This is a further intrusion of civil liberties, and will inevitably lead to discrimination of minorities by police. Like the spectre of identity cards, it's a further example of the government's distrust and contempt of the people of Britain.

The woman leader I most admire would be the Green London AM Jenny Jones, who has done wonderful work on the London Assembly for the past  years, implementing many important changes to Mayor Livingstone's budget.

I grew up under Margaret Thatcher, and I believe that with her policies based on the notion that 'there's no such thing as society', she betrayed the British people by destroying social cooperation and community cohesion and introducing an age of naked competitive exchange.

By cutting spending on social welfare, she oversaw a massive redistribution of wealth from bottom to top that took away millions of jobs and led to an increased economically and socially polarised country.

We are still picking up the pieces from the damage she did to Britain's culture, economy, society and reputation. The18 years of Conservative rule, and a further 11 years of conservative rule by the Labour government that followed, have marked a fundamental shift to the right in British politics, which we are barely starting to undo in London.

What I actually said was that because of recent cuts in Government grant many councils are struggling to fund important public services like Trading Standards Officers, and this means that those who remain are hard pressed to help tackle under- age drinking. What I offer is experience in actually dealing with these problems and working with ALL agencies who can help to deliver solutions. One, underfunded, service on its own can’t be expected to solve the problem.

I have asked those who claim to this to be the case, what is the difference in the way I propose the Tube be run from what already happens with our successful bus system, the award winning Docklands Light Rail and the East London Line currently undergoing renewal? They can’t answer me. All I am suggesting is running the tube along the same lines as Livingstone runs the other public transport systems in London.