The Mayor of London is responsible for public transport, Fire and Rescue Services, major highways, some major town planning issues across the 32 London Boroughs and the City of London, and policing across the 32 London Boroughs. The Mayor of London has no general authority over any of the 33.
Personally I'd enthusiastically vote for a return to the pre-2000 system as it's not at all clear to me what these people do for us or what we gain from giving them all this money.
True but it had a council leader.
> Personally I'd enthusiastically vote for a return to the pre-2000 system as it's not at all clear to me what these people do for us or what we gain from giving them all this money.
A failing on your part. About half of it is TFL.
Budget https://www.london.gov.uk/media/100391/download?attachment
Mind you, we don't vote for parties to govern or which member to lead them (and it needn't be an MP) either, but it doesn't stop people talking like we do. (I'm voting Labour - no you're not, you're voting for the Labour candidate in your area. I'm voting for Rishi Sunak - you're almost certainly not, the vast majority of people not being in his constituency. Etc.)
You are technically correct, but those pesky people are onto something. In practice people that voted for Boris Johnson in 2019 did not vote for Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak, yet still were governed by them.
You are voting for a candidate, but their party might decide the next pm with the input of their members only.
The only reason the GLC was abolished in the first place was naked party politics.
Do you have particular boroughs in mind?
That it what it gives us: Representation in a region more populous than most countries which is politically often poorly aligned with the national government.
The 1985 power-grab by Thatcher was deeply anti-democratic.
The City is part of London under any normal person's interpretation of that word. Being as charitable as possible, it is true that the ceremonial county of Greater London does not contain the City. But the Greater London administrative area does.
It's also not "secret". Many people aren't aware of it, but that's through ignorance on their part rather than secrecy on the part of the City. The City plasters its logo all over the place: on all street signs in the City, on police uniforms, on statues, etc. Even the bollards in the City bear the colors of the City's flag. It's impossible not to notice that the City is different from the rest of London.
So that's two mistakes in the headline alone.
> The mayor of Greater London has nothing to do with the original City of London, which still has separate governing bodies and a mayor.
This is wrong. The Mayor of London has authority over the City of London, through the Greater London Authority (although some power is delegated to the Corporation, in the same way it is to borough councils).
There is indeed also a mayor of the City (confusingly called the Lord Mayor of London), but that mayorship is largely ceremonial in nature.
> Oddly enough, if the monarch wants to enter the City of London, she first must ask the Lord Mayor for permission.
This is just an urban myth, no such permission is required. In fact, the sovereign has precedence over the Lord Mayor (in the context of formal events and such like).