Are you going to vote for Boris Johnson? If so, WHY???????

[scampadoodle]

Because I know voting for Ken yet again is tantamount to inviting a benign dictatorship (wish Labour would field a different, viable candidate) but Boris Johnson ??? He is a buffoon with no relevant experience. At least Paddick has run a police force. (& no, editing the Spectator does NOT count).

But I am really really worried that he'll get in. Bye bye Oyster & cheap bus fares...

Why don't the tories parties put up proper candidates?

would rather poke myself in eye than vote for bojo

smallwhitecat, no it doen's make you racist. And I'm not quite sure how the statement 'Am I alone is wondering whether a sensible attempt to find justice for the family of Stephen Lawrence has given way to hysteria?? makes Boris racist either. Nor 'piccaninnies' in what appears to be a satirical article on the Queen and Tony Blair. That is a word I've actually seen used on Mumsnet more than once. Simply rehashing someone's interpretation of statements taken out of context as absolute proof of racism doesn't work for me. I need better proof than that.

And the same people who decry Boris for racism never mention Ken's 'Concentration Camp' guard comments to a Jewish reporter...does one prove racism to fit your own presuppositions and the other can be conveniently ignored? Or are accusations of anti-Semitism okay? There's major inconsistency here.

FFJ- I didn't say Boris was racist. But I do think he is offensive.

If Boris's comments regarding 'piccaninnies' and 'watermelon smiles' wasn't offensive, why did he apologies for them in The Voice this week?

Surely no need to apologise if they were OK things to say?

I will be voting for Boris as he proposes scrapping the London paper and bendy buses

Ken needs to go, too corrupt, too expensive and out of touch

Well Izzywhizzy, I guess they're both as offensive as each other. I guess Boris is damned if he apologises and damned if he doesn't. If he doesn't, he's offensive. If he does, he's admitted he was offensive. Ken stated baldly he wasn't going to apologise for his comments, offensive, racist or otherwise. If they hadn't been made to a journalist I don't think he could have got away with that.

I don't think ken's comments were racist- a journalist from a hostile newspaper was doorstopping him (and all the other guests at an evening reception) and Ken gave as good as he got.

The problem with Boris' apology is that its come too late and seems too expedient. Just like his 'apologies' to all the other groups he's offended over the years, it looks as though he's done it because someone in the Tory hierarchy is holding a gun to his head- not because he means it.

Agree Izzy.

Here is a better idea.

If Ken is in such a prominent position he should expect attention from journalists. Goes with the territory I'm afraid. If you don't think he was racist, do you think he was offensive?

And while the ES has been quite openly critical of Ken's administration lately (and why not? Should he be immune from criticism? Isn't that what newspapers are for?) I think it's been pretty even-handed & even supportive in many respects since he took office. Like I said before, Ken was happy to take their money before his very well-paid mayoral position came along. I'm afraid the Evening Standard is not the Londoner - it does not exist simply to trumpet Ken's virtues, however much he might wish it to.

Crikey, the ES has been consistently anti-Ken for ages.
I suppose what Izzy is doing is putting the comment that Ken made in some form of context.
Whereas as far as I can see, Boris's comments came completely out of the blue - with no "history", no pressure, no door-stepping antagonism as a precursor to the comments.

I think you must be reading the wrong paper. The ES has been openly hostile to Ken ever since Veronica Wadley took over editorship of it.

And you're right- Ken should expect attention from journalists. That's why he holds weekly press conferences and is one of the most accessible high profile politicians in the country.

And the journo from the ES said he was offended ( I seem to remember the ES printing a picture of him looking very sad), so some would say that, on those grounds, it was offensive. However, I don't have much sympathy for journalists and maybe that particular one should grow a bit of a thicker skin if he wants to go far in his chosen career.

Gosh, I start a thread, go downstairs for me tea & it all goes off!! I realise it's gone beyond what I, personally, think, but I 'm not saying "don't vote for Boris 'cause Ken is fab", not at all. I really don't think ken should allowed another term but none of the political parties seem capable of fielding decent candidates.

My objections to BJ are not to do with class - I'm not as posh as him but I went to private school & am comfortably middle-class these days. I cycle too! I simply don't think he's capable & would be an embarrassment.

I don't want to vote for Ken but what choice is there, apart from not voting (which is a big no-no in my book)?

oooh getting rid of london paper and bendy buses, great top-priorities for Londonders, theblonde NOT

Hmm, the choice between one smug self satisfied git and a larger, smug self satisfied git, what a choice!
With any luck the ballot paper will explode and thus save me from this excrable choice.
I don't like Ken but NO WAY would I vote Boris...he wants more planes and thinks George Bush was right not to sign to Kyoto agreement...oh and he is also a smug self satisfied git!

I don't think the ES been 'consistently anti-Ken' for the entire 8 years he's been in. It certainly has a more-than apparent bias against him in the current election, that I will definitely concede!

The bendy buses thing pisses me off. Speaking as a cyclist, yeah, they're tricky things but just use your common sense for gawd's sake. Think of all the wheelchair users & buggy-pushers who couldn't use their local transport system because they were unable to get on or off a routemaster...

I agree though: the London paper is a joke.

WHy is BoJo not considered 'capable'?

He was a King's Scholar at Eton and read Classics at Balliol. Whatever else, this man is not a lightweight academically.

Just because you're an academic doesn't mean you'd be good at running one of the biggest & wealthiest cities in the world.

..mind you, they had a 'who will you vote for' piece in over the last week. I don't recall that they had a single Boris supporter in there! You'd have thought they'd have held publication 'til they found one, eh?

I think I;m going to go away that day and just not vote at all. I can't bring myself to vote for Ken again and Paddick is a bit of a wasted vote. I would have thought about voting Green but I won't now because all green votes are going to be joined up with Ken.

I may think about voting for Boris but before I do, I want to know who will actually be running the city because I don't think for a moment that he has the time or inclination to do it properly.

'Why is Bojo not considered capable?'

Ask the Tory party- they're the ones desperately trying to find an executive team to run London for him if he wins. They must be terrified that he'll balls it up and damage their chances at the next general election.

I wouldn't vote for Boris either- although I like him immensely as a 'tv personality', think he's hilarious. He IS good on Have I got News For You :0)

Not entirely sure how he bumbled into a high position in politics, under all that hair he must be relatively intelligent, just cannot see him actually keeping a city like London funtioning- at all!

But, may I just ask Carmenere, what has being over priveleged got to do with anything? That strikes me as not voting for someone due to some kind of inverted snobbery, and not for their politics.

Dh working in investment bank in the City. "Everyone" voting for Boris apparently.

How depressing!

Please please don't. He used to be my MP & ignored (or his office ignored) any communication.

confirms my worst fears kerala..

bridie3, oh yes that classics will come in handy running one of the biggest cities in the world

oh and he was a twunt @ college too, acc to friends who knew him there