I think Tony Blair was the best PM this country has had in the last 50 years, and I certainly won’t be voting for the Tory candidate for the London Assembly for my area, the repulsive, arrogant Brian Coleman, so I’m not a tribalist Tory, or indeed any other sort of Tory. The vast majority of votes I’ve cast since I was 21 have been for Labour candidates. But I won’t be voting for for anyone endorsing Livingstone.
I voted for Boris Johnson in 2008 and here are the things I think he’s achieved that have made a big difference to me:
No Council Tax rises for the whole-London part for the whole 4 years he’s been Mayor. Under Livingstone, they rose every single year by socking amounts. And as my work pension is around £1,000 a month, that’s made a big difference.
No Congestion Charge imposed on West London, which Livingstone was set to do. That would have cost me £8 or now £10 every time I visited my mother (who had advanced dementia)– and on my income it would have made a difference.
Drinking abolished on Tubes and buses by Boris as one of the first things he did after being elected. As an older woman, I find drunken louts particularly repulsive and intimidating, and especially so in the confined area of a Tube carriage. I’ve really noticed the difference that’s made.
Extension of the bus pass to being able to travel on it even first thing in the day. As I most usually use mine to get to exhibitions and galleries when they first open and so avoid long queues, that’s hugely added to my ability to afford more of the blockbusters.
Ending of the stream of Jew-baiting and divisive gesture politics which Livingstone ran throughout his time as Mayor, including branding the Board of Deputies of British Jews as an arm of Mossad, the insults to the Jewish reporter, the hugging and kissing of Qaradawi who strongly supports suicide bombing of my family members in Israel, moderate wife beating of Muslim wives and the murder of gays everywhere. Ending of the need to endure Livingstone’s stream of defiance, faux-naive “he’s never said anything homophobic to me”, out-and-out lies and equivocation around his defence of such outrages till they’ve come right back onto almost daily prominence because of his candidacy.
Ending of wasting of our Council Tax money on gesture-politics festivals and events which enabled Livingstone to pour money into the maws of far left and Islamist groups and their shills in the name of promoting cultural diversity and equality. That includes the total waste of money on an event called “Simchah on the Square”, supposedly a celebration of Jewish culture which the Jewish community never asked for and which was not a “simchah” in any real sense of the word.
Ending of wasting of our money on such matters as: totally futile legal challenges to the Labour government, of which Livingstone still boasts; the notorious freesheet distributed to every London home, boasting of his achievements and the relentless “cult of personality” branding of his mug on almost every poster and visual produced by the Mayor’s office.
Ending of the use of our tax money to pay huge unwarranted sums to give jobs and huge payoffs to his Trotskyist cronies in Socialist Action and other far left and “community activists”whose main talents consisted of their tendency to dish out still more of our money out to their buddies whilst making loudmouth statements about their speaking for the black and ethnic minority communities of London. Lee Jasper was just the tip of the iceberg. Livingstone’s chief of staff in his campaign is Simon Fletcher of Socialist Action, so it’s clear enough what will follow if Livingstone gets elected, except that this time, he’ll be supporting the Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah and the Iranian regime instead of the black radicals of Brixton.
Boris showed he had the guts and determination to get rid of Sir Paul Stephenson as head of the Met, hardly the action of a bumbling buffoon. It’s early days yet, but I think Hogan-Howe may make a difference. Including to the elimination of bribery and racism in the Met.
So I’m certainly voting for Boris Johnson when my postal vote arrives.
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