Conference notes: Boris, Ken and the hardest word

Two sorry anecdotes:

One: Former Mayor Livingstone interviewed on the telly yesterday morning - just before the platform ganged up on Stephen Greenhalgh - suggested that one way for Labour to revive its fortunes would be to apologise for all the things it has done wrong. I'd have put it to Ken that he's never apologised for anything, ever, and that he ought to consider at least finessing that lifetime habit if he wants to help his chances of becoming Mayor again. I wonder how he'd have replied.

Two: Mayor Johnson has issued a press release saying he's "very disappointed" - meaning "thoroughly pissed off" - that culture secretary Ben Bradshaw said in Brighton yesterday that he (Boris) favours bringing back charges for galleries and museums. He (Boris again) objects that he actually "called for more voluntary donations by visitors who can afford them."

Well, according to the Guardian, Boris advocated the US model:

where visitors are more robustly asked to pay "suggested" or "recommended" entrance fees.

Sounds reasonable until you learn that:

In the US, many museums are officially free but it would take a brave gallery-goer to pay nothing.

This suggests that the voluntary donation model Boris seems to have warmed to while in New York might, in practice, be very little different from imposing a compulsory entrance charge. For that reason, I'm against the idea. Even so, I think Bradshaw owes him an apology.

Sorry conference anecdotes end here.