Home > 'Boris Bikes' should be called 'Ken Bikes': why short-termism rules in politics
Sunday 19th May
'Boris Bikes' should be called 'Ken Bikes': why short-termism rules in politics
Posted by :
Alec Patton
Friday, 25 March 2011 - 9:50am
by Alec Patton
In February 2008, the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, announced that he would be introducing a cycle-hire scheme for London, similar to the popular scheme already running in Paris.
In May 2008, Boris Johnson replaced Livingstone as mayor of London.
In July 2010, London's cycle hire scheme was launched, and everybody started calling the new blue bicycles 'Boris Bikes'.
In other words, two years and five months was too long a delay for Ken Livingstone to get any credit for the scheme that he had initiated. Under these conditions, it's hard to blame politicians for favouring short-term wins over long-term strategy.
... the project took nearly two and a half years to complete, of which Ken was involved for three months, during which time he was also engaged in an unsuccessful re-election campaign.Also, Boris' name begins with B, like bike.In other news, it has been discovered that the architect of the Swiss Re building was not in fact a pickled baby cucumber.
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Or, put another way ...
... the project took nearly two and a half years to complete, of which Ken was involved for three months, during which time he was also engaged in an unsuccessful re-election campaign.Also, Boris' name begins with B, like bike.In other news, it has been discovered that the architect of the Swiss Re building was not in fact a pickled baby cucumber.
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