“I don’t need the Londoner for my propaganda. I’ve got press statements for that.”
Via Dave Hill comes this interesting little snippet:
At the start of Boris’s second week he has been able to deliver two more election promises – making London greener and cutting the Mayor’s publicity budget. The planting of 10,000 street trees will improve the residential streets that need them most with the planting programme directed at deprived areas that often have no trees at all. Had Ken Livingstone been re-elected, Londoners would have spent around £2.9 million this year on the Mayor’s personal newspaper. By using some of the money saved from The Londoner – around £1 million per year – London’s most deprived areas will see an extra 10,000 new trees by 2012.
Allow me to draw out one sentence from there:
Had Ken Livingstone been re-elected, Londoners would have spent around £2.9 million this year on the Mayor’s personal newspaper.
Tories of all sorts have complained vocally since 1st May (with justification in some cases) that lefties are bitter about Boris’ victory, and haven’t let up their campaign against him.
I look forward to hearing the same thing about Boris’ campaign against Ken now. Perhaps they could throw in a complaint about their own triumphalism over the past fortnight. That’d really cheer me up.
Actually, while we’re on this: could the statement be more ridiculous? I imagine it’s just greenwash and agitprop, but there’s a chance he actually believes it. He believes that planting 10,000 trees will really make the difference to public behaviour needed to challenge climate change. And that planting 10,000 trees will automatically improve the lives of deprived Londoners.
It will, of course, require more than just trees. If Boris wants to make a difference on environmental issues, he needs to use his power to make green behaviour viable for most Londoners. If he wants to help the deprived, he needs to use the money saved (and more…) to attack the economic deprivation at the root of their problems. Perhaps he should think of building some decent new social housing? There’s a shortage as it is. And while he’s at it, he could make sure it was affordable, sustainable and actually worth living in.
As it is - this is a gesture, nothing more.
The idea of planting trees, etc. is more of the Tory “bottom up” approach. Cut minor crime, and big crime will fall. Get clever primary school children and they will not become yobs a decade later. Make nasty places look nicer and people will stop wrecking them further.
There is some mileage in this theory. Its biggest flaw, of course, is that is mistakes symptoms for causes. People don’t trash areas because they are devoid of trees - indeed, new trees are unlikely to last in some areas. The local council recently tried to spruce up my area by putting flower containers atop roadside railings - they did nothing to make the railings look nicer, and were generally abused. A waste of money? Perhaps, perhaps not.
Apparently, the TFL pages of The Metro are also being used for policy announcements not directly related to transport. Almost every day there’s been a picture of Boris in it, whereas Ken never once appeared.