City Defined

Jimmy the Think was a left-field mind. That's why they elected him.

"London" he said in his inaugural address "is sinking. We no longer think big. To paraphrase Wilde: We're all pieces of shit, and we don't even dream anymore."

His inappropriate language was part of the package. His literary pedigree went unchallenged.

"I pledge that by the end of this decade we will dream again. We will awake. I pledge that by the end of this decade London will put a man on the moon."

He was good, even his most fierce of rivals would concede, but how Jimmy's pledge should be taken was far from clear. The Metro took him at face value: 'London Enters the Space Race' with a subheading 'China Take Note!'. The Standard took a more cautious approach for their front page with 'Think Big! London to be Great' but then ran a spread on pages 2 and 3 strongly implying that Jimmy intended to create a second British Empire, the capital to once again rule the world. The nationals, on the whole, limited their coverage to bylines, mocking in tone, and comment pieces, mocking in content.

In later years we learnt that Jimmy had been entirely serious. In fact, under advice from a staffer, he had tempered his speech. "Every Londoner who contributes to society will walk on the moon" had read the original. The plan he defended to his death bed and in his posthumous autobiography, Double Think, he laid the blame for its failure squarely at the door of the prime minister 'the shithead'.