By Sean O'Grady

Today's the day! Britain's first post-Blair politician will most likely be elected as Mayor of London. Boris Johnson. Post-Blair being even more informal, even more careless, even less interested in policy, even more self-ironic. For those like me just able to recall the age of Wilson and Heath, such a figure as Boris is scarcely credible. I will, though be making him my second preference after the very sensible Brian Paddick, simply because Ken Livingstone's congestion charge has cost me so much money. I don't mind the e £8 charge, it's the fines and the ever increasing cost and scope of the scheme that frighten me. Everyone in London knows that its a tax on absent mindedness as much as anything - £60 if you just forget an day the next day. There's a lot of people in London who feel like me, and it should be a warning to councils across the land about how to lose public goodwill. Send people a bill and give them a month to pay, just like any other utility or tax demand.