Running London

From the 19th century, London was run by an elected body called the London County Council (LCC). It consisted of a number of small boroughs circling the Thames. In the 1960s a decision was made to include some of the outer London boroughs, and rename the authority the Greater London Council (GLC). The LCC's last leader was Sir Isaac Hayward:

Sir Isaac was also the chairman of the governors of my school, which was a selective school. Sir Isaac was in favour of non-selective "comprehensive" schools, but he used his position to secure his granddaughter's place, as she had failed her 11+ exam. She was my best friend at school. She never saw the irony of her situation.

A modern art gallery was built on the south bank of the Thames at the end of his watch, and it was named in his honour:

The Hayward Gallery

Education in the original London boroughs (now consolidated into 10 larger ones) remained in the hands of the Inner London Education Authority. It had an amazing variety of resources. I remember making use of the drama costume store to hire stuff for a school function. There was a permanent pool of supply teachers for schools to call on. The authority bought out entire performances of National Theatre plays and rows of seats for operas and ballets. It had a modern language awards system that enabled people like me to travel and study in France or Germany for 10 weeks at the tender age of 17 or 18.

In the 1980s Mrs Thatcher took exception to the GLC and its left-wing, spendthrift ways. First she abolished the GLC, then later the ILEA. Instead of one Chief Education Officer, there were now 10. Great money-saving strategy. Everything was multiplied by 10.

The home of the GLC was this magnificent building by the Thames, County Hall:

Thatcher sold it off. It now houses the London Aquarium, the Saatchi art gallery, and hotels and apartments.

When Thatcher's wonderful government realised London couldn't be the only major world capital city not to have its own governing authority, a new London Assembly was devised, and a new City Hall built at absurd expense (just love the way these people save money):

Sadly for everyone who had ever opposed him, Ken Livingstone, who had been the leader of the GLC when it was abolished, became the first elected Mayor of London, and kept the jb for two terms.

Ken Livingstone.

In the third mayoral election in 2008, Ken was beaten by the ludicrous Boris Johnson, whose chaotic hair mirrors his thinking:

Ken had taken nearly all the iconic Routemaster buses off the road. Many were replaced by one-person-operated buses, which meant paying the driver. Not the smartest move on a busy, narrow London street.

Routemaster bus.

Ken commissioned a bunch of bendy buses, which cost a bomb and are unbelievably fuel-inefficient. On the plus side, you can't even get on one without a pre-bought ticket. Luckily Ken introduced the Oyster card, which you place on a reader plate to register your travel - and reduce the cost of your journey.

Bendy bus.

Now Boris has commissioned a new Routemaster, but it will not be ready before the next Mayoral election next May, and there is good reason to suppose he will lose. If the project is then cancelled, even more money will have been poured down the drain.

The new Routemaster prototype.
Meanwhile, we are "all in it together" - ie. the ordinary Joe and Josephine pay for everyone's folly and inefficiency, while being unable to afford half the stuff they could buy with their salaries last year.