LDN – London in Short
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LDN Weekly – Issue 313 – 25 April 2024 – Home Straight
HOME STRAIGHT
The race for City Hall is now in the home straight, with just over a week to go until polls open. In the past week, we’ve seen the two frontrunners publish their manifestos. Cue lots of frantic CTRL+F searches of both manifestos by journalists, civil society and campaign groups (and, no doubt, the opposing side’s campaign teams) hunting for favoured issues, buzzwords or perhaps even material for launching political attacks.
LDN Weekly – Issue 312 – 18 April 2024 – Street Fighting
STREET FIGHTING
By my reckoning, there’s been 12 opinion polls on the London Mayoral race since last June, the most recent of which was published just the other day. With a few weeks to go until election day, there’s still time for a few more.
LDN Weekly – Issue 311 – 11 April 2024 – Assembly Point
ASSEMBLY POINT
The race for Mayor dominates the coverage of the coming election – so much so, you might not even realise that Londoners will also choose the 25 members of the London Assembly on the same day.
LDN Weekly – Issue 310 – 03 April 2024 – WHERE'S THE GRAND LONDON EXPRESS?
WHERE'S THE GRAND LONDON EXPRESS?
Yesterday’s commitment by Sadiq Khan to extend the Superloop bus network from Lewisham to Elephant & Castle hasn’t been universally welcomed. And a good chunk of the criticism is directed at what they perceive as a paucity of ambition, seeing a bus route as a poor substitute for the Bakerloo Line extension (BLE), whose route it mirrors.
LDN Weekly – Issue 309 – 27 March 2024 – BIG, BAD LONDON
BIG, BAD LONDON
The last few days has seen two key political milestones come and go. Yesterday was the last opportunity for the Prime Minister to call a General Election on 2 May. Yet there was no sign of the famed lectern appearing outside 10 Downing Street. That noise you can hear is the giant sigh of relief from London Elects, no longer losing sleep over having to count General Election, Mayoral and London Assembly votes at the same time.
LDN Weekly – Issue 308 – 20 March 2024 – AND THEY'RE OFF
AND THEY'RE OFF
The last few days saw the starting pistol fired on the race for City Hall. After months of unofficial campaigning, the phoney war is now behind us, as the formal campaign period begins. Already, two of the candidates have launched their campaigns – expect the others to follow suit in the coming days. As we cover in today’s LDN, policy promises are coming thick and fast. The manifestos themselves won’t be far away.
LDN Weekly – Issue 307 – 14 March 2024 – Fever Pitch
FEVER PITCH
With Londoners going to the polls seven weeks tomorrow to elect a Mayor and 25 Assembly Members, we’re really entering the business end of the campaign. Next Tuesday, the formal pre-election period starts.
LDN Weekly – Issue 305 – 28 February 2024 – Turning Down the Political Temperature
TURNING DOWN THE POLITICAL TEMPERATURE
As an unashamed politics geek who has spent much of his working life in and around politicians, these past few weeks have been dispiriting. Being personally close to some of those involved, I’ll be restrained in what I write, but neither of the main parties fare well out of recent events.
LDN Weekly – Issue 306 – 07 March 2024 – Taxing Times
TAXING TIMES
As LDN goes to press, we are digesting the Budget and the headline announcements. Fuelled by Diet Coke, it’s enough to give even those with the best constitution a dose of indigestion.
LDN Weekly – Issue 304 – 22 February 2024 – Not For Turning
NOT FOR TURNING
One of the fascinating aspects of the last decade is that despite politicians repeatedly assuring voters they’re the ones to provide stability, the country has experienced perhaps the most turbulent chapter in living memory. Brexit, five Prime Ministers in seven years, three General Elections in nine years is to most people – whatever their politics – quite the antithesis to stable.
LDN Weekly – Issue 303 – 15 February 2024 – Building with Love
BUILDING WITH LOVE
The Secretary of State’s approval this week of plans for the redevelopment of the former ITV Studios on the South Bank is the latest in a string of interventions by the Government in London’s built environment.
LDN Weekly – Issue 302 – 7 February 2024 – The South Bank Show
THE SOUTH BANK SHOW
The Secretary of State’s approval this week of plans for the redevelopment of the former ITV Studios on the South Bank is the latest in a string of interventions by the Government in London’s built environment.