London politicians are no strangers to seeing fireworks. But this year’s annual New Year’s Eve shindig was a somewhat more muted affair than usual, after mayor Sadiq Khan ordered the last-minute cancellation of events in central London in response to a surge in the Omicron variant, despite the NYE celebrations being, er, almost entirely outdoors.
Those who wished to see the fireworks instead had to make do with watching the BBC’s coverage at home, featuring a dreadful, trite opening monologue over an army of drones spelling out the letters ‘NHS’. The announcement was yet another blow to the capital’s much-damaged industries, as Khan himself noted at the time, when he admitted that:
Our world-renowned retail, hospitality, tourism, nightlife and cultural businesses are already suffering from the impact of the latest wave of Covid cases during what is usually their busiest time of the year.
Now, new figures obtained by Mr S reveal just how much was shelled out by the cash-strapped Greater London Authority, as it mulls
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