Sadiq Khan. Can anyone tell me something positive about what he has done?

[Luckymum20]

So the past few days I've unfortunately gone down a bit of a rabbit hole of clips about the Mayor of London.

From what I have seen the man is an utter buffoon who has done nothing to improve London, in fact quite the opposite.

Strikes increasing. Homelessness increasing. Crime - off the charts. Congestion zone charges etc.

And don't get me started on the deputy who seems to be from another planet!

I am not from London, so just wondering if anyone at all has anything positive at all to say about this catastrophe of man!

I’d love to know why tourists are disappointed with London. All the traditional tourist attractions are still there, as are the museums, theatres and galleries. What are they expecting to find? Unicorns on every corner?

“Being shut down” is not a synonym for “being disagreed with”.

Well for a start, he wanted to ditch the Travelcard into London, which are the railway fares that include all travel within London for anyone coming into London from the surrounding counties, my fare would've doubled overnight. In the end it didn't happen, but Khan wanted it to end, with him just happily thinking people would happily pay double and keep visiting London.

All throughout the pandemic he told people not to visit (which yes there were restrictions), but the open hostility is still felt.

Seriously I walk around streets in London and it's dead. Covid did the damage and this mayor has done nothing to reinvigorate it.

The last government's removal of VAT-free shopping has been deadly, and that has seen a massive drop in tourists. The mayor hasn't bothered lobbying around it, despite most businesses telling him to do so.

So two out of those four were policies instituted by the Tory government, not the London mayor. Another is something that didn't even happen but that you think tourists are nevertheless put off by (hopefully the ease of tap-to-pay across TFL will offset the bad juju caused by Khan once thinking about stopping Travelcards). And the last is something that's your personal opinion and not reflected in either tourism statistics or in the crowds of tourists I see there regularly.

Is that really the best you've got?

Nope. Visits to London up from 2023 and tourist income up from 2019 and 2023. So we are recovering from Covid - when most of the world told people to stay away. I got my Stats from the Visit Britain website which I can't be bothered to link to because I'd rather you actually Googled the evidence yourself rather than getting other people to do your thinking for you.

You know PAYG fares are capped right? As a regular visitor tourists to many cities around the world, being able to tap and go on buses, tubes and trains with your phone or debit card without having to download a special app or buy a separate ticket is amazing and not to be take for granted (Paris I am looking at you!)

As for "hostility" during covid. Most places discouraged visitors during covid lockdowns. I mean I had to show a vaccine passport to go to France in 2022 - funnily enough I am not still holding a grudge about it three years later and have been to France a lot since.

looks out of office window overlooking the Southbank yep you are @TheCatsTongue it's completely empty. No fucker here. Ps are you on glue?

I Have no skin in the game, moved out a few years ago, so tbh I don’t really care who is mayor. I was just pointing out some facts. Our electoral system is flawed though. FPTP is not really adequate when votes are spilt among so many parties. The more people who feel their vote won’t count, the fewer will bother to vote.

Point of order the London mayoral elections only became FPTP in 2022 (changed by the Tories) before then it was the supplementary vote system.

Yes! It's amazingly convenient to go about in London for locals and tourists, just step in, tap and go. Not so in New York even where you have to faff around buying some stupid OMNY card or whatever.

Yes, I still don’t understand why they changed it.

Thanks for knowing what decimated means... I thought I was the only one left. 😘

It's quite noticeable how much Khan has made London hostile to British and foreign tourists. He is one of those politicians who think that he can milk residents dry and be unwelcome to outsiders too.

Around 30 million tourists visited London in 2024, 2/3 of whom were international visitors. That's a lot of people, British and non-British, who don't seem to find London hostile. Or have a problem with its Mayor.

@SnackQueen can we hear your facts on why you think Khan has destroyed London. You complained you were being ‘shut down’ but I can only see the opposite happening. People in this thread are interested to hear your thoughts and what is behind your assertions. Let’s hear your voice!

Every time I go to London these days - which is pretty often as my DD lives near Old Street and I've got lots of family still in south London - it's absolutely rammed with tourists. I wandered around the west end a week or two ago and it was heaving, much busier than when I used to live and work in London myself. St Katherine's Dock? Really busy, and Tower Bridge and the Embankment was packed. Spitalfields? Thrumming. Just north of King's Cross? People everywhere.

And aren't those areas way nicer than they used to be? The first time I saw someone smoking heroin in the street was just opposite King's Cross station in the early 2000s but not any more. Spitalfields used to be grimy and run-down but now it's delightful, although I was a little sad when I saw The Spitz had closed down. And the Intrepid Fox on Wardour Street💔 Nevertheless those areas are way more inviting, and clearly way more popular, than they ever used to be. Even Archway looks quite inviting now!

It's got to be the glue.

I have just walked back to the station via Borough Market, it's rammed with Friday night drinkers, diners and tourists.

What? London is heaving. Even my zone 2 area is heaving and buzzy. Stacks of tourists on the tubes.

A month or so ago I followed Google Maps' directions that ended up with me driving north over Waterloo Bridge and up Kingsway, Southampton Row etc at 10pm one weekday night. That was a mistake. I was amazed at how many people were out and about (and also how pretty the lit-up buildings were around Aldwych). Camden was rammed as always but even past Kentish Town it was busy.

I spent decades working in Holborn, Soho, Fitzrovia, Camden and Farringdon as well as living in Whitechapel, Tufnell Park, Highgate, Tottenham plus growing up in various bits of south London. and it was never as busy as that when I was there.

People talk about doing research and then make uneducated comments like that!

The PAYG fares are capped at a level where my travel costs would've doubled due to another one of his hostile schemes. I like most people would've just avoided London completely, it's telling that outside of London he is very unpopular and has led London to get a very poor reputation.

What was the journey that you were making that would have led to your travel costs doubling with PAYG? And was that the only option available to you?

I can see with my own eyes and have noticed that (particularly the West End) is much sparser than it used to be. Footfall is definitely down in great numbers, if everything is so great then why is Khan talking about changing Oxford Street to bring people back?

Because tourists go to other places than Oxford Street which since the big stores like House of Fraser and Debenhams have left has become a shadow of itself. Other parts of London have replaced it as desirable shopping destinations.

As I said London Travelcards. Which is the return journey to London and unlimited travel on the tube (zones 1-6) and buses. Right now a return to London and three stops on the tube is the same as a travelcard. Added onto the fact that with national rail services you can use a railcard to discount prices by 1/3, which you can't do on the tube.

It's not a surprise that they had to be saved otherwise it would've been another nail in the coffin for London leisure.

WTF? You’ve gone down a rabbit hole of propaganda and now you’re asking what he’s “actually done” even though you’re not from London. For starters we all have free school meals and excellent, frequent and cheap public transport. Do you have that where you live?

You can use your railcard on the tube. I do and so do my young adult daughters.