Would You (Re-) Elect Someone Like This?

Just a typical day in the life of the Greater London Assembly (GLA)...



This happened only last week, on 13^th February 2008.

The original is HERE, and the (five so far) comments are worth reading as well.

Why is it virtually always those on the left who behave so appallingly, even at formal meetings? They never seem to have respect for anyone, but plenty of excuses for their stance. We have had some of the same (though, to be fair, not usually as bad as this) in the Council Chamber from time to time.

One advantage we have, though, is our Standards Committee, with six non-Medway members (four completely independent, and two Parish Councillors), who do at least have some teeth, and monitor many of our meetings. There appears to be virtually nothing to keep Livingstone's antics under control. The Assembly has no real powers, and that was how the Blair Government of the time deliberately devised the structure of the London Mayoral set-up (they also agreed the strange voting system that allows the "wrong" candidate to be elected fairly easily, through so-called second preferences). It's a very poor advertisement for politics in general, and directly-elected mayors in particular.

Fortunately, on this occasion, the chairman eventually adjourned the meeting for five minutes, and hopefully business was then able to continue (I have no videos from later).

The bottom line, though, is that we really cannot allow this kind of behaviour to continue, and desperately need a change of London Mayor to someone who has respect for, and aims concerning, others than himself and his personal buddies. Sadly, the oddball electoral system could mean that either Ken gets back in (via the second preference votes) or even that Brian Paddick (who has only 7% support in the polls) could take it for the same reason.

Here's some more useful information on the present Mayor and what he has been able to get away with doing, using millions of pounds of Londoners' tax money. It's worth taking just two minutes to watch this. Although it was made last year, as it happens it's topical today as it mentions Fidel Castro who is currently in the news...



As matters stand, the London Mayoralty and GLA is a rubbish set-up with a rubbish voting methodology, so perhaps it isn't surprising that it tends to end up with rubbish results, including who ends up elected as Mayor. We shall see at the start of May 2008; but at the moment the only credible Mayor for London is Boris, and even that was at first something of a surprise.

We now know better, of course; and a mark of the real threat Boris is to the present cosy Labour-and-Ken status quo is the extent and nature of comments from the "usual suspects" and other obvious "sock-puppets" (as they are known) who are trying ever more desperately to paint Mr Johnson in a bad light -- largely manufactured, and nearly all containing at least some false slant.

By contrast, these same trolls (many of whom have turned out to be members of Livingstone's 96-person-strong publicity team, pretending to be members of the public!) have little if anything credible to say in favour of Livingstone's record of these past eight years.

London is just up the road a way from Medway, and it has impacts on many areas around the capital, including ours. We need to have a proper governmental structure in place there, so (just as with Europe) we here must keep our eyes on what is going on in London. If it really must have another tier of government (and I am not convinced of this) then make sure it works properly, has a vastly higher quality Mayor, and also one who is made properly accountable to the Assembly, which needs real teeth. Oh, and an enforced dismantling of Ken's hugely expensive personal publicity machine!

Only then can London become credible again. It certainly isn't now, under Red Ken.