Marriages for the Indy and the Standard

So it appears that the long awaited merger of the London Evening Standard and the Independent is underway.

The Guardian are reporting that the sports and business departments at both newspapers are to be integrated.

In a statement released at lunchtime the papers said

"The Evening Standard and The Independent are both exploring ways to see how integration between them in a limited way can benefit all the papers owned by the Lebedevs.This is a constructive and useful way to maintain our high quality journalism and reduce costs in an economic climate which has hurt the whole newspaper industry."

Let's hope it goes better than the redesign of the website which has been fraught with problems since it went live yesterday.The rumour is that it is coding problems but I am sure Comrade Lebedev will be onto it?

Tories take London according to You Gov

According to the London Evening Standard's latest opinion poll an election called now would see the Tories winning 40 out of the 74 seats in the capital

It's You Gov poll in today's paper says that

Among the seats which would fall to the Tories are Brentford and Isleworth, held by health minister Ann Keen; Tooting, held by cohesion minister Sadiq Khan; Poplar and Limehouse, held by transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick, and Harrow West, held by trade minister Gareth Thomas.

The poll puts the Tories 12 points up on Labour at 44 to 32 with the Lib Dems on 16.

If repeated at a general election,it would give David Cameron control of the capital for the first time in a generation

Ken is back and in the Standard

The London Evening Standard carries an interview with Ken Livingstone today.Yes that is correct,the former mayor whom the paper in partnership with Andrew Gilligan campaingned to keep out of office.

As the Guardian's media monkey points out

just two days after new Evening Standard owner Alexander Lebedev formally took charge from Daily Mail & General Trust and installed Geordie Greig as the new editor. What's that hammering sound coming out of Derry Street – could it be colours being firmly nailed to the mast?

Anyway Ken reveals that

he will be putting his hat into the ring to fight Boris Johnson in the 2012 mayoralty election....."I would love to stand for Mayor against Boris in what will be the Olympics year," he says. I point out he will be in his 66th year and that already there is opposition within the Labour Party to him standing again. "Unlike 2000, when the party was desperate not to have me and chose Frank Dobson, even though I got three times as many votes as he did, I expect a completely fair contest for nominating the Labour candidate next time around."

Boris gets the usual endorsements

Not suprisingly the Evening Standard in London has endorsed Boris as its candidate today.

Here is a little snippet

This paper believes that the key issues in this contest are honesty and
competence. On both, Mr Livingstone falls down badly. His broken promises and
the irregularities surrounding some of his closest associates - exposed by our
reporting - show that he cannot be trusted to maintain the standards of
integrity that his office demands.

Meanwhile if you want the alternaitive view,have a look at the Guardian in an article by Zoe Williams which says

He is no more honest than any other philanderer before him. He has lied flagrantly, flamboyantly, to save his marriage, and given how little else he's prepared to do for it, one must conclude that he doesn't put a very great premium on telling the truth. So if he gives out these apparently harsh truths about gay people or Liverpudlians or the people of Congo, it is not because the fire of truth burns so brightly within him that he can't snuff it out. It is because he genuinely despises these people. He despises gays and he despises provincials (you are all right with Boris if you come from Liverpool but don't sound like a Liverpudlian. Once you've been to public school, then you are from postcode POSH), and he despises Africans. He despises them, and he despises those of us who would hold such judgments to be bigoted and inhuman.

Boris racing ahead of Ken

Centre Right carries news of the latest London Standard poll which puts Boris 12 points ahead of Ken in the mayoral election race.

The Standard reports that

The YouGov poll has Mr Johnson on 49 per cent, the Mayor on 37 per cent and Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick on 12
Mr Johnson was particularly popular among women voters. He also picked up 53 per cent of the 18 to 24-year-olds, compared with Mr Livingstone's 41 per cent.

Mind you Londoners This is what you might be letting yourself in for.Sam Coates tells

The Tory mayoral candidate was briefed a few weeks back at Canary Wharf by Olympic chiefs. They told him that should he win the mayoral race, we would be expected to attend the closing ceremony in Beijing on August 24, for the official handover from the Mayor of Beijing to the Major of London. A flustered Boris took out his diary, and declared he was in France that day. "Are you sure I have to go?", he is reported to have asked....

Meanwhile the Beeb is in trpouble over it Livingstone reporting,

According to Labour Home,which refers to yesterday's Adam Boulton show

"Ken repeated what he had said before – that bendy buses have been popular where they’ve been brought in, but they’re only needed on a few busy routes, so there’s no plan to extend it further.
This has now been followed up on the BBC as a u-turn story, saying he’s declared no more bendy buses. There were never going to be any more – but it’s linked under the headline “Mayor to dump bendy buses”.
Then there’s the reporting of the £100 million hole in Boris Johnson’s transport plan. It’s barely been covered on BBC news. A huge planning gaffe that independent experts have verified has gone virtually unnoticed on the beeb. That should have been a major election issue this week.

Police called in over Jasper allegations

The news that Ken Livingstone's right hand man Lee Jasper has been suspended will no vindicate much of the anti Livingstone that has eminated from the likes of Andrew Gilligan and the London evening standard.

According to the Guardian,the move has been instigated by the major himself

The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, today demanded a police investigation into misconduct allegations involving his race adviser, Lee Jasper, in the hope that the inquiry would prove his innocence.
The mayor also announced that Jasper, who has faced a series of allegations about his role in suspect spending decisions by the London Development Agency (LDA), would be suspended from office during the police investigation.
Jasper stressed that he had personally suggested to Livingstone that the allegations should be referred to the police.

Jasper has been accused by the paper of being the channel for over £3m of funding paid by the London development agency to organisations which are linked to Jasper or his associates.

Livingstone has now called in the police to investigate the claims over the money and the lack of audit trail.

It comes on the back of a Gmtv interview to be broadcast on Sunday in which according to several sources,Ken Livingstone admits that his has a fight on his hands for the elections in May

Three Line whip reports

Sounding like a rattled man, the Mayor tells interviewer Steve Richards: “This is bound to be a close fight. The Conservatives have found the most popular Conservative in Britain – maybe the only popular Conservative in Britain – and you’re clearly going to have huge resources put into this from the Telegraph, the Mail and others.
“It was always going to be a tight fight and I’ve always said this.

The link between the two-Surely a mere coincidence!!!!!!!!!!