Londoners- would you keep Boris or give Ken another go?

BJ.

Why is it only ever one of these two?

(I'm sure there is a good reason, it's just I live miles away in the sticks.)

Composhat -dear God . I don't know if that makes me feel more old or more despairing!

I'm no fan of Boris as previously stated but would have absoloutely anybody instead rather than Ken. He has been allowed to get away with so many unforgiveable things to allow him the opportunity again would be a travesty.

As Kate Bush put it in the 80s:

Who is the man we all need?
(KEN!!)
Who is the funky sex machine?
(KEN!!)
Who is the leader of the GLC?
(KEN!!)
Who is the man we all need?
(KEN!!)

Ken "love London"?

Does anybody on here actually REMEMBER the GLC?? And the money that Ken squandered before County Hall then was allowed to become a Marriott hotel???

Am now fan of Boris-but please folks not Ken again. If he was a stick of rock, he would read EVIL in the middle .

I'd rather see Jedward in charge frankly!

Bendy buses clog up traffic really badly, and were particularly bad for blocking pedestrian crossings - bus drivers who seem oblivious to the fact their buses are so damn long there is not enough room for them to stop anywhere without blocking a crossing every five minutes!

On a more serious note they are so long the front half doesn't know what the back half is doing - i had a friend who sat on the back of a bendy bus which swang out into the path of a lorry, the window smashed and went all over her - and the driver carried on driving!

It took about half a mile for the passengers at the back of the bus to get the message to the front to tell the driver to stop as there had been an accident. Very lucky for her that it was just emergency glass shattering and not a more serious accident.

The bendy bus accidents which ended in fatalities were just horrific - driver couldn't see when someone was stepping off the bus at the back exit and trapped them in the doors when driving off, half in & half out of the bus. I was so relieved when they were phased out. That's about the only BIG TICK I can give Boris.

Ken. Because he loves London and cares about it. Boris just loves the position and sees it as a stepping stone to being PM. Plus, Ken was part of getting the Olypmics here and whatever else you think about them I think it would be nice for him to be the mayor when they happen rather than Boris taking all the credit, as he's done for other things that were started under Ken but merely came to fruition under Boris (like the bike scheme). Yes, the bendy buses weren't great - though now I have child in a buggy I like them more as there's more space for buggies and wheelchair users!

Agree Dinky - just to make clear, I'd never willingly vote Labour now, my vote for Ken will be a strategic 'get Boris out' vote.

In any given circumstance, if there was a chance of kicking a Tory out, I'd vote for the candidate most likely to de-seat the Tory, unless it was UKIP or BNP, in which case I'd probably move somewhere else....

Definately Boris here. I can't stand Ken, I don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth. He is evading tax and won't stop unless he is elected Mayor!

I'm not a great fan of Boris (couldn't bring myself to vote for him last time....), but I cannot BEAR Ken, he is sleaze personified.

Can't see the point of voting for anyone OTHER than one of those two, so it will have to be Boris.

(sigh)

Like LydiaWickham, it is a vote against Ken, rather than a vote for Boris....

In the ideal world: Bin Boris. Kick out Ken. Let some new blood in to do the job.

In real life: go for Ken.

If the choice is Boris or Ken, then Boris every time, but as I voted in the last Mayoral election, it was a vote against Ken not really for Boris.

It's rather sad that he is such a vote loser and yet is still considered the best that the Labour party could russle up. One of these days the Labour party will realise that it doesn't matter how exciting your policies are, if no one trusts the person you're putting forward enough to vote for them, then you won't to do anything useful. Having Ken as the candidate is like saying "we can't be arsed actually running London."

And he's a tax dodger. Who slags off others for doing the same thing. (Just on a bigger scale.)

In fact all Ken's said is that he will close down Silveta Limited if he wins. In other words he will only stop tax avoiding if he becomes mayor again. There's principles for you.

Definitely Boris.

Ken is a hypocrite. Sounding off about people who use legal tax avoidance loopholes is fair enough as long as you aren't doing it yourself. Similarly moaning about Boris earning money from journalism - all the funds in the company Ken set up to avoid paying the top rate of tax have come from money earned from journalism.

For those (including Ken) who are calling the people who brought this to light "smearers" Ken only has to produce his tax returns and other evidence showing that Silveta Limited (directors Ken and Ken's wife) has some other purpose than to avoid paying full income tax and it will all go away. For some reason, Ken doesn't seem to want to do this. Make of that what you will.

Boris has kept most of his promises, Ken broke half of his when he was in office. The promise he is making about reducing tube fares hasn't been costed and I don't think it amounts to any more than a bribe personally.

There are 9 other candidates - what about ditching Boris AND Ken?? Can't stand Ken- like Boris but what about a change?

Why not vote for a Mum??? www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/feb/23/london-mayoral-election-siobhan-benita

Or is it too risky? At least with Boris/Ken you pretty much know whats going to happen next! (ps Alos love the new Routemaster - wish they'd never got rid of the origials!! We had an original one as our Wedding guest transport in 2009!

I'd never vote Tory, ever, and I loathe Labour too, cause of the war and Blair and all that, but Ken is the only Labour politician I've ever voted for.

I was living in London before the Mayoral elections started and since, mainly in South London, and the thing that Ken improved immeasurably in that time is the transport links - the East London Line extension, improved bus routes, night buses that run all night instead of 1 an hour, and he kept the bus fares at an affordable level.

The bendy buses were crap but everything else Ken did for transport I pretty much agree with. Boris got rid of the western Congestion Charge zone to please the Notting Hill brigade but then puts up fares for the rest of us mere mortals :(

On a personal level, I find them both fairly repellent, due to their philandering ways, but Ken at least has been honest about acknowledging his children from various relationships and plays a part in their lives. Boris's behaviour on the other hand I would find fairly hard to forgive.

That shouldn't affect my opinion of their abilities to do their jobs, of course, but I wish there was a candidate I could vote for whose personal lives didn't leave me slightly disappointed in them. I'm not going to vote Lib Dem again, ever, after the wretched Coalition & Clegg caving in over everything from tuition fees and the NHS, so I suspect my second preference vote will go to the Greens.

Ken's tax avoidance has disgusted me.

So Boris for me.

The actual cost of the (albeit beautiful) new routemaster bus has put a huge amount onto the cost of public transport which we now have to pay.
And the so called 'Boris bikes' were conceived and planned by Ken - Boris just didn't cut the funding when he came in.
My vote is for KEN

How about the lib. Dem. candidate? The ex-cop. Washisname?

Got problem with Ken when he slated Neil Kinnock in the Daily Mail after election. The two paired together Ken/Daily Mail are a particularly venomous combination.

Boris is to full of himself. Sorry, I sound so negative but none inspire!

Isn't it depressing that they only put forward novelty/clown politicians!

Surely there must be another novelty politician who could be mayor. I think it's a sign of Labour's general lethargy that they are allowing Ken to stand again.

I don't like Boris that much. Boris opposes the £400 a week housing benefit cap, has only cut council tax by a tiny amount, and hasn't stood up to the RMT bullies at all. He isn't much of a Tory, really.

On the other hand, I detest Ken. His thinly veiled homophobic dog-whistles, his support of Lutfur Rahman, Sheikh Qaradawi and Hugo Chavez, his tax-dodging, his nasty hypocrisy.

I will vote for Boris.