Bojo's Atlantis

It with with great pleasure that I heard this morning that the Airport Commission has sunk 'Boris Island' dismissing on all grounds - environmental, financial and logistical - saying the only realistic options are a third runway at Heathrow, doubling the length of Heathrow's second runway or conducting expansion at Gatwick.  Of course, London Mayor, Boris 'The Animal' Johnson was furious but how much of this is for show is hard to gauge - his opposition to growth at Heathrow was a vote winner in mayoral elections, given aircraft flightpaths over London (the sound at Kew is almost deafening) and though he will stepping down at the conclusion of his current term, he will be contesting Uxbridge and South Ruislip, an area suffering from incoming and outgoing jet engines (though with also significant employment that will be lost if Heathrow closes).  Not In My BackYard is quite prominent in this debate.
I'm quite glad myself and have to declare myself a NIMBY.  The prospect of an airport twice the size of Heathrow a score of miles away from my home would be horrendous.  Already inhabitants of this slice of Kent have the occasional jet airliner skirting low over us, not to mention a fair few turboprops but to have this occurrence every minute would be unimaginable (nor do I exaggerate - planes land at Heathrow at a rate of two a minute, four runways at The Animal's island would have the interchange).
Sir Howard Davies' Commission is but the latest in a series of proposals about how to enhance airport capacity in the south-east since the 1970s - previously Essex was seen as a desirable location to build a new airport.  Thus, despite his recommendations, nothing will happen in the near future and when The Animal is elected an MP (and into a plum cabinet job should the Tories return to Government), he will seek to obstruct further development at Heathrow and Gatwick.  Should the Conservative Party be evicted from governing, The Animal will be first among others of leadership contenders of the inevitable toppling of David Cameron (assuming that Cameron doesn't have to resign first in the wake of the Yes campaign winning in Scotland) and so he could make it party policy to resurrect his island.  If this hypothetical situation arose, The Animal would lose a swathe of seats in north and central Kent for his party, which, ironically given that he hopes to make it a reality, might be the difference keeping the Conservatives out of power.
Nevertheless, the persistence of some politicians can bulldoze the prevarication of others.  When I first moved to my road in 1997, it was a sleepy backwater.  To facilitate traffic access to Medway Hospital and the school at the top of the road, following the opening of the Medway Tunnel, Medway Council unilaterally decided to widen our road despite opposition from residents, Putin-like saying they were removing the boulevard trees only because they were 'dead husks'.  Previously, traffic took a circuitous route along other roads.  Now, my road is equivalent to a 'B' road, with about 1,000 cars an hour during the rush hours of the day.  It almost certainly has damaged the value of the house in which I live (I know, a right-wing concern).  Not only that but when it rains, this precipitation rushes onto the pavement to create rivers to dodge (if possible at all), as contrary to standard practice to road construction, the road is above the pavement and there is no gutter - a clear sign that the council simply did not care about the concerns of residents.  These are pretty much the same council bods who (along with Kent County Council) organised a public campaign against Boris Island.  Just as they forced through their changes to my road, so nemesis could come to all of us from The Animal.