In article ,
(Charles Ellson) wrote:

Devolution (including the London Assembly & Mayor)

That isn't devolution, that is a jumped-up county council.

A bit more than that. It also controls a transport system carrying half the
nation's passengers.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Tue, Jul 03, 2012 at 07:54:10PM -0500, wrote:
In article ,
(Charles Ellson) wrote:
Devolution (including the London Assembly & Mayor)
That isn't devolution, that is a jumped-up county council.
A bit more than that. It also controls a transport system carrying half the
nation's passengers.

That's pretty much *all* it is. The mayor has no significant powers
over anything else that people care about. And I'm not sure what powers
the assembly has at all.

--
David Cantrell | London Perl Mongers Deputy Chief Heretic

I caught myself pulling grey hairs out of my beard.
I'm definitely not going grey, but I am going vain.

In article ,
(David Cantrell) wrote:

On Tue, Jul 03, 2012 at 07:54:10PM -0500,
wrote:
In article ,
(Charles Ellson) wrote:
Devolution (including the London Assembly & Mayor)
That isn't devolution, that is a jumped-up county council.
A bit more than that. It also controls a transport system carrying
half the nation's passengers.

That's pretty much *all* it is. The mayor has no significant powers
over anything else that people care about. And I'm not sure what powers
the assembly has at all.

The mayor has rather more planning powers than any county council. The
assembly is purely a scrutiny body. A bit like parliament.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Jul 4, 4:05*pm, wrote:
In article ,

(David Cantrell) wrote:
On Tue, Jul 03, 2012 at 07:54:10PM -0500,
wrote:
In article ,
(Charles Ellson) wrote:
Devolution (including the London Assembly & Mayor)
That isn't devolution, that is a jumped-up county council.
A bit more than that. It also controls a transport system carrying
half the nation's passengers.

That's pretty much *all* it is. *The mayor has no significant powers
over anything else that people care about. *And I'm not sure what powers
the assembly has at all.

The mayor has rather more planning powers than any county council. The
assembly is purely a scrutiny body. A bit like parliament.

The whole concept is nonsense. Cities have mayors, not counties. The
UK does not otherwise directly elect heads of authorities. UK voters
elect party members; the leader of the party with most elected
assembly members becomes head of the authority. The title clashes
with Lord Mayer of (the City of) London.

A smaller GLA would be better (Middlesex). I do not favor a Judge/
Chief Executive (As elected in Kentucky Counties). A board of
supervizors like California and Nevada would be a little better. But,
why not have a County Authority with extra powers?

On Wed, Jul 04, 2012 at 10:05:30AM -0500, wrote:
(David Cantrell) wrote:
wrote:
A bit more than that. It also controls a transport system carrying
half the nation's passengers.
That's pretty much *all* it is. The mayor has no significant powers
over anything else that people care about. And I'm not sure what powers
the assembly has at all.
The mayor has rather more planning powers than any county council.

I don't think many people care about skyscrapers unless there's one next
door.

The assembly is purely a scrutiny body. A bit like parliament.

Parliament can vote against a bill. Can the Assembly do anything like
that?

--
David Cantrell | Hero of the Information Age

"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands,
hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." -- H. L. Mencken

On Thu, 05 Jul 2012 13:19:10 +0100, David Cantrell
wrote:
On Wed, Jul 04, 2012 at 10:05:30AM -0500,
wrote:

The assembly is purely a scrutiny body. A bit like parliament.

Parliament can vote against a bill. Can the Assembly do anything like
that?

It can veto the Mayor's budget.

Colin McKenzie


--
Cycling in the UK is about as safe as walking, and helmets don't make it
safer. Make an informed choice - visit www.cyclehelmets.org.

On Fri, 06 Jul 2012 20:28:21 +0100, Colin McKenzie wrote:

The assembly is purely a scrutiny body. A bit like parliament.

Parliament can vote against a bill. Can the Assembly do anything like
that?

It can veto the Mayor's budget.

What if the Mayor doesn't stick to the budget?

--
jhk

In article ,
(Jarle H Knudsen) wrote:

On Fri, 06 Jul 2012 20:28:21 +0100, Colin McKenzie wrote:

The assembly is purely a scrutiny body. A bit like parliament.

Parliament can vote against a bill. Can the Assembly do anything like
that?

It can veto the Mayor's budget.

What if the Mayor doesn't stick to the budget?

He can only set a Council Tax precept and allow expenditure that has been
authorised by the budget.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Fri, 06 Jul 2012 21:01:16 +0100, Paul Corfield
wrote:

On Fri, 06 Jul 2012 20:28:21 +0100, "Colin McKenzie"
wrote:

On Thu, 05 Jul 2012 13:19:10 +0100, David Cantrell
wrote:
On Wed, Jul 04, 2012 at 10:05:30AM -0500,
wrote:

The assembly is purely a scrutiny body. A bit like parliament.

Parliament can vote against a bill. Can the Assembly do anything like
that?

It can veto the Mayor's budget.

and refuse to loan part of their Head of Service when the Deputy Mayor
for Policing decides it is acceptable to let two experienced civil
servants leave at zero notice leaving the Mayor's Office for Policing
bereft of experience and knowledge. I hadn't appreciated incompetence
was an essential qualification for public office with this Mayor.

Yes, he does seem to be repeating the personnel recruitment mistakes
from the first term. I wasn't surprised last time, given his lack of
experience of running any previous medium or large organisation, but
did expect better four years later.