This seems to be a week for looking ahead. I've got four themes scribbled on the back of a metaphorical envelope and all involve the unfolding of the capital's future. The 2012 Olympics is the most obvious one, despite its being the furthest away. The Games will commence exactly two years from tomorrow, and I'll be gathering - and possibly expressing - opinion about the chances of their driving to the promised regeneration of the East End and closure of the life chances gap between the affluent parts of London and the five Olympic boroughs (one of which I live in, by the way).
Theme number two? How about what Boris Johnson calls his "cycling revolution". Two large parts of the programme are getting underway: the first two radial "superhighways" (Merton to the City, and Barking to Tower Hill) were formally opened last week and if you sign up as a member you can take part in the "almost free" central London cycle hire scheme from Friday. Cycle bloggers have given the superhighways mixed reviews so far, but yesterday Transport for London trumpeted the speedy registration of 3,500 people in the hire scheme following reports of some teething problems with the system.
My third theme is one I've been pursuing here with vigour since the government's announcement of plans to cap housing benefit from next April and to reduce its level across the board the following October. Even the fiercest opponents of these moves agree that the housing benefit system is ludicrous, but this is a ludicrous way to try and fix it in London where rents are crazily high, especially in the wealthy centre. Even Boris is calling for a rethink. I've a feeling he'll get his wish, not least because the policy looks set to cause unrest in Tory-voting suburbs whose schools and health services would have to cope with influxes of poor families. But how much of a re-think will it be?
Finally, policing. With Sir Paul Stephenson saying that "the Met will shrink" if it has to cope with cuts of 25 percent, a serious debate is needed about crime prevention and detection in the capital in the coming years. That debate needs to consider everything from who's in charge - the government's controversial intention to introduce locally-elected police leaders will become clearer later today - to how 999 calls are responded to. I wrote about what happened when I made one a few weeks ago and the questions it seemed to raise. I might have some answers to those quite soon.
Readers' thoughts about any or all of these issues would, as ever, be very welcome - especially if they're polite and sane.
