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

[mrsruffallo]

I have warmed to Boris and cooled towards Ken personally.

am so depressed they are the options - wouldn't trust either with a paper bag... Paddick was on the radio trying to say he's not much of a lib dem as they are seen as so toxic, but still stands no chance.... may have to vote for monster raving looney or equivalent as have to vote

I will be voting for Boris . He's a loveable rogue and always entertaining

Isn't Boris an adulterer?

I couldn't vote for a man that cheats on his wife. How could you trust him?

I wish we had a better alternative than Ken Livingstone though.

Well Ken's love life is no less colourful than Boris's as a quick google will show. But as Boris has today taken an 8 point lead in the latest opinion poll it seems that Ken's tax avoidance has come back to haunt him.

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/04/nick-cohen-ken-livingstone-tax-avoidance

Ken all the way! Anyone talking about rent control has my vote. My flat is the size of a postage stamp and the rent is more than a 3 bed semi in Yorkshire. All the outrage that you could 'get' more than £26000 in benefits through housing benefits - but the claimants don't get that money private sector landlords do! That money is going to people who do the minimum possible to ensure their properties are legally habitable, and live off either the hard work of people who live in them or public funds. It's an outrage, and should be for all those wittering on about Ken's tax avoidance - check out the legal tax breaks you get as a landlord! I'd like to see what everyone in Westminster (Westminster council - "living in Westminster is a privilege, not a right") will do when everyone who can't afford private sector housing rents bugger off and there is no one to staff the shops and coffee bars, the nurseries and primary schools, no one to work as a cleaner, or childminder, etc.

The hypocrisy of Ken Livingstone is gobsmaking ...

Johnson gets my vote

I love Boris. He's such a comedy figure, but is clearly far more shrewd than he lets on.

Ken looks evil.

Hear, hear Sparklyboots!

Seems strange that both candidates have a bit of sleaze attached to them. Don't many folks want the job?

I think it is a shame people will vote along party lines and not try the Lib. dem candidate who may know quite a lot about managing the city with his background.

I suppose we can't expect perfection in our leaders but Boris and Ken from where I'm standing have huge blemishes against their names - maybe both could do the job but do the men inspire trust in you? Not me!

I am happy with what Boris has done so far in the job

I don't think Ken will manage to deliver on his promises and I don't want to pay more Council tax/London assembly taxes

Siobhan - I don't agree with her support of the The Times cycling campaign, her plan to lobby for listing restrictions to be removed from Battersea Power Station. Her "Improving opportunities for all" ideas will be hard to implement and cost too much

Brian Paddick - didn't he go on I'm a Celeb? He supported a liberal approach to drugs law enforcement and doesn't seem to have any policies yet
He does have new glasses though

Are there any other candidates worth considering?

Boris may not be perfect, but I really like him and will be voting for him.

Anyone remember this?

www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/knight-on-shining-bicycle-boris-johnson-chases-off-attackers-6793435.html

Two votes for Boris here. (DH + me)

I'm happy enough with Boris. And I find the potential costs of all of Ken's alleged promises frightening.

BoJo for me. Ken got into power way back when on another man's coattails, and he is not to be trusted.

Ken he did far more for London than Boris has. Boris is just a bafoon.

what about brian? he seems alright

"According to Sonia Purnell's quietly devastating biography, when the Conservative party told Boris Johnson that he had to give a small part of the £250,000 a year he received from the Telegraph to charity while he served as London mayor, Johnson shouted in all seriousness: "It's outrageous! I've been raped! I've been raped!""

Could the old rogue be more loveable?

Boris. Obviously.
It's so easy being a Labour candidate, isn't it?
I will spend and spend and spend and then I will spend some more. Money is free and it grows on the trees.
Much cleverer to be a bit thriftier with the budget.

Ken, Ive not voted for him before. But I have loved listening to his radio programe with David Mellor on a saturday morning. Despite his politiking, I believe he has intergrity and will stand up for londoners and to David Cameron.

Ken. But then I support gay marriage and I am not racist, so that's an easy choice for me :)

prima amen to that.

Boris is a nasty piece of work,

m.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/may/01/boris.livingstone?cat=politics&type=article

Yes Boris is very clever isnt he.

Hes got a lot of people fooled with that loveable fool act...think some have forgotten hes a Tory.

www.siobhanformayor.com/index.html

Apparently they are not the only options? Who knew!

Don't know anything about her but might have been nice to see a woman get a bit more airtime?

All Boris lovers please read Compos link above my last post.

Thats who you're backing?

ooops
www.siobhanformayor.com/index.html

I remember what the buses were like before Ken . I also remember that the Oyster card and the Congestion Card are the only large public IT projects ever to work almost buglessly from day 1, in the teeth of the Evening Standard willing them to fail and hovering desperately for stories suggesting they had.

The tax avoidance thing is a smear, I'm not going to be put off a candidate I like because he does things that everyone else does.

And as I understand it Ken's love life is unconventional but morally ok - none of the women concerned have ever criticised him have they? One of his children was the result of him volunteering as a "sperm donor" for a female friend apparently.

He does have poor judgement on the dodgy Islamic preachers front, and I'm not sure he's the man he was ten years ago, but he still knows where the levers are, and he cares more than anything else about making London functional and enjoyable, so I think I'll go for him.

Also with a bit of luck if Boris gets kicked out he'll take on Cameron for the leadership, which will be entertaining.

And for those complaint about the two horse race, remember that this is (I think?) an STV election, so you are free to put Brian, or the Green, or an Independent candidate 1st and 2nd and put whichever you feel is the lesser evil of B or K down as your last choice - it will work just the same.