Ken vs. Boris: It's So On

Look here, a quick STV example for you stupid Englishers!

Say you vote like this:

1. Fit Greens Bird
2. That Gay Lib Dem Dude
3. (A Message To You) Ken
4. That Idiot Boris

Now let's say after the results come in that the Greens candidate has the least amount of votes. Well, all his votes get sent to the next preferred candidate on the voting slips. In that case it goes to the Lib Dem. Now it looks like this:

1. Lib Dem
2. (A Message To You) Ken
3. That Idiot Boris

Now with the final three, the Lib Dems have the least amount of votes. That means his votes including those second preferences from those originally voted Green will go to your NEXT preference on the voting slip...

1. (A Message To You) Ken
2. That Idiot Boris

Therefore, Ken gets your vote in the end yet a message has been sent to him. Ken stays Mayor with his lesson learnt whilst Boris goes on a profitable tour of Universities across the country with his LOLcat Powerpoint Slide Show.

YES, IT'S THAT SIMPLE

this background image amuses me too
http://www.backboris.com/images/header_blue.jpg

"hmmm, fillet mignon or the sea bass?"

Livingstone's result as an Independent in 2000 looks stunning to me.

Thanks, King Boy, for your help, but I'm still not sure I have got the hang of this, so I had better stay safe and simple as possible.

However, if you feel like just voting Green or Lib Dem, just give them the No. 1 and your preferences will be directed automatically according to their wishes. Which should mean it'll go to Ken instead of Boris (well, I hope for their sake).

yeah, ken winning against a tory nonentity who was dropped in after jeffrey archer got done for perjury was a real shock.

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He won against a Labour nonentity as well! If by 'nonentity' you mean 'former cabinet minister'. Actually this goes for Norris as well.

no the shock was more his ability to undermine Labour (candidate) at the same time, as well as he did - crap tho Dobson also came across as. xp

did anyone here NOT vote Ken in BOTH of the previous elections?

Me - I didn't vote.

Mind you I wasn't eligible to vote in 2001 as I moved to London in June.

look at all you tourists

Terrible innit? Especially as the first Mayoral election was in 2000.

I was living in Oxford at the time, however, so couldn't vote.

Was it 2000? In that case I was even less eligible to vote.

Ah yes it was the General Election in 2001. Didn't vote in that either come to think of it. That's apathy for you.

"Donut mayor": good political meme/bad political meme?

I have been looking through a Mayoral Manifesto leaflet.

First up are the BNP. They begin: "Remember London the way it used to be? Clean, friendly and safe". I find this implausible. Does anyone remember such a London? It was doubtless cleaner re. pollution etc, but is possibly less polluted now than say 30 years ago? Not sure about this - but the river for instance. It's true that there is a lot of terrible behaviour in London, but I don't think that means it used to be friendly, or safe. I don't really remember it that way, having lived here most of my life.

They also quote a woman who says she is voting BNP because she's Irish and they care about 'the indigenous peoples of these islands'. I'm not sure this a coherent position. If they're the *British* National Party, then surely to stick up for Irish people in Britain is just opportunism on their part?

The BNP's logo looks ugly to me; maybe this just chimes with the sense that they are ugly in some deeper way too.

Lindsey German of left list looks old, though some of her policies sound decent.

The Tory manifesto features a load of BS language - 'Beef up the police presence' and 'Stretch the taxpayer pound'.

Sian Berry does look lovely! and she is younger than me, for heaven's sake. I would love her to be Mayor of London, I suppose.

Brian Paddick's yellow / purple colourscheme is odd. I do feel, though, that a veteran senior cop, who also considers himself a liberal, ought on the face of it to be a good candidate for running London.

Alan Craig stands for Christian Choice. He wants to champion people including the unborn. I was amused by his promise to 'End the (alleged) corruption at City Hall'. The legalistic (alleged) utterly undermines the force of the promise.

The English Democrats seem anti-Scottish - this seems obnoxious to me. I like Scotland.

Ken Livingstone comes last. The whole left page with just a picture of his weary old smiling face and not many words; the right page listing achievements and what needs to be done. I was struck by the authority of this presentation, against all the others. It stands out, visually, from them all. It confirms my affection for Ken Livingstone and my desire to see him elected.

"Remember London the way it used to be? Clean, friendly and safe"

http://www.imageandnarrative.be/illustrations/_img/greatplague.jpg

http://dustyloft.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/great_fire_london.jpg

http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/upload/img_400/H3222.jpg

but you could leave your door open and they loved their mums

I had exactly the same feeling about Ken's page in that pamphlet (although I thought he looked well cheesy in the photo). Just soooo much more pro than the others. V effective.

(Maybe he was going for the new austerity aesthetic.)

Goodness, that shot of a bombing plane is just remarkable.

That is nice to know, Zoe (austerity or no). I suppose my feeling about photos of him is different - I look at him and see a man in his 60s, his face sagging, bags under his eyes, most of his hair gone, no claim at all on glamour - just a sort of droopy-eyed smile, and a lot of wry knowledge and experience in his gaze. I like something about this - the way he can be an attractive candidate without being physically attractive? (Don't know where his 5 children etc fits with this.)

In what I've seen of debates, he's been calm and 'statesmanlike', perhaps deliberately against the table-thumping bombast he knew BJ would bring; I like this too. He impresses me; I realize that others don't share that response.

I got the booklet today! I guess I'll vote for the Green lady, not sure about the 20mph speed limit though.

Jel, I hope you will vote Ken 2nd. Though of course you may not want to listen to what anybody else hopes.

Lindsey German is "old", I guess. I wonder why she doesn't receive the same sympathetic words that Ken's wrinkled face provokes? I heard her speak once and I liked what she said.

You're right, Hand - I apologize for the inconsistency. I just don't feel like I am 'supporting' her in this election, so I am not turned on to sympathizing with her. And something puts me off her historically, re. SWP / Respect / whatever. I had never seen a picture of her before an hour or so ago, so it was a surprise to me, how old she looks. Like I said, maybe the policies are good. I don't think people should be disqualified because they're old, unless they really are too old.

Fantastic clip of Paxman owning Boris 'LOL U LEGERND!' Johnson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EujXtSlOwA

but is possibly less polluted now than say 30 years ago

I keep forgetting that 30 years ago was only the 70s. London (and every city in Britain) is cleaner than it was it the 1970s, don't let anyone tell you any different. Of course, the BNP is probably talking about the 50s, before all them dirty foreigners arrived with their smells and garlic breath.

The Great Smog of 1952-53 killed 12,000 people.

Also dog shit. And I know there is still a lot of dog shit but believe me it was worse in the 70s.

Ah but at least in the 70s it was white dog shit.

So the Standard is all "OMG BORIS SURGES INTO THE LEAD WE ARE SO CLOSE WE CAN TASTE THE PRECIOUSSSSSS" and Thelondonpaper says Ken has edged into the lead.

So basically, no one has a fucking clue who's going to win?

Also, that Paxman clip is astonishing, especially when he starts walking towards him.

Paxman in "fuck you, pay me" mode is still the funniest zingster on TV.

Incidentally, did anyone start a thread on Nigel Lawson's last Newsnight appearance/climate change denial/possible Alzheimer's? Paxman's opening salvo that night was spectacular.

i read the oddest review of his book by uber-leftist alex (or patrick) cockburn, saying lawson was a pussy for allowing the theory that co2 causes global warming. had no idea cockburn was that way inclined.

I think his scientific expertise is on a par with Lawson's.

The night of the Stern report, was that?

You're right, Paxman is heroic in scenarios like that BJ encounter - in a way he shouldn't have let him get away with it. Perhaps he didn't.

I think Ned T Rifle is right about London's dirty past.

i will be glad when it's over, whatever cunt wins.

I won't. I will be happy if KL wins, and unhappy if BK wins.

that is, BJ.

Think it was later than the actual release of the report, but Lawson was certainly very critical of it, without being able to articulate why. A lot of comparisons to the David Kelly affair tossed about.

Anyway, it's here on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74E2D6oNSHc

What makes me laugh the most is that Viz regularly run stories about authors with controversial theories who are clearly pathetic fantasists who've written their book after a heavy night in the pub. Lawson is v. reminiscent of this, especially his ray-gun idea.

Mathew d'Ancona, class traitor and defender of the downtrodden, backs Ken for Mayor.

Not really.

i clicked on it anyway because i like the song

No rickrolls from me I'm afraid - it's all too serious attempt to make Boris sound heavyweight...

Imagine Giuliani’s ‘zero tolerance’ of crime woven into Disraelian Toryism: Robocop with a sense of compassion.

I was interested in this 'fact' - that there are now nearly twice as many robberies with violence a year in London than in the larger city of New York - anyone know where this comes from?

Robocop had a sense of compassion. I'll assume the rest of his puff piece is that badly researched. Amateur.

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I think it comes from the NYPD shooting random people sitting quietly in their car.

Imagine London as a Tory stronghold against the Gordon Empire, with Boris as our clean-shaven Asterix. And — unlike the PM — he would have an electoral mandate

I'm no big fan of Brown but this "he doesn't have a mandate" stuff just makes me want to shout 'FUCK OFF' repeatedly.

he doesn't have a mandate