Ken vs. Boris: It's So On

Is there any kind of economy that does not have ups and downs, boom or bust? Serious question.

Indeed.

Peter Ross interview:

"Well," he says, humming and hawing, "we are all self-invented to some extent. Frankly, honestly, it's now too late to try to invent anybody else. It's exhausting. In so far as I'm an invention, this is the best I can do."

That is the most worryingly plausible thing I have ever seen / heard BJ saying. It's almost Wildean, though without the elegance.

Also in that interview he repeats the utter BS canard we saw in that recent Mamet piece: 'socialists believe in the perfectibility of man ... we conservatives are realists who accept the world as it is'. BS.

hopefully a load of people with actual jobs will vote in the evening, outweighing the initial rush of Boris votes from legend-loving student twats who deserve to die

Also, in my case, Pinefox, I was using deliberately crude language as a taxi driver redux of what a big swathe of the British public thought about the Tories circa 1997.

In terms of electoral attitudes, it doesn't really matter the extent to which it was Norman Lamont's fault or whether George Soros or overall global economic trends were to blame, because once you get stuck with a label for economic incompetence there's next to nothing you can do to stop the electorate hurling you out. Especially if economic incompetence is coupled with multiple scandals involving high-profile party members. The economy turned round significantly under Kenneth Clarke and it still didn't help them.

I wonder how long it will be before Brown puts Alistair Darling to the sword, and whether it will make any difference to the electorate when he does.

hopefully a load of people with actual jobs will vote in the evening, outweighing the initial rush of Boris votes from legend-loving student twats who deserve to die

Lol at the concept of students getting up early for anything, especially voting.

early could be 2pm to be fair

real talk ^

DC, I hope you won't mind my suggesting that I'm not sure that there is much difference between the way your imaginary taxi driver talks, and the way you write on ilx - as distinct, no doubt, from the thoughtful and creative way you think, write and talk in other contexts.

Where is this exit polling 'data' you speak of coming from?

I think DC got it from a taxi driver.

Matt DC, yesterday

http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/3336735.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=4DAA13B573E1BD2F289632D5FD6017DCA55A1E4F32AD3138

"won't go south of the noize board this time of night"

internet hardman I like that. Like a tabloid description of [insert poster of choice].

Off-topic, I know, but:

Even if said government explicitly promised "no more boom and bust" repeatedly

Well we haven't had a boom, and we haven't had a bust yet - and almost certainly won't, even in the most negative forecasts - so fine.

Does the housing market not qualify as a boom then?

That'll be £20 to you, guvnor.

You've just vomited in my back seat.

There have been 3 booms and 3 busts during the current labour administration. Or rathe 3x hubris followed by 3x reality and correction.

not as catchy :(

Overall economic boom - there has obviously been a housing one, and could be a crash, although I doubt it - but I had a long and boring fight with laxalt on another thread about that.

Meanwhile, why can't I get a live feed of the betting balloons?

http://betting.betfair.com/mayor/heads-up-boris-leads-the-way-london-marathon-300408.html "> http://betting.betfair.com/mayor/heads-up-boris-leads-the-way-london-marathon-300408.html

There's a nice graph here (if I can do the effing link right).

http://www.economics.strath.ac.uk/julia/teaching/mf/L1_JD.pdf "> http://www.economics.strath.ac.uk/julia/teaching/mf/L1_JD.pdf

Then add four more year's real growth to the right.

Gah

at 9/4 it is almost worth backing Ken.

An exit poll of sorts...
http://vote.sparklit.com/poll.spark/1052579

^almost as bad as rickroll

the current data would naturally have bj in the lead, since working people are, well, still working - right?

Working people vote Boris too, though.

Would it be justified to go through my Facebook friends list and indiscriminately defriend everyone whose status update reads 'Vote Boris' or suchlike?

I think that would show a high discriminating and upstanding character.

i did the same for anyone who mourned jol, so yeah i guess.

Do it now!

DC, if anyone you know feels that way ... well ... how did you get friends like that in the first place?

Would it be justified to go through my Facebook friends list and indiscriminately defriend everyone whose status update reads 'Vote Boris' or suchlike?

no. i might do the same thing. several people on mine (hello at least two posters on this thread) are sporting some violently anti-boris ones. so am i.

I suspect some of mine are pro-Boris so I'm trying to goad them into revealing themselves and defriending me

anti-boris status updates: 6 (7 including self).

pro-boris: none.

that's reassuring.

Think I'm 5-0, not sure about this fuckin clown though:

Lou1s Jagger
YAAAAH BORIS YAAAAH.
Updated about a minute ago

Does facebook have an application where you can send painful electric shocks through a user's mouse yet?

I stopped bothering with the anti-Boris count when it got to 20, pro-Boris count is 9 or 10. The pro-Borisers are all people I went to school with - when you consider my school was about 90% working class kids from around Lewisham, I worry what this might say about a possible flight of working class votes to the Tories.

This is probably not a solid bedrock from which to begin making statistical projections, admittedly.

essex is our texas <--- jacques perreti on the barrymore doc last night

essex, brrrrr

lol easy target

If anyone on my fbk was pro-BJ I would cut them off.

I was just thinking about the apparent difference between me and DC earlier. Really, I think we agree. He said: it will be bad if BJ gets in and succeeds, rather than buffoonishly fails. I agree. My expectation is that he *will* succeed - on his own terms, not mine (or DC's?). So has W, so did Maggie, etc - these people are not considered failures by their own side, but heroes. I think BJ will be hailed as doing very well the things he wants to do - a mixture of reactionary things, cutting back progressive things, sucking up to certain interests, and ego-tripping.

I think that the 'word' 'LOL' is nowadays misused on ilx (probably elsewhere) - surely you should save it for things that actually make you laugh? Not just for things that are silly, misguided, mildly ironic or whatever.

Oh well.

When ilx started we didn't have terms like that, and most people wrote posts in paragraphs; nowadays a great many are one word or one short line. ilx has changed; perhaps other things have changed too.

don't worry guys, i've single handedly fucked up the pro-boris campaign. when they were handing out boris badges,they were like 'vote boris on 1st may' and i was like "OK!" and took a badge, but really i wasn't going to, so they've one fewer badge to give out, PLUS they're probably all chillaxing now thinking THEY HAVE MY VOTE, BUT THEY DON'T. MWAHAHAHHA

The suburbs shouldn't have been given the vote. Or there should have been two separate elections and they could have had all the Toryism they want and leave the city to be governed as it should be.

ken c, striking a blow for the common man.

don't worry guys, i've single handedly fucked up the pro-boris campaign

i'm sure i've regaled you with the wonderful story of how a couple of dudes from my school volunteered to do some campaigning for a tory candidate in blackpool in the early 1990s.

they drove around town for a couple of hours in a vauxhall nova plastered with VOTE TORY posters, shouting: "YOU ARE ALL CUNTS! WE ARE TORIES AND WE BUGGER BABIES! FUCK YOU ALL!" and so on.

happy days.

Normal for Blackpool, though.

i'd vote for a candidate with that honesty tho

Oh well, if we wake up tomorrow and it's 1958, we'll know whose fault it was and we'll hunt them out.

Pinefox - I'm glad you agree we agree. I wonder how serious a mess Boris (or any Mayor really) can actually make of London before their powers are curbed by central government. Ken has had additional powers given to him over the years as the govt got more comfortable with him being there - can Labour get away with narrowing Boris's remit without causing a storm?

Of course, there's a bad organising type of mess, and there's the sort of mess where you say such embarassing things that your party leadership goes into blind panic. I suspect the latter is more likely.

When ilx started we didn't have terms like that, and most people wrote posts in paragraphs; nowadays a great many are one word or one short line. ilx has changed; perhaps other things have changed too.

It used to be all fields around London too. Increasing population, urbanisation, etc...like London, like ILx.