Ken Livingstone must go!

I recently received my 2006/7 council tax bill, and it has gone up by 4.3%. While that is not too bad an increase, the actual breakdown shows that my local council has only increased it's share by 1.9% while Ken Livingstone's Greater London Authority has increased it's share by 13.3%! This is totally unacceptable!

The reasons the Greater London Authority give for this include safer stations, safer neighbourhoods, transport improvements, but the real reason for the jump is the cost of staging the 2012 London Olympic Games! Of the 13.3% increase, 7.8% is for hosting the 2012 Olympics games.

The GLA goes on to say that there are great benefits for London hosting the games, but what about the cost? Many businesses have closed as they have been forced to relocate due to the building of the games village, every Londoner is levied a hefty financial penalty just to bear the costs of hosting the 2012 Olympics, I'm not sure for how many years, we will have to pay this.

The GLA claims that there will be a legacy left behind after staging these games, but at what cost? It is not as if Londoners will be able to use these facilities free of charge!

Even the improved transport links that are promised, would probably cost us an arm and a leg to use. The only people that are really going to benefit from the staging of the London 2012 Olympics is the Olympic organising company that will maximise the profits it can make from such a global venture.

Over the years that Ken Livingstone has been in office, he has implemented so many changes most of which have penalised the average Londoner just for living in London! As if London was not expensive enough, things like Congestion charging, free bus transport for under 16s (nothing is free, some is paying US), cuts in Police and Fire worker's pensions and other levies have meant the cost of living has risen drastically since the mayor of London was introduced!

I never voted for him in the first election, and would have thought that Londoners would have been wise enough not to give him a second term but they did, and penalised them by promising to increase the congestion charging zone. With almost 3 years left to run in office, I wonder what more he plans to implement to make our lives harder over the next few years!

Ken Livingstone, you must go and wipe that smirk off your face!