I don't live in London, and I don't vote on principle, but ...
... if I did I couldn't bring myself to vote for Ken. He has turned London in to the most surveilled city in the world: Oyster, CCTV, ANPR - and that's the stuff we know about. He's not ignorant or merely cavalier about the privacy implications of that stuff, he thinks they're actually benefits. He's keen on ID cards. IMO, his attitude to terrorism has made London a far less safe place. Thanks to Ken, Ian Blair is still Commissioner of the Met. NO2ID hosted a hustings on Tuesday last week - all the major candidates turned up, except Ken.
There's other stuff not to like as well - e.g. his habit of picking personal fights and pursuing them with public money, and his tendency to gaffes. But in fairness that's hardly stuff where Boris excels.
If I had a gun put to my head and I was forced to choose, I'd much rather have a bumbling upper-class twit than an old-school Stalinist efficiently going about extending the power of the state over the individual.
Let's just imagine that at some point in the next term of office, the Mayor is approached by the Met and/or the "security" forces and asked to agree to the clandestine wholesale abandonment of what few barriers are in place to misuse of the personal data controlled by the Mayor's office on some burning-Reichstag pretence. I think there's more than an outside chance that Boris would - in a blustering and blundering way - try to say no. Ken would think it a good idea and approve it. If he hasn't already.
In any election, there are essentially two slogans: "more of the same", and "time for a change". I really don't want more of the same, thank you.
If you think that Johnson can't win, I invite you to put your money where your mouth is: Betfair are offering roughly 2:1 odds against a Livingstone victory.
Fair enough, but I always maintain that betting on things you want to happen is silly. (Unless you have specialist knowledge that the betting market - and the betting market-makers - don't.) If you don't want Boris to win, bet that he will win - at least that way you'll have some cash to drown your sorrows if he does. If he doesn't, you'll be glad that you've lost a bit of money.
And if you want to bet, far better to do it with friends so it's a zero-sum-game, than to bring in a third party intermediary who'll ensure they get their cut regardless of outcome.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-04-13 12:42 pm (UTC)... if I did I couldn't bring myself to vote for Ken. He has turned London in to the most surveilled city in the world: Oyster, CCTV, ANPR - and that's the stuff we know about. He's not ignorant or merely cavalier about the privacy implications of that stuff, he thinks they're actually benefits. He's keen on ID cards. IMO, his attitude to terrorism has made London a far less safe place. Thanks to Ken, Ian Blair is still Commissioner of the Met. NO2ID hosted a hustings on Tuesday last week - all the major candidates turned up, except Ken.
There's other stuff not to like as well - e.g. his habit of picking personal fights and pursuing them with public money, and his tendency to gaffes. But in fairness that's hardly stuff where Boris excels.
If I had a gun put to my head and I was forced to choose, I'd much rather have a bumbling upper-class twit than an old-school Stalinist efficiently going about extending the power of the state over the individual.
Let's just imagine that at some point in the next term of office, the Mayor is approached by the Met and/or the "security" forces and asked to agree to the clandestine wholesale abandonment of what few barriers are in place to misuse of the personal data controlled by the Mayor's office on some burning-Reichstag pretence. I think there's more than an outside chance that Boris would - in a blustering and blundering way - try to say no. Ken would think it a good idea and approve it. If he hasn't already.
In any election, there are essentially two slogans: "more of the same", and "time for a change". I really don't want more of the same, thank you.
If you think that Johnson can't win, I invite you to put your money where your mouth is: Betfair are offering roughly 2:1 odds against a Livingstone victory.
Fair enough, but I always maintain that betting on things you want to happen is silly. (Unless you have specialist knowledge that the betting market - and the betting market-makers - don't.) If you don't want Boris to win, bet that he will win - at least that way you'll have some cash to drown your sorrows if he does. If he doesn't, you'll be glad that you've lost a bit of money.
And if you want to bet, far better to do it with friends so it's a zero-sum-game, than to bring in a third party intermediary who'll ensure they get their cut regardless of outcome.