Ken vs. Boris: It's So On

In an article written in October 2002, Mr Johnson described the Queen meeting "piccaninnies", adding that when the prime minister arrives in the Congo "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".

Make this man a symbolic figurehead for London tout se suite!

de suite bah

I would be more offende by that "big white chief" excerpt if it wasn't clearly being used as part of a scathing attack on the Prime Minister in question and presumably used with heavy irony.

I would be able to take the above defence a lot more seriously if it wasn't for the "piccaninnies" quote and, well, the fact that it's coming from Boris Johnson. Cunt.

I do wonder how much any of this will be used against him in any campaign, and more worrying, if it IS used against him, whether or not it will actually be damaging.

in a way it already is being used, just not directly. maybe mrs lawrence picked up the phone without prompting, but i wouldn't bet on it.

you can insinuate the shameful colonial history of the UK and how the PM's visit to the Congo represents a modern-day extension of it without using the words "piccaninnie" and "watermelon" and any politician with half a brain would have done so

Tracer - yeah of course, that's kind of what I was getting at.

NRW - Re Doreen Lawrence - If she didn't, would it invalidate her point?

The best thing to happen in this campaign would be a no-holds-barred dirty tricks-fest of the "grrr you hate black people", "grrr you hate Jews" variety. I doubt this will happen because both will be too concerned about playing up their respective charismatic personas to the press.

Quite how this will play at a time when charisma and charm seem to be going out of fashion in British politics in comparison to heavyweight seriousness (cf Cameron/Blair vs Brown) and I'm still claiming a plucky independent with the right cause could clean up.

The best thing to happen in this campaign would be a no-holds-barred dirty tricks-fest of the "grrr you hate black people", "grrr you hate Jews" variety

They did "grrr you hate brown people", "grrr you hate Jews" in Bethnal Green and Bow two years ago. It was shit.

"Re Doreen Lawrence - If she didn't, would it invalidate her point?"

no, but i'm just saying -- it's already so on, per the title.

Yeah the Jews lost out bigtime.

You can also read the above quote as the (hopefully used) biggest weapon against Boris that he is more interested in being a journalist and professional celebrity than he is in being a politician.

edited highlights of um someone's facebook friends submitted here as statistical proof of something or other:

Boris For Mayor ▪ VICE MAGAZINE ▪ emo people suck and should jump off a bridge and die ▪ If You Don't Like Peep Show, You're Probably Not Worth Knowing ▪

don't forget to vote for your Tory nominee heh heh

a madman rants

# Boris Johnson is MP for Henley drummer for Gay Dad

to be fair, that is one of the more sane articles he's written, really.

his 'buses don't hang on for mums with pushchairs or old ladies with shopping because they're not operating on a passenger increase=funding increase basis' reasoning and how much he's hingeing things on it is just...staggering.

he didn't want to lose potential voters by giving the real reason, ie bus drivers = bastards.

I see bus drivers waiting for running mums/businesswomen/elderly/youth all the time.

maybe it's just the likes of me that don't get waited for.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/fastshow/characters/images/unlucky_alf2.jpg

ken attacks

i wish ken would stop with the 'has the most vibrant cultural life of any capital' baloney tho

i can probably accept the 'buses cost more because there are more, better buses' thing. makes more sense than whatever johnson is spouting about at least.

woah, ken is on a 'law and order' tip.

london is a crazy place and to be honest given that it's the capital of the capitalist world, home to innumerable non-dom, non-tax paying billionaire crooks, with its housing market structured accordingly; of course it should be run by a soi-disant socialist rather than, you know, a tory. that's the british way.

i wish ken would stop with the 'has the most vibrant cultural life of any capital' baloney tho

thatsracist.gif

"a faster role out"? ken: geddan editah

Now it's for real!

warwick lightfoot?! i would have voted for him (her?) on spec.

Yeah, I mentioned him upthread - once again bumped by the famous name. I would imagine he would have done better (marginally) if it had been a Conservative Party only poll.

http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/YourCouncil/YourCouncillor/lightfoot2.jpg

lol

I kind of feel sorry for him - he looks so optimistic on his website
http://www.lightfootforlondon.com/

The job of the Mayor is simple - to get people to work on time, to ensure people feel safe on the streets...
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Society/Pix/pictures/2007/09/03/BorisJohnsontwo128.jpg

http://www.masonicinfo.com/images/mussolini_hitler.jpg

I'm sorry, I know it was obvious...

But seriously, what are his chances? I find it very difficult to gauge Ken's popularity. Obviously Johnson feels his best bet is winning the 'burb vote.

Ken Livingstone 4/7
Boris Johnson 2/1
Brian Paddick 25/1

And what were the odds on him winning last time?

Ken, that is, obv.

I might put a coupla quid on Boris if those are the current odds

what's the total turnout, and how does it break down, is the big question. in a nebulous sense probably more londoners would vote ken. but which londoners will actually vote is the thing.

Andrew Boff is a great name

i love the way that victoria borwick's surname can be frankensteined out of the other two also-rans' names. identikit conservatives!

and add a 'w'

omg if boris does a speech saying "i looked up myself on facebook and found the group "boris johnson is a fucking tory for christ's sake"" then all these years on ilx will have paid off.

Yes.

http://www.facebook.com/s.php?q=boris+johnson&init=q

First result!

Or is that cos I'm in it?

It's because you're in it.

using another login it would seem it is 5th

If Boris actually gets elected that group's gonna have to become an organisational hub for hunting down and maiming the members of the pro-Boris groups.

how does a mayor make a city more or less "multicultural" anyway?
short of ethnic cleansing, i don't see how this is possible.

More to the point how do you do it in a city where 1/3 of people living here weren't evn born in this country let alone within the city limits.

And at least they actually live there 24/7

I sincerely hope Boris comes third or 4th.