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

[mrsruffallo]

I have warmed to Boris and cooled towards Ken personally.

[LottieProsser]

Have met both and much prefer Ken but if Boris doesn't get in there's a serious risk he will try to be Prime Minister!

[crazynanna]

Ken

[EverybodysSnowyEyed]

I can't stand Ken - he'll do anything to be in power and was responsible for a lot of price rises. He is a 'do as i say, not as i do' type

I also can't stand Boris but don't hate him as much.

So rock and a hard place

I really wish Labour had put someone different and fresh up or there was a credible independent

[Solo]

I recall Ken's 'if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down' thing when he was in and the one about 'getting wet under the shower, turning it off, soaping up and then washing off with the shower'. Wonder if he really did those things too , I rather doubt it...and it usually takes a while to get the temp back to the right one, so you'd not really be saving any water IMO.

Mad, just mad!!

[alicethehorse]

Definitely want Ken back!

Can't stand Boris.

[EverybodysSnowyEyed]

Ken the tax avoider? And he's the one who criticises tax avoiders! Do as I say not as I do

I really wish Labour had put someone else up

[TotemPole]

I'm on the fence. I've been thinking about this today as I got the application for voting by post.

Ken did a lot for improving London transport. The Oyster Card is brilliant for keeping your travel costs as low as possible. Also, the OC plus prepay buses for the centre has simplified bus travel.

[londonmackem]

Has to be Boris.

[thestringcheesemassacre]

Red Ken all the way.

Boris is an embarrassment.

[LemonTurd]

What do people think about Brian Paddick? Neither Boris nor Ken seems like an appealing option.

[HandMini]

Boris.

[frillyflower]

Ken - although I did hate his bendy buses.

[OlympicGoldPennies]

Boris. Can't stand whiney Ken.

[hocuspontas]

WE WANT KEN!! WE WANT KEN!!

Fuckin hate Boris and everything he stands for. A waste of a huge space.

[Southwest]

Boris all the way for me, you can't in all serious call him an idiot he has a degree in classics from Oxford!!!!!

I was all for red ken (now were showing our age) originally but he did some really nonsense things (bendy buses) kowtowed to the tube unions which has given them an unjustified sense of power plus some unbelievable T&C and salary plus there is all that stuff about his taxi expenses plus there was loads of other stuff I've forgotten about

I agree Boris made some unfortunate deputy choices, I do wonder why it doesn't sit well with his intellect?

Boris has done other good stuff with cycle networks and does seem verbally at least to stand up for London

[Southwest]

Oh and lemon I think Brian is just a non starter far too bland in the face of such personalities

[Ponders]

getting wet under the shower, turning it off, soaping up and then washing off with the shower

is that really a mad idea? it's what I do - washing under the water seems to defeat the object...mind you I'm the same generation as Ken (a bit younger), brought up with adults who had to make do & mend during the war, saving brown paper bags & bits of string, 5" of water in the bath. it rubs off

[Bossybritches22]

I'm not particularly a Boris fan but I lived in London under Red Ken & will never forgive him for inviting IRA leaders to London.

The timing was spectacularly bad given the bombings and murders of many both in & out of London.

"A man is know by the company he keeps"

[MrsCog]

Hasn't 'red' Ken just been pulled up for £50,000 tax evasion? Obviously his right to do that, but surely if you really are left wing you shouldn't be evading tax as it should be in your principal to pay as much as possible?

[Ponders]

well it's "avoidance", not evasion (the latter is illegal)

& all the attacking seems to be coming from Andrew Gilligan

plenty of comments in support of Ken from readers under \link{http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewgilligan/100140482/ken-livingstone-tax-avoidance-red-ken-caught-red-handed-says-pm/\Gilligan's Telegraph blog}

eg "I can see you are having a lot of fun accusing Ken of "hypocrisy". But in doing so you are attacking (and misrepresenting) a way of doing business that is used quite legitimately by tens of thousands of freelance workers, consultants, contractors, etc. (Including Red Ken as far as I can see)."

[Ponders]

& looking at other blog entries, Gilligan clearly has a big problem with Ken - I wonder why

[Southwest]

Ponders we like people who are in a position to tell us what to do to be squeaky clean though don't we?

I think the personal liability company thing should really be stopped, far too may people I know use it and if you are in PAYE it is not an option to you so it just sticks in my throat (especially when those people are the same ones squealing about public sector pensions etc etc)

[Bossybritches22]

Because Ken IS a hypocritical twat possibly Ponders ?

There is a way of using tax avoidance that efficiently uses legitimate rules to claim legitimate expenses and reduce your tax bill.

Then there are those like Ken who set up whole companies to explicitly evade paying what the rest of us hoi-polloi do every day.

It may be legitimate but on a grand scale that he has been doing ( and yes other business do too) ESPECIALLY when one is in high office spouting about socialism and castigating "fat cats" is foolish at best and downright wrong at worst.

The man is a nasty piece of work that should not be allowed back in power.

[Ponders]

but none of them are, southwest - present Cabinet not excepted

[chipstick10]

Keep Boris. I loathe Ken. Nasty piece of work