BORIS Johnson has had a good year. He says so in his New Year message as new Mayor of London. Tory Boris got the top job at City Hall ousting Labour’s Ken Livingstone in May, in a year when London took the Olympics banner from Beijing for the 2012 Games and when Crossrail, Europe’s biggest construction project, got the green light from Parliament

Advertiser City Hall correspondent

BORIS Johnson has had a good year. He says so in his New Year message as new Mayor of London.

Tory Boris got the top job at City Hall ousting Labour's Ken Livingstone in May, in a year when London took the Olympics banner from Beijing for the 2012 Games and when Crossrail, Europe's biggest construction project, got the green light from Parliament.

One of his first profiles was hopping on the London Underground to Mile End to watch a police 'sting' at the ticket barrier catching youths carrying knives.

There's not much left now for 2009-except to work our way out of the recession with the Olympics and Crossrail to manage, he points out.

"Folks, I'm not going to hide it from you, 2008 has been a huge year for me," Boris says in his New Year message to Londoners.

"It was the time I acceded to what is the greatest job in the world-the Mayor of London.

"But 2008 was of huge importance also for London, because it was the moment we took over the Olympic flag and our duty to host that great celebration of sporting achievement in 2012.

"I have no doubt with energy, application and dynamism we can get through the current recession and emerge stronger and deliver for the rest of the world the greatest Games there has ever been."

—Boris Johnson, Mayor of London