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Things I’d Like To Ask Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone

October 1, 2008

Things I’d Like To Ask Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone The London Underground is an embarrassment; one huge embarrassment. The trains are old and the tracks are even older, the signal system is outdated and breaks down all the time. The stations look shabby and the heat and stuffiness throughout most of the year are unbearable. Not to mention that some of the lines are in a state of constant repair and the trains just ground to a halt in the tunnels sometimes and stand there endlessly, with passengers feeling trapped in some dark abyss.

Oh yes, and the whole tunnel system is infested with rodents.

Imagine how pathetic all those large adverts look on the walls of stations and along the escalators. I am quite frankly amazed that any company would want to be associated with the London Underground. It is like some anti-advertisement, if you ask me. It is like being associated with failure, like sponsoring the English national football team that never wins anything.

But the strangest thing of all about the London Underground is the heat. It is hot on the Tube most of the time, even when it is rather chilly on the surface. There is even a joke going around that London would be the next Babylon, as it is closer to hell than any other capital.

Now, as I understand it, the previous Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone – not my cup of tea at all – supposedly did everything possible to improve the Tube. Huge amounts of money were, supposedly, spent on repairs and improvements. Grandiose plans were discussed about replacing the trains and installing a new high tech signal system. Fares on the Underground were rising all the time and everyone was told that it was done for their own benefit. To improve the network, that is. Mr Livingstone himself jetted across the world, looking at the metro in other countries, to copy their best ideas.

So where are the results, Mr Livingstone? Why is the London Underground still so bad and where has all the money gone? Because you cannot just pretend that billions were spent and still there is no improvement. And I cannot still figure out how did it happen that the private contractor – Metrotrack or whatever it was called – that was supposed to lay new tracks just went bust all of a sudden with the loss of £400 million of public money. And you, Mr Livingstone, decided not to do anything about it.

It all looks very fishy. Very fishy indeed.

And you know what also looks very suspicious? That you, Mr Livingstone, have decided to become an advisor to President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Now why on earth would a former Mayor of London would take on a job like that? OK, I can understand that you two share your ultra-left political views and have even managed to strike a bizarre deal some years ago to provide cheap fuel for London buses. (Personally I thought that it was a very strange thing to do.) But why would President Chavez take you, Mr Livingstone, as his adviser? After all that damage that you have done to London, including getting those useless Olympic Games?

Strange, very strange.

And one more thing I find strange. Why is it, Mr Livingstone, that you are saying that introducing the congestion charge turned out to be such a great success? What is so great about it? Did it help relieve congestion in London? No, it did not. Did the roads get better in London? No, they did not. Did public transport improve in London? No, it did not.

So where has all the money gone then, Mr Livingstone? Because let’s be honest about it: introducing a charge for entering the centre of the city resembles the way highway thieves and robbers in the Middle Ages introduced their ‘charges’ on all tradesmen who had been passing through the forests where those lowlifes operated. And, by the way, the warlords in Afghanistan at the moment do exactly the same thing with farmers: they impose their ‘congestion charge’ on all of them when they pass through their territories on the way to the nearest town or city.

So what is exactly the difference, Mr Livingstone, between you and all those criminals who rob people for using roads? Because the money you have been raising seems to have been spent, ahem, very unwisely.

And one last question: why on earth did you introduce the bendy buses in London? Come on, I’d love to hear the answer. Any answer. Because these buses are not suitable for London streets at all. They are so unsuitable, in fact, that this whole deal with the Mercedes people that you have struck resembles something out of Venezuela where the government does pretty much anything it wants and has managed to create a total mess out of the nation’s economy; quite an achievement, considering that it’s the fifth biggest oil producer in the world.

And by some strange coincidence, Mr Livingstone, you are now an advisor to President Chavez… Very, very strange, isn’t it? I wonder why you chose Venezuela?

– End –

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One Response to “Things I’d Like To Ask Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone”

  1. matt on October 2nd, 2008 3:19 pm

    beause at heart hes a communist 100%. so by default hes also a liar and a hypocrite. he resents anybody that doesn’t believe his bullshit and shows any type of independent thought. red ken is a nasty piece of work indeed. he shouts about gay rights then praises castro, who presides over a regime where police brutality towards homosexuality is well documented.
    You can be a lefty despot thats all right by ken but if your a tolerant, open minded free thinker he’ll look down is nose at you and treat you like the devil incarnate

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