This week, it’s all about mayors, and also someone who the smart money says will never become one.

I’ve dragged Stephen Bush back into the podcasting catacomb to discuss Shaun Bailey, the Conservative candidate to be the next mayor of London. Bailey, alas, declined an invitation to appear on Skylines earlier this year - but given how well his contact with journalists is going at the moment, it’s by no means clear this was a mistake.

Anyway: Stephen and I discuss his faltering campaign, explore why it’s going so badly, and ask if the Conservative party has any way out.

Also, in this week’s ‘Ask The Experts’ segment with the Centre for Cities, I ask director of policy Paul Swinney: do mayors actually matter?

Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge.

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