I think I have upset Mr Livingstone AGAIN... I guess I'll get over it. This press release is on the front page of the GLA Website at the moment, so a raw nerve must have been touched somewhere. The press release is rubbish of course, but that never stops Ken, does it?Hattip for graphic to Thunderdragon
Maybe he didn't aappreciate your April fool!!
ReplyDeleteWe can only hope he's so upset that he quits his job and gives the people of London a real chance to be masters of their own destinies!
ReplyDeleteSo. Who's right?
ReplyDeleteDo we have any evidence other than the taxi drivers?
‘The claims made on the “18 Doughty Street” website and “Ian Dales Diary”...
ReplyDeleteI love the spelling in that sentence - I do think you might have riled him Iain - well done!
'Sir Percy Blakeney'
www.thelaughingcavaliers.blogspot.com
Ahem and I have done my little bit by publicising the email campaign also mentioned which got a good response on my blog even though I thought it was highly unlikely that public money was actually being used. Still it was a sort of truthiness.
ReplyDeleteWhy , because it is true that Ken is intrumental in the planning permission and he is always sucking up to the countries Islamic enemies , for electoral reasons.
Good for you Iain he really is a nightmare and anything to bring him down is worth it
Maybe you're just a liar.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...not sure it's something the London tax payer should be funding his website for, but this is essentially one man's right of reply to another, using the same media.
ReplyDeleteAs glass house says, who is right?
Not sure why you felt the need to link the same story three times in one paragraph though? Surely not to give the impression of there being more than one source supporting your claim to have hit a raw nerve?!
;)
Anything which upsets Loopy Ken is just fine by me.
ReplyDeleteThe man's a megalomaniac.
Keep up the good work.
Fantastic free publicity for you! They've even linked to the sites!
ReplyDeleteI have already written to Mr Livingstone with the offer of an alternative sit - as well I have 1 million tonnes of cement!
ReplyDeleteread the slimy non-denial denial on the East End Mosque story
ReplyDeletehttp://www.london.gov.uk/view_press_release.jsp?releaseid=11471
"Factually there is no proposal to use any public money at all for such a mosque;"
so public money is being spent on a mosque slightly smaller than St Pauls instead?
"there is no link between plans for a mosque and the Olympics; and, as widely reported, there are actually no plans for a mosque on the scale claimed in the email."
ah. so the mosque wont be BIGGER than St.Pauls.
so , they're saying that no public money will fund a Mosque that is bigger than St Pauls. nothing about a public funding of a mosque thats about the same size or slightly smaller than St Pauls.
slimy wording, eh?
Mr D is quite right on this. Letters in Professional Engineer magazine have fought this out - the strap on system doesn't work in town traffic as the exhaust never gets hot enough to burn off the pollutants.
ReplyDeleteCome 2010 the EU will fine London for breaking polution regulations, which it does every day.
The proposed low emission zone will make no difference, because - unlike NY, Hong Kong, Delhi etc - Livingstone didn't see this coming and didn't switch to gas-powered public transport.
Another thing - of the 21,000 black cabs, 16,000 didn't even meet the lax EURO 2 emission regulations whern they were new - imagine the pollution now the engines have 500,000 miles under their pistons...
A senior General Motors engineer in charge of bio-fuels told me London black cabs were some of the most polluting vehicles in Europe 'and should be taken off the road straight away'.
Euro V emissions laws come in 2010 and LTI who make the cabs are lobbying to be given two extra years to meet Euro V emissions regs and also want the taxi to keep its status a 'heavy vehicle' (they weigh 2 tonnes) under the regulations. I understand commercial traffic is treated more leinetly than cars.
Funny thing is, Beijing has just ordered 1000 gas-powered buses from Iveco Fiat for the Olympics to clean up the atmosphere and reduce noise pollution. Funny that....
Hmm..I am still none the wiser about what 'kit' they are being asked to fit - surely it can't be a catalytic converter, as that would already be on many of the cabs, and wouldn't account for that smoke ?
ReplyDeleteWhere's the 'science bit' we normally get on those shampoo adverts ?
Much as I hope it not to be the case, it looks like game, set and match to Ken.
ReplyDeleteSomebody please show me that I'm wrong.
Ken has done a Tory up like a kipper.... again! Terrific!
ReplyDeleteYou should apologise and climb down from your high horse.
ReplyDeleteThese Taxi drivers of your seem to be cowboys who have run you round in circles with the meter ticking.
You're doing well with the viral though aren't you?
If you apologise you'll keep it on the front page.
I have read you on here telling how you apologise but I'll be pleasded to see it with my own eyes ...
Like a dog walking on its back legs etc
Chris Paul, the taxi drivers are right and Ken is wrong. FFS, why would i apologise? Idiot.
ReplyDeletenewmania said:
ReplyDeletehighly unlikely that public money was actually being used.
In Harlow we have a specially adapted cab for people with disabilities who otherwise would have access problems. Presumbly hirers of this cab use some or all of their mobility allowances for taxi fares. Ken L has surely organised some of these adapted cabs for Londoners? So there you go, public funding.
Auntie Flo'
How many elections have you won Iain and how many has Ken won?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteHmm..I am still none the wiser about what 'kit' they are being asked to fit - surely it can't be a catalytic converter, as that would already be on many of the cabs, and wouldn't account for that smoke ?
It might perhaps...if you combine a deaf cabbie and a couple of gallons of Asco's petrol during the additive fiasco and mangle the catalytic converter. How do I know this? Don't ask.
Auntie Flo'
I was talking about the giant Mosque Flo
ReplyDeleteXX
BTW I heard Iain Dale say on 18 DS tha the only good thing about the unfunny Kerron Cross was that he hated the Libe Dems " As much as I do "
ReplyDeleteGood to know
Ken has not won elections he has paid for them with other peoples money by repesenting benefits collectors and enemies of the country resident in the Capital.
ReplyDeleteThat is why he is so detrermined that the whole of London should become a Coucil house one stop shop like Lambeth
Is there any truth to this rumour? With Ken and Iain and a Black http://prisonersvoice.blogspot.com/2007/04/ken-livingstone-says-he-had-iain-dale.htmlCab...
ReplyDeleteI 'ad that Ken Livingstone in the back of me cab the other day. Same day he vanished, funny enough.
ReplyDeleteLink to The Cabbies' Website
oy.you.guv.uk
Newmania said...
ReplyDeleteI was talking about the giant Mosque Flo
Are you disrespectin' me, newmania? Look at the face. Face, look. Am I bovvered? :)
Only joking, n, I'm saving up all my venom for the boy from the blackstuff:
Gi's a job, I can do that... I can, I can...
Auntie Flo'
Ken didn't get freely elected - he used the SWP mob to picket the polling stations and intimidate, sorry, 'advise' the multitude of recently non-English speaking voters who to vote for. The police were informed but 'chose' not to take action.
ReplyDeleteLivingstone is a self serving pathological liar with a long and inglorious history of dissembling and spin. Iain Dale is not. I know who I believe.
ReplyDeleteWhere is the CIA when you really need them?
ReplyDeleteIf a wannabe Castro was running New York they would have something to do about it.
Still lets not panic. London is bigger then Livingstone. It has survived the the Black Death, The Great Fire, The Blitz and various Labour governments.
So Londons short flurtation with revolutionary Marxism is hopefully 'just' a seriously damaging interlude.
However if he wins again, the people of London, which includes me, will fully deserve what they get.
Sorry for the garbled post earlier. The kit which is being strapped on to the Cabs is a particulate trap - particulates are soot particles which can get lodged in the lungs - nasty stuff.
ReplyDeleteVery modern diesel engines have these fitted as standard and they work in combination with super-complex engine management systems to trap the soot and then burn it off.
The cabs can't do this because it's just a ramshackle retro-fit device that needs ultra-high exhaust temperatures to work moderately well. Cab's, obviously don't have the sophisticated engine management kit.
They also have tired engines, which pollute even more. The newest black cabs have a EURO 4 engine, which is reasonably clean.
Ken's retro-fit scheme is a botch up ad a stitch up and TFL is lying through its teeth.
Perhaps he thinks he can use the same tactics on the EU when they take TFL to court in 2010 and fines them millions for providing Londoners with some of the worst pollution in the world. (And that's not the same as emissions of co2 which is not harmful to individual health)
you would think ken was an expert on toxic emmisions considering the vile rubbish he spouts.could his gob not be fitted with emmision control devices? like a simple gag.
ReplyDeleteHaving just seen for the first time the appalling "London" website, which is clearly and solely a mouthpiece for KL, I understand how some Londoners must feel about him. It is vintage Ken, and I remember the days when he adorned the GLC with a giant banner with the unemployed figures on it.
ReplyDeleteI will not be so disdainful about Iain's "Stop Ken" campaign..perhaps I am belatedly seeing the light.
It's interesting to read it though (note that Iain Dale did not add a link - it's at GLA release) as it does seem to cast severe doubt on the taxi drivers' version - note in particular that the two taxis tests were carried out on were withdrawn from service as they were in such a poor state of repair.
ReplyDeleteI note also that moderation has been enabled again suddenly on this site - something to do with this story? Iain Dale, I thought you were a model of "independent blogging" - but only perhaps when it suits you?
Garypowell, try reading some left-wing papers and you will soon find out how much the hard left generally loath Livingstone. The "revolutionary Marxist" tagline, whilst I'm sure it would play well in the Mail/Standard, is not an accurate analysis of our Ken, he long ago left the True Path of the SWP directorate. Ken is a self-made and self-serving politico; he has a deep sense of what works politically and is (sadly for those who dislike him so) often well ahead of the pack in figuring out where public opinion is heading. The taxi thing is just an example of that - he is eagerly pushing hard on the green pedal because he has realised how important the green vote is now and wants to cash in, and he has never been too bothered about the actual policies so long as they play well with the vote. This is a politician through and through. I am looking forward to the enjoyable spectacle of him whipping the opposition's backsides at the next election as usual!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 9.05 - yes I bloody did add a link to the release you idiot.
ReplyDeleteHow would they know which two taxis it was seeing as their number plates were obscured? Livingstone's telling a porky again.
Most blogs have comment moderation. I reintroduced it to stop Tim Ireland hijacking a thread again. And I am sure most of my readers are very grateful for that!
Iain, you say that the statement on the GLA website is 'rubbish' but you don't say how.
ReplyDeleteYou say that you've touched a raw nerve with Ken Livingstone because of the response on the GLA website, but in fact he just used your own methods - his office have posted a response on the Internet. I can't see what's wrong with that.
People can make their own minds up based on the fact that he has put the alternative case. Most people reading it objectively will see that he's got a case against your claims.
In truth Iain you should back down gracefully over this one.
If you take a step back you'll see what a fantasy you've given credence to. Livingstone has put a 20p flat rate surchage on every cab journey to pay for the costs of upgrading their engines to clean them up. What's being claimed here is that instead they are all worse, churning out smoke and so on. You only have to take a step back from that for five minutes to see that it's utter nonsense.
The only group making this claim is the minescule London Cab Drivers' Club, a tiny section of the black trade who are dwarfed by the genuinely representative Licensed Taxi Drivers' Assocation. Even the TGWU is bigger than LCDC.
The LCDC's claims have no credibility - the rest of the black cab trade treats them with disdain.
I don't think you need to apologise to Ken Livingstone, and nor is he asking you to.
But you and 18 Doughty St were so keen to bash him that you've allowed the LCDC to pull the wool over your eyes. I'd back off if I were you and admit that this time you got it wrong.
Iain wrote:
ReplyDelete'Livingstone's telling a porky again.'
You're accusing him of lying. Are you really saying that the London black cab fleet just got dirtier because of the conversion of cabs to cleaner engines?!!
Trouble is that there are so many experts, that know naff all. What Uncle Ken knew about Taxis seven years ago could be written on a sticky back postage stamp. What can you expect from a person knowledgeable about all things, but master of none. The old FORD adage of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" could not be truer! Still, on the bright side Uncle Ken has earnd Millions for the congestion charge IT Co's.
ReplyDeleteNollidge:
ReplyDelete" The only group making this claim is the minescule London Cab Drivers' Club, a tiny section of the black trade who are dwarfed by the genuinely representative Licensed Taxi Drivers' Assocation. Even the TGWU is bigger than LCDC.
The LCDC's claims have no credibility - the rest of the black cab trade treats them with disdain."
Evidence please? Has the LTDA pronounced on this matter? How do we know that the cab trade treats LCDC with disdain? And, even if that is true, does that negate their point?
It would be nice if you could let us have your sources.
thats twice in as many week's you've decided to run a 'campaign' that is completely unsubstantiated Iain. forst the Golden Arrow non story that you seem to have quietly dropped, now this.
ReplyDeletewhy dont you stop this forray into investigative journalism, you clearly dont have the knack, iain. stick to what you are good at, blogging on news that has already happened.
everyone knows doughty street is just Tory propaganda, you'd be better off diassociating yourself from it. its making a fool of many and a hero of none.
Livingstone hates taxi drivers because they tend to be white, male, heterosexual and entrepeneurial. When I got my badge twenty years ago, it was really worth something, and you would do all you could to protect it. Since he took charge of us, the moral and financial value has gone. If he crossed the road in front of my cab tomorrow I would be sorely tempted to sacrifice my badge for the greater good of my fellow Londoners.
ReplyDelete