London Mayoral and GLA Results Thread

[Silent Hunter]

With respect, the people of Havering don't tend to consider themselves Londoners.

[afleitch]

All I'm saying, is try living outside a city as I do, that has been stripped of its suburbs; the people who commute to the city, work in the city, use their parks and leisure facilities, transport and amenities and consider themselves part of the city but don't pay a penny towards it while those who do pay higher council tax rates. Yes the city is 'socialist' in perpetuity as a result, but it struggles and the poorest end up subsidising the well to do who live outwith the boundaries.

And I'd rather not be compared to a 'Rethuglican'; it's not my style and it's not my poltics and you should be aware of that.

[minionofmidas]

All I'm saying, is try living outside a city as I do, that has been stripped of its suburbs; the people who commute to the city, work in the city, use their parks and leisure facilities, transport and amenities and consider themselves part of the city but don't pay a penny towards it while those who do pay higher council tax rates. Yes the city is 'socialist' in perpetuity as a result, but it struggles and the poorest end up subsidising the well to do who live outwith the boundaries.

Oh yes. I'm from Frankfurt, I know all about that. Not that we're perpetually socialist as a result...

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That's exactly why it had to be done. Just trying to keep a good man from going down into bottomless hackery.

[afleitch]

All I'm saying, is try living outside a city as I do, that has been stripped of its suburbs; the people who commute to the city, work in the city, use their parks and leisure facilities, transport and amenities and consider themselves part of the city but don't pay a penny towards it while those who do pay higher council tax rates. Yes the city is 'socialist' in perpetuity as a result, but it struggles and the poorest end up subsidising the well to do who live outwith the boundaries.

Oh yes. I'm from Frankfurt, I know all about that. Not that we're perpetually socialist as a result...

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That's exactly why it had to be done. Just trying to keep a good man from going down into bottomless hackery.

Well thankfully neither is Glasgow, now we changed the voting system. Will still take one more heave to oust Labour.

As for hackery, well I could go down the 'Silent Hunter' route of affable hackery but i need to love the Tories not be 'in love' with them Less the nutters re-gain the influence they have thankfully lost and I just ignore it.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

And I'd rather not be compared to a 'Rethuglican'; it's not my style and it's not my poltics and you should be aware of that.

There is just no dealing with your unwarranted prejudice, is there?

[afleitch]

And I'd rather not be compared to a 'Rethuglican'; it's not my style and it's not my poltics and you should be aware of that.

There is just no dealing with your unwarranted prejudice, is there?

No, Don. I wasn't talking about not wishing to be compared to a Republican I said 'Rethuglican', which is a pointless and crude term (like Spend-o-crat, and Tony B-liar and all those play on words) However it's a term none the less to describe a certain type of Republican politician and his manner, and his method of attack etc.

Most Republicans would probably not want to be associated with the characteristics of a 'Rethuglican' either

[Bono]

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/men/article3855717.ece

Is Boris Johnson hair today, gone tomorrow?
It's the morning after the night before. Little did you know that your mayoral vote was influenced by follicular matters

Lisa Armstrong

At the time of writing I have, I must confess, no idea of the outcome of the capital's monumental and nail-biting mayoral battle. But whatever the result, I think we can all agree that, in the end, it will be the hair that did it.

Specifically Boris's. Ultimately we will either have fallen, hook, line and sinker, for that adorably cute and yet strangely virile magnolia swirl, which (memo to the spin-doctors) no amount of frantic restyling has quite subordinated. Or we won't have.

This may seem a trivialisation of what has been a gladiatorial struggle for one of the world's great cities.

But follicles and what groovy types used, about 40 years, to call “hairdos” are clearly legitimate matters for endlessly absorbing debate. Especially when the hair and the dos in question belong to political sorts, which is why there are 200 online discussions feverishly dissecting Hillary Clinton's new swoopy bits.

The truly powerful instinctively know this. When Margaret Thatcher summoned Nigel Lawson to No10 to offer him the Chancellorship, her first words of advice were: “Nigel, you must get a haircut this afternoon.” And they say the woman was out of touch.

In different and yet spookily similar circumstances, Greg Knight, who was made MP for Derby North in 1983, languished on the back benches for years until a kindly colleague showed him the light. Knight promptly shaved off his beard on the eminently sensible grounds that Mrs Thatcher would never promote a man with facial fungus. Shortly afterwards he was appointed to the whips.

I could go on - about how Arthur Scargill's comb-over, even more than all that shouting, ensured that no member of the female species would ever be able to contemplate him without sning; about how Al Gore's post-holiday beardy look prompted pundits to view him as no longer dull but something even worse - European; about how Bill Clinton's infamous cut aboard Air Force One sparked a national furore culminating in a Newsweek investigation into just how vast a delay was sustained by the nation's air traffic as a consequence (two minutes, as it turned out, but by then the damage to Bill's image was done)... all these anecdotes illustrate the same point. Hair is a catalyst for life or death in a political career.

And Boris's hair is even more important than that. In so many ways it is his destiny. Not since Michael Heseltine felt morally obliged to swing a mace around in the Commons (the details escape me but it must have been something to do with needing to live up to that tempestuous bouffant) have man and mane been so fatally intertwined.

Consider, for instance, what it must have been like to rise through the ranks at Eton and Oxford with the hair texture and “do” of a two-year-old. Must have felt like more of a hair don't. No adult, observed a journalist in The New Yorker recently, naturally has hair that colour.

Boris does - despite his Turkish slave ancestors. Indeed, so tenacious is the particular strain of blondness that courses through the Johnson veins that, as his mother (not without some pride, one senses) recently revealed, two of Boris's four children are blond, although their mother is of Indian descent.

So much of this blond stuff does Boris have (his scale is uncommonly productive for one so fair and of middling years; really it's very Samson) that allowing it to air-dry au naturel is, apparently, not an option. Disconcerting as it is to picture Boris with a hair dryer, needs must in such an obsessively busy schedule.

Tenacity in hair colour is useful. In a politician it is splendid (thank you, Hillary, for pointing this out, but then you've had plenty of your own bad hair days to teach you what tenacity really is). But with supreme blondness comes a price. While his school friends were chillaxing on their gap years and growing their hair, Boris had to contend with the awful truth that on him, anything much longer than a crew cut would make him look like Claudia Schiffer's uglier sister.

Imagine next the anguish on discovering that if he had a hope in hell of being taken seriously as a political journalist and, later on, as candidate for Henley, the mad tufts and chaotic non-partings (think Kansas after a particularly devastating tornado) would have to be constrained into a more conventional look. Then consider the double horror of realising that a conventional look, with neat side-parting and slicked-down ends, would make him look like Hitler's ultimate dreamboat.

Such physical quirks are sent to build our characters. And Boris, as befits his profoundly held beliefs in the imperfection of mankind, has used his fluffy, floppy, muzzy blondness to pursue a third way, one that allowed those wisps to roam like prosperous free marketeers all over his scalp and sometimes to take the plunge all the way over the precipice into his eyes, while at the same time using those manly but sensitive hands to gently yet firmly chivvy it back into place.

Watching Boris marshal his locks is like watching one man and his sheepdog herd sheep, one of the few genuinely pleasurable displays in modern politics - confusing, at times impenetrable, but always mesmerising. And my, don't the womenfolk, from the toddlers who recognise a kindred spirit to the white-haired party faithful, who also recognise a kindred spirit, adore him.

Of course beneath the shambolic layers and the Lady Di-isms (he's not beyond flirting through the fronds, but then with hair like that, what choice did he have but to grow up a people-pleaser and a bit of a joker?) there beats a ruthless logic and first-class brain.

Intellectually, Boris is a brunette. Then again, spiritually, he will always be the blond who has more fun.

And so the blond whorl became the perfect metaphor for the man who, as a child (or perhaps as an adult - the beauty of that hair is that no one can really tell the difference) said he'd like to be world king. In an era where political hair is all about control, Boris's has come to represent a one-man bulwark against conformity and political correctness. This entire contest wouldn't have been nearly such excellent spectator sport without it.

[afleitch]

Oh hair does matter. I spent more time than I thought trying to make sure my hair was right for my campaign last year. It seems to frivolous, but everyone frets about it. Even the Socialists/Solidarity folk (and a few retro Labourites) tried to make their hair look 'naturally' scruffy and intersting. You could smell the hair gel used to keep it that way

I keep my hair naturally short as it's thick and wayward. If it grows I have a black mop with a flick at the front and a double crown leaving the hair sticking up at the back. As it's thick, it sits on my head and doesn't catch the wind.

I fretted over the sideburns. 'Sidey's' on a Tory. What would 'Mrs Grumble of Oak Way' think? Should they stop mid ear, or come straight to the bottom of they ear and merge into stubble? No stubble I thought - stay clean shaven. The sideburns stayed and they stayed full length. I was 22 afterall The other young Tories who joined me sported them too. The Labour young (ish) activists prided themselves on a Fudge sculpted quiff.

And the tie. It had to be the new lighter Tory blue, or one with thin green and blue stripes. On warm days, it was a light blue tie with a floral pattern. Occasionally pink. Subliminally pink. But that was me wanting to look good for me

[Filuwaúrdjan]

All I'm saying, is try living outside a city as I do, that has been stripped of its suburbs; the people who commute to the city, work in the city, use their parks and leisure facilities, transport and amenities and consider themselves part of the city but don't pay a penny towards it while those who do pay higher council tax rates. Yes the city is 'socialist' in perpetuity as a result, but it struggles and the poorest end up subsidising the well to do who live outwith the boundaries.

...the flip side of that is that in a larger authority the city proper can end up getting badly screwed over by suburban-based politicians with suburban concerns (this is what happend when Cutler ran the GLC, btw. And is happening on several councils at the moment). Personally I think the only logical solution is to totally re-work the way local government works, but no one has the stomach to do that... even though "everyone" knows that the current setup is a total joke (though better in London than elsewhere due to the boroughs system. The boroughs themselves are too large though...)

[afleitch]

All I'm saying, is try living outside a city as I do, that has been stripped of its suburbs; the people who commute to the city, work in the city, use their parks and leisure facilities, transport and amenities and consider themselves part of the city but don't pay a penny towards it while those who do pay higher council tax rates. Yes the city is 'socialist' in perpetuity as a result, but it struggles and the poorest end up subsidising the well to do who live outwith the boundaries.

...the flip side of that is that in a larger authority the city proper can end up getting badly screwed over by suburban-based politicians with suburban concerns (this is what happend when Cutler ran the GLC, btw. And is happening on several councils at the moment). Personally I think the only logical solution is to totally re-work the way local government works, but no one has the stomach to do that... even though "everyone" knows that the current setup is a total joke (though better in London than elsewhere due to the boroughs system. The boroughs themselves are too large though...)

I'm pretty fond of the 'city region'; which was floated around in Redcliffe Maude etc but was filtered down to produce the Mets. I also support unitary county authorities, with city regions all headed by 'mayor' type figures, and powerful council chambers. It would mean a substantial transferral of power from Westminster. How that would work in practice is another matter of course :/

Such a sstem would not work in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland however though I can certainly see the case for City authorities where necesary.

[Hatman 🍁]

Reminds me a bit of the last Ottawa election. God, I wanted to the suburbs kicked out of the city after that mess.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Labour, the LibDems and the Greens have come to an agreement on the GLA. Jenette Arnold is to be the chair (heh), Darren Johnson the deputy chair (heh).

This means that Johnson will not have a majority on the GLA. Which doesn't matter all that much as it's largely a scrutiny body.

[Serenity Now]

Labour, the LibDems and the Greens have come to an agreement on the GLA. Jenette Arnold is to be the chair (heh), Darren Johnson the deputy chair (heh).

This means that Johnson will not have a majority on the GLA. Which doesn't matter all that much as it's largely a scrutiny body.

Still, kind of a silver lining.. I met Darren Johnson the other day and he was a nice guy (I'd been worried he might lose his seat) and I don't know much about Jennette Arnold but she seems allright..

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Ladies and Gentlemen, a short public service announcement.

Ward results (sans postal votes, as always) have been published.

That is all. A map will be up soon.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

First comment; I knew that Livingstone was (and presumably still is) hated in many of the suburbs but... wow... just... wow...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The BNP told their voters to vote Johnson on second preference, didn't they. Seems that they largely disobeyed and voted for him on first preference.

Filed under: Ken Livingstone is hated in the suburbs

[minionofmidas]

The BNP told their voters to vote Johnson on second preference, didn't they. Seems that they largely disobeyed and voted for him on first preference.

Well, yeah. That much is obvious from the constituency results. I think you'll find a similar Green-Ken linkage.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The BNP told their voters to vote Johnson on second preference, didn't they. Seems that they largely disobeyed and voted for him on first preference.

Well, yeah. That much is obvious from the constituency results. I think you'll find a similar Green-Ken linkage.

Makes for the strangest electoral map of Barking and Dagenham I have ever (and probably will ever) see though.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I would like to "congratulate" Livingstone on managing to lose Greenwich. Labour won it pretty easily in both sets of GLA elections. There's even at least one ward in which the Labour constituency candidate polled more votes than Livingstone did.

Clap, clap, clap.

(o.k he did win enough second prefs there to lead overall. But still...)

[afleitch]

Boris won Clapham Common

Also got Surrey Docks, Riverside and Village in Southwark

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Quickly comparing results from the GLA constituency vote and the Mayoral election strongly indicates (understatement of the year) that Livingstone underpetformed with white working class voters and Jewish voters.

There.

Who's surprised.

Answer: no one.

This would never have happend if Reg Freeson was the Labour candidate! (even if he died a few years ago)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Boris won Clapham Common

Also got Surrey Docks, Riverside and Village in Southwark

And Millwall in Tower Hamlets (but not Wapping or Blackwall).

[JohnFKennedy]

Ladies and Gentlemen, a short public service announcement.

Ward results (sans postal votes, as always) have been published.

That is all. A map will be up soon.

Link?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Ladies and Gentlemen, a short public service announcement.

Ward results (sans postal votes, as always) have been published.

That is all. A map will be up soon.

Link?

http://results.londonelects.org.uk/Results/DownloadResults.aspx

There were a couple of wards in Lewisham which voted for Johnson and Duvall. You can probably work out where they were...

[Umengus]

without BNP voters, Johnson would have been elected mayor ?