Red Ken rocks (IMHO)

From the Times Online.

Regulars at the Royal Opera House are in for a shock on Sunday when Lenny from Motorhead becomes the first heavy- metal guitarist to play at the venue. The Vilar Floral Hall’s usual atmosphere of polite chat and clinking champagne flutes will be dispelled by Lenny’s enthusiastic rendition of classics such as The Ace of Spades as part of the One Amazing Week promotion organised by Ken Livingstone, the Mayor.

Now I know that there are those among you that would scoff at me for loving Ken for this kind of thing, but it's precisely this that makes me feel he's the right mayor for London (or any city that I live in for that matter). He does things that I see around me every day, and which make a difference in my life. He targeted London busses as something that could be improved, and as a result they have. In fact they're excellent (if you don't mind some of the dregs that travel on them). His quip about not recognising George W. Bush Jnr as the democratically elected President of the States mirrored my own feelings. And his insistence that he would charge GWB Jnr's entire calvalcade the London congestion charge made me laugh about loud. Ken is a real person, living in a real London. In my 22 years living in Cape Town I couldn't tell you of one initiative that the Mayor took, or one improvement that he made (it definitely wasn't the busses, that's for sure), or even his/their name/s.

On the other hand I can identify with Ken, and while other political leaders make empty promises, in my experience to date Ken comes through on his. And for the record, I think the congestion charge was a brilliant idea and I have no problems with it's implementation either.

Now how I got from a light hearted beginning onto a political mumble I don't know. But there it is.