2012 Elections
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Gavin Scott
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- Posts: 6442
- Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 13.16
- Location: Edinburgh
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I'm dumbstruck that in a city of 7 million, I hear three options - Ken, Boris or "I ain't voting for neiva they ain't wurf it".
Dumbstruck.
Dumbstruck.
While looking for some details about the london mayoral elections, which still seem to tight race and if Turnout increase again then who know what will happen. Will there reach the magical 50% mark this time?
I found out that Liverpool is having its own election for its very own majoral, I have to wonder why this have not been highlighted much in the media.
I do like the idea of Mayor for many parts but it would need to come at the cost of getting rid of councillors. Im still surprised there is 30 odd councils in London, I think there should just scraped them and replace with Mayor.
I found out that Liverpool is having its own election for its very own majoral, I have to wonder why this have not been highlighted much in the media.
I do like the idea of Mayor for many parts but it would need to come at the cost of getting rid of councillors. Im still surprised there is 30 odd councils in London, I think there should just scraped them and replace with Mayor.
Well let's see - he stood on a bunch of manifesto promises that were legally dodgy as exposed by Toby Foster on BBC Radio Sheffield, he praised the ethical approach to life of the Taliban, is anti-gay, is pro-library closure... just another typical right-wing idiot voted in on a wave of anger and false hope.barcode wrote:I did hear he was doing alot of good work and its just the councilperson that are not happy
You know when Eric Pickles is criticising you you're in trouble.
Doncaster is actually holding a referendum as to whether to scrap the directly elected mayor and return to a leader of the council.
I must be honest I'm not very keen on electing mayors in bog standard towns where the council cabinet with a leader does a sufficient job (and I would say is more representative of each area too). However, I don't see why the bigger cities with big budgets and complex infrastructures shouldn't have someone who is directly elected to oversee this. But then I get uneasy when you look at example's like Doncaster where someone is voted in thanks to the people simply turning against mainstream politics - and not to mention some very shaky policy ideas.
At least councillors who then become leaders are often loyal servants of the area and don't have such extreme views. Mind you, the number of BNP councillors will no doubt rise again and put us a step closer to having a council run by the party. Now that's really scary.
I must be honest I'm not very keen on electing mayors in bog standard towns where the council cabinet with a leader does a sufficient job (and I would say is more representative of each area too). However, I don't see why the bigger cities with big budgets and complex infrastructures shouldn't have someone who is directly elected to oversee this. But then I get uneasy when you look at example's like Doncaster where someone is voted in thanks to the people simply turning against mainstream politics - and not to mention some very shaky policy ideas.
At least councillors who then become leaders are often loyal servants of the area and don't have such extreme views. Mind you, the number of BNP councillors will no doubt rise again and put us a step closer to having a council run by the party. Now that's really scary.
Good Lord!
Where I live (Mansfield) is probably one of the biggest disasters of elected mayors, and I can't believe we've been stuck with him for 10 years. An "independent" who is basically a tory-in-disguse and him and his cronies have completely damaged the town over the past decade, not having a clue how to run things and dragging the town backwards. He's just a smug grinning idiot, always in for photo opportunities and self promotion (he spends taxpayers money on his personal column in the local newspaper!) and little idea how to actually run the town. And the same can be said for the rest of the "Independent Forum" that sprung up as a direct result of his election as mayor (and ran the council for 8 years).
Certainly there was never any need for a district this size to ever have an elected mayor, and the fact we got an incompetant ex-newsagent in charge has just made things even worse. It's even worse that after his Independent party got trashed at last year's local election, as he won the mayoral election ( with a majority of around 60 thanks to getting more second choice votes- the Labour candidate got the most first choice) he filled up the cabinet with the handful of his Indie mates that kept their seats, so the Labour council and the Independent cabinet are constantly at loggerheads. If our example of elected mayors is anything to go by, I'd hope everyone else votes no. The most he's ever achieved is spending millions filling the town centre with loads of pieces of pointless modern art everyone hates.
I know Labour got complacent prior to 2002 which has a lot to do with why him and the Indies got elected, but how he got re-elected last year after 8 years of incompetance is beyond me. I watched the local mayoral debate before the election last year and he reponsponded to all the critisism with nothing but "Labour did this" and "Labour caused that", clearly can't take responsibility for any of his failings and keeps pointing the finger at a party who'd been out of charge for 8 years at that point in time.
Sadly, no sign of a referendum to scrap the major, but I'll be rushing to vote yes if we do have one.
Certainly there was never any need for a district this size to ever have an elected mayor, and the fact we got an incompetant ex-newsagent in charge has just made things even worse. It's even worse that after his Independent party got trashed at last year's local election, as he won the mayoral election ( with a majority of around 60 thanks to getting more second choice votes- the Labour candidate got the most first choice) he filled up the cabinet with the handful of his Indie mates that kept their seats, so the Labour council and the Independent cabinet are constantly at loggerheads. If our example of elected mayors is anything to go by, I'd hope everyone else votes no. The most he's ever achieved is spending millions filling the town centre with loads of pieces of pointless modern art everyone hates.
I know Labour got complacent prior to 2002 which has a lot to do with why him and the Indies got elected, but how he got re-elected last year after 8 years of incompetance is beyond me. I watched the local mayoral debate before the election last year and he reponsponded to all the critisism with nothing but "Labour did this" and "Labour caused that", clearly can't take responsibility for any of his failings and keeps pointing the finger at a party who'd been out of charge for 8 years at that point in time.
Sadly, no sign of a referendum to scrap the major, but I'll be rushing to vote yes if we do have one.
It seems they decided to keep the position.iSon wrote:Doncaster is actually holding a referendum as to whether to scrap the directly elected mayor and return to a leader of the council.
Anyway it reminds me of this great interview. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLrMXsS4rwA
I must admit, I'm a bit surprised - although it seems as though it's a vote of confidence for the position opposed to the person currently in charge. I would be surprised if Mr Davies enjoys a second term in office.
Having said that, even if they had decided to go back to the council and leader set up, the mayor would have still been in power until this time next year so in the short term it wouldn't have made any differences.
Having said that, even if they had decided to go back to the council and leader set up, the mayor would have still been in power until this time next year so in the short term it wouldn't have made any differences.
Good Lord!