I haven't been keeping up with these things, but is London a better place since Boris took over than it was under the newt fancier, or worse?

its all still shit

There is a blue cycle lane now, whoohoo.

and you still have to use the sodding night-bus if you want to stay out past 11.30…

the horror!

London is random, random can be good or bad, it all depends on what happens to you there.
I've noticed that East London is getting better, there is more opportunity because of the Olympics.
Central London is still full of annoying Italian and Spanish tourists clogging up Oxford Street, remains a no-go area for me during the day.
West London never changes.
South London will remain crap no matter what Boris does.
Overall London as a global city is going to be heavily influenced by global events and trends; the Mayor's influence is relatively small, hence why all the announcements they make tend to be fairly trivial.

As someone who has travels through London twice a week for longer than I want to can’t say I have noticed any difference. Londoners are still rude and insular.

So, does London "need" a mayor at all?

Perhaps there's some savings to be made…

So, does London "need" a mayor at all?

The reprising of the position of mayor was an odd move when put against the historical record. Over the last three hundred years the role of mayor had become largely ceremonial, as London developed into a vibrant City which would always resist attempts to control it. A cynic would say that New Labour re-introduced the role in order to gain influence over a City which was not one of its strongholds. Now Boris seems to be using the position as a way of remaining in the public eye in the build-up to an eventual attempt to become leader of the Tories.
Yep Blue bike lanes says it all – scrap the Mayor, save some money, and let Londoners get on with things, as they always have.

it doesn't have a mayor it has a village idiot on a chair

london is much better.
it seems to get up the noses of bumpkins, worm choppers, northerners and jocks even more these days. it's great VFM.

MrNutt – Member

it doesn't have a mayor it has a village idiot on a chair

Really? I always thought Boris seemed an affable sort of cove, quite clever at self promotion and MOST amusing when reducing Billy Bragg down to his natural miniscule size…

lol! "worm choppers"

Well Johnson has done pretty much what you would expect from a man who refers to his quarter of a million pound annual salary from the the Daily Telegraph as "chicken feed", he has acted like a complete ****.

Amongst the stuff he's done, he's scrapped half-price fares for people on income support and imposed massive, several times above inflation, fare increases on everyone. Despite endlessly slagging off the Congestion Charge before he was elected, rather than scrapping it, he has actually increased it by 25%.

He's attacked the annual music festival which reflects London's multiculturalism – Rise, by announcing that the anti-racism message which it promotes, will no longer be featured in the festival's promotional material. As a result the festival's main sponsors have withdrawn their funding so it has now been scrapped.

He has decided on the grounds of cost to end receptions which are specific to minority groups. So the Gay Pride mayoral reception has now been scrapped. He has also however, decided that cash-strapped Londoners should find £100,000 to pay for "USA Day" which will celebrate "American culture" ffs. And so it goes on…….all very predictable.

Basically …… if you are a black Londoner, use public transport, drive a vehicle into London, gay, poor (41% of children in London live under the poverty line after housing costs are accounted for) or simply just an average Londoner, you were better off when Livingstone was mayor. If however you are a wealthy white American, then you might well be happier with Johnson.

London is still a shithole, I feel dirty just being down there and within a minute of being there I am desperate to leave. Unless you are minted the quality if life is truly appalling!!!

"Basically …… if you are a black Londoner, use public transport, drive a vehicle into London, gay, poor (41% of children in London live under the poverty line after housing costs are accounted for) or simply just an average Londoner, you were better off when Livingstone was mayor you could get a handout from the taxpayer"

If £250k is chickenfeed to you, then it's chickenfeed. Don't see what's wrong with that. Quite like to be in that position myself and I'm intensely relaxed about Boris being there.

Can I still say "intensely relaxed" or has it become unfashionable?

If £250k is chickenfeed to you, then it's chickenfeed

No it isn't "chicken feed". £250k can't be described as chicken feed. It is a very large amount of money for something which he does "on a Sunday morning". It is many times more than what most Londoners get for working full time. You are clearly from another planet Teddy Bare/eldridge/smee/woppit/whoeveryouare

London is alright and i tend to have a good time when I visit friends there, but…

1) It still has a massive inferiority complex and desperately wishes it was New York.

2) It's a 24 hour city only in so far as it still exists when you wake up.

3) It's still full of people you never liked when you were at sixth form college in Guildford, Chichester, Nottingham, Salford or Dundee who are now all convinced that they're Johnny Cosmopolitan because they drank a hazelnut latte on the way to work and live next to a black man.

London is alright and i tend to have a good time when I visit friends there, but…

1) It still has a massive inferiority complex and desperately wishes it was New York.

2) It's a 24 hour city only in so far as it still exists when you wake up.

3) It's still full of people you never liked when you were at sixth form college in Guildford, Chichester, Nottingham, Salford or Dundee who are now all convinced that they're Johnny Cosmopolitan because they drank a hazelnut latte on the way to work and live next to a black man.

LOL!!!

London's full of people who tell you how great the north is and how crap London is, but I suspect they say the opposite when they go back home to visit.

It's also full of people who don't even know where the north is…

It's also full of people who don't even know where the north is..

Not if they've been to Watford.

It's also full of people who don't even know where the north is.

Fixed that for you.

It's only chickenfeed if you look at it from where you are, Karl, sorry, ernie. Not chickenfeed from where Boris looks at it.

Not smee.

Definitely not Smee.

Edit: No idea who it is. 😉

London is still a shithole, I feel dirty just being down there and within a minute of being there I am desperate to leave. Unless you are minted the quality if life is truly appalling!!!

have you ever lived there? or do you just visit for a minute then leave?

My wife of 14 years is from Forest hill, I have spent extended periods down there with her so I guess you could say I have lived there.. She is working in london at the moment as I can't get work here and neither can she. So unfortunately I spend time down there when she can't get back here. So yes, with much regret I have far more familiarity than I would like to…

I loathe the place more than I have ever loathed anywhere. I find it revolting and as soon as the wife gets a job back up here I have vowed to never, ever go there again.

The wife knows how much I hate it but she just ignores me when I rant about it now.

Teddy Bare – Member

It's only chickenfeed if you look at it from where you are, Karl, sorry, ernie. Not chickenfeed from where Boris looks at it.

Not smee.

😀 LOL ! Of course it's not "chicken feed" !

That's what I said, quote : "No it isn't "chicken feed". £250k can't be described as chicken feed"

It's your mate Boris who's calling it "chicken feed" ….. not me.

Well **** me, you're a right daft herbert. Which narrows it down a bit ………..I reckon you've got to be Woppit 💡

BTW we nearly bumped into each other a couple of months ago. I hear you hooked up for a while with some riders from Addiscombe at Leith Hill. I couldn't make it that day – maybe next time eh ? 8)

LOL ! Of course it's not "chicken feed" !

It is if you're Boris, isn't if it's you – sorry about the reverse slippage..

Not woppit.

the bendy buses seem to have gone, or at least, i haven't seen any for ages. lots of new looking routemasters, which is something Bozzer promised.

lots of people on bikes* – seems good.

i like london, i really do, and i'm gratefull that so many people have decided to live there, earning lots of money or at least paying lots of tax. to all of you, my sincerest thanks.

(*is there any point having handlebars narrower than your shoulders?)

London is still a ####hole, I feel dirty just being down there and within a minute of being there I am desperate to leave. Unless you are minted the quality if life is truly appalling!

+1

I have lived there, for 10 years. Go back to visit and feel pretty much the same as what loddrik said above.

Shame really, i guess that's big cities for you though. Strange how with so many people living in such close proximity it can be such a lonely and unforgiving places. Say hello to someone in the street and they think you are mental, a rapist, a mugger or all three. Say hello to the same person half way up a mountain in the middle of nowhere they will share there life stories with you. Everyone just seems to be out for themselves. To get the best car, biggest house, shiniest shoes. The most depressing thing you see is the business types stepping round the homeless folk, clasping there overpriced coffee while moaning about the cost of there mortgage. Glad i left.

Of course a lot of this is just personal opinion. Though I'm sure it's not far from how a lot of people on here feel.

(*is there any point having handlebars narrower than your shoulders?)

According to a bike courier I talked to, it's so you can get between the motorised traffic easier…

lots of new looking routemasters, which is something Bozzer promised.

You are hallucinating ahwiles. The design for the new Routemasters was only unveiled 2 months ago.

And as the cost of Johnson's vanity project is £7.8 million for five buses (£1.56 million each) then it would suggest a fair amount of technology, so I suspect that they probably couldn't have been built and put into service within 2 months.

I loathe the place more than I have ever loathed anywhere. I find it revolting and as soon as the wife gets a job back up here I have vowed to never, ever go there again.

i choose to live in London (grew up in the countryside) can't image having to stay somewhere i didn't like 🙁

i guess i would feel the same way about manc/liverpool/leeds they really are grim places, provincial attitudes yet inner city downsides the worst of both worlds.

i've definitely seen lots of new red double-deckers, what are they then?

Leeds is ace! – city jobs and facilities, barely a hop skip anda jump from some seriously good biking (road and off), the more i see, the more i like it.

never really spent much time in Manchester, and all i know about Liverpool comes from watching 'Bread' about 25 years ago…

I like London… just where it is.I only go there under duress but there again, I find Cambridge a bit too big and busy so I have got no hope!

( Moves stalk of grass from one side of mouth to the other)

i've definitely seen lots of new red double-deckers, what are they then?

Just double-decker buses.

I was born and bred in London, lived there for close on 40 years and miss it very much (or at least how it was thirty years ago)

When Londoners lived there it was a great place to live and work, well it was where I lived in East London.
That was until all the outsiders moved in, especially bad were the yuppie types who just had to be near the city and pushed the price of houses well above what the local people could afford
All the caffs became coffee and croissant gaffs and the traditional pubs either closed or became wine bar type places.

Then came all the poor scrounging foreigners especially Africans, totally different to the earlier West Indians and Ugandan asians who wanted to work and became part of the community.

All you hear is how cosmopolitan it is now and such a mix of peoples, apart from Londoners because most left so they could still buy a house and bring their kids up where English wasn't a second language.
Probably why they reckon the cockney accent will be gone in the next thirty years

So yes London is still a great city to visit as a tourist, but not for living anymore and my daughter has had a far better state schooling in Cambridgeshire than she would have got where I lived before
Only go back now to watch the Orient or for a work meeting every now and then, wish it could have been different though.

No experience of Boris i'm glad to say, but remember Ken from when he originally became GLC leader and introduced the Fares Fair policy. First proper attempt at getting people to use public transport at a sensible price
His cosying up to the IRA when they were actively bombing London was very hard to swallow. Strangely enough he was the first of many to do that and although they slated him at the time, soon became the in thing to do.

Thought Id add to this as I do actually still live in London (have done for the past 14 years).

So, this morning I walked the dog with the missus down to Greenwich and back to get a present for my bro and his new son. Total people stopped and talked to, 9, including 3 couples (lets call it 6 encounters) One of which was for 20mins chatting about this that and the other. I think if you go out with the attitude that everyone is a tosser then you not going to meet anyone because you DO give off that vibe. No one thought i was a mugger etc.

London has changed over the last 10 years. Not West but East is so much better in loads of ways. To many to go into here. As for Boris. He made loads of promises and hasnt delivered on them (typical politician). Now starting to get up my nose a little with his constant bum licking of the US and his latest escepade removing the peace camp from central london whilst not doing a single thing about traveller camps around the capital. SO pretty much the same as ken, they are all politicians at the end of the day.

It still has a massive inferiority complex and desperately wishes it was New York

Not quite sure how a city can have such feelings but having lived there for 10 years, and also spent time working in NYC, I can't see it. I lived in West London and was doing OK financially but see how it's less appealing for the poorer. But then would anyone say that any of the larger UK cities is any better? Edinburgh in some respects perhaps.