Adebayor's started so well for Man City
London Calling
So are you interested in Boris Johnson and the London Mayoral story if you live outside London? Loads of you texted the programme today to say you are not. Here's a small selection..
Do you care who's the mayor of Middlesboro?
No don't care anymore than Londoners would care who was Mayor of Birmingham.
Noone gives a toss
We don't care about London
But this from Tony (in London)..London is the only place that is truly important in this country and it where this country makes its money.
and a lot of you ARE interested/entertained to hear Boris Johnson on the radio... so, what do you think?
It matters because London contributes so much to the entire GDP of the UK and so, although the Mayor has limited powers, he can contribute to some important areas such as transport strategy that have a real impact on the infrastructure of the Capital...
27 September 2007
Today I played 'pick a ninny'.
This game was suggested by Ms Picky-Vicky Derbyshire, a highly controversial R5 broadcaster, when she suggested to London mayoral candidate Mr Boris Jo(h)ns(t)on(e) that his previous use of the phrase 'pick a ninny' (in one of his published works of literary genius) had been somewhat 'offensive' - and even perhaps 'racist'.
Mr BJ was heard to bluster accusations of Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿ÚPC 'political bias' back in response.
Sitting in my north-east England provincial hovel, far from the arena of this sophisticated Metropolitan media-land exchange, I wondered what all the fuss was about. In these parts 'ninny' is merely a mildly mocking comical term applied to somewhat buffoon-like personalities. So, to 'pick a ninny' is simply to select from a range of possible candidates the one who is the most 'ninny-like'.
In his neck of the woods, MrBJ won a clear-cut victory in the selection contest to be the Conservative Party candidate in the London mayoral election; in my neck of the woods, MrBJ was judged a clueless-clot winner of today's 'pick a ninny' competition.
P.T.
A sooty-faced (we don't have soap up here) South Shields listener
Hi PT
I'll find the article in which BJ used it and post it up here later. He told us it was used ironically..and you may well agree.
Thanks
Victoria
I'm not a Londoner, but my major concern is that Boris Johnson may not have enough time to make the whole nation laugh on "Have I Got News for You" if he focusses his comedic talents wholly on London
I'm a Londoner, but like you I went to Liverpool University, where I met my wife in 1967. However, we now live in Newmarket and know that as London is the centre of business and politics which drive this great country of ours, then the Mayor of London is actually very important to us all.
On a related point, because we have a great affection for Britain's second city, we find coverage of Liverpool important and I hope they give you the chance to report on the City of Culture 2008.
It was absolutely wonderful to be there, whilst it was the World Capital of Music. Our taste is still stuck there.
I do care, but only because the UK is so London-centric and so what happens there affects all of us. It shouldn't be like that, but I imagine it's true of every country where the capital city is also the largest.
I'm more interested in having found the blog, though - I think the problem is that the links of the fivelive pages don't look like links. Lots of people expect links to be underlined, and while that can look annoying to us web designers, it is what people expect to see.
And you're right, the new music is awful!
Hi Victoria
I think what happens in London has an impact on what happens in the rest of the world not just the UK. I say that as a Scot and I've never failed to recognise the importance of London. However, times are changing and the country is changing so it isn't surprising folk are less inclined to look south all the time.
On the matter of the family who lost their daughter through suicide. I think young folk spend so much time on computers today and not with people. Even a young friend of mine seems to spend a lot of time in 'club penguin' a virtual world for kids. What ever happened to getting muddy and climbing trees? Perhaps if older people spent more time with young folk rather than buying expensive toys, the world might look different. That poor family sounded lovely and devastated by what happened to their daughter. There will always be cases where parents don't see it coming. When I see folk on a beach near me in the summer simply digging in the sand with their kids I always think it is great and also it is free. Good family times often cost very little.
I have no real interest as I live in the Midlands, but I can't help thinking he has been put up to be defeated.
This is the hardest site to find on the bbc website!!!
Finally found your blog, whew.............The old guy asking for the apology was something else, good to hear and great listening fun. Boris could be just as funny as Mayor, and probably no worse than Ken. Enjoy the weekend, I`m off to Spain for a bit of a jolly and game of golf. Oh, BTW, I`m a blue-nose and it was a great result against your lot. Pat
"Join the bog," you said ...
Well, why bother? I e-mail you frequently during your shows with salient comments, but you NEVER use them! Especially when I refer to political issues regarding the Labour Party ...
So perhaps THAT'S one reason why people don't feel like joining in your blog.
A comedy mayor for a comedy city.
Boris is the only tory i have anytime for as he plays up to the conservative stereotype of a posh floppy haired buffoon but god help londoners if he gets in. After all he is Tory.
Any proposels detrimental to the average person implemented by him should he win, will no doubt be replicated throughout the rest of the country as ever if London leads the rest will follow.
Hello Victoria,
Your blog is not easy to find!
I'm not really interested in who might be the Mayor of London anymore than Londoners are aware of who is the Provost of Glasgow, or the First Minister of Scotland for that matter.
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Radio London should be covering this issue in depth, not an UK-wide radio station, except to touch upon it.
Some Londoners comments are ludicrous with regards to their inflated egos of self-importance.
London is only a successful city because all British Institution, HQ's and Embassies are situated there.
London is actually self-sufficient in nothing.
North Sea oil has hept the UK economy afloat over the past thirty years and will be doing so for the next thirty!
Best wishes
Jim
Clydebank
I am amazed how narrow minded & insular some people are. London is our capital city & so of course it is of interest who becomes Mayor. I hope Boris is voted in. He is never boring. I don't live in london, but worked there for many years. Love & miss it. Jenny
The comments posted (and i suspect not posted) here just show what a divided nation we are, North & South that is . I wonder if either camp envy the others life style ?
I do feel Londoners have a very insular attitude when it comes to the rest of the country.Why else would they need Sat Navs ?
BJ or red Ken It makes no difference to me
Les. Worcestershire.
This is rediculous. Londoners think they are at the centre of the world.
For example, my partner works in a mail order company and regularly gets callers saying thay have seen details/costs for postage and packaging on the website for England but can't see how much it is for London!!!
And as the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú is in London and is always Londoncentric anyway, the mayoral race is all we will hear about for at least a year.
I agree wholeheartedly with your contributor who complained about the fact that you wasted large portions of a NATIONAL show on LOCAL news .
Not surprised though ,i mean on 5Live ( or any national Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú station ) whether its a good or bad weather day is governed by whatever it happens to be doing in the centre of London so why shouldn't the election of their local Mayor take up half of the entire speech based Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú national radio output because R4 is, if anything, worse than yourselves.
Tonys' comment in his post just epitomises the arrogance of your average Londoner ( and boy have i met some average Londoners ) and perhaps shows why National Radio shouldn't pander to their over inflated egos.
Boris (and Cameron) will be roasted alive by the B.B.C. - god help both of them.
Thanks Philippa, Patrick, Joe, Jim for persevering in trying to find the blog...
Mick - what is local and what is national news? Is it only national if it has an impact on us all? Like the timing of a general election? Is it national if we're all pretty much interested in it? Like the McCann investigation? What about bluetonuge - it's affecting mostly one region of the country - does that mean it's only local news until it spreads everywhere?
James - I LOVED Liverpool Univeristy, had such a brilliant time there. Is Liverpool being City of Culture in 2008 going to be local or national news?
Joe - apologies if I haven't recently read out one of your emails. I'd love you to see the programme inbox on a daily basis - there is loads of traffic, so I promise you it's nothing personal!
PT I cannot find that article of BJ's online, so sorry.
Love Victoria
Victoria,
I never said that the Mayoral contest shouldn't be covered and my overall post was meant to be slightly tongue in cheek ( though only slightly ) .
Its just does it have to be so all consumingly covered . Of course the London Mayoral contest is a national story which should be reported but really hours on end of the Beebs overall speech output, i don't think so.
The real problem i have with it is that Boris is usually so entertaining so i find myself listening anyway, a large boo from this Yorkshire boy.
I am not that interested in who the major of London is, or in Inverness, where I live. In fact I could not tell you their names. I do vote. I hav'nt seen any difference in who the major is, do we in even have a major in Scotland ? I am interested in what the Goverment are doing both in Britain and Scotland. local goverment tend to do what they want. As can be seen by the mess of the roads in the centre of Inverness, we used to have road blocks in the mornings and evenings. But during the day the traffic moved without any road blocks. Of course this could be there plan to keep cars out of the town. oops! City now.
murr
I am a Labour voter but can't stand the evil mayor we have currently, he is only interested in minority groups and if you are white, christian and working class you ain't got a prayer with this bloke, and I speak from first hand experience. I will vote for Boris if he lets us have our pidgeons back in Trafalgar Square, if he doesn't put this in his manifesto then I will vote for neither of them. Oh and by the way I don't care what the rest of the country thinks, it is not your mayor, but it is our capital city.
I am really interested in the london mayor elections. I have lived in somerset for 20 years(originally from london) I have always been a big fan of Kens and concerned now boris has put his oar in because people may vote for him because he is a laugh.....I know he is intelligent but he cannot possibly represent londoners, (like Cameron too tied up still with the public school image) he has no experience of running a big organisation.I hope Ken stays on after 2012 as he was such a key player for the olympic bid and did a great job with the tour de france.
Boris Who? any relations of Ben Johnson the sprinter
who tested positive for anabolic steriods