Columns

DISABILITY corner

16 March 2009

This week I will be talking about various things but first of all I would like to thank the regular readers and non regular readers of this column for giving me any assistance that I might have needed and I would also like to say sorry to the many regulars and staff in my local watering hole Wetherspoons of Lower Road whose toes I have rolled over in my wheelchair on entering and exiting the establishment, all depending on my inebriation.

Now regular readers of this column will know of my dislike for the Mayor Boris Johnson and the many negative words I have written about him, but what am I going to do now that he has had a change of heart over Southwark? 

One of his many advisors must have told him that he needs to win over Southwark to get re-elected as he cannot rely on just the outer boroughs alone. The East London Extension, Cycling Bridge from Rotherhithe to Canary Wharf and a possible extension of the Bakerloo Tube Line to Camberwell. But do I trust him? The answer is a resounding no.He has shelved the Cross River Tram and deleted the Surrey Canal station from the East London line extension.

Although I helped design the new Routemaster, I am totally sceptical of the economics of it and fear it will become just become another Boris folly. You do not have to be a mathematician to work out, if the bendy bus can carry 149 on some of London's busiest routes and the new design which I worked on carries a maximum of 76 and will need a conductor, that it's a much more expensive project. Go figure!

On a lighter note I would like to see the Chair of the GLA Transport Committee Val Shawcross do her lady Godiva thing around the Elephant roundabout. I feel terribly sorry for her that she was nearly reduced to tears and is so frustrated by the Mayor’s lack of interest in Southwark and his silly jokes and also his use of Latin phrases when he does not know an answer. I am beginning to think that the name BOJO given to him by his political enemies during his election campaign is now very adequate. Until the next time may your God go with you.

The opinions expressed in this column are personal to the author and may not reflect the opinions of Southwark News.

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