Benny Bunter

Well-known member
back where i come from boris is synonym for an enormous turd

Yep, sounds about right :D

What a tosspot that man is. I don't even find him funny anymore, he's just a bad joke.
I can't pretend to care all that much cos I'm not from London, but I certainly wouldn't want him to be mayor of my town.
 

hucks

Your Message Here
I live in London and I'm pretty concerned that he's going to win - apparently the recent polls have him significantly ahead. It's totally crazy - his popularity comes from him being a buffoon. It's like H'Angus the Monkey or something
 

andrewdigits

andrew.digits
Yougov study taken @ 20th - 25th March 2008:
Boris Johnson - 47%
Ken Livingstone - 37%
Brian Paddick - 10%
Other - 5%

It does look likely he's going to make it in.
 

noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
I refer you to my recent post in the 'next generation' thread regarding the idea that people are able to recognise and act on their best interests. ;)
 

john eden

male pale and stale
There is a lot of ill will towards Ken, stemming from stuff like the congestion charge and also the enormous amount of bad press and mud slinging from the evening standard et al.

I've spoken to people who don't live in London about him and the daily mail reading ones think London is mental for having him as a mayor. It sort of reinforces their view that we're mad to live here - all being mugged by swan eating eastern europeans and living in fear of being bombed in our beds by islamic terrorists.
 

UFO over easy

online mahjong
There is a lot of ill will towards Ken, stemming from stuff like the congestion charge and also the enormous amount of bad press and mud slinging from the evening standard et al.

it's all totally beyond me but I swear stuff like the congestion charge is one of the main reasons to vote for ken, not against him. isn't it widely recognised as a success?

i saw a photo of boris and cameron walking side by side yesterday, it was like a competition to see who could look more smug. i'm absolutely desperate to throw a custard pie or two at both of them
 

john eden

male pale and stale
it's all totally beyond me but I swear stuff like the congestion charge is one of the main reasons to vote for ken, not against him. isn't it widely recognised as a success?

Well I think it's been successful but I don't own a car. If you listen to Jeremy Clarkson et al you would think the whole thing was outrageous - people pay road tax, VAT on their new cars, tax on petrol, insurance - and now this!

Things will start to get very interesting if anyone is brave enough to try and factor in the real environmental costs of people driving everywhere.
 

lamp post

Wild Horses
or if you take into account that the congestion charge goes towards funding public transport; keeping costs down, improving services etc. i was on a night bus last night and i saw a ken advert saying that 3 new bus routes have been created in the last year. that's pretty amazing
 

Pestario

tell your friends
The congestion charge lead to a 14% reduction in journey times for those entering the central zone and reduced variability in journey times.

Bus patronage increased from 90k pre charge to around 116k after. Trains didn't change much.

I'm all for the congestion zone and dread what Boris would do to it.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
I agree with you both, but some car drivers are pathological about it.

I remember listening to a radio phone-in when the idea was being introduced and there was a guy going mental on there: "well they say that all the money is going to go on pubic transport, but what good is that to me? I drive everywhere!"

I think it's a smart move for the tories to run Boris - they've identified that there is something sentimental about Londoner's and their support for Ken and they hope to tap into that with loveable buffoonish Boris who is so funny on 'have I got news for you'.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
This thread is a great opportunity for me to post this, which I've been meaning to for a while:

In the mini-library we have in the research group here (mainly physics textbooks and programming manuals) there are a few novels and other odds and ends that have been left here by geeks long gone, and one of them is a very trashy-looking '60s sci-fi adventure story called Agent of Chaos by Norman Spinrad (who? exactly) with the following blurb on the inside cover -

Fifty men would pay with their lives to destroy the Hegemonic Council, but Boris Johnson, while he felt regret, felt no guilt. Like everyone else involved with a mission, they were volunteers who knew exactly what they were doing...

The front of the book says The Great Tyrant ruled the solar system with absolute terror. Only one man dared to fight back.

I reckon Boris is going to lead a mission to sabotage the Great Tyrant's scheme to levy a charge of 10 billion Hyper Credits for any spacecraft coming within the asteroid belt...
 
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crackerjack

Well-known member
thank fuck for this

Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson are locked in an extraordinarily tight race to be London's next mayor, according to an exclusive Guardian/ICM poll of the city's voters. The battle for the biggest directly elected job in British politics could hardly be more dramatic, with Johnson holding a wafer-thin advantage over his Labour opponent.

The poll - the only one carried out by a national newspaper using established techniques - suggests Johnson could pull off a sensational victory on May 1 over the incumbent Livingstone, who won comfortably in 2000 and 2004.

But the outcome is far from decided.

Today's poll gives Johnson a two-point lead overall, at 51% to 49%, once second preferences have been allocated under London's alternative voting system. That is the narrowest possible margin of victory.

Johnson is the first choice of 42% of London voters, against 41% for Livingstone. Other candidates - including the Liberal Democrat former policeman Brian Paddick, on 10% - stand no chance of winning.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/apr/02/livingstone.johnson

Hopefully when Johnson comes out from under the rock he's been hidden under his lead will go into reverse.
 

jonny mugwump

exotic pylon
good god, its looking VERY bleak- moved down here 7 months ago and will have to move the fuck out in 2 months by the look of it- what a tosser!!!
 
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