Good old Sadiq Khan: the right-on left-winger who never met a camera he didn’t like. The Mayor of London hit the headlines again last month with his controversial new ‘Maaate’ campaign. It calls on men to say: ‘Maaate’ to their friend if they see anything untoward towards women, in a bid to stamp out harassment. The adverts divided opinion, with women’s rights campaigner Zan Moon, founder of the Instagram account Screengrab Them, declaring at the time that Khan’s campaign was myopic and ‘offensive in its naivety’.
Now Mr S has done some digging and it turns out that the total cost of the ‘Maaate’ initiative is more than £219,000. According to a Freedom of Information request from City Hall, this includes ‘a behavioural study and underpinning research, the production of physical and digital posters, the creation and adaptation of social media assets, the development of an interactive, educational video, and all paid advertising spend to date.’
Not all at the Greater London Authority share Khan’s enthusiasm for the ‘Maaate’ campaign. Susan Hall, the Tory candidate for next year’s mayoral contest told Steerpike:
This is an insult to women across London. Rather than reducing crime and getting the Met out of special measures, Sadiq Khan has been spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on feeble, patronising gesture politics. If I am elected next May, I would make London safer by fixing and reforming the Met Police with a £200 million investment.
Hall of course has previously described Khan as a ‘misogynist.’ Sounds like the election next May is going to be a punchy affair…
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