The Red Trousered Buffoon

The one major benefit of living in South Gloucestershire and not Bristol is that our lives are not presided over by the red-trousered buffoon; the Merchant Venturer ego trip that is George Ferguson, the city’s woeful mayor. But even here, not quite out in the sticks, you cannot escape images of his gurning face. The local free newspaper has a wrap around today which leads with the headline ‘Bristol First’.

I had expected the narrative to focus on the mosques we have out here, or how we are being overrun by millions of Polish plumbers, but it’s not an offshoot of Britain First after all. Britain First’s idol would be someone like Adolf Hitler, whose policies they ape, or perhaps Nigel Farage, but Bristol First’s idol is Ferguson.

They call for an independent mayor, which suggests that Ferguson is somehow independent. Independent of what? Business interests? Ego trips? Foreign junkets? He only stood as an independent because he knew the toxicity of the party of which he was a founder member, the Lib Dems, would probably stymie his own chances of winning the election. So he dumped on his former friends and called his new party George Ferguson.

And what a glittering track record of success he has. Worse traffic gridlock than ever,a pointless, expensive bus lane, dressed up as the Metro Bus scheme, the RPZ crippling businesses throughout Bristol and endless delays on the Ferguson Arena. There’s much more and much worse – have a look at the city’s crumbling infrastructure and struggling social services, but don’t worry: George is doing all right (out of the council tax payer).

The mayoral position only came about because the vast majority of Bristolians couldn’t be bothered to vote against it. The current mayor was only elected because the vast majority of Bristolians couldn’t be bothered to vote at all. If Ferguson is re-elected on a wave of apathy, then the good citizens of this great city will deserve everything they get.