London: April 2008 Archives

Joe Stalin (pictured telling dirty jokes at Yalta) is rumoured to have said "it's not the people who vote that count, it's the people who count the votes", although it's unlikely to be true given his attitude to actual voting. Nowadays, of course, it's not people who count the votes, it's machines.

This is even harder to fix when it goes wrong, as Florida found out when it had trouble with hanging chads, and as we discovered when electronic counting went astray in May last. I'm sure you're all well up on the Diebold story too.

Could London be next? The Reg has evidence that it might be.

Brian Paddick, who I used to have a lot of respect for until he came out as a Liberal Democrat, has blundered so hard. Today he's described Ken Livingstone as a "nasty little man", and Boris Johnson as "harmless".

Now Ken has said some deeply unpleasant things (the problems, the defence), and some of his friends are reactionary Muslims, but that's still way over the top given his positive contribution on so many issues. He has to be a solid second choice after Siân.

But Paddick is completely wrong about Boris. He is a bigot disguised as a muppet, and definitely not harmless. I give you one substantial Boris quote to illustrate.

"The problem is not that we were once in charge, but that we are not in charge any more... Consider Uganda, pearl of Africa, as an example of the British record. ... the British planted coffee and cotton and tobacco, and they were broadly right... If left to their own devices, the natives would rely on nothing but the instant carbohydrate gratification of the plantain. You never saw a place so abounding in bananas: great green barrel-sized bunches, off to be turned into matooke. Though this dish (basically fried banana) was greatly relished by Idi Amin, the colonists correctly saw that the export market was limited... The best fate for Africa would be if the old colonial powers, or their citizens, scrambled once again in her direction; on the understanding that this time they will not be asked to feel guilty." (2002, Spectator, Wikiquote has many others)

Sweet broadcast, people. I'm not a great person to test these things on, but I reckon this will have a good chance of both keeping people's attention (thus avoiding too much of the dreaded PPB switch-off) and persuading a few more to vote Green.

Kez Dugdale, Scottish Labour's top blogger, has backed the Siân 1 Ken 2 option in London. It's the logical opposite to the BNP 1 Boris 2 campaign. Kez, I salute your vision, your common sense, and your tactical nous. I look forward to a similar move in 2011. Her blog's also got some great grabs from the English & Welsh Greens' forthcoming vote Siân broadcast.