Deliberately missing the point

Ken Livingstone knows that he has a fight on his hands in May, and Boris is doing a perfect job at the moment of highlighting, not only the failures of Livingstone, but also his unwillingness to action those.

Boris has been on the attack over Ken's yoof oyster card policy. I have said a number of times on this blog that anti-social behaviour by teenagers, and some even younger, has soared. The idea of giving free travel was sound enough, but the impact is something that Ken will not admit to. Night after night groups of kids are roaming the bus network, playing their mobile phones excessively loudly, causing a nuisance, and generally making it unpleasant getting a bus at night. But, that is not to mention the rise in graffiti aswell, from tagging the buses.

Now, we were promised by Ken that anyone committing these crimes/misdemeanours would have their oyster cards taken from them. The fact is this does not happen, and even if it did when you have a group of yoofs that pile on to a bus with none of them showing their passes, it takes a very brave driver to pull them up and kick them off the bus. As happened on my journey home last night.

However, Boris's plan has an olive branch. If you lose you pass, you can get it back with a bit of voluntary service. Now, getting kids to be more of a part of a community, and making them have a bit of social responsibility is not a bad idea. But this is ridiculed by Team Ken, supposedly because it would stop the getting something for nothing socialist ideal.

Plus his plan doesn't stop there with the promise of a new CCTV system for some of the most troublesome routes. This idea is knocked by Team Ken, on the grounds of cost. Yes you did read that right. TfL spends millions on consultants, and the Mayor's team cannot see how they could find the money. Here's a suggestion, how about not having trips to Cuba, and Venezuela, to see you left of the left wing buddies.

The fact is that Boris is starting to hit a chord with Londoners. Despite being a party member I wasn't sure what benefit he could bring to London. But over the last couple of months he has methodically torn through a lot of Ken's policies, and targeted areas of concerns for Londoners.

Roll on May.