Political Bits and Pieces

[liadnan]

The day after the noxious Polly Toynbee wrote an unpleasant hatchet piece in the Guardian which probably did wonders for Boris' chances in the London mayoral race, Greyarea points out today's ludicrous piece by Mike Read (and the splendid comments thereon). It's difficult to avoid wondering whether this is a parody, or perhaps some more sinister and cunning plan to bury Boris by praising him. Either that or, err, Mike Read is just a complete cock.

I do find Boris amusing, and am generally of the view that he is far more intelligent than his deliberately constructed persona suggests. But I don't particularly like the man. Trouble is, I intensely dislike Ken as well.

Apropos of something a bit different, Liberal England asks why on earth either a back bench committee of MPs or HM Government should concern themselves with how local authorities satisfy their statutory duty to collect rubbish regularly. If central government doesn't allow local councils to decide how they collect people's rubbish, what will it allow them to do?.

Comments

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

*mumblemumble*Black Death*mumblemumble*
Oh, and any comment by me re Boris is largely redundant. Cock. Oops.

[liadnan]

I don't seriously think there is any severe health risk to a bi-weekly collection in the areas which are considering it, whatever the Daily Mail and the like may say. And it does seem to me that this is something where the practicalities are going to vary wildly, particularly between urban and rural areas: it's for local councillors and those who vote for them to resolve where to draw the line between 1 or 2-weekly collections on the one hand and the rate of council tax on the other.
(Actually this leads into one of my stock rants about how criticisms of the so-called postcode lottery never seem to deal with the fact that local variation in the way services are provided is unavoidable given the existence of decision making at a local level, and that this is a good thing).

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Oh, agreed totally on local variations - but I think that it's far more likely that the policy will be adopted uniformly in the interest of saving money, even in urban areas of multi-occupancy flats. I'm not keen to start seeing rats in Kirklee, and I suspect that my neighbours in the basement, where the bins are kept, will be even less keen on it.
And did I mention that Boris is a cock?

[liadnan]

Does that mean that the discussion in Westminster should also have considered the position in Scotland, rather than leaving it to Holyrood...?

[liadnan]

Oh, and I think I gathered from the subtext what your opinion on Boris was. I'm not sure I agree actually, or at least it depends on what you mean by "cock". He's a politician, a Tory, and an Etonian with, I think, significant popularity among the population at large. To my mind, that alone suggests he knows what he's at, whether one likes him or not.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Oh, he knows where it's at, but I don't think this is quite enough to overcome the first three debits, and the fact that he so avidly cultivates his image as, er, a complete cock.
But it's the London mayoral race, and I try not to have an opinion on matters of purely local interest...

[susumu.livejournal.com]

I don't think there's a health risk either, because we've previously forgotten to put the bins out for a week and haven't died. What is winding me up about Rother's new alternate-weeks collection is:

- very small wheelie bin
- refusal to take extra bin bags that aren't in wheelie bin
- no cardboard or glass (ie 50%+ of our recyclables) allowed in the recycling collection
- sudden enforcement of draconian new regime with no opportunity to get used to it

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

The thing that get sme is how did the Mike Reid article come about. Does he read Comment Is Free and thought "yes, this is a great place to put my endorsement/manifesto"? Or did a Guardian sub think "mm, who is the most ludircous Tory I can get to write about the mayoral election?"

When are they, by the way?

[liadnan]

Dunno actually. Next spring?

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

Next spring?

Christ, its not going to get at all tedious before then, is it?

If this is the London politics whinge thread the Metronet thing (http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2129197,00.html) makes me fucking livid.

[liadnan]

I find it bizarre there isn't more being said about that. Unless I am simply missing it. But quite.

[susumu.livejournal.com]

I think it's possibly because it's still in the "blowing up" rather than "dust settling" phase.

[liadnan]

It was pretty much on the cards last week, I certainly saw a story then to the effect that doom was pretty much inevitable in the near future, as proved to be the case.

[susumu.livejournal.com]

Yep, but suspect the story is going to get worse before it gets better (the actual work is another matter entirely...).

[matgb]

Next spring is unfortunately correct, the LDs still haven't really started their selection yet, so we've that to, um, look forward to as well.

[liadnan]

But the libs haven't managed a serious candidate yet, and unless they can get either Hughes or some character (Freud?) or member of the old guard (Ashdown?) to run won't this time. The Libdems haven't been a credible force in London for two generations at least, even if they do manage to keep Southwark.

One thing about the London mayoral election is that personalities really do count for a lot, probably more than party affiliation. I remain convinced that Ken got his second term despite getting back into the party, rather than because of it.

[matgb]

Hold Southwark, take Wood Green, bring Camden down to NOC; that's just the top of my head. But you're right, they haven't got a serious candidate because Featherstone isn't interested and no one else would be able, so it'll either be an unknown activist campaigning on policy or an outsider, Paddick is rumoured.

Hughes is an arse and shouldn't be even considered, and that's not even a minority view these days.

And pretty much agree with you re Ken's popularity, he's a bit of a cock, but he's still Ken.

[eccles.livejournal.com]

Maybe they thought it was the Mike Reid from Eastenders? Easy mistake to make.

[owl]

We have our recyclables liftly weekly by some company or other; the council lifts organic waste fortnightly and other stuff on alternate fortnights. It works well enough.