London Mayoral Elections

[plebmonk]

Voting for London's mayor for the next 4 years is today, and despite the fact that most people on Newgrounds are american/underage, I was curious.

So, who are you voting for London?

The choices:
-King Newt
-Joke
-PC Plod
-Hippie

[ThePretenders]

At 5/1/08 09:11 AM, plebmonk wrote: Voting for London's mayor for the next 4 years is today, and despite the fact that most people on Newgrounds are american/underage, I was curious.

So, who are you voting for London?

The choices:
-King Newt
-Joke
-PC Plod
-Hippie

If I was 18 (I missed out by 3 months), I would vote for Ken Livingstone. He has a wealth of experience from leading the Greater London Council in the early 1980 to its ablolishment in the 1986, by Margaret Thatcher and 8 years of mayoral experience. Boris Johnson, on the other hand is a moron - a buffon of the highest order. I don't think anyone could take him seriously and would be a huge embarrasment to the city. The only reason most people are voting for Boris is because they recognise him from Have I Got News For You. What connection does Boris have to London? Born in New York and raised in Oxfordshire (where he is a MP) means that he is incapable of understanding the day-to-day affairs of many Londoners. This guy will abolish the congestion charge and then pursue an oxymoronic environmental policy of allowing more bike path on roads. He also promises the old classic Tory policy of improving police presence, even though the Tories opposed most of Labour's plans.

I'm no fan of New Labour but you must recognise that Ken is different to the national leadership. He brought in the congestion charge and promises to levy a £25 charge on the biggest cars. He brought in Cross-Rail, a high-speed railway linking West London with the most deprived areas in South East and East London with lobbying from my local MP, the project will not bypass my local area. He helped secure the Olympics, albeit way more expensive than planned.

Brian Paddick is the most suitable candidate concerning the high rate (that's if you believe the Daily Mail) of crime in London but we need to use his supporters second prefrence vote to stop Boris from taking City Hall.

[DingoTheDog]

Doesnt bother me provided you keep paying your "Tartan Tax" Mwuahahaaaa!

Fuck the English Democrats!

[DingoTheDog]

At 5/1/08 11:59 AM, simple-but-sandy wrote: VOTE BORIS!!!!!!!!!

If he wins he will be mayor for the 2012 Olympics, what better person to be in cahrge of the city then.

Yes, he's never kissed a man.............."yet"

[Korriken]

I vote for King Newt. i hate Pc Plods and hippies and i dont like jokes running things.

[ThePretenders]

At 5/1/08 02:23 PM, Victory wrote:

At 5/1/08 11:10 AM, ThePretenders wrote: I'm no fan of New Labour but you must recognise that Ken is different to the national leadership. He brought in the congestion charge

you're in favour of the congestion charge?

Yes.

a scheme which has not solved anything?

The price was set too low to have an effect. Motorists could still afford to go into London.

there is still loads of car jams in london.

It wasn't effective enough. The congenstion needs to increase a significant amount to discourage more people from driving in Central London. It could free up space for buses, mopeds, motorbikes, bicycles. What's the point of driving into Central London? Just use other means of transport.

[ZeroAsALimit]

C'mon the Boris!

I'm going to stay up and hope that the Conservatives win some more seats, at least.

[LazyPint]

I find it interesting that this one vote affects more people than the entire Scottish General Elections.

C'mon Boris! He was ace on Have I Got News for you and is therefor the logical choice.

[ZeroAsALimit]

At 5/1/08 06:16 PM, LazyPint wrote: I find it interesting that this one vote affects more people than the entire Scottish General Elections.

C'mon Boris! He was ace on Have I Got News for you and is therefor the logical choice.

Scotland doesn't matter, it's always been too left and too thick.

[DingoTheDog]

At 5/1/08 08:40 PM, ZeroAsALimit wrote:

At 5/1/08 06:16 PM, LazyPint wrote: I find it interesting that this one vote affects more people than the entire Scottish General Elections.

C'mon Boris! He was ace on Have I Got News for you and is therefor the logical choice.

Scotland doesn't matter, it's always been too left and too thick.

If the English Democrats (Yes a long shot and then some) were to win then Alec Salmond would be licking his chops. The more division between England and Scotland the more likely those SNP retards will be able to press for full Independance, something I believe will financially cripple us.

[LazyPint]

At 5/3/08 05:28 AM, DingoTheDog wrote: If the English Democrats (Yes a long shot and then some) were to win then Alec Salmond would be licking his chops. The more division between England and Scotland the more likely those SNP retards will be able to press for full Independance, something I believe will financially cripple us.

Oy! Show some national pride you!

Never mind any of this rational economical crapp, Independence is the best thing to give us some national identity.

[DingoTheDog]

At 5/3/08 05:59 AM, LazyPint wrote:

At 5/3/08 05:28 AM, DingoTheDog wrote:

Oy! Show some national pride you!

Never mind any of this rational economical crapp, Independence is the best thing to give us some national identity.

Its pride that dictates my opinion. The worst thing would to have the SNP gradually piss off the English enough to want rid of us and then for us to get so financially ruined that we end up crawling back to England begging them to take us back.

battle of bannockburn gives pride

SNP pissing off Westminster until they drop us doesn't.

[LampFace]

Boris won.

[blob21]

Well, Boris won.

I for one, now support Scottish independence. I'll settle for the SNP over the tories

[ThePretenders]

At 5/1/08 11:40 AM, DingoTheDog wrote: Doesnt bother me provided you keep paying your "Tartan Tax" Mwuahahaaaa!

Fuck the English Democrats!

Currently £100,000 is spent on a festival such as St. Patricks's Day whereass St. George's Day is mocked with a screening of 'The Life of Brian' in Trafalgar Square.

Well, boohoo. St. Patrick's Day is all about drinking and St. George's Day is about slaying dragon. I think we know which one people will choose. The English Democrats are loony conspiracist theorists that believe Scotland is secretly running the U.K.

[DingoTheDog]

All hail King Boris!

[D2Kvirus]

Three things about Thursdays Elections I really don't like:
1.) Boris won
2.) The BNP have a seat on the London Assembly
3.) The BNP are getting an increasing number of votes

The worst thing of all is that my neck of the woods saw Boris get half the vote, and the BNP rank 4th overall - luckily overall the Greens were Best of the Rest, but it worries the piss out of me that people are turning to the BNP. So, people are being seduced by the policies of a party who regularly have their members charged for racist and anti-Semetic sloganeering, and have copies of Mein Kampf under their beds?

Great, the country is returning to being the shitheap it was in the mid-to-late 70's.

[Loch-Ness-Monster]

At 5/3/08 08:35 AM, MickTheChampion wrote: You can tell the difference between the SNP and the Tories?

That's true, the SNP seems to be more concerned with crawling to big business like the rest of the parties, sucking up to the CBI, rather than improving the situation for the people. Then just look at the bus thing. The SNP promised to regulate the buses, but that was mysteriously dropped from their manifesto when they recieved a £500,000 donation from Stagecoach boss and everyone's favourite homophobe Brian Souter. Initially I expected a little better (But not too much) from the SNP, but they're for sale just like the rest of them.

At 5/4/08 01:17 PM, D2Kvirus wrote: The worst thing of all is that my neck of the woods saw Boris get half the vote, and the BNP rank 4th overall - luckily overall the Greens were Best of the Rest, but it worries the piss out of me that people are turning to the BNP. So, people are being seduced by the policies of a party who regularly have their members charged for racist and anti-Semetic sloganeering, and have copies of Mein Kampf under their beds?

I doubt that people are being seriously seduced by the more overt racism of the BNP, it's probably more of a protest vote. Although I wouldn't vote for them, I can understand why a lot of ordinary people might be tempted to. The main parties have become barely distinguishable and have only treated ordinary people with contempt. The blame lies with them.

As for the result, I'm indifferent. I hate Red Ken and am glad to see him gone, but I don't care much for Boris either. I probably wouldn't have bothered voting. Local elections over here are in a few days and I'm too young to vote. If I wasn't I wouldn't bother anyway, there seems little point.

[D2Kvirus]

At 5/4/08 02:49 PM, Loch-Ness-Monster wrote:

At 5/4/08 01:17 PM, D2Kvirus wrote: The worst thing of all is that my neck of the woods saw Boris get half the vote, and the BNP rank 4th overall - luckily overall the Greens were Best of the Rest, but it worries the piss out of me that people are turning to the BNP. So, people are being seduced by the policies of a party who regularly have their members charged for racist and anti-Semetic sloganeering, and have copies of Mein Kampf under their beds?

I doubt that people are being seriously seduced by the more overt racism of the BNP, it's probably more of a protest vote. Although I wouldn't vote for them, I can understand why a lot of ordinary people might be tempted to. The main parties have become barely distinguishable and have only treated ordinary people with contempt. The blame lies with them.

I cannot fathom why so many people voted BNP as a protest vote, considering that both Brown and Cameron have spoken out against them. When you get two people (allegedly) opposed on the political spectrum uniting on something (Blair and Menzies Campbell also spoke out against them, meaning at one point all three major political parties actually agreed on something), that's usually a hint that perhaps they might be onto something.

There were plenty of opportunities for protest votes on the ballot - Green, Left List, UKIP (who used the protest vote to gain some publicity, but little to no influence, in 2001-3), Christian Choice, English Democrat...oh fuck it, Green, Left List, or a bunch of nutters and scumbags.

The blame doesn't lie with the parties, because people should be intelligent enough to know what the BNP represent, and voting them as a protest vote is incredibly stupid - look how it panned out.

As for the result, I'm indifferent. I hate Red Ken and am glad to see him gone, but I don't care much for Boris either. I probably wouldn't have bothered voting. Local elections over here are in a few days and I'm too young to vote. If I wasn't I wouldn't bother anyway, there seems little point.

I voted Paddick, witjh Ken as #2 - I'll leave it to you to consider if that was a tactical vote or not.

[Loch-Ness-Monster]

At 5/4/08 03:16 PM, D2Kvirus wrote: I cannot fathom why so many people voted BNP as a protest vote, considering that both Brown and Cameron have spoken out against them. When you get two people (allegedly) opposed on the political spectrum uniting on something (Blair and Menzies Campbell also spoke out against them, meaning at one point all three major political parties actually agreed on something), that's usually a hint that perhaps they might be onto something.

If I were going to vote for a small party, the leaders of the main parties speaking out against it would make me all the more determined to vote for it! I have absolutely no respect for the leaders of the main parties, so their opinions wouldn't sway me in any way. If anything, I would consider it to be an indication that the small party may actually be able to challenge the dominance and vested interests of the established political class. If you hate the main parties there's no point in voting for a smaller party that's pretty much the same, you might as well not bother voting. Also, the idea of Brown and Cameron being opposed on the political spectrum is laughable.

There were plenty of opportunities for protest votes on the ballot - Green, Left List, UKIP (who used the protest vote to gain some publicity, but little to no influence, in 2001-3), Christian Choice, English Democrat...oh fuck it, Green, Left List, or a bunch of nutters and scumbags.

True, but the best way to scare the shit out of the main parties is to vote the BNP. That still wouldn't be enough to ever get me to vote for them, but I can see why people do.

[D2Kvirus]

At 5/4/08 03:43 PM, Loch-Ness-Monster wrote:

At 5/4/08 03:16 PM, D2Kvirus wrote: I cannot fathom why so many people voted BNP as a protest vote, considering that both Brown and Cameron have spoken out against them. When you get two people (allegedly) opposed on the political spectrum uniting on something (Blair and Menzies Campbell also spoke out against them, meaning at one point all three major political parties actually agreed on something), that's usually a hint that perhaps they might be onto something.

If I were going to vote for a small party, the leaders of the main parties speaking out against it would make me all the more determined to vote for it! I have absolutely no respect for the leaders of the main parties, so their opinions wouldn't sway me in any way. If anything, I would consider it to be an indication that the small party may actually be able to challenge the dominance and vested interests of the established political class. If you hate the main parties there's no point in voting for a smaller party that's pretty much the same, you might as well not bother voting. Also, the idea of Brown and Cameron being opposed on the political spectrum is laughable.

And if you had no idea about the BNP, their policies, their attitudes and their reputation, you have no right to be on the Electoral Roll.

Part of me also believes they got so many votes because they were first on the ballot, so once again if people are going to tick the first name they see to do their ballot rather than know who they were voting for (which is a bit hard as theysent out booklets of all the candidates two weeks prior), again they do not deserve to be on the Electoral Roll.

I repeat, if the leaders of all three main parties agree that the BNP are a bad thing, maybe that means that the BNP are a bad thing. Ever think of that?

Besides, that logic reeks of the crap the UKIP were spouting in 2002-4, trying to make themselves out to be some forbidden fruit that Labout didn't want you to vote for - Labour, Conservative and the Lib Dems justshrugged them off,and they duly faded into the background amidst infighting and breakaways.

There were plenty of opportunities for protest votes on the ballot - Green, Left List, UKIP (who used the protest vote to gain some publicity, but little to no influence, in 2001-3), Christian Choice, English Democrat...oh fuck it, Green, Left List, or a bunch of nutters and scumbags.

True, but the best way to scare the shit out of the main parties is to vote the BNP. That still wouldn't be enough to ever get me to vote for them, but I can see why people do.

No it isn't - spoiling your ballot is the best way to scare them, as spoiled votes are counted in the final figures. If, say, 5% of ballots are spoiled that is the same figure that voted BNP - and the BNP wouldn't have a seat on the London Assembly, would they?

I can see plenty of reasons people vote BNP - intolerance and racism top the list.

[butsbutsbutsbutsbuts]

I'm glad the conservatives won, this will mean an increase in economic freedom which will boost the economy and open up more opportunities for people.

[D2Kvirus]

At 5/7/08 01:01 PM, butsbutsbutsbutsbuts wrote: I'm glad the conservatives won, this will mean an increase in economic freedom which will boost the economy and open up more opportunities for people.

It also means that somebody was smart enough to realise that if they wanted to scare the shit out of Labour, they shouldn't vote BNP: they should vote Conservative...