Reasons to vote for Ken, no.2 and a half

Well, he may not be good for the Jews, but he is good for London.

(Jonathan Freedland makes everything I tried to say here irrelevant. Read him.)

Keywords: Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson

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Aina said…
still not convinced but I modfied my Brian Paddick vote. I think my mayoral vote is now going to Sian (Green Party) for a variety of reasons! I will not vote for Ken again, but Sian is just as progressive, altough she may annoy the city of London with her proposed closure of the city airport. In any case since she will not be the mayor, due to most people being obsessed with Ken or Boris, she may represent a good strong voice in coalition with someone else...
Anonymous said…
bob: Adloyada has thoroughly trashed Freedland's rationale for Livingstone.

If I were a voter in the London municipal elections, I'd vote for the person I'd most like to see in office regardless of their chances of success. The only thing you can hold over a "politician for life" like Ken Livingstone is the prospect of being canned in the next election, and for an unelected pol like Boris Johnson, the prospect of raising money to pay off campaign debt and more for the next time out. The potential to defeat a well-entrenched incumbent also sends out positive messages to worthy candidates who aren't front runners and their supporters to work to elect them.
bob said…
Voting for the candidate you want to win!? That's surely not cricket!

I'm not convinced by Sian. First, she seems far too young and inexperienced. More importantly, her policies are too narrow. When asked by Time Out what her position on housing is, she said something about insulation for all. When there are so many people inadequately housed, when luxury developments are spreading across the capital like a cancer, when even ordinary middle class earners can't step on the housing ladder, when the drop in house prices is spreading unease - is insulation really the solution?

This is not a fault of Sian's, of course, so much as an index of the narrowness of Green politics.

I still think that the danger of Boris winning is great enough that a first preference for Sian is a dangerous vote.

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