news

David Willetts MP responds to Boris and baby boomers

This is not an attack on the baby-boomer generation;  it is instead an appeal to the better nature of the boomers – an appeal to Edmund Burke’s understanding that a nation is “a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are [...]


Boris on Question Time

Watch Question Time this Thursday 4th March on BBC 1 at 10.35pm
Question Time, the BBC’s premier political debate programme comes from Canary Wharf this week.  David Dimbleby will be joined in London by Boris Johnson, Liberal Democrat peer Shirley Williams, broadcaster Carol Vorderman, the novelist Will Self and the Transport Secretary Lord Adonis.
Question Time will [...]


The Prime Minister’s Behaviour

With apologies to Tennessee Ernie Ford, let’s have another little song thanks to Dungeekin
New Labour’s legacy is money and blood,
Under them this country has been dragged through the mud,
The damage began with Grinning Tone,
Now the PM’s weak and it’s all gone wrong,


Gordon Brown and Alternative Voting

Downing Street has admitted “time is tight” to get laws for a referendum on scrapping Britain’s first past the post voting system through Parliament.  Gordon Brown wants to replace it with “alternative vote,” where candidates are ranked in order of preference.  The Prime Minister says this is a better way of choosing MPs but the [...]


The Challenge of Housing and Homelessness

Guest Blog by raincoaster - presenting a challenge
“The view is more beautiful now that it is mine.” Ran
I can be challenging. Boris knows it, Melissa knows it, the nation of Albania knows it, I know it, you know it (well you know now, don’t you?). So I’d like to put this inherent challengenosity (a raincoasterism) of [...]


Jo Johnson is the Candidate for Orpington

Boris’s brother has just won the selection to stand in the safe Conservative seat of Orpington where the current MP, John Horam, is standing down.
Stanley, his father, recently described him as “taller and blonder than Boris” and he is the Financial Times’ South Asia bureau chief.  Based in New Delhi since January 2005, he leads [...]


Mayor of Rio de Janeiro welcomed by our Mayor in London

Mayor welcomes Olympic winning Mayor of Rio to London
Olympic winning city Rio received some top tips on staging the Games from London’s Mayor Boris Johnson, during a visit to City Hall by Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes.
Boris Johnson congratulated Mayor Paes on Rio’s historic victory in winning the race to host the 2016 [...]


Clean air in the Capital and the problem of Traffic

The Mayor has pledged to clean up the capital’s air, to improve the health of Londoners and enhance our quality of life.   He also called on Government to back the plan with adequate policy and financial support.  Over the coming months he will discuss with government funding for measures included in this strategy as well [...]


English Food – enjoy with gusto!

Tom brings us the delights of the best of English food in an entertaining and tempting new book:  Full English: A Journey through the British and their Food by Tom Parker Bowles.  His chapter on London food is fabulous.
A richly enjoyable defence of the world’s most unfairly derided cuisine
- Christopher Hirst, The Independent
Boris admirer and food [...]


Conservative Party Conference 2009

As seen from the Blue Room (#cpc09 for twitter)
Expectations and Aspirations for Conservative Party Conference 2009 
I am no longer a ‘noob’, having lost my conference virginity at last year’s conference, although I am far from being an old timer just yet either! So I thought I’d share a few thoughts before, during and after conference for newbies and [...]