Booze to be banned on the Tube (and London Transport)

At the end of Boris Johnson's mayoral acceptance speech he said the following words about starting his new job: "Let's get cracking tomorrow and let's have a drink tonight". Not exactly wise words for someone whose first London Underground promise is to call for alcohol on the Tube to be banned. No more cracking good drinks on the Tube then.


Even one of Boris's supporters Iain Dale claims to find banning not so great (not sure where he stands on banning guns then - but that's by the by) "As a liberal Conservative I instinctively recoil from banning things. However, is it liberal to allow tube users to be abused by drunken louts? No, definitely not. I think this policy will be welcomed by many as long as it is policed properly."

Yes I'm sure we can rely on the new Mayor to police it properly. He got a lot of practice in this morning, just by wearing a policeman's hat. Check out The Sun

By the way loving, Iain Dale's ads for Laithwaites wine all over his blog. It's great that some people can be trusted to booze responsibly and yet it appears there might be a blanket ban on booze.

More on the Tube booze issue on Boriswatch.

Update - 8th May- it will be across the whole public transport network in London from 1st June - see the BBC & today's Metro for more.


"The ban, starting on 1 June, on the Tube, buses, trams and Docklands Light Railway is one of his election pledges.

But the Rail Maritime and Transport Union said the policy appeared "not to have been thought through very well" and could make matters worse."

Transforming your Tube this Bank Holiday Weekend

I was trying to take a picture of the leaflet which announced the Bank Holiday Tube Transformation works and Bolli insisted on appearing in the photo


For once Transport for London had done a very good leaflet. Wonder if they had taken on board the frustration and confusion caused by the errr not so clear leaflets and posters they had previously done for this?


This current one is really super clear and they've even made sure that the Piccadilly Line trains stop at Turnham Green (which will be a massive help for me getting into town - although I still won't use those fooking replacement buses). There's a remarkably clear section with "alternative travel advice" which tells you which local bus services you can use.


For those who asked for more pictures of Bolli, here's others where he wouldn't get out of the way:








Bolli is available for hire to Transport for London for modelling services and only wants food for payment.

Don't read this if you voted for Boris

I really am not interested in anyone who comments on this post and says why don't you just focus on the London Underground then. There's shedloads of posts in this blog about the London Underground and there will be shedloads more. It's time for a change isn't it. Most of London thinks so. Here's a post NOT about the London Underground.

Please avert your eyes and go off and read the posts that interest you. This is just one post out of hundreds that are about the Tube. Read the posts about bendy buses, Japan, mainline railways and the myriad of other posts that aren't "all things underground" but don't seem to get any complaints. So if you're still reading this post at this stage, you know what you're letting yourself in for.

By about 6pm I felt it was unlikely that Ken Livingstone would win the mayoral elections, but in my heart of hearts I kind of hoped he would pull it off. We know that he didn't and we know that we now have four years of being run by a "character" who is possibly one of the most essentially un-diverse people you could have running a city that prides itself on diversity.

A person who has little appreciation of what it's like to live in London & mix on a daily basis with people of a variety of races, with a people who have a variety of sexual preferences, with people from different parts of the UK, with women who'd rather not be cheated on and lied to by their partners.

Whatever you think of Boris's ability to run this city and there's little evidence of him being any good at that. How anyone can believe that such an undiverse character can change themselves in a matter of weeks is simply beyond me. Time after time after time the man has come up with racist gaffes, homophobic gaffes, Liverpudllianist gaffes and countless others. Yet he says sorry and ahhhh loads of people forgive him until it's time for him to make the next one.

The article in Thursday's Guardian confirmed every suspicion I had about the man. It listed lots of people that you may well admire and respect who were all horrified about the prospect of Boris running this city. David Mitchell, Arabella Weir, Charlie Brooker, Bianca Jagger, Ben Okri and Vivienne Westwood all give quotes in that article of how Boris is unsuitable for the role.

If you haven't the time to read that article here's some of Boris's own words:

"Right, let's go and look at some more piccaninnies."
· Reported remark, while visiting Uganda, to Swedish Unicef workers and their black driver, the Observer, 2003

"It is said that the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies."
· Daily Telegraph, 2002

"I'm down with the ethnics. You can't out-ethnic me, Nihal ... My children are a quarter Indian, so put that in your pipe and smoke it."
· To Nihal Arthanayake, BBC Asian Network, 2008

"Gay marriage can only ever be a ludicrous parody of the real thing."
· Daily Telegraph, 2005

"The clerics gave us [journalists] a wigging for being so mean to the Church of England ... Why did we draw attention to tricky subjects like homosexuality, aka the Pulpit Poofs issue?"
· The Spectator, 2000

"I've slept with far fewer than 1,000."
· On whether he has slept with fewer than 30 women, like Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, Daily Telegraph, 2008

More from the BBC's site

"If I was in charge I would get rid of Jamie Oliver and tell people to eat what they like" - striking a blow for the right to eat pies at the 2006 Tory conference. He later described Oliver as a "national saint".

"I will add Papua New Guinea to my global itinerary of apology" - after suggesting the country was known for "chief-killing and cannibalism"

But London believes it's time for a change and that Boris is the best person to do the job.

If my making a political stand which you disagree with makes you never want to read this blog again, go ahead and don't read it anymore. I won't be sorry to see you go. Right now, I'm about to join this Facebook Group - Boris not in my name and will also become a fan of Boris Watch - as you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be watching him like a hawk.

Who will be London's Mayor? Long Wait begins

Well that's it. The wait begins. Polls closed at 10pm yesterday. Counting for London Mayor does not start until 9am this morning with the results expected around 12 hours later at about 5pm ish.

It's going to be a very close call. Boris the Buffoon may possibly just do it. No one really knows despite Evening Standard's usual accurate billboards hardly representing what's in the paper.


Meanwhile on the bbc's site or watching their election live coverage you might like to see Jeremy Vine doing a rather odd cowboy accent with a stetson and gun toting and shooting party / seats ie cans off a fence.

Emily Maitlis is "blogging, twittering, chatting, whatever" as she speaks to "blog land" or rather some bloggers who've been selected to give people's online views.


At time of writing Boris Johnson's dad is talking to Emily Maitlis saying that he's not a buffoon and saying The Guardian's approach is libellous. Well he would say that wouldn't he?

Whatever happens later today it will affect London's Transport either for better or for worse. I'll carry on blogging about the Tube and it will certainly be interesting if I have to expose Boris's inexperience and buffoonery.


Right now people do seem more interested in the story about this blog that a lot of other news today, so I've got a responsibility to keep people informed.

Personally I'd rather be blogging about the Tube being improved rather than it being turned into even more of a nightmare for the next four years - but who knows - it ain't over till it's over.

Playing Cards with the Tube

Cards featured a lot in my day yesterday. At lunchtime I went off to see Channel4 for a work and play related event. I'm soooo lucky that my day job has quite a lot of resonances with my blogging life and it means I get to combine the two.


Someone at the event made exactly the same comment, but she felt that only two people in the world read both of her blogs, as the things she did at work and play were very unrelated.

On the way back, I sheltered in the rain and stood gazing up at the London Underground Head Office (which is really close to Channel 4's office). I was sheltering under the canopy of the Met Police's head office (they're all really close to each other, near St James's Park Tube Station, so I use them as landmarks).

It was weird though because I'd never noticed the flag flying from their building before. Maybe it always has been or maybe it was something to do with elections.


I was a little too close to their front door and was taking a picture - obviously making me a terrorist. The nice policeman on the door asked me what I was doing. I told him. He said "Fine, can you just move over a bit as you're blocking the entrance. Nasty weather isn't it." Then we had a bit of a chat about how pants it was one minute and how sunny then next. I never thought I'd hear myself saying this, but he rocked!

Coming home last night I saw the perfect example of the extreme ends of Tube commuters. There's those that try to hide behind their papers and never look at anyone wanting to get the journey over with as quickly as possible. Then those that use the long journey as a way of getting other stuff done and an extension of their bedroom, office, living room, whatever. The two below definitely fell into the latter category:


They were engrossed in their game of cards and seemed to be taking their playing very seriously.

Anyway time for me to get ready for work now. I've got a busy busy day and then tonight I'm off to see Iron Man with some blogging mates. Sizemore, Jess, Tiara Diamond (may not be safe for some offices), Whatleydude & L J see you all later.

Oh and if anyone wants to know how Bolli my newly acquired cat is doing, as you can see below he's demanding breakfast and doing well


You would not believe how much this cat can eat. He acts as though he's starving most of the time and would seriously eat all day if I let him.