In the news

here's a pic of zac goldsmith and a dangerous, right wing extremist with whom he's shared a mist enshrouded bridge. probably pointing and laughing at a disabled person who is drowning.

#balance

Good enough for me.

Sian Berry did an AMA on Reddit yesterday and came across very well. I'm yet to understand what platforms Khan and Goldsmith are running on aside from "I'm better than that guy".

That's what really pisses me off about a lot of modern politics, and particularly the mayoral elections, bugger all policies and just a load of finger pointing at the other guy.

I'd be more than happy for neither of them to get in for the culture shock it might bring around.

What can mayor of London do beyond transport policy and force through building permission? (which is very important).

i'm no fan of Khan, his policies on cycling infrastructure provision are clearly paid for by the LTDA. but i'll vote for him, if only to keep that tory fuck away from city hall.

The below from Berry is interesting and telling:

In some previous years, London Greens have recommended people voted for Ken Livingstone second because we had a good working relationship with him on the Assembly. This year we set out some policy positions and offered both the 'frontrunner' candidates the chance to talk to us about them and seek our recommendation, but neither responded to this and I was surprised that Sadiq Khan said he didn't want our recommendation this year and didn't meet up. Because of this we have made no positive recommendation this year, and this is our statement about that: https://london.greenparty.org.uk/news/2016/04/19/greens-rule-out-recommending-second-preference-candidate-for-mayor/

Why not vote for Sian Berry? Tactical voting is arrogant, makes a mockery of democracy and can get in the sea.

i'm also a labour party member. and i don't particularly like the green party.

I think they can can be granted further powers from Parliament - the Greens for instance would seek more comprehensive London specific rent control powers.

So am I.

But I'll be voting for Sian for mayor.

Me too. I'm not voting for Sadiq 1st and maybe not at all.

ok :)

I'm voting for Caroline Pidgeon

Tactical voting is arrogant, makes a mockery of democracy and can get in the sea.

eh? The mayoral election allows for tactical voting by being instant-runoff, and is ultimately more democratic because of this. People can vote with their heart first (so you get a good sense of actual preference), and for the candidate who they think is least awful second.

even right wing hack Peter Oborne is putting the boot into ZG and his barrel scraping campaign.

Good luck making past the end of the 2nd paragraph.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/london-mayor-race-conservatives-game-religious-and-racial-divisions-538083247

the drawback of being born into extreme wealth

yeah I gave up

it's so un-selfaware it borders on parody.

Ah. Sorry I hadn't realised that the Mayoral election is STV (or similar).

Apologies.

never explain
never apologise

#tonsln4lyf

I'm going to strategically vote twice. Tory and Labour. That way I'm guaranteed to win.

In other news:

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/20/accuracy-is-for-snake-oil-pussies-vote-leaves-campaign-director-defies-mps

John Crace's sketches have been rather strange of late, though. He just seems to make things up without giving any indication they're made up. I have no doubt that Cummings' appearance on which this is based was not glorious, but this article is definitely not straightforward 'news' but satire. I also imagine it's not really in the tradition of parliamentary sketches (with which I'm not that familiar, though, having only tuned into them through Simon Hoggart's efforts quite recently).

I'm really hating Crace's sketches - yes, they're quite funny, but they don't tell us what really happened. You used to get so much insight from Simon Hoggart.

Snap. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJjShkGCa4c