RIP Terry Farrell

There’s something seriously rotten in the culture at Charing Cross police station. This isn’t the first time. It needs lancing. I’d shut it down and empty out the building. Start from scratch. Brave undercover reporting by the BBC www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

1/ Everyone will have views on Sadiq Khan's time as @london.gov.uk, but if there's one thing he's (successfully, in my view) tried to be is a Mayor that represents the global, diverse, liberal & tolerant city that London is

The ramblings of a mad fool - unfortunately for us, he's the in charge of the most powerful nation on earth www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...

Had an altercation with a stolen Lime bike. Shattered my wrist. But still managed to pen a piece for @davehillonlondon.bsky.social on what I found out about the big gaps in regulation. A public policy geek is never off duty, even when sat in A&E nursing broken bones.

Honestly, this drives me insane. I’m wired in such a way that I just can’t cycle through red lights. I just wish others were too www.thetimes.com/uk/transport...

Wrote something on this week’s No10 changes. Born out of my simmering anger at the continued & repeated mess at the heart of the Labour govt. It’s bad enough Labour were ill-prepared in July 2024 for govt - to continue to be so 14 months on is just negligent www.linkedin.com/posts/dr-nic...

Glad to see that I beat President Trump to being awarded Freedom of the City of London. Can't wait to see him shepherd his sheep over London Bridge www.cityam.com/president-do...

YouGov on it today with the big issues of our time - DO YOU LIKE OR DISLIKE THE SMELL OF PETROL?

1/ Overnight London by-election result 🚨Reform win a seat from the Tories in Bromley - the shape of things to come in outer London boroughs at next May's local elections? #byelection #London #Bromley

In the same spirit (but better than mine!) here’s @iandunt.bsky.social’s take down of brainwashed Goodwin’s piece on London iandunt.substack.com/p/they-hate-...

A bit of London boosterism from me in this week's @thisislca.bsky.social LDN Newsletter. Don't forget to sign up (link at the end) to receive LDN direct to your inbox every week - the indispensable guide to London's politics & public policy news that matters for the built environment...and more!

More evidence, if needed, that the @greenparty.org.uk is now the progressive alternative for disgruntled @teamlabouruk.bsky.social voters in inner London. Next May’s local elections in London have all the ingredients of a bloody night for Labour

RIP Lalo Schifrin. So many cool scores and themes but nothing beats the combo of his music, the throaty roar of a Mustang and the San Francisco backdrop. Ladies & gents I give you the coolest car chase in movie history #Bullitt #LaloSchifrin

How to lose political support and alienate people - Exhibit #1

He shouldn’t have taken a peerage AND do this job. He needs to pick one or the other. I’ve worked in/around this world for a few years now, and ‘external affairs’ includes advocacy and influencing of decision-makers despite what ACOBA might say. It’s wrong to be a legislator and a lobbyist.

Oh man. Looks like London AND New York will have Muslim mayors soon. I cannot imagine how frenzied some on the right will be at this prospect. Cue lots of “New York is fallen…” etc etc blah blah

🚨 Batshit Telegraph headline of the day 🚨 ‘Woman dead for nearly 100 years wouldn’t recognise today’s London’ shocker

Of course, there won't be any meaningful reform of Council Tax, perhaps the most broken of all taxes. Instead, the Government will place more burden on it, stretching it to breaking point. Oh, and look! A quote from IPPR North - we know what that is code for... www.gov.uk/government/n...

Pity. They'd have made a big difference in Pawtcullis House www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...

Much to say about the Spending Review, but first - when did a third runway at Heathrow and completing HS2 to Euston become "London" projects? Rather cheeky spin by the Government in my opinion

Every political activist is with you, @anneliesemidgleymp.bsky.social 💪🏼✉️📮

Charles is of course right. The Government can kiss goodbye to getting anywhere near the new housing target they're setting London if the rumours about what is (or, more importantly, isn't) in the Spending Review for London.

More red-on-red in this morning's @politico.com Playbook - this time, suggesting London will lose the Shared Prosperity Fund - the Government fund (that replaced EU money) to tackle geographical inequalities. Warning: rant ahead!

Worrying reading from this morning's @politico.com Playbook - sounds like there's now a big risk of London not even getting some crumbs off the Spending Review table

Five party politics + First Past the Post = a rollercoaster ride

This is not normal behaviour - it’s plain weird. ‘Honest Bob’ Jenrick’s whole existence is now devoted solely to his mission to topple Badenoch and turn the Tories into a Trumpian tribute act. Meanwhile we have to be subjected to performative nonsense like this. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

How great to see East Bank coming to life. Much is owed to those who, back in 2016, took a vision that lacked a credible delivery plan, saw off those who wanted to kill it off, turned it round & ensured it happened. Particular praise to @justinesimons.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Election results summary - if it has the word ‘shire’ in the name, the Tories have probably lost it #Election2025

1/ The shape of things to come - the focus of elections today is beyond the M25, but there were two council by-elections last night in London. The Greens nabbing one off Labour in Lambeth with Labour holding off an independent by just 1 vote in Redbridge

As it's polling day, I've written some thoughts on what might happen and how the coming weeks could unfold for the parties #May2025Elections thisislca.com/insight/poll...

1/ 25 years ago today*, the very first Mayor of London and London Assembly election took place. For keen students of London's politics, this BBC Newsnight package from the day after is well worth a watch

Just when I thought I couldn’t love @hugorifkind.bsky.social any more: Malcolm and Hugo Rifkind: ‘We both think the Tories have gone mad’

I’d say no, no and no thank you www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Of course he would. King o’ the Norf, don’t you know?

Personally, I'm delighted to see the former GLC coat of arms be resurrected by the GLA on the Mayor of London & London Assembly's 25th birthday. It'll replace the GLA's rather bland, corporate - and, if I may say so, dull branding.

Great to see this - & more generally the 3 Mills studios prospering. Was like whack-a-mole how many times @justinesimons.bsky.social and I had to battle with LLDC colleagues who wanted to dispose of 3 Mills (& didn’t seem to want to maintain it as a functioning studio!) gortscott.com/news/3-mills...

"What's behind the rise in ADHD diagnoses in London?" asks the Evening Standard. As someone who takes ADHD medication for another health condition, I'll show up in these stats. Recent shortages of medication have sometimes lasted months & I've had to spend hours travelling many miles to access some

New comment piece for OnLondon by Robert Gordon Clark. Sadiq Khan is right to go the MIPIM property trade event in Cannes in search of economic growth in #London: www.onlondon.co.uk/robert-gordo... @nickbowes.bsky.social @pickardje.bsky.social @teamlabouruk.bsky.social @labourlist.bsky.social

So the Tory policy now is to abolish the role of domestic courts in immigration matters. Instead, the European Court of Human Rights - in Strasbourg - will be the only remaining option. Work out how that squares with Brexit and taking back control?!?!? 🤔 😵‍💫

The most shocking thing about this from @london.gov.uk is not the offer to take Donald Trump for a curry - but more that he suggests Brick Lane rather than Tooting Broadway's very own Lahore Karahi

If the leader of my country - even one I’d voted for - behaved like Trump and Vance, I’d be utterly disgusted and embarrassed. Nothing but a pair of bully boys getting a cheap rise out of bating Zelenskyy. The world order we thought we knew is gone. www.bbc.com/news/article...

This quote from Simon Hart in @politico.com Playbook should worry us all. Growing voter impatience for change crashing into the difficulty of governing mixed with the reluctance of politicians to be honest about how hard thorny problems are to solve is a breeding ground for cynicism & populism.

Tonight is the number 1 political event of the year. Forget your elections and by-elections. You can keep your Budgets and party conference season. Yes, it’s the #BritishKebabAwards! See you there! 🥙

Why does 25% AfD among young men spark a thousand "what is going on with young men?" posts yet Die Linke 34% among young women generates...nothing at all? Yes, young men voting for the radical right is an important phenomenon. But so is young women going rad left *at even higher rates*.

1/ In the latest @thisislca.bsky.social LDN Newsletter, I reflect on the 40th Anniversary of Eastenders and the return of Bridge Jones and what both tell us about the way London has evolved over the last few decades www.linkedin.com/pulse/bridge...

This story does nothing for the anxious thoughts I get at being late for a train. First instinct: who on earth cuts it’s so fine to catch a train at King’s Cross? I love a bit of casual browsing at M&S Simply Food, WHS & Pret followed by a bit of people watching 🥰🚉 www.thetimes.com/article/3dcf...

This obit of Joe Haines from @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social is well worth a read. A complex character, politically shrewd and fiercely loyal to his old boss, Harold Wilson. And long-standing nemesis to the legendary Marcia ‘Forkbender’ Falkender. www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

Forty years of Eastenders? Some of us are old enough to remember the first episode (which will soon be closer to the end of WWII than today). To cheer me up, I’ve dusted down this old cockney knees up classic. Roll out the barrell! #eastenders

Over at the other place failed Tory Mayoral hopeful & Trump fangirl Susan Hall crunches the gears, fails spectacularly to find reverse & goes for Keir gear. Instead of admitting that with her Trump love-in she’s backed a wrong ‘un, Hall goes on the attack with stock Starmer human rights lawyer lines