keith_london: London Mayoral Election

Keith (

keith_london) wrote,
@ 2008-05-02 16:38:00

Current mood:

calm

London Mayoral Election
On the London mayoral race, Andrew Pierce (Daily Telegraph) commented, "It [London] was never seen as a possible take for the Conservatives. And remember how Labour painted Boris Johnson - they painted him as an effete old Etonian buffoon, and now they're going to have this man in London as mayor, almost certainly in my view. He can virtually do no wrong, because there was so little expected of him, from the way the Labour party portrayed him. It will be a terrible blow to Ken Livingstone. He hates Gordon Brown. I can tell you, he will wreak a terrible public revenge on Gordon Brown, There won't be any knives in the back from Ken Livingstone. He'll kick him straight in the front."

"By the look of it, it is not going to be me today," admitted Brian Paddick (ex-police Assistant Commissioner, Lib Dem mayoral candidate). He has discounted any possibility of working with any of the two main candidates - e.g. as Chair of the Met Police - whoever wins, because he thinks that would be "hypocritical". (But surely it is hypocritical to now not want to do his best for Londoners when he swore he would do so as mayoral candidate?)

Everyone now thinks Boris will win it. This afternoon, on the basis of a "electronic voting system" BBC London reported that in nearly half of 14 constituencies where Ken got most first preference votes last time, he is behind this time. Turnout overall was 45% (compared to 37% last time). An interview that Gordon Brown gave today, indicated that he believed the writing's on the wall. The PM said he had congratulated and praised Ken for what he did for London. It sounded like a "valedictory" speech said Sky News. More like the "dead talking to the dead" one Conservative party member reportedly described it.

A complaint has been made by the BNP, about some ballot boxes being unsealed. However the returning officer say that it is more an issue of "lack of stickiness" (of the seal on the boxes) than any foul play. BNP think they can get at least one seat on the London Assembly if not two. If they get two seats, they'd be officially designated as a party and get attendant privileges such as their own press office. They've been counting the votes for the past 8 hours and are said to be near the half-way mark in some constituencies. So, the result may not be known till around midnight tonight, they say.

(Post a new comment)

	dominiquerave 2008-05-02 09:01 pm UTC (link)
	Hey, you're famous! From the front page of LJ: "London's Mayoral Election keith_london writes about the idea of Boris Johnson as the next mayor of London, and how little will be expected of him." (Reply to this)(Thread)

	keith_london 2008-05-02 11:41 pm UTC (link)
	Well, I never! Thanks for alerting me to my 15 seconds of fame :-) (Reply to this)(Parent)

london_lights
2008-05-04 12:58 pm UTC (link)

I must admit that I am worried sick now that he is Mayor.

Almost the only things I know about the man are the speeches in which he promised to bring back the Routemaster buses and the claims that he has also promised to get rid of the bus passes for OAPs and the disabled.

I am mobility impaired, I live near central London, on a tourist route - and I had to give up work during the years when that route was served by routemasters because I could not use public transport at all, so I could not reach any job that I could do. I could not even reach the job centre to sign on. The accessable buses make a tremendous difference for the disabled and for older people. I've made good use of my bus pass.

Ah well, it was nice to be able to go out while Red Ken was Mayor, but now I suppose I go back to being a prisoner in my home for the crime of having serious spinal injuries.

Sorry. Some of the media have described Boris Johnson as a "Joke candidate" - but I'm finding it difficult to see the funny side, at the moment.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

keith_london
2008-05-04 01:53 pm UTC (link)

Many of us, including myself, do long for the Routemasters. Hopefully the new ones can be adapted to allow for better access. If not, then surely, not all buses will be Routemaster buses, so I presume there will be many other buses that can cater for those with impaired mobility. I sincerely hope Boris will not overlook people with mobility issues (I'm sure he won't).

I really don't think you help your cause by being overdramatic.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

london_lights
2008-05-04 05:41 pm UTC (link)

When it comes to "drama", it depends on how you look at it. I was a mature student who became severely mobility impaired just before graduation. There was no possibility of learning to drive and buying a car. I lost my career and almost all the local jobs are in retail; they will not - or would not - employ a severely mobility impaired woman even as a cashier. That was the 1980s. There were too many people seeking far too few jobs.

I had to sign on, which meant struggling to get onto a Routemaster. I dreaded it, in part because too few buses serve this crowded area and, because the unemployed had to sign early in the morning, it was necessary to haul myself up far too high a step while people were literally fighting to get onto the bus. (I have no idea if that problem has been sorted out.)

I was injured several more times and was eventually housebound for well over ten years. (That is a more distressing experience than I would be willing to describe in a public journal.)

It's funny, but I don't know when the mobility buses started. I got my wheelchair relatively recently and when I first saw a bus "kneel" I suspect that I just sat there with my mouth open! I found out about the ramps by accident. I was talking to a friend who was waiting for a bus and when the driver saw me he extended the ramp when he stopped. It even had a space for the wheelchair!

What do you miss about Routemasters? I was once actually helped to go upstairs on a mobility bus and the view was at least as good.

I also hope that Boris Johnson will not overlook the needs of older and disabled Londoners, but the threat to withdraw bus passes seems to imply that he would rather we weren't around to be looked at at all.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

keith_london
2008-05-04 08:35 pm UTC (link)

As I understand, a dirty tricks campaign by Livingstone's people mis-informed the public that Boris was scrapping the Freedom pass. Not so! In fact he intends to extend the pass to cover 24 hours (unlike Paddick).

"Boris Johnson, the Conservative would-be mayor, said he was in favour of making Freedom Passes valid around the clock because people had told they were hampered in getting to doctors' appointments under the current arrangements. But Livingstone's announcement was insincere and overdue, Johnson said: "Ken Livingstone has had eight years to do this in London - it's eight years too late. All of a sudden it's election year and here it is."" [Source: Free Bus Travel - Round the clock bus passes for London pledge !]

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	london_lights 2008-05-04 10:58 pm UTC (link)
	Thank you very much for finding those links, the second one is very reassuring. I can't imagine willingly using any bus in the morning when younger people are trying to get to work (I really do still have nightmares about that) but it does look as though he means well. (Reply to this)(Parent)

via Explore page

pornontoast
2008-05-11 12:40 pm UTC (link)

Ah, but I don't think Paddick was hypocritical in refusing to work with either Livingstone or Johnson, for similar reasons as the derision of the Democratic "dream ticket" of Obama/Clinton in America. He didn't endorse either candidate for the Liberal Democrat second preference. Whatever you might think of that decision, it would have seemed more hypocritical if he backed Livingstone but accepted a job in a Johnson administration.

On a bit of a sidetrack, I don't think he could have feasibly backed either candidate. Most Lib Dems (at least, at a grassroots level) really distrusted Johnson, and if Paddick endorsed him, would have felt alienated. Livingstone supported Sir Ian Blair as Metropolitan Police commissioner, and Paddick was highly critical of his decisions regarding Jean Charles de Menezes.

(Reply to this)

Mini Sitemap:

Username:		Create an Account Forgot your login? Login w/ OpenID
Password:
	Remember Me
	English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…