London needs a mayor full of ideas to shape the future of our city

I would never live anywhere else but London.

But my – and your – London is changing in a way none of us like. It is becoming the preserve of the rich and privileged, while ordinary people are forced further and further out by soaring rents and rising prices. The people who make London vibrant and diverse, and those who keep it running, can no longer afford to live here.

My whole life, I have travelled around London on public transport and my bicycle, and have seen first hand the need for cleaner air and safer cycling.

In my twenties I worked for the housing charity Shelter and I have been writing about and commentating on transport for most of my working life. I have written and campaigned against rail privatisation extensively for the past 20 years.

As for my personal life, I play cricket and tennis badly and run slowly. And I am a lifelong Queens Park Rangers fan. I grew up in west London with an absent father and the caretaker at our block of flats stepped into the breach and introduced me to the gritty world of third division football when I was eight. I was instantly hooked. I have two daughters, both educated at local schools, three step-children and a step-grandson. I live in Holloway with my partner, Deborah Maby.