Guest 716- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 4,010
Courtesy Guardian....precis
There are several unattractive elements to elected Mayors but.....Elected Mayors will destroy our shadowy civic mafias and
provide transparency.....
* chief obstacal is entrenched politicians eager to keep their noses in the trough.
* It`s easy to deplore Londons mayoralty and the westminster smart arse`s take every opportunity to do so.
* Local politicians are not up to scratch...they cannot be trusted with descrection and as a result even more power must be
taken away from them,their quality worsens and fewer people vote for them,stripping away any claim to more power.
* Mori Poll on ``truth telling``councillors score minus 27%....politicians in general score minus 66%.
* Mayors are no panacea to this.
* Electoral Mayors bring accounability back to the local people.
* The mandate must precede such a shift...then Westminster will find it hard to deny decentralisation of power..............
Paul Watkins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 9 Nov 2011
- Posts: 2,226
Interesting Reg. but what is your message or have you become an archive resource?
Watty
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
I'm not sure about elected Mayors myself. I used to like the idea of it, but the current spectacle on show in London has been seedy and unsavoury. Bitter feuding from a peculiar mix of candidates, none of which you would take home to meet your mother. Would you buy a used car from any of them? that used to be the criteria didnt it...might be wiser to go the Arthur Daley route or keep your wallet closed!
Off the top of my head I believe there is a Mayoral Debate on Sky News tonight at 8pm for those interested. There was a very poor half assed debate on Newsnight recently which we spoke about previously. I will be watching to see if the overall ugly situation redeems itself...or will there be yet more effin and blindin in the elevator afterwards.. should give a lift to the hovering media who love the seedier side.
#2. Agreed - there is a degree of surrealism on this forum at times!!
As for mayors......PaulB, I wouldn't buy a used gold bar off the two candidates you mentioned!!
I would vote for Boris for the comedy aspect. Politics has passed through the sureal barrier the economy is in new totally uncharted territory and double speak rules. I may as well be able to sit back and have a giggle whilst we all descend into the unknown
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
boris is the most entertaining normally, but the recent altercation with ken dragged politics into the gutter and would have turned off the voters.
i read yesterday of an unknown independent that has no money, backing or air time is gaining popularity by the day in the wake of the two idiotd in the frame.
in fact bookies are backing her to take third place from the dubious yellow candidate.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
I think thats probably the candidate Tom supported on the earlier thread Howard..the one with the unusual name, a combination of Irish-Spanish...Siobhan Benita. She is completely independent and outside of any official political support. Would be an amazing turn-up if she impacts.
She didnt even make it onto the earlier debate platform...got a 60 second slot afterwards.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
that's the one paul, cannot find the article to put up here but she gains volunteers by the day to do all the day to day election work.
Guest 703- Registered: 30 Jul 2010
- Posts: 2,096
Paul Watkins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 9 Nov 2011
- Posts: 2,226
She is now in third place & closing fast.
She has been deprived of air time by TV.
She is placed higher than Paddick,UKIP & OTHERS!
Watty
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
just a question now of which of the big 2 lose most votes to her.
Guest 656- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,262
Interesting to see that the Times Newspaper has dubbed her the Borgen candidate, I loved that programme
I like her and her policies, interesting that one of them is the Tube runs later on Friday and Saturday nights, ticks all round from the younger generation/students
Have we ever had a female Mayor of London, can't recall it.
Both my Daughters are interested in this as they live in London.
Paul Watkins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 9 Nov 2011
- Posts: 2,226
I fear she is too late in her bid.
Unless she gets some major injection of cash support & organisation she can't compete.
She looks refreshing & has a brilliant career CV.
Can she do a Galloway without the nasty overtones of his campaign?
Watty
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Speaking of Galloway he strode forth onto Question Time last night with all his usual beligerence. Aggressive and odd, but even more oddly of course the people of Bradford West voted for him. Much talk ensued about him ass licking Saddam Hussein from David Aaronovitch of the Times ..to loud applause. But can Labour overturn this blip in its scenario?
But back to the mayoral thing. Sky News had the first real debate last night. The one guy that came out best was Brian Paddick of the Libdems. Spoke more sense than the other two. Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone just strike each other out with..dare one say it...the tit for tat. Which tit and which tat you want to vote for depends on the particular camp you are already entrenched in.
The polls are close it seems but with Boris still favourite.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
courtesy of the telegraph.
Paul Massey is one of north-west England's best-known criminals. He has 25 convictions for offences including violence and possessing an offensive weapon.
In 1999, he was jailed for 14 years for stabbing someone in the groin and is under police investigation for money-laundering. Next week, he is a candidate to become the first directly-elected mayor of Salford, and some think he could win.
"I've been talking to a lot of people who've said they're going to vote for him, inexplicably," says Stephen Kingston, editor of the Salford Star news magazine. "People have had enough of politicians. They're looking for a candidate that's independent, and because he's independent, he's getting a lot of publicity."
Mr Massey admits never voting before, and preferred to deal with issues more directly in the past: he had two years added to his stabbing sentence after telling the officers who stopped him in his Rolls-Royce for drink-driving: "I'll get you all shot." He is now campaigning, with an apparently straight face, to bring down crime. And if he wins on May 3, he will gain almost total power over a £170 million council serving 230,000 people.
On the same day as Salford's first mayoral election, and London's fourth, 10 other cities will hold referendums on moving from a conventional council model to directly-elected mayors.
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
Just to show even reg and i can disagree(rarely) im not in favour of giving all the power to one individual(elected mayor)
needs a lot more thought, certainly far from democratic
labour locally made this mistake when they went for the cabinet system(supported by all three parties)
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Even in government the power does not rest in one individual.
I take the view that the driver to crack crime can often benefit from insider knowledge, quite literally. With the right safeguards and considerations in place I have no problem at all with offenders/ex-offenders working in the system and think our society has much to gain from it. And as we live in a democracy, apparently, I am free to vote for an ex-offender if I choose.And I would if I thought s/he was right for the job.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
bern;
but we saw with the local toilet fiasco one member(mr collor) had the power(alone ) to close them.
we have moved a long way where the public are questioning far more our elected representatives and rightly so.
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
courtesy of the telegraph
Manchester, Nottingham and Coventry have voted against the concept, and there are signs that Birmingham and others have also dismissed the plan.
The results are embarrassing for the Prime Minister, who had thrown his weight behind the changes in a series of speeches and interviews.
Mr Cameron had attempted to use the example of London Mayor Boris Johnson, saying he wanted a ''Boris in every city''.
However, critics argued that the proposals were unnecessary and would add another expensive layer of bureaucracy.
Manchester voted against by a margin of 53.24 per cent to 46.76 per cent, and Nottingham by 57.5 per cent to 42.5 per cent. Both cities had a low turnout of 24 per cent.