Yes, my borough does have an ‘n’ in it, innit.

Douglas:

“Toffs, your good self and Rumbold -v- Chavs like me….”

I can’t see you in a baseball cap.

Whilst I’d happily take a population per square kilometre arguement to prove the point you are trying to make, in actual geographical terms Scotland is circa 80k sq kilometres and England is circa 130k sq kilometres.

My issue with Johnson is that his parents bred him to be what he is today. Is that his fault? No. But it is a ruling class precept, as you rightly pointed out about Alec Douglas Hume and, err, The Earl of Roseberry? Who the hell was the Earl of Roseberry? Not a name I am familiar with.

Paying to rule is probably a concept that is past it’s sell by date, but you and Rumbold both think I am being gauche by mentioning it. Hell, we had class arguements long before we had all this multicultural stuff. Perhaps I’m just nostalgic, but it seems to me that that was a more honest debate. Toffs, your good self and Rumbold -v- Chavs like me….

One of the outer ones.

Which one?

Yes, I agree, I mentioned in my post that at least here in Watford way and well into the outer fringes of London I see little feeling of Londonness. I don’t know if it is different around the fringes, but the article does raise an interesting question.

We get two bus routes (142 and 258) and the Metropolitan line out here but not that much else. Of course LU have been reluctant to extend the Metropolitan Line, I understand, in part because it is not in the GLA. Were the original plans for a Watford Town Centre station to be revived there I am quite sure it would be a very lucrative line and would slash traffic on the Watford ring-road. Oh well.

Just one other thought. There is a TFL leaflet called ‘around the fringe.’ This details TFL services that are on the travelcard system but operate outside the GLA area. I have only ever been able to get a copy of this in Zone 1!!!

Waltham Forest, Havering, Redbridge or Bexley 3/1
Hillingdon, Harrow, Hounslow – 13/8
Croydon, Sutton – Evens
Barnet, Enfield – 8/13
Bromley, Richmond, Kingston — 3/8

Am I warm?

“I will be honest that I am not too sure about some of the sentiment in the article – London boundaries are London boundaries, elections are fought on them and there can be no complaint after the fact.

I am not aware of any campaigns on the part of any of the boroughs to be removed from the GLA area?”

I backed Boris, so this is not a case of sour grapes. I was just wondering whether people in outer London do feel like Londoners. Perhaps, as people have pointed out, the transport benefits from an integrated system outweigh the feeling of remoteness. I suppose that the mayor’s powers and budget (£11 billion), is pretty samll anyway, so it is probably somewhat of a non-issue.

Sonia:

“which borough do you live in then rumbold?”

One of the outer ones.

Douglas, with respect, this is a London thread — about a global city with a population the size of a small country. And you want us to focus on Scotland, which, incidently, the people of London subsidise. Ok, fair enough. That’s what you bring to the table. That’s your right.

Which is why I said in post 19, remember that far back? :

“I don’t want to make too much of this, really. However, you asked.”

Boris Johnson appears, to me at least to have lived almost exclusively in the world of mainstream media and politics for his whole adult life. Perhaps not exclusively the Westminster bubble, but certainly the Metropolitan elite bubble. Perhaps these days that is the CV you need, but it seems a bit thin to me.

Roger, I frankly couldn’t give a flying toss about what folk in the USA say. The SNP – and I’m not even a member or a fellow traveller – are on record as wanting more immigrants into Scotland, which flies in the face of the Westminster consensus.

http://www.theherald.co.uk/search/display.var.2160531.0.salmond_rejects_plea_to_curb_immigration.php

I agree this is derailing the thread, so I’ll shut up now.

I will be honest that I am not too sure about some of the sentiment in the article – London boundaries are London boundaries, elections are fought on them and there can be no complaint after the fact.

I am not aware of any campaigns on the part of any of the boroughs to be removed from the GLA area?

That said. I live in Watford and in local government terms, this is the first authority outside of London. It is true to say I think that here and in the ‘fringes’ (here at least) there is very little feeling of ‘Londonness.’ To that extent, the article is making a rasonable point. I am not aware that the Council here looked into entering the GLA, though it may have done at the time in 2000.

The slightly bigger issue in this, and somehting that does need looking at, is the ‘regional’ tier. Though places like Watford, St Albans, Rickmansworth, bits of Buckinghamshire etc are not ‘London’ they are more in a ‘London Region’ than any type of ‘South East Region.’

In that sense, I suspect that you idea of an ‘Inner London Mayoralty’ with a more sensible regional co-ordinating body’ may be a good idea and would reflect the south east more effectively.

But does an integrated transport system have to be a London thing? Why not have it on a national level instead?

I doubt it entirely feasible in both practical and economic terms but it would, no doubt be a boon for the entire country to be connected via a common transport system.