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Interesting times ahead for Londoners who enjoy a political melee, and with two candidates with the gift of the gab: Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson.
There is an amazing rumour by someone on p.ie that Ken Livingstone is getting SF help with his electioneering. Without any evidence to back this rumour up, it has been zoo'ed - a good thing because I've done a google search on this rumour and can find no evidence for it.
Anyway, Ken can look after himself well and does not need SF's help. Take Ken's recent statement "...the Tories are riddled with homosexuals..."[Ken Livingstone claims that Tory party is 'riddled with homosexuals' cause fury | Mail Online]:
"The Labour candidate for this year's London mayoral elections argued that Conservative MPs were hypocritically denouncing homosexuality while secretly 'indulging' themselves.
...
"Mr Livingstone claimed the public 'should be allowed to know everything, except the nature of private relationships', before adding: 'Unless there is hypocrisy, like some Tory MP denouncing homosexuality while they are indulging in it.'
He then went on to argue that since Tony Blair was Prime Minister, being gay or a lesbian had actually helped Labour MPs' careers. He said: 'Well, the Labour ones have all come out. As soon as Blair got in, if you came out as lesbian or gay you immediately got a job. It was wonderful."
This is typical Ken.
1. The statement was controversial enough to reach the headlines and get a lot of comments.
2. By using the rather disparaging word "riddled"
(a) he insinuates that the Tories keep things in the dark and have secrets they'd rather not reveal
(b) he pleased potential voters who do not like gays much, for example the Islamic vote.
3. On the other hand Labour is pro gay and open and honest. See, Blair gave them jobs...
Ken is doing his best to get the Moslem vote, which though not large may be crucial in this election. I must admit I was a bit shocked about some of his earlier statements and activities, but I understand his logic (maybe...)
I think this election is going to be close.
Boris is busy nicking as many of Ken's good ideas as he can (and is then likely to shelve them if he wins) such as bringing all suburban rail in London under TfL and expanding the London Overground Service.
Anything Boris has done in his time as mayor that was OK was started by Ken. Any of Boris's variations has been wasting money such as:
1. the cycling superhighways - literally just long lines of blue paint costing millions of £s which cars can still park on, which was so ill-thought at crucial points like the Bow junction it is lethal to cyclists. Two cyclists were killed there recently.
2. Then there is Boris's initiative to have a cable car over the Thames from the O2 in Greenwich Peninsula to the ExCel centre across the river. It is costing the taxpayer £65 million so far (Boris could not obtain any private investment). It may not be finished by the Olympics and after the Olympics it is a Boris white elephant. It is in the middle of nowhere, will not be used much. Ken hasn't raised this issue yet, though I think he will soon.
3. Then there is Boris's bike hire scheme. The bikes cost £16,000 each. Ken had an idea for that, and it would have cost much less.
4. I liked Boris's plan to get rid of the articulated (bendy) buses, but instead of replacing them with ordinary double decker buses he had new ones built for £2.4 million each, the ordinary ones are around half that price. The only benefit of this decision was to unionists in northern Ireland who built them.
One thing I do like is Boris's plan for a new airport near the mouth of the Thames and shutting down or reducing Heathrow but I doubt it will come to fruition, even though it will cost the taxpayer nothing. Middle East money will pay for it.
Andrew Gilligan utterly loathes Ken and his blog in the Daily Telegraph is one of the most one-sided I have ever read, though it is sometimes entertaining: Andrew Gilligan – Telegraph Blogs
Perhaps p.ie bloggers will enjoy the London mayoral election as much as the Irish Presidential election last year?
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Originally Posted by Astral Peaks
