All I want for my birthday...

[ciphergoth]

[Poll #1147509]

Comments

[djm4]

...probably. I'm definitely voting for Brian first (which will come as news to no one). Ken may get my second place to help keep Boris out, but it's not certain. I need to read up on the other candidates. John Bird (Independent/Big Issue) would certainly have been a possibility, but he's apparently dropped out; I'll certainly consider Siân Berry (Green). But it'll probably be Ken.

[topbit.livejournal.com]

I was talking to a guy with http://www.openrightsgroup.org/ on Friday he said how the May 1st was going to be all electronic count with scanning of votes. ORG are pressing for 0.1% of the votes to be recounted manually, to at least verify that the electronic counts are accurate, but they've been rebuffed with the reason that it would bring the wider results into dispute if they were not the same....

http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2008/01/22/devote-your-day-to-democracy-2-london-elections/

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

Argh. I truly believe that Ken is the only person likely to make any headway at all on sorting out the transport chaos caused by the Metronet fuck-up - which COULD have been avoided if he'd been allowed to do what he wanted with transport in the first place and not been forced into the mess of PPP! My only concern is whether he gets my first concern or my second, since the Greens are actually fielding a candidate this time round and Sian seems to have some good policies. As a more-than-nominal Green, I ought to consider voting for her, and it's annoying that Ken hasn't done a vote-trading deal with the Greens, as he did last time round - he shouldn't have annoyed them with that "cheap oil from Venezuela" thing!

I was sympathetic to Brian until I found out that he supported the extension of detention without to charge to 60 days. No way. No fucking way. Our civil liberties have been eroded quite enough already, thank you so much.

Boris? Seriously? The idea that's he's seen as the main opposition is laughable - he has barely any real policies, and those he has are horrifying. I think I'd rather cut off my own right hand than vote for the man who wants to REMOVE the requirement to build affordable housing in London! WTFF!! And his stupidity on transport issues shows he knows very little about them - I say this as someone who worked for TfL for 5 years, on and off.

[djm4]

I was sympathetic to Brian until I found out that he supported the extension of detention without to charge to 60 days.

Can you give me your source for that, please? It's in direct contradiction to what he says here. I have no trouble at all believing that a Mayoral candidate will say one thing to one set of people and another to another, but as I'm likely to be seeing him next week, it would be useful to have some hard ammunition to fire at him.

[barakta]

I'm not even sure if I'm eligible to vote in this, or how I'd find out. I probably ought to resolve this ASAP and find out...

[lovelybug.livejournal.com]

[barakta]

Ooh yes, as that would affect who I voted for too. I shall do some more RTFMing here. I know I'm /not/ voting for Boris at present.

[lizw.livejournal.com]

Quite. And if in fact he hasn't changed his mind and there is some meeja misinformation going on somewhere non-obvious, it would be good to alert him (or Alex) to that as well.

[reddragdiva]

I disagree with lots of things Ken says and does and consider him frequently a twat (let's turn the Oyster into a cross-London ID card! um, what?), but he will get my vote yet again because he's absolutely on the case regarding transport. Boris hasn't dared go near that one, I note.

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

I read it in the paper not too long ago - a month maybe? prob about 3 weeks - and I was a bit shocked, I'll grant you. Am trying to remember where I read it - possibly thelondonpaper, when they did a piece about the mayoral candidates? I don't think it was Time Out, cos they were doing it more recently.

Damn, brain not working, really can't remember where I read it but i am definitely not imagining it - have just asked A as well and he says he recalls reading it and thinks it was probably thelondonpaper but he can't be sure.

Not that that'd stand up in court, I grant you :¬/

Could you not just ask him his views of the 60 day detention?

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's pretty much my view. I don't adore Ken, but he knows his onions about transport. Also, he really is nuts about London.

[aegidian]

Well, I look at Ken and I think London; I look at Boris and I think Liverpool; I look at Brian and I think, y'know it'd be nice if he could win - but he's not gonna. I'll vote for Ken, he's not perfect, but he's better than the rest.

[djm4]

Could you not just ask him his views of the 60 day detention?

I'll certainly do that, but he's almost certain to tell me exactly what he told The Guardian (link above) and The Daily Telegraph, because if he told me any different, half his campaign team would walk out on the spot (I'm quite serious). That's why I'd like to have actual hard evidence of his apparent breathtaking about-turn. It's also why I find it very hard to believe - if he had said something like that in The London Paper it would have been huge news on the Lib Dem blogs I read.

Are you sure you weren't reacting to his qualified support for stop and search powers (same link as above)? This certainly caused a number of Liberals (including me) pause for thought, although it's worth noting that it is qualified support.

[lizw.livejournal.com]

Searching thelondonpaper website for "Paddick" produces only one hit, which is from 12 February and doesn't mention detention at all. Searching on Time Out for "Paddick detention" produces one hit, which turns out not to be relevant. The same search on This Is London produces this, where he opposes 90 days. "Paddick" on the Metro site gets 11 hits, one of which is this one, where he criticises Ian Blair for supporting detention beyond 28 days and accuses Blair of forcing him to make public statements in support of 90-day detention when he was still in the Met. Could that be what you were thinking of?

(Edited for bad HTML)

[lizw.livejournal.com]

Oh gawd, has Ken said that? Where? That might make a difference to whether I'm prepared to give him my second preference.

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

If you prefer Brian you might as well put him as first preference and Ken as second; I don't think there's much danger that the final runoff will be anything but Ken v Boris.

[skibbley.livejournal.com]

Excellent combination of icon and image

[conflux.livejournal.com]

Yep my reasoning exactly, so this is what I will be doing.

[aegidian]

I might as well, but can't be arsed. He can't win - so there's no point messing around.

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

Hm. I'm pretty sure it was a recent and positive statement, and also that it was about the new proposed longer detention period, NOT 90 days. Have gone thru about half our old papers and can't find it. We may still have it in the house, I am still looking, but my hopes are not high right now.

[lizw.livejournal.com]

We did ask two of his campaign team about this at Conference, and they didn't know of any such article and were quite vehement that this is not Brian's view. Do let us know if you find it, because I know the team would want to correct it.

[lizw.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't be so sure about that. If people vote in the mayoral election as they have been in Council by-elections since his candidacy was announced, he would get 38%. Of course, if a lot of people take this attitude, it becomes self-defeating...

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

As I said, I was a bit shocked when I read it. I shall try and find it, because I'm wondering if it was a WILDLY out of context quote or what.