London fascinates me

[WinkyWinkola]

So much red on the map there.

Why?

someguy, that quote (supposedly Morrison) is a myth.

besides, shirley porter tried her best to achieve the reverse for the westminster tories.

SomeGuy thats utter rubbish. Its about class and progressiveness as aforementioned - you can see the class thing by what happens in west london and the suburbs.

There are a few ethnically influenced seats whwre class and ethnicity meet - to argue otherwise is being disingenuous - Tooting is one seat that proved that but I dont see the problem with it tbh.

At the end of the day people want politicians that both reflect and work for them - the working classes and more progressive people dont see that in the Tories - hence a lot of London being red.

was delighted to see Karen Buck (Westminster North) and Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) for labour retain their seatsfor labour, despite the onslaught from the tory contenders/ ashcroft money.

especially pleased for Karen Buck.

Joanne Cash's face was priceless when Karen Buck won. She was like the reverse-Portillo moment.

"How dare hubby's money not buy me a seat!!" stomp / sulk

Labour is traditionally the party of workers, who are more concentrated in conurbations, probably has something to do with it.

Red flag still flying over North Westminster . Karen Buck has a very good reputation locally.

labour also won lots of councillors in local elections - Ealing has changed to Labour and Harrow I think.

as an aside, just wondering how the whole Hung Parliment/ Labour Ealing council change will effect Toby Young's desire to build a new school for his kids in ealing.
Squash it completely with any luck.

Lol at "foreigners vote labour" - wot, like Scots and Welsh you mean?

I think urban centres vote Labour because we are more community minded and perhaps are more dependent on state infrastructure.

And we're not scared of immigrants, seeing as how we actually know some.

it's nothing to do with 'progressiveness'. The most 'progressive' (educated, liberal) areas (Richmond, Kingston, etc.) elect Lib Dem or Tory MPs.

True there are a lot of meeja types in Islington, but equally 50% of children in Islington are growing up in workless households, and it's no surprise that the Labour vote is high there.

It's because it's urban. Same with the big northern conurbations.

"50% of children in Islington are growing up in workless households"

What utter rubbish.

No, true, Page 5: www.islington.nhs.uk/jsna/Chapter-10-Employment-and-prosperity-JSNA-200910.pdf

I expect SomeGuy even met a black man once

?

I like the cut of your jibe, Coolfonz.

Even if London doesn't fascinate me in any way, shape or form.

I lived in a labour safe seat in london. pretty much everyone I worked with voted labour out of reverse snobbery. The others are toffs and Labour is for working class people - they didn't bother to familiarize themselves with the local candidates or any policies of any parties including labour.

the labour MP didn't even TRY to sound interested in local issues, didn't need to. The green party candidate seemed really interested in real issues affecting the poorer inhabitants of the area and the labour one couldn't care less from what I could see. And he was the biggest toff of the lot of em! but the people I worked with would swear blind that labour was made up of working class heros and every other party were just a bunch of toffs.

Haven't really heard that kinda talk from labour supporters in other areas, for the most part I think that people who vote labour do so because they either like their actual policies or local MP, or dislike someone else's policies or MP so vote tactically for labour against them. But what I was hearing in central london was people not interested in the 'details' and just voting for the party they perceived to be the working class party IYKWIM without knowing ANYTHING else about them, or wanting to know for that matter

that was a few years ago mind you

Camden council also gone back to Labour. Hurrah.

Think Labour people where I live daren't move to the country cos scared of all the Tory types they'd have to live with.

Love the idea that Kingston and Richmond are progressive.

is it because we get buses and dont ride our horsies to work?

Only kidding

don't get me wrong, if someone thinks that labour supports the working classes better than other parties because of X or Y then great!

but the people I'm talking about couldn't tell me a single WAY they thought labour helped the working classes.

Most people I know voted Labour and my friends tend to be what Salby would term 'toffs' - lawyers, bankers etc

Salbysea, MintHumbug had it ever occurred to you that people who earn a lot more than most might actually - God Forbid! - have a social conscience and not just subscribe to the I'm Alright Jack mentality that, while I am anxious to avoid stereotyping, is frequently true of Tory voters? Or that some people might have come from a background where one parent was working class, worked bloody hard to give the next generation what they didn't have and so the new generation want to repay this by using their wealth to give other people a break and hopefully a leg up? It's not inverse snobbery - it's simply believing that socialism is the only humane political system that might allow the gap between rich and poor to reduce. I think it's unfair to assume that if you're not working class but vote Labour you're an inverted snob. In a sense, you're condemning people who are working class (aren't we all anyway these days if we are working?!) to only vote for one party, which is a weird kind of political ghettoisation.

err LOL

I was quoting people, it's not really a phrase I use.

I said the labour MP at the time was a toff in so much as he had all the qualities the people I was talking about atributed to the OTHER parties, which they referred to as toffs. He had the same sort of accent that they would imitate when referring to the other parties etc

err Ladyrabbit, yes!

nothing wrong with voting labour and nothing wrong with labour voters

my colleagues didn't give any of the reasons you mentioned though, their only reason for voting labour was, and I am quoting, that the others are toffs.

they are of course only a small sample, and as I did mention, most labour supporters I've come across have very good arguments for voting labour. I have voted labour myself at times. ALL I'm saying is that the voters I spoke to in a central london safe seat gave the toff/working class reason with nothing to back it up, no reference to or awareness of past performance of the party, current policies, local MP etc

I don't consider myself to "be" labour or tory or lib dem or green BTW since you seem to be implying that I am a typical tory supporter. I make my mind up at each election based on the current policies or my favorite local MP or a bit of both