Writing in today’s Telegraph Charles Moore calls for London to be made “part of Britain again” and goes on to attack the policies of current Mayor Ken Livingstone.
Attacking Livingstone’s past Moore cites the Mayor’s ‘support’ of the IRA without pausing to reflect on the fact that it was engagement with the IRA, however distasteful, which has advanced the Northern Ireland peace process.
He also attacks an 1980’s policy of “absurdly cheap Tube fares” but then goes on to lament the fact that “people forced to move out to Zone 5 pay a fortune in transport costs” and that London is only affordable for those on benefits and the super rich.
Moore points to a recent Policy Exchange poll which found “90 per cent in favour of keeping” the Routmaster and “great dislike” of bendy buses but fails to tell us how many participants were wheelchair users for whom the inaccessible Routemaster was a barrier to mobility in their own city.
In his closing remarks Moore calls for “a St George’s Day parade” but neglects to mention the events which Livingstone has, for the fourth year in a row, co-organised and funded to celebrate the day.
Ignoring the Mayor’s support for St George’s Day seems to be a popular sport, commentators on a recent Guardian discussion also attacked him for this claimed failing.
Despite his reputation for being interested primarily in his own publicity the Mayor seems to have failed to correct the urban-myth that he’s anti-English. Is his skill for self-promotion finally failing or are his detractors wilfully ignoring the facts to push their own agenda?
