Boris picks up tricks of trade from Bloomberg

London Mayor Boris Johnson appears to have picked up a few tricks when he met his New York counterpart Michael Bloomberg, who flew into London to meet him recently. Bloomberg, as New Yorkers know, is given to dipping his hands into his own pocket to finance projects that City Hall won't or can't afford. This is easy for him, being the owner of the financial news agency Bloomberg and a billionaire to boot. But disparities in wealth have not inhibited Johnson from following suit.

The mayor will donate £25,000 from his own pocket to fund a "Boris bursary" for students of journalism at the London College of Communications, plus £25,000 for the teaching of Latin and Greek at state schools in the capital.

Very generous and admirable, of course, but sceptics have observed that the gift coincides with the news that he is to rejoin the Daily Telegraph as a columnist. His column - for which he was paid at the rate of £250,000 a year - was suspended in January at the start of his election campaign. (Continued below)

He also began writing for the News of the World yesterday. His new media spokesman, former BBC reporter Guto Harri, would not be drawn on how much he is being paid for this or any other writing jobs, only that he would from time to time "write for local papers in London free of charge".