John B wrote:

Ah the myth that bendies are only hated by car drivers. When campaigning
for
Boris in areas served by bendies I found this policy to be very popular
amongst people who have to use them.

I'm deeply sceptical, although it's possible that the people you spoke
to were idiots. In real life, bendies provide a much better service
than other buses on a given route.

So why do I so frequently see people opting for the 86 over the 25 for
journeys to Stratford or Ilford? (And it's for going there, not onwards.)

It's called democracy. If the people of London didn't want Boris as
their
Mayor he wouldn't have been voted into office.

The people of London didn't want Boris as their mayor. The people of
various unsavoury outposts that the Tories gerrymandered into Greater
London in the first place to end Labour's dominance of the County of
London wanted Boris as their mayor; the people of actual London voted
for Ken.

The most common definition of "London", including in the title "Mayor of
London" etc..., is the full extent of Greater London. Other than the City,
which really lost the claim centuries ago, there has never been a formal
"London proper".

The Conservatives did not "gerrymander" the boundaries, they were responding
to the long recognised problem that the boundaries of the County of London
were too small for effective democratic governance of the London
conurbation. This was recognised well beyond the Conservatives, as can be
seen in the various different boundaries for London such as the London
Transport area, the Metropolitan Police area (now realigned) and so forth.
The Star newspaper was calling for wider boundaries for London local
government in the 1930s.

And I see once again the dismissive attitude to the outer suburbs of London
by Boris critics and/or Ken fans. And people wonder why the outer suburbs
were not enamoured with Ken and those around him.

(It predates Ken - the real reason the GLC was abolished was because the
outer London boroughs had realised they got very little out of it and didn't
need it. Calls for abolition to be considered were being made well before
Ken took power, including by Ken himself.)

And if all Boris had ever
done was "be funny on a game show" he would never have got anywhere, let
alone into Parliament then the nomination and finally the office.

You have a bizarrely misplaced faith in the processes governing the
acquisition of political office by the sons of extremely wealthy and
successful people.

You have a low opinion of the democratic centralist tendency in the
Conservative Party that has a strong filtration barrier to who can seek
nomination to elected office.