To think Sadiq Khan is a hypocrite?

[Newyeargrinch]

He's been banging on about climate change and the environment all year and introduced the ULEZ scheme which he claims will clean up London's air (while also causing financial hardship to those who can least afford it in a cost of living crisis). Then he spends millions on a fireworks display sending pollutants into the skies above London??

Nope, I still don't get the 1948 reference. What do you mean?

ETA are you referring to Windrush?

Oh yeah, why don’t people just buy a new car. Duh! So obvious.

The mind boggles. MN is lean satire. And it’s concerning that these people walk among us.

Khan has his own agenda, his own priorities behind which the well being of many Londoners fall a very distant second place.

As for the fireworks, I am a Londoner, I enjoyed them, i was happy to see them back, though my young adult son did query why there are no local fireworks for anyone to go to anymore for 5th November - all banned, only light/laser shows, but this huge display allowed to go ahead. I also thought his name check of himself - The Mayor Of London presents… at the beginning was narcissistic in the extreme but absolutely on the nose for how Khan sees himself.

I voted for him twice but I think he’s got his eye on a future prize and Londoners are the mire through which he has to wade to get there. If you have a minute Google a Q&A session he had with several female councillors. The way he spoke to them was absolutely foul. His misogyny, disgust and resentment at having to answer to them, and that he felt no need to hide it was remarkable. I’ve never liked him since and will never vote for him again.

What’s the problem with his Range Rover being exempt?

I don’t understand your point?

Was responding to this, why is there a problem with his personal RR being exempt?

why shouldn’t it be?

Rishi. Helicopter. Private jets. Comments? Thought not.

GKD

because he has brought in a rule that the vast majority of people in London don’t agree with but does not follow it himself.
how can you possibly think it is acceptable for him to force everyone else to pay an extra tax but for him to just ignore it?

Exactly.

Email them quoting the reference and they'll answer you.
The event brought in £5 for every £1 spent. The UK (and commonwealth) has had a change in Monarch. We should be part of the major cities celebrating the start of the NY. My only criticism is that music outside of the UK/Commonwealth keeps getting used when there is enough talent to showcase. We no longer have such events here in Liverpool because of cost and public safety, it's nice to watch on television. My youngest GC doesn't think that Big ben is real, I found this out while eating after eight fondants with her. So we'll be watching them on YouTube tomorrow. I'm hoping to take her to London this year.

The Range Rover you refer to is owned by the Met Police and an armoured vehicle with bullet proof glass, spike resistant tyres, anti bomb technology and is provided alongside a 24/7 security detail because of persistent and serious threats to Khan's life.

It's not a luxury plaything he has for fun.
It is an emergency services vehicle and so is exempt from ULEZ.

It is true that not all London mayors have had the same level of security but this is down to the heightened risks that he faces. They don't dole that level of security out for fun.

The majority of Londoners DO agree with Ulez.

Clean air is a necessity.

Air pollution causes thousands of Londoners to die prematurely and develop life-changing illnesses like cancer, lung disease, dementia and asthma each year.

The benefits of Ulez so far -

• An almost 50 percent reduction in toxic Nitrogen Dioxide (NOx) pollution in central London
• Pollution has decreased five times faster in London than anywhere else in the UK (between 2016 and 2020)
• One million hospitalisations averted in total by 2050
• 94 percent of vehicles seen driving in the current zone now meet the strict emissions standards on an average day, significantly higher than the 39 percent in 2017 when the ULEZ was first announced.

There is a scrappage scheme to provide financial assistance to eligible Londoners.

I thought his RR was compliant, hence exempt from the fee?

I also thought most Londoners are in favour?

https://www.rcv.co.uk/is-my-range-rover-ulez-compliant-in-2023/#:~:text=All%20new%20Range%20Rovers%20are,Range%20Rover%20follows%20ULEZ%20guidelines.

On ULEZ I recall Khan saying no to push from Starmer after Uxbridge loss, responding it was in the manifesto and I won’t change.

He made a statement in July 2023 on that. Pp on introduction and gov pressure are not part of it.

‘During my first term and throughout my election campaign I was clear that, were I to be re-elected, I would remain committed to tackling the climate emergency and dealing with the blight of air pollution. I was clear in my manifesto that I would expand the ULEZ up to the North and South Circular Roads in October 2021.’
17 Jul 2023

We’re within earlier ULEZ boundaries and I think many were fine with that. The opposition became more pronounced as it expanded

Climate change crisis and you think fireworks are the problem? Get your head out of your backside, OP.

London is a world city, of course they have to have fireworks.

It is not Sadiq's range rover - it belongs to the police and is part of his security package.
So it is exempt from ULEZ and congestion charge etc because it is an emergency services vehicle.

As a modern Range Rover, you are correct that it is probably exempt from ULEZ anyway.

Rishi Khan's armoured vehicle is also exempt from ULEZ and congestion charge as again, it is a POLICE vehicle.W hen he is driven to the helipad in that vehicle (or anywhere else of course), it is not paying either charge.

Exactly.

I only mentioned it being his personal RR as someone did above.

Imagine being more concerned that the vehicle is exempt than the fact that our society had become so hateful our Mayor cannot travel publically due to credible death threats.

I agree with this.

I don't usually vote Labour, but have made an exception for Sadiq Kahn because his willingness to act on pollution in London is literally a breath of fresh air after decades of desperation for those of us born and bred Londoners suffering from chronic respiratory illnesses.

I do think there should be better public transport and more financial support for replacement vehicles for those who genuinely need a car at the moment to get to work from the suburbs; the Manchester approach of increasing public transport is good in that respect...but we need to reduce car use too.

Absolutely. The mayor and his family live under similar security conditions to Rishi Sunak because of the level of danger he faces, a level that neither previous London mayor ever faced.

And people use it as some sort of "gotcha" card to criticise Khan.

You get to ride in a Range Rover and not pay ULEZ BUT on the other hand you have a heightened risk of being murdered and have to be accompanied everywhere by armed police. It's not exactly a perk.

The ULEZ is good but isn't enough. I'd like to see charging on the basis of vehicle weight and width - cars create particulates from wearing away the tarmac and heavier cars create more. And then it would also deter some of the massive pickup trucks that people seem to feel are suitable London cars.

Careful, you're being dangerously factual here!

Gymrabbit, 'the vast majority of londoners'? you sure about that or is it just the bubble you live in

Email about what? The tree planting that’s apparently going on?

Because I don’t have eyes and don’t see what’s going on?

London is being solidly built on, every green space is either disappearing or is crowded with people and taken by cyclists, but the Mayor is supposedly planting trees.

There are even fewer squirrels and foxes around. The last time I saw a hedgehog was 20 odd years ago.

What evidence do you have that the fox and squirrel population of London is declining?

Not London based but nationally squirrels have increased and foxes declined - the London Wildlife Trust believes the London fox population has been stable for a couple of decades now and largely self regulating based on available food and territory (most foxes in London don't live in public parks anyway but in gardens and private land)

https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/breeding-bird-survey/latest-results/mammal-monitoring

But I'll add a declining fox population to the list of things cyclists are supposedly to blame for.

In the grand scheme of things, if I lived in London I'd be more interested in the drop in air pollution than in any drop in the number of squirrels, which will be greys anyway.

1. Budgets for the GLA have been systematically reduced by the Tory government since 2010, but it takes time for the impact of budget cuts to start to build up. If you look at how many local authorities are on the verge of going bankrupt, that's the impact of Tory grant cuts.

2. Shame on you for making light of the credible death threats Khan is living under. Disgraceful to try to minimise that.