The son of a bus driver becomes London's new Mayor

Oh the irony! Because of my Spinning Plates course, two weeks ago I was asked to join a live chat on Radio Lancashire about caring for elderly parents while running a business.
By The Newsroom
Published 18th May 2016, 17:37 BST
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan arrives at City Hall in London, on his first day as mayor. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA WireMayor of London Sadiq Khan arrives at City Hall in London, on his first day as mayor. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan arrives at City Hall in London, on his first day as mayor. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Apparently 13m Britons aged 40 to 60 have elderly care responsibilities. Then my lovely mum tripped over the garden hose and broke her wrist, so I’ve spent a few days learning how to be her left hand. It’s been funny at times and I’ve tweeted some of those moments using #lookingaftermum. So now I’m going to abuse my privilege as a columnist to send a massive thank you to her neighbour who found her, the wonderful staff at Lancaster A&E, who are amazingly cheerful late at night, and to adult social care, plus friends that have given us their time. I know public sector resources are at an all time low but everyone we dealt with was so positive and helpful.

As we sat in the RLI, London was electing a new Mayor and that’s what was trending on Twitter and Facebook all weekend as Boris handed over the @MayorofLondon twitter account to Sadiq. It seems the country (and Donald Trump) have mixed feelings about the son of a bus driver becoming Mayor.

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Considering so many of us grew up with the tale of Dick Whittington, I’d have thought this was the perfect story, but I have a sneaky suspicion some of the confusion might be regarding the colour of his skin? It might just be me but I can not ever remember seeing tweets and headlines calling Boris the Christian Mayor. Never to be left out of the limelight, the woman twitter folk love to hate, Katie Hopkins said she would run down Regent Street naked “with a sausage up my bum” if people didn’t vote for Zac Goldsmith. She has at least now said Sadiq can choose the sausage.

Jane BinnionJane Binnion
Jane Binnion

I was reading SUMO Guy Paul McGee’s updated book, he noted social media was not really being used when he wrote the first edition just 10 years ago. He wrote that, if he had to sum up the past decade, it would be that we have a relentless amount of change happening at a relentless speed, unlike anything any human has had to deal with before.

It’s true things change so fast, but for those of us camping out unexpectedly at someone else’s house, having broadband and a smart phone makes life a heck of a lot easier. Have a good week and stay safe online (and in the garden too!).

Related topics:MayorLondon