Malcolm Douglas, you have fallen into the rather predictable routine of making odious comparisons between Tory and Labour regimes in and after the GLC.

My comments were only related to Ken Livingstone's previous tenure, perhaps as a guide to what we may now expect, and in no way intended to be a comparison with any other regime. And I can assure you that people in London at the time were not happy - by your own admission there were "excesses", it was Ken's job to sort them out and he clearly didn't, or at least didn't seem to.

And as I am a centrist, any attempts you make to score political points have no effect on me - you'll need to direct your remarks to the right-of-centre.

But I agree entirely that he is probably more trustworthy than Blair and fully endorse best of luck to him.

Terry