The current issue of the magazine Compass has a letter in support of Ken Livingstone's campaign to be re-elected Mayor, signed by the great and the good. As others have pointed out, not all the signatories are members of the Labour Party. I would just draw attention to one signatory who indisputably is, namely the MP for Coventry North West, Geoffrey Robinson. Mr Robinson is also the proprietor of the New Statesman, and is hunting for a new Editor, following the resignation of John Kampfner. The New Statesman's Political Editor, Martin Bright, is one of Livingstone's chief tormentors, believing that he is not fit to be re-elected. No wonder Bright has ruled himself out as a potential occupant of the editor's chair.
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Thanks for pointing this out, Andy. Maybe I should rule myself back in? It's all in the New Statesman's fine tradition of editorial independence, which Geoffrey Robinson has always championed.
Posted by: Martin Bright | Friday, 29 February 2008 at 12:22 PM
I think our thanks are due to Martin Bright, for keeping up the pressure on His Newtness. A man who can cheer-on the gunning-down of an unarmed innocent man on a tube station has no business being Mayor of London.
Posted by: Neil McGowan | Friday, 29 February 2008 at 01:40 PM
Neil,
I now know what you look like, because you are featured on YouTube, being interviewed about so few western tourists don't visit Russia. Why, I ask you, would anyone want to visit Suzdal, other than to look at old churches? Of all the places I have been to, excluding Moscow and Petersburg, nothing compares with the beauty of Vladikavkaz. It was difficult to think of Nalchik as being in Russia, but technically it is, and that too is an exciting little town. When I was in Rostov, everyone was drunk because it was 10 May. Pyatagorsk has views, but not much else. In Sochi, there was no hot water in the most expensive hotel in town. I loved Krasnodar, but found Bratsk kind of dull. Apart from that, I don't seem to have been anywhere in Russia apart from Moscow and Petersburg. How about a cheap deal to visit Yakutsk?
And, by the way, the point you make is not an argument for replacing Ken Livingstone with Boris Johnson. Why will people like you and Martin Bright not accept that there is no fantasy candidate who is going to pop up through the middle? It will either be Ken, or it will be Boris.
Posted by: Andy McSmith | Friday, 29 February 2008 at 02:45 PM
Andy,
I always worry when people on the internet tell me they know what I look like :) It reminds me of that Hancock's Half-Hour episode "The Threatening Letters" :) I'm not an entire stranger to the inside of The Indy either - I've sometimes popped-up doing "48 Hours In Chelyabinsk" or "A Complete Guide To The Trans-Siberian Express" in the Travel Section.
I reluctantly agree on Suzdal, but as a quietish weekend escape from Moscow mayhem it comes into its own - you step unwisely into the road and risk being hit by a passing chicken. Next door in adjacent Vladimir there's a super Philharmonic Orchestra, by the way - quite the equal of any of the Moscow bands, built up from a String Quartet by conductor Artem Markin. I envy you Pyatigorsk, as I've never had the chance to go - I am supposed to be going to Stavropol' sometime soon, though. Sochi - were you in the Zhemchuzenaya Hotel? It's a grim dive, redeemed only by having its own beach. I stayed there last year for a music festival (I was playing - my "parallel" career) and in the "American Grill-Bar" the only food on the menu was Siberian dumplings or borsch. Why on earth did you pick Bratsk, of all places in Siberia you might have gone? Are you some kind of hydraulic power-station fan? Or were you researching the end of "Dr Zhivago"? Baikal is super and only "developed" around Irkutsk... or go horse-riding in the Altai Mts... or throat-singing in Tuva? Yatkutsk is probably fascinating, but the airfare is crippling and the rail-link won't be finished for several more years yet.
I do entirely take your point about the London Mayor... Boris is probably even worse than Ken. However, as I no longer pay rates in London (or the UK) I feel I shouldn't vote, despite being on the Electoral Register. Tweedledum and Tweedledee should probably be dragged to Moscow and shown how to run a *proper* transport system? We got a loudspeaker apology today because there was a four-minute interval between trains :) Is there some special rule which makes the role of London Mayor suitable only for mavericks? Steve Norris and Jeffrey Archer have also essayed the role, although poor ol' Dobbo never had much of a hope...
Posted by: Neil McGowan | Friday, 29 February 2008 at 05:41 PM
Perhaps Veronica Wadley could be wooed from the Evening Standard (ho ho).
Posted by: Dave Hill | Saturday, 01 March 2008 at 04:37 PM