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I certainly do not follow the Tories at all but i think Boris is a person like Big Mac in that even if you dont follow politics you know who he is and i did agree with him when he got into trouble about what he said about Liverpool and Scousers.
If you really want to see about how Government and Whitehall is run then just watch Dvds of Yes Minister
Sad to say, that is how government used to be run. Now it is all focus groups and outdated management jargon.
Best comedy ever, by the way.
Boris would make a good lord mayor, the gaffes would be brilliant.
Polls close in 20 minutes .. I wonder, bad night for Labour ?
No voting here either, for reasons I don’t pretend to understand
As for the Smoke…
Johnson will be an entertaining change so I’ll root for him.
Long had a bit of time for Livingstone though, his determination in getting the – presumably unpopular – congestion charge up and running was particularly creditworthy.
In London last weekend for the Gold Cup meet at Sandown and i can say that the public transport system they have is second to none with lots of tubes and buses all over the place and so easy to get.
I really do think that BJ would be out of his depth if he were to be elected as London Mayor.
Absolutely brilliant Marb. Cant wait to see the back of the current Labour administration. Have been waiting for it since they were voted in and it is pretty fair to say that the country is much worse off since the Tories lost power. Hopefully the country, who have been pretty slow on the uptake, now see through all the spin, but no doubt that if the tories win the next general election they will struggle to mainatin popularity in having to pull the country back out of a Labour generated recession once again, and it is unlikely that they will have the landslide victory that Labour had when they assumed power, which gave them a free ticket to do whatever they wanted, which they have at the cost of everyman and his legally licensed dog.
The days when the petrol meter used to rise quicker than the money meter at a pump are now gone, and it is hard to see where money can come from, Id start by sacking half of the labour appointed middle managers in the NHS and other public services and reducing our supportive commitment in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Proportional representation is not necessarily a good thing, we have it in Northern Ireland and it is a bit of joke having to prioritise through which Paramilitary partys you dislike the least. Im sure that the Lib Demmers would do better in a proportional representation set up, but so too would the BNP and any extreme muslim (shariah law demanding) parties that will surely emerge as second and third choice parties in certain areas through the geographically segregated muslim community. In Northern Ireland proportional representation has seen the fall of the very moderate SDLP and the Ulster Unionists as the main parties on both sides, in favour of the much more extreme Sinn Fein and Paisleys DUP (Big cheer for labour’s Mo Mowlam-not!!!).
Anyone who "has time" for Ken should lookn at bit closer at his views and associates and ask themselves whether they really support a jew baiter, a supporter of extreme right wing muslim clerics and someone whos cloest advisor is a strong supporter of the old soviet union
He has managed some issues well and usually that would be enough, but although the above can be viewed as micro matters (for want of a better phrase), they are so repellant that he couldnt get near my vote
I went for Paddick.
As for Labour, they put the thick,humourless and inarticulate Harriet Harman on the Today programme this morning. Interestingly Humphires let her have her say…because thats enough (there was a hilarious moment when she almost blamed "supermarkets" for the bad results).Not better indicatuion of a party leadership thats out of touch
Im sure that the Lib Demmers would do better in a proportional representation set up, but so too would the BNP and any extreme muslim (shariah law demanding) parties that will surely emerge as second and third choice parties in certain areas
…which is why it would have to have the same caveat as it does in several European countries, whereby the votes gained by any party in a given constituency are not counted as part of the overall nationwide accummulation under PR if they fail to exceed a minimum percentage of the overall vote (5%, say).
There’ll be people on here rather further up to speed with the history of it than myself, but I think that was one of the fatal shortcomings of the Weimar Republic, wasn’t it? The NSDAP’s 2.6% of the vote was allowed to count in the 1928 German elections, and that was enough of a toehold to make further – and rapid – gains by the time of the next election.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
For those of us old enough to remember it, or who may even have owned one, I’m amazed nobody has sought to make political capital by superimposing the Tory candidate’s face onto an image of this iconic 70s board game;
There are plenty of other suitably unflattering cartoons and jpegs of the wiggy wazzek in circulation, mind. I was sent this one a few minutes ago;
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
No system is perfect but PR is probably the fairest. The system for the Scottish Parliament works well, constituency and top up list. Fairly proportional and doesnt allow one-man-bands to hold all of the power.
A fascinating day. It was extraordinary that Ken actually increased his share of 1st preference votes from last time and ended up losing by 6%
Good news for the Conservatives that the Liberal challenge for the South West assembly seat never materialized and we will have a chance of taking most of the seats in South West London back at the next election.
I’d forgotten that the last Mayoral election was on the same day as the 04 Euro election-and that led to UKIP getting 6% then-of course yesterday their vote collapsed and virtually all went to Boris.
A 1st by-election test for the Conservatives in Hammersmith and Fulham since 2006 was a disaster for Labour-with a very popular former Labour Councillor going down by 1100 votes.
The Conservatives will have to decide which London seats they target at the General Election. Battersea will probably be won without any outside help.
Hammersmith, Ealing, Westminster North, the Chiswick/Brentford seat all have candidates who are already working really hard and we have realistic chance of winning all 4, plus Battersea and some of the Liberal seats in the South West of the capital.
Not good that the BNP picked up 5.33% of the vote and therefore have 1 Assembly seat.
One big minus point about the whole election was that very few people understood the voting system.
Boris Johnson is a smarter dude than the public perceive.
When appearing on programmes such as "Have I got news for you", it’s not expected that you should be too serious. And Boris seemed to revel in playing the posh, funny-haired buffoon who could never quite articulate his point in a truly humouros way.
For those of us who have been fortunate enough to read his articles in "The Spectator" and the "Daily Telegraph" it was clear that he was a clever and intelligent guy, with opinions nearer to the average working man than those of the zanuLabour hierarchy.
I was never that impressed with him when he had to give impromptu comments in front of the camera.
Hope he does well as London Mayor.
As for his gaffes, well, as someone who’s worked and lived with scousers, he wasn’t actually that far from the truth. Trouble was our politically correct media /politicians wouldn’t dare agree with it. More Scousers would agree with Boris’s take on Liverpool than with the Yasmin Alibhai-Brown "don’t offend anything or anyone" type of politically correct, constipated view.Just seen Brown being interviewed he really hasn’t got a clue stuttering and mumbling all the way through.
A fascinating day. It was extraordinary that Ken actually increased his share of 1st preference votes from last time and ended up losing by 6%
Good news for the Conservatives that the Liberal challenge for the South West assembly seat never materialized and we will have a chance of taking most of the seats in South West London back at the next election.
I’d forgotten that the last Mayoral election was on the same day as the 04 Euro election-and that led to UKIP getting 6% then-of course yesterday their vote collapsed and virtually all went to Boris.
A 1st by-election test for the Conservatives in Hammersmith and Fulham since 2006 was a disaster for Labour-with a very popular former Labour Councillor going down by 1100 votes.
The Conservatives will have to decide which London seats they target at the General Election. Battersea will probably be won without any outside help.
Hammersmith, Ealing, Westminster North, the Chiswick/Brentford seat all have candidates who are already working really hard and we have realistic chance of winning all 4, plus Battersea and some of the Liberal seats in the South West of the capital.
Not good that the BNP picked up 5.33% of the vote and therefore have 1 Assembly seat.
One big minus point about the whole election was that very few people understood the voting system.
Why isn’t it? PLEASE tell me you are not completely sucked in by mainstream propaganda and the gutter press.
How about looking through the party’s policies maybe try visiting their website instead of jumping on the "they’re fascists / racists" bandwagon. Come on that is pretty stale now, Labour have tried to portray it, journalists have even tried to bring charges, no evidence whatsoever and when the "establishment" is out to get someone if there’s anything to find it’ll be found. As it is they’ve been left looking stupid time and again. It’s time to see past the smear.
I’m no BNP member infact I’ve always voted Conservative I’m open about it as I am with everything but the reason the mainstream parties are against the BNP so strongly is out of fear. The mainstream have a vision of the future that BNP are totally opposed to they are now the party to the right of centre : pro capital punishment, anti immigration etc and they are growing at such a rate that they will be a big threat to the big two in the future. Labour and Tories always used to slam each other but their policies are not so diverse anymore so they conspire against their common threat.
Its good that BNP have a seat on the London Assembly because it is a victory for democracy it isn’t right that the mainstream are allowed to railroad everyone down their own political path and that they are allowed to do as they please without an "opposition" to stick a spoke in the wheels.
It really is time to move away from the stereotype now.
Watch Richard Barnbrook’s speech, watch the "children" who walked out – How democratic is that? Don’t agree with something – walk out like a petulant child. Those people are a disgrace and have made themselves look as much.
Democracy – some people wouldn’t recognise it if it humanised and bit them on the bum. Some only value it when it suits them.
Why isn’t it? PLEASE tell me you are not completely sucked in by mainstream propaganda and the gutter press.
How about looking through the party’s policies maybe try visiting their website…
Because a political party’s own public-access website is a totally reliable source of information, and paints a completely honest picture of what that party represents, of course.
Flash, I have no idea why you are as intent on patronising other people as you seem to be – your ‘words of wisdom’ reek of ill-informed self-importance.
I love the idea of the internet forum. I love the collection of different views and opinions and outspokenness, but hate it when people persistently disrespect other forum users.
Why isn’t it? PLEASE tell me you are not completely sucked in by mainstream propaganda and the gutter press.
How about looking through the party’s policies maybe try visiting their website…
Because a political party’s own public-access website is a totally reliable source of information, and paints a completely honest picture of what that party represents, of course.
Flash, I have no idea why you are as intent on patronising other people as you seem to be – your ‘words of wisdom’ reek of ill-informed self-importance.
I love the idea of the internet forum. I love the collection of different views and opinions and outspokenness, but hate it when people persistently disrespect other forum users.
Its not the way my post is intended more the way you’ve taken it.
I admit to being outspoken I always say exactly what I think but that doesn’t mean my intentions are to patronise, quite the opposite infact. I can only apologise if my posts come across in that way.
From my point of view there are far more patronising people use these forums than myself, patronising and some plain rude.
Maybe thats just the way I take it as well?
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