On 2012\12\05 23:54, Paul Corfield wrote:

The cynic in me says that the Mayor has been mesmerised by the allure
of a "big development" going ahead on his watch.

Cynic? Sorry Paul, but I find your view hilariously positive.

After years of various taxi driver groups demanding an external review
of TfL's pro-minicab bias, and getting nowhere, Addison Lee boss John
Griffin recently asked for an external review of TfL's pro-taxi bias and
Deloitte were instantly commissioned to perform such a review, despite
the fact that Griffin's recent order to its drivers to break the law
forced TfL bosses to issue notices on a Sunday and then gain a court
injunction against him. Addison Lee is of course a donor to the Tory
Party and specifically to Boris's last campaign, and famously said
"Politicians are not running the country. Businessmen are. They are the
housewives. We give them the money."

That's the way the Tory party works - if you give a few thousand quid to
the Tories, they will take billions from the mugs who voted for them and
divert it to your cause. If Boris has suddenly decided that a billion
pounds of public money should be spent on improving the value of some
private development, I seriously doubt any mesmerising has occurred. I
would bet that a few thousand have gone to the Tories either from the
developer or from some civil engineering company.