stench from Park Royal industrial estate used to linger over Ealing as far as Boston Manor,There was red dust on your hair on on window ledges from aircraft taking off from Heathrow.The stench of factories in Brentford wafted for miles. All that has gone.  People are far healthier, and far longer lived. Wear and tear excepted.Now we are being fed unsound figures and claims that if you dig deep enough are not verifiable. Soundbites and 'policy' and stuff pedalled out.It all comes to one thing. Money and how to squeeze it out of us all. And how those feed of it.

Raymond Havelock ● 1282d

Most petrol cars up to fifteen 6ears old (modern cars barely last this long) meet the ULEZ requirements so most JDs and nursing staff will be Ok. I know a good few NHS staff and none have shifts that finish in the middle of the night although I take your point. Both of the decorators I know live within the M25 fortunately.

N V Brooks ● 1283d

They virtually all drive. Unfortunately few nurses & doctors in hospitals have a 9-5 set up. Shift work is the norm plus using public transport at, say, 2 am is a no no in more ways than one. All the ones I know drive old vehicles for reasons of their purse. They already live outside Ealing( too expensive they tell me) and are looking at Bucks. As for decorators, excellent ones can be thin on the ground. Ours for our flats has already told us that after 2023 he’ll be looking outside the M25. Living just outside it’s no hardship for him.

Bettina Margaret Thwaite ● 1283d

The number of cars affected falls week-on-week.The overwhelming majority or petrol engined cars are unaffected and the arbitrary cut-off for some Diesels does need reviewing.I would suggest that many of the medical staff you know already run small compliant vehicles if they drive at all and I would guess that your decorator will simply pass on the daily charge, given the rates that good decorators charge already.

N V Brooks ● 1283d

It will be interesting when the scheme gets extended to the M25 at the end of next year. Several of my nurse friends & junior doctors at Ealing Hospital tell me they will have to leave or more likely transfer to outside the M25. Not everyone is on a consultants pay. My decorator has already said he will be only working for those customers outside the M25. Those businesses that can move will do so. It’s not far to move outside. Moral? Be careful what you wish for.

Bettina Margaret Thwaite ● 1283d

Johnson is a bloody disaster, I can't defend the indefensible and his worst failing is being so bloody imcompetent that it leaves the way open for the likes of Khan and Mason to sweep to victory. Hopefully Johnson will run out of Knighthoods and enoblements for those who know where the skeleton are hidden.London has yet to get anything like the calibre of Mayor that our city deserves.ULEZ is a good scheme, no reason why more polluting vehicles should be on the roads. It lacks though, any finesse. Diesel vehicles on Euro 5 and 6 are cleaner than ever but is is easy for the cerebrally challenged to cite Diesel as the 'fuel from hell'. There is more overall particulate pollution from wood burning stoves than all vehicular transport (according to DEFRA's report last month). It is the typical sledgehammer approach, devoid of any nuancing. It will be a very brave Chancellor that introduces road pricing at a level to replicate the £40billion + current tax take without killing 300.000 motor industry related jobs and the economy.  If road pricing is based on CO2 alone then there will be a resurgence of Diesel as CO2 level are typically lower.

N V Brooks ● 1283d

It's good to know that stating the bleeding obvious amuses you. I would suggest that spending £1000 on a camera pales into insignificance when compared with the £35 million of public money  spunked by Bozo on a feasibility study for the garden bridge, basically a private venture.Coming back to ULEZ, which one could say is inequitable , it may have better to wait until Road pricing comes in , already on the Chancellors radar.Then  the polluter truly  would pay.

David Burke ● 1283d

It's a good scheme poorly implemented. Why waste over £1000 on an enforcement camera that covers a cul de sac of twenty houses? Such as the profligacy of hapless Khan.  Do keep defending The indefensible it's very amusing to read.

N V Brooks ● 1283d

So the ULEZ is a good sheme when dreamt up by the Tories but suddenly not such a good idea when implemented by a Labour mayor. Yes the crematorium is within in the scheme  I've had to pay it twice in the last few months but it is within the South circular road , you can't expect bits to be omitted or subtracted across a wide geographical area of London.mmm

David Burke ● 1283d

The ULEZ is a good idea though. I never thought that I would see you complementing a Conservative policy Phillipa. The issue with the ULEZ in London is how TfL have implemented it. One only has to look at the roads in Kew to see how badly Khan's buffoons have got it wrong. There are short residentail cul-de-sacs that now sit within the ULEZ, Kew Retail Park and the National Archives are now within the ULEZ (no residential element and both are no through roads. Worst of all is Mortlake Crematorium which now sits inside the ULEZ.

N V Brooks ● 1283d

Why would Govt get rid of the Mayors when they are so very useful for doing for Govt's unpopular work?Look how BJ when London Mayor announced the first ULEZ and then promptly moved on to something else before it was implemented...Look how the UK Govt LOST three High Court cases re the UK's illegal air pollution and was busy in the EU lobbying for the figures deemed illegal to be lowered so that the UK's figures didn't look so bad.

Philippa Bond ● 1283d

Agreed, that khan gets involved with everything, focuses around his own ideas & values, not the consensus of the public.As for Tower Hamlets, that was outrageous & barely of consequence to the media.It’s dangerous to our very democracy & he has the gall to try & make a comeback.Get rid of these mayors

Peter Yale ● 1285d

The Mayor positions should be abolished. It’s not how things should be done on a local level. Too much power concentrated in one individual. It’s open to abuse, as happened in Tower Hamlets under Lutfur Rahman. London’s mayors have all been wasteful narcissists, and Khan is no exception.And the cabinet system should be scrapped for local authorities. The incompetent individuals hand picked to endorse the leader’s policies is also open to abuse.

Simon Hayes ● 1286d

Wikipedia covers a fair bit of this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_London_mayoral_election"Mayors are typically elected for a period of four years, with no limit to the number of terms served.""On 13 March 2020, the government announced the election would be postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] The change in election date will be ignored when calculating the four-yearly election cycle. Consequenly, the following election will be held in 2024. The mayor elected in 2021 will serve a reduced term of three years."And a BBC webpage is cited: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17546714"Is there a limit on the time a mayor can serve?No. In 2007, an attempt was made in Parliament to curtail the position to two four-year terms. However, this was rejected by MPs"

Phil Kay ● 1286d

VERY well said Mr Havelock, and Khan's appalling track record on failing to address and reduce knife crime are grounds enough to sack him. If we could.As you say, no doubt he'll fail upwards onto something even more lucrative & cushy that he can screw up when he's finished ruining London with his PC Agenda and gross incompetence.

Rosco White ● 1286d

The Mayor Khant stand again.  The Constitution was changed during Ken Livingstones tenure. He has already had and extra year.It's a Maximum of two terms. Technically, he should be standing down a year early to equal the limit of the two terms combined.Irrespective of that we are stuck with this slippery Eel of a lawyer more because of the utterly hopeless selection of alternative candidates. He had a chauffeur driven ride with simply no opposition.His dreadful two faced handling of the Met chief reflects on his administration as much as him.  A commissioner who had already a poor record but typically gets promoted for failure ( where else other than the politically controlled establishment does that keep happening? ) Ticked all the boxes for Labours vote grabbing ethos but was not properly supported.How many years has he been Mayor? How long have the issues in the Police been simmering?Yet he did absolutely nothing. Just soundbites to selected journalists with no substance. Until one day he sees some political mileage to be gained.Crocodile tears in Radio!  Weak interviewing, letting him run the interviews assisted by his PR bullies.He should have resigned at the same time as Commander DickAt least she did the honourable thing.  He won't...ever.

Raymond Havelock ● 1286d

No Boris just gets to play musical chairs with TfL Top brass as directed by Deloitte. Probably give them 26 headhunter contracts. We will get the same sort of greedy accountant as we have now only younger.Khan is standing for a 3rd term, so I hear.

Martin Cain ● 1287d

We do seem to have a complete dearth of honest politicians possessing integrity, brains, backbone, and the strength of their convictions.Seems to me the last of that lot were arguably Thatcher and The Beast of Bolsover?  Corbyn is just a bad joke.They're ALL now just money grubbing guns for hire with an eye on a slew of cushy Non Executive and Consultancy positions with the firms they just happen to have done business with whilst in Government office.The System is rotten to the core.

Rosco White ● 1294d

It's the whole culture.Sadly this who did things in an honourable, pragmatic and decisive way and not bullied by politicians and pressure groups with agendas, but did always consider all options pragmatically are long consigned to history.

Raymond Havelock ● 1294d

Rosco the problem we all have is central government is no better.. we will just change the person handing out the medicine

Nicolas Ozegovic ● 1295d