Sadiq Khan is a menace – nothing in London works…he’s too busy taxing voters & blaming others for knife crime epidemic
A FULL quarter of a century ago Londoners were given a vote as to whether or not we wanted a mayor.
I voted No.
Mainly because I want fewer politicians in our country, not more.
But in the years since that vote was lost, the position of mayor has had some advantages.
At its best the person in charge can act as an ambassador for London to the rest of the world.
But at its worst, the person in charge can be a meddling menace.
Sadiq Khan is just such a mayor.
Things that really matter to Londoners seem to be completely beyond the mayor’s control.
Crime, for instance.
You would have thought that the mayor would be able to do something about that.
But no. Khan uses his powers over the police when it suits himself to grandstand about some issue.
But when it actually comes to solving things like London’s epidemic of knife crime, the mayor always has other people to blame.
That is one problem when there are so many layers of politicians.
They always get to pass the blame along.
But don’t think Khan isn’t busy with some things.
Like other mayors before him, he has his own pet projects that he is keen to push.
In his case, for instance, there is the Ulez scheme, which sees motorists in London charged yet another tax for being on the roads.
The mayor presents it as part of his plan to make London green and so save the planet.
But all it really means is that motorists are once again hit in the pocket.
Despite voters in Uxbridge being the latest to object to the expansion of the Ulez scheme, Labour’s deputy leader is among those who are keen to roll it out.
Indeed, Angela Rayner has promised that Ulez will expand not just in London but in towns and cities across the country.
So Sadiq Khan can boast that he has led the way in punishing motorists nationwide.
And now we have the mayor telling us what to say.
The new “Maaate” campaign tells blokes that we should step in and reprimand male friends “when their language or behaviour crosses the line”, whatever that line may be.
According to the mayor, one word (“mate”, or more precisely, “maaate!”) might be all that’s needed to stop sexist comments and possibly something worse.
How much money did this campaign cost?
And does the mayor really think this is his job? To tell us all what we should say?
I despair about this.
Not least because I can’t help thinking how all this looks to people visiting our country.
A while ago I got back into Heathrow Airport from a trip abroad.
And I looked at the city through the eyes of a visitor. Here are the first two things I noticed.
The first is that nothing was working. Literally nothing.
First the trains weren’t working because there was a strike.
Even the appallingly over-priced Heathrow Express service wasn’t working. That service too was on strike.
So everyone who had arrived was standing at the airport trying to work out how to get into London.
Pretty terrible
It turned out that we could spend over £100 on a taxi or Uber to get into town.
Or there were “replacement bus services”.
Which are, of course, no replacement at all. Most replacement bus services take longer than the flight from anywhere nearer than Australia.
The second thing I noticed was that the train station that wasn’t working was filled with posters telling the public what to do.
They didn’t tell us how we could actually get into London. Of course not.
They were posters telling us not to abuse station staff.
Everywhere there were warnings about the consequences of being violent or abusive to station staff.
The impression that this gives to the person arriving in our capital is that the British public are a menace who must be controlled.
That we are simmering, violent people.
That we need signs everywhere reminding us not to assault people.
What impression do people think this gives?
I can tell you. It’s pretty terrible. And these two things add up.
The inability to get on top of basic things — such as getting the trains running.
And at the same time the hectoring about things which should be nothing to do with politicians.
It adds up to a pretty incompetent mix.
Visitors to London now find a city where everything is policed except crime.
Where the mayor can’t stop knife crime but can take out huge billboards to tell the public what we should say.
That is Sadiq Khan’s fault, for sure.
But it is also the fault of us, the public, for putting up with this.
For getting used to services that don’t work.
For getting used to being told what to say and when. For being told what we should think and about what.
Sadiq Khan will soon be up for re-election.
Perhaps this would be a good time for voters to step in and say “Maaate! That’s enough.”
SPACEY CASE SO FLIMSY
KEVIN SPACEY was found not guilty by a London court yesterday after four men made allegations against him.
Ever since he first had a false charge made against him in 2017,
Spacey has had his reputation smashed to pieces.
Projects that he was involved in were cancelled.
House Of Cards – then the most popular show on Netflix – wrote him out and literally cancelled him.
Films he had already finished were canned.
And all of this because of a set of claims that have – each in turn – been proved to be lies.
They have been proved as lies before in the US courts, and were again in the British courts yesterday.
The claims in the Southwark Crown Court case could not have been more weak.
At least one of the men seemed to be only after money.
But the question I had throughout the trial was: “How has this even come to court?”
One of the complainants said that Spacey had “groped” him. Turned out that never happened.
Another claimed Spacey had made a pass at him.
Our court system is famously bad at bringing successful prosecutions in actual rape cases.
But the case against Spacey was not just based on false claims.
It was based on pathetically minor ones.
So why did the police and Crown Prosecution Service think that pursuing Spacey was in the public interest?
Why were they so vindictive?
And towards a man who has done an enormous amount for the UK – not least at the Old Vic theatre in London, which he single-handedly brought back to life.
Spacey has been found to be innocent. But there is a question still left to answer.
Who in the CPS and police thought this weak and vindictive case should ever have been brought in the first case?
And in whose interest?
LABOUR GENDER AGENDA
HOW can you tell that Labour are getting ready for government?
Because they’re trying to cover their tracks.
Not least on some of their loony agenda.
Just two years ago party leader Keir Starmer said that he backed the Gender Recognition Act which would allow people to legally “change sex” and call themselves whatever sex they choose at any time.
Now the Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, Anneliese Dodds, has said that medical experts might be needed in all of this, rather than just allowing people to call themselves whatever they want.
Dodds now says: “Sex and gender are different.”
I’m glad that the Labour Party has come around to the argument that moderate left-wing figures like JK Rowling have made in recent years – often in the face of serious abuse, not least from Labour activists.
But I wonder if the party is yet brave enough to take the next step towards sanity and admit that there is no such thing as “gender”.
There is biological sex and there is sexuality.
But the woo-woo claim that we all have a magical “gender” is anti-science, anti-reality nonsense.
I know Labour are only changing their views to be more acceptable at the ballot box.
But if they stated what I just have they’d find there’s a lot of ordinary folks who would agree with them.
POLICE GO LOCO WITH DRAG QUEEN COCO
POLICE in Wales have come under fire for taking a Pride-themed bus tour with a drag act called Coco Aine.
Why police in Port Talbot needed to be on a Pride float in the first place I do not know.
They live in one of the most deprived parts of our country.
Surely there must be other things to focus on?
But it is also a reminder of how crazy the police and others have gone on all this stuff.
Drag queens used to be a type of entertainment for adults in adult-only spaces.
Why does everybody now have to pretend that children should be introduced to drag queens and that police and others must show they are “accepting” by appearing with them?
It makes no sense.
Perhaps for their next stunt, Port Talbot police can appear alongside someone called Ins Aine.
It would make more sense.