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• Reference: 2012/1063
• Question by: Richard Barnbrook
• Meeting date: 14 March 2012

In your past answers to the issue of Halal-slaughtered meat used in GLA restaurant main dishes (Question No: 4265 / 2010), you have stated that varying cultural preferences are catered for. Yet in the past year, approximately 90 per cent of main menu items are marked as 'Halal'. Your statement in answer to Question No: 3457 / 2010 that 'there are dishes available for all diners regardless of their cultural or consumer preferences' is therefore not strictly accurate: there is a glaring imbalance. How do you reconcile this apparent disparity?

• Reference: 2012/1064
• Question by: Richard Barnbrook
• Meeting date: 14 March 2012

You stated in answer to Question No: 3457 / 2010 that halal meat is a cultural preference, and is specifically requested by the GLA. Do you still maintain that there are 'dishes available for all diners regardless of their cultural or consumer preferences' even though there are cultures who regard halal-slaughtered meat in any form as objectionable?

• Reference: 2012/1065
• Question by: Richard Barnbrook
• Meeting date: 14 March 2012

What is the approximate cost to the London taxpayer of tea, sugar, coffee & milk provided as a special privilege for GLA staff and other occupants of City Hall? This most generous staff benefit is not provided to staff by most other London councils. In the current climate of austerity, would you agree that GLA staff should now start to contribute to the bill for these refreshments? Also what is the approximate cost of the towels service provided for staff use in City Hall's shower facilities?

• Reference: 2012/1066
• Question by: Richard Barnbrook
• Meeting date: 14 March 2012

Your answer to Mayoral question 361/2012 that both murders had been solved is incorrect, nobody has been convicted of the murder of Terry Gregory and it was an Asian gang that attacked Richard Everitt with only one person convicted. With no media or political outcry for these victims unlike the murder of Stephen Lawrence, would you accept that some Londoners believe the Metropolitan police and the political authorities are operating double standards for white victims?

• Reference: 2012/1067
• Question by: Richard Barnbrook
• Meeting date: 14 March 2012

In April 2008 the Mayor told Londoners that he did not want the support of the "racist" BNP. According to the second edition of the Oxford English dictionary of 1989, the origins of the word 'Racist' was first coined by the communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky in the 1920's. As Mayor of London do you think it advisable when setting standards and role models for Londoners that the political authorities use words invented by a communist revolutionary so extreme in his views and actions that his fellow communists murdered him?"

• Reference: 2012/1068
• Question by: Richard Barnbrook
• Meeting date: 14 March 2012

Do you believe sufficient measures are in place to prevent fraudulent voting at the Mayoral elections in May especially in high risk areas such as Tower Hamlets?

• Reference: 2012/1069
• Question by: Richard Barnbrook
• Meeting date: 14 March 2012

Water companies are citing an increased population in the South East as part of the reason for water shortages and the need for hose pipe bans etc. Do you agree with their part assertions and should Londoners expect rationing of water in future years as the population increases?

• Reference: 2012/1070
• Question by: Richard Barnbrook
• Meeting date: 14 March 2012

Will you raise the rateable threshold of £55,000 over the next four years should you be re-elected in May? With some sections of the financial sector predicting a prolonged downturn for the economy, is there a possibility that the Business Rate Supplement will fall short in providing the necessary funds for interest payments to Crossrail?

• Reference: 2012/1071
• Question by: Richard Barnbrook
• Meeting date: 14 March 2012

Some Londoners believe the huge demographic change in many London Boroughs is tantamount to "ethnic cleansing"! Do you think their concerns are valid?

• Reference: 2012/1072
• Question by: Richard Barnbrook
• Meeting date: 14 March 2012

It was reported recently that the 'cockney' accent is dying out in London after gracing London streets for many decades, do you think its demise will leave London a poorer place culturally?