exuberant

Describes motivation process for creativity with emphasis on intrinsic motivation by Corey K Katir

Despite all the fresh new ideas on display for the Apple world from exuberant third-party companies, it matters quite a bit that the Apple mothership isn’t here with her children. – SAN FRANCISCO–For the third consecutive year since the event began way back in 1985, Apple was nowhere to be found at the Macworld 2012 conference and expo here at the Moscone West center. Despite all the fresh new ideas on display for the Apple world from exuberant third-party companies, it mat…

MY PRINT column this week is about the London mayoral race:

BORIS JOHNSONathe Conservative mayor of London, darling of his partyas grassroots and (it is said) likely challenger for the Tory leadership should David Cameron fall under a busawas invited to 10 Downing Street this week. His role was to explain the merits of elected mayors to assembled municipal worthies. Mr Johnson gave them a blast of cheek, show-off cultural references and partisan appeals for his re-election when Londoners go to the polls on May 3rd. The prime minister, much of the time, gazed at the ceiling as if scanning the horizon. The cross-party audience of MPs, councillors and local bigwigs roared their delight.

Mr Johnson thanked aDave for letting me into No 10a, while insisting that City Hall was much more interesting. Pondering why the British are a bit sceptical about mayors, he cited examples of mayoral misdeeds in the works of Hardy and Ibsen, aThe Simpsonsa and the film aJawsa, in which, he noted, a town boss allowed his electors to be aeaten by a gigantic fisha. He took a swipe at his Labour rival, Ken Livingstone, whose tax-efficient financial arrangementsarecently revealedasit ill with his call for arich bastardsa who dodge taxes to lose the vote.

Above all, Mr Johnson suggested, a big part of a mayoras job is to bully central government into paying for things that voters want. By way of example, he mentioned the 1,000 extra police officers who just happen to make up point four of his nine-point aPlan for a Greater Londona, plastered on billboards citywide.

Most of Mr Johnsonas nine points involve spending money. Nationally, the Conservatives may be the party of flinty austerity and public-sector reform. But Mr Johnson is promising new trains and reduced delays on the London Underground, new jobs, new homes, money for small businesses and the planting of 20,000 trees. True, he boasts about cutting wasteful spending and freezing his share of London council taxes, but then assures voters that billions saved at City Hall have been freed for spending on other services. Point nine of his manifesto is essentially a vow to mug Mr Cameronaor to secure aa better deal for London from No 10a, as his posters more politely phrase it.

Mr Johnson has suggested that his London administration stands for acost-cutting, one nation Conservatisma, ie, frugal paternalism. In fact, Mr Johnsonas real beliefs, often concealed behind a smokescreen of jokes, are not so much blandly centrist as nicely balanced between swashbuckling extremes. He stands firmly at the socially liberal end of his party, a philosophy reflected in his exuberant private life. Against his partyas national policies, he worries about curbs on welfare benefits and favours an amnesty for some illegal migrants. Yet at the same time he is admired on the right for backing a referendum on Britainas EU membership, and as an early voice calling for the abolition of the 50% top rate of income taxaseen by Mr Johnson as a disastrous symbol of hostility to wealth-creators.

Yet Mr Johnsonas campaign has been cautious to the point of turgidity. Part of the explanation lies in London politics, which leans to the left. Those close to Mr Johnson talk of aborrowinga the capital from Labour, on the strength of their manas tousled charm, celebrity as a television panellist and newspaper columnist, and image as a party maverick. He won office in 2008 with the help of Liberal Democrat and even Labour voters fed up with Mr Livingstone (then the two-term incumbent), as well as by increasing turnout among suburban Tories who had seen the mayor as a remote metropolitan, focused on inner London.

His caution is also explained by the limited powers granted to the mayoralty on its creation in 2000 (the separate, ancient post of Lord Mayor concerns only the City of London, the central financial district). Just 7% of the mayoras revenues come from direct taxation, with transport fares supplying a further chunk. Central government provides most funds. Londonas mayor controls city transport, some parks, planning policy and a bit of policing, with little influence over regulation or state structures. aAll City Hall does is spend money it didnat raise,a sighs a source. aLondonas been turned into a teenager asking parents for money.a

Wanted: a mayor with a stake in economic growth

All this confines mayoral elections to a political playpen, in which symbolic public works stand for larger battles. As mayor, Mr Livingstone, a tough lefty by instinct, imposed a congestion charge on drivers in wealthy bits of central London. In opposition, he has attacked a bicycle-hire scheme of Mr Johnsonas as elitist, arguing that most users are young City of London types.

On taking office, Mr Johnson banished double-length, continental-style abendy busesa bought by Mr Livingstone, calling them traffic-snarling and a gift to fare-dodgers. Instead, he has commissioned a new double-decker bus for the capital with an open platform for hopping on and off between stops: his blow for London heritage and for individual liberty.

This infantilisation of London politics matters. Mr Cameronas coalition government sets great store by a growing cadre of elected mayors in cities across the country. Fortified by their visibility and accountability, it is hoped that mayors can drive radical public-sector reforms through fossilised bureaucracies.

Londonaa cosmopolis with an economy larger than Belgiumas and a population the size of Switzerlandasashould be a fine test-bed for such reforms. The capital is crammed with the ambitious, the restless and those dissatisfied with the circumstances of their birth. Its mayor should be a spokesman, heard around Britain, for economic growth and openness to the world. This will not happen until City Hall raises much more of its own money, perhaps via business taxes or VAT, forcing mayors to make tough trade-offs. Playing trains and buses is not enough. Londonas mayoralty turns 12 this year. Time to grow up.

Gina Werfel’s abstractions at Alex Bult Gallery prompt comparisons with the works of abstract expressionists Willem de Kooning and Joan Mitchell.

“Winter Conversation” by Gina Werfel

Gina Werfel’s abstractions at Alex Bult Gallery prompt comparisons with the works of abstract expressionists Willem de Kooning and Joan Mitchell.

“Winter Conversation” by Gina Werfel

Personal Injury Lawyer Los Angeles – FREE CONSULTATION by Personal Injury Attorney Los Angeles – Legal Defenders, Los Angeles Personal Injury Lawyers – Law Offices of Burg and Brock, who have won over $100 million in verdicts and settlements for clients

Page took 2 seconds to load.