In this monologue recorded in June 2021, Brian Rose outlines his primary priority as mayor of London: getting the city back to work. He argues that reopening the economy will alleviate a cascade of crises, including the Transport for London’s massive debt, soaring mental‑health issues, strained NHS services, and deteriorating education. Rose criticises the current mayor and the Labour‑led leadership for imposing lockdowns that, according to Public Health England data, contributed minimally to COVID‑19 transmission while harming hospitality, gyms, and overall public health. He frames the lockdown response as a disproportionate, non‑science‑based decision, and accuses politicians of a two‑party blame game that leaves citizens suffering. Drawing on his background as an entrepreneur and MIT Sloan economics graduate, Rose positions himself as a pragmatic, science‑first leader who will prioritize work, health, and education to restore London’s vitality.
Chapters
Bulletproof radio, a state of high performance. What is the first major thing you would fix? The first thing we need to do is get London back to work. Period. Period. You know, there are so many problems we're facing here right now, Dave. The Transport for London, the Tube network is billions and billions of pounds, you know, in debt and it's having to go to the government for bailouts. Our mental health is at shocking levels. Suicides at all time highs. Education is suffering, our physical health is suffering because the NHS is not accepting normal appointments. People are also keeping themselves at home and not getting the treatment they need because this campaign of fear has been overdone. But the biggest thing I see as an entrepreneur and as someone who studied economics at MIT in the Sloan School of Management, is getting the city back to work will actually solve all those other problems. And the truth is, is that what we've seen from our leadership is a disproportionate response to the virus. A total lack of science based decision making. So they shut down our hospitality sector, which according to Public Health England data is only responsible for 3.3% of COVID transmissions. They shut down the gyms, which is responsible for 1.7% of COVID transmissions and also responsible for keeping people's mental and physical health. You know, Dave, we're being told to wear masks and separate from each other and yet we're not being told to do one thing to improve our health. You know, I'm sure you've had many podcasts about that. So, you know, getting. Also putting our health first is another one of my important policies. Putting science first and also putting our education first. But the basic thing is just getting London back to work. Everyone I meet in the streets, from taxi drivers to people who own pubs and restaurants, to even workers, they all don't understand why we're locked down right now. And so we need to get back to work. The crazy thing is the current mayor of London, he crusaded for the lockdown. He said weeks before that we were locking down, even though the science should determine that, last time I checked. And so it's this where he's part of the Labor Party and I don't know why as a mayor of a city you would try to shut it down. But that's what he's tried to do. I think he's gonna then later blame it on one of the other parties and ask for a bailout. You know, I'm starting to see how politics works. It's two party system. They kind of blame each other for the problems and everyone else suffers. So the first thing I'll do is get everybody back to.
