Welcome to Who Wants to be a London Mayor?
This is a special series from The Standard podcast team, focusing on London’s 2024 City Hall election, hosted by ES Magazine’s deputy editor, Hamish MacBain.We’ll be looking at the crunch issues impacting Londoners’ lives and the policies mattering most to us, before Londoners go to the polls on 2 May.This series also covers the mayor’s relationship with Transport for London, whether the polls can be trusted, impact of the Ulez, safety and crime, plus the capital’s rental crisis.
Episode one: What’s the point of the London Mayor?
In the first episode, MacBain is joined by Ross Lydall - The Standard’s City Hall Editor & Transport Editor, and Noah Vickers, our Local Democracy Reporter covering City Hall - to discuss the history and powers of the role.
Episode two: Voters’ travel woes, cabs, bikes & London’s deepest Tube
This second episode of Who Wants to be a London Mayor? focusses on transport, from road to rail.
Hamish MacBain meets a cabbie, rides London’s deepest Tube and hears voters’ commuting concerns.
He is also joined by black cab driver Suzanne Sullivan, Campaign for Better Transport’s Michael Solomon Williams and a cast of Londoners, who reveal their verdicts on the capital’s public transport.
Episode three: Polls suggest mayoral election is a done deal. Is it?
In episode three of the mayoral election series, Hamish MacBain, asks is this year's election a done deal?
Hamish is joined by Ross Lydall, our City Hall Editor & Transport Editor, and Noah Vickers, our Local Democracy Reporter to discuss the polls, Sadiq Khan's popularity, and his main rival Conservative candidate Susan Hall.
Ross & Noah also discuss the prospect of the other candidates causing a stir, and whether votes for them could impact Sadiq's bid for an historic third term as London's Mayor.
Episode four: Young Londoners have some questions for the mayor
Hamish MacBain visits London Youth, a charity running for 135 years, in episode four of Who Wants to be a London Mayor?
He meets with Hanna, 18, and Elizabeth, 17, who are members of their youth board, and asks what young Londoners want from their next mayor.
The charity worked with Partnership For Young London on their Young Londoners’ Manifesto 2024, which includes a series of requests for the London Mayor.
Episode five: London’s knife crime epidemic
Mayor Sadiq Khan’s critics say he’s failed to get a grip on London’s knife crime epidemic - so, what more can be done?
In this episode, Hamish MacBain is joined by Evening Standard crime correspondent Anthony France.
Their discussion includes the Labour mayor’s record on law and order, his Tory rival Susan Hall’s policies, police numbers, and the effectiveness of stop and search.
We also feature a special investigation and film commissioned by ES Magazine focussing on Londoners impacted by the capital’s knife crisis.
Episode six: We have to talk about London’s housing crisis
In episode six, Hamish MacBain heads to a London Renters Union rally to look at the capital’s ongoing housing crisis.
Londoners face fierce competition for accommodation and endlessly soaring rents, the waiting lists for social housing is in the hundreds of thousands, and there’s widespread poor conditions even if you manage to secure a home.
Can the next Mayor of London do more to tackle these issues?
Episode seven: London's Ulez battle at 2024 Mayoral election
Sadiq Khan’s expansion of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone out to the capital’s outer roads is one of his most controversial policies.
The Mayor says the charging scheme will improve air quality and health, but critics claim it's a stealth tax on Londoners hampering their choice to drive.
In this episode of the Standard’s series focussing on the 2024 race for City Hall, Hamish MacBain explores both sides of the argument at two of London’s busiest traffic locations.
Hear interviews with Imperial College London pollution expert Professor Frank Kelly by the A501, Marylebone Road, and motoring journalist Shahzad Sheikh - AKA YouTuber the BrownCarGuy, by the A10, Shoreditch High Street.
Listen above, or wherever you find your podcasts.
