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Daniel Moylan: Conservatives have a chance to strengthen their challenge to Sadiq Khan

With imaginative campaigning, Shaun Bailey can start to make an impact in the delayed mayoral race
Daniel Moylan

The pandemic that has filled our hospitals and knocked the capital’s economy for six has already had two significant consequences for the next mayoral election: the date has been postponed by a year until May 2021 and a prominent candidate, the Independent Rory Stewart, has dropped out of the race.

Both developments should in principle help the Conservative candidate, Shaun Bailey. He now has an extra year in which to establish himself in the minds of voters. He also gets the chance to scoop up from Stewart some Tory voters disaffected by Boris Johnson’s Brexit policies. The Liberal Democrat candidate, Siobhan Benita, could also get a boost from Stewart’s withdrawal, although she, like Siân Berry, the Green Party hopeful, suffers from the fact that her party has never made any real impact in London’s mayoral races.

But it may turn out that the change in timing has a more significant effect on Sadiq Khan’s chances of holding City Hall for Labour. Mayors often make grand announcements in advance of elections with implementation planned to follow the vote. The hope is that supporters will rally to the announcement, while those who may not realise they will be adversely affected don’t discover the fact until too late. In that spirit, Khan announced some time ago that the extension of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to the whole of London within the North and South Circular Roads would start in October 2021 – plaudits now, hard graft to follow only when well into his second term.

Under the expanded ULEZ, petrol-powered cars, vans and minibuses made before 2005 and diesel-powered vehicles made before 2015 will need to pay £12.50 a day to be driven in the zone – and this will apply to people who live and work there, not just to those driving in. The current charge operates 24 hours a day, every day of the week. Understandably, perhaps, Transport for London has not yet carried out a great publicity campaign urging owners of moderately old diesel cars in this huge swathe of London to change their vehicles – there was time enough for that, it seemed, between May this year and October 2021.

That timetable no longer works and the Mayor has to decide how vigorously to spread this message in what will now be the run-up to the new election date. Whatever he does, even if he finds an excuse to postpone implementation, it is hard to see how this will not be an election issue in May 2021. The anti-Khan pitch, of course, will not just be to those directly affected, but to the Outer London boroughs as well, worried that the Labour Mayor will be coming for them next.

We may get a small taster of the effect when ULEZ standards are introduced across the whole of London for lorries and coaches from October this year, though fleet operators are normally properly prepared for such changes. Nonetheless, it is a risk, however small, that Khan had imagined would follow, not precede, his re-election campaign.

The delay to the election also means that Khan’s response to the pandemic will be under scrutiny in the run-up to the poll. It will be a real test of the credibility of his leadership qualities and, being the third London Mayor, he is likely to be subject to comparisons with both of his predecessors, perhaps more tellingly with Ken Livingstone than with Boris Johnson. Given the restricted nature of his powers, a Mayor has a choice: take responsibility for what is happening in the capital or constantly remind the voters how much power is retained by the government. Livingstone went for the former course. Khan has devoted four years to the latter and continued to during the pandemic.

He was criticised for slamming the brakes on the Tube as the lockdown came into effect on the grounds that it led to unnecessary and dangerous crowding. Now he risks being criticised for being unprepared to re-open the Tube quickly enough as the lockdown is lifted. He is unapologetic about the fact that up to a third of TfL’s operational staff were off sick because of the virus at the start of the lockdown (the figure for the Metropolitan Police, even more public-facing, is currently about 10 per cent) and his repeated insistence that public transport would re-open with no more than 15 per cent of pre-virus capacity comes with a sort of relish that seems out of place in a man responsible both for London’s transport and, to a degree, for its economic well-being. His main concern seems to be to ensure that car use doesn’t rise in the wake of the pandemic.

Hence this normally most cautious of politicians has come up with an audacious and politically risky plan. Everyone accepts that it will take time for the Tube and buses to get back to normal and most will accept, grudgingly or with enthusiasm, that in the interim new temporary extra provision might sensibly be made for cycling and walking. But Khan is going much further than that, briefing the press that his interim re-allocation of road-space, marketed under the banner “London Streetspace”, could well be made permanent. He is holding out the prospect of a huge long-term enforced modal shift from Tube and bus to walking and cycling, with the road space taken from vehicles never to be returned.

Of course he has cover from government for this. Will Norman’s predecessor as mayoral cycling commissioner, Andrew Gilligan, is now the Prime Minister’s special adviser on transport and, despite party difference, one can imagine the spiritual bonds between them – even that they may have each other’s numbers on speed-dial. But it will be Khan’s choice to make the new measures the basis of a permanent shift, and he is up for re-election long before the government is. Will he be allowed by his opponents to avoid stating his intentions before the vote?

Khan of course was saying as recently as early March that travel by Tube was safe. And there is still no explanation as to why has failed until mid-May to provide face-masks to his bus drivers, even though in April he had pivoted to a campaign for the government to make face masks compulsory for all – and at a time when deaths among bus-drivers were becoming very apparent. His eventual decision to adopt middle-door boarding on buses seemed slow – and forced by the unions. These are the sort of things that may become the subject of scrutiny in the New Year as the danger of the virus, we all hope, recedes and inquiries into its handling begin.

On the plus side for Khan, the pandemic has taken pressure off what was undoubtedly his greatest weakness until a few weeks ago: the levels of violent crime, particularly knife crime, in the capital. The lockdown has both helped to reduce that and distracted the public mind from the topic. Furthermore, the polling and the established political composition of the capital, as well as the London Labour Party’s formidable organisational skills, mean that Bailey still has a mountain to climb if he is to dislodge the incumbent.

He has not so far succeeded in establishing in Londoners’ minds either his personality, or a vision for the capital or a compelling critique of his opponent. And the lockdown appears to have condemned him to invisibility. He has a lot of work to do, in a contest that requires imaginative campaigning, if he is to have a better chance in May 2021 than he would have had a few weeks ago. So, despite the very different circumstances in which Khan will meet the voters, this remains very much his election to lose.

Daniel Moylan was an adviser to Boris Johnson when he was London Mayor, in particular on transport issues. Follow Daniel on Twitter.

OnLondon.co.uk is doing all it can to keep providing the best possible coverage of  London during the coronavirus crisis. It now depends more than ever on donations from readers. Individual sums or regular monthly contributions are very welcome indeed. Click here to donate via Donorbox or contact davehillonlondon@gmail.com. Thank you.

 

 

Categories: Comment
Tags: air quality, Andrew Gilligan, congestion, Conservatives, crime, cycling, Green Party, knife crime, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Metropolitan Police, North Circular, pedestrians, public transport, Rory Stewart, Sadiq Khan, Shaun Bailey, Sian Berry, Siobhan Benita, South Circular, transport, Transport for London, ultra low emission zone, Will Norman

Sadiq Khan wants no more lockdown easing until ‘test-trace-isolate’ system in place

Mayor criticises government for failure to pursue this approach and says it is vital to prevent second peak
Dave Hill

The coronavirus lockdown must not be eased any further before an effective test-trace-isolate and support system has been introduced for anyone showing symptoms, Sadiq Khan has said.

Challenging the government to “act now” to enable same-day testing and fast track support for those most vulnerable to the disease, the Mayor argues that it is “vital that this is in place before there is any further lifting of the lockdown so we can avoid a disastrous second wave of the virus that could overwhelm our NHS and result in more tragic deaths.”

Khan wants the government to make sure London’s health and local government bodies have the resources and the flexibility they need to implement the system, one which takes into account the size, density and diversity of the capital’s population and is on a larger scale than has been seen in international cities elsewhere.

He said,”It was a mistake for the government to abandon this approach in early March and it must now make up lost ground so our city can start to re-open safely,” adding his view that its use in Germany, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Singapore has played an important role in “saving lives and restoring public confidence”.

Khan’s intervention follows Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement on Sunday of a “conditional plan” for loosening wide-ranging restrictions imposed since 23 March, including encouraging people to return to their workplaces if they are unable to do their jobs from home, but also urging them to avoid using public transport if possible.

The Mayor responded at the time with an assertion that “lockdown has not been lifted“, emphasising that “social distancing measures are still in place” and that the task of overcoming the virus is “far from over”. While largely supportive of the government’s approach to the virus, Khan has also asked for some tighter constraints, such as preventing all construction work from taking place.

His call today echoes comments in his briefing for London Assembly Members (AMs) provided yesterday that the government’s response on testing had been “far too slow” and that “a successful test-track-trace programme similar to those used internationally must be implemented as soon as possible before any significant easing of restrictions”. The briefing also says, “increasing lab capacity is no use if people cannot access the tests, particularly in London where only half of all householders have a car”.

Concerns have been expressed by unions and others that London commuters’ heavy reliance on public transport make it difficult to observe social distancing requirements when travelling to work. The London Underground drivers’ union Aslef has called on Transport for London to make the wearing of face-coverings compulsory for passengers on the Tube, rather than just advisory in line with national guidance.

TfL appears to have the power to make wearing a face-covering a “condition of travel” on its services, but could not do so for those run into the capital by non-TfL rail operators, meaning the rules within the capital for public transport-users could be inconsistent.

In his briefing to AMs, the Mayor said that “all frontline TfL staff will be offered basic face masks from today” and that hand sanitiser points” will be introduced “in the coming weeks”. TfL says that around 20 per cent of frontline staff are absent from work at the moment, a fall from roughly a third near the end of March.

OnLondon.co.uk is doing all it can to keep providing the best possible coverage of  London during the coronavirus crisis. It now depends more than ever on donations from readers. Individual sums or regular monthly contributions are very welcome indeed. Click here to donate via Donorbox or contact davehillonlondon@gmail.com. Thank you.

 

Categories: News
Tags: ASLEF, Boris Johnson, coronavirus, COVID-19 London, London Assembly, London Underground, Sadiq Khan, Transport for London

Salome Gongadze: Why residents of a Kingston housing estate voted for its regeneration

The Liberal Democrat council's plans for the Cambridge Road estate received a big endorsement from tenants and others
Salome Gongadze

As its name suggests the Cambridge Road Estate (CRE) is located on Kingston’s Cambridge Road. The 1960s-era complex is like many in London – rows of tower blocks and mid-rise structures connected by raised walkways. It provides a glimpse back in time to idealistic visions of urban living but also to one when the state took major responsibility for building homes for disadvantaged people. Like many others from that period, the CRE is now slated for regeneration. 

This scheme has secured the go ahead under a new process that aims to overcome some of the democratic deficits that have plagued similar ones in the past – a ballot. In early 2020, residents voted to approve the regeneration. The result was decisive: 72 per cent were in favour of the project and there was a high turnout of 85 per cent. On London took a closer look at how the ballot process played out in this corner of south west Outer London. 

Sam Foulder-Hughes, a Liberal Democrat councillor for the borough, explained that new buildings were sorely needed. For years, residents had complained about faulty lifts, damp, and infestations moving through the shared ventilation system. There has also been an issue with crime and safety. The estate’s walkways and alleyways have made it difficult to police. Despite Kingston’s reputation for posh suburban living, the CRE occupies a significant pocket of deprivation. Residents wanted better-quality, safer housing that was more integrated into the local area, but also wanted to maintain the estate’s strong community and retain council housing stock.

Regeneration has been on the table since 2015 when the Conservatives controlled the council. The ballot requirement was introduced after the Lib Dems ousted them in 2018, fulfilling a campaign pledge. Emily Davey, the council’s portfolio holder for housing, emphasised that the ballot was its initiative because it was the “right thing to do” for residents, and unconnected to the new rules that Sadiq Khan introduced in 2018 requiring ballots for estate generation projects that depend on City Hall funding. 

Lib Dem councillors are quick to distance themselves from past regeneration schemes elsewhere, such as that of the Heygate estate in Southwark. They emphasise that the new CRE will have no separation between the areas where council tenants and market rate owners live, and that the regeneration will add an additional 114 council rent units to the existing stock of about 650. Current secure council and housing association tenants will have the right to new homes on the estate, and a phased building process will be set up to minimise disruption. Plans for the new estate also show a new community centre, green spaces and play areas. 

Davey described the challenges of making the consultation process accessible for residents. The consultation process included open days where residents could meet regeneration project staff and a residents’ steering committee to get a sense of what people wanted to have on the new CRE. She said it was harder initially to reach women residents, many of whom are single mums. In response, special consultation events and one-to-one meetings were set up with food and entertainment for children at hours convenient for families. 

The vote itself took place over a three-week period in February and March. Current social tenants, leaseholders, freeholders and other Kingston residents who has been named applicants on the housing register for 12 months were eligible to vote.

As with other regeneration projects, some organised opposition emerged. James Giles of the Kingston Independent Residents Group (KIRG) suggests opposition groups would have liked to see more options on the table, including that of refurbishment of the estate as it stands. Another concern among opponents is that changing financial conditions down the line could mean that some of the promised amenities and policies will not materialise. Giles says that KIRG respect the result of the ballot, but will continue to follow the regeneration process and hold the council to the promises made in its landlord offer.

Inside Housing reports that all 13 estate regeneration ballots in London since the City Hall rules change have been in favour. It would seem, at least initially, that housing secretary Robert Jenrick may have been wrong in insisting that the mayor’s mandatory ballot policy would create “onerous” barriers to housing delivery. 

Emily Davey says that the ballot process is good because it can jump-start the regeneration process and allow the council to get a better deal for residents. However, she emphasises that the biggest benefit of the ballot is what it provides to the residents of the estate – giving people a say in the future of their homes and communities. 

Image: artists’s impression from Kingston Council’s landlord offer document. Salome Gongadze is a writer and researcher on cities. Follow her on Twitter.

OnLondon.co.uk is doing all it can to keep providing the best possible coverage of  London during the coronavirus crisis. It now depends more than ever on donations from readers. Individual sums or regular monthly contributions are very welcome indeed. Click here to donate via Donorbox or contact davehillonlondon@gmail.com. Thank you.

 

Categories: Analysis
Tags: affordable housing, Conservatives, council housing, Emily Davey, Heygate estate, housing, James Giles, Kingston Council, Kingston Independent Residents' Group, Liberal Democrats, regeneration, Robert Jenrick, Sadiq Khan, Sam Foulder-Hughes, social housing

Steve Norris: In defence of reasonable people

As its former Mayor, Boris Johnson understands the importance of the capital and most people in London and elsewhere will recognise his new Covid-19 advice as sensible
Steve Norris

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Democratic leaders everywhere are trying to come to terms with a completely unprecedented global pandemic for which there is no pre-ordered game plan, and whatever they do their critics complain. It’s either too much government intervention or too little.

In reality, in every heart of government, there is careful and serious debate, albeit behind closed doors, around whether the cure is worse than the disease. That morbid arbitrage between saving lives now but ruining the lives of future generations cannot be aired in public for fear of the howls of anguish that would follow. We see echoes of it even now in the political chatter around this government’s stance.

I am delighted that our government does not relish the idea of enforcing lockdowns by statute: even in war, this country shied away from anything as draconian as stopping people going to the pub. But new threats call for new action. The contrast with those regimes such as China, Russia and, sadly, Brazil is stark. There, policies of lies, distortion and vicious repression have led to many more deaths than have ever been disclosed and, in China’s case, to the epidemic in Wuhan turning into a global pandemic.

The crisis has, of course, uncovered many hitherto undiscovered armchair experts on social media who are happy to tell us how they know better than the Chief Medical Officer. Thankfully the rest of the world gets on with more important issues like how to get self-raising flour or a decent haircut. All democratic governments should be held accountable. It is a fundamental right in an open and free society.  But a feature of this unique episode in all our lives has been the distance between what virtually every broadcaster and journalist seems to think and what sensible people living as ordinary a life as they can, believe.  

My own view is that Boris Johnson has done a surprisingly good job in the current circumstances. As a former London Mayor he knows that getting London back on its feet is important to the whole country. He also knows that London’s population and transport densities make the balance between resuming economic activity and maintaining public safety particularly difficult to get right, and has invited his successor Sadiq Khan to COBRA meetings.

Bizarrely, his having contracted the dreaded viral mugger has only enhanced his reputation as a likeable, relatable human being – and for all his manifold weaknesses, that is what the Prime Minister is. He’s also a genuine social liberal who believes that government should seek to persuade where necessary and also try at all costs not to dictate. His speech on Sunday evening was all about common sense:  observing social distancing, not taking unnecessary risks and not being foolhardy. 

To me and millions like me, the advice not only made sense but could not have been clearer. Only in the media and opposing political parties is there this phoney outrage about any lack of clarity. It is perfectly reasonable for Nicola Sturgeon and Keir Starmer to criticise. They are The PM’s political opposition, and it is their job to try to undermine confidence in the Conservative government. But I am struck by how this plays outside the media bubble.

Most people recognise the sense of what Johnson and Dominic Raab are saying and will act accordingly. They wouldn’t go to the pub, even if it was open and, sadly, they aren’t yet ready to eat out or go to the movies.  They don’t blame the government because they instinctively know there are no easy answers.  They just want themselves and their families to be safe.

Steve Norris was the Conservative Party candidate for London Mayor in 2000 and 2004. He is also a former transport minister. Follow Steve on Twitter.

OnLondon.co.uk is doing all it can to keep providing the best possible coverage of  London during the coronavirus crisis. It now depends more than ever on donations from readers. Individual sums or regular monthly contributions are very welcome indeed. Click here to donate via Donorbox or contact davehillonlondon@gmail.com. Thank you.

 

 

 

Categories: Comment
Tags: Boris Johnson, Conservatives, Keir Starmer, Nicola Surgeon, Sadiq Khan

Richard Brown: How London can ease public transport pressures as lockdown loosens

Those who can continue to work from home should defer to those who can't
Richard Brown

London has been at the forefront of the UK’s Covid-19 epidemic. Cases and deaths rose fast and peaked early in the capital. But the city seems to have adapted quickly to lockdown and continuing recruitment activity shows some of the resilience the capital demonstrated after the financial crisis of 2008. And, after the wave of infections hit London first, it now seems to be retreating quickest, with new cases being identified at half the rate of some UK regions.

But what comes next could be a lot tougher. Having plunged much of day-to-day life into the deep freeze, the government is seeking a way to defrost it, of getting the country back to work. The much-debated change in government messaging gives an indication of the direction of change: from an unambiguous instruction to stay at home, to a cautious emergence.

As London’s economy tentatively tries to get back on its feet, some of its gaps and inequities will start to show through. During the crisis, working from home has been an inconvenience for workers like me, whose jobs involve talking, reading, writing and analysing. For other workers, such remote working is impossible. Some have been put at risk by continuing to work, while others have been furloughed. For those people to go back to work safely, they will have to travel.

And that’s where the problem is. From his experience as the Mayor of London, the Prime Minister will know that telling people to “avoid public transport if at all possible” is a really tall order in the capital. London’s commuters are heavily dependent on public transport: 46 per cent of London’s workers use trains, light rail or the Tube to get to work, and a further 12 per cent use buses, compared to around three per cent and six per cent respectively for the rest of Great Britain.

Avoiding public transport means that almost 60 per cent of London’s workers have to find an alternative way to work. Even if Tube, rail and buses are operating at around 15 per cent capacity, as some estimates suggest, 2.5 million London commuters will be displaced.

Some of the slack can be taken up by an increase in walking and cycling, which together account for around 14 per cent of London commutes. There is certainly a strong argument for this, for re-allocation of road space to encourage new cyclists (though it is not clear whether the funding support announced by Grant Shapps on Friday will be deployed in the capital), and for a more rapid roll-out of new rules for e-scooters.

But cycling would need to increase almost tenfold to replace the lost public transport capacity. Data from the 2011 census indicated the average London commuting distance was more than 11 miles (and is likely to be higher for many rail and Tube commuters), so there are a limited number of journeys where cycling will be a viable option – particularly for those new to the saddle and to London’s traffic.

There may be some increase in car-based commuting in the short-term, but this is not what any policy-makers want. It would not only unpick the progress made on air quality and carbon emissions in recent years, but also quite quickly result in gridlock – especially as roads are being remodelled to prioritise walking and cycling. In any case, there simply aren’t the workplace parking spaces in Central London for any mass switch.

So some form of “demand management” (a phrase heavily used when trying to limit travel during the London Olympics) will be needed, if London’s economy is to return to anything like normal. Changing work patterns will be part of this, and may need extensions of the night tube and some relaxation of current regulations on deliveries, as London shifts further towards becoming a 24-hour city.

But, as London rebuilds public transport capacity and public confidence, we may also need to prioritise some workers over others. The capital has been helped to date by the fact that many of us can work remotely. Given the risk of overwhelming the transport system, those who can do so should perhaps hold back from using public transport to get to work, however much we long for the social interactions that make the city what it is.

The Tube has been kept running for essential workers during the crisis. As the crisis eases, this priority should be extended to people who work in shops, factories, construction sites, and workshops – those who need to have access to their workplaces and to be able to travel to them safely.

You could even see permits to travel introduced, but such a system would be intrusive, complex and hard to enforce. However, the successful implementation of the government’s lockdown measures has shown that limiting use of the Tube can be self-policing. To enable essential workers to reach their destinations safely, perhaps those of us who trade in words, calculations and conversations should stand back and wait our turn.

Richard Brown is deputy director at think tank Centre For London. Follow him on Twitter.

OnLondon.co.uk is doing all it can to keep providing the best possible coverage of  London during the coronavirus crisis. It now depends more than ever on donations from readers. Individual sums or regular monthly contributions are very welcome indeed. Click here to donate via Donorbox or contact davehillonlondon@gmail.com. Thank you.

Categories: Comment
Tags: 2012 Olympics, air quality, buses, coronavirus, COVID-19 London, cycling, London Underground, pedestrians, pollution, public transport, transport

Coronavirus London: ‘Hospital doctors need PPE gowns desperately. My target is to make 10,000’

A Walthamstow fashion designer has launched an extraordinary, crowd-funded production project
Joshua Neicho

Bella Gonshorovitz tells her story to Joshua Neicho.

I’m a fashion designer based in Walthamstow making made-to-measure clothes. I do artist collaborations and costumes for tours and shows, and I’ve worked a lot with the Royal Academy. I’ve done plenty of volunteering in my life and a side of me likes to be quite socially involved – for example, I make clothes for people with disabilities. I used to be a commercial designer and am very aware of the fashion industry’s over-reliance on the global supply chain providing clothes that are so incredibly cheap because they don’t reflect the labour that has gone into making them.

I started out at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis by making scrubs for hospitals. “Scrub Hubs” of volunteers running up protective clothing emerged quite quickly after a WhatsApp group call out by East London hospital doctor Katie Ward. The first one was in Hackney Wick.

Then, doctors from the Royal Brompton and Homerton hospitals got in touch with me to say they were running out of gowns and needed them desperately. Gowns are more challenging than scrubs – because of regulations, they are single use, they’re made of expensive splash-proof fabric, and they need to made by experienced sewers to an excellent standard of finishing.

Screenshot 2020 05 11 at 16.27.08

I wanted to produce them in quantity, which would bring down the costs of material per gown and put me in a position to offer some remuneration to the amazing sewers, some of whom are single mothers with children to feed. My sewers were working from home. Sewing factories, where the gowns would otherwise be produced, are very small, with high numbers of machines in very humid environments – in other words, the sort of places where the virus really thrives.

I launched a fundraiser on 18 April, and it was unbelievable how quickly donations went up. Our original goal was £6,000 to make 200 gowns for Royal Brompton. Within a day we’d raised £10,000. We’ve now completed 1,500 gowns and the target has been extended to £150,000 for 10,000 gowns for the Royal Brompton – which specialises in respiratory conditions – and the Homerton. Costs per gown have been halved, from £30 in total to £5 for material and delivery and £10 for two hours of cutting and sewing. 

Innovation Textiles, based in Yorkshire, donated the initial 500 metres of fabric. We’ve since partnered with international production company North 6 and have been working to source additional suitable fabric. NHS staff have been very appreciative – “much nicer than the gowns from China” reported one doctor working with Covid patients, while a head of infection control said the gown was “great – the seams are looped and closed and the quality really good. Thank you and a big well done”. We should have the material to reach the 10,000 gown target by the last week of May, but how quickly we finish them depends on what additional funds we can bring in.

It shouldn’t be necessary to crowdfund for personal protective equipment (PPE). With government backing, the cost of making gowns could be so much lower. Yet ours refused to support our initiative because we were considered a small supplier. That was despite proving we could replenish stocks in two hospitals in an agile fashion. As last month’s Panorama programme revealed, there wasn’t a single medical gown in the national pandemic stockpile before the crisis, even though gowns are considered to be second in the PPE hierarchy after gloves. And there are still serious shortages.

Before the coronavirus outbreak, an elderly neighbour of mine who I was close to died at Homerton Hospital. The compassion of the nurses there was incredible. The least we can do is protect them when they give so much.

Readers wishing to support Bella’s gown-making efforts should visit her GoFundMe page. Many thanks to her for speaking to On London.

 

Categories: News
Tags: coronavirus, COVID-19 London, Homerton Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospital, Walthamstow

Dave Hill: London should listen to its own leaders over lifting lockdown

They don't have all the answers but at least they offer some consistency
Dave Hill

Reaction from political and business leaders in the capital to Boris Johnson’s Covid-19 national address last night has been swift and crisp. Sadiq Khan emphasised within minutes that “social distancing measures are still in place” and today has been hammering home his message that the task of overcoming the coronavirus is “far from over“. With equal speed, London Chamber of Commerce & Industry chair Richard Burge offered his “strong and unequivocal advice” to London businesses “not to change your plans for tomorrow”. Why? “You have not been given sufficient information on how to get your employees safely to work, nor how to keep them safe while they are there,” he said.

The similarity of these reactions from different parts of London’s power structure speaks eloquently of the Prime Minister’s failings. Whatever wise counsel had informed his recipe for easing the UK out of its lockdown was lost in a morass of muddled and mixed messages delivered in the style of an amateur dramatics hack who had failed his Gravitas GCSE. The six members of my households gathered round the telly in the style of a commercial from the 1950s. What we watched was like one of those Monty Python sketches lampooning upper-class twits, except we never got to the funny bits.

We shouldn’t underestimate the difficulty of the PM’s task. The right balance between providing the public with information – and maybe a bit of hope – and not confusing it with too much complexity must be hard to strike at this time, and to get across effectively. But Johnson is a chancer and a rogue, not built for shouldering grave responsibilities.

As London Mayor, his few successes were in dull, difficult areas he was relieved to leave in the hands of more capable people. The rest was showboating, advantage-seeking and rewarding cranks and cronies with jobs they were no good at. His new “stay alert” message is a mess and marks a partial return to his early “send it packing” approach to coping with the virus, when he came across like a scout camp leader rallying the troop to muck in and dig more lavatories. Johnson’s chief asset as a politician is his quick eye for the ridiculous. Sadly, his gargantuan self-belief prevents it being trained upon himself.

Further details of the government’s “outline of a roadmap” for the future are promised but, for now, many Londoners who normally go out to work are beginning their weeks unsure if they should or should not revert to normal commuting, if they will or will not be in trouble if they don’t, and if they should or should not wear face-coverings when on the Tube. At the same time, evidence keeps appearing that people are making judgements about what is acceptable behaviour that are odds with those of some in authority. Hackney Police reported over the weekend that they were “fighting a losing battle in the parks”, with “literally hundreds of people” sitting out, eating and drinking. Who is right and who is wrong?

I am still a bit divided over the “lockdown”. Protecting NHS capacity has certainly made sense, but I can’t shake the feeling that more assiduous protection of those known from the start to be the most vulnerable to the virus and less of a blanket shutdown might have produced a better result in the short term and beyond. Objective judges gently advise that not until we’ve seen a year or more of “excess deaths” data – the number of fatalities above what would normally be expected – can we make meaningful comparisons with what has happened in other nations. And, in the end, if a vaccine doesn’t show up to make us immune, logic suggests that an evolved resilience against the virus within the human herd might indeed be our only hope of stopping it from ruling our lives.

But in the absence of certainty, let us at least have clarity. Londoners are surely seeking some plain advice to guide their decisions about their work, their families and their movement in and around the city, which is so different and distinctive from most of the rest of the UK. Maybe the government’s roadmap will come more into focus in the next few days. Maybe it will boil down to something little different from what the Mayor is saying or will start saying soon. But until the fog surrounding the Prime Minister’s words has cleared, it’s difficult to quarrel with the urgings from the Chamber and from City Hall to do nothing different for the time being.

OnLondon.co.uk is doing all it can to keep providing the best possible coverage of  London during the coronavirus crisis. It now depends more than ever on donations from readers. Individual sums or regular monthly contributions are very welcome indeed. Click here to donate via Donorbox or contact davehillonlondon@gmail.com. Thank you.

 

 

Categories: Comment
Tags: Boris Johnson, coronavirus, COVID-19 London, London Chamber of Commerce & Industry, London Underground, NHS, Richard Burge, Sadiq Khan

Fifth of Londoners plan to work from home more often amid anxiety about public transport

A range of measures could boost confidence in using bus and rail, but many say they will avoid them
Dave Hill

Twenty-two per cent of Londoners say they are planning to work from home “more often” after the UK coronavirus lockdown ends and 16 per cent say they will not be using public transport “in the foreseeable future,” according to a new opinion poll.

The survey, by YouGov for business organisation London First, suggests there could be large fall-offs in the use of bus, London Underground and train services and small increase in commuting by bicycle as Londoners look ahead to how their travel to and from work might change in future.

Caps on passenger numbers, more “deep cleaning”, mandatory mask wearing and availability of hand sanitiser are among the measures most favoured by Londoners to improve their confidence about using public transport post-lockdown.

“Extensive contact tracing” of people who’ve tested positive for the coronavirus would also make some Londoners more likely to feel safe on buses and the various rail services and there was significant support for spreading demand for public transport more evenly across the day and for “a clear and enforced approach to social distancing” in general.

The biggest anticipated fall in usage was among bus commuters: 32 per cent of of the 1,010 poll respondents said the bus has been their usual way of getting to work and back and only 21 per cent plan to make those daily journeys by bus post-lockdown.

There was a similar finding with the London Underground, which was named by 36 per cent as their usual commuting mode. Only 24 per cent said they expect it to be once the lockdown has ended. Respondents who said they usually use “train” transport (excluding the Tube) stood at 20 per cent, and 14 per cent said they think it will be in future.

The percentage who said they usually commute by was seven per cent, and 11 per cent said they expect to cycle the route to work and back in future. The 27 per cent figure who customarily walk or run was unchanged when respondents were asked about their post-lockdown intentions. Six per cent of respondents said they don’t know what transport mode they will use.

In relation to public transport, respondents were asked to pick three confidence-boosting measures from 12 options. Caps on the numbers of people allowed to use buses, train or Tube carriages at any one time were favoured by 35 per cent, followed by “extensive contact tracing”, greater frequency of deep cleaning, the wearing of face masks by passengers and staff (all 33 per cent) and sanitiser available “as standard” (32 per cent).

A “clear and enforced approach to social distancing” was in the top three options for 29 per cent of those surveyed and “changes to peak times and office hours to spread demand during the day” was picked by 27 per cent. Eleven percent favoured travel restrictions on some passengers to reduce demand at peak times. Ten per cent said “nothing in particular” would improve their confidence.

London First has urged national government to “step in” to plug TfL’s “revenue gap” and help the capital’s transport network “play its part in the national effort against Covid-19”.

Commenting on the poll findings, London First chief executive Jasmine Whitbread said that “many Londoners will need reassurance before getting back on public transport” and called for “a clear package of measures and absolute clarity on who can travel and at what time if we are to get London back on its feet quickly”.

Photograph: Omar Jan.

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Categories: News
Tags: buses, coronavirus, COVID-19 London, Jasmine Whitbread, London First, London Underground, public transport, rail transport, YouGov