Monday, February 05, 2007

(Don't) Vote for Ken

The next campaign advert which 18 Doughty Street is making concerns Ken Livingstone. If you'd like to vote for one of the three idea click HERE.

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

Short extract from Wikipedia on Ken's achievements......

Achievements as Mayor

(This section should be blank - Ed.) An Association of London Government survey, conducted by MORI towards the end of Livingstone's first term, demonstrated Londoners' increased satisfaction with public transport and buses in particular were....

His entry on Wiki is quite critical but I feel it could be more so. Anyone feel like contributing further snippets of info?!

Anonymous said...

Given the millions of viewers Doughty Street has Ken doesn't stand a chance.

Anonymous said...

How the hell did Ken get in the first time , Oh I know Archer

Newmania said...

Iain, I have been following this with some interest . It appears to me that the main function of the GLA is to obscure responsibility for a housing policy that is turning parts of London into 21st Century Slums . I have various ideas about what a Mayor might do differently but the thinking seems to be that unless we have a candidate who is not really a Conservative , there is no chance of winning .Have you , or has anyone lese , done any analysis of the electoral prospects ?

If we cannot have a Conservative winner then I would rather have a Conservative Candidate and galvanise the Party across London in preperation for Brown.

Bob Piper said...

Roll up, roll up, roll up... will the next poor Tory sap to step in the footsteps of Prisoner FF 8282 and Nobber Norris and offer to get a thrashing at the polls step right this way. When all the opinion polls are looking bad for New Labour, those of us on the left get some real joy out of watching Ken bollock the Tories.

Not that Doughty Street is Tory TV, of course.... we all appreciate its independence.

Machiavelli's Understudy said...

Bob Piper lamented...

"Roll up, roll up, roll up... will the next poor Tory sap to step in the footsteps of Prisoner FF 8282..."

Is that how we should come to know Levy or Blair, Bob?

Anonymous said...

His performanc etoday at Mayors questions was embarrassing. He steadfastly refused to answer most questions put to him and the bombastic chairperson intervened every time it got difficult for Ken and moved to teh next question.

It was a very poor advert for democracy. Why dont those asking questions just repeatthem until they get an answer? Also what is teh point of a chairman/speaker if they allow questions to be avoided completely?

Manchester University Labour Club said...

How about, vote for Ken because he has done a good job in London? Revolutionary I know!

Anonymous said...

I liked Freddie's scenario, on the link. I thought it was strong and direct.

Bob Piper said...

Machiavelli's Understudy... If, like Archer, they are found guilty of something that warrants a prison sentence, such as lying through their teeth in court, I certainly hope so.

Disillusioned and Bored said...

Would love to look at them, but unfortunately the site doesn't work on my mac running Camino as the browser.

DB

Marcusian said...

I think as an outsider ken has done a good job, and also a good Labour job.

im still waiting for this whole 'attack-ad' fad by 18 dought-street to actually provide some balance...

18torystreet...

Etzel Pangloss said...

"London is a world by itself,.. among the Londerners are so many nations differing in manners, customs, and religions, that the inhabitants themselves don't know a quarter of them," Tom Brown, (1690).

Ken is a tart with all these subjects.

You'll never beat the tart...

Newmania said...

Archer is an embarrassment true, but and individual case .New Labour, having on and on and on about how pure they are, have turned out to be corrupt from top to bottom.
In any case side show Bob Piper I notice you love throwing tit bits back and forth so as to distract the attention away from the fact that everything you have spent your life working for, (in as much as you ever work) , is agreed by everyone, including your party , to be a stupid fiction.



Which bit of Ken do you enjoy. Sucking up to Terrorists so as to , he thinks, kiss some Irish arse? Shoving another quart of social disaster into our screaming slums on fat boy Prescott`s behalf? Wasting our money on his self advertising or conducting an anti-semitic campaign in dribs and drabs to suck up to the Islamoc Fascists whose dear little pamphlets wishing to burn homosexuals alive are such a welcome addition to our lives

Does it give you special pride that apart form five minutes as a teacher he has never done anything but slither through local Government at our expense.


Easily pleased aren`t you

Anonymous said...

Ken should be booted out for

Abusing Jews and Iranian Jews
Pushing somebody 12ft into a concrete basement
Deliberately buggering up the traffic lights to cause jams and smog
Putting up the C-Charge when he said he wouldn't
Ignoring K+C when it overwhelmingly said it didn't want the c-charge extension
Kissing the backsides of terrorists
Flying around the world like some president of a city state
Booting elected members off the London Fire Authority and replacing them with appointees, Buying life-shortening diesel buses when the rest of the world has gone to clean gas power
Building a database of Oyster card journeys, Saying nothing when the Brazillian was mown down in Stockwell tube
Standing by when at least three people have been mown down by bendy buses
Sneaking a bill through parliment so he can toll all the main roads through Greater London when it wasn't in his manifesto
Dumping the Routemaster weeks after being re-elected when it wasn't in the manifesto
And giving his partner a £??k per year job at the GLA
i could go on...
I hope the Conservatives and Liberals get together and put up one candidate. last time out Norris and Hughes split the substantial anti-Ken vote.

Paul Burgin said...

Well I would be very surprised if you did recommend Ken, given your politics.

Anonymous said...

As far as I can tell, it's not criticizing Ken for supporting gay rights, it's highlighting contradictions in this support.

Anonymous said...

What do I do if I actually Ken is a good bloke, doing good things for London, if sometimes a little misunderstood ?

Peter from Putney said...

Can anyone please explain why Livingstone is allowed to add the words "Mayor of London" to every public service billboard which appears in the Capital?

Doesn't this constitute free and possibly illegal advertising endorsement for the incumbent, paid for in large part by taxpayers who are entirely opposed to his policies?

Bob Piper said...

Which bit of Ken do you enjoy?... asks the NewManiac (well, he couldn't manage the question mark bit, so I've done it for him).

Don't ask me son, I don't live there... just ask the 828,000 Londoners who gave him their first and second preference votes. Clearly, NewManiac, it is you who are out of step.

Iain Dale said...

Sometimes hospitality can be abused. The Anonymous comments on thsi thread will now be deleted.

Anonymous said...

Freddie said in the Comments section of the link (where you have to register to make a comment) that Livingstone should not be referred to as Ken, and I think he has an astute point.

"Ken" sounds familial, cosy non-threatening. I agree with Freddie that he should always be referred to as Livingston. Or Mr Livingston.

Garry said...

Interesting stuff. Any ideas as to why people have started calling that TV channel 18 Tory Street?

Iain, as a trustee of Policy Exchange and a director of the TV channel, I have a question on this attack ad against the current Labour incumbent of the office of Mayor of London.

Is Nicholas Boles, the director of Policy Exchange, still the front runner to be the Conservative candidate for Major of London in 2008? Is he still in the running?

I can't imagine that he is because you would have surely declared such an interest in an open and transparent manner. Can you confirm that he has withdrawn from the selection process?

Anonymous said...

"Don't ask me son, I don't live there... just ask the 828,000 Londoners who gave him their first and second preference votes. Clearly, NewManiac, it is you who are out of step."

Good to see you answered all his negative points about Ken.

Iain Dale said...

Curious Hamster, go and play with your friend Richard Gere.

Garry said...

Touche Iain. I see my wits are no match etc etc...

It's a simple enough question. Is Mr Boles still in the running? That's all I want to know.

You can call me Garry Smith (my actual name) if that'll help you concentrate on the question. Yes or no would do it.

Iain Dale said...

You know Gary, bizarrely I don't speak to Nicholas every day, In fact I don't think I have spoken to him since before Christmas. I assume he is still intending to run as I have heard nothing to the contrary. If you are soooo desperate to know why don't you email him? I'll even be helpful and give you the email address info@policyexchange.org.uk

Anonymous said...

Note the severe limits to posting here - the "Dale democracy" is actually just another spin factory. I think we can all see what's coming in the election - the CIA-controlled Dale running lies and smears from Doughty St, appealing to the lowest-common-denominator of what they perceive to be Moron Britain - hit the gays, call Livingstone a terrorist, etc, etc, ad nauseum.

Garry said...

Now there's a politician's answer if ever I heard one. Not like that last one. It was just rude.

Just to clarify, you're saying you're not sure so you didn't feel the need to declare an interest?

I'm not comfortable using that general email address for an independent charity to find out whether Mr Boles is still in the running to be Conservative candidate for major. That seems like more of a party political issue and not the sort of enquiry he should be dealing with during his time working for charity.

But that's just my opinion.

Is there any other way I can find out? I must say, I'm slightly surprised that you don't know. I heard that you were generally very well informed.

Garry said...

Strange how the anonygoons have come out again. The allegations made by the anonymous idiot above, for example, are very easy to ridicule and very distracting.

Anonymous said...

On a point of order, Mr Dale I believe the Gere preference is for gerbils.
By all accounts hamsters may be the new newt.............

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:40 you are right - Dale is playing the role that the Monday Club and CIA-funded arms dealers did to get Thatcher elected and to illegally run the national police forces during the minders strike, from a suite in the Ritz. Dale is financed from abroad, but from where exactly? Who is behind the Tory dirty war to come? I expect the aim is to make Cameron look clean whilst Dale and his neocon pals roll in the gutter. It was a technique perfected in the first Bush/Gore election and so I suspect it comes in from the US. We should therefore look to the connections between Dale and the Neocon-faschists in the New American Century movement, etc. The next General Election will be fought with knives and pistols.

Iain Dale said...

ROFL. 1. I am not a NeoCon. 2. I receive no income apart from my earnings from 18DS and my writing and political punditry. 3. 18DS receives no money from anyone apart from Stephan Shakespeare.

Newmania said...

Piper you buffoon thats 820,000 people bought and paid for as you well know.

I must say I would be somewhat curious to know if Nic Boles has withdrawn, He would have been an atrocious candidate IMHO

There are some very tedious comments appearing . I `m probably one of them. The funding of Doughty Street ...seriously ?If Iain had pockets stuffed with ill gotten gains he would hardly wear those ties now would he?Is it me , or is this constant astonishment that right wing blogger is right wing ..um ...superfluous ?

Gavin said...

Ken Livingstone - a slimy socialist/communist Jew-hating snake, who associates with the very vilest of dictators such as Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. There's nothing more to say, really. If you vote for him, you're frankly part of the same problem, and deserve the same contempt.

Anonymous said...

Iain,

Looking at Nick Boles web site, it looks like he almost certainly is still planning to stand as Mayor of London.

So, given that you are trustee of Policy Exchange and Nick Boles is the director of Policy Exchange, don't you think that it would be fair of you to declare an interest in this matter when reporting on someone who a colleague of yours intends to stand against in an election?

Or are you not interested in keeping things "fair and balanced"?

Anonymous said...

'The next campaign advert which 18 Doughty Street is making concerns Ken Livingstone.'

Yes indeeed, let's hope that Livingstone is extremely concerned.

Anonymous said...

Dear anonymorons, manics, and other such eejits.

Iain Dale is a Tory. All Tories want rid of Red Ken. Complaining about Ken is something all the Tory blogs do. This is not evidence of a big conspiracy to get Iain's chums elected.

Every f***ing Tory in the country wants to get rid of him. This does not mean that they need to declare an interest.

Would you idiots have him declaring an interest on anti-Blair posts if/because he's friends with Cameron?

Anonymous said...

And another thing. Whats all this crap about declaring interests? This is a blog for God's sake. It's not the (garbage) House of Commons or any other public body - or maybe these morons haven't quite grasped that concept.

If declarations of interest are necessary, who will verify and police them, eh? Idiots.

Sorry, I haven't had my medication yet. Nurse is apparently 'going to be along shortly'.

Newmania said...

Well I just had a chat with Nick Boles "Gay Policy Wonk and Old Etonian "

Nic, why are you doing this , it must be clear to you that there is nothing right about you for this role .The problem in London is property prices and families.You know nothing about either and writing essays about it does not count .
The mayoral role is chiefly symbolic and nationally political,. You will convince no-one you can clear up the chewing gum better and your face does not fit .

To posh
To gay
To not employed (ever)
To insider
To Liberal
To Etonian
To dull


You will soon get yourself a nice safe seat and continue the ghastly process of Liberal elites excluding the rest.If you continue with this madness there are many who will actively campaign against you and we will miss the chance to make Conservrative political points.

I have no doubt you are a personable young fellow but you simply could not be more wrong for this role.



..and before anyone accusses me of "homophobia" ..not at all. gay men are already absurdly over prepresented in public life and the media . I would like the balance slightly redressed , thats all

Anonymous said...

Newmania 9.44 - very true on the "too many ruling gays" issue. This country is getting like Imperial China c.1700 with a gerontocracy of ridiculous Palace Queers running the country behind figurehead emperors.

Anonymous said...

Bunch of reasons why I would vote for Ken, given the chance.

* saying he needed to talk with Gerry Adams in the 80s, because talking to "terrorists" was the only way to stop them bombing his city. Thatcher says no - we don't talk to terrorists and the bombing continues. Years later, turns out Major finally sussed Ken was right and the peace process began.
* Fares fair
* Calling Oliver Finegold of the Evening Standard exactly the right name.
* Despite being dropped by Labour, maligned by Shagger Norris, berated by the nutjob Mail and Standard, and standing as an indy - the people of London voted for him, because they trust him, not the moronic shits who cast stones. Archer for Mayor? I ask you!
* After the 7/7 bombing coming straight back from abroad (not to Tony - come back from your Bee Gee holidays when you're needed)and telling London Underground to get running pronto. And that cracking speech when he did return.
* Doing more to combat racism, homophobia, sexism and discrimination against the disabled than any other politico operating in Westminster. And still taking on the Sun in his spare time.
* providing the Comic Strip Presents with one of their best episodes "GLC".
* encouraging green policies, bringing climate change, the environment, decentralised energy, pollution and other issues to the forefront of London politics
* Taking on Thatcher and winning on principles... and having the best party in London for a leaving do.

Take on Ken? You lot haven't got a hope...