haha. hadn't thought of that!

Bumbler Boris Vs Red Ken would have been a most entertaining way to settle the election . .

before hand i was joking about Boris getting voted in, being - to me - a funny figure in the public eye

however i didn't think he actualy had a chance :/

Boris in charge of Olympics .... oh dear

i think i'm about to pass a motion...

As well as the BNP seat, I'm more worried by the fact that there are 35,000+ National Front voters wandering around London...

i voted ken, dissapointed he lost. i always thought he did a good job and represented cyclists interests really well in london. boris really worries me...the guy is a liability and has a lot to fucking prove.

+1

Well, let's wait and see what Boris actually does. He got in on a platform not all that different from Ken's. He hasn't got a mandate to make really big changes. This morning he is talking about building on Ken's work. Whatever that means.

The big change is that he will be able to rely on a majority in the Assembly, something Ken was never able to do (apart from the last 2 years of first term). Ken's lack of a majority meant that he had to make concessions to the Green Party AM's, which is why the LEZ came in.

On a scale of 1 - 10? Dunno. My maths is really crap.

Like when he called for all bikes to have number-plates? Or called for firing squads for pavement cyclists?

Bill for Mayor!

:-)

The only time I ever stood for public office I got less than 200 votes or 5% of the total votes cast.

http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/byelections/le0106.htm#0743

Bill, your office won't be voted in democratically. we'll storm city hall and overthrow the assembly in a stunning and bloodthirsty "coup d'etat"

You'll be like a nice Jean Claude Duvalier

Aidan can be a tonton macoute.

All tennis sock wearers sent to re-education camps on the day after the coup.

I noticed a lot of the local nazi skins 'parading' around the streets of Islington on election day. A lot of people might be surprised to know how much of a presence they were round Upper St/Essex Rd/Old St not so very long ago.

On another note, do you remember the last time a Mr B Johnson was running tings at the Olympics? Nothing dubious happened that time...

I remember it all too well. I used to live opposite a house in islington that was occupied by some seriously unpleasant people. Assorted neo-fascist trash from all over the UK and Europe used to pass through it.

They had one of their meeting places in the flat downstairs - not pleasant for my wife in her teens squeezing past them all on the stairs, especially when she'd dyed her hair blond.

no i just understand that the theory of demorcacy is fatally flawed (ad populum) and needs to be scrapped, and that there is no one in power who would improve my situation, because giving me power would be against their self interest. Also i do not see the point in looking at two people who i don't like, and give one my consent to run my life.

yes but humans always where.

This is lazy nihilism, summed up by the slogan 'don't vote; it just encourages them'. While you are staying at home, congratulating yourself on your perspicacity, the racists are out there knocking on doors and getting elected.

Of course the democratic process is flawed, but what's wrong with engaging with it, in the spirit of optimism? If you genuinely believe that nothing can be changed ever, why are you even bothering to participate in this debate?

i think he's basing his views on america, where it is different and they have a fascist police state.

yeah. i am a bit nervous. i hate all motor powered vehicles including the governments's buses.

i just hope that lcc and ctc can reason with boris and his advisers. if boris really is a cyclist as he says he is he must have some appreciation of road and community safety issues.

i think it would be better for everyone if they replaced the congestion charge with 20 mph for all london !

and traffic cushions and fines to enforce it.

?

Yeah. Oh well. Labour deserve it, but Ken doesn't and neither do we. Voting in a modern democracy is always a case of holding your nose a bit but the fact is if you don't do it some fascist will and there is always a least worst option (in this case quite clearly). Despite the fact Ken is a politician and therefore has unappealing aspects, he has fought hard to stick to his political beliefs in the face of a tory majority on the assembly and all the 'help' he got from new labour...I think he did a hell of a job in the circumstances and that London has improved a lot in the last 8 years.

The thing is that England itself has a big conservative majority, the only reason we are not a permanent conservative state is because Scotland and Wales have not fully devolved. If/when they do we are f**ked. When the tories turn out like they did yesterday it's hard to stop them...and in London i think it was largely the turnout in rich suburbs and west london that won it for boris. More people voted for Ken than they did 4 years ago...

It's going to be interesting, London will now be a dry run for Conservative governance and policy, which means they have to get it right if they want to run the country in 2 years time (some small comfort?). Boris will not be running the show alone, that's for sure (unlike Ken). It will certainly show to what extent the tories are serious about poverty and the environment which they have rather boldly (or cynically?) taken on as key issues outside of their normal politics. Having said that, if Boris implements some of the policies he has talked about, he will create big problems, especially in transport.

The whole thing makes me feel sick and I want to leave...maybe I'll go for a ride round the park since it appears not to be raining for once. Although the mere act of me getting on my bike seems to instantly command the heavens to open at the moment....

Actually only 64 % of America votes. The rest do us harm.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/...ng/004986.html



I wonder how many people on here who could vote for Mayor actually did.

:D

i'm off to bristol in august to live.

cheers drive!

I did! Sian Berry, then Ken. Then Green on every other ballot paper.

C'mon Bill, I read about the number plate scheme...that was just ridiculous and would have never worked, but I never saw the "firing squads" story?

How about Ken's involvement with the TdF, Tour of Britain and on a lesser level Hovis Freewheel? There was a huge promotion of cycling as a viable means of transport which went along with all these events? I thought TdF last year was huge for London and for cycling.

"nice" ????????

I could have said "slim" I suppose..

Hey, just trying to point out that he wasn't without blemish. Balance etc. I can't remember where the 'firing squads' story came from, but I suspect it was in the same interview as the number plates story. You're right it was ridiculous. But he did say it.

Boris is pro-cycling too! And he actually cycles too.

I am planning to write a letter to Boris tomorrow. We kind of have to get on with it, and the sooner we engage with him, and see what the nature of the man is the better. There's no point wearing sack-cloth and covering ourselves with ashes. Better to see what the possibilities are. As long as we keep our expectations very low, anything +ve will come as a pleasant surprise.

The sad fact is that when only 46% of the electorate vote, the majority get what they deserve.