The list of candidates for Mayor of London have been released. Ken Livingstone stands for re-election, this time as Labour candidate, the Conservatives putting Steven Norris up (for a likely second defeat), and the Liberals have, err, some other guy.
Other parties represented are the fascist BNP, who should at least ensure that people come out to vote against them, Greens, Christians, and the UK Independence Party.
Lindsey German is standing under the banner of the Respect Coalition, whose borred anti-racism buzzword is used represent the values of ‘respect, equality, socialism, pace, environment, community and trade unionism’. The coalition seems to have been mostly set up by rebel Labour MP George Galloway, and has received some support from trade unions. Coalitions are potentially powerful, but require strong organisation, and the far-left Socialist Party claim that the Respect Coalition is already making mistakes. Lindsey German is noteable for being the only candidate to have a blog, On the Campaign Trail (without comments or trackback).
Getting more obscure, Lorna Reid is standing with the Independent Working Class Association, a party of independants (if that makes sense).
Finally, a ‘Dr Tammy Nagalingam’ is standing as an independent, with a very strange website making continued reference to ‘We Londoners’ (sic) and stating ‘LONDONERS THIS IS YOUR FREE WEBSITE. USE IT’. Huh? Membership is free, (what you’d be a member of, I’m not sure), though there is a warning to anyone who might be involved with politics: ‘POLITICIANS, PLEASE DO NOT INFILTRATE THIS SITE. THANK YOU’. Err, so you’re not politicians then?
Their (or should it be ‘her’?) domain we-londoners.co.uk doesn’t work, but you are invited to e-mail we_londoners@compuserve.com (for a chat, perhaps). A small link at the bottom goes to objectives, which at least offers a bit of content. However, their objectives are currently a list of questions, such as ‘WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO START OR IMPROVE IN LONDON?’, for which you’re supposed to offer suggestions.
Amusing, but I can’t see her getting her 10 grand deposit back…
Andy said:
Thanks for the roundup, it’s going to be a tricky one. I’m disappointed that Ken has realigned himself with the hapless Blair leadership but if it looked like the Tories stood a chance then a tactical re-vote for Ken might seem compelling. Of the others, Lorna Reid’s national organisation seems to have a lot of good points in their programme, even if they don’t appear to mention the ownership of the means of production anywhere.
At the end of the day, Ken was brave enough to get rid of the pigeons in Trafalgar square and introduce congestion charging so deserves another term to try and tackle the tube modernisation. Or will it just be more skyscraper office blocks in the old east end?
Frankie Roberto said:
You get a second preference, so Ken should go in there I think. He’s done a lot of good work over his last term, and seems to deliver more than most politicians. Plus he’s a good character, he’s recently put solar panels on his roof to test the technology out, and he likes nwewts…