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May 9, 2006
Who is Ken?
It occurred to me that our overseas readers may not know to whom Mr Elgar Atkins refers when he says "hand the libraries of London to Ken"
American readers will recognise Ken. He is the chief traffic warden of London who has just given a parking ticket to the US Ambassador which carries a fine of $500,000. He is also London's Lord Mayor and direct descendent of Dick Whittington and Puss in Boots.
Maxine from Kingston upon Thames writes
"Well, it is all very well saying (as did your previous commenter, Mr Elgar Atkins of Bloggington on Sea) that Ken should be given power to work for London libraries, as he has been Mayor for so long but does not seem to have done much yet.
What an illiterate mission statement for the MLA -- at first I thought the acronym was MIA, for which "missing in action" would be appropriate.
What about the famous London "literary mafia" (Harold Pinter et al)? Will they throw their weight behind this goal? Melvyn Bragg?
I would have thought it would be ideal for some politician to take up as a campaign because it won't cost much. Seems to me that Tony Blair (or anyone who happens to be PM) would love to do something that is obviously good but doesn't cost them. If Tony Blair wants to rehabilitate himself, he could introduce a universal library card for Britain (let's not be small minded and stick to just London!) and go down in the history books...."
Thank you Maxine. What about one library card for the world? How about that? You'd think with satelites buzzing around as they do, that might be possible. I'll go for that.
(By the way- what is the mission statement of the MLA? Or shall we make that another competition? Entries please and I promise another grand prize from our sponsor)
Posted by Perkins at May 9, 2006 10:48 PM
Comments
The MLA's mission is "To connect people and change lives through museums, libraries and archives"
It's on their website, along with their strategic aims (Go to 'About Us' and follow link to 'What We Do' on the right).
Posted by: Sarah at May 10, 2006 3:54 PM