#VoteBike - 2012 London Mayoral elections

So more "smoothing traffic flow"
Sounds good
Smooth is good
bikes are traffic

Green coming 3rd counts for nothing.

Other than shaming the lib dems.

Dear BoJo,

Please stick to Have I Got News For You and your shite newspaper ballbagery. Failing that please do a better job this time please.

WAC,

SP

As I said, Livingstone lost it.

Johnson's victory with 50% of the vote represents the support of fewer than 20% of registered voters. One wonders what per cent age of eligible voters are registered. Johnson hardly has a mandate and certainly does not have popular support.

Livingstone lost it.

Depends how you look at the stats.. According to a chap on the BBC, Livingstone's votes correlate with the number who voted for labour in the assembly. Johnson on the other hand is way above the wider conservative votes.

From these results, I don't think an alternative Labour candidate would have done much better.

The turn out was down. A better candidate might have increased the turnout.

Might..

2nd preferences only have the same weight if your first choice isn't in the top 2.

and your 2nd is.

My response was explaining what would have happened if the people who voted Green 1st pref and Ken 2nd did so the other way around. As I said, in that case, all of those green 2nd preferences would have counted for nothing.
And i was agreeing with you and filling in a different possible miss-conception.

A worse candidate might have knocked the Labour share even more. I'm happy to vote for Labour councillors, but I would have really had to hold my nose to vote David Miliband or Oona King as mayor.

Annoyed the BBC cut away from Siobhan Benita's speech - i was curious to hear it.

They had to do that to avoid letting the fascist shit have his say.

Well thank God for that - why on earth the Labour party persisted with putting Ken up again I just don't know - I like Boris, but if Labour had had Oona or just anyone who wasn't a self interested madman they might well have kicked Boris out.

I know most of you will disagree but I really hope Ken is gone for good, andnthat Labour now look to get a decent candidate lined up for next time.

The turn out was down. A better candidate might have increased the turnout.

Was up on the pre boris elections.

The turn out was down. A better candidate might have increased the turnout.

Clive, you're just being irrational. Turnout was down all over the country, not just in London. That was not a factor attributable to Livingstone alone. Labour have always struggled to get their potential voters to turn out for elections, particularly local elections. You saw a good example of that in 2010, when the general election coincided with London local elections. Labour did very well then.

As far as I can tell, the only issue that played a real role in this election was the tax stuff. The key mistake that Livingstone made was not to use different arrangements and then trying to get to Johnson on the personal level. The gap was relatively small, and accusations of hypocrisy are the worst thing that can happen to any politician. I'm certain that Livingstone would have won if it hadn't been for that.

There is so much wrong with politics today and very few people are still capable of decoding anything or most of what's happening politically (I don't include myself in that number), so that it probably comes down to simple, personal things that everybody can understand even more than before.

I've always been shocked by how election campaigns are conducted in this country, and this was another ignoble example.

The simple fact is more people think Ken is a cunt than Boris, and Boris can pull in more cross party support than Ken, who no one would put down as a first choice unless they are reselotely Labour.

To me the Mayor of London has to be the best candidate, i don't care what party they come from.

Ken is considered a massive cunt by everyone who doesn't vote Labour, and a lot that do, where as Boris appeals beyond the Tory vote.

The bigger problem is both are more interested in having the Job Title than in doing a proper job.

Out of interest, why do you like Boris Johnson?

Because I went to Public school and can't relate to commoners.

No, not why does Clive not like Ken, why do you like Boris?

Because he abolished the western CCZ extension, and in the process saved my business about 40k a year.

And because he's not Ken

I've always been shocked by how election campaigns are conducted in this country, and this was another ignoble example.
How would you like to see it done?

BoJo's win wasn't the crushing victory many were projecting. To be honest If you have the tacit backing of two free papers and can still only manage a victory of 3 points there's a hell of a problem with your campaign.

How would you like to see it done?

Absolutely no personal bullshit. Polite and respectful campaigning. Issues, issues, issues, discussed at a useful level. A commitment to a shared idea of the good as opposed to different ones. No manipulation. Honesty and openness.

Later, a clear understanding of the role of opposition as complementary to government, i.e. contributing good ideas and government examining them carefully without party-political bias.

I could go on.

We need the personal bullshit, it shows the true character of the candidates.

Polite and respectful doesn't engage the populace, especially when policy isn't engaging them in the first place.

Labour would have won this withoutn Ken - he's just to odious an individual for any tory to consider breaking ranks and voting for.

^ No it doesn't. It just shows the PR machines in operation.

We need the personal bullshit, it shows the true character of the candidates.

No, you're a bullshit. :)

^ No it doesn't. It just shows the PR machines in operation.

Exactly my point - the personalisation of campaigning allows you to see the poin where a candidate will draw the line, and how far they will go across that line to get the power they crave.

Just because someone gets personal with you, doesn't mean you have to lower yourself to their level. Again to the apolitical bystander Ken dug himself a grave with his Tax mumblings