Were the New Year fireworks that big a thing? A whiff of the Gone With the Wind ‘they’re preventing me watching a film I’ve never watched and never will watch’ manufactured outrage.
Fairly big, I know lots of people who went every year. Not something I would do personally but I think they sold out every year and tourists really loved seeing them and this year London is going to have loads of tourists.
Yes. Not my bag but a big deal for many. I live on a hill in north London and would often watch them from afar if we hosted guests. Seems a ludicrous decision.
Utterly ludicrous
It is also a big advert for LONDON
In recent years the London NYE fireworks have been up there with Sydney and Taipei and UAE, the ones you watch out for, because we make a real effort. And the London Eye is used cleverly
So they're going to lose all that.... why?
London will look pitiable if other big cities, worldwide, go ahead
Khan is telling the world: Nah, London is dead. Go elsewhere. I presume he has a reason but it needs to be really really good
He's a puritan c*** who wants everyone to stay locked up. He revelled in lockdown and keeping Londoners off the streets and out of the bars and clubs. He's absolutely the worst mayor we've had.
He's definitely the worst. There have only been three but Khan manages to be in a different, lower division to the other two
I majorly disagreed with Red Ken but Jeez at least he had a chirpy, cockney, hedonistic London spirit. He'd have told Khan where to get off with this no-cakes-and-ale bollocks
Ken was a great mayor. Mr London. A proper go-getter in City Hall. Sadly the drink got him, and he went mad.
Can't believe I'm saying this, but yes, in comparison to Khan, Red Ken feels like a Titan, and a proper mayor.
It's a definite skill, being the mayor of a big world city like London. The one thing you need to do, above all else, is exude optimism and can-do. Big cities thrive on political charisma, on sociable get-up-and-go. Khan looks like he'd rather be a managing a small chain of newsagents in Yorkshire, and sadly but diligently closing several of them to streamline the business. Or he's a suburban solicitor for creeps.
He is not a World City Mayor.
If Labour has a total grasp on this gig, can they please give us someone with personality, and insight, and bouncy cheerfulness, next time. Ta
Red Ken at his best, which is what he was when Boris started running against him in 2007, was the epitome of success for a Mayor up to then. He'd left much of his 'red'ness behind him and had truly mastered the role of London Mayor. He was popular, charismatic and able to succeed in and out of the party machinery.
There's a reason he was such an extremely heavy odds-on favourite for re-election in 2008 originally and why even at heavy odds-on he was still tipped as 'value' for re-election by @MikeSmithson and others in 2007.
The only comparable figure I can think of to Red Ken in how he has so seriously and subsequently gone from master of all his domain to public ridicule is Rudy Giuliani.
I think Guiliani has managed to beat Red Ken for depths of decline.
Don't get Ken on the subject of political leaders' downfalls.
There was no polling reaction, and no National Cringe. It was just mildly amusing
The Sheffield Rally cringe-fest-moment WAS damaging. I wonder if he still occasionally wakes up in a cold sweat, remembering it
In 1990 was standing in the Porters' lodge of Queens' College Cambridge when Neil Kinnock was arguing with one of the porters (Paul Carter, a legend). Mr Kinnock was dropping his son Stephen off for the start of term, and wanted to be allowed to drive into the College round to unload his stuff - which no parents were allowed to do. Mr Kinnock, who was LOTO at the time, said the immortal line "Don't you know who I am?". Mr Carter replied "Yes Sir. But you're still not getting in."
I admit that at that point I returned a set of round gate keys to Mr Carter with a polite thank you, to which he replied "Thank you Sir.". As then president of the MCR, I knew that the Plodge liked a decent bottle of Port every term, and they let me use keys that they probably shouldn't.
Were the New Year fireworks that big a thing? A whiff of the Gone With the Wind ‘they’re preventing me watching a film I’ve never watched and never will watch’ manufactured outrage.
Fairly big, I know lots of people who went every year. Not something I would do personally but I think they sold out every year and tourists really loved seeing them and this year London is going to have loads of tourists.
Yes. Not my bag but a big deal for many. I live on a hill in north London and would often watch them from afar if we hosted guests. Seems a ludicrous decision.
Utterly ludicrous
It is also a big advert for LONDON
In recent years the London NYE fireworks have been up there with Sydney and Taipei and UAE, the ones you watch out for, because we make a real effort. And the London Eye is used cleverly
So they're going to lose all that.... why?
London will look pitiable if other big cities, worldwide, go ahead
Khan is telling the world: Nah, London is dead. Go elsewhere. I presume he has a reason but it needs to be really really good
He's a puritan c*** who wants everyone to stay locked up. He revelled in lockdown and keeping Londoners off the streets and out of the bars and clubs. He's absolutely the worst mayor we've had.
He's definitely the worst. There have only been three but Khan manages to be in a different, lower division to the other two
I majorly disagreed with Red Ken but Jeez at least he had a chirpy, cockney, hedonistic London spirit. He'd have told Khan where to get off with this no-cakes-and-ale bollocks
Ken was a great mayor. Mr London. A proper go-getter in City Hall. Sadly the drink got him, and he went mad.
Can't believe I'm saying this, but yes, in comparison to Khan, Red Ken feels like a Titan, and a proper mayor.
It's a definite skill, being the mayor of a big world city like London. The one thing you need to do, above all else, is exude optimism and can-do. Big cities thrive on political charisma, on sociable get-up-and-go. Khan looks like he'd rather be a managing a small chain of newsagents in Yorkshire, and sadly but diligently closing several of them to streamline the business. Or he's a suburban solicitor for creeps.
He is not a World City Mayor.
If Labour has a total grasp on this gig, can they please give us someone with personality, and insight, and bouncy cheerfulness, next time. Ta
You're just confusing entertainment with politics. I don't see any evidence that a bouncy showman is a better leader than a serious and quiet steward. I suspect the latter is better. Give me an engineer over a gameshow host any day. You can keep your circuses, thanks.
Hear hear, though it's a reason why I don't really like the Mayoral system, because it encourages showmen at the expense of engineers. The Presidential system has the same problem - it leads to politics becoming very like a game show. One reason why countries like Switzerland prosper is that they don't rate self-indulgent narcissists as leaders - a Swiss Trump is utterly unthinkable, no matter how many tax cuts he promised.
Were the New Year fireworks that big a thing? A whiff of the Gone With the Wind ‘they’re preventing me watching a film I’ve never watched and never will watch’ manufactured outrage.
Fairly big, I know lots of people who went every year. Not something I would do personally but I think they sold out every year and tourists really loved seeing them and this year London is going to have loads of tourists.
Yes. Not my bag but a big deal for many. I live on a hill in north London and would often watch them from afar if we hosted guests. Seems a ludicrous decision.
Utterly ludicrous
It is also a big advert for LONDON
In recent years the London NYE fireworks have been up there with Sydney and Taipei and UAE, the ones you watch out for, because we make a real effort. And the London Eye is used cleverly
So they're going to lose all that.... why?
London will look pitiable if other big cities, worldwide, go ahead
Khan is telling the world: Nah, London is dead. Go elsewhere. I presume he has a reason but it needs to be really really good
He's a puritan c*** who wants everyone to stay locked up. He revelled in lockdown and keeping Londoners off the streets and out of the bars and clubs. He's absolutely the worst mayor we've had.
He's definitely the worst. There have only been three but Khan manages to be in a different, lower division to the other two
I majorly disagreed with Red Ken but Jeez at least he had a chirpy, cockney, hedonistic London spirit. He'd have told Khan where to get off with this no-cakes-and-ale bollocks
Ken was a great mayor. Mr London. A proper go-getter in City Hall. Sadly the drink got him, and he went mad.
Can't believe I'm saying this, but yes, in comparison to Khan, Red Ken feels like a Titan, and a proper mayor.
It's a definite skill, being the mayor of a big world city like London. The one thing you need to do, above all else, is exude optimism and can-do. Big cities thrive on political charisma, on sociable get-up-and-go. Khan looks like he'd rather be a managing a small chain of newsagents in Yorkshire, and sadly but diligently closing several of them to streamline the business. Or he's a suburban solicitor for creeps.
He is not a World City Mayor.
If Labour has a total grasp on this gig, can they please give us someone with personality, and insight, and bouncy cheerfulness, next time. Ta
You're just confusing entertainment with politics. I don't see any evidence that a bouncy showman is a better leader than a serious and quiet steward. I suspect the latter is better. Give me an engineer over a gameshow host any day. You can keep your circuses, thanks.
Hear hear, though it's a reason why I don't really like the Mayoral system, because it encourages showmen at the expense of engineers. The Presidential system has the same problem - it leads to politics becoming very like a game show. One reason why countries like Switzerland prosper is that they don't rate self-indulgent narcissists as leaders - a Swiss Trump is utterly unthinkable, no matter how many tax cuts he promised.
Yes the Presidential system is a terrible idea. You elect someone for a fixed amount of time without really knowing if he's any good, and then can't remove him when he screws up. Parliamentary systems are so much better.
I think the other reason Switzerland flourishes is its thoroughgoing system of direct democracy, with an informed, intelligent and educated population.
London’s famous New Year’s Eve fireworks display has been cancelled for a second year due to the pandemic."
Insane. Sadiq Khan. FFS
He still won't get the night tube running either. The guy is so useless. Women are being put in danger and all he does is talk about it. No action at all.
I don't know anyone that has a single good word for him. God knows who voted for him
And this is universal. It's not just my friends - left and right - who despise him, it's everyone. He is a void. He is inert. He doesn't do anything. His leadership through this crisis has been - nil. Nought. Invisible.
Labour will probably make him leader after Starmer
Perhaps you need to extend your circle of acquaintances? I know lots of people who think he's good, not all of them normally Labour. I don't know anyone who is ecstatic - they just feel he's quietly competent and doesn't take unnecessary risks. They're the same sort of people who told pollsters they wanted earlier, longer lockdowns. It's a majority of Londoners.
But I do sympathise with the life you describe in loockdown, and you're evocative as always about it. It's not my viewpoint, but I understand it better now - thanks.
Were the New Year fireworks that big a thing? A whiff of the Gone With the Wind ‘they’re preventing me watching a film I’ve never watched and never will watch’ manufactured outrage.
About 10 years ago I went there myself, standing next to the Sphinx for 4 hours in a huge crowd of people waiting to see the fireworks — and usually I'm not in the slightest interested in that sort of thing. I just thought I ought to do it at least once. Luckily it was about 10 degrees that night.
Were the New Year fireworks that big a thing? A whiff of the Gone With the Wind ‘they’re preventing me watching a film I’ve never watched and never will watch’ manufactured outrage.
Fairly big, I know lots of people who went every year. Not something I would do personally but I think they sold out every year and tourists really loved seeing them and this year London is going to have loads of tourists.
Yes. Not my bag but a big deal for many. I live on a hill in north London and would often watch them from afar if we hosted guests. Seems a ludicrous decision.
Utterly ludicrous
It is also a big advert for LONDON
In recent years the London NYE fireworks have been up there with Sydney and Taipei and UAE, the ones you watch out for, because we make a real effort. And the London Eye is used cleverly
So they're going to lose all that.... why?
London will look pitiable if other big cities, worldwide, go ahead
Khan is telling the world: Nah, London is dead. Go elsewhere. I presume he has a reason but it needs to be really really good
He's a puritan c*** who wants everyone to stay locked up. He revelled in lockdown and keeping Londoners off the streets and out of the bars and clubs. He's absolutely the worst mayor we've had.
He's definitely the worst. There have only been three but Khan manages to be in a different, lower division to the other two
I majorly disagreed with Red Ken but Jeez at least he had a chirpy, cockney, hedonistic London spirit. He'd have told Khan where to get off with this no-cakes-and-ale bollocks
Ken was always amusing, whether you agreed with him or not. Starmer could take a few lessons from him on that score.
Were the New Year fireworks that big a thing? A whiff of the Gone With the Wind ‘they’re preventing me watching a film I’ve never watched and never will watch’ manufactured outrage.
So Khan has banned Gone With The Wind. Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.
Were the New Year fireworks that big a thing? A whiff of the Gone With the Wind ‘they’re preventing me watching a film I’ve never watched and never will watch’ manufactured outrage.
Fairly big, I know lots of people who went every year. Not something I would do personally but I think they sold out every year and tourists really loved seeing them and this year London is going to have loads of tourists.
Yes. Not my bag but a big deal for many. I live on a hill in north London and would often watch them from afar if we hosted guests. Seems a ludicrous decision.
Utterly ludicrous
It is also a big advert for LONDON
In recent years the London NYE fireworks have been up there with Sydney and Taipei and UAE, the ones you watch out for, because we make a real effort. And the London Eye is used cleverly
So they're going to lose all that.... why?
London will look pitiable if other big cities, worldwide, go ahead
Khan is telling the world: Nah, London is dead. Go elsewhere. I presume he has a reason but it needs to be really really good
He's a puritan c*** who wants everyone to stay locked up. He revelled in lockdown and keeping Londoners off the streets and out of the bars and clubs. He's absolutely the worst mayor we've had.
He's definitely the worst. There have only been three but Khan manages to be in a different, lower division to the other two
I majorly disagreed with Red Ken but Jeez at least he had a chirpy, cockney, hedonistic London spirit. He'd have told Khan where to get off with this no-cakes-and-ale bollocks
Ken was always amusing, whether you agreed with him or not. Starmer could take a few lessons from him on that score.
Once upon a time, there were three fleas: Phillip, Leon and Max, being best of mates (Like Dom and Liz) they believed they could share an elephant. Philip went under the trunk, Max at home behind the ears, and Leon under the tail. One fine evening, Phillip hopped out for a bit of air, where he came across Max. Let’s go and visit our friend Leon and see if he’s up for an Indian, they decided. But when they got there Leon was out. “Gone to the cinema.” Said Phillip. “How do you know?” “Well he’s left this note here, gone with the wind.”
Lockdown worked for me. Hardly any traffic on the way to work. Saved me 30 min every day.
You weren’t actually locked down though were you? So what you are really saying is that other people’s lockdown worked for you. I realise that you had to go into work because you are a ward doctor, but given the discussion is about how lockdown affected you, I don’t see how your comment reveals anything much, other than you like traffic-free roads.
Quite. These people who say "oh lockdown was fine" then you realise they weren't actually locked down at all, during working hours
I work at home, alone, and I live alone. I'm pretty fucking resilient but add that situation to a destroyed social world with no travel, no pubs, no restaurants, no lovers, no crowds, no embracing, no touching, no Christmas, no nothing, and suddenly you have - for me - an extreme dystopia, and all of this happening during one of the bleakest winters for a long while
For many many weeks my entire social life, all of it, consisted of one single walk in a freezing, sleeting London park with a friend, for an hour, once a week, with a thermos of mulled wine, and then back home again to the silence and the loneliness.
Inexpressibly bleak and it drove me close to self destruction
And yet my situation was better than many people: trapped in small flats with a dysfunctional marriage or a deeply unhappy family. That was surely worse. And as for domestic violence...
It was seriously horrific for all too many
Excellent post. I still worry that many of those who are sanguine about lockdowns are unaware of the severe impact they have on large proportions of the population.
I worked at home throughout lockdown. The socialization outside my family was done by Zoom calls. It isn't real life but it's not the isolation some people make out.
Were the New Year fireworks that big a thing? A whiff of the Gone With the Wind ‘they’re preventing me watching a film I’ve never watched and never will watch’ manufactured outrage.
Fairly big, I know lots of people who went every year. Not something I would do personally but I think they sold out every year and tourists really loved seeing them and this year London is going to have loads of tourists.
Yes. Not my bag but a big deal for many. I live on a hill in north London and would often watch them from afar if we hosted guests. Seems a ludicrous decision.
Utterly ludicrous
It is also a big advert for LONDON
In recent years the London NYE fireworks have been up there with Sydney and Taipei and UAE, the ones you watch out for, because we make a real effort. And the London Eye is used cleverly
So they're going to lose all that.... why?
London will look pitiable if other big cities, worldwide, go ahead
Khan is telling the world: Nah, London is dead. Go elsewhere. I presume he has a reason but it needs to be really really good
Tha’ts the right answer. Restrict the area if you don’t want overwhelming crowds, as they have done in recent years, but don’t give up the massive marketing opportunity to showcase your city to the world.
TV news on NYE is, as you say, rolling fireworks displays around landmarks. Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore, Taipei, Shanghai, Dubai, Moscow, Paris, LONDON, New York and probably a few others. That marketing opportunity is way more than the cost of a few fireworks, with a big wheel and an old Parliament building in the background.
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I admit that at that point I returned a set of round gate keys to Mr Carter with a polite thank you, to which he replied "Thank you Sir.". As then president of the MCR, I knew that the Plodge liked a decent bottle of Port every term, and they let me use keys that they probably shouldn't.
I think the other reason Switzerland flourishes is its thoroughgoing system of direct democracy, with an informed, intelligent and educated population.
But I do sympathise with the life you describe in loockdown, and you're evocative as always about it. It's not my viewpoint, but I understand it better now - thanks.
Sort it out Boris.
One fine evening, Phillip hopped out for a bit of air, where he came across Max. Let’s go and visit our friend Leon and see if he’s up for an Indian, they decided. But when they got there Leon was out.
“Gone to the cinema.” Said Phillip.
“How do you know?”
“Well he’s left this note here, gone with the wind.”
TV news on NYE is, as you say, rolling fireworks displays around landmarks. Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore, Taipei, Shanghai, Dubai, Moscow, Paris, LONDON, New York and probably a few others. That marketing opportunity is way more than the cost of a few fireworks, with a big wheel and an old Parliament building in the background.