• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 14 September 2005

Mike Tuffrey (AM): I have advocated looking at building homes on stilts, which the Dutch do and the Bangladeshis do. Even if people do not want to do that, simply, if there is going to be a house with a garage, why not put the garage underneath and the house on top. Then, the worst that happens is the car is ruined and not all the possessions in the house. Darren (Johnson) is smiling now, because he does not want cars at all. Darren Johnson (AM): They still need an electricity supply and a water supply, though. You still need...

• Question by: Mike Tuffrey
• Meeting date: 14 September 2005

Can I just ask for a little bit more imaginative thinking here? It is not just a question of choosing between, `If there is a risk, let us not build,' on the one hand, and on the other hand, `If there is a risk, let us build more and more defences, higher and higher defences.' There is an additional option, which is to build in a way that allows the water to come in and be managed safely. That happens all around the world. Indeed, the argument is that New Orleans went wrong because they built defences which then failed...

• Question by: Murad Qureshi
• Meeting date: 14 September 2005

Murad Qureshi (AM): There are a few lessons we can learn from the Bangladeshis with floods, and I am sure the Americans could learn them. For example, we do bury our dead straight away, and we do not have the anarchy that the Americans had. Saying that, I understand, Mayor, that you are going to be having a conference on climate change in the cities in early October. It just seems that this may be a theme to adopt, given the interest. I do not know if Nicky (Gavron, Deputy Mayor) could also advise us as to whether that is...

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 14 September 2005

You mentioned the 2100 Project, which is really important. However, that is not due for completion until 2008, and planning decisions and development proposals are already taking place. Do you not think we need a little bit of caution, particularly with regard to those in high-risk areas, until we have this plan completed?

• Question by: Darren Johnson
• Meeting date: 14 September 2005

Should we not at least avoid those high-risk areas that the ABI has pointed out? For a small percentage of the homes that are planned, should we at least not build on those high risk areas whilst we do not have adequate flood protection?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 14 September 2005

It is worth us investing some energy as a London authority in making progress in that area. My second question, though, is something I feel passionately strongly about personally, and may not be a Labour position. It is that, while I am not a pacifist, the history of war in the last century has shown increasingly attacks upon civilian populations and communities. I find it obscene ' this is a question ' that an exhibition of weapons which can be used, whether they are battlefield weapons or not, against a civilian community should be held in a built-up, residential area...

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 14 September 2005

Apparently, there are massive public subsidies from the Government, through the Ministry of Defence, for this stuff. They include 600 civil servants in 18 countries. Can you imagine what we could do with 600 extra civil servants here?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 14 September 2005

I have two questions. The first one is one which will have some general consensus, and it is that there has been much discussion before about whether we can secure payments from third parties for policing, particularly in relation to football matches, of course. I am wondering what further progress we can make on this, rather than having a lot more hot air about it. Of course, it is easy to get wound up, but we want to see some progress.

• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 20 July 2005

Who in the Muslim community should we be working with in order to defeat terrorism in London?

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 20 July 2005

I think all of us echo the sentiments on the achievements of the emergency services, but as the Mayor is chair of TfL, as well, I would like to echo your comments, Chair, at the beginning, because I think not enough tribute has been paid to the transport staff, who coped remarkably well in circumstances which are not the reason they joined the transport service, whereas it might be what people who join the emergency services would come to be trained for and expect. Therefore, I make a particular tribute to them. I do not think this is the time...