Irish Political News

Garbo is back and senses a change in the wind direction… Regular readers of this column will know that I have been away for a couple of weeks or so on, what I saw as, a long deserved break. While away I tried to keep as far away from politics as possible, as politics is not only my hobby but also my day job. I think I did a fairly good job, though the temptation to sneak a peek at the BBC website and the odd blog did become too much on a couple of occasions. Anyway, they say a week is a long time in politics, and I have been out of touch with all the goings on at Westminster for nearly three - so what has changed? Things have got serious On the surface not a lot " the same things are still there, only they seem to have got a lot more serious. The credit crunch is no longer something that is talked about " it really does look like it is going to crunch hard. Alastair Darling is no longer the unlucky Chancellor presiding over civil servant gaffs and a down turning world economy; after his dreadfully poor delivery of the budget, he is now seen as a bad chancellor with no ideas and no inspiration. But the most worrying sign of all for the government, something I did not think would occur, is that the Tories may well be entering phase two of their resurrection… (more…) Previous in series

Some big announcements from the Boris camp expected? Iain Dale has suggested that Boris camp will make one or two major personnel announcements in the coming weeks. He made the comments at a debate on whether Boris can become Mayor last week. While Iain did not go as far as to tell the story as a definite, he did say that he was expecting some announcements with a bit of a wink, wink, nudge, nudge. In short, in the coming weeks Boris may well be announcing some high profile figures to take over from the GLA groups current heads. This includes people such as TfL commissioner, Peter Hendy, and London Underground MD, Tim OToole. Iain even touted David Davis as TfLs new commissioner. It is all part of what Iain called clearing the house " an Americanism often used by newly elected Mayors in the US, apparently. A bad move, Boris I have to say, if this does turn out to be the case Londoners should be worried and so should the Boris camp. Why get rid of Peter Hendy and start again at TfL? The very bottom line is it will cost a small fortune to start again at TfL and the other GLA functional bodies. Even more importantly, however, is getting rid of some real talent solely for political reasons is a mistake. Hendy is very popular at TfL having worked his way up through the ranks all the way from bus conductor. He knows his onions and is, publically at least, non-political. Why would we want a politician running our capitals transport system? Tim OToole is every bit as capable and popular as Hendy and both have done fantastic jobs at TfL. Hendy started as MD at London Buses and ask any Londoner and they will tell you that the buses in London today are a world away from what they were ten years ago. OK, so we have bendy buses and lost the route-master, but this is small fry compared to the overall improvement. Tim OToole has overseen a period of massive improvement on the underground and at a time when the Metronet contracts are up in the air the last thing LUL and its passengers need is change at the top. (more…) Previous in series