Boris Johnson is Mayor of London

Caporegime
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Small compared to the nation and of course it didn't change anything.

So why would any protest which would be undoubtedly smaller change anything?

And it was at least what 1.5 +% of the nation, thats pretty damn big as far as protests go.
 
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Caporegime
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That was my point. Unless you get the general public behind you, protesting doesn't do much.

But to beet those numbers would be very very unlikely on anything as trivial as London's transport network, or an other local mater, as many people are happy with the way most things are.
 
Man of Honour
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But to beet those numbers would be very very unlikely on anything as trivial as London's transport network, or an other local mater, as many people are happy with the way most things are.

I don't understand your question in regards to the original quote. As we weren't talking about London but the UK as a whole.
 
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Caporegime
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I don't understand your question in regards to the original quote. As we weren't talking about London but the UK as a hole.

hit quote instead of edit :)

But the truth is the war was th first thing in which many people actually cared about, most people aren't that annoyed by the majority of the things th government does, and it's very unlikely you can get 2 million + people to be available on the same day for a number of reasons.

It's not so much "people can't be bothered" but more that getting a protest of a size in which is useful is just not feasible.
 
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That's because there are more immigrants in London now than in 2004.

Care to back up this correlation with any facts, figures or research?

Very good? Take a tube trip during rush hour and see if you agree. You wouldn't catch me on the tube for love nor money, especially during sardine time.

Nor me, but then, I wouldn't wanna be in any other capital during rush hour, London deals with its "sardine" problem very well, especially when compared to other public transport systems.
 
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most people aren't that annoyed by the majority of the things th government does,
.

I disagree. Everyone hates what the government is doing. But they just moan. And if they can't get fuel for a few days, the world is over. Basically people don't want the downsides. So just moan.
 
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Victoria line is definately getting its new trains still... if its not, someone tell me why they are still closing the victoria line at 10pm each night ;)

I've just gone back to using the metropolitan line from Watford Underground to get into london opposed to the mainline service from watford junction into Euston because id prefer the 10 minutes longer into work, saving the 350 ish quid a month difference (parking, petrol + extra fare) and not be squished all the way to work
 
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Just a few points about London's appalling public transport system.

1 - Just because it used to be incredibly bad and now it's just really bad doesn't make it good.

2 - Anyone who thinks London has a good public transport system clearly hasn't done much travelling. Pick almost any mainland European City and use their public transport system. Then tell me London has a good one.

3 - The only way to cure London's public transport woes is massive investment over decades, but sadly this hasn't happened as Livingstone/New Labour seem more concerned about minority rights than real issues affecting the majority of Londoners daily.

On a seperate but very relevant note, Livingstone backed crooks like Lee Jasper who stole public money under the thinly veiled disguise of promoting black interests in London. That's one of the reasons people voted for Boris. Nobody likes being ripped off, especially when it comes to hard earned taxes.
 
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On a seperate but very relevant note, Livingstone backed crooks like Lee Jasper who stole public money under the thinly veiled disguise of promoting black interests in London. That's one of the reasons people voted for Boris. Nobody likes being ripped off, especially when it comes to hard earned taxes.

I don't know the truth about that article, but it is a fact that Andrew Gilligan and the Evening Standard have been engaged in a vendetta against Livingstone for a long time, so much so that anything they say must be taken with a pinch of salt.
 
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Intelligence is not the same as knowledge, experience and savvy.

Here here, now say that to a lot of companies who require a degree for positions they advertise, you cannot beat real world experience.


As for the Boris v Ken debate.
I applaud Ken for the state of the London transport system as it is much better than it was 10 years ago (how much he had to do with it I don't know)
Some of his other political views I don't agree with, he can be as much of a loose cannon as Boris with regard to his political views.

IIRC a lot of people were crapping themselves when Ken got control at first, I wonder how many he converted to his cause over the years:confused:

Give Boris a chance, he is in power now so hopefully he will do a decent job.

this is all about the people revolting against Labour in the only ways they are allowed to now, at the ballots. And, they have had their asses spanked.
Ken as the Mayor of London was the diamond in the Labour crown, alas the public saw that and burnt it down.
 
Soldato
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Just a few points about London's appalling public transport system.

1 - Just because it used to be incredibly bad and now it's just really bad doesn't make it good.

2 - Anyone who thinks London has a good public transport system clearly hasn't done much travelling. Pick almost any mainland European City and use their public transport system. Then tell me London has a good one.

3 - The only way to cure London's public transport woes is massive investment over decades, but sadly this hasn't happened as Livingstone/New Labour seem more concerned about minority rights than real issues affecting the majority of Londoners daily.

Unfortunately, that''s the price London has to pay for being the world's most developed and important city at the time the Underground was introduced. Other cities had the luxury of developing around they're rapid transport systems which they copied from us
 
Soldato
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Just a few points about London's appalling public transport system.

1 - Just because it used to be incredibly bad and now it's just really bad doesn't make it good.

2 - Anyone who thinks London has a good public transport system clearly hasn't done much travelling. Pick almost any mainland European City and use their public transport system. Then tell me London has a good one.

3 - The only way to cure London's public transport woes is massive investment over decades, but sadly this hasn't happened as Livingstone/New Labour seem more concerned about minority rights than real issues affecting the majority of Londoners daily.

On a seperate but very relevant note, Livingstone backed crooks like Lee Jasper who stole public money under the thinly veiled disguise of promoting black interests in London. That's one of the reasons people voted for Boris. Nobody likes being ripped off, especially when it comes to hard earned taxes.

I think this is the change that people such as you and I have been talking about for years - it is the beginning of exactly what we have asked for as an imperfect solution to an imperfect country.

I think the 'equality' agenda is weird - it has always struck me as something the middle-classes desperately wanted, and blamed the working classes for when it all went wrong, as the whipping boys for the vision of multiculturalism that was bound to fail due to the nature of mass immigration rather than supposedly negative intentions of the man on the street.
We now have 100 BNP councillors and a BNP assembly member, times they are a changing.

I think what seems so strange about the whole situation is that the most important votes have been from general London working class - the people without the automatic privilege of education, without the privilege of connections, or money - who chose put in an Eton/Oxbridge educated man to represent us instead of Ken, who had a background much similar to our own.

Times they are a changing.
 
Soldato
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I think what seems so strange about the whole situation is that the most important votes have been from general London working class - the people without the automatic privilege of education, without the privilege of connections, or money - who chose put in an Eton/Oxbridge educated man to represent us instead of Ken, who had a background much similar to our own.

Err. The middle class leafy suburbs voted for Boris. Ken was first choice in the poorer areas? (Edit: in general).

_44623867_london_ken_boris_466.gif
 

RDM

RDM

Soldato
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Err. The middle class leafy suburbs voted for Boris. Ken was first choice in the poorer areas? (Edit: in general).

At the end of the day more people voted for Boris than Ken. And even in the red areas Boris got a fair few votes so it seems that not all the poor people wanted Ken.

Some of the bitterness in this thread is really quite funny.
 
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Err. The middle class leafy suburbs voted for Boris. Ken was first choice in the poorer areas?

_44623867_london_ken_boris_466.gif

Eerr wait a sec that's not true really, just because the majority in those areas voted for Ken doesn't mean that middle/upper class people don't live in those areas too and represent a major ratio. I for one live in Southwark (though I border, Bromley, Lambeth, Lewisham & Croydon) and am what would be classed as in the ABC1 grade.
 
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