We’re just over halfway through Sadiq Khan’s term as mayor of London – and just under half-way through most of the various other metro mayors’ own terms elsewhere in the country. What better time, then, to drag the New Statesman special correspondent Stephen Bush back into the podcast bunker to ask how this whole mayor thing is going?

To that end, we discuss the three candidates on the shortlist to be the Tory candidate in London’s 2020 mayoral election, how good Khan’s record really is, and whether he’s in any way beatable. We also discuss how the Labour primary is destined to become the real contest in Manchester and Liverpool; how the Midlands, Tees Valley and West of England are likely to be up for grabs next time round; and why more mayoralties are unlikely to materialise any time soon. Oh, and also how the Sheffield City Region, tragically, may not be long for this world.

On that note: next week, we’re off to Yorkshire.

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

Skylines is supported by 100 Resilient Cities. Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation, 100RC is dedicated to helping cities around the world become more resilient to the physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century.

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