jonny mugwump

exotic pylon
er hahaha maybe that was a slight exaggeration then.

but i mean, the hair the face- what a nightmare- how much alleged bumbling buffoonery will we have to take?

is the city taking leave of its senses?
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Nah, I reckon you're a gangland hoody who's quaking in his Reeboks at the imminent CRIME CRACKDOWN and is going run away and take up ganging somewhere a bit less policey.
 

jonny mugwump

exotic pylon
Nah, I reckon you're a gangland hoody who's quaking in his Reeboks at the imminent CRIME CRACKDOWN and is going run away and take up ganging somewhere a bit less policey.

well i was until me mates found out i was calling myself exoticpylon.

Now i just run my own camp protection racket. Business isn't all that great either.
 

tom pr

Well-known member
i drive and i think the congestion charge is fantastic (you'd have to be a masochist to drive into central london on a regular basis anyway), but i really hate livingstone. I'm not sure how much of that is influenced by his policy and how much is influenced by the fact that my oyster card has this habit of not working on buses and i have to scramble for two quid even if i've already got a travelcard that day, but i definitely hate him. I really resent the tubes not costing what they did when I was twelve too. that's bullshit.
 

noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
London buses are good - they've improved loads in the last ten years, cheaper too I think. Just wait till yer 65 tom then you can be like a 12 year old again.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
London buses are good - they've improved loads in the last ten years, cheaper too I think.

Apart from the bendies, which are shit - although fair play to Ken, he seems to have listened to public opinion and has said he won't introduce them on any more routes.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I think he's been fucking great for transport, when I moved to London buses cost 60p or something for a short journey and a nugget for a long one. Then they made every journey the same high price to make it "more convenient" for everyone, then it was £1.20, £1.50, £2.... but now if you've got an Oyster it's back to 90p, cheaper than it was five years ago, that's got to be good right? Sure bendy-buses are shit but the routemasters had to go as they were terrible for the environment and not accessible if you were in a wheelchair (in contravention of an EU directive I understand) - plus, who actually pays when they go on a bendy-bus? The main thing they have to sort out is making the machines at the stops work, every time you're waiting for a bus you see some some poor sucker (usually me) impotently punching the thing that's just swallowed his money.
The congestion charge is obviously a brilliant idea, just needs to be higher I reckon. Squeeze the fuckers who drive cars right off the roads and then the buses will run better and everyone will be happy. Fair enough there ought to be some kind of discount for businesses though.
With the tubes Livingstone was totally vindicated, he went to court to try and prevent the sequence of events that ultimately ended in the Metronet fiasco. Transport is one of the most important things that the mayor has control of and KL has a good track record whereas Boris wants to cancel the congestion charge. Boris is also a racist - surely not good in the most multi-cultural city in the world (if it's good anywhere).
I liked it when Livingstone called Finegold (is that right?) a concentration camp guard and the Mail group tried to spin it as racist the fucking morons. The Evening Standard and co hate him and have basically turned themselves into big daily adverts for Boris and if that's not a great reason to vote for Ken then I don't know what is.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Cheers to whoever started this thread, it has reminded me I need to return my form to be eligible to vote next month. Rich is spot on, it's got to be Ken.
 

tom pr

Well-known member
London buses are good - they've improved loads in the last ten years, cheaper too I think. Just wait till yer 65 tom then you can be like a 12 year old again.
my last point was a bit tongue in cheek, but i can't wait regardless! agreed that buses are ace now - i used to avoid getting them like the plague because of how infrequent they were, but i never seem to wait long now. and they're miles nicer than the tube, obviously.
 
yeah i think i am actually going to vote this time

i think ken's been fantastic as mayor (cctv in london is insane though i'm not sure if he has anything to do with that)

i really hope he ups the congestion charge to about 50squid a day, i cycle usually, and if not take the bus, and its great - buses are great now, so much better than the tube

boris and the evening standard can take a hike afaic
 

ripley

Well-known member
you could have knocked me over with a feather, back in 2000 when I was living in London and was told I could vote for Mayor. Residency alone was enough! I think that's pretty cool.

I'd like to watch the heads explode in the US if residency was enough to give you the right to vote in local elections (it might be true for some but i've never heard of it)..

I did vote for Ken, and watched the bus system and traffic improve markedly too. can't remember now what I thought of his other policies
 

Gabba Flamenco Crossover

High Sierra Skullfuck
I think it's a smart move for the tories to run Boris - they've identified that there is something sentimental about Londoner's and their support for Ken and they hope to tap into that with loveable buffoonish Boris who is so funny on 'have I got news for you'.

Disagree, I think the tories are thinking too short term. Boris is the Tory's dubya candidate - an antidote to a charasmatic, iconoclastic politician who can win on those terms, but no-one's given any thought as to how good he will actually be in the job.

Difference is that once the republicans got GWB into the white house it was job done, whereas the tories have to use Boris's victory (if he does win) as a springboard to power nationally.

I just can't see Boris being able to run London with catastrophically ballsing it up. The tories have gambled that he'll either discover a sense of maturity once in power that he has hitherto completely lacked, or that they will have enough leverage on him to limit any idiocy he might get up to. Pretty big gamble on both counts I would say.

Boris is the Tony Benn of the tory party, and they have given him a clean shot at becoming the most powerful tory politician in the country. In the long term, it's suicide for the tories, mark my words.
 

Gabba Flamenco Crossover

High Sierra Skullfuck
FWIW, i like Ken, he's the only politician I've ever voted for, but he's been in power too long. His stupid feud with the Evening Standard does my head in. He might as well be pissed off with the clouds for raining on him.
 

vimothy

yurp
To be honest, I fail to see the rational either. Boris might win -- he is indeed a Tory GW -- but surely no one in the Conservative Party actually thinks he can successfully hold office. Madness...

But then, I'd have said the same about Ken, and he still seems pretty popular.
 

crackerjack

Well-known member
FWIW, i like Ken, he's the only politician I've ever voted for, but he's been in power too long.

Agree with that. I'd favour a two-term statutory limit. The misused LDA funds (if true) reflect very badly on him and are typical of what happens when a politician is in office too long. Still think, broadly, he's been an excellent mayor. There's is not one single other politican in the country who would've had the bollocks to see through something as massive and potentially catastrophic as the congestion charge.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
"Agree with that. I'd favour a two-term statutory limit."
I don't agree with that at all. If people keep voting for someone then why shouldn't they be allowed to stay in power? Also, it removes any accountability from someone when they are in their final term.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Agree with that. I'd favour a two-term statutory limit. The misused LDA funds (if true) reflect very badly on him and are typical of what happens when a politician is in office too long.

I don't think I know about this - what (allegedly) happened, briefly?
 

vimothy

yurp
Agree with that. I'd favour a two-term statutory limit. The misused LDA funds (if true) reflect very badly on him and are typical of what happens when a politician is in office too long. Still think, broadly, he's been an excellent mayor.

Aren't term limits also an encouragement to corruption? Think about what happens in the US when the president gets to the end of his allowed term of office.
 
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