A happy thought for Easter travellers: farewell Heathrow, hello Boris Island

Martin Vander Weyer’s Any Other Business

It’s never easy to know what the Mayor of London really thinks — as many of us at The Spectator can attest from weekly experience during his benignly idiosyncratic editorship. His opposition to a third runway at Heathrow, and his espousal of an apparently fantastical alternative scheme to move the entire airport to a pair of man-made islands in the Thames estuary, 60 miles from central London, might just be seat-of-the-pants Boris, blustering his way out of an awkward corner. You can see why he came out against the third runway: it’s Labour policy, and it could lose him votes under the flight path in 2012. But then his aides must have reminded him that his business supporters insist more airport capacity is needed to maintain London’s position as a global city. ‘Oh cripes! Well, ah… let’s say we’ll bung it right out in the estuary, aircraft landing and taking off over water, all very green and hydro-powered, high-speed links in all directions… But it’ll cost at least £40 billion, so there’s no chance it’ll go ahead while I’m still mayor and lose me any votes.