Local Elections

ralphie88

So local election time, anyone bothering to vote?

Think I will, nice day and all. Manchester is one of the few places that is still solid Labour, but I'm technically Trafford which is Tory country

As an old style socialist, I've not voted Labour since Blair introduced tuition fees but faced with the fear of the Tories getting back in I might have to return to the fold. Would have liked to vote Lib Dem but they don't have a chance where I live.

Frosty

I would have voted had I been able to get back to London, but alas I could not. If Boris gets in by one vote I'll feel very guilty.

Redlambs

I've just done it. I feel I should be rewarded.

Nick 0208 Ldn

Nobody from the Electoral Commission better cross my pah in the immediate future.

I have never had problems in he past, i have been able to vote with relative ease despite having visual difficulties but today...the writing and party emblems was faint, the boxes seemed smaller and to top it all off the lighting was nigh on nonexistent.

And being one of those over proud and stubborn types, asking for help is nowhere near the top of your list of responses.

Just as well that we walked to the polling station, allowed me the chance of stoming off for a bit with much gesticulating, ranting at the world and my own stupidity as i went.

I might make an official complaint, or start some action group over this and similar disadvantages in society.



Beyond my personal gripes, i do like my news and politics, so i'll be interested either way. Hope that the London electorate send Ken packing. Who knows as to the AAssembly though. For the rest of the country Labours losses are of course expected to be high, just a question of degree. How well the Lib Dems do this early on under Clegg's leadership will be interesting.

There'll be a fair bit of spin in the morning no doubt.

cockneyred

vote labour for an immigrant neighbour

malcolm31337

it was quite easy to vote today, they didnt even bother looking at id or my poll card, i could have been anyone!

Team Brian GB

They were very lax with me also, they just pointed straight to a polling booth when I gave them the card.


I am always perplexed with the counting of ballots in our elections about why some constituencies amd districts race as fast as they can to get the vote out- as Sunderland South do at the general, surely it would be so much easier to make errors.

VanNistelrater

Why don't you give us the original of that phrase, and tell us whether you agree with it?

Plechazunga

VanNistelrater

I like Ken. At least his heart is in the right place, takes a fucking brave politician to be anything close to left wing in government in Britain.

Can't think there is any real vigour for the Tories like there was for Blair/New Labour in 1997. Which in some respect gives solace to Brown; I really don't think people actually like Cameron very much.

How did you vote, Plech, if you don't mind me asking?

VanNistelrater

Also, the media are fucking desperate for a change for the sake of it, they don't even know who they are crow barring in. Borris and Cameron FFS.

Dimbleby on BBC is a fucking idiot, particularly. Disgrace to the BBC, who are usually very impartial and fair politically.

Plechazunga

I love that man. I can't help it. In all honesty, he could do anything... it's a bit like Silvestre.

VanNistelrater

Good to hear.

Not a Londoner myself but I can only extend my sympathies that it looks like your city is going to be represented by...

Plechazunga

I don't think he's a bad guy but he's just not serious

Despite putting the word 'serious' before every single noun in his manifesto

Plus, he's a Tory

VanNistelrater

Have Londoners all gone mental, though? Why do they hate Ken? Genuine question, I haven't really followed mayoral politics extensively tbh!

Do you think London will go Tory overall at the next election btw?

Plechazunga

I'm pretty sure Londoners don't hate Ken. But after two terms, any politician tends to face the prospect of getting the boot simply because people reckon it's time for a change.

He also has the Evening Standard waging a very personal, constant battle against him over years. After a while, some of the mud they fling sticks. I think a lot of people reckon he's corrupt. Certainly some of his associates seem to be. But for me, I reckon the fact that a lot of powerful people have been trying to find evidence of corruption from him for about twenty-five years, and never succeeded, suggests he's clean. Which isn't to say he's not capable of being an oily fecker... too many people have told me that he's personally lied flagrantly to them for me to believe he's not prone to it. But then again, to get things done as a politician, it's not possible not to lie.

I don't think he's interested in money. i think he's probably got a fair few views I'd find abhorrent, but I also reckon he's passionate about London and has the political skills to do something about it, and what he's done (post-GLC) has tended to be pretty good.

Team Brian GB

Ken is a very brash figure and the one thing I hate about him the most is how arrogant he is. We have been hearing all night that Labour are out of touch but Red Ken is the out-of-touch King. Livingstone is the socialist- he is the sort of man who should be delivering on social cohesion both financially and in safety. Though a report came out a couple of weeks ago that a majority of children in inner London live in poverty whilst serious crime and more to the point the perception of serious crime in the capital is escalating out of all proportions- against that backdrop we have Livingstone banging on about the environment constantly spending an awful lot of time on CO2 emmisions and congestion. He also has a very big mouth regarding foreign affairs which he has no remit for which does nothing for the smooth running of London- just search him online and see the comments he has made regarding Israel, Hugo Chavez, the Americans etc. etc. etc.

This is just a small snapshot.

Plechazunga

There's a limited amount he can do as mayor though. I don't think his remit is to solve inner-city poverty any more than it is to comment on foreign affairs. He's not actually got that much power, beyond transport.

And if kissing Chavez' arse gets us cheap fuel, I for one don't really care... I know that's not very principled, but you should see my fecking gas bill... my missus has it turned up like a sauna 24/7, even in summer...

Nick 0208 Ldn

Granted i am only one Londoner of an estimated 5 million who couldl vote in these election.

However, i do feel that there is genuine anti-Ken sentiment out there, it goes beyond the fact that he has served two terms already.

From my PoV i have my doubts as to if he truly cares for this city.

Whether it be his handling of The Tube, his attempts to dominate the boroughs, bendy buses, crime, planning orders, rumours of waste and corruption linked to city hall, he has quite the carge sheet.

And for a city so reliant on tourism, the disadvantagous price rises on public transport if you dont 'have an Oyster card are insane.

I can respect him for soem of his green initiatives and his indepence but there is more than enough bad there believe you me. Borris has none of the abvoe to his name, and sounds like he ahs some fresh ideas to bring to the table.

Here's one for you, did you know that a recent study said that London streets are now mreo congested than they were before the CC, not with cars but with endless buses that are forever stuck in jams at that.

Then there is jsut some of his underlying national politics and the man himself, something spooky. lol



And as to your last point and the General Election, well London and the South East in general is traditionally more blue than red, my constituency returned a Tory MP in place of a Labour one at the last election. The government lost a faire few of its earlier Blair year gains inside the M25 a couple of years abck.



Some telling figures from tonight were released not long ago, and they were the projected national share of the vote.

Conservatives 44%
Labour 24%

Not too shabby IMO, it could slip a point or two but accurate enough. The resutls look like being Labour's worst on a local level for more than 25 years.

Team Brian GB

Definately, on the tube £3 one-way outside of zone 1 and £4 to go inside it- and the abolishing of return tickets mean it is cheaper to buy two one-way tickets as you have to buy an all-day-travelcard for £7.

Doesn't sound alot but it certainly builds up very quickly, for a very poorly maintained, severely overcrowded and totally unreliable service. Considering the amount of time he spends on talking about CO2 emissions and cutting road congestion you think he'd devote as much time to improving public transport but it is seemingly worsening- barely an evening rush hour goes by without a signal failure somewhere on the network leading to total meltdown.

There is a reason why people still wish to drive in London.


EDIT: 06:15: After logging on to the TFL (transport for London) website, it conspires that there are already severe delays on one end of the District Line- that should make for an interesting commute.

topper

you have to be joking

Frosty

Well, Southampton has gone Tory for the first time in 23 years, although I did contribute to keeping the Lib Dem Councillor in her ward near me. Found out I could vote down here and did so.

I waa canvassed by the Tory party, begging me to vote for them. Little do they realise that I would never vote Conservative in my life.

Wolfboy

Frosty

Boris Johnson in his own words

On homosexuality

"Gay marriage can only ever be a ludicrous parody of the real thing."

· Daily Telegraph, 2005

"If gay marriage was OK - and I was uncertain on the issue - then I saw no reason in principle why a union should not be consecrated between three men, as well as two men; or indeed three men and a dog."

· From his book, Friends, Voters, Countrymen, 2001

"We don't want our children being taught some rubbish about homosexual marriage being the same as normal marriage, and that is why I am more than happy to support Section 28."

· Daily Telegraph, 2000

"The clerics gave us [journalists] a wigging for being so mean to the Church of England ... Why did we draw attention to tricky subjects like homosexuality, aka the Pulpit Poofs issue?"

· The Spectator, 2000

"I'm not bisexual so far ... not that I would condemn myself if I later discovered I were."

· Daily Telegraph, 2008

On Africa

"No doubt the AK47s will fall silent, the pangas will stop their hacking of human flesh, and the tribal warriors will all break out in watermelon smiles to see the big white chief touch down in his big white British taxpayer-funded bird."

· In 2002, on Tony Blair's visit to the Democratic of Republic of Congo, Daily Telegraph

"Right, let's go and look at some more piccaninnies."

· Reported remark, while visiting Uganda, to Swedish Unicef workers and their black driver, the Observer, 2003

On the Commonwealth

"It is said that the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies."

· Daily Telegraph, 2002

On failing to recognise his Filipina housekeeper

"When our housekeeper appeared on stage in her hot pink strapless number [as a finalist of the Mrs Philippines 2005 contest in London], I failed at first to recognise her, surrounded as she was by 10 other Filipina mums, each shimmering in every shade from fuchsia to Germolene ... Was that Luz, the No 6, the one with the cleavage? Or was she No 5, with the smile? Surely she wasn't No 11, the one with the legs. No: wait - that was her, with her hair up. No 8! 'We want eight,' we screamed, and waved at good old Luz, a woman who has been exposed to the full horror of the Johnson family washing and yet contrived to look little short of $1m.

· The Spectator, 2005

On his prospects

"My chances of being PM are about as good as the chances of finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive."

· The Independent, 2004

George Bush and Iraq

"He liberated Iraq. It is good enough for me."

· Daily Telegraph, 2004

"The Americans were perfectly happy to go ahead and whack Saddam merely on the grounds that he was a bad guy, and that Iraq and the world would be better off without him; and so indeed was I."

· Daily Telegraph, 2003

On Islam

"The most viciously sectarian of all religions in its heartlessness towards unbelievers."

· The Spectator, 2005

On race

"I'm down with the ethnics. You can't out-ethnic me, Nihal ... My children are a quarter Indian, so put that in your pipe and smoke it."

· To Nihal Arthanayake, BBC Asian Network, 2008

On cannabis

"It was jolly nice. But apparently it is very different these days. Much stronger. I've become very illiberal about it. I don't want my kids to take drugs."

· GQ, 2007

On sex

"I've slept with far fewer than 1,000."

· On whether he has slept with fewer than 30 women, like Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, Daily Telegraph, 2008

"An inverted pyramid of piffle."

· The Mail on Sunday, 2004, on allegations that he had an affair with Petronella Wyatt, later confirmed.

On obesity

"Nothing but their own fat fault."

On transport

"I don't believe [using a mobile phone at the wheel] is necessarily any more dangerous than the many other risky things that people do with their free hands while driving - nose-picking, reading the paper, studying the A-Z, beating the children, and so on."

· Daily Telegraph, 2002

"The whole county of Hampshire was lying back and opening her well-bred legs to be ravished by the Italian stallion."

· GQ, while in a Ferrari

On Liverpool

"A society that has become hooked on grief and likes to wallow in a sense of
vicarious victimhood."

· A Spectator editorial, 2004 (Johnson didn't write the editorial, but he approved it)

On his arts role

"Look, the point is ... er, what is the point? It is a tough job but somebody has got to do it."

· On being appointed Tory Arts spokesman, 2004

On stag hunting

"I remember the guts streaming, and the stag turds spilling out on to the grass from within the ventral cavity ... This hunting is best for the deer."

· From his book Lend Me Your Ears

spinoza

Got to raise money to invest in the service somehow. The capital expenditure originally involved in building the tube was massive, and it wasn't paid back for nearly 5 decades, much less create a return (disclaimer - read this somewhere, haven't checked the numbers). Now people are expecting a complete overhaul on current finances. It's not going to happen.

If I were in charge I'd triple tube ticket prices for a few years (possibly only on certain lines), sharply reduce usage, raise some revenue, do some fast refurbishment and drop prices again. Of course it would be politically unacceptable, but it could work.

Plechazunga

Right, I take it back, what a twat

Agree with him re Scousers, mind