Ken vs. Boris: It's So On

it doesn't stop them having an opinion.

yeah i think it must be a subediting error, she can't possibly have meant what ended up getting printed!

Tracer, thanks for the link, that's what I thought I'd heard about it. Mosque bigger than Wembley Stadium! It's Political Correctness gone mad etc! Wankers.

That Toynbee piece is boring rhetoric BUT she makes a valid point in that this could potentially be a massive embarassing disaster for the Tories.

It's also occurred to me that I have lost all perspective as to how popular Ken actually is. If he still is.

yeah matt it's not really provocative or counterintuitive but i just thought it was very neat the way she sewed it all up with "even if he wins, the torys lose"

plus managed to get "toff" and "sociopath" into the headline.. maybe she really does admire the evening standard after all!

Livingstone has earned respect with the bravery and skill of his congestion charge, his London bus revolution and his imposition of 50% affordable housing on every development.

i did not know about the last part.

Yeah, these are great in principle but don't quite work in practice cos the developers tend to hive off the affordable housing element into a separate building, or with a separate entrance, meaning there's little integration and they don't hold their value. Plus, if you're buying in Zone 1, you still have to be on a decent salary (c30k) to qualify. Nice idea though.

facebook: 4 pages of boris groups only one anti. 4 pages of ken groups only two pro.

i didn't know about the affordable housing thing either. but the £30k thin's even more bewildering - so you need a minimum salary of that to qualify? huh??

acebook: 4 pages of boris groups only one anti. 4 pages of ken groups only two pro.

further proof if proof were needed that facebook is full of daily mail (probably just the Metro TBH) reading middle class wankers

Yep, cos even if you're only buying 25 per cent mortgage/75 per cent rent the property is still worth 220k+ (for a one-bed zone 1 flat) so they want to be sure you earn enough to be able to pay that monthly charge without getting repossessed.

If you're out of zone 1 or have a big deposit, that's less of a problem.

if boris gets in i'm blaming Have I Got News For You?

but how many of the pro-Johnson groups on Facebook are 'ironic' or at least based on appreciation of him as comedy character rather than politician or journalist. there must be a big bunch of people out there (mainly tories and nimbys i suppose) who claim to think he's great but wouldn't vote for him.

metronet go into administration at 5.

Is that going to be good for Ken because he refused to spend £££££££ taxpayers' money to bail them out or bad because the tube engineering works are going to be even more delayed now?

there's no guarantee that ken won't have to go to the treasury, hat in hand, and ask for £2 billion to plug the gap

regardless, it's conceivably very good for ken because he opposed PPP from the get-go - now he can turn around and say "look where this kind of thing gets you" with the advantage of actually being honest and correct about it

apparently a third party has delivered $$$s

there is now a "red ken can't be trusted" / "good old boris" conversation happening a few feet away from me.

If there's gonna be a marked increase in "lol Boris Johnson is a legend" talk as a result of this I think I might actually murder someone

the bloke opposite is now singing "keep the blue flag flying high". i think he is being provocative.

this is clearly THE opportunity for Ken to seize control of the Tube, right??

apparently he said this to metronet employees: "You'll be working for us for a while, while we get this sorted out."

what kate said.

er, wait, i mean this bit about ken - Mostly I've been pretty happy with Ken. Except for the bloody stupid Olympics thing not any of the things about boris. and i'd add bendy buses. bendy buses in london and the olympics in london are both fucking stupid ideas, other than that me and ken are cool.

surely no one seriously thinks boris gives a shit about anyone other than himself?

yeah, even guiliani had a career as a firebreathing prosecutor behind him before he ran for mayor of NY

ken "can't be trusted", boris "is a laugh, he doesn't take himself too seriously". FFS.

kill them now, no judge in the land would convict you.

You know what my definition of trust is? "Would I feel comfortable if they knew the PIN for my bank account."

Yeah, I'd probably be OK with Ken having it. Wouldn't let Boris have it, even if he WOULD sleep with me.

and earnest Cuban festivals

I went to this and it was great, exactly what London parks should be used for. It also had the biggest cross section of Londoners, in terms of age and ethnicity, I've seen anywhere outside of the tube network.

Ken has been great a putting on a lot of new events and increasing the size of new ones. It feels like a european city. A lot more fun.

Plz to stop objectifying male celebrities. It is v sexist and wouldn't be acceptable the other way round.

wait.. that thing about the mosque that's BIGGER THAN WEMBLEY?!?!?!?!?

and costing only £100M?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?

I'd vote for Ken just for that if that's the case?!??! That's bargain of the century!

On time and under budget? İnşallah!

Hire them to upkeep the tube!

If there's gonna be a marked increase in "lol Boris Johnson is a legend" talk as a result of this I think I might actually murder someone

OTM, I might just join that single anti-BJ group now.

it's pretty ridiculous that that anti mega-mosque petition doesn't even mention Tablighi Jamaat

MIKE READ OUT

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mike_read/2007/07/im_backing_boris.html

"I've spoken to lots of young kids in gangs or 'crews' as they prefer to be known..."

Boris reminds me of some people I went to school with. Cunts, all (except for Chuck Tatum and a handful of others).

FWIW, I think Ken's good. Obv I don't live there no more but I like to see the place in good nick when I pop back for a visit.

My choice for mayor would be someone like JG Ballard or Neil from the "Up" series.

http://image.blingee.com/images12/content/output/2007/7/17/57467881_d5758d2c.gif
Make Your Own Glitter Graphics

lol @ toynbee calling boris a toff. i mean, seriously.

"i didn't know about the affordable housing thing either. but the £30k thin's even more bewildering - so you need a minimum salary of that to qualify? huh??

-- CharlieNo4, Tuesday, July 17, 2007 1:43 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Link"

it's called 'shoring up the base' duh.

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=780751356&context=pool-433899@N22&size=l

the number of pro-boris groups on facebook is terrifying. he is a tory, end of.

It's fucked. It's also fucked that a lot of normal, decent people I know are joining them.

Cameron doesn't seem to be doing too well with style over substance (particularly in ealing) so there is hope.

as we are now sold politics as 'management' and have managerial politicians, its not a surprise that 'character' politicians spur interest, and its no surprise there are pro-boris groups on facebook, how many of those people would actually vote for boris is questionable, if only because how many of those people would actually vote at all...is questionable

the number of pro-boris groups on facebook is terrifying. he is a tory, end of.

Anti-Boris facebook group

321 members in three days -- you can't front on that.

mayors have a long history of being charismatic bastards, much more so than legislators have - viz "he's OUR asshole" - i think people sort of like their city being run by some raffish rake, as long he he gets things done - the latter part is the problem for boris

Shittiest thing about Facebook - you can't even look at it unless you are a member.

um that's kind of a good thing?