In Livingstone we trust...

Boris Johnson has been ruminating upon the future of the Greater London Authority’s international offices and whether or not they are worth keeping. The offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Beijing, Shanghai, Brussels and Caracas, as well as a consultant based in Moscow, were the stellar idea of former mayor Ken Livingstone as a way of promoting international business and tourism with the UK capital. Unfortunately, Bojo doesn't really see the point of them and will probably get rid of them.

As part of his blurb on the announcement, Johnson said that he was to consider whether or not the offices were able to prove themselves useful, and that if they weren't that would be it. 'Useful' would mean that the office in Brussels could prevent harmful European legislation from being passed, and that the Indian and Chinese offices could do wonders for London's business relations with the nations that they are based in.

To be honest, Westmonster doesn't really care about what happens to the offices. What we find more startling is the uncanny resemblance between what Livingstone was attempting to do and the antagonist, Tyler Durden, in the movie/novel Fight Club. If you don't know the story, it's about an anarchist ('Red' Ken) who decides to set up a number of terrorist cells throughout the world, which form part of a secret army which he will use to fight the system. The movie, based on Chuck Palahniuk's novel, was released in 1999, just in time for Livingstone to steal its ideas before he took office as London's mayor in 2000.

This must mean that the 'offices' were a part of Livingstone's plans for world domination. Although Johnson may not have realised it, his dismantling of the offices is actually a breaking down of the communist resistance which could have had a disturbingly deleterious effect on the future if it had been allowed to blossom.

According to the press release, £1,411,000 million is spent on the offices each year. Johnson may never know that his decision has saved so much more than just money...

Photo: Flickr

Written by Oli Anderson on 28 May 2008 2:35 PM. Permalink