Afternoon:
9°c
Tackling teen killings could take years, warns Mayor
Pippa Crerar and Katharine Barney4 Jun 2008
Boris Johnson admitted today that he was unable to give Londoners a deadline for reducing the number of "catastrophic" teenage killings.
The Mayor warned that getting the problem under control could take years - but insisted he was throwing himself "wholeheartedly" into the task.
He told his first City Hall press conference: "People continually ask what progress are you making, when are you going to achieve what you're setting out to achieve, and the answer is I'm afraid that I'm not going to be able to tell you.
"All I can say is that it's essential that we make a start and that we throw ourselves wholeheartedly into the struggle. I'm by nature an optimist and think there's a huge amount we can do.
"All I'm saying is that we're not going to transform the situation in one year or two years but I believe we've got the right way forward."
Mr Johnson said the spate of stabbings since he took over as Mayor "sometimes feels like a bad dream" but added that every death made him more determined.
Reader views (1)
If Boris Johnson marks the positions of the 2008 teenage killings on a map, he'll see that most are near incinerators at Edmonton, SELCHP, Crossness, Sidcup, Kings College Hospital etc.
If he looks at the 2002-2007 infant mortality rates in London's electoral wards, he'll see that the 14 wards with zero infant deaths in these 6 years are the ones with minimal exposure to PM2.5 emissions from one or more of the ten incinerators that affect much, but not all of London.
Both he, & Ken Livingstone, have been badly advised on health issues by the London Health Commission, London Health Observatory & the Health Protection Agency.
- Michael Ryan, Shrewsbury, 26/11/2008 18:39
Report abuse
