So who do you want to be the next Mayor of London?

[Theinjuredcleaner]

It's Count Binface/Lord Buckethead for me. I don't think he could do a worse job than his predecessors.

I was responding specifically to the post about not being able to pop into London for free on a Sunday to visit museums.

Even as somebody who thinks that affordable ULEZ compliant second hand cars are available, I can see that the concern is about traveling within the outer zones, not driving to the V&A.

Sorry - missed that

I assure you as a born and bred non white Londoner Sadiq Khan is NOT popular amongst typical Londoners. His fans are home counties born well to do professionals who don't see an issue with making working class peoples lives difficult.
People want more focus on tackling crime and gangs and their kids falling victim to violent crime or being groomed.
Police under Khan waste resources on people caught speeding just over 20mph on main roads than actually doing the important stuff.
The police aren't happy and the people aren't happy.
Khan has to go and I'm currently looking at who I can give my vote to.

Yep.

There are more than 1500 road deaths each year on UK roads, so it might be that roads policing is actually quite important.

That’s a powerful comment.

There does seem to be a rather unpleasant tendency to speak on behalf of BAME Londoners by the self appointed ‘progressive’ white middle class in the city.

I'm talking about 20 mph roads where they are not at all necessary.
The number of YOUNG PEOPLE being murdered many of whom have no connection to a gang in London is higher than road deaths.
Ditto far too much sexual harassment, burglaries and violent crime. Unacceptable that the police do not have the time and resources to deal with this.
We Londoners deserve to live in safety and to not fear for our teens walking around and enjoying their young lives in peace.
No, many of you people who focus on roads on cycling, DO NOT CARE about crime and the impact it has on people's lives and mental health.
There is a cost of living crisis and it is fueling violent crime and even working in a supermarket is dangerous.
We need focus on this, not roads and cycle routes of which we have many.
All of my family cycle FYI.

Please look at the quote history. I was responding to someone who was complaining about having to pay to drive to the museums on a Sunday.

Agree, though what I think really needs to happen is not within the remit of London or any other devolved administration.

Start by ending SUVs, proper medical requirements for a licence, no self-certification at 70 or any age, and if you have enough points for a ban, no exemptions.

To be honest, it is a really dismal selection of candidates. Agree that Tory woman is batshit! the Lib Dem guy on the ITV 'debate' opened by saying he had saved elephants and was campaigning against Vladimir Putin. Sadiq, well I am not a huge fan and was miffed at the time he was spending more time grandstanding or trying to on the world stage than doing his job in London (when in NYC for example) and the Green lady with the pink hair just doesn't project the professional image that London needs.

I live in a posh bit of NE London and the LTN's have caused havoc. I don't drive myself and use public transport but the high streets near to where I live are bumper to bumper of idling cars and on the rare taxi journeys that I make, I have had to spend more to circumnavigate. It just pushes the traffic onto other roads so it doesn't really solve the problem. Crime and especially knife crime in my borough is off the charts. My area is full of thieves who come in from other places to steal/burgle. I want to see police, many more police and visibly so in all parts of London as a deterrent and also re-open the local police stations. We need proper police who know their patch, talk to the shopkeepers and community, know who the bad eggs are. I guess that like many people, I want an end to waste and money spent on spin and PR and stupid projects that look like crap a couple of years alter and just focus on getting the basics right - policing, housing, greening the city with trees, cleaning up, tackling low level ASB before it develops into something else, services for the elderly/disabled etc

I just don't get the feeling that anything is going to change for the better and with the shower that we have been offered...too depressing! Count Binface is looking more and more attractive as a candidate. Also, hardly any of these people have put forward proper manifesto's that we can read in depth without having to hunt for them. It has all been photo opportunities and soundbites.

Perhaps it is just me but I feel thoroughly disillusioned with the sh*t politicians that we have been landed with nationally and locally.

Very depressing @dandeliondandy & I completley agree.
May have to join you with Count Binface. I don't understand why Sadiq Khan hasn't tackled what we most worry about in London and has got worse since the Tory austerity measures. My kids are 11 and 13 and too late too move out. Plus I love London and I just want to see it thrive.

I would be super worried if I had teenage kids in London now, especially boys. I don't hate Sadiq but I don't think he has been massively effective either and at times has been more concerned for his own image than the city. As someone else said earlier, we need people with vision and none of these candidates have it. My local council has just slashed the library budget by over 30% just as one example and that is going to have a massive effect on the whole community - those who lend books, those who go there for company or increasingly to stay warm as they can't afford to heat their homes, those who need to use computers, the CABX appointments offered, the reading groups for adults and reading clubs for the little ones and on and on. I just want the basics to be right before any high falutin' stuff at local council level, London level and national level.

P.S. I absolutely love Binface's number one pledge about making water bosses swim in with the number two's!

Comedycook · Yesterday 18:53

Driving is nothing like smoking or heroin. There is no benefit to smoking or heroin. There is no point to them.

That's untrue, heroin (diamorphine) is a very useful analgesic, for people in severe pain. It's commonly used as a palliative for people dying of cancer, for example.

In the context of the conversation we are having...ie a recreational drug, my comment stands. If it is used legitimately for pain, it is still nothing like driving as driving is something which the vast majority of people utilise....either by doing themselves or being driven by others.

There are more than 1500 violent deaths on young people in London (or the UK) each year?

https://www.statista.com/statistics/863276/violent-crime-in-london/

In 2022 there were 102 fatal road accidents in London and 109 murders.

Not all knife crime results in death but injury, trauma, ptsd and paranoia leading to more children carrying weapons.
I encourage you to look for the statistics yourself and see how horrific this problem has become.
Also look for statistics on road casualties in London, they are not the priority of issues. Road deaths occur more outside of London.
Believe Sadiq Khan has daughters. Knife crime is a huge worry for those of us with boys and will inhave to drive them around into teenage years to go to football or see friends?Yes, drive.

It’s not either/or!

We need safe roads and safe streets and clean air. And lots of other things.

This. As a Londoner I've got nothing to complain about. He's been a decent mayor.

Khan as I have twice before.

I read something the other day which said that Sadiq had done some great things but imagine what he could do with a labour government. Not a Tory government determined to do all they can to make his job as difficult as they can. All whilst fuelling the racists.

I'm at a loss as to how they ended up with Susan Hall. She's a complete idiot.

@dandeliondandy and who has slashed council budgets?

I shall vote for Khan

though I think he has at times been a disappointment but far better than any candidate

So less than 1500 violent deaths a year.

Thanks.