Well isn’t that just great. Isn’t that just abso-flipping-lutely fan-blooming-tastic. Just when you thought the loony Left had reached rock bottom – with their sagacious proposals to “hang the bankers” and put taxes up to 80 per cent – they have come up with something even worse. There are so-called socialists in London who are now taking active steps to scupper young people’s chances of finding employment.

They have been bawling about the need for “proper” jobs, and denouncing all companies who cooperate with the scheme. You may wonder what these “proper” jobs might be: presumably the kind of self-replicating public sector positions that so rampantly expanded in the era of Gordon Brown, and that helped to wreck the public finances.

But the worst of it is that the companies themselves are taking fright. They don’t want to be thought of as silk top-hatted slave-drivers. They know that a spirit of anti-capitalism stalks the land, a fire-breathing beast that has shrivelled Stephen Hester’s bonus in its nostril-blast, and scorched Fred Goodwin’s knighthood, and now seeks whomever else it may devour.

Automation would mean that any qualified member of staff could act as train captain, diminishing the disruption caused by strikes. The Mayor will hope that this robust approach to the unions will win him votes in this May's election. Undoubtedly, the unions have alienated passengers by their readiness to strike, despite relatively high wages for drivers. Most passengers will be relieved if they are no longer held to ransom by industrial action. Of course, the new train captains are likely to be union members too, but they would have less of a stranglehold over the service.

Mr Johnson's move is also a challenge to Ken Livingstone: will he support the principle of automation, especially if it draws users' support? Or will he side with the unions? This is a worthwhile debate about the Tube's future: we need to know where Mr Livingstone stands.

LOL, absolutely priceless. I can't think why anyone might be opposed to the idea of strong-arming people to work for fuck all. And even the SWP haven't seriously called for anyone to "hang the bankers", so where that particular straw man has emerged from beats me.

Last time I was in london I took a bus from Victoria to Tottenham Court Road, instead of the tube. It was great.

Central London buses are usually just as quick as the Tube and a lot more enjoyable.

A truly brave John Reid would now publicly grovel to Ray Honeyford, the Bradford head who called for teaching in English and who was vilified and persecuted by the Left

Labour Party London Assembly member Len Duvall has written to Ed Williams, monitoring officer for the Greater London Authority's Standards Committee, to complain.

"My understanding is that this Twitter account was established by the Authority and belongs to the Office of the Mayor of London, and has been maintained since its inception by GLA resources," he wrote.

"As such, this account does not belong to the current Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. Can you quickly establish the facts and intervene on this abuse and misuse of resources in undertaking this transfer.

"If it is found this is a personal account, it has featured on a number of GLA and mayoral publications and I would expect the organisation to be reimbursed the full sum that have been spent on this personal and political campaigning."