A thousand years ago...
I asked "What is an area of competence for an elected mayor?" because of a Livingstone initiative: ""Under the headline '£70 billion - Nuclear Waste?' the Mayor invites Londoners to participate in the debate now taking place about energy policy. The posters will appear on tube stations across the capital from Friday".
I further commented, "As I have noted before in a post called 'Livingstone's nuclear straw man' posted at Anyone But Ken, which I cannot as yet lay hands on, it is inconceivable that a nuclear power station would ever be built in London, either in Hyde Park or deepest Croydon, as British energy policy has always been to site plants in coastal areas well away from population centres. So, KRL is explicitly addressing an area wholly outside his competence, both geographically and in terms of legislation. He can mouth off all he likes, but when it comes to us paying for his opinion to be plastered all over poster sites, a line has been crossed. Do I hear 'propaganda on the rates' redux? Quite apart from the direct cost of renting the sites (or is Transport for London compelled to give them gratis?), there is also the opportunity cost occasioned by others not being able to rent the sites".
So why the little meander along reminiscence boulevard? Because the Mayor is at it again:
"The Mayor of London Ken Livingstone today branded the Government’s decision to build new nuclear power stations as the mistake of a generation". More here, but anyone with a reasonably lively imagination will guess what he has to say.
I suppose I should admire the Mayor for having solved all of London's problems - otherwise, why would he take the time to ruminate on energy policy?
I further commented, "As I have noted before in a post called 'Livingstone's nuclear straw man' posted at Anyone But Ken, which I cannot as yet lay hands on, it is inconceivable that a nuclear power station would ever be built in London, either in Hyde Park or deepest Croydon, as British energy policy has always been to site plants in coastal areas well away from population centres. So, KRL is explicitly addressing an area wholly outside his competence, both geographically and in terms of legislation. He can mouth off all he likes, but when it comes to us paying for his opinion to be plastered all over poster sites, a line has been crossed. Do I hear 'propaganda on the rates' redux? Quite apart from the direct cost of renting the sites (or is Transport for London compelled to give them gratis?), there is also the opportunity cost occasioned by others not being able to rent the sites".
So why the little meander along reminiscence boulevard? Because the Mayor is at it again:
"The Mayor of London Ken Livingstone today branded the Government’s decision to build new nuclear power stations as the mistake of a generation". More here, but anyone with a reasonably lively imagination will guess what he has to say.
I suppose I should admire the Mayor for having solved all of London's problems - otherwise, why would he take the time to ruminate on energy policy?
Labels: energy, Livingstone, London
This entry was posted
on Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 2:51 pm.
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You think he'll get back?
At the time he was doing those posters (before I was aware of The Great Croydonian) I emailed TFL and the GLA to ask how much his propaganda campaign had cost. Apparently it was pretty much zero.
The phrase "A Likely Story" sprang to mind...
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