And why is this an issue?
The outgoing Mayor has decided 'that there should be no short haul air travel except in exceptional circumstances for Greater London Authority group work trips'. This is a glorified council we are talking about, so why in tarnation should they even be going outside the M25 (metaphorically speaking)?
I am prepared to take a train when it is as quick and as cheap, overall, as flying, but I will be damned if I will get a train that costs a whole lot more, takes four times as long (helloo London-Edinburgh). Similarly, always supposing there is fig leaf of an excuse for a jaunt to Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Strassburg or wherever (if these come in under the six hour bar), our merry junketeers will then be needing to stay overnight if they are going to get anything like a full day's work done, so 'the hairshirt for the environment' spin is just a load.
Meanwhile Jenny Jones, a Green and something of a Livingstone fan (she appears in lots of his press releases) thinks that "the biggest breakthrough will come when we get big businesses in London to adopt the same attitude to unnecessary flying". And what has La Jones done prior to sneaking into the London Assembly via the top up list? Was she a corporate lawyer, maybe, or the CIO of a FTSE 100 company? Maybe she ran a small import / export business? Nope, she was "an archaeologist in the Middle East, apparently "specialising in analysing ancient bird droppings". A worthy endeavour no doubt, but hardly one where one might say that time is money...
I am prepared to take a train when it is as quick and as cheap, overall, as flying, but I will be damned if I will get a train that costs a whole lot more, takes four times as long (helloo London-Edinburgh). Similarly, always supposing there is fig leaf of an excuse for a jaunt to Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Strassburg or wherever (if these come in under the six hour bar), our merry junketeers will then be needing to stay overnight if they are going to get anything like a full day's work done, so 'the hairshirt for the environment' spin is just a load.
Meanwhile Jenny Jones, a Green and something of a Livingstone fan (she appears in lots of his press releases) thinks that "the biggest breakthrough will come when we get big businesses in London to adopt the same attitude to unnecessary flying". And what has La Jones done prior to sneaking into the London Assembly via the top up list? Was she a corporate lawyer, maybe, or the CIO of a FTSE 100 company? Maybe she ran a small import / export business? Nope, she was "an archaeologist in the Middle East, apparently "specialising in analysing ancient bird droppings". A worthy endeavour no doubt, but hardly one where one might say that time is money...
Labels: Greenery, Livingstone, London
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on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 1:44 pm.
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No mention of long haul flights, though. So I guess his usual trips to Cuba, North and South America and any other continent will continue unabated.
And Ms Jones (an old guano specialist - and aren't they all?) is obviously of the view that some flying actually is necessary. So who will determine if such a journey is really necessary? This is another example of Krazy Ken's old Krap. No doubt we'll shortly be seeing an extension to the traffic wardens' roles, with a warden stationed in each branch of Thomas Cook checking credentials before sanctioning our flights to holiday destinations - in the name of 'greenness'.
Unsworth - a post to chill the heart ... one of Ken's Stazi - oops! wardens checking papers outside travel agents. There's an all-too-real air about this ... I note, though, that Ms Jones has moved on from guano to Ken Livingstone coterie crap. A comedown to be sure, but I am equally sure better paid. And a bonus date with Lee Jasper may not be out of the question.
I agree with both the above. From birdshit to bullshit in one easy lesson!
Has anyone noticed the mistake in the first line of the press release?
And I quote: "Statement in response to the motion passed by the London Assembly today to use RAIL rather than TRAIN for UK mainland and European short haul trips."
(My emphasis, but otherwise lifted straight from the email)
Apparently rail travel and train travel are different things and one is better for the environment than the other...
Luckily for Ken, this still means that him and his buddies can still pop over to Venezuela to see their communist friends whenever they like.
Like Unsworth said, this is pathetic fig leaf. Livingstone said the other day he feared a 'dirty' campaign to get him out. he feared for his private life and that of his aides. mentioning along the way that an aide's phone had been bugged and that blamed Lynton Crosby.
Leninspart is sh*tting himself, 'cos he doesn't know what's coming next from Gilligan. The endless private trips to Cuba will be revealed for sure. And it might worth looking at the price he pays for carbon offset so he can fly, versus what he is charging band G drivers who dare to enter central London.
But I think the biggy lies closer to home. Who did Ken hire as an office manager in 2000 and pay nearly £100K per year for this difficult task?
Is that person still in the role, and if so, what have they done for the £800k of public money?
I do hope Gilligan has the answer....
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