SE23 Forum

I've been wondering about this, too, Sherwood.

To answer for myself this same question I've been connecting the dots between two things. The first is a recent programme on the radio and the second is meeting a most intelligent young man in the last year. (Ha! I sound like The Lovely Wobbly Randy Old Ladies, squealing: 'Ooh, young man!' from Harry Enfield and Chums.)

Firstly, the radio programme. I listened to Radio 4's "Any Questions?" on Friday 7th March from the Royal College of Music, London. Ken Livingstone was a panellist. (Click on this LINK to Any Questions? for the transcript.)

Ken put in a fine oratory performance and displayed a good deal of Ken-style humour with a superbly vociferous audience. He was in his element. He must have loved it. I did as this was good hustings stuff. Great hustings stuff, actually.

I got to thinking about how many of these vastly skilled old-fashioned hecklers are paid to be there. These people weren't the timid kind and their exceptional skill at heckling had me musing on this. (I love a good heckler!) I presume it happens that some of them may get paid to heckle. Although I don't know for certain.

And onto the second thing I mentioned above, meeting the intelligent, well educated, and bookish but finger-on-the-pulse young man. A friend of mine introduced me to him and he did a job that I had never heard of before but was instantly intrigued.

It seems that political groups employ some of the bright young things to search the web, like Agents from The Matrix, to seek out misinformation on the one hand and, maybe to reinforce information that serves their masters on the other. These agents then provide reports to management to be acted on if discerned it is required. (A good job, I have to confess. One that would require an astute grasp of such things as the political scene, law and popular culture to name but a few.)

It's highly likely that their watchful eyes have scanned this thread.

To put it into another older context...if we were living in L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz book, London would be The Emerald City and the people I'm talking about would be the Wicked Witch of the West's Winged Monkeys!

Will Boris win, Sherwood? I suppose I may consider, does he have more Winged Monkeys?

I think he has a far greater chance than most of the other offered candidates.
As for beating Ken, who knows. But if the majority are to be believed, Ken should not get back in.

Im not too sure where the scary stories of Boris come from. I have done much digging, and other than a few misquotations, and some poorly chosen statements, I cant find much.

I like his ability to speak his mind, and his not being afraid to offend with his opinions. No PC talk, just plain talk.
Also I like a good few of the things in his manifesto.

"No PC talk just plain talk"

That's right, just invoke the spectre of PC and you don't actually have to say anything.

I don't think even Johnson would claim that he offers "plain talk". When a man is tired of London, he slopes off back to Henley for a couple of days.

As I walked into HOP station this morning, I was handed a leaflet. It was trying to persuade me to vote for Ken, not Boris. The reason? Becasue Ken is peace loving and Boris isn't, and given that the majority of Londoners are peace loving, we really only have one option (to vote for Ken), cause Paddick won't win.

What evidence is given that Ken is peace loving and Boris isn't? Oh, that's easy - Ken voted against Iraq and the development of nuclear weapons, whilst Boris voted in favour of these things.

So is it wrong for a country to defend itself? Ok, you might not agree that nuclear is the way to go, but then why not say that?

Was it wrong to go to war in Iraq? We could have the debate, but you are allowed to be 'peace loving' and still think war is necessary in some circumstances.

You could do worse than give this a try:

http://www.votematch.co.uk/london/

Interesting to see results - mine said I should probably vote for Ken, but Paddick rating was almost the same, then Sian Berry, and the rest were way off my views. Interestingly, of the 10 candidates, my match with Boris was the third worst only followed by Winston Something-or-other and the BNP.

That's just given me a few more reasons not to vote for Ken

2 weeks to go and I have not had a single leaflet or caller to try and persuade me which way to vote. Don't political parties do this stuff anymore, or is it just me they are avoiding??

Recieved Kens rather vile letter yesterday. What and a***. If he spent more time focusing on what he plans to do and less on name calling he may get somewhere. Whoever thought up that letter should be employed by Robert Mugabe.

Try this one too, it may give you entirely different results:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/fixed_articl...44,00.html

Snazy, how are you assessing what the majority thinks? Opinion polls? Newspaper coverage? Your own personal opinion? That of the people you know?

We're all entitled to our own opinion but the only people able to accurately state what the majority thinks will be the returning officers on election day.

I'm voting for Ken as there is no one else standing who loves , lives and breathes London the way he does. You may not particularly like the man as an individual but you can hardly say he hasn't done a good job, or hasn't London's and your average Londoner's best interests at heart. His speech post 7/11 came from the heart and captured the mood of us all. That was true leadership when the chips were down. More than could be said of Blair at the time.

Paddick is a strong candidate but its not his time. Boris would be catastrophic. Ken deserves another term and we need him in the job for the next few years. It will probably be his last as a fresh face will probably be a good thing by then. But for now lets stick with what we know would be good for us, even if its not exactly what we ' would like'.

Are all the main candidates committed to continuing the additional council tax charge towards the Olympics?

If Ken was elected a third time is possible his people in the back office will become complacent and corrupted by the feeling they are invincible?

Then vote for Paddick first because he cannot win and then Ken second choice. It will let him know that he needs to be more careful in future.

Well said Roz!

You might enjoy this http://www.stopboris.org/

His speech post 7 July was written in 2001, by the way. I know the bloke who wrote it. It's a great speech, but to say it 'came from the heart' is a bit much.

Red67, I dont quite understand why you support a campaign to "Stop Boris". Why dont you just vote for Ken if you dont want Boris in?

7/11? I must have corner shops on the brain. Of course I meant 7/7....

BTW, his speechwriter wasn't a guy called Jonathan, was it?

i think the site i posted is a pretty good round up of all the husting events going on, and as the person blogging says, it's not great to have to have 'negative campaigning' but these are worrying times if people are seriously considering voting for an idiot like Johnson. Anything that gets the (fact based) information about his total unsuitability for the job circulated is good i say.
Every time you buy a copy of the Evening (double) Standard you are 'supporting' their utterly biased anti-Ken campaign!

I have every intention of voting for Ken, as i think he's done a superb job over all and i have supported him from day one. I have even donated art works to campaign fundraising auctions for Ken in the past (yes, i'm one of the many artists resident in FH) so i can assure you that i really have put my money where my mouth is.

I think Ken is struggling this time. But I do think he does a good job. The thought of Boris running London is scary!

Roz, after disagreements over the Greyhound and Forest Hill Pools I'm delighted there is something we can agree on. I may have a few misgivings, but there is no alternative.